Wendy

This, this, this. One of the worst mistakes the Dobsons made was firing Carrington Garland.

Glynn Turman had an awesome guest role as the perp in the Law & Order: Criminal Intent third season episode, "Pravda" (which also featured Judd Hirsch and Anthony Mackie), who played a professor father so enraged that his journalist son (Mackie) was a plagiarist, that he was going to murder him! Here's that end scene. Turman was excellent!

Well, he could play calculating and creepy pretty well as he starred in the miniseries, Blind Faith, in 1990 about the real-life case of Robert and Maria Marshall and how Rob Marshall was convicted of her murder. One of the actors playing their three sons was 12-year-old Johnny Galecki. Joanna Kerns of Growing Pains fame played Maria. (This was where Kerns introduced Roby Marshall (the son, a consultant for the miniseries) to Tracey Gold, her Growing Pains daughter.) And Dennis Farina played the prosecutor. Oh, and Robert Urich did technically act with a soap actress: Robin Strasser played Rob Marshall's mistress in that mini series! And the late John Ingle played the judge. And YouTube has it! https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=blind+faith+miniseries

Matt Ashford seemed to be accepted as Jack Deveraux on Days, even when as a villain. So much so, that even though he was actor number three in the role, he is seen as the definitive Jack. (The story about - I think it was Jack actor #2 - allegedly making Mary Beth Evans uncomfortable with Drake Hogestyn (RIP) and Stephen Nichols basically warning him off - I can see why the change behind the scenes was welcome! Seems the viewers agreed over time...

Keep in mind that I'm looking at this through the lens of my teen years - and only a very occasional watcher, as this soap wasn't my favorite but watched casually so my grandmother would have someone to talk to about her shows - but was Brenda Epperson embraced quickly as Ashley after Eileen Davidson? I seem to remember her version of Ashley being popular, albeit as a much more traditional heroine. But again, I may be misremembering this one...

Speaking of Peter Bergman, and going way back, I think - surprisingly - Bergman's Y&R predecessor, Terry Lester, was quickly accepted as Mason Capwell on Santa Barbara. Ditto Lester's replacement, Gordon Thomson. I think it helped that Nancy Lee Grahn's Julia generated chemistry with all three Masons. At least, I don't recall much hate in the soap magazines back in the day, even if many would still agree that Lane Davies was still the quintessential Mason Capwell. Speaking of SB, Jed Allan, Carrington Garland, and Robin Mattson all seemed to be embraced by the audience upon taking over the roles of C.C., Kelly, and Gina, respectively.

And I just realized the significance of the day this awful announcement was made. I feel so incredibly awful for Tatiana, her husband, and her small children. But I'm gutted for Caroline. How much pain is one person supposed to endure, you know?

I think Norman Fell was right about ABC being shady. But I wish the Ropers had been written back in. No offense to the late Don Knotts, but I found Ralph Furley annoying. (But Fell and Lindley must have buried the hatchet with TPTB since Stanley and Helen did make one final appearance in Season 5 - which also involved Ralph Furley, ironically.)

Tatiana Schlossberg, daughter of Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg and sister of Jack Schlossberg, has revealed she has terminal cancer. She is only 35 years old. God. https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/22/politics/tatiana-schlossberg-terminal-cancer-kennedy

Rest in peace to Eric Preven. Sixty-two is so young to die! That ending was nice...until Paul Rauch had to ruin it.

I knew Ray Wise looked familiar (beyond How I Met Your Mother, which I also watched, where he replaced Eric Braeden!).

The Days spoiler thread details a casting rumor, and that may tie into the discussion here. If true, it would surprise me, but time rolls on.

Gotta disagree. The possession is what turned Days into an unserious circus. Sure, it got eyeballs, but it also eroded the show's basis in reality. The car wreck effect. And in the long run, those viewers only stayed to see how stupid things could get. But that was never sustainable, and people drifted away. The flashbacks shown told me the exact opposite. Early Days WAS more like AMC, small town families with relationship/moral dramas and crises, not riffing on The Exorcist. The one reason I was fine with James Reilly getting his own show full of schlock was the fact that he couldn't shred every last vestige of Days' roots. And it showed schlock only went so far. Passions, which WAS complete absurdity, obviously couldn't sustain itself with almost zero reality. As for the DiMeras, they worked fine when they would come to town, cause drama/trouble, then split. But trying to integrate them as a core family is ridiculous. Ship them all the hell out, then create a new villain - who won't become part of Salem society.

Hell NO. Time to let Stefano DiMera GO and let poor Joe Mascolo rest in peace. This show needs a new villain. Says a lot that TPTB keep the Stefano vibe going because there is not enough creativity or talent to create a new big bad villain.

Another thing, too, is something Dan Rather touched upon in a Substack e-mail: Most US presidents are motivated to get the government going so as to not let Americans suffer. But Trump is NOT a normal POTUS. He THRIVES on hurting others. He's HAPPY to make people suffer. So there would be absolutely no sense of urgency from him to reopen as long as his enemies feel the hurt. If politics were perfect, yeah...I'd be all for keeping the government closed. But with the hand this country dealt itself - thanks to low-info and/or selfish voters - there's really no winning. The only question, once it opens back up, is how long Johnson will try to not seat the Arizona House member who is #218 in order to release the Epstein files. That's still in play, and I bet that IS one thing that scares Donnie schittless.

Well, as I said, the episode has SF's Laura, with scenes with father-in-law Tom Horton and her story with Tom's sons Bill and Mickey, if you're interested!

If anyone is at all interested in seeing young Susan Flannery as Dr. Laura Horton on Days of Our Lives, today's episode on Peacock features many flashbacks due to the 60th Anniversary (which was actually on Saturday the 8th) with her and other Hortons. Nice to see so many vintage scenes and in color!

And in another bit of shocking news (but in sort of a miraculous good way - I know, so rare!), SCOTUS has denied Kim Davis' (you know, the Christian married multiple times to three different men that denied gay couples marriage licenses because of her belief in the "sanctity of marriage"!) request to abolish same-sex marriage. Early Christmas miracle? Whatever it is, I'm stunned - this time - that SCOTUS did the right thing.

It sucks the Dems broke - although Rethuglican in Dem clothing John Fetterman was no surprise - but frankly, I don't see where Dems had much choice, what with talk of abolishing the filibuster and also talk of obliterating the ACA. (Yes, I know the GOP is trying to ruin health care regardless, but losing the ACA entirely would be catastrophic for millions of Americans!) This is why one party controlling everything - well, when the party is MAGA - is never a good idea. Holding the line is fabulous in theory, but when you have a leader and a party that spits on norms and thinks nothing of ruining lives, there is only so much Dems NOT IN POWER can do, realistically.

Criminals stick together. How sweet. Martha Byrne disgusts me.

Knew this guy looked familiar!

Swamp Baby Georgia Brady - stillborn ON SCREEN - with Krista Allen's Billie even using the baby's remains as a way to blame Hope for the baby's death (with Billie having those remains IN A SUITCASE - who DOES THAT?!) suddenly shows up as a young adult named Chelsea. And no. She was dead. But James Reilly and/or Tom Langan, who had some grudge against Bo/Hope and their family with Shawn (Douglas), had the need to even the playing field for Reilly's Bo/Billie. Ridiculous and insulting.

Per NBC's site, Mango Mussolini is blaming all the GOP losses on the shutdown. LOL! Isn't this asswipe POTUS? (Regrettably, I might add.) HE can end it at any point. So, in a sense, Donnie Depends is blaming himself, then? I can get on board there. It would be the first and only time I'd agree with Felon 34 on anything!

Some stooge is on NBC now, bleating how Trump has lowered inflation, while trying to downplay the big blue wins tonight. Whoops, not cable, it's NBC proper. Explains everything. Network that made Trump a reality star.

Yeah, Soap Digest had an article about Suzanne Rogers' cancer battle, and it detailed how both Paul Telfer and Linsey Godfrey and another dear friend came through for her. Very sweet, especially since - as the article made a note to remind people of - Linsey Godfrey is also a cancer survivor. DAYS Star Suzanne Rogers Opens Up About Cancer Diagnosis - Soap Opera Digest