SFK

Is all of the black on the red carpet in deference to Palestine?

I'm seven episodes into season 4 of my rewatch. Joseph, we hardly knew ye! His scenes with Alexis were some of the best, I wish we'd had more. Burning through a primetime soap, I'm really feeling the lack of the luxury of time afforded to its daytime counterparts. I look at characters like Joseph and Cecil and think, "Wow, so that's really it?"

Hats off to Gordon Thomson. Adam is a total creep and Gordon sells the hell out of it.

I find myself wondering where I created this false memory of Blake the teddy bear when he's a total dick. It must be the Blake of later seasons mixed with warm John Forsythe interviews.

I don't think I ever thought much of Kirby, but there are moments where I find Kathleen Beller quite compelling. And oof, her desperate plan to have herself thrown off a horse was particularly tough to witness.

I'm so glad that Claudia wasn't a casualty of the season 1 purge. Even with her extended absences, she grounds the show in a way whenever she returns. I'm two catfights in at this point, but I don't think I'd ever seen Claudia backhand Sammy Jo, Sammy Jo slap her back, and Claudia close the paragraph by slapping Sammy Jo again. I hooted.

@DRW50 is another fan of BMH's Joey, IIRC. While I found him pretty wooden, in hindsight, the concept of Father Joey doesn't bother me as much as it did at the time. Woulda coulda shoulda, but I picture an older Chris McKenna in the collar really selling that version of Joey.

I read the "black bitch" comment as hyperbole and imagined it was followed by one of her signature head back throaty chuckles.

I'm sorry to see the news about Shirley Anne Field. @Khan mentioned her stint on SB which is how I came to know her thanks to Gerald Waggett's book of soap opera lists. She swept in and saved the day when Samantha Eggar came to the quick conclusion that the rigorous demands of daytime were not for her. Interesting as Eggar later turned up on AMC as Charlotte Devane. Scenes of Field's mysterious, patrician, veiled Pamela are probably still on YouTube. Marj Dusay would assume the role. May Miss Field rest in peace.

The holiday season can be tough enough. Ellen Holly's passing has still got me down, and finding out about André Braugher last evening brought on an awful weight of depression.

I also rewound looking for the punch I know I didn't see. Is it possible that it looked super phoney in editing and they decided to omit it? Maybe no fight choreographer was on hand so they only shot the aftermath?

Did Jada ever mention an ex-husband before the Everett reveal? I don't recall. All I remember is her coming across as pretty thirsty for a man when she first came to town. Am I forgetting the detail that she was rebounding?

I found it curious that they'd cast a guy who could certainly be a slightly younger Johnny recast as Tate. Maybe I'm looking too much into it, but the choice has grown on me in terms of Holly. It makes some interesting comments on the ideas of a. not realizing what's right in front you, and b. how the heart wants what the heart wants and no degree of superficiality can change that.

3 minutes ago, Bright Eyes said:

I was reading THR's obituary on the recently passed actor David McKnight and in it a show called Bird of an Iron Feather is mentioned as the first all black soap opera that aired on a Chicago station for the first few months of 1970. I know there was similarly sound show that has been previously discussed here before but I can't remember if they are one and the same.

The other show is called The Awakening. A friend from Chicago and I were talking about it a few years ago, I was so jealous that I didn't have a similar local viewing pleasure growing up. It's a hoot.

I haven't watched in months, probably since May. I know I missed Italy. I have a compulsion to catch up, did I miss anything really juicy?

4 hours ago, wonderwoman1951 said:

free link

ellen holly’s ny times obit

 

Thanks for sharing. As a rule, every newspaper with an online edition should make obituaries available without a subscription. 

Was there a mention of Miss Holly's passing on The View? Whoopi has been known to pay tribute to recently departed unsung artists during hot topics.

I have the day off and was able to catch today's episode. Just checking in after that Six Feet Under fade to white. I've been wondering if John McCook is retiring.

A theatre colleague tagged me in a post by Robert Hooks about the passing of his dear friend, Miss Holly.

This breaks my heart.

Several months ago, I wrote her a letter that someone closer to her was kind enough to pass along for me. I hope she was able to read it and feel the warmth, admiration, love, and respect of another fan like me.

Speaking of Ben, how do you all feel about the across the pond casting of siblings? For some reason I buy Sable and Frankie a lot easier than I do Blake and Ben. Ben's been living in Australia (sort of like Carmen Duncan's Iris has been living in England), and Sable was raised in England with their mother while Frankie was raised in California with their father. Maybe I'll feel differently when I get there in my current rewatch, but I've never quite suspended my disbelief of the Carrington brothers.

22 hours ago, DRW50 said:

Maybe something like The Aldens of Corinth, or Family on the Hill...or even just Corinth. 

I'm sure it was the title of a Loving-related SOD article at some point, but The First Corinthians has a snooty Phoebe English Tyler vibe which would nicely describe an Alden-focused series. The Last Corinthians could be the title of the post-serial murders Gothic reboot we've mused on in this thread.

34 minutes ago, Khan said:

I've always assumed he signed on for a number of episodes, and when those episodes were done, so was he.

But I could be wrong, lol.

Personally, I don't think the show needed him.

Yeah, I wondered if the primary focus on Alexis vs. Blake and Krystle after Cecil's death left little room for continuing Nick's involvement in the lives of the Carringtons. I also figured Alexis as chief antagonist deemed it unnecessary to continue with secondary leading male characters like Nick and Matthew to tangle with Blake. And admittedly, I was curious if there was any bts dirt that led to Farentino not being asked back.

So what's the story behind James Farentino's departure from the show? Storyline dictated? The actor's decision?

Re: Justine's resemblance to Rachel, IIRC, Justine had surgery to further enhance it. Didn't she also have telltale scars on her wrists from a suicide attempt? I was not a regular viewer but I remember catching some of these scenes when they aired. I also remember they did quite a few flashbacks with another actress playing younger Justine.

Like John Waters says, "Camp doesn't know it's camp."

32 minutes ago, Donna L. Bridges said:

Wow. I cannot imagine. How did it go over? 

I do recall SOD features that looked back on these stories with cringe, but I don't know how they were received by the soap press or viewers at large when they first aired. I was a tween. Biracial, watching with a black mother and white grandparents, I'm sure the whole business resonated with me on some level. But thinking back, I can't pretend that I had any extraordinary socio-political reaction and I probably lumped Taylor pretending to be white in order to infiltrate a group of white supremacists along with other stunts like Janet masquerading as her sister Natalie.

3 minutes ago, Donna L. Bridges said:

This  & This!  

Happy Thanksgiving to you too.

Oh, Melinda. That bit about EJ and Nicole being very privileged people who will adjust to their new normal, get over their baby's death and move on because they have too much to live for, and, after all, Nicole still has a child... just gross.

I loved Nicole snapping at Holly with no clichéd soapy follow-up in the next scene, i.e., "Oh honey, I'm so sorry, you don't deserve that, I don't know what came over me, can you ever forgive me?" Her lying there in pained silence was moving.

21 hours ago, j swift said:

Of course, you are referencing Dee from What's Happening (jk)

One of my all-time favorite shows.

Mabel King would have been great on a soap.

@Donna L. Bridges Y&R and AMC didn't do passing storyline like OLTL. Rather, they had black characters going undercover in white makeup.

Was Dee Evans named after you-know-who or was that just a coincidence?

23 hours ago, j swift said:

BTW, I liked the Xander & Everett interaction, Paul Telfer is a charm magnet and really brings out the best in his scene partners.  I enjoy the guy friends on DAYS, like Brady & Eric, or EJ & Chad, I think one of DAYS strengths are those types of scenes.

It certainly helps that these guys are all solid performers that the show is lucky to have. This is the factor that probably keeps me watching when the writing is less than stellar. Conversely, when an annoying character is paired with a performer who is lacking (imo), the overall effect is unbearable.

@Donna L. Bridges Eric Kane died offscreen several years after Albert Stratton last played him in 1990 or so.

I think the Iris scene you describe is one that @Mona Kane Croft may be referring to. I cannot remember if I actually saw an old recording or just read about it but Mac pleads with Iris to pull herself together and says something about her being barely clothed.