I'm mixed. As a teen I hated them, but this go-around I actually like the mother a lot more than I expected to--the way she's played and written. The father, however, doesn't work on either front. But it was funny how they built up the homophobes who Liza has hired Jason to rev up--and we see him doing this with a group of thug like men (and one hysterical grouchy frumpy housewife) and then when the filming is about to start and more audience members come they are joined by a reluctant Opal with Enid, and the Santos parents and granted, a lot of extras--man back when shows could hire extras--who aren't all thug like, like the initial group but it did make me chuckle because there's no way Mama and Papa Santos would sit down and join that initial group just based on their appearance.
That whole aspect isn't done with much nuance, even for 1996, but a lot of the setup IS done with more nuance than I expected to see on a rewatch 30 years later, so I give them credit for that. And like I said, the whole setup of so many stories and characters ending up at the studio is done in a way that looks positively masterful compared to anything you'd see on any recent-ish soap (or even AMC five or ten years later.) Although the excuse to get Janet to the studio is flimsy at best (she got positive letters from her Cutting Edge appearance by other ex cons who said she gave them hope, so she wanted to talk to Liza about doing a follow up show which... fine I can buy that I guess. But there's already pandemonium backstage with people running around, and Janet keeps asking people where she can meet and talk to Liza, and that's when she finally comes across Amanda--who Jason is meant to be watching till Tim picks her up. But by this time Janet is meant to be relatively well adjusted and any sane person would get to the studio--see that everyone's running around getting ready to shoot a show and that this would not be the best time to find it's producer and talk to her about a future show...)
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EricMontreal22 ·
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