absnow54

The impacts of streamers on residual checks isn't just a writer problem, the WGA contract was just the first to expire. A lot of actors live off residual checks too, which is why this is snowballing to other unions. The entertainment landscape has changed dramatically over the last 15 years, and the strike is forcing them to redefine the industry. They're going to drag their feet on this, because they're going to be negotiating similar deals with everyone.

I think Jinger released a book rather than participate in a documentary, because her family is very brand dependent. She controls the narrative of her book, and is less likely to ruffle feathers with her family and her current church community. She presents herself as being freed, but her and Jeremy's livelihood is completely dependent on how they present themselves on social media. Jill's "brand" is actually more dependent on making "controversial" mainstream choices. Plus, it probably comes down to money. Even if they weren't paid for this, the docuseries doesn't look like it has any sort of potential for a spinoff (a la Counting On starting as a documentary that transitioned back into the original show) so there was zero incentive for the Vuolos to sign up.

Here's the trailer:

Interesting. According to the TMZ article, the accident happened on April 29!

Assuming the Mattson deal goes through, I think Greg might be given a symbolic President & CEO type role of the Waystar Royco division. Basically whatever Shiv is gunning for in her current dealings with him. He will not actually have any power, but he will get to continue in the lifestyle of a powerful executive, which seems to be the only thing he actually cares about. Greg doesn't have the same ambitions as the Roy kids, so his threshold for "winning" is far lower.

I thought the first episode was reasonably well done, so when it went off the deep end in episode 2 and 3, I was really disappointed. I wish the producers had done more to fact check the theories. It's like they'd pick up a technology buzzword and pretend it gave them dramatic license to tell whatever story they wanted. I'd prefer to hear more from the Inmarsat and aviation guy. I was ready to hate the debris guy, but then he surprisingly ended up being one of the more sane contributors.

To be fair, Kendall and Roman offer to fire and/or kill Tom on a weekly basis, but Shiv has never taken them up on it.

I was confused by this too, because last week it seemed like she realized getting into bed with Matsson was a dead end, and was looking for an exit strategy, but then this week she doubled down on it. Her phone call to him at the end of the episode sounds like she's going to quietly have him air his dirty laundry while the news cycle is tied up with the Milwaukee coverage.

This episode was so frustrating! Ken feeling betrayed by Shiv, while he's been working behind the scenes to cut Roman and Shiv out of his Viking pillage. Shiv doubling down with Mattson, even though he's obviously using her. The next two episodes of this slow moving car wreck are going to be brutal, I feel.

Episode 9 will be the next day, but I think episode 10 might have to cover a significant amount of time. Menken's victory is supposed to help them block the GoJo deal, but that's meaningless until the elections are certified and he can, at the least, set up a transition team. Otherwise, it'll have to wait until January when he's sworn in. I'm hoping Cousin Greg weaseling his way into Mattson's inner circle is a red herring, and not setting him up as the ultimate successor. I feel like America Decides really laid the foundation for it (Greg out maneuvering Shiv, Tom desperately trying to keep Greg his whipping boy...)

She had an amnio, which is done in the second trimester, typically around 16 weeks, so she's in the ballpark of 16-20 weeks. It isn't unrealistic if she isn't showing yet. Everyone carries differently, and it's typical not to "pop" until later for a first pregnancy. What's vague is whether Tom knows she's pregnant. It's not like we've ever seen Shiv be passionate about having children. She was reluctant to even agree to freezing embryos with Tom. So him telling her she wouldn't be a very good mother wouldn't be a particularly hurtful thing for him to say, unless he already knew she was pregnant.

It's a toss up with Michael B. Jordan. Although, it's tough to count him, since he joined the cast later, and already had a breakout role from The Wire. Kyle Chandler has done pretty well, too, but he was also established before the show started.

I think he's come around to the idea that he'll never have more power than Shiv in their couple dynamic. He's leached onto Shiv's wagon in Logan's absence, and seems happy to follow her lead during her dance with Mattson. Where Tom draws the line is being expendable, and Shiv has always been quick to throw Tom to the wolves when his ranks within the company are questioned (except for that time when she begged Logan to spare him.)

I don't think Tom wants a traditional housewife, but in season 2, when Shiv told Tom that Logan was going to name her his successor, Tom felt that he deserved the role over her, and that thought she was to be helping him up the corporate ladder. As for having children, his insistence on having children seemed more like having an anchor baby to solidify his role in the family.

The audacity of Kendall calling Mattson "new money" when Kendall's father was born poor.

Okay, I need another time check. We know this episode took place on a Monday. Did Logan die on a Friday evening? Or or Saturday? We know that it occurred on a weekend, because the markets weren't open. So that means we're around 10 days out, and they still haven't buried him? Having the funeral be episode 9 or 10 made sense when they were doing an episode a day, because that would make it about a week after his death, but with all the jet setting they've crammed in, we have to be pushing 2 weeks. Another line that jumped out at me. Shiv mentioned that Tom took away six months she could have spent with her father. If she's only 16-20 weeks pregnant, and Tom's betrayal was 6 months ago, then the baby wouldn't be his. During their argument he said "You wouldn't even have my baby" which could stand on its own, since that was a sticking point in the season 3 finale, but would ring especially harsh if she went out and got a sperm donor immediately after they became estranged. It just shocks me how much I can hate each Roy sibling, yet root for them at the same time. Like Kendall's encounter with Rava was so ugly, yet I want him so badly to out maneuver Mattson. And I was feeling really sympathetic toward Roman, since he's so obviously spiraling, but then he was a jerk to Connor and Willa. And Shiv is so frustrating, but I still find myself rooting for her.

But these types of procedurals take up a huge space of the television landscape. Replacing them with AI would take away hundreds of jobs from writers. These types of writing rooms are places where young writers build experience and connections and move on to bigger and better things. One of the arguments of the WGA is that new writers can’t afford to go into the business. AI replacing their jobs in procedurals and soaps isn’t going to give them more time to write the Next Great Thing. It will make it less likely that anyone will read any of their pages. The types of people filling in these unpaid interns and grunt workers are nepo-babies who can afford being paid in peanuts, because they’re already rich. The push for diversity in storytelling is dependent on giving the opportunity for more people to tell their story. Hollywood is a union town. Sure, with capitalism the boss looks for the most cost effective options, even at the detriment of the workers. The writers are using their leverage as a union to fight back against these cost cutting measures. The studios could get around this by using non-WGA writers, but their problem is that other union workers, like actors start dropping out of their projects and the cost cutting measure become less profitable.

That didn’t take long.

That was pretty cold to announce who would have hosted, had the shows not been canceled. This article didn't mention it, but Foo Fighters and Labirinth were supposed to be the musical guests.

I feel like anytime they actually gave Lexi material, she always delivered. I remember when Sonny came back from the dead, she was the only one who had a genuine reaction. I bet what happened is GH nabbed Kate Mansi first, and then had to figure out what to do with her. I'm surprised they went with Kristina over Lulu.

I think there's significance, but him outmaneuvering the siblings in the season three finale was probably his triple play. Bill Wambsganss didn't achieve much significance beyond that play. In fact, his only recognition in the Baseball Hall of Fame is the AAGPBL (the women's league) for which he coached for a few seasons. This has been pointed out elsewhere, but Mattson's Doderick reference in Living+ could be seen as foreshadowing. When we first meet Greg, he's puking in his Doderick costume at the Waystar theme park.

Brian Orser? Does Keegan Messing count?

Are there episode minimums for that category? Like you need to appear in X number of episodes a year to qualify? That's what separates the Guest Performer category from the Supporting one. On another note, with the writer's strike, how many weeks ahead is GH in it's film schedule? I know Days of Our Lives films 6 months ahead, but I think GH is usually only a few weeks, right?

The Guilds have odd ways of crediting things, so even though one person is credited for writing it, doesn't mean the final product didn't pass through several writers. It sounds more like the producers are saying "You used to do this job for 20 episodes with 10 people, well now I only want 10 episodes, so you can do it with 5, and since it's only 10 episodes, you can complete the work in half the time as 20." But it doesn't scale that way. So the WGA is saying, we need X number people minimum to produce a show, and depending on how many episodes there are, we need Y additional people per episode. Let's say Tony's building you a house. You ordered one that's 4,000 square ft, but now decide you only need a house that's 3,000 square ft. You're not going to be able to cut your workforce by 25% just because you ordered a smaller house. Tony still needs to bring in a plumber, an electrician, a painter, and a tile guy regardless of the size.