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Roswell, New Mexico: In the Media


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Well, never expected this to happen:

Quote

“Carina Adly MacKenzie has departed as executive producer/co-showrunner of Roswell, New Mexico,” Warner Bros. Television said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. “The third season of the series will return to The CW as part of the network’s 2021 midseason lineup.”

Adds MacKenzie, “I have made the difficult decision to resign from my role on Roswell, New Mexico. I do not take this decision lightly, but ultimately due to fundamental differences, I must depart and entrust Roswell, New Mexico to capable hands. I am so proud of what we built over the last two years, and I believe in the heart and soul of the show: asking tough questions, striving to make the world better, amplifying marginalized voices, and fighting the good fight.”

 

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Wow that was her first showrunner gig as well - I suppose fair play if she wasn’t happy but I dono that I could see her getting that kind of opportunity again. Especially as it doesn’t sound like she’s left on good terms.
 

Her instagram post message addressing it Plays out in her usual obnoxious style. She manages to Her usual name drop - this time it’s Jeanine. 

I'm not sorry. I haven't been a fan of hers since her Big Name Fan days and subsequent climb up to showrunner. I'm sure she'll get other chances, once you've had one show it's easier to get people to listen to your next pitch. Depending on what actually happened. 

I wonder if the creative differences over certain parts of the show (relationships, use of actors, planned character arcs etc) or wanting to explore various social and political issues. Although those can certainly be the same thing. But a lot of CW shows have done that. 

Or something completely different. Shrug.

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I get the feeling Carina was told she was out but given the opportunity to resign to save face (esp since shes not only leaving the show but her studio deal was voided). I am not surprised about there being tension on the set because she was there too often and tension with specific actors. 

Good that she is gone. Carina's misogynoir and unprofessional fangirl behavior annoyed the fuck out of me as did her blatant favoritism of certain actors and a ship. I hope that her exit brings a more balanced, better written show. I hope her exit means the marginalization of Maria will cease. I doubt things could get worse with her gone since she was the show's biggest stumbling block as far as I'm concerned.  I hope The CW brings on a Black woman as the new co-head showrunner.

Happy Birthday, Heather Hemmens. 

Where's @phoenics to enjoy this news?

Edited by Chick2Chic
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1 minute ago, Chick2Chic said:

I get the feeling Carina was told she out but given the opportunity to resign to save face (esp since shes not only leaving the show but her studio deal was voided). I am not surprised about there being tension on the set because she was there too often and tension with specific actors. 

Good that she is gone. Carina's misogynoir and unprofessional fangirl behavior annoyed the fuck out of me as did her blatant favoritism of certain actors and a ship. I hope that her exit brings a more balanced, better written show. I hope her exit means the marginalization of Maria will cease. I doubt things could get worse with her gone since she was the show's biggest stumbling block as far as I'm concerned.  I hope The CW brings on a Black woman as the new co-head showrunner.

 

Where's @phoenics to enjoy this news?

Her studio deal was voided? That seems like quite a big deal - is this typical? 

I go back and forth with her. She bugs me to no end with her social media antics, but I obviously like the show. Although I think it took a turn in S2, and I question where they are going to go. Will be interesting to see what happens from here.

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3 minutes ago, Avabelle said:

And a voided studio deal means they cut her completely doesn’t it? Because that’s pretty big I would think.. 

It seems like a pretty big deal because it means they (or *maybe* she depending on the details of her deal) have no interest in working together on other projects. Either they aren't interested in looking at her next ideas or offering her a project. Which considering she was a co-showrunner on a show that got renewed for S3 (proving people watch her material) is unusual. 

I've seen some gossip saying she didn't get on with Jeanine but I don't know how true that is. 

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19 minutes ago, Kymmi said:

Her studio deal was voided? That seems like quite a big deal - is this typical? 

 

It was in the THR exclusive of this news: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/carina-adly-mackenzie-as-roswell-new-mexico-showrunner-1302667

9 minutes ago, Avabelle said:

What actors does she not get on with?

THR mentioned Jeanine specifically but also stated there were others. Considering her faves are MV, NP, and TB, I think we can easily guess who she had tension with.

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She specifically called out the Jeanine rumours in her Instagram account. It would be interesting to see if any of the stars acknowledge her departure.

jesus the Hollywood reporter article paints her in a terrible light...

According to multiple insiders, the first-time showrunner's relationship with studio Warner Bros. Television had been strained for some time. One of the latest points of contention came late last month when MacKenzie, who created the soapy drama renewed for a third season in January, fired off a series of tweets. One source, in particular, says that Warner Bros. had to do "damage control" with a foreign distributor after MacKenzie accused ITV in the U.K. of homophobia, biphobia and bigotry for cutting selective sex scenes from her show.

A spokesperson for ITV2, the channel that aired the episode of Roswell in the U.K., disputes MacKenzie's characterization of the editing, however. "During our compliance process on episode two, we edited love scenes featuring the characters of Alex and Michael and Max and Jenna," said the rep. "Editing is only ever undertaken to ensure content is suitable for scheduling in a pre watershed time slot when younger age groups may be watching. Scenes involving sexual content were edited in keeping with the regulator, Ofcom's, guidelines."

 

 

4 minutes ago, Avabelle said:

jesus the Hollywood reporter article paints her in a terrible light...

Yep. An unprofessional who was a fangirl on set too often causing problems rather than a showrunner.  And possibly with some mean girl issues too.

The TVLine version was kinder. The THR version was like "here's the tea..." I hope more will spill. I have zero sympathy for her, esp cause how she failed Maria and was complicit in stirring up fandom racism.

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Reading the THR Is interesting. I didn't see the tweets about ITV and the gay scenes. I don't think ITV and especially not ITV2 are homophobic, but it is on at 8pm which is pre watershed. I think the full scene was on the ITV Hub. She certainly acted more like an outraged fan than someone who has to keep in mind the money and contracts involved in international distribution and issues different channels have to work around. (E4 recently cut a tame sex joke from B99 TV broadcast but it's on the All4 hub). There are ways to express disappointment with editing without screaming and immediately crying homophobia. 

If HR had to look in to the matter of problems with actors then clearly something was going on and it wasn't a small thing. A showrunner spending time on set doesn't sound terrible but if there was a lot of last minute writing going on that has got to be frustrating for the rest of the writers. And if she played obvious favourites on set as she does on SM that's definitely an issue. 

I suppose her deal could simply not have been renewed if it was for 2 years in April 2018. But still not good. 

Edited by Featherhat
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I remember those tweets and thought that was a huge accusation to throw at a itv. Especially as it seemed like more of an emotional reaction to being obsessed with a ship then anything else. I can’t think of another showrunner who would be that unprofessional... or dumb. Even her role model Julie Plec. 
 

So far all the responses from the actors are about how amazing she is. Jeanine, Nathan and Heather haven’t commented.

Edited by Avabelle
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3 hours ago, Featherhat said:

I'm sure she'll get other chances, once you've had one show it's easier to get people to listen to your next pitch. Depending on what actually happened. 

Not when the WB fired you, terminated your development deal and, put a hit piece out on you.  She's going to have to start at the bottom and beg for jobs.

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2 hours ago, Avabelle said:

So far all the responses from the actors are about how amazing she is. Jeanine, Nathan and Heather haven’t commented.

If this changes, please let me know.

I should search around on social media to see if there is more tea.

2 hours ago, Featherhat said:

 She certainly acted more like an outraged fan than someone who has to keep in mind the money and contracts

And that has been one of her main problems all along. She was too busy being a fangirl instead of a professional. Playing favorites and spewing stuff on twitter without thinking ahead.

 

 

Edited by Chick2Chic
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Also it sounds like the wanted to be in New Mexico posting Instagram stories of her hanging out with the cast rather than in LA writing and actually running the show.
 

The more I think about it the more moronic her outburst at ITV is. I know she’s trying to pass it off as her being woke and defending the LGBT community but given that clearly wasn’t ITVs intent it just looks childish and crazy unprofessional. Imagine how embarrassing it must have been for WB to discuss this with ITV given it’s the actual showrunner. 

Edited by Avabelle
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2 hours ago, Avabelle said:

jesus the Hollywood reporter article paints her in a terrible light...

Yeah, the mention of a HR investigation doesn't sound great (they seem to intimate it relates to her interaction with cast and crew?), but of course we don't know the details and the outcome. 

All and all I am hopeful this show runner change is a good thing for the show.  IMO it has a strong ensemble cast - the first season had high and low points, but the second season was pretty dismal throughout, at times feeling like mediocre fan fiction. 

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22 minutes ago, Avabelle said:

I know she’s trying to pass it off as her being woke and defending the LGBT community but given that clearly wasn’t ITVs intent it just looks childish and crazy unprofessional.

She reminds of the fans and folks who think it is ok to be racist about Maria but would fight anyone, esp in response to Michael/Alex, over perceived homophobia. 

 

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4 hours ago, Primal Slayer said:

At least one good thing has come out of 2020

We deserve it!

3 hours ago, Chick2Chic said:

Where's @phoenics to enjoy this news?

That was literally my first thought when I saw this news lol.

I really hope the show can be as good as it has the potential to be now. It certainly can't be worse! I shouldn't say that, I'll probably jinx it!

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24 minutes ago, Chick2Chic said:

She reminds of the fans and folks who think it is ok to be racist about Maria but would fight anyone, esp in response to Michael/Alex, over perceived homophobia. 

To me, at least, her handling of the Micheal/Maria/Alex triangle somehow seemed to be problematic on all fronts and no matter which character one approached it from (sort of a feat), and her defensiveness about it in social media certainly didn't help.   I had pretty much written off the show this year, but the change has definitely increased my interest in S3. 

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1 hour ago, Morrigan2575 said:

Not when the WB fired you, terminated your development deal and, put a hit piece out on you.  She's going to have to start at the bottom and beg for jobs.

This was before I saw that the WB had ended the deal and yep, more than likely provided the details about what a terrible showrunner she was. It had to be someone fairly high up, THR isn't just going to write something like that on a gossipy interns say so, especially as it's not a huge, important show. 

Very interesting that the writers room got much less diverse in S2. That puts a slightly different light on touting your show as an authentic, diverse, inclusive story reflecting real life. 

12 minutes ago, Regalbegal said:

To me, at least, her handling of the Micheal/Maria/Alex triangle somehow seemed to be problematic on all fronts and no matter which character one approached it from (sort of a feat), and her defensiveness about it in social media certainly didn't help.   I had pretty much written off the show this year, but the change has definitely increased my interest in S3. 

The triangle and how she handled it was a disaster from the start. An experienced showrunner would have found it difficult to juggle a lot of different moving parts: OG canon, WOC, bisexuality, interracial relationship, same sex relationship, "best friends" threesome etc. And nothing about how she handled it seemed like someone who had been particularly thoughtful about the personal, social implications or fan response.

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4 hours ago, Chick2Chic said:

 

Happy Birthday, Heather Hemmens. 

Where's @phoenics to enjoy this news?

I'm here!!!  I am SO glad to hear the news - but not sure things will change for the better with Maria.  So I'll give it a shot but I don't know that they can fix it?

But I'm glad she's gone.  She should've listened to the black and PoC folks she had - black women on twitter couldn't have been the ONLY ones questioning her treatment of Maria.

Hell - next season Maria could be gone, so ... 

But I do think S3 will be the final season, unless something drastic happens.

Going to a virtual paint and sip party now - be back later.

Edited by phoenics
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I honestly feel like the BTS drama would have been within the writing/productions teams. I don’t believe there was issues with the cast mainly because her main priority always seems to be shoving her head up the nearest celebrity in sights ass. 

I remember her back when she was a writer for zap2it and she got taken in by the Vampire Diaries cast and show runners and somehow became the apparent voice of the entire fandom. It went to her head then and now she’s that more entitled times ten. 

All the complaints about her aside I think she could have gotten away with it but I think she went to far with the attack on ITV. It was the epitome of unprofessional. 

Edited by Avabelle
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16 minutes ago, Avabelle said:

I honestly feel like the BTS drama would have been within the writing/productions teams. I don’t believe there was issues with the cast mainly because her main priority always seems to be shoving her head up the nearest celebrity in sights ass. 

 

When HR shows up, it's a problem. And THR specifically stated friction with Jeanine and some other actors. So they may be saying something nice about her on social media with her exit but those posts could be just as performative as Carina's comments caring about diversity and Black people. 

36 minutes ago, phoenics said:

But I do think S3 will be the final season, unless something drastic happens.

Oh, same. I am surprised it even got a third season. I know it was renewed early on but those S2 ratings were abysmal.

I would like to think things can only go up for Maria and that the current co-showunner or anyone they hire doesn't have the same misogynoir issues. I would really love for them to hire a Black woman showrunner. 

40 minutes ago, phoenics said:

But I do think S3 will be the final season, unless something drastic happens.

That'd be embarrassing to bet he first CW show in like 10 years to be canceled after a 3rd season. They usually last until at least 4 seasons.

But I guess now Amell can use his "star power" to get her on his show?

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Who knows. I’m kind of curious to see what happens next. I suppose she could go back to writing for Plec again. Isn’t Legacies still going?

Just now, Primal Slayer said:

But I guess now Amell can use his "star power" to get her on his show

All her friendships especially that of Amell/Arrow/Aisha Tyler crew have always reeked fake and for mutual benefit to me. I’m actually kind of curious to see If they’ll last now she’s out of a job.

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Well shit, they always find a way to drag me back into this stupid mess of a show.  Now I HAVE to sample season 3 with her gone.  I don't usually root for someone's failure but Carina has always rubbed me the wrong way and I feel like this is what's deserved.  She's always come off as a spoiled, petulant child and her tantrums and the way she spoke to fans of her show were so incredibly unprofessional.  I'm glad the higher ups finally punished her.  Maybe now the show and certain characters can thrive and we can see less favoritism.  

1 hour ago, Chick2Chic said:

She reminds of the fans and folks who think it is ok to be racist about Maria but would fight anyone, esp in response to Michael/Alex, over perceived homophobia. 

 

Kamran Pasha was a writer on season one and I explicitly remember sometime this season, Carina saying that he never worked for her or on the show.  It was in reply to a fan who was upset by something Kamran wrote on Twitter and brought it up to Carina calling her out for the people she hires.  Even though his name in on the show and an episode in season 1...she denied his involvement in every way.  I always found that interesting and now it's super telling based on everything that's coming out.

And while I do think most of this stems from issues with the writers/crew, I can't help but think there might have been some tension with Jeanine.  So many times this season Jeanine kept mentioning in interviews/lives that it was LIZ'S story, that she was number 1 on the call sheet.  Even though Liz was written so OOC and her screentime lacked in comparison to Carina's faves.  It seemed weird at the time, but now it makes sense.

I'm just...I'm so happy and I don't care if that makes me look like an asshole

Edited by ellieart
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23 minutes ago, ellieart said:

And while I do think most of this stems from issues with the writers/crew, I can't help but think there might have been some tension with Jeanine.  So many times this season Jeanine kept mentioning in interviews/lives that it was LIZ'S story, that she was number 1 on the call sheet.  Even though Liz was written so OOC and her screentime lacked in comparison to Carina's faves.  It seemed weird at the time, but now it makes sense.

the THR article is so good regarding describing Carina's toxic behavior and mentioning specifically Jeanine being someone she had friction with on set (along with other actors). I totally get Jeanine's issues with how things were going because it is supposed to be Liz's story primarily and all Carina seemed to care about were Michael and Malex. To Carina it was fuck Maria especially but everyone else on this show aside from her faves and it was glaring in the screentime plus how the characters were handled. It was a favoritism that bled over into how the mainstream media handled covering the show where even they focused on Michael, Alex, and Malex over all others when it should have been about Liz first. The mainstream media contributed to spotlighting Carina's favorites as well and enabling Carina's fangirl behavior. At least some more fan driven sites were seeing the writing / favoritsim issues and beginning to call it out like here: https://www.tvfanatic.com/2020/06/character-convo-dissecting-roswell-new-mexicos-maria-problem/. But Carina did a lot of damage and seemed to go unchecked for a while. I hope the studio can find an experience showrunner who isn't from the Julie Plec school of racism to replace Carina. I'd love for HR to start paying attention to actors on social media and they're ok with racism in one fandom because they use it for merching but that's a discussion for another day. 

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Honestly, it might have been any of the actors other than Vlamis and maybe Tyler. She was friendly with Nathan on TO, but he got pretty sidelined this season too, to the point where half of us expected Michael to be revealed as the savior. And we've all talked about how terribly Maria/Heather has been treated. But I had heard so many rumblings about Jeanine, and Liz got written SO terribly in S2, so I'm not surprised that appears to maybe be valid. 

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3 minutes ago, Chick2Chic said:

the THR article is so good regarding describing Carina's toxic behavior and mentioning specifically Jeanine being someone she had friction with on set (along with other actors). I totally get Jeanine's issues with how things were going because it is supposed to be Liz's story primarily and all Carina seemed to care about were Michael and Malex. To Carina it was fuck Maria especially but everyone else on this show aside from her faves and it was glaring in the screentime plus how the characters were handled. It was a favoritism that bled over into how the mainstream media handled covering the show where even they focused on Michael, Alex, and Malex over all others when it should have been about Liz first. The mainstream media contributed to spotlighting Carina's favorites as well and enabling Carina's fangirl behavior. At least some more fan driven sites were seeing the writing / favoritsim issues and beginning to call it out like here: https://www.tvfanatic.com/2020/06/character-convo-dissecting-roswell-new-mexicos-maria-problem/. But Carina did a lot of damage and seemed to go unchecked for a while. I hope the studio can find an experience showrunner who isn't from the Julie Plec school of racism to replace Carina. I'd love for HR to start paying attention to actors on social media and they're ok with racism in one fandom because they use it for merching but that's a discussion for another day. 

I LOVED that tvfanatic article.  It didn't pander to the show and Carina the way a lot of them seem to and it brought up all of the valid criticisms and issues that a lot of the fandom and people involved in the show wanted to ignore.  I don't usually love articles about this show, but that one is by far my favorite thing.  And now so is the THR article.

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(edited)
1 hour ago, Avabelle said:

Who knows. I’m kind of curious to see what happens next. I suppose she could go back to writing for Plec again. Isn’t Legacies still going?

It's a WB show so I don't see her going back to Legacies.

Plec signed a development deal with Universal so she might be able to give her a job...eventually when she has a new show. Assuming Plec is willing to stick her neck out

Edited by Morrigan2575
27 minutes ago, Cristofle said:

Wowwwww. I had no idea she heavily re-wrote all the scripts! What's the point of hiring poc as writers if you are literally going to erase their work? Which I guess is essentially what is being said in that thread. 

She definitely seemed to have issues with control...if she could have written all of the episodes herself, she would have.  I don't think she likes anyone else getting the praise.

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19 minutes ago, ellieart said:

She definitely seemed to have issues with control...if she could have written all of the episodes herself, she would have.  I don't think she likes anyone else getting the praise.

She had a vision for what she wanted to air re: stories and who she wanted to spotlight. Her faves.

Seems those in the writers room disagreed with her on things, esp her handling of Maria. 

Carina's marginalization of Maria was intentional, spiteful, and racist.

Edited by Chick2Chic
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3 hours ago, Cristofle said:

Honestly, it might have been any of the actors other than Vlamis and maybe Tyler. She was friendly with Nathan on TO, but he got pretty sidelined this season too, to the point where half of us expected Michael to be revealed as the savior. And we've all talked about how terribly Maria/Heather has been treated. But I had heard so many rumblings about Jeanine, and Liz got written SO terribly in S2, so I'm not surprised that appears to maybe be valid. 

With the whole HR thing and tension with JM and with how Liz was written WAY OOC this season from what I've heard - I think that it's highly possible Carina was retaliating and JM filed another complaint - retaliation is a huge no-no and in this climate you just can't get away with that anymore. With the whole ITV thing blowing up, I think WB just said, screw it - she's out.

I'm just so happy about this I cannot even right now.

I don't want to begrudge Malex fans - but tilting ROSWELL which is supposed to be about a guy who loved a girl so much that he risked EVERYTHING to save her to be pretty much about anything but to the point where the ROSWELL ethos is just lost and characters just don't make sense - no - that's not Roswell and I'm SO glad she's gone.  SO GLAD.

I haven't been this happy since they killed Katrina on Sleepy Hollow and even though that still led to the exit of NB and her blacklisting, I don't think that will happen here.  They'll either climb out of this hole in S3 and it will get another season, or they won't and that's a wrap and the OG show will still be supreme as it has far more episodes.

*grins evilly*

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41 minutes ago, Chick2Chic said:

She had a vision for what she wanted to air re: stories and who she wanted to spotlight. Her faves.

Seems those in the writers room disagreed with her on things, esp her handling of Maria. 

Carina's marginalization of Maria was intentional, spiteful, and racist.

HOLY Shikes that is damning.  I mean - wow.  I read through that thread - he is calling her out completely.  He calls her White women Woke and says it's all about her centering white characters and then having the PoC dancing around in the background as props.

Whew.

I knew going in to S2 that it was gonna be a mess and I bolted before my eyes bled - but no idea it was going to be THIS Bad and that she was just going to continue her reign of racist terror in S3.

One chuckle I have gotten out of this is that Michael Vlamis is going to have to grow up really fast - no more gravy train with Carina where you get over and the expense of the cast - except Alex.

And can I just say - this Alex is NOT Roswell Alex.  He's nothing like Alex in the books or the OG show.  He has NEVER felt like Alex to me, and Liz, Maria and Alex have never felt like real friends - the "friendship" only comes up when it's time to bash Maria over the head with it.

Whew.

I feel like dancing a jig.

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7 minutes ago, phoenics said:

HOLY Shikes that is damning.  I mean - wow.  I read through that thread - he is calling her out completely.  He calls her White women Woke and says it's all about her centering white characters and then having the PoC dancing around in the background as props.

Turns out Carina was even grimier than we thought she was. She may have even outdone Plec with her shenanigans on set and in the writers room.

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