Chris B

I do wonder how B&B got around that because they didn't cut music when they streamed the show on YouTube. For ABC, some of that work might've already been done for the post-2000 episodes at least. I seem to recall when the soaps would re-air on SOAPnet that they already replaced the popular music.

Dark Shadows and The Doctors led the charge and it's nice to see B&B continuing it! I hope this is successful and encourages others to do something with their soap library. I feel like the no brainer would be ABC which has a full library that could easily build out it's own platform. My dream though is Days or Y&R. I'd love to see the first 10+ years of those soaps.

This season squandered their ratings and as we know, it's not easy to fix that on primetime soaps. THe fact that the dream season came next sealed their fate. They just went too far away from what the show was supposed to be about.

I'm finally in that second half of the series quality-wise, the Donna Reed season. I'm not going to sit here a bash her either. She was put in a difficult position and did the best she could. I do appreciate she had her own take on Miss Ellie and don't let it bother me since I know it's just one season. The show is still very watchable but it's not elevated anymore. JR and Cliff are becoming more comical, Sue Ellen has turned into a boring stepford wife and we're in our second season of them not knowing what to do with Lucy. The biggest problem this season is Jenna Wade. I always found Priscilla Presley's version to be one of the most boring characters in the history of the show. The story with Charlie's dad was boring and he was miscast. This is a show about wild Texans...why do you throw an Italian man in the mix? The story of his murder drags this season to the pits of hell. Then you have Pamela who has been isolated from the entire cast on a wild goose chase searching for Mark Graison, who wasn't around long enough to merit this type of attention. A highlight for me has always been Jamie Ewing. I thought she was an interesting character, moreso than her brother Jack and I feel like she should've stayed long term. I wish they'd kept her main focus on her love of oil and the business instead of turning her into a doormat for Cliff. I do think they had good chemistry but like with many of the women, they don't understand how to let women be strong long term. I am looking forward to wrapping this up and getting to the dream season. I know that has endless issues but I do find it to be a fun fantasy to watch. One thing I will say I'm not looking forward to is the destruction of Donna and Ray. He ended up with Jenna's boring ass and I found them to be such a grounding element to the show. I'm very curious how I will feel about Donna's exit season this go around. It's always upsetted me in the past.

I wouldn't have been mad had Ben stayed long term and been Val's main love interest. Val and Gary have chemistry but I never thought it was believable they'd be successful long term. One of the few things nuDallas did right was breaking them up. It's not that Gary is an inherently bad guy but his demons were so heavy plus he was a Ewing. I didn't even buy them in Back to the Cul-de-Sac. No way Gary went that many years without acting up.

I will say, they won me back over with Morgan Fairchild. Still talked over her but it was an interesting convo. I will say, for all of my complaints about The Locher Room, we get so many more BTS stories there than we do here. Morgan has been on so many soaps and we got very little about that beyond a story about her early days at SFT and her work on The City. Dallas, Falcon Crest, Flamingo Road and the others were largely overlooked. I also feel like they could've left out any talk of B&B considering how minor her role is.

ViewerAnon, an insider on Twitter, said that Buffy only appeared in the pilot for 30 seconds and it was written where her story arc would just cover season one. I imagine that had something to do with their hesitation. I'd also seen a few weeks ago that they were pushing for a longer episode order (18 episodes) and Hulu only wanted to do the standard 8-10. I'd love to see Buffy return but only if it's right. Some things are better left in the past. Especially the way tv works these days. I do think if you're going to do a Buffy reboot she has to be a central character and also, you do need a longer episode run to have those monster-of-the-week episodes. Hopefully they give it another pass and come up with something good.

Ron has had his ups and downs but I do think he makes sense as a guest and I'm interested in hearing what he has to say. Now on the Ron subject, I will say I was disappointed in the Donna Mills episode. I feel like they brushed over so much of her career and seemed unprepared and I hated all the focus on GH. Instead of asking if she'd return to daytime in general, they kept pushing her to return to General Hospital and said how Ron loved her and created this character and blah blah blah. Finally she said the role was one-dimensional and not satisfying to play. I was so happy she said that and shut it down. They could've gone into more depth about Knots or Love Is A Many Splendored Thing, her tv movies, her work with Jordan Peele, etc. but instead wanted to focus on a dreadful role she got on GH.

What I would do is have Jacob/Naomi and Ashley both live in the same building and use one set that can be redressed for both of them. Then the extra space can be used for something else, like a place for Vanessa. I also agree with you suggestion that Eva should move in with Leslie once her set is ready to go. I did love having Kat move in with the Grans. I love how soaps tend to have a bunch of people under one household. If these are supposed to be big mansions it does make sense and is good for character interaction. They could've easily had Dani/Bill (now Andre) living there as well and that would open up even more space. That could literally be Vanessa's set. I also wish they'd come up with something else for Joey instead of that ugly casino set. Couldn't they just make it a seedy looking bar or restaurant instead?

Yeah...she might be the weakest in the cast when it comes to those heavy emotional scenes. I was surprised at how Deanna ate her up on what was likely her first day.

The introduction of Deanna was better than I could've ever imagined. They really struck gold with both Deanna and Donnell and I really hope the show takes notice and makes them a real family. Vanessa is overdue for a home set (which they should've build instead of giving Joey a home) so the family has a place to ground their scenes. I find them more interesting than Chelsea, Madison or Martin and Smitty's kids. Vanessa gets decent screentime but I do think the show would benefit from expanding her role more which Deanna and Donnell give her the opportunity to do. I didn't love them having the ceremony at Uptown but with the budget constraints I'm not surprised. It kinda worked but it makes me wonder if a clinic was even a good idea if it isn't something we'll get to see. Plus, do we really need a hospital and a clinic set? I aint gonna lie, I didn't really care that Samantha was missing but I did miss Derek. I can't believe it but he's really come around on me in recent months. Dare I say it but I feel like he has stronger chemistry with Leslie and Eva than any love interest either has had thus far. I feel like Ashley and Derek both have so much potential and likability now that they're apart. Another thing I wanted to say is that I am starting to become sick of this cotillion story. Is it just me or have they been talking about this forever? For a teen centered event on a show where the teens are recurring, it's taking up too much screentime. This should've happened by now but they keep talking about it with no end in sight.

There was a big reveal with the impaler storyline. I wonder if that could be driving the ratings increases.

I've just reached some of my favorite episodes in my re-watch, when Sue Ellen crashes her car with Mickey Trotter with her. This is the big "Fight for Ewing Oil" season and might be the last truly great season. It's so well paced and every character is utilized in this constantly expanding umbrella storyline. Even Lucy had a good season! The one thing that drove me to post was just how irritating I find Sue Ellen during this rewatch. When I think of her I often think of the strong woman of the later seasons but I don't feel like that was earned. We see her being nasty for so many years that it is hard to find empathy for her when it comes to JR. Even this season she is repeatedly telling Bobby and Pam how much she hopes JR beats Bobby in the Ewing Oil fight, despite them constantly being there for her and supporting her when he mistreats her. At the very least she could just stay out of it.

I was ready to stop watching based on how bad the show has been but I do love Lexie (and Abe and Paulina) so I'm going to try and stick it out a little while longer. I've heard the new EP has started so hopefully that leads to some positive changes. It's hard to expect too much with the same HWs though.

This is my biggest problem with the show. I feel like the pacing has gotten so slow that they really can't do a cliffhanger because we know there isn't going to be much story movement. It seems like they're taking the GH approach of spinning all the stories in circles and picking one month for big reveals, then back to the same thing.

I feel like they struck gold with Donnell and it looks like it's going to be the same with Deanna. I hope the writers really invest in these characters. I find them both stronger than Samantha and Tyrell. Personally I feel this is where they need to start developing the second family. You mentioned Victoria Rowell and I could easily see her slotted in as the matriarch. It would be incredibly soapy to have her come on as Doug's mom to keep an eye on her grand kids and keep Vanessa in check. I also think there is a world where you can make her Dru, but that's another story.

I hope BTG can stay in the 1.7 million range for total viewers and only go up from there. It's nice to see some progress in the ratings. It takes soaps time to gain a loyal audience and I can see the show over 2 million one day. For all we know, they may not have introduced the right character or family to give them that final push. It's still early but promising!

I tuned in just to say I gave it a shot but was surprised at how much I enjoyed it! I had a lot of negative thoughts due to how Bravo handled the show and Real Housewives of London, but I'm happy to say both shows are great and completely different. I'd also argue this ensemble has more chemistry than the original Ladies of London which never quite got it right. I'll start with Misse, who I already knew from Real Housewives of Cheshire. She was kinda boring there but she fits with these women much better. She reminds me of a Crystal Minkoff in that she kinda drowned on housewives but grew over time and is now able to shine on a show that is a better fit. Mark and Martha were other highlights. I didn't know if a man could work but he made perfect sense within the cast. Martha is giving me Grey Gardens and I love every second of it. The only people I'm not 100% sold on yet are the Americans but I don't think anybody seems like a dud. I hope this show ends up being successful so it sticks around!

I loved Lexie so I am at least interested but the show has been so awful. I tried and watched around two months and had to stop because it was so bad. I know the new EP has just started airing but with the same writers I can't say I have much hope. I will try and tune in again and see how this goes but it sucks knowing it's yet another short term return.

I'm happy for everybody but I can't lie and act like I'm not shocked at how well the Bell soaps are considering the quality. Good for them as I don't want any soap failing but I'll just accept they're no longer for me. Happy to see BTG out of that 1.5 million range in total viewers. Hopefully they can stick with the 1.6-1.7 million range and then build from there.

I hope we get significant story movement in March considering how slow February was. I am beginning to get worried we'll have to wait until May for anything major to happen since they keep hinting to that month as when we'll have big reveals.

I found this month to be enjoyable because the scripts are so well written and the characters are engaging but the pacing is terrible. Last year it seemed like they rotated the main story every few months but with season two every story feels like it's in the same stage and you end up with a month like February. I guess the exception is Anita's story but that isn't enough. I hope March isn't more treading water and at least one story has significant movement.

I just saw it for the second time and I really loved it. I'd say this is in my top three. It wasn't perfect but for the first Sidney movie in so long, they did a great job of establishing who she is now and gave her a memorable family unit. This was nostalgic but also felt like it moved the story forward. I won't go into too many details because it's so fresh and spoilers but they definitely did a good job. Kevin Williamson's direction was excellent and you can tell her learned from Wes. He can craft a sequence like no other and all of the action set pieces felt unique and suspenseful. I feel like so many modern slashers (like most tv and film) just jumps to the point without remembering that the build-up and suspense is what really makes things scary. Coupled with his tv work, he was able to develop interesting characters and relationships. Don't listen to the fake reviews, definitely see for yourself!

I've been lucky enough to see the first year of so many soaps and I feel like BTG was one of the best, if not the best I've seen. Sure it had it's issues and wasn't perfect but the reason I gave the show so much grace is because so many soaps took years to hit the ground running. What I was looking for in Year One wasn't perfection but hope for the future. I feel like they've set themselves up in a way where I'm excited to see where it goes in future years. A good example is B&B which was fine when it started but really didn't get good until the Spectra family joined. Beyond that, it didn't break out in the ratings until Sheila arrived. Ryan's Hope is considered a classic but it also had growing pains. Y&R didn't kick off until the end of the first year once Lorie and Katherine joined and became the focal point of the show. Many have mentioned Santa Barbara, but that is another classic that needed extensive retooling. Although BTG could've done more to retool itself (recast Derek and Tomas), I feel like it has the bones of a strong series. Definitely not like some soaps which needed overhauls to be successful. Although I did enjoy PC, it never should've been created. When the show debuted it was clearly a thrown together network concept with no passion or vision. The original headwriters were painfully dull. LML was able to give it more spark but there is only so much you can do when the foundation is so weak.

I keep seeing a rumor on twitter that Lexie was recast and already finished filming. Do we know if this is true or just fanfic? I can't imagine why they'd bring her back, especially when you consider what a horrible job they've done with all these other returns.