Chris B

Kelly Monaco has been phoning it in for around 10 years. Seeing her fans lose it on Twitter has been a sight to see. She's lucky she kept her job as long as she did when you consider there effort she put in on screen.

I purchased Rich Man, Poor Man a few months ago and recently started Book 2 which is the soap spin off. I loved the original mini-series, but I had taken some time to watch the spin off because reviews said it wasn't any good. In retrospect I do think it was very good and is a forgotten pre-curser to the big boom of primetime soaps. It also doesn't appear to have done bad in the ratings so I'm surprised they didn't keep it on the air longer. My guess is that it was the lack of confidence in the soap genre. The tv series jumps ahead in time so it has some new actors, but they do a good job of tying things up and launching the new stories. Susan Sullivan is playing another Maggie, as Peter Strauss' love interest/lawyer. They have a Bobby/JR rivalry at the center with cousins Wesley and Billy who Strauss' character takes in once their parents are dead. They're played by good actors but have the weakest story of the bunch. One works for the family business and the other is in the music industry which doesn't make much sense to me. If they wanted to pit the two against each other they both should've worked for the family business. I still have about half a season to go. Once I finish I'm going to either do Second Chances/Hotel Malibu or The Yellow Rose. Not sure which one I will do first. I'm also watching season two of Knots Landing but I'm trying to slow down to give them a chance to upload season 3 to streaming so I'm not left high and dry when I run out of episodes.

I would like something like the first four seasons if the show did return. The main focus on the cul-de-sac and domestic/family issues, but serialized. With that said, Knots is one show I never want to see return. I don't think the writing would be up to snuff. Whoever writes it would just view it as another primetime soap and we'd get a camp mess that doesn't represent Knots. Now a fantasy idea I've always had that would *never* happen is a one off limited series of 6-8 episodes with the original cast. I'd frame it around Mack dying which would be a way to bring everybody back. Paige, all of Karen's kids, Abby, Greg, etc. Instead of trying to build a next generation, I'd use it as a send off and show how Karen deals with losing another husband and you could also die an off screen Eric death to further highlight the depth of loss Karen has had. The only person I'd have still living in the cul-de-sac that we know would be Val. Since she was a writer I'd have her now being a podcaster and investigate what happened to Mack. You could tie a mystery in to Greg due to his past with Mack. Because of the ages of the cast this would never happen, but I love when tv/film takes changes on older actors. This is one aspect of life we rarely get as the main focus, but when they do (Grace & Frankie/Thelma) it tends to be very good.

The scream I let out when I read this! I will say, I usually skip her episode of Knots, but I listened to it with the commentary from Ted and Joan and it made me appreciate it more. I do think she came back as a cooler Lucy during her second run of Dallas. Of course they still did nothing with her lol. I'm glad we got to see Gary, Val and Lucy back together again on the Dallas reboot.

I was sad to see Laura go, but I enjoyed how they wrote her off. The only thing I would've done differently is to let us see her go drop Daniel off with Richard so we could get a closure scene for them. I think if you look at the evolution of what Laura went through and how strong she had become, I do believe she would've wanted to go off and die alone. She finally found happiness and was having to leave a good husband and a newborn. I could see how that could be hard to face with them around her, like she failed in the end. Overall I did love season 8. I thought it was a nice refresh. I know it's super controversial, but I loved Karen's kidnapping and how it tied into Mack and Greg's past. I also loved the Jean Hackney plot. It was different for Knots to do a spy story, but I found it believable for Ben and I loved how it brought us back to the Val/Laura friendship. When it comes to exits, the one that I really struggled with was Lilimae. Couldn't they have just dropped her to recurring? It was especially hard when they brought on Aunt Ginny who was clearly a carbon copy of Lilimae. I wish we had more of her, but I'm happy she got a happy send off. Another missed opportunity I feel is in the final season. With Val "dead" and Dallas off the air, I think this would've been the perfect time to bring Lucy on. I would've slotted her into the Vanessa role instead of that horrendous actress they got. I think Lucy would've made sense as a schemer getting involved with the wrong man and not knowing. She could've also provided support and tension for Gary.

Thank you so much! I didn't expect to get to see a clip of it. Would be lovely if she could upload the full thing. Do you know if the script is available online or is it a situation where you have to visit to view those papers?

I was sitting here searching the net to see if I could find anything related to the daytime spin-off (which is a dream of mine to see) and I found out something even more interesting. It looks like a pilot was filmed for a one hour late night version of the show in 1979. At first glance I thought it was talking about Murder In Peyton Place, but this is completely different. Here is what it says on the Return To Peyton Place wikipedia page:

From a writing standpoint, everything we've heard seems like it's on the right track. I like the location, that politics are involved and the diversity of the characters. I still find it unbelievable a US soap is going to have so many Black characters lead a show. Not one of the existing ones treat their minority characters like anything more than supporting tokens. Not to mention that they plan on having gay characters. If the production model is modernized, that coupled with the stories could definitely bring in new eyeballs. I wonder if at any point we're going to start to see the other soaps fight for the spotlight. We don't know the timeslot and for all we know they could move either of the Bell soaps to give it the best timeslot/lead in. When you watch Y&R and B&B, it's business as usual, if not worse this year. GH is a total disaster and has been in a ratings freefall for months. This could easily be the soap up against GH, but they aren't using their diverse characters and overall the show just isn't very good. I'm surprised that at least at CBS they don't seem to be pushing their soaps to do better just so ratings are in a good spot when this launches. Neither show has even one stand out story to draw viewers in.

I was wondering, did the script ever leak or more detailed about the AMC primetime reboot? I'd be curious what characters it meant to have.

I would hope they're the restorations but we still have to wait and see. When it debuts I'm going to check out some of season one to see if I notice any quality differences. I just finished season one on DVD (which was fantastic btw) and I thought the DVD print was already pretty good. I bet it'll look amazing in HD. I've never hated season one, but I didn't appreciate how well they pulled off the self-contained format as I did with this re-watch. There was so much care to so many aspects of the show. The writing, the casting, the directing, the set design, even the wardrobe. They did a fantastic job of laying the foundation of what was to come.

Paramount bought the Aaron Spelling collection so they would be who handles Sunset Beach for any streaming or DVD deals. Looking at it, I think it seems Peacock could do a decent soap collection with Days, Generations and Passions. They could even look into a Generations remake or reboot which could be paired with Bel Air. But Disney is who would have the money maker with all those big names.

Looking at the way streamers are set up, I think it would make sense to have soap hubs. CBS/Paramount Plus could have Sunset Beach, 90210, Dynasty, Bright Promise with their current episodes of B&B, Y&R and The Gates. Maybe add classic collections for the Bell soaps. ABC is in the best position to do this between Ryan's Hope, Loving/The City, Port Charles, All My Children, One Life To Live and General Hospital. I'm not sure what soaps NBC/Peacock own, but if they had Passions, it would definitely get some eyeballs on Peacock.

So far it's just available on the live channel. This is an odd rollout, but I'm hopeful they expand it soon. At the very least they could make it available for purchase.

I think he would've been a better Tucker than Trevor St. John. TSJ has a problem where if he isn't 100% invested in the story, he gives up and you can tell in his performances. I feel like DeVry would've worked better as Bryton's father and he's just an overall better actor.

I'm towards the end of 1993 and I'm REALLY struggling to stick with the show. A major story is Taylor is in Scotland with James working through his issues with his parents. The show is so slow and I'm not interested in anything that is airing. I hope that it shifts once I hit 1994 which I think is in just a few episodes. Wasn't 1993 the year that Bill Bell gave the reigns over to Brad? Maybe that is why I'm noticing this shift.

I'm watching the early years, currently in 1993 and I don't think Hunter was ever a great actress. She was beautiful and charismatic like Ronn Moss and they both worked in their roles, but they didn't have a ton to offer in terms of acting ability. Rebecca Budig on B&B isn't a horrible idea. I could see her as Kristen (written like her original run) or even Felicia. She does well in those spitfire roles. They could've even made her Kimberly. I just don't think she physically comes off like Taylor or a mother to 40 year old kids with grandkids. I also can't see her playing a straight heroine like that. Casting her as Taylor is taking away all of the things she's known for.

Oh wow! I guess my timing of buying the first two seasons wasn't awful. While I have no intention of watching the show on Plex, I think that is a good first step. I'm sure they'll expand it at least to purchase.

The way I always saw it was that Laura and Val were genuine friends and the Karen/Val connection came from Michele and Joan's love for each other. As the show started minimizing Laura's role, the relationship with Val was gone. Karen's closest friendships tended to be with the men IMO. People like Richard or Gary. And of course Abby was a wonderful relationship for her.

I don't think Victoria Rowell sings, but if she did get the role of Betty, they could change her back story to mirror Rowell's being a ballerina and incorporate that. It would lend itself nicely to the wealth they're trying to portray.

Rebecca Budig is all wrong for the role just based on what I've seen her do in the past. She seems too young, isn't the right look and I can't see her filling the characteristics that make Taylor who she is. This is just another Brad Bell last minute stunt. They had a good Taylor and lost interest. Regardless of how Budig does in the role, he will lose interest again and it'll just be up to if she's willing to stay on recurring once this intro story is done.

I imagine it would be cheaper to survive in Atlanta which might entice people to move. So many actors, including soap stars have already migrated to Atlanta due to the amount of jobs available.

VR posted this picture on Twitter and the new look and glam team makes me feel like she has something big she's going out for....could it be The Gates?

VR had a recurring role on CBS' primetime show Good Sam in 2022 and they heavily promoted her being on the show. She also had a movie released to theaters earlier this summer called Summer Camp and went on a promo tour for it. I think she's done a good job of keeping her name out there, it's just a matter of time before she lands something big that sticks. My only concern is that I know she's doing a show for Netflix/Tyler Perry, but the way he films his shows she probably could do both.

Should yall already be nervous considering MVJ was a producer and key part of the writing staff of Ambitions? People love to place all the blame on Jamey, but MVJ and Susan Dansby were also producers and pitching stories and writing episodes. Personally I enjoyed Ambitions (despite Robin Givens being miscast) and I was happy to see it get a second life on streaming. I think it was a good show but on the wrong network. I thought the show was well plotted and felt like a classic primetime soap with modern sensibilities. I also loved that it had a very diverse writing staff with people of all ages. I hope more of the younger talent gets snatched up, which we're already seeing on some of the other soaps. That show may have lasted one season but it's had a strong impact on the daytime community and created a lot of jobs. Not to mention, Ambitions is what put MVJ on Sheila Duckworth's radar for The Gates.

I've been ready for a re-watch, but with the streaming thing not done yet I decided to buy the first two seasons so I could start re-watching in good quality. I'm going to try to spread the episodes out to the end of the year in hopes it's released in November/December like Dallas was last year. So far I've done the first three episodes of season one and I'm reminded at what a good job David Jacobs did of establishing the series. The self-contained format could be hit or miss on some of the primetime soaps, but it works really well here. My biggest takeaways this time is how unique the character of Laura was from day one. The immediately establish Richard as a scoundrel with a lust for power and the way he disregards her is pretty amazing. It's episode two and we're already running into one of her previous hookups and Richard pressures her into sleeping with him to get ahead at work. Then when he finds out he manipulated her into thinking that isn't what he wanted which is how he maintains control of her. Another thing I had missed in all my previous viewings is that Kenny was having an affair with Sid's daughter Annie. I think that's an interesting nugget to place in the pilot since Kenny and Ginger give us our first ever cliffhanger when Ginger learns of Kenny's affair with Sylvie. I was a big fan of these characters and hate we didn't get more from them. Kim Lankford mentioned that when they left the show the plan was to give them a Nashville set spin-off but James Houghton didn't want to do it which upset her. I would've enjoying seeing them in their element.