Chris B

Married at First Sight is their #1 franchise but rarely tops 700,000 viewers. Their recent movies have averaged between 300,000-500,000 viewers. They supplement the ratings with their streaming platform, but based on the live ratings alone, I’d definitely expect to see some of these ladies again. I mean this is the second project in one year for Donna so they must be happy with what they’re getting from her.

That makes it the second highest rated program on Lifetime for the past two months. Only thing that did better was Donna Mills’ Dawn mini series which has around 600,000 viewers.

I have to echo the thoughts that Eric’s kids not being there ruins the story. Whether it ends up being a real exit or not, there is just no way you can credibly tell this story without them. If he lives, it won’t be a surprise because his family didn’t return which tells you it’s just a soap fake out. And if he does die, it becomes unsatisfying because it makes no sense that billionaires with access to a private jet wouldn’t make it to their fathers funeral. Brad Bell can’t do anything right. Everything is so lazy and half assed.

Eh, I'm not to sure how excited I am about them connecting the story to Casey. Casey wasn't the most exciting character and I can't see them using that actress for anything of substance. I'm curius if this is red herring and maybe Clair is connected to someone else.

All of these stalling tactics from the studios only hurts them. Regardless of when the strike is resolved, the studios will be canceling projects left and right. They can’t blame that on SAG. This is only going to hurt the studios in the long run. They won’t be able to promote any of their films coming out for the rest of the year and it’s going to delay all of their tent poles for next year. The studios need to just accept they’ve lost and move on.

I found it so odd that they showed so much Mariah considering how dirty they did her. I mean it’s the 10th anniversary of HER show and as far as we know she’s not even making a cameo. With that said, I’m still excited. They always deliver and I’m so happy Cone-Tessa is gone with that repetitive and fake marriage storyline. I’m more excited for them than I am for RHOP. The First Ladies of Bravo are back!

I'm watching in the states! I've only done week one so far but I was stunned at how much I enjoyed it. I watched maybe 100 classic episodes from various eras and I found the show to be very vanilla and difficult to get into. The reboot so far feels more modernized and soapy and instantly drew me in. Production values are fantastic as well! I LOVE that hotel set! The cast is also really nice. I'm glad they introduced a new family from the jump. I feel like they represent the new viewers and it's nice moving in with them, so to speak. My early favorites are Holly, Terese and Paul, but there is nobody that I dislike. The weak link is obviously Mischa Barton. I get why they cast an American, but she is just such a low energy performer. If anything, I feel like they should've cast a big US soap star. Mischa may get them a few headlines, but I highly doubt she's bringing any viewers in. A US soap star could inspire coverage in SOD and might convince fans to watch the show.

I got hooked on Eastenders starting with their June episodes and once I got caught up, I decided to try Corrie. I did attempt Emmerdale, but that didn't grab me. I've watched Hollyoaks on and off for years and it's just awful now which is how I finally landed on Corrie. The first episode I watched was a Paul episode and I kept watching because I remembered the actor from Footballers Wives. Now I've become fully invested in the show (I'm in early August). I'm sad to realize the character who made me interested is likely leaving soon due to the illness his character has. Overall I don't find the show to be as good as Eastenders is at the moment, but is still has a few storylines that have drawn me in. In addition to Paul, I love the Ryan story with him dealing with his acid attack and I looooooooooooove Paul's sister and her husband. I also have enjoyed the bits I got to see of Ken who looks amazing for his age. I'd love to see some of his best bits from the past. The production style of the show is great. Like the other Brit soaps, it has the benefit of regular location shooting and the sets all look real and lived in. The most difficult part for me is that they seem to have a very large cast and it hasn't been as easy to learn who everyone is as it was with Eastenders. I'm just glad to finally have started these two shows. I finally dumped the US soaps. The British soaps may not be perfect, but the fact that they're trying and telling new stories with diverse casts is pretty amazing.

A lot of people have cited the last strike in thinking things will change, but I think those days are over. I don’t expect any changes at any soap unless a HW chooses to step down. The days of a revolving door, new talent or trying to be great seem over. As long as they can product a PG show under budget, that’s all they seem to care about these days.

I’ve reached July 1999 of my binge that started in late 1997. 1998 was one of the worst soap years I’ve witnessed but I’ve been enjoying 1999. I liked his vet heavy 1998 was, but the stories were awful. The main story of 1999 is the Hope/Faith baby switch. Denise has been a brilliant new character and has great chemistry with Andy, Ben and Lily. Truly a shame she didn’t last. I do think there were some missed opportunities when doing a baby switch with a bi-racial baby, but overall I’ve enjoyed this. The other main story is how David Stenbeck has returned and is secretly pulling the strings. I will say I’m not a big fan of the actor and I feel this story is dragging on. I also don’t like the Julia character. Brad and Carly are another weak spot for me. The weakest part of the show is easily the teen scene. Chris is poorly cast, Katie has no personality and Eddie and Georgia are total drips. Terri Conn is lucky they gave her another chance because I could easily see them writing all of these characters off. A big disappointment for me compared to 98 is the severe lack of Hal, Lisa, Barbara, John (is he even on the show?), Lucinda and Kim. They all went from having great screen time to being extras. Now we have these Another World characters joining and I can’t say I’m impressed. I always found Jensen Buchanan to be bland so I wasn’t excited to see her. I know I’m at a point where a new Hw has started. I’m curious to see what changes that will bring. I know they last for a year until Hogan Sheffer joins.

I started watching after hearing all the Cindy buzz. BritBox had episodes from June so I started there and this is excellent! I’m almost to August and blown away with how good the show is overall. The writing, the diversity, the sets, multiple real stories going on. It’s made the US soaps unwatchable for me. Other than Cindy’s very clever return, I love Kim’s story with PTSD. Mental health can often be overlooked in Black households so it’s interesting to see this through the eyes of a Black family. Also, Kim and Denise have brilliant chemistry as sisters. It’s also so lovely seeing Gillian Taylforth who somehow looks even younger than she did on Footballers Wives all those years ago. Her character seems fun and I’m enjoying all of her wedding drama. Im taking a breather before I dive into August. I binged two months in a week so I want to chill a bit before I dive into Cindy’s return and get caught up.

I seem to remember Fox developing a remake of Eastenders. I wonder if this is what they came up with. I found it to be very promising. It’s so shocking to see them attempt a US version of a UK soap. I loved the community feel, variety of ages featured and how quickly it moved. If they ever launched another soap, I’d love for it to be in this format airing 2-3 times a week.

I feel like out of their short lived 70s soaps, the one with the best chance of breaking out was Return To Peyton Place. It had name recognition and its ratings weren’t bad. I would’ve paired that with The Doctors and along with Another World and Days, I think they would’ve been a strong lineup. I also think not expanding The Doctors was a mistake. It’s crazy that show was so successful and they just seemed to give up on it.

Even if Emily wasn't on the show, she'd be miscast as Theresa. If they couldn't get Jen long term, a recast is the only thing that makes sense.

Soaps are the one area of Hollywood where there are no repuccusions for anybody except the actors. I think the investigation results pissed them off enough not to care, but realistically, had they said anything before (which I'm sure some have), they would've been fired and blacklisted. This happens on all the soaps for many reasons. As we see here, Hollywood and the union isn't going to help you. These soap actors pay the same dues, but they're on their own.

I've skipped around 1998 and I can see what yall were saying the more I watched. I feel like It started out good when wrapping up the 97 stories, but the bulk of the year, especially the summer felt very weak. I also am not a fan of many of the newbies with the exception of Katie. It seems a little better towards the end of the year, but I'm hoping 1999 is a stronger year so I can watch a full year without wanting to skip around.

They’re all using uncredited scabs, but the difference between the Bell soaps and GH is that GH isn’t listing any writer credits which means their entire team is scabs. For Y&R and B&B at least they’re listing those who went Fi-Core so at least the people they have credited are facing the consequences that go along with being Fi-Core. With GH not listing anyone, it makes you wonder just who is writing and if they’re crossing the picket lines. Considering how much better the scripts have been, I’m sure whoever is writing GH is very experienced and likely angling off a job post strike.

Pre-Covid, they did say the pre-67 episodes would be app exclusives. I imagine they must know what they have by now from that era. I do wonder if they’ll go back to their original promise and upload that stuff. Even if they just had scattered episodes available, it would be a nice thing to upload considering.

Some more 98 thoughts as I continue to watch…Im starting to see the cracks in the stories, but I’m still going to continue. It’s much better than it became so there’s still many reasons to watch. It is so strange to watch Barbara as a normal character and not a psycho. I’ve seen her as the tortured heroine of the 80s, but am most familiar with her as the Psycho Hogan Sheffer created. It’s nice to see people care about her and not groan when she enters a room. I can express how much I’m enjoying John, Hal and Lisa. I always loved Hal and this is reminding me of how amazing he was. With John and Lisa, I don’t understand how the show lost interest in them. Both add so much to every scene they’re in. Lisa doesn’t have her own storyline, but she’s still well integrated and they use her relationships with the other characters well. Something that I don’t understand is the Jessica recast. It’s clear they asked for a Black female the same age as Tamara Tunie and that’s it. She is nothing like Tunie and while a good actress, it’s pretty obvious she’s just a stand in. They only use her as a lawyer which seems like a waste for a good character.

This is what I think as well. I imagine they could be negotiating with NBC for them, but the smartest thing is to say they’re lost so fans don’t hound them about it.

I found the mini series incredibly juicy and the perfect set up for a tv show. It felt incomplete to me as a miniseries. I feel you could’ve taken that story and done an entire first season that likely would’ve been successful. The NBC reboot didn’t grab me in terms of the story. I notice most episodes were written by the same person which may have been a bad choice. They had a very strong female cast, but the males were lacking. I also don’t understand why they killed off Chase who was so important to the mini series.

I’ve decided to watch from 98 on as I found the episodes online. I started watching around 03, so this is all new for me beyond a few episodes here and there that I’ve seen. Most of the classic ATWT I’ve seen has come from the Marland era in the 80s. The first thing that grabbed me with these episodes was the diversity. You have this great church fire at a Black church (which id seen before) and the show is currently dealing with the fallout from that. I know about a dumped Camille and Denise which is crazy when you see how well they’re integrated into the canvas. Another thing that is different from the Sheffer episodes is that you still honor the past. If you were lucky, you’d get a recast here or there with him, but in just a month I’ve seen returns from Iva, Julie and Caleb. And they played all the beats with those characters returning. The show also has a strong family feel and a good mix of characters featured. Im not sure what the public perception was at the time, but based on what I’m seeing, I’m not sure why they didn’t keep Addie Walsh on as HW.

THANK YOU for the tag!

The person on the Dallas forum who was involved in the Dallas remaster said the Knots remaster is already ongoing. I believe WB is going to remaster their entire back catalog, but we’ve gotten hints that like Dallas, something is coming imminently for Knots.

I’ll take what I can get, but I hope they do a complete series Blu-ray for both series. Streaming has proven to be so unreliable so I’d much rather have a physical copy.