Chris B

I feel like Marcus started out good as Nikolas, but once he got comfortable and felt he had job security, it's like his acting got lazy. EVERY scene partner he has eats him up in his scenes. But I do wonder what caused them to get rid of him, if this is true. It's not like Kelly Monaco isn't sleepwalking and she can keep her job. Maybe Frank is doing one of his classic stunt castings or perhaps they will bring back Tyler. I would love to find out he's turned his life around and can work again. I know in his State of Mind he mentioned that he wanted to work again. I wish him the best so if that's the case I would definitely welcome him back.

Forgive me if this has been mentioned, but I heard Days is introducing a Cass Winthrop who sounds a lot like the one from Another World. So far he's only appeared off camera in a phone call, but I imagine it could lead to more. On one hand I'm not sure why they wouldn't just bring the actor back as Julie's brother. I also wonder if P&G would allow them to use the character in a bigger capacity. Certainly an interesting choice for a random easter egg though.

I'll be back to give my thoughts on the launch! 4 episodes is going to be a gift and I love that they're doing that because it allows them to really let the stories breathe and develop instead of feeling like you have to oversell the premiere. Right now I feel like we're in a good era for housewives. Beverly Hills and Atlanta drove me crazy, but Potomac is having it's best year since season 4 and Salt Lake City is better than it has any business being considering everything they went through to produce the season. I'm so excited for MIA and Orange County to continue the momentum.

I’m going to start this tonight!

I've been back watching the show for like 3-4 weeks now and it's such an odd show. I feel they have many of the elements to make a good show, like the cast. I like the characters they've brought back and I see potential, but the show has no sense of urgency to any of the stories. Everything feels so slow and one note. It's almost like when a show is in transition waiting for a new HW to join, except we know that isn't the case.

I do, especially since his storyline and the people he’s interacting with are the same as Mike. I’ve heard about the Mike recasts, but I haven’t seen them yet. I’m very curious about that though. I know we have a few more to go through which is a shame because I got so used to having one actor in the role for so long.

I’m in January 1974 and I’m beginning to think Mike is going to be gone for a while. For a few months now there’s a new character, Dr. Alan Stewart and he seems to be filling Mike’s place on the canvas. So far the actor is fantastic and I’m loving him with Matt, Toni and Maggie. His scheming wife Margo is interesting as well. The pacing can be off, but the show keeps adding really interesting characters. It’s nice to see them expanding after keeping the cast small for so long. It also still feels very much like The Doctors at this point.

The majority of the B&B episodes get around 10,000 views each with some special episodes hitting over 100,000. When you consider the volume of episodes of people finding it over the years, there has to be a good stream of money coming in. All of those episodes are ad supported.

That’s because the actor complained about his character cheating. I do think she was meant to be long term.

SOAPnet was successful in terms of ratings. What killed it was that they needed a place for Disney Junior. And I’m not sure I would consider RetroTV a failure. They invested in overhauling their app, they committed to The Doctors and they’ve even tried to license the P&G soaps. They wouldn’t be leaning in if it weren’t doing well.

I'm with you. I've never bought that soaps aren't realistic on streaming services. The two reasons generally cited are the exact reasons they *would* be viable. 1. The volume of episodes. When Peacock picked the show up, they explicitly said they did it to drive year-round subscriptions. Bel Air was a breakout hit for them, but they only got a bump for one quarter when people tuned in to stream it and then cancelled. Since soaps air year round (and classic soaps have endless episodes), you have a better shot at customers keeping their subscriptions year round. 2. Cost. When you look at the cost of even a standard streaming show, you're looking at between $20 and $30 million for 8-10 episodes. Not to mention how high it becomes if it is one of the premium streaming series which can balloon to the hundreds of millions per season. Days' budget was reported as $29 million around 2010 so I'm sure it's lower now. I'm sure that's a win for Peacock compared to their other originals. I think the biggest issue has always been a lack of interest. Soaps are the red headed step child so people haven't been willing to look into it, but I think the success of Days on Peacock (Errol said they're looking at a two-season pick up btw) and Neighbours will change things for soaps. Now when it comes to P&G, there's no telling if they'll respond if contacted, but now would be the perfect time for them to be pitching to someone like Amazon. Even if it is just reruns of the classic episodes, I do think their library would be a hit for them.

The Pollock's can be so hit or miss. 1973 has been a mixed bag. I like the addition of Penny and Mona, but the writing for Penny is pretty weak so far and with Mona, they've completely dumbed down Steve to make the story work. I love her interactions with Carolee and Ann, but Steve has really suffered with her around. Ann is another example of a great newbie now that I think about it. I didn't realize I was watching his exit story, but he's been gone so long I believe I've seen the end of Peter Burnell's Mike. It's unfortunate he went out in such a dark way (hooked on drugs, forcing himself on Toni, potentially having sex with 16 year old Penny). It's like they threw the book at him on the way out. It's going to be incredibly difficult for the next actor in the role picking up from such a low point in his life.

With Trevor, I say that because both actors who previously played the part were 20 years older than him. I'm not a fan of deSORASing fully adult characters, although I'll admit I do enjoy him in the role. As for Jess, I'm sure she did move because she wanted to be there, but the reason that was something she could even consider is because the show wasn't using her, which she said in the press. If she continued as a frontburner character as she always had been before, I highly doubt she would've randomly decided to retire/step back when she did. Say what you will about JFP, but I will be eternally grateful that she saw Jess' value and brought her back to the show.

Conner Floyd I wouldn't be surprised. He's better than the previous Chance, but the character hasn't been interesting since John Driscoll was in the role. With Susan Walters, I wouldn't be surprised. It was obvious that bringing Diane back was a last minute stunt to juice the ratings and help JG save his job. I think it would be a mistake, but it wouldn't surprise me. Now Mark Grossman? That would be a shocker to me. I feel like if he were to leave it would be his choice because I can't see how they'd decide to get rid of him.

I'm sure it's the show and not Jess. They just haven't valued her in over 20 years. The reason she moved is because she realized that, not because she wanted to work less. Much like Tonya Lee Williams, she's someone who basically begged for years for a story and decided to move on when that never happened. I do agree with everyone that more Jill would only help the show. She is as strong as Victor, Jack and Nikki when it comes to vets and she brings a lot to the show, as we see in her brief scenes. Back when Jack was languishing for so long without a love interest, I thought it would've been the perfect time to reunite Jack and Jill and finally let them get married. Then you'd have two strong heads for the Abbott family and I'd have Jack carry on an affair with a younger women to try and spark a new iteration of Jill/Katherine with that woman in question. I came back to the show the past two weeks so I could see the Abby/Devon affair and the show has the bones of a great show. The cast is strong, they just need a passionate writer who can give them something to do. I even find I don't mind Trevor St. John as Tucker, despite him being too young for the show. This would be the perfect time for someone new to take over the show. I don't think any of the stories are that damaging, they just need someone who can write with a sense of urgency and add drama to the show. I can definitely see the Succession influence over the show, but they need to remember that this is a soap and amp it up.

It's beyond time for them to move forward with Selina Wu. I would love for them to do a health crisis for Selina and do a shocking reveal that Terry is her daughter. They can use Terry being trans to justify it by saying Selina cut her off when she transitioned. It could be a powerful story that is true to many trans people and their families. They could eventually work towards reconciling which would soften Selina up and then they could give her a love interest. When it comes to mob stories, at this point Selina is where it's at. Sonny I feel has moved on from that point and they've told every new story they can with him in that arena.

LMAO! I was being nice not saying it, but it is obvious when you see the Black actors in scenes with others and no matter how much heat they have the writers just won't touch it. Curtis and Laura, Curtis and Carly, Portia and Nikolas, Portia and Sonny, Jordan and Sonny, TJ and Willow. Not only that, but despite their popularity, I don't think Trina and Spencer have even had their first kiss. They're the money couple but it's clear the show doesn't want to commit to it. I wonder why GH has this hang up. The other soaps seem to be fine with interracial relationships now and ABC showcases it in primetime.

Portia should be with Nikolas and Curtis should be with Laura or Carly. They don’t have any chemistry together, but do with other people. I’m not sure why they’re still stuck together and I hate the Trina mess they’ve been teasing. They put Holly’s return on ice for a long time due to Emma Samms health issues. I’m sure they would’ve done the same for Robin. Maybe she just wasn’t interested in returning. Who knows? But I don’t mind. I think Alley Mills is doing a great job and she slid into the role pretty seamlessly for me.

SOD revealed in their podcast that the second season was destroyed in a fire but other than that it’s complete.

I love the characters of Brook Lynn and Chase and also the actors, so it probably is the writers fault. It's very hard to become invested in a couple on GH because so much of the relationships is either off screen or they drag it out forever. It would be one thing if it was just one couple, but it's literally all of them. The same goes for the storylines in general though. They just keep adding twist after twist, story after story, but rarely resolve anything until the fans are completely frustrated. If they ever replaced the HWs, I can't imagine how frustrating it would be for the new writers to track all of the storylines and attempt to write them up. You'd either get a month of brilliant storytelling as it's all wrapped up, or a sh*t show.

I don't know if it's the ridiculous amount of time it took their relationship to progress, but I feel the same. Their scenes are incredibly boring to me. It could be the story that bores me, but I dread whenever they're on screen.

I wish people would stop saying reduce costs. One of the biggest red flags fan lists is that five-day-a-week soaps are too expensive to work on streaming. That is a lie and I think Days is helping prove that. These streamers on the low end are spending between $25-30 million per 8-10 episode season of streaming shows. That is more than the budget for Days, which gives Peacock year round episodes, which means year round subscriptions which is very valuable for a streaming network. Then you have to consider the more expensive streaming shows which double, triple and sometimes quadruple the budget I mentioned and still only give 8-10 episodes. If we're being honest, leading into soaps (especially the ones with name recognition) would only help the streamers. The soaps ratings are comparable to what primetime shows get with MUCH more promo and it's always been said they do well on streaming. The issue is that the soaps aren't taken seriously so nobody cares, but they're all doing well for their networks.

It's about time! He was great as Stephen and I never understood why he wasn't brought back.

Victoria Rowell always has said that diversity isn't needed just in front of the camera, but behind the camera as well. Now that we have more truly diverse shows, I love when I watch a show with Black people and their makeup fits their skin tone, they're lighted correctly, the Black women can change their hairstyle because they have hairstylists who can do their hair and women of ALL sizes are dressed well. It can be done, but Daytime isn't hiring people who care about that. The fact that Maxie is a fashion maven and dresses the way she does is unacceptable. I don't care whats going on with Kirsten, it's just unprofessional on the shows part. Clothes exist and are easily available to make her look the part IF they want to. I'm catching up now and I do have a question. Carly keeps saying Reese died in a teenaged car accident, but didn't Reese come to Port Charles and die in the train stunt? I'm very confused. What did I miss?

But even at the lower end, they'd be making a profit off the show. That would be almost $50 million for a 12 month period and their budget is likely around $25-30 million max. That would be a better return on investment that most of their limited series which cost the same or more as a year of DAYS and can only drive subscribers for 2-3 months. Not to mention additional ad revenue on top of that and the fact that some (like me) pay $10 for the ad free version. Then after the first year if they renew DAYS and show a continued investment in it I'm sure most of the $1.99 people would stick around because they're already comfortable with the platform at that point.