Chris B

Ambitions was a great show and OWN should’ve kept it. Looking at the ratings for shows launched after, they definitely made a mistake in dumping it. The biggest issue was Robin Givens, but I’m sure that decision went above Jamey’s head. Now as for Days, it’s hard to use this to gauge the quality of his writing because he was joining such a bad team. We all know Carlivati is hit or miss. I don’t think he was wrong to suggest a Renee mention, but dragging this out and not including flashbacks is a terrible idea. To me, that all still lies with the head writer.

I would do a fast forward and on a Friday have the end scene he “six months later.” End with someone coming home to kiss their husband. For example, Donna coming home to kill her husband Bill. Then over the following week you start to reveal other things that have changed. Maybe someone is in jail, someone has died. The entire week is also building to a big surprise party which will bring all the Forrester kids back. Then on Friday have Stephanie walk through the door and everybody yells surprise!

I can’t believe we still don’t know what this twist on B&B is or even when it airs. You’d think they’d want to promote it if it’s as game changing as they say.

He’s been on for five minutes and already has been written into a corner. It makes you wonder why they bothered at all.

I'm really enjoying season 3 this time around. I still hate this Cole/Linda story, which may be my least favorite storyline just for the blandness, but the rest of the show is rocking on all cylinders. Julia is the most interesting she's ever been, Richard and Melissa are really hitting their stride this season and Emma just may be my favorite character ever. She is so sweet and much smarter than everybody gives her credit for. Having her full-time this season is great as she improves every scene she's in. I love her chemistry with Richard, Chase, Maggie and Angela. Cliff Robertson is an example of stunt casting that works and I would've liked him to stick around longer. Of course Laura Johnson was also a fabulous addition as Maggie's sister Terry. Other than Cole and Linda, I have no complaints.

In the case of Bonnie vs Adrienne, I do think Bonnie is a much more entertaining character than Adrienne. I've always found Adrienne extremely boring. I wouldn't mind her kids returning, but with Justin around I feel that's enough. Bonnie is at least entertaining and has more range. I think Adrienne is Judi Evans weakest role of any of her major soap roles.

Yep! Her real name is Victoria Camargo and her son Christian Camargo is an actor as well. That's how I found out about it because I was looking him up when I saw him on Dexter and did a double take when I saw who his mom was.

Ana Alicia also probably wasn't going into auditions trying to highlight her Mexican heritage which would limit her roles. I remember being shocked when I read Victoria Wyndham from AW was Mexican, but again, it's not surprising they don't acknowledge these things considering how Hollywood is.

I thought this Sarah/Renee thing was going to be something quick done as a tribute to the actress who passed away. I think that would’ve been fine. A couple episodes and give us some flashbacks, but the more they drag it out, the more ridiculous it becomes.

I thought it was just me. She is beautiful, but a dreadful actress. I don’t see how this is going to work. Jordan usually gets pretty good screen time due to her job and I can’t see this actress pulling it off. I feel like this should be an easy role to cast if they go a little older. Looking at the three Jordan’s, it’s hard to understand what they’re going for with these recasts other than too young, beautiful and Black. I don’t think either recast fit the personality of the original character.

I read Robert McCullough’s interview on FalconCrest.org and he definitely seemed like he would be difficult to work for. He also mentions being fired due to money, but I feel it was likely due to his conflicts, which he suggested he had with many people. He also said Abby Dalton (who he claimed was the problem) was made Carlo’s killer because she kept complaining about what he’d written for Julia in the scripts. I do think the show was smart to bring Ann Marcus on. I’m almost done with season two and I’m reminded how he would bring in the most bland, under developed and generic supporting characters. This season we have new love interests for Lance, Cole, Vicky and Maggie. All bland with no development and no purpose. I’m on episode 15 and all Vicky does with her married love interest is go running. No dates, no steamy sex scene’s, no drama with his wife. Lance’s love interest may not exist, because most of their meetings are off screen. Cole’s brief older woman fling lasted a few episodes and nothing came of it. The worst is next season when Cole married Linda, who couldn’t be more forgettable if she tried. On the writing front, I looked and in addition to Cyrus Nowrasteh, Joel Surnow of 24 fame and Sheri Anderson from Days of Our Lives made up the HW team for the final season. I wonder how Sheri got that job. I’d love to hear her talk about it. Lastly, I know it’s controversial, but I did love Maggie’s death. I thought that was dark and classic Falcon Crest. The family seemed cursed and she was married to one of the worst of them, so it felt inevitable. I think it was a bold move and the scene holds up well. It was a strong way to set the tone.

Clarke and Kristen are the main thing keeping me invested, although I’m not completely happy with the story. Them and any glimpse of Stephanie is the only thing keeping the show going right now, for me at least. The Stephen/Beth/Eric story is terrible and Eric is wasted in the story. Donna and Katie also come off terribly immature and beyond that are stuck in dead end stories. I was enjoying Brooke/Ridge/Caroline/Thorne, but the rape ruined that for me. I do love Brooke and Stephanie’s scenes as well. I’m happy to hear the Logan stuff is wrapped up soon. The writers just aren’t invested in those characters which is so obvious in any of their scenes. I’m ready to start seeing characters like Sally Spectra and later Taylor. I’m also beyond ready for Stephanie to have her own storyline.

I’m happy she did this. They write these teens like they’re in middle school and the story doesn’t go anywhere for them. Plus with her being Black, there’s only a matter of time before she becomes a background character. She got the experience, built a fanbase, now she can go to college and get a degree to set up her future. Acting will still be there when she graduates at 22.

That explains a lot. The pacing has been very odd and there’s lots of flashbacks. It definitely started to feel like something had changed. I may start jumping forward to the end of this writers strike. I’m going to try to find episode recaps and see if I’ll miss anything worthwhile.

I’ve reached a point in my viewing where I feel the show is in a slump. Kristin is doing this never ending dance with Clarke, when it’s clear he’s only interesting in Margo. Then you have this weird secret to some that Eric and Beth are dating, which has gone on far too long. Now Stephen is back and incredibly boring. Donna and Katie are acting like egg heads trying to reunite their parents and worst of all: Ridge raped Caroline. The last story is what has really soured things for me. She just got raped last year and they do it again?! I’m so disgusted by the Caroline/Ridge story and bored by everything else. As much as I loved 1987, I have to say that 1988 has been disappointing so far. I’m hoping the year picks up in the second half and that 1989 is a better year for them.

I'm very confused by this too, especially by people who previously seemed so anti-war. I have a close friend who has gone on an Anti-Biden bender and daily keeps blowing me up about how useless he and VP Harris are and how they aren't doing anything. I sent her a 22 minute speech he gave a few days ago and an article that outlined all of the sanctions and things they had planned. She acknowledged it, but kept saying it wasn't enough. Unless we send our military to fight it isn't enough. People don't seem to realize how serious this could be. Maybe it's because we're so removed from the Cold War, but if countries start throwing nuclear weapons around it's going to be a disaster for everybody. There is no winning in that scenario, not to mention the types of cyber attacks Russia can put on us, with our power grids and other things.

I just finished a re-watch of Dallas and and in the second half of 90210 now. Dallas, whew it was rough. I liked some of the new characters, but it's crazy how dull the show became. Larry Hagman and Patrick Duffy destroyed the show by only caring about showcasing themselves. Dallas needed the ensemble to work. 90210 I'm in season 6 and struggling, so I already know this is about to be a rough watch. Now Knots Landing? Amazing! Loved the final season and the reunion was fine. Dynasty also ended on such a great note, but like you said, they kept the feel of the show the same, just with a better writer.

I have very vague memories of those later years. I haven't watched them since I was 15-16 and I'm 34 now. I know Melissa was literally insane and I remember Falcon Crest burning down. Season 8 I remember being incredibly boring and I don't think I ever watched more that a couple episodes of season 9. I'm most curious to see how I'll feel about it. I know the writers were good and I don't mind a reboot, but I know the fans pretty much hate it. I feel like at that point they didn't have anything to lose.

This first season is such a blast! They definitely learned from the other soaps of the era and hit the ground running from day one. The writers immediately know these characters and have created a very dark and gothic Tuscany Valley which instantly stands out from the other soaps. I also love how dark some of the characters are. You have Angela, who is an absolute terror and both of her daughters seem to have psychological issues from the way she raised them. Julia's son Lance is a rich jerk and has no respect for his mother. The Giobertti's are the "good" characters, although I don't think Chase is very likable. The best part of the season is that they were able to weave a central mystery throughout which prevented it from going down the rabbit hole of bland self-contained episodes like Knots and Dallas had. I'm almost done with season one, but what I'm really excited for are those later seasons (7-9) which I don't really remember much of. I'm enjoying it while it's great and ready for the wild ride as things get insane.

Heroine my ass. I've been so shocked watching these early episodes and seeing how devious Brooke is. She's far more complex and interesting than I expected. She reminds me of a young Jill Foster. The chemistry with Susan Flannery is also insanely good from the moment they meet. Susan is such a powerful actress, but Katherine somehow holds her own. I would've been so intimidated working with her.

This was a very strange, underwhelming and pointless launch for them.

The show is insanely dull right now which is probably why they’re hyping this. I didn’t even realize they were celebrating their 35th anniversary this year. Normally that’s something fans would be looking forward to and talking about. All this hype and whatever this twist is, is just another Brad Bell attempt to generate temporary buzz when the show is in the crapper.

I have like 3 or 4 episodes to catch up on. I LOVE this show, but the way CBS airs it makes it so hard to figure out when it's on, since it always seems to be on break. I'm surprised the ratings remain consistent with the horrible scheduling. They either need to air it in 1 or 2 blocks, or order more episodes.

Although I didn't like the Marone's, it'll be nice to see Nick acknowledged. I agree with @FrenchBug82that it's odd that family was so central and he just disappeared. This episode doesn't sound like anything special, but I'm glad they're doing a showcase of KKL for the anniversary.

This was disappointing to me. Jamie was a great character and I loved how she was introduced. She was like an improved version of the Lucy character. I loved that she was smart and scrappy and knew the oil business and wasn't afraid to go against JR. She also had the best chemistry with Cliff IMO. I hated when she returned post-dream season and they retconed it to make Cliff and Jamie hate each other. She would've been a useful Ewing to have in those later seasons when they struggled to bring new characters on.