Chris B

Business meetings.

Oh god! I forgot about Keemo. That one was a big disappointment considering how long it had been since Keemo was on screen. To not even allow him to appear on screen before killing him off was awful. I don't know what JG's obsession is with killing of legacy characters. I could understand if he were trying to introduce his own families but he isn't even doing that. It just feels like a waste and each time it's poorly executed.

Chance, Cole and Heather. It's insanity. Not only do these characters have potential but there was no fallout from Heather's death relating to her, we didn't see either of her parents. With Chance I wonder if it'll be any different since Jill and Nina are off canvas. Even if they do return for a funeral episode, they won't give him the tribute he deserves. Such a shame.

I love Dani and Andre and I've enjoyed seeing her more in support mode with her family. The one thing I can't get behind is her relationship with Pamela (a total dud) or anything involving modelling. I just can't see how they can take that anywhere so whenever they had these pointless meetings, it just feels like it can never go anywhere. And sure enough, almost 100 episodes in, it hasn't gone anywhere. They need to find something she can do that can keep her in Fairmont Crest and actually allow her to mix with the cast. This is why I suggested her open a spa or something. Even a nightclub would be nice, but modelling? What can they actually do with that? A fashion show once every six months? Who cares about that?

When it comes to June, if they're going to say she's suffering from a mental illness (which I don't think is unreasonable) they need to utilize Nicole to diagnose her. We've seen them interact once but that's it. I'd love to see Naomi meet with Nicole and ask if she can start working with June to see what is going on. Hopefully that is the purpose of the monopoly money.

Tamara Tunie was 30 in 1989 so I imagine the New Jack Swing so they've let us hear was probably at the height of The Articulettes success. 30 seems like a good age for her to leave the group and go solo and into a more jazz direction. I'm curious how their other songs will sound. I honestly expected them to have the Motown sound due to the similarities to The Supremes so I was pleasantly surprised when I heard the song initially.

Soaps are not dying and aren't expensive, they just aren't paid attention to. I do think Days at Peacock is a story worth celebrating (although they don't celebrate it themselves) as is BTG launching and doing well. The biggest problems soaps face when it comes to the future is new studio heads who don't understand their value. Look what happened with Neighbours: it was successful and likely one of the least expensive shows on Prime but a "new vision" caused the show to be cancelled. That is something I worry about with BTG but my hope is that because it's ratings are decent that they just won't pay attention and notice it's there. Now if George Cheeks loses his job I won't lie and say I won't worry.

I'm so sick of hearing about that modelling agency. I wish they would've just had Dani and Pamela open a sexy spa. Give her a camp set and a place where she can sleep with Andre, maybe a sauna where people can get out of their dress clothes. There is only so much they can do with a modelling agency and I can't see them ever making it a thing.

This makes me feel like his next gig is outside of the soap world which I wouldn't be totally opposed to. I never thought he'd be at BTG long. I always felt like it was a way to get on CBS' radar so he could potentially get a Y&R gig since that is the only other soap available for him to HW. I wouldn't be opposed to it after all we've gone through. At the very least, I don't think it would be boring which is the biggest problem I've had with JG.

I actually thought Latham had the most potential of the post-Bell headwriters. When she was still working with Kay Alden and Jack Smith I think the collaboration worked and she did have some good ideas. I especially loved how much she featured Dru and Neil. The mistake was making her EP and giving her so much power that the balance was thrown off. Unfortunately, that has become a trend and now we have a similar situation where JG is HW and EP with no real oversight. This is the biggest problem. I do feel there were times they could've replaced him but not right now when the ratings are strangely really strong. There doesn't appear to be the same quality control in recent years. Look how long it took Ron Carlivati to leave Days or the GH writers switch. The biggest shock was how fast they got rid of Patrick Mulcahey. I don't understand how Y&R has been able to maintain such strong ratings, particularly with this current storyline. They've been sitting in those fake looking bushes for over a month. Of all the sets to create I can't believe that is what they wasted their time on. For one, it can't be recreated in a studio realistically and limits their movement so much. I imagined it would last a week, maybe two, but as long as they've been there is ridiculous.

I kinda like Chelsea but I wish they'd play up the comedy like some British soap characters. I've said it before but she reminds me so much of Carmel on Hollyoaks who had a heart of gold but was as naive and dumb as it gets. Looking at the situations she gets herself in, that would be a great model to take Chelsea in. I could absolutely see Chelsea doing something inappropriate and public like this scene:

I'm happy that everybody seems to be excited about the studio move. I hope that at least visually they give us something to look forward to. I know we can't count on anything storywise but I'd be willing to tune in for a while to see how the show looks.

I feel like Greg (and Leo) are more popular amongst Days fans than social media would suggest. I personally find him one of the highlights of Days. I could do with a better backstory but he gives me a little bit of the Sami I'm missing with Sweeney gone. Two episodes in and I do enjoy Soapy. I knew the hosts would annoy me but I found them to be a bit better in episode two. I can see them growing into competent hosts. I like that they have soap knowledge and seem engaged in the conversation as opposed to say The Locher Room where Alan is often un-prepared, lost and only listening enough to jump to his next question while disregarding what the person previously said. The real test will be this weeks episode since it's with someone neither has worked with. Diedre Hall was a wonderful interview. I love that she touched on some things we (or at least I) don't often hear her speak about. I loved that she brought up the SIDS story which I only recently learned existed. I've always wondered what happened with her at Y&R and we finally have more insight there. I think it's insane such a big soap star was an original cast member on the #1 soap and has never returned (and it's rarely acknowledged) despite her being such a huge star. This makes me even more interested in seeing the early years of Y&R. I can't imgine how she lasted two years the way she described her characters purpose.

I do agree with you that type of retcon wouldn't align with what they've been giving us. I think it's just that even when we get nuggets of the Richardson family, it just doesn't work for me. The only person I feel Martin has chemistry with is Kat and we rarely see them together. I do think Nicole and Smitty have a nice chemistry though. This makes me wonder if it was a situation where everybody wasn't on board because nothing about this screams that they got the actor they wanted or were waiting for.

Just finished catching up on the week and I thought it was impressive! I love how complicated my thoughts are coming out of it, the sign of good writing. I feel like so many of the characters involved handled this wrong and I can see everybodys point of view. I understand Nicole and Smitty's anger but I also understand why they weren't kept in the loop based on their reactions. I understand why Anita and Vernon did what they did but also that they could've handled it better. Another thing I've really enjoyed over the months is the continuing theme of Nicole being left out of the loop on things. I feel like that is another complication I didn't anticipate from the beginning and it's making her relationships much more interesting than they could've been. She's Vernon and Anita's golden child and now this is going to damage their relationship. It would've been easy to make Dani the bad Dupree but they've done a good job of making all of these characters feel human and imperfect. I'm so glad Anita and Vernon aren't the wise elders dispensing advise over tea. This storyline has made Vernon grapple with his morals and moral failings. One element I do agree with yall on is that the Richardson family does feel under-developed. This all boils down to the fact that Martin should not be Nicole and Ted's son, he only makes sense as Anita and Vernon's. I'd love a twist where they say due to Nicole's infertility issues that Anita let her have Martin because she couldn't raise him due to her career or something. That could explain why they seem more like his parents than Ted and Nicole. I also think that the Ted recast has 100% killed his character. When I look at the lack of screentime the recast has gotten, it makes me wonder if the decision came from higher up. It doesn't seem like a case where the writers wanted to take him in a new direction because they don't seem excited to write anything for him.

This looks like it came together nicely! Love that they're holding teacups in the intro and the cameos from Caroline Stanbury and Dorinda were pleasant surprises! If Bravo doesn't air this it'll be out of spite. Thankfully I have a Hayu membership and VPN!

People are more critical here but I find in other areas that the show seems to have more support. It's always trending on twitter these days and people seem to be enjoying what they're seeing. I've also seen more interest on other boards. Of course they were also seeing an uptick in ratings but I don't know if that will be lost with the week off. Overall from what I've seen, this Martin story seems to be drawing people in.

I haven't really had a problem with BC. I've enjoyed his performances and don't think anybody is propping him up. Today's episode was very strong and tense in large part due to his performance. I love how they've kept the momentum up so we can tell that the secret is finally coming out. The other major highlight for were the Ashley/Haley scenes. They have a nice chemistry and it's refreshing to see Ashley outside of the relationship with Derek. All either of those characters needed was to get away from each other. Well he also needed to learn to act but I'm happy we're past that. Ashley has shown herself to be a bit of a mess so I wonder where she's going to land with Haley. Vernon and Bill's scenes were also excellent. I loved Vernon calling his wife as things escalate to a 10. All in all this was a great start to the week. I can't wait to see what comes next! This is now potentially 3 blockbuster weeks in a row. I hope the ratings reflect it.

I don't know how I feel about that but I'm open to it. I love the idea that Monica will get an actual send off storyline instead of just an episode. This could work of executed properly.

This is such a shame. It didn't feel real for so long because the second season on Amazon has been *so* good that I just refused to accept that it was going away. It's bittersweet. I guess it's a good thing the show is going out on such a high note but it leaves me wanting more. They finally figured out the new cast and how to weave in guest spots from past cast members in a meaningful way. They added more drama and intrigue, hell they even had a successful US crossover with Chrishell Strause doing some of her best work.

I hadn't thought of this but I love that idea. I want June to be connected in a different way from what we expect which is Haley or Dumb and Dumber. Would be a nice surprise and also tie into Naomi's reconciliation with Bill to reunite him with a sister she may not have known about.

I felt the exact opposite about the past two weeks. I feel like the show has built a lot of momentum and I've been enjoying seeing the Martin story develop. I love that it's bringing the male characters to the forefront for the first time and exploring new dynamics between them. Seeing Vernon in a new light has been a revelation and Clifton Davis is eating up the material. Bill has become more interesting and I'm glad they're developing Elon and Marcel more. The biggest winner next to Vernon is probably Smitty. They've finally found something that works with him developing his reporting career and his chemistry with Jacob is excellent. They've already done quit a bit of bed hopping in 4 months, I don't think you necessarily need that since Jacob and Naomi are such a stable couple. I love the chemistry of Jacob/Kat and Jacob/Smitty but I don't want them to be romantic. Plus, they introduced two new triangles: Ashley/Andre/Dani and Ashley/Derek/Shanice, so we do have more bed hopping going on. On a side note, I noticed a video the actress playing Shanice posted about the triangle went viral on Instagram. It has over 5,000 likes and over a million views. I hope the show is taking note and keeps that story going. People have been asking for more Shanice and are responding well. What I like about the dialogue is that it is more modern and weaves in current slang. I feel like it depends on the actor to sell it but overall I do enjoy it. I do agree with you here. I hate to say it but one of the weakest links for me has been Susan Dansby. I say that because she's the Script Editor but there have been so many continuity issues with them not syncing the time of day for the various scenes and carry over from episode-to-episode. When it comes to hair, the one I feel they can't get right is Naomi. I see they're debuting a new wig for her next week. Her best look was week one and I feel they should stick to natural hairstyles for her. The only other person whose hair bothered me was Kat but I love her new wig. It's more natural and finally doesn't look like a hat sitting on her head. This actually worked for me. Martin knows that Kenny is targeting his kids and since he can't tell them, it makes sense he followed her. She did tell him she was going to the park after all. I do agree that I don't think Joey is as big of a threat as they make him out to be. I don't mind that because I don't want him written into a corner but I wish they'd do something to soften him a little bit. Introducing Ashley as his daughter would be a good way to do that. I feel like they're at the point where they need to decide what they want from Joey and go all in. I like the multiple villains and the fact that we have multiple stories going. I feel like Kenny and Alison are more short-term villains whereas Leslie is long term. I do agree with you that it's time to go forward with something new for Leslie. I'm ready for them to start the next phase of this story and show us how she's going to manage to stick around. 100% agree! Ever since Turtleneck Ted left, Randy is the #1 guy on the show for me.

From what I've read, the new studio is one of the oldest ones in Hollywood but isn't nearly as successful as it used to be. As a result, my guess is that they are paying less in rent and just based on how the studio is set up, they'll end up with a larger studio. The money they're saving on rent, plus the added space could give them an opportunity to expand and enlarge their sets. Part of the struggle with changing out the sets is the cost for a crew to take down and put up the different sets. The one soap (not including BTG) that has avoided the set crisis is GH due to the unique model that Frank Valentini uses where they exhaust all the scenes for each set which allows them to have more variety (and bigger sets) than the other soaps. I don't know why the others don't use the same model.

See I actually am on Anita's side here. Some of the bands from this era are doing the tour circuit and some of them (Mary Jane Girls/Expose) look ridiculous trying to recreate what they did in the 80s as women in their 60s. It would be one thing if The Articulettes came from the Motown era with minimal choreography but I don't think anybody would expect them to be doing that in their 60s. Where Anita went wrong is that she already had someone lined up and you could tell her mind was made up. All of this should've been discussed up front and they could've decided together. I definitely see why the women thought she was taking control. I get it's her money but she should be including them in these decisions so they feel like a real part of the process.

If it means getting location shooting, I don't care about stuff like that. I didn't even think of that when watching it, I was just so excited to see them get outside of the studio. That scene was so much more impactful than if Martin walked in on them sitting at a table at Orphey Gene's.