Chris B

I have to join in on the Eric Steinberg love! I thought he was a fantastic actor and it was so different seeing a sexy Asian man with agency who felt equal. He also took Jess Walton out of a years long rut. Imagine had he remained the amount of years Colin did! With his exit I don’t hold that against LML. One of her big things has always been diversity and I’m guessing there was push back from him being a leading man. Another sad cast to add to the list is the Williams family in Knots Landing. Due to budget cuts they wrote off Julie Harris and Constance McCashin. Constance’s character Laura filled out their housewife group and with the Williams matriarch Pat she filled the void left by Laura. Their initial story in the witness protection program was EXCELLENT and full of thrilling scenes. Both Lynne Moody and the actor who played her husband (the late, great Larry Riley) had dynamite chemistry with the cast and fit in *perfectly*. They had toyed with Pat having an affair with lead hunk Gary Ewing, but the network didn’t allow it and slowly they fell into the background. Eventually Lynne Moody asked for leave and was killed off, then Larry Riley died which meant writing off his daughter played by Kent Masters King and then the entire family was gone. It was so sad because the show was trying to reinvent and add new characters and they literally added three excellent character who could’ve given them years of good story, but they weren’t allowed to write for them. There’s so many cases where this has happened and it drives me mad.

The creator of The Yellow Rose was so against the soap label, despite writing for Peyton Place. It’s a shame because it seems from what I’ve heard that he understood the format since many say Yellow Rose started good. Also, Peyton Place is an amazing starting ground considering how well plotted and character driven it was. I wouldn’t look down on that.

As soon as I heard about Kit it ended my plans to watch this reboot lol. I understand Pam Grier was on another show, but I wish they’d left it open to her returning later. She was the heart of the original series for me.

Season 12 was draining and mediocre to me so I am happy they swapped the order and aired All Stars second. This is a nice change of pace. I love the lineup of women and the first episode was great The talent show always annoys me because queens make our money lip syncing and they obviously can’t use regular songs so I feel it’s more difficult than if they truly had to showcase their talent. With that said, Mariah (stunning and timely!), Miz Cracker and Jujubee really impressed me. You could tell Shea wasn’t comfortable on the pole so that fell flat. India I know they loved, but her style of drag isn’t for me. It just seems so dated. Derrick was HILARIOUS! Just like on his season he is so tired but has a lovable airhead personality. He definitely is good for tv! Going forward my favorite as of now is Jujubee with Mariah behind her. I hope Ongina can improve. I’ve been waiting for her on All Stars and she was great on season one. Tammie, Shannel, Bebe and Nina all did great on All Stars and it makes me sad that she’s the first season one girl to return and fall flat. Also, for next season I’d love for Nina and Tammie to get an All Stars redo. The team aspect royally screwed them And both were years ahead of their time. I still hate how Tammie returned so game to do well and she *did*, but it wasn’t enough. Her final lipsync with Latrice was true Rudemption from her first season lipsync where she didn’t know the words.

I wish I knew how to find this article, but around the time Shemar Moore left Y&R the show lost I wanna day 2 million viewers. I could be wrong, but it was at least a million viewers. A CBS Daytime internal report about it ended up being leaked to one of the soap mags. They were trying to figure out what happened and determined his exit is what caused the ratings drop. As a result they planned to bring in an influx of new black characters. This is what led to Victoria Rowell’s return among other new characters like Keith Hamilton Cobb’s Damon Porter. Likewise when Victoria Rowell left in 2007 I believe they lost around 600,000 viewers and the ratings collapse is what led to LML getting fired. Nothing leaked or was admitted, but we know they knew her exit hurt them by the influx of black actresses they brought in to replace her, which never worked because those characters never got the screentime she had so they weren’t able to be developed enough to build proper fanbases. Mishael Morgan was the first one brought on who was actually developed which is what I credit with her success. I’ll also say that despite her many issues, I will never fully hate LML because she wrote a nuanced black family with agency. There was no Winters Wednesday. These characters had screentime comparable to the other characters and were written to be just as important. She is the last writer to do that. It’s been over 10 years since she left. That is embarrassing....

Honestly, one of these soap publications is who *should* be doing it. Either here, TV Source or Daytime Confidential. It doesn’t all have to be on the record, but all it takes is one person to interview these people, write an article and get this out to the masses. It’s a shame my mind first went to Victoria Rowell, but it’s easy to do that when she’s the only one who has been doing the work. But I do agree the burden shouldn’t be all on her. She’s done so much already. I loved Rebecca and I do think they always wrote her as being racist and in the wrong. As crazy as Passions could be, I appreciated that they gave you various views on situations. The fact that Rebecca is one of the only racist characters in soaps isn’t realistic.

A black actress on Hollyoaks, a popular British soap called them tf out! And keep in mind Hollyoaks has pretty big representation for the black community on screen, but this goes to show (like Victoria Rowell said!) it takes more than that. How they’re treated behind the scenes MATTERS! Having people who can do your makeup matters. Having people who can light you (HELLO LOREN LOTT!) matters! Not having to do your own hair or wearing the shake and go they give you MATTERS! Who knows if it’ll happen, but now is the time that the US soap actors need to speak out and be specific. They can’t do anything to them now because the press would be too bad. Victoria Rowell needs to gather the best of the best and get on live or do one of those zoom reunions and everybody needs to speak up!

In regards to Denise, it’s so obvious Kyle and Rinna were behind the bad press for her. They made it seem like she pulled an LVP and didn’t show up for most of the season. So far she’s stayed more than long enough and engages, but eventually leaves when they refuse to stop talking about her kids. She’s doing her job IMO. And Kyle trying to make an issue of her leaving Garcelle’s event is insane considering they have already discussed that she does two episodes of B&B a day and she already said she had an hour drive home and an hour drive back to film at 6am. She could’ve used that as an excuse not to show up, but she went. We also see she’s on the cast trip. This entire “Denise isn’t showing up, is running away” stuff was a damn lie! I also am stunned to see just how clear Garcelle was about her issue with Kyle, yet Kyle acted so stunned when she said that on WWHL. As for RHONY, I do agree that the season is improving. Elyse is more integrated and the Dorinda/Tinsley feud isn’t front and center which makes it more watchable. That storyline is a big part of why this season hasn’t worked. I’m ready for a mid season trailer so I can get a feel of where they are going. I’m hoping after this that Leah is less drunk and more on Ramona’s ass.

They want to make Denise and her kids the story SO BAD that I understand Aaron jumping in. Garcelle and Denise were doing a good job defending her, but they will not let it go. I also think the ladies are using the fact that Charlie Sheen is their father to act like they aren’t kids. I find the unspoken part to be very disgusting if I’m being honest.

Rumor has it Gigi almost got disqualified because they were told their lipsync videos had to be filmed at their homes and she went to a studio to have hers professionally done. They made her refilm it. All in all I thought all the videos had a good idea. Crystal suffered from poor execution. If it looked more put together it would’ve been my favorite. Jaida was stunning. Gigi’s was good but I was bored with the song. I do think Crystal should’ve done Rhythm of the Night. Ru would’ve loved that and it would’ve been a nice bookend on her lookalike comparisons. In the end I’m happy Jaida won. It’s always nice seeing a black girl win when so many have been overlooked. For All Stars I’m rooting for the minority queens because that show is the worst when it comes to picking a worthy winner. Jujubee is my first choice then Shea.

Kelly coming back for season 4 after her mental breakdown was so irresponsible of Bravo. Imagine had she left and Heather joined that season as originally intended. I finally caught up on the past six episodes of New York and lord was it a struggle. I will say, I enjoyed Elyse the past two episodes. You can tell her contract is signed so she’s interacting more and the ladies are actually paying attention to her now. She’s most likely too boring for TV, but I love her insights into the group. Leah has ended up being the trash Box I expected. I know many of the others aren’t better, but she is just draining to watch. I feel I would enjoy her in smaller doses, but the cast lacks an alpha or Greek chorus so she’s eating up more screentime than she should. I hope next season they do a decent enough revamp so we aren’t forced to watch her get drunk and destroy stuff constantly. I will also say, I’m slightly enjoying Dorinda more as the episodes go on. As she explains what she is going through I start to understand her behavior better.

Ramona is being an Ass good again and has lost her long term friendship with Elyse lol. I’ll say what is surely the most unpopular thing in this thread: I’d give Elyse another full season to fight for an Apple. She is literally a 20 year friend of Ramona (who knows the other girls) and went to be in the background. Producers liked her and Ramona convinced her to keep filming. She didn’t sign a contract til mid season. When she does speak her opinions are spot on and I’d love to see how she fares when the ladies know she is an actual cast member. She has a classiness that is refreshing. I’d love to see her next season with someone like Jill around which would change the dynamic since Jill doesn’t drink. I’m sick of them just getting drunk and yelling. This season has been a bust because of that.

Kandi said no contracts have gone out so I think that story is fake.

I just binged the three episodes of LA and I enjoyed it, but it really picked up in the third episode when the ATL girls were gone. Dr. Britton, Dr. Imani and Dr. Kendra are the show for me. It’s too new to judge Lia, but I have no interest in Jazmin or Shanique. I have to give Kendra props because she is totally stealing the show early on. Her mom and her husband are adorable! I could watch an entire show with just them. This isn’t as exciting as ATL, but I’m glad they gave it a second season. It’s a fun, light show and not as crazy as the HWs can get. I just hope if they get a third season they can perfect the casting.

Seeing that Lorie/Nikki clip reminds me of how horrible her return was in 2001 or 2002. It’s insane to think writers who knew Lorie could write such a bad and forgettable story for such an important character. I remember she had this weird husband played by Sam Behrens and it was just so low stakes. After seeing her tear it up as Laura on DAYS it was confusing to watch, especially now knowing what a vivacious character Lorie was. I feel it would’ve been easy to use Lorie to bring back Brooks (the son) and through the two of them they couldve reintegrated that family into the show. It’s a shame considering that was our last real chance to have Lorie And the Brooks family back and they blew it.

Is the first episode of Capitol online? I know it has been before and I regret never watching it. I’ve never seen an episode of the show, but I’m curious how it was for a pilot since I know it aired in primetime.

Queen Sutton was on WWHL with Rinna and she’s just as delusional as ever. Andy asked her if she still believes Denise won’t come to the reunion and of course she played the whole “watch what happens” BS and said she doesn’t think Denise will come after the season airs. When are she and Kyle gonna let this made up story go and accept Denise ain’t going nowhere? Also, Andy loved Sutton and gave her endless praise which I wasn’t expecting. He applauded her for being so open and talked about her kids and why they aren’t on the show. He said her test footage was amazing and because her kids were included showed more sides of her that he wishes the viewers could see. I was happy to see that! As for the actual episode, it was another fun one. Btw, Brandi first appears in episode 10 and there are 20 episodes, according to Andy. My favorite part of the episode was the car rice with Rinna, Garcelle and Denise. Denise is *so* over that hoe lol. I also loved that once again we see Kyle is a liar! She played the victim after Garcelle appeared on WWHL and said they got along so well and she never had an idea Garcelle had an issue with her. We now see Garcelle DIRECTLY and clearly told her to her face what the issue was. I believe her public antics were just to make Garcelle look like a liar to fans. I’m starting to believe Camille was telling the truth in season one. It just keeps happening with Kyle.

After the success of these repeats I’m hoping CBS All Access uploads some of the early years of Y&R and B&B. I read that they’re going to transform into a bigger platform now that they’ve Merged with Viacom again and pull content from their other networks to create a streaming service more on par with Netflix and Hulu. I’d hope more soaps would be part of that. With Peacock, I’m holding out hope for Passions in addition to classic DAYS. With HBOMAX we have about two weeks and we’ll know if they’ll include Dallas, Knots Landing and Falcon Crest. I’m really hopeful for that Service having a broad variety of things. I’m really excited about the partnership with TCM for classic films. If they have a good collection of classic flims and shows I would be sold.

I agree on the throwback season one stuff. That entire season it felt like Kyle was quietly trying to hint at Kim having issues and having to take care of her for her storyline. Kim is no saint, but I definitely think she wasn’t bothering anybody and was drawn into the drama throughout the season. I never liked Kyle based on that.

I think waiting until now to mention B&B was strategic. Denise did an interview with ET and mentioned that it comes up later (I’ll tag bc it hasnt aired yet) Now this episode was sublime. I’m glad that even without hearing the ragamuffin comment that Denise has Kyle’s number and STAYED on her neck. The lunch with Erika she wasn’t buying ANY of Erika’s excuses for Kyle and she seemed so clear on what had happened which impressed me. When she leaned in and asked why she was a fake ass bitch I died! Kyle didn’t want any parts of that! I don’t know if anybody saw Denise’s other reality show, but if you had you’d know this was coming. Yes she’s nice, but she is no pushover as Kyle will learn lol. I have waited so long for someone to come for Kyle and I just feel so blessed in this moment. Thank you Denise for finishing what Camille, Brandi and Carlton started.

I wonder what ever happened to the DS continuation on CW. With Corona we know they never shot a pilot, but I’d love to see what they were coming up with. I know many were upset by the news, but I’d love a new Dark Shadows. I hope that by the time it happens they move it to a streaming service where I feel they’d be able to do it justice.

I’m continuing my Y&R viewing, currently on March 29 1993. I had stopped due to the classics we were getting, but I’m back into them now. One thing I love are the unique combinations of characters interacting that we no longer have. On paper Bill Bell stories took a long time to reach their climax, but the shows zoom by because he doesn’t focus just on the story. It isn’t scene after scene of the same people talking about the same thing. For example, Nina is involved in a love triangle with Ryan and Victoria and Christine is married to Danny and she just went through the stuff with Michael, but by pairing Nina/Cricket into regular scenes together it breaks up the repetitiveness of just placing the couple together all the time. Having friendships and utilizing them is *vital* to the community feel and also to keep the shows from being so damn boring. I wish they still realized this. Douglas/Victor, Lynn/Paul, Cricket/Nina, Brad/Neil, Nikki/Katherine are just as important as their romantic pairings. I love tuning in and not knowing who is going to interact with whom. For a studio based show they do such a great job of creating a world. Even these older episodes are produced more like a prime time show IMO. The irony is that now they WANT to look Primetime , but it just looks cheap.

This reminds me of a Sutton interview while filming after they announced her and Garcelle as the new HWs. The interviewer asked who brought her on and she said “Well I was brought on as a friend of Lisa Rinna, but she probably doesn’t want to call me her friend right now.” I just hope Sutton, Denise and these other girls see what’s going on and don’t let these girls run over them.

This looks juicy! Considering Rinna is her friend I’m having a hard time buying what Dorit is trying to sell. I’ll wait until watching to really judge, but u can’t convince me Sutton would somehow try to insult Rinna’s daughters or try to ruin their event when she’s closest with Rinna. Hopefully Sutton is vindicated!

That could've been it as well! And I'm not sure if she completely stopped filming, but we do know Tinsley didn't to on the cast trip and apparently missed lots of events towards the end. I'm okay with her story wrapping though so I'm happy she's moving to another city.