All My Shadows

Just finished the season, and just like with S2, it really picked up and came together very well after a blah first few episodes. The MVPs this go-round were definitely Lola and Maya, but Rasha and Shay were also impressive. I really hate that Winston did very little this season, and I hope he has a bigger role in the next one. We saw parents a lot more this season, which is good. The darkness in the last few episodes was classic Degrassi, IMO, and this incarnation needed that dramatic turn to give some dimension to the characters. They've really built a nice new era, and I'm loving it.

Making my way through more of the season and Spencer is cancelling an evening with his girlfriend to measure his dick with his friends??? Dafuq!!! OK, so episodes 4 and 5 were pretty good! Maya's descent into madness is being well-played, and if she ends up with the photographer guy, I'm good with that. Her and her story represent such a maturity in contrast to other things going on (which I'm enjoying, too), and it's just good old-fashioned Degrassi. The party at the Hollingsworths' was definitely one of my fave episodes so far of Next Class. I love episodes like that - so many stories and dynamics all in one setting, all with major things happening. It beats any disaster-type episode any day. The gamer club warmed up to me in this one. The penis-measuring backdrop was only a wee bit silly (mhm), but it highlighted a good point in Spencer and Yael's relationship as well as Baaz and Spencer's friendship. Vijay was purely supporting, and I can take him in that role. At first, I was kinda blah towards the whole virgins/non-virgins plot because they did such a good job addressing that with Tristan and Miles last season, but it came at a different angle this time. I'm no Frankie fan, but I was pretty invested in her attempt to sleep with Jonah even though it was awkward as hell the way they just hopped up and went upstairs. This episode slowly began to undo the hate I had for her last season. Lola is so becoming this show's Manny. Why she can't just stick to guys who are actually available?? And Miles is back on my sht list. At first I assumed he had gone to the hospital to be with Tristan, but nope. Tiny is easily one of the franchise's greatest male leads, that virtuous guy who is good to a fault. I'd love to see more focus on him outside of his role as Shay and Lola's point of contention. Esme is my damn girl. Fck it up! ETA - "Spencer" is obvi supposed to be "Hunter" lol

I didn't know who she was until this, and I think she's a natural in the role, so I wouldn't take that criticism too seriously.

I just did a quick Google search and I haven't found any specific years she was on the show, but I did see a magazine from July 1972 that listed her among TSS cast members.

Y&R is most likely in Sony's archives, wherever they keep their properties. Any legally released footage I've ever seen of the show from the 70s and 80s has been in pristine quality, so I think it would be safe to assume it hasn't been too damaged. Maybe an episode here or there.

I think those ATWT/GL clips are all but legally posted because of the licensing involved with releasing them on DVD a few years ago. Those come from the master tapes. Because Sony, for whatever reason, thinks no one will ever want to watch old episodes of Y&R, we have absolutely no access to the masters (rare exception would be the recent rerun on 12/30).

I was disappointed with the fact that they picked up so long after the crash. First, I have to understand the wonky timeline this show has adopted. OK, so in American high schools, volleyball is a fall sport. The bus crash happened on the way to a big volleyball game, but now it seems as though the crash happened at the very end of the school year, thus Miles spending "all summer" holding vigil over Tristan. Did they REALLY have to open this season on a new school year? Maybe I'm judging too much, idk. They can release 10 episodes in August to cover the fall semester and then 10 episodes in January to cover the spring semester and then actually have something that looks like a sensible timeline. Second, picking up so long after the crash means we missed out on everyone's initial reactions! Major story fail! I don't mind Maya. I find she grounds the show, and she actually gives me old school DTNG vibes. Maybe it's because my heart still belongs to Cam, I don't know. Baaz is cute, but I'm over the video game kids. Vijay is awful. Yael is OK, but I think she'll be better if they break her away from the gamer gang. Really, it's just Vijay I strongly dislike. Any time they key up one of his "controversial" videos, I start cringing. It's funny because I used to complain that the later seasons of DTNG focused too much on relationships and not enough on other things, but I feel as though DNC is trying too hard to tell these other stories but they're short-changing the relationships and friendships between the characters to the point of it all feeling so false. Too many characters are heavily involved in a club or sport, which obviously is something that we need in a high school-based show, but between the focus on social media and so many story points revolving around this club or that sport, we miss out on things like the kids working or just hanging out (though I see we get some workplace drama with Miles and Lola). I think the characters still don't feel real to me, and that's a problem.

I'm almost done with episode 1, and I can already see it's gonna be a chore to get through at least the first part of this season. They need to dial the contrived "issue" stories down and stop hitting us over the head with the social media aspect. The scene of everyone following Lola and Shay's argument online while sitting in class with the teacher just throws his hands up and decides to make students' personal lives the center of the day's lesson (and ALL of the kids just going along with it) was just SO cringe-worthy and BAD. They could've gotten from Point A to Point B in a less ridiculous way. I'm over EVERYTHING having to be so tied to social media. Yes, kids are obsessed with it, but they're definitely overexaggerating it on the show to the point of them neglecting the actual human interaction that is unique to teens that still exists.

BISH WITH THE SPOILERS!!! I haven't watched yet! I mean, my fault for coming in here right now, but I just wanted to see if it's good or not!

Yes, and her little personal living room is so cute lol

It'll be seen by more eyeballs than GH on a good week, so...

Except it's definitely a step up.

Is there? It's an assumption on my part that there isn't, but I guess it's possible. I figured they wouldn't miss a chance to have a "Filmed before a live studio audience" voiceover somewhere.

Watch it, Vee! It's delightfully old school. I feel as though I've been watching a marathon of a long-lost sitcom on Antenna TV or TV Land. The only thing missing is videotape and a live studio audience (there's a laugh track ). I don't think they even use background music.

ABSOLUTELY MORTE at Alex selling World's Finest Chocolate to his mom's dinner party guests.

They're also doing well with not going overboard with the issues - I just watched the ep about Lydia and Penelope's religious differences (awesome scene with Lydia explaining why she remains so steadfast in her beliefs), but now we have Penelope trying to get back into dating. You can tell Lear and PFP are very involved. I like Schneider now, they've toned him down and he's not as wacky as the original Schneider, which works. They can either go full-on wacky but then give him some time to develop more deeply, or just keep him hovering between wacky and normal.

Rita is 85!?!?! Jeez, and she's bouncing all over the screen on this! What an awesome scene to open episode 3 with her dancing in the kitchen while making breakfast for her family. I'm really loving this show I can sorta see that, and if they went full-steam ahead in that direction, I would definitely be behind it. Oh, I see the vinyl-filled bookcase in his apartment. They're definitely going full-steam ahead in that direction lol

I'm on episode 2, and I love that they're addressing social issues in a way that makes sense, and they're not afraid to have the long scenes necessary to make it meaningful. Also love that the daughter is dorky as hell! The son is cute and funny - a good mix of Alex and early Barbara. I like Schneider and Rita Moreno bouncing off each other.

No offense, John, but that really doesn't belong here. At least, AMC fans don't want it to be relevant to us and our characters. Let that be OLTL's fight.

I'm watching the first episode now, and it's really good. I noticed Patricia Fass Palmer credited as a producer - she was one of the driving forces behind the original series. I didn't realize she'd worked on Gilmore Girls and also does the current Odd Couple series. Justina Machado is hitting all of Bonnie Franklin's notes, and the actress playing the daughter is hitting all of Mac Phillips's, so that central conflict that was so important in the early years of ODAAT is perfectly preserved. The apartment even looks mostly the same. The only lowlight here is Schneider, but I'll give him a few episodes for him to feel "real." The original series did such a great job of presenting him as the silly comic relief while also delving deep into his character with dramatic stuff from time to time. All that being said, I'm still not sure WHY they had to call this ODAAT. It's a perfectly good sitcom that could have stood on its own two feet without the Norman Lear publicity. Now I can see that there are more connections to the old show than I thought there'd be, so it's cool, but still...

My first time watching OLTL with any regularity was through the summer of 2003, and every time I saw Michael Storm's name in the credits, I wondered who in the world he was. He was almost to OLTL what Ruth Warrick was to AMC at that point.

AMC's John Danelle (Dr. Frank Grant, Jesse's uncle and Frankie's namesake) is an acting coach in New York State and is looking pretty good at 72.

What a fabulous group.

I don't think the show ever became as unwatchable as some soaps became or are currently, but that's just me. 2005-2006 was mostly decent soap and definitely one of the better shows of the time.

IIRC, the original Australian series was developed as Number 69, but the network was like "Yeah...no."