All My Shadows

Those are BIZARRE, but god I love them. I expected them to say "You could stop at five or six stores, or just one."

I wouldn't say I was shocked by this news but definitely surprised. Not surprised in a "OMG, are they really going to pull an Aunt Viv!?!!!" way (because we know any time someone mentions that as the barometer for recasts, that person has never regularly watched a soap) but more in a "Oh yeah, this really is a daytime soap" way. Obviously, people have mentioned wanting recasts of certain characters, but I kinda filed it away with a bunch of the soap aesthetic things that I just never would expect to see on a brand new soap in 2025. Like, there's no way in the world we're going to hear that "The role of Ted Richardson is now being played by..." voiceover, right? Right!? And do we know for a fact that this is a permanent recast and not a temp? I know there's 8 pages of thread here and I should just go back and see, but I ain't got the time, yall.

And if not therapy, maybe a literal trainwreck to kill her off 💥🚂

I don’t support Dani and Andre bc she needs mental help before taking anyone else on the psychotic journey that is her life.

Definitely my favorite set as well. It just feels real and is probably the most relatable to the majority of the audience. I love seeing that on soaps in the age where everyone has designer everything, even the people who would never afford it in real life.

TMG needs to play Morticia Addams at some point.

It’s because there are several production companies working on it, and each company has an EP or two involved to represent its interests. Most soaps have only been produced by 1-2 companies.

Ooooh, look at yall favorite bad bish, THAT girl herself, laid out on the damn floor, probably pissy and shtty drunk. The wait staff at the country club waited on her hand and foot while ignoring Hayley, but once again, Hayley is at home with Bill, and Dani is a week away from cirrhosis of the liver. She really is trash! Eva creeping on Tomas was out of left field for me. Randomly telling a stranger that you want him to bring you to multiple orgasms is definitely a big girl decision, but it felt like that only happened so that we could see Kat vs. Eva (again). Naomi does nothing for me as a character, and the scenes with the prospective clients felt like an ethics training video. As much as The Duprees suck™, I do enjoy their little breakfast scenes as it gets them out of their storylines and grounds them for a while and also gives us interactions between characters that we don’t get to see together, like Vernon and Kat. Hate to say it, but Kat isn’t a favoriteanymore. I don’t mind her going after Eva, but the character just isn’t what I thought she would be.

Another thing I disliked about Dani this week. Everyone tells her to not make Nicole’s program about her (why have her host it, then?), and she gets right up there and says, “I WAS TOLD TO NOT MAKE THIS ABOUT MEEEEEE, so let’s focus on Nicole!” Dani is a narcissistic bitch. I hope Hayley snaps one day, kicks her shoes off, and beats the fooking brakes all off of her. And yall, I hate cheaters! I was 16 when my dad did something similar to my mom (plus a baby!), so I do not easily root for the homewrecker, but when I tell you I need to see this girl wear her ass OUT. The problem with Dani (and people like her) is that she grew up in a sheltered environment where, by virtue of her wealth and the societal standards of their circle, her narcissism has been only mildly addressed her whole life. Just a year or two in public school would have gotten her the character-building ass-whooping she needed to become a mature adult.

Okay, thanks. I wasn’t sure if it was still there, and I deleted that app once it and FC were added on Prime. Guess I gotta download it again! It was last night. There was a countdown all week, and the last time I scrolled by, it was down to “165 minutes.” Just stupid.

Where can I continue to watch the show? Bc it’s definitely off of Prime now and only available to purchase. In what universe do you expect people to watch a 14-season, 344-episode series in less than a year’s time? I hate the fact that the show couldn’t just be treated like any other streaming classic TV series. Why in the hayle was it ever on Discovery+? Why was it ever listed as “unscripted” on Prime? Who tf was in charge of these things?

Dani is absolutely the worst. A pathetic, miserable, sad, depressing, delusional, stupid ass, dumb ass bitch. Periodt point blank, argue with ya mama and not with me. As far as how they’re portraying her? I will give the benefit of the doubt bc it’s still early days. Sure, they can be heading for a major intervention where everyone tries to get her the mental help she needs. But, I feel as though her ridiculous family needs an intervention first where they’re forced to admit that she has a problem. And not drive-by comments about her needing to talk to someone. She’s past that point, and they don’t seem to realize that. The fckng shootout should have been the last straw. The fun, cool, hip, “isn’t she delicious” mugshot photo shoot told me that they (TPTB) view her as the fun bad girl, but there’s nothing fun about her doing the same pathetic [!@#$%^&*] week after week. I can totally be wrong about what they want us to see, and the future may prove that, but…all we have is what we have right now, and all I see is an exhausting cartoon character. Didn’t some of yall say last week that it was okay for her to worm her way into Bill and Hayley’s house bc she was there to seek closure and move on? No tf she was not. The bitch is literally back again and joking about bombs. Leave them ppl the fck alone! Yes, they moved into your neighborhood. They can do that! It makes them really shtty people, but it ain’t against the law! I want footage of TMG watching the show in character as Leslie, commenting on how much of an amateur Dani is. Bc at this point, I see Dani as crazier than Les. Meanwhile, Kat as a virgin is interesting bc based on prior dialogue, I assumed she was all about easy, NSA fun.

No offense to anyone, but the fact that my “lower middle class” family became a poor family that struggles to buy groceries is exactly my point. Not being rich does not make you poor. I obviously love Leslie, but idk I’m just not a fan of the part of the story that makes her jealous of the Dupree/Richardson wealth. I think what I want to see is a haves/have-nots situation where the have-nots are not destructively desperate to become haves. IMO, the one rich family/one not-rich family thing is a typical soap cliche because it works. Everyone being rich and wearing the latest fashions is the cliche to avoid, but that’s just me. Even if you take the socioeconomic angle out of it, show me one successful hour-long daytime soap that focused almost exclusively on one family. When the half-hours expanded in the 70s, they all added new families to fill their canvases. Some did a better job than others, but no soap went to an hour and ended up with 15 characters all belonging to the same family. The show just lacks dimension for me, a dimension I thought we’d see. Even if it’s another wealthy family, show us another side of life beyond the gates. The Duprees don’t have a rival family? Everyone is at once in love with them and afraid of them?

The “event” for Nicole so far is underwhelming, and I really wish they didn’t try to do this so early on in the show’s run. As others have mentioned, this was just another Dupree family gathering with some filler to make it seem like a big huge deal. I still feel like the show exists in a bubble, and I know everyone mentions how many extras there are and how nice the sets are, but Fairmont doesn’t feel like a real place in the real world yet. This might be an unpopular opinion, but I don’t like what the show is depicting in regards to wealthy, bourgie black people vs. lower middle class black people. I think a major opportunity was missed in not having a more down-to-earth family to balance the Duprees.

Quick thoughts while watching. Today’s ep started with wonky dialogue right out of the gate. Andre shows Ashley the pictures he took of her and gives her a sweet compliment, and the first thing on her mind is…Dani? Dani is not. that. girl. and I need them to stop trying to make her happen. Then Martin accuses Smittyyyy of still trying to go back to work as a FREELANCEINVESTIGATIVEREPORTERRRR!!! Samantha and Tyrell were a hit for me right out of the gate. It cannot be overstated - Trisha Mann-Grant is a natural. I want them to just turn the camera on and let her improv as Leslie telling her life story. Smitty offering to “thank” Martin was kinda cringe when dropped in with the Father Knows Best, Ozzie and Harriet vibe of their scenes with the kids. And Smitty had cheek-clapping on his mind yet went to bed in those puritan PJs? Ashley/Derek and the gambling storyline are complete and total duds, especially the gambling. Who gives a damn?

It’s like he got lost on his way to the set of Passions circa 2004. I do like the distressed way he says “Smittyyyyy.”

Absolutely, and I’ve always hated it. At age 13, I wanted the entire Brady family from DAYS to die a fiery death with no chance of revival on Melaswen.

I really hate not being able to watch live bc I’m less likely to come share my thoughts (and after 15 pages, I have so many to share), but my highlights for today’s episode are: - Dani is a cartoon and I have no hope for her ever being a character I care about anymore. Not ruling it out, but as soon as the photo shoot started, I knew she was officially over with for me. The delusional fawning over Bill at the end sealed the deal, and let’s make sure we all understand that Bill is able to keep up his bad deeds because she is clearly attracted to toxicity and enables it. She is very a much an “I love it when a man puts me in my place” type of dumb heaux. - The Duprees suck!! Vernon is especially infuriating. You were in the trenches during the civil rights movement, and you’re comparing your psychotic daughter getting rightly arrested for shooting up a wedding to the systemic racism you and your contemporaries were fighting against?? - Going to commercial on Martin trying to buck up to Bill made me HOLLER with laughter, ya hear?? And as ridiculous as Martin really is, I still can’t help but find him extremely sexy with that ghetto booty. I know Smitty was tapping tf outta that in better days. - Bill is hilarious because he really does not give a damn about the Duprees and has no problem roasting them, Anita included. - Leslie is still my favorite. I could watch her deluded ramblings all day. - Naomi and Jacob are almost as pointless to me as Ashley and Derek are.

Lord, all my chest woulda been tight had I been one of the people who had to know that she was talking about them. Woulda packed my sht with tears running down my face.

She doesn’t have to be over it, but at this point, she’s the aggressor. Everything else so far has been brought to her - Hayley having the affair with Bill, Bill and Hayley getting married at the country club, Bill and Hayley moving into the neighborhood, Hayley attempting to win Nicole over, the Dupree parents forcing her to attend the wedding, etc. It would be different if Dani had never had a chance to react and confront over those events, but she has had the chance and she’s taken it every time. Showing up to their house today was just messy bc it wasn’t in reaction to anything. If it’s just bc of general anger over the situation then, once again, btch needs therapy and she needs it bad. Every time she pulls a big gesture meant to intimidate or embarrass Hayley, Hayley still goes to bed with Bill, still marries Bill, and still moves into the neighborhood with Bill. Meanwhile, Dani secretly has meaningless sex with her sister’s nephew then gets drunk by herself and cries. She is nottttttt that girl at all.

I couldn’t watch in the fall of ‘01 after going back to school and not having the means to record it just yet. I got back into it the following spring, but I didn’t notice or pay attention to behind the scenes goings-on until Culliton was let go, actually. I spent a lot of time on SOC, and I can still see the picture of him they used for the article on his firing. I was vaguely aware of Gordon Rayfield being the new writer and then Anna Theresa Cascio joining him, but I didn’t really start paying attention until McTavish came back. I originally joined SON that same summer, so at that point, I was watching the show with completely different eyes. Culliton’s show was enough to draw me back in after months away, and I think that summer of 2002 is when I started to dig into the show more and learn more about its history, other soaps, etc. Kendall’s return played into that bc I knew she had been a major character in the 90s. Rayfield/Cascio’s show was bland as hell, and I have a hard time thinking about their stint without comparing it to the first year or so of McTavish’s return, which was a massive improvement in so many ways. It’s funny how many future stars passed through the show at that time - Amanda Seyfried, Alex Daddario, Jonathan Bennett, early MBJ, etc. And most of them were dull as dishwater on AMC.

Yes yes yes, bark back louder so that maybe she’ll sit her ssa down. I’m not even going to participate in dialogue about it bc I’m slowly remembering that feeling of talking to a brick wall when you’re pointing out clear facts re: soaps. Dani making it her everyday mission to confront Bill and Hayley does absolutely nothing for her - not as a person within this fictional world nor as a character on this TV show. It’s not going to bring Bill back (and why would she want him back at this point?), it’s not going to restore her confidence, it’s not going to get her paid, etc. She’s lucky it hasn’t gotten her prison yet, but if she keeps at it, it just might.

Dani and Andre sleep together again *yawn* Now watch how she’ll be sobbing miserably over Bill again by Monday. Shanice’s actress is named Ernestine Johnson, and idk why I love that so much.

Martin is entirely too bland to also be controlling. Smitty (still hate that) could easily make him cry.

“I will keep my distance,” btch you literally went out of your way to go to their house. Why is this crazy btch not in jail yet?