DRW50

1 hour ago, DeliaIrisFan said:

 

Perhaps.  Even as someone who loved Sonny BITD and still has a fondness for MB, it is impossible to center a show around this character, then let alone now.  And the way MB is playing Sonny at this point is not what I believe he is or at least was capable of, and I have no interest in seeing 60-something Sonny continue to lash out at all the women who are obsessed with him for "betrayal."

That said, some kind of downfall for Sonny, even if he stays on canvas with fewer defenders, could work for me.  I like a lot of the scenes with various characters turning on him, though the pill tampering angle is sloppy and does make me fear it won't go anywhere.

Of course, even if Sonny is knocked down several pegs, it's all for naught if Jason is still going to be the hero, after decades as being complicit with Sonny's worst deeds.  And I have no love lost for that actor.  So you may be right.

If nothing else, this might be the last time a really smart, talented writer gets to try and restore a daytime soap opera, so if nothing else it's intellectually interesting for me to watch.  I'm also not convinced ABC or any network is still topheavy enough anymore to micromanage Mulcahey to death to the extent that networks did when soaps managed to nab big names behind the scenes at the turn of the century.

I do wonder how soon it will be before they panic over the usual fan complaints over what ship or character is not getting enough love, or if the numbers don't go up - if they don't have those expectations and they just allow Mulcahey to paint his own colors in the show's very limited canvas, maybe he can last.

I do think Burton is trying harder this time around, helped by choices like not focusing on his love life. That's given me a more positive impression than I had anticipated. Unfortunately, I am still not going to have any real interest in a show led by Carly/Sonny/Jason. Back in the Sarah Brown era I might have, but the bravado and hard edge of her Carly was balanced out by what a pariah she was to PC residents. With that gone, Carly (and Joss) are just vultures circling over the town with ever-increasing entitlement. 

5 hours ago, janea4old said:

To be fair, the announcement and ensuing discussion inadvertently got
posted onto the Days April 2024 spoilers thread,
(even though this is a November 2024 spoiler).
So there has been some posting about it.

I mean it's not *wrong* --  in that it's 
a spoiler announced during April.
It's just not a spoiler that will air during April.

I would guess this is also why Melissa Reeves' announcement got little mention. Once upon a time that would have generated a number of pages.

Valeka Gray told Daily TV Serials that after How to Survive a Marriage's cancelation, she was auditioning for Edge of Night.

Reading a Daily TV Serials goodbye to the show, where they talk about the show's problems, including interesting or prominent characters not staying, in some cases just vanishing (they mentioned Brad Davis' character suffering this fate). Two bits I hadn't heard before or had forgotten - that Michael Landrum was fired after "violent disputes over his interpretation of the role." And Steve Elmore "left in a huff and wrote about it in TV Guide."

I'm surprised the show has waited so long for any interaction between Spinelli and Jason. Is that another budget issue? 

(not that I'm sorry)

I saw the clip of Tracy on the dance floor. Never thought I would see Tracy Quartermaine throwing it back. Yet somehow Jane makes it believable. I'm glad that she is getting the chance to have fun and not be written as the scold or butt of jokes as she often was in past years.

12 minutes ago, Chris 2 said:

The problem with the Ryan cousins, Barry and EJ, is that they were cousins. Not siblings. Cousins are boring, dramatically.

Jack on ATWT was able to provide some drama, although he was horribly used for most of his run on the show and mostly saved by Michael Park's charm. I'm not sure it has ever worked on other occasions. I think the idea made sense as the Ryan siblings felt very tapped out by then...but the show didn't try or just lost interest.

@Vee 

Cousins is a good actor and did a lot with a part on OLTL I would have found tiresome otherwise. Good luck to him with Y&R.

57 minutes ago, NothinButAttitude said:

I didn't realize my beloved Maureen Garrett was on the show as Barry's sister. I might need to go and look up some clips of her time on the show. I am interested to hear what some of you all thought of her time on the show. Per the book, it seems the character wasn't well-received b/c it was at the expense of Delia. 

Oh they said that? Wow. I never knew, although I did know she wasn't well received as she was only on for a year or so. Her first months are on Youtube. I love Maureen Garrett but the character did not work for me, because of the Delia element, and also being tied to tedious, sanctimonious Roger. 

It also made no sense that they wrote her in right after Barry left. 

I enjoyed Trent Jones' work but Ken was best in that one story arc. Barry could have stayed longer though.

15 minutes ago, NothinButAttitude said:

I have only seen the actual ape story on YouTube and while it was shot beautifully for its time, I can see why many of the actors felt the story was absurd or how quickly it was wrapped up. It is the aftermath with Delia supposedly thinking about some past life and it causes her not to connect with Roger, which is odd for me. 

I don't really remember any of that. Most of the material given to Delia by that point was not good, although I did enjoy her pairing with Barry before that was trashed for no good reason.

I loathed Roger by this point. Couldn't even watch his scenes.

39 minutes ago, John said:

Some of the Sprins fans need to be careful on Twitter/X. Some are saying no Spencer if Not NAC & no other love interest for Trina unless its Spencer played by NAC

GL fans did this back in 2005 with Danny & Michelle. The end result: Both actors & characters written out. 

I  do not want that for Trina. 

I would guess the show will look for any reason to not do much with Trina anyway. 

4 hours ago, NothinButAttitude said:

OK. I am halfway through the book and some of my opinions are changing on Claire as writer. Do I think she's still immensely talented? Yes. However, the Merit Kara plot and the ape plot... Yeah. I can see that Paul was the one that kept her grounded at times. I think without Paul, Claire probably would've crumbled to the network long before she did. 

I still think the King Kong plot was perfectly fine. It was mostly centered on Delia's loneliness and was short. I'll take that over the endless mob saga, Faith's years-long pity parties, or the obsessiveness over Kimberly's love life and tantrums.

This "reporter" did a puff piece on Nancy Mace. 

As for Jane Mayer, who presumably is missing those sugar high days with Ronan Farrow, these are the death throes of an establishment media that went out of their way to be as gossipy and small as possible and don't understand why no one takes them seriously anymore. 

14 minutes ago, Vee said:

IIRC Hannah was cut in 2001 by JFP. They literally shipped her off to Alaska or somewhere lol. I have no idea with AM but I suspect the Guza team and ABC both wanted no part of him after JFP's failed Roy Hospital.

Oh that's right. I suppose if she had stayed Guza might have used her. 

I do think there have been changes to the show, which is a very good thing, it just seems like barring an earthquake, we're never getting past the basic standards of a Carly/Jason/Sonny-led GH.

4 minutes ago, Vee said:

I agree, but it will take more than dead-ass Gregory for me to get excited. It's time for a good 3-4 people to go. Just for starters!

I remember the crazy days of Malone II at OLTL. IIRC they didn't dump a ton of people in the first month, but after that they started cutting a swath like a house on fire (starting with Larry Lau's Sam Rappaport), slowly but surely over those next six months. There were also a lot of additions of course. And Guza II here at GH dumped Kristina I and Roy fairly quickly in 2002 (and GF/Laura, though I doubt very much that was the plan going in), but I can't remember anyone else getting iced. Of course, those shows' canvases were not quite as bloated or full of pointless people as this one is.

Was Hannah already gone by then?

I did wonder if A wanted to leave or if he was fired.

23 minutes ago, BetterForgotten said:

Seriously, if a cast pruning doesn’t happen this year, then we know that sh!t is all Frank and ABC, and PM/EK just have to deal with it. 

I just fully assume Frank and ABC are still going to call the shots and PM/EK will work around the edges. 

1 hour ago, Khan said:

It's very telling how Lansbury, who usually had a pretty good memory, blanked on his name in that Archive of American Television interview, lol.

When she kept saying she couldn't remember his name but it was a strange name I kept wondering why that sequence hadn't shown up in any "shade throwing" compilations.

I was reading the Rialto Report interview with Juliet Graham from about 7 years ago. I would link the article but that site is very NSFW as it focuses on the "golden era" of adult film. Juliet, under the name Chris MacLeod, went on to host a few NY talk shows, and do acting work. The talk shows were apparently enough to get her this ad for her AMC run:

@DeliaIrisFan Oddly the show has since Frank came in painted the Nurses Ball as a huge PC-wide, or even national, event. 

I know Lucy can be frustrating, but similar to when the character was trashed on PC to try to prop up others like Eve, I just can't sit through any of that. 

I do think, from the clips I've seen, PM is improving some elements of GH, but the core is just too rotten to be worked on, and we see the inevitable result of that.

Sorry to hear of her passing. All I've seen of Meg's work as Julia seemed to be another example of the more nuanced and multi-faceted level of performance that helped shift Y&R's female characters into a new era. I wish her Search work was available (beyond one short clip).

11 hours ago, Ben said:

I’ve been meaning to come back here and post my thoughts on the show. I’m enjoying it a lot; the quality is back to what it was in 2022 after the bumpy return last year (let’s call that the Mischa Barton era ). 

I think what we’re seeing on screen now is everyone settling in, so all the initial nerves and excitement of being back have gone; new actors are bedding in and recasts are clicking into place (I’ve warmed to nuByron now). Production wise, the addition of 4th walls in some of the sets have been very welcome, which has given those sets a more real feel and allows for them to freshen up the directing of scenes; the incidental music is now really good, too. 

Neighbours have produced some outstanding episodes this year, especially the episodes around the death of a long time character, with the grief being played brilliantly by all involved. Krista’s traumatic birth went into the kind of detail I’ve never seen the show do before, and it really elevated Chelsea’s gold digging to a whole new level of villainy. (I’m being careful not to give away specifics for those who haven’t caught up, yet.)

Chelsea, as a character, was difficult to get behind at first, as she seemed to be so cold and devoid of any caring side, even for her sister, Cara (I do like all the barbed exchanges between Chelsea and Remi and Leo describing her as a ‘trashy blow in’ ). But since the story has taken a dark turn with Krista, Viva Bianca has been able to show the guilt Chelsea feels (not enough to stop her from trying to push Krista into a drugs relapse, though), and I’m starting to love to hate her character now. I low-key want her to stay. 

I love the Rodwell and Varga-Murphy family units, and I thought the recent inclusion of Andrew’s brother Felix, was great, but his stint was shorter than I expected, which is a shame. 

I think the teen scene could be beefed up a bit; maybe give JJ a friend at least. 

Haz has suddenly become more interesting with his latest storyline exploring his past as a hacker. He definitely works better as this morally grey character instead of whatever they were trying to do before. I won’t say that I like him, but his scenes are certainly more interesting to watch now. 

The one area of the show that doesn’t work for me is the Terese/Toadie/Mel triangle. It’s terrible and really drags the show (and characters) down. The writing for Toadie has been especially damaging, and I’m happy that he’s currently off screen. 

I’m super-excited about the Emmy nomination for Best Daytime Drama and for Guy Pearce getting nominated, too. That’s a huge deal for the show in terms of publicity in the US. 

Great to hear your thoughts. I have had mixed feelings on the revival, which is inevitable for any soap, but I do think the quad and the decisions made with Haz have hurt the show.

The quad is just so hollowed out and feels so unbalanced to me - Toadie and Melanie were dragged through the mud to the point where I find them both very difficult to watch (Melanie's only solo story being Karl shitting all over Erinsborough kind of says it all - what a great use of Alan Fletcher when there was a perfectly fine plot in place about Susan's absences and their affect on him), while Terese and Paul are written as good and right. Somehow Paul throwing a thug at a pregnant woman got him about two or three weeks of backlash (all of which was framed as us needing to feel sorry for him) followed by all kinds of material about how wonderful he is, complete with singing "This Little Light of Mine" and leading funeral services. I just don't buy it. 

I get the feeling this story is written on the old Agnes Nixon "make 'em wait" idea for Paul and Terese. I don't know how their fans feel, as frankly I don't really care about either of them, but how many times have they done this with Paul and Terese? 4? 5? If we are also meant to want Mel and Toadie back together, I think that ship has sailed for many fans, who at best just went along with the pairing because Sonya was gone and Dee was never coming back.

Chelsea is such an unpleasant plot device, and on top of that, a complete idiot, which just makes her getting away with things more of a suspension of disbelief. I don't mind suspensions of disbelief, but that's in a story I actually care about. They also missed an opportunity to actually write a real relationship with Chelsea and her sister. I would agree the only scenes that have any real value are some of her interactions with Krista. Krista is also pure plot device, she doesn't seem to have a personality beyond graciously suffering, but the actress who plays her has done a great job. 

I actually did like Haz at first, when he was the sweet guy who was pining for Mackenzie, but that started to change when he just started using women and treating them badly, and this was never properly addressed. We were meant to feel somewhat sorry for Holly, but she got over the whole thing quickly because she too is basically a plot device. His other girlfriend, who was introduced as a kind person, suddenly became so horrible that she let his dog out at night and later came back to try to sabotage him in a competition. 

That pattern returned with this hacker story, where the emphasis is not on the terrible things he did to people, but on how the person he hurt is in the wrong (along with Mackenzie, who is, as is often the case, just there to suffer from Haz's behavior rather than have much of a life or voice of her own). 

It doesn't help that (to me) the actor who plays Haz just isn't suited for this type of material. He comes across as a kids' show host put into a soap opera. 

I think the show has done well with the Varga-Murphys/Rodwells, but I feel like that story has been rushed through compared to everything else. Maybe they thought - understandably given the increasing levels of homophobia out there - viewers wouldn't accept the family or their stories.

I do like that recent episodes have been mixing up characters more often, and had some side plots that I can feel a little more invested in (like Byron/Sadie [even if that doesn't feel like it's going to go beyond support material] and having Byron there for counsel Dex), but I wish the show's main stories were not so hard to get through.

When Daily TV Serials announced Ted Danson's casting for Somerset, they mentioned that months earlier he had filled in for Jerry O'Sullivan for a few days, due to illness. 

19 minutes ago, allmc2008 said:

What?

For many years the thought process among executives was that you had to pivot to programming catered to their idea of a young person because young people would grow up to be rich and would then rely on all the products they saw advertised from that early age. That isn't as important to the powers that be now, because they know that isn't how things worked out (thanks to the crippling economy, many young people are lucky if they even have their own place to live). 

5 hours ago, Vee said:

Same. I would prefer Marci frankly, as I always had issues with Berman's tics.

She also had raging anti-chemistry with most of her leading men. I never got the hype beyond "oh she's a young Luke." Yay...

3 minutes ago, Vee said:

I can't see why with another soap on the way. Unless Sony has zero interest in what CBS does with the daypart.

I think there's part of that re: stuff that is familiar and comforting, like the popularity of long-running sitcoms on streaming. But I think it's also just been an overwhelming glut of 'Content' that burns fast and flickers out on streaming. People want some stability. I don't think a return to soaps, sitcoms, whatever is about conservatism so much as possibly a steadying force in turbulent times vs. chasing trends and pop culture quick hits.

I hope that isn't the reason (Sony losing interest), but then you'd think they would have moved to save Y&R or DAYS earlier on. Maybe this is just him finally losing the wrong person behind the scenes. 

I think beyond the reasons you've mentioned, this is also a byproduct of the powers that be going back to relying on older viewers as the fantasy of a mega-rich 16 year old who is there for them to try to revolve their whole schedule around fades.

2 minutes ago, BetterForgotten said:

Kimberly J. Brown is getting mainstream press coverage for her wedding , but because of her Disney work. lol

Former Disney Halloweentown Costars Kimberly J. Brown and Daniel Kountz Are Married: All the Details! (Exclusive)

Kimberly still looks so similar to when she was on GL (no wonder it felt odd when she returned a few times in the late '00s - still wouldn't have minded seeing her come back for the finale).

I did not know how popular those films were until Debbie Reynolds died. 

5 minutes ago, BetterForgotten said:

It was interference from the Bell’s that got Griffith fired the first time, and JFP the second time (also rumors of him having emotional breakdowns). But what did Kent do as soon as he saw a chance? Hire this failure again, and this time with no objective opposition. That should end now - unless Sony and CBS do not care (like P&G did at the end when they eliminated the Executive In Charge of Production role when MADD retired). 

I had the same thought - wondering if this is just more shutting up shop. Still, even in today's depleted times, you'd think CBS/Sony would have more care for Y&R, especially with a new soap on the way to attempt to build a lineup for the network.