DRW50

The only thing I liked about that character was his last scene where Kate told him he was a lousy lay. I agree the show could have done more with Robin Strasser. Sometimes I wonder if Robin's whole look and persona were too intimidating for getting on established shows for longer runs, although the main culprit was probably just ageism and sexism, or in the case of Knots, already having so many women in that age range. Good as Kathleen Noone was as Claudia (early on, anyway), I wouldn't have minded seeing Dianne put into Greg's orbit instead to fill some of the same purpose.

I wonder if fans considered Jayne's Nicole to basically be a brand new character. You don't get much on fan opinion (outside of letters to the editor) in soap magazines of that era. (Daily TV Serials from a few years earlier probably would have had a mouthful to say on this subject).

With the discussion in the Falcon Crest thread about self-contained episodes, I started to wonder what you would pick for the primetime soap that did the best job with them. I'd probably pick Dallas. Certainly not flawless, but the format seemed to inspire more in the writers and also gave much stronger material to characters like Cliff and Pamela. The serial format also encouraged more of the laziest choices with the central characters. There are some self-contained Knots episodes I enjoy (mainly in season 3), but some are just absolute howlers. Falcon Crest also had some very flat installments in this format, especially if they focused on the Giobertis.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HW3qrSAB-LA The episode starts around 20 minutes in. It tells you something about how many returns we got in the last years that almost all these characters felt familiar to me, even those we just saw very briefly (like Sharon Davies). I know this was a very clear transition period for the show, but I still appreciate that the younger set seems believable and have believable enough goals and decisions compared to how much soaps in recent decades pile the misery on. I loved the whole sequence filmed in the clothes shop - I know it was just done to be as cheap as possible but something really works for me. (doesn't hurt how gorgeous Guy Pearce looks in that sequence) The main dramatic story with Mrs. Mangel isn't bad either.

My opinion on Kelly, especially Gina's Kelly:

Paul Reubens is probably still too expensive for this show. I was shocked when I saw that 227 only ran for 5 years. I felt like it ran 6-7. Usually you only get the above when you hit that point.

Ned hate? Who? And where were they when I needed them in 1997, 1998 and 1999?

!@#$%^&*] fits in with the hate factory Elon is making Twitter become. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/tucker-carlson-is-taking-his-show-to-twitter/ar-AA1aXZq2

I would say Ron won't forgive him for this tweet, but I can't remember if his stint at DAYS is long wrapped up. If we start hearing about how fat Bo is, at least now we know why.

Even at the time there were some who felt it was difficult to care about BJ herself. I remember MImi Torchin saying she was devastated when Laura died on AMC because she had seen so much of her growing up, which wasn't the case with BJ, but the performances surrounding BJ's death were what got her emotional. You don't have that on soaps now because soaps don't care about showing the grieving or have the ability for raw feelings along those lines. GH showed that with Jake's death, which was mostly an excuse for a JJ Emmy reel and to try to write Liz out of the show. (what does Jake even do now...)

Peacock is or was bleeding badly, so I hope the show can have some type of future outside of them.

Unfortunately it's now COVID on top of the strike that makes me wary. I guess one thing in their favor is if streaming continues to crash, they are ready-made programming already on networks (other than DAYS - maybe they can still be moved back).

This is why it bothers me more and more when I see people thrown AI scripts around online and say it's better than professional writers. It starts to come across as propaganda to me for the industry.

I am morbidly curious as to how many of the soaps will even survive a prolonged strike. Cheap as they are now, there's still always cheaper programming, especially if affiliates just want to turn the hours over to more propaganda.

Yes, they mention that in the article...I was thinking more along the lines that their return may be why networks have started to have a few more hits again. SAG and DGA contracts are up at the end of June, I think, so I wonder if they will join in or not.

Mr. Lee, the beloved groundskeeper who had been close to Karen and her family for years...offcamera. Still, better material than most of what Mrs. Lee got in her later years at Knots.

Thanks. The part about creatives flocking back to networks seems to coincide with a few shows (mainly sitcoms) having a network revival. Yet I wonder if any of the bigwigs will see this as a possible future or will just, as this article details, keep chasing after the likes of Yellowstone, which already seems to be flailing around and ridden with conflict, full of characters who don't connect (which is why they keep stunt casting). There's been a lot of framing of the strike already as in the shows are so bad, clearly the writers aren't good, bring on AI, or oh these are all liberal propaganda - both the left and the right have been pushing this. I guess it's just the start. I imagine many on top in the industry have been waiting for the moment to permanently crush these unions and send writers to the bare minimum. That's why I won't be surprised if this stretches on for most of the year. I hope sanity wins out, because otherwise, especially with AI, we're turning a corner we'll never come back from. I agree in theory with what that person said about how streaming getting slashed just means less focus on the bad programs, but with the likes of Ryan Murphy and his sickness still ruling the roost, it's hard to imagine being a reality.

When Holden returned, after getting total recall again from a motorcycle accident, he was promptly knocked out by Diego and put in the wine cellar with Lucinda. They buried the hatchet, as Lucinda now realized there were far worse men than Holden in Lily's life. One of the few positive choices FMB made with Lucinda, and one which mostly stuck.

An extremely unpopular character, but Ron will never give up on his pets. Until he gets bored, anyway.

I have vague memories of him on Y&R, where he was hyped by many, but I felt like he was going to break into song and dance at any random moment.

Valentin does seem to have a vocal following, the way that Julian (the other character in this role who took ages to be written out) has, so I guess that may have an impact.

Thanks. I'd never seen this. Jerry was earning that paycheck! I have a lot of respect for Stephanie Mills too.