titan1978

There are times her first year I felt like Marcil’s natural instincts drove her to play against the writing, and I think those displays of vulnerability are why she survived just being a carbon copy vixen or even written out altogether. Levinson was really writing a rough, pretty nasty and selfish vixen and Vanessa downplayed the vixen and upped the lost woman looking for love aspects before Labine really invested in her. She does some awful things to Karen, heinous. But I remember her putting the pieces together about stripper Karen and how she would often have facial expressions that didn’t match what she was supposed to say from the scripts quite often.

I agree about Nikki and Jack having a child that should have survived. The natural fighting over loyalty and rivalries with Nick and Victoria would have been excellent. I disagree about Phillip though. It put Nina in a power position because of their child and drove story between Nina, Jill, and Katherine for a few years. I don’t think Phillip being alive added as much as Nina did.

Yes. We had an entire episode pretty much of her being chem tested with Cody. Then she’s with Lucky and he just barrels through her dead dad and Sam and some of those scenes were the shortest ones in the episode. Then Laura was a little better, but Lucky was just gone again when she walked in and saw Lulu. Which is the noticeably shitty taping schedule. There is a happy marriage between faster paced and still slowing down for the right stuff. I agreed with many of the complaints about Mulcahey/Korte’s lack of story. But nothing from Lulu’s return so far has the weight of Dante’s shooting. And it’s because it’s told in this choppy and clip clip clip style. It’s a soap. Lulu/Lucky, Lulu/Laura, and TJ/Molly should each have been a center point of a single day this week. Not all crammed across two episodes. Once Shelly Curtis described it on that State of Mind I can’t get it out of my head watching FV’s GH. Get the quick exposition stuff done in one, and give the emotional or pivotal core of the episode the attention to breathe. Every episode should have at least one important set of scenes, and they should be treated that way. Blerg I’m very get off my lawn about the show right now. In many ways it’s better than suffering through Finn and JPS and RH eating the show and never seeing Liz for example. Much better.

Those last couple of years of Knots also still feel contemporary. It never feels dated to the era it was airing in. I think both Dynasty and Dallas feel incredibly dated by the late 1980’s compared to their primetime peers airing at the same time. Where Knots revitalizes around Paige/Sumner Group and feels so much fresher than either of the other ones.

I cannot believe we have a paternity story playing out involving one character (Cody), that was just in one himself. I think AI would be capable of at least this level of writing, which is disgusting. Also- much like with Jax, once you see how an actor is vibing with the character and costars, tweaks should be made. No corporate raider was ever as much of a nice guy as Jax, and that’s because they wrote to Ingo’s strengths. Gio should not be saddled with this. The actor has a light, charming touch and they should play to that. Dante, after his mother hid Sonny as his father from him should not be saddled with this. Lois would not do this to anyone. The secret of Jason’s accident coverup by Ned was one of the final nails in the coffin to their marriage. The issues with pacing have become even worse. We just zip along. I am trying to not just rip the show apart in every post. But there is so much potential and it’s frustrating to watch.

At least this one doesn’t sing.

I agree, they went the right direction. It took guts to even do any HIV story in that era. To go through with Robin the way they did was pretty incredible. But the sweetness of their love story is what truly made it tragic and beautiful. I know I still cannot watch certain scenes from that story without crying. Mac embracing Stone being one of them. And the meds did get better in real life shortly after, allowing for Robin to also live and thrive. But in 1995 the meds were just okay, and it wasn’t as manageable and undetected as it can be today. I still feel like that story transcended the genre. It was unique, because of the nature of soaps we saw his decline happening little by little, every week until his death. No other AIDS story airing at the time had that level of authenticity.

Thanks for posting that, it was nice to read it again. I have seen all of 1978 that is on YouTube, and Jackie really brings so much to Bobbie. It’s fascinating to watch her and Genie go at it. It’s visceral at times. Both of them were given complex characters to play. It would be easy to hate Bobbie, but Jackie plays her so well that you root for her too. Maybe not to get Scotty away from Laura, or for her to push Laura too far and she ends up in jail. But you do want Bobbie to have her own victories. It is really interesting to watch her in scenes back then. She is cynical and volatile quite often with Luke. Viscous with Laura, sultry and flirty with Scotty. And as a student nurse with Jessie and the hospital crew she is bubbly and excited and has a sense of joy in being good at nursing.

Pretty much how I feel too!

That was on the table when it was Riche/Levinson. She wanted real, topical, and gritty. I think she even said something along the lines of AJ not being gay but had participated in group sex and lines had been crossed. The network nixed it. Much like Billy Douglas, they didn’t hate the idea, just didn’t want it for a core family at the time. Then she and Labine and others from the show were at a creative retreat with network people. She told Labine what they needed was a Romeo and Juliet type of story. Labine said Robin and Stone fall in love, he is HIV+ and gives it to her. Riche asked her if they truly could make a story of that, and Labine said absolutley. They went to the head of daytime, at the time Pat Krushel, and the story was approved at the retreat. Later people at GH and the network wanted Stone to live, or Robin to not contract HIV, or both. And Labine said the tragedy is the whole point. Someone at ABC told her the story was breaking their heart, which was music to her ears. This is something Labine struggled with at first when she took over the show. It wasn’t a family lead show, and she had all these characters of leftover regimes that were missing some connective tissue. She has said that her first year or so everything had some kind of connection to Luke and Laura by design. So even if Lois wasn’t directly tied to them, the Q’s were with the Bradley Ward reveal and the Charles Street project. Brenda through Sonny, etc.

Me too. Also old money rich people don’t decorate their houses this way. Nothing looks remotely traditional, or even like the new style but luxury. It doesn’t look rich at all. And after a couple of months they decided to add that ugly wallpaper which made things worse to me.

Finally catching up on all the activity this thread has gotten in the last month or so. Stone’s death was incredibly sad, and it was one of Maurice’s better subtle moments of real emotion. Another one I remember fondly was Sonny hugging Liz as she falls to the ground during the fire that everyone thinks killed Lucky. He seemed really affected by what Rebecca Herbst was doing. The episode where everybody told Stone how much he meant to them was incredibly moving and special too. The problem with Carly and Bobbie is that when the story started it was Bobbie’s story. By the time they had them working on a relationship it was really only being told from Carly’s side of things in 1998 and beyond. I remember watching as they made Jackie’s hair dark red and tried to sex her up again, and it just fell flat. This was also a period of time when she was offscreen for a bit and came back and the entire shape of her face had changed, becoming more rounded. That didn’t help. But Riche was a champion of Jackie and Bobbie staying front and center. I also think Jerry was miscast, like a lot of the show at that time. I believe Vanessa requested the breakdown story in order to stay. And Guza’s late 1997 return officially kicked off with three main stories that started at pretty much the same time- Nikolas being shot, Carly telling Tony that Jason was her unborn baby’s father, and Brenda’s breakdown. And I remember immediately the soap press was calling out Brenda’s breakdown as being a mess while thinking Guza had otherwise revitalized the show. I do think Jason and Brenda would have had legs, both because it was working in 2002 and also because Guza/Pratt clearly were writing at that time that Sonny/Carly were endgame.

It was quite a hybrid. You had Karen Harris and most of the writing team still in place, and Riche who wanted to hold on to the story projections that were in place. So they had at least 5 months of story mapped out when Guza was still there, with threads that could have continued. Then you have ABC forcing Tracy back onto the show for sweeps to lead Jane into The City. Then more of Culliton’s influence. From everything I have read/heard over the years, faking Laura’s death, the how of Lesley being alive and kept, and Katherine being shot by Stefan are when Culliton’s stories launch fully. And even that was with influence- it was Shelly Curtis who thought SN and MBV could spark again and should be paired. 1996, even with a couple of duds, is still the last year that I fully enjoyed pretty much the entire show. When Guza came back it was just too dark and male centric. They brought her back without investing in her actual character. I think Genie’s never ending maternity leave didn’t help (once she actually left she only came back for that sweeps stunt with the faberge egg then was off in hiding until 1998). I don’t think they had anything really planned out for Lesley except making her more stable to serve as a talk to for Laura. They brought her back for that, not to have Lesley in the show. Which was and is a shame, she was a major character during her original run.

What tragic news. That he and his family had been dealing with his illness, which is so cruel to everyone, and now his death. Poor Lynn and their children, it’s so hard to slowly lose someone you love to Alzheimer’s. Wayne was my favorite Roman. Drake grew on me, but Wayne had more layers. Just as important as his relationship with Marlena was his complex one with his brother Bo. What a tough year for Deidre too.

I keep harping on this, but I do think their wishes could be met and still seem like they are deeply in love. Flirting. That bed scene with her wearing a silk pajama set and robe. Them doing something like eating ice cream in bed. Sex is fun, they could at least look like they had fun. But it’s like they got what they needed for their personal comfort and then decided they weren’t even going to try at all. Chaste kisses and her dressing like it’s freezing in the Quartermaine house at bedtime is just beyond stupid. Once upon a time soaps sold a lot without ever seeing a bedroom. But they always had passion. Again, another example to me of an Exec Producer not taking a step back and actually looking at their product, instead of just rushing to get something to air. Knowing these scenes are coming up, they should have worked on the staging. I have to stop myself from saying production like an assembly line because I think actual assembly workers produce less sloppy work.

She has said they blow it out/flatiron because it is easier for continuity and the block taping schedule for her hair to be straight. Since we now have a clear picture how the show is assembled like a puzzle, I can see why Frank would prefer one style on her hair.

I hate the possibility of Gio being a long lost child of Dante and BL. We just had Cody, then Sasha, and Trina not long before them. That well needs to be dry for at least several years.

They gave Maxie back her personality, and that has helped KS tremendously. I know there has been pushback on characters that are served better by allowing some humor in. But it was needed with her, and I have enjoyed her with Spinelli and their kids, because he has been allowed to calm down a little bit and mature. It just works for me after years of thinking they could all go. Again, a silk robe and a silk pajama top that still covers her up but isn’t up to her neck and some messy hair would at least seem like these two people are a couple and might fool around. AH has been really great as Lulu. I know Emme has her fans, but this suits Lulu more. I don’t think I will even miss JMB anymore, that’s how much I think she fits so well. Also! I watch on Hulu and I just noticed they changed out Carly for Anna as the shot we see before the episodes start. It was Roger Howarth forever, then Carly (looking smug), and now Anna. I am thrilled to see anyone but Sonny, Carly, or Roger Howarth as the image.

They couldn’t find a cute set of pajamas or a cute robe for her to be in? It looks ridiculous, and what they have her in and the angle in bed makes it look like she’s wearing many layers of clothes. Like Joey on Friends. ”Could I be wearing any more clothes?!” Just incredibly distracting and silly. Next time I want her to be in a full gown and one of those old bonnet hats. let’s go full Amelia Bedelia. And while we are making fun of her clear discomfort, I will still add that it is possible to have a demure performer and still make intimacy appear to have happened! But that would possibly take a couple of minutes to stage, so it’s out of the schedule.

Both. I was left with that impression from a couple of posters in this thread.

This is not confirmed, but I did just read on Reddit from a fan that Genie had a death in her family around 3 weeks ago. That would possibly explain her being gone. She may have been gone from filming even longer due to the declining health of this person, which would explain the disruption to the stories. I was kind of wondering if something like this was possibly why things seem kind of stalled and also moving along.

Why do people think Laura has given permission to Cyrus to do any of the things he is doing with Lulu? Seems to me like he has swindled his way in under false pretenses. I knew they would show that window fall again!

It’s like they decided everyone tied to the Spencer story had to be offscreen so the audience didn’t ask if he was coming back or being recast. Then they tried to use her for the Heather story that FV and the former HW wanted to force through and the audience rebuked them. It was pretty clear Mulcahey/Korte was going in a direction that would have pitted Anna and Laura directly against Sonny, at least for a period of time. Once that got wiped out it’s like they forgot how to use her. The way she is being used makes me wonder if Frank did not want to bring back Lucky and Lulu and that was kind of forced on him.

December 1st Knots Landing 1-14 will be available on Prime on demand. No information yet if these will be remastered or not. But it’s another good step towards a full release for purchase at some point I think. Right now it’s available there live through a partner subscription I believe, but this will be actually through Amazon.

It’s never been revealed. We saw boots, he knew them, and that was it. When Burton was coming back someone at the show, maybe even Korte, said it was going to be tied into the Pikeman story and nothing.