titan1978

Started season 5- I have seen all of this more than once and every time I just hate Diana more. But now at the beginning of the season, I think they had an opportunity to play more of a cat and mouse game with Chip and Diana than what we are going to get. There could still be friction with Karen, but not to the same degree. It makes little sense to me for her to be so fully in Chip’s corner once she knows he was a liar and possibly killed Ciji.

With studios being so wary right now to try anything new, I am not shocked that they are looking into their catalogues for IP to use and landed on using soap characters to anchor some tv films to guarantee that at the least first one has eyes in it.

She wasn’t just willing to take a paycut, she actually accepted the paycut when everyone else did.

I remember really enjoying the period after John was “killed” and returned as RoboJohn. Deidre had some incredible scenes, including threatening Stefano. It was the first time I felt stakes for anyone after the cartoon of Melaswen. Drake also got to play something new, and it was fun watching both of them. My only problem with that period of time they were gone was the show should have stabilized Bo and Hope and let them have adventures together. Even in a small scale solving local crimes. Utilizing Maggie was wonderful, but they could have helped it from feeling like Sami all the time. And even that was more like EJ all the time. But there was a hole in the heart of the show. Drake should have always had a place and I was happy to see him when they brought him back.

I think the distance from the hospital is a valid criticism of what we saw during Mulcahey/Korte. It wasn’t a focal point during any of Guza’s tenures until Scrubs. Sure we had characters there facing an illness, or recovering from various traumas, some second tier leads still worked there. Compare any time Mulcahey was on the writing team to Labine’s tenure, or the beginning of the show to the end of 1981. Scrubs was only prevalent because they had made Robin a doctor and Grey’s Anatomy was popular.

Five has always been my personal favorite season, but from the time Gary and Abby’s affair begins through the beginning of season 7 when Val gets the twins back is an incredible run of episodes. Peter Dunne really knew how to use that cast and especially how to use Val/Gary/Abby as an engine to power the show. I don’t think any of their other contemporary primetime soaps hold up as well today, and none were better when airing.

I am at the end of Season 4. This really is a great season. Ciji kind of refocused the show into the continuing umbrella storylines that were so strong for them going forward. Her last day is really heartbreaking though- everyone blaming her for their various issues. I actually enjoyed John Pleshette as Richard much more this time around than ever before. But I am so annoyed with Karen when it comes to Richard. Laura has every right to feel threatened by Richard, and he was awful to Ciji. Unfortunately Diana is now moving into focal point territory. I think another actor would have made her at least tolerable.

I would love for Cody to be sexual period. This guy should be sexing up many people in town, and instead he’s just there. One thing missing from Valentini’s GH has been characters having anything messy in their lives. The best part of Mulcahey’s time was not just the sharper dialogue. It was taking three characters I cannot stand, Nina/Drew//Willow and introducing enough spark thanks to Watros that it made them interesting to watch. Marland’s ATWT was a community, everyone knew everyone through logical connections. But they didn’t all like each other!

Does she still direct there?

I think they were so busy trying to undo any lasting damage to Ava they didn’t think about using the meds for a greater story point. Just like they all but wiped Valentin from that and Pikeman. And Maurice’s mental health decline around that story.

Disney owns Hulu and ABC and ABC produces the show themselves. It’s not going to be dropped from Hulu unless they cancel the show.

Absolutely. The entitlement is so high online for celebrities. They are sharing with the public as they choose to. It is not a two way relationship.

Sad news. He was one of those solid actors that soaps used to be full of, there to ground everything around the pretty people falling in love. He made what could have been a cliche work for years as Mike.

If the other half of that relationship wasn’t Becky it would look a little off. But they both look like it’s only been maybe a decade since the boxcar and it’s been what, 25+ years?

My heart really breaks for Deidre. Christie Clark replied to someone that she had spoken to her and that Dee was taking the news hard.

The thing I keep coming back to is as awful as being fired from a job is, especially after this much time, the central issues that started everything were that she wanted to only be paired with her offscreen partner. It has never been leaked that Burton and KeMo had a contentious working relationship. It’s not like she was trying to protect herself from a nasty costar. She just wanted to work with her boyfriend. Which is ridiculous. Many things can be true at one time. This can suck and also not be surprising as far as her performances. And Frank can be a shitty boss and still have a show to produce and talent he can depend on. And Kelly can say whatever she wants about all of it, and deserved better bts treatment. But I think the end result is the same-Sam is off the show because of multiple factors. The true crossover supervillain of ABC daytime.

Specifics as to why BM was standing up to Valentini on her behalf is really the only thing not out there. We already know he was let go and them bringing the character back made me think it was something between him and Frank or the show. KeMo was public when Jason was brought back and visibly played against a triangle story. Then both she and Steve made public comments about being different actors now and what worked before was clearly not working anymore. When BM was let go she also publicly complained. And I understand she also walked back some of those comments at private fan events because she pissed off a vocal part of her base. I do think soap actors should be able to speak up. I also think if the show is going in a direction they do not like, they have a choice to leave or do the work. Especially because what she wanted was to keep sharing scenes with her significant other. That is not a realistic complaint and demand. The problem is Frank is petty. She has phoned it in in various ways for years. He chose to punish her like he punished others. She deserves some grace through personal traumas. But he clearly stuck her in purgatory until the budget crisis the show and ABC was facing met up with plans they were making for the immediate future of the show and cut a major contract.

It is. But I think there is some merit to what he posts. I personally am tired of people like NLG, Genie, Kin and Tristan either publicly admitting they are being punished or sidelined when Valentini has kept his pals employed and frontburner until he lost some measure of power this year and they were finally let go. And I don’t think KeMo has been fully earning her check for the last 10 years, and I still think the way he handled her has been shitty. And Billy Miller is the only one that made Drew work, and he was let go because he allegedly stood up for Kelly. Maybe Martin was pinch hitting. I know it would be a lot more fun for Scotty to be telling Alexis and Molly that they should hang this on Sonny to save themselves and Kristina. This whole story would work better as a murder mystery! But nobody is allowed to think on this show beyond 30 to 60 days max! And it shows!!

We have learned those timelines are a little off now though. Jackie Zeman has said Marland created Bobbie, and she aired before January. And there was that article someone around here posted a few years ago with interviewing the former head of ABC daytime and they brought up another writer entirely for introducing the Quartermaine characters, even though none of us had ever heard of them and they were not credited. I think soap credits and the comings and goings of writers are more complicated than we understand. Guza for example was shifting things into place twice before credited as HW during a couple of his runs, months before credits. Mulcahey was fired and credited for way longer than he was actually there. Didn’t a strike interfere here too?

Oh I am well aware of how FV is putting the show together like a puzzle, it’s especially noticeable right now. I just think the details that matter to the audience and should matter to the people working on the show are not important to him. Even when you look at what Anna and Jason have been up to, Laura has a history of being involved in capers. And has a complicated history with Holly. But the way Valentini puts the show together matters more than using Laura appropriately. Speaking of Valentini- I think it is ridiculous that several characters need lawyers and instead of using Scotty, who was already involved, they have brought back Martin. Even when Diane was telling Kristina not to tell her anything because she wasn’t her lawyer, I thought Scotty being absent continues to be glaring right now. There was room for him here too, but he pisses Frank off. And get Isaiah out of that hospital bed.

It’s just bad timing. They wanted to get Lucky onscreen sooner than she was back filming. It’s stretched out because they are in a clear stall pattern. She is almost always back airing in October since her return a few years ago. As far as the rest- she hasn’t been used as much since Spencer was killed off. They shunted her off to prop up the deeply unpopular Heather story. Whatever was going to happen to pit her and Anna against Sonny was one of the things dropped when Mulcahey was fired, very abruptly. I am happy her family is back. I hope they use her heavily to help reestablish them.

I wish they had kept him younger. It was a chance to tell a story about a young gay male on an America soap that has not happened before. I wanted this all the way back to the bullying story with Charlotte. It would have been good material for the adults and the kids. Plus they could have progressed into something like Heartstopper, a sweet story that soaps have yet to tell for gay characters too. Now he looks like a more traditional hunky teen and I fear we will barely seen a story or if we do it will be same old.

That was really nice. I’m glad they weren’t in the middle of something that kept them apart.

Christie Clark’s tribute has really brought me to tears. I haven’t watched the show regularly in almost a decade. I’m sad for all the die hard fans that they have gotten this news and also the confirmation that they have seen his last airdate. For once I was hoping their insane tape date would be a blessing.

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