titan1978

wrong thread!

My feelings on this are complicated. Without actor involvement we would never have gotten Monica’s breast cancer and Nikolas amongst others. I think Tony Geary was right to push against some of the stuff they wanted Luke to do. But I also think people go too far- again, Tony Geary. Maurice has little power. The hair thing being an example. Also the only changes to story are because of his mental health issues, not the story. Eva is here strictly because of Valentini, and she just happened to get grafted on to Sonny to make it work. Like Liz had to carry two FV friends. As I have posted before, I have empathy for his health. But I also wonder why nobody will address with him that his method acting is killing every deep dramatic storyline that he used to love to play, it’s causing his mental health to decline, and I am sure causing issues with his home life. Something has to change here- Sonny doesn’t work unless it’s dark, because the show never evolved him. I don’t think anyone has bts power right now like they did even a few years ago, which ran crazy during the JFP era.

I thought so a couple of months ago. I don’t want this for Anna, but I also don’t want a return from Valentin. I do appreciate that Valentini had kept Anna front and center, but the stories have not been good. Of the entire cast as it stands right now, the only one I could tolerate is Brennan. And they have clearly tagged him for perfect Carly.

I just keep wondering if they are cutting out enough stuff they need to combine scripts. Like are we cutting an entire story because they want to retool it? Or is it simply a case of what you said- filming out of order and stitching. We know this summer that filmed material was dropped like Aiden’s coming out to Laura and other aspects of that story. It’s really wild!

The comedy of thinking this show would even care if they wanted him back onscreen. His murders are nothing. Laura is the mayor and she murdered someone as a teenager, shot a man in her house, and is still probably considered Rick’s killer because IIRC Scott was never turned in for it. Alexis just got her law license back and she’s killed and maimed several.

The signs really point to an even greater degree of episodes being Frankensteined together.

After a recent revisit, what Dey did well was light romantic comedy. She and Hamlin excelled together doing romantic comedy. They would have done better to put her in projects that played to those strengths. Not everyone was capable of the heavy banter and opposites attract trope on tv that Cybil Shepherd and Bruce Willis accomplished on Moonlighting in its heyday. It was special for a reason. I was going to watch every episode this round but season two just dragged so I skipped ahead to the affair. Now I am glued to every episode again.

I think what we are seeing is a direct correlation to how little the story is planned out. When Geary used to head out and they pretaped, Luke could be very in story or not, depending on what the plan was. The times he was heavier in story it was easier to pre-tape because Guza and team had a stronger handle on the story overall, and it didn’t feel like he was gone most of the time, certainly not for months. The show was also not filmed in such a fragmented way. I think we now have Valentini putting the show together as a puzzle, we have writers that work within his strategy, and we have a schedule that has to be kept above all else. There is a reason the show has felt like it only has an actual story maybe 60 days at a time. There is a reason they don’t do a lot of deep character work anymore. There is a reason things get dropped so often, including an entire story direction just disappearing abruptly. This year it was really highlighted just how little forward thinking they are anymore.

I watched all Reilly’s first couple of years on DAYS, then skimmed the rest a couple of years ago. I saw most of it before when it was airing. The earlier period is full of characters that had layers, more depth, and decent dialogue. The period starting around the possession everyone begins talking to themselves and almost being overheard. The twists get more ludicrous. Everyone gets increasingly less intelligent. Characters like Kate, Lucas, Sami, Peter and Kristen have actual motivations that are somewhat grounded. The stories that Deborah Adair’s Kate had and Lauren Koslow had are miles apart. They completely break Marlena down with the affair in a more psychological way over her guilt than the comedy that comes later. The simplistic, over the top stuff that came later in his run didn’t work for me. I got why it took off- you literally could tune out for a week and come back and the characters might still all be on the same day as when you left. Passions really took that to another level. Peyton Place meets Twin Peaks is something I would love to watch. That was never Passions. I have hopes for BTG to actually have depth.

They don’t get their own recipe anymore. When Brenda returned for the first time, it was an adventure umbrella storyline but she was immediately mixed with the characters that know her. When Robert returned, the virus story was impacting the whole town and he was right in the mix with characters that were there when he was before. When L&L returned, they were on their own having an adventure that suited the characters and was tied to their first on the run story, but Lucky was in PC pretty fast meeting Ruby. And within two weeks or so they were hugging Steve Hardy and Bobbie at GH. It works when they are surrounded by the people that knew them, and those characters are drawn in to what is happening right away. The GH formula was drawing out an umbrella story by having both plot and character beats playing out the whole time. They used to have people falling in and out of love, injuries involving a hospital stay, mystery, intrigue, reunions big and small. Now we have Lucky and Holly sitting in a bare room waiting for Genie’s vacation to end? She usually returns to the screen in October.

What a plot right out of the Valentini GH playbook. It’s a name from the past! She will sprinkle some nostalgia tidbits around and immediately feel out of place because the ties are not there.

That was one of my break periods too. I was so mad about AJ, and the show had morphed into an ensemble, and then it was back to all about Sonny again. Because Mo complained.

I thought the same. Really touching if that is her intention.

There is also something to Tunie being known, talented, but not a daytime mega superstar like DM and VR. They walk in the door with Angie and Dru written all over them when it comes to a daytime audience. I’m not saying they are not all talented and Tunie wasn’t popular. She’s very beloved and well known in daytime and primetime. I know any of them are capable of playing something different. I am thinking more about the perception of their past characters being with them- Angie was part of a supercouple, and Dru was like a centrifugal point on Y&R- as anchoring to me as a viewer as Jill, Nikki, Ashley, etc. MVJ was a special writer on GH, mentored there and allowed to put her stamp down under Labine and Guza, supported by Riche. That must have been a nurturing place for BTS talent during the 90’s, before things started to get toxic from ABC and power struggles over creative.

Tamara Tunie just made me go from will check this out to must watch. Tunie is not only an awesome actress, she is also grounded and brings depth to all the material I have seen her work with. I have watched the premieres in my lifetime of Sunset Beach, Port Charles, and Passions. This feels different. Tamara Tunie being cast feels different. We may have pretty people here but they are not going to just be pretty people. Looking forward to this! They aren’t just looking for flash and over the top. I know lots of us are wishing for Victoria Rowell, but I wonder if she would be happier directing on a show like this than acting. She was pushing so hard for bts representation at Y&R, and I know she knows how to work within the soap camera setup. She might be able to bring in some of that Bell glamour and lushness from her experiences there.

Just don’t be so vanilla while doing it!

I thought they had chemistry. I thought she and Johnny did too. But truthfully, other than Dom (and he brought a lot to that pairing) she had more chemistry with Maxie and with her onscreen family- Nikolas, both Lucky’s and Luke. I thought she had good chemistry with Genie too.

Ha! I have never been more ready. Monty’s stars were less afraid of speaking out about her than the people on GH under Frank (a little bit under OLTL too- HBS was punished in a similar way NLG has been).

I doubt this. I have a feeling she is earning more per contract day than a recurring fee for the same period. I know for some of them it is the principle of the matter- Genie for instance will not appear on GH without a contract unless it’s on her terms, not theirs. And Finola was just fine being recurring and they convinced her to move up to contract and made her a lead again when Frank and Ron got there.

I wonder if her contract status has anything to do with her health, her long COVID? Maybe she only feels comfortable being here under contract due to her still quite serious issues.

IIRC this team minus Dan are the ones that dropped Obrecht. I would be surprised if she is back anytime soon. If anyone should be dropping an accent, it’s MEK as Martin, not Lois!

She may not be able to until her final airdate, we have no idea what her contract says. I can bet her scenes are contentious at best.

Though not my first choice, I would want to see this too. The entire story of Doug ending up with her, the cancer, and the tragic end. Maybe Susan on trial as well.

Ken Corday, about a decade ago, said they were already doing this with the DAYS archive. They had already started when he made the statement. Yeah I know it’s wishful thinking. But it took so long for Knots and we finally got that. So I will hope for something cool during the 60th year beyond Ron being gone 😆 I want the real episodes, quality controlled, not edits. It is interesting to think how all these decades of programming are just sitting there, possibly waiting for the right time to be seen again. Or not, and just as elusive for fans of the genre as the days when they wiped tapes and it was one chance only to see.

As the big anniversary approaches, Sony/Corday/NBC Universal is going after lots of DAYS pages on YouTube. Which sucks. But I did think what if this crackdown has something to do with classic episodes becoming available soon? Wishful thinking I’m sure. But let’s say we got a huge wonderful surprise, like Knots Landing streaming has been. What days story or episode would you watch first? As much as I am so curious about Susan Flannery as Laura, and the years Bill Bell was writing, that’s not my first pick. My first would be to watch the entire Salem Strangler storyline. One of my favorite soap binges during the pandemic was getting to see the Loving murders, and I would love to see all of this DAYS classic. What would everyone else want to see?