titan1978

After re-watching the pre-possession Reilly run on DAYS, her Kristen was pretty soft and emotive until she starts to go into scheming mode, and then outright villainy. She doesn’t come across as harsh or as blunt as she did later on DAYS or after her return to Y&R. And to me it was more like haughty than truly harsh.

I think Ashley’s paternity was wonderfully played by Bell. Even if his intent was that it never should be revealed, especially to John, we know and Ashley knows, and it informs her character’s vulnerability. It didn’t need to be revealed to accomplish the greater characterization that it lead to. It wasn’t done just to create a secret to be revealed.

It was intentional. Suggested by her son IIRC.

It’s really delightful to see Jane every time.

I like her hair.

If she is doing anything, she learned her lesson and it’s subtle. At one point she did something that was so distracting she admitted to it and said she promised she wouldn’t do that again. Maybe about a decade ago? Frank was there, because she said she promised him she wouldn’t do it again. Truthfully, at her core the one trait I think of when I think of Alexis is exasperation. So your description works, mean or not. Remember when Alexis had actual sparring partners? I miss that.

She and Laura both are suffering in poor pairings, but the actors are happy so it’s not going to change. Maybe we will luck out and JPS will be too busy to continue. Maybe we could get a decent recast. Also- I am happy that Anna is not with Finn. So be careful what you wish for I guess.

It’s hard to take him even remotely seriously. I think if Laura slapped him now he would fall to the floor.

Linc should have been murdered, Brooklyn is standing over the body and is accused. At first Chase thinks she did it because her trauma response seems like her usual lying. He decides to tell her he knows she did it and that he will help her cover it up. Except it wasn’t her, this pisses her off, and she decides to hire Sam and Felicia to find the real killer. And tells Chase to kick rocks. She gets some of her spunk back, and now Chase has to prove himself as a cop and as worthy of her by also solving the murder. If they are going to keep them apart at least flip the script and make him forlorn and ashamed!

Apparently fire is the only thing a Spencer man can do to deal with a location and emotional trauma.

There is just something special about those New York soaps when they they were at their best! As much as I love west coast soaps, you just don’t get characters like AW’s Iris or GL’s Alexandra, OLTL’s Karen Wolek, or EH’s Lucinda Walsh. That fondness was so present onscreen.

She will be missed. There have been many incredible actors on soaps over the years. My favorite kind to watch were the ones that clearly had an internal life going on as their character as well as what they said and emoted on screen. Especially when they were at odds with whatever they were saying, and you got to see layers in their performances. You could tell in the best of days she relished Lucinda Walsh. It’s such a treat that her fans can have access to Althea as well.

Thanks! I think the great 35th anniversary special has a scene with Lee arguing this case. I have said it many times, but I loved Lee. There should have always been a place for him with or without Scott on the show.

How many times was Jessie on trial? She really went through it, the long suffering character that you desperately wanted to have a happy ending. Jake was my favorite pairing for Bobbie. Tony was so sanctimonious.

And the show could have used Devon and Lily being at odds with Phyllis because of Dru for years. They mined the hell out of Katherine/Phillip/Jill for decades. Lily and Daniel being involved just makes it richer.

When they brought it back I remember thinking why? It wasn’t my favorite back when the show was excellent. @Vee how dare you bring that Luke/Felicia monstrosity up from the depths of my memory. Some of these things are best never mentioned again!

She was my favorite of all the new characters introduced during Monty’s second run.

And this would have been fun too- something the show is desperately lacking in. I would have loved a small moment of them talking about Rex and Katherine, with Leanna adding something like your dad was a great man.

I have to think the worse use of history on AMC was the un-abortion. Even though I wasn’t watching during the original story, when Liza returned and we got to see the pull she and Tad still had towards each other, which ultimately was not good for either of them, was great. They didn’t have to just run down their own greatest story hits together- it looked and felt lived.

As Vee said- it’s his taste level that has gotten him into more issues with me.

I think the abrupt ending to Empire Valley hurts the overall impression of the story. Especially after such strong umbrella stories as Wolfbridge and Val’s babies. So many characters are tied into both of those plots, and their crescendos. Empire Valley wasn’t the same.

And then followed it up with Luke has DID. I hated the Kate/Connie story, her kid, Sonny shooting AJ, all of it. And then to follow it up with Fluke being revealed as DID. Awful. The whole show wasn’t working and it felt like he was doubling down on messy. As much as I loathed Guza, at least it was well written depressing deconstruction. RC’s last year or so just felt both generic and amateurish.

I prefer rivals not be besties unless they have earned it. On GH I can buy Liz and Carly getting along at times because they have earned it, their kids were involved and they are not presented as being all that close. Sam and Liz I do not get, they should not be on good terms overall. Jill and Katherine on Y&R should never have been friendly for long stretches of time. Laura and Bobbie were excellent examples of rivals that had matured, but still had an edge as they were different people. Especially when Laura was still connected to Luke. Now that relationship is gone, and Bobbie and Laura act more like family and I am fine with that. Without Luke there is no heat for Bobbie to get mad at Laura kicking him out, etc. And with Jamie changing careers between actors, it’s so easy for the show to handle things like that! Once casting has begun have Rachel receive a letter from Jamie from medical school, saying he might be coming home for part of his residency. It still doesn’t cover the time needed, but at least the audience is aware that he has made the change and spend a year finishing up his medical schooling on the show. But instead they always want to hit the ground running!

While ranting about Ron Carlivati on another thread I started thinking what does the use of history really mean to us on a soap? For me, it’s not bringing long gone characters or locations or plots back in name only. Or name dropping famous events or characters discussing history like a fact sheet. It’s deeper than that. And I think the actors bring it out more than we give them credit for. Its the warmth and camaraderie we see in scenes with Robert/Felicia/Anna on GH. It’s Laura having anguish on her face when talking about Nikolas and his failures as a parent. It’s Liz remarking that she worked at Kelly’s when she was Cameron’s age. It’s Maggie on DAYS helping Lucas with his addiction. Sami reverting to her darker side when pressed. And family ties matter- who is related, how they know each other. What I hate are people just reciting facts or bringing things up for a joke. Not every detail in the history of a character needs to be brought up in every conversation.

His biggest success at GH as far as ratings was the Robin storyline. And it was only told slowly because he had no other choice- KMc was not available. So the payoff worked to build anticipation because they used Anna and Robert to get us there, and he had to wait due to outside forces. I think he uses history in the hackiest way possible. Bringing back AJ, Frank Smith, Duke, only to just kill them off again. Or Julian Jerome in name only. He takes things too far because his personal tolerance does not match the audience. He writes characters into corners and then just hopes we forget about it (Ava, Julian, even Sonny). Hell-even renaming Jakes to the Floating Rib just because he liked the name was stupid. If Mac was going to rename it wouldn’t he go with The Outback? He writes from a facts spreadsheet, devoid of character.