titan1978

I did make that thread because rewatching the earlier part of his run was pretty great soap opera. Especially the way they told the story of Kate/Billie/Austin/Curtis. But I fell off my rewatch shortly after Maison Blanche because that was when the JER I remembered was in almost full force. The motivations were getting thinner, the reasons why people were doing what they were doing made increasingly less sense, and it started to feel more like the hybrid goth/camp version he fully evolved the show into by the time he left. And that appreciation was truly rooted in having seen his work on GL when the Pandemic started. I finally got to watch nearly all of the Curlee/Reilly/Demorest era. And watching his earlier DAYS run not long after really showed of the craft and skill he had in structure. He just doesn’t have much deep characterization when solo, and it ultimately was not for me. And all that goes without mentioning his clearly deep rooted psychological issues. His treatment of women was awful. And he really did make every character an idiot just to keep his stories moving, especially towards the end of his DAYS run and Passions/ second run.

Yes! Marlena had to suffer. It’s not like we had a Maureen situation here, like Isabella found out and died tragically so John “paid” in similar ways. The only consequence for John was that small period of time the Brady’s and Carrie were a little mean to him. And his relationship with Sami was destroyed. But Marlena paid with all those same characters and the actual devil. Again, having recently watched the earlier part of JER’s run, his personal beliefs and demons were not as clearly on display as they later were. The show in 1992-1994 did take time to talk about the emotional ramifications of what they did. Although again, Marlena was the one that suffered nearly daily. And as I finished Maison Blanche, the father John stuff is just as stupid to me as it was then. That was the turn the show started to slowly loose me.

It’s not just nostalgia for me. I just think Eileen is a more specific performer. I also haven’t watched much of the show in years. I was never a person that worshipped JER’s DAYS either. I wonder how I would feel if this was anyone but RC writing though. Part of my issue is that I have rewatched the first couple of years of Reilly on DAYS recently, and it was easy to forget when he drive me away how good the earlier period on the show was. It wasn’t full of all his tics that were nearly fully in place by the time of the Posessesion. And you get to see the earlier version of Kristen and her slow slide.

The amount of vets is never a problem. It’s how you use them. Newman wasn’t always just filled with that family. We had Neil, Ryan, Jill, and the Jabot characters/storylines. And they had their own orbits away from Newman. The show wasn’t just a snake eating it’s own tail all the time. The problem for me is that they tried to keep Victor the same player he was in 1991, and gave up on the actor that could anchor the future of the manipulative and vindictive side of that family- Heather Tom’s Victoria. We have Nick and Sharon maybe rushed too fast into marriage and family stories, and then almost 30 years treating them like they are in their 20’s. They won’t let newer character organically exist because they won’t move the older players forward.

The JER storytelling made more sense with John/Marlena when Wayne was there as Roman. She wanted him back, even though she wanted John too. There was enough history and the iconic nature of Marlena/Roman that them not being honest made some sense to me. While I loved Kristen (even before she went to the Stefano side of things), she never seemed like a true threat to them. So it got increasingly stupid to me that they didn’t just admit their feelings at that point with Roman gone. I wish SH was playing someone other than Kristen. Because Eileen is a very specific actress and the character is missing her IMO. I like SH just fine, she will just never hit it out of the park for me. BTW, I felt this way about Ashley too- I grew to love Brenda as Ashley. But when Eileen came back it was like oh yeah- this is Ashley.

For the first time in ages, I didn’t fast forward a Sonny centric set of episodes. And would Carly be Carly if she didn’t feel righteous indignation? Remember when it looked like Willow was going to be Nina’s daughter? If they pit them against each other I wonder if they will resurrect that thread. And why is Willow’s mother on contract (or has that changed)?

So much truth to both of these statements. RC is tacky, but Dena was unwatchable even in jest.

When I tuned in for the early parts of Re-Posession, I really enjoyed both of them.

I was also going to mention Degrassi is way more dramatic that this! It is reminiscent of the genial blandness of Hallmark.

I watched my first full episode of Y&R in years and woof. This show is really bad. Yes, Bell’s show felt slow compared to the ABC soaps. But every episode had heightened emotions. This episode was very one note and lacked any emotion at all. I did think the new Noah was cute. And SC looked great and had a little life to her scenes. But the rest was so bland.

You could say the same happened at DAYS when Reilly arrived, or even a decade earlier on the same show when they started centering more on the supercouple thing and their ratings started to climb again after a long period of misfires. Even Y&R was just kind of plodding along until the last year of Bell’s work and Alden being more vocal as the co-HW, before taking over completely.

Tony has expressed no interest in playing Luke and Laura again. Which is funny, because he refused to be Luke again unless Genie came back too as Laura during the early 90’s return. In his defense, she did leave him stranded a couple of times there (not that she didn’t have reasons to leave). I truthfully didn’t notice his anti-Luke/Laura thing until he was paired with Tracy and the Ethan stuff. That was when he publicly went all in on Luke never had any character growth that we all saw onscreen. And I love Tracy and even thought the initial story where he was scamming her was fun. But long term it didn’t work for me because Tony needs someone firmly grounded to keep him from overacting. I also think that there is rich material to play with both of them where they actually address their relationship, the depth of their emotions, and Laura comes from a place of strength instead of being a basket case.

Helena was so improperly used. All threats and no substance to almost her entire run. Stefano accomplished a lot of evil deeds. So did Roger- sometimes more shady than outright evil, but still. Anders Hove has always terrified me as Faison.

I do see chemistry between Liz and Drew. Also- for some reason seeing CM on GH, especially at Kelly’s really seemed odd. It’s giving me major mid 2000’s ABC daytime flashback vibes. Kind of takes me out of his scenes now that the beard is gone.

That week of her funeral would have been a special way to end the show, all about the community and how one person had affected so many. If we are adding returning folks because it is a wrap up, maybe all the Reardons come back for her. This is harder than I would have thought. When it comes to soaps my brain automatically thinks of story to continue. For DAYS, I think maybe I would pick John and Marlena’s wedding. I know a lot has happened since then, but for me, most of it has been nonsense or barely tolerable. A nice cap to the 1990’s with beloved characters and a story about love. On GH- I have two possibilities. The first one is that month long stint when Laura woke up from her coma, and they were fake re-married. Pretty easy to have that be real and a nice ending. Or Alan’s death after the Metro Court. That was the best Guza event, and the show was still mostly intact minus Alan. The next couple of years just destroyed the show almost completely. Y&R- a hopeful ending is when John returns and they got Jabot back. Again, a nice cap on a driving point of story for many characters and a renewed focus on the family that reinvigorated the show. I can’t remember if Katherine and Jill were “related” yet when John died, so I would never want to end it there!

Well, Peter is still here so who knows if they decide to keep him and he wants to stay. Especially if Frank likes him.

I wonder what would have happened with SB’s Carly if AJ had not been recast with Billy. He’s not a bad actor, he was just miscast here. I could easily see years of a Monica/Alan type of relationship, and Carly may not have ended up fully in Sonny’s orbit.

Agree so much. She was there for the Monty era and also for the more human emotion driven Labine era. Perfect fit. And I always felt BW was miscast as AJ.

Two clips, less than 20 minutes, and this had more stakes, told more story, had heart and even humor (thank you Tiffany Hill). The current show could use more of this. More actual meat to this storytelling. I thought so back then, and I still think so now rewatching this- GF and MB had great chemistry. And Sonny was so hot back then. So was Garcia- what a waste there. And Tiffany’s comment when Sean finds her at the police station is so funny. Tiffany was a fun character. It is easy to forget just how volatile both Luke and Laura could be after she was reduced to Earth Mother and he became so disenchanted.

I know they are not popular around here, but I do enjoy Willow and Sasha. I wish Sasha was being utilized better, because I really like the actress. She should be Lucy Coe 2.0. Instead she’s someone I like that has been saddled with one bad story after another. And on paper, a story like this with her baby is what soaps have always been about- actual human emotions. It’s just poor timing for this kind of story.

I finally watched the State of Mind with Shelly Curtis. I would kill for some of these folks to be interviewed about their careers and time on GH like that amazing OLTL book. I know MB had her and Riche on to basically thank them and hear what his breakdown looked like from their perspectives. But all I wanted to hear was more of the stuff she learned from working with Monty and editing- especially her ability to edit while doing the shots, and her title of queen of the sex scenes. I also absolutely loved the not so subtle shade she cast on Frank’s vision- that even with no time she is capable of finding moments because she can pare it down in her head to what matters most per show. I haven’t ever heard anyone put it that way really with soaps, but it’s true. When you have an emotional centerpiece of that day’s episode, and all of them should have that, you get through the more mundane scenes and move your extra time to craft the one most important for that one episode. When I think of what has been missing on the current show it’s that- everything is treated with the same bland, generic hand. And the drama just never happens, never peaks. I bet had she been at GH with the same scripts from the last two years it would have been infinitely better.

Well…his relationships with Roman and John used to be more in play, as well as Marlena. But he hasn’t had the right kind of stories for most of his run, certainly not as invested in as other DAYS characters. Plus the lack of care and attention given to Black actors and their characters by soaps in general.

Well Coloma lost me with that serenade to SB, Ingo and MB on Instagram. Anyone singing about Ingo at that point tells me all I need to know.

I think that has been his goal. Enough publicity to get on someone’s radar and parlay into a new career. He is a clown and I am sick of these people.

Right? I felt this way when they killed off Oscar too- I don’t care how awful the actor is. The last thing a soap should be doing in this climate (meaning their current ability to present story onscreen), is killing off kids this way. They don’t have the time to craft it respectfully, they just move on with little care, and it’s not the right time in general. Certainly not at the holidays, and not after the real world events of the last couple of years. And not with throwaway characters. We should be seeing stories of family and love right now.