titan1978

Jesus. That’s blunt af and the accuracy.

Interesting topic- 1- I think they survived because at the beginning of that purge, and the following two years, almost all of the four were seeing their best ratings in almost a decade. Couple that with the replacement shows on ABC not being successful, and that bought them time. 2- It seems we have hit the bottom of the baseline ratings for all of them- the Nielsen diehards that tune in no matter what. If you look at the ratings report @Errolposted recently, it had comparisons with last year and 2020, and a lot of those numbers were stagnant with today, or slightly down. That does not bode well for any type of future, and speaks to the last folks watching (at least the ones that “count”) a dying genre. And even if there is a future with streaming, it will never match a 5 days a week, all year long network daytime soap. Another question may be will we recognize network television in another decade? Because they are hurting. 3- I no longer wish for them to be cancelled- if it’s not for me anymore that is fine. I still check in to 3 of the 4 and see what’s up, more GH than the others. But there is no denying the schedules they film under has hit every section of the product that matters- writing is generic, therefore easy to produce. Production is stagnant, and even the most talented actors are not producing deep work like they used too. Many of them are still doing serviceable work, just not breaking my heart or making me rewatch anything like I did before.

I hope Real Andrews comes back because he was still very watchable. I don’t know wtf happened with Donnell Turner. I used to really enjoy him but he is floundering. But I would be bored with his story too.

The tea scene with Laura and Victor with Spencer and Esme silently watching was fun. Carly is being ridiculous. But what else is new?

Oh at first they were forcing RH in several directions, and it was bordering on disaster. I think they have had to adjust because it isn’t working. They made his family tie a dead end when we should have gotten Jimmy Lee (even just a few eps here and there) to at least try to make Austin into an actual character instead of what he is- RH wandering around. This whole idea is a huge flop, they can’t even seem to find a spot for him at all. Poor Genie is having to sell that Luke is actually dead. When you watch GH the decisions just do not add up, which makes it hard to invest.

Of the five actors and characters, Joss is the weak link to me. I even like Esme.

It’s not just the advent of social media, it’s also the progression of understanding complicated issues that has happened over the years. Back then, think of how many tortured man rapes woman storylines we have gotten over the years. They were never appropriate, but people now have a greater understanding of the violation involved and women have more agency over their lives. Although there are still many issues with reporting and justice, back in the day people just didn’t talk openly about trauma. Bill and Laura on DAYS- they even drove Mickey insane, and were still rooted for. Luke and Laura of course. Didn’t Jake rape Marley on AW, and yet her sister ended up with him? Social Media seems to have no problem with Ben Weston being a tortured former serial killer, at least not enough that the story has changed in the slightest. Increasingly I think they play it safe because the people producing them don’t pitch complicated storytelling because they can’t or no longer know how to pull it off. The safety is in how easy it is to predict how to produce this dreck, mixed with working with the very real threat that the show could be axed at any time.

I agree. Although scenes of her learning that Justus let Laura go on trial for murdering Damian Smith would have been really wonderful. But much like Lois, Guza did not know how best to utilize them, and Claire really knew what she was doing. I loved the Ward family.

Although I didn’t care for her Lulu, it was kind of strange. They brought back Dante and got rid of her. I wasn’t sure if it was a contract thing or a budget thing (or both). But again- we still have ME and RH, both flopping about in characters that could leave at any moment.

Especially since Kevin is aware and acknowledged how important he is to Laura. So it’s not going to cause issues there! JZ just about broke my heart though. She and Genie were good in those scenes. But it feels like a plot point and not an actual story. So far. And there really is no good reason why the show isn’t using Lucky, even as a recast (except of course Frank needing Liz for his friends). It’s time. Lulu too.

Catching up and I have to say that even though Sonny’s Penthouse is orientated in a different direction and makes no sense when compared to Jason’s still being the same…I think the actual set looks better than the one they used when they shrunk his penthouse the first time towards the end of their time using it. I am always happy to see Tracy, and that hairdo was such a throwback. I cannot believe Luke is actually dead, and I’m skeptical that TG would return to the show. Such a random thing. It would be cool if this blew up Laura and Kevin somehow- they just do not fit together IMO. I also cannot believe how much traction this death has gotten in the media. He’s been off the show for years!

It also starts the show out with more excitement! And it is short and sweet and much better than what they are doing now. Anything is better than the horrible, amateurish looking open they are using now.

Thank you for all this work!

A guy can dream!

I want her to take over for Frank at GH!

Agree so much on both main points. It was like junk food compared to the other soaps I watched at the time- mainly ABC. And I also agree that his personal issues destroyed his talent because his writing became so one dimensional and forced. I assume he was very troubled and conflicted.

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.