Soaplovers

Normally I'd just dismiss the Vanessa attack being done off screen as just a budget thing... but than I recall we saw in the first week of the show Laura driving home, being tailed, and being run off the road with the person driving off... and later finding out it was SPS/Leslie when she came home and removed the motorcycle helmet. People are still wishing for her to be found out, and because the show seems intent on keeping her.. they stopped showing Laura so we'd forget.. is my theory. Normally, I'd say that maybe the budget was cut for season 2... but than I remember the shootout that resulted in poor Derek's death and also the tornado that caused Eva to almost lose her life and led to Kat's internal conflict over whether to donate to the sister she hates or not... and that happened just a few months ago. Speaking of which, after the way Iziaiah treated Kat during that story makes me wonder why the writers are insisting on pushing this arc with them together.. when the most natural story would involve Eva/Izaiah being more tied to Deanna/Noah... while Kate is more tied to Naomi/Jacob... but what do I know LOL If the budget is limited to maybe showing such an event one or two times a season.. than the writers need to take note of that and plan an event like that only one time a year.. and to make it impactful.

LBB was too hammy and too over the top for acting on television... Broadway is where someone like her should stay so we don't have to be subjected to her 'acting'.. and based on a few interviews I've watched of her.. she comes across as someone that hasn't run into a mirror she didn't like. McKeon was the exact opposite.. she was almost too low key to play Marah and very cynical in real life interviews. Kimberly J Brown was the perfect Marah.. she played a Marah that had qualities of both Reva and Josh.

He should have taken his own advice and left ATWT after a few years. Nixon and Marland were vastly different writers so it isn't a surprise that they had little disagreements. It sounds as though he didn't like his work being micro-managed, but at the same time, he was working for Nixon since she did create the show. And his day to day scripts were a bit too exposition heavy (it always drove me crazy watching episodes of ATWT where the characters had unrealistic conversations with one another).

From what I recall, part of the reason that Nina targeted Donna had to do with the Zach Grayson murder storyline where Nina's mother Daisy was accused of the crime.. and Donna had blocked out her memories of the event and it turned out that she remembered one detail that made everyone realize it was Marian Colby that was the killer. While Nina #2 resembled Nina #1 in looks... she had more brittle uptight approach to playing Nina vs the softer vulnerable yet strong willed Nina that Taylor Miller played. Nina #3 didn't resemble Nina whatsoever, though her take was not brittle nor uptight... I can't describe her take in words.. tbh.

Rewatching the Caroline scenes from Thursday's episode.. and I loved that my initial instincts about her have come to pass. She definitely knows where all the bodies are buried, she also was nice to Hayley only for the sake of her boss Bill and her job.. not because she actually wanted to befriend Hayley.. and even when the sexual harrassment story was going on last year, I knew Caroline was thinking and feeling a certain way about the whole situation. All assistants see and know everything after all. As @Taoboi can attest, I've always said that Caroline knows where all the bones are buried.. and I bet she knows something that can counteract Hayley's blackmail attempts.

I thought Cheryl came on during a really odd transition and she ended up getting lost in the shuffle. I understood the show opting to go for Josie (basically a replacement for Cheryl) due to her ties to the Frames and later the Matthews... but I wish that Cheryl would have been written better. Unpopular opinion, but I actually enjoyed a lot of the strike material.. at least the day to day stuff where there were some progressive (for 1988) conversations that went on. There was a clear focus on newbie Ronnie, Lisa was given more dimension (where she had some pretty progressive views on men and women), and the female worker hired by John was an interesting concept/idea.. but the casting was a bit off. And we had some interesting Sam/Amanda as young newlyweds with a new baby with Mac/Rachel/Ada/Mitch all having input and scenes with the coupling.. while we saw more seeds planted on how truly different the two were with Sam's working class mentality clashing with Amanda's sheltered wealthy upbringing. The Cass and Nicole ghost story went a step too far.. it would have worked better had the ghost been in Cass' head and been due to his being unable to move on from Kathleen... with the end result being Cass finally being able to move on with Nicole. Another unpopular opinion, but I actually liked the actress that played Nicole #3 and saw some elements that made me believe that Nicole #1 and Nicole #3 were the same character.. just different ways of presenting the character. Nicole #1 was a tortured free spirit that spent more money than she was making while dealing with a drug problem in her early days. She also tended to become dependent on men that showed her positive attention like what happened with Jamie while almost going scorched earth on female competition like what happened with Stacy. Nicole # 2 wasn't on very long, and she was gone after a short time though her trying to be a singer fit with the character being restless. Nicole # 3 quickly latched onto fashion design, being both erratic and rational.. and trying to present herself as together when on the inside she was falling apart. I think her issues post Jason's murder could have been even better if she had fallen back into her old habit of drugs since she was acting off and erratic just like she did back in 83/84.

I'm all for new blood, the late Bill Bell did that successfully in the early 80s, and to a lesser extent, the 90s... but the problem is that the new characters are under-written and the performers cast to play these under written parts can barely act. The key is to look at newer characters that have made an impression and start to build either families and/or friends around them.. and go from there. I mean the Abbotts first started because Jill went to work at Jabot randomly in 1980, so the first step would be to take an established character and plop them into a new setting with some new characters and gradually integrate the new characters onto the rest of the canvas. However, Jack vs Victor needs to be put to rest... it's as tired and worn out as the Jill vs Katherine story was... while the show needs to figure out what they need to do with characters like Sally, Chelsea, Billy, Phyllis, Sharon, and Nick... either cut them or use one of them to help usher in new characters that stick.

Cass/Nicole was on the few things that Depriest did right. She also did right with Felicia/Mitch, which caused great tension between Rachel/Felicia and Rachel/Mac. She also paired Sam/Amanda though loses points for making her pregnant so soon.. and she also did well with setting the groundwork for Jamie/Lisa/Vicky. For some reason, she had trouble with the Mckinnons and Love's.. but seemed like she understood the Cory's and Felicia. Jason came on at the end of Depriest's stint.. and she had Jason interacting with Mary (due to the actors being together on GH) while having him and Nicole in some creepy scenes before she left and the strike writers kind of dropped that.

1990 was a different time where a scene like this could be written, filmed, and acted to perfection by all involved. 2026 is almost too PC and play it safe that MVJ would love to film an actual out and out fight between two characters, but you'd have several groups proclaiming how degrading it was for women to fight like this, that we're better than this, etc. I'd love for Hayley to get in some licks on Dani.. tbh.

The other Zimmer scene I thought was well done was the scene between her and Alexandra in November 1989 right around the time of the whole Dylan/Harley/Alan Michael and the kidnapping of Daisy/Susan. Both actresses played well opposite one another with Zimmer reigning it in and being calm and supportive when Alexandra was talking about Phillip being in the mental institution after trying to dig up Beth's grave. Reva was worried when she heard about what Phillip was going through, yet also had a look of understanding when Beth's name was mentioned.. while Lujack was also mentioned during the conversation. Long created both characters and knew exactly how to write them and also knew to play the history between the two with each giving one another looks that showed that they respected one another and even could laugh during a stressful time. I think Zimmer also knew not to step on Mckinsey's toes and matched her energy. My late mom tended to be a fan of Zimmer when she played anyone, but Reva (post 1990). She loved her as Nola on The Doctors, viewed 1983 Echo as a Luann (RHONY) type, and even liked her when she was Jodie on SB stating she played a convincing blue collar cop that tried to balance being objective with being a bleeding heart.

Galen Gering.. has he been mentioned yet? Back in the day, I loved him on Passions, especially when he was paired with Sheridan.. only to realize that once the show stupidly broke them up.. he floundered, yet continued to get featured quite a bit while his former scene partner Mazkenzie Westmore basically was given a bad re-write and basically degraded. Than he started on Days and he had a strong start with Sami (Allison Sweeney).. but once they broke up.... he again floundered yet has been kept on for years. Boggles my mind.

I'm hoping Hayley throws a punch to Dani next... that one has been asking for a good punch to the mouth since week 1.. and Hayley needs to be the one to deliver that blow to that vapid waste of space named Dani. It's odd that the show, and even the actress playing Chelsea, have said that Chelsea is exactly like Dani because I don't see it at all. Other than the water being thrown at Hayley, Chelsea tends to be more rational and having the most logical of takes sometimes unlike her pompous cousin Martin, nor her smug sister Naomi. I know some on this board are a bit upset that Heather and Hayley seem to be walking around town free as a bird.... what you all should be asking is why the writers seem unable to not make the Duprees both the villains and the cringy relative you stick in a corner while the interesting people are featured. Lastly, you should be asking why a female woman of color (MVJ) seems to get off on making the black men get yelled at and abused. Going through her X/Twitter profile.. that woman has serious daddy issues and a lot of hostility toward men. Perhaps the powers that be above her could help provide her and her female EP's and female Co-head writer some mental help to deal with their issues... or perhaps teach them how to harness that into writing an actual good story and program.

I don't understand why the show insists on doing such things when the focus should be on telling stories and generating conflict. It's kind of a waste of time doing these events, and maybe someone should tell them they're writing a soap opera.. not a modern day version of the 70s show Family.

From what my mom told me, early D.L Brock came across like a charming guy.. and that the show hired David Groh on purpose to lure viewers into thinking D.L was going to be a good guy.. since he was popular on Rhoda years before. I wish I could have seen the story in real time because it sounded like it did what it intended to do.

As someone that didn't watch season 15 of NY, I'm liking the slow burn of this season thus far. I'm not a big fan of toxicity in large doses... so hearing how the final few episodes of last season went, it makes me happy with my decision. And you all might have enjoyed it last season, but it got put on pause and did a soft reboot so obviously most people didn't enjoy it. It's why I opted not to continue watching the OC, BH, and Salt Lake City... the continuing slide into extreme toxicity drove me and others like me away from those shows. So I'm enjoying the slow burn and the calm discussions over slights and misunderstandings of the first four episodes. With that said, Erin being mad that Hailey talked about her behind her back and compared her to Jam is rich considering the amount of talk she does about everyone behind their backs. Her husband is a saint to be married to her. And Jessel being put out that her hubby is doing food content that isn't generating income is kind of funny. Welcome to equality Jessel.. now you know how husbands in the past felt about their wives and their hobbies that cost money, but didn't generate income.