Soaplovers

It's nice that the show did a nice episode for such a boring story about delusional women thinking they're all that when they're just average at best. Hopefully the show will go back to normal tomorrow and we'll be away from this music story for a bit.

Yahoo EntertainmentPeacock’s ‘Crystal Lake’ Thrills Up 1.7 Billion Minutes i...“Crystal Lake” is a Halloween hit for Peacock, with the "Friday the 13th" prequel series generating 1.7 billion minutes watched over its first 14 daysGood sign of a possible 2nd season.

New York: Color me shocked that Ericka finally had an individual scene as we're hitting the midway part of the season. She's always been either in 1:1 scenes or group scenes.. but not really shown in her own day to day life. I'm intrigued with Daisy's dynamic with her sister, plus her dynamic with hubby and son. I guess she's a buttinski as much with her sister as with Sai so I guess she's consistent. I had heard rumors that a lot of Haley's individual content was scaled back, and seeing that she's hardly been featured in the last two episodes.. I'm starting to think that might be true. Erin's individual segment provided her with more layers. Even villainesses like Erin have human traits and it's good to see. Jessel has some family and cultural things she needs to work through. I loved that Jessel's British side came out when talking of Prince Charles/Princess Di/Carmilla LOL The Parallel parking scene was relatable :)

I remember Sam was viewed as sort of a replacement for Jo.. the normal and logical one that was running from their past. She even came in during season 4 before her character was expanded in season 5 as the voice of reason for both Jane and Sydney (sort like how Jo was originally for both). Season 5 had promising character arcs for Sam, Craig, Megan, and Jennifer... but three out of the four were totally butchered character wise in season 6.. with Megan being the only one to come out of that fairly damage free.

The first two seasons did remind me of a 90s KL with the going ons at an apartment complex amongst single twenty and thirtysomethings. The moment that the media at the end of season 2 started to describe the show as the 90s answer to Dynasty.. I knew it was going to burn out within a season or two. Had they maintained the more low key soapy elements of the 2nd half of season 1 and all of season 2... I could have seen Melrose Place having a stellar season 3, 4, and even a season 5 before starting to decline slowly in quality starting in season 6. With that said, season 4 was a plot driven mess... with the start of season 4 being interesting and the end of season 4 resulting in everything that had gone wrong that season with the show. Season 5 almost had two mini seasons with season 5A being more character driven and less over the top while season 5B started to ramp things back up with the departures of several characters and the introductions of pale versions to replace them. Season 6 was a disaster with too many characters... you lure Jamie Lunar known for playing a great vamp and saddle her with a sad sack Lexi in season 6 that is sweet, normal, and almost level headed. Season 7 was a slicing of the cast leaving the 7 main players that were interconnected to one another.. with Eve being an effective supporting character. The show might not have regained the heights of the first 3 seasons.. but it went out on a decent note.

The thing I remember about seasons 4 through 6 was that the cast was islanded off into their own stories. Sydney/Michael/Kimberly/Peter on one island, Brooke/Allison/Billy on another island, and Jake/Jane/Jo/Richard on another island... with Matt practically a lone person on his own island that sometimes interacted with each of the people on the different islands.. same with Amanda during season 4. David Charvet's character had promise in season 5 with being a thorn in Amanda's side, having decent chemistry with Sydney.. and even had interesting chemistry with Allison during the one episode where they met one another when she was back at D & D to consult on just one client. After Sydney's death, his character floundered in season 6 before he was written off. Ms. Milano was in her 20s, but her acting style was better suited for a teen drama than an adult soap opera like Melrose Place. She just didn't fit in and the show wisely wrote her out after a little over a season and they decided to make Lexi the main antagonist after her character floundered all of season 6.

With it being Halloween, re-watched a few Halloween esque tv movies over the last few days:

Correct. This was supposed to be soapy if picked up.

Only if they moved the Younger Actor/Actress age cut off up to 30 like it was in the 80s... when it was lowered, we ended up with the same people winning year after year.

I remember the show had a scene where Brent, disguised as Marian, was almost attacked by a man. I remember at the time thinking that the show could have chosen to have this moment be sort of a A-ha moment for him and what he'd done to Lucy.. even if he didn't stop his behavior because he was too far gone. Just wanted there to be a moment where he got it.. even if he brushes it aside or tries to say how the experiences weren't at all alike. I also remember some of the critiques at the time was more focused on the switching of the HIV results and how it did a disservice to those in real life that were grappling with that very issue. And it wasn't a Trans story at all. What I viewed it as was a criminal trying to evade everyone by disguising himself as someone that no one would ever suspect... plus he didn't seem to respect women so he didn't care if he was passing himself off as a woman and mocking women by doing that. And when I say puritanical lenses, what I mean is that everything nowadays is painted with a brush stroke. Silence of the Lamb and this story being labeled as Transphobic is a great example of that. It kind of reminds me of how people in America in the 17th century were quick to label anything different and/or odd as the work of the devil and moving to cancel those that stepped out of line (Salem Witch Trials.. for example). I see some of that same attitude in modern day society from both sides of the aisle. With that said, I think had Curlee, Marland, or Pam Long had been at the helm... I think the Brent Lawrence/Lucy Cooper story would have gone completely different... and I think there would have been more layers established in the stories. All three head-writers wrote psychological horror/gothic stories so I could have seen the play on Psycho being done differently.

Genie Francis has been a consistent talent for many many years... not just as Laura on GH.. but her stints on Days and AMC did prove that she could play different characters that weren't Laura clones (Her stint on Days was basically her doing all the heavy lifting since the show refused to give her a character to play so she had to figure that out). The acting awards are all about what you submit, not based on your overall body of work. It's why Lucci lost so many times because she didn't submit her best work year to year.. while Tricia Cast won her Emmy because the episode she submitted was a Nina centric episode where she flashed back over the last year with scenes showing her character gradually realizing David Kimble only married her for her money. I'm curious what episodes TT submitted that got her the best actress nom. I know Ambyn had a bunch she could submit (her scenes during the whole Tomas affair were pretty well acted by her).

I thought the Robin story her last two years on air was so organic and showing a portrait of someone gradually losing her grip on her mental health.. and unaliving herself was quite dark and daring for 1967. Same thing with what happened to Lee Randolph on AW where she was killed in a car accident as she grapples with the ghost of someone that she'd killed the year before. Soaps were pretty dark back in the day.. and it's so sad that soaps play it so safe nowadays.

Guiding Light always had a Gothic and dark element lurking beneath the surface going all the way back to the 1960s. I just think the Marian/Brent story just brought those elements to the surface and it was during an odd period for the show. One of the many downfalls of the 2020s is a return to wearing puritanical lenses where everything that was done before 2020 is considered dark and problematic. Soaps used to be able to push the envelope into these darker corners of storytelling... and I'd rather got back to stories like the Marian/Brent story than the majority of what is showing on soap operas in 2026 that is playing too safe.

Hear me out, but it isn't misogynistic for a woman writer to point out the toxicity of women. It's telling the truth. Would it be misandrist for a man to point out the toxicity of men? No, it would be telling the truth. Curlee was all about southern gothic literature and domineering women are a hallmark of that genre.. and it's rooted in truth because a lot of women are domineering in the south. Curlee was excited when VI became available and thought having him come on as Lujack's long lost twin Nick would make the Alex/Mindy feud even juicier and she expressed how proud she was of the scene where Alex broke into Mindy's house and grabbed/pulled Mindy's hair. I know Demorest was the one to come up with Blake and Ross while Reilly was the one to encourage them to do mini stories within long arcs. There was an interview Long did back in early 1984 where she stated she wanted to write scenes of people gathering in the kitchen, having tea/coffee, and just having conversations about life and love... and that she had to figure out workarounds to do them when P & G kept pushing for more plot. If you watched 1989 GL when Long was in charge.. there was a party/gathering all the time and you got a lot of character interaction that you wouldn't see so often. Reva and Josh's house warming had a large turnout, WSPR had work and charity events, the diner was a place where everyone came to eat and talk, the country club was for parties, and I remember the Bauers would have a game night here and there with a lots of different characters interacting with one another.

Unpopular opinion: I didn't like Curlee's GL as much as everyone else did. I felt her writing for some of the women was a bit degrading. The way she wrote Alexandra, Nadine, Holly, Vanessa, and even Maureen really reflected both mean girl mentality (Vanessa toward Nadine, Maureen victim blaming Holly) and neurotic and insecure (Nadine and Holly). Back when Long was on the team, there was more layering to the women with Holly being more confident/decisive, Nadine being more out for herself, Vanessa being decisive/business like, and Maureen being both warm and human. Once she left, those layers kind of vanished from the female characters. The better option for Maureen would have been to have her leave town to think things over without letting Ed, Vanessa, or anyone else know where she was at. Than once the show saw the backlash, bring her back and have be decisive about her future.