Soaplovers

It's been years, but I recall when she first blew into Springfield.. it was right when Harley and Mallet were getting married and going to Florida. She had more of an edge and spoiled when she first came to town and she was gunning for dad Buzz because he had taken money that was supposed to be hers in order to pay for Harley/Mallet's wedding. She and A-M started kind of dating and were interested in one another in late 1993/early 1994, but two factors seemed to break them up. First factor was that Lucy had admitted to Buzz or Nadine that she was still a virgin and that made A-M pull back a little. Second factor was that Eleni and Frank had marital troubles due partly to Mallet's sister Julie making advances to Frank so she left Frank.. which gave A-M fresh hope that he could win her back. By mid 1994, A-M had accepted that Eleni loved Frank while briefly being paired with Tangie before Alan came back and took her from him, plus the show hinted at A-M and Gilly without any follow through. Meanwhile ,Lucy ended up interacting with Bridget, David, Dyland while at first the show tested her with Matt Reardon and later with Josh Lewis before she was put back into the Spaulding orbit with working for A-M and going out with Brent. In fact, there was a scene where Lucy was accusing A-M of either making her work longer hours or dictating what she did with her time because he was jealous that she was dating Brent. I don't think that was the case, but I could understand how a new viewer coming into the show when you did would be unaware of Lucy/Alan Michael's first attempt at dating in early 1995.

I thought how Roger/Holly interacted between 1989 and 1992 was a tentative balance between hate and tolerance. I noticed in 1992/1993, the focus changed to them being in love, but because of the rape.. it couldn't progress to an actual relationship with Roger realizing he was at fault. The two having a relationship again in 1993/1994 seemed so backwards and a disservice to anyone that was a victim of abuse because it was telling people it was ok to not only forgive your rapist.. but to resume a relationship with them. The only credit I gave McTavish was during her brief stint as head-writer, she kept Roger and Holly in different orbits and only interacting when it came to their daughter Blake. Which was the most realistic way to handle things. Upside was that Ed and Holly did end up together at the end, which was the Dobson and Marland's intentions during their writing stints.

I assumed they would do what Peacock does, keep the previous season episodes up. I guess CBS doesn't understand the whole concept of binge watching. Soaps were designed and written for binge watching, and some people prefer to do a week or two rewatch at a time vs watching day to day.

I always viewed Passions as kind of a send up of a traditional soap opera with their hamster wheel stories, slower pace, dialogue that was repeated non stop, etc. With that said, there were moments where the soap had potential to become something more than a spoof.... but it just didn't want to utilize those moments.

I remember Suzy Cote said that Calista Flockhart (Ally McBeal) was heavily in the running for the role of Sam... so I'm gathering perhaps Calista was whom Long had in mind for the role of Sam. She later played the bit part as a babysitter that neglected Marah causing Marah to be kidnapped during the Sonni story so perhaps the casting people threw her a bone with that bit part after going with Suzy Cote as Sam. To everyone's point about GL and their lack of long term rivals, I kind of liked that the show didn't operate with that trope. There were times watching Y & R with Jill/Kay that I thought the long term rival trope really diminished both characters and made them both look petty and pathetic. Nadine/Vanessa didnt like one another and it was usually stemming from two particular elements.... classism (Nadine was working class that wanted more while Vanessa was a purebred snob) and over a man (originally Ross and later Billy). Once Billy finally opted for Vanessa... Nadine eventually retreated back to the world she tried to escape and actually grew as an individual.. becoming a warmer person that learned to love what she had instead of always focusing on what she didn't have while Vanessa eventually moved on with Billy and later Matt. I recall that Nadine was even at the wedding of Vanessa and Matt.. which surprised me, but perhaps they let bygones be bygones. To me, the only examples of long term feuds I could think of were Roger/Ed (with periods of a truce between them), Alex/Mindy (and that diminished both characters after awhile), and Alex/India (benefited from India coming and going on and off during the years).

I say the same thing about Chelsea. I don't see the point of her character being on screen

I don't recall why Sloan opted to quit the show, but I think one of the rumors was that she was frustrated by the lack of movement/direction with her character and wanted to quit. There was another rumor that once she realized that a new head-writer was coming in, she had second thoughts.. but it was too late and her character was killed off onscreen. Maeve was the ultimate Nicole from what I recall, but I did think Sloan had some of the essence of the original version of Nicole. Someone that carried herself as confident and someone that acted as though she was raised in an upper crust family.. and carried herself off as being older than she really was. I think she was 30/31 when playing Nicole though she acted/carried herself off as though she was in her mid to late 30s vs Jayne's Nicole that seemed like a 20 something year old in looks and aura.

People were all about Bill/Dani/Andre since the first weeks of the show.. and because the show films/scripts so far ahead.. it took too long to course correct. People were also bummed TT wasn't given anything to do except those speeches and finally the writers are giving her a story. Since the early weeks I was awaiting Joey and SPS meeting up and doing battle... didn't realize I'd like SPS/Marcel together so bonus! There was talk that Ben Gavin wasn't in the credits, yet his social media has him hanging out with the crew so I'm wondering if he's been downgraded to recurring and the show is going to slow fade Derek from the show. Ashley is being invested in so I'll be interested to see where season 2 takes her.

I think that's probably why Dani partly told him because Anita became kind of a surrogate mother figure for him. That's my theory anyway.

Why not? The lack of Ben Gavin listed under the main cast when he was previously contract is more interesting to me than the Greg Vaughan conversation.

Locher kept trying to get all 'role of women in the 80s' and other basic modern day questions while she kept basically saying that as an actress, you have to become the character and not try to interject your own personal thoughts and feelings.. or else you're not playing the character. I wish more modern day performers would understand that in order to be good performers, you can't play yourself.

So basically the whole episode was just focused on Anita and her cancer journey? Count me out until the show starts featuring more than just one plotline per episode.

I'm intrigued to see if there will be any new breakdown and script writers that will be joining the show for S2. I ask because I recall that Ron C, Chris Dunn, and Lynn Martin are all leaving the writing staff (as announced back in July 2025). I also wonder what the arcs for season 2 will be other than Anita's cancer story and am curious about how the co-head-writer thing between MVJ and Tracy T works... if they split it 50/50 or if MVJ comes up with the ideas and Tracy T has to implement them, etc.

Gary and Val breaking up at the start of season 4 was always supposed to be permanent because the two were incompatible as a couple as adults. That was basically the point of their remarriage and original arc on Knots Landing was to show them trying to start again as adults... except they had the same baggage/issues that had befallen them as teens. By season 8, Val had finally managed to achieve a healthy interaction with Gary, but he was still caught in that toxic mindset. And unpopular opinion, I think Val was right to keep the twins away from Gary since he had proven himself to not be up to challenges of being a husband nor father. He was a better step father to Olivia and Brian than he ever was as a parent to Lucy.. and Val seemed do a good job parenting the twins once she got them back at the start of season 7 until at least season 11.

Nancy's career definitely afforded her some story opportunities that probably were considered progressive in those days. Even during the Lee Sheldon era, Nancy is served well in her role as a journalist and even given a rare chance at being an author. She also played a strong supporting part in the dismal campus mystery and probably would have been involved in helping her step daughter try to regain her life and find her son.. and probably would have been involved in the rumored Nicole lookalike plot that was going to happen had the show continued into 1985.

If the show only got a one year pick up, I'm hoping they've mapped out the year with two possible outcomes (if they get a season 3 pick up or if they have to resolve all the stories) much better than they did during season 1. With the advanced film schedule and even more advanced script writing schedule, it does make shifting course more difficult especially if something isn't working out. I think that the producers and writers should be watching the episodes as they're filmed in order to see what is and isn't working and make those adjustments vs waiting until the episodes air and the audience isn't happy. Had the writers/producers done that, I have a feeling Dani/Andre would have become an actual couple much sooner and the whole Andre/Ashley thing wouldn't have become written as end game like it was during the first 120 or so episodes. I wonder if we'll get a season 2 preview from MVJ and co to let us know what to expect in the coming weeks of the season 2 plot-wise. I hope it's more than just the Anita story because that's a story I can't watch due to personal circumstances with a family member.

I remember how insightful and intelligent Dinah was during this era... it was a shame that the writers kept her as a loser in all aspects in order to prop up Saint Cassie.

You get a front view and a nice preview of the back thanks to the wonderful technology of a mirror :) Win Win

She has repressed anger at both of her parents... she just isn't able to recognize that because that isn't the Dupree way so she's taking it out on her husband. I say this because my cousin went through the same thing when her father/my uncle cheated on his wife/my aunt. Before she married her now husband, he stated that they all needed to go into counseling because he didn't want to be punished for the mistakes her father made. Naomi/Jacob going to couple's counseling is a good first step.. but Bill/Dani also need to be in counseling with them because their back and forth has caused internal issues with their eldest daughter.

The show kind of had a potential couple/s that had decent amount of stakes. Tomas/Eva - They had a good rapport and the stakes were high because Eva was an outsider, his girlfriend Kat was Eva's half-sister, Kat and Eva hated one another, and it looked as though Tomas would have gone for Eva if he didn't have a need of moving upwards in the socioeconomical ladder. Once they hooked up.. Eva/Tomas were done while Tomas/Kat are in a relationship for all the wrong reasons. Dani/Andre - There were stakes to this unexpected coupling... but now everyone seems to be accepting them without much conflict too quickly now. Joey/Vanessa - This was a toxic coupling that shouldn't have been compelling.. but the two had a good rapport and chemistry with one another.. A dark romance if you will.... but the show dropped the ball. The only potential coupling that has potential to be high stakes is SPS/Leslie and Marcel... and I have a feeling that Marcel will find evidence that ties her to Laura's hit and run accident... but she'll also find something that ties him to either the Kenny situation or to Doug's death. So it would be one of those type of couplings where they have something on the other while playing cat and mouse with one another yet also liking the thrill of the game. It could be like a darker 'Intolerable Cruelty'.. a classic 2003 film starring George Clooney and Catherine Zeta Jones

I think they should. They've referenced B & B and Y & R already so why not mention some of the other P & G shows. ATWT and Y & R were in the same universe (Amber and ATWT's Allison were friends) so references to the fictional cities would be nice. Monticello, Henderson, Springfield, Bay City, Somerset, etc... would be nice to hear.

A lot of 1:1 scenes in the episode today. It's nice that there are mentions of Donnell and Deanna, but I'd like to at least see Deanna and see how she and Vanessa interact with one another as mother/daughter. I think not having Donnell or Deanna on in a recurring basis is doing Vanessa a disservice because that would be a great way to add some layers back to the character again. SPS/Leslie and Joey do have a nice rapport and they could be an unholy alliance.. but I can't lie when I say that I like her vibe with Marcel. If these extra layers and interactions are a result of the new co-headwriter.. then my hats off because it is moving her character beyond being hung up on her Teddy Bear. Nicole/Carleton seem like they could be more friends with benefits. Eva/Izaiah... I see potential with them.. but I also want to see the conflict and stakes raise a bit. I think Jacob/Naomi not being keen on Eva is a good start.. but I'd like to see what Papa and Mama Hawthorne think about Eva.

India's 1990 stint was far more successful than her 1998-1999 stint because she was used more effectively in that 1990 visit with her sparring with step mother dearest Alex, having a position at Spaulding, and I think even had a few toe to toe scenes with Roger as well. Her Christmas 1990 good bye to Phillip/Beth was so in keeping with their history with Beth hugging India and then India saying that's why she has to leave in order to avoid that becoming a regular thing. Her 1998 to 1999 stint seemed tacked on with her primarily only interacting with Ross, Blake, and Ben with occasional interactions with Beth and Alex. She and Ron Raines had a nice rapport and the show did seem to be setting up the two possibly teaming up and/or becoming involved before she stopped appearing on the show. Her 2002 stint was short, but very sweet.

It wouldn't be a P & G soap without establishing the holiday traditions. I'm hoping 2026 will be the year that a 2nd family will be established with their own stories and traditions... and that Darlene Hawthorne is introduced on the show to get her perspective being a Boy Mom. Does she favor Jacob? Does she favor Luke? Does she favor Izaiah? And would she approve of Eva dating her youngest son or the refreshing twist is that she approves of Eva and doesn't approve of Naomi.

I remember mention of the two families being neighbors at the Bauer Barbeque in 1991 when Michelle wondered over to the Spauldings with Mo trying to find her with Blake causally mentioning she saw Michelle next door at the Spauldings. Shame more wasn't done or mentioned about the two being neighbors when Jenna won the company and mansion in 1993 and than Roger marrying and moving into the mansion in late 1993. Would have been a lot of awkward encounters between Ed/Holly & Roger/Jenna had the fact they were neighbors was mentioned.