Soaplovers

I wish that The Articulettes backstory and drama had borrowed more from the Klymaxx backstory instead of the Supremes. There was a lot of tension/strife in the Klymaxx that still plays out to this day in that group long after their time in the 80s. I could have seen Sharon pull a Cheryl Cooley.. which gets Anita and Tracy back together to fight her while their late band-mate could have been a Bernadette type or even a Joyce type that had passed away after being kicked out of the group.... which would have given SPS/Leslie more motivation to be a thorn in Anita's side as a way to pay back the woman she viewed as driving her mother out of the group and out of getting her cut of coin.

The moment Madonna hooked up with Timbaland and Justin Timberlake was the moment when she surrendered being a trend setter and following the trends. Rumor has it she's doing a COADF Part 2 for her 2026 album drop... time will tell if that will work. What COADF so good was that she used two of her favorite things from the 70s (Abba and Saturday Night Fever) and updated them into the 2000s. I wonder what her inspiration will be for this sequel to that album.

I wouldn't call myself a Swiftie, but I have known and listened to her going all the way back to 2006/7 when she was country lite. A few of my fav Taylor songs through the years (20 years in 2026 since she came onto the scene). All five of these songs have played in my head on and off over the years.. and that's how I can determine if I like a song or not :)

I always viewed two major events that changed Alan Michael into the scheming and torture individual that we saw in 1992 to 1996. 1) The kidnapping and torture he endured when he was kidnapped on his honeymoon with Blake. Yes, this was introduced due to a recast needing to be done, but I remember Alan Michael being more intense in the weeks/months after that ordeal than he was before that. 2) Finding out that not only did Blake cheat on him, but that she lied about being pregnant with his child. So he naturally divorced her and left Blake with a nice settlement. For awhile, Alan Michael/Blake did hook up while working toegether in 1991/1992... but I also remember him being tested with Eleni. In fact, Blake ended up being the one responsible for Eleni/Alan Michael's green card marriage and once Holly spilled the beans on that.. Blake's sights turned from Alan Michael over to seeking revenge against Holly by seducing Ross. And once he saw that Eleni was truly interested in Frank, his scheming Spaulding side kicked in and he became less of a nice guy and more like a Spaulding.

While the show hit pay dirt with Dani/Andre... they best not over-use them at the expense of other characters.. or the show will truly be like Santa Barbara and their over-reliance on Cruz/Eden and the Capwells at the expense of other characters/families. I have to wonder if some of these shifts had to do with the show not being sure if they would get a season 2 pick up hence why Hayley's con artist past was exposed, Derek's 'deception' was discovered, and clues being planted that SPS/Leslie would be exposed in her part in Laura's hit and run were done so if they didn't get a pick up, the show could tie up the plots... but once they got a season 2 pick up.. the show had to pivot (hence why the Winterfest didn't end up revealing anything major). I have a feeling Hayley switching gears and listening to Joey ensures she can stay on the canvas longer, SPS looking Marcel's way ensures she doesn't get fixated on Ted, and I'm sure Tomas trying to get Kat to commit to him more is going to lead to him being written out once she realizes she only stayed with him to stick it to Eva (who has since moved on). I'm hoping for season 2 that Eva/Kat don't fight over another guy (Izaiah) and that they co-exist in a truce of sorts... while Eva has to contend with the disapproval of Izaiah's family while Kat focuses back on her business with Chelsea and has more work related stories.

The first few months of Texas is the show realizing what was working and what wasn't working and starting to course correct in December 1980. Originally Dawn/Dennis were supposed to be the Romeo & Juliet love story with Dawn hating the Wheelers for stealing their house and causing her father to kill himself while not realizing that Dennis is actually a Wheeler. Paige seemed designed originally to be the anti-heroine and her character seemed designed to be the antagonist in Terry and Clipton's relationship... but the show realized that wasn't working and moved Paige into the Iris/Dennis orbit and being the one Iris despises instead of Dawn.

My mom told me about another tv movie starring Suzanne Pleshette called Fantasies about a killer that stalks and kills soap performers on a show that might be connected to the head-writer played by Suzanne.

I can't fault Marj for going where a contract was going to be offered. Soaps save money keeping performers recurring, but they also risk losing them if said performers get another job that offers a contract.

MVJ did work on B & B... so wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility that happens a long way down the line.

Falcon Crest is now on Tubi, which has less ads than Plex.

When it comes to Madonna, I found after Ray of Light.. her albums had two or three songs I loved with the rest of each album being Eh LOL My non-single fav Madonna songs:

Vanessa was better written before the newest co headwriter took over, but in regards to Ashley.. I think the show is trying to reset her character. As @Maxim stated, the actress is doing as much as she can with an under-written part.. and the show keeps introducing potential story threads for her at work only to drop it. Hopefully season 2 will bring a more focused arc for her character away from Derek and Andre. Vernon/Anita do have that moral center vibe to them for sure... but I'll see her as Jessica Griffin with a much more vibrant wardrobe :)

I actually think instead of doing the whole Sally's friend... maybe Ginger could have been the ex wife and/or relationship of Danny. She would have had ties to Karen, Val, Gary, and Mac... and it could have potentially opened up more story about how she went from being Kenny's wife to ending up with Danny.

Let's see if they have chemistry before we dimissed this potential coupling. And maybe it's a red herring and he's intended for someone else.

I said Ashley didn't click with Andre or Derek so I guess maybe she's going to get some in the afternoon in season 2.

This soap has become too much of a combination of a Lifetime movie and a Hallmark channel movie since the departure of Guza. I certainly can't wait till the holiday episodes are over so we can get back to some action and plot movement.

I remember Liz Keifer questioned that the pregnant with two dad's story and TPTB showed her proof that this was based on something that happened in real life and she almost fainted that this wasn't a far fetched story LOL Unpopular opinion, but when Reva married Buzz and worked/ran the diner.. I didn't actually hate that story. Not to say I loved it, but I think Buzz/Reva running the diner and being involved in the Fifth Street story with Alan was a decent use of Reva's character. What I didn't love was that the two married with Buzz being in love with Reva. I also though the ghost Reva story could have worked had it just been in Josh's mind because he also didn't deal with a full deck in terms of his mental state and he trashed his relationship with Harley and Tangie, not considering possible contenders like Jenna, and being a bit of closed off with Annie all due to the hold Reva had over him. The problem was that other people could see her and the way that the writers tried to twist it once the show managed to get her back full time never made sense to me.

The moment Tomas and Eva hooked up and then he blew her off.. his purpose on the show was fulfilled since that hook up guranteed Kat and Eva wouldn't be sharing close sisterly moments ever LOL

People always make fun of this for being a Christian soap (which speaks to prejudice against Christianity and also productions done outside the coastal cities/states)... but this soap was a lot deeper than most of the soaps were at the time. The Miriam story was what got the ratings to perk up, and the Kate Phillips character continues that climb.

Sally was such a pick me when it came to Stephanie when she was vastly superior to her. She was a better ally/friend to Stephanie than Stephanie ever was to her... she should have just let Sheila finish her off. With that said, there were so many potential soap plot ideas that were teased and never followed through on during the mid 90s. Sally trying to entice Brooke to come to Spectra with the BeLieF formula. Shame that never happened. Sheila/Connor and Sheila/Grant were interesting chem tests.. especially when Sheila went off at Grant for leading her on when came across him with Michael. Jasmine (played by Lark) and Sally were a comic team that didn't get much focus/play other than the initial time when Sally tried to get her not to sue her. Ivana, the model, was killed off too soon while she made a good anti-heroine.. and made Dylan/Jessica and Thorne/Macy more watchable. Macy/Grant were a good couple that was ended too soon just so Macy could degrade herself trying to get Thorne back.

The problem was that any story possibility I could come up with Ginger would have fit much better with Val and I think the show agreed. In terms of the other women, season 3 was Karen's widow era, season 4 was Val's divorcing era, and season 5 was Laura's divorcing/rebuild era. So having Ginger going through a divorcing/rebuild era in season 5 would have been over-shadowed by Laura's journey. As @Khan mentioned earlier.. Ginger being a grade school teacher and later singer kind of limited her and what the show could do with her. In Season 1 through 4, she could function within the confines of the show structure.. but season 5 was when the show expanded officially beyond the Seaview Circle era and the big stories that season were Val's pregnancy starting up, Wolfbridge, and the Chip story. There wasn't any way to fit Ginger into those main plotlines based on her profession/function on the show while Laura being in real estate made her a natural fit into the Wolfbridge story. And let's face it, even in season 1 through 4... there were episodes where Kenny/Ginger were absent and/or came in at the very end of the episode to ask what was going on while the main player of the episode provided a recap. A spin-off with Kenny/Ginger could have worked if the premise was interesting and there were a collection of interesting characters. I mean Gary/Val were barely seen/featured on Dallas and they led a successful spin-off.. so I could have seen a spin off involving the music scene working (and Nashville/country music scene could have been an interesting world to explore. Country music alone always features soapy over the top stories and tragic happenings).

You know there is a 3rd possible theory here in regards to Houghton/Lankford... the producers lied to Lankford. It wouldn't be the first time that producers would turn stars against one another so they couldn't band together. Odd she decides to wait until after he's dead to slander him when he isn't around to tell his side. Me thinks she's lying a little bit.

I remember at the time that Josh returned in 1993, the show runners even said had Beth E and Mark Derwin opted to stay as Harley/Mallet that the natural thing would have been to do a Josh/Harley/Mallet triangle.. but because they were leaving, they had to figure out what else to do. I thought to myself 'You just admitted you hvae no idea what to do with Josh so why even bring him back beyond just a visit'. With that being said, his first weeks back in 1993 were pretty good with Harley going off on him for the way he ditched her to go after the ghost of Reva and Mallet/Josh instantly not liking one another at first sight... and combine that with Dylan/Julie/Hart/Bridget going on.. and there was a lot of potential for good content. The show bought him on, but instead of doing what Pam Long did with Maureen Garrett in early 1989 (slowly easing her back onto the canvas and test her out with the characters)... Josh was saddled with a brand new character instead of being tested with the other already established characters (the show ended up doing that in 1994 with chemistry tests with Jenna, Holly, and Lucy before finally hitting pay direct with Annie)

I actually liked Reva as a character during the two year period when Josh was off the canvas. It kind of opened up the character to different stories/characters especially in 1986 when she was trying to build a life on her own terms and was interacting with characters she didn't normally interact with.

I think Jill's descent into madness was the only well thought out story that the Latham's came up with that spanned between season 8 and 9 before going into full force during season 10.