Soaplovers

Season 2 was toxic. Jody wasn't kept in check and was allowed to bully Mary. Plus, her one friend became a housewife that was a recovering alcohol..but had a tea drink that had small traces of alcohol in it. Jody was mean, vicious, and had one Jen Shah sized meltdown at the end of the season. It was so bad that no reunion was filmed and the show was canceled. Outside of Jody and ronnie (she was creepy)... there were some good parts to it. 2 out of the 3 additions were not from Canada...one was from Russia and the other was from Texas.

Stephanie is the sweet one...you need a nice one on each show.

I had no idea the Kingsley were back in 1988...wonder if the strike derailed whatever plans were for them

Nah, Amanda and Jo had interesting verbal communications. It seemed more evenly matched.

There is an episode of AMC from late 1989 where Nina asked her father to let her go...that her life was with Cliff..and he did. Power of soaps..seeing how the Palmer/Nina relationship changed and became somewhat healthier. When she visited in the 90s, they were a healthy father and daughter relationship. Didn't Erica and Mark briefly date in the late 70s until it came out they were half siblings?

Knots Landing is the gold standard of primetime soaps. Ingmar Bergman's Scenes of a Marriage inspired the creation of it.

Palmer/Nina was an example of emotional incest...something that exists more than we realize.

Was Hank boring because of the acting, writing, or all of the above?

Based on Lisa's Instagram..she does seem to love her family. She's just a type A person. Meredith is almost too logical to be on the show...but I have to admit the mask was interesting.

GL after the 1988 strike derailed Long's plans, managed to take what the scabs had done and ushered in the last golden age of GL from 1989 to 1993. Do you think ATWT had the same luck post 1988 strike? It seemed the show became darker and serious post strike..at least after the more energetic 1985 to 1987 of Marlands stint (I believe the energy element was from the previous writer Bledsoe Horgan).

I recall one or two episodes in season 5 where Allison rejoined the D&D bubble to consult on an account..and she met David Charvet's character in one scene. She sized him up and knew he was up to no good..but no follow up. The separating of characters into bubbles started in season 4 and got worse in 5 and 6. Season 7 corrected that. The show was a KL...with the apartment building being to MP what the cul de sac was to KL

Palmer and Nina was a fascinating father/daughter connection...he was the controlling heinous one..while Daisy would try to keep him at bay (out of guilt for not being in Nina's life). By 1988/9...Palmer and Nina had a healthier parent/child relationship...though didn't the show try to recreate that vibe with Melanie(lanie)?

And in a departure from her role on OLTL

Meredith is my spirit animal. Even without knowing her backstory, her disengaging is healthy especially if the other person is being psycho. When Meredith said she is slow to anger and best not to get her to that point...Jen was meek and quiet cause she knows Meredith would cut a bitch

rhoslc: It has been interesting seeing how the women react to Jen. Heather: enabling. Whitney: Confused and apologetic Mary: reading Jen without breaking a sweat. Meredith (my spirit animal): disengages Lisa: Not sure of her approach yet. She seems outspoken, yet trying to diffuse the situation at the same time.

There was another scene with Holly and Vanessa in that same episode with Frank..with both checking him out and wondering if they'd hate themselves in the morning. When Vanessa first came back in mid 1989..she was written a bit like her old self. She and Nadine's 1st meeting instantly established they wouldn't like each other. Vanessa was more into Ross when she got back and viewed both Holly and Nadine as competition. In fact, Billy and Nadine originally teamed up to make sure Vanessa and Ross stayed apart. He was interested in reuniting with Vanessa..and Nadine was casually dating Ross (while blackmailing Alan for faking being unable to walk). I don't recall when it became a Vanessa/Billy/Nadine triangle...with Ross put into the Holly/Roger orbit (in fact, when Holly came back she was barely cordial to Ross).

Dallas: Gees Kary talked about how negative Leeanne was during the Mexico vacation and to not bring negativity into her world last year. Flash forward one year and she's being super negative at D'Andra's event. She is the queen of double standards. Last season I was fascinated at the way Kary drove Leeanne crazy. Now I realize it's because the two are so similar.

I will say that it seems as if Malis laid the ground work for how Dorian would be thereafter. Pinkerton's Dorian wouldn't have pulled that routine with the accountant that Malis' Dorian did. Strasser and Princi's Dorian...for sure would have. Malis played it as vunerable/desperate, Strasser would have played it as more seductive/neurotic...and I think Princi would have played it as playful/cold. Also, the original Karen is interesting to watch in the 2 1977 episodes. Beautiful yet eager to fit in..to keep up with the Jones. It's good ground work being laid out..eager to please and be accepted. I think the original Karen did a good job with setting the stage so that when Judith light took over...she got to work since the set up was laid out nicely with the original actress and writers. Original Jenny...seems more passive and timid. How did Brynn play her when she took over? And Jameson Parker as Brad.could so buy him as a player...moreso than Steve fletcher (who seemed more tortured than a Romeo heartbreaker).

The Dorian switch in 1977 must have been jarring for viewers since the character changed quite a bit. Nancy's Dorian seemed calculating even if she was being genuine..while Claire's Dorian seeme more vunerable..and you believed she loved Victor in some odd way. Cathy in 1975..likable and she had a good back and forth with Tony. I do wonder how Dorrie would have played Cathy post her baby's death. And wow... the original Karen was beautiful..but lacking much presence. Judith Light made Karen an icon..imho

Jen doesn't seem like she had much to offer on Dallas...so I'm glad she was cut. We have enough catty women already

I forgot she was married to him...she was famous in her own right

I think with Marland....he sometimes wrote character types to be too similar. Laura on GH worked due to Genie Francis, same with Morgan #1 on GL (when she was replaced...Morgan became non descript). As annoying as Lily was...you could never accuse Martha Byrne of being non descript. Sometimes you need an actor with personality and fire to breathe life into an ingenue, etc. And I recall Courtney being more hyper and perky...at least in her last months on the canvas than sour.

Strike material....less balanced episode..too much Reva. Mindy and Frank...I forgot they were tested out... and interesting that harley was around the Shayne's...long before it was revealed that the baby she gave up was a Shayne/Lewis

I would give Elizabeth 1 more season. Tamra is missed because she knew how to stir the pot, shared enough of her life without over sharing, and could be fun to hang with. All things Brownie can't do..which Tamra even said herself during the interview. She should be a producer..imho. RHOSLC Fire Jen And meredith looks to be doing another disengaging move next week She's almost too normal to be on the show..imho.

From what I understood, the 1st production company dropped Mary..but the 2nd production company liked her so filmed her part time to fill in scenes to keep her in the mix. Brownie deserves the gang up.