Soaplovers

Agnes Nixon did create OLTL partly in reaction tinthe restrictions she had while working under P and G.  She wanted a diverse soap in terms of class, religion, gender, and face.  To tell the stories she couldn't tell under P and G.

In the 70s and 80s...ATWT seemed more conservative and tame in comparison to GL.  Hence why the dobsons worked on GL and not ATWT.  Marland even adapted to GL and wrote it differently then he wrote ATWT.

I did like that evem though ava and Stacey stopped interacting fully in the last few years...there were occasional nods of history to their previous rivalry.  Once when Ava was faking being pregnant with Leo's baby...and Stacey mentioning that Ava hadn't changed a bit over the years...and after Stacey's murder where Ava expressed sadness at her death admitting to Angie that her and Stacey were never close and feeling guilt over the stunts she pulled.

Shane was an interesting character... she wad neither a heroine or a true villianess...she and Leo had a fun relationship...and boy did they have great couple spats.  It was a shame the show wrote them off..but at least she had her happy ending given what had happened to her late hubby and child years before.

Gretchen needs to go away.  Unless she gets married or does something with her life....she should never be back on the show.  

And Gretchen vs tamra is as played out as ramona vs bethenny on new York.  The shows becoming about feuds and teams is what killed the franchise...and helped contribute to the toxicity of our current society.  

I always thought Grant was her true love.  In fact, that pairing helped mellow her to the point where she was bootable and not the interloper.  And I loved how karma rewarded Lisa with Joyce Coleman in the 70s and early 80s.  

I think having Grant come back in the final episode wanting to check into the hotel she was running..and Lisa smiling..could have left viewers with the notion that perhaps they would end up together again.

To be honest, t amra has never been a great mother...but mark my words, that will be Kelly and Jolie in about ten years as well.

On 1/6/2017 at 10:53 PM, YRfan23 said:

I enjoyed this episode a lot!  

I always love getting to see more of Sally, I loved her rant about Stephanie and how even after all she's done to befriend, Stephanie, she hasn't returned the favor....I liked that they showed that Stephanie was never the saint she supposedly was later....she was the villain, and she deserved everything she got from Eric leaving her, and then later her ending up on the streets, then down the line all the Sheila stuff.

Did Stephanie even really have a big falling out with Sally over Felicia?

The Stephanie/Beth confrontation was fantastic as well....Marla Adam's version of Beth comes out more cunning, which is a good contrast to Stephanie, though she's sort of playing her like Dina......again I loved how Dina rubbed everything about Brooke and Eric in Stephanie's face. Deep down Stephanie was no different then Brooke was when she was younger, and I liked how Dina reminded her (and the audience) of that.Even Stephanie's last words sting a little too.

Brooke reminds me of Nikki a lot in those scenes.....I think I still prefer the old Donna.

It's so crazy how once upon a time, this show could balance multiple stories at one......it's such a joke now....

This shows that multiple stories could be balanced on a half hour show.  You can tell Bill Bell was still show runner at the time.

It's funny that Stephanie rewrites history cause she was just as bad as Brooke was.  While Eric was attractive, I don't think he was worth it...and didn't get why Beth, Brooke and Stephanie were hot to trot for him.

Seeing Donna in this episode makes me understand more why the original actress quit a few short months later.  She's just a talk to..and the original actress said her main rrason fir keaving was due to being just a talk to for Brooke.  Sad since her character drive quite a bit of story from 1987 to 1989/90.

Id forgotten Felicia worked at Spectra.. I recall she did one fashion show for them..with an environmental theme..and I think that was when she was clued in aboit Jake/Macy...but details are hazy.

3 hours ago, teplin said:

I bought Kathleen Layman as a cop from the get-go but I always felt like Sally Spencer was playing dress-up. It wasn't just the way Spencer played MJ, the writers also had a hand in weakening the character. As with Carmen Duncan's Iris, I pretty much pretended the actress and her predecessor were playing completely different roles. 

But do you think the writers changed the character based on the actress?  Sometimes a writer will shift a character based on how a new performer plays the scenes written.

1 hour ago, juniorz1 said:

Thank you for posting these 1984 eps!  So happy to see Kathleen Layman's MJ.  She was one of my favorite heroines at the time.  And good to know I didn't imagine the flirtation she had with Rick Porter's Larry.   Chemistry in spades.  Maybe some posters will better understand why I could never accept Sally Spencer in the part

She seemed more confident and possessing of a backbone.  I often wonder how she would have played the story of MJ being a former hooker.

Ed and Norma...one of the more grounded stories from the original series especially in the first season.

There are parts of 1981 that were quite good.  It seemed like the Matthews family was getting renewed focus....and you had Alice/Sally coming back.  I liked Jennifer runyon's sally...and it's interesting when she leaves...that the role of interloper in Donna/Peter's life transfers to Cecile....cause Mary page Keller had a different take on the part then runyon did (not sure about the brief recast between the two)

I thought waiting a few months after the recast Alice was there before bringing on a recast Steve would have been smart had they not replaced Alice so quickly.  Maybe, the show thought she played Alice too harsh..and thought the character should have been more ingenurish...but Alice wad never a true ingenure...she was sarcastic, strong willed and stubborn..and wasnt gullible.  JC played that with Alice...and Harney also played Alice that way even though she had a shrill undertone.  

I will agree 1982 was a forgettable year..and it seemed like 1983 to 1984 was an attempt to forget most of what happened in 1982...in some ways.

1991 was a great year...the rebuilding/transformation if the show from Pam long's era to Curlee and co's era.

1992 wad the last year where I thought the show was flawless....1993 had some great stuff..but Mo's death short circuited a wonderful potential storyline that started in late 1991...ed/lillian/maureen....people would be torn...sides would be taken.  We know Roger and vanessa would take Mo's side...but id be on the fence over whose side Holly would take.. since she had become friends with Mo ad well as her close friendship with Ed...yet would have felt sympathy for Lillian as well.  Blake and Ross would be an interesting question since both had close ties to ed/mo...alan Michael as well given he and Ed were close.  Such a shame.

Guess who is now trying make up lol

Guess since she and Gretchen are bosom buddies...makeup not so bad lol

Will this succeed..or go the way of her jean line?

http://www.bravotv.com/blogs/vicki-gunvalson-la-splash-cosmetics-lipstick-collaboration?cid=soc_dg_fb_Lookbook_RHOC

I do recall dru/neil/cricket/nina/Danny hanging together some in the early 90s..  

I'm not surprised Ashley was involved with Dru's early story......she and Olivia were written as old college chums/sorority sisters...and that connection was maintained/mentioned through the early 2000s.  I think I bought Brenda's Ashley and Olivia being friends mire so of the three Ashleys...if that makes sense.

1 hour ago, Cat said:

 

I expect nothing less from a set of shows with a sharp streak of misogyny running through them! 

 

Did you also notice that while David ("yes, dear") was working out, he was wearing a CUT Fitness T shirt? Tamra should hook Shannon up with Maya or another friend for a no-nonsense workout!

 What's funny is that t amra offered a few times to help her and shannon's excuse was that the gym is 30 minutes away.

Reading shannon's blog about the trainer going 'wow' and not being bothered.. it shows me that she is conditioned to accept that...to fuel her victim complex.  

With that said, seeing a clip of next week of Shannon teaching Sophie to drive...she and Vicki are so similar lol. I wish Sophie got a talking head...all she would have to do is roll her eyes and shrug her shoulders and say 'that's just mom'.  

rhony

Luann is reality tv gold only on vacations

RHOC

Good balance between the old format with some drama mixed in.

Shannon fascinates me..i give her props for showcasing her struggle with her weight...and seeing her with her trainer confirmed for me that I made the right decision not getting a gym membership.  I think Shannon should maybe invest in a bicycle.  

Kelly is pure trash and exactly what is wrong with humans nowadays.  She better remember that she's a decade away from menopause and could very well end up gaining 40 plus lbs herself.

Peggy...i like her.  Just because she doesn't bring drama so far doesn't mean she's a dud.  Seeing the scene of her discussing breast reconstruction reminds me of what my late mom went through with breast reconstruction herself.

Lydia' s tagline should be 'I stick my nose in people's business so they stay out of mine'.

Vicki with the cameras all over her office screams 1984.  I would quit so fast if I found out about that.  

Megan's vignettes with baby and Jimmy are cute.

T amra is being calm...i hope it lasts...but bybmid season she'll be screaming at someone.

It was a shame that the last few years the show dropped any attempt at being a soap.  The introduction of Pretty would have been handled differently had she been introduced in the earlier years vs the later years.  Im still amazed Paloma was a pretty interesting character..the complete opposite of her sister Theresa...considering she was introduced in the later years as well.

Oh god...RHOA will soon be like Rhony where one housewife calls all the shots.  I was celebrating when toxic Nene went away...and noe I fear the show will revolve around Nene and her demands backstagw...just like new York with bethenny.

14 hours ago, Wendy said:

 

Can't say. But I'm not so sure. I mean, she was still to be a part of the story, but as interloper to Mason/Tori as originally envisioned, until TPTB took note of the chemistry between NLG/LD.

 

I recall reading somewhere that Julia was eventually supposed to be paired with Robert Thaler's Pearl. I liked the guy, he was offbeat. But it seems like all of Julia's dalliances pre-Mason seemed firmly B-level, sidekick level. I think her pairing with Mason definitely helped her to break into the "big leagues", so to speak.

I didn't know that Julia and pearl might have been paired...i saw some episodes from fall 1986 after her latest fling didn't work and she and pearl were hanging out...and I did note chemistry.

I also thought that she and Dylan (the guy she found on the beach fall 1985) had chemistry..and was surprised the show opted for him to go with Kelly.

10 minutes ago, Wendy said:

Ah, I LOVED the Mason/Julia Baby Contract and the sloooooooow burn with Mason and Julia. Soaps have no idea how to do that anymore. People fall in "love" now in the span of a day.

It's funny that Julia was on the shoe a year and a half before the show started the process of pairing them.  I often wonder had that not worked, would Julia have been written off?

So I've not watched season 3 (waiting to binge it :).  I have heard that a lot of the show isn't even set in Twin Peaks..and I have to wonder if perhaps there is some padding going on since the order was supposed to be for 9 episodes then got extended to 18 episodes.

Would that be accurate to assume that to be the case?

On 7/18/2017 at 1:00 PM, Cat said:

 

I wondered if Lydia was pot-stirring, but I also appreciate that Lydia has done the show before, knows the main players, and was anxious to get past introductions and into "friendship whisperer" mode. She was polite and friendly with Shannon at first, introducing her to her mom and husband. Shannon was not quite YELLING as she does next week to Kelly, but she did get agitated very quickly and raised her voice in a polite setting (kid's birthday party). Then she went to Tamra to bitch out Lydia so that Tamra could summon Lydia back for a SECOND dressing down from Shannon. When Lydia did not defer to Her Highness, that's when Shannon ran out of there in a tantrum. And all because Lydia said she and Vicki were a lot alike!

 

 

All three are SO alike! All 3 consider themselves the true queen of this franchise. All 3 cannot abide when somebody speaks truth to their power or expresses an opinion different from theirs. It's like "BETRAYAL!" All 3 are desperate to be viewed as blameless, beloved heroines by the audience (our ongoing preoccupation with good vs bad absolutes! Vanderpump suffers from this, too) and love to sweep the nastier things they have done under the carpet. Tamra is possibly more inclined to fess up to her evilness every now and then, but even the Chrisshun Conversion by her Pasture suggests she prefers playing a goody-two shoes role nowadays. And the very things that make them so similar are precisely what they hate about each other.

 

Kelly hasn't made an impression thus far, but just seeing her boldfaced cheeriness as she shows up to dinner is glorious to me!   She knows she just has to breathe in Shannon's direction for Shannon to turn apoplectic.

So going back to RHOC....i will agree that Shannon and Vicki are alike especially on how they mother their daughters.

Shannon and how she acted during Sophies first dance, when she was trying on make up, etc....reminds me of season 1 Vicki talking to Brianna before senior prom about not having sex, no drinking, etc...then crashing brianna's date at the mall in season 1.

Shannon's oldest just turned 16..and I can see Shannon doing those things by the time her oldest is a senior.  Hopefully, the spirit shown in one of her twins Stella will outwit the helicopter parenting of Shannon.  

On 7/12/2017 at 8:16 PM, Nothin'ButAttitude said:

 

Question when does John meet his fatal demise? Isn't it some time during '74?

Just happened...and in slow motion

It wasn't a bad episode of RHONY..but I think if rather have had Ramona sit out the trip.  Sonja vs Tinsley, Bethenny being her usual bitter self and Luann and Dorinda would have been enough.

I think for season 10, they need to freshen up the cast a bit.  Or perhaps they need to take a cue from OC and not all film together as a group all the time.

51 minutes ago, Gray Bunny said:

 

I think Tamra mentioned they were all eventually kicked out of the restaurant, and Tamra went back the next day and spoke with the manager who said Shannon wasn't welcome back! 

This is eeriee that T amra is the calm one.  Twilight zone territory.

2 hours ago, adrnyc said:

 

 

Wow. Am watching 1987 right now - and I have no idea who those people are in this promo. And that generic promo guy - oof - super OTT

I think both celeb and angel come in 1988.  You wonder about Angel for awhile...and you don't truly get the answers till 1990/1991.