Soaplovers

I always thought JLB came across as aloof, cool, and seductive... and I think that's difficult to play and still have the audience love you... so it's a testament to JLB's talent that she could play those facets of Lorie's personality and have the audience behind her. Anyone else stepping into the part (even short term) would probably try to play those same things.. and it comes across as @YRfan23 stated.. as too stiff and cold. Sometimes the writing can be great, but how a performer delivers it can influence how a character comes across to the audience, etc. How did Leslie change when Janice Lynde left and Victoria Mallory took over? How did Chris change as a character when the actress was recast? I bet even Bill Bell adjusted both characters when the characters were recast.

I do agree that BH should remember what made their first season flow like magic... real life stuff being talked about and discussed... Camille/Kelsey's marriage imploding, the hints of Paul/Adrienne's future divorce, Kim/Kyle's dysfunctional sisterly relationship where Kyle outed Kim being an alcoholic (and I recall Kim got more of the sympathy than Kyle did after the finale aired.. even though Kyle was correct... Kyle came across mean/abusive/vengeful than concerned. I often think Brandi was kind of right in an odd way of Kyle wishing Kim would fail.. but not in the way she was meaning). It's fascinating to me that Kim stopped being a full time cast member after season 5.. yet season 6 felt empty without her full time presence... and that Rinna and Kyle basically were using Kim for story/content for many seasons after season 5.. because both Rinna and Kyle aren't natural dramatic/fun personalities.. and need to generate drama to be relevant. LVP.. I could watch her in scenes with her family/staff/on her own and be entertained.

I miss the early days when the housewives were casual...these wardrobes are over the top and make all the housewives look ridiculous

I love her frankness and honesty.. because soap actors (at least back in the day) had a potential for developing bad acting choices/habits the longer they stayed in a role. She's a little nicer about her soap experience than some other actors.

The Coopers would have been easier to stomach going into the 2000s had Nadine remained....imho.

In 1984, Lily seemed more reserved/sad.. than spoiled princess. I recall the scene between Lucinda/Lily where Lily admitted feeling guilt over the suicide of her father and blaming herself for it. I often thought having Lily being adopted was unnecessary.. because just the suicide alone was enough of a barrier angst for Lucinda/Lily without the whole adoption angle. I know the original actress playing Lily left in the spring of 1985.. did the writers decide to make Lily more of a spoiled princess when she was playing the role.. or after Martha Byrne took over? Also, I thought Noelle Beck and Heather Rattray played closer to the original version of Lily circa 1984 to 1985 than Martha Bryne did.

Only downside of the story was killing off Nadine....the same effect could have been achieved if she'd been put in a coma, etc so she could return later. At the same time, killing her off raised the stakes especially at a time when Nadine had become a better person and was taking control of her life..while putting others ahead of herself on occasion.

I recall that particular scene was the set up for a great 1988 story when Thorne (drunk on alcohol/sleeping pills) shoots Ridge with Stephanie witnessing it.. and Stephanie covering it up especially when Thorne forgets that he pulled the trigger.. while Stephanie takes the rap and ends up in prison. I don't recall if this story was before or after Eric/Beth broke up and before Steve Logan came back into the picture or not. 1988 was a good year for the soap.. it was fairly balanced.

It seems like the more tea being spilled about Marland.. the less likable he is. Why would he have spies amongst the actors?

In that case, why wasn't Dorit and Erika downgraded to friend of status.. since neither have anything to offer outside of stirring up conflict? In regards to Kyle, I think she's failed to understand that she didn't have the IT factor that her sister Kim had during their child acting years (Kim was adorable as a little girl, plus didn't have those awkward teen years.. and a lot of guys that were teens in the 80s thought she was hot in Tuff Turf.). Kyle should have just focused on doing things behind the scenes outside of Hollywood.. like being a mom, wife, and finding a career that would have given her fulfillment and glory that didn't involve the Hollywood business (seeing the brief clip of Kim acting opposite Christina Ricci proved that she still had the acting chops that Kyle never had).

I was rewatching season 1.. and the issue between Kyle/Camille spanned several episodes.. but I noticed the difference was that the show didn't focus on it endlessly (i.e. characters gossiping about it in every scene, all the characters being at all the contrived social functions, etc). I noticed that there would be a blow up, there was a scene where the women commented/gossiped about it.. than the rest of the episode would be devoted to other things (i.e. stuff going on in their day to day lives that didn't involve the conflict). I think it wouldn't seem like this was being dragged out if the production and editors would showcase other scenes involving the women in their day to day lives (I think one scene in a previous episode involved Denise and her ex husband Charlie disagreeing about their daughter going on a date if a boy asked her until after she was 16.. and the next episode will show Kyle taking her daughter Sophia to college)... the show needs to show other things to give the show more dimension instead of being a one trick pony.

I recall reading in a soap opera digest article post 1988 writer strike that Pam Long approved casting of Dennehy.. but that the character was introduced after the writer strike happened without the bible/outline for Blake... and that when she resumed head-writing that they tried to lighten the character up (i.e. be more humorous, etc)... but Dennehy had the tragic vibe moreso than the light hearted/comic touch that I guess Long was trying to infuse Blake with. Sherry Stringfield was more dead-pan in her delivery of her lines.. while LK was more emotional/wacky

Here is another interesting show in the early 90s...

Because Rinna isn't playing a drama starter... she's usually her acting talents for something positive.

Marland was so not the right writer for this show

reminds me of season 4 when Carlton went after Kyle for the weirdest reasons. What she said about Kyle was correct, but her problem was not waiting for Kyle to do something to her before going after her..thus making Kyle look like the good guy. Same thing now with LVP. LVP is funny and hilarious..yet she also has been known to play the victim and not being able to admit when she's wrong. So instead of waiting till she does something worth calling out...our housewives a4w going after her for anything instead of waiting. Logic and common sense seem missing in Kyle, Rinna, and Dorit (why was this void allowed back? I would have dropped Dorit and added Denise).

Erika's style is fabulous??? Um, ok if you say so. I do think it's interesting vanderpump is trying to get on Erika's good side. The one thing I will say about Erika is that she called out Vanderpump as a spider and said she isnt her friend. Since then, erika has been cordial to vanderpump .and nothing more. rinna is too messy and tries to suck up to vanderpump off and on.

So a channel has been uploading all the Feb/March/April 1988 episodes of AW.. where we went from Depriest to Sheri Anderson and then the scab writers. I have to say that I thought Sheri Anderson's brief stint as head-writer was promising with her finally ending the Reginald story with his death, Donna coming to terms with losing her and Michael's baby (ironically being cost the chance to be a mother yet again by her father), with the Vicky/Lisa/Adam/Jamie quadangle gaining ground. There also were some cute Sam/Amanda couple moments including having to stay in a cheap motel and work in a diner as part of their honeymoon.. and lastly, it seemed like Jason/Mary were being tested while Jason was trying to win Jamie over. The strike derailed a lot of those stories it seems. It is a shame that Jason wasn't Willis.. because if he were, it would have explained Gwen's out of character behavior when she came back for the 25th anniversary celebration.. cause it would have been explained as grief. Personally, I would have just had Jason be Willis without calling him that.. still having the same history with Mac/Rachel.. and with Sharlene as well. And once he was dead, having it finally revealed that he was in fact Willis... just that he went by his middle name.

Personally.. Teresa should have been barred from coming back after getting convicted. Letting her stay on the show and focusing the show on her, plus holding off filming a season because she was in prison helped swell the already huge head of Teresa. It's time to cut her loose because she has overstayed her welcome. RHOBH Still too early to tell.. but I would have cut Erika and Dorit from the season because neither one bring anything worth watching. Kyle and Vanderpump's friendship has never been the same since season 1 when Vanderpump became the break out star instead of Kyle. I think Kyle has always felt second best given that her child star career paled in comparison to her older sister Kim's... and she had viewed the Real housewives as her time to finally be a star in her own right... but first Kim (with her kookiness and train wreck potential) and than Vanderpump stole her thunder. Kim left the show, and Kyle's story was still not interesting.. and if Vanderpump left, no one would be that interested in Kyle's life/story because she doesn't have that it factor. Instead of counting her blessings with her family and kids, she still can't get past child hood issues of feeling second best (since Big Kathy seemed to lavish her attentions on Kim.. the more successful of the two).

Yeah, it does seem like her conversation with Patty and Paul didn't seem to be a typical conversation you'd see on the Young and the Restless. With that said, I did like in those two episodes from 1980 a good contrast between the Have's (Abbots/Katherine), the social climbers (Jill), and the Have nots (The Williams). I know that the 80s was more about seeing the larger than life characters and wealthy characters.. but not focusing on realistic working class characters in the 80s kind of short-changed the soaps long term.

I was surprised when seeing the 1980 episodes how well rounded Mary William's was. By the time I was old enough to watch the show 1990/1..she was written as a busybody.

I think we need to get Rinna some acting jobs, when she was briefly doing Days and other guest spots the previous season, her focus was on that plus her kids... which left her less time to focus on her one track minded obsession with Vanderpump. If Vanderpump does opt to leave, Rinna always moves on to a new one track obsession.

Victoria's best rival (when Heather Tom played the character) was Nina... they worked as friends, rivals, and frenemies. It's telling that during the years when Nina was appearing when Victoria was recast.. they had little to no interaction.. which always confused me because Victoria/Nina had such an interesting and complex history in the 90s.

Speak for yourself, I thought Meg Ryan had more talent than people and Hollywood assumed. She was quite effective in 'When a Man Loves a Woman', 'Courage Under Fire', and I thought 'In the Cut' was very interesting avante garde choice for the actress. What did her in wasn't the fact that people were sick of romcoms starring Meg Ryan... but she got roasted due to her affair with Russell Crowe while still married to Dennis Q. She does seem like a happier a person nowadays. I was wondering why they didn't team Meg Ryan/Tom Hanks more often than just three times