Soaplovers

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

Plus, it was hard to buy Eric going for Stephanie when he had an attractive/glamorous girlfriend already except for the money aspect (since I think Stephanie came from money.. and Eric was more middle to upper middle class). Plus, the first Beth was warm, confident, and still sexy even with the show's attempt at dressing her in casual clothes with her hair up all the time. Though this Beth vs Stephanie would have been interesting... and it would have explained later plot developments when Brooke/Eric got together since the first Beth and Brooke looked like they could be mother/daughter.

I disagree, I actually liked the story... the problem was the casting of Sarah Michelle Gellar in the part. It threw off the timeline quite a bit.

I always marvel at the stupidity of people.. and this is a prime example. Putting a link in RetroTv's facebook is like revealing a secret about someone to that certain someone.

Robin Strasser didn't do the super over-acting bit until she was on Passions (and you had to over-act on that show). and than when she returned in 2003. I had seen her in a few roles outside soaps where she was more subtle, she played against type in the tv movie Baby M where she was subdued and low key.. and wished she would have played more roles like that to show the public her range.

The other thing I noticed about Marland's final year or two was his old tendency to drag out a story longer than it should instead of quickly trying to resolve it, plus trying to recreate situations that worked in the early part of his regime again for the early 90s. We had the whole Dusty/Lily/Holden/Meg story that worked in the early part of his run as writer.. but when he attempted to recreate a similar situation with Hutch/Rosanna/Debbie/Evan.. it didn't seem to work quite as well (though it does prove that Sharon Case did use to have really nice thick hair once upon a time). Would the outcome have differed if he hadn't died in the middle of that situation? Whose to say. We also had the whole Carolyn Crawford mystery that dragged on for over a year and half featuring the death of a character that had only been on for a few months. I heard a rumor (not sure if true or not) where the original killer was to be her hubby, but that Marland changed it.... not sure if that's true or not. Based on the early part of the story, it did look as if he was going to be the killer given Frannie's sudden love for him and his sudden rush to marry. Personally, the story would have worked better if he had been the killer and Frannie saved herself... while having Barbara/Frannie having tension due to Jennifer being Darryl's, etc. @DramatistDreamer I do agree with your theory that perhaps he was suffering from health problems long before his sudden death because the tone of the last few years was dark, somber, and focused more on death, illness, and sadness.. than his first 2 1/2 years.

Rinna seems to have a one track mind with things. When she first joined, her and Kim were in a good place until Kim's strange behavior in the limo. I admit being on Rinna's side at first, but she was like a dog with a chew toy. Even though Kim has a lot of negative traits, I also felt bad for her because Rinna was relentless on her. And Kim was correct by saying that without her, where is her story. We saw last season, Rinna was more low key and doing things in her day to day life.. regaining some of the favor that she'd lost.. but it looks like any favor regained is being lost quickly. We also know that Vanderpump can be shady and passive aggressive.. but isn't that the main traits of being a full time housewife for more than a season? I do hope if Vanderpump does leave that Rinna goes after Kyle cause that witch needs to be raked over the coals.

I liked it better in previous seasons on all the shows where all the housewives weren't at events.. sometimes that spurs organic conflict (i.e. when Heather didn't invite Ramona to London during season 5 of RHONY). If these are 'reality shows', shouldn't they be doing things that logical and normal people would do. So if LVP isn't going somewhere because of not getting along with the other women, or handling personal family business.. than that's.... gasp... like real life! It's one of the reasons I didn't mind Shannon doing a freeze out of Vicki during most of season 11 because they weren't speaking.. and it was organic reasoning...with Heather Dubrow trying to reason with Shannon.. and Breanna trying to reason with Vicki. Plus, Meghan was dead pan asking Tamra if telling her to f off was called for even though Tamra was in distress after the Atv accident. Organic things like that are why I used to love the housewives.

What I noticed about Marland's writing was that it was more energetic/fun in his first two years or so (fall 1985 until early 1988).. partly because he was carrying on the tone established by the previous headwriter (Bledsoe Horgan) and writing the story threads started by her, including characters created by her (Shannon O'hara.. at least early Shannon is an exact copy of Bledsoe Horgan.. quirky/life coach/whimsical). However, I noticed after the writers strike that his tone of writing started to get more somber/serious/darker.. even fun characters like Shannon got watered down. I often wondered if he was going with the trend of soaps at that time to be less over the top/flashy and more somber/serious? It's why when I rewatch his era.. I liked the first two years because there is an energy and sense of fun that is missing by the late 80s/early 90s (though I do admit I liked his one comical creation Dana.. who was the surrogate for Darryl/Carolyn.. and her attempts at doing Margo's hair and also her being more of a hindrance to a hitman that took her hostage). I mentioned before I liked Noelle Beck/Heather Rattray better than Martha Bryne as Lily... so I'll also say I liked Mary Ellen Stuart better than Julianne Moore as Frannie.