Soaplovers

What's scary is that she's active, eats well, and still had this happen. A good cautionary tale to always be your own advocate and go when you feel something is wrong. Thank gosh we didn't lose her.

I think Emily made it look as if Eddie and Margo were hooking up.. in order to make Tom turn to her. @DRW50 I think how you described the 1987 is probably one of the reasons I wasn't a huge Marland fan,... too polite and refined. And his propping of Princess Lily was sickening. I think the only reason Meg and, to a lesser extent, Iva were so popular were due to the actresses playing them.. than to the writing. As a kid, I remember liking Meg and loving it when she would stick it to Lily. For some strange reason, even though Marland was still writing the show, I found myself liking Lily much more when Heather R played Lily... and yes.. I even liked Noelle Beck as Lily. Both of them made Lily less spoiled.. even though both were playing Lily during selfish/spoiled periods for the character... if that makes sense.

I've watched Beverly's take on Iris.. and I have to say I liked Carman's take on Iris much better.. only because I grew up watching Ms. Mckinsey as Alexandra (and she didn't want to go back to AW because it was filmed in Brooklyn). I could see the start of Iris becoming more attentive to business matters at the end of her Texas run.. and going off to New York than traveling through Europe... perhaps during some downtime (or during her brief fling with Michael Hudson).. probably learning about business matters... etc. I mean the character was off the show for several years so whose to say that she didn't pick up on learning business. The only thing I had trouble with was throwing Iris knee deep into the business stories the second she came back in late 1988. I could have seen her trying to learn more about the business after seeing how well Amanda was doing.. and perhaps thinking if she was more interested in the business.. than Mac would respect her, etc. So I wouldn't have made her the Chief.. but I could have seen her possibly hiring someone to be the Chief thus saving the company in the eleventh hour, etc. And than after Mac's death, Iris becoming involved in the business as both a way to make it up to her daddy for the Chief stunt.. and to stick it to Rachel/Amanda. With that said, it's sad to read that she's passed

What I thought was short-sighted was killing off of Kate's half-brother... who had an interesting rapport/chemistry with Paige. The cliffhanger showed the cop shooting at him, but the season 13 writing team killed him off. Had Ann Marcus taken over at the start of season 13.. I think she could have made the season 12 finale work long-term. The one positive of the horrible season 13 writing team (pre-Ann Marcus coming back mid season) was that they wrote Val with more respect and with an arc that actually fit her character (helping a lost misguided waitress learn to read... it was in character of Val to help those in need especially younger lost soul women and children).

Nene only shades those she feels threatened by... at least when they aren't around. Oddly, I'll never dislike Kandi for the very reason that she makes Nene nervous and shoots her down non-stop. LVP wouldn't even have Nene in her thoughts.. if asked about these comments.

Jonathan Frakes (Genie Francis' hubby) debuted as Dr. Tom Carroll in today's set of episodes.

Good.. maybe the show can salvage Alexis.. because the character shouldn't be side-lined whatsoever. In fact, I think Cristal 1.0 and Cristal 2.0 are both busts.. and I think an Alexis vs. Fallon conflict is where the show should focus on.. along with the continued beefing up of Monica's role (loved the turban she was wearing in a recent episode).

I know Tomei opted to leave, but I always wonder how Marland would have written her character.

Eh... though seeing Dorinda revisit her former fitness instructor life in 80s get-up is worth a view Bethenny crying and trying to act like Jill Jr... I can fast forward

A Housewife all star needs to so happen.

I remember reading that Law and Order and shows like it (NCIS, etc) did well in reruns.. but that continuing shows (like Desperate Housewives, etc.. though Knots Landing was quite popular on TNT in the 80s and 90s on TNT) struggled.. but that during the height of the DVD era... serialized/soapy shows outsold self-contained programs by a landslide. So I can buy streaming to be the same way.

I would have ended it with Eden falling off the cliff and her body not being found. That way if her pilot didn't get picked up and/or didn't work out... she could have returned as being in a coma and/or reverted to the Lisa split personality and taken up being a jewel thief again. And perhaps when A Martinez left the show, it was after receiving word that the Eden personality had taken hold and she was asking for him... and Cruz left Santa Barbara to go to Eden.. and once they reunited.. sent for the kids so that they could live happily ever after.

I think I recall the Dobson's inheriting this story and stating this wasn't how they would have written Eden out.. but had to write what was already started.. and decided to fix it as much as they could (this scene is probably the Dobson's making sense of the mess they inherited.. and it made sense since Eden always had unresolved issues with Sophia.. even was hypnotized to forget seeing Sophia alive when in Europe)

So basically the opposite of what he's been doing for the first months of the Doctors.. where he slowed the pace down to a glacier, characters were talking, little to no action... and the female characters regressed. At least it proves it's possible to learn from your mistakes after your first time attempting to write a show.

The late 70s and early 80s for Y & R sound interesting to me... while the show went back to the basics by the mid 80s (with Bill Bell admitting he was trying to follow the trends of soaps during that period).. some of those gothic esque stories sounded interesting to me... Suzanne Lynch, Vanessa Prentiss, even the Robert/Angela Lawrence stories sounded interesting to watch. Was it Bill Bell or Kay Alden that did the Joshua and Veronica Landers story? It seemed interesting, but than it veered off into just having Victor/Nikki remarry on a whim that really led to nothing really interesting (other than Diane's woman scorned story).

It seems like Bell and Agnes Nixon did the gothic element...but were able to make it relatable and not over the top. Reilly and Ron C should have taken notes.

Just from watching the 1968 episode, Susan was more interesting than Amy... who was kind of a drip. Why the show opted to write Susan in the early 70s and focus on drippy Amy I'll never understand

It seems when Jennifer Runyon left the role of Sally.. that her function got transfered to Cecile since when she quit.. Sally was flirting with Cass and casually dating Peter while Donna looked down on her. Even though the brief replacement and than Mary Page Keller played being with Peter.. she was eventually moved out of that orbit while Cecile was placed in that orbit.

Didn't she also play a brief role on Passions in between her two OLTL stints that required her to be over the top? I wonder if it was a combination of that plus her feeling she had to camp it up in order to adjust to 'modern day' soap acting that led to the change in how she played Dorian? Her Dorian in the 80s, and than her Dorian from 93 to 2000 was a lot more subdued/subtle.. more like a snake that is friendly, but would strike if crossed. And Robin Strasser is capable of playing subtle roles (She had a good chance to show that in the mini series Baby M in particular).

In watching today's episodes, I think that any young couple wanting to get married should be shown all the episodes featuring Penny/Jerry as newlyweds and than tell them that is not how you should do things when married. Both Penny and Jerry were right and were also wrong. Jerry was too stubborn to accept help, and Penny was not forceful enough at the start of the marriage to voice her displeasure at the apartment they were living in, etc. On the other hand, Jerry should have listened to Penny's wish for a slightly nicer apartment and the two could have looked for a place that made both of them happy instead of Jerry drawing a line in the sand to stay in the apartment (that he is hardly at due to work and school) and Penny drawing a line by signing a 3 month lease for an apartment without telling Jerry. I guess this is being written to explain Julia Duffy's upcoming departure, but I've been watching the show the last few months and couldn't find any indication/evidence that a big story was in the cards for Penny (supposedly Marland was upset that Duffy opted to quit when he had big plans for her).. other than one or two scenes of Penny interacting with MJ's brother Darren. And in today's episodes, MJ's brother went back home because things didn't work out for him in town.. and I have to wonder if perhaps Marland was planning to use MJ's brother with Penny/Jerry.. and when Duffy opted to quit, Marland just wrote Darren out quickly.

Man, I wouldn't do well on these shows because I just do my own thing and don't really care if people like me or not. I think I would do well if I joined this type of show in the early years, but nowadays.. I would be like 'i'm a one and done' person.

Irna would have charity rhomer'd them.

I've always wondered if the show could have been salvaged with a change of writers? Sometimes the creator isny always 5he best person to run a show.

No, Jason is such a creep.... and I was proud of Nola for not wanting to be his side dish while he was married in name only to Doreen. Virginia has always been a character to irk people, but I think she's supposed to. @Khan I do think Marland was hired to slow the pace down and return the show to a more traditional element (someone shared an article on Twitter from summer 1976 where the viewers of the doctors were more conservative and didn't like the quickened pace.. and the more sexualized tone that Depriest brought to the show). The problem was that Marland dragged the two stories out to where people stopped caring, and the two stories were fashioned to be faster paced. He should have ended one of them in time for November, while getting some other stories on the fire.

The original after season 5 was all about being poor and struggling with their bills... The first four seasons there were jokes here there.. but they had a comfortable blue collar existence so it wasn't a big focus for the family. I do think putting Darlene into the Roseanne role in the last episode was ill advised because Darlene isn't really like Roseanne at all (despite the show making her dark and harsh in the later part of the original show). Darlene is more laid back, and dead pan in her delivery than Roseanne ever was. I've actually thought Becky was more like Roseanne in terms of attitude and acting more from emotion than common sense. The biggest example was Becky marrying Mark out of fear of him moving away thus throwing her future away vs Darlene marrying David because of the financial benefits of the two being married thus being able to focus on school, work, and having a plan for their unexpected bundle of joy.