Soaplovers

If this is the end of 1987 to 1988.. than KL's cliffhanger was Jill Bennett forcing Val to take pill and making it look like a suicide.

From watching the 1984/85 episodes posted again... I was surprised at some of the little scenes that showed that Long had the ability to write human emotion and family scenes.. but with the 80s being about over the top stunts, etc.. it gets overshadowed. The only thing I could say about the Largo story that is positive is that it involved a large amount of the canvas and did have lasting fall out (Lujack's death)... but other than that, it didn't fit with what Guiding Light was known for. And I thought the start of the Susan Piper Story was promising with her interacting with a large number of the canvas.. and the only fall out that lasted was the death of Hilary Bauer. I will say this about Pam Long, when she killed a character.. she meant it. When Fletcher shows up, I noticed the show chemistry testing him with the women.. yet oddly flirted with a Hilary/Fletcher pairing before moving him onto Claire... when there was a scene during the summer of 1984 where he and Katie were flirting.. and there was a lot of chemistry. Hilary kept trying to talk him down to Katie, but I thought that the two life long friends having friction due to Fletcher would have been interesting. And I've heard different rumors about why Trish was written out in mid 1985 (health issues with the actress, etc).. but Long had a great handle on the character and I liked her being the voice of reason (Vanessa could never fill that void) while still being an interesting character in her own right. She had ties to Ross and Alan, was old friends with Vanessa, was the peacemaker in the family fights, etc. I do often think the show shouldn't have created the Calla character, and just had the actress playing her be Trish since she had some of the same mannerisms/essence of what Trish had been written to have. And people complain the show in 84/85 was Reva centric.. but I see a whole lot of focus on Beth, India, and Roxie moreso than Reva..imho.

Fascinating scenes between Lillian and her sister Calla... I believe this was right before Pam Long left. It seems like Calla also was manipulating Lillian during these scenes, but she was correct that Beth needed to get a backbone and not depend on a man. Potentially interesting character that went nowhere fairly fast if I recall correctly.

Love or hate her, Kenya added something. Ironic she got dumped after becoming a wife and mother. Cynthia had an actual modeling career, not naomi Campbell level..but a long lasting one (and she was in a music video back in 5he late 80s/early 90s...when thay meant u were a model with meaning). Eva is pretty, but vacant...just like her stint on soaps. Lets see the new blood before dismissing the season.

Family ties was still in a good position...and knots landing never regained lost ground from the brief move in the 86 to 87 season to an hour earlier.

I prefer quantity over quality. Show in the past functioned quite well with 22 to 26 episodes because the writers had talent and skill to maintain the quality (Roseanne season 1 through 5 had consistent quality) plus actors/production/writers weren't paid as much as they are now either. Reality shows and shorter seasons are the result of greed. With that said, I'm getting used to the show without Roseanne.. but it will never be as good as the original Roseanne.

Call me weird, but I kind of liked the Pre-Barnabas episodes better... all the characters had development/focus. Once Barnabas and Julia came into the picture.. all of the characters outside of them lost any development/dimension. Between the Phoenix and 1795, there was a good balance between supernatural and soap opera... but once 1795 ended, the show became about which horror story to adapt and less about the character.

So from Atlanta... I think I see Kandi, Cynthia and even Porsha?!?! Nene and Kenya have always had a complicated relationship so I'm just assuming this is one of the times where the two aren't speaking. And one of the reasons I'll always love Kandi is that she's the one person that has never bowed down to Nene ever. It has to drive Nene crazy, yet at the same time, I think Nene kind of admires that as well. Nene/Kandi have always intrigued me because there seems to be an unspoken understanding between the two.. and anytime Nene tries her usual passive aggressive stuff with Kandi.. Kandi shuts her down without raising her voice or even batting an eye lash

JE's Beth was never insipid.. and the way she played Beth... I never viewer her as a victim, but as a character fighting through obstacles put in her path. After Philip accidently blinded her in that explosion, there was no way the show could realistically put them back together. BC's Beth in her first stint circa 1989 to 1991 was well written (Pam Long was still head writer).. and once her character regained her voice, she had a lot of backbone and strength. It was her return in late 1997 where I didn't recognize Beth and the show even had other characters remark that Beth had changed. The last few years had Beth going back to how she was written in the early years of her stint. I did laugh when she made mention about how Lizzie was so like her because Lizzie (when Marcy Rylan played her) reminded me so much of a teen Mindy than a teen Beth. Looking at KT playing Mindy.. she had the same mannerisms and tone of voice that Marcy Rylan had playing Lizzie.

I saw Halloween and that makes me happy I will be watching the script writers for these episodes since they could one day become creators of their own shows (season 1 of Roseanne alone had the creators of Home Improvement and Mad about You as their script writers... plus Joss Wheldon and Amy Sherman Palladino later on).

This episode should have been the end of Beth/Phillip... they never should have been endgame. Beth was actually becoming an adult and trying to break away from the dysfunctional relationship she had with Phillip (he was kind of controlling/emotionally abusive like her step father Bradley). Also, a great scene between Bert and Josh

Considering the political climate... I'd settle for seeing Capital rerun.. all 5 years including that infuriating cliffhanger lol

I do admit the Pollock's weren't as good as people made them out to be, but man they could write a climax (but they repeated themselves with the lead character going crazy trope). I think Cendella was trying to develop the characters, but there was little to no plot going on during his stint. I think Depriest had action going, and the day to day episodes were well written with mini cliff hangers at the end of each episode (and she touched on a lot of topics such as feminism, parent/child relationships, mental illness, right to die vs dying with dignity, and also there was the issue of physical/mental disabilities in regards to Paul Summer's child.). Her stories didn't drag, and I thought that she developed the Dancy's quite well (oddly.. Marland is having trouble writing them). She also broaden the canvas since I recall @Khan stating back in the Pollack era that the canvas was to sparse. Marland always said he learned from his mistakes when writing this show (i.e. not killing stories he couldn't write comfortably, changing a show's identity, etc).

He didn't fit the show...and he even admitted as much. He dragged out the stories on the show when depriest meant to resolve quickly

Hmmm..so same old same old on rhobh. U need cary on dallas...u always need a more laid back housewife.

U r in for a treat...you'll even see Margaret Depriest in a small recurring role

Crystal was always kooky...when she left, Jackie took over that role.

I love when Chuck, Ann Marie, and Crystal came back!! All three were important parts of the earlier seasons of Roseanne. I hope the show will deal with the weird enmeshment Jackie had with Roseanne's family... it was like she was Dan's second wife. I know everyone loves Laurie Metcalf, but girlfriend needs to dial it down a few notches. Sit her down and show her tapes of her as Jackie from season 1 though 6 where she was more low key, sarcastic and quirky.. not this over the top idiot that she's playing now. Becky/Darlene still have that sister chemistry

I saw Mary S on WWHL a few months ago and she looked great... so perhaps she was throwing herself into a role of a working class woman that spent more time working than trying to keep up with the latest trends.

Even good writers aren't a good fit on the show, no matter how talented he was. I'm curious if Penny will be featured in story between November 1976 and her departure in mid 1977... because if not, than I don't blame her for bailing.

I noticed when Cendella first took over that he really focused on the hospital with a couple of recurring patients (especially that daffy lady that always annoyed Althea) as well as starting the paramedic unit to help lower income areas (which is when Penny first met Jerry and saved Joan Dancy's life)... as well as Dr. Tom dying.. which all but ended the focus on the lab. Depriest had a good balance between the hospital and the personal lives of the characters.. and I do wonder how she would have concluded the Joan Dancy story and the Carolee story. Marland has concluded the shift away from the hospital to the personal lives of all the characters. Quite frankly, he isn't the right fit for the show. I think General Hospital was a better fit for him (hence why he worked wonders on that show) because that show was always about the romantic/personal lives of the staff at General Hospital... while the Doctors was more about the innerworkings of a hospital with some romantic/soap plots going on.

S4....the only person that defended lvp was Joyce at the reunion. Carlton gave good advice to LVP by saying to cut them out of your life as much as possible. In other words, I think carlton advised her to quit without saying so..if that makes sense Dallas needed to add a new person for s3. Keeping the same cast season to season never works cause things ge55 stale. I vote for s14 of OC to cut vicki or tamra. Shannon is strong enough to keep the show going with the loss of either of those 2. She's the only good 5hing for s13. Divorce has done wonders for her.

I'm one of the few that buys Ann's change...the Pollocks started it in spring 1975...and Cendella continued it with Ann siding with Steve even when he was wrong...and when he pursued her...he awoke her repressed sexual side..and she went to desperate means to keep hold of that...and Depriest had a scene where she couldn't believe what she had to do to get Steve..and was beating herself up being unable to help Matt because of what she did. I've noticed the new scriptwriters lack fun and snappy dialogue....I dread Paul and Ann interacting because these new writers won't write their scenes as well. I wish Marland kept Depriests script writers because I liked the ene3gy and psychological tone Depriest brought. Lakin and Edelstein provided that as well as being forward thinking. GH was more. Marlands speed...it was more about harmony and community...the doctors was more emotional with conflict and more forward thinking (right to die was a hot topic, and feminism was huge in the mid 70s.).

I like to 5hink they didn't end up together...2.0 didnt mention Jack only Erica...and I believe her dreams came b4 a man

Well when you get to late 1976, you'll going to think what you're watching now is lightening fast LOL