Soaplovers

My theory is maybe in 1975, you didn't have that clause in contracts to pay residuals for music being used, etc. It's now October 1975... and the new headwriter Cenedella has been leaving his mark 6 weeks into his writing stint. I can kind of see why he ended up not lasting because while he has returned to character driven scenes... the show has virtually little to no action so I could see the audience (after being use to 5 years of the Pollocks having a case of whiplash at the 180 the show turned from plot driven to more character driven). I do think it was wise to pull Ann from living at Steve/Carolees place.. and interacting her with some of the other characters while still being a concerned friend to both Steve and Carolee. I think Cenedella knew she would be the next spoiler.. but it was the right decision to focus on the Karen issue and resolve that before moving Ann into the slot as the next spoiler for Steve/Carolee. Strangely, Ann is no longer acting unhinged nor having nightmares and is acting like her old self. Stacy is less hot mess, but certainly likes to lead the men on... at least Penny admits she is manipulative while Stacy puts on the innocent act (with pigtails to boot). MJ is win Althea is kind of bitter and mean.. but she is without her abuser Nick so she's still going through her withdrawals from him.

He is 96 years old, so he could have mellowed with age.. or just doesn't remember facts/events like he used to.. so we can't compare how he was in the 1970s to what he possibly could be in the 2010s. People's perspectives also do change over time.

They had chemistry.. but how they got together was just as toxic and vile as how he and Delia got together. His type of character would be fired from his job because a lot of women would have said #metoo in regards to him. I actually liked Maggie when she was the spoiler between Frank/Jill (of course she ended up marrying the actor that played Frank.. so that is probably where the chemistry came from)... and I liked her odd coupling with Dave Greenberg where she tried to become a better person. I recall watching the reruns when they were on Soapnet and getting to see Delia/Jill for myself because my mom professed to love Jillian.. that she was a lawyer and feminisit, etc. After viewing the early episodes, I visited my mom and asked her how she could view Jillian as a feminist when she was involved with a married man and putting her life on hold for a man... and my mom really didn't have a rebuttal. And I said as annoying as Delia was, she still was the wronged wife and that I figured the show-runners probably had her cheat with Roger to even the score.. so to speak. Though the Labines were talented as writers, they also were guilty of character propping (i.e. Frank Ryan)... and having the hamster effect on their stories/characters (Delia, Pat/Faith, Jill/Frank, Sibohan/Joe). I will say at least Pat Faken Smith tried moving the characters forward instead of doing the hamster effect.. but she just went about it the wrong way.

Some roles shouldn't be recast... Angie was one as we saw with the brief recast after Debbi Morgan quit.. and then Natalie in 1992 after Kate Collins left and she was replaced by Melody Anderson.. who was sweet, warm and gentle... traits I wouldn't have used to describe Natalie.

Carole with the marathon is the most she has contributed to the show in a couple of seasons. Why she and Tinsley remain as full time I'll never understand. With that said, if Ramona takes a special interest in you and wants to plan a party for you and be your biggest cheerleader.. that is one's cue to run the other way. Ramona is like Elmira from Tiny Toons.. hugs and squeezes her animals to death.

My favorite Ashley... she was much prettier and more likable as Ashley.. but don't cross her. I loved the Nina/Christine/Dru/Neil/Danny grouping and all of them rescuing Dru from another one of her misguided stunts at fame. I used to love when Jill and Dru would tangle with Dru calling Jill 'the Dragon Lady'.. when Jill was actually being logical and giving Dru actual commonsense advice LOL

Wow, he was pretty nice about Donna S. I actually think it's a good sign if people are fighting in the writers room.. it means that both people are passionate about the genre and product.. and I will saw Donna S was passionate about AW.. much more so then she was when on the GL and AMC writing teams.

The original show was about Dan and Roseanne in their 30s and 40s so I could see why the show had an optimistic undertone to it because they were still relatively young. Now they're in their 60s, both are still working due to factors semi out of their control, and having their daughter (their one great hope to make it) having to move back in because of the economy... so I can see both of them being bitter and blaming others (and not the choices they made in their 30s and 40s) for their current lot.

I actually thought Roger was just as bad for Delia as the Ryans. I'd wish the show had ended with Delia truly free of the Ryans and Roger.

Marley was always given the short end of the stick except during her rape story and being on trial for shooting Jake. I guess writers figured Vicky was the more interesting of the twins, but thinking about it... Marley could have been an interesting and fascinating character to write because she was raised believing Donna was her sister, and finding out as a late teen that the woman she thought was her sister was really her mother would have had years of story. Actually, one of my relatives found out at 21 by a slip of the tongue by his girlfriend that the woman he was raised to believe was his sister was really his birth mother and that the people he thought were his parents were actually his grandparents. He emotionally never recovered and had a loss of identity that he never ever found. Marley going crazy and kidnapping Vicky could have worked if her motive was anger at choosing to marry her rapist instead of being loyal to her sister.. and being that she was no longer Vicky's identical twin... her sense of identity could have really be shaken.. the final nail in the coffin of her sanity.

What I liked about the twist of Fallon paying off the anesthesiologist... it makes her as vindictive as her father and possibly her mother. I finished the first episode being more on Alexis' side then Fallon/Blake's side. Based on the summaries for the next two episodes.. it appears like Alexis vs Fallon is on.. while Blake/Cristal are having marital problems... so the show is wise to keep Cristal vs Alexis on the backburner (but lets face it... Cristal is badly written and badly cast.. so I'll automatically be team Alexis).

I always thought that Alexis was too wealthy and didn't really have to claw her way to the top... she had a pretty good head start. In this version, Alexis has hit hard times.. and based on how Fallon and Blake have treated her.. it will be oh so satisfying to see her claw her way to the top. I actually will probably root for her more becaue she's now a Have not then either Fallon/Krystle/Blake.. who are now wealthy.

Given the current atmosphere in the world..Alexis had to be written differently. I like that Alexis' dad had the land and sold it to the Carrington except for the stable hpuse..ehich Alexis will reside in. I see a combo of Paige and Edie in this shoe from NS. Plus, having Alexis down on her luck will make it all the more awesome to see her claw her way to the top. I have a feeling Cristal vs Alexis will come later in the season. What is interesting is that in this version..cristal is more a viper and Alexis has a legitimate vendetta against Blake and now Fallon.

Yes, but it was all psychological.. which made it even more disturbing then if she and Nick had actually done the deed. Plus, the writers then slanted it to where it wasn't normal or acceptable unlike modern day soaps like B & B and Days. Though I did think it weird Toni did go with Mike's cousin Alan... and I still contend he emotionally strong armed her into marrying him when she wasn't ready.

If Eva had gone into labor during the reunion.. that would have been a reunion first.l

I actually think Althea and Penny have the most interesting mother/daughter relationship I've ever seen on a soap opera. I wish modern day soap operas could watch this show to see how to write a realistic mother/daughter relationship that doesn't involve sleeping with the same man, or fighting over the same man, etc. Based on what I've read, it does sound like Penny will be having a Taming of the Shrew type of relationship with one of the Dancy brothers (Jerry I think). If she becomes more of an ingenue.. that sounds like something Marland would do since he doesn't seem capable of writing for such a complex character like Penny.

They couldn't do a Family Matters reboot anyway... the house used no longer exists, or will no longer exist,.. it's being torn down for new condos. Plus, the show was too much Urkel and not enough of the Winslows. I have heard Queen Latifah is working on getting a Living Single reboot, but what would the plot/slant be? And I think Roseanne's goal is to show how Trump supporters aren't evil.. they are flawed and have the potential for understanding. That's my take anyway.

I watched her as a kid when the show originally ran...and I figured she was a new character..but my mom said that was Angie....and I asked who in their right mind would buy she was Angie...and my mom said 'not this viewer's. She was a good actress but lacked the edge and fire that Debbi Morgan had. My late mom only tuned back into the show in the last few years when Angie and Jesse came back (she despised greenlee...her favorite moment wad when greenlee was presumed dead lol

I always wondered if Robert/Angela Laurence were supposed to be long term characters when introduced.. or were they always intended to be short-term? It seemed he was a lawyer, she was buddies with Traci, and he was dating Leslie.. who had trouble bonding with Angela.. while Claire was slowly recovering in the mental hospital. It seemed to be resolved suddenly, which was Bill Bell's style.

I do agree Roger and IK had better chemistry.. but I thought Delia ending up with Roger was a disappointment because he was just as toxic for her as the Ryan clan was. Oddly, even when the show tried to undo all the progress Delia made when IK wasn't paying her... the replacement refused to make Delia pathetic in her acting choices. I think the reason the show didn't properly write Delia in 1983 was because IK wasn't convincing running the Crystal Palace or playing anything other then the neurotic nut. If I were a writer, I would have fired IK earlier then late 1983 because she was unwilling to change and adapt to the changes the character went through during her 3 years away.

I wonder if Sara being there from the competetion threw off the women of the View. With that said, Sara was the MVP! Who knew Darlene would be the responsible daughter LOL Jackie was toned down, but she's the perfect example of family enmeshment and how unhealthy it is. She was typically blaming Roseanne for her voting for Jill Stein instead of taking personal responsiblity.. yet she's a life coach? I had looked into being a life coach years ago and one of the requirements was going to an actual life coach yourself and rebuilding your own life before you could get licensed as a life coach. Roseanne and John were both a little shaky in the first episode, but by the 2nd episode both had settled in nicely with the rhythm of a sitcom and their characters again. From what I'm gathering, she is aiming to show how politics have divided a family and how that family comes together once again.. and it is showing that not all Trump supporters are evil.. and not all Hillary/Jill Stein supporters are saints either. I am curious to find out more about what's been going on with Becky, as well as wondering what Roseanne is doing with her time since Dan is still drywalling... is Roseanne retired?

1983 was pretty good with the Charlotte G story involving the Ryans/Coolidges and Rae. Delia was wasted in that year, but I truly think IK was wrong for the part by then especially after how Randall played Delia for 3+ years and the character changing quite a bit.

I'm excited to get to when Althea crashes threw a window with Nick coming back to do the surgery.. I think that's in early 1976 during the Depriest era.

Both Porsha and Phaedra should have been fired.. that way the show could have moved forward. The problem with these shows now is that once a housewife does something that 'crosses a line'... the show keeps them on instead of firing them.. thus we get these toxic seasons and no one moving forward despite the sinner saying sorry yet never learning from their mistakes. This past season of Atlanta reminds me of Season 11 and 12 of RHOC where Vicki said sorry yet kept making the same mistakes over and over instead of learning from them. Porsha on RHOA will be making those same mistakes over and over.. and until she or Kandi leave the show... the show will stagnate. A perfect example of a show moving forward was season 9 of RHOC once Gretchen/Alexis were cut from the show.. we were spared the hamster between them and Tamra ... no more Jesus Jug remarks and no more Bass Lake references either.

I actually thought it would have been more interesting if the Kate character wasn't Sharlene in split personality mode not a long lost twin... just someone that happened to resemble Sharlene. From what I recall, once Sharlene was fully intergrated.. she became kind of boring with soap magazines at the time saying that they missed both the Kate and Sharly personalities.