Soaplovers

Silk Press Sheila and Joey meeting was the interaction I was waiting for and I wasn't disappointed. I want more Donnell is a promising character played by a good actor... please don't waste him on Samantha. The dialogue was a little cringy today with Chelsea going into detail about Eva instead of just saying Eva's name.. and the whole 'Queendom' wordings. I'm curious to see how the tone changes once Guza officially departs the writing team and replaced with an unproven head-writer (although she did come up with the story for an Afterschool Special back in 1990 called A question About Sex about a mother and daughter on opposite sides of an issue about sex education) so it sounds as though she could come up with some interesting parent/child conflict. Although Guza's touch was on the show.. but I guess I'll have his two horror movies he wrote to tide me over this Halloween season. Lastly, I'm glad the show finally indicated that Kat is more like her aunt Dani than her mother Nicole. Eva/Tomas seems to be treading ground... is there going to be a twist and/or another potential love interest for Eva.

Depriest also objectified Cass as well with that whole Cecile kidnapping plot. Oddly I'd take grimy and toxic over the non descript vibe the show had between 1984 and 1986.

Nicole and Mr Vaughn.. I can totally see that

More like she would be wasted on a fine speciment like Greg. Let's chemistry test him and see where he fits best... perhaps Vanessa?

I think the issue with Depriest was that her style fit much better on a soap that was Days Of Our Lives/General Hospital oriented. I will say that some of her decisions in her almost two year stint as head-writer did provide some focus/structure with her stating what she viewed as the core families (remember that the Matthews family was all, but gone by 1986)... and her decision to bring Mitch back was a smart decision since his presence made Mac/Rachel nervous... and did provide Felicia with a love interest (although why Zane was killed still boggles my mind).. which caused tension in the Felicia/Rachel friendship. Some of her decisions didn't make sense with her killing off of popular supporting characters like Maisie and Quinn, and making Donna into a shrieking harpy (when Donna was usually frosty and confident). However, some of her decisions did provide some good story threads that played out after she had departed from the canvas (i.e. Sam/Amanda, Lisa/Jamie/Vicky). After a few years of constant headwriter changes.. her almost two year stint actually provided some stability once she was through with the cast cuts. Her last six months as head-writer was decent

I listened to the new offering from Ms. Swift over the weekend... and some of the songs gave me a Madonna/Britney Spears vibe. Which isn't a bad thing because I do enjoy their sound, but I have to confess that I miss her country pop vibes that she had back in the 2000s.

I'm a happy man with this news I still think Piper should have chosen him instead of Leo on Charmed

I think the Rick/Cecelia interactions before she was dropped suddenly would have been more promising and a fun way to keep the Cecelia/Trisha feud going... as opposed to the Rick/Stacey relationship that was always going to be a stopgap before Jack/Stacey reunited. It's interesting to me that Trisha had the better writing and two long term couplings... while her brothers had sub-par writing (Curtis and Rick).... same thing happened with Stacey getting the better writing and long term coupling while her brothers were kind of short-changed.

I would love to see the first two years of Loving especially because I could judge to see if the sudden/rampant changes the show undertook in the first year were warranted, or just knee jerk reactions to middling ratings. The changes I'm talking about is the Lily Slater story, writing off of Merril, the start of focus going toward Ava's family and away from Stacey's family, and what place that Rita Mae and her husband played on the show (it seemed like once the focus moved away from AU.. so did the need for Rita Mae and her hubby to be on the show).

What was the original intent of the Coopers? I know eventually they were revealed to be Greek American, and they even had an olderly grand father/great grand pa named Pops that kind of surrogate raised Frank and Harley. Was the original intent that Frank and Harley raised one another? I know that both of them would mention how Nadine abandoned them (I even remember a scene between Nadine and Frank during Christmas 1992 where Frank was still upset at Nadine over how she had abandoned him/Harley) yet both Harley/Frank seemed to quickly forgive Buzz in a matter of months.. even though what he did was far worse. And the character of Lucy on paper seemed a good idea... a child that Buzz had raised, but the casting and writing for the character never really worked.

Sorry.. but the Texas invasion in the 80s helped the show. After Marland threw a temper tantrum like a toddler and quit.. the show was struggling to finish out his overly complicated stories.. and two to three brief writing regimes tried to finish off his threads before Kobe/Long came on in May 1983 and gave the show a shot of energy. The show was a strong and solid # 2 in the summer of 1984 and the quality of the show was super strong until 1985. The Friends of Jill situation wouldn't have been bad if the writing and stories were strong.. or were enhanced.

Maeve's departure happened due to the actress opting to leave when her contract expired, and it was during the scab period of writing so they killed her off in an accident. Long's first episode back post strike was Fletcher either finding out that she hadn't survived.. or it was the aftermath of finding out she died.. and the whole community gathered together (there was even a nice scene where Reva/Josh try to comfort Ben about Maeve's death.. and it started the whole Maureen/Fletcher emotional affair, etc).

I think what made the Bob/Susan/Kim triangle work was the build up to it that seemed to have started as early as Andy's alcoholism become a concern for John/Kim with Susan being his AA sponsor. That helped thaw the frost between Kim/Susan where they could be in the same room and be cordial/nice to one another. Meanwhile, Susan's back injury and pill dependency made her and Bob become closer since he was left out with John/Kim trying to help their son Andy. Even though Susan was softened, she still had an edge that would come up here and there over the years.

What's wrong with the frat boy look? Frat boys can be hot

Shouldn't Naomi and Jacob had this conversation about kids before they married... or did one of them change their mind? It's probably better if they don't have kids because Naomi tends to be selfish and Jacob would probably do all the parenting... or wouldn't do any of the parenting.

And it isn't even November sweeps

I think the Dupree women know that Dani is incapable of being an actual adult and they blame anyone (male or female) that influences her to do stupid things. The dynamic I wish would be explored more is how having an emotional stunted mother affected Naomi and Chelsea... since both of them seem to have a better handle on maturity than their mother. Bill dumping Dani before the show started was one of the smartest things he did because she is unhealthy and too toxic to have as a partner. So the fact that he is tempted makes sense because it's hard to break free from a partner that wasn't a good fit outside of the bedroom. Is there a third possible choice for Andre? One that isn't vanilla spice (Ashley) and one that doesn't belong in a padded cell (Dani).. surely there are other women that could be good with Andre (Shanice maybe?)

Blake was not even in the outlines when the strike started and the scabs just introduced herself onto the show and had her on the phone to someone in order to fill time. When Long came back after the strike, she asked them about all the phone calls and who she was talking to and the scabs had no idea

I think the show retcon it that Blake was her middle name when it was discovered she was Christina in late 1988. To this day, I wish we knew what the original plan for Blake was when Long created the character and approved the casting of Elizabeth Dennehy as Blake just before the writer strike started.

Dani is a typical individual that thinks they deserve more, but actually need to be knocked down a few notches. I love that the Dupree women are all about empowerment and making their own decisions, yet are always quick to blame a man when a choice they make blows up in their face. The amount of blame that Andre is getting from the Dupree women is laughable when Dani deserves just as much blame since she's supposed to be a grown 40+ year old woman. I also like that the show decided to bring on Donnell since the show is too female heavy and I liked that he instantly stepped up to Joey. He definitely is acting like he could be the son of Doug and Vanessa... and based on his comment about his sister (Deanna).. it sounds like he's the stronger willed of the two. I would have preferred if Doug and Vanessa had two sons instead of one son.. and not have any daughter. I just hope Donnell would be subjected to 30+ year old Samantha

Shame they're only back for the wedding of the Nepo-baby

I actually think Hart should have been Billy, and the story could have still went the way it did (except for the family farm).

I call it the Douglas Marland effect because any soap opera he was head-writing had that type of dialogue... which was very unrealistic.

Apparently Cady looked to be filming in the studio per her instagram.. but I do agree that Pamela has been a miss because of the lack of airtime and playing a character that acts and talks as though she came from 1920s upper crust New England with a Transatlantic accent. Dani's drinking is the one plotline that I can accept when it's 'dropped' and then bought up because in real life.. people grapple with issues with alcohol for years. While Dani doesn't drink daily, her problem is that she over-drinks to the point of black out.. which is more of a concern than if she had one or two drinks per day at night. Anita does talk to Dani like she's a teenager, but Dani does seem to act more like she's younger than her own daughters. Chelsea and Naomi have more sense and maturity than Dani does.. and I hope that this dynamic is explored more. And Donnel referring to Jan as 'Aunt Jan' checks out because she probably was more of a parental unit to him and his sister Deanna than either Doug or Vanessa were. And I do wonder when sister Deanna will be showing up.. perhaps at Christmas? And Derek's journey into being a grey character is continuing.. and I think this adjustment is also probably due to feedback.. and I wonder if it's a way to try to save Andre/Ashley.. which seems to be end game in MVJ's mind. I still don't know if Hayley was faking the pregnancy because she did go to that doctor appointment after her 'miscarriage'.. and Bill went with her. I have a feeling that it will come up again, but perhaps closer to the 'Season 1 finale'.

ROSLC: Bronwyn's incessant need to be liked is kind of draining, and her husband did give some good feedback on that. He's probably sick and tired of hearing her vent about it.. yet won't find a solution to her venting (because I think she gets off on being a professional victim). Listen.. I get that Angie seems to hold onto being Greek because she doesn't seem to know herself...but even her daughter is kind of over the Greek thing. Which tracks. Lisa is delusional.. but I notice that her delusional is amped up. Whitney is still a whore and annoying. Though I understand her reasoning for being a redhead this season (for her daughter).