Soaplovers

I don't know... I watched RHONY and it seems like it's a rehash.. so maybe more women in addition to Carole need to leave.. so we can get some new blood.

There were rumors years back that Andy Cohen and co tried to get Cat from RH of DC to do RHONY ...but that she was now back in Europe due to her girls going to school there. Not sure if it was confirmed or not. RHOC is doing the reboot after season 12's uneven season. Vicki vs Kelly would be interesting because both of them are hotheads that act before they think. It would be a relief from a redux of Vicki vs Tamra.. or the ages old feud of Shannon vs Tamra. It will be interesting to see both Shannon/Tamra being friendly with both Kelly and Vicki. Not sure how the newbies will fit in.. but it sounds like Shannon won't like either of them LOL RHONY... the show needs total reboot... if Carole is leaving.. can Tinsley please go with? RHOBH... they need to take their time before filming resumes. Denise R would be interesting because she has the interesting home life and her dad was always so nice and calming (still loved when she had her dad appear on Millonaire matchmaker and he was interested in one of the choices unaware that she was into bondage, etc... and Denise was being protective of her dad.. it was cute)... but is she capable of doing the whole drama/fighting thing?

You put Jeff Ryder above the Dobson's? Well we all have our favs. To me I thought Curlee/Long worked well together since Curlee was good with strong character/tight plotting.. while Long was good with emotion/family/whimsical (Kim Zimmer in an interview said when she auditioned to play Reva.. she didn't get a summary of the character, but a bible on the character). While I do love 1991 to 1993, I have to admit there was a spirit that was missing that we had in the 1988-1990 episodes that Long/Curlee wrote together. I would have switched Marland and the Dobson's because their style was more laid back and their characters were a little more naunced... while Marland's characters sometimes seemed static.

Same old Vicki... it's almost as if she doesn't realize she's lying.. kinda scary.

I recall liking Henry and Maddie's sister Eve.. she was played by a decent actress and she and Jack did have decent chemistry with one another. In the old days, writers/producers would have adjusted the story if a character worked and/or had chemistry with another character... but by this point.. they didn't.

Why do you think RHOBH is having trouble finding that right mix of women... but shows like RHONY and RHOC seem to be able to correct troubled waters? RHOC, especiallly manages to evolve with a constant rotating of the cast (except sadly for Vicki).

When Camille Grammar is your cleanest and most classiest one... you know at the core, RHOBH is trashy LOL Not since Camille have I seen a housewife reading classic novels LOL

I don't know how I feel about this. I know her and Lisa Rinna have been close for over a decade.. and it seems like friendships never really last once they join this particular franchise. Kyle/Lisa V have never been the same.. Lisa V/Lisa R are the same way... and Kim R/Lisa R also don't speak anymore. Still.. Denise does have the home life.. and her dad was always a quirky individual that provided a calming stability to the household.

I often wonder if there was this much resistance when soaps made the switch from radio to tv? Only Guiding Light survived long term in the tv format.. and I know before they were canceled that there was talk about moving it online.. but it fell through.. which is a shame because if any soap could have started the process.. it could have been GL. Hulu worked for AMC/OLTL because it was back during the free option era of Hulu.. but I remember a lot of people in message boards explaining that it wasn't they were opposed to watching on their computer, etc.. it was that they lived in areas where the internet didn't support watching large amounts of content online. I'm sure that's changed in the last five years.. but it could still affect small towns/rural areas. And these same people complain if the online show is about 10 to 12 minutes per episode.. and when I say soaps used to be 15 minutes with commercials.. they have a look of 'really?'.

RHOC is back and I thought it was a good reset. You can tell Tamra/Vicki/Shannon only called a truce due to being told to do so by the behind the scenes people... so now it will be interesting to see if it will stick or not. Shannon saying 4000 square foot house is roughing it makes me laugh... I live in a 600 sq ft studio in Chicago.. that is what I call roughing it lol. I have a feeling David and Michael letting their daughters film with their mothers is all due to money... because if Shannon/Kelly are getting paid extra if their kids film.. than that is less alimony and possible child support having to be paid. I think Tamra's situation was different because Simon was a control freak and he couldn't control how the kids would be filmed... plus, Tamra had her than new relationship with Eddie and her oldest son Ryan to film with in season 6/7/8 before the gym opened and Tamra became a grandma. I read up on Eddie's condition.. and it turns out it is genetic and it can come about if you are a hardcore athlete/cyclist because of the vast amounts of blood pumped through the heart. It hits starting in your 40s/50s... so I think I'll just be a leisure biker of 5 to 10 miles a couple times a week lol I'm with Kelly on the math thing. Steve is checked out... perhaps if Vicki backed off than Steve might be more receptive. @Cat yes, I agree that Brooks was such a phony train wreck.. but sometimes I'd take a little bit of boredom over feeling like I'm giving con artists like him a platform. Emily.... too soon to tell.. but her marriage seems atypical... just like Jeana's was. A clip from next weeks show has Emily asking where the nearest exit is so she can avoid exercise (something Jeana would have said). Interesting backstory with Tamra/Emily... and that Emily was friendly with Gretchen/Ricky.... Tamra.. watch your back... and Emily.. watch your back WWHL... it seems like Shannon won't be getting along with Gina or Emily this season LOL I like the family aspect, and I have to admit that course was pretty scary. OC is my fav show and if what Shannon/Tamra said on WWHL turns out to be true... it will be far less toxic than season 12 was.

Was Annabelle the one that was associated with Alexander McQueen and took his death hard? Sometimes when dealing with loss, you tend to sadly neglect your health.

I remember Camille in the late 90s... and I enjoyed her. She got some airtime and focus, but I always thought even with the increased airtime.. her character still had loads of story to tell that never got explored including who her father was, being a bi-racial child, her unresolved relationship with Ben and her all too brief relationship with Brad Snyder (I think that was due to recasting the character..imho).. and her interactions with Denise (hints of colorism??). I don't recall how Camille was introduced. I know she was a nurse, but did she just appear one day.. or was she properly introduced?

The OC is still about the family aspect in addition to all that you describe. With all the personal/family changes going on with Tamra, Kelly, and Shannon... Vicki needs to have that family element to compete. Plus, I'm seeing with the two new housewives.. there are lots of kids/family elements (although I think due to newbie Gina's divorce happening.. perhaps she should have been downgraded to a friend of... and just had five main women).

Oh wow! Sometimes real life is always more interesting than what gets on camera. If Brianna and family aren't being featured that much, if at all, than why is Vicki a main housewife since most of her story was her being a grandma?

It also didn't help that Nella was played by at least three (maybe four?) actresses within a short amount of time (Victoria Rowell was one, I think). It showed the lack of investment of Marland and co to service the Franklin family beyond just set dressing and even the most featured member of the family didn't really get serviced much beyond being Heather, and later, Jessica's boyfriend. Jessica's family had a little more focus with the show at least attempting to feature Jessica's brother Lamar trying to work at the Argus and not quite having the journalistic touch.. and her married sister Fiona appearing from time to time.

Yeah.. those aren't the best taglines.. but I don't judge a book by its cover. I'm not a fan of NY (too much group.. and almost all of them aren't married so they might as well rename the show)... so I'll be looking forward to some family stuff/drama on the OC.

Jack/Brad should never have been introduced... the Snyders were finally gone by the mid 90s and it felt like heaven. I'll probably be slammed for saying this.. but when the show had the all female 50th special... I thought Emma was out of place and didn't belong. It was fine with the other six.. and it just symbolized how Marland and future writers kept trying to keep the Snyder family going past their expiration date. Yeah, it would have made more sense for Meg to buddy up to Lily.. and want to venture to the Walsh Mansion.. and to hob nob with all the rich teens that Lily knew... over Lily wanting to spend all her time at the Snyder Farm. And the isolation would have still worked if the Snyders were on the poor side of Oakdale... but I guess Marland wanted to have a throwback to how the Hughes family started out as a farm family until Chris H made the break from that life to live in the big city. I guess perhaps having the Snyders realize that the farm is too much for them to handle and to have them sell to a corporate entity thus becoming more middle class would have been more realistic given the farm crisis in real life in the late 80s/90s where small family farms were being eaten by corporate farming.

Marland talked in his bible about introducing characters slowly... yet within weeks of starting, he floods the show with the Snyders and isolating them to a farm instead of a working class section of Oakdale. And I never bought spoiled princess Lily willingly wanting to go to a farm, even spending the night there countless times... it just never rang true. Now if the 1st actress playing Lily was still playing the part, I would have bought it because the actress played Lily more like a town boy than Martha did.. who played Lily as an over dramatic teen princess that seemed happily at a country club than on a farm. What was his reason for writing Maggie/Frank out of the show? And watching the show a pre-teen in the early 90s, I understood why Iva was written out since her story seemed to be complete once she married and left to start life anew.. same with Seth/Angel. Some characters have a shorter shelf life than other characters.. and writers sometimes don't recognize that. I think even Marland recognized that hence why he had mentioned the Kasnoff clan in his future outlines before he passed away.. since I think even he knew the Snyders shelf life was coming to an end.

While she was involved with her editor Ned Simon.. and I think he died either by heart attack or stroke in early 1994... so perhaps she submitted scenes of her grieving his death, etc?

Kim Zimmer (who played Nola) said that for most of her three year stint on the show.. the show was always in danger of being cancelled... in fact, she described the situation in the same manner as to an actors contract (13 week option) basically saying the show was extended every 13 weeks... which could explain why things never seemed plotted long term because the writers never knew for sure if that 13 week pick up would be the last one. The timeslot changes, plus moving the focus from the hospital to a traditional family structure killed the show long term. Right now, the reruns are in April 1976... and sorry @vetsoapfan I'm actually liking Depriest's stint thus far. I know you mentioned not liking Anne Bailey Howard as head-writer.. but the scripts that Howard has written have been pretty good (perhaps she should have been a script writer and not a head-writer?). The show taken on a generational vibe as of late with the conflicts between the establishment and the youth (i.e. Althea/Penny, Matt/Mike, Steve/Billy, Mama Dancy/Jerry, and Eleanor/Wendy). I like the idea of a clash between the establishment and the newbies... and wished that idea had not been shown to reflect just parent/child... but established doctors and nurses vs interns and nursing students (sort of what the show did briefly in 1970 with Carolee as head of nursing clashing with Julie the manipulative nursing student).

Even in the 80s and 90s, syndicated soaps had trouble succeeding long term. Now other types of programming that were syndicated... different story Saturday afternoons after cartoons were when a majority of syndicated sitcoms/dramas played in Chicago during the 80s/early 90s. I do think perhaps a streamed show/serial might work.. but only if released in bulk (say 20 episodes with the last of the 20 ending in a cliffhanger... and they're released once a month for people to enjoy).

Luann has always been shady and vile... and lets face it, she was never around the kids except for appearance sake. So I hope this lawsuit causes her to lose money and prestige.

Who knew Amy wasn't such a goody goody.. almost makes what Belle does to her later on seem like karma I guess this is before Susan mellowed out and became more likable. Very detailed story projections.

Anne Bailey Howard was a script-writer on the Doctors.. interesting. That's a name that either brings up positive or negative feelings (her stint on Days post Leah Laiman wasn't well received). She's a decent script writer

I'll be intrigued to see the whole Dancy family since they are almost as far removed from the hospital setting as the Conrad's are (except for Sarah).