Soaplovers

Was Rodell the same actress that played the largely unbalanced Joyce on ATWT? If so, it's interesting that she played two distinctly different characters that ended up being popular (Leslie because she was the heroine.. and Joyce because she kind of was giving Lisa a taste of her own medicine LOL)

I do think the only other housewife that made Bethenny uneasy was Heather... but Heather was generally a nice person that would defend her friends. I remember Bethenny starting to freak out once when Heather brought up not inviting Kristen to her party, etc... and then Heather sits there looking at her like she's crazy saying it isn't that big of deal (then her talking head where she basically said Bethenny was a *itch LOL). And Heather backing off from befriending Bethenny when Bethenny had a melt down and not needing anyone to crowd her... and then once Heather backs off.. Bethenny cries that Heather is mean and won't talk to her. With that said, Carole is a closet mean girl and while she isn't as verbally quick as Bethenny.. she is intelligent and can blow through smoke screens.. which Bethenny isn't prepared for. The only time I liked Erika was how she effortlessly handled Bethenny and made Bethenny look pathetic while Erika gave off a vibe that Bethenny was beneath her NY reunion time will be fun.

My mom recalls the Ann story with her blaming Paul for their babies death and her eventual nervous breakdown. From what I heard, Marlena and Don Craig's baby DJ dying was surprising and heart wrenching (according to my mom who watched back then). I know that once Judith Barcroft left the show, Ann wasn't shown at all really for the next two years till she was recast. Was the character killed off in the early 80s because the recast wasn't accepted.. or was the show deciding to shed reminders of the 70s that wouldn't make the transition into the 80s?

Sherry Mathis seems to be a bright side of the show in the 80s.. where it went through so many writers and changed tones like people changed clothes. The sad thing is that even if the show had a consistent tone and writing team.. it still would have been doomed because of P & G being stubborn in 1982, NBC picking it up and putting it in a time slot known for preemptions and ranking third (in the areas that did air it). Part of me thinks it probably would have been better to have ended it in 1982 since we would have been spared the obnoxious McCleary clan... but I'm sure there were some golden nuggets and scenes that would have been missed if that had happened.

Ugh.. of all the past producers to choose from to work with.. she picked that weirdo? I'd rather she tried Stuart Price.. or even went an adult Contemporary route and worked with Patrick Leonard again.

I agree.. I wish the mid 70s existed or were shown.. since I read that was when the show went through a revival in terms of ratings/story/quality... and I'd love to see more of Morgan Fairchild as Jennifer Pace What I've seen of her was quite fascinating.

I remember as a kid where Colleen was on the cover of SOD along with Kim Zimmer and Susan Pratt holding their newborns back in 1990... so young

Bethenny is evidence of what happens when certain personality types obtain power and/or control. They let it go to their head and they resort to gas lighting to keep that control... sort of like a certain someone holding office right now. If she had said to me that I was freaking her out, I'd ask if she needed to go to her safe space to collect herself.

The problem is that it seemed to have been nicely resolved in September 1975 with Toni declaring she was choosing herself. Mike then left for Brazil.. while Alan/Toni dealt with lingering feelings at first. She then focused on balancing motherhood and her career.. while he gradually moved on with MJ. I even liked the scene where MJ told Toni that she and Alan were starting to date.. and Toni gently telling her that she doesn't own Alan and even wishing them luck. I did think it would have been interesting to see how Mike would have reacted to the changes that had gone for the last three months he was gone.. but oddly, it seems like we are back at square 1.. instead of continuing the organic progression that had been nicely set up the last three months where both Alan/Toni had moved on.. and seeing how Mike would have adjusted to the fact that he hadn't moved on. Instead we aren't seeing that. The current head-writer supposedly is set to leave in the next month or so.. but I'm starting to see why he was replaced.

You didn't see the article where Kelly went on a podcast and said that Vicki is not to be trusted LOL

When Heather Locklear set the bar at a high level playing Sammy Jo... the modern day version would pale in comparison.. and boy, he does. Oddly, Nicolette has been quite good blending Paige and Edie into Alexis. She's cold like Paige, yet sarcastic and a great shade thrower like Edie... just wish she dressed more like Paige then Edie as Alexis LOL

I had heard two or three were filming (one was Kelly's friend, the other two were Tamra's friends).. so I'm curious to see if any of them made the cut... or if they're friends of.. that cause all the conflict/trouble.. while the main four kind of get along. I'll be intrigued to see if any announcements of a 5th or 6th house in the coming days.

I had to wait a 10+page paper as one of my requirements to get my bachelors in psychology/sociology.. and I wrote it on The Baby... talking about child abuse, sexual abuse, male ego, and feminist fears gone wild ( saying that this movie showcased the fears men had of feminists in the same way The Stepford Wives showcased the deep ceded fears feminists had of male dominance.).

Is anyone really surprised by Andy and his about face? He's as deep as a puddle... actually that's being mean to puddles because sometimes puddles have hidden depths and Andy doesn't have that. Ever since he wrote about Joyce and exclaiming she talked too much (i.e. she was logical and basically broke the 4th wall left and right about season 4 by exposing the takedown attempt on LVP happening at the start of the season).. I knew his likes were toward vile people and/or train wrecks with a sad side (Shannon). I'm actually surprised he has expressed liking Teddi since she is usually the complete opposite of what he prefers in a housewife. And I love that Meghan McCain keeps saying Teddi is boring, talks about her father too much, etc... then says that Teddi won't engage her (probably because Teddi has an actual job, husband, and kids). If Teddi does come back for a second season.. I'd love an individual segment of Teddi and her hubby/kids visiting John Mellancamp and Meg Ryan.. even if it is left in the secrets revealed pile. @Cat delayed reply to your RHONY thoughts.. but I do think Carole is not a meek little bird (she worked in broadcasting as a producer.. one can not be meek and work in news). I'm not sure if it was you, or someone else, that said that Carole usually has a bull dog attack those she is after. I tend to agree with that.. but the problem is that Carole keeps downgrading the bull dog (Heather was a legit bull dog that was ride or die for Carole, Bethenny was also a legit bull dog but wanted a piece of Luann herself, and now Tinsley.. the vacant void that can barely put a sentence together without effort? Carole would have been better off getting Ramona as her bull dog lol)

I still think of her as the ditzy blonde from 'The Girl Most likely to' that dies by doing backward gymnastics out of the 2nd floor window of her dorm and as a off balanced older sister of an overgrown baby in the movie 'The Baby'

I guess I should confess something very unpopular.. but I never liked Brooke. I thought she was smug, arrogant and judgmental. I was always team Erica and I think Brooke was secretly jealous of Erica because she always took Erica's hand me downs. In regards to Tom, I actually liked him with Livia.. and liked that he kept friendships with both Brooke and Erica post divorce.

I think Lorie (had JLB opted not to quit) would have fit in nicely on Y & R in the 80s... she had a lot of ties to the show and she had an interesting look and character that was hard to replace when she departed. Leslie and Chris were easy to replace (Patty Williams filled the fragile ingenure part quite nicely), but Lorie was a unique character... and I could have seen some good Lorie vs Jill.. or even some Lorie vs Nikki stories and scenes for years to come.' Who played Claire Laurence? She looks familiar.

Laurie was kind of written into a corner. The second she married Hank, the show stopped actually writing for her as anything more then a stepford wife to Hank. I think she stopped appearing when the Pollock's were still writing.. and at least the reason given by the next writers made sense since she had left him before when the chance to resume singing came up. The one thing I've noticed about soaps are that the second a female character is married off, she loses all sense of a personality.. or it is slowly drained away. It happened to Carolee, Toni, Lauri, and don't get me started on Althea during her marriages to Nick and John. I can't wait till Nola Dancy shows up.. from what I hear, she never loses her fire/spirit no matter who she is paired with.

I will say that the new headwriter has been good with removing the dead weight that the Pollocks created (Andy, Joe, and Tom).. but he's added more dead weight (Scott/Eleanor/Wendy) that has taken up so much airtime without any true connection to the hospital (I would have had Wendy being a student nurse and/or candy striper.. or Scott working at the hospital as their attorney, etc). The Tom dying story went too quickly.. and it is a shame that the Pollocks didn't think to test him with other characters when the Althea/Tom relationship didn't pan out. If they had, they would have seen he had great work chemistry with Martha.. and even possible chemistry with Toni. Plus, Toni could have had something to do with interacting with Tom while Mike was off screen and Alan was starting up with MJ.

Ok.. I don't hate this... it has potential. It all depends on the chemistry between the three actresses. Hopefully, the actresses in real life aren't divas like SD, AM, and HMC were.

I'm thinking less reliance on p olitics might be a good idea for next season the more I think about it. While I think it is important to be realistic and reflect the real world, I also think that sometimes they crammed too much into each episode so that nothing got too much focus/development. With that said, I'm hoping for a Halloween episode (those were always the best).. and maybe a Thanksgiving episode (where the fur always flew LOL)

I miss the days when Heather was on.. and her and Carole had an actual friendship. yet viewers preferred the toxic viper known as Bethenny.

I much preferred the Reardon's on GL to the Snyders... it seemed like the Reardon family had more distinctive personalities and having the boarding house allowed it to be a santuary for a lot of characters (Like Mrytle's boarding house was on AMC). I never understood why princess Lily would prefer a farm to being in a town. She was so spoiled that realistically she wouldn't have adjusted so quickly to the country. And I never bought having Rosanna, Debbie, etc staying at the farm... too isolated for me. It was why I loved Carly when she first arrived.. and she was trying to get Rosanna to move into town. I remember thinking 'I like this girl, she knows that country living is vastly over-rated'.

Maybe not good things.. but more like they saw what Upton was trying to do and thought that Upton had good intentions. By the time I started watching soaps.. Upton was not head-writing shows and I've never seen any of Upton's work so I can't judge for myself... so I'm curious about Upton.. is all Some of what Cenedella's done on the Doctors so far isn't too bad.. he's actually good with character driven scenes... and showing the staff behaving and interacting like a family.. but his big weakness is plot/pacing (the Eleanor story has promise.. but it's happening too lightening fast... and he resolved the Karen/Steve/Carole custody story nicely and made Karen human instead of a cold hearted monster that the Pollock's wrote.. but that story dominated for two weeks straight.. and once it was over.. there wasn't anything else to take it over.. so he jump started a doctor's illness story as well as the Eleanor story quickly over the last few weeks of episodes aired). I've heard the Corrington's were good on SFT (never seen their work on there)... but based on their stints on Texas and Capitol..I don't know if they're type of writing is my stint.

I think it's ironic that Crystal is retiring with full benefits especially when through out the original show both Roseanne and Jackie (but her to a lesser extent) would always looks down on her. I even remember during the second season after Roseanne lost the job opportunity due to not knowing about computers that everyone from the factory that quit with her had a job.. ending with 'heck even Crystal has a job'. Irony at it's finest.