Soaplovers

Now that I've seen Cenedella in action on The Doctors.. I can see why some @vetsoapfan isn't too keen on him, but he certainly isn't the worst of writers... more like the middle of the pack. I can't wait to see pre GH Depriest on The Doctors (I liked her brief stint on AMC and her first stint on AW wasn't that bad.. but everything after...no comment). I see a lot of Gabrielle Upton mentioned as a headwriter of the 70s... I've heard good and bad things about that writer.

There have been a few moments where Nicholette can play serious, but I think it is good that Alexis is different in this show. Cristal is different (and so inferior to the superior Krystle).. and Sam is inferior to the perfection that was Sammy Jo... so of course, Alexis will be different (so far I'm rooting for her against Fallon and Cristal).

I don't know.. I thought Laiman wrote some good stuff on Days of our Lives in the late 80s. She created Justin/Adrienne, made Patch/Kayla a memorable couple (their first wedding was beautful), and had the idea to put Shane/Kimberly/Eve in a house together.. and years of story was generated by Kimberly and Eve's attempts to get along. And I will say that her storyline on AW about who shot/'killed' Grant made perfect sense in a weird way.. because Paulina took the rap to protect the person she thought was her child. It was the only story that really made sense on the show (though I will credit the Lumina story for restoring Rachel back to her old self again.. that was the only bright spot of that story).

I actually saw Kimberly McArthur in a highway to heaven rerun (pre-SB) where she played the popular girl that was nice underneath. She had a guarded, yet a certain sweetness underneath. I always think that had the writer strike never happened, Kelly/TJ wouldn't have happened because up till the strike episodes aired.. Kelly was anti TJ, and was in love with Jeffery yet trying to adjust to being married and adjusting to the reality of marriage vs the fairytale fantasy she always had. Kelly always seemed to be written to be the princess that viewed love as a fairy tale... and Joe died shortly after they were married.. so she never got to see the reality of what marriage was truly like. She and Jeffery were married several months before the writer strike so we got to see them as newlyweds trying to adjust to marital life vs the fairytale courtship/love on the run story they had lived. I think KM played Kelly as guarded.. and after all the hell the character had been through.. it was too be expected. She was the transition Kelly between RW and Carrington... who played Kelly as a mature adult and less like the sheltered princess that RW/Kimberly played Kelly. As much as I love Eileen.. she wasn't Kelly. She would have worked better as an Eden type character then Kelly...imho.

Catherine Hickland not being valued as an actor? Man, JFP loves to rewrite history doesn't she. Considering that CH played a dual role successfully on Capital in the 80s (an ingenue and a emotionally unbalanced woman.. that weren't long lost twins).. and played Tess Wilder to perfection... I think Lindsay was a step down for her...imho. OLTL was a more gritty show so I understood why JFP turned the show darker... but even in the gritty era of the 70s on OLTL.. there was light to balance out the dark. I liked Dorian/Mel getting married at the Banner, a community of reporters at the Banner...and Lindsay wasn't one note back then. I think once Pam Long quit as head-writer.. whatever balance there was went out the window..imho.

There aren't a lot of soap operas to go to.. and B & B seems to have more stability in terms of job security, I guess. I wish his vision of Michelle taking over Spaulding had occurred. Revenge of the Bauers

Apparently Kelly from RHOC got in trouble for spilling the beans about season 13 too early LOL https://allaboutthetea.com/2018/05/13/bravo-fines-kelly/

I'm more of an OC person myself (my first show I picked up).. and that show is the only show I know of that has successfully been able to rotate in and out cast members. It will be interesting to see season 13 when it debuts later this year.. but it has to be loads better then season 12 (I think they kept 4 and added 2). And that's why I'm glad Dallas didn't take any away.. just added a 7th person in a part time role to add something new/different without taking away from what worked last season.

I'm not a big fan of keeping the same cast for more then one season... so I'm glad they're adding D'andria's friend to film with them.. to add something different to the mix. Even though Brandi caused a lot of trouble in season 2.. I don't like it when it's one person vs five or six people even if that particular person caused trouble.. because it will illicit a little sympathy from viewers that don't like the whole 'gang up on someone' routine that catty women do. I'm more interested to see what is going on with the OG of the housewives OC.. a lot of life changes going on for three of the four returning housewives.. and I much prefer that then manufactured group gatherings and contrived fights.

I'll always be team Alexis.. no matter if it's Joan Collins or Nicholette Sheridan. At least when Linda Evans was Krystle.. it was evenly matched (JC's Alexis had the smart aleck remarks, but Linda Evans' Krystle had the ability to throw a good punch). The current Cristal is just dreadful. And I agree that the actor playing Sam is hot.. but Heather Locklear was superior as Sammy Jo.

I figure on this show... we have to fill in the blanks and come up with our own conclusions as to what has happened over the last twenty plus years on the show. I assume The Lunchbox went out of business due to the recession in the late 2000s. I assume Andy has cut Jackie out of his life for being a hovering/helicopter mother hence why she never mentions him (cause it's so painful), I'm going to assume Crystal probably has retired since she always seemed to land on her feet even with her back luck in husbands (I always assumed she got a pretty big pay out after her first husband died on a job site.. and she wisely spent/saved that money.. and still worked at the factory because needed the insurance for herself and her son.... and a lot of women make good money selling cosmetics so she probably was able to buy her own insurance as well).

I give Cenedella props for actually writing for Tom and making him a character in his own right. His character wasn't harsh nor grumpy whatsoever... and I liked the rapport between him/Martha/Toni.. and made me wonder why we never really saw the three interact all that much pre Cenedella. Cenedella wrote Tom as more meloncholy and a little more quirky then what Nick was..imho.

I just hope the show won't put David and Darlene back together.. they should never have gotten married nor pro-created. She was better on her own then with that clingy leech. The sooner they divorce, the better in my opinion. With that said, I'm wondering if Darlene is getting any sort of child support from David.. or getting unemployment from her previous job (did the show mention what she was doing that caused her to get laid off... it sounds like it was a decent job if she was living with her two children in Chicago). Also, her daughter Harris may look like she could be Darlene's daughter.. she so is not how Darlene was as a pre-teen/early teen. She kind of reminds me of Becky in personality.

This is why I'm partly interested in the Scott/Wendy/Eleanor trio.. because it gives Althea something to do outside of awkward, but fascinating, interactions with Penny.. and missing Nick (though denying that she is). It's why her relationship with Tom didn't work because he was written as a watered down Nick instead of a character in his own right.

Ugh... Nick... the most over-rated, unattractive character ever... and proof that character propping was in style back in the early 70s. I watched them as a couple and don't get the appeal.. even during the Lakin years, they weren't all that interesting together. Thankfully, this future return will be short-term and hopefully will close the book out on this toxic couple once and for all.

I happened to see a July 1976 episode once a long time ago (Depriest was writing).. and all i can say is that the next six to seven month will be interesting (i.e. it's very different). It seemed just from the one episode I saw of Depriest that she wrote more mystery/action then Cenedella. I can't remember the actor that plays Jerry.. but I know he was on ATWT as the guy that Iva ends up marrying... and on OLTL as a homophobic father of Ryan Phillipe's character.

I can't really judge the Laura Simmons story because it started a little before the strike and was resolved during the strike so we can never really know what Marland had planned for the character and story. Wasn't the guy that turned out to be her brother Beau... wasn't he the one that was attacking her in the park.. or was that someone else? I remember Pam... she was a normal, average girl that didn't want to be the center of attention like Lily and Meg.. hence why she got along with both... and why Lucinda was more apt to accept having her live with them at the mansion then she was toward Duke. Pam is one of those support characters that soaps used to have... never the main story, but a nice side story that sometimes affected the whole canvas.. but was off on their own. She was a nursing student with Meg, plus had connections with a lot of other characters so I never viewed her as being as isolated as most of the Synders were (I still think having them out on that ugly farm set isolated them as opposed to if they lived in town).

Eleanor finally debuted... fascinating actress.. reminds me of a more subtle Sandy Dennis (I only knew of her as the grandmother on True Blood). While the Scott/Wendy/Eleanor trio has given Althea some actual story... I do feel that they're too disconnected from the core hospital grouping. I guess this is the start of the move away from the hospital to a more traditional soap opera structure. What made The Doctors interesting was that the writers employed before Cenedella weren't typical soap opera writers (Lakin especially was fantastic with a good mix of character/plot... and the Pollocks had interesting plots... but their tenure should have probably ended in 1973/1974 instead of mid 1975). With that said, I do like there is more depth and dimension to the characters that was absent with the Pollocks.. and I do give Cenedella some props for actually writing for Tom outside of being a watered down Nick... but the problem is that no one really interacted with Tom much outside of Althea/Toni/Martha.. and little focus was given to him before Cenedella that it is difficult to muster much interest in the story (oddly, I do think him and Toni would have been an interesting couple to have explored..oh well).

I was in grade school twenty minutes form where Laurie Dann shot the kids.. and we had practice lockdowns, cops coming in to advise us what to do, etc. It was creepy.

The Dancy's have arrived.. at least Jerry and Joan (though at this point, she's just a neighbor with a different last name). I guess that the start of the family was created by Cenedella.. and expanded by both Depriest and Marland. Good interplay between Jerry and Penny as well.

1992 is when Lorna was revealed as Felicia/Lucas' daughter. I do recall when Lucas first came on.. that he had thought Lisa was his and Felicia's daughter... and I always wonder if Joanna Going hadn't quit.. if Lisa would have ended up being that long lost daughter.. since she did resemble Felicia. And Felicia was given something to forget she even had a baby to begin with.. so it would have made sense that she was told Lisa was her niece.. and she seemed very maternal toward Lisa, etc. I also think Jenna fulfilled the role that Lisa had provided for Felicia hence why I think Lisa was never recast.

I also recall as a kid liking Lisa/Jamie... and recalling that she cut her losses and moved away to start a new life (the timing of it was weird because she left right when her aunt Felicia was celebrating her 40th birthday and was going to be accused of murder). As an adult rewatching that era, they were kind of boring together and was thankful for Vicky coming between them. The show didn't seem to know what to do with Lisa in those last months so she went on random dates, even was the object of a crush by Matt (Jamie's half-brother). I never knew if the actress quit the show, or if the show decided to write her off.

It's difficult to rank soap opera writers for myself because I was a child of the 80s and didn't really watch soaps until the late 80s/early 90s. With that said... here a few of my favorites. 1) Pam Long (only her GL... Santa Barbara was so far gone when she got there then even a great like Nixon or Marland couldn't save it. I liked parts of her OLTL). 2) Agnes Nixon (I was a big fan of early 90s AMC when she ran the ship). 3) Lorraine Broderick (Her mid 90s AMC was fun.. and she was the perfect writer to close out the ABC era of AMC). 4) Donna Swajeski (Her AW was consistent, fun, and had some misfires.. but a lot of great things... she was sole headwriter during that time. her GL and AMC were shared head-writing duties during a weird time for both shows and the era of soaps).

Cliffhangers only work if you care about the characters.

Marland was talented, but wasn't my cup of tea... but I will say he was good at pacing and juggling multiple plotlines and characters.