Soaplovers

One of the reasons people were upset the show had Roseanne say spanking was a valid use of punishment was because it went against the character. In the original show, Roseanne was against spanking and the one time she did spank DJ.. she felt horrible and tearfully said she was sorry for losing it on him. I will say that Roseanne is fairly balanced in terms of showing both liberal and not so liberal ideals thus far. There are a lot of my friends that won't watch the show, and they're aghast that I would watch it.. but I remind them that my family growing up was essentially the Conner family (right down to the safe sofa though we replaced it in the 90s with a nicer sofa)... and that I grew up right next to the suburb that inspired Lanford. I did watch a few episodes of Blackish.. and it's a good show.. but it's in a bad time slot up against CBS on Tuesdays. ODAAT... I loved the original when it was rerun.. and I kind of wished that this show had taken a different title because it's a completely different show then the original (it's a victim of being a remake... and we all know the stigma of remakes even if they are decent).

In the final years, I loved Erica and Annie's verbal smack downs.

About time Carole contributed something of substance. Speaking of which, why was Tinsley invited back? She seems sweet, but seems very vacant (light on upstairs, but no one is home). I think dropping her wouldn't have hurt the show going into the season (heck even introduce one or two friend ofs as well).

Just started to watch the series... After watching 10 episodes, I can see why this took off.... well written characters, lots of character driven stories.. and I can't believe that Betty was going to be killed off so early when she's fascinating to watch.. neither good nor bad.

Oddly, I think killing Reid made sense at least in the context of the history of the show. If you recall, Irna Phillips was known for killing popular/long term characters on her soaps and this particular soap did that in spades back in the 50s/60s/70s. Did I agree with the show killing Reid? No, of course not.. but it is realistic and part of life.

RHOC was reborn in season 9 when the show unloaded Alexis/Gretchen and Lydia quit... so maybe RHOBH could benefit from some pink slips being handed out... just so long as they don't do what they did to RHONY in season 5 (they pink slipped the right people..but were lousy in how they introduced the newbies.). Also, there comes a time that if you are struggling to come up with stories to tell, or if your life is hitting a snag... maybe you should exit stage left.

I think the problem Roseanne is having is that she hasn't acted consistently on a sitcom and/or tv movies for many years.. and has gone back to doing stand up. So I think she was working off some of the rust and adjusting to acting on a soundstage vs stand up. I often think going between two different mediums can be an adjustment (I've noticed stage actors are usually very OTT when they act in sitcom/dramas.. but eventually settle down the longer they are acting). With that said, I noticed in this latest episode she was yelling a little less and was getting back into the swing of things. With that said, even in the 1st episode of the reboot.. she's a lot less stiff then she was doing the 2 episode guest stint she did on Cristela a few years ago.

Felicity La Fortune was a good actress.. but the 1990s type of soap wasn't a good fit for her. She was much more at home with the 1980s type of soap, which was upper class/larger then life in terms of structure and character.

I don't recall Erica with Travis (since I was too young to watch the show at the time they were together)... I do recall Erica with the younger Charlie with Ruth/Mona freaking out over the two as a couple (little did I know that Erica had bedded three generations of men... Nick/Phil/Charlie). With that said, I liked Erica with Dimitri... the 90s (well most of them) seem to find a good balance between shallow/ambitious Erica and the loving wife/mother Erica that the 80s had trouble finding. It's a shame the show ruined them as a couple (breaking them up and reuniting them three times between 1992 and 1997 takes the magic out of a couple). What was interesting was that in the Jack/Erica coupling.. she was the star of that coupling... even during the years that the two weren't together.. she was still front burner and paired in other relationships with varying degrees of success.... Jack, on the other hand, could never find another female to successfully couple with. The show tried in the early 90s (Ceara, Brooke, Angelique, Laurel, even flirting with Gloria)... but none of them took... and I know they tried pairing him with Carmen in the 2000s (which was a big mistake.. deepsixing the strong Carmen/Erica friendship and wasting the potential of the Carmen character). Which makes me think perhaps Jack should have been written out years earlier..imho

Dorit needs to do the minimalist look since she looks way better without make up. I'd rather see Kyle make up free and also just in casual clothes (same with LVP) because less is more applies to them. In regards to RHOA.. please fire Marlo as a friend of... she's just as vile as Kim.

I was in middle school when these episodes aired... but so much was going on. We had Nikki's back problems/alcoholism story being resolved with hints that Victor was thinking of Nikki again in that special way. We met Hilary.. who at the time looked like she would be the newest female that Brad/Paul would be fighting over (since they were feuding ever since Cassandra Rawlins married Brad.. and she passed away before the divorce was final..thus all the money went to Brad instead of Paul like she wanted). At the time, we were led to believe Hilary would be involved in a potential triangle with Brad/Paul... yet in time that wasn't the case. Ryan/Victoria were in their young love stage... I don't recall him talking much about his family so interesting his father was an alcoholic. Nina before she met Ryan... was dating John Silva but feeling inferior/insecure over dating him.. and this is just a few short months after David Kimball had passed. At this time, this seemed like filler.. but in a few short months... her next story would start with Ryan/Nina/Victoria.

The writer strike in 1988 did no favors for a lot of the stories... so when Lorraine Broderick/Victor Miller were demoted in early 1989... they were probably unable to clean up the mess left during the writers strike. I will say Margaret Depriest in her ten month stint as headwriter did some good and not so good of things for the show. She resolved the Cliff/Nina story, paired up Tad/Dixie, started Jack/Erica (which was fresh at the time), and while I think the Eric as a clown story was strange... in a weird way.. I think it actually was needed because she was a new parent and probably felt more then ever she needed to find her father. Did Depriest, or Nixon, write that her father Eric betrayed her by selling his shares to Natalie (her rival)? Also, I had no idea that Jeremy/Skye were a couple...I guess Nixon ended that when she came back on fairly quickly? I

Laurel wasn't a horrible character, I just think her type of character would have fit in better on the show in the 80s then in the 90s. Lorraine B. always had a quirky side.. pairing Janet/Erica/Skye as a witches of eastwick trio was inspired and funny... while Skye accidently saw Dimitri/Maria together and being conflicted about it because of her friendship with Erica and her crush on Edmund.. with Janet being her sounding board. There was a lot of good stuff within the wacky. With that said, I loved how judgmental Erica was to Annie.. and even when both were in Oakhaven.. Erica still kept acting like she was above Annie while Annie pointed out to her that they were both in a mental hospital and that both stabbed someone. I loved Annie's facial expressions and reaction when she found out about Erica/Janet hiding Kinder's body and remarking 'And I'm the crazy one'. If only she found out about Erica stabbing Dimitri and also kidnapping a baby.

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.