Soaplovers

The one thing I like about how the show wrote Rita was that she w asnt evil, or osycho...but basically her own worst enemy. Her insecurity caused her marriage to Ed to go south. I liked that when MG quit as holly...marland had holly leave in late 1980 cause she knew she was causing problems for ed/rita...but it was written in a way that Rita felt ed blamed her for holly leaving...and pulled away from Ed to Alan. I thought Gus should have been Rita's child...eith the question if he was a Brauer or Spaulding the main story. With that said, how she interacted with her sister Eve showed how Rita could be when she felt secure because she knew her sister loved her no mastter what..so she didn't end up doing the self fulfilling prophecy that she did with Ed. I did like how Pam Long and Nancy Curlee picked up the holly/ed connection with Maureen feeling insecure...history is valuable and can be used for great stories.

With BH...almost none of the women are funny...except L VP. Kyle and Rinna think they're funny....but Kyle is only funny as a comic duo with L VP. NY Is full of funny housewives except maybe Tinsley. OC had Vicki that you laugh at, t amra occasionally is funny, and early Shannon (which I hope we get back noe that she's unloaded that noose around the neck) was quirky and had fun stories. Humor is key on these shows....dallas had some funny cast mates.

The county that the show originally took place in (Fulton County, Illinois) was democratic in their voting, especially for president until the 2016 election where over 60 percent voted for Trump for president... given the blue collar nature of the show.. it makes sense to have them vote for Trump over Hilary.

I'm thinking a positive of a shorter season is that pointless feuds will be stretched so long. Just think of how cancergate in season 10 of OC woudln't have felt so stretched out if the season had ended after 12 episodes instead of 19? Siggy needs meds and man, I hope her son moves and never gives her his address. She makes Vicki G on RHOC seem sane in terms of hovering.. and I never thought I'd say that.

I forgot about Flame!!! Quinn

Agree on the NY cast changes...didnt like how they didn't gradually introduce the newbies in season 5. OC purged 3 after season 8...and gradually introduced both Shannon and lizzie...gave that show a new lease. Praying lucky 13 will fix things. R HOBH...Dorit reminds me of Taylor.

Maggie wouldn't have become the maternal, martiach....and Matt and Maggie's relationship would have remained equal instead of devolving into a traditional husband/wife relationship. As we start April 1975...im seeing the next crop of characters are coming in...Andy and Stacy. Too much focus on Andy and singing...when his intro shpuould have been more gradual. Stacy's has been a little better...tying her to steve/carolee.

9 1/2 weeks would have been a good template for a story on santa Barbara... usually the dominant one in an s and m relationship is dominant in their day to day life...and vice versa. But that sometimes they can get out of hand. Based on my personal.experience, plus studying the concept in school...keith and Gina wouldn't be a good candidate for it...and the show would turn it into a joke instead of doing an in-depth study of it. I don't know of a character where that would have worked on....maybe Angela Raymond (came on in 1991).

I couldn't get behind Holly and Roger especially when I found out he had raped her. To me..even putting them back together as a couple in the 90s was just wrong. So I was with Mctravish in regards to breaking them up....i just didn't like throwing Holly with Fletcher and turning Roger into a dark character when Pam long/Curlee spent years redeeming him. It is a shame Michelle Forbes quit because roger/sonni were an interesting pairing...and her verbal spats with Blake were well done. I do like that the show ended with Ed/Holly getting together...when holly had become confident without a man...and he came to her, not the other way around. It was done quickly, but made sense to me.

Agree... I thought the show realized a lot of that potential. The twist of her having Iris' grandchild was genius given the fact that her dad Russ had been engaged to Iris back in the 70s. A shame the actress left and the character ceased to exist.

I'd love the 13 episode season plus a 1 or 2 part reunion... and then a lost scenes episode. Back to basics.

I actually liked how she wrote Olivia.. but I do think the ball was dropped with Josie being Russ' daughter.. and basically writing off Josie and Russ months after the fact. With Olivia... I liked how Donna S kind of wrote the Sam/Olivia/Amanda triangle... with Olivia as the Rachel, Amanda as the Alice.. with Sam as the Steve....shame that Sam had two bad recasts.. but I liked the irony that the Rachel/Alice feud had moved to the next generation... but sadly without more visits from Alice.. it didn't live up to it's potential.

Didn't the actress that play Leslie opt to leave the show? In a way, it was probably smarter to kill her off then risk a bad recast (ala Jackie Marler a few years later). Just from the episodes I watched in 1980 (on youtube, plus some friends had copies of other episodes).. it looked as if Ed/Holly was being slated by Marland as the Bauer tentpole/end game couple.

Oc's best years were when the seasons were shorter...and it was a mix of fun and drama. Until season 10...it was somewhat toxic yet fun. As long as Vicki and t amra remain..the show won't ever evolve. NJ is smart having Siggy go bye bye...she was loco. Would you say she was as loco as Kelly benisomon?

It did free up Mike, but I often wonder had she lived...if the show would have made them the next generation tent couple?

I recall the big critism during her era was the pacing of her stories....that the ideas worked, but that the pacing w asnt good. An example given was character A and b were talking the kiss..ens of episode...then two episodes later, character a and b were still kissing. And I recall soap magazines thought the who shot Jake story was interesting, but the reveal was a letdown...and it was swept under the carpet except for one really good scene where Marley let Paulina have it for not fessing up... And viewers didn't like the hatchet job the show did to Kathleen to make Frankie look better. That the triangle had potential because Cass was good with both...but character propping of Frankie was evident. For me, she created Lorna...a small part that grew so much..and making her Felicia' s daughter was genius considering how Lorna spent over a year making Jenna' s life miserable....i recall my mom was watching during that time and was excited to see when Jenna would find out cause the two hated each other. I also think the reason her AW is looked at better is because she wrote it on her own with good support...while she shared co head writing on GL and AMC with a hack. Kind of wish she had been given a chance to write.those on her own. Last I read, she writes plays and works in community theater.

I liked Felicia best when she was single and playing the field...it just fit her better. The person that wanted the perfect romance, but either by bad luck or bad choices always lost. And oddly I could see the first love and first child being lost as the motivation to be a success and becoming a romance writer. I also liked how Felicia would take some of the younger female characters under her wing as her assistant and/or mother figure ...such as Julia, Lisa, Jenna, Lorna, Sofia, and Remy. It is a shame her connections to her niece and two daughters fell by the wayside....though inwad happy her friendship with Rachel stayed active up to the shows end. And I do think the Iris being chief story would have worked better if the rewrite hadn't happened... it could have been revenge against Mac and Rachel. With that said, Donna Swajeski did a good job making Rachel and Iris get along and have it be convincing after Mac's death. It was the one positive thing frokm the red Swan story...and having Mac die before he forgave Iris was an element used to enhance Iris' character..imho.

It's almost as if the show admitted even then that this was going to be a huge void that never was filled.

And it probably didn't work hence why she was softened by the mid 80s. Donna was created last minute cause they loved Anna stuart...and I think original recipe Donna was their answer to filling the void left by Iris.

In other words...probably closing. This happens in Chicago alot...and most times, they never reopen. Is Melissa's clothing boutique still open?

Agree to disagree with the period between 1984 and 1989 being destroyed....damaged...yes...but Nadine, Harley, and Blake were created during that time. Late 1988, you could see Pam Long and Nancy curlee getting the ball rolling to make the show go from passable to must see. And I think by 1996/7...the show had sort of rebounded...you had rick/Abby as the next generation Bauer couple, Michelle being the rebellious teen that rick used to be, and Annie Dutton was a tour de force (she was the reason for the rating increase..imho). 1998 was the start of the show freefalling..imho.

Remember when housewives went on individual vacations and they were featured? I miss those days since realistically...i don't always vacation eith my friends or co workers. I cant put my finger in it..but there is something kind of superior and judge about Teddi.

AM/Gilly would have been interesting.. and I thought that the show was heading in that direction. It would have also bought up history since didn't AM's grandfather also been involved in an interracial relationship... it could have also ushered in that branch of the tree sooner then the late 90s.

I loved the Three sisters episode (the women heading to a house on the market where it's haunted by ghosts). Showcased a lot of Val's internal struggles.. as well as showing off Laura's astute observation skills.. and Abby being the prankster/trouble maker (who ended up with photographic proof of ghosts).

Saw the last month's of 1984...and I think Sheldon wrote some great episodes....not anything like slesar..but the show was pretty good still. I would have loved to have seen the Alice in wonderland inspired mystery that kicked off the final episode...since I l9ve me some Alice in wonderland....and would have been interested to see how Mike's daughter Laurie would have adjusted to not being held captive 8n a hospital.