Soaplovers

On 3/1/2024 at 1:43 PM, Khan said:

It might be due more to the writing, but I found Jada Rowland's take on Carolee to be more conventional, for lack of a better word.  Not that I thought JR was terrible in the role; she just wasn't as quirky.

I always chalked it up to the mental breakdown she had, her stay in a mental hospital, and never really dealing with the trauma of Steve cheating on her and never really looking for her too much.

The show dropped the ball not having the breakdown and stay in a mental hospital as a way to explain the change in Carolee.

1 hour ago, Khan said:

I agree.  Between the regulars at the hotel and the guests of the week, it was too many characters for the producers to service.  And wasn't there a storyline about newlyweds Dave and Megan fighting about Dave's gambling problem?  Between stuff like that, Peter and Christine's slow-burn romance and the takeover attempt, it might as well have morphed into "Hill Street Blues" or "St. Elsewhere," but in a hotel.

Definitely "St. Elsewhere."  I mean, my God, they even had an arc about a rapist stalking the women at St. Eligius!  (And to this day, I still don't know if Dr. Peter White was the rapist, or if it was another guy, or if there were, in fact, two rapists terrorizing people simultaneously).  

St Elsewhere was one step away from being a primetime soap.  I viewed it as such because even some of the patient stories were multi-episodes.

I wonder if the original intention was to have Hotel be a hybrid soap/anthology show... but when Bette Davis wasn't able to continue on.. the show got reworked into more an anthology show.. with a few soapy elements thrown in later on the show.

I guess the slow burn love story with Christine and Peter was one of the long running threads on the show.. but the hotel take over attempt didn't happen till much later.

A question I have is this... were there any dramas in the 80s or 90s that you could have see becoming more primetime soapish?

1 hour ago, vetsoapfan said:

@Mona Kane Croft, I agree with your analysis of Mary Matthews, and how the character seriously devolved under Harding Lemay. He even acknowledged in print that he wanted to imbue her with the negative attributes that were more appropriate "for a woman like that."

Under Irna Phillips, Agnes Nixon and Robert Cenedella, however, Mary was a warm, nurturing, maternal figure.

Irna Phillips had envisioned Mary to be like Nancy..only with more shades of grey.

She had lost her importance when Liz was reintroduced and given more position with Pat, Russ, and Alice then Mary was.

RHOM Reunion:

Maybe because I'm an adult... but the sight of grown women acting like toddler doesn't really appeal to me.  It's actually not a good look for women, and allowing Nepo Baby to speak on the women during International Womens month is very counter productive... especially when he lacks the charisma and talent of his father.

I know all of you are happy with the current cast of Miami... but I think it is time for Larsa to go.  Lisa and Adriana can easily slip into the villianess mode and also add a newbie next season as well.

I'm not surprised most of the other women had no idea about Kiki and her life... because she doesn't trauma dump nor do the women view her as a real friend.  After all, she's just a 'friend of'.. not an actual co worker (in their eyes anyway).

RHOBH reunion

Kyle is a Robyn Dixon with some Gizelle mixed in... she isn't lead character at all.  Why else did she bring on both Kim and Kathy this season... because she knows she isn't the main attraction.  Kim had a few memes/gifs done about her during her brief cameo this season... and Kathy was at the reunion and getting more attention then Kyle.

On the surface, Sutton buying a horse and going on blind dates isn't front burner material... but she presented a lot of context that helped make those events more interesting.  She talked of her past marriage, how she was the typical hostess wife, how she had to find herself after the divorce, and then realized that she was ultra controlling as a defense mechanism from her years being controlled by her ex.   Lots of subtext and backstory.. which makes people want to watch and root for you.

Kyle lacks that ability to offer context and backstory.. she comes across as fake and performative... she lacks the over the top quirkiness of Kathy nor the little engine that could element of Kim... nor is as funny/witty as LVP was during her time on the show.

Now with streaming and other online platforms, affiliates will have less power in terms of a soap making it or not.

Affiliates in the past caused the declines/endings of numerous soaps:

Edge of Night

Love of Life

Search for tomorrow

Ryan's Hope

Generations

Loving

Port Charles

Those are just off the top of my head.

I also think Days doing well on Peacock has helped a bit with networks being interested in soap development becoming a thing again.

I wonder if it will be a half hour or hour long soap...and I assume filming would be either in Calfornia or even Atlanta perhaps.

I'm hoping if this is successful that P & G looks into reviving one or two of their properties (Edge of Night would be my choice for a revivial).

JG was never a strong headwriter...his strength was in character driven scenes and making others creative ideas work within a soap opera format.

At the same time, who else would want the job?  Anyone that would have been good has either retired or passed away.

Still...4 more years will ensure the genre survives well into the late 2020s

Why reward Porsha with a spot back on RHOA?  She needs to be walking around with a scarlet letter on her...I would be the letter and it stands for Idiot.

Miami:

I know all of you want the cast to remain the same...but this combination is a bit stale.  

Drop Larsa, upgrade Kiki...and hire a new friend of in order to keep things from getting stale.

5 hours ago, carolineg said:

Obviously Melrose was always very white centered, but I also think Rhonda was a victim of circumstance.  Her closest ties were Sandy and Matt and Sandy was dumped pretty early.  There is an obvious undertone of racism, but when MP start scrambling for ratings Rhonda was mostly forgotten.  She never really established relationships with the new cast additions.  I think in the end both Matt and Rhonda were on the chopping block and the show decided to keep the gay character because it was more edgy at the time.

Vanessa was a good actress, but she played Rhonda as too earnest and optimistic.

The show needed to have cast someone like the other Vanessa Williams for someone bitchy/sexy.. or even a Robyn Givens type for the character of Rhonda to have survived into season 2.

I do recall Rae Dawn Chong appeared for two episodes as Rhonda's brief roommate from hell.. and I think she would have fit better on the show once it went soapy in season 2.

Where is the tribute episode for her?

No one believed Val when she said her twins were alive...she was dismissed so she eventually retreated into becoming Verna and went to start a new life.  It seemed like a nice peaceful life...closer to what she might have lived in her waitressing years post being kicked off the ranch and pre Dallas.

Lastly...during the Jill saga...Val could have pointed out no one believed her about her babies so why doubt her about Jill.

To me...Karen was kind of a lousy friend to Val...Laura would have believed her I think about Jill.

I did a rewatch of some of 1996..and it wasn't as bad as I thought.

Lily was written quite well..and I thought there was some strong Hughes family scenes..and a brief revival of Kim vs Susan when it came to Dani.

Part of the problem was a disconnect between the Kasnoffs and the rest of the show.

Beverly Hills:

Kyle as the OG is why BH will never be a break out show.  She's a Robyn Dixon.

My theory on why Kyle seems hateful to Sutton post filming is because Sutton was the one people focused on during the season...a season Vyle Kyle was sure would be her season with the marriage breakdown.

I hate to say it, but he seems a lot happier now that they're separated then when they were married..while she seems just as bitter and jealous as she's always been.

I think the show needs a new production team..or editors.. because it seems as though the show was setting up Flopmarie to fail to catch on.   Some are saying she's a one and done...but we were stuck with Teddi on here for many seasons..and OC can't seem to fire Gina even though she's a flop..so who knows. 

Sally in the 90s on B&B didn't have her weight be the focus.  She had so many  layers to her character.

I doubt any modern day soap opera writer could do anything like that 

Part of the problem on all these shows are the forced group gatherings.  No need for Vegas or California mini trips..imho.

Instead they could have shown more scenes of Kyle with Morgan & Mo, more scenes of Flopmarie with her family/job, Crystal with her life, etc.

The stories that were brewing (Kyle's marriage, Garcelle and her sons, Sutton moving on from her marriage at last, Flormarie's introduction, and Dorit's odd marriage dynamics) could have been shown with more scenes.

3 hours ago, Cat said:

Yes, Kyle's marriage has been the A plotline this season, even if the story itself hasn't moved much beyond the first episode of the season (although next week's finale might change all that). Against my will, I've found it the most watchable thread of the season, maybe because weve been watching Kyle so long and rwmember all the times she vaunted her perfect marriage. Even though I dislike her and think she's narcissistic, it's been interesting to watch her try and express wanting change in her life.

I called it the Esophagus season because I was trying to be snarky, lol.

Kyle's marriage issues is supposed to be the A story... but I've been more interested in Sutton's activities then I've been in Kyle's A story... and I think that's the root cause of Kyle being such a bitch to Sutton.  Pure jealousy.

Kyle is the Robyn Dixon of RHOBH and she should be happy to be a supporting player.

4 hours ago, Mitch64 said:

Reva-GL wins this.  The only writer who got her was Long (and perhaps Curlee) and she came back as a self-righteous plot point...things happened to her instead of her making things happen as in the past, and she was well past her expiration date of the love goddess no man can resist.  

Making Reva a love goddess was out of character... Reva was a character that got along better with men then she did with women.  Her platonic friendships with Phillip and Fletcher in the 80s proved that.

Plus, Reva was an 80s character type that didn't carry over well into the 90s or 2000s.

5 hours ago, ClassicsSoapFan said:

Did DePriest do a serial killer on The Doctors?

I am watching the show on the It's real good TV app. I haven't got to her stint as Headwriter yet. I am still watching the Pollocks. They do a lot of recapping. Unlike Rita Lakin ,Rick Edelstein or Ira Avery.

Not a serial killer story...but it's a medical story turned mystery where we see the why and how it was done so we were wondering how the other characters would find out.

Her stint was quite good.

I wouldn't be against Kenya/Porsha as the headliners of RHOA if they leaned more in on the friend part of frienmies instead of the enemy part.

Phaedra just doesn't fit on M2M...her own vibe throws off the aura of the show.

I say maybe it's time RHOA to be put on pause

Young and the Restless:

Victor Newman...time for his character to be retired.  His departure would open up new stories for Nikki, Jack, Nick, Vicki, etc.

Days:

Leo

Rafe

B&B:

Brooke

Ridge

Liam

I don't watch GH so can't say.

The network/Lorimar obviously didn't step in with Adam Rich.

They were on Susan Richardson hardcore to lose the baby weight stat..and sadly she was so fearful of losing her job that she turned to drugs to lose the weight..and it basically hurt her in the long run.

Of the kids, Elizabeth was given less to do...other then initial disapproval of her dad and Abby marrying.

Abby always seemed judgmental to me, but there were times that she had warm scenes with her step kids.

And sadly since she couldn't go back for the 1st reunion movie...they did a good job with replacing her with Mary Frann (same she wasn't included in the 2nd movie).

Lastly, my favorite of the Bradford kids was Nancy.  She was always searching for her place and identity in the world..and you always cheered for her.  

@Cat

Vyle Kyle was doing the most in order to compensate for Rinna not being there.  

Her talking heads and after show comments were filmed afterwards when it appeared as though Sutton would steal the season and her henchperson Try Hard Marie failed.

Kyle is an insecure jealous person that secretly hates all women.  She has been bully to Kathy and Kim her whole life and enjoys turning her female friends against one another.

I was watching season 1 and there was a talking head from Kyle where she joked that if someone a set pissed her off then she would just quit acting and have a baby.  That says all that needs to be said for Kyle....an overgrown toddler.

3 hours ago, DaytimeFan said:

+1 to all of this. It was an OK episode. The most interesting part was Sutton's dinner with her cosmopolitan friends and Erika drunk off her ass..."Murse is in...the purse" made me laugh. 

Flopmarie holding Crystal's hand and then saying "I don't want her to have a hypertensive crisis and stroke out" was so cringe. No wonder she works in anesthesia, she has zero bedside manner. There's nothing to like about her. 

Try Hard Marie has no bedside manner.  Given we were stuck with Teddi for a couple of years...Im bracing myself for her not to be a half season wonder.

Dorit...is the product of a New England upbringing.  I live in Boston now and going to cities outside Boston in Mass and CT resulted in seeing a lot of Dorits (female and male versions)...it was eye opening.

RH of Miami:

I've never liked Lisa.  I was always a Joanna or Lea fan over Lisa.

The only time Larsa has any sense is when she speaks in interviews about Lisa's divorce. 

Going by the doll island was just shitty of production...given her past.