Soaplovers

Last night's episode of RHOBH was a mix of aftermath, buildup for next episode events, and a dash of filler to balance everything out. http://www.chicagonow.com/confessions-coffeeholic/2015/01/rhobh-its-just-a-scratch-review/

I just hope Atlanta doesn't have a 30 episode season like last year (or it felt like one). I'd much rather the shows go back to 13 to 15 episode seasons plus a one or two part reunion. RHOC had a two part reunion last year and it didn't feel like too much filler was added either.

I think Atlanta should have cut porsha and Phaedra and added Claudia and demetria as housewives. BH and OC did some adjusting to their cast for their recent seasons....OC had a great season 9 due to one of their new.additions and how everyone reacted to.her...while BH seems to.have had a new lease in life after a horrid season 4.

It sounds like Gary Tomlin needed a strong co head writer to help him study the history of the show like Pam Long had with Nancy Curlee over at GL. Alice was a huge character in the 60s and 70s, and having the original actress come back right at the 20th anniversary of the show should have perhaps tipped Tomlin off that this character was important. In fact, wasn't her return one the main reasons the show had a decent increase in ratings during that era? I'm going to guess that her and Rachel didn't really interact all that much during that year long stint except for the one scene of Rachel having amnesia with Alice tearfully saying that she couldn't disclose to Rachel parts of their history due to it being painful to her still.

I don't know.. it seems like Chesire started with the drama right away instead of going with a slow burn. i don't care about any of these women, and I'm one of those people that love the house porn, food porn, and vacation porn.. with tension thrown in for fun effect.

It sounds like Alice was totally a supporting character, sort of like a greek chorus or a talk-to.. with occasional stories for herself that played like a B or C story. Do you think had Jacqueline Courtney not been fired, that Alice would have continued to flourish well into the 80s instead of teetering out as the 70s ended? I know her replacement Susan H was a decent replacement and a good actress.. but lacked the charisma that JC had possessed.

I think the producers will decide ahead of time who rides in cars together but they don't control how the women react. So far this season, Brandi has said out there things to lisa v, Eileen and Kyle. Lisa V basically doesn't take the bait, Eileen looks at her as a super fan while.Kyle just takes the bait. What interests me more is how.a person reacts to a crazy..not the crazy themselves. There is a brief preview scene on.bravo for next week where Lisa r tries to broach the subject of Kim with Kyle...but Kyle won't go into it. Lisa r says in a talking head that both of harry Hamlin's.brothers died of alcoholism within six months of each other....which explains why Lisa R quickly picked up on kim 's state..and is being so.honest about it. In that respect, I think Lisa r is serving the same role that Adrienne had in season 1 in regards to Kim and Kyle...imho

1993 had some interesting stuff with Jenna winning spaulding, nadine's scheme of pretending to be pregnant with Billy's back y exposed, Julie/Dylan's wedding being crashed by Bridget, and I thought Eve Guthries descent into madness then fight back to sanity was quite good...plus holly and Michelle at the cliff house with ed rescuing roger from falling over the cliff. Some good stuff in 1993..imho

1991 to 1993 are good years..some of the best..but I do think 1989 has some great moments like the climax of Sonni/Reva/josh...will jefferies downfall...Roger Thorpe being unmasked at Blake and Phillips wedding..etc. to understand 1991 to 1993....I think you'd have to go back to 1989 and even 1990...build up.years to the golden era of 1991 to 1993.

What interests me is that Alice is basically a supporting character in the first few years..did she do anything of.note pre Rachel's arrival in 1967? Or even after Rachel shows up.but before Steven comes on in 1968?

Last night's RHOBH was a BH version of Jekyll & Hyde.. http://www.chicagonow.com/confessions-coffeeholic/2015/01/rhobh-jekyll-hyde/

I guess this was right before Sonni left the show.. and right before Beth was revealed as alive. Shame Sonni left because I could have seen her and Blake feuding for years. I think Sonni was correct in telling Blake she was destroying her marriage all on her own given what she had gone through months before.

I think it was the beginning of the end. Had San Cristobel been a short term locale used then it wouldn't have been so bad..but it was featured for almost two years. Plus the Santos family.never got integrated with the rest of the show either.

So I've watched some of the episodes of the Doctors on Retro Tv.. perhaps modern day writers should take a look at how the show writes Carolee.. the good girl. She is neither dull nor weepy. She has her moments of insecurity, but she is intelligent, sarcastic and holds her own. She is how you write a nice character without making her boring.

Lydia was too nice, and I think she might have returned had Brianna's husband not gone off on her mother. I think that was totally unscripted and I think that was the final straw for her. Even Lizzie was quoted last year as saying she was kind of boring and probably wasn't a good fit on the show. Though I think it would have been nice to have filmed her in Kentucky at the family horse farm. Would have been some nice scenic porn at least

Well apparently one of the rumoured new.wives for OC Meghan married the baseball star Jim edmonds recently...whose ex wife Allison was suppose to be a cast member for season 8 of OC but backed out at the last minute thus Alexis came back. Also, a link to possible info for the other rumoured new housewife on OC... http://www.playerwives.com/mlb/los-angeles-angels-of-anaheim/josh-hamiltons-wife-katie-hamilton/

I figured Lizzie was out...after all that went down with her and Tammy judge. Jeana could still be on but as a friend of. She was used quite a bit during season 6 in that position

The Reardons seemed to have a decent presence up through 1985. From what I can tell, Pam Long said she would have continued writing for Nola and Tony.. but the actors left so she wrote them out. There was an interview from early 1984 where she said she loved the character moments where you sat at a table with a cup of coffee and talk about anything.. but that TPTB (proctor and gamble) wanted her to focus more on plot. She also said that she couldnt see anyone playing Amanda except for the actress who played her.. and indicated that the actress choose to leave on her own. I actually like the Pam Long era better then the Marland era to be honest.

Yeah...my parents gave me 200 per month...and I had to budget my meal plan as well. I had to get a part time job as well since 200 didn't really stretch the whole no.the despite budgeting. I'd have killed for 500 a month..let alone per week.

So citing the cast massacre of 1983/1984 where a majority of characters that helmed the show from the late 70s through that period were written off.. how would you have written for them to survive into the late 80s and beyond?

Tonight's RHOBH episode should be titled Empty Nesters R Us

I think instead of killing Mo, they should have had her leave town or even been put in a coma. Once viewers backlashed, then the show could have easily bought her back. With that said, I do think the show in 1997 had a chance of moving forward from Maureen's death since they had spent two years building up Rick and Abby as the next anchor couple. However, the show was intent on cloning, time travel, that stupid island, and the mob. I do think the mob aspect could have worked but it was executed all wrong.

True, but Nene showed her weakness last night. She, like Porsha, can't verbally keep up with someone so they resort to physical or cheap shots.

Maddie was very different from Laura. She seemed more mature, more innocent, yet also kind of confident. I don't think Laura would have felt guilty if she and James had kissed like Maddie had. I do wonder if rumours of the third character had been true.. if she would have been different from Laura or Maddie.

Cold and Sterile is what I'd describe the writing of Marland. For some reason, I think he worked better on ATWT then he did on GL. To me, Marland had all the elements of a Norman Rockwell painting on the outside, but there was no heart and soul on either of the shows. While I think Pam Long had the family, heart, emotion, etc of a great family drama... which can be messy and inconsistent. I do think Marland/Pam Long would have been a dynamite team. I was a kid during the Pam Long era, but I can see how people who grew up on the Dobson/Marland era might have had trouble with Pam's Long vision of the show.