Soaplovers

I think that the Snyders living on the farm isolated them to a certain extent as opposed to them living in town as a working class family. I always thought Marland's concept/creation of the Reardon's were better then his concept of the Snyders.. imho.

For me, I think the Snyder's both helped and hurt ATWT in the long-run. I think in the 80's through the mid-90s, the Snyder's served a strong purpose.. but I think by the late 90s, they should have been phased out along with that tacky Snyder kitchen set. To think that the show phased out the nice Hughes living room/kitchen set for that tacky Snyder set made me really question the show's wisdom. I know Marland died in 1993, but I heard a rumour that he was in the midst of phasing out the Snyder's.. was that true, or was it just the follow-up writers phasing them out? Plus, is it true that Marland had the Kasnoff's in his story plans? Did the Snyder's ever hang out at the Hughes family home, and vice versa?

Wasn't Pam a niece of John Dixon's? If so, I'm surprised that more wasn't done to keep her on the show. From what I recall, she was the good to Meg's grey shadings.

I think it's funny how Nene was angry at Diana/Marlo for not focusing on her.. when Nene has proven time and time again that she would pull that same crap if she doesn't get attention. I'm hoping eventually Queen Nene gets a rude awakening.

Reading up on the show's history, I was intrigued with the character of Joyce Coleman. From what I gathered, her character's introduction helped to change the role of Lisa (i.e. from scheming bitch to more of an anti-heroine). I also noticed that she was not only hooked up with Grant, but also caused complications for Donald and Bob Hughes as well. For long-time viewers, I was wondering if she was written better pre-Dobsons? I noticed that the Dobson's bought her back from the 'dead' and had her back for over a year before she moved away to start anew. Nowadays, I think she would have gone full-on psycho.. but back then I noticed that she had a job and even friends. I often wonder if the character could have continued past 1981, or if the character's stay from 1972/3 to 1981 was far too long? I bet Douglas Marland would have loved to write for her.

Actually I think Jane Curtain was sole anchor for one season back in the 70s.

I think Miami season 2 was all parties and fighting without very much delving into each housewives individual lives. And I think Miami season 3 seems the complete opposite, as if it is trying to evoke the format of Real Housewives of Orange County's first 3 seasons. I think producers should look at season 4 of OC, season 3 of NY, and season 3 of Atlanta for all how to balance out the drama with the look at the lives of the individual housewives. I do like that we are seeing Joanna's friends, that don't involve just the housewives. It reminds me that these women have lives outside of the housewife show and makes the show seem more reality then scripted. I remember in OC's season 3, we saw Lauri hang out with non-housewives and I don't think we had any housewives as her bridesmaids. Plus, she didn't invite all of the housewives to her wedding (Poor Quinn.. not even considered a housewife by the housewives themselves... it's no wonder Andy Cohen never mentions her LOL).

So if Alexis and Gretchen are both leaving RHOC... who will Tamra and Vicki pick on? Lydia? A new housewife?

How many actresses played Annie? Which of the actresses was the best Annie... or rather the less horrid version? I know there were a few Dee's, and it seemed like Jacqueline S. was the least annoying Dee. I did see the final Dee in one of the DVD's released, and she seemed kind of bland. I wonder if Marland could have written Annie and Dee better then the Dobson's did. Was Annie the good girl and Dee the more troubled soul?

I think the first year or two of the show had potential, but it seemed like all the storylines were in perpetual hamster wheel (i.e no plot movement). For instance, during an evil Charity event.. Miguel admitted to Kay that if he hadn't seen charity then he was going to ask her out then they start making out. After Charity returns to normal, Miguel and Charity go back to being a lovey dovey couple without any fall out from Miguel making out with Kay... it was like nothing ever changed. JER seemed to have big events, but the stories remained in constant rinse and repeat. At least the first three years or so that I watched the soap.

If you can't get Lauri nor Jeana back full-time then at least both can come on as recurring housewives. Then we can get Jeana's side of the story since Vicki basically blamed Jeana when Lauri came after her. Plus, I agree that at least one new housewife will be needed to keep things from getting stale.

I think Gretchen/Alexis leaving would open up the OC, because I was starting to get a Jersey vibe when watching this season. It hasn't fully become a Jersey clone (i.e. stagnant stories, rehashing,e tc).. but its getting close. One of the main reasons the OC lasted for 8 seasons is because of the constant cast turnover. If the original 5 housewives stayed on, then I doubt very much the show would be possibly renewed for a 9th season..imho.

I sense a break up scene when/or if RHONY ever finishes filming LOL

Do you think that might have been why the show had all those new characters coming in from that other hospital, in the event that the show would expand to 60 minutes?

So if I'm reading the previous posts correctly, this 14 month show had three headwriters?!?! No wonder it didn't last, with the constance change over at the top. Didn't that Anne Bailey head-write DAYS for several months in 1989/1990? I seem to recall a lot of strange stories took place during that time (i.e. Steve/Kayla being threatened by his never mentioned return from the dead wife, Shane presumed dead while Kimberly sleeps with some psycho cop.. and didn't Genie Francis' character all of a sudden don a wig and disappear?). It's nice to know that head-writer recycling wasn't just a 90s/2000s thing, it went all the way back to the 60s/70s.

It seems like RH of Miami is more like an old school Real housewives show right now (i.e. the housewives being seen with their families, by themselves more.. then all together). I'm sure that will change, but I kind of like that we've seen more into Lisa's life, Lea's life, and even into Alexia's life. I'm sure all of them will be in the same room where a blow up happens, but since the show opted to downgrade Ana/Marysol.. I think they should have added a new housewife.. an outsider to the drama. It kind of worked on the OC with Lydia this past season

The reason Miami is working is because there is history between most of the housewives that pre-date the show. I wish that the housewife shows would make more effort to cast new housewives with long-term ties to the current cast.

So Gretchen cheating on Jeff was bought up again!?!?! This is one of the reasons why I think Gretchen needs to go since the show has focused on this past conflict to the point of annoyance. Cutting her and Alexis, and adding one new housewife plus adding Jeana back would totally give the show some new blood. Adding Lydia was a good start, but the show needs to do a little more then surface changes to jump start the show going into season 9.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/518678#i1,p0,d1 http://www.hulu.com/watch/518677#i1,p0,d1

Hulu has sneak peeks for part 1 of the OC reunion, Lauri/Vicki with Gretchen throwing in her two cents.. and Lydia/heather seem to have some tension with Lydia snidely calling Heather 'princess'. I'm hoping if OC comes back in season 9 that Alexis gets downgraded to friend of status plus Gretchen/Slade can go bye bye. Add back Lauri/Jeana (if either are willing to come back).. and add in one new housewife. I like that the OC always adds and subtracts housewives every season. I was afraid that the OC would be same ole same ole when Alexis came back last minute, but with Lydia's addition as both peacemaker/ [!@#$%^&*] stirrer.. my fears were unfounded. Can't wait for season 3 of Miami.. though I was hoping that they had added one new housewife. Though I guess Alexia becoming full-time kind of counts. It's ironic that Ana was cut out of being a main housewife due to not filming as much and being busy with her other career pursuits. In the old days, that would have guaranteed Ana a spot... oh well.

I could see Alexis being down-graded to friend of status, and I think she should have been downgraded this season.. and had her and lauri as friend of since the majority of the time, Alexis wasn't filming with anyone other then Lydia and Vicki to a lesser extent. With that said, I was sitting down last night ready to see what funny arguments would come out at the finale party. I wasn't expecting the Ryan PTSD episode to come out. No way was this scripted whatsoever! In fact, there was more reality in that episode then there has been all season. When you even have Gretchen point out to Ryan that it was Vicki's house, then you know that the guy has several screws loose! Watching this episode made me long for Cake-gate, Tamra's ceast and decease rant/fight with Jeana, and even some old-timers to come back. Season 3 & 4 had previous cast members come back, and season 6 had Quinn/Tammy witnessing the Jeana/Tamra fight, and season 7 had Jeana/Tamra making up after Jeana's daughter lays into Tamra. Did season 5 have any of the previous housewives come back in the finale?

I watched the first half of season 5 and I love it! I do think Megan had a good introduction with a bit of edge... when did Megan get watered down? By the end of season 5?

Not following up on the aftermath of the rape was a pacing no-no. Since the episode was jammed pack with other stories, you could have accomplished this follow up in one simple scene. The best place to insert that scene was after Kathryn and Hanna's heart to heart about their children after Kathryn hints that her son Wyatt was abused. I would have had Hanna leave the room while Kathryn has the impulse to call her daughter Amanda but Amanda doesn't answer her cell. We can see Amanda still in a state of shock on her bed as the cell phone rings on the nightstand. It would have been a small scene, but be very powerful at the same time.. plus showing that Kathryn has a mothers instinct to call her daughter after sensing something is wrong.. would have been good development for the character. Sometimes the little moments develop a character better then seven minutes of mind-less chatter.

Not following up with the Amanda story, even just one small scene of someone trying to reach her.. but she is so shattered she doesn't answer the phone.. is why I think Tyler Perry needs a breakdown writer and/or script editor. The ideas are there, and some of the scenes just work (i.e. Candace/Hanna scenes.. plus I like Kathryn's scenes especially when she is browbeating her wimpy hubby)... but there needs to be someone to edit and tighten up the scenes.. and also advise TP what to follow up on and what to leave for another episode.

If they can get Lauri back full-time then we don't really need Gretchen.. since Lauri would fill the role Gretchen has right now except that Lauri/Vicki go back a long way.. and both know where each other's 'bones' are buried.. Plus, it seems like Tamra/Vicki are in a decent place plus Tamra/Lauri seem in a good place (if they were taped side by side on the 100th episode special).. so Tamra could be caught in the middle between Lauri/Vicki.. and it would seem more organic since Lauri/Tamra didn't have any deep seated issues between them like Tamra/Gretchen have. I know that Lauri/Vicki/Jeana knew each other pre season 1.. and that Tammy K knew Jeana/Vicki.. just wondering who tamra knew pre-joining the show? Didn't Gretchen sort of know Jeana while Lynne came on the show because she knew Gretchen? Who did Alexis know before she joined the show? I know Peggy knew Alexis.. and that Lydia knows Heather/Alexis.