Soaplovers

I'm glad I'm not the only one who liked Mary Ellen Stuart as Frannie! She was nice, but also had a backbone and was intelligent for the most part. If she hadn't opted to leave the show right before Marland died, do you think the character of Frannie would have survived well into the 90s?

While David and Ellen were split (which was about a year), didn't she move into a singles community and date a handsome doctor? I think the split started when Tom King was writer, and the Dobson's kept them separated for several months before they reunited in a Christmas 1982 wedding.

I think back in the 60s/70s, writers could write nice and good characters more 3-D without being so sickly sweet. With that said, I wonder how Douglas Marland would have written for Lily had Lucy Deakins remained in the part? Based on the few episodes I saw with her version of Lily, she seemed more of a town boy then a spoiled princess.

FOr me, the show officially died in 1998 with the 'clone' Reva story.. and she basically being featured so much. Before 1998, the show still seemed fairly balanced and it still felt like GL.

Is it true that Another World had a brief ratings resurgence in the mid-80s due to Caitlin/Sally and Jacqueline Courtney's brief return? It didn't seem like the show gave Alice much to do during her year long return. I know she was a doctor, and had a brief romance with someone already on the canvas... but what do you think the show could have done to make better use of Alice? Other then a revisit of Rachel and her fighting over another man.. that is. Also, I think the Mckinnon's could have stayed on even with the return of the Frames and Matthews in the late 80s. I could see harding Lemay having a ball writing the family... i mean the mom was presumed dead for years.. MJ was basically a surrogate mother while Kathleen was the free-spirit and Cheryl was the young princess who hardly remembered her mother...plus, I could have seem Harding Lemay bringing back Ben.. or at least mentioning him.

The question isn't if Nene is right or wrong, but how Mr. Cohen will try to edit the show to make nene look like the hurt party. You know that's what will happen... just like he will be obsessed with making Kyle the hurt party on RHOBH, as well.

I remember an interview with Colleen zenk before the show ended where she remembered her first week or two of episodes involved her saying sorry to almost everyone she came into contact.. and that she was intrigued to know why she was so sorry LOL I agree that sometimes the Snyders seemed to be on a different soap then the rest of the canvas. After the first three years or so, it seemed like any attempt to connect the Snyders to the rest of the families came to an end... at least in a romantic sense. I think once Marland passed, the follow up writers were on the right track writing each of the Snyders out one by one.. but I don't think the Kasnoff's were the right replacement family. I remember Mike was created, and he mentioned a sister named Stephanie who lived in Chicago who married for money.. but I don't recall mention of Sarah nor Mark. Shame they never cast Stephanie nor the mother character (whose name was Nora, I think). I viewed Rosanna as Lily-lite, at least her first year or so on the show. I think that I preferred Tess to Debbie because at least Tess had ties to Hal and Barbara.. thus keeping some sort of tie/connection of the Snyder's to the rest of the canvas.

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.