Soaplovers

I had forgotten Luna was more New Age and eccentric in her first months on the show before the show sort of softened her a bit where she was still quirky/unique.. but made more like an actual human being vs a walking stereotype. I remember many a person grieving when Luna left the show, and I would say from rewatching episodes that she was a definite energy that fit so well with early to mid 90s OLTL. I don't know if she would have fit in during the 2nd half of the 90s though.. but it's interesting to imagine how Luna would have fit into Angel Square and other focal points of that era.

Phyllis on Y & R did a hit and run on Paul and Cricket (the Bug).. and that secret wasn't revealed for many years. Occasionally she would be haunted by what she did, but the case remained unsolved and she was able to move about town on and off for years. If Y & R could do that with Phyllis.. then I have faith that BTG can do that with Silk Press Sheila. In fact, it would be interesting if the show plays it that people suspect she's the one, but can't prove it so they have to deal/live with her being in their lives.

I watched the interview and sadly Alan spoke more in this interview about Texas vs the first interview with Texas performers. He kept asking about Guiding Light/ATWT that I wanted to say to him 'hey, this interview is about Texas.. not GL/ATWT'. I thought Tina was a sweetheart, and I loved that she kept up her friendship with the actress that played Ruby.. plus the other actresses that she worked with. And Terri Garber being on Gail's hit list makes sense, but I had no idea that Gail Kobe had Kim Shriner, Catherine Hickland, etc on her 'Do not like' list. Hearing them talk about Pam Long... I wish Locher would get her to come on the show 1 on 1 so she could talk about Texas/GL/SFT... and even hear her thoughts on her odd stints on both Santa Barbara and OLTL

Does anyone know for the season 2 pick up if the episode count will be 200 or 250? If the pick up of season 2 was only for 200 episodes, then we will be getting these week long repeats. 50 less episodes means 50 less episodes of filler, 50 less episodes to spend money on writing/directing/acting, so that means more money to devote to extras/events/possible new sets. Win/win. I do hope that Friday leaves us with a cliff-hanger so that we can eagerly await the resolution come September 9th.

Maurice might have been more surface level acting wise.. but he had charisma and a presence... while Nu Ted might have more nuance in his acting choices.. he doesn't have the presence nor charisma that Maurice had.

Marland's Nola had an underlying foundation of melancholy and discontent, which is displayed by her love of old movies and her active fantasy life. Both of those tools were her way to escape from her humdrum boring life living at the Boarding House. It also explained her love of gossip, which she utilized in her first few months in regards to Holly, who she blamed partly for Roger hiding out at the boarding house disguised as the professor. She viewed Kelly as the embodiment of her fantasies of the perfect man, that was cultivated by her constant love and admiration of classic movies. She didn't so much as love Kelly, but fetishized him... and exposure by Kelly in that landmark episode wasn't so much being exposed as a schemer... but it broke through her delusional fantasy that Kelly was her perfect man. While the original plan was for Kelly/Nola to be endgame.. I'm glad that Marland switched gears when he saw how good Nola and Quint were as a couple. He was mysterious, lived in a gothic residence, and was a movie bought to life.... all which Nola had been seeking. Long's Nola from mid 1983 to spring 1985 was an adjustment to her character... but I often thought that she understood Nola 2nd best after Marland. Her Nola was curious and investigated the fishing trip mystery... but the real life pregnancy of Lisa Brown shifted the character since the pregnancy was written into the show. Nola was sidelined from seeing the fishing mystery since she was pregnant... and she was not able to completely by pro-active for the first half of 1984 due to pregnancy (hence her fantasies kind of coming back because she was stuck in limbo). Mid 1984 to late 1984 was partly due to being sidelined by the new baby, adjusting to being a wife, trying to fit into the wealthy world, and having a Christmas adventure in late 1984. The Nolaobics arc seemed to have been cut short due to Lisa Brown opting to leave the show... so who knows if she would have figured into whatever plans the writers had for the 2nd of 1985 (the Infinity story). Nola 1995-1997 was a Nola that had traveled with her husband, been cheated on by him, and had to return to Springfield with her tail between her legs so she was more sad and morose. Even if her stalking was due to desperation at trying to escape her new existence... Buzz Cooper was not the type of guy that she gone for in her younger years nor would provide her with the excitement and mystery she still craved.

Salt Lake City had a strong season 4 with Monica vs Lisa, and a strong season 5 with Brauwyn making a splash... so no need for that psychopath Jen Shah to come back. Both she and Teresa should never have been allowed back on the Housewives show (and I still think Tamra shouldn't have come back after season 4 and Naked Wasted).

All of this talk about Holly being the key to Roger's redemption is messed up. No way should a victim of rape and kidnapping ever be expected to be the key to her tormentor/rapist.

Um... BTG being compared to EON... yeah, not even close. MVJ is no Henry Slesar... she's more like a Lee Sheldon (adequate, but not a mystery writer).

In regards to the Caroline/Hayley friendship scenes, I liked their vibe and it makes me wonder why it took 120+ episodes for the two to have a good friendship scene. This makes me wonder if this episode is the first batch of episodes written/constructed after the debut of the show and perhaps more tweaks will continue to show up. @TaoboiI do remember Chelsea talking to Martin about the trouple set up between her/Allison/Craig.. and mentioning that the encounters between her and Allison were so much more satisfying that they were leaving Craig out of it. Looking back, another little nugget of foreshadowing especially when it is now revealed that Craig wasn't involved/married to Allison... and I do remember when Joey revealed his owning the escort service after Vanessa tried to ulitize the service and he called her out on it. With that said, I wonder if Chelsea will bring up that she did go to Allison wanting to explore their connection.. and Alison turned her down explaining that she was married and that their times together were meant to be no strings attached because she was married to Craig. I'm still thinking there is another shoe waiting to drop... and that too good to be true Madison is somehow involved with this. Especially since she admitted that she had also followed Chelsea on social media and was being bashful about it. Or after Chelsea is rescued, she's going to push Madison away and become less about her social media platform and becoming reclusive.

She's playing it as someone truly believing Chelsea is into her, but not in a scary way. She seems to be approaching these scenes as someone trying to keep hold of hope that Chelsea really does still like her (though I'm still curious why Allison turned down the opportunity to explore something deeper with Chelsea when Chelsea confessed her feelings. Has that been answered yet?)

Yeah.. that was one of the reasons why Holly would turn to drinking and/or depression... because she couldn't admit to herself that she still wanted Roger despite the fact that he raped her and tortured her. The fact I never understood was that fans wanted Holly/Roger together despite the fact that he did rape her, faked his death so she went to prison, then dragged her all over a different country.

To be honest, during the Curlee era in the early 90s... GL veered dangerously close to the sterile and repressed quality that Douglas Marland had turned ATWT turned into. Having an over the top character like Jenna made the show a bit more interesting and different... and her not fitting in was part of the appeal of the character in her first year or so on the show.

Joe Morton was campy and a horrible actor. I cringe thinking of him trying to recite some of the drivel that the Duprees have to say during their family gatherings.

I'll be honest that I have felt that Chelsea has gotten the short end of the stick in terms of focus and character development. Her character has generally been written/presented in relation to other characters like Dani, Bill, and Kat without really showcasing who she is at her core. When Friday ended, I liked the cliffhanger of Chelsea waking up chained to a bed without us seeing how she ended up there.. but I also felt that the lack of beats played could potentially make viewers not care about what she's going through. After watching today's episode, I liked that we finally got to see Chelsea's inner thoughts and really kind of showed us who she is. We learned that Chelsea is adaptable and that trait is what is going to keep her alive and to buy time for the Dupree's to rescue her. When we first got a view of Allison's man.. and Chelsea going off together.. and I wondered if there would be a stalking and/or some underground sort of trafficking in her future. So I amend my original view and accept that the snippets and lack of showing the beats of her story in the first six months has made her being taken prisoner by her stalker all the more a surprise... and yet it makes total sense. Still... I do think the Allison scenes seem almost dream-like.. and there was one brief snippet where Chelsea was wondering why Allison keeps disappearing. Also... Madison seems very insistent that Allison is the stalker and she did also confess in a bashful/awkward way that she had been following Chelsea for awhile on social media. So I am wondering if there will be another shoe ready to drop or not because the way Madison was acting made me think she's trying to push off suspicion off herself. Just based on how the actress was playing it today.

@Taoboi Other then Friday's episode where Chelsea asked Bill how Hayley was doing, the 'miscarriage' story has vanished without a trace. This is exactly the issue that I hope BTG can get a better handle on in their second season episodes (It took B & B about nine months or so before it really hit its stride so I have faith BTG is getting to that point). And I was actually enjoying the Hayley story because it was so confusing.. that I almost wonder if she really was pregnant and actually miscarried. Why else would she go to the doctor and Bill went into the examination room with Hayley... and not have it revealed that Hayley was never pregnant.

RHOC: They need to do a major revamp because the current cast is not working. I also think this constant gossip and trying to ruin one another is a format that needs to retire, and we go back to the original concept of the reality show. Only problem is that most of the women aren't interesting enough to have solo segments that pop.

Jenna was much better in her first year on the show circa 1992-1993 before she became watered down in her final months in her first stint. She was more like India then the weird soccer mom they turned her into in her 2nd stint.

I'm wondering if Chelsea is being held hostage due to a beef the kidnapper has with Bill and/or the rest of the Duprees? Nah... that would be interesting and the most likely person that is holding Chelsea hostage is Allison and/or Allison's creepy ex.

I assumed the 200 episode pick up was due to starting a little later then the initial season start... so I'm curious if season 2 will have 250 episode seasons or not. I also wonder if we will be getting future 1 week episode pre-emptions through the end of 2025 during the holidays? Labor Day is right around the corner so we shall see.

I attribute this to grief over John... and also a way to 'get justice' for all the crap Kristen pulled on her and John back in the day. So I think this was in character for Marlena. It's also why you shouldn't counsel people that you have a personal relationship with because your objectivity is cloudy.... to say the least.

I don't quite see Silk Press Sheila as a Veronica, at least yet. I still say SPS gives me Gina Demott.... I mean this classic scene/fantasy scene of Gina winning on the Wheel of Fortune is so something I could see SPS fantasizing about.

Silk Press Sheila continues to entertain me with her little nicknames for Kat.. and this have not is beaming when a have not gets to move into the same circles as the elitist families like the Duprees. I'm always team Have not over the Haves Finally we get a Bill/Chelsea scene.. long overdue since he seems to have most of his scenes with Naomi and Dani with Chelsea. Finally a good Friday cliffhanger

I get what Sheila Ducksworth is saying about trying to strike a balance between the traditional daytime viewer that's accustomed to seeing all the beats of a story play out, and trying to keep the very limited attention spans of the under 34 crowd. This is why pacing is so important because if you have multiple stories, you want to pace them differently so that there is always a climax, fall out, and build up going on the same time. So far, the soap seems focused on solo stories when they climax while other stories are not shown (I.e. SPS exposing Ted as the father of Eva, Bill/Hayley wedding with Dani pulling a gun, etc). Now my thoughts on today's episode: I view the Duprees as the antagonists of the show, but I love that they view themselves as the victims. There are skeletons in those closets of theirs that we've yet to see. Eva has good sense by trying to reign in SPS from spending the first check... but I understand SPS's POV. The one thing I do wish the show had done was given SPS another child in addition to Eva... perhaps she had a son with Eva's step dad... and there could be resentment/jealousy that he feels toward Eva for being favored over him. And there could have been a forbidden Romeo/Juliet situation with Kat that would have been interesting. All these comments about Tomas being bad in bed by Kat just underscores her inability to take ownership of the choices SHE made. No one would forced her to lose her virginity to Tomas.. that was all on Miss Kat. The reason she isn't into the sex is because she wasn't ready to have sex and she isn't in love with Tomas. I bet Tomas and Eva would have a good time in the bedroom because there seems to be mutual interest and a friendship between the two. Andre and Dani's conversation underscores that they seem to have more in common, even if the connection isn't healthy. At least they could work on making their interactions/relationship more healthy unlike the situation between Dani/Bill and Andre/Ashley. Lastly... thinking about over past episodes of Silk Press Sheila, I totally get a Gina Demott vibe from her. The scenes of SPS modeling her wigs, being in disguise, being eccentric and over the top were vintage Gina Demott circa 1980s. Gina being a thorn in the side of the Capwells is like SPS being a thorn in the Dupree's side... a story that writes itself.

I viewed Marc Cherry like Ryan Murphy... a one trick pony. Desperate Housewives was only super strong in the first season before the tone deaf second season.. and even though season 3 was an improvement.. the show never recovered fully from that huge misstep. Devious Maids was decent, but it seemed more like a Desperate Housewives in maid uniforms then anything different.