Soaplovers

In an interesting turn of irony, when Somerset came onto the airwaves in 1970... it ran against Dark Shadows and beat it in the ratings fairly quickly. Then when Edge of Night moves to ABC in December 1975 and put against Somerset, the slow ratings rise that Somerset was allegedly having in late 1975 is derailed. From reading the write ups of the final year, the show dropped the May/December romance.. which viewers enjoyed and was getting the show some good press... the original cast member was sidelined due to medical issues, and the show featured pure crime stories without any balance. I think the crime focus was an attempt to compete with EON. However, people that were into crime stories/mysteries weren't going to tune into Somerset for their fix.. not when Edge of Night was known for that.. and that show was running on a high quality wise when the network switch occurred.

The Perkins family had potential to be a nice alternative to the more dysfunctional Capwells and wackier Lockridges... but I think a few factors did in the family. 1) Recasting of Joe Perkins 2) Bad casting of the Perkins Patriarch, and the one note writing for that character. 3) Lack of antagonistic interaction between the Capwells/Lockridges and Perkins. (There was no awkwardness between Jade/Ted.. or CC disapproving of his son being friends with that Perkins girl, etc). 4) Wasting of Jade thus wasting the potential of the actress (which was realized on Days of Our Lives). She had more potential than Laken oddly enough. The only member of the Perkins family that had appeal and a somewhat thought out story arc was Amy.

If NBC could have for seen the ratings of Lovers & Friends (the replacement for Somerset).. they would have for sure kept Somerset on the air longer. https://jason47.com/days/ratings1976.html (ratings for Somerset in the final year) https://jason47.com/days/ratings1977.html (ratings for Lovers & Friends short run...getting as low as a 2 rating).

Alan not reading the book was probably wise because he didn't interrupt as much and the five guests (Caryn and Tom especially) were all talking to one another with little to no input from Alan. I think Caryn was pretty honest about the common bond of being young, new to soaps, and venting about the confusing structure of their stories that bonded them together. And she was right that the stories changed left and right... her character alone had several stories/love interests during that two year period. Kin was also a bit bitter and I can't blame him considering he was forced on the soap.. and the show really didn't know what to do with him and Rauch made him feel unwelcome to boot. I'm sure he enjoyed hanging with everyone when not at the studio.. but I think he doesn't view his time there fondly.. and I can't blame him.

The post 1795 present day stories started out promising once Victoria came back from the past and she was trying to make sense of the past.. while adjusting to the present. The scene where she and Liz find Peter's grave and she expressed guilt over her actions in the past causing Peter to be accused of her crime and ending up being hung was well written and acted. It would have been perfect had she mentioned that two men that were important to her were now dead (Burke/Peter). And Angelique invading the Collins family in the present day was a result of Victoria's visit to the past and realizing that Barnabas was out and about in the 20th century started promising with her causing Liz to become paranoid about death (a call back to her paranoia over 'killing' her husband Paul).. and Victoria instantly knowing who she was and trying to warn Julia. It's a shame that shortly after those first episodes back in the present post 1795 ended up becoming too focused on the ghouls/monsters... and downplaying the more soapy elements.

From the episodes I've seen during the last few months of the shows run, the show wasn't in a perfect nor horrible place. It was decent. The highlight of the judge story was Ann Flood playing a completely 180 character from her Edge of Night days. And Stu/Jo having good focus. I think the Ireland story was an attempt to hop on the bandwagon of 80s location shoots.. and solidifying the McCleary's as the second major family outside the Stu/Jo combination family (though killing Suzi off was misguided.. especially considering Terri E had this likable everywoman element) I also see that Tomlin came back to headwriting again in late September/early October 1985... and the first thing I noticed was the mask was off Sarah and the gloves were off with Wendy. The two had good antagonistic chemistry.. and Tomlin was misguided killing her off and deep sixing the Sarah/Wendy/Quinn triangle. The alternative for all three proposed by Tomlin didn't seem any better with Wendy being put in a Suzi/Warren redux situation except it was her mother Stephanie and her new boy toy Bela. The move was plot driven and not character driven. Meanwhile Sarah is killed off just as she figured out the weird Bela/Wendy vibe and threatening to go to Stephanie... and Quinn has this sudden fascination with working class Evie that made no sense. As Marcia McCabe said during the Locher Room interview she had... she said each EP/headwriter would come in and remake the show and this done too often. And seeing the episodes from 1983/1984/1985 posted... she's correct in that view. For example, Wendy and Suzi's friendship was threatened by Warren and their mutual interest in him... but that seems to fall by the wayside due to the numerous Suzi recasts. Then a random character Justine comes on.. and the show spends months building her up as the antagonist... establishing a potentially good rivalry with Wendy. And in fact, Quinn/Justine are tested in the spring of 1985 before she leaves/is dropped.. and Sarah is introduced. Sarah is a character with no history with Wendy... and the show spends weeks setting the foundation of a rivalry between former schemer Wendy and new schemer Sarah while fighting over Quinn. Then just as the foundation has been laid down.. poof Sarah is killed off and Wendy is sleeping with the man her mother is seeing. Typing all these whiplash changes makes me understand why viewers were confused/unattached the show.... and all I typed was Wendy's situation (we won't even go into the Liza and Sunny whiplashes during that same period of time).

Dani seems the type that blew through her trust fund before she hit 30.. so she probably doesn't have any liquid assets... and neither she nor Pamela seem like they're money smart. Vanessa seems to be into experimenting. I think she and Doug both have addictions (his to gambling and her to the thrill of sex and/or getting caught). The breakdown for the episode was ok, but some of the lines were a bit off (except during the Anita scenes and the Smitty/Bill scenes) Bill/Smitty have chemistry.. shame they don't play for the same team. The messiness if they did. Kat proves one doesn't need a romantic nor sexual partner to have an active role in a storyline. Though I hope Eva/Tomas/Kat is revisted soon. June and Hayley talk alike, act alike, and even kind of look alike facially. They better be related or why the casting for both actresses?

I view the Duprees as being very insecure and paranoid about losing their status so they proclaim 'I'm a Dupree' just as much for themselves as their enemies. I swear Nicole is the Marilyn Munster of the Duprees. And the lack of in-law interactions on the show has always baffled me. When my parents were alive and we would visit family... my mom had close ties with both of her sister in laws (i.e. she and two other women were all married to brothers) and my dad got along well with his brother in law (Both of them were married to sisters). So I'm glad that we're starting to get some in law interactions because those relationships are just as valuable as the ones amongst the actual family members. Jacob/Smitty/Bill/Ted should all have some history/interactions with one another... though I admit I wish there was a hetero Dupree male because than we could have a daughter/sister in law that might not gel/get along with the other Dupree women and is closer to the Dupree men/male in laws.

I actually view Ashley as deeply repressed and not in touch with what she's truly feeling, needing, and wanting. She's more OCD/repressed than 'Type A'..imho.

I remember my late mom express passionate love of the show (being that we're Irish Americans and how Johnny and Maeve Ryan reminded her of her grandfather)... and that she viewed Jillian and Mary as role models. When the show ran on SoapNet years ago, I remember watching the early episodes and having debates with my mom over how strident and militant the show was... especially in regards to feminist issues. And how I found Mary to be a hypocrite (she's a reporter... yet can't suss out that her father and brother are both toxic and controlling)... and Jillian to not be quite a good role model (yes, she's a lawyer.. but she's happily waiting for Frank to divorce Delia and then after the divorce.. waits for him to win elections as she silently waits on the sidelines). My mom did admit that in retrospect, she did find the show to be a bit strident and explained that it was the 70s and feminism was a huge passion for her and others like her. And that was when I learned to view soaps without a modern day lens... and eventually I did find enjoyment on the show (and their St Patrick's day celebrations were always a fun tradition).

We're getting an actual personality and flaws for Ashley... so it's a good start. I'm guessing that Derek is her first serious relationship and I think she's falling out of love with Derek.. just hasn't accepted that realization as of yet. I agree that the show was diving headfirst into an Andre/Ashley pairing in the first handful of episodes, but they backed off of it and I have two theories: - Andre/Dani had a rapport/chemistry. Probably more so than MVJ or the writers anticipated so the show is probably exploring that avenue. - Based on the character template that Ashley was created from... having her stray with Andre would have been out of character and caused the audience to hate her so the show is now weaving in reasons why Ashley might be looking Andres way (i.e. grass is greener on the other side, inexperience, Derek being too basic/vanilla).

Today was definite a good episode day with surprising 1:1 scenes between Bill/Silk Press Sheila & SPS/Kat. And the final long scene between SPS/Kat with the close ups and cliffhanger reminds me so much of old school P & G/Bell soaps. It fits since Judy Tate (script writer) wrote for P & G soaps for years and Zimmerman (breakdown writer) worked on both Bell soaps. I even liked the Ashley/Derek scenes only because it feels as if there is a point to the scenes (lead up to a break up perhaps). Andre/Ashley having a scene tells me that the show is still testing them out.. and I think showing the growing disconnect between Derek/Ashley will eventually lead to the two possibly dating. NuTed.. he seems more humble and less boastful/confident than the previous Ted. Perhaps the show felt the previous Ted couldn't play remorse/humble.. and they made the switch. Time will tell. Lastly... it was a Dani free day

@j swift @carolineg I was looking at some scenes on YT of Shelley's take on Stephanie.. and her 2007/2008 take on Stephanie was very spirited, bold, and confident. I often think her ordeal in 2009 when she was kidnapped and kept in the morgue by that creepy guy probably did change her.. but I don't recall the show ever focusing on the after effects of such a traumatic event. In fact... her novel/manuscript should have been loosely based on that trauma in a fictionized account. Maybe the rest of the manuscript will involve some of that.. but I doubt Ron C would ever think to include that event in a constructive way to explain the current behaviors/motivations of Stephanie.

Thanks to the benefits of watching the last weeks of Sherry's stint as Liza and the start of Louan's stint as Liza... I can safely say that Liza would have remained the lead heroine had Sherry stayed on as Liza. Charisma is a mighty important element that makes someone watchable and likable... and Sherry had that. No disrepect for Louan because she was a good actress.. but to me, she played a more passive/neurotic Liza vs the more confident/decisive version of Liza. I think the Liza vs Estelle over TR story would have had more impact with Sherry in the role..imho.

The actress playing Stephanie seems more passive and indecisive than the previous two actresses that played Stephanie. Shayna's Stephanie had a lot of spirit and a more daredevil attitude.. while Shelley's Stephanie had this stoic confidence where she seemed like a pushover, but would push back if provoked (i.e. her interactions with Melanie). I do hope that Paula/Jeanne figure out how to write to the strengths of the current actress playing Stephanie and also play her more in scenes with Patch/Kayla where they have heart to heart talks and also delve into the father/daughter dynamics with Patch. The previous two Stephanie's kind of had Patch's temperament while this Stephanie doesn't seem to have either Patch nor Kayla's temperaments.

I remember when Andre was shooting that documentary, there was a snippet shown of Nicole where she mentioned three times that Ted hadn't been there for her. She mentioned one of the times was when Martin was ill, and the miscarriages was the second thing.. but I don't recall what the third thing was. Also, didn't Nicole/Ted say Kat was their 'miracle' baby? We assumed it was because of the miscarriages/difficulties in having a second baby.. but what if Kat had a twin that 'didn't make it'? And that twin could be Eva.

Very rarely a recast will be accepted on the first day. You have to give the new performer a bit of time to get into the groove of the character and putting their own stamp on the character.. and the writers then adjusting their writing to play to an actor's strength. Interesting that tone of voice can affect how a character is perceived, but it is one factor that can make someone be accepted as a recast.. or rejected as a recast. For instance, my late mom despised Eden playing Bianca on AMC because of her Minnie Mouse voice.. and the moment the recast debuted, my mom said 'wow.. so nice to have a more commanding tone of voice now'.

The episodes uploaded today by the YT channel have been done through the end of November 1985 and what a mess we have in the Liza/Sunny/Hogan/Lloyd/Estelle story. I think it would have been easier to gradually bring Hogan/Sunny back together.. maybe even addressing the toxic situation and trying to work through it. Unrelated to all that, I see that Gary Tomlin has attempted to reset the show to where it was when he left at the end of 1983. He really seems obsessed with regressing Wendy as a character after the progress/evolution of her character post 1983.. with her sleeping with her mother's new boyfriend. Based on what I've watched of the show online... the one consistency was the mother/daughter relationship between Stephanie/Wendy... and even though Stephanie was recast, I think violating that relationship was a mistake. I can see why Tomlin didn't last long in this stint as head writer.

Something self-defense is my guess, and I have a feeling maybe he was protecting someone close to him and the optics looked bad so Vernon/Anita covered it up (my guess maybe he was protecting Vernon/Anita).

I think Ms. Rowell should be one of Anita's former bandmates... maybe the one that still harbors resentment over being abandoned. I think the Articulettes probably started out more like The Supremes.. and probably when the other bandmates wanted to go in a more funk/synth pop direction (as what happened to groups in the late 70s/early 80s)... I could have seen Anita bail and forge a solo career since perhaps that genre was not to her liking... and the group disbanded. Wasn't Ms. Morgan also doing another project when the show was casting? Maybe one day she'll join the show when a role opens up and her schedule is open. I don't mind the set, but is it a hip place.. or a more upscale after work/weekend night spot. I'm not sure what vibe it's trying to go for. Orphey Jean's is my favorite... it's a great gathering/neutral meeting place where people of high incomes, middle incomes, and working class can all gather and hang out.

God forbid someone is upset with their spouse for not being honest with them. I swear... Misandry is so rampant nowadays.

I'm curious the motivation for keeping Bela on beyond the circus story arc. Did he play a character like his character on EON, or was he more of a good guy? I know he ended up with Sunny at the end of the series, but I always thought that Sunny/Hogan could have been revived once the lack of chemistry between him and the NuLiza became apparent. Actually... the NuLiza (Louan Gideon) reminded me more of Sunny than she did Liza as played by Sherry... and she just threw off the whole vibe of the show. I see Estelle has just arrived in the late October 1985 episodes, which only means that Wendy and Stephanie are soon on their way out. It also appears that the Sarah/Quinn/Wendy triangle was set up by Mayer.. and it looks as though Tomlin is going to deactivate it by the introduction of Colleen Dion's character. I don't understand why no one on the show thought to look at Quinn and realize that he was the problem and write him out.

Philip, like Reva, were characters that should have remained in the 80s and never been bought back to the soap.

Considering Naomi/Jacob are helping with June... and that she and Jacob have a complicated history with Hayley.. there is more soap opera potential having June and Hayley being related. This is the downside of the show having one huge extended family... anyone not related to the family are boxed in a corner (i.e. Ashley/Derek, Tomas, Hayley/Bill). If this were a 30 minute soap, I could understand the one family focus.. but this an hour soap so we best be getting a second family and/or characters not connected to the Duprees unless through work/romantic.. etc.

Hayley and June have to be related, if not... why the focus on June. Dani/Andre = fast forward material. #FreeAndre Kat and Samantha: Sassy isn't cute. Sassy gets your ass whooped Eva: It's nice one member of her family is welcoming to her. And I'm glad that the mention of her previous career in hair is being used here. Anita: Given the way she's acted in a few scenes already, I could easily see her being a backstabber and leaving her group behind. Is the group more like the Supremes or more like the Pointer Sisters? This was more of a filler day, but sometimes you need a down day in order to process the last several episodes of plot movement.