Soaplovers

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.

If I were to cast a Soap Opera veteran as Jan.. I would have picked Krista Allen (of Days and B & B fame) since she did move to the Atlanta area in late 2023... and knows all there is about the Soap opera way of filming. And I could see her playing Ashley's mom.

I like that there are a lot of local performers on this soap and I'm glad they've resisted so far on hiring too many soap performers. Cady has been awkward on the show thus far and Jon seems to have polarizing as well. I say focus on the local talent and giving those people a job and exposure.. and leave the P & G soap opera performers in the past.

This episode was probably the most we've ever seen of Jan.. and it took long enough. The phone conversation between Jan/Ashley also shed light on their backstory.. and I think it explains why Ashley seems to live in a dreamworld and why she's having difficulties with living with Derek. Derek could be doing everything right and Ashley would still have a problem because she was an only child, didn't see her mother model positive male/female interactions, and sounds as if she was alone a lot of the time. Nicole is modeling healthy human behavior and she would be smart not to listen to Dani's advice... well intentioned as it is. Eva is the character you root for because she's suffering the consequences of her actions. And if I were Eva, I wouldn't want to be part of the Dupree world. I'm hoping the Doug/Joey scenes today is signaling that we're finally moving to the next stage of this story... Doug either asking Vanessa for the money, or letting Joey have dibs on Vanessa's business books, etc. And Joey finally showing his true colors makes me think we might be approaching that next stage of this story.

It could still be possible. Ashley could know who her dad is, but her mother stating that her father was a ruthless man so she opted to listen to her mom and kept her distance. It also could be a change in storyline direction since we're now approaching the period of episodes being filmed when the show debuted. The actress playing Ashley posted an IG two weeks ago with her saying she got to work with new characters and old time favorites. So I do wonder if some new details will emerge between Episode 51 and whatever she was filming at the end of April.

Xander was the bigger person apologizing to Cat when he didn't do anything wrong. he wasn't yelling at Felicity whatsoever, he was asking if she possibly had given them the wrong order by mistake. He was trying to get to the bottom of what was going on, but Chad/Cat were trying to white knight Felicity even though Felicity was being treated just like anyone else in that situation. She was the one to bring the order out to them, and usually the person that brings the order out is the one that puts the order together. I'm still getting a read on the Cat character. I think she seems to work well when interacting with everyone other than Chad. Perhaps the new writers can move Cat out of Chad's orbit into another orbit. Paulina has been written quite well the few times she's been on since the writer change. I think Jackee is enjoying the new writing.. you can tell when she's on screen.

We probably would if the writers bothered to write for them... but they've proven unable to write anything for them. Even though Ashley has potential as a character. @janea4oldMy theory is that Joey might end up being Ashley's father... but time will tell.

She's been featured way more since the reveal than Nicole has. Also, she may not be written as OTT or obnoxious... but Karla is playing the lines as such. And Dani has been featured more than she needed to be. The Bill/Dani scene should have been Bill/Naomi or Bill/Chelsea... and the Ted confrontation scene should have been Anita solo.