Soaplovers

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.

Scenes like that yesterday and today make me view Dani as the antagonist. I don't know if MVJ was intending that or not. I actually prefer Ashley/Derek to Dani... only because they're not meant to be a lead so lower expectations.

I always wondered if Jackie wasn't going to be recast after being persumed dead... if Marland was going to pair Evie and Justin as a couple reunited in grief over Jackie's death. The one consistent thing I noticed about Evie during those months she was still on the show was that she was kind of a second mother to Phillip after Jackie's 'death' and Elizabeth no longer on the canvas. But then one of the three interim writer teams decided to pair up Helena with Justin.. which left Evie even less to do than she had at the start of 1983. You're right that Evie was a unique character on the soap. She was sweet and trusting, yet she had a quiet strength that made it difficult to push her around (at least when the Dobson's were writing her). The Ben/Amanda/Eve triangle was an interesting triangle because neither of the women were evil... and Ben did have chemistry and a connection with both women. It had a pretty decent run from 1978/9 to 1982 before Amanda was spun off into her mother's new marriage to Mark as the other woman.

There was a few times when Silk Press Sheila came into her apartment after going grocery shopping.. she could have been unloading her items as she talked to Eva or Ted and saw a few of the products on the counter that are P & G products.

Wow.... Anita and Dani are the ultimate symbol of mean girls. I hate to tell this to Dani... but Eva's ability to do hair is a much more coveted job and skill than Dani's modeling. I doubt Dani could cut it if she lost her money and was truly forced to start over from square 1.

That's how I feel when I see Dani LOL I knew a few people that purchased those products based on the product placement on the show. It's loads better than when ATWT and Days used to do it.

That would require Dani to think about someone/something other than herself.. and we all know Dani only thinks about Dani. Including her butting into Nicole's business instead of just being a supportive sister.

I recall in one of the interviews given by one of the stars at the time of the premiere that 200 episodes had been picked up for season 1 so I'm going to assume it will be at least 250 or more episodes for season 2.

I assume Holly is Nicole's kid, right? If so, the casting on the actress was spot on since she totally had some of Nicole's mannerisms/aura. Kristen is being shown as human again.. which we haven't seen from the character since Eileen's 1 year return back in the early 2010s. Kate is now running the Brady Pub?

Mona... quit being a 'pick me'. You're nothing to the Duprees except the help. Now when you find out what Silk Press Sheila did to Laura than you can go off on her... until then.. stay quiet. I prefer the Joey/Vanessa scenes because they aren't the Duprees. Am I supposed to root for the Duprees? I don't tend to root for, nor sympathize with those that come from privilege. I'll always root for the underdog.

I'm glad for the TPTB so now they can start mapping out the stories/plot for another year instead of trying to figure out how to resolve their plots. I'm also glad they picked it up for another year because it takes two to three years for a soap to obtain loyalty. And I'd miss the stellar performances from Tide and Febreeze that I've come to love