Soaplovers

Using the Nielsen Ratings results from Jason47's website (which I assume were accurate for all soaps), it appeared as though Ryan's Hope ratings were not in good shape by the time Loving debuted. They usually finished 1 or 2 spots above Loving in the first few months of Loving's time on air so when they changed timeslots.. it didn't help either soap opera. In fact, it kind of helped Search for Tomorrow a bit because there were weeks in late 1984 where the ratings between Search and Loving were not far apart.. and Loving had more affiliates airing vs Search. I think the problem was that Loving didn't have a distinct identity that would make people want to go check out the soap. Even if the soap had kept the original concept of focusing on the college and the people that worked/attended it.. it wouldn't have been enough to make it popular. Although their first week ratings were a 4.9 for a time slot that wasn't known for airing soap operas with almost full affiliate support.. so had the show come out strong right out the gate, it could have worked in that time slot.

I watched a few episodes with the New Nat once the Carter story and blindness story were over.. in order to see how she would do with Nat when not in peril. She wasn't too bad as Nat at all. She had a warmer and less neurotic demeanor.. and did well the few times the show bothered to write Nat with a bit of wit/sarcasm during her stint. She was a good actress, but playing the wrong character. @MaximErica in 1983, from what my mom told me, was her in peak form. She had obtained her life and career in NYC during that time and would come back to visit Pine Valley for events where her observations were so out of sync with the rest of Pine Valley.. it was almost comical.

I loved the twist that the men were trying to playfully warn Tomas about Kat.. not the other way around Other then the lack of follow up on the stellar cliffhanger from yesterday, this was a superb episode. It makes me sad that B & B no longer produces fashion shows at this level anymore when that was one of the highlights of that soap in the 80s/90s/00s. Maybe this show will help light a fire under that soap and they can eventually produce a fashion show of quality again. This episode was definitely Chelsea's episode.. and the first episode where it shows how comfortable the actress has gotten playing the character and doing a soap opera. Lots of warm family moments with Martin/Smitty and their daughter... plus some great moments between Samantha/Chelsea/Kat. I'm going to miss the actor playing Ted because he can effortlessly play the charming handsome father and husband, but also play the rougher elements as we saw yesterday. A delayed thought from yesterdays episode and having seen the Have Not Gossip session at play: I noticed that Jan and Silk Press Sheila have a good rapport and similar viewpoint about the wealthy country club while Mona seems to be the third wheel in that friend group. I wonder if that will play out.

GL: Nola vs Vanessa. Made richer when they became sister in laws ATWT: Susan vs Kim. What I liked about this feud was that there were years when the two had a ceasefire and were even friendly with one another (especially during the Susan/Larry marriage years). And then something would set off the feud again rather it was something Susan did or comments Kim would make. AMC: Erica vs Brooke I was always team Erica. Erica was a have not while Brooke was a rich brat. While Erica was always insecure and seeking admiration from people/men, Brooke always pretended she was better then Erica and everyone else even though she had no problems going for men that Erica no longer was interested in. Talk about low self-esteem. GH: Lucy vs Katherine People always say that Bobbie vs Lucy was their favorite of Lucy's feuds.. but I always got a kick out of Lucy and Katherine whenever they sparred. Sometimes it would carry out during the annual Nurses Ball. It was a comical feud and it started because of how Lucy viewed Katherine as trying to soil her late friend Dominique's memory and tried to swindle Scotty and Serena out of their inheritance.

The one thing I've noticed so far on this soap is that a random line/comment seems to be foreshadowing of sorts for future story. In Week 1: Hayley wondering if people at the law firm liked her, or held it against her that she was marrying the boss while a offhand comment from Mike about Hayley got Bill upset. Turned out to be foreshadowing the lawsuit story and confirmed Hayley's instincts were correct. So today's comments from Ted about his lawyer will probably tie Bill and/or Mike into the story with Silk Press Sheila. Also, Smitty's comments about the influencer story he was going to be doing and mentioning he hoped to talk to Chelsea after the fashion show makes me think her two random scenes of Chelsea's double life with the guy and his partner will probably tie into whatever this new story Smitty is chasing is. I knew when Shanice last week mentioned Laura and how Eva is just ok compared to Laura.. I knew Laura would be making her way back into the story.

Jazmen written scripts are always a treat, but we also should give credit to the breakdown writer Dunn because the episode flowed quite well. Leslie/Silk Press Sheila vs Ted was so good and I also noticed that the scenes between them ran a little longer then usual. So after getting a glimpse of Mr Hyde (Ted's dark side), I'm even more confused why he was replaced since he played up the dark/rough edges flawlessly. And Leslie/Silk Press Sheila is so well cast! She was missed! Laura and Mona came back after a hiatus, but I have a feeling that Laura might not be ready to go back to work quite yet if the last scene is an indication (and girl... where are gloves?) I'm curious what Martin's secret is.. and the story that Smitty mentioned he's working on I have a feeling will involve Chelsea and maybe shed a bit of light on those two quick scenes where we saw a less timid/more confident Chelsea with the guy and his partner. I agree with everyone else that Martin should have been Vernon/Anita's son and not grandson. Can't wait for tomorrow.

Ah, this is during that awkward stage between Marland's stint and Pam Long's stint where it seemed as though a lot of the stories were in standstill or being cleaned up. Regarding Morgan, I do recall that between this period and May 1983 that she hung out more with Rick and Philip before she left the canvas in May 1983 just as Mindy/Beth were arriving on the scene. Kelly doesn't have a lot to do for awhile until Claire Ramsay comes on the scene later in 1983.. and they're roommates that eventually date before he leaves the show in 1984. The Dobsons/Marland's were pros at writing gothic stuff.. and you can tell that whoever was writing the show at this point didn't know quite how to write effective gothic content. If I recall, most of this story is resolved just before Long joins the canvas as headwriter.

They eventually remedied that by Iris transferring that obsessive love over onto her son Dennis and her initial disapproval over his relationship with Dawn. So she has Dawn's older sister Paige help her break them up, then Paige turns around and marries Dennis. Thus Iris becomes the mother in law from hell. She kind of reverts back to the nicer Iris as she leaves the soap.. even briefly helping her nieces Lacey and Brette before she moves to New York to run the Alex Wheeler foundation. Ironically, the show found it's footing creatively once Iris/Dennis/Elliot leave the soap.. but the viewers didn't want to stick around with Iris gone so the ratings dipped drastically.

Coopers had been in America for at least two generations so it made sense that the family had become more American than Greek, which is typical for most families/groups that are in the country for two or three generations). In regards to Eleni, I had no idea that the actress didn't speak with a Greek accent until she was on something else and didn't have the Greek accent. At least Eleni was played by a Greek actress. In regards to the Reardons, I could have bought that they were Irish and Protestant if Marland had bothered to build/mention their backstory where their ancestors fled Ireland because they were a religious minority and came to America to avoid religious persecution. Both Ireland and North Ireland have a decent Protestant population (and I know this because my paternal ancestors were Irish protestant and my maternal ancestors were Irish Catholic).

Andre is a playboy, but only the wonderful and magical Ashley can cure him of his player/playboy ways. LOL In regards to Vanessa, I came across a Lifetime movie the actress made a few years ago where she's playing a character more like Nicole then Vanessa. If she could channel some of what she played in that movie into Vanessa then her and Nicole being friends will make sense. And the actress can play a convincing mom, which will come in handy in the event the show casts Vanessa/Doug's kids down the line.

It also appears as though the premiere of Tribes was pushed back five or six weeks from the 2nd part of January 1990 until the first week of March 1990 according to an LA Times article. The creator Leah Laiman lamented on that sudden change of premiere date because they wouldn't be able to make changes/corrections quickly because they would have too many of the episodes already filmed and in the can by the time the show debuted. It does explain why the last twenty to twenty five episodes of Tribes had a marked improvement and focused on the characters/stories that were making an impression on the viewers. Stacey Cox was the breakout character of the soap and I have a feeling had the show not been canceled suddenly that her character would have eventually become the lead character over her onscreen sister (the classic ingenure caught between two guys). The last five episodes shown/available on Youtube (episode 86 to 90) was heavily focused on the rape storyline involving Pete Sago and Stacey Cox. What made this story interesting was the fact that both characters had past history of lying. In fact, the lawyer discussion of having Pete's older sister take over guardianship was to ensure that his lies about being being a wealthy kid wouldn't be exposed in court.. while Stacey's past lies were coming back to haunt her and her on the run story with Daryl had definite summer teen possibilities. According to Michelle Stafford in an old interview, she had mentioned the story planned for her involve her getting involved with Melinda's ex Billy. The seeds were planted in earlier episodes where her character Frankie had made moves on Matt, which made Melinda jealous. So it made sense that Billy and Frankie would have interacted once the whole counterfeit money story arc had resolved. I remember being a child and watching the show. The story I remember most was the Mrs Robinson story between Chris and the older woman played by Janice Lynde. From looking at the Youtube channel, I remember seeing episode 64 when she removed her dress and stood in front of Chris. Episode 65 had a parental guidance advisory at the start of the episode, so my mom hit record on the VCR so it taped. After it taped, she watched the episode and I guess the two got hot and heavy in the episode so my mom wouldn't let me watch it. In these current times, that story was pushing the envelope since the character of Chris was under 18 and she was over 40 so I was surprised that the story was being done.. but seemed to quickly end without anyone really finding out about the two... I don't think.

I just watched the final episodes that were uploaded onto Youtube (episodes 86 to 90).. and unless the uploader mislabeled the episodes, I do think there 95 episodes for the entire series and not 90 episodes. Reason I say that is because I was a child when the show was on originally and I was home watching it in the summer, and I remember there were a week of episodes that aired in the Chicago area after the 90th episode before it was canceled. I think those episodes had to do with JoJo and his trying to impress a new girl.. and Stacy/Daryl still on the run.

I saw it one time back in the day when the WE (Women's Entertainment) network used to air 80s mini series. I didn't like nor dislike it.. but it was presented more as a historical romance though I'm sure in modern 2020s lenses would be considered a sexist movie.

I think the problem was that the show was too focused in the first week or two with the Dani/Bill/Hayley story.. and everything else was pushed to the side. So what we're getting in week 4 and 5 were things that should have been covered/discussed in the first week or two of the show (i.e. Vanessa/Doug gambling story, etc). With that said, I am a little bummed that Gregori Martin isn't on the writing staff since I tended to l like his breakdowns... and I dread Jamey G joining since I've read up on that individual and while he turns up the crazy.. it doesn't seem to be good crazy. The other thing that we have to remember is that no new soaps have been developed since 1999 with several soaps being canceled the late 00s/early 10s. So any sort of writing training programs were stopped and there was little to no chance of new writers being mentored in soap opera writing 101. And I heard this all the time from Victoria Rowell when she was on Y & R with the need of a black writer and she was correct in her assessment. I echo that, but instead of another black writer.. there needs to be a Gen Z/young millennial white writer as a script-writer. I know many a twenty something white male/female couplings.. and none of them act nor talk like Derek or Ashley

A decent breakdown from Ron Carlivati and a good script from Danielle Paige. I've felt that Paige's scripts have leaned more on the literary without always succeeding in adapting it to the soap opera realm. Today's episode from her was pretty good. Hayley/Derek 1:1 was a surprise and from what I learned... Hayley knew Ashley/Derek, but they knew Naomi longer then Hayley. I think the backstory was that Jacob and Derek were friends pre-Naomi/Ashley... and once the two couples came together, Hayley was slowly brought into the friendship mix. I'm glad that Bill wasn't faking his hand going numb and downplayed it for Naomi. This will come into play later on.. either at an event or during the actual court case. Good Chelsea/Bill and Naomi/Dani scenes. Dani was written as almost human and actually cares about someone other then herself. Shanice is the only bright spot in the Ashley/Derek/Andre story thus far. Vanessa/Joey do have chemistry.. and I wonder where things will go with them. I also wonder if next week will be their turn at taking a break from being featured at all. Thank gosh Silk Press Sheila will be back next week in some capacity. I'm hoping Dani will eventually take a week off so we can actually enjoy the other characters.

Josie was his daughter and Rachel was his ex-wife. So connections right there that the show could have mined.

I understood why the first week or two had high octane stories/scenes because they wanted to grab viewers and keep them coming back. However, the incessant focus on Dani/Hayley/Bill during that first week or two at the expense of developing the B, C, and backburner stories is kind of biting them in the butt. The biggest issue the show could run into in the long run will be pacing. Back in the day, soap operas had multiple plotlines going on at the same time and were going at different speeds. For instance, while Story A is climaxing, story B is in the build-up to the climax, story C is being formulated.. while the characters not involved directly in those three stories are recapping, having their characters being developed, and/or planting seeds for their next story. So far on this show, the pacing is all off. While we celebrated Ashley/Derek/Andre not being featured all of last week, we now are faced with other characters barely getting any focus this week (i.e. Silk Press Sheila, Smitty/Martin) or getting too much unneeded focus (i.e Dani). This week basically was a rinse and repeat with Dani/Bill, Hayley being snubbed, Dani/Andre hooking up, Chelsea/Dani, etc. All of the scenes I mentioned were already done before in the previous weeks and done better. This week, I would have had a Silk Press Sheila/Jan/Mona dinner.. and maybe Silk Press Sheila sees Kat or Nicole.. and tries to avoid being seen. Or perhaps Smitty's new assignment would involve Joey Armstrong and the potential corruption going on with the police department. Or we could have had a Hayley scene at the country club being snubbed again and she interacts with Diego... or sees Diego/Vanessa together. At the same time, I'm still watching and enjoying the process of seeing a new soap unfold and I remind myself that the soaps I saw debuting back in the day (Port Charles, Passions, Sunset Beach, and Generations) had shaky starts so I'll continue to watch with anticipation daily

I've actually liked it better the last week or two then I did the first week or so of the show. I do agree about the background music and how it can add to a scene. The link is an example of background music that ended a scene and/or episode. Days and Y & R used to be masters of background music to either start an episode or to end an episode. Today's episode did have some background music during the scenes at the country club with Vanessa and Nicole. I also think the final scene with Bill and Naomi would have been even better if there was a music queue as he realizes that his hand is numb with a concern Naomi looking on.

I guess the podcast has dropped featuring Michelle/Donna/Joan https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/were-knot-done-yet/id1805944598

This was a good episode: Nice 1:1 scenes with Nicole and Vanessa. About time we see this good friendship vibe play out since it was mentioned in the past they were good friends. Ted/Nicole do have some chemistry and I knew that Joey's mama had to be deceased especially when Joey had a brief look of 'Oh *hit' when Vanessa mentioned wanting to meet her to show her properties. Naomi/Bill/Caroline/Client scenes were pretty good and it made sense that Cheryl Davis was the script writer since they appear to be an attorney in real life. With Caroline and Shanice being back in action, when can we expert Mona to come back for an appearance. I'm hoping the last scene isn't a cop out. I could see Bill playing it off and convincing Naomi all is ok since he doesn't want to appear weak in front of his daughter. Hope MVJ can resist taking on the bad traits of her former boss at B & B.. although if she's bringing Jamey G onto the show as a breakdown writer.. maybe not.

Probably old school, but I think it's because the country club/social world is women's business that men stay out of. Dani is not a winner as a character

Not a bad episode, but not a great episode either. This would be more of a recap episode then an excellent episode. I like that we got the same script writer writing two episodes back to back, but you can see the differences in breakdown writers. What I liked: Vernon and Anita gave some good advice to Naomi, but am I bad for hoping she doesn't take the advice so that we can see the vindictive side of Bill come out? Then we can see some skeletons come of the Dupree closet if that side comes out Good flashback scene between Bill and Naomi. Without his influence, who knows what kind of hot mess Naomi would have been if she just had Dani's influence. Nice to see Caroline again and it's good that she's there for Hayley to bounce off of. The Joey twist makes sense because cops can sometimes use someone on the lower level of criminal activity in order to nab someone higher on the criminal activity food chain. I wonder if perhaps Doug/Vanessa will be caught up on this.. or if maybe it will turn out that Joey is being used to nab a Dupree (like Martin or Vernon.. for instance). What I didn't like: Dani is so one note and played by a one note actress. The difference between Erica Kane and Dani Dupree is that Erica was played by a likeable performer that makes you laugh while Dani is played by someone that doesn't seem to have that soft touch. I don't like Bill... but in the Bill/Dani marriage situation, I'm team Bill. I always support a man deciding to leave his wife, but I do wish they opted to leave before they actually cheat. Hayley believing Bill. She has potential as a character and I kind of wish that the show could show her actually working as a paralegal since I don't think her dream of being a lady of leisure will be happening at Fairview Crest. Ashley/Derek.

From the interview she gave in 1992, I think Beverlee was going to leave the show anyway once her contract expired in 1993.. she just happened to exercise a clause/loophole in her contract that let her leave the show a year early. Her final scenes in mid 1992 showed a remorseful Alex that realized that she had driven away everyone that she loved and cared for. She had scenes with HB, Vanessa, Henry, Nick, and I even think she had a final one with Fletcher before she left on her trip. I do wonder what the show would have done with her character had she not had the loophole/clause and she came back after her vacation was over. Would she have tried to push Nick/Eve together or tried to keep a distance and focus on Spaulding and trying to forge a new path forward.

He's a fox Maybe the gala will be held in the summer around Juneneeth? For sure the Eva/Silk Press Sheila plot will have to come to a head during May sweeps since Laura should be recovered and ready to resume her duties in the coming weeks. And also Silk Press Sheila has a different nickname that another forum uses... Alias (I assume because of her wigs and the lead character on Alias always wearing the fun wigs during secret missions). I had this weird thought about nurse Ashley and her backstory. According to what I read, Ashley's backstory involved her being raised by a single mother Jan.. and basically being left home alone everyday while her mother worked numerous jobs raising her. With that type of backstory, I would think a performer could be able to mine something for that to infuse into the character. So far, she hasn't been able to bring anything to the character.. and the audience is left mystified that she's been featured so much without any sort of personality/agency. Another thing is that since Ashley's father hasn't been mentioned, I'm wondering if it's going to be revealed that Joey is her father. It's been established that one of the jobs Ashley's mother Jan has is working for Vanessa/Doug at their house.. and perhaps Joey will one day become a guest of the McBrides and Jan sees him and freaks out.

I don't know why Dani doesn't open a boutique, or maybe use some space in the country club for a pop up store for some items (i.e. sportswear, shoes, etc)