Soaplovers

A so so episode today, but Ron C was involved so no surprise it wasn't stellar. - Chelsea has a little bit of fire in her, didn't know the girl had it in her. - I wonder if the writers/producers benched Ashley/Derek/Andre for a week because they saw things weren't working in order to figure out how to fix it. There were subtle improvements, and elevating Shanice's airtime will only benefit the three. - Yesterday I was wondering about Laura, and today we got an answer that she's still in recovery and that Shanice doesn't seem too keen on Eva. Maybe have Eva/Ashley/Shanice in a scene... show us, don't tell us. - Dani/Bill = yawn. Dani is so one note and the writing isn't doing her any favors. As I said, not a bad episode.. but not a great episode either.

That would explain why the Mystery Movie format on ABC eventually did create fourth movie series called Christine Cromwell starring Jaclyn Smith.. since it looked like the network was interested in adding a female detective to the roster. I think it was a move done by MSW to ensure that Lansbury got her wish for a reduced work schedule. If you look like you're in demand, then your current employer will give you anything you want to ensure you stay.

Actually... I would like see both come out of retirement and at least do a guest spot on a sitcom or something.

In regards to the March 1982 episodes, this was a good way to cap off its run on CBS and kick-off a new era on NBC. And I wish straight men would also start wearing speedos since it was a nice sight to see In regards to the 1/30/1952 episode, I was surprised Jo's husband Keith was still alive at this point since I assumed he was killed off close to the debut of the show. His death looks to have happened during Feb 1952 since the early March 1952 shows Jo's in laws grieving Keith's death. Based on the 1/30/1952, it looks as though Irving V (creator of Edge of Night) was now head-writing.. and I can see why he eventually moved the show into a more crime ridden direction during his tenure working on the soap. This episode seemed to be carrying on threads established during Agnes Nixon's 13 week stint. It looked as though her concept of the soap was a domestic drama where Jo/Keith weren't exactly happily married with his mother causing issues between the two. I think Irving was smart to move the show in a different direction during his time writing it.

Calhoun, from what I understand, was an excellent Executive producer. ATWT changes in tone once he jumps over to GL and Caso takes over as EP.

In regards to Kim Lankford's states about James H and his choosing to leave thus leading to her being fired. I'm wondering if that was only told to her in order to shield themselves from blame. I wonder this because he had stated once that he was 'forcibly ejected' from the show when he was asked about whether his leaving was his decision or not. So he probably saw the writing on the wall, went to the show runners and basically was told that they had no place on the show going forward.. and then to save face, the showrunners told Kim that she was being cut because of James. It wouldn't be the first time that bosses lie to employees and pit them against one another.

It didn't feel like a Marland episode because the dialogue flowed better and I liked that mention was made that Ellen and Nancy weren't contemporaries unlike during the Marland era where it seemed as though the two were in the same generation. When Marland came on, all he really did was add Iva/Emma/Holden while adding Doug and Marsha to the already ongoing Frannie/Kevin/Marie story. I like that more 1985 episodes are coming out from before Marland's arrival that show that some of the things people raved about weren't generated/created by him.. but were elements he continued.

Decent breakdown from Gregori M (I'm not familiar with their past work) and decent script from Danielle P. This means tomorrow will be Ron C as breakdown writer and Lynn Martin as script-writer. Their past collabs have been sort of lackluster, but third time is the charm. What I liked about today: - Nurse Shanice adding that extra touch that was missed last week. - Some good family moments with Dani/Nicole/Andre. - Chelsea finally taking a stand with her mom. It seems as though Bill handled raising Naomi while Dani focused on Chelsea... and Chelsea is feeling suffocated by her mother. Those brief snippets of Chelsea with the guy and his partner showed a different side to Chelsea and I have a feeling that this partly stems from being suffocated by Dani. - Vanessa and Joey have mad chemistry. I also like that Vanessa has been toned down and is less flighty then she was in her first appearance. What I didn't like today - Ashley/Andre merry go round is back. I did like that Ashley was mostly used sparingly and got some brief scenes with Dani, Nicole, Ted, and Shanice. @Mona Kane CroftI do agree that there is no character for Jen Jacobs to play.. but that means that the actor/actress needed to flesh out the character and then the writers can go from there. Since Ashley knows Dani then it means that she also knows/knew Hayley so a brief scene between them would help bring some conflict to Ashley that doesn't involve Andre or firefighter guy. Did Ashley choose Naomi because she was also mad at Hayley, or did she pick Naomi because she didn't want to feel the wrath of the Duprees that Hayley has been getting. - Eva vs Kat was so fleeting, but I hope that Kat backing off is just until she gets some proof and not because she wants to get into Tomas' pants. - I wonder if the actor that plays Tomas has gotten Botox because his face doesn't move... though it is a beautiful face. Lastly, the actor that plays the firefighter has starred in some Hallmark Channel movies and it shows in his acting. Acting on a soap opera is vastly different then acting in a Hallmark Channel movie. Both are particular styles, but you can't use them on the other. Bill could be the Victor Newman of this show.

Maisie was too blue collar/salt of the earth with limited storyline potential hence why she was killed off. Quinn was a beautiful and confident black woman that was disposed of because this was a period where the writers seemed incapable of writing for a mature black woman. Quite frankly, Quinn could have been tested with the other male characters that were on at the time like Michael, Mac, etc to see where she fit.

Unpopular opinion, but I supported Billy being told about Mindy's affair with Roger. Maybe Alex shouldn't have been the person to tell him, but it needed to be revealed because Mindy took delight in sleeping with Roger and being disrespectful to Alex during the early months of the affair. Had Mindy did the logical thing and kept her distance from Nick.. then none of that would have happen. She only had herself to blame.

People forget this, but Mindy switched the paternity test that proved Nick was Alex's son. To me, that is unforgivable and her hatred of Mindy was justified... and it probably brought up painful memories of Lujack being taken from her by her father.. and then having the same thing potentially happen again thanks to the slut that broke up her marriage.

I kind of think that Richard leaving at the end of season 4 played a small part in Ginger being axed at the end of season 4. I'm not sure if John P opted to quit at the end of season 4 or if it was a storyline dictated decision... but the show most likely would have struggled writing both Ginger and Laura as divorced women juggling kids with finding their place in the career world. Much as how Ginger suffered with her occupying the same place as Val in the early seasons, she would have suffered even more as a character in season 5 being the same place as Laura. As strong as the show was, it did seem to have a weak spot in terms of not being able to write diverse stories for their characters that were in the same station in life.

I don't mind background music, but realistically the background music should be placed in locations where such a thing would be a thing. Music plays when at a restaurant, coffee house, a club, etc.. but the type of music should vary based on the location. For instance, the country club could have a more muted instrumental music queue, a coffeehouse more of an acoustic music queue, a restaurant/Club could have standard top 40 or other mainstream type of sounds playing in the background. Normally as a scene fades to black after a story twist is revealed could be another place where background could come into focus.. but this show seems to do quick flashes to the next scene so that idea is out the door. And sadly.. it looks as though Ashley/Derek/Andre will be on next week. I haven't missed them at all... and their triangle is what I call bathroom and fast forward material. I wonder if the show is making any sort of adjustments/modifications behind the scene as the episodes air (i.e. if two random characters have chemistry, will future episodes be written to showcase that, etc).

Yes, and it exposed Curlee as a toxic female with her body language and how she choose to answer certain questions. She seemed to take delight in humiliating Alex as a character while Simms said she tried to really balance how she played Mindy during that whole storyline. The fact both of them admitted once they hit a certain age and their desirability went down is the only reason both had some sort of regret over how the story was written. There were a lot of events that happened where Mindy wasn't around so her not being able to be there when Billy got sent off to jail would have been explained away by a phone call of some sort. I think the Nick/Eve story could have worked without Mindy coming back as the spoiler since Eve's descent into mental illness would have been from PTSD and the show still could have had Eve get help and then move her over to Ed's orbit later on. Holly and Nick...hmmmm... never thought of those two together. I kind of thought she had chemistry with Cutter, but the show didn't seem to know what to do with that character.

Unpopular opinion, but I think the show should have rested Mindy as a character after Simms left the show in mid 1992. Her character hardly contributed to the show when she was recast between 1993 and 1995 so it would have been better to have brought her back later on when either Simms or Krista were available to come back. Also, if they had managed to get Krista to come back later on... I would have paired her Mindy with Frank.. since the two had chemistry during their brief dalliance in 1988 during the writer strike.

I'm in a wait and see pattern with the casino storyline. it's better then seeing Dani having an emotional meltdown every time she's on the air... yawn.. boring.

Nicole was my fav on episode 1 and I still like her. She's what a human being should be like (and I have a feeling the female show runners think they're exactly like her). Dani is probably my least favorite character. She's someone that blames others the very problems she faces instead of taking ownership over the choices she made (and Dani is exactly who the female show runners probably are really like). The two characters I didn't have any expectation of like or not liking... but ended up loving are Kat and Eva. One character that I have also ended up liking and find that he manages to infuse layers into his character is Bill (lord knows that the feminist showrunners probably hate that some viewers actually like him.. or potentially will turn out to love to hate him).

I remember Ben was shown after Maeve's death.. and I remember it was when Josh and Reva were watching him, comforting him and helping him deal with Maeve's death. Fletcher had mentioned that as one of his memories of Reva after Reva was thought dead in 1990. Fletcher was the guy that was more about the adventure and getting the latest scoop then about romance. Other then some promising chemistry with Claire, I often viewed Fletcher as more on the asexual spectrum.. and usually took him awhile to fall for someone. He usually would hang out with Vanessa when Little Bill and Ben were school age.. and sometimes would handle carpool for the kids on his way to the journal.

Why the shaming of someone being a virgin? So Ted knew of the baby? Lots of foreshadowing with Nicole and Kat proclaiming Ted is perfect. The recast makes sense, but I think it would have been smarter to keep this actor as Ted. Hayley seems like she understands the law and seems like she's a good paralegal. It would be ironic if Mike sabotaged the other women in order to get Hayley the job when she's probably qualified to have gotten the job on her own merit. Eva vs Kat continues to simmer. Vanessa and Nicole finally interacted...and I have a feeling we'll be getting some 1:1 with them in the future. Also, Jon Lindstrom does give off that creepy vibe quite well. Smitty/Martin = nice filler scenes

No offense, but All My children stopped being super grounded with the arrival of the Cortlandt's. Kelly (Kitty's twin), Erica becoming a super model, etc. After the whole Goldie/Silver story, Stuart being revealed as being hidden in an attic, and Eric Kane faking his death by being a circus clown... the Nat/Janet story wasn't so far fetched. After all, Natalie had come onto the show in 1985 as being somewhat unbalanced and obsessed with her now step son Jeremy so it makes sense that her sister Janet wouldn't be paying with a full deck of cards. The only complaint I had about the Nat/Janet story was that the quirky/awkward Janet quickly became obsessed with Trevor and turning into Natalie.. instead of letting the story simmer. @Khan I assumed Dixie was going to be the killer of Will.. and was disappointed that she wasn't the killer. Her mental state had been on the decline since the 'death' of Tad with her rash marriage to con artist Craig.. then finding out that he was conning her and sleeping with her newfound friend Gloria... and seeing her brother that she grew up with become unhinged and threatening to assault Hayley would have been the final straw especially if the guilt she felt ignoring the signs from everyone, including from her sister Lainie.

Harding Lemay was so bias... she was an awesome actress and could totally have played a heavy on a soap opera long term in the 80s and 90s. Such a shame this was one of her final roles in soap operas.

Oh god no. AW was pretty decent in the late 80s and early 90s and I just don't think that show would have been a good fit for his often earnest and idealistic vision. He tended to have trouble writing grey characters and that soap has so many grey characters. I would have preferred to see him create his own 30 minute soap that he was developing and see what that would look like. I'm glad he opted not to come back to GL after he threw his tantrum and quit in mid 1982... because he wasn't a good fit on that soap either. He was basically coasting off the momentum provided by the far superior Dobsons. The Dobsons I wish had ended up at AW after Santa Barbara had been axed because they would have had a field day writing Rachel, Paulina, Felicia, Donna, Iris, etc. I think the only reason she did remember GL at all was because it exposed her to Horror movie conventions. She had it rough because she came in near the end of the Eva stalking Mindy story so that even though she had a right to be on guard with Eve and later Alex... because she hadn't played the early beats of the story.. viewers had trouble siding with her.

As much as I enjoyed the Nicole/Dani sister scenes, I do think Nicole enables Dani's behavior. And Dani seems incapable of taking responsibility for the choices that she choose to make and until she takes ownership then she'll never evolve/grow. And Naomi, and to a lesser extent Chelsea, are the women they are today because of their father Bill. If left to Dani.. both women wouldn't be the individuals they are and proves that a father figure is vitally important to a child's upbringing/development. Case in point... Hayley. I have a strong feeling that tomorrow will also not feature Derek/Ashley/Andre... and truthfully.. I haven't missed any of those three characters.

I came to see Naomi vs Hayley... but stayed to see Kat vs Silk Press Sheila. Naomi vs Hayley: Both bought up good points, and I like a fiesty Hayley. Naomi's whole women supporting women line made me roll my eyes since sometimes women need to call out other women. Kat vs Silk Press Sheila: I didn't expect this pair up, but I quite enjoyed it. Smitty vs Martin: I think Smitty is playing the long game here.. and some people think he should have reacted more forcefully/emotionally... but keeping your emotions in check is a sign of strength. Speaking of lacking strength... Dani lack strength and any sort of character direction. That said, I did like the Nicole/Dani sister moments and I'm going to be curious to see how Nicole will handle whatever is thrown at her during her/Ted's anniversary party. Lastly... good cliffhanger with Ted and Silk Press Sheila coming face to face.

I actually liked Zimmer as Jodie on Santa Barbara.. she played a convincing middle class cop and she had chemistry with the guy who played her husband. Had the Capwells been maintained as the wealthy family.. I think the show could have worked long term. The actress that played Lucy had also auditioned to play Mindy back in early 1993, but lost out to Ann Hamilton. I shudder to think what she would have done with the character of Mindy had she been cast instead. I did notice that Kat lost any sort of presence/story once Lucy came in and became first the sidekick to Julie and then Bridget. Most of her last year on the show was basically being David's girlfriend and trying to make nice to Julie and then Bridget. It was telling that one of her last significant scenes was when she told David that she felt like the tagalong in their group of friends and that she was restless staying in Springfield.