Soaplovers

That last little twist with Eva was a nice surprise, yet made sense since Silk Press Sheila looked like she was going to be causing some trouble. And the thing is that I kind of felt for her even though she's the baddie in the situation.

Problem with Phantom Erica was that the show treated it like a joke instead of actually using the car accident and scar to really delve into Erica's constant need to be beautiful and the best. This could have helped Erica realize that she was definitely more then a pretty face and that she didn't have to rely on physical beauty in order to be taken seriously. I kind of think Agnes Nixon seemed unwilling to evolve nor mature Erica

Maybe it was an acting choice after the affair with Lillian and death of Maureen.. to show Ed's remorse/guilt over what happened. He did finally lighten up a bit at the end when he and Holly got back together.

Wasn't Riley involved with Tina's daughter (when she was in her gothic era) and then later Jen? If so, Riley was Jen's best pairing and it was tragic that she was killed off just as her character finally had purpose and the actress had finally learned how to act. And I think the Daniel Colson story would have worked perfectly in the first half of the 80s, and I even think it could have worked in the 2000s if it were better written and developed. Even back in the 2000s, I can't tell you how many times there were married straight men looking to have a guy on the side and the lengths they would go to in order to ensure no one knew about his private activities. So the story was realistic.. but the serial aspect was an interesting twist on something that was the norm in 00s suburbia. It just wasn't written well.

Ashley has barely had any scenes with Eva, Jan (her mom), nor Silk Press Sheila yet. And Derek is very isolated, and I think a scene with just him and Jacob is needed since the two are good friends (or so it's been mentioned). And the gambling storyline has barely had any focus nor has Vanessa/Doug so when they get their once a week focus, it's hard to be invested in it. The shows obsession with showing every single second of the Dani/Bill/Hayley story has prevented the show from fully developing a strong C-story. They've hardly focused and developed the B-story involving Nicole/Ted/Silk Press Sheila/Eva, but due to the acting of all the performers in that story.. it's more successful in my eyes. Logically the Martin cover up story would be the C-story with Ashley/Andre/Derek & Vanessa/Doug being the simmering stories waiting to take one of the top three story slots once the simmer develops into a boil... but the show's obsession with Dani has made all those stories underdeveloped. The only thing I notice in the scripts are that scenes are barely more then a minute long before cutting to a new scene. I understand the attention span is shorter then what it used to be, but there are times I start to get into a scene and then it flashes to the next scene suddenly. Also.. I kind of wonder if maybe a 30 minute soap format would have worked better.. and then expanded to an hour down the line. It's hard to launch a new soap, but any hour long soap that has launched has struggled and not really succeeded long term.

Early Tad and Dixie were a pretty good couple, but eventually Dixie lost any sort of agency and character development as time went on. Partly due to the actress opting to leave and come back the show on and off, but also because both characters kind of outgrew one another over time. Lighting on AMC in the late 70s, 80s, and the first half of the 90s really defined AMC to me since it had a Gothic element that really defined the show. I think the lighting in the later years of the show was too bright and the sets were basic without any sort of personality. In regards to the Gothic storytelling attempts after the early 90s... the Camille Hawkins story and Erica's Phantom of the Opera story in the late 90s was the last time the show tried to do some sort of gothic storytelling... but those stories made the Goldie/Silver/Damon story from 1987 look like a quality Gothic story... and that story had a lot of issues.

I'm sure Eva will turn out to be Ted's, but is Eva actually Silk Press Sheila's child? I'm getting a vibe that maybe Silk Press Sheila did some stealing. And I wonder if maybe this Alan individual that Silk Press Sheila mentioned losing six months ago could have been a patient of Nicole's? I didn't see the point of Andre being in the episode. Vanessa/Doug have an interesting vibe, and I'm wondering if Joey's interest in Doug will cause issues for Vanessa and her business. Also, curious on if this Vanessa/Diego situation is going to go somewhere or if it will end up being a way for Joey to blackmail Vanessa? Ashley/Derek = no comment Smitty/Martin finally kissed and seemed like a couple today

In regards to the Lewis family, I wonder if Robert Newman leaving at the end of 1984 threw a wrench into plans Long/Kobe had for the Lewis family since him staying would have continued the whole Josh/HB/Reva situation with Billy fighting against Reva being in the family with Trish trying to be peacemaker. Since Josh was gone, and Kyle coming onto the show trying to take over Lewis Oil caused a shift in how the family was written since the Lewis family united against an outside enemy.

Clint was a hothead, but he wouldn't have been homophobic based on the character we saw at play since he came on in the late 70s. I could have seen Asa having some issues, but never Clint. I do recall seeing a NYE episode in 1992/1993 where Vicki seemed committed to Clint and reviving their marriage so I do agree that the end game was going to be Vicki and Clint working on their marriage.. and Sloan would be just a passing infatuation/friendship. The only time I could have seen Vicki wavering would have been doing the Roger Gordon era, but the actor they picked to play Roger didn't have chemistry with Vicki.

Yeah, I'm bored with the whole Dani/Bill/Hayler hamster wheel story. It's like I'm watching Passions all over again. Please end the story, and backburner Dani because putting all of your eggs in that characters basket will lead to disaster. I guess even the showrunners disregard Nicole for the one note theatrics of Dani. Karla said in an interview that she views Dani to be like Reva Shayne, but I don't agree with that comparison. Reva had layers and was played by a good actress unlike Dani.

I understand that MVJ has said that this show/characters has been formulating in her mind for years, but sometimes things that look good on paper doesn't always look good when written and filmed. Today's episode wasn't horrible, but it wasn't as good as the previous episodes were. I didn't think that Derek/Ashley were necessary to show though I did like the interaction between Eva and Andre.. plus Eva figuring out that Silk Press Sheila will be more of a liability then a help. Dani treating her arrest/mug shot as an opportunity to model just underscores how one note her character is. Karla can bring it, but she can only bring it if there is something on the page for her to play. Hayley showed some spunk and good sense. I'm intrigued to get a one on one with her and Naomi.. plus, I'm curious to see if Ashley knows Hayley or not. I would assume Hayley at one time had to have known the have nots at one time and she was kicked out of the club after her home wrecking. I welcome a faster pace, but we're still getting to know the characters so doing all these plot twists doesn't work if we don't know nor care about the characters.

I bet the 10 episodes reaired on BET will have a higher viewership then whatever it's replacing. It happened several years ago when the revived AMC and OLTL had a syndicated run on OWN (after the backlash Oprah got for not airing new episodes).. and the ratings for each episode was significantly higher then the programming they replaced. Any exposure can help a show get exposure and more $.

With the most recent lost films found, maybe one day London After Midnight (1927) will be found. While it's been told that it wasn't very good, the change to see a Lon Chaney film is always welcome.. just to see the creative lengths he went in playing his characters during the silent movie era.

For me, the period between 1939 and 1943 during her final years of MGM provided her with her most diverse array of films. It was the period between her shop girl years and the film noir older woman roles that dominated most of her Warner Brothers era. The Women was a play on her shop girl persona by making her the heavy instead of the heroine to great effect. The one silver lining of the Hayes Code was that writers and performers had to be creative within the strict limitations of the code.. and sometimes I think the lack of controls has made movies/concepts less creative. A Woman's Face is her first crack at doing film noir to great effect.. playing a role that from what I understand was originally intended for Greta Garbo. To me, her biggest departure was doing 'They All Kissed the Bride', which was originally meant for Carole Lombard to play before her untimely death. While the script was changed to play to Crawford's strengths.. she certainly does well with the physical comedy parts in her rare attempt at a screwball comedy... that mostly lands.

I think there was a throwaway line that Jan (Ashley's mom) heard about Dani throwing the coffee cup from when she was working at Vanessa's house. I'm also curious to know if Ashley knows Hayley and she opted to side with Naomi.. or if Ashley/Naomi are friends only because of Derek and Jacob being friends.

I wonder if that was part of the original plan when the character of Vanessa was planned to be named Stacy and was meant to be older (late 40s). From what the actress that plays Vanessa said in a podcast interview, she came in and provided a flirty and mischievous approach when auditioning for the part and the show liked her so such that they cast her. Part of me thinks maybe Cady should have been cast as Vanessa and Lauren Buglioli should have been cast as Pamela since I could see Cady vibing with Daphnee more then Karla. But then I recall how Cady is more free spirited and likes to leave/come back to a soap at random while Lauren is Atlanta based. So Cady could play a character that comes and goes like Pamela while Lauren is guaranteed to stay long term as the character.

I think it was mentioned before that Vanessa comes from money so maybe Joey knows about that and is using the hubby to get to that money. That's my money. While I liked Dani getting what was coming to her, I was really hoping that we could have gotten another Bill and Dani free day so that we could have focused more focus time on the other characters today. I have read on other boards that people are kind of annoyed with the overexposure of Dani, and I have to agree. Nicole's family and story is more interesting to me then Dani's, plus would like to see a bit more focus on Ruben/Anita outside of handwringing about their kids and grandkids

The first 13 weeks was written by Nixon and those weeks were establishing Jo and Patti.. Jo's tension filled marriage to Keith.. and Keith's parents. I don't know if her husband was killed in the first 13 weeks or if he was killed off after Nixon was replaced by Vendig. From what I've read, his stint as head writer during the first few years of the soap had a more criminal/crime element... which tracks since he then went on to create Edge of Night eventually.

It's great that soaps are employing authors and playwrights as writers on the soaps since they tend to offer a fresh perspective and lord knows soap operas need some new perspectives. So Christopher Dunn did the breakdown and Danielle Paige did the script writing. She's written for soaps in the past (GL), and has written novels that offer new spins on classic characters (Dorothy from Wizard of Oz) so I'll be intrigued to see what future episodes written by her will be like. First thing is that she offered up two very good cliffhangers. Eva vs Kat still well done, and I liked the reality check both Nicole & Chelsea gave to Kat. Kat is correct about Eva, but she's going about things in the wrong way. And Eva seems conflicted because she's finding that Nicole and Ted seem like nice people. Now the new hair on 'Leslie' is probably what she looked like back when she knew Ted so she's doing this stunt in order to show herself to Ted. Vanessa/Doug had some focus with the two being empty nesters and the love/romance no longer in their relationship and now both are keeping things from the other. Sounds like Doug has a gambling addiction and it looks as though Joey (Hello Jon L!) knows this and will use that to get Doug under his thumb. I have a feeling Vanessa coming from money might be a factor in their plans of sorts. I have a feeling son in law Jacob won't be popular at any future Dupree gatherings and this is sure to put extra strain on his marriage to Naomi. Lastly, I noticed that there was some character propping being done with Super Nurse Ashley yesterday... and it was a classic example of telling us what we should think about a character instead of letting the audience decide for themselves what they think of Ashley.

If you look on that site we don't mention for Mason Jarvis (played by Forbes March) at ATWT, it will give you a brief rundown on who his character was during his brief stint on the show.

If they ever did get to S6 and S7, they could bring on some of the people that were on those seasons to give context to what the three are watching. Still... they're still watching S1 with constant distractions from producers and/or stars coming in to talk. They should do what the new Ugly Betty podcast is doing, having a guest for the first part of the segment, and then discussing the episode after the guest portion is over.

Joanie started off as Laurie's side kick and/or kind of the Liza of the new batch.. and I think that's why she ended up lasting a bit longer because of Seyfried. I was bummed that Reggie/Joanie was short changed when the two had serious chemistry, and it was the only youth story line that the show seemed to write that worked. Agree. Even by 1989/1990, the garden party/country club structure had fallen out of vogue. The early 90s teen scene (Hayley, Brian, Terrence, Taylor, An-li, later Julia) worked so well because it wasn't about garden parties/country clubs. For example, Taylor/Terrence had conflict due partly to class differences, but also due to race with An-li being caught in between the two.

Cheryl L Davis wrote the episode, and the pacing felt off a bit. I wonder if that's due to the breakdown writer or the script writer. - I view the Ashley/Derek content as what my late mom used to call 'fast forward material' or 'bathroom/snack break'. I often wonder if writers do the quick scenes because they know viewers do that. - In the family, I view Chelsea potentially as the neutral member of the family. What I mean by that is that she can co-exist with all members of the family without issue, and can occasionally be the voice of reason (like with Kat and Dani). Last scene sounds like she has more then meets the eye in terms of character development. - Kat vs Eva continues to interest me.. and they better be half sisters at least because the potential is there for a long term story arc with these two. - Dani was more sub-dued, and I truly hope her speech to Failee is true and she focuses on her future. Though she should stop saying 'this can never happen again' to Andre because she's hooked up with him three times.. and they're not related, both are single, and it's a healthier way to blow off some steam. - So we're seeing what I think was the start of Bill and Dani's marriage in his scene with Failee where he wanted her to quit her job. Hope she doesn't listen and continues to work.. and also explore her friendship with Caroline and if she knows any of the characters (like Ashley, Mona, etc). - Martin is a jerk... Smitty can do so much better.

The rate they're going.. they won't hit S6 until 2035

Bert and HB would have been a great pairing, both were strong minded people that had a love for family and community. If anyone would have had issue with Bert being with HB, I would have pegged Billy as the one that might have had reservations. Josh and Bert bonding during the physical therapy scenes in the summer of 1984 and Rick/Roxy becoming a couple were the seeds being planted for Bert and HB being in the same orbit down the road. Plus, once Reva/HB broke up in 1985, I could see Bert being a source of comfort for HB since she would know what he was going through. Even Kim Zimmer knew how important Charita was to the show per this interview from a long time ago https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/kim-zimmer?clip=124620#show-clips