Soaplovers

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.

It looks as though the writers/breakdown writers have worked out the first week kinks and are now writing some good breakdowns/scripts. 3 out of 3 good episodes. Thoughts on todays episode: Good Chelsea/Dani 1:1. People have said that Dani is the modern day Erica Kane or Reva Shayne, but I disagree. When watching these early weeks of Dani in action, she is the modern day version of Teddy Reed from Sisters (NBC primetime series/soap from the 90s). And it was good that Nicole came to check on her at the end. Bill vs Naomi was a good first round and I think it was a draw. Bill was both proud and a bit concerned when interacting with Naomi.. and Naomi really does deep down want her dad's approval. This will be a good storyline in the coming weeks. Hayley spoke facts with her comments to Bill, and there is an old saying that women understand other women and usually end up not liking them LOL Good cliffhanger with the promise of the long awaited scene between Hayley and Naomi... plus, some nice chemistry between Jacob and Hayley as well. I had a feeling that Martin's behind the scenes sabotaging of Smitty's potential new job would come back to haunt him. I actually said out loud 'Oh [!@#$%^&*]' when the cat was out of the bag. Chelsea declaring the end of her working relationship with Dani will now open both Chelsea and Dani up to their next arcs. I wonder if those brief snippets of Chelsea with the couple will come back up in the coming weeks. Good Kat/Tomas scene today as well. I think the Virgin talk is admirable in 2025 since vanilla/virgin shaming has become the norm nowadays even though there are articles coming out that Gen Z (which Kat is part of) are moving more conservative in terms of dating and sex. I'm sure Eva will be there to tide Tomas over while Kat waits. I can't wait for tomorrow

Shirley Anne Field had this Gothic subtle aura around her when playing Pamela where we didn't know if she was going to be a protagonist or an antagonist. Just the way she would get Sophia worked up anytime her Pamela would remind CC of their past as a couple was gold because she had a way of making it seem as though riling Sophia was a bonus and not her goal. And her chemistry with Robin Wright as her interfering mother in law also had potential because how she approached those scenes could be taken as a mother wanting to make up for lost time with her son and/or also a way to get control over Kelly as revenge against CC/Sophia for keeping Mason away from her. As you said, she did play Pamela with a lot of layers and subtext that read more of a tragic Gothic British character that you didn't know what side she would stand on issues. Unpopular opinion: I didn't think MacArthur was a bad Kelly. She just came in during the middle of a storyline Kelly was involved in with her creepy mother in law, marital issues with Jeffery, and a start of something with TJ. She did as well as she could under those circumstances and I agree she would have continued to play a more wounded/tortured Kelly had she stayed on beyond her several month stint. She was a good transition Kelly between Wright and Garland.

I remember Tess used to say 'Rosanna C' whenever she addressed her or introduced her to anyone during the summer of 1992 when Rosanna was a mysterious runaway. I think Parker Posey getting a movie was why her character was quickly written out and then replaced by Debbie as the heavy in the Hutch/Rosanna coupling.

Kate Collins said she liked how Melody played the part, that she infused the part with warmth and a kindness. From what Ms. Collins said in the Locher Room interview she did, she was getting married and he had gotten a job in Chicago so she wanted to support him. Given the backstage issues, she probably was relieved that she had a new chapter in her life for her to go to. That said, the Carter/Nat story was well done and was one of the last of the gothic stories that AMC did until attempts in the late 90s to bring the gothic storytelling back. Melody did give it her best shot, but the show was less interested in writing for Natalie now that Kate wasn't playing the part.. and truthfully.. Natalie was a character that seemed to fit more in the 80s/early 90s era then in the newer era coming into play.

A Ron C episode I actually enjoyed... miracles never cease. Some of the dialogue between Anita and Vernon made me wonder if Martin is truly their son, or if the dialogue was too vague. Anita's mini rant after finding out Martin was running for president was priceless and the final scene of Vernon/Anita taking a drink in silence said a lot. Naomi vs Bill will be so good. You could see in her eyes that she still does love her father, but she also is furious with him. Nice to see a warm Anita/Chelsea scene, and that it showed a diversity in terms of how each grandchild has a different relationship with their grandparent. I am curious to see how Anita/Kat would interact.. to be honest. A nice understated cliffhanger with Bill figuring out Naomi is suing him, Chelsea finally telling Dani that she doesn't want to model, and Smitty confronting Martin. Is it Wednesday already?

This was also the first teaming of Gregori J Martin & Jazmen.. and they were a good team... I wonder if Jazmen can work magic on a breakdown written by Ron C. Since it appears that the break down writer and script writer write one episode per week. I predict today will be Ron C doing breakdown writing and Danielle Paige will be doing the script writing for today's episode.. since it's technically episode 20. So maybe we will get a cliffhanger today as well.

Truthfully, on this these types of shows... I think 4 to 5 seasons is the max you should be on the show. Unless you have an interesting personal and family life that you're willing to share. We've seen everything within Garcelles life, and I'm going to be honest... I would have respected her more if she had opted to leave after the vile way her son was treated. Her coming back showed that she put her career over her child's well being. With that said, she had a good run and she's leaving while still on top. Something maybe Vyle Kyle should have done a few seasons back.

HE reminds me of my ex... so if Tomas is anything like my ex.. Kat and Eva are in for a world of heart ache LOL

The ironic thing was that Rachel had started the path to being redeemed somewhat when Strasser was playing the part with her moving on and marrying Ted Clark.. and wishing Steve/Alice luck. And even at the start of Wyndham playing Rachel, she was still married to Ted and sort of played the marriage aspect in her first few months in the role before he caught her with Steve and broke up with her. I agree that Strasser's Rachel was flirty, charming, and had this anxious need to belong to the Haves. My late mom said Wyndham was scary when she played Rachel and really showed the vicious side of Rachel with no cutesy flirting or batting her eye lashes. Her Rachel was convincing as both an artist and also in a corporate setting.. something I don't think Strasser could have pulled off.

True... they did have to throw the Dani fans a crumb or two LOL What I enjoyed about Monday's episode: Anita was given great focus showing her in her day to day life, wistfully missing her singing days, and being the calming guide for her granddaughter Naomi (I have a feeling that Naomi viewed Anita more as a mother figure then her own mom). Joey and Vanessa have chemistry, and I liked Vanessa being more subdued today. I also liked seeing some of the community threads being sewn together with Joey having ties to the police with Jacob suspecting Joey of some dirty business while his dad and partner are trying to keep him from snooping around too much. Eva is looking at Tomas in a new way, and @TaoboiI think it was all due to Silk Press Sheila forbidding her darling daughter from considering him. Before her speech to Eva, Eva seemed ok with just having a conversation with the guy.. but now she's got her sights set on him. And unpopular opinion.. but I think Tomas is kind of sexy (his voice is like ASMR to me We all know Naomi is going to take the case.. and I look forward to some fiery scenes with both Bill and Hayley. And I also have a feeling Chelsea will finally tell Dani about her new venture and despite Kat being optimistic, Dani will make it all about herself and probably manipulate her daughter in some way or another.