Soaplovers

The Lewis Family under Marland probably would have been boring and devoid of any sort of life or personality. It's a credit to Long that she managed to make the Lewis family distinctive and different then the Spauldings... and lord knows, she had a better handle on the Reardon's then Marland did.

The only time I thought Reva was finally growing up and acting like an adult was during the 1989-1990 period where she had somewhat settled down with Josh, had Shayne, and dealt with a very real issue of post-partum depression. I always figured that she never really dealt with her mental illness, and that would have been a better story to explore in the 90s/early 00s instead of the San Cristobel BS.

As someone that was diagnosed with Autism at 3...after months of constant tests and Dr visits...I would have let the witch have it as well if I saw her talking about it. People like her are why the Autism community is heavily discriminated against. Jenn has her flaws, especially her lack of judgement concerning men....but she isn't a Gretchen or Alexis. She actually pushes back

Only reason why Erin should always keep an apple.... her ability to host the annual Hamptons trip. She's too OCD to be a chill hostess... and I concur that this should be an annual tradition

At first Raven was a great character..but she stayed on far past her expiration date.

From watching episodes of the show in the fall of 1986, I was surprised at how well balanced the canvas was.. with an equal focus on all age groups. Seeing Ann Flood playing a character unlike Nancy Karr was a treat.. and she was effective. I think had the show been allowed to continue into 1987, I think the show probably would have maintained the smaller canvas... but continue to morph into a show that was more like Days then a P & G show. If I recall, when Addie Walsh and Pam Long came on before the show was axed.. the plan was to make the show more like a Days. So I have a feeling that would have been the main thing going into 1987. With that said, I do think it was time for the show to come to an end by 1986.. and the show did end in a beautiful way.

Harding Lemay, as we've come to find out, seemed to have a lot of bias against some of the performers. How he viewed and treated Jacqueline Courtney is evidence enough... he was too too focused on theater performers instead of people that were likable and had decent acting ability.

Ah...she lives in Newton! It's a cute and fairly well off town in MA.

Last season was their debut season... no time to be coy or be subtle. Erin went all out on her pot stirring and went OTT in her reactions to being called out. Brynn wisely showed us NYC with her playing chess, going to Central Park, hanging with her brother, hanging with her ex, and showing us a few cool stores. She did what she was good at... playing on her sad backstory. Now that we're in the sophomore year.. Brynn's type of pot stirring can now be done

Brynn was a pot stirrer last season.. people just choose to ignore that because Erin did it better. Jenna is just so cringe and awkward... it's very uncomfortable watching her. Ubah not being on so much was a good thing. Wish they had downgraded her because she brings nothing except being abusive to the show. Erin kept talking about sex last season... almost obsessively. Usually that is a signal that all is not so rosy in a relationship.

BH has always been surface and kind of tacky. Moreso then dare I say the OC and SLC... but the OC has that soccer mom tackiness that warms my heart and SLC has that over the top quirkiness that amuses me. SLC is what BH wishes it were.. but it always come across as trying without actually just being.

For her, she had a job with MP till 1997 and it was her breakout role. I would say that's a downside lol

That ending... a nice soap opera twist that elevates it above a cute quirky cozy lawyer show

Dianne Kirkwood would have served as a good Abby replacement instead of going through the effort of creating Claudia and bringing back Anne as a full time cast member (who worked better as a character that would come and go). Sadly, as previously mentioned, she was viewed as a plot point instead of a character that you could write and keep on full time. You could tell that Lotus Point being dropped in season 10 really affected the show because losing Lotus Point took away another gathering place for all of the characters to interact at. Dianne could have been someone from Karen's past that perhaps found a way into getting a position/job at Lotus Point to stick it to Karen. She could have even been introduced to other characters and also had her back story fleshed out.

He had chemistry with everyone... He managed to be in four fairly popular couplings with Diana/e, Izzy B, Marlena, and Kristen. And he and Marlena were settling nicely into the patriarch & Matriarch of DAYS. RIP

The Heather of season 1 is a far cry from the Heather we see in season 5. I think Heather in season 1 was more her authentic self.. and the Heather we've seen since season 2 is a Heather that seems to be in on the joke. While that's an interesting choice to make, on a reality show... I want an authentic housewife. Someone like Lisa is a delulu.. but is generally harmless, that we know of. So I enjoy watching someone Lisa out and about because she's so delulu that it's enjoyable to see her interact with the world. New girls.. too soon to tell.

Minus Sheridan... she wanted to leave originally after season 13 and the show convinced her to stay one more season. If the show had opted to continue into S15, Devane/Sheridan leaving would have freed up the budget... but there would have been another revamp of the show for sure. Most likely, it would have been more like a combination of a family drama and/or legal procedural in soap opera format.

All performers struggle to play a role when they resume playing a part. Illene K, Brenda Dickson, and I believe Eileen Davidson had mentioned it took awhile to readjust playing the part after someone else had played it (Ellen Wheeler also indicated learning to replay Marley at first because of what Anne and Jensen brought to the role). A lot of times, the writers have to adjust how the character is written based on how the performer plays the part. Robin S tends to play more broad whjle Elaine P had a more sedate elitist way of playing roles. Elaine's Dorian had the potential to be lethal...while Robin's Dorian was too campy to take as a threat.

And Robyn Griggs was a recast to boot. Although I liked her on AW though... so I think maybe it was an ill written character. The show wisely moves Kevin into Leeann's orbit later in 1991. When I look at Dorian in 1991, this was as good of recast as one could have as Dorian. In fact.. it answers the question of what Robin Strasser would be like if she actually knew how to not chew scenery and acted more subtle.

Laura Bell Bundy... god.. too Broadway and OTT. There is a reason I don't see plays or musical on stage.. too OTT for me. Kimberly J Brown was the best of the Marah's... and I did like her brief return and it was a shame that the show didn't think to have her come back for more visits played by Brown. Mckeon had a snarky cynical take on Marah.. and I thought that was an element that the show didn't utilize more of.

What I thought was interesting about Tommy's blog was that he asked Richard Gollance if they intended to reunite Gary and Val...and he said 'nope..they would tease it..but ultimately wouldn't reunite them.' Claudia and Kate could have easily been cut to ensure a season 15. I recall a female POC was introduced in season 14 named Toni..and it seemed like more was planned for her. She was going to work with Mack and Peggy as an attorney and was shown in one scene on a blind date. What could have been

I decided to watch season 8 on Plex.. and I have to say it isn't as bad as people make it out to be. Anyone surprised at Jill going off the deep end at the end of season 9 shouldn't be since the groundwork was set up going all the way back to the start of season 8 with Jill declaring nothing more to her then her relationship with Gary... then she loses his baby, has to contend with Abby then Val as the 'annoying' ex wives of Gary, loses her brother Peter to murder, and continues to cling to Gary as the one constant. The only problem with the Jean Hackney story was that it dragged too much and took up most of the season. It should have been resolved earlier in the season.. and then left more episodes to deal with the fallout between Ben/Val, Laura/Greg, and Laura/Val. Karen is mighty annoying in this season.. that I wouldn't have blamed Mack if he did cheat on her with Anne.

Heather's 2nd stint on OC has been, like her acting career, lackluster. Time for her to go over to RHOBH where the witch belongs. Jenn and Shannon have carried both season 17 and 18 on their backs with little to no help from the other women.

For OC, build the show around Jenn P and Shannon.. and cut all the other women out. Cast other women that are connected to Jenn and Shannon and start anew for season 19

I think Depriest was hired more due to her previous work on Days then because she was a fit for AW. Days was more plot driven then character driven so her style of writing worked better there then it did on AW. She was the writer that paired Sam/Amanda together, plus started the Lisa/Vicky/Jamie stories. Otherwise, her stories were decent in the moment without any sort of long term payoff (sort of like modern B & B and Y & R) Her year long stint on AMC was vastly better then her two headwriting stints on AW...imho.