Soaplovers

The only reason my mom (in her 30s) and her friends watched DM was due to Van Dyke and Victoria Rowell. She didn't think the stories were as good..but had attachments to both leads. Matlock..same thing...she had an attachment to Andy Griffith cause of the Andy Griffith show..and also grew to like his rapport with Nancy Stafford's character and later Brynn's character (cause she was from soaps). My grandpa always watched DM as well...never missed it on Fridays

Salt Lake City: Lisa is Lisa... and I accept her for who she is. Even if I didn't, she accepts herself enough for the whole world. Angie with the scroll... I think that tops Jessel's journal from RHONY... but not quite on the same level as Monique's binder on Potomac. Whitney uses her trauma sadly to play victim. Meredith is obsessed with baths... so why not have bath line. That makes more sense then Whitney having a bath line. Usually the first episode is much calmer and introspective... but I guess this show is ready to start out guns a blazing LOL

Lesa needs to be humbled on occasion so bravo Stanbury for throwing some Ladies of London moves onto the reunion. Aylan... anyone with a quick ascent will always have a quick fall... human nature. For season 3, maybe downgrade Sara to friend status..and add someone new. I always love a housewife show that never keeps the same cast more then one or two seasons. Jersey, Potomac, and Atlanta wouldn't be in slumps if production would actually remove or downgrade housewives more often.

I do agree Jessica had a different vibe in season 1 then in later seasons. It also sounded like there was less room for collobaration in the early years...and that might have been why Jean turned down the part.

From what I understood about the Mckinnon backstory was that Mary was thought to be dead.. and that MJ basically became the mother figure for her younger siblings.. at least when MJ # 1 was playing the role.. and it appeared as though Cheryl had no memory of Mary.. so she was basically parented by her dad.. and MJ to a lesser extent. Instead of the boring romance with Scott... I think the more interesting story/focus for Cheryl could have been adjusting to having a mom long dead come back into the picture.. and feeling conflicted. And she could have conflicted over whether to go to Mary or to MJ for advice. If viewers tuned into AW in 1988 for the first time.. they would have little to no idea that Mary had come back from the dead a year or so before that. It would have appeared that Vince/Mary had both raised Cheryl since birth.. not that Mary had just come back from the dead on Cheryl was about 18. Lost potential for character development..imho

The actress said the new people in charge (Kobe) wanted to move the show away from the Gothic elements that the Dobsons/Marland had created and enhanced. Oddly, Pam Long was able to write gothic scenes elements quite well in her first stint. Lesley Ann's death was so eerie and dark...plus the Tony/Annabelle cottage story had gothic elements in it at first. Reva and the Lewis family was as southern gothic as you could get in 1983/84.

Potomac Wendy has always given off an air of insecurity. And she obviously compensates with her talking about her four degrees, being the youngest female professor at John Hopkins, etc. I want to say to her 'Show us, don't tell us'. I still remember the way she spoke to the designer on the Project Runway special really showed the kind of person she was... someone thinking they were superior to everyone. And the kicker was that she was vague about what she wanted in her outfit.. then got mad when the designer didn't do what she wanted.

You just described why Dr Nicole is good for the show.. but also is too good for the show. She doesn't need the show... and I think taking a season off is probably good for her. Lord knows the other women would pounce on her since Housewives tend to lack empathy. Look at what happened to Vanderpump during her final season. I have someone I actively dislike on each of the housewife shows.... Larsa is that person for Miami. You don't need to stir up trouble... you have Adriana for that job.. imho

I remember when Val was pregnant with the twins being so excited about Nashville Junction.. and being disappointed to find out that the book was basically a flop. And also I recall that once she did the Verna story/twins were returned.. that sales for Nashville Junction increased. I do recall in season 8 at the start of the season that she was supposed to be writing a screenplay... and I don't know if it was an adaptation of Capricorn Crude.. or if it was a new body of work. That whole arc in season 8 would have been a better story arc then the Jean Hackney story...imho. Or maybe Val could have been hired to write Sumner's book in season 8 instead of season 13.. while Ben is working on a story to expose him on Empire Valley dealings. This way there would have been organic conflict between Val/Ben due to being on opposing ends as they work to repair the marriage after the Cathy affair and Gary emotional affair. And Laura/Val's friendship could still have suffered tension as well.

I don't blame her if she isn't back... she is too good for the show and these women. Meanwhile.. you have vile trash like Larsa that continue to come back when she should be canceled

I could have seen her as Maxie moreso then LuLu... tbh. Lulu was more likable when Rylan was playing her, and Havins does have a warm aura to her so maybe she'll be good as Lulu instead of as Arabella on AMC.

JR having a long lost son was so blah....why not a long lost daughter that was more like dear ole dad?

Season 10, KLM is mentioned because Olivia's main love Harold mentions to Abby that he got a job there so it existed...just off screen. I wondered what happened to the cable station that Abby was running. Did Gary and her decide in the divorce to sell it...or was someone else in charge. That stopped being featured after season 8...and Abby was back at Lotus Point in season 9/early season 10 full time.

I liked that show...but I was a very small child that loved anything set in a city.

Her best scene was the final scene in season 3 episode 3...when she had Karen Erin Molly...she was subdued and was note perfect. Also, season 3 was Michele Lee's best season acting wise...less Broadway, more subtle acting. Shame season 4 she was back to chewing scenery.

I think the concept should have been Scenes from a Marriage X3.. with a divorced individual as the 4th element. TPTB did correct that somewhat with introducing Abby in season 2 as the recent divorcee.. and linking her as the younger sister of one of the married couples. I don't know what the plans were for the original 4th couple... but I hoped that there wasn't overlap between that couple and the newlywed couple (Wards).

I'm wondering if the original concept of the show (presented pre-Dallas) had the Wards as the new couple moving onto Seaview Circle... and once the show was refashioned as a spin-off.. a lot of the elements meant for the Wards ended up going to the Ewings.

I think the Wards could have been the open marriage/ key party type of people on Seaview Circle. The show did start in 1979.. near the end of the free love of the 70s.. and it would have been a good way to make them different then the Ewings.

Reed, as played by Ashley Judd, had her moments where she was rebellious.. but she generally loved both of her parents. In fact, her version of Reed was a good contrast to Alex where Alex would be more over the top while Reed had a more low key dry wit when interacting with her mom. The final Reed, who was famous for playing Amy Fisher in one of the tv movies that came out, was a completely different character. Not only did she not act anything like the Reed of past... but there was a rewrite on her relationship with Alex.. as well as with her cousin Cat.

The original concept of Charley was that she was put up for adoption by her real mom and didn't grow up with a family. I think she was even in foster care so she had to rely on herself in order to survive. So when she came onto the show, she was guarded and unwilling to open herself up to these half-sisters. And over time she did grow to accept them and even develop a bond with them. Her part in the Georgie therapy story was the best part of that horrible story.. and I liked the stories she had in season 5 with finding out her real father did love her, and her realizing that working in a high end hospital doesn't matter if people can't utilize those resources. Then she was recast with Kelley.. and it was almost like a completely different character. She was bubbly, hung out with the sisters at Sweet Sixteen, and you would have assumed she had been raised by the family since birth. It was too jarring of a change..imho

Co-sign on the Tim Daley eye candy for sure The thing about Alan is that he had a good idea during the Pandemic to host a YT live podcast/interview style show featuring celebrities from defunct soap operas. It provided people that were dealing with the pandemic a chance to remember their fav soaps, performers, and to catch up on what they were up to. However, over time.. I noticed that he wasn't improving and once people got over the newness of the concept.. they started to notice his short comings. He is too stuck on the 'interview 101' questions.. and seems unable to go with the flow.. or know when to be quiet if the guest is getting to an interesting point of a story, etc. To me, his episodes feel stilted and not natural at all. I wonder if maybe he should stick to producing it and having someone else handle the hosting duties? An example of a recent podcast/interview show that I enjoyed was the one hosted by the late Shannen Dohery. I listened to the one where she had Katherine Heigl on... and it felt like less like an interview and more about two people just having a conversation. It just flowed effortlessly to me.

Kenny/Ginger had two arcs going into season 3 with becoming first time parents.. and also Ginger realizing that she wanted more then just to be a stay at home mom. I think the mini arc in episode 11 and 12 with Kenny/Ginger was the most effort the writers put into the couple that season with Lillimae used as comic relief with her constantly bugging Kenny to represent her. After season 3 episode 12, it seemed as though Kenny/Ginger were more extras then actual characters on the show. I think partly due to the more soapy/exciting elements going on with Abby/Gary/Val, Richard/Laura, and Karen's grief. It reminded me of Melrose Place season 1 where Rhonda and Matt were put on the sideline when that show went more soapy though at least in that case, Rhonda was given a C story that gave her a happy ending.

Probably the back order that was most likely meant for Second Chances

Even the self contained episodes of season 3 still had the threads of the ongoing plotlines interwoven in some respects. Episode 13 with Karen's friend was self contained..yet you had movement in the Laura/Richard story, the Fairgates still grieving Sid, the tension between Abby/Val, and was the seed that was planted to explain where Diana ends up when she leaves in early season 6. Episode 14 with Cricket was self contained...but also still focused on Sid being grieved, exposed the divide between Gary/Val in terms of communication with Gary/Abby having a great rapport...plus Abby/Val clashing over Cricket at the hospital after Olivia is hurt. And you also see Val typing away with Lillimae snooping on what she's writing (which carries over into the next episode).

The one thing I noticed about the first 3.5 seasons before the show went full on soap was that Val was a lot more reasonable and intelligent. Once Cijji was killed, so was Val's dignity because all of a sudden she became all about Gary and how he was her addiction.. even though she lived a productive life during the times she and he were not together.