Soaplovers

I think in season 5, the show took away Diana's layers and her intelligence all for the sake of a plot. Diana in the earlier seasons could be a know it all, but she also had vulnerabilities that were mined effectively. She called out Karen in the same way as Olivia called out Abby. And she was as close to Abby as Olivia was to Karen. Out of three Fairgate kids, Diana was the only one that had the ability to handle stories as a lead. Eric was never given the chance..and Michael never really functioned as more then supporting even when he had stories of his own.

It sounds like a few factors caused the decline of quality of EON starting in late 1981/early 1982. 1) Lakin M becoming so popular forced Slesar to change his original plan in order to keep him on. IMHO, Sky and Raven were the downfall of the show long term. 2) It sounded like the Nora Fulton Story either dragged on, or lost some of the impact that it started with... and having Nicole as a suspect seemed predictable. 3) I think having both April and Draper leaving in the summer of 1981 also caused some issues because they were still knee deep in the Emily story and the story ended suddenly. Emily's last day is saying they hadn't seen the last of her, and then she never appeared again. No way she would have accepted defeat since that girl was crazy obsessed with Draper and I have a feeling more was planned. So I think it was a combination of the 1981 writer strike, plus Draper/April planning to leave the show that caused that story to be deep-sixed. 4) Slesar was probably burned out. 15 years is a long time to headwrite a show and he probably was also struggling to make the show more action oriented with Teen and Young love being the centerpiece.

It seemed just as Sheldon got the hang of writing a soap, the end was near. The last four or five months really showed a more interconnected show...with the Liz character being connected to other long term characters...and the Logan locked door mystery was well done as well.

As usual, Gina isn't featured so time to take her orange away.

Clifton Davis... I remember him as the handsome minister on Amen back in the day. I like that the cast is a mix of veterans and newbies

I think a few factors worked against the Calla/Jesse combination from working: 1) Beth's cousin was originally named India Raines and set to hit in the fall of 1984.. but the character was eventually split into two characters (India Von Haiken and Roxie Shayne). So by the time the show did end up creating Beth's cousin.. any potential interesting personality traits were already given to India and Roxie. 2) I had heard a rumor that the actress hired to play Calla was supposed to have been a recast of Trish Lewis.. but at the last second, changed to Calla.. Lillian's sister. 3) Pam Long, who created both characters, left the show shortly after they came onto the canvas.. so who knows what she would have done had she not left as headwriter.

Ross being saddled with Calla in 1986 seemed almost like a demotion...sort of like how Nurse Katie got saddled with bumbling Louise in 1984 as her version of a demotion. Regarding Hope...I think she was written off too quickly at the end of 1983..when she could have been effective as a pawn used by Alexandra in an effort at revenge against Alan...and would have been an interesting element of conflict between Mike and Alexandra. I would have written Hope off at the end of 1984 instead of at the end of 1983..imho. Vanessa and Ross settled into a nice friendship with affection. Blake was jealous of it in the 90s...and instead of Ben Warren...maybe a Ross/Vanessa/Matt/Blake thing could have been focused on...with Dinah focused on creating trouble so her real parents could reunite.

Rose Deville on YR: She appeared in two separate stints on the show in 1980 and 1986/7. Her terrorizing Nikki and Nina led to long term effects on the show. Nikki's marriage to Greg ended leading her to eventually strip and meet Victor..and the rest is history. Nina lost her baby, was befriended by Cricket, and then Nina stole Phillip by becoming pregnant and creating the next Chancellor generation...plus help reignite the Jill/Katherine feud by making them join forces against Nina.

General Hospital: Dominique.. a character that was on for barely two years (and only a year if you only count Shell D's stint). Her death affected Scotty, Mac, Lucy, and ended up resulting in the birth of Serena, and the introductions of two half sisters Danielle and Katherine. And the effects of her character spanned onto a spinoff Port Charles

I think the problem was that the show was trying to sell Lane and Field as an endgame couple, but viewers ended up being more interested in Constance and her pursuits instead of Lane.

Rhonda should have survived into season 2 when the show was soapy, but still had that realistic element of the first part of season 1. She could have been preparing for her marriage, and maybe her soon to be hubby is hurt in the car crash that Michael/Kimberly is in... and once Rhonda finds out about Michael being the cause.. she could have gone all crazy on his ass. I don't know if she could have been a fit once the show goes OTT in season 3 or not without becoming the damsal in distress like Jo becomes.. or her character changes drastically in order to fit into the OTT landscape. I do agree that the podcast needs to share episode recaps weekly in addition to the co star interviews. The way they're going.. it'll be Valentine's Day before we get to Heather's first episode on the show.

I was a pre-teen/early teen during the Brenda era of 90210, and I will admit to briefly joining the I hate Brenda crowd until my mom told me that Shannen looked like she was in pain and was lashing out from a place of pain, not because she was a horrible person. 90210 and Charmed were better when Shannen was on the show.. she was able to play a good character.. but was never a Mary Sue nor insipid. Brenda and Pru were good people with good hearts, but were not afraid to push back when attacked. And I was one of the few that thought both Kelly and Brenda were too good for Dylan. RHONY: Brynn is trying too hard.

Oddly, I think Vanessa became more well rounded and less of a character trope once Marland left. I liked the Taming of the Shrew story between Vanessa and Billy...and I do agree she became too watered down by 1984. I think the pill addiction story was a good idea..but it should have been the result of Vanessa repressing her true self and taking pills to cope. I think her return in 1989 was perfect. She was a combination of the Vanessa of the Marland era and the Vanessa of the Long era. That Vanessa stays around till the start of Matessa. It was in character for Vanessa to enjoy a fling...but out of character to marry her younger lover.

I wonder if the Mona story would have involved Quint's departure tragically had Marland not left? I know that Marland quit when that story was getting under way... and the brief writing teams that came in before Pam Long took over.. had to figure out how to write/conclude that story.

I did recent rewatch of season 8, and I was surprised that I found more to like about the season then not. - Jill's character gets development and is more then just a plot point/obstacle (which she was in season 7 with first Karen/Mac and later Gary/Abby). She's a grey character... and that's a difficult character to write for.. hence why writers struggled to write Laura since she also was a grey character. - The Jean Hackney story went on too long, it should have been resolved earlier in the season because the follow up episodes after that story ended involved Laura/Val's friendship suffering, Val/Greg actually sharing scenes, Ben's mental decline with the roles reversed between Val/Ben. All elements that needed more time to be developed/played out.

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.