Soaplovers

Line delivery can sometimes influence a writer to change how they write a character. I watched clips of her first scenes as MJ..and the writing had her being strong and putting her dad in her place. However, she delivered the lines in a more passive way and her body language was also more passive. So when the writing changed for the character, she wasn't able to put in any subtext or flourishes of strength to over come it.

At the same time as the Keith story, Matt's lawsuit story was going on and gave the show press. I just watched episode 14 to 16, and the changes continue. Episode 14 focused on Matt's lawsuit and meeting his parents, Allison's guilt over being the other woman, Jane's anger at Allison for being the other woman/discounting the wife, and we had a funny side story with Rhonda's short lived new roommate. To me, the new roommate story was islanded...and seeing Carrie try to hang at Shooters with the crew would have been a gold scene. Episode 15 has Jo's arrival and she brings a fresh energy that Sandy never did...and her chemistry with Jake is apparent. And we get the start of the Jo/Allison friendship (that lasts till season 3). And we see small cracks still forming between Michael/Jane even when they help the wife of Michael's co worker. Episode 16 sheds more light on Jo, firmly establishes Billy's attraction for Allison with his dream, and also focuses nicely on Jane/Michael's marital issues bubbling under the surfsce. Lastly..Matt's story is resolved and he only shares with his fellow island mate Rhonda. Apparently..episode 17 begins Rhonda's final arc...and it's a nice soap opera arc where she gets a love interest.

Days (Dena Higley) - Night Hope - was actually a character driven story.

Except that younger man had an intensity and anger about him...so it played into Vicki's dysfunction. And didn't Ben turn out to be related to the Buchanan's? Maybe deep down, he reminded her a bit like Clint.

Had MJ #1 stayed on...the Cass crush would have played out more. In fact, I wonder how she would have played out the Mary story and the Chad story. I have a feeling she would have kept MJ's backbone

I think part of the skipped recap weeks was because the first several episodes were 'eh'. But the last recap episode (episode 13)...you heard Daphne saying she couldn't wait to see next weeks episode because of the cliffhanger (plus, her debut episode is the week after). So I have a feeling now that the show is becoming soapy, they'll be moving a bit faster with the recaps. So far, I notice that all 3 have specific roles and distinct takes in each pod cast. Laura does the scene recaps...Daphne has a more feminist take, Courtney is more about looking at all sides of a scene, while Laura falls somewhere in the middle. They have such a good rapport with one another...and they're acting like how fans acted back in the day watching the show.

This is basic Corporate 101. Co existing with your enemy for the good of the company (Shannon and Tamra). The ones that are speaking up get left in the cold (Jenn and Katie). The favored toxic employees are protected (Tamra and Heather). The follower that contributes nothing is rewarded with continued employment (Gina). The tattletale is rewarded and not demoted/fired (Emily). And a temp worker is bought back to rile feathers and be more a burden then a help (Alexis)

He did much better in comedy though I did think his Mallet was decent...at first.

I remember that ski lift location segment...it was masterfully done. Daryl should have been the killer, with the aftermath involving Frannie coming to terms with her pattern for being drawn to dangerous men..and working to over come that pattern. ATWT: Reversing Holden's memory loss in 1997 and instantly reuniting him with Lily. It reversed character growth that Lily had undertaken between 1993 to 1997 instantly. A slower build up to them reuniting would have worked better. One life to Live: This one is before my time...but according to my late mom and all of her friends...killing off Vicki's sister Meredith was a mistake. However, I think her death knocked Vicki for a loop...and she never really recovered. And we would have been robbed of good story had she lived.

ATWT: Marland redeeming Josh and pairing him with Meg...while Iva was forced to deal with him being in the family. She was a victim of abuse..and everyone always told her basically to get over it. Her marrying nice intelligent Jason and leaving Oakdale was the most healthy Iva did. GL: Nancy Curlee was a great writer..but the way she wrote Alexandra in the early 90s was one of the many reasons why McKinsey bailed (JFP also shares blame). I often wonder had Pam Long not quit..if the writing for Alexandra would have been more nuanced after the Roger/Mindy affair.

I do think Nicole got focus and layers as a character once Lemay and then Donna S were at the helm. We saw how Reginald did a number on Peter and Donna...but never saw how Nicole was affected. We got a glimpse in her last few months.

Because AMC was her baby....it was her first project and it was close to her heart. AMC: Keeping Erica emotionally immature. By 1980, she needed to have grown up by then.

This was an odd place for SopaNet to start airing AW..but I think they choose this because of Anne Heche was coming on and it was after the serial killer story. This period from mid 1987 to January 1988 will start the Lisa vs Vicky, Cass/Nicole, and Sam/Amanda. Stories that dominate in the period you are watching now. Depriest started a lot of those threads...and Donna S and Lemay carry them on.

Emily didn't have a story so she used the reunion as her audition not to be fired. If you never bring it during the season and only bring it at the reunion, you need to be fired. Emily and Gina always do this and it's annoying. Better women need to be hired. Jenn and Shannon have carried this show for two seasons. They need a major pay bump and/or center orange holder. Heather or Tamra need to be fired. Both are too toxic to stay on together. If it were me, I would toss Heather. The show ran fine during the seasons she wasn't on.

Y & R: I used to love the Williams living room. I loved Nina's 1st apartment post Phillip..which she kept until the mid 90s when she moved in with Ryan and then stayed post divorce. Days: Marlena's Penthouse & the home she/Roman had in the 80s into the 90s were my fav.

She said she adored Eileen. She said she always made an effort to show Joyce's human side...and not just be purely evil. And she did mention when her character came back in early 1980 that she wished the writers kept the element where Joyce tried to turn over a new leaf...and would sometimes struggle to maintain the changes instead of regressing her character back to her old ways.

She was the Mari Jo Mason of the 80s. Sultry, confident, and a grey character.

Writing out Hope at the end of 1983 was so weird because Long had started to write a massive War of the rose story with Hope/Alan...and seemed able to restore Hope's spirit. I always felt she would have been a pawn used by Alexandra in early 1984..and also an element of conflict between Mike and Alexandra also. Courtney would have made a good Hope. She had a certain strength and toughness that would have served Hope...and she read more mature so I could bought her being a parent to a young Alan Michael in the late 80s. I always thought not enough effort was made with exploring Alan Michael's Bauer roots. He did have bonding scenes with Ed in the 90s...but otherwise, not much was done with it. Especially given the tense history between Mike/Ed and Alan.

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.