Soaplovers

Well 4 months of the year were written by scabs... so he wants to make sure 2024 is the worst year ever all on his watch LOL

I know that people think Brooke got one over Stephanie.. but the problem with that is that she constantly was trying to get Stephanie's approval. Sheila, on the other hand, didn't care one bit for Stephanie's approval after awhile and usually got in some good retorts and also physically harmed Stephanie. India.. and to a lesser extent Sherry Stingfield's Blake were the only two characters that matched Alexandra in terms of presence and one liners.

I wish Halloway's stint was available...just to see how these tales looked on screen. The Bambi Brewster tale sounds like a bad attempt at combining a Stella Dallas type of story with a C movie film noir plotline And chaperoned dates??? @dc11786If I could guess who to write off, I think Bambi/Tony could possibly have gotten married and moved close to where his son was. I also think Mia could have been written off once the trial was resolved..as well as Elliot perhaps. And I would have found a way to bring Arlene back into the Ben/Betsy orbit...or even become a complication for Tom/Lianne. Arlene had pasts with Ben and Tom...and she could be an effective thorn in Betsy's side...since both her love and brother were taking care of Arlene. Would have been an effective use of history. Think how Guiding Light mined the Ed/Holly connection which drove Maureen/Roger crazy....the same thing could have happened with Arlene in terms of Tom and Ben.

The episodes/scenes that were uploaded on YT awhile back from the final week or so of the show really highlights that the show was in transition. Perhaps because of the timeslot change, Marcus was brought on in order to infuse the show with more youthful/modern characters/stories. You could have tell what was 1979/80 modern and what was still kind of stuck in the late 70s rut. The Betsy/Ben/Mia/Eliot (I think that was his name) seemed very melodramatic/old fashion while the Arlene story seemed right out of the 40s. You contrast that with Amy/Lianne/Kelly as more modern vibrant women of 1979/80... and then you have Bambi that I didn't see much of.. but obviously Marcus found her interesting enough to keep on. The thing about the final episode that intrigued me was the Arlene story.. because that last scene with her walking out of the room while her d bag husband begs her to stay gave me hope that maybe Marcus was going to finally give Arlene some dignity/strength after the abuse she had from Ben and then her current louse of a husband.

The timeslot change was what killed the show because it moved to a timeslot usually reserved for more youth oriented soaps (i.e Dark Shadows, Edge of Night, etc). I think had the show stayed in the timeslot it was originally in, it probably would have lasted a few more years at least. The funniest thing I can recall was that my mom used to watch LOL and actually viewed Loving as almost a replacement for Love of Life in terms of atmosphere. My thinking is that had the show lasted beyond 1980 till at least 1982/83, I do think that Van/Bruce would probably have been the tentpole characters in terms of giving advice to the other characters. And that most of the other characters would have been more youthful with an emphasis on the college and the restaurant/club continuing.

Had LOL surived past Feb 1980, I wonder how the show would have changed since the actress playing Meg was rumored to have left once her contract was up. In the few episodes online from the final weeks, there looked to be some promising characters like Liane, Dana Delaney's character, etc so I wonder if the soap would have become more an esemble instead of focused just on Van/Meg.

Guiding Light was able to kind of end on somewhat of a decent note vs As the world turns

RHOBH: Try Hard Marie should have watched previous seasons to see how newbies should come into a show. Sutton and Brandi were good examples of how to be a successful newbie because both came in as the underdog and we got to see aspects of each before they're more unlikable/human traits came into play. Garcelle took a unique approach by using most of her debut season to showcase her day to day life with her friends, sons, and her movie roles.. same with Denise in a lesser capacity. RHONY UGT: Let's sit the season 3 cast of UGT down and show them how they should have acted during their season. More fun/bonding with some drama mixed in. Kristen is so the greek chorus and the mouthpiece of the audience when it comes to Kelly. I know Brandi warned her about doing UGT.. but unlike Brandi, Kristen knows to respect peoples boundaries and knows more than the F bomb.

For me, artists like Taylor and Beyonce aren't the problem...its the obsessed fans (Swifties and Beys) that are the issue. Talk about creepy and obsessed.

The time slot was the biggest problem, as well as stations having the power not to air a show at that timeslot. Had affiliates not had so much power, The City could have worked at 3 or 3:00 PM.

1) I 100 % agree with that point. It was realistic and very real life...and sometimes there would be random scenes where 2 characters from seperate bubbles would interact and kick off a new story (Victor seeing Nikki perform at the Bayou, Ryan sitting alone at Gina's and being invited to sit with Danny/Cricket/Nina, etc). 2) His plots were slow moving, but it wasn't like being in a hamster wheel...there was movement. 3) I remember when Victor wrote his codicil that Jabot would go back to the Abbots once he passed away. Then we got Victor persumed dead and a court case in 1993...long before the Brad/Jack take over story in 1998.

Marland needed a co head writer that could infuse a canvas with emotion and life. His soaps were kind of cold and listless without any spark of life. Hence why a Marland and Pam Long collab would have worked. She could provide ideas and infuse emotion/heart into a show while Marland would have implemented and provided structure to those ideas. And the blue collar family would have heart and have distinctive personalities (she did well with the Reardons and Lewis families that Marland had created).

Annemarie makes me almost miss Rinna and even Diana... and that's sad. RHONY UGT: Watched the first episode, so far so good

The show already had an expiration date by the time Pam/Addie joined as the headwriters. It was nice that the show was able to go out with a great final episode that tied up the show nicely. Based on the article, it does sound like Pam had great ideas.. just needed someone strong to implement them.. and I do think your idea of pairing Marland and Pam would have been a winner. His shows were tightly plotted, but the day to day stuff was kind of cold and lacking warmth.. while her shows were warm/earnest and watchable.. but her plots were a little out of whack at times.

Why bother recasting Taylor with a good actress that has the essence of HT if you don't want to write for her? If Bill Bell were alive, he would have had Taylor outside of the Brooke/Ridge orbit in her own story.

Yeah, I was dreading Tad possibly coming back had the PP version of AMC continued because his character was played out and it was nice to see Dixie as a character again on her own without Tad around to overshadow her. I had a feeling had Tad come back that Dixie would have been relegated to his arm piece instead of a character in her own right with loads of potential (dealing with Billy Clyde Tuggle's return, being supportive to JR, and a potential new love interest that she had chemistry with).

I'm glad that Walsh was able to fix what Granger did with the Cooper story as much as she could in 1994.

Her take on Pamela was interesting and it's a shame that the infighting marred the character of Pamela and whatever story was planned for her character. I imagine that the turn of Pamela from an anxious recluse into an Alexis esque character was supposed to have gone slowly. In her scenes as the character, she had a certain warmth/sweetness that could make people under estimate the real lethal evil lurking within the character. Marj couldn't have played that element. While she can play anxious, she couldn't play the warm elements that Shirley was able to play.

I remember trying to get my mom to sample the soap. It was a recap episode featuring Tabitha and Timmy...and my mom sat there for the entire episode baffled. She finally said 'I don't think Im who the show is aimed at. Have fun watching it.' I liked the first few years better than the later years because there was a soap structure Reilly was following.

Bergman in his early days as Jack had the sarcastic edge of TL, but once the impulse marriage of Jack/Nikki became an actual marriage...Jack became Cliff Nelson's long lost twin. At least Brenda's Ashley looked like Eileen's Ashley and even had some of her essence...just in a softer mode. Her breakdown scenes in late 1995 were awesome...and were better acted than Eileen's. When Brenda Dickson played Jill...she was more dead pan and cold. Once Jess took over, Jill always was raging and never cool under pressure. I imagine Jill vs Nina would have gone differently had Brenda stayed in the role (They had scenes together and it was an interesting vibe).

I think an instrumental opening would have worked much better. It seemed too focused on the gimmick and hardly anytime focused on developing characters the audience would care about.

Anyway that watched the Dawn series watched to see Donna Mills in action. And the #s looked pretty good so maybe a follow up movie taking place in the summer?

The Thorn Birds is a memorable mini-series and book. We have generational trauma, forbidden love, haves vs have nots, and an examination of religion and the complexity of it. I do wonder how different Meggie would have come across if Jane Seymour (under consideration for the role) had played the part (same as the part in Hollywood Wives that was played by Stefanie Powers).

I think I recall the only reason Abby finally said something was because her nephew Michael was going to be blamed for drugs that were Olivia's and she finally decided to fess up. And if I recall, she spinned it as though she didn't say anything until she had definite proof. I even remember a scene where Val told Abby she knew she was looking for the twins and wasn't super angry with her.

Lifetime has gotten better with their V.C Andrew's adaptations...now making them limited series