Soaplovers

She and Dorit did not click so I could see them revisiting their initial dislike of one another. @AntoyneKaren can go back to dragging Ashley now

Larsa needs to go. Adriana and Alexia can do the villianess thing with likable moments better than Larsa. I would add someone new in order to keep the dynamic from growing stale.

Gizelle without Robyn will be interesting to see.

It was a crime that Jackee kind of got shoehorned into the Sandra Clarke role. Her role in this mini series showed she could play the dramatic beats as well as the comedic ones. She did end up doing a tv movie where she played dual roles...and was believable. The 1990s had mini series, but they seemed to be either two or three parts. Anyone remember The Ten Kingdoms from the early 2000s?

Potomac: Great reunion looks. Karen's situation isn't a surprise. I have always viewed her as extremely insecure and dealing with a lot of demons. Generally people that are overly confident and lean into labeling themselves, such as a 'Grand Dame' are trying to compensate for some deep rooted insecurity. I hope she gets help. Beverly Hills: Ann Marie not coming back is not a surprise. Mid season new arrivals have it difficult already because you don't usually get time to slowly be worked into the show. Now...we need Ericka, Dorit or Kyle to also be shown the door next.

I always chalked it up to the mental breakdown she had, her stay in a mental hospital, and never really dealing with the trauma of Steve cheating on her and never really looking for her too much. The show dropped the ball not having the breakdown and stay in a mental hospital as a way to explain the change in Carolee.

St Elsewhere was one step away from being a primetime soap. I viewed it as such because even some of the patient stories were multi-episodes.

I wonder if the original intention was to have Hotel be a hybrid soap/anthology show... but when Bette Davis wasn't able to continue on.. the show got reworked into more an anthology show.. with a few soapy elements thrown in later on the show. I guess the slow burn love story with Christine and Peter was one of the long running threads on the show.. but the hotel take over attempt didn't happen till much later. A question I have is this... were there any dramas in the 80s or 90s that you could have see becoming more primetime soapish?

Irna Phillips had envisioned Mary to be like Nancy..only with more shades of grey. She had lost her importance when Liz was reintroduced and given more position with Pat, Russ, and Alice then Mary was.

RHOM Reunion: Maybe because I'm an adult... but the sight of grown women acting like toddler doesn't really appeal to me. It's actually not a good look for women, and allowing Nepo Baby to speak on the women during International Womens month is very counter productive... especially when he lacks the charisma and talent of his father. I know all of you are happy with the current cast of Miami... but I think it is time for Larsa to go. Lisa and Adriana can easily slip into the villianess mode and also add a newbie next season as well. I'm not surprised most of the other women had no idea about Kiki and her life... because she doesn't trauma dump nor do the women view her as a real friend. After all, she's just a 'friend of'.. not an actual co worker (in their eyes anyway). RHOBH reunion Kyle is a Robyn Dixon with some Gizelle mixed in... she isn't lead character at all. Why else did she bring on both Kim and Kathy this season... because she knows she isn't the main attraction. Kim had a few memes/gifs done about her during her brief cameo this season... and Kathy was at the reunion and getting more attention then Kyle. On the surface, Sutton buying a horse and going on blind dates isn't front burner material... but she presented a lot of context that helped make those events more interesting. She talked of her past marriage, how she was the typical hostess wife, how she had to find herself after the divorce, and then realized that she was ultra controlling as a defense mechanism from her years being controlled by her ex. Lots of subtext and backstory.. which makes people want to watch and root for you. Kyle lacks that ability to offer context and backstory.. she comes across as fake and performative... she lacks the over the top quirkiness of Kathy nor the little engine that could element of Kim... nor is as funny/witty as LVP was during her time on the show.

Now with streaming and other online platforms, affiliates will have less power in terms of a soap making it or not. Affiliates in the past caused the declines/endings of numerous soaps: Edge of Night Love of Life Search for tomorrow Ryan's Hope Generations Loving Port Charles Those are just off the top of my head. I also think Days doing well on Peacock has helped a bit with networks being interested in soap development becoming a thing again. I wonder if it will be a half hour or hour long soap...and I assume filming would be either in Calfornia or even Atlanta perhaps.

I'm hoping if this is successful that P & G looks into reviving one or two of their properties (Edge of Night would be my choice for a revivial).

JG was never a strong headwriter...his strength was in character driven scenes and making others creative ideas work within a soap opera format. At the same time, who else would want the job? Anyone that would have been good has either retired or passed away. Still...4 more years will ensure the genre survives well into the late 2020s

Why reward Porsha with a spot back on RHOA? She needs to be walking around with a scarlet letter on her...I would be the letter and it stands for Idiot. Miami: I know all of you want the cast to remain the same...but this combination is a bit stale. Drop Larsa, upgrade Kiki...and hire a new friend of in order to keep things from getting stale.

Vanessa was a good actress, but she played Rhonda as too earnest and optimistic. The show needed to have cast someone like the other Vanessa Williams for someone bitchy/sexy.. or even a Robyn Givens type for the character of Rhonda to have survived into season 2. I do recall Rae Dawn Chong appeared for two episodes as Rhonda's brief roommate from hell.. and I think she would have fit better on the show once it went soapy in season 2.

Where is the tribute episode for her?

No one believed Val when she said her twins were alive...she was dismissed so she eventually retreated into becoming Verna and went to start a new life. It seemed like a nice peaceful life...closer to what she might have lived in her waitressing years post being kicked off the ranch and pre Dallas. Lastly...during the Jill saga...Val could have pointed out no one believed her about her babies so why doubt her about Jill. To me...Karen was kind of a lousy friend to Val...Laura would have believed her I think about Jill.

I did a rewatch of some of 1996..and it wasn't as bad as I thought. Lily was written quite well..and I thought there was some strong Hughes family scenes..and a brief revival of Kim vs Susan when it came to Dani. Part of the problem was a disconnect between the Kasnoffs and the rest of the show.

Beverly Hills: Kyle as the OG is why BH will never be a break out show. She's a Robyn Dixon. My theory on why Kyle seems hateful to Sutton post filming is because Sutton was the one people focused on during the season...a season Vyle Kyle was sure would be her season with the marriage breakdown. I hate to say it, but he seems a lot happier now that they're separated then when they were married..while she seems just as bitter and jealous as she's always been. I think the show needs a new production team..or editors.. because it seems as though the show was setting up Flopmarie to fail to catch on. Some are saying she's a one and done...but we were stuck with Teddi on here for many seasons..and OC can't seem to fire Gina even though she's a flop..so who knows.

Sally in the 90s on B&B didn't have her weight be the focus. She had so many layers to her character. I doubt any modern day soap opera writer could do anything like that

Part of the problem on all these shows are the forced group gatherings. No need for Vegas or California mini trips..imho. Instead they could have shown more scenes of Kyle with Morgan & Mo, more scenes of Flopmarie with her family/job, Crystal with her life, etc. The stories that were brewing (Kyle's marriage, Garcelle and her sons, Sutton moving on from her marriage at last, Flormarie's introduction, and Dorit's odd marriage dynamics) could have been shown with more scenes.

Kyle's marriage issues is supposed to be the A story... but I've been more interested in Sutton's activities then I've been in Kyle's A story... and I think that's the root cause of Kyle being such a bitch to Sutton. Pure jealousy. Kyle is the Robyn Dixon of RHOBH and she should be happy to be a supporting player.

Making Reva a love goddess was out of character... Reva was a character that got along better with men then she did with women. Her platonic friendships with Phillip and Fletcher in the 80s proved that. Plus, Reva was an 80s character type that didn't carry over well into the 90s or 2000s.

Not a serial killer story...but it's a medical story turned mystery where we see the why and how it was done so we were wondering how the other characters would find out. Her stint was quite good.

I wouldn't be against Kenya/Porsha as the headliners of RHOA if they leaned more in on the friend part of frienmies instead of the enemy part.