Soaplovers

Michele lee did one of those pioneer of tv interviews..and she did say because of the success of Dallas, and to a lesser extent Dynasty...the show had to go full on soap to keep up. She did give an interesting take in the interview where she said that Dynasty/Dallas involved people larger in life that people couldn't relate to..but loved to watch. She said Knots Landing involved people you could relate to..middle and upper middle class people. She also said the characters on KL would most likely be home watching Dynasty for escapism Also, Donna Mills did an interview as well for Pioneer of tv..and she did say the final season she was on where she hinted she knew all that Abby could do was done and it was harder to keep her human.

What they're doing with the Primetime Soap channel sounds like what the Hit Sitcoms channel is doing with their three entries (Perfect Strangers, Growing Pains, and Drew Carey). That channel will air the first three or four seasons of Growing Pains then switch to the first three or four seasons of Perfect Strangers.. then to Drew Carey. Once that rotation is complete, it will start over with airing the remaining parts of Growing Pains, Perfect Strangers, etc.

Last night, I watched their Halloween episode that aired 'Lost Souls' and I loved that there was such a supernatural presence in all three of the main stories. Usually a show will do a Halloween episode as a gimmick, but this episode used those elements to continue developing the characters. 1st main story: Alex feeling guilt over the death of the homeless person and being literally haunted by him. I liked that this also served as an excellent showcase for how different Alex/Reed were as mother and daughter. Even the ending when Alex does provide the tombstone with his name, Reed was such a realist that she kind of dismissed it. 2nd main story: Frankie/Mitch spending the night in the haunted house. This served to continue developing Frankie's character with her constantly fearing not being perfect stemming from childhood. She was afraid that she would fail as a mom, wife, housekeeper, etc.. and it did show that of the four of them.. she was the one that thought the family was too enmeshed in her life (and it does foreshadow her eventually moving to Japan and then later coming back as an 'outsider'). I loved the warmth between her and the ghost.. plus the ghost of her former teacher. 3rd main story: The least supernatural.. but served to develop Simon's character. I think that the show always was a bit offbeat and whimsical, but there were some real intense scenes and situations that balanced out the offbeat and whimsical. I would say this was a family primetime soap opera, but done in a very 90s offbeat sort of way.

Season 8 were the Lathams trying to do what the previous show runners did with less success. Season 9 were the Lathan realizing they needed to be themselves and starting changes with some success. Season 10 up till the last third was pretty good because the Jill story was in high gear, plus Abby's brief turn at being nice before her last scheme comes into play. Season 11 was a rebuilding year with Season 12 having a strong momentum

There were rumors during the final season of a couple of spin off ideas.. 1 involving Natalie.. and 2 involving Blair. The one Blair spin off idea that didn't actually become a backdoor pilot was the one where she was working at the law office with her former professor. She was Elle Woods before there was an Elle Woods and that would been the spin off to work. I don't think Blair as headmistress/owener of Eastland would have worked unless you had Jo on as a teacher. That would have been hilarious.

A few things gave it away that season 13 had new showrunners. - When Val comes back to her house after being forced to move back there after the ranch is taken from Gary/Val.. we got the flashback to when Val first came to Seaview Circle with Richard.. and then in the present day, Alex comes in and the scene is almost recreated. - Alex deciding to unveil the portrait of Claudia/Greg's mom (I assume the pic was of a young Ava Gardner).. with the whole cul da sec there for a gathering at Claudia's house. It harkened back to the early seasons of the show. Seeing the final scenes of the final episode, a memory unlocked where I remember a pre-teen me sitting with my late mom and her saying 'The show has come full circle' when she saw Abby pulling up and saying Claudia's house was on the market.. with Val welcoming Abby home then taking Gary away..while Karen has a befuddled look on her face before resuming what she was doing. The show started with new arrivals on Seaview CIrcle (Gary/Val).. and ended with new arrivals on the Seaview Circle (the newlywed couple moving into Laura/the Williams old house).

I would agree today's single/child-free 30/40-somethings don't socialize with their suburban neighbors, but if you live on a street and/or cul de sac with families that have kids around the same age... they all still socialize. And I know several peers of mine that live in the Chicago burbs with kids.. that talk all about their bar beques, neighborhood block parties, etc. So it would have to be families with school age children around the same age for it to sort of work.

When rewatching the first half of season 13...I saw so much potential and wished that Ann Marcus had come on to help the new team. Tidal Energy vs Sumner Group could have been a good umbrella story. I liked that this move allowed Paige to interact with Gary, and to a lesser extent Val. But execution was off and it needed someone with soap writing experience to help flesh out these ideas. Gary/Val disagreeing about Tidel energy harkened back to the Methanel enngine era in season 3. Their conflict was organic and in character for both. Seeing Val being maternal with Kate was in character...and Kate/Gary having a nice rapport in their scenes are building blocks to the final season.

In this day and age, kids are moving back in with their parents along with their kids. It would be interesting to see Val as a grandmother and in the Lillimae position. And perhaps Betsy is somewhat well adjusted..but maybe one of her kids reminds Val of their grandpa Gary. And instead of alcohol, maybe the addiction would be perscription pills.

I think the Paula/Anne scene just before Paula's departure was foreshadowing in a weird way. If I recall, the final season with Anne involved her in an unhappy marriage to Greg.. and going to a plastic surgeon because she felt she needed to look younger. From what I recall, wasn't Teri Austin playing Gary's mystery woman during the end of season 10? If so, that could be why she was better off screen LOL I saw Peyser in other roles, and I thought she did a good job.. so I think it was a combination of an underwritten role and perhaps the primetime soap format wasn't a fit for Peyser.

I do think Abby's final season story was out of character for her. I noticed that Donna Mills really leaned into her facial expressions in order to give Abby some depth and humanity. During the Ted/Abby scenes in the final few episodes, I took note of Abby's facial expressions.. and you could see there was fear on her face as Ted was confessing. I think Donna Mills did that to show that even though Abby was expressing that a line had been crossed, she still wanted to show that Abby knew lines were being crossed by her facial expressions. Same with the final scene between Abby/Olivia where you saw Abby's expression after leaving Olivia's apartment.. where she felt sorrow/sadness after cutting her daughter off. I think she did the right thing cutting Olivia off, and I also like that her early working class life was mentioned. It showed that Abby didn't want her daughter to struggle like she had, but realized deep down that Olivia needed to struggle in order to understand what she was saying. I did like the final exchange between Greg/Abby where they both realized that their 'marriage' lacked communication. Even though he and Paige were good together.. his true love was Laura.

Agree, but I feel she is only revealing all of this in an attempt to take away from her and her nasty-ness.

I would have either Val or Karen still living on the Cul da sec.. and one of their children and/or grandchildren decide to move in with them due to the economic situation going. As Val or Karen sit back, they see how their kids/grandkids fare with the neighbors that are in various states of life stages (gay couple, newlyweds given the house by a wealthy family member, an immigrant couple that has obtained enough wealth to live on Seaview Circle, etc). And it would be interesting to see how Karen, a liberal feminist of the 70s/80s, would react to a younger more progressive feminist.

I do agree that Latham didn't understand really what made Abby, Val, nor Laura tick. Val wasn't a village idiot, nor a victim, in the way that Latham wrote her. If anything.. Val was a survivor and truly the little engine that could... and she was perceptive and could read people. Abby would have figured out a way to do the right thing without implicating herself nor revealing her part in the event happening. Laura.. she was too layered of a character for someone basic like Latham to tackle. Although her character has a large impact on the canvas all the way through the reunion movie.

If we're talking Brandi Glanville, then why doesn't that predator go away?

I kind of like the early season version of the theme.. where it has a light disco beat I have to say season 4 is probably my favorite because it combines the best elements of season 1 to 3 and the best elements of the soap opera format. Lathams seemed more into surface instead of substance.. which seemed to fit with the late 80s/early 90s vibe going on in the world.

Sorry... Gary was just a sperm donor. He hadn't proven he was mature enough at that time to be a dad.

You would think he worked his way up to success.. that he would use his platform to help other up and coming writers/producers. Shonda Rhimes and Aaron Spelling used their production companies to showcase up and coming talent. With that said, like you said, the key will be execution of the ideas and who MVJ hires as her breakdown and script writers will be make or break

So I wasn't a fan of Monica and I was glad the show tossed her ass out there. However, it seems as though the newbies are just as toxic/vile as Monica.. so I'm not sure what the producers/Bravo goal was for season 5.. because if they were hoping to not be toxic.. I don't think they succeeded.

I viewed Val being naive at the start of Knots Landing as not out of character. She was in a new state and different way of life. While she could read JR and others like him in good Ole Texas, California was a whole different ballpark... and I think she didn't suss out Abby right away because she was usually around men moreso then women in Dallas. And women operate differently then men.. especially back in the late 70s/early 80s. The one thing I noticed in the few episodes I watched in season 7 vs season 6 is how the show is presented Ben/Val. In Season 6, Ben/Val were slanted as 'end-game'.. with Val seeing Ben and gettting her memory back, Gary telling Val that they tried marriage and didn't work, and also when Cathy is singing 'We Belong'... the focus was on Ben/Val.. while Gary/Abby were happily in love as they found out they inherited Empire Valley. In Season 7, Ben is presented as put out that Val is putting the twins over him.. and Gary is being presented as this 'wonderful father figure' for the twins. It's sickening because Gary is a loser... hot.. but still a loser. Also, I wonder how different the Joshua/Cathy story would have gone if the same creative team were in place in season 7 vs in season 6. It totally switched gears and became more violent quickly in season 7

The Val baby story was an example of character over plot.. because Val had her first baby taken from her by JR.. that having it happened for a 2nd time, and no one believing her was the straw that broke the camels back. The little touches of Abby telling Val about the babies harkens back to when Val showed a letter from Olivia that told Abby where her children were in season 3. And then the country music playing during the car ride... chef's kiss

I think Holly and Reva worked when they interacted since both were more of a man's woman...and were different enough from one another that they wouldn't be threatened by the other. Plus, both actresses kept wanting to work with one another going back to the late 80s.

Val and Ben are so good together! I said what I said...she was too good for Gary. Downside of the show becoming a primetime soap was the 'endgame' couple. Gary being 'shot' did seem a perfect cliffhanger. Season 3 and 4 each had 22 episodes so it makes sense season 5 also was to have 22 episodes. Writers nowadays crying that plotting a 13 episode season is hard make me laugh. KL in season 4 proved 22 episodes could be high quality with little to no filler. Even season 5 with the added 3 episodes was also well plotted and paced nicely. You had the Chip/Diana story winding down, Wolfbridge building all season, Val becoming pregnant by Gary, Gary/Abby's stormy new marriage, Karen's pill addiction story, and Greg/Laura becoming a couple were all plotted well and paced to run at different speeds. Modern day writers could learn from 70s/80s/90s primetime soaps/dramas.

She was the final girl in Friday the 13th: Jason Lives in the mid 80s. A few reaction channels have remarked that her performance was very showy and almost hyper.. compared with the acting of some of the other people in the movie. Problem was that Kelly/Morgan weren't an interesting couple.. no matter who was playing Morgan. I didn't think the two had chemistry at all. And Geraldine Court... she was very lackluster on GL. Although I guess she would have been a decent Ann.. one that was blind to her husband's infidelity with the newscaster. Also.. Marland seemed super toxic and controlling. He should have just came up with the overall story/outlines.. and let his writer write the scripts.

Season 5 is really where insufferable Karen really comes into play. She was more well rounded in the first four seasons and also had a sense of humor.. which goes away after season 4. Come to think of it.. Is Karen the Karen of all Karens?