Soaplovers

I don't know...I think Pam Long would have found a character like Diane interesting to write...but I suspect Gail Kobe would have found a way to drive her off the show. Carrie was a poorly written and developed character...she would be known as a propped character. Jane Elliot was not made to play a nice character.

I can suss out the weakness in the day to day scripts that plagued all of Marland's run shows (too much talking/exposition). but they appear not to be so noticeable in these March 1980 episodes... probably because Marland was carrying out the Dobson stories. Killing off Diane Ballard was a boneheaded move of Marland's.

Potomac: Since Mia might escape the axe sadly...who would you all decide to fire and/or demote? Miami: @NothinButAttitude I did sample part 1 of Mamacita just to see if I would like the vibe and I was intrigued. Though I dont like shows that keep casts in tact so I hope there will be a slight cast shift in season 7. What did scare me about this episode is that I agreed with Larsa. Why have a reminder to check in on your boyfriend and then tell him she has a reminder to call and ask about his feelings. I think this will be an unpopular opinion..but I have no sympathy for Lisa. Seeing how she is with her new man, I can see why Lenny checked out and cheated. She knew the score when getting with Lenny and is now crying foul when the hourglass on her being a trophy wife ran out. And deep down, I think she had the kids as insurance to ensure he keep money coming. Lenny needs to make sure stipulations are in place to ensure that money is used for the kids only...not for Lisa to use for instacart, etc. And Ill have to watch KiKi being honest with Lisa about her trauma dumping.

Bond's Jill had a confidence about her...a hunger to be taken serious. She didn't have the softness that Brenda pre 1980 nor Deborah Adair had. Her Jill seemed more a cross of Adair's Jill and Jess Walton's Jill

@Cat @NothinButAttitudeI'd watch Miami...but only if Larsa is fired. I just cant look at her

Best & Worst of the Housewives 2023 BEST RETURN: Tamra Judge, RHOC : Tamra is a rat, but she's our rat and she does know how to stir a pot better then anyone else I've seen. WORST RETURN: Dorinda RHUGT. There is a reason she was put on pause and her two seasons on the UGT really highlight that she's just a mean person.. rather she's sober or drunk. BEST FRIEND OF: Jenn Fessler, RHONJ. I wish I could have said Taylor Armstrong, but that wasn't to be. Jenn was just quirky, wacky, and kind of had realistic responses to the drama surrounding her. BEST EXIT (Tie): Lisa Rinna, RHOBH and the OG cast of RHONY: It was time for Lisa to go because she'd told her story and stirred the pot one too many times. Sutton has nicely inherited the pot stirring duties and is doing beautifully thus far. It was time for the NY housewives to take a pause because it was tired and needed a rest... plus Leah/Eboni killed it. I think just featuring the OG on UGT is a beautiful compromise. BEST NEWCOMER: Jenn RHOC. I was so happy to see the franchise go back to basics when looking for a new housewife and cast a Lauri Waring lookalike.. only without her talent for finding a fat wallet. She has her own Slade (Ryan), kids, an ex, and she was the latest blonde haired target of Tamra... yet she had a backbone and didn't let Tamra get the best of her. WORST NEWCOMER: Annemarie Wiley, RHOBH. I nickname her Try Hard Marie because she's coming in too quickly before we have a chance to get to know her. And the fact she's friends with Vyle Kyle and is acting like her bodyguard tells me all I need to know. BEST TREND: Guest Appearances. The OC used to do return visits from the housewives of the past.. and I hope they one day do that again (The season 4 finale party was the gold standard for guest appearances on a housewife show). I did like Camille, Denise, and Kim coming back for visits and recreating the dinner from hell from season 1. WORST TREND: Lack of cast replacement. When a cast combination doesn't work, you don't maintain that combination into a second season. I think one of the things I love about the OC is that they've never had the same cast from season to season.. there is always a cast change here and there though I wish Gina/Emily would go from OC, Robyn/Mia would leave Potomac, and Marlo/Sanja would say bye bye on Atlanta. They've given their audition and people have said 'time to go'. MOST CRINGEWORTHY MOMENT: Kyle and Morgan RHOBH. Kyle has always been second fiddle... she's the Robyn Dixon of BH. Seeing her and Morgan together is just so cringe because we know Kyle will tire of Morgan and toss her aside when a shiny new person comes into view. BEST FEUD: Tamra vs. Jenn, RHOC. I was intrigued with this feud because Tamra always targets the new 'hottie" (Gretchen, Alexis, Lizzie) while the other girls would be driven to tears or be unable to fight back verbally. Jenn was refreshing because she would push back and it led to a few meltdowns from Tamra and it made Jenn one of the better newbies in a long time on the OC. WORST FEUD: Whitney vs. Everyone, RHSLC. Why is Whitney still on the show? Her antics helped her hubby get fired from his job, and was put out when he actually found a new job... and she whines and makes a mountain out of a molehill. BEST ALLIANCE: Garcelle and Sutton’s friendship, RHOBH. The Odd Couple comes to mind and I love it. WORST ALLIANCES: The Green Eyed Bitches, RHOP. I used to love Gizelle/Robyn in the earlier seasons when they were fun messy... but now they've become so mean. BEST QUEEN OF THEIR CITY: No one. I prefer ensemble shows and I think having someone be 'queen' makes them immune to being replaced when sometimes replacing them might give a show a new lease on life. BEST QUEEN OF THE FORMER OG’s: LVP, RHOBH. I do miss Jackie and Joan Collin's younger sister.. who made the first few seasons so funny with her quirkiness and bemusement at Americans in Beverly Hills... and could stir a few pots. BEST SHOW: Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. So far, this has been a good season.. and next season, I would cut loose Dorit or Ericka in order to keep the show from getting stale/toxic. MOST IMPROVED SHOW: Real Housewives of Orange County. Dubrow becoming an anti-heroine, Tamra back to stirring trouble, and a newbie named Jenn has helped the show regain some lost ground after the disasters of Brownie, Elizabeth (who I liked), Jenn 1, and Noella. MOST TOXIC SHOW: Real Housewives of Potomac. h I see people remark how this show has maintained 4 of their OGs (Gizelle, Robyn, Karen, and Ashley) and make it seem like a good thing. It isn't a good thing because you need to change up a cast and Robyn/Ashley have worn out their welcome.. and Mia should have been fired for having Patricia Thomas (Peter Thomas) appear on Potomac and get involved in girl drama last season. MOST DISAPPOINTING SHOW: Real Housewives of Atlanta. Last season the cast combination did not work and fans were saying this.. but the producers decided to keep the same cast for a 2nd season and are surprised that the show is still not working. Definition of insanity is doing the same thing twice and expecting a different outcome the 2nd time.

Are the scab written episodes finally airing? I ask because I decided to randomly watch today's episode and I was surprised at how decent it was. We had a bit of camp with Leo, a bit of an 80s Days soap story with Patch/John/Constatine, and we had a psychological look into Nicole's psych with Marlena as therapist. It was a balanced episode

It sounds as thought Upton was the one to remove Arlene from the Ben/Betsy orbit.. and instead of keeping her with Tom.. decided to put her in the Ian/Ray/Bambi orbit. To your point before, I viewed the very last scene of Arlene walking out of the room as Ray says 'he cares' as a symbol that she was finally through with Ray. It sounded like Marcus had a multi-part story planned for Ray/Arlene starting with the November plane crash, and the Feb 1st episode signaled the start of the next chapter/part in their story.

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.