Soaplovers

I'm surprised that the magazine lasted in print for as long as it did.. when the quality started to decline in the early 2000s.  And I had heard stories about the toxic office environment with Stephanie Sloane, Hinsey, etc.

The thing that really made me think that SOD was finally going to go away from being a print edition was the Locher Room interview with Sloane, Hinsey, etc... and I kept to thinking myself 'you're all living in the past and it's no wonder why SOD looks so poorly put together and a relic of the old days'.

I think that coverage in the magazine should have been more about interviews with actors on current and past soaps, more in depth opinions on the current stories on the 4 soaps, and maybe even a look back at past popular stories on current and old soaps.. maybe interview the headwriter/stars that recalled that story, etc.

I'm guessing that Lorimar/David Jacobs/CBS were aiming to make this into a Peyton Place type of primetime soap for the 80s.

Putting a show aimed at the teen/young adult crowd on Saturday night was not smart, and it didn't seem as thought there was anything that would make people want to check it out (i.e. no hook).

It seemed like the producers figured maybe there were too many characters/plots for people to keep track of and they redid the show as Kings Crossing focusing on one family moving back home to start over.  A more soapy version of the 70s show Family.

43 minutes ago, Gray Bunny said:

What a mess. I will say Brandi has a point in that bad behavior gets rewarded on these shows. Kinda icky that Bravo producers encouraged her in UGT 4 to give them another round that she gave in UGT 2 and now she's caught holding the bag on both.  She's not innocent, but she's not completely guilty. 

Yeah she is.  She's an adult and could have maybe tried a different technique in order to make UGT 4 pop.  I'm sick of viewers giving her a pass.

@Cat I do think Aylan got in her cousin's ear between filming the season and the reunion.  However, the reason Aylan works on her show is because she does show her whole life.  We saw her with her husband, with her son, and with building her modeling business. And she also had a ying to her yang (or a yang to her yin) in Stansbury.  Stansbury and Aylan are what made Dubai a good show in season 1 because you knew that both women had awesome traits.. it's just that neither one would listen to what the other was saying.   

           Sadly.. Ubah didn't have much to show nor did she find a yin for her yang.

RHONY

Ubah- she needs to talk to her cousin because she was a fail as a housewife.  And she should be mad at Sai..not Erin for the boyfriend slip and why was she joking about slapping her boyfriends?  She has the makings of an abusive partner.

Erin - she stirred the pot, was defensive, lied, and made mountains out of molehills...she's housewife material.

Jessel - she defended herself well..but I have a feeling Andy isn't too happy that she only moved to NYc for the show..if rumors are true.

Brynn- please don't have a kid...you're not mature enough to raise one.

Jenna - she needs to stand up for herself...maybe Brynn can help her with that.

Sai - backtrack queen.

I hope part 2 is better 

34 minutes ago, Cat said:

Pavit finally went to Vietnam for 30 hours! I am SO hungry watching this:

 

I hope so! I imagine if Bravo wants her back, they will also up her offer.

I think they should low ball.. she didn't deliver at all.  She brought nothing and shared almost nothing

RHONY:

Sai is deeply insecure and she lashes it out instead of actually fixing what ails her.  Rumors have come out that Sai got her current hubby while he was married to someone else.  If true, it certainly explains why she's so obsessed with Jessel/Pravits marriage.

Brynn is emotionally stunted and until she deals with her traumas and grows up.. she isn't going to be in a serious long term relationship.. though I do wonder if she really wants to be in one.. or if she thinks she should be in one.  Lastly.. I loved Nancy Drew growing up so I loved the birthday cake

Erin really didn't do too much in this episode.. and I won't ever call her a Karen since that is a derogatory term.

Jessel was basically most of the material/drama for the season so it isn't any wonder she got the chair closest to Andy at the reunion.  I can't help but like her.

Jenna was sweet to lend Jessel her apartment all in the name of supporting women.. yet is on a reality show known for tearing down other women.  Irony at it's finest.   I still think she and her son are a little too close.. it's kinda creepy.

Ubah wouldn't be so offended by the question Sai's husband asked last week if she wasn't so bothered by being single.  It's my experience that those that truly are content being single don't really care if people ask why they're single.  And she's too into herself to truly have a satisfying long term relationship.

Overall.. it was a character building season and if there is another season.. maybe the drama will be in larger doses.

My mom was a teen during DS's original run and when I started to watch the reruns on Scifi channel back in the day... she always said Angelique had those mysterious eyes that made her understand why people fell under her spell.

Even though she played Angelique most of the time, because she was bought back in different ways.. the character either remembered moving beyond her obsession with Barnabas, or was still knee deep in it.   And she played a convincing ingenue in the 1841PT story quite well.   Such sad news

10 hours ago, Cat said:

I agree with you -- this cast will be back. Including Tamra who, for a hot second, I thought was going to get Andy to fire her in the middle of reunion. This cast has gelled for the first time in years. The show is finally got back on track, and viewers were even siding with Gina by the end of reunion, which is a minor miracle in of itself. Shannon's got herself into a real-life pickle which the cameras will want to focus on next season.

Having said that, I thought Part 2 of the reunion exposed a lot of the issues which plagued OC prior to Tamra and Vicki's firings. A lot of manufactured alliances/fighting/Tamra-Terry reconciliation.

If they keep this cast then they might as well cancel the show.

I thought once Catharine came out of hiding after disguising herself as a Japanese business man was when the show couldn't figure out what to do with her.  And when the Andrew Packard/Josie arc was done...she didn't really do much for the rest of the second  season.

She, along with Madchen amick both played unexpected break out characters..and Twin Peaks wouldn't have been the same without them.

RHOC:

Heather manages to skate by yet again...same with Tamra.

I'm not blinded to Heather like most viewers are.  I sense what we see on the show is a fake Heather...and that the real Heather is more like her mom of screen.

I think everyone knows Tamra is two faced..but like Taylor Armstrong said on WWHL once...they're afraid of her (at least Gina is).

We need another cast tune up for season 18 because this cast isn't working.  I think we need to focus on one of the housewives and cast a few of their friends. 

RHONY:

I have heard rumors Sai got her current hubby by being the other women when he was married before.  Not sure if true, but could explain why she's so invested in the Pravit travel story.

Which by the way, my manager does the same thing as Pravit..and once points and perks are obtained..he and his wife go to Europe with those perks and points.

Regarding the Reunion preview, Brynn looks to finally be fiesty and has dropped the sex kitten act..for a bit.

The reboot did correct the problem of Fallon's airtime... problem was that the actress cast as Fallon was one note.  They  needed to do what the original Dynasty did when casting Fallon... cast someone against type.  PSM was known as Nancy Drew, and having her play Fallon was a genius move because people had fond memories of her from Nancy Drew.  The reboot needed to cast someone that had played a warm and likable character in the past to play Fallon.

Apparently Jacqueline Courtney was on Irna's list as well because of how she was portraying Alice in the early weeks of the show.  She had said that she had chosen to play Alice like a typical mid 60s teenager that was perky and full of energy.. which Irna didn't like.  

She claimed a director told her about this so she adjusted how she portrayed Alice and wasn't written off in those early months like a lot of other performers were.  I did see Alice in a fall 1964 episode and she seemed a bit like Rachel with liking two guys and having a party in the basement  and wondering how she would get alcohol so would have been interesting if we had seen more of that Alice in the 70s.

GL: Holly's return at the Bauer front door Christmas 1988 wishing Ed a Merry Christmas... was a great start of bringing back two popular characters from the 70s.  Her return helped usher back in Roger's return a few months later.

AMC: Jesse/Angie's return in 2008 only worked because the headwriters that ushered their return happened to know those characters from their stint head-writing Loving.

Days: Marlena's return in 1991 caused a ratings bump to #2 for a few weeks and helped usher in the next era of the show that led to Sami/Carrie/Austin, amongst other stories.

I think the reason why Sai/Erin are confused by Jessel/Pravit is because they don't know the specifics of their early relationship.  I read somewhere that Jessel and Pravit were long distance the first year or so of their relationship.. and I think sometimes you're more able to be apart or together with ease.

@Liberty CityAbe and Erin seem 'try hard' to me... in terms of their oh so active sex life.  It's been my experience that people actually having sex tend not to talk about it so much vs people that don't have as much so they talk it up.   And I actually think there is a backstory with Abe/Erin that we don't know about

RHONY:

Things I liked about the episode:

Seeing Ubah at work, talking to a restaurant about them using her hot sauces in their meals (not sure if the deal was finalized, or if it fell through).  

Jenna and her son at the eye glass boutique while she talked about how having a good relationship with her son takes away the sting of her bad relationship with her mom (though holding hands is very creepy)

Sai and her aunt had a nice scene, but I have a feeling the editors put that scene in as an emergency PR stunt to give her more layers.

Things I didn't like about the episode:

Erin/Sai's obession with Jessel's marriage.  That tells me things are not rosy in their own marriages if they're obsessed with Jessel's marriage.  

So Erin has theories on Jessel/Pravit's marriage... well Erin I have theories on your marriage to Abe.  It works both ways dear.

I'm guessing Marland kind of envisioned Lily/Holden to be a sort of Taming of the Shrew done from 80s teen perspective... spoiled rich girl meeting her match in the stable boy.

Problem was that Lily/Holden were better characters apart then when they were together.  They brought out the worst in one another... Lily being so needy/inspid while Holden being cute but dumb.   Whenever they were apart, Lily got her brains and fight back.. while Holden got his intelligence and drive back.

Lily played Martha was kind of annoying/one note by 1988/9.. that it was nice to have a break for a few years till Martha could grow up and play a more adult Lily.

However, when Holden came back in 1997... Lily regressed as a character.

1 hour ago, DramatistDreamer said:

You are definitely not alone in that regard, my friend. I am right there with you.

From a dramatic perspective, it looked like the primary soap trope of the “poor little rich girl” finds an irresistible attraction to the lower-income older, good looking guy from the margins of farm country (Luther’s Corner). Although, the writing chose to promptly forget that Dusty wasn’t exactly embedded in elite circles either. In fact, Dusty spent most of his formative years in deep instability, not even really having a stable home until John Dixon became his guardian. I wished that the writing had kept some of that fiery temperament that Dusty had  when he and Lily had first met but somehow, by the time that Lucinda’s biological daughter Sierra entered the landscape, Dusty had been made a stabilizing presence in Lily’s life to counteract the upheaval of Lily’s personal life. Then when Holden entered the canvas, the writing seemed to imbue his personality with many of the personality traits that once belonged to Dusty (restlessness, longing for something intangible, etc.), even though Holden was older and presumably more mature than Dusty.

 I do think though that had Brian Bloom remained on the show (although one cannot blame Bloom for doing what other popular soap actors did at the same time-exercise their rights to pursue other opportunities), there probably would have been many more romantic turns with Lily and Dusty, for the simple fact that Lily never could make up her mind where a romantic relationship between her and Dusty or her and Holden were concerned.

There were some episodes of 1985 before Marland took over... where Lily/Dusty had that Romeo/Juliet type of situation with Lucinda not approving of him and Shannon/Sierra being the voice of reason for both Lily and Dusty.    It was a good story already and would have been an interesting way to start pairing Lucinda and John as a couple down the road.

I much preferred Heather R's Lily over Martha's Lily... though the period between 1993 and 1997 were good years for Martha playing Lily.

On 10/4/2023 at 11:52 PM, soapfan770 said:

33 years ago:

 

 

First mistake Marland made was trying to keep Lily/Holden a thing when Heather R and Jon H did not have chemistry at all.  

RHONY:

I had a rumor that there is a casting call for NY so I assume either they're going to add someone as a new housewife or Friend of for the next season... or they're going to rotate out someone and add someone new.

OC has always rotated in and out their castmembers... and I'm hoping this remains for season 18.

RHOC:

So Jenn has a backbone at the reunion.  She did well in part 1.

Tamra needs to understand that you need to speak your mind then move on if the person you're giving advice to doesn't listen.  She was obsessed with exposing Gretchen in seasons 4 to 6 before backing off in season 7 and 8 (to a lesser extent).. and once she did that, Gretchen kind of tripped herself up.

All Tamra needs to do is stand back and watch Jenn/Ryan implode because Jenn won't listen to anyone about him. 

3 hours ago, DRW50 said:

Did Kyle say people came up to her and told her that her marriage was an inspiration?

 

I was on Facebook when the Kyle/Mauricio story broke and some people were actually commenting how their marriage was an inspiration so I'm sure people did go up to her and say that.

Loni Anderson should have been on a primetime soap.. I'm remembering her stint on Tori Spelling 'So Notorious' as her 'mom' and she could throw shade with ease.  She'll have no problems fitting in with these women.

RHOSLC:

Mary in season 1 lived in her closet either because she was guarding the skeletons hiding in her closet or she believed her closet led to the magical land of Narnia.  Since then she's had a difficult time understanding the ways of our world....production and the other women should be there for her during this trying time.

Monica... chill out sweetie...you don't need to be so thirsty.  Sometimes that can come back and haunt you.

What is little girls.... I mean.. Whitney's purpose on the show?  

Heather's daughters are more mature than Heather.

I think Angie K is Greek...but I could be wrong.

wow... Vyle Kyle finally is working for her pay check.

I wouldn't have minded Reese/Bianca breaking up because Reese is conflicted over what she wants without acting on her conflicted emotions.. and then the show could have had both Reese/Bianca grow as individual and then find their way back to one another... but Bianca sleeping with Ryan????  Yeah... plot driven dreck that didn't fit Bianca's character at all.

I remember my mom was a die hard Jesse/Angie fan in the 80s.. and she did  like the character Laura B played and also loved Shannon K as his daughter.   She thought it was a waste to bring on Laura B for such a short stint since she thought she and Tad had chemistry and it would be interesting to see a brief pairing and what that would do to Jesse (would he be happy or a bit jealous)

RHONY