Soaplovers

I would have liked the Blair buying Eastland concept if Jo was the teacher working there..and the two having to be co Mrs Garrett's.

I remember the show started hinting at pairing Drew and J Chamberlain...but Ethan Erickson quit. regarding Cain... I think Pam Long had created his character with the intention of pairing him with Reva. However, she left the writing team in early 1986 for maternity leave and then was on SFT. So I don't know if Cain would have ended up psycho...or if she would have used him as a worthy obstacle once Josh came back in late 1986. Mr Lindsey: Holly's 3rd husband during her Switzerland years. Blake and him didn't get along..and the marriage caused friction between Holly and Blake. Shame no writers thought to bring him on during the late 90s/early 2000s for Holly.

KL should have made her a mini Abby in training. Imagine Karen raising a mini Abby (Diana) and Abby raising a mini Karen (Olivia). The idea was touched on some with Diana going to Abby for advice/comfort...while Olivia would go to Val and, to a lesser extent, Karen. I'm glad the show remembered Olivia and Val's bond...where Olivia went to Val for advice on her marriage. A small scene..but showed how close the two were even if not in scenes as much in later seasons. I also liked seeing the day to day things all the characters did...Lilimae and Val at the grocery store...Abby/Gary taking Olivia and Brian to a fast food restaurant. Also one time Abby knew how to make fries..and Greg asked how she learned it..and she said 'I worked at a fast food restaurant' when I was young. Showing Abby still had a bit of working class in her. Those little moments made them more relatable. Could you imagine Blake or Krystal at a fast food restaurant..or Alexis at the supermarket?

OC: Heather isn't perfect, in fact, she's probably the most insecure housewife I've ever seen. And she covers her insecurities by looking down on others. She isn't any better than Ryne. And I wonder if Ryne shuts down because of the way his wife drinks. She seems emotionally abusive and holds her profession/education over his head. If the roles were reversed, people would be all on her side. Double standard. NJ Can I say team no one? I wouldn't be friends with any of them....well except Jackie (only to see Evan in a swimsuit).

Bet these women wished Meredith were still not engaging lol

RHOSLC With Mary now gone, I'm curious who the next target will be. And I believe that Mary had the same function on SLC that Kim Richards had on BH....and her absence will create a void like Kim's did on BH.

Agree. Look at how Abby managed to convince her ex she was in love with him, and then filed a court order barring him from being around the kids. All because he took her kids and hurt her. You know she would done anything to get her kids back...and I think had she been in Alexis' shoes...she would have married someone with as much power and wealth as Blake in order to get her kids back.

Not only did Paper Dolls get placed in a shaky timeslot, it was also preempted due to the World Series. Dallas or Knots Landing could handle that..but a new soap needs to be on every week in order to get people hooked. @te.I would have dropped the Harper angle since the wealthy family angle was already handled. Dack Rambo could have been Wesley looking for a model for his cosmetics company, Blair could have still been the 'aging' model, and the red headed lawyer could have been legal counsel for Racine's agency..and her boyfriend could have still done the story on Racine.

You needed someone strong willed to lift the weak writing for Frankie....like how Linda Evan's did that for Krystle

Out of the short-lived 80s primetime soaps I've seen.. I actually think Paper Dolls had a lot of potential with an appealing anti-heroine lead Morgan Fairchild. Had the show just focused on the modeling agency, models, and the models parents.. it would have done much better. Berrenger's had a bad timeslot, and too many characters. I believe this was a Lynn Latham written show? Bare Essence, I wish I could see because I loved the mini series... but it sounds like it isn't just set in NYC.. but also in Europe. It sounds like the tv show didn't focus on the parts that made the mini series so good.

I think they could have made Sable and Frankie former step sisters, and it would have been more believable. From watching season 2, it seemed like the show was finding its way. Sable was being written as more sympathic, while I liked that the show kind of found its Claudia in Adrienne. I do wonder how Fallon's experience with the UFO would have been resolved in season 3. My guess would have been more conflict between Jeff/Fallon with him assuming it was due to her past issues with the tumor... with Miles stepping in to comfort Fallon.

I always thought Donna going back to David made her look dumb. I remember season 1 was all social issues of the week. However, I loved the slumber party episode. Good character developing..and accidental foreshadowing of Kelly/Brenda/Dylan

I think Marcia Cross was too tied to the Pierce Lawton story. Was her character gone before Marcus took over? I don't even recall if much info was divulged about her character or not. She would have been a better option for the stories given to Kate's roommate Vanessa..imho

What I mean by Val restoration was that after the crappy stories provided to her in season 11 and 12, the waitress subplot was the first step in restoring her character. Like @Khansaid.. it was a happy accident that Romano and co had no idea about Val's previous history and they actually ended up writing her in character. Thus, when Ann Marcus took over in the final stretch of season 13, Val was ready to take on a new direction story wise and didn't need to be repaired.

Ironically John Romano and company were able to restore Val. While her teaching Lynette, the waitress, how to read was that early 90s preachy element.. it was in character for Val to take wayward woman under her wing (Annie, Olivia, Abby.. at first). Plus, she and Gary were fighting about the Tidal Wave project with him mortaging the ranch while she was being the cautious voice of reason. And she also kind of took Kate under her wing... providing her with a maternal figure that she was lacking from Claudia. I think Ann Marcus' coming back in those final episodes of season 13 kind of reset Claudia's story with Alex starting to date Claudia's daughter Kate... and she/Alex were kind of blackmailing one another. And I liked the Anne/Claudia/Greg/Nick story from season 14 as well. However, I think the taint of Claudia's season 12 and early season 13 stories made her a poor Abby replacement. Abby wanted money/power.. but she did love her children... which we couldn't say the same about Claudia.

Do you guys think the writers of season 13 and 14 were able to salvage Claudia?

Thinking about it, Lotus Point was Abby's baby in season 5. She was going to build a huge complex without telling Gary, plus not tell Karen she inherited half the property when Sid died. At the start of season 6, Gary took over how it would run and included Karen. Hence the parks,.cabin, etc. So I could see Abby waiting for an opportunity to take back what was hers..hence the Murkame scam. And when she knew she would get caught, she donated it as a preserve to cover her tracks. I understand the motivation for her cutting Gary and Karen out of it..but the execution risked putting Abby into one note villain territory. For all we know, Claudia showed what probably would have happened had Donna Mills not left when she did.

Cybill would have been good. Problem was that CBS skewed older, and they would have gone for this had it been at 9 PM instead of 8 PM...plus had a better mix of older and younger characters. The Linda/Allen/Nikki story was actually the strongest story and most realistic. Older man/younger woman, loveless marriage between older man/older woman, etc. I think the Stephanie/Mark characters were the problem. I also think Gerald Mcraney was a good hire..and he and Lauren Hutton had a good rapport.

The start of the end of KL. Laura kept Abby in check, Abby kept Karen in check, while neither Laura nor Abby enabled Val like Karen did. This final scene clearly showed Abby would always come out on top. She wasn't OTT like Alexis nor Angela nor had a one track mind like JR. She was someone you might run into in your day to day life. And she was one that schemed and worked her way to the top coming from a working class family.

I actually thought tying Storm into the story was smart because of his unresolved issues with his father. And he and Margo had a good rapport. I'm wondering if the actor playing Storm opted to leave hence why he was quickly removed from the story and we ended up with Mick coming onto the scene.

I think all the shows should do test filming to see if there is chemistry, etc.

So has anyone heard the rumor about NY doing a test filming later this year..like they tried with Dallas? Rumor is Sonja is out because she lives in Florida now, Leah isn't included, and Eboni quit. So it'll be centered around Luann and Ramona..and will have friends of theirs join. And the producers only want Bethenny back..but she costs too much. Not sure if this is true, or just an idea. I think OC should have done test filming for season 16..imho

Only positives of that character was him in a speedo...and Lucy getting drunk and telling him off.

1. I do agree that Jill's demise should have started the slow process of reuniting Gary and Val. I never thought Gary ever earned Val at all. He was into rescuing her, but he didn't value her. 2. The one or two positive things of the bad 1st half of season 13 were Gary and Val fighting over him mortgaging the ranch for the Tidal Waves project..since it was in character and showed that the issues that caused their break up in season 3/4 were still apparent (he was a risk taker, she was too cautious). Also, Val and Kate started becoming close at the start of season 13...so it made sense once Val passed away that Gary would turn to Kate. And Val's speech about Kate being the one she would want Gary to move on with..could have worked in a dream sequence between Gary and Val.

At my job, we had an in person fiscal year kick off earlier this month. Masks weren't required, but we had to provide proof of a negative Covid test before being allowed to attend. I think it's a perfect compromise that if everyone entering is negative then masks shouldn't be mandated. And we're entering year 3 of the pandemic, which should be the final stretch of it.. if we compare it to the 1918 Flu Pandemic.. which took 3 years before it became endemic (sp?). And when Covid started circulating back in early 2020, experts had predicted the majority of the world would get exposed to it before it settled into Endemic status.. but that masks, capacity limits, and lockdowns (which should have been short-term) would give health places time to prepare, scientists time to determine what causes transmission of Covid, and for places to get themselves ready once things opened back up (i.e. safety precautions, etc).