wingwalker

Him staying on as EP has to be temporary. If he is unfit to be host, then he shouldn't be Executive Producer either.

Wow. He needs to be removed pending an investigation. Between this and the Jeopardy drama, not a great week for SONY.

I am saddened, especially for the women who did get to live better lives for 20 years, that'll now likely come to an end, but this was inevitable. It didn't matter how much longer we were going to stay there. Afghanistan isn't a real country and you can't forcibly turn it into one. It was originally created as a buffer zone between British Raj (India and Pakistan) and Russian Empire. Since then, it was invaded twice by British, the Russians and us. There is no national identity or patriotism and we did almost nothing in the 20 years we were there to create one. People think of themselves citizens of the tribes or region they live in first. Is this exit messy? Yes, but I'm not sure exactly what people expected. I'm not sure how much damage it'll do politically in the long term either. Sadly most Americans stop caring long ago and have wanted us out for a while. Multiple Presidents deserve blame. Bush for taking his eye off the ball and getting us into Iraq, Obama for doubling down on Afghanistan instead of withdrawing, Trump for making a terrible peace deal with the Taliban.

I haven't watched DAYS in forever and wasn't originally planning on watching the spin-off either, but this news has got me excited. I am so thrilled they FINALLY recast Sonny. Zack Tinker and Robert Gorrie have been my two dream Sonny recasts for a while, so I am very happy DAYS chose one of them. I am also glad Greg is coming back as Leo. I didn't think we'd see him again. I have to imagine Will and NuSonny will eventually end up on the main show. Seems odd to recast for a 5 episodes series, they could have just cut them out instead.

I stopped watching Holby a few years ago, because the quality of the show got so bad. Ratings wise, the show hasn't been doing well either, so it's not a complete surprise, but it's still shocking. Even though it's not exactly the same, feels almost like when CBS announced Guiding Light got axed. The dam has now been broken. If you can axe a 23 year old Holby, you can EastEnders. I've long felt that the UK soaps have been largely on the same path as ours, just on a 10-15 year delay. While I don't think Casualty or EastEnders will get cancelled right away, those two shows should consider this an early warning to get their [!@#$%^&*] together. I don't have much confidence in a new northern soap. Corrie and Emmerdale viewers aren't going to switch. Plus their existing main soap, EastEnders is in terrible shape, perhaps fix that fist.

Yeah, from a writing standpoint, EastEnders no longer any better than the US soaps. Only thing it's has over them is they haven't done a bunch of return from the dead stories. The show is making the exact same mistakes the US ones did. It's very sad to watch. They really missed the mark on this serial killer story. First, it's offensive that this what a domestic violence story has been turned into. Second, the actor is terrible and the character isn't that interesting. Only positive aspect is the actor is very attractive, which isn't reason enough to keep him around. It does feel like killing off Kush was a breaking point for many people. Hopefully it is also the breaking point for the BBC brass. Jon Sen and Kate Oates tenure is the equivalent of Chuck Pratt at All My Children. Both are destroyed and dismantled the core of the show. I just hope it's not too late for EastEnders to turn it around.

Good. I was really worried how the jury would rule. I hope he rots in hell.

I sure hope so. I don't see how the BBC can continue to ignore how much terrible shape the show is in. Both Jon Sen and Kate Oates need to go, but even just getting rid of Jon Sen would be a massive improvement.

The current state of LGBTQ characters on soaps is pretty dire and in many ways, feels worse now than 5 or 10 years ago. I think a lot of it is the soaps are so risk averse now. The ratings have fallen so low, they are afraid to offend anyone. Not that I necessarily agree with that logic, but I think that's how a lot of soap execs feel. I do have to give DAYS some credit though, they reversed their decision to kill off Will when a lot of other soaps wouldn't have and just kept him dead. Plus, even though Sonny and Will is one of the most boring gay couples ever, overall DAYS, kept them on longer than just about any other soap has with their gay characters, and they did get a lot of story for several years, especially early on. As for the UK Soaps, Hollyoaks does get a praise for the number of LGBTQ characters is has, something that few other soaps have. The problem is, that soap isn't for everyone and bit of an acquired taste. There also seems to be some unwritten rule that every gay character has to sleep with the god awful Ste at some point. EastEnders I thought did well with their gay couple, Ben and Callum at first and are still one of the shows main leads. The only ones that get more airtime then they do are Mick and Linda. The problem is that show is abysmally bad across the board. I don't think I've seen a soap this bad since Chuck Pratt's tenure at All My Children.

I was just going to say the same thing. They need to fix the mess that's EastEnders first.

Sharon Osbourne was disgusting today. I get Piers Morgan is her friend, but he's not worth going to bat for. Good on Sheryl.

I noticed that too. I wonder how of that support is based mostly on Queen Elizabeth's likability. I do wonder once she passes away, how long it'll continue to survive. At the very least I can see some commonwealth countries going separate ways.

Here's a link to a Snap YouGov Poll, pretty interesting to see the difference between the US and UK. Polar opposite reactions. https://today.yougov.com/topics/entertainment/articles-reports/2021/03/08/meghan-markle-prince-harry-oprah-interview-poll

UK, don't send him back here! We don't want him either! LOL

Maybe I'm just too cynical, but that statement is a giant nothing burger. "Handling it privately" sounds an awful lot like sweeping it under the rug and do nothing.

So in general, I usually don't pay that close attention to the Royal Family. To me, I think having a monarchy is archaic and serve no purpose is a modern society. When Harry and Meghan announced they were going to marry, I didn't start to pay attention a but, but I was curious how an bi-racial American as member of Royal Family would play out. I watched the interview, because Meghan has garnered both compassion and sympathy from me for the way she was treated by the British Press and how the Royal Family let it happen, which was vile IMO. I'm glad Harry and Meghan got out and escaped that toxic environment. I do wonder how it will play out across the pond, once the full interview airs tonight. Here in the US, both media and public seem to be very much on Meghan and Harry's side. I have doubts it will be the same the UK.

OLTL is the one I'd like the most to come back. I miss it the most of all the soaps. I also agree about all the Edge of Night comments. It's way before my time, but considering how popular crime dramas have always been going back to Law & Order, plus the current true crime popularity, I'm surprised it hasn't been rebooted in some way 10-15 years ago.

When we lost GL, ATWT, AMC and OLTL in quick succession I didn't think any of them would still be on in 2021 except for maybe B&B. I can see them all moving to solely streaming. I've felt for a while now that if given the proper chance, soaps as a genre could thrive on streaming. Steaming's main business model is to gain and keep subscribers, to do that you need a steady stream of content. Few types of shows do that better than soaps.

For me, the main one is the Young and the Restless. Chuck Pratt's reign of terror forced me to stop watching. Even LML and end of MAB weren't as bad as Pratt. When Sally Sussman and Kay Alden came back, I was very excited and felt I was getting exactly I wanted, two people that trained under Bell and could restore that essence of the show, but update it to modern day. When they left or got fired, that's when I realized that the Y&R I want never going to happen. So I asked myself, can I enjoy the show for what it is today? That answer I eventually came to was no. Since then, I haven't watched Y&R.

That is so true. I barely watch as is. Most of the time I either skip the entire episode or am fast forwarding though 90% of the episodes I do watch. I am close to giving up all together. I personally haven't seen a soap this bad since Chuck Pratt's tenure at Young & Restless that forced to me stop watching.

Round 2 indeed Toups! I also need it to go higher to break even.

I recently re-watched the Kyle and Fish story. Luke & Noah may get credit for being the first major gay male couple and Will & Sonny may be the longest lasting, but for me, even though their time was brief, Kyle and Fish was the best. The show was building something special. Such a shame they chickened out and ended them prematurely. I will always be mad about that, but I am grateful they did get a happy ending (though rushed).

Guiding Light and All My Children I never tried watching, so General Hospital would fit the bill for me. I've tried multiple times to get into it and the only time I was interested was when Ron C first took over and brought on some OLTL characters. I was a big OLTL fan. Once they lost the rights to the OLTL characters, I lost interest. For Non-American soaps, Hollyoaks. Every time I hear high praise for it, I check it out, but I never last. I just don't get it. I find just about every character on that show unlikable.

I could maybe understand why Jon Sen is still there, if there was a "Chuck Pratt" like effect going where despite the show being awful the ratings are really good, but the ratings are just as bad as the writing is. I just don't get it. Why would you let him continue to destroy the show when your spending millions on a new set?

The show is dreadful. I've largely stopped watching. Every story is nearly unwatchable. Jon Sen has got to go. I don't know if the BBC doesn't want to fire him in the middle of a pandemic or what's the deal, but they need to make a change soon.