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Emma1420

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Posts posted by Emma1420

  1. It doesn't surprise me.  The moment SBu came back I thought the writing was on the wall.  I'm surprised he said this long. 

     

    I thought that BM was miscast as Jason, but I like they wrote for Jason better when he was playing the role.  His version of Jason was fallible, and so I found him more watchable, probably because his version of Jason wasn't stuck up Sonny and Carly's asses.

     

    I do think he'll go back to Y&R though at some point.  I feel bad for JT.  Because unlike SBu, I don't think the door is open for JT to come back to GH (if he wanted that).

  2. 51 minutes ago, AbcNbc247 said:

    Exactly! There's way too many people in the cast. Frank's like a bus driver who keeps letting people on the bus even though there's no more room. And everyone there's struggling for space lol.

    They should've just paired Lulu with Chet.

    Him and BM are the same age.

     

    The cast is far too bloated.  There are 30+ contract characters with another 30 or so heavily recurring.  It's ridiculous, particularly when there are contract characters who are put in scenes with literally no dialog.

     

    I don't mind a love interest being cast for Lulu, but GH needs to have a one in one out rule.  And FV needs to be limited to ex-OLTL hire a year.

     

    In terms of ML and BM, I  think BM looks older.  But, if they are going to recast Drew, they should find an actor who looks closer in age to RH and SBu.  if Drew is supposed to be Jason's twin and Franco's foster brother, it would be good to find an actor who at least looks about their ages.

  3. If BM is out, then it doesn't surprise me.  Once SBu came back as Jason, I thought the writing was on the wall.  Especially, once they ended Drew/Sam so quickly without providing Drew another viable love interest.

     

    And to be honest, I felt like BM was miscast as Jason, and Drew didn't seem to have much personality.  So I don't think it will be any great loss to the canvas. I just wish he could take Kim with him.

     

    I will be curious to see what BM will do next.  It sounds like he doesn't want to sign a long-term contract with any soap, and I think that is probably a major obstacle for any of the other shows.  I could see him going back to Y&R as Billy.  

     

    In terms of EPs, I have a lot of issues with FV, but I prefer him over JFP.   At least on FV's GH, I see characters like Scott, Bobbie, Kevin, Felicia, Mac, etc., semi-regularly, and that FV doesn't have an issue with KMc and others coming back for visits.

  4. 1 minute ago, vetsoapfan said:

     

    After TPTB stupidly killed off Maureen, the Bauer family was left without its matriarch, its heart. At that point, Hope Bauer was desperately needed as the matriarch-in-training. Alas, the show just did not care.

     


    They really didn't.  And I never understood why.  They just didn't seem to care about the Bauers at all.  Alan Michael was only allowed to be a Spaulding, except for the 4th of July.  Michelle eventually turned into a mob appendage, and RIck was only really permitted to be Phillip's BFF.

  5. On 6/9/2019 at 11:33 AM, I Am A Swede said:

     

    Amen and Hallelujah!!

    There used to be a time when a criminal record was actually seen as something bad in Beckindale. But ever since the Dingles turned up (what a sad, sad day that was) that has changed. Someone like Cain would never have been tolerated in the old days, but now he's the leading man.... *yuck*

     

    I like Cain, but it's a little bit ridiculous the amount of stuff he's gotten away with. However, I find his spawn Debi to be far far worse.  Debi's list of victim's is longer.  Everyone she screws dies or in poor old Andy's case has to leave town indefinitely.  She may not pull the trigger, so to speak, but she causes them all to go mad.  I still blame her, in part, for Gennie dying.

     

     

  6. 23 hours ago, vetsoapfan said:

     

    Jack and Lainie and all those "fake" Bauers alienated me. I was furious that TPTB did not mine the show's rich history for REAL Bauer family members. They could have had Paul Kinkaid reappear and prove to be Bill Bauer's offspring. After leaving Springfield in 1974, Meta could have adopted an orphaned teen and later had grandchildren. Rita Stapleton could have turned up with Ed's son. Mike, Hope, or Trudy could have had additional children. Sloppy and indifferent writing and producing, all around.

     

    My biggest gripe was that Hope never returned to the canvas.  Her absence, especially in the late 80's and 90's, was a little ridiculous.   

  7. 1 hour ago, vetsoapfan said:

     

    Back in the day, soaps would often focus on star-crossed romances that made the audience get teary-eyed day after day, week after week, month after month...BUT! We knew the score. We knew that no matter how torturous the road became for the characters we loved, in the end they would be blessed with a happy ending/fairy-tale wedding. So there was always hope.

     

    Soaps today are relentlessly grim, with toxic and degenerate characters committing heinous crimes and never paying the consequences. There's dark, repugnant violence and little light, little hope. Personally, instead of tuning in every day anticipating that longed-for happy ending, I tend to tune OUT because everything is so unpleasant and so hopeless, and so few of my favorite characters remain.

     

    Today's PTB do not understand the soap genre or how to produce it in such a way as to satisfy an audience. I do not see that changing any time soon, alas.

     

    I don't think that so many UK soaps were as focused on star-crossed lovers like US or Aussie soaps.  But, I do think they used to do a better job of balancing out the dark gritty stuff with the more light hearted/comedic stuff.  And I always felt like the UK soaps were much better about keeping couples together for several years before breaking them up.   I like many of the darker and gritter storylines.  But, I need them to be balanced out, and I get tired of seeing certain characters rotate through partners the way that they do (David and Debi are prime examples).

     

     

     

     

  8. 21 hours ago, vetsoapfan said:

     

    I have always maintained that a soap's audience remains loyal primarily because of characters whom they care for; beloved characters are even more important to a soap than its plots. If a soap goes through periods of weak writing, fans are more likely to keep tuning in if they see familiar faces. But if a show guts its cast of the characters whom the audience wants to watch AND the writing is weak as well, viewers will revolt and drift away. Far too many core Emmerdalians have left the series, for one reason or another, and tepid writing combined with the endless Dingle fever which has infected the serial for so long...egads! I'm surprised the show survives at all.

     

    I've never minded the Dingles.  Well I like Chas and Cain, and Marlon doesn't annoy me too much.  The rest of them I could do without.   I agree though that there is a general over emphasis on their stories at the expense of other character's stories.  To me the two most compelling stories on the show right now are the aftermath of Vic's rape and then the grooming stuff with Jacob and Maya.   However, they are both dark stories, and I feel like the show really needs something happier to balance those out. And killing off Lisa and having episode after episode of Dingles crying about her death (when let's be fair outside of Belle, I didn't think majority of them gave a toss about Lisa when she was alive).  And outside of Chas & Paddy and their pregnancy, everything else seems pretty depressing.

     

    And if I wanted to watch something endlessly depressing I'll watch Eastenders instead.

  9. 16 hours ago, BetterForgotten said:

    And Vinnie Morrison was played by FOJ Kevin McClatchy.

     

    It's sad to think that whole story is incredibly timely in today's word, yet no soap today would even dare to tell it. 

     

    Most soaps today are so terrified of losing viewers that they won't dare do anything contemporary.   Plus a good story needs to be well paced, and that is something that all four of the remaining shows struggle with.

     

    I mean Emmerdale in the UK has a storyline about a teacher who groomed and abused one of her students and then a date rape story that has resulted in a pregnancy (and a rape that at least at this point isn't being used as a catalyst for a romantic pairing).   I don't believe there is one US soap that has the guts or ability to tell those type of stories anymore.

  10. 1 hour ago, DramatistDreamer said:

     

    Only recently, did I find out the Melina Kanakaredes' middle name is Eleni!  MK speaks fluent Greek so when she'd be murmuring in Greek, it was authentic-- she put so much of herself into that character!

     

    I do agree that they had no interest in the character after MK's departure, which is a real shame but had they looked hard enough, perhaps they could have found someone who at least had great chemistry with Frank Dicopoulos.  The recast might not have been as perfect as MK but I got the distinct impression that they were going for just another woman, who kind of had ethnic features with long dark hair.  They were focused on the wrong aspects.  Perhaps they believed that lightning could not have struck twice, so they gave up trying altogether.

     

    I think that role was pretty close to impossible to recast.  But, I do agree finding a decent actress who had great chemistry with Frank Dicopoulos or even Rick Hearst would have helped.  The problem with the recast wasn't necessarily that she was a bad actress, she seemed fine, she just lack chemistry with her co-stars and was kind of bland.

     

    And at least for me, I'll take an average or even mediocre actor that can generate good chemistry and has some spark on screen over better actors who can't do that.  I get over a crappy performance from time-to-time, I can't get over being boring.   I think that is why Marcy Walker's Tangie always fell so flat to me.  She was so bland and lacked chemistry with pretty much everyone, even though I though MW was a good actress.

     

     

  11. 12 minutes ago, Khan said:

     

    Well, he was on GH, briefly, as Justus Ward; but, as usual, JFP and her HW, Robert Guza, Jr., wasted him.

     

    I didn't realize that.  But, not shocking as Guza refused to really write for any African American character.  Mind you he also had zero interest in writing for any character not named Luke, Sonny, Jason, or Carly.

     

     

     

     

  12. David and Gilly Grant were fantastic characters, and Monti Sharp had so much chemistry with everyone.    I'm a little surprised that he didn't end up on another soap because he was such a great soap actor.  He was a good actor in general, but not all good actors are good soap actors.

     

    The casting in the early 90's especially for the under 30 crowd was pretty terrific.  Monti Sharp, Melissa Hayden, Nia Long, Rick Hearst, Melina Kanakarede, etc.

     

    Even Jocelyn Seagraves and Morgan Englund, who I thought were weaker actors, generally had good chemistry with their fellow actors, and worked well on the canvas.

     

    I think the fact that GL had such a long string of great casting made the rotating Hart's stick out more.   I never understood why they recast Eleni.  They should have killed off that character when Melina Kanakarede left.   Because the writers clearly had no real interest in the character once MK left.  

  13. On 6/1/2019 at 9:00 PM, victoria foxton said:

    I loved Petronia Paley as snobby Vivian. A shame her one big story was Vivian starting up an affair with Griffin. So Gilly wouldn't unknowing sleep with her own father. 

     

     

     

    I really liked Vivian as well.  I think she, like many characters in 1996, were a victim of the rotating writers and change in executive producers.   It stunk because I thought she was complicated, and while i think she was judgmental and at times pretty horrible, I understood why she was the way that she was.

     

    But, then 1996 was a mess in general.  And the execution of stories was subpar at best.  

  14. 2 hours ago, robbwolff said:

     

    To be fair, it was really Doug Marland who introduced the Lewis family. Josh and Trish arrived when Marland was head writer. And Billy and HB were both mentioned by name when Marland was writing. I'm not sure how much of Marland's vision for Billy and HB that Long used. I do remember Billy mentioning his ex-wife Joanna in the summer of 1983. When the character finally showed up that fall, Joanna's named had been changed to Reva.

     

    I tend to forget about Marland's contribution to the Lewis's.  Although I also don't think Marland was just like most HW.  He had his own pets and created a bunch of new characters.  It's just that generally I tended to like his new characters.   Mostly, because I felt like under Long's first tenure that it GL was becoming like Texas in Springfield.

  15. 1 hour ago, vetsoapfan said:

     

    I'd say that 1984 to 1988 were painful to watch. The entire series was decimated, gutted, and dumbed down.

     

     

    During her second reign, Long was surrounded by people who understood TGL. I'm sure that helped minimize her weaknesses and maximize her strengths. Her first stint at TGL did show heart and some potential, but the massacre of the longtime characters,  the insanely stupid sci-fi/supernatural stories, and the unnecessary trashing of history outweighed the good, IMHO.

     

    Plus, she inflicted Meva Shayme on us, LOL, for which I have never forgiven her.

     

    I haven't seen much of the mid-80's and so I can't comment on that, but 87 & 88 were terrible.  

     

    And I wasn't a huge fan of Long. because she introduced not only Reva, but also Harley.  And l hated Harley.  However, she also introduced the Lewis family, and I thought they were a massive airtime suck.  The best part of the Reva free years was that the airtime wealth was spread more evenly.  

     

    But, mostly she was responsible for Harley.  To be fair, I tolerated Harley during her first run (and I even liked Mallet with her), but her second run made me want to punch her daily.

     

  16. 13 hours ago, BetterForgotten said:

    I still hold Roger and Holly's returns to GL as the best character returns on a soap opera I've ever seen since my time watching soaps. Talk about breathing new life into a show (at least for a few years anyway). 

     

    There returns were fantastic.  They gave the show a much needed shot in the arm.  Because the late 80's?  Was not GL at it's best.  

  17. 34 minutes ago, dragonflies said:

     

    +1

     

     

    I also feel like those in charge at Y&R are as clueless at Valentini is at GH. They have their pets just like him

     

    I wouldn't be shocked at all if we got a "THE REAL PHYLLIS RETURNS" promo like AMC did with Budig/Greenlee, given Gina is being treated like horsesh*t like Sabine was

     

    But, honestly, I think that is true of every EP and writer that every soaps has had in the last 50 years.  Even the great Doug Marland had his pets.  It's the way that it goes.   They all do it.  And I bet most of them who joined established shows also talk about bringing the show back to it's core, or other such nonsense.

     

    I think GT has handled this situation with a lot of professionalism.  And MS had to look out for herself.  With far fewer soaps it's becoming increasingly rare to have a situation where if you were successful on one soap that you could hop to another soap for a few years and then hop back when you wanted to go home.  

     

  18. On 5/29/2019 at 11:42 AM, vetsoapfan said:

     

    I was being kind and kept the list short, LOL.

     

    UGH. Sooooooooooo many putrid Reva stories. 

     

    And a harping on campy (i.e. STOOPID) stories ended up getting Passions axed too.

     

    Reva got it the worst of any of the characters.   I suspect mostly because the writers were doing anything possible to keep her on the frontburner, even if they didn't have any decent ideas for her at the time.  Although I also think that during the late 90's and early 00's that actors demanding to be kept on the frontburner seemed more of a thing.

     

    I rewatched a few of the episodes from the second half of 1994, and I had forgotten how stupid some of those storylines were.   Alan-Michael spending a couple months crawling around on the beach.   Alan doing a horrible Japanese accent.   Etc.

  19. On 5/26/2019 at 12:55 AM, SamandWillowFan said:

    I’ve been watching clips of Annie Dutton as I was curious about Cynthia Watros’ acting after learning she would be new Nina on GH. Annie reminds me of another soap Annie-Annie Novak/Lavery/Chandler on AMC. She also went crazy after her husband dumped her like trash when the so called love of his life returned.

     

    I  think Annie is a great example of how far the show had fallen in the writing department from the early 90's to the mid-to-late 90's.  Annie ended up becoming a cartoon.  She was entertaining after Reva showed up alive, but, she was entertaining because CW made crap out of gold, not because she was a well written character (which I think bodes well for her as Nina on GH, given that GH is terribly written), especially after her intervention.

     

  20. 27 minutes ago, BetterForgotten said:

    Very little from that era feels dated upon rewatching it too. I know strong dialogue was very important to Nancy Curlee and Stephen Demorest - Nancy once said she looked for scriptwriters who avoided cliches and that definitely was apparent for much of that time.

     

    In some ways, Nancy Curlee has become the Harper Lee of daytime soaps - only one HWing stint, but one was very memorable where viewers who follow writers are often left to wonder what else she could have done in the medium had she stayed or went on to write for other shows. She’s arguably the last great “storyteller” American daytime soaps produced. Also the only HW I think that came close to the late Doug Marland’s storytelling sensibilities.

     

    I agree that very little seems dated.  That period of the show holds up very well.   While i suspect objectively 1991-1992 were the better years, I enjoyed almost the entire show until Reva showed back up in 1995. Although I tend to think that 1994 onwards the show wasn't as fresh and seemed to fall victim to more of stereotypical soap tropes the things I'd expect to see on the ABC soaps.

     

    The writing was just great back then.  I understood the characters motivations, and even the weaker actors on the show (for example, the guy who played Dylan) never seemed that bad, because I understood why they were doing what they were doing.

     

    The only major misstep was killing off Maureen.  And I think that was more to do with the fact that I didn''t think Peter Simon was a particularly good actor, and so I spent the majority of that storyline wanting him to just go away.  

     

  21. On 5/20/2019 at 7:16 PM, BetterForgotten said:

    It's still deeply sad to think that a GL episode from the early 90's (during a Republican presidency no less) is still a hell of a lot more contemporary than any daytime soap on the air right now.

     

    Though the ABC soaps got all the credit for being "young, hip, and contemporary" - I think Nancy Curlee and company wrote a very contemporary soap during their era, within a very traditional structure and foundation. 

     

    Early 90's GL (the Reva free years) was probably the best soap on the air.  Or at least I thought it had the most sophisticated and character driven stories out of the soaps on the air.   Granted I loved the show during that era.  Because most of the characters didn't fall into typical soap opera categories. Every character seemed to be able to make mistakes and get to be the hero at times.   Even the "good" girls and guys, were flawed and made mistakes.  No character was completely good or bad.   Unfortunately, I think by the mid-to-late 90's that type of character development and storytelling was gone for good.   But, early 90's GL?  Was amazing.

  22. I get why she was hired at GL in the 90's, her first run on AMC wasn't bad.   But, everything else after that I don't get.  Because to me that tenure on GL was pretty terrible, although I do think a lot of that was decent ideas that weren't executed well.  I mean there is no pitch in the world that could make Josh, the walking abortion, seem like compelling storytelling.

     

     

  23. 13 hours ago, YurSoakinginit said:

     

    The originally planned ultimate outcome was, how it ended... except it wasn't initially envisioned to wait an entire decade.

     

    Case in point: All My Children with Francesca James & Broderick in 1997....  then James & McTavish in 1998. Wow, was that an awful "WTF" year.

     

    How in the heck did McTavish ever manage to keep being rehired as a HW?  I don't think there is one soap she was the HW on that I thought she was a good fit for.  Okay, her brand of over the top stuff might have worked a  little better on Days, but her stints on GH, AMC, and GL weren't very good. 

  24. I would be surprised if it was Burton.

     

    I think he's on GH now until the end.   I do think with only four shows left that more of the actors realize that there may not always be a show to go back to.

     

    I think Massey is a reasonable guess.  Days seems to have more comings and goings with popular actors than a lot of the other shows do.

  25. On 5/10/2019 at 9:08 AM, Antoyne said:

    Omg that's right. I was totally watching at that time too. Ugh I don't watch GH anymore but I miss Ric so much. He was my favorite. I hated that he could never get a real happy ending with Liz.

     

    I adored Ric!  And to me it's a crime he's not under contract.  He is a great gray character, and RH is so versatile.  Plus he's got a kid and a couple of ex-wives in PC.  I don't really understand why he's not on the canvas.  However, I also don't get why Nikolas is dead or Lucky is MIA (okay Lucky I get as I don't think they'll recast the role, but Nikolas I really don't).

     

    I liked Hayden being Liz's sister, and given that she was pregnant with Finn's kid when she left, I think it makes sense to bring her back.   I'd prefer the return of characters like Nik, Lucky, Ric., etc., though.

     

     

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