soapfave06

Thank you for continuing to share!

I can’t believe they had Reva in the climax with Holly! I mean I can, but I can’t. I wonder if Blake and Holly will have any pay off scenes and look forward to seeing what they do with Holly in coming months.

I’m glad I’m not alone, I’ve seen bits and pieces of all of his runs and this is the first time I think he’s on fire, too bad it won’t last long. Props to Thom for making it work merely on his own presence.

Is there an overall consensus on Carlo Hesser? I will admit I have never really understood the character outside of Thom Christopher giving great performances. He’s there to avenge Johnny, gets away with drugging Viki to make her shoot Megan, languishes with a niece and now he reappears courtesy Alex in the Scarecrow mystery. I have to ask because Carlo and Alex meeting after she frees him is PERFECTION and knowing this is headed towards his murder makes it even more pointless and I know his Mortimer, 1996, 2005 and 2008 runs are not well received.

Thank you for sharing this, I am looking forward to reading it!

I wish I had that much self control, I tried previously to force myself, but after have so many golden episodes in a row I couldn’t take it.

I’m almost done with February. They were on a roll for SIX weeks straight but I finally discovered my fast forward button when Tina and Cain suddenly began hogging up the airtime of two or three episodes in a row. Their comedy is not for me. Cassie and Alex seeing each other for the first time at The Palace Hotel was a letdown although I was happy to see Cassie stronger. Maybe they were showing how over it is all Alex is; Jason/Stephanie/Kevin/Marty all converge at Rodi’s and party it up, which was nice, and I got to see how Jason and Marty are together, I had NO CLUE Marty all but (couldn’t tell) slapped Kiki from the chin or that Kiki was truly shown to be this much of a hot mess; Blair has told Addie that they must keep secret that Dorian is her sister as Max is questioning Addie’s hatred of Dorian; Hank has already shared scenes with Bo, Troy and Sheila, and clearly he and Troy do not like each other. Wanda has met a possible love interest in Ralph Love! I fell asleep to January 1997 which was owned by Todd and Blair’s custody battle and Antonio on the run and then going to court. Antonio was perceived well in the 90s and it was the 2000s that brought him (and every male character) down? I was a little shocked that Bo and Hank came off so giddy to get him arrested and saw him as guilty. Hank and Alex also had scenes of him forcing her to resign….oh what could have been.

I’m so jealous 😭

This is epic hahaha

I believe he was after, the prior Miguel wasn’t too bad. So we could group him in with the second Paloma 😂

Oh that’s fascinating, I hope to come across it someday. All of his intro scenes have been with her and my eyes immediately dart to the tv.

I was shocked to see Virgil! I thought that was a good emotional touch too, and a nod to the 80s which it had its own little world within Llanview.

This sounds absolutely epic, and the perfect story for a soap. What could have been…

I am now mid-February as Megan’s funeral is set to start. I have watched two months since Saturday evening, I can see how Maxim got so far. Earlier I said the show wasn’t doing the hospital/solemn scenes well, but wow, they hit the ground running when Megan took a turn for the worse. The flashback week fit seamlessly and they did not miss a beat. I do have one gripe- I wish Larry had mentioned Meredith, Anna and Vinnie or that they did not skip the 70s by so fast. I like the Buchanans but in doses and I hate they essentially consumed the entire show. Megan’s Death: CJ giving Megan the picture for his daddy on her trip broke me down, tears down the face, as did of course Tina wanting to tell Megan goodbye, but still traumatized at losing Cord. Megan and Jake’s goodbye also got me. I had no idea Viki refused to believe Megan had died (when she asked Jake why he was crying because Megan was fine…wow) or to leave her side, that was heartbreaking. Sarah is growing on me a bit with her emotions over Megan’s death, the Scarecrow teases aren’t bad but I already watched April-June ten years ago and know it isn’t going anywhere fun. I don’t like Viki’s new hairstyle and heavier makeup. It’s also odd they changed her to styled hair as she is living in the hospital. Jake and Andrew’s escape wasn’t bad, but they got to a point where they said let’s just wrap this [!@#$%^&*] up and get them home. I actually enjoyed the war game and Andrew being taunted about Sloan. Alex returned out of nowhere and on comes Hank and as if the heartbreak with Megan alongside Max and Blair wasn’t intriguing enough, Nathan and Tonja give a breath of fresh air. I must declare I would give anything for a Hank/Sheila/RJ/Alex quadrangle. Alex was absolute perfection and this Hank is driven and determined. They could have drove the 90s with these two plus RJ and Sheila as the heroine. My other quietly heartbreaking scene: Lee Ann seeing in the paper that Megan is dead, showing Jason, and realizing he can’t read. This has been building for months, and then she respects him by glossing over it, then breaks his heart further by saying Kevin needs her. I watched this scene three times. So true to life, so real. I also like how his being unable to read isn’t a plot point, it’s just who he is. Current favorites: Wanda, Jason, Andrew, Hank, Alex, Blair, Max with wanting more Sheila and awaiting Marty’s return I’ve been obsessed with this show my whole life and started watching roughly 20 years ago next month, so it is very exciting to be addicted to a new era.

Perhaps I stand corrected-most of the recasts were a done deal long before they left NBC, although I didn’t like that final Paloma. Longterm, they should’ve done better by Jessica, Simone, Miguel group, at least they had Gwen/Ethan/Theresa to keep them going. I think moving on from Sheridan/Luis and Noah/Fancy hurt more in the end, even I was confused at a young age what was happening to sabotage them. They took them both so far away from what was “destined” I am not sure they could have gone back, it was probably best to move on from all four. I almost wonder if Jared Casey was a non-Reilly creation, but I don’t recall how he ended up. It was nice to see Theresa with options.

This will be one of the biggest What Ifs in soaps for me-seeing a Passions without Reilly at the helm. I wish they would give the details of their involvement and what ideas they had. The show had so many recasts by 2008 it was a shell of its former self.

They all look amazing! Mart does too, which shows they had no reason to replace him, in fact he looks younger than he did in 1981 episodes

I will give major props for one thing to this era-putting Wanda in the thick of things! This is good comedy - Wanda becoming an overbearing aunt over Jason, convincing herself he is now a junkie, only to find him with Dorian, who she thought was frequenting her establishment for the clam chowduh only to realize it was for Jason (and assumes drugs) bringing the two into a cat fight with Dorian defending that she has hardly even one glass of wine. The scene of Wanda grabbing Jason’s eyes after he caught her going through his coat had me laughing out loud. I adore this woman and Jason so much. “WANDA WEBB WOLEK DOES NOT COWER IN THE FACE OF A VIPER!” Meanwhile rather it is the writing or production, the Lord-Buchanans come off so cold. In the 80s, Viki and Clint with the kids were some of the sweetest family scenes that balanced the absurd going ons but everything feels so cold outside of Megan with Andrew, Marty or one on one with Viki. Sarah/Bo/Cassie at least got interesting again with Scarecrow coming up, but I know it goes nowhere; Cain keeping an eye on his competition in Blair is keeping Max, Luna and Asa interesting; Carlo and Alex are officially back and Hank appears visiting Alex in what I assume are his first scenes at the sanitarium.

Your timing is perfect twice-Jason and Dorian were getting the closest yet at the same time as your recent recap and now Alex is back. I can definitely see the difference between this iteration and the later one.

This is one of the reasons I haven’t made it through the Malone era, and I love camp, I loved the 80s but Alex, Cain, Tina, Mortimer, and some of the Gottlieb background music is hit or miss and drains the show of its energy but as you’ve said, what is good, is damn good, and is beyond a hit but then they swing and miss it is dreadful. If I had the time or the talent I wish I could edit these episodes to take out the “comedy” attempts

Count me in as well! I would be very excited to hear your take on it!

I am approaching to mid-January 1992: Max and Blair have stolen the show for me since their NYE dance, I feel like I am watching a classic romance with Blair wanting more and telling Max she can’t be with a dreamer. The scenes of Blair with Addie, caring for her, do so much for her character. I am hoping Blair goes back to The Banner, but I also respect her stance and it doesn’t make Viki look foolish. I guess she is headed to work for Dorian, whose door she just knocked on. Cain Rogan has done one major thing for me: giving Asa something to do. I wasn’t feeling him at all the last three months but the moment Asa hired him and Cain overheard Luna about Serenity Springs + Blair, Asa feels alive again. I think the show writes Jason / Lee Ann / Kevin almost realistic as can be-but wow is Kevin bonkers for Lee Ann. I don’t particularly enjoy that. Wanda and Luna making assumptions about Jason, and his going off on Wanda, this actor kills every scene and I never EVER hate Jason whereas today he would be a hypocrite [!@#$%^&*]. Jason feels possibly the most real character on the show. Andrew confessing his love to Megan and ripping the letter just before she doubles over in pain, wow, these two are so intriguing. These hospital scenes of everyone surrounding Megan as she needs a transplant and through Viki receiving one nearly put me to sleep. I was not entertained. I have never seen Marty with Megan, or early Marty, and wow I was so impressed, she hit the ground running. Eddie and Quincy from The Banner made it into 1992, telling Blair off for getting the night editor fired; I also thought Megan went broke (the way she began dressing in ‘91) and was no longer on FR but she actually is since she called out of work due to illness. The show is very good, very enjoyable! Lows for me are Sarah, Tina overall outside of say those past lives scenes, Cord’s death, Max until he got with Blair and the lack of viable relationships-I would of rather seen Larry get a love life, Sheila get better suited prior to Hank coming, more community or friendship scenes. I know the coming year is hit or miss but they do get a ton correct.

I have watched a fair bit of 1990 and early 1991 and there wasn’t much there, I’ve enjoyed certain scenes but nothing making it worth keeping Tina in town, especially if it took a year and half of viewing for you to be intrigued. No complaint on Karen Witter though, and she’s a fine recast (I’m biased and saying that) it’s primarily the writing.

Production wise, I was fascinated to see a TWO DAYS LATER… used after the New Year’s episodes. Were they testing Megan’s doctor as a new character? All of these months where they needed new characters and he’s getting some odd focus out of nowhere since coming in to the point Larry has threatened to go to the board for the operating room mishap. Speaking of, with Troy and Jon still being used as romantic options, the show is in desperate need of romantic leading men which makes the new opening laughable (this opening had never bothered me, but seeing its debut now I really see how it doesn’t fit at all) Going back to Cord’s death, and seeing Maxim’s recaps of Tina and Cain, and the little I’ve seen of this era, I wish they had written Tina out when AE left, gave Cord a new leading lady and then let him leave to search for Tina instead of dying. I did enjoy the Jaba City venture but his death, even if it was just a couple episodes and then forgotten, really threw things off. I do enjoy Karen Witter though and think she would have fared better as a different character with comedy.

Of September-December 1991 I have to say Megan’s entire meltdown from the hospital kidney diagnosis with Larry through passing out in the bed in Atlantic City were my favorite sequences in addition to Viki exposing Cain’s fraud as Heinrich using her German knowledge might be my favorite scenes. I also enjoyed Luna parachuting into Llanview, the ongoing scenes of work life at The Banner and Wanda’s Place and Andrew and Megan’s conversations. I am sure I forgot more but these stand out and from past dipping in, I thought only Alex going after Cassie at the wedding would make the list.