I Am A Swede

No matter how hard Rebecca Budig tries, I just don't see Taylor in her performance. I'm still struggling to see Thorsten Kaye as Ridge as well, despite him being around for so long. This triangle is already well past its prime, but to try to re-create it with two out of three characters recast makes it even more difficult.

That looks much better than the long, flat hairstyle she's had lately.

No

I just hope that this will be the last time that Brad Bell goes back to Brooke/Ridge/Taylor. Probably a futile hope I know, but this triangle is so overdone, and every time he goes back to it it makes the characters seem even more pathetic. Why either of these two supposedly intelligent women still want this overgrown man child is incomprehensible.

To me she will always be remembered for Wimbledon, especially the Ladies Final 1993 when an inconsolable Jana Novotna cried on her shoulder after collapsing against Steffi Graf.

And didn't that work out splendidly... JMW may not be stuck in the triangle with Hope and Liam anymore, but her stories are still just as repetitive as before. Steffy argues with Finn about one of his crazy relatives, something happens and Steffy takes off to parts unknown to get over it. She returns and the whole cycle begins again. And we don't know what goes on behind the scenes, what KKL wants or doesn't want for her character or what she does about it. She "pushes" the triangle because it's part of her job to do promotion for the show, and maybe she feels, like Susan Flannery did from what I've heard, that it's not her job to write the show but to act out what she's given

I guess a paycheck is a paycheck..... If acting is her passion, as she says, then surely it must be frustrating to be so underchallenged. I'm sure she can play what she's given in her sleep by this stage. It's like the character is stuck on "repeat".

Legendary Italian designer Giorgio Armani dies

For me the decline had definitely begun in 1996. The show was still tolerable, but not as good as it had been. In the year 2000 the destruction began in earnest when the toxic duo of Cain and Charity first appeared, and it's been going rapidly downhill ever since.

It's a bit hard to pick out best stories for Emmerdale, because during its golden years (the 1970s) there weren't really any longer stories. You had the core cast and followed their everyday lives, and then there were shorter stories with characters that came and went. Often these stories would last around 10-12 episodes. But that was what attracted me to Emmerdale Farm. That it was a more down to earth, "normal" show. That has become even more apparent since I've been able to watch almost the entire 1970s through Youtube. It's so refreshing to see a show without backstabbing, intrigues, bedhopping and far-fetched back-from-the-dead or previously-unknown-evil-twin stories, and a show where criminals aren't portrayed as heroes. It's the characters that keeps you watching, not any specific stories. It's easier to say which year was the last really good one: 1993. That was the year before the family from hell turned up. And also the last year before the plane crash. That story, while successful, set Emmerdale on a path from which it hasn't recovered. I still keep up with what's happening, because it's not easy to break a bond that is several decades old, but any lingering emotional attachment is dwindling rapidly. The Emmerdale I knew and loved is dead and buried.

Susan was fantastic. I usually never liked Stephanie (being more of a Brooke-fan) but no one could deny Susan's qualities. Her departure was always going to be tough for the show to handle, but I don't think anyone realized just how tough. B&B has never been the same since she left.

- Brooke takes over Forrester Creations, B&B That is the one the comes immediately to mind for me. It's still by far the best storyline on B&B throughout its entire history. Twists and turns, unexpected surprises, and six years of animosity between Stephanie and Brooke exploding in a fiery confrontation.

I've just been reading some Emmerdale spoilers, and this show continues to infuriate me. Even I didn't know how accurate this prediction would be, although I really should have. And they've dragged Robert into this abomination as well. To think that this is what Annie Sugden's grandson has been reduced to. 😭 And the mere mention that Dingles like Chas and Cain will be all high and mighty and judgmental about the Sugden family makes me want to puke. Not a single member of that family of filth have any moral ground to stand on. (I doubt any of the Dingle scum can even spell "moral"). Hypocritical assholes, all of them. There is no death gruesome enough for that pack of bloodsucking leeches. There really aren't any other fictional characters I hate more than that whole inbred clan, and whoever it was that created them should be banned from any job in television ever again! I'm going back to my safe place now, back to old Emmerdale Farm.