DynamiteKiddo

9 minutes ago, NothinButAttitude said:

*With Days, it was Sami falling for her rapist (EJ). Then it propelled to Lucas being the third wheel to their pairing and being cast aside when he is a HORTON. Lucas should be driving story and be the actual lead on this show. I never understood how Days didn't see the value in Bryan Datillo. 

This was a travesty.  In his defense, I don't think this was ever Hogan Sheffer's plan . . . but Dena Higley (who was the writer to finally do Lumi in 2003!) eventually discarded him and his place on the show has never been properly respected since.  Until Austin Peck returned, Reilly (Round II) had him as a lead and so did Sheffer . . . and I'm not sure he should've ever been portrayed as that kind of romantic lead, but he and Sami should be endgame.  But speaking of, Sami should've never been portrayed as a romantic lead, either.

18 hours ago, detroitpiston said:

GH - I never missed an episode until shortly after Garrin Wolf took over. When Frank and Ron joined I stopped watching full episodes for a few years its only been recently that I’ve kind of gotten back into it.

I was sooo disappointed in Garin Wolf.  When he was the scab hw during the last writer's strike, I was sooo impressed.  I've never liked the desperate attempt at copying "The Sopranos," but GW took Bob Guza's material and really elevated it to the point where it remains one of my fav. periods of GH.  Sonny was actually shown to be the problem, Carly realized she literally put her sons' lives at risk every day in pursuit of her own selfishness and power with Sonny and Jason, Jason & Liz got brought back down to Earth because Jason IS a hitman and Jake would be in the same line of fire as Michael, etc., etc.  And there were fun new developments like Kate/Maxie and he wrapped up the Text Message Killer beautifully with kinda climaxing the Sam/Jason/Liz/Lucky rectangle.  Of course, there were huge misses like whatever was going on with Ric and his dad, Trevor.  But I was such a fan.  And all the little beats that played during Michael's shooting were mesmerizing.

So once he became hw, I was thrilled . . . and the first month or so was great, and then . . . omg he was sooo bad it was incredible.  Biggest letdown ever.

And I don't hate on RC like many on this board because his highs are usually pretty high and while I disliked many periods on OLTL and now on "Days," it's usually kinda inspired, so I'll give him credit for his attempts.  But I actually stopped watching his GH and I've never meaningfully returned.  Whatever he thought he was doing with the hybrid OLTL-mob-legacy show . . . omg none of it spoke to me.  While I hated most of Guza (& Pratt's) egregious attempts of dismantling anything that wasn't Sonny/Carly/Jason worship, I guess that was the GH I grew up with . . . a dark, sorta urban show.  The circus that RC's GH instantly became was so off-putting to me--the tone was all wrong for GH.  I came back for AJ's (my all-time fav. character) return, but the disjointed wackiness of the show drove me away.  I've watched the special episodes, which were special (RC usually does well with those) . . . but I never came back.  And now the show feels utterly unrecognizable in what I assume is FV's bid to well and truly remaking GH into HIS show.  I'll give him props for the visuals--while it usually never translates to anything character-driven and can appear random, none of the soaps' cameras move as much as GH's and he really uses a lot of different angles, too.  But that's all I got.

On 9/18/2023 at 12:55 PM, Manny said:

I am sure this was already mentioned here, but I just recently started watching the reality show "Love Is Blind" on Netflix. And watching it, I thought it was really familiar to me in its concept and name. And then I remembered that waaaay back during the Last Blast teens, Belle, Mimi and Cassie participated on the reality show Love Is Blind where they competed for a guy without seeing his face!

Who would have thought it would actually become a real reality show in 2020s?!

I wonder if the creator of the LIB got inspiration from DAYS Maybe B&C (or was it Reilly?) should get some royalties hahah

LOLOL.  It was Dena Higley. 

That was Kyle Brandt's Philip's intro, too.

Shannon is such a hot mess, and I think she has no (meaningful) idea.  She has revealed herself to be a truly horrible person SO many times, but I have to give it to her--she puts it all out there and, as a result, you can see what a truly full "character" she is and despite being frighteningly out of touch, she is SO relatable.  She can financially afford this, but we'll see if this breaks her or makes her finally take a real inventory of her life and get some desperately needed self-awareness.

Heartbreaking news.  I don’t watch Y&R and had stopped watching GH by the time he got there, but I LOVED him as Richie on AMC.  He had such a dynamic presence.  I think he was, by far, one of the best things about the JHB & BE era.  RIP.

7 minutes ago, AbcNbc247 said:

They’ve had tons of chances in the last two years, but nobody seemed to want to invest in them lol we should still be dealing with the fallout Shawn/Belle/EJ

This was such a shame.  I know it's been widely speculated that tptb thought Ali Sweeney would be around for that and that's why they dropped it . . . like, that's where the meat of the story would have been (Sami vs. Belle, subbing in for Carrie), but it still felt like a hit.  But they also abruptly dropped the wildly unpredictable and super sexy EJabby affair years earlier sooo...  They obviously don't know what to do with EJ without Sami . . . and this reunion with Nicole is super horrible to me, as I remember how well and truly horrified and disgusted she was of him.

But ya, Shawn & Belle should still be dealing with all that.  And it was wild that Shawn took partial responsibility for what happened because he had sex with Jan who was TRANSFORMED INTO BELLE lolol

19 minutes ago, Antoyne said:

Shawn and Belle cheat on each other for sport it seems. They really should just divorce and be done with it. I’m intrigued by Shawn and Talia though.

Count me as another who hates Tripp. I don’t know why he keeps being brought back. He legit adds zero to the show. And Lucas Adams looks as bland as his acting imo.

 

It's ridiculous, right??  Lol.  However, it's when they're at their best it seems . . . even way back in the day with JC & KS, their first Jan breakup and makeup was really good.  Since their 2015 returns, they've been pretty boring, but they've also been so periphery.  But every time they make up (like I'm really thinking about the JPLPhilip and EJ/Jan stuff), it does feel so right.  I wish they could figure out how to effectively use them and keep them  interesting together and apart, but manage to keep them endgame.

I find Tripp totally fine.  That's all.  Lol

So I haven't read a ton of positive responses to Victor's memorial episode . . . but I really liked it.  Obviously, I would've preferred a big, splashy funeral at St. Luke's but I begrudgingly accept that the budget won't like ever allow that again (I think RC's one and only true all-cast event was Chad & Abby and Sonny & Paul's double wedding, and I have no idea how that got green-lit as recent as 2017).  Personally, what was more egregious is that they couldn't splurge for the full K mansion set for this.  We could have absolutely rotated something out for a few weeks!

So obviously, the creative decision was to weave current stories in with the memorial--I understand some may have disagreed with that approach . . . but following the set-up, I think it was incredibly successful.  And like with the cast we got, almost every beat was hit.  From Sonny and Xander mixing it up (I will never get over HIM not being Alex) to Belle consoling to Philip to Kate & Chelsea reuniting . . . almost no stone was left unturned in a lovely, subtle way.

The Chelsea rewrite is interesting... her return was random, but lovely.  I'm glad we got this instead of Ciara/"Cin."  I've never agreed with Ciara and Claire supposedly being so in touch with their K side, but Chelsea's eulogy makes much more sense considering that stupid narrative they used to shoehorn Ciara into more story.  But considering this is what they wanted, they should've included Claire to round it out and give more weight to Victor & Kate changing her paternity results, which has shockingly never been substantially acknowledged considering that was one of the very biggest stories of the 00's and both Claires were on with on with both Philips in recent years.  The Rex & Chloe scenes (which really worked) I guess were also meant to mirror Alex & Ciara's with the actor swaps I'm assuming.

Anyway, I really liked it for what it was.

18 hours ago, Soapsuds said:

@DynamiteKiddo

The best I could do. 

 

I know they probably block taped and weren’t on set at the same time, but #1 on my wishlist for Christopher Sean’s return is a scene(s) with Zach Tinker’s Sonny!  And I hate that Sonny was missing from Vivian’s splashy return.

I guess the DVD stuff is lovely, but I never needed this lol

I can’t wait for the reunion!

But these eppys have been so cringe that I feel a little sick watching lol

He’s great but they should’ve used this $$ to lure Kate Mansi back lol.

This is upsetting for LA and it’s even more upsetting as an Abby fan… I guess GH offered more $$???  She likely didn’t sign for more than a year… so GH disrespectfully  ditching LA will be for nothing once Kate leaves as soon as she can.  Smh.

I definitely don’t want them to kill her, esp. considering Abby just died less than a year ago.

However, even though I didn’t want to lose her at all at the time, I did think a Gabi murder mystery directly following her doomed 2020 post-Time Jump wedding to Eli would have been epic… SO many characters would’ve been super plausible suspects.  That was her at her best—wreaking havoc in every direction lol.  During that Lani feud after Stefan’s death, I really wanted Gabi to be allowed to read her for filth for hooking up with JJ AND Eli behind her back… such an obvious cat fight that never happened.  Instead she just irrationally ranted and raved about Lani accidentally shooting Stefan after he sacrificed himself for (Robin Strasser’s) Vivian lol.

30 minutes ago, Soapsuds said:

@DynamiteKiddo

It's still not over for the group.

Sonny is returning!

This is too bad.  Like everyone else has already said, CB has more than come into her own and, over the years, certain writers have really found that sweet spot with Gabi.  Pre-Nick, I thought she had to GO… but probably because of their Rafe obsession, TomSell managed to very effectively position her as a very dynamic character and CB definitely rose to the challenge.

But Gabi is only as strong as the writing, despite CB’s strengths.  And it’s too bad, bc when the writing for Gabi is good (TomSell and parts of RC), she’s great and can move through stories like a lighting rod (kinda like Kate and Nicole).  But under like a Dena Higley, the character flounders and unfortunately since her 2020 return, she’s been on a bad loop with Brandon Barash’s characters (they’ve never been able to recreate that 2019 magic… but let’s face it, the premise of Stabi is completely sordid).

But this really is the end of the JJ/Lani/Eli/Gabi/Chad/Abby/Will/Sonny group, which is such a shame because there was so much strong potential for them to become the new leads.

35 minutes ago, carolineg said:

I assume Sloan didn't trash Paulina's office, but the trope of people from Paulina/Chanel's past coming out of the woodwork is overplayed.  How scandalous were their previous lives?  Chanel's like 25 and has lived more life than most 50 years already .

This really made me lol

Damn, I feel bad for MM.  No one will be treated as unceremoniously as Matt Ashford, but she’s getting up there.

I think it’s time to cut our loses with Gwen, even though EO’B is fab.  But I’m so disappointed about Belle—they need to figure it out with her… and I thought she had a great 2022 between Jan, EJ, and all the Shelle drama.

3 minutes ago, Antoyne said:

She didn’t marry him and have his child after both her parents were cops. Or after he thought he murdered her cousin.

And tried to light her other cousin (the show’s premiere young heroine) on fire after stealing her baby after killing the midwife.  (But RC doesn’t talk about that lol.)

But she really thinks Eve is a f-ing b for not getting over him killing her daughter.

The treatment of this couple was such a reckless, arrogant miscalculation of RC’s.

I’m so glad Kristen filmed during the pickups.  She was a true psycho and the fallout of Jax/Kristen in s3 was the show at its absolute best… but even though she was truly out of her mind and drunk (& probably high) all the time and chose to rebound with JAMES, I always felt sorry for her… she was humiliated by Tom & Arianna and she was held accountable by Stassi and Katie (and everyone else + the audience) in ways that Jax NEVER was.

Seeing her support Arianna will be surreal but probably one of the more poignant full-circle moments on Bravo.

8 minutes ago, carolineg said:

I think it's been said on the show (by James mom) that Raquel wanted to be famous.  Was a fan of the show and sought James out.  I mean, that's a hell of a sacrifice to get your foot in the door, but it's very possible this has always been Raquel's goal.  She seems so innocent and stupid, but perhaps she's a lot more cunning than we think.  I think Raquel/Tom might last awhile.  I wouldn't be surprised if they had a kid or got engaged to just move a long the narrative that their love is so real.

As far as Ariana thinking she is better than everyone.  She really is, but that's not very exciting.  You root for her, but VPR isn't that deep.  I personally prefer these 40 year olds making hot mess decisions.  I don't think her vibe really ever worked for me on the show and I do think there were enormous red flags all around with her and Tom.  From the very beginning even if Kristen was a psycho.  She actively says she doesn't want to sleep with him, marry him, or have kids with him.  That's probably a solid decision, but why are we dragging this relationship out for a decade then?

Re-reading this it may sound like I am shipping Tom/Raquel or their actions.  I am not, but I think they might be better suited than Ariana/Tom.  But I don't know if I ever thought a VPR couple was well suited for one another lol.  I do find people like Lala calling Raquel out being hypocritical.  The point is not wrong at all-it's just annoying to hear Lala speak to anyone about girl code or what not.  

Raquel is probably more cunning than we ever thought, but I do think she is hilariously stupid.  She misspeaks as much as RHoNY’s Ramona lolol.

I agree about Tom & Arianna.  In the beginning, I wasn’t rooting for them as much I was rooting against Kristen (though she is an absolute treasure for this show lol).  But somewhere along the way, I accepted that they seemed to settle into what felt like a very practical commitment (I always wondered if it was, in fact, an open relationship).

Arianna’s vibe was always off for the show, but I guess I delighted in how crazy she made Kristen, Stassi, and Katie… I guess this is the kind of guilty pleasure show that I used to love in its heyday, but I pretty much always thought the cast were horrible, unlikeable people.  Arianna made everyone sweat, which I appreciated.

LaLa brings the fire but she's as much of a trash person as Jax and James.  lolol about being with James being one hell of a sacrifice

3 hours ago, carolineg said:

Charli has dragged Raquel multiple times on social media since then, so Idk if she will film with her.  I know Raquel has a sister she's close with maybe film with her?  It could very easily be Tom/Raquel against the world and they will just film alone until the drama dies down.   I assume Schwartz will come around.  Eventually, most of these people will film with them again because they are famewhores and want a paycheck.  

Regardless of the situation, messy Raquel has earned her place as the main character.  It's pretty shocking since I thought she was a decent human being (I think we all knew Tom was not lol).  I really questioned VPR continuing since half the cast is older than me, but Raquel gave it new life.  I don't think it would be the worst mistake to build the show around Raquel and her own friends (if she has them lol).  

I'll be honest, as nice as Arianna seems she's pretty boring.  Lala, Kate, and Kristina Kelly's girls trip was a snooze as well without Raquel getting drunk and making out with Oliver.

I think it was in episode 2 when Raquel was being messy with/about Peter & Tom Schwartz, warning Allie (I think it’s Allie?? lol) about James, finding out about James/LaLa, crying to LVP about being in love with James still, etc… and I was all like oh $h!t, when did she become the legit main character of this show?!?  Biggest cast member turnaround ever.  And now with Scandoval, she’s legendary lol.  But we’ll see if they try to ice her out.  She & Tom Sandoval can be on an island next year, but that can only work for so long.  But they did blow up the show, for better and perhaps worse if everyone short-sightedly alienates them.  They can’t afford to lose this momentum after the show being on the fritz for years.  Perhaps rebuilding the show around Raquel (and James) would be wise.

Re.: Ariana… she can be boring, but in the beginning, I loved how her chill vibe contrasted the witches (and she SO got under their skin!) and Scheana really needed a girlfriend.  They’re an unlikely pair and their friendship has ebbed and flowed over the years, but they’ve remained loyal to each other.  Arianna’s biggest problem is that she’s always thought she’s better than everyone… and that hubris is likely making her feel even more stupid rn.  Scandoval gives her a built-in storyline, and I think she’ll take it and do much more with it than, like, Katie, or even LaLa, is now.  This will likely re-energize everyone.  I also loved that Ariana, during the early TomTom planning stages, REALLY wanted to say that LVP and Ken had no right to be on their high horse and make so many demands of the Toms when they were cashing in on their name and that they (the VPR cast) catapulted the restaurants into the tourist destinations they became.  But I don’t think you could break the fourth wall like that back then like Jax did in that one finale (his power play to LVP obviously was much ado about nothing with the Faith scandal shortly following).  It’s wild how LVP & Ken still thought (think??) the “kids” were lackeys after being the biggest thing on Bravo.

And @Cheap21, I totally agree that Raquel working at SUR (real or not) really keeps the original premise alive and makes the ambiance of the restaurant make sense and feel fresh again.  I don’t know if this was a happy accident, but if producers knew ahead of the season to position as her the main character, they’re geniuses.

Even without Scandoval, this has been a real renaissance season for VPR… and Raquel is easily the breakout star.  She was lifelessly vapid for years, but she has beyond come into her own and has the (seemingly) genuine messiness of the earlier seasons.  She’s getting paid the least, but should be getting the most.

However, with Scandoval, she’s totally morally bankrupt… and Jax weathered that, but it nearly destroyed Kristen’s place on the show.  We’ll see if everyone understands that they need the Bravo check and that this has catapulted the show back to prime pop culture relevance and play with Rachel & TomSan, or if they get iced out by the cast next year…

And even though this is humiliating and may wreck her financially, this is obviously the best thing that could have happened to Arianna, who’s always been my fav., but probably wishes she were more humble (about her relationship with Tom) over the years.

2 hours ago, carolineg said:

Thank you!  Now that you brought that clip over I completely remember.  I am getting old lol!  It's lovely as was the entire funeral.  I guess Anna has a knack for this and that's why she got chosen for this assignment.

I’ve rewatched this recently and I was blown away by the whole thing… the dialogue was fire during the Sheffer era (though the stories were not lol) and coupled with Ed Scott’s production—in retrospect it’s like a golden era lolol.

I don’t think what we’re seeing right now was written for Peacock… these eppys are produced for Peacock.  I haven’t been watching so I can’t comment on the change in production or if the show is being staged “sexier.”  Once the eppys that were written and produced for Peacock, I think we can expect real changes and many tiresome in-jokes in the dialogue about the changes.