DynamiteKiddo

Omg lol. I hope there’s more because they sure got of that easy! Had it been any of their children, it would’ve been the season’s dominating A story. Kyle admitted she had to take a break because of the beating she took from it… so she knew she couldn’t default to playing victim via her daughter being attacked, because it would reinforce what SHE DID. And Rinna and Dorit couldn’t go, “do you know what happened to Porsha because of this? All of our children get attacked, etc.” I know Garcelle probably doesn’t want this dragged out for Jax’s sake and she doesn’t want to bring other kids into it, but Kyle should have to really answer for this, and that should include acknowledging the online attacks on Porsha and Mauricio (people threatening to not watch his real estate show). (Btw I saw she did mention what happened to Porsha at BravoCon, where she could comment unquestioned. 😡) I mean look at Rinna’s reaction to Garcelle mentioning her daughter in her book (which she shouldn’t have done), but she stayed silent during that preview. And Dorit’s reaction was weird and completely insincere. That was the time to throw Kyle, not Erika under the bus… Dorit was obviously shocked at the party, but Kyle’s house was different. And I really do think they feel like the Social Media is different now, because the attacks have so much more breadth to them (like what happened to Porsha!) And I hated her and am so glad she’ll obviously be a 1 & done, but I do get that it has to be horrifying for your BABY to get death threats… Garcelle and esp. Jax are NOT in any way responsible for that, but I get Diana freaking out in the moment and misplacing blame on Garcelle. Kyle backing her up was obviously solidarity for the same self/family preservation. Btw, there was no misunderstanding of racism re. Diana, though… Rinna wrote that race stuff in response to heat Diana was taking for being racist—she @‘d Garcelle in an open letter telling her she donates $$ to Haiti and Africa!!!!!!!!!!! Omg! But this has all taken on a new life. Omg I can’t wait for next week Lolol.

Those pairings became extremely demeaning for Kate. Shockingly, Kate/Rafe was a really fun interlude following her longer pairing with Stefano (I always thought this was terrible considering they established that he took advantage of her). But Ian, Clyde, Deimos, Andre, Jack, Jake… who else am I forgetting?? Lol. That was a horrible stretch for her. I think Roman & Kate would be more effective if they were written as a contrasting counterpoint to John & Marlena, like they used to be. But I love them, but like I said up thread, I think of them more as an endgame for when the show finally concludes.

I totally agree and I was so relieved. I actually do agree with the other women’s critique that Sutton is often awkward, incoherent, and her own worst enemy… and I hate it because she is great—she withstands every beating and provides great content. But it is what it is. So to see her clearly and succinctly respond to Diana and Rinna was great. She did great till the glue lolol. Dorit has been on the team, man! Passively backing every attack on Crystal, Sutton, and Garcelle. But she’s only been backup and hasn’t contributed anything so far except talking about her ptsd after her package. I am glad she didn’t reach for a moment when Sutton apologized to her. That was handled very well on both their parts. I think Erika’s tweet included LVP’s breath smelling like cigarettes, too. So I’m probably the only person on this board who hates LVP (and esp. Ken)… but I also hate The Coven. They should keep her damn name out their mouth because they keep making her relevant and they look like obsessed losers. Like why are they reacting so hard to Garcelle’s son working for her/filming?!? It’s stupid. But I have a hard time feeling sorry for LVP—her gaudy lifestyle and British accent never fooled me… I think she’s bitterly cruel without any accountability and singularly self-motivated. I am so pissed that it looks like Kyle (who I’m sure made devil’s deals for this) will not have to address cackling about Erika cussing out Jax, which (obviously unfairly) led to Porsha’s (horrible) cyber bullying. I think one of the biggest problems the other women have with Garcelle but obviously can’t express is that they’re facing a kind backlash from her fans and Black Twitter that they’ve never dreamed of experiencing, even during #puppygate. And they want to blame Garcelle for it, which is misplaced but maybe understandable? Like Diana threatening legal action being the most extreme. But everyone wants to talk around this except for Rinna. I don’t think it’s wise for them to go there, but it would be “owning it.” Erika will also probably get out of comparing 14-yo Jax’s hateful, personal, racist cyber bullying to some heat her late 20’s cop son received about Blue vs. Black Lives Matter in 2020/1. 😡😡😡

I actually felt sick watching the close-ups of Garcelle fighting tears while The Coven was cackling about recycling. That was super hard to watch. It was also hard to watch Rinna pacing and talking to herself at the end. Yikes. I will say the admission that she was the one that threw away the book was super revelatory. Wow. This reunion really has no fat, they are cutting straight to the meat. Almost to the point that I sorta wish they’d slow down and give a more complete retrospective of each ‘wife in their package. Lol

I really hope this is false. He has the promise to take Sonny and “Days” so far with the new Peacock model. Ugh.

Kyle is right, her truth is untrue. I understand that conversation could’ve come off problematic… Sutton with her Southern accent and general Karen energy talking to a young(er) Asain woman about how happy she was to see other children of color in the pool with her very privileged white daughter… but it wasn’t “very dark” and at the time when she said that (one whole year later), she KNEW Sutton wasn’t a dangerously ignorant person with a White Savior complex. What Crystal said was untrue and defamatory. And the “violated” comment absolutely implies that Sutton was acting predatory. If these are her real feelings, they do not need to be respected because they’re, quite frankly, baseless. She’s lucky Sutton is willing to let it go, but let’s also face it—EVERYone except maybe Rinna (per her social media) is worried about optics on this issue. However, I am all for Crystal going hard for Kyle, who has been gunning for her so far in the reunion in a very misplaced feeling kind of way. Crystal seems to be getting a bit more coherent and I hope this saves her diamond because she really does bring a lot to the show with her home life. She just needs to amp it up in group scenes in a way that’s authentic.

This is crazy! Instead of being happy, I’m just shocked and wonder if there’s even a point given all the time and the likelihood at how wrong it probably will go. Lol

I think most of us agree that he really excels at the family stuff, so they ought to play that as often as possible. And in the context of his whole body of work, I actually think RC has really highlighted that John and Steve are best friends, actually to the point where it seems a little overdone… because John has Abe and Steve has Jack (super surprised that relationship gets overlooked, considering it’s one of the show’s historically most significant). Don’t get me wrong, I like them as friends and DDH & SN work very well together, but it feels like without Bo, they just defaulted to them as besties. The real solution to giving him more to do is obviously Brady & Kristen, since RC is hell bent on continuing this utter nonsense. J&M should be ALL up in this, but I think RC wants to put distance there because it really would destabilize the integrity of the story (kind of like Chad/Abby/Ben/Ciara). The most interesting I’ve ever seen John (though it was dark and led to him & Marlena separating iirc) was when he was gonna agree to hate f**k Kristen if she’d leave Brady alone. There is sooo much to play here, but they just don’t. Instead they have Kristen terrorizing a girl Belle went to high school with instead of mixing it up with her 90’s contemporaries. It’s such a bad, baffling turn for the character. And obviously the baby Kristen should have should be Eric’s from the rape, not Brady’s from when she basically raped him, too. Omg lol.

When TomSell wrote him out (twice, iirc—once was story-dictated, the other time was bc of an injury or health issue of Drake’s) I was honestly fine with it. But Marlena was insanely back burner then and basically back with Roman(!!!), which I was also fine with. That was a very strange time for the vets… Kayla was single and recurring, they didn’t know wtf to do with Hope (even once they got her with Aiden), I remember a single Adrienne having a steady presence, Justin was mostly MIA, Doug & Julie were rarely used, Joe Mascolo’s health prevented him from appearing much… they only seemed to be really invested in Jennifer and Maggie (because of Daniel omg lol). This orchid story is a total flop, but RC is the first writer since Reilly Round II to show any real, meaningful love to J&M. And I love that Roman & Kate are being written as endgame. But unless the plan is to transition Kate to an anti-matriarch supporting character, I wish this reunion would’ve been saved till closer to the series finale (which will hopefully be in the distant future!!!), because we’re all thinking that she’s gonna f it up and hook up with EJ or someone equally scandalous!

I always love reading your posts!! Ya, Rinna has lost her hustle, among everything else lol. I always loved one of her early interviews when she said something like, “I don’t say no very often, I say yes.” Lolol Ya, I wonder whether Dorit will try her best to preserve the alliance, or play the fence like the Denise reunion. I do think this is her audition to stay on as a full-time hw, so she has a lot to lose. Sadly, I think we’re stuck with Erika until there is real resolution with all the lawsuits. I foolishly thought that after last year, Bravo would have to cut ties with her because of PR, but alas… This is Rinna’s reunion, so we’ll see how she handles her final moments. I do think it’s super telling that even after Kyle got in line and threw Erika under the bus and firmly told Rinna to back off, Kathy is still not speaking to her… she’s just f’d. I would have thought I’d love seeing Kyle, finally, in an unmaneuverable situation with high stakes consequences after a decade+ of wiggling her way out of everything, but this just sucks. Sorta shades of NJ’s s3-5 era… just total damage that is too real.

Agreed. I used to love Rinna from “Days” and Soap Talk and she & Eileen revitalized BH after a disastrous s4, but she has sold her soul for this show and for all her “oawn it!,” she is incapable of taking real accountability. Even if she just copped to very knowingly using Kim’s relapse as content for the show and if she finally spilled that LVP and Kyle put her up to Munchausen, it’d go a long way. Too little too late, but own it nevertheless lol. How stupid was Kathy for doing that in front of Rinna?!? Lol!

BH: Wow………. I basically agree with everyone’s thoughts. Rinna has it coming. However, I still see the forrest through the trees—I think Kathy did do and say all the $h!t Rinna said she did. And anyone who disparaged the entire cast, called for their firings, and puffed themselves up as the star of the show would have to answer for that. (While literally yelling, screaming, jumping up and down, and breaking their stuff. Not to mention going after your own sister and her family, which Kathy has done before!) It’s just that this is bigger than the show… the real BH drama has always been Kyle/Kim/Kathy and I’d give anything to hear the whole story about how that mother f-cked them all up so hard (Kyle is our only shot, as Kim and Kathy will obviously never spill). And while Kyle had reconciled selling her sisters out in years prior for fame and fortune, she seems to have reprioritized her family. And the price is absolute and unwavering loyalty, which usually means silence re.: Kim’s drunken life-destroying antics and, now I guess, Kathy’s wrathful, singularly-focused malice. I also feel sorry for Kyle for the first time. All this time, she was carrying a heavier burden than I gave her credit for. But Rinna is not the right messenger and her delivery has been more overwrought and insane than anything even Sutton could conjure up, lol. And her social media HAS been horrifying. She got caught in her own damn trap and she’s about to get cooked. Considering she IS going down, I really hope she’ll “mention it ALL” (but she won’t lol). She and Erika not only underestimated Kathy, but they underestimated everyone else’s ambitions to align themselves with Kathy Hilton… and they didn’t realize they had lost ALL credibility with the audience and that no one would ultimately care about anything they had on, well, anyone. Maybe this is one of the reasons Rinna has always been bitter—I do think she’s always had the truth on her side with Kim, Yolanda, LVP, and Denise, but she always blows the delivery and is rendered a hateful b!tch. I also wonder if it was Erika’s publicist or Kathy’s wrecking machine trying to do damage control. I also question slithery Dorit’s motives—is she doing the right thing by sticking by Kyle, or is she just reading the room and doesn’t want to be on the wrong side of this? Anyway, it was lovely seeing The Coven implode. Kyle finally made the right choice, lol. I do hope this doesn’t monopolize the reunion, though… there is so much important stuff to unpack with Garcelle’s son(s) and Erika’s Aspen meltdown.

I’m assuming the actors weren’t in the studio on the same days of block taping. This happens all the time, and it can be super glaring, like in this instance. It’s a horrible byproduct of the production model. Ali is such a disappointment—she was such a shot in the arm for the show when she debuted two years ago and now she’s zzz.

I recall everything fondly till like Greta’s coronation (I even liked Virtual Eden! 😳)… then everything really sucked till Brash & Cwikly, who I think were the best head writing team of the 2000’s, even though I didn’t co-sign everything they did (mostly the Billie/Bo/Hope/Larry story and the Gemini twins). Langan’s writing for J&M, B&H, and J&J was really hateful, no doubt about it. And while the Brady story was sooo hateful, I will say it is a time when Marlena had a lot of agency and an identity with AND separate from John, which I can still appreciate. She had the revival of her radio show, which incorporated her messy relationship with Roman at the time, dredged up the Samantha stuff + Hattie/Rolf, and created a feud with Nancy. And, of course, she had alllll the family drama with John, Brady, and Belle. In all the years since (except for TomSell, but she was sooo back burner then), she’s suffered from the 1/2 of a supercouple curse. (I guess she had a real moment under Sheffer when John was “dead” for a min.) But Langan obviously had a lot of contempt for the super couples and he esp. seemed to resent Marlena and Jack. This was, overall, one of the worst periods in the show’s history, despite my nostalgia for some of it. But what I look back at most fondly was that with Langan as ep and hw, it felt like the show never had more $$… almost everyone had a home set and there were so many public spaces. Salem really was a complete town. This continued with Brash & Cwikly, but then they were fired for budgetary issues (too many big sets and all cast events with long hours, iirc) and Higley did obviously economize the show. I remember a lot of sets being used when Reilly returned but it was never the same after 2002. A lot of people hate on Steve Wyman (he did have some bizarre aesthetics with all the color/b&w manipulated freeze frames and flashbacks), but I think the show always looked good under him. Obviously, Ed Scott’s “Days” looked the best (even with only half the sets of years’ past) and was sooo different from the show’s normal aesthetic… it’s a shame he was one of the first casualties of what would become the massive budget desecration.

Maggie was so random during this era, lol. This is basically when I started watching (summer 2000), so I recall it fondly. Tuscany was so wild—when I was 12, I thought it was completely normal that all these characters of totally different socioeconomic backgrounds and ages were going to a restaurant in full formalwear lolol. This was when we had a REAL budget, henny! I loved her & Richard Allen’s hw tenure from what I’ve seen on my J&J edits. I also think it’s really cool and interesting that so many years later, they had her write the script for J&J’s exit episode, which also (only) featured the big Claire paternity reveal with Philip/Belle/Shawn/Mimi (which was also Jason Cook’s last day as Shawn).

For DAYS: Tamara Braun is sooo good but she hasn’t been given anything to sink her teeth in since Ava’s first run. Judi Evans is also a powerhouse but Bonnie is just not the role… For GH: They’ve been on auto pilot for well over a decade, but LW as Carly, NLG as Alexis, and DH as Dianne are sooo effective. And of course GF as Laura.

Even more than with Matt, I really noticed her lack of chemistry with Marci and Casey Moss. Probably because Missy had such an amazing connection with them (and Kate Mansi). She really, really excelled at the maternal stuff. Speaking of Marlena—I think Dee usually has great chem. with her on-screen kids… I don’t always feel it with the boys, Greg Vaughan and Eric Martsolf, and she can go way overboard with Chandler… but whether it’s loving, disappointed, protective, etc., she usually nails it with Ali, Martha, and Christie. There is so much to be said when we can really see and feel these connections, usually fostered over many years. And Cady’s diction choices were never more ott than her voiceover for Abby’s eulogy! Like Michael said, I think Cady IS going for Viki Lord or something! Lolol. It has been in the writing, depending on the hw, that the Hortons can be upper class WASPY snobs, but none of the actors have ever played it that way really before. Even if Julie and Maggie are trying to be overly judgmental or fancy, SSH and SR can be so campy that it never reads steely prim and proper. But if you’d ask, like, Eve, Anne, Bonnie, or Gwen, they’d tell you they’re all elitist hypocrites. Meanwhile, I actually like this critique of the Hortons and wish it were served more often, esp. from someone like Kate. And I get what you’re saying about Jack being safer because of Gwen, but RC has always been known to just give up on his “pets” when he feels like he’s finally reached an impasse. It’s crazy—look at Sarah… she went from being the central heroine in 2019/20 to a complete afterthought. And I can recall OLTL’s Stacy, GH’s Kate/Connie, etc. Unless he can successfully pivot her soon, I wouldn’t be surprised if he gives up on Gwen, who has the worst retconned backstory ever! And it’s a shame because for the first few months, Gwen was one of the better things to happen to this show in a long time.

LOL! It is funny how different the styling is from recast to recast (Abby being the most glaring)… it shows wardrobe has very little commitment to infusing characterization in the clothes and is probably letting the actors mostly decide. Like, I think Kayla’s mostly horrible long, baggy coats are her signature, but if the role was ever recast would we see her in form fitting power suits as University Hospital’s chief of staff?!? Lol

I just think that she’s too vital a character as one of the show’s lead Horton anchors, alongside Hope. I also think it has a lot to do with her taking over the house after Alice died… it felt so right, after living there in high school with Tom & Alice (and considering Bill & Laura had no part in raising her). I think she’s a necessary tent pole at this point, and I think Cady does a perfectly fine job… but the history and the connections/chemistry aren’t always there. (I’m looking forward to how she does with SSH today.) I think I also really want this for Matt Ashford—as one of, if not the, most disrespected lead actors on this show, I want him to stay around this time on his terms (and without Jenn and now Abby & JJ, that is tenuous). But if it weren’t for the emergency Covid recast in Cady, I may have felt the same way as you—forget it lol. But seeing it work, I 100% prefer Cady as Jenn to no Jenn (and Jack!) at all. But I agree that she rarely feels like Jennifer Rose, which sucks. But I wouldn’t ever advocate for recasting, like, Hope for instance—that does feel like Kris or bust. And I mistyped—Missy has been playing her off and on for 37, not 27, years! As for Cady—my experience with her really began during her 2005/6(?) return to AMC, and, I’m probably the only one, I loved that iteration of Dixie. I know her longtime fans thought it was character assassination, but I thought it was a very interesting black sheep turn for one of the show’s premiere heroines. I can see why one would find her annoying, though. Lol

As a huge Jennifer fan lol, I can only recall Missy really letting Jenn lose it after the bridge blew up and JT fell out of her car during May Sweeps 2001. She was wild with grief in scenes with Matt Ashford and she & Kris Alfonso did great work when Hope absolutely railed on Jenn. I don’t think Missy is a bad actress—I think she actually makes a lot of really purposeful choices and one of those is to keep Jenn really grounded. I know some people think it’s a lack of interest, but I think she brings this super haunted, quiet tragic aspect to Jenn, which nicely contrasts her bubbly effervescence (which I know also bugs some people at her age). And, ya, playing her off and on for 27 years (since she was so young and opposite all the show’s heavy hitters) has really blurred the lines between Missy and Jenn, too obviously. But I appreciate her subtlety; daytime is filled with actors who lean heavily into histrionics, including this show’s two most acclaimed actresses, Mary Beth and Judi Evans (who I absolutely both love, esp. JE!). I will always want Missy (despite my opinions on HER public opinions), but I want JENN… so I’d be thrilled for Cady to sign a deal if it means we’ll have Jenn full time.

I actually think the “woke” aspect of the show was the only thing that worked… sure, the characters realistically would’ve faced more adversity in the face of being so othered, but it felt so refreshing to just have diversity in so many forms be featured, celebrated, and treated pretty authentically. But, ya, there was admittedly a lot of wish fulfillment on the flip side. And QaF was always a show that fearlessly faced bigotry, it didn’t pretend it didn’t exist (or minimize it). My problem with this reboot was that it was on f-ing crack. They did EVERYthing in 8 or however many episodes. Literally burned through almost every couple combination and no one had to sit with any consequences from their or others’ actions. That’s where I totally agree with your “no underlying character connection/compassion/emotional pull.” Also, it was a mind f having the Michael/Lindsay amalgamation character in Ruthie! Lol

Yeah. The first time was in early 2015, during the beginning of the Will/Paul/Sonny triangle. I always thought he could be “finishing the job.” But he, like everyone said, is not a surprising “twist.” Maybe RC thinks the twist is that since he was the first one exonerated, we wouldn’t suspect him? I wonder if they’ll connect him killing Abby to Ben? RC went through so many hoops to isolate them in an effort to make Ben’s “redemption” work… And there could be another twist tomorrow? An accomplice maybe?? Lol

I understand why they held out for him for so long, because his 2007 return proved how great he was… but this time was a disastrous letdown. Of course, after the initial Shelle/Phelle round 10,000 tease (which was good, imo), the writing really sucked with his D list story with Chloe & Brady… but he undeniably flopped all on his own accord. It was shocking! JPL was really bad. Like, I even thought Kyle Brandt’s Philip was way better lol. But by the time they were writing him out, he kinda grew on me… I remember lmao at his and Kate’s commentary through Lucas & Adrienne’s doomed wedding. However, it was time to end that experiment. I’d love to for the show to find a solid recast willing to commit. But they ought to remember the Claire connection, which is a great way to always keep him in S&B’s orbit without the perpetual triangle.

I remember (and just confirmed on an old Daytime Confidential post lol) that in 2008, Josh Duhon, Jon Prescott (ex-Mike, ATWT), and Dylan Bruce (ex-Chris, ATWT) all auditioned for Philip if JKJ hadn’t re-signed during down to the wire contract negotiations.

This was something they VERY easily could have done. Even a little, few-second “thank you to the fans” feat. cast members like Bill & Susan Hayes, Dee Hall, and Jim Reynolds (since we know they filmed those Peacock ads).