DynamiteKiddo

That recreation is BEYOND sacrelig’, but the Horton Home looks gorgeous photographed there.

This is clever, though not totally original.  Hope it’s fun!

3 hours ago, carolineg said:

Also, did no one else find it weird that when Ciara introduced Billie/Ben she didn't mention Billie is the mother of her half sister Chelsea?  And Ciara didn't even ask about her even in passing?

I thought this was really weird, too.  I get that Ben and maybe a newer audience knows Kate and not Chelsea, but for all the history they're dropping for "Beyond Salem," this made no sense.

1 hour ago, FrenchBug82 said:

Since we were speculating about possible stories to get Carrie on her own, I am not against also bringing Greta back and get a triangle going there. As awful awful awful as the Garden of Eve was Austin/Greta were cute enough.

In truth I don't know if there is enough story to warrant bringing them back full-time but my nostalgia is acting up. Even though 95% of her stories sucked, I really liked Greta as a character.

I'm nostalgic about Greta . . . when I first started watching "Days," the Greta/Eric/Nicole/Lucas quad was front burner and then I really loved Austin & Greta (and Brandon & Sami) together . . . I hated when they moved Brandon and Greta into the J&J story and was super bummed that Peter Brash & Paula Cwikly not only immediately wrote Austin & Greta out, but that they didn't have them leave together (this was when Austin & Nicole were almost a thing, which I never liked until AP's 2005 return).

Between Chad and nuSonny, there was so much booty on today's eppy!   

ZT is such a welcome change . . . for so many reasons, FS was not working, but I thought he was totally fine (good, even) until his 2016 return . . . the tics he came back with only got worse and worse and worse until it was unbearable.  I loved seeing Chad and Sonny's bff relationship get so much focus . . . I know Chad started as Will's friend, but even when CD was still playing Chad, he and Sonny were always so much closer.  I will say CM left a lot to be desired today, but he was on so briefly.

J&M thrive in this kind of mode and it was great seeing Shane.  I'm not one of those fans who agree that J&M are the core or even "face" of the show, but I appreciated Dee's voiceover for the opening and didn't think it was offensive to Mac's legacy at all.

It was great seeing A&C!!!  (Did I miss it or were they left out of the opening credits?!?)  I think they are huge missed opportunity . . . there is so much story potential for them and while I think they should be endgame at this point, they're always better apart being angsty and stuff.  It's when they're together that tptb can't ever figure out what to do with them . . . S&B are the same situation.  Re. Austin Peck: I have a soft spot for him and after 2011/12, I never want PM back--what a unpleasantly surprising disaster.  And I actually think Austin is a great character (he's a hero with a very complex back-story and on-screen history), he just gets so dumbed down.

I think a little Tony & Anna goes a long way and while I initially would've preferred their spots go to J&J or S&K, I admit they're fitting perfectly here.

I hate Cin as much as everyone else and am constantly disgusted by them.  You'd think it would plateau at some point but it doesn't, lol.  And as someone who watches BH Housewives, LR exceeded my expectations . . . I thought she was just gonna be Rinna playing Rinna, but I saw Billie.  (She is one of my fav. characters, btw.)  I did think the NOLA scenes were the best produced . . . they dusted off a street set (we haven't had one of those since pre-Tomlin as EP I think) and though I think Sonia Blangiardo is one of the more uninspired "Days" directors, but she put more effort in these scenes than the others.

Sadly, the Paulina/Abe/Lani/Eli content was the weak link for me.  JH is a delight but all the name dropping and direct reference to a "Kathy Griffin My Life on the D List" episode (where she visited Rosie and Gloria on Star Island) was way too much.  I know Paulina is supposed to be extra, but less is more sometimes and that was all really cringey.  But whatever sets they redressed/combined/whatever for her mansion was great!  Eli & Lani got a really nice character scene talking about parenthood, though.  Out of the whole Chabby/WilSon/Gabi/JJ/etc. crowd, I'm glad RC has kept them on his whole tenure . . . this is such a great overall group and while E&L may not light the show on the fire, they are very valuable supporting characters who've been through so much together.

Can't wait for tomorrow!

Omfg Nighttime Hope was everything!  Lmfao!  I remember at the time, some Hope stans on the old SoapCity board were actually genuinely praising that dumpsterfire as vindication for Hope for all the “pain” Bo put her through over the years with Billie and recently-returned Carly.  Lolol………..

Dorit is gonna be in the HOT SEAT at reunion!  Lol.  Last year, I couldn't believe how much she won me over by distancing herself from the Denise gang up, but she has lost all goodwill x 100 this year.  Going after Garcelle was such a mistake.  And did she think they were gonna edit out her Erika stuff or something?!?  Lolol.

Kyle is the worst.  And even though I've been enjoying Kathy, I can see past the character she and production are cultivating.  Someone on here said that if you look past her edit, she's dangerously similar to NY's Ramona . . . and while I loved sneaking a peak at her insane family dynamic with her sisters last week (this is where BH's real drama has always laid), it was evident that Kathy can be an unflinching gaslighter.  Not that I ever feel bad for Kyle or anything . . . lol.  But I'll never be on Team Kim, either.  She is a problematic sociopath and I can't even empathize with her addiction because she's either unwilling or unable to be accountable (forget being held accountable).

I'm still on the fence with Crystal.  I hated that she tried to irresponsibly label Sutton as some kind of predator, but she proved she could BRING IT in a confrontation at Rinna's pasta party and I like her home scenes.  But she's been a big nothingburger since her feud with Sutton cooled down.

Rinna obviously hates Garcelle because she holds her accountable and stays holding her accountable . . . she clearly is paranoid about her "rivals" (LVP, Denise, now Garcelle) hijacking her narrative and turning the audience against her.  She should have learned from her mistakes.  And while I understand that she and Garcelle (and Denise) may have been "Hollywood friends" (© Yolanda), she needs to STOP burning bridges for the sake of this show because it shows such a lack of character.  And while I can appreciate she's ride or die for her friend/ally FINALLY, Erika is NOT the hill to die on.  Losing Eileen has really hurt her.

Erika is trash.  I cannot begin to understand her play here . . . she needed to break her contract and dip when this all happened.  She is beyond burying herself.

I LOVE Garcelle and Sutton!  And I do feel horribly that Sutton is being scapegoated by The Coven, but her "reputation" concerns do sound like some Karen bs (and this is a pattern for her) . . . I am NOT defending Erika, but I didn't think that was the way to frame her very valid concerns about this heinous scandal.  She is walking that back now, but no one is willing to listen to her.  I'm glad production is on her side, because she's been very slow at learning how to navigate this show and I do NOT want to see her steamrolled.  And I can't love Garcelle more . . . from her friendship with Sutton, home scenes, genuinely interesting and fabulous life . . . she's amazing and can throw down better than any of these women while retaining her humanity . . . Erika should take notes.

I’m surprised by the format… I guess I was thinking really simplistically and thought Billie would be going one place an episode, so Mon. would be like Shane, Marlena, John, Carrie, Austin, Anna, and Tony in Zurich, Tues. would be Chad, Will, Sonny, and Leo in Phoenix, Wed. would be Ben & Ciara in NOLA, etc.

I am SOOO looking forward to this!!!

As a huge Jack fan, this is devastating news.  Even though I’ll always prefer Missy Reeves as Jenn, if this is happening because she won’t return full-time, then F that.  They should’ve hired Cady McClain long-term and then we could be enjoying the characters on-screen as Horton anchors.

2 hours ago, carolineg said:

There has always been an earnestness that Missy brought to Jen.  She is much less glamourous than Marlena or Hope but Missy has always had a natural appeal. There is something very likable about her, but her real life just isn't likable at all.  I just think MR has a warmth Cady does not have naturally.  Anyhow, if they said Cady was taking over the role forever I'd be fine.  I just still think Missy will always be Jen.   Plus, her great chemistry with MA.  You aren't gonna be able to just replicate that with someone else, but CM never bothered me even though MR has played Jen since she was practically a kid.  So it's kind of a wash?  I like them both as Jen.

I can't agree more about your Missy vs. Cady assessment!

I am a huge Jenn/J&J fan, so I definitely have a dog in this fight . . . I do think she is on par with Marlena and Hope as the lead legacy heroines and I think the familiarity and history Missy provides is pretty irreplaceable.  But, like I said, I think Jenn is a really vital lead character, so I'd gladly take Cady full-time over visits or a very reduced schedule from Missy (which I think she had for years).  And as such a big Missy as Jennifer fan, I am deeply disappointed by her "personal beliefs" but I can separate actress from character here.  Like, just seeing Missy's Jenn in the Horton house and that being her home now . . . just the imagery stirs so much emotion in me . . . Cady's Jenn in the Horton house did not conjure any of those feelings in me.  But given time, I'm sure she'd settle in better re. those aspects.  But I do hate to think of anyone being uncomfortable on set with Missy.  So idk, this is tough.

I also started watching during Langan (2000) . . . looking back on it, I wouldn't say I have rose colored glasses, but I did just accept everything they were feeding me until about Dena Higley 1.0.  Greta/Eric/Nicole/Lucas was one of the A stories when I started, so I'll say I have very, very fond memories of that and then I became really invested in Austin & Greta and Brandon & Sami (I hated when TL moved Brandon and Greta to the J&J story).  Confession: I look back on Virtual Eden fondly.   And I loved all things Coronation Massacre.  And even though I was there for it at the time, I now object to almost all things teen scene (Last Blasts, Tropical Temptation, etc.).

But as far as the late '00 period we're talking about . . . it's wild how hard TL was working to dismantle the establishment couples like J&M, B&H, Abe & Lexie, and Victor & Kate.  The J&M/Brady/Belle stuff is esp. insane for all the reasons you guys have well covered.  Like, on paper, if TL wanted to take a darker turn for the hero supercouples, that sounds ok . . . but it was so over-the-top destructive.  During this time, Bo also had lost complete faith in Hope, who was suffering from PTSD and constant panic post-Gina.  And this was right after the fans voted John as JT's father instead of Stefano.  This all was also right before TL desecrated J&J.

But the production values were never better.  As EP AND HW, Tom Langan was living with the set list.  Almost everyone had a house with exteriors (like Marlena's penthouse in the video above), there were tons of public spaces, everyone had cars, they were filming at Salem Place and the rest of the lot constantly, etc.  The good ol' "Days" lolol.

I do think that Peter Brash & Paula Cwikly were mostly great hws for the show, despite things like the Gemini Twins and CopBillie lol.  That period was such a high for the show.

And re. Reilly 1.0 . . . I've seen a lot of it online and I agree that there is a lot of mood and atmosphere (he excelled at that), but I have noting positive to say about the plotting or characterization.  Imo, it was all so unsubtle, simplistic, and repetitive.  It also locked the show into J&M, B&H, and J&J keeping the show in a holding pattern until Dena Higley & Chris Whitesell finally successfully transitioned the show out of that stranglehold.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the vets and J&J are probably my fav. couple, but the show could just never successfully break free of them as the defacto leads and status quo.  But anyway, if I have to pick a highpoint for him, it'd be '93/esp. '94 . . . that's before almost the ENTIRE show consisted of hero/heroine/villain triangles with, like, NO nuance lol.

13 hours ago, Vee said:

I thought they dumped Cassie in part bc Alexis Thorpe went after a bigger primetime career when Reilly arrived. (She did the ill-fated WB Dark Shadows pilot at the time, among other things.) Reilly just didn't have any interest in many of the characters he offed and had intended to kill permanently.

I don't remember any backstage stuff about her firing (she was getting huge airtime before Reilly returned), but I do remember Alexis Thorpe would only agree to super limited appearances when they brought everyone back from the dead.  Which sucked, I liked Cassie relatively (it helped that I had major issues with most of her contemporaries by this point).  Edited to add: I do wish, though, that Rex and Cassie got retconned out of existence . . . like others mentioned, it seemed like this was possible before Kyle Lowder's casting as Rex.  But I think Cassie got mentioned on a call with Kate during TomSell or Higley/Griffith.  Them turning out to be Roman & Kate's kids with Marlena as surrogate was such a dumpsterfire.

This is so exciting.  I'm so looking forward to seeing Austin & Carrie.  And I'm so happy about Sonny being recast--I definitely think FS was approached, but I'm so glad he turned them down (he'll likely really regret this later) . . . he was not working as Sonny for a really long time.  And I, personally, don't think that because of anything appearance-related . . . he just got . . . so . . . expressive since his 2016 return.  Like, I think he thought he was portraying Sonny really earnestly, but he was either SO saccharine (doing big doe eyes) or SO pouty (with serious face scrunching).  It was just beyond off, and he wasn't like that from 2011-15.

And I'm sooo ready for Billie!  She's definitely in my top 5 of fav. characters, but if we're talking a long-term return, I prefer Julie Pinson (not like Rinna would ever return for any meaningful length of time).  But considering Housewives, it makes sense for her to lead this . . . Peacock can piggyback off that, but it's a shame RHoBH isn't filming rn because this would be a cool thing to feature, ESP. with Eileen participating.

I'm crossing my fingers for higher production values (doubtful lol, esp. since this cast is an investment!) and I really hope it can be current and fresh, not hokey like soaps tend to be.

This Erika situation is such a clusterf.  At the dinner at Kyle's house, I don't even think she was being phony.  To me, it seemed like she was so overwhelmed that she was stream-of-consciousness-ing her thoughts. which is why it was so all over the place.  What it does feel like, though, is that right now, she's using the "Tom was mentally unfit" argument to explain his actions that she's being held accountable for.  Even if Tom IS mentally unfit, his actions can't be explained away by that premise--he still stole millions and millions of dollars from his clients, who were victims of horrific disasters.  That's purposeful and shows intent.  It's not like he accidentally moved funds to the wrong place, because then the $$ would be somewhere and they could pay.  He was obviously broke because of their INSANE lifestyle and (unnecessarily) high business costs and stole to keep the ruse going.  Who knows how long he's even been doing this.  That man is as wicked as they come.  Erika should be showing limitless empathy for Tom's victims, but maybe she thinks if she does that, she'd be held more liable when it comes time for the court to decide how they're going to rectify this.  I know she needs the Bravo check now, but she really should have broken her contract and quit because she is coming off horribly and this is all going to be used against her.  And I don't see how Bravo can do anything other then cut ties with her moving forward.  He S11 paycheck better be worth it for her!

Re. LuAnn's alcoholism: if addiction is measured by consequences, then LuAnn is an alcoholic.  She was in a toxic, alcohol-soaked relationship/marriage that instantly imploded; she had a drunk mishap at the Palm Beach hotel which resulted in her arrest and threatening a police officer; she couldn't stay sober during her probation and made such poor choices that led to her kids suing her and she needed an intervention; etc.  She's definitely a binge drinker and during summer 2020, she had a wakeup call that after ALL her consequences, she couldn't drink responsibly and was blacking out in public multiple times and that scared her enough to dry out.  It's really difficult for her, because she obviously enjoys being drunk and she's usually ok, but she can't help herself from binge drinking and it scares her . . . it's an internal war and I have a lot of empathy for her and can really relate to her on this issue.  I doubt her sobriety will be permanent because she clearly still isn't at the point where she WANTS to stop drinking.  And not only was her father an alcoholic but it's been heavily implied that her daughter is, too.  And reports say she isn't on good terms with her son.  She's very lucky that she has her brother and his twin daughters that she's so close with because her personal life has always been such a mess.  LuAnn is a real enigma and she's definitely one of the most interesting hws NY has had, she just can't get out of her own way with her pride and delusions of grandeur.

This sounds like a total waste of $$ for a show on a shoestring budget.

I'm actually shocked that RC "allowed" Chad a pov on Ben last week.  (I know, I know.  It was ultimately done to drum up sympathy for Ben when Chad was gloating to him about Theo.  But that's not the effect it had on me.)  RC has obviously had a super hard time reconciling the Ben/Chabby problem, so he's very purposefully separated them (except when Chad let Ben escape last year and when Abby was drugged and CRAZY lol).  Maybe this works for some people . . . but all it does for me is illuminate how stupid a concept this Ben as a herovictim thing is.  You have all these people who love Abby and go on and on about her, but they're either down for Ben or they just IGNORE the elephant in the room (Ben at Jenn's house for Christmas last year was particularly rich).  Honestly, if the character was a black sheep or allowed to teeter on the edge, he might work in a dark, psycho, pariah way . . . but soaps always get this wrong with the leading man who's dark with criminal and/or psychotic tendencies.  And that's a fine role--that character CAN have pov, but it's always blundered.

Even though I hate Cin are obviously gonna get the Olympic cliffhanger, I can't say I'm not down for the theater of this wedding.  I still really wish Kyler Pettis was playing Theo!!!  And I hate that Theo always gets cast aside, too.

5 minutes ago, FrenchBug82 said:

The only pairing that never worked in any way was the Lucas marriage - I say that as someone who is fond of BD but that chemistry was flat-lined. Which made sense based on the story but still.

So true.  But they have such great comedic, sparring chemistry!  Lol.  But BD & AZ really excel at that kind of material.

Back in the day, I thought EJ/Nicole/Brady was a way more compelling triangle than EJ/Sami/Rafe, but I'm a big Bricole fan.  It was always crazy to me that they fired Lindsay Korman right as EJ & Ariana were heating up; they were WAY better than EJ & Taylor (but I wouldn't have fired Tamara Braun during the 2011 purge leading up to The Reboot).

The EJami thing is so curious . . . I've read on this board that Ali Sweeney & James Scott went to TPTB during early TomSell to advocate for EJami, because they were clearly going full steam ahead with a Safe reunion in 2012.  IMO, perhaps the best Safe scene ever was when Sami found out that not only was EJ, not Rafe, the father of Nicole's baby but that Carrie knew, too.  Sami was SO hurt that Rafe was in cahoots with Nicole and that he told Carrie . . . the line included something like, "the two women I hate most in the world."  I HATE EJami for all the reasons everyone's already detailed.

I like Ericole--GV and AZ have great chemistry, but like everyone's said, Ari has chemistry with almost everyone she's paired with (I remember Vargas and they were hot together before he was revealed to be a major dirtbag; can't remember the specifics).  But I feel like TPTB did such irreparable damage to Ericole in the name of St. Daniel Jonas that I never got totally invested in them again, esp. after Eric's initially great pairing with Jennifer when they were all intoxicated and destructive together.  But I will really miss GV, I've been such a fan since his Lucky days on GH.  I do like that they've left a return very open-ended and I was happy to hear that TPTB begged him to stay last year.

Today's eppy hasn't aired yet in CA, but yesterday's (7/19) was so good.  First of all, I can't remember when we got a climax that slowly unfolded through multiple acts like this . . . Xander busting in, Eric cutting him off, the reveal, Eric not believing him, Nicole denying it, Sami's story, Eric punching Xander, Nicole's confession, and then everyone's reactions.  It was old school soap.  I mean, John ripping the Nicole mask off Kristen and everyone being shocked is entertaining, but something like this has so much more payoff and is very specific to the genre.  And I LOVED that it was a standalone.  If there were other stories yesterday, it wouldn't have been nearly as effective.

I would kill to know what Lorraine Broderick's plan was for "Days" in 1999 when she was hw for like 6 weeks or so between Sally Sussman Morina and Tom Langan.  And in more recent times, I would've loved to see her as hw after Gary Tomlin & Chris Whitesell in 2015.  For all of TomSell's faults, the show was pretty high quality on a daily basis (it was the overall vision that was the problem) and I want to credit Broderick as breakdown writer for that.

And I thought that Thom Racina, Susan Bedsow Horgan, and Jessica Klein were great on OLTL 2.0.  That show was so fresh and modern.  I would have loved to see what they'd come up with on another soap.

Iirc, Johnny got cancer a little while after Sami shot EJ in the head . . . it was definitely when Nicole was finally happy with Brady, but EJ convinced her to fake a reconciliation so he'd have a better chance against Safe in the custody battle.  Nicole agreed because she'd get time with Sydney (and Johnny), but EJ said it was conditional on her ending things with Brady.  So Bricole snuck all around behind EJ's back, including at the hospital during Johnny's eye cancer.  Shortly after this, almost all the stories sharply changed direction and, instead, we got the Nicole/EJ/Taylor triangle.

But ya, giving EJami middle ground with Johnny was obviously a big part of this.

One of my favorite parts of Higley/MarDar/Tomsell was getting to watch Johnny, Allie, Ciara, and Theo grow up together.  It felt like they had those four child actors for a long time + a few Sydneys, Chase later, and Joey on holidays.

Such great news.

But, ya, the Sarah thread is absolutely absurd.  But I am grateful that it hopefully means Kristen can never, ever be portrayed as some kind of tragic heroine again.

Omg the bear!  Lol

I was pleasantly surprised they mentioned Peter during this DiMera Enterprises nonsense (I guess props for the "conference room").  I agree that Missy holding this character hostage for 21 years since her '00 return is INSANE.  The fact that J&J were so reluctant for Abby to marry into the DiMera family while never mentioning their very significant, storied personal history with them wasn't just intellectually stupid, it was the biggest missed opportunity to create so much story and conflict for Jenn and Chabby.  Missy calling those kinds of shots is completely unacceptable.  The only two times I recall her Jenn ever being linked to Peter was when she first came back, Stefano super ominously welcomed her back home and after the Chick-fil-A tweet, Kristen mentioned Peter to her.

However, despite this, Chick-fil-A, and Candace Owens, I absolutely love her as Jennifer.  When she outed herself as homophobic, I was pretty gutted and torn because I grew up loving her, but I can separate her and Jennifer.  And for so many reasons, she really embodies Jenn.  Mostly because of her really long-term histories and chemistry with the other vets and most of the cast.  And when she tries, she exudes such warmth and enthusiasm . . . this can work against her with her love interests, though, because she often comes off as acting like 14-years-old.  Except with Matt Ashford, because she plays such a range of emotions with him.  And I think she did great with Greg Vaughan in the beginning, because she got to play dark (I even think she did a good job with Justin Melvey's Colin once it got all dangerous).  And I do think she's on the same tier as Marlena and Hope because she's had 36 years on the show and she's really been the anchor Horton of her generation.  She connects a huge swath of characters and, sure, she doesn't have an infamous story like MarDevil or Princess Gina, but she's as enduring a heroine as them, in my opinion.  While I think Marlena is an undeniable icon, I think Hope and Jenn are actually more important to the fabric of the show because of being the lead Horton characters for decades.

And I really appreciated Cady as Jenn, and I want Cady on now if it means that's how we'll get Jenn back on the canvas.  She did great work and really slid in pretty seamlessly.  But I was missing the connection that Missy brings, esp. with Cady's lack of chemistry with Jennifer's family.  And Missy had the best chemistry with Kate Mansi, Marci Miller, and Casey Moss.  I did really like Cady opposite Matt, though.  I don't know, it was a different vibe but I liked her very much.  I'd prefer Missy back, but if she's going to make things uncomfortable backstage and esp. if she's going to have extremely limited availability (it's felt like that for years), I would love for Cady to be put on a long-term contract.

So sad.  RIP.

Oh it made them look so bad!  Lmao that DanaPam contributed to this.

15 minutes ago, Cheap21 said:

Her husband's trying to get rid of her. Isnt that the story for alot of them?

Lol

Ya, Crystal seems really mean girl.  I like parts of her, but I equally get bad vibes.  But in her defense, Sutton WAS acting like a freakout.  Which sucks, because I really wanna like her, but I get major Karen vibes.

I wonder why Crystal joined the show?