6 hours ago, Liberty City said:

 

It has nothing to do with Luann not articulating herself well; Luann straight-up took it as a personal insult and put what Eboni said re-education into what she believed was about education, yet, Eboni was speaking on a technical level, and Luann took it as a more metaphorical one.

When Eboni asked LuAnn what she meant about being "raised in the church" and conflating that with "class" etc., Lu said it's not about class, it's about education.  I don't think LuAnn meant only uneducated people speak in a "derogatory" way like Leah, what she likely meant is that people like Ramona who were raised with a Catholic education were taught to not behave "like that" (which I personally think is absurd) or whatever.  That's what I meant about LuAnn not articulating herself properly.  Regardless of any miscommunication, LuAnn was dead wrong (so was Ramona for yelling at Eboni, who at that point was being very reasonable) and she obviously took Eboni's technical comment incorrectly.  She further misunderstood Eboni acknowledging her training as a nurse practitioner or whatever, but at that point the horse had left the barn and LuAnn was only thinking Eboni was putting her down.  Meanwhile, if Sonja felt like this was being directed at her, she probably would have lost her mind, too.  Like every time someone has rightly questioned her business acumen or social/financial status.

But now I feel like I'm defending LuAnn, which I'm not lol.  Lu couldn't have been more wrong in this situation and I cannot understand how she went from 0 to 60 like that and kicked Eboni out of her house.  LuAnn does not deserve Eboni's forgiveness and the craziest part is when she watches this back, she'll probably still feel justified in her reaction and deny that she was playing on a racist stereotype to provoke/hurt Eboni.

I just binged all the NY eppys . . . I loved reading all your guys' thoughts!

Re. LuAnn . . . this does NOT look like it's gonna be a good season for her.  But I have to disagree with everyone about her and Sonja.  Sonja has been droning on about this very false narrative that Lu steals all "her guys" since s6!  So Heather (and I think Carole) confirmed that the Sonja/Harry "engagement" was a flat out ruse.  Ramona lent him a ring specifically for that scene, and Harry & Sonja haven't been actually romantically involved since way before he married Aviva.  And LuAnn didn't just jump into a taxi with Harry; Heather & Jonathan were in the car, too and they all went to a nightclub after Carole's 50th birthday party.  The fact that Sonja still brings this up isn't just crazy, it's totally intellectually dishonest.  And I can't even with Sonja going on and on about Tom . . . they were f buddies but she plays it up for the cameras that Lu stole her boyfriend.  If I were Lu, I'd lose all patience for this nonsense, too.  Did she have to be so cruel?  No.  But she has every right to shut Sonja down with this bs and her obvious unhappiness about her happiness.  Sonja is so fun and compellingly tragic, but she's not harmless.  She is SO self-produced and for as "authentic" she is about some parts of her life, she's equally inauthentic about other parts, esp. her love life.  Now she's saying SHE left her husband?!?

But the "angry" stuff with Eboni was disgusting.  Eboni hit a nerve with the education comment (which was Lu's fault because she didn't articulate herself properly when she was getting all Countess-y with Leah) and I get why Lu misunderstood her, but once she realized she pushed a major button with the angry comment, she doubled down to hurt Eboni and made it about race.  Her smirk confirmed it.  I don't know where she's coming from here but she'll obviously make it worse with her lack of self-awareness and inability to actually apologize for anything.   I did love seeing Victoria and Nicole and thought Lu shading Carole was hella funny, even though I LOVE Carole.

But even though I thought she was great in the premiere, I . . . don't . . . like Eboni.  Maybe this has to with my own issues about lacking in the self-confidence department, but this woman is so goddam full of herself and comes off really entitled.  I think she has earned the right to be very proud of herself for all her accomplishments, but it really bothers me when people seem to not have a humble bone in their body.  Maybe it's her edit?

Ramona with her eyes and her continued knack for messing up every single saying on earth is the gift that keeps on giving, but she has not had anything new to offer for years.

I'm so over Leah and hate that we lose Heather because of her.  But Heather DID say that LuAnn and Sonja were, at best, around blow in St. Barths.  I don't know how she didn't expect to get blasted for that.  I remember when Bethenny and Sonja accused Dorinda of the same thing in s8 and while Dorinda was vociferously defending herself, Lu tried to get her to shut up and move on.  I always figured it's because Lu and Dorinda were "partying" together.  Anyway, now that Leah is not the "new girl" anymore, her role on the show doesn't fit.  Bravo bet on the wrong horse here.

I'm just gonna enjoy Holla! being back this week because it appears she ain't ever coming back to the show   She has so much more life as a housewife between her business, family, and real problems with LuAnn and Sonja.  Heather just isn't down to let Sonja get away with her bs self-producing and her "friendship" with Lu really went sideways.  I really miss the seasons 6-7 clique with Lu, Carole, Heather, and Kristen pre-Adam.

Paul Telfer is lucky tptb are hot for him because usually when you abruptly lose your love interest/big story, you languish on the backburner lol.  I like Xander and think he functions really well like this, bbuutt . . . he is problematic af.  He was legitimately psycho until his unexpected romance with Sarah.  Like, it is really disgusting that Nicole hooked up with him after EVERYthing he did to her.  And it wasn't just her; remember everything he did to Eric, Theresa, Chloe, etc?!?  I know they explained that Jack is friends with him (which I love, btw) because Xander didn't know who he was in the warehouse, but he could have done his due diligence . . . and it doesn't excuse why he let everyone in Salem believe everyone there was dead.  Idk, I'm so much more down for overlooking his past then, say, Ben but it is a big ask.

The Horton Home residents have become a really fun crew . . . but it is so implausible that Jack, Julie, Doug, Gwen, and Xander are living together.  Isn't it Jennifer's house?  Why is Jack inviting in all these strays???  Lolol

Re. EJ's effect on the canvas . . . I think he was/is a very important character, and he caught on very early in his run . . . bbbuuut I don't think *he* changed the show.  "Days" desperately needed to pass the torch around his entrance; the show was just unable to truly move past Marlena, John, Hope, Bo, Jenn, and Jack (and I guess sorta Steve & Kayla) being the leads.  Even with characters like Austin, Carrie, Lucas, Sami, Shawn, Belle, Philip, Chloe, and Brady getting a ton of focus, tptb just couldn't really pass the baton like all the ABC soaps had done by the 2000's (I'm not familiar enough with CBS).

But by some miracle, "Days" finally DID transition, but it wasn't because of EJ imo, it was because of the baby switch (like 2 years after EJ's debut).  Which, sure, was a lot about EJ and even EJami, but it all came together like magic for the show and that ALSO had as much to do with Nicole's return and even Galen & Eric's Rafe and Brady . . . I hate giving Dena Higley any credit, but she, Whitesell, and Tomlin (as EP) made this happen and that period is widely credited as a kind of renaissance that literally probably saved "Days."  Those three and the five aforementioned characters really deserve so much credit for moving the show away from J&M/B&H/J&J absolutely dominating the audience's favor . . . it was definitely a new era (obviously other stuff helped the transition like Crystal Chappell and Louise Sorel's unexpected returns).  But then for whatever reasons, they couldn't keep the momentum and Corday decided to go back to the past with the big 2011 "Reboot."  Which didn't work, lol.  After Tomlin & Whitesell took over head writing, they tried go back to what was happening pre-"Reboot" and I think we got a pretty good mix of something fresh and familiar.  Ron, I think despite all his faults, does a good job at striking a balance between the different generations and eras . . . except that for a year+, the show has lacked strong focus and due to so many things, I don't think we've had TRUE leads since Chad & Abby left in early 2019.  Not that I'm saying that Chad/Abby/Stefan being the center of the show for all of 2018 was good, but it was focused . . . now it's just arcs and rotating actors.

11 hours ago, Liberty City said:

 

One day the lights were just turned off; I'm also pretty sure they changed cameras, yet never changed post-production models. Even now it looks piss poor.

 

 

Again, every single time they changed EP lineups, it all changes. And while the new sets around 2015 were nice, they all looked cheap AF! Even now the sets look cheap and recycled. The new DiMera set is nice, but, in comparison to the new sets General Hospital gives us, it pales in comparison.

No doubt.  I will never sing DOOL’s praises re. sets (even when we had like 50ish of them in rotation during the Langan/B&C era).  I just appreciate that in the last few years, there’s been some effort on the production design front.

I don’t have much positive to say about Frank as GH’s EP, but I am so impressed with how he’s completely refreshed the look of the show (even if a lot of it isn’t my taste nor is it very reflective of the actual characters who are supposed to be inhabiting those sets).  GH has a serious visual POV—lots of moving cameras and different angles.

But ya, for “Days,” the Ed Scott era was our visual high for sure.

While the Griffith era WAS terrible, I actually thought the show never looked better during late 2015/early 2016.  The lighting was way too dark, but I loved how they used the studio as sets and there was a depth to the sets that was lacking when the show was hella bright in earlier years.  And we got Hope's house back, Kayla got a house, and you could tell there was way more $$ being put into the show.  Then it abruptly stopped around summer 2016.  Since like 2018, I've noticed that production has really tried to work with the budget to give us refreshed sets . . . sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.  My favorite set update in recent years is the Horton home--it felt sacrelig' to lose the green walls, but I love the blue, the new wood floors, and some of the new art (like the stacked botanicals to the right of the fireplace).

They did the Reva/Annie story almost 10 years ago with Jenn/Nicole, too.

I haven’t seen today’s show yet, but Wednesday and Thursday were the best episodes they’ve put out in ages. Things were actually happening, which made me be able to handle Nicole/Rafe/Ava and Kristen.  The show has been going through a pretty low period for me since Gwen’s secret was revealed and Charlie got murdered (since then we’ve had to endure Cin 24/7 ahhhhhhhhhhh lol), so here’s to hoping it’s about to rebound.

Wow!  lol

Between them and Jonathan Bennett, that was quite a before-they-were-famous blip for AMC.

On 4/23/2021 at 4:49 PM, Antoyne said:

Well I knew/hoped that baby wasn’t going to happen. And now they can continue their ridiculous redeeming of Gwen and villafying Abby.

 

When was the last time we saw the DiMera steps?

This is not the right direction for Abby/Chad/Gwen.  Even though it's INSANE that Gwen is going to have Chad's baby, allegedly lol . . . it's kinda crazy that no one has brought up that everyone initially thought that both Thomas and Charlotte weren't Chad's . . . and they worked through that.  Lol.  I know it's apples to oranges, but still.

But I think the last time we saw the DiMansion stairs was just before the Time Jump when they rested the big DiMera set for the small study.  I am still getting used to new DiMansion.  I'm very glad we're getting the staircase because for a min., I was thinking the foyer set was incomplete and we were only ever going to get angles of it because of, you know, budget lol.  There is SO much more they could do with the existing sets--like film from the top of the stairs, have people go up and down the stairs, etc.  I know we can only afford what we can afford, but there's a lot of space on these sets that just very rarely, if ever, get utilized.

I can’t believe I didn’t see Gwen’s pregnancy scare coming a mile away.

But isn’t unconfirmed that she and Chad actually had sex?

I loved him on Spartacus!  Great news if this is true.

Since we were talking about Aiden Turner, he was actually one of the front runners for Spartacus after Andy Whitfield died.

I think Viki & Dorian own this title, but I'm only really familiar with "Days" and the '00ish-onward ABC Daytime lineup.

As for Kenlee . . . I LOVED them, but esp. during my early 20's during the last few years of AMC, I was really into best friends/frenemies stories.  I was honestly really surprised they didn't get a big scene during the finale at Fusion with just the two of them.  Broderick's final weeks, and esp. days, really displayed her commitment to closing the show in a way that honored its legacy and kinda rejected the whole Frons era.  Which was for the best, but it was a stark contrast the "Sex and the City" AMC we got for most of the aughts.  Re. whether the show favored Greenlee or Kendall and who suffered character/story-wise because of the relationship . . . um, it's clear to me that the network was VERY committed to Rebecca Budig, but not necessarily Greenlee.  And if it's a competition between Greenlee and Kendall over prominence, etc., Kendall always, always, always got way more POV and consistent vision--whether people agreed with it or not, she was the long-suffering heroine martyr who was always devoted to Zach, Greenlee, and Ryan (and Erica and Bianca) despite whether it was in her best interest or not.  Greenlee, on the other hand, was always changing motivations, got run over and then backed up by the bus multiple times, and sorta had to eventually always end up with Ryan because of ABC Daytime's obsession with Cameron Mathison.  Maybe I'm biased, I prefered lee to Ken lol.

Well, during Missy’s 2000-2006 run, I’d wager if Jennifer or Hope weren’t in scenes with one of their direct story partners, they were in scenes together.  They interacted CONSTANTLY during those years, always supporting each other.  It was jarring that they didn’t interact as much in the past 10 years.  (I blame block taping and what obviously became Missy’s lack of availability.). But when they did, they always made it count.  I think their relationship is one of the cornerstones of the show.

He was one of my favorites on AMC.  Pratt essentially discarding him and his subsequent epic character assassination gave me SUCH AJ/Zander from GH PTSD.

Camila Banus has become such an asset to this show and really makes Gabi work, even though the character is usually insane and never has believable, consistent motivation.  Like even during the dumbest $h!t, she's always a character I pay attention to.  The only time I have NO use for her is when she's after Chad, for whatever reason it happens to be this time.

And I know we've been talking about sets lately, but I've gotta say the show is on a visual high these days.  Sometimes it's too darkly lit, but I really like the sets they have in rotation now (except for the K sitting room) and depending on the director, the camera angles and movement can be pretty on point by "Days" standards depending on the day.

Thanks for posting!

Do you guys think this is short or long term?  I was never here for EJ but I'll admit that this is the kind of return that could be a really valuable, game-changing shakeup.  But wouldn't this depend on Sweeney staying?  I guess they could cast to finally break them up and free up Sami for other love interests (Lumi is endgame no matter what, lol).  Either way this is super buzz worthy.

And I hate that they're getting so far ahead, too.

1 hour ago, Gray Bunny said:

Good grief, THAT'S what they're using to try and pass off St. Luke's Church?  I guess since it's not a Ben/Ciara wedding, they figured it's not worth it... 

 

Meanwhile, no dialogue mention of Nicole updating her apartment to that ugly yellow wallpaper? 

Nicole’s apartment redecoration isn’t great.  It’s also sorta sad because that set was one of the few to be dressed with a lot of care for which character actually lived there—it had a lot of what was obviously Eric’s Africa photography and stuff he picked up on his travels.  It’s pretty generic now.

As far as St. Luke’s—I’m ok with anything that isn’t the park or Horton Town Square for this christening.  The bar is low, lol.

2 hours ago, Dylan said:

Question, what set is this

It’s like a den/sitting room in the Kiriakis mansion.  They’ve had it for several years, but I don’t think it’s really been used since RC started until now.

I think the new DiMera set looks great bbuuttt it is obviously the K mansion reconfigured.  So it's not worth it to me.  Those obviously should be very distinct places and this set completely lacks the gothic aesthetic that defines DiMansion.  And even though DiMansion's "study" was small, I thought it was a good set . . . what's an absolutely horrible set is the K "den" that we'll be stuck with for however long now.

WTF?!?  The character was really problematic but this is random af.  Sarah was shoved down our throats from her (re)intro. to about halfway through 2020 and they did not capitalize on her Horton legacy status, but I think LG is really talented and was, by far, the star of the baby switch.  I will miss the actress, if not the character . . . but it feels very irresponsible to ditch a character who was relentlessly positioned to be the ("young"ish) center of the show for so long.  Between VK's sorta recurring status and ID's very lackluster turn as nuClaire, I'm sure hoping they've locked down MM so Abby can represent the younger Horton female portion of the show that's so necessary.  At least we definitely seem to have a real asset with LA as Allie, unless she randomly gets dropped.  They have GOT to get a better handle on keeping cast consistency . . . this revolving door has become so insane and very damaging to the continuity of the show.

3 hours ago, jam6242 said:

Ron now has Jake calling Gabi “chica” and imitating a Spanish accent so I wouldn’t give him too much credit.

I missed that

4 hours ago, FrenchBug82 said:

 

On one hand, I kinda like having random characters interact with each other. It is better to give them a Salem as a real town.
On the other, it was so random that I am pretty sure this was one of these cases of the scene originally having been written for Gabi and someone else, that someone else not available to film it at that time for whatever reason, and them switching in Roman because JT was available at short notice.

I agree.  I usually like random characters interacting . . . and, I mean, Roman is involved with Gabi through Will/Ari.  But this was bizarre lol.  One thing I really liked about RC's first couple years at OLTL was that everyone, esp. the newer characters, didn't act super familiar with each other.  Soap towns should feel like a community, but sometimes it doesn't make sense for the super rich "public figures" to act hella familiar with a random twenty-something.  Like, I wouldn't want to see Tony or Anna chumming it up with, say, Tripp . . . that saps believability out of the premise of who the characters are positioned to be.  Sometimes these soap characters have no reason to know each other but they're often like, "oh hey!" lol

As far as what everyone's saying about NuClaire . . . yaaa.  ID is fine.  But even though it took ORK a long time to really find her footing, she did.  And it helped that the writers incorporated her quirks into Claire.  ORK's Claire wound up having a lot of personality fueled by her neuroses and unrelenting drive and she was really extra and kinda offbeat.  That really came to define Claire.  And like many have said, ID's Claire is SO nondescript.  She's palatable at best and that's so not Claire.  Like this iteration of Claire seems only defined by being gullible and that's the extent of her insecurities . . . Claire was literally driven insane by her own sociopathic need to be the best and she was so weighed down by comparing herself to Ciara and feeling like she couldn't measure up to Belle's expectations (that was a surprisingly complicated relationship) . . . and she was sneaky and manipulative with Shawn and J&M and Theo/Tripp.  She was a MESS.  I don't get that at ALL with this Claire.

And I agree with everyone that JH is fabulous as Paulina.  RC is being really heavy-handed with her and the social commentary, but it's so fun and she is speaking TRUTH!  But after JJ and Theo's "Blue Lives Matter" story, I am apprehensive of RC tackling the world's racial reckoning.  Here's to hoping this Paulina commentary is some kind of attempt to correct that insanely tone deaf JJ/Theo story and Julie's casual racism toward Gabi.  Smh.

5 hours ago, victoria foxton said:

Oh no!  It looks like we're getting the Kiriakis "sitting room" back (instead of the foyer/living room set??) . . .

10 hours ago, KMan101 said:

No wonder my watching is sparse. Ron needs a strong co-hw. Fran the butcher needs to go and Alarr the lazy executive needs to go, though kudos for trying to improve the set situation. I refuse to believe Marlena would live in that hideously decorated townhouse so the actual decor needs an upgrade. It looks like a retirement home villa. 

 

Maybe if the show were remotely interesting I wouldn't focus so much on the things that really shouldn't matter LOL

Lol!  The saddest part is the townhouse is better decorated than it ever has been.  I remember when they returned in 2011 . . . omg the way that set was dressed then was horrifying.  2009-2015 was a really low period for sets and basically everything visual on this show.  I do think since very late 2017, the sets(/how they dress them) have been improving more and more.  But the fact that they can seemingly only have 2 "full" house sets at a time really takes you out of the moments on the show.  The worst is Hope's Shawn & Belle's house consisting of that den, which was being redressed as Rafe's living room before he got Maggie's his kitchen back.  lol

I’ve always loved Marci Miller.  I think she took the notes that she should play Abby with more fire and unpredictably like Kate Mansi, which is working so well.  But I liked her quiet strength, long-suffering heroine Abby she played from 2016-18, too.

However, what’s most important is that Abby be on the show and the musical chairs between Marci and Kate is unsustainable.  Kate obviously doesn’t want a long-term contract and I don’t know where Marci stands.  It’s all over the internet that she’s pregnant (I totally missed this lol) so I wonder how they’ll handle her maternity leave (another recast would be too much, imo) and I really, really hope she’ll be sticking around long-term!!

Eli 

I have had ZERO interest in the Cin storyline, but I'm down for Claire (and Theo?) to get involved.  The promo was kinda cringey, but I liked it enough.  Sarah catching Kristen is actually a really, really interesting story beat.  I hope Ron doesn't screw it up.  Can anyone believe that freakin' Sarah was basically the main character of the show a year ago???  Lol thank God that's over.