DramatistDreamer

It just seems like Y&R saw what BTG was doing with Anita Dupree and said, hey let's do our own version, but only spend on a day or two on the actual story.

Have any of these writers ever been working class? It doesn't appear to be the case. They desperately need folks outside the gilded cage who are grounded in reality. They've already played fast and loose with people's ages and the logic of character backstories. Give us some reality lol.

I've said from Day 1 that the Plasma ring story was shallow without much logic or depth but some posters thought it would land somewhere. Nor did I get the excitement about the hospital administrator which has veered from cartoonish to bloodless. I've stopped asking questions about the Hayley/Bill/Lynette storyline at this point. It is what it is, I guess.

Smitty is definitely not the brightest bulb in the box. Finally the lawyers look to have an actual case to act as lawyers. Given how the harassment case (don't want to be more specific, because I don't want to risk violating the censor) at the firm never went to court, I am dubious of an actual trial happening, which is just as well.

I only tuned in to see the first day of Shemar and Vivica and although the actors are obviously professional, I guessed what was going to happen right off the bat. Holden ends up related to Lily follows a definite pattern for what we've seen of Lily's character. 🤐

Especially since Laura lost her mom, she would be particularly vulnerable where having a possible mother figure re-entering her life is concerned. Not that Darlene would be consciously exploiting that and perhaps she really does genuinely become close to Laura. Soaps used to have these types of relationships where people weren't related by blood but there was a pseduo familial or a multi-generational relationship between two characters. On As The World Turns, Lisa was like that to some of the young wayward characters in town that she could relate to, or Kim Hughes and her former step-daughter Betsy Stewart. These relationships, I think, add layers to characters' personal stories and the show itself and it doesn't require a lot of screen time, just a series of well-placed, brief scenes, sprinkled here and there on occasion. I am tempering my expectations on this. I have a feeling it will be the continuation/culmination of more off-screen action.

There is an element missing in the dynamic between Darlene, Izaiah and Eva. In the old granny's soap opera days, Darlene would have been on the hunt for another young woman to catch Izaiah's eye. Darlene would have re-acquainted herself with someone like Laura (who she would have known via Naomi, maybe?) and befriended her, while on the sneak tip, invited Izaiah to a lunch that she already invited Laura too. They're sitting down to brunch at Uptown an lo, and behold, Eva walks in to see the trio chatting it up. But I know BTG doesn't do old-fashioned drama, sooo-🙃 Anybody who thinks all divorced couples stay divorced hasn't watched Y&R in the last 40 years lol. I'd be fine with Dani and Bill staying exes (although, sadly, I don't see Dani and Andre staying together forever) but with Nicole and Ted, there ought to be wiggle room for back and forth.

If I were to binge the last few weeks while playing a drinking game for every time Vanessa said that Joey made her feel "alive", I'd be seriously drunk by today's episode.🫨😵‍💫

Shanice, out of the blue, mentioning a previous relationship where a boyfriend cheated on her with his ex, seemed like either foreshadowing or a red flag, at the very least. Months ago, I told a few people who were watching the show that, at some point, Ted & Nicole were likely to fall in (in bed, in lust, in love, in...whatever) with each other again and they scoffed at me. I told them "you never really watched daytime soaps before, have you?" We expect couples and characters to go back & forth. I still think half the characters on this show--including Nicole--could have used some time with a psychiatrist. And it still doesn't sit right with me that Leslie s*xually assaulted Ted, you can't claim to be a new type of soap when you pull the same old soap opera tropes. That said, I think that Daphnée and Keith have a natural chemistry, the actors are good friends offscreen and obviously trust each other onscreen. I have never believed that Nicole & Ted were "finished" with each other.

Does every CBS daytime soap now have to have a Black character facing a life-threatening disease?

If Vanessa mentions how "alive" Joey makes her feel one more time...

No. I was referring to the costume and Halloween balls.

It's definitely the writing for me.

Oh that mini scene with the 3 kids and Anita? That's not what I was talking about. I meant amongst the other kids, so we get an idea of the actual peer pressure of messing up in front of a group of your actual peers. A cotillion is a communal event and these scenes are too isolated. I get it. They don't want to hire extras and dayplayers but again, if you can't afford to make it look realistic, don't do it!

Since I learned that the show would be pursuing the cotillion thread, I had been wondering which dad will Samantha be dancing with in the daddy/daughter dance? I never really mentioned it since I realized we wouldn't be seeing any of the lead-up to the cotillion (which is really as important as the ball itself tbh) but will Samantha be dancing with Martin, since she is technically representing the Dupree family line? Will Smitty feel left out? I guess tptb may not deem this worth consideration. 🤷🏾‍♀️It would've been a nice breadcrumb to see a few non-speaking extras as teenage participants practicing so that we could see two-left-feet Tyrell accidentally stepping on Jessica's feet repeatedly, so that if Jessica is irritated with Tyrell and down on cotillions yet again, we understand why she has an attitude. I like getting to see storyline breadcrumbs that clue the viewer in, instead of just hearing Samantha tell us about Tyrell's two-left-feet. That way, if we see Tyrell actually do the dance successfully, there will be a little payoff. 🙂I would settle for that one scene mixed with Samantha pondering whether she should choose one dad over the other for the dance. It seems that she wants June there and June may not feel comfortable going (which angers Samantha?) but the daddy/daughter dance is very important and it's a bit odd that it's not a consideration.