DramatistDreamer

Thanks posting this @DRW50. Yeah, Donahue could have waited for the clip to end before talking. It seems like the habit of someone who is pressed for time. In an editing room when people have to decide where to make cuts, that’s when you hear people chatter over film like this. Otherwise, Donahue is actually engaging with the actors and at least isn’t condescending and let the actors on the panel be their charming selves. 
I wonder who put these clips together? It could be the Donahue people but it reminds me that today, the PAs on shows like The Talk or even The View are unlikely to even watch today’s soaps as the times I have watched their segments, maybe a tribute or anniversary episode on one of the remaining soaps these segments appear out of synch or seem to make little sense.

I love how obviously happy Eileen Fulton is to have Helen Wagner back on the show.

And Eileen’s insistence that had it not been for Lisa, Alexis on Dynasty is unlikely to have happened is probably a correct assumption, even though delivered with bravado.

9 hours ago, Liberty City said:

For me, going from Byrne to Beck was an insult enough... but the difference of figures these women had, given the storyline... it felt like "Yeah we can drop this now!" The Faith swap also... made little sense to me, but to each their own. Maybe had the series not been ending we could've seen more....?

Probably as they’ve done it before, even in the halcyon era of the ‘80s but generally that was among ethnic or color lines.

I mean I don’t get it but I do love the idea of Tonya Pinkins (who is in my avi) and Count Stovall being on a project together. I don’t know if they have any scenes together but I remember they were great on ATWT.

Also, uh @Soapsuds, you may want to cover your eyes for this one.

On 2/7/2024 at 2:52 PM, DramatistDreamer said:

It’s anyone’s guess what will come of this.

ESPN, Fox and Warner Team Up to Create Sports-Streaming Platform

A follow up to this story. Fubo (has anyone used this service?) is suing, citing antitrust violations.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/fubotv-files-lawsuit-disney-warner-fox-sports-streaming-platform-1235830781/

I just finished watching Season Two of The Bear and it is intense.

14 hours ago, te. said:

See Allison just walking off on Peyton Place into the unknown, or Stella Chernak leaving town as a disgraced woman.

It would be good if these writers could do something like that, but with a more modern twist.
Today’s soap writers don’t seem to do mysterious very well. They beat us over the head with stereotypical imagery, like characters in terrible disguises and call that mystery.

4 hours ago, Liberty City said:

OMFG SAMEEEEEEEEE

I remember one of Martha Byrne's last major storylines was her problem with her weight that also focused on Lily's daughter Faith. Then both roles were recast with thinner women. Very... weird.

Yeah, the character of Lily was another one that came to mind and the show basically writing half a storyline about Lily’s struggle to lose postpartum weight gain, while they constantly had her wear some of the most dour color pathways Byrne was ever outfitted in.  Lily has been recasted more than twice, so for me, it wasn’t really about the recast of Lily but the recasting of Faith, for me, seemed really jarring. Not only did they change the actress but the personality seemed completely different, they didn’t seem to keep any of the same traits that stood out in the previous actress.

12 minutes ago, Darn said:

I don't know how much guest actors earn but it's gotta be at least a grand, right? A thousand bucks for a few hours of work. Sign me up.

4 hours ago, vetsoapfan said:

In general, I am not a fan of back-from-the-dead stories. They weaken the impact of the original deaths, and ultimately (if a show uses this hackneyed plot device over and over) just become predictable, unrealistic and ridiculous. DAYS is the prime offender in this regard.

When hack writers go on a killing rampage and slaughter multiple beloved characters, however, the egregious and sophomoric writing mistakes must be rectified. If not, the stability of the show itself would be crippled further. Atrocious writing is bad enough, but losing the characters whom the audience is invested in the most would be fatal. History shows us that viewers do not take kindly to the combination of bad writing AND the loss of many fan favorites.

All this to say: sometimes reviving "dead" characters is the lesser of two evils on soaps, and should be done even if it's a stretch.  It would be significantly worse and audience-alienating to let writing blunders stand. This is particularly true when the original death/murder plots were done purely for shock value, and were badly executed to begin with.

This is what I have been complaining about for years. These shows need to be very very thoughtful about who they kill off. Killing off a character, especially a relatively young character, or a matriarch/patriarch because the actor is leaving or even in some cases, simply wants some time off, is so foolhardy.
There are other ways to create dramatic impact, or temporarily take a character off the canvas without killing them. And more times than not, it is a momentary story plot that yields a bit of buzz then proceeds to create more problems down the line. Honestly, if the writers wrote for everyone in earnest, instead of concentrating on a few, they wouldn’t be reduced to so many drastic storyline maneuvers.

On 2/18/2024 at 12:41 PM, dragonflies said:

I cancel and get free trials to paramount plus and usually when I cancel they offer me like two months free to stay lol. I haven't paid for it in ages

 

Hm, when my $2 trial is up, I may try something like this.

22 hours ago, Khan said:

I guess this is the part where Paramount+/Paramount+ with Showtime employees just throw up their hands and sigh, "Well, as long as our paychecks still clear the bank."

Also, wasn't it not long ago that there were talks of Warner Bros. Discovery Aldi's merging with Paramount Global Petsmart?  Has Shari Redstone decided that running her dad's business all alone is just too hard?

This is really the first time I’ve thought about Shari Redstone possibly being worn down by that long fight that she had against Les Moonves years ago. That fight seemingly lasted for years and really only ended when he got kicked out of the company.

 @Soapsuds. Some of the players had better show some skin becoming they play on its own is not enough to hold my attention.

One to think of it, maybe the ATP should consider this too since the Tours are at a lull these days.

I guess I am the only one who finds this series inescapably depressing. I know that there are some aspects that have been fictionalized, I read that not much was known about the relationship between Capote and O’Shea. I would imagine that black eyes and hospital stays would be common knowledge but why do several blogs and articles state that their relationship is shrouded in mystery? Anyhow, the relationship between Capote with O’Shea’s daughter was genuinely loving as real life accounts back up. 

With Murphy’s reputation, I would expect that before the series is through, there will be a lot of fictionalized embellishment and hyper-dramatic license being affected.

On 2/2/2024 at 10:55 AM, DramatistDreamer said:

Josh Griffith is infantilizing Ashley (as well as seemingly writing the beginnings of some sort of psychosis or mental breakdown, seemingly in a (failed) attempt to revisit and exploit Ashley’s history of mental health instability (as if someone of Ashley Abbott’s means didn’t have access to a good psychiatrist and effective therapy). Josh is infantilizing Ashley, the way he used to infantilize Sharon, the way he is also infantilizing Heather.

Angsty Ashley, who has taken to shouting at waiters in Parisian alleyways. 

Just based on people’s description of the show alone, not long ago, I wrote this about where I thought the character of Ashley was headed.

As a little girl, I remember Traci Abbott and Brad Carlton. Back then, a great deal of the storylines concerning Traci had to do with her being plus sized (or overweight, as she was referred to back then) and to be honest, other than broad self-esteem issues that Traci had, the show never really created much storyline for her character outside of that.
 

Many years later, when they recasted the character of Colleen, Traci and Brad’s daughter to be portrayed by an actress considered plus-sized, the show sort of offhandedly had Colleen mention being built “like her mother” or some such comment, but they really didn’t pursue the issue. Later, they recasted the actress yet again, to be portrayed by a waifish actress from Australia, whose portrayal led them to kill off the character altogether.

8 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

I doubt that the $$ earned from a few days work at Y&R would help much.

Would she get the same rate as her contract salary? I've always wondered how that works. 

I am not saying that she would be totally reliant on Y&R money to finance her independent film efforts, of course not. With independent film, the margins are often lean and every dollar truly counts. Likely the other work she is already committed to is doing the heavy lifting. But she’s not there, memorizing dozens or more of pages of dialogue just for kicks. I am sure she likes seeing her colleagues but she can get together with them for lunch when she’s in town, and we already discussed that the work itself at Y&R is not exactly scintillating, so there must be something to it.

20 hours ago, NothinButAttitude said:

I love Mishael dearly but she is too good for this show now. Sorry, y'all. As many have pointed out, they stupidly should've never killed Hillary. Even then, they should've given her the writing necessary when she played Amanda. 

C'mon, Shonda! C'mon Dick Wolf! Someone! I am shocked she has not been snagged on a primetime drama/procedural at this point. She has what it takes. 

I agree. Maybe she really wants to do more independent films and this is her way to help finance these projects. I doubt the work challenges her but the security of the money and what she can use it for is probably the lure. 
As for Hollywood, it is a very provincial town, even smaller for actresses of color.It seems as though we tend to see the same group of actresses, sorted according to age group and it’s a rotating assortment. I tell you what though…MM needs to get whoever represents Zendaya to be her agent too, Zendaya is always engaged in some project, whether it’s a success or flop, she’s soon onto another high profile job!

1 hour ago, Taoboi said:

That is too funny. I just watched 2/13 with Billy and Chelesa discussing the name. I ignore their scenes usually. But I like it as CWA more than ACW or even Abbott-Winters. 

Yeah, ACW sounds like a bootleg root beer brand but if JG is really trying to build an entire storyline around a company name— uh, that’s not going to have the effect he thinks it will. 

FWIW, most of the talent are too good for present day Y&R but I understand what you mean @NothinButAttitude due to MM young age and the possibilities that used to be open to Daytime Emmy winners, unfortunately daytime soaps don’t have the same caché they had at their heights.

54 minutes ago, Soapsuds said:

Haha

I wanted to see Matt Bomer new series only. I never got to see it.

Btw FreeVee had Tennis Channel 2 to watch this past week.  I was shocked to see it was available on FreeVee.

T2 is also available on the Roku Channel, which has a website in addition to the device. It’s good that someone is trying to make some aspects of tennis more accessible. Now they need to figure out how to bring more matches back to basic broadcast networks.

1 hour ago, Soapsuds said:

I'm not sure why paramount plus and Showtime merged. I had paramount plus but couldn't watch any Showtime shows unless I paid extra for it. Ummmmm....no thanks.

Even with the mergers you're still paying for both instead of buy one get free deal. 

I kept peacock but got rid of Paramount plus recently because it was too much $$ having both.

Whaaaat?! You mean you’re not going to pay extra to watch reruns of Billions??!

2 hours ago, dragonflies said:

It says Paramount Plus won't be profitable till sometime next year & no one knows when Peacock will be profitable.

 

I mean I'm all for paying one price for merged streaming services if the prices aren't outrageous

Wow, Peacock hasn’t turned a profit yet? I guess that’s not surprising, it took the likes of Amazon and Netflix years to become profitable but Amazon existed for over a decade before they started charging monthly subscription fees and for years, Netflix spent almost as much money on postage to mail out all those DVDs.

My concern is what it usually is when mergers happen, layoffs and consolidation of services so less customer service, more nonsense AI replies and some way to raise fees for less service.

1 hour ago, Antoyne said:

We actually haven’t seen Jill care about the name at all, it’s been Billy.

Welp. I mean…they could just name it CWA and call it a day then. I don’t really see the big deal either, it’s not like it’s a law firm where a person has to undergo a process to become partner, more like an accounting firm like Price Waterhouse Cooper becoming PWC- one press release and it’s done, no biggie.

Josh is literally taking office kitchenette minutiae and trying to create storylines from it. It’s not even interesting enough to be nicknamed Watercooler Talk, lol.

That’s interesting news @dragonflies. I suspect neither service is looking particularly sustainable down the road.

The Paramount+ merger with Showtime didn’t appear to accomplish all that much, at least in the short term. They did the stupidest thing with the Grammys by tying the streaming rights to Showtime. What do the Grammys have to do with Showtime when someone with a good antenna can pick up the broadcast. I’m beginning to think that one of the reasons why so many of these media companies are struggling is due to their lack of ethical business practices catching up with them.

1 hour ago, DRW50 said:

Sometimes I am disappointed because the stuff I want to see is never likely to materialize, but I should be happy with any new find. 

Speaking of which:

Fans get rare chance to see lost Billy Connolly Big Banana Feet film (bbc.com)

"If it's pre 1950s and smells of old socks, get it out of the building because it's highly flammable."
 

Yikes! That paints quite an image. And smell.

Yes, I know I wish there were a treasure trove of reels from P&G soaps pre-1980s but I don’t expect that to happen.

3 minutes ago, BoldRestless said:

They can always bring back Mac and her kids. Brock was a Reynolds.

I dunno, they’re likely to make her seem like a totally different character. I figure, they may as well use…totally different characters, ones who are aggressive, with a winner take all mentality, which would be antithetical to Brock and Mac’s personalities.

Also, the writers wrecked Mac’s possibilities by saddling her with JT’s kids. Bringing back Mac would inevitably give Victoria and the Newmans more license to eat more of the show.

Wow, these missing reels of BBC programs seem to turn up fairly often, it seems.

1 minute ago, BoldRestless said:

That sounds like a soap character who has been married too many times. 

 

Poor Gary Reynolds, it was originally his company that was renamed to Chancellor Industries when Kay married Phillip.  

I’m surprised the show never dug up some long lost Reynolds descendants to try to stake a claim to Chancellor Industries over the years.