Maxim

Ah... What a divaaaaa! Thank you for sharing it with me. I was smiling throughout. "Now I have good material and I can afford to go backwards." ❤️❤️❤️

I just found out that the song "I'm still here" is loosely based on Joan's life. @DRW50 linked me to a performance of it in the OLTL topic and one thing led to another... and here is what I found out on the internet. "I'm Still Here" is a famous showstopper from the 1971 Stephen Sondheim musical Follies, often associated with Joan Crawford because Sondheim later stated he wrote it with her enduring career in mind, particularly her transition from ingénue to film noir icon. The song highlights survival, resilience, and navigating fame. While written for the show, Sondheim later mentioned in his memoir that the song was inspired by watching Joan Crawford’s filmography, particularly her career arc through "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?" "She [Crawford] started as a silent film-star, then she became a sound-star, and she eventually became superannuated and started to do camp movies [...] she became a joke on and of herself, but she survived." This shows up in the line 'First you're another sloe-eyed vamp/ Then someone's mother/ then you're camp/ then you career from career to career/ I'm almost through my memoirs/ and I'm here!"

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you for these! You are gold! P.S. She is such a powerful... naturally funny performer. I saw the "I'm still here" video just now... and WOW... she's 85 in that moment! "I got through all of last year... and I'm still here". So relatable, btw. We are still here and we ain't going nowhere.❤️ YES! I'm always up for a Maria rendezvous. The wackier... the better. ❤️

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Bold has such a strong increase from last year. Wow. If it continues like this... It could be almost half a million new viewers. Congrats to the drivel. Thanks @Toups

I'll have to look her up now. Thank you for saying her name. Ah! That is so nice to hear. 🥰 That also means we are watching very close in period. May I ask you... who are your favorite characters in this era... I think I'm mostly compelled by Dorian, Viki... and now Marty. Before that - Blair was my favorite. I also have a soft spot for the Gannon women - Rachel and Nora.

Thank you for answering my curiosity - about how Cord was before. I guess it's the same pattern of... not knowing what to do with him... as they have with Tina... for example. I've heard so many interesting things about the OG character and I'm yet to see any of that here. Karen is quite the charming actress, they just give her so much weak material. She and Alex are one of the biggest victims of the writing in this show IMO - they stop resembling human beings at times and are more like animation characters. I am still unable to NOT hear Mr. Bill's voice anytime she starts screaming... After you said it one time. 🤭

Don't spare me. I want it! ❤️

Up to April 22th, 1993 🦩 "Something Wicked This Way Comes." 🔷 I was going to write this tomorrow morning... but my fingers are just itching... so why not tonight. ❤️ 🔷 At last! He has risen from the ashes! Asa Buchanan is back in the game. He always knows how to make us laugh when we need it most. It was delightful to see how he views all the chaos - the betrayals and breakups among the Buchanan men. I just knew that he would categorize everything in the most simplistic terms. Cord is alone. Clint is... going to lunches with Lindsay... so you could say he's alone too. And what did the OG Buchanan have to say about it? Did he see any fault in the men? Of course not. It's that these "sluts" don't deserve Buchanan men of that quality. They are better off without them! It would be super offensive... and still is... if Asa wasn't so amusingly funny. And now, he has made it his mission to change the trend of Buchanan men losing their women by... WINNING Renee Divine BACK. And that leads me to my next subject. 🔷 God... I think the dumbest storyline in this whole show (from what I've seen) is finally OVER. And what an ending it was. They had this new actress as Mortimer's mother (quite the charming lady)... who revealed that once upon a time... on a rainy afternoon... she abandoned a child in front of a Catholic church (or something like that)... and that child, chile... was CARLO HESSER! MORTIMER'S TWIN BROTHER. Did they seriously forget that Mortimer had perfect hair before Alex shaved it off? Or the baldness only affected one of the twins. Right. OK. Also... last time I checked... shaving a head doesn't last HALF A YEAR LATER. Mortimer has been bald like this now for A LOOONG TIME. And hasn't he been trying to prove he isn't Carlo for months now?! He could have just LET the hair GROW BACK. The twist was just as ridiculous as the rest of this plot... and the fact that all of it went down while some ridiculous clownish mob freaks were trying to push Mortimer from a boat while putting his feet in CEMENT. I CAN'T. I JUST CAN'T. YOU HAVE TO LAUGH at the ridiculousness. This was an attempt at comedy, I'm sure. I bet all the actors were cringing. But we'll just let it pass... because the rest of the show is... sublime. You can allow me this one thing to complain about. 👶 🔷 Let's return to something that makes more sense. Viki Buchanina was finally enjoying a moment of peace with her boyfriend on his birthday (this makes her sound like she's 18) when suddenly - the awful toxic Buchanan men had to mess everything up again. A girl can't enjoy a slice of cake in peace. A girl can't even munch on a pitted prune without interruptions. Now it was Joey calling her... he knew she was probably having prunes with her boyfriend somewhere... so he called to inform her that Cord is going crazy in Llanfair (what is new in this house) and they can't handle him. By THEY, he meant himself and Jessica - aka the two most coherent and mature people in the whole show. 🤣 It's no surprise that Marty Saybrooke's mental health improved after becoming friends with Jessica. That girl is way more sensible than her Society Slut mother dearest. So... Buchanina had to drag herself AND SLOAN to the mansion. Of course when Clint came to check up on Cord (Buchanina had the nerve to call him) we saw yet another clash between the Buchlords. Buchanina was staring venomously at the man she once shared her life with... I couldn't believe my eyes. Erika Slezak has been delivering some really strong performances lately. I have to clip of some of that soon. 🔷 Speaking of REALLY strong performances... Dorian Lord... what a woman you are. Robin Strasser - what a woman you are as well! We saw the family practically drag her from her bedroom. She even locked herself at one point. And then at the end... dressed like a queen, ready to fight - there she was. She found the strength and the courage... And she couldn't have done it without her family... and Jason. That little sarcastic joke he said at the end about her not having any friends. Her reaction to it. Absolute masterpiece. It's hard to believe material of such quality exists together with scenes like Mortimer on the boat... but it does. Clip of the day... for sure. I'm not going to say more, because I want you to see it. 🔷 P.S. Almost forgot - Marty got a call from her aunt Kiki... who looked so much like Shirley MacLaine in her spiritual era. The witch had only one thing to say - I don't really believe you can change, Marty. You are a failure... and thank God you a rich failure... And she laughed herself off the call. This is what you call an emotional slap on the face. And then Marty opened the drawer... grabbed the bottle of vodka. DON'T DO IT MARTY. Don't let that pitted prune Kiki ruin your progress. 🔷 Oh... and yes... Angela Holiday is officially infiltrating the community with her religious shtick and Cord is going to be her target. She is giving serious Erika Kirk vibes. Her first victim however was Wanda... who now believes that Angela is some kind of miracle worker that cures people. I bet she will cure all of them out of their MONEY. Just watch and see. Overall - 8.5 /10 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Clip of the day

❤️ Oh, yes he is. 🤭 But to answer your question... and it's an interesting one, thank you for asking - I don’t find him compelling at all. Haven't seen the 80s Cord... but in the 1991–93 material he comes off as one‑note controlling macho, constantly talking down to Tina, and expecting obedience from her. The only redeeming trait is that he genuinely cares about his kids and wants to protect them them from the chaos around Tina. That’s it. But maybe I'm not the target audience of this character - I know a particular type of straight woman with daddy issues who adoooores this toxic dominant man archetype, but it does nothing for me. His return from the dead didn’t add anything to the story, and whatever potential he had before that... especially with Mia Korf... was wasted. They clearly planned an affair with Blair before killing him off, which still feels like a missed opportunity. But... I’m curious... was he actually written any differently in earlier years, or was this always the vibe?

I haven't had time to share my thoughts... and I'm so behind on all discussions... that I just feel kinda lost where to join them... since I'm 10 episodes behind. But I want to say that in my opinion... the show has never been better . Maybe I'm in the unpopular opinion camp. I respect you guys opinions about what you like and dislike. I like that it's calm and I'm feeling the slow burn and the characters developing. I DID NOT LIKE the headline of the week type of storytelling they did in the beginning... to me it cheapened the entire show. Now it has a more authentic atmosphere. It's almost like I'm watching a show from the past. It has more class and dept. One huge negative is the mob angle - it's completely irrelevant and NOT needed on this show. But other than that... I love it and watch it as much as I can. I have close to 10 episodes to catch up to you guys. I don't know if I'll even be able to catch up so I can comment on what is happening right now. Maybe that's why I loved @Errol 's idea of making a different forum for each soap. Because not everyone is at the same place at the same time... some people are behind... and more discussions could be started simultaneously without everything being in the same place.

Loved reading the recap @alwaysAMC ! Thank you! ❤️

Up to April 20th, 1993 🦩 "One Last Night in New York." 🔷 Guys... I intended to stop, but I simply... couldn't. The show is so captivating at the moment... that I just HAD to keep watching. Last night, I binge-watched until 3 AM and finished 4 new episodes. So please bear with me as I go through... a lot of material. 🔷 This time, I'm starting with something different. People might begin to think that I'm completely ignoring the Mortimer/Pygmalion storyline, and honestly... they would be right. However, I feel like I have to finally say something, as it seems they are nearing a conclusion and hopefully getting rid of this character or at least revamping it for the future. Let's backtrack a bit. The origins of this entireee catastrophe. First we had Alex Olanov, who they transformed from a stalkerish attorney into a looney tunes mob wife in one of the most pathetic soap opera arcs I've witnessed in my entire life. They eliminated everything that Tonja excelled at - the more dramatic, menacing, sinister scenes - and replaced it with maniacal comedy routines that dragged the entire show down. For me... Alex Olanov went from I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE HER to OMG, HERE is THIS BITCH again. Then we had to endure one of the most tedious storylines of the entire Malone era - The Who Killed Carlo "Mystery" that dragged on for week after week after week after week. The only storyline that nearly made me stop watching. They arrested the entire town in the process, and in the end, it was so boring that even if Viki was the killer I wouldn't have cared. But just when we thought this misery had come to an end... surprise... surprise... we got a new Carlo. Sort of. This talented actor was subjected to ridiculous scripts and scenes where Alex Hesser would give him handjobs, and he would act like an infantile imbecile. IT WAS UNBEARABLE. But I will give them this - on paper... this storyline sounds somewhat good. The Pygmalion archetype - a mob bitch decides to transform the most boring man into the head of the mob. Sounds kinda good. But it only worked on paper. It didn't look or feel authentic on screen. The execution was BAD. And now we have sort of... AGAIN GOOD ON PAPER... twist - that boring man has somewhat turned into that mobster TOO MUCH, he's too real, and now nobody believes him when he says he is not the guy. He is being attacked by all sorts of bizarre mob comedic characters who want to kill him. YAWN. This could work in a crime-themed comedy sitcom. BUT no here. At least not in the way they are presenting it. That's just my opinion. Some may disagree, but I find it hard not to fast-forward. 🔷 Marty Saybrooke is getting one step closer to becoming a brand new woman. She has even completed her community service and received a beautiful flower bouquet from Suede. She is also studying for her exams (instead of hitting the booze and the men), and there is a LIGHT radiating from her entire being. Everything finally seems to be improving for this girl... but then... THIS IS A SOAP OPERA... and WE CAN'T allow anyone to be happy, right? Enter the group of IDIOTIC college jerks from the Kappa Mappa whatever clique. They are like a pack of vultures circling around Marty. Waiting for the right moment to tear her to pieces. They WON'T and CAN'T accept that she has changed and that she wants nothing to do with them. Todd, in particular... is fixated on sleeping with her again. To the racist pig she is just an easy girl who HE - the master of the universe... should be able to have whenever he desires. So now they've devised this trap - asking Marty to assist Todd in studying for his exams, exploiting the fact that she's been acting like a good Samaritan lately. Todd was putting on his I'M A GOOD BOY act and pleading with her for help. And Marty... unfortunately took the bait. As soon as they were alone together, he began pressuring her to have sex. I wouldn't even be shocked if he resorts to giving her drugs or something to make her more vulnerable. I'm so on EDGE about what will happen here. They've crafted a character (Marty) with so many STAKES and a great deal of suspense tied to her re-invention, and we all hope she can succeed, while also anticipating her potential downfall. In a sense, this represents a classic soap scenario where the past won't allow the character to redeem themselves and will pull them down to the very end. Her old ways and old persona are preventing her from going forwards. It's a fascinating dramatic situation that can be explored from so many psychological angles, and if executed correctly, this could really turn Marty into the show's heroine. 🔷 We have the war of the Buchlords (as @DRW50 perfectly said) and we also have the war of the Roblords. Cord has decided to do whatever it takes to eliminate Cain and ensure Tina loses custody of her children. He is so used to dominating her in every way... that he cannot imagine she is actually rejecting him. I love seeing him like this. Additionally, we have the viper Angela Holiday lurking in the shadows. One of the most memorable scenes in the entire show was when she paid a visit to her former accomplice - Cain. Just witnessing Cain's reaction when he learned she had discovered "GOD" (or more like he found her... which in other words is called psychosis) one morning in her prison cell... and had TRANSFORMED into this SAINT... HE LAUGHED for a full minute. I laughed too. IMO this is not a reformed soul. The bitch has just elevated her con. Instead of swindling people in her old ways, she has refined her technique and is now using God and religion as a facade. We've seen plenty of these people in real life. Watching her fish for information about Tina and Cord... while pretending to be innocent with Cain... was mesmerizing. It's reminiscent of 1992 Blair, mixed with something else and a bad wig. I am now completely convinced this woman will target Cord, and later in the year, we will see her true nature. Tina would probably have to save him from her or something like that. I can't WAIT. 🔷 And the best for LAST - Dorian Lord/Robin Strasser is FRONT AND CENTRE. This marks her second month back, and she has already been given one of the most impactful storylines this show has ever attempted to tell. Watching Dorian struggle with the decision to go for the biopsy and then making a last-minute escape... followed by Cassie and Jason rushing to find her. Cassie pleading with her to do it FOR HER... once again had me in tears. Fuc-king sobbing. Thank you, Malone and team... for putting me through this. Why do I find myself crying every single night of the week because of this show? And I keep coming back for more. And then they completely broke me with what Dorian did after her talk with Cassie - she decided to go on one last trip to New York - one final night to enjoy her life, her body, her reality before everything changes... before hearing the word "cancer". Watching her desperately hold onto her sexuality and beauty, trying to be intimate with Jason while he is clearly troubled by what she is going through... STRUCK me right in the heart. And then witnessing her unravel at the end of the night, almost incoherently mumbling to herself and Jason, declaring that she won't go through with the biopsy... MAN! They are not missing a beat. She hasn't even received an official diagnosis yet, and I've already cried twice. This... ladies and gentlemen, is how it's done. When writing drama, you MUST hit every beat, you need to build it up and allow the audience to connect with the character's struggle. I've seen soaps try to tackle these types of storylines and make the error of rushing everything too quickly. One month and it's over. No... this is not how it should be done... and I appreciate that OLTL is demonstrating the importance of telling these stories slowly and thoughtfully. I will never forget how Dorian kissed Jason's scar on his face. The metaphor that she was acknowledging that in the future she might also have a scar herself... and that it WON'T MAKE her ugly... but rather the OPPOSITE... was so powerful. SO-F-CKING-POWERFUL. I have no more words. Overall - out of Can't get better than this. (They can if they write off Mortimer.) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Clip of the day

Ugh... now I know that I will just HATE this man even more. I don't see how they will re-deem him.

Congratulations to BTG for gaining their first year-to-year number.

Thank you for sharing this. I loved it. 😍 And I'm definitely seeing similarities between the two... even though this one is muuuch more sensual. 🤗 I can't help but wonder if we'll get some sort of reconciliation between these two in the future... if Dorian truly has cancer. This could be a chance for them to bury the hatchet... at least for a while... so that the next huge explosion could be all that more powerful.

Thank you for the tag! Seeing crazy Maria and Tina... my curiosity is peaked! 😁

@alwaysAMC - Congratulations on that first year!❤️ It's been such a pleasure reading your reviews! One of my favorite things in the entire forum!