pdm1974

1 hour ago, prefab1 said:

So a well-written soap would take this opportunity to shift the show away from its claustrophobic focus on the Newman and Abbott families, by bringing in more young characters who have connections to other parts of the show's rich history (e.g. Fenmore). God only knows what Y&R will do. 

The show desperately needs to expand beyond the Abbotts and especially the Newmans. They've intermarried so many times at this point. Plus, I think another downfall is that the show is basically about the "haves and the haves". Everyone, except maybe Sally, is rich. There are no real contrasting characters. Think of how the show was created with the Foster family...later the Williams family. You need characters that are more relatable and also the social climbers (like Jill was).

3 hours ago, Melroser said:

 

 

I do agree with others that something needs to be done with Steven. He should be an integral part of the show. Fallon and Steven were always so close in the original and made a great sounding board for each other. It's missing. 

I've never understood why Steven was written out. Story-wise it doesn't make sense. I'd much rather have Steven than Adam.

11 minutes ago, beebs said:

Realistically, more consistency behind the scenes, and, barring having stayed on CBS, they really needed to have higher station clearances. I think someone mentioned upthread how much of a self-fulfilling prophecy that was. The lower the ratings, the lower the clearances, the lower the interest from the network, the lower the ratings would sink, and the cycle continues.

Sounds like the same thing happened to Edge of Night and Ryan's Hope...less and less clearance...and of course, smaller ratings as a resullt.

I do wonder if a new soap ever got launched again (which of course is doubtful) that if a show like Edge of Night that targeted men and women viewers with a focus on mystery/crime would work. Or even a Dark Shadows reboot. I think a new soap would need a very high concept to get attention.

On 6/28/2021 at 1:44 AM, Paul Raven said:

A real question mark among NBC's serials is Search for Tomorrow, the oldest soap on the air which celebrates its 35th anniversary later this year. Compared to a year ago. Search is off both in rating and share and is third in its time period (12:30-1 p.m.). Frons admits the program's situation is "dicey." But, he said, Search has rebounded from an 8 share last December when a new executive producer, David Lawrence, came on board, almost back to where it was a year ago-a 12 share. One of its problems is a clearance rate in the low 70% range. But Frons says he won't consider canceling the program unless "it dives to a 7 or 8 share and stays there."

 

 

I never really watched SFT, but I wonder, what, if anything, could have saved the show.

8 hours ago, te. said:

I agree that Fallon-Liam seems stuck in one episode plot hell; I wouldn't have minded if the Nash situation had lasted around 3 episodes - not too long to become tedious but also long enough to provide some variety to the one-episode-and-solved thing they're doing. Laura Leighton will guest star in two weeks from now; I kind of hope she does more than one episode a la Kelly Rutherford ended up doing.

I agree that this plot should have been drawn out a bit more. It could've been used to create some genuine conflict with Fallon and Liam.

56 minutes ago, AlexElizabeth said:

Philip/Chloe/Brady are zzZzz.

Totally agree about Philip/Chloe/Brady. Haven't we already seen this story play out a 100 times with these three characters? I sort of feel like the show has a lot of characters that are just played out at this point and need a rest. I could care less about Rafe, Ava, and Nicole. Snoozeville. I love EM as Brady, but I feel like the character needs a break. He just bounces from one woman to the next with no consequences...and it's like...who cares at this point? Chloe is another one that I'm kind of mystified why they keep bringing her back....to be in ANOTHER triangle with Brady? I would rather some of the money for these characters go to bringing back CM as Jennifer and CM as Will as well as bringing in some new blood.

I do miss Suzanne Rogers. Has anyone heard an update about her?

NuEJ I'm still on the fence with. One episode is hard to judge.

Am I crazy to think that they're slowly building something between Culhane and Sam??? Would they actually go there?

8 hours ago, FrenchBug82 said:

That's am impressively classy way to say she was sexually harassed.

 

I mean Gina was my favorite part of SB so it is going to be hard for me to say anything bad about RM. I loved both portrayals... The writing shifted though so that's what I would blame one's preferences on.

I remember when  LG was replaced as Gina. I was so upset even at a young are, but RM more than won me over. Gina and Keith were magic!

46 minutes ago, NothinButAttitude said:

^

 

 

Do you all think SB would've been better had it been 30 minutes versus an hour?

That's an interesting question as their cast was often the size of a 30 minute soap versus an hour.

6 minutes ago, Forever8 said:

I'm curious if hypothetically you became the new EP/Head Writer of Santa Barbara if the show continued through 1993. How would you restructure the show if you had the chance to? 

I would have centered the show around:

Continuing the Capwells with keeping CC and Sophia apart as long as possible, revamp Kelly (bring back Carrington Garland) and possibly have a back from the dead Joe to complicate her life (he had to pretend to die to save her somehow), and give Mason and Julia a new conflict with Pamela coming to live with them fresh out of the hospital...and still a bit crazy.

Lockridges: I loved this family. I would have brought back Laken to be a spoiler for Ted/Lily, Augusta to be an obstacle for Lionel/Gina. I loved the character of Cassie and would have found a way to bring her back. BJ would realize that she rushed into marriage with Warren too soon as the two struggle being newlyweds with Anglea setting sights on Warren again. I thought Minx worked well as the eccentric grandmother.

A SORASed Brandon would be in a triangle with a rich snobby teen and a soapy sweet Latina who helps Brandon explore that side of his background.

And a combined Andrade/Castillo family with Rose marrying Cruz's father....bring back Santana (possibly with CC's baby in tow for the drama), one of the Andrade sisters we hadn't seen yet maybe the one that was the med student now doctor, and Cruz's half-brother Rafe, and through extension Brandon, centering the family.

I thinking focusing on these three families would center the show. I would phase out the Walkers and maybe keep BJ. Not sure about the DeAngelis family that was there at the end.

I would have also brought back the quirky and Gothic overtones the show had lost at that point.

57 minutes ago, j swift said:

I feel like this has been adjudicated thousands of times within this thread, but here's my take.

 

Carrington is my favorite Kelly, and hindsight is 20/20, but if you think about that time, Eileen Davidson was on the number one soap opera, in one of the most popular couplings, so it stands to reason that if they wanted to replace Marcy, two months after she left, and pair Kelly with Cruz, then hiring Eileen makes sense.  Although, admittedly, Terry Lester's hiring did not improve ratings, and production incompetence regarding his contract renewal lead to his departure, but that was under a different production team.

 

Furthermore, I was recently watching Cruz's final scene when he leaves Kelly begging on the tarmac.  It was bad mostly because there wasn't enough history between Cruz and Kelly to justify her reaction.  After Joe, Jeffrey, and Robert, it made no sense that Kelly would loose her s&*t over Cruz leaving town.  However, it wouldn't have been made any better when played by another actress if the writing and production were some of the primary faults of that plot.

I wonder if Eileen Davidson may have been more successful if she had been brought on as an entirely new character or someone besides Kelly. I just never bought Kelly making the moves on Cruz because of Eden.

On 5/31/2021 at 6:56 PM, j swift said:

 

 

I also wonder what Pamela and Augusta's relationship was like as neighborly newlyweds?  I don't think Pamela and Augusta ever shared scenes, and I don't think Augusta was in SB when Pamela returned.

I'm rewatching the first 100 episodes for the first time since they aired. A lot is rough or not quite working, but Augusta is a stand out. She's a very complex character from the get-go.

Knots Landing definitely!

When will the show officially be retitled...Bold, Beautiful, and Liam ???

I feel like it should just be titled The Liam Show.

Overall, still enjoying the show, but...

It's obvious they have no idea what to do with Culhane at this point. Although, I'm not sure what they could do, either. I do like the actor though.

I STILL miss Steven and his balance of "normalness" in contrast to the rest of the family. I wonder what the story is with not using the character/actor.

I want Sam to get a real storyline again.

3 minutes ago, Liberty City said:

 

For me, the Lockridge family were horribly mishandled, especially given they were kind of the adversaries of the Capwells.

I loved the Lockridges, too. In many ways, I thought they were more entertaining than the Capwells.

Santa Barbara burned through characters perhaps faster than in other soap. Outside of the Capwells, Cruz, and Gina, they often struggled writing for other characters. Which characters in particular did you think were missed opportunities? There were so many on SB...often gone before you could really get into them. I remember the entire Richards family which was talked about for a few months...we saw them for a few months at most...and they wrapped them up in like a week of story.

1 hour ago, Liberty City said:

 

Yes he did, but, when Charles Pratt, Jr. took helm as co-executive producer and head writer, he dropped the storyline, because he was uncomfortable with telling the story. And kind of the same with Nikki's M.S. diagnosis; it's not just mentioned as a trope if she's stressing out, etc.

 

 

The potential this story had if only Adrienne Leon had not been fired from the role of Colleen.

I'll never be over them deciding to kill of Colleen. It was so short sighted and done for a quick shock plot point.

I just can't get excited about anything Rafe, Ava, and Nicole. All of the characters just feel played out to me right now.

As much as I hate the Kristian and her 45th mask story, I have enjoyed seeing Sami and Lucas working together again. The two still have awesome chemistry after all this time.

I miss Sarah and Xander together. I wonder how/why that exit happened. It felt so sudden.

I'm so over the whole mask thing...it's cheap and easy without really having to delve deep into character to motivate things.

What's next? Kristian wears a Julie mask and tries to seduce Brady???

1 hour ago, j swift said:

Here's the only mention of Ruben's exit that I could find from the Tumblr Soaps of Yesterday's 1984 posts

 

I find not only the Rosa/Mason relationship a missed opportunity, but also Santana as the Cinderella step-sister to Eden and Kelly, subsequent Santanas always played up the Brandon and Cruz angles, but I wanted more exploration of her motives based on growing up in the same house but with different privileges and an in-tact family.  Did she resent Mason's devotion to Rosa?  How did she feel about Kelly?  Her upbringing seems to have been overlooked in order to make her into a viable love interest for CC and Mason, even though if you think about for more hat two seconds that is kind of gross, given that they knew her as a kid. (to @FrenchBug82's point about stories that literally don't age well).

 

 

 

 

Do we know why the Dobson chose to let Ava Lazar go? Watching the early episodes I thought she was quite good.

2 hours ago, j swift said:

I feel like Roseanne Rosanadana getting all my "facts" wrong today. This make more sense.  Was Keith the DA at the time?   Because, he always perverted justice when it came to the Capwells and I stand by my assumption that anyone would have believed Kelly acted in self-defense.

 

Just so I wasn't 100% wrong, I went back and checked and Joe apparently did work-study with the custodial staff to pay for tuition at Kelly's private school (who had apparently didn't do background checks when they hired former gigolo Peter Flint as their physics teacher).  Warren referenced the issue with his mother who was flirting with Joe when she hired him as a handyman at the Lockridge estate.

 

However, it does beg the question once again as to why Danny Andrade attended Lyman High School with Ted Capwell and Laken Lockridge (as seen in their caper with the camel in Mr Bottoms' classroom), but Santana went to public school with Cruz, Keith, and Victoria Lane.  Didn't Santana grow up at the Capwell estate?  I wonder when/why Rosa and Ruben moved to their own place?  Or were they always day staff and Santana just accompanied her mother to work sometimes?

 

Did we ever find out why Rueben vanished? Also, weren't he and Rosa supposed to have had more children that we never got the chance to see.

Rosa's relationship with Mason was always a highlight for me. You really got the sense she was his surrogate mother.

2 hours ago, AbcNbc247 said:

Yes. It came in very hot 

 

This man should be on every day versus Liam!

5 hours ago, Wendy said:

I think Carrington Garland was a better Kelly Capwell than Robin Wright. Yep! I said it! The Dobsons firing Garland for Eileen Davidson was a huge mistake.

Huge mistake! CG would have done a much better job filling the hole the MW left.

Loving Quinn and Carter!