KMan101

Good lord how on earth did you all sit through As Lily's World Turns? It's unbelievably comical seeing basically the entire town constantly worry about her. They really wanted her to be the Laura Webber of ATWT. Jesus it's a bit much. I knew about it, but watching so much of it it's beyond overbearing, lol. How did the actors not laugh? Craig's presumed dead but Sierra is worried about how Lily is handling it. I mean, laaaawd .... lol. Sorry Sierra, Lily's too busy finding out she was adopted and her mother is her boyfriend's sister and her father is a rapist. But anywho ... good episode otherwise. I've seen it before but after watching so many episodes it's just ridiculous how Lily centric the show is. Otherwise it's mostly great. None of this is a new revelation obviously, I've known how Lily centric it was but lord ... lol. Hearing about it and seeing it are two different things, lol. Ya'll weren't kidding one bit.

Yep. All true, supposedly. I was told the same thing. Christina was the one he hit. Or something like that. Really don't understand what Ron was thinking with that one, damn. I hadn't heard about Schroeder coming back as Serena then, but it makes sense. They likely cut it when they added Kristen Alderson as Starr then Kiki. I always felt like Kiki took over Serena's place on the canvas at the time. But maybe we're all better off. Serena/Michael/Morgan? No thanks. But maybe Serena/Michael could have sparked ...

Not ready to talk on plots or characters yet but I've been having classic Coronation Street playing in the background the last two days and I just love it. They have such a specific tone and it works so well. But then I click on any episode post, say, 2002/2005 and holy wow the difference is noticeable instantly. The tone and feel is just gone. You see glimmers of it at times, but it's become darker and more depressing. The stormy opening really does fit. You hear the theme music, you see a lot of familiar faces, but it feels more hollow and empty. It's sad really (and it rings true for all the US soaps too). I know this has all been said before by others but this is the first I've really watched and compared and holy cow. I also think the move to HD, I guess, changed the filming and look of the show and while it's gorgeous it's also not the same show at all. It's just very different, the whole feel and look of the show changed! It's kind of jarring. I mean, sets are familiar, characters are familiar, but it's not the same show. Who decided Corrie needed to be like EastEnders? The sets became darker and the tone just felt like I was watching EastEnders when it clearly said I was watching Coronation Street. lol. Just an observation. And this is from someone who's just watched random episodes! lol. I can't wait to watch in order and regularly.

Late to this but that's so unbelievably heartbreaking and sad. I feel so bad for Judi Evans and her husband THIS! I need to listen to that podcast. I know Ron has his many many many faults but I know for a fact (as much as you can from second-hand info, but I trust what I hear when I hear it) interference has been going on with DAYS for a very long time (some folks on Twitter talk about it a lot too, there's interference on the regular) and it shows on-screen. It sucks. We've been on a downhill slide since 1995. They've constantly been trying to turn the soaps into clones of each other instead of remembering and sticking with what worked for them in the first place. I really swear they're sabotaging them on purpose. But I also really believe we just have that many incompetent folks running things. Steve Kent is a massive problem for Y&R and probably DAYS too.

I just loved her. So very sad to hear. May she RIP She was just great with Strasser and DePaiva and in other roles. I agree with Carl that I wish they had done more with Addie post 2009.

Thank you

Yeah, I've always thought he was cute but this is the most I've spent watching long stretches of episodes/months and he's yummy as hell, lol!

Spent the last month just binging on ATWT, AMC, GL ... God. So good. I hope folks appreciated it when it was good. And even the bad is better than what we got in their last years. Random thought but how lucky was Lyla? Casey is so cute. Too bad they created such an annoying twit who lasted way too long dominating the show. I swear, any episode from the 2000s, ANY random episode you click on, has Katie in it. And she's usually with a man fawning over her like Henry or Mike. Lord. I almost forgot how bad it was for so long ... did Goutman have a hard-on for Terri Conn? Kinda interesting how the visits of Ellen and Penny and Lyla stop pretty soon after Goutman arrives (of course you have the AW invasion in 1999 so gotta make room). Really a shame they dumped Patricia Bruder. But by then Susan was turned boring so I imagine they figured "we have Emily doing bad things and Susan reacting so why do we need Ellen? We have Nancy why do we need Ellen?" That's one of the biggest mistakes soaps have made. You NEED these folks as talk-to's. But the soaps stopped a long time ago really trying to write for characters so ... he was there when they were brought back, did he stop because they didn't really raise the ratings? Did Hogan just have no interest in having folks show up for visits? I also think some of those returns were under Lorraine Broderick. Though the 1998-2000 period kinda blurs together for me so I'm probably off a tad on who was writing and producing when.

Yeah, I meant to say that. Despite the wacky stupid adventures and Bradys and Johnsons taking over, it still felt familiar, the sets, and the heart, etc. Not explaining it well but I know what you mean, it still felt like "DAYS" just ... 80sfied LOL. They also greatly lucked out at the time that the actors were mostly good, and that was when soaps actually knew how to introduce a character and test them around the canvas. I've always agreed JER dumbs down the canvas to insanely stupid levels. I hate it. But at least, even if it was trash, he could write an actual storyline and meander it out and at least he made you understand the character's motivations, as dumb as they were. He had bibles. He learned from some of the best. He just went ... way too wacky and then seemingly lost his mind. I think had Sheri stuck around in the Reilly era and balanced him a bit ... I guess I saw the potential Reilly could have had but ... hard pass on a lot of what he did. But I can appreciate some things, I guess. And honestly, any of it's worst is better than what we're getting now. But I couldn't sit through stupidity running amuck again. No thanks. Ron's already getting there.

LOL, that's fair. You also have to remember for a lot of folks they don't know the DAYS of the 70s. I wish they would and I wish I could see it. I do agree 100% DAYS lost it's direction but that started in the 80s, let's not pretend the plots were amazing, it was just the backdrop for showcasing a supercouple. They got *very* lucky. And they were smart to use Alice Horton like they did. I mean, did we *really* need Kayla or Kim as much as I enjoy them? We sure as hell didn't need Adrienne.

😂 Ugh. Phil. I'd love for him to take a really long extended holiday somewhere. And just forget to return. LOL. I've always had the most interest in EastEnders followed by HollyOaks. I have a love-hate with HollyOaks. They often dump the wrong characters. They can hook me for a few weeks but then it completely derails. It's also hard to invest in that show because they're so quick to axe folks (or they used to be) I've never gotten into Emmerdale as much as I had wanted to. Coronation Street ... I'd rather watch the older years. I think most soaps, even the UK ones, are just ... existing. They also seem to suffer another issue we've long suffered from: recycling hacks.

That works too

Exactly. It was *so* dumb. I hated it all. You go through all that and then kill him off again? For what? Ugh. I'd rather have had Tony Lord with his son Victor Junior brainwashed to be Todd. EDIT: You could have even 'teased' "Victor's" arrival and have it come out that "Walker" is really Victor Jr.. Mitch could snarl "Victor's already right here in the room", Viki could gasp and slowly turn towards Walker ... I mean, it writes itself. It's not difficult. Still dumb, but it's better than what we got.

Yeah, true. Same thing for Melrose Place, remember circa Season 4/5 (which is 1995-1997, when the daytime soaps started their decline), everyone just started hated each other and slept together? Lots of yelling and slapping and bed hopping, not saying it was Shakespeare before but it really just threw everything at the wall. It seemed to be 'the trend', which we have finally seemed to get past I suppose. But it took a long time. The daytime soaps all started to try and become Melrose Place and Reilly's DAYS and it never suited them.

I've thought the same. Instead of that dumbass Victor Lord is alive [!@#$%^&*] in 2003/2004 they should have brought Tony back. Trevor St. John should have been revealed as Victor then and Howarth should have stuck around and not killed anything I ever once liked about him as the worst recast ever on ATWT. But I digress ...

Generations feels like one big pile of "missed potential". Shame.

It's interesting to hear that. I was watching a few 1984 episodes of GL and I think one of her earlier episodes as Reva and she was soooooo different. I don't know what the hell happened. Justin Deas must have rubbed off on her around 1995/1996 because ... lord. Difference is kinda staggering. Random thought but do you notice how all the soaps just started having people yell and scream at each other all of the time? I'm looking forward to seeing more of her work as Nola on The Doctors.

I have to agree. I still try to keep up with the goings on but that was the last period I had any interest in. EastEnders greatly suffers from what the US soaps do (among other issues, of course): missed and wasted potential at every turn. I keep waiting to hear about something that would get me to come back and try and make the effort to watch but nothing really has.

Yeah, it wasn't. I hated his ass as producer of ATWT. Lord. He had no use for Eileen Fulton either (and I'm guessing the feeling was more than mutual). I also think he was butthurt by Byrne that she fled. So he was petty (IMO). And yep, I believe Moore asked. Goutman almost seemed to resent his time at ATWT, yet, he brought Sharlene back to AW in 1998 and I don't think he was the worst they ever had, he had a lot of mess to clean up. Was he bitter? And honestly, maybe he should have just stayed a director 💅

That's such a good idea!

I've been immersing myself in a lot of old AMC. God, I miss it. So many thoughts. You can very much tell Agnes' influence in 1990/1991. It went downhill from there, honestly. 1992-1995 are decent but they drop a lot of 'the old guard' and you lose a lot of recurring players, long-term veterans and it's taken over by unfamiliar people, albeit they become popular. It's a different show, but still familiar, mostly. 1995 into 1996 feels really "glamorized" and you can tell they're starting to try and mimic the Reilly-esque stuff and the show really starts to lose itself. I don't have anything nice to say about 1997 and 1998 except like most soaps it just started sliding in quality and never recovered (which is when I can remember watching it when it originally aired). Oh, also caught some random LOVING episodes. Yikes. Just ... yikes. (I'm talking circa 1991-1992 which isn't remembered as a good time if I recall). God bless Lisa Peluso doing her best bootleg Erica Kane. Love her. And I miss actresses like Kay Campbell (Kate), Mary Fickett (Ruth), Nada Rowland (Kate Rescott). LOVING feels like one big missed potential after another. Some good characters and castmembers but it's all so ... flat. It feels like a budget strapped poor-man's AMC/OLTL hybrid (at that point in time in the series, the earlier years sound much more interesting and better). Jean Dadario is as terrible of a director as she is as a producer. Just sayin' ... yikes. And poor Genie Francis. First of all, the red hair didn't really work. I appreciate Ceara looking like a mess but lord ... Genie traded down big time going to Loving. The writing for Ceara also quickly went down in quality. Was Ceara just ABC Daytime's way of saying "we have Genie Francis on contract so *blows raspberry* to the other networks? AMC's Ceara is much better and I feel like they dropped the ball on her. I can see why they thought to purge Jeremy and Ceara from AMC (which had a ton of castmembers between 1989-1992) to Loving to boost some interest but it didn't end well ... LOL. Just some random thoughts ... lol

I'm excited for this and hope it sets a new trend. I mean, DAYS is like #1-#5 most popular on NBC's streaming site, the audience is there. AMC and OLTL were often top on Hulu in 2013. They were just all a bit too before it's time. I had always hoped GL would have been the first to move online but alas ... I do agree the P&G/AOL streaming thing was just too early and "before it's time" so to speak. It's a shame.

I thought she bore a slight resemblance to Stanis but I can see why some were upset. I thought she was fine, nothing great. I haven't seen the AITF portion yet. Didn't watch it live last night.

This has been one of my biggest issues for just about all the soaps for a long time

Agreed. BM and Douglass Watson looked like siblings next to each other. It was pretty laughable they were father and daughter. The dynamic was great but lol. Her best role was Alexandra Spaulding. I loved Duncan as Iris and was pissed they left her to rot in jail. I find it hard to believe Goutman cared that much but he seemed better suited for AW than ATWT, but who knows how AW would have turned out had it survived and he lasted 10 years there instead ... lol