j swift

2008 DAYS when Nicole was involved in the awful Trent story. For context, Nicole was retconned to have married Trent, Max Brady and Melanie's Brady's biological father, while she was a porn star. He was abusive, she escaped his clutches, and they never divorced. So, of course, with the misogynistic writing of Dena Higley, rather than focusing on Nicole's feelings about being abused and exploited, her story revolved around keeping her marriage to Trent a secret because it would have spoiled her ability to get a large divorce settlement from Victor. Any way, at one point Trent blackmailed Nicole to collect information about Melanie. The scene that I recall was Nicole vented to EJ about being forced to investigate Melanie, and he told her to get the information, but withhold it from Trent in order to get the upper hand. It felt like a memorable time in soaps when two friends gave each advice, without a hidden agenda, and a character logically considered their circumstance without just reacting to suit the purposes of a plot. It was refreshing to see a character actually use their experiences in order to grow and move forward.

Fair enough, if two middle aged women can steal an ambulance and fake an explosion, I guess I can suspend my disbelief about the Port Charles Probate Court system.

I know I'm beating a dead horse, but how does one receive an inheritance after probate? Edward had been dead for years before Drew appeared, after the property from a will has been dispersed you can't go back and redistribute it. It's like if they found the love child of JFK and Marilyn Monroe and then tried to tell Carolyn Kennedy to give up some of her cash that she inherited six decades ago.

This makes sense, except I still don't understand Drew's position at ELQ? What right would he have to own or inherit stock in the company? Is it one of those things where soap writers don't understand the legalities of a will? Because just being Jason's long lost twin doesn't give him access to property that wasn't specified for him in his father's will.

Thank you, I had totally missed that detail, although I don't know why Ned would risk reporting them? Any way, my point remains that Carly is too old and has been in too many relationships to have her main roadblock to love being that she has to keep it a secret. Is she really still beholden to the whims of Ned and the Quartemains? How about the differences in their financial status as a barrier? Or, the idea that now that her children are grown she wants to focus on her career, rather than romance? Or how peri-menopause effects her libido? There are a million other stories that could be told with stakes that are more relevant. As much I got bored by the idea of where Carly's mother should be buried, at least it was an attempt to demonstrate growth in the character. This secret feels like she's a teen avoiding getting caught out past curfew.

One more logistical question - What happened to Jason's ELQ stock, does Sam control it?

In terms of "endgame" couples, I prefer Jake and Paulina to Jake and Victoria, regardless of his mortality (btw I think dead people can be the loves of one's life, it is just a lost love). Besides the issue that Jake raped Victoria's sister, had an affair with her mother, and their strained relationship over the conception of Steven, I think Vicky and Jake were always better as friends than lovers. It seemed like they were each other's "plan B", when their real loves didn't work out. From the very beginning, Jake preferred Marley, so the sudden retcon that he always had eyes for Vicky from their time as teenagers seemed absurd. Paulina and Jake had one of my favorite types of romantic soap stories (under Cali's portrayal), an outsider couple whose love comes from a mutual respect for their cunning intellect when one-upping each other. Their constant bickering in the first iteration of their affair was amusing and it saved both characters from their recent plot-driven actions which could have soured the audience to enjoying these cads. But then, under Judi's portrayal (which might as well have been a different character once she stopped wearing those 90s Alaia bandage dresses), Jake grew to appreciate Paulina as a partner not just an object of lust and adoration. So, aside from the fact that as always we've made a whole meal out of one line from an inconsequential interview, I think of Jake as Paulina's true love because they grew the most as characters during their paring.

Can someone explain the insider trading issue that is forcing Carly and Drew to keep their romance a secret (despite half of Part Charles knowing about it)? It seems like something Ned came up with, but I'm unclear about Drew's position at ELQ, as well as the percentage of stock that he controls, which would make him subject to such a rule. As well as why the Q's would be concerned about insider trading when they've got mobsters and convicted felons as their stockholders? I guess what I really object to is Carly still being written with the same juvenile romantic obstacles, despite her power and success.

I can't stop thinking about the practicalities of it. Like did she find the fan, or was it bespoke with the gown? And how did she go about packing it for the trip? Not surprising, Porsha seems to have fallen out with production and the network after her spinoff and sending a crew to Nigeria seem expensive. But, I wonder if Andy sent a gift? I just saw the second wedding dress (and crown). The groom's military ensemble is giving don't-ask-how-I-paid-for-this-wedding vibes; even if going from a CPA at Deloitte to owning a petroleum company seems a little suspicious.

If Twitter is dead (although I think the reports of its demise are a little premature), can the NYPost please stop reporting stories of people reacting to tweets as if it was public opinion? I don't know where they'll find content to spread more falsehood about democrats? Although I guess there's always tiktok

I appreciate when people remember this amount of detail about a performer. Also, I would never have imagined she was younger than Kristen, although she looked less mature for her part as the half alien in V. You inspired a bit of google deep dive and I came up with an article that summed up the changes in the character after the recast.

When GH's Felicia was hit by the motorcycle, began calling herself Phoebe, and had a fling with hair enthusiast Dekker Moss, do you think they meant to write that as a DID story line or an amnesia/alternate identity plot? Neither seemed credible, but given the lack of diagnosis on soaps, I wonder what they intended?

For me it is the perennial issue of male soap actors dying their hair so there's no hint of grey which winds up looking odd because most men with receding hairlines are naturally salt and pepper. I'm not saying that everyone should go the Christian LaBlanc/Michael E. Knight route to total gray-town, but Billy and Jack's single tone dye jobs are verging on shoe polish territory.

I was watching the YouTube clip about the history of Morgan Richards on GL and that recast was rough. Kirsten Vigard played Morgan the first year or so, up until the wedding to Kelly, and then Jennifer Cook played the part for the next two years. There were stories in the press that Vigard had troubles backstage both in terms of learning her lines and getting along with her co-star which were repeated when she was later cast on OLTL. Gossip aside, looking at the clips today there are several reasons that the recast seemed misguided. First, Ms. Cook looks 5-7 years older than Vigard, which I would assume was due to the fact that she started when the character was married (I think the transition between actresses happens while Morgan and Kelly are on their honeymoon) and they wanted to reduce the appearance of an age difference between Morgan and Kelly now that they were being given more love scenes. Second, Ms. Cook lacks the ingenue-like charm of Ms Vigard, her Morgan is much less innocent or guileless which ruins the interplay with Nola. When Kristen played Morgan, Nola was easily able to pull the wool over her eyes, but Cook's Morgan was less naive. Lastly, Vigard has an excellent singing voice, she sang one of my favorite songs God Give Me Strength from the movie Grace of My Heart. I don't know if Ms Cook could sing, but suddenly Morgan and Kelly were not serenading each other anymore as they did during their courtship. That being said, I'm happy OLTL didn't follow though on having her play a Tina recast, talk about being cast against type. And, of course, in the merry-go-round of soap casting Liz Keiffer later went over to GL.

I've always loved the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, but this year it was so camp that it renewed my joy at the event. Not only were there Broadway performances, but there was a "queer" marching band in rainbow uniforms, a pharmaceutical commercial for PREP, Betty Who, and they showed two middle aged men kissing in the crowd at the end when Mariah Carey sang. That's my kind of American holiday festivities!

I guess it's a good thing that Ridge still works for Forrester Creations so there's always a spare wedding dress around for his numerous last minute marriage ceremonies 😄 👰

Y&R Jack & Jill Not only does it fulfill the Bell legacy of using alliterative couples, but I've always felt from their first affair that they were meant for each other. She's age appropriate, she appreciates his scheming side, and she knew him before he was ever a CEO. Heck, if Jack can share women with Jill's son, he could certainly return to the original source material...

What's funny about that story to me is that 5757 Wilshire Blvd is actually the Screen Actor's Guild Building, Spelling Entertainment is across the street at 5700. I lived in that neighborhood for years, so the detail stuck out like a sore thumb to me. Unless, Garcelle left her photo with the receptionist at SAG and magically she sent it across the street? SAG-AFTRA 5757 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036

You've seen Blue Steele, you tried Smizing, now comes Donna Mills's iconic pose "fawn in the headlights".

EJ's devotion to Susan feels sudden and does not reflect their history. I get that he's experienced a lot of loss with the past few months, but I don't recall him feeling so close to Susan (I guess, to be fair, they've not shared a lot of scenes together through the years, I don't remember if Eileen's Susan was ever on screen with James Scott's EJ)

They've uploaded many of the holiday episodes recently (shhh, keep it cool so they don't get a copyright strike)

I haven't seen any mention of it yet, but this YouTube channel has posted most of Halloween episodes and now is in the process of uploading the Thanksgiving and Christmas episodes for OLTL, SB, EON, Y&R, as well as Sunset Beach and Passions. But, shhhhh, keep it under your hat (or on the down low as some would say), we wouldn't want him to get a copyright strike https://www.youtube.com/@RadSoapOperaDocumentaries

This makes zero sense. Let's take a panel show about topical information and re-run it a week later when it's old news? I get that The Talk tends to focus more on domestic topics than current events, but given that its ratings struggle for first run episodes, and dip considerably when in repeated over the summer, who is the intended audience for this content? Are there Akbar Gbajabiamila stans just jonesing for the opportunity to see more of his witticism? Or people on a streaming platform who can't decide what to watch so they'll search for more Natalie Morales information? Or folks who just can't get enough of Jerry O'Connell's twins that they need to hear a replay of his most boring stories?

While it strains credulity that Port Charles is a small mid-Atlantic shipping town with several active mob families, an international spy agency semi-headquarters, and a training hospital , the fact that two out of three citizens also has a doppelgänger is still a stretch. However, it is worth noting that Paloma pre-dates Alex storywise (and I'm not just saying that because I predicted the Paloma twist when Holly first re-appeared). Although, I am surprised that the long lost identical twin gets more pushback than the fact that Holly wore an Ana mask to shoot Lucy.

Although I believe the White House press core should be provided with more transparency on occasions like weddings, I also know that the stories posted about the wedding would all be tinged with sarcasm about "serious" journalists having to write about bridal details on their day off. The Vogue part is a non-issue in my opinion, because what does it matter where the press was from as long as it was covered? Architectural Digest usually gets the exclusive on White House interior design, and for years HGTV got the exclusive video footage of the Holiday decorations, so the mention of Vogue is just way to imply that the Bidens are elitist, even though that's very far from the truth.