j swift

RHONY - I can see why Jill Zaren felt cut out. We went from two episodes that took place three days after Halloween, November 3-4, cut to a month later and it's Christmas! Zarin must have been lost somewhere in the missing days of November... I still don't get Barbara's "clay event" or why it wasn't worthy of its own scene? However, Ramona's response to Barbara going out with her in Miami was as amazing as her ability to do her makeup while Sonja was going insane. But the real mystery of the season is how did Ramona manage that low cut gown without her boobs falling out? I know they are lifted, but did she paste that dress to her chest?

I would argue that the real stupid story was Terry's follow up when she dated Dusty Walker-the-bellhop/songwriter who was hypnotized into becoming an assassin every time she sang country music.

Sally Spectra and Stephanie Forrester were too smart to fight over Jack Hamilton, just as Lesley Webber and Monica Quartermaine had been too good for Rick Webber.

Wasn't it ironic that it was People Magazine after all the Dave Quinn drama last week? I think his biases have been made very clear.

I went back and watched the YT edit of The Laurelton Mystery, which takes under an hour because they edited out all of the B-storylines of the time. This edit makes the story much clearer. Patrick O'Connor attacked Terry Brock on the night of her high school Valentine's dance in a motel on Main Street. That same night, Kevin O'Connor secretly killed Earl Moody who was trying to expose a problem with the well supplying The Purity Water Company and hid the corpse in the Town Hall, during the dance. Earl's body fell onto Terry in the Town Hall when she tried to escape Patrick. The town's economy was based on the water so they all agreed to cover it up and buried Earl in a shallow grave, not knowing for sure who killed him. Terry began drinking too much and moved to Port Charles to be near her father DL Brock and his new wife Bobbie. Which explains why Terry had a southern accent and her father sounded like he was from Brooklyn. Three years later, the O'Connor brothers move to PC to intern at GH just as Earl's nephew Neil Johnson arrives in Laurelton. The Purity Water receptionist Sarah liked Earl and wrote a note to Neil to find Patrick in PC, who she suspected killed Earl because she knew he had attacked Terry the same night. Also, Sarah and Patrick had equally inherited Earl's shares in the water company, which gave him a motive. Kevin was the first person to see Neil in the Brownstone, they argued, he stabbed him and hid Sarah's note under the floorboards. Later, Kevin married Terry and killed her maternal grandmother Jennifer Talbot, the other major shareholder in the water business. Kevin's plan is to frame his brother Patrick for murder and simultaneously drive Terry mad in order to be the sole inheritor of Purity Water. However, once Kevin is arrested, he begins a double jeopardy plot when he learns from his illicit lover, law librarian Lucy Coe, that he cannot be tried twice for the same crime. He encouraged Lucy to perjure herself in hopes of a mistrial, so he could not be tried again if more evidence was found. His defense attorney/co-owner of the Brownstone, Jake Meyer, proved it when he found an article on double jeopardy hidden in Kevin's bathroom. Kevin was much better at scheming than hiding bodies or incriminating notes. It is slightly unfair to critique as one long story, as SOD did back in the 1986 Best/Worst Issue, because it is really two stories, the murder investigation and then the trial. Also, it serves as a backdrop for Frisco and Felicia's engagement and the beginnings of Jake and Bobbie's romance. However, at least one quibble, Anna is delayed by having to walk from the train to Patrick & Terry's wedding. Simultaneously, Terry falls into a fugue state and begins singing gospel at the top of her lungs while strolling down Main Street (someone should check if George RR Martin of Game of Thrones watched GH for the inspiration of Cersei's walk of shame). Somehow, Grandma and the whole congregation hear her, but Anna never hears a thing. That detail (and the fact that the O'Connor boys went from high school to medical interns in three years, and Sean Donnelly spends the whole story babysitting Robin rather than helping with the investigation, and Buzz Stryker was Terry's therapist rather than Gail Baldwin, and Anna didn't ultimately solve the crime) bothered me.

I understand the sneering value of Casey the Alien, (and the fact that GH went from #1 to #8 during that time), but I want to put in a pitch for "single-Anna-the-detective" period of GH, both pre and post-Duke. I liked the characterization of Anna as a mother to Robin, in their quaint cabin home, with her hair and blouses all buttoned up. I liked how she mentored Frisco as a detective, as well as her fraternal relationships with Sean and Robin's other godfathers. As much as I enjoyed Anna & Duke's tango, or Anna tying Robert to a column (which on re-watch has very little build-up beyond a single scene at Robin's school where she wishes her parents were back together). I thought it was novel how long Anna remained on her own within a soap universe. Given that the stories around her were not good, it still doesn't diminish how cool Anna was on her own.

Today, I'm stuck on the logic of why Rick adopted Laura when he married Leslie? First, Laura was almost 18 and almost married to Scotty, Second, the marriage didn't last that long. Third, Leslie had just met and adopted Laura a few years earlier. Fourth, she was on probation, so Rick was liable for her behavior on probation. I recently read a critique of pre-Monty GH that fans complained that the Webbers had taken over GH, to the point that one of them became Steve's son. Given that feeling, what was the logic to have Laura become a Webber?

As I recall the publicity when he returned as Alexander Niklos was that AW had to rehire him because he was so popular and they made a mistake killing him off. However, no spoilers, but the magic did not strike the second time. Coincidentally, I just watched a 90s short film starring John Aprea where he plays a reporter investigating male prostitution in Time Square. I was also a big Lorna & Kevin fan. I agree with the criticism at the time that it was an odd retcon given that we had already met so many McKinnon family members. But, he was one of those characters who spoke for the audience when asking why Carl and Jake had never paid for their crimes. Also, James Goodwin is an interesting actor, he had a big role on GL, dated a couple of soap starlets, and wrote a play that was a spoof on soaps at the same time.

The wiki says that Robin Mattson's first airdate was October 1st, which would have been prior to all of this talk about the holidays. BTW, gotta love a soap asylum where they let out criminally insane people for the holidays. This is the setup for Diana Taylor's murder which will happen in February 1981, wherein a big part of the mystery depended on the fact that GH nurses wore capes as a part of their uniforms, even in emergency situations. Yes, that is Susan Pratt as the virginal nurse Annie. Jeff was juggling her, that cougar Dianna, and his ex-wife Monica in that one scene. I don't recall much sibling conflict amongst the Webber boys, once they got past the whole Monica-thing. I find it remarkable that there are three different phone calls in that scene and the person on the other end got their own set each time. It was an interesting way to break up a long scene.

It could have been interesting if Greg was Dawn's father. Unfortunately, after four recasts, an awful scene partner, and the return of Gloria Monty, nothing was compelling about Dawn.

RDA's scarf game was iconic.

Shout out to Lynda Hirsh. I still read her weekly, only now she is online https://www.creators.com/read/lynda-hirsch-on-soaps If you've never watched her on midwest morning TV, it is worth the YT search

I agree, what I like about Monica is that she grew-up because of everything that happened to her and nobody had to stop and notice her heroics. I agree again, she needed redemption, but there was never exposition about how she had changed for the better, which I appreciate. It is interesting that unlike their relationships with their long-lost daughters (Dawn and Carly), both Bobbie and Monica were also excellent mother-figures to their almost-daughters (Emily and Terry) and almost-sons (Lucas and Jason). I hope Terry still calls Bobbie on Mother's Day. Totally, it was the dancing in the department store, and the sleeping with a sheet between, and living on a farm, that harkened back to old Clark Gable and Gene Kelly movies and gave them rooting value. It de-intensified their passion and made them more idyllic. Which, of course, opened them to criticism of "romanticizing the rape", but it was very effective at the time. I recall how the whole package of a mystery, with fast scenes, filmed out of the studio (in recognizable parts of LA that we would scream at the TV), using an odd-looking actor with a perm, and contemporary music was so novel that it was part of the appeal. Also, (I really hope it is clear that I am not defending this, just stating the facts), "A Trip Down Soap Lane" podcast has this fascinating scene when Scotty finds out and he asks Laura why she left the disco and then went to the park, cried rape, and told the police she was raped in the park. Which is also an interesting detail given the times.

I recently read a fascinating fact lost to history. Monica and Gail were estranged when she first arrived because Gail thought Monica had an affair with her first husband, when in fact her husband had sexually assaulted Monica. From Soaps in Depth: Gail was horrified to learn that her late husband, Greg, had raped Monica when she was younger. This caused a rift between the two women, but they eventually worked through it.

I was going to add this scene as a classic example of a Leslie/Monica argument. However, what made me laugh was Leslie's dialogue about Heather coming to stay at her house for the holidays as a respite from the asylum, when she says, "I keep forgetting about her amnesia..." You would never guess from their interaction that Monica was once married to Jeff. Which makes me wonder if Monica is younger than Leslie? She married Jeff while they were in med school together, and Jeff is Rick's younger half-brother. It also leads to the perennial question of why anyone would choose RIck over Jeff, or even Alan?

My timing was off because I thought Marland wrote the rape, then left and PFS picked up from there. But I just did a deep dive on her obits and she started in 1979 so that was before the rape. Which makes a difference in how I perceive her work. I also saw that she left in 1981, but I guess it was after the WGA strike that year. There was an article about her re-hiring at Days which stated that she was pilfered along with six members of her writing staff. Can you imagine that meeting? https://newspaperarchive.com/bluefield-daily-telegraph-nov-01-1981-p-337/ I'm with you that flattening Rick would have been the best alternative (although I've always questioned the logic of a skylight in a nursery). But, who wrote those Monica/Leslie scenes when Monica lays into Leslie for her lack of lust? On YT that remains a throughline to their relationship including when Leslie helped birth AJ, and later in the early 80s, so there are a lot of arguments between the two. There is a scene that is frequently referenced when Leslie is pleading with Monica to give up Rick, but Monica talks about how Leslie doesn't fulfill his needs, and I wonder who claims responsibility for those remarkable scenes? BTW- Monica's arc is underrated/amazing. Without any specific redemptive plot, (except for age, breast cancer, and motherhood), she has evolved from a very selfish character to the voice of morality for Jason. That is a leap you only get from a show that's been on as long as GH. So many bitchy characters are punished before they become better humans, but Monica has just evolved that way on her own.

Just for clarification, I was 3-years-old when it premiered, and we only went to nursery school three mornings a week, but it was an emblem in my memory of how boring tv could be for a kid before children's daytime television became a thing. This was right before Sesame Street premiered, and kindergarten was still voluntary, so pre-school kids my age in big cities wound up watching a lot of adult TV. My most visceral memory is the talking heads, which in retrospect, were probably way ahead of their time. To be perfectly honest, I thought SB ran for more than a decade, otherwise, it would have been on my original list. It is my favorite first episode of a soap and I think the use of the time jump in the pilot was very influential for future soaps. I also considered Loving, but it was so variable in its run that I cannot decide which list I would place it on, overall.

there are only two that I don't recognize: the lady in red shooting a rifle and is that Chaz in the black & white shot in the tux? Who are the ladies surrounding him? Also, how does their version of King Tut's tomb look worse in photos than it did on tv?

I wonder which scene was harder to film: Kyle telling LVP what the girls are saying and being kicked out by Ken, OR, Dorit not being supported by her husband in an empty restaurant and having to say she thinks LVP is lying? I hid my eyes when watching both scenes like I was watching a horror film.

Someone in NYC does it every season, there's been a need for updates after the reunion for years from Lu's divorce to Bethanny's boyfriend's death.

My problem with Port Charles was that from serial killers to vampires all of the romantic storylines were in quadrangles. Lucy/Eve/Ian/Kevin (and sometimes Scotty), Karen/Joe/Frank/Courtney, & Alison/Rafe/Caleb/Livvie were just placed in endless permutations without any rooting value as to the outcome. Isn't odd how a 19-year-old soap can look so dated? So many frosted tips, unflattering low-rise pants, and crop-tops; and that was just the men's wardrobe...

‘Bold & The Beautiful’ Producer Colleen Bell Named California Film Commission Boss By Governor https://deadline.com/2019/05/the-bold-and-the-beautiful-colleen-bell-director-california-film-commission-gavin-newsom-1202621617/

I thought Will Ferrell did a great job, his dialogue in the hallway with Kerry Washington made me emotional. I also really liked Marissa Tomei's energy as the always-hopping Edith. However, I thought Jamie Fox was showboating when he went up on his line and I felt like he was not being a team player and allowing others a moment. I got stuck when Wanda Sykes said that The Jefferson's lived in a four-bedroom apartment, during her interview with Florence, because I think it was two bedrooms/four rooms, but she chose not to highlight her mistake. I was really nostalgic for the sets. I still recall when The Jefferson's redecorated their apartment, and how chic I thought it was that there was a cocktail lounge in their lobby, with a doorman, and a dry cleaner that delivered. All in all, I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would.

I like that she's coming back for Tiffany, but I feel like they need to decide what to with Whitey who spends months on the backburner.

GH has had some good years and bad years. GL had good decades and bad decades. But, which soap did you watch from the first episode to the last and truly enjoyed? I'm talking shows that lasted less than 10 years, but you tried to stick with them the whole time. BEST Somerset - (1970-1976) - the first show that I watched from the beginning. I didn't think of the off-tonal shifts while watching (I was very young), but I swear it is what started my fear of clowns and my love of Joel Crothers. It was the first show that I consciously remember ending because we watched NBC soaps, it seemed novel for a soap to end. Capitol (1982-1987) - I loved Slone Denning, I loved her wedding dress, I loved her way of speaking, and I loved how sophisticated she was despite her shut-in harpsichord-playing mother. It was campy in the most fun way because it never intentionally leaned into the turbans, hookers with a heart of gold, and secret foreign princes like some other soaps (cough, cough GH) Rituals (1984-1985)/Dangerous Women (1991) - two attempts at "tea-time" syndicated soaps. I was attracted to the trashy qualities of both shows. Dangerous Women was a reboot of Prisoner Cell Block H which was a late night guilty pleasure for me. Valerie Wildman starred, later she played Dylan's father's girlfriend on 90210 and Nicole's mother on DAYS, but I always remember her running a B&B for ladies to stay right out of prison. WORST Generations (1989-1991) - One of the greatest theme songs of all time. However, it never felt as if anything significant happened in the plot. The one big reveal was that Adam Marshall had impregnated Doreen Jackson who was married to his father's new business partner. The fallout of that reveal was mitigated by recasts and new loves; so there was no payoff after a year of story. For example, her baby was kidnapped (off-screen) and then she got it back (off-screen). There were some other minor mysteries and character development, but it always felt as if it was trying to get off the ground only to reimagine itself halfway through. How to Survive a Marriage (1974-1975), or How do you survive watching people endlessly navel-gazing for thirty minutes? It was soooo boring, no wonder there are very few digital copies, most people probably fell asleep trying to transfer it. I will admit that being in nursery school may have affected my critique, but I just recall how slow it was day after day. Texas (1980-1982) - How do you send Iris Cory to Texas and not let her be a bitch to anyone but Paige? All of the older male cast were as unconvincingly romantic as their hair color. You know there are problems casting men opposite Beverlee McKinsey when Alex Wheeler was shot twice in a year, excusing him from scenes, and Eliot Carrington may, or may not, have killed a village of children in Vietnam (even his PTSD wouldn't excuse him from slapping Iris when he found out he wasn't Dennis's father).