j swift

3 hours ago, 1974mdp said:

It always drives me crazy when soaps do this.  "It's been X years since this happened," but it doesn't jive with the ages of the characters.

Not to mention, it is a bit tacky to the 2-3 other people that they both have been married to in the last 40 years; like Sabrina and Dr. Lassiter.  And yet, any opportunity to see Nikki's humungous dress again is always appreciated. 

For those wondering, in the video, Paul Telfer gets a little cheeky.  Not worth the upgrade, but I was curious.

Very disappointing.

Not even a hint of VPL, a hip, or some side tush.  And the interview feels as if it was written by Chat GPT.  Is there anything else about being a “soap hunk” and daytime actor that you’d like talk about? 

https://playgirl.com/features/soaking-up-the-soap-hunk-legacy/

thanks

But, did Mackenzie die in the bomb?

And was her husband the one that Jane and Sydney killed in self-defense, but then it wound up that he wasn't really dead?

I don't know why, but I always thought Hunter Tylo was cast to appear as the woman who wound up getting killed when Marcia Cross's character tried to blow up the building.  I think the part wound up being played by Morgan Britany, and she was the wife of a character who one of the female leads was having an affair with (maybe Jane?)

I have a vague recollection that Kimberly had an alter ego, like the killer on Twin Peaks.  And they had to delay or reshoot the episode because of a bombing in real life.  Does anyone remember that reference? 

It was another weird time jump day when it seems like nobody has spoken to each other in a month.

I think Steve saw Kayla at the hospital when they rescued Tripp.  So, why did he wait to tell her about Clyde until two weeks later?

Brady and Alex work together every day, so why is he just learning that Theresa moved into his apartment?

I continue to think that DAYS hasn't adapted its storytelling to streaming.  It seems unnecessary to have over 50% of the episode be a recap for viewers.  The short scenes and repetitive dialogue feel like remnants of broadcast TV.  I had hoped DAYS would use the move to Peacock to find more creative ways of playing with how to write a soap.

Finally, we got interesting canonical information today.  Brady and Tate are going to a Cubs game.  Does this confirm that Salem is in Illinois, or are they going on a road trip to Wrigley Field from Nowhereland?  I think they referenced Lake Michigan last summer when Rolf left on his submarine.  So, the clues are adding up.

9 hours ago, AbcNbc247 said:

And it was good that everyone finally remembered that Maggie is Holly’s grandmother. They really should establish a relationship between the two of them. 

I assume that will be useful when Nicole is gone.

3 hours ago, TEdgeofNight said:

Not on Monday.

I wonder if you've confused your algorithm with the actual top 10? Because Peacock wouldn't know the most watched shows for Monday until tomorrow, since it is only noon on the West Coast now.  I am also anticipating the return of union writers, but I don't see evidence that the scabs have had a negative effect on the streaming numbers, which based on the graph are on an upward trend.

17 minutes ago, ReddFoxx said:

I noticed that Tyler Perry cast Debbi Morgan in a new Netflix series. That was interesting to me since he's never cast her before and he tends to have a competitive streak toward other Black productions (House of Payne ended it's first run one episode after it broke The Jeffersons' record for longest running Black sitcom). His show does only have an initial order of 16 episodes so Debbi could probably do The Gates by the time it is ready to roll.

Considering that he filmed the whole movie Acrimony in five days, Debbi Morgan could be done by lunch. 

1 hour ago, Taoboi said:

I wish they would do more with Diane. Now that her return storyline has ended and now that the next leg of her journey (back to Jack) is complete...what else is there for her? She's feeling a little too much 'just there' for my liking. 

The current Jordan/Claire story feels similar to what I thought Diane and Ally were going to be.  I feel like we never explored their connection, and I had hoped Diane was trying to use Ally to con Jack.

Meanwhile, to me, it never seems as if Claire has shaken her creepiness from her original story with Nikki. 

Also, if Cricket gets to be Christine, why hasn't Nikki ever graduated to being known as Nicole?  You'd think Victor would've dropped the diminutive nickname over the years.

But, we did get that soap-opera-IRL scene at the trial where Ms. Tylo admitted that she was pregnant with her third child, (her second pregnancy is when she was fired), and nobody could tell that she was with child until she informed the court on the witness stand.  Soap writers could never come up with an idea as unique and surprising. 

3 minutes ago, Vee said:

It reminds me of what Lemay talked about in his book - how Irna Phillips supposedly wrote every social worker in her stories as a conniving busybody. He thought that was a disservice to the profession and did the opposite.

Oy don't get me started.  It is nuts how in modern times we associate every dramatic choice that a Black or Gay soap writer makes with their minority status.  But so few comment on the amount of projection about the stability of families and neglectful mothers, Irna Phillips wrote into her shows.

10 minutes ago, Khan said:

I agree as well.  But the problem is, where's the drama in Kristina having the baby and then just handing it over to T.J. and Molly?  That's why I, too, wish this surrogacy storyline would end, because I can see only one outcome for it, and that outcome is cheap, tacky and not at all realistic.

I think there are enough potential issues for dramatizing the upbringing of a biracial kid (especially in a town with such little diversity) that outweigh the need to use scare tactics to vilify women's choices for how they choose to start a family.

12 minutes ago, janea4old said:

I think Deidre Hall would agree with you.  She and the real-life gestational surrogate of her sons remained friends, and there was never any notion of the surrogate wanting the babies back.

Not to mention disrespecting the Gay audience by suggesting that our families are somehow less than ideal because we didn't give birth to our kids.

I despise when soaps push the common misconception (pardon the pun) that gestational surrogates all want to keep the baby.  In fact, that occurs far less frequently than portrayed.   It is a terrible myth that causes families to overpay for other forms of treatment like IVF which is 98% less likely to succeed.  Much like how soaps have adults abandon their adoptive parents once they connect with their birth parents, it is a gross idea about the supremacy of self-gestation that should not be promoted in order to sell diapers on daytime TV.

Now, can someone help me down off of this high horse

Yes, it is always that absurd soap troupe that Mac has a brother whose sons were close enough family to stay at the Cory mansion, but they never contacted Alfred when Mac was married, shot, or on trial.

I was more of an Adam Cory fan, but that is because I found Robert Lupone's performance as Neal to be too mannered for TV.  He is an established stage actor, but his acting on AMC and AW was too OTT.   Lots of flared nostrils and hysteric yelling that might work on Broadway, but was too broad for daytime.

It often feels as if writers or producers tried to tie new characters to existing families without including any notable family characteristics.  It indicates an attempt to appease the audience by showing an interest in the history of the show, without making a commitment to actually explore the background of key characters.   For example, if Frankie was introduced as Donna's cousin, but still had the same quirks, then she'd be a Love in name only.  Which would've been meaningless.

So, Adam and Neal were not very memorable, because neither was vital to the history of the Cory clan, nor did they engage in any stories that had a lasting effect.

I don't know if this counts, but it popped up, so I put it here

Along with this tidbit about Jessica Serfaty's fiancée's brother on the Forbes, Billionaire under 30 list - It looks Sloan is doing a bit better than her on-screen husband when it comes to dating wealthy partners.

In 2022, Clemente Del Vecchio, 19, of Italy, earned a stake in EssilorLuxottica, the Italian-French maker of Ray-Ban, after his dad Leonardo Del Vecchio died.  He now has a net worth of $4.7 billion along with his brothers Leonardo Maria, 28, and Luca, 22.

I swear, this eclipse has the best PR agent on the planet.

Firstly, it doesn't seem that rare, given that we can all recall a certain former president staring directly into the sun for an eclipse in 2017.

Second, what are they going to use to visualize the experience on TV?  An area going dark and then light; big whoop. 

I am old enough to recall the total eclipse in 1979.  GMA went outside for one segment, showed it getting dark, and that was it.  The planned multi-hour coverage doesn't seem warranted for the event.  I think they have overestimated the appeal.

I've read that the writer's strike diminished the opportunities for different challenges in season 16, which may explain why it was so heavily weighted toward fashion challenges. Normally they hire a group of writers at the beginning of the season to pitch new challenge ideas, but this time that was not an option.

Personally, I never preferred the acting challenges, so it is not a big deal.  But, I think that they were lucky to have cast Plain Jane in order to get some backstage drama.  Otherwise, it would've been a bit of a bore.

I am not looking forward to a finale filled with a lip sync smackdown.  My favorite finale was season 8 when the finalists were given lip sync featured performances that were geared toward their personalities.  I feel like they still need to figure out how to end a season with more excitement and polish. 

I guess it is possible that (inadvertently or not) they are trying to diminish the age gap between Chanel, Johnny, Tate, and Holly for storylines.  Much like AMC began to merge Nina and Cliff with Jenny and Greg, or Bo and Hope with Kim and Shane.  Johnny and Chanel's ages are already ill-defined.  I'm not talking about what age they would be chronologically IRL, but what age they are being written as in Salem-time, because we don't know if they graduated from university.

I would imagine we'll get one more year of high school out of this couple, and then they will evolve into young adults.  Especially because they will both lose their mothers in the near future (no spoilers, just assumptions).  So, they won't be defined by those relationships. 

In fact, I wonder where Holly will live if/when Nicole leaves Salem?

It feels very Taylor Swift coded, and I wouldn't be surprised if they try to set up a PR relationship that turns to love and becomes the reason that Blaze and Kristina break up.

I would argue that Tate's characteristics were not set in stone.  We were told he was a wild and crazy guy who got suspended because of stunts at boarding school.  However, all that we've seen so far is a sweet kid who is scared of breaking the rules, easily lead astray, and has a conflicted relationship with his mother.  So, the change in actors has not yet resulted in any personality change for Tate, because he didn't have that much of one to begin with. 

The fact that one was blond and one is brunette seems to be the only difference. 

Not a great cliffhanger.  Brady's blowhard attitude toward Holly comes off as less convincing than EJ's suspicions about Tate.  I mean EJ really thought that Tate was a drug dealer, whereas Brady knows that Holly was conflicted about Tate being in a halfway house.  BTW - I thought Tate's costume and posture went a long way to make him look younger.  They made him shorter than Brady and smaller in stature.  If I didn't know anything about the actor, I wouldn't question an age difference between him and Holly. 

Some questions remain:

1. How does Tate have friends in Salem?  He didn't grow up or go to school there.  He was in town for less than a month before he was hauled off to jail.  So, who is he hanging around with and why do they judge him?
2. Again, why does Holly suddenly have romantic feelings for Tate?
3. Is Marlena's penthouse walking distance from the Dimera mansion?  That ai map really doesn't make sense in the context of this episode.

Also, wasn't there a scene in the pub a few months ago where Stefan talked to Chad, and Chad blew up at the mention of Clyde?  Why is he acting as if Stefan's being blackmailed by Clyde is a surprise?

Finally, why does it seem like Sloan is the least likely attorney that Jada would hire after the whole debacle with Talia and Colin?  I know Sloan helped Talia escape prosecution, but it is nuts that everyone in Salem seems to have just forgotten about this event. 

My immediate reaction was that the cast looks so old for a story about Malibu.  Although the town is definitely for those who have advanced in a career and made money, one tends to associate it with youth and vibrancy.  Upon further investigation, it was mostly the male cast that was older.  James Coburn was 57, William Atherton was 36, and Chad Everett was 46 (no age known for his wig).  Meanwhile, Jenilee Harrison was 25 and Susan Dey was 31. 

Lots of Hollywood Wives cast overlap.

Fun fact, it also starred a young Brad Maule, one year before his debut on GH.

It is odd that there's this four month retcon suggesting Holly is in love with Tate. 

It would make sense that she feels bad.  But, he was strictly friend-zoned prior to New Year's Eve.  She did not like him romantically because she was head over heals for Johnny.  She was using him to make Johnny jealous.  So, this sudden Romeo-and-Juliet feeling between the two feels unearned.  Also, it feels like a missed opportunity that Chanel's suspicions about Holly haven't been used during this story. 

I can't decide how I feel about the idea that nobody has challenged Paulina and Abe on Lexi's miracle.  On the one hand, it is entirely in keeping with the history of Salem.  On the other, they're always shocked when people return from the dead.  So, it is difficult to know where they draw the line, and with whom.

Lucas in a monk's robe is just silly.  DAYS costume department's dependence on cloaks and wimples to indicate religion feels like a throwback to the 1950s.