j swift

13 minutes ago, SFK said:

I was telling Adam this picture is straight outta Tennessee Williams, Streetcar meets Cat.

Please let Adam know that I am a huge fan of his account.  His pop culture curation is second to none.

Am I missing something, or why hasn't Vivian interacted with her son Stefan?

I'm interested in the news about the actor who plays Rocky quitting.

I feel a general suspicion about the accuracy of UK Tabloids.  In this instance, Conley was already cast in a holiday panto, which I learned from Celebrity Big Brother can be very lucrative.  The news is pegged to a supposed argument he had with the BBC, not production.  So, isn't there some chance that he was going to quit, and Eastenders is using this to promote their Christmas-6 murder story, and to throw off suspicion from a more likely victim?

Either way, it furthers my original concern that previewing a story 12 months in advance is very risky due to multiple unknown variables. 

whoops

2 minutes ago, dragonflies said:

Won't these show's hurt negotiations for the strike? I can see the other side saying "see? these shows returned, why should we give you what you want, clearly they can survive without you"

That is why the WGA plans to picket.  If a show says that they can go on without writers, it diminishes their value.

It is also kind of tricky that shows like Sheri and Kelly&Mark use their producers like writers, but don't give them credit.  However, that's a separate issue.

Also, it may be snarky to say, but they're a little long in the tooth for a "love on the run" story.  And both Ava and Harris would need a lot of character rehabilitation before I would invest any interest in whether they survive.

4 hours ago, AbcNbc247 said:

Why exactly did Ava and Harris need to go on the run if Rafe and the cops know that the hitwoman was going to kill Ava?

This is a logical question because they were in a locked facility protected by guards.  If it were written that they shared a collective paranoia, and it was a sensitive mental health story, that could be interesting (who am I kidding?). 

8 minutes ago, Soapsuds said:

Love Vivian but this whole we weren't divorced and you were never married stuff is just old and pure garbage. Is this the best they could do?

Again, just to create a balanced dialogue.  Vivian makes sense because Phillip is back. And it will be a catalyst for uniting Maggie with Justin’s family which secures her role as one of the oldest characters on the show. And the mystery of Victor’s will has me intrigued as to what will happen next.

Arguably without Vivian as an antagonist, and with Sarah living outside of Salem, Maggie would have limited future story potential.  So, if we care about the vets, we should celebrate this plot. ( hyperbole? , just a little, haha).

To play devil’s advocate on the John’s father story, it has played out over very few episodes because it is of little consequence. Unlike the prior revelations, this only serves as a course correction. He is still the adopted Alamaine heir. He is still not part of the Dimera family. And no other part of the cannon has been retconned. It is just a sweet little cameo that gives story to the vets who were not involved in Victor’s funeral.  

It reminded me of similar cameos like Sammy Davis Jr on GH.  A small event to promote the show and give a showcase for an older actor.  But, it is a meaningless detail in John’s history other than giving him a nice guy as his biological father.  John’s a senior citizen, meeting his family of origin no longer has the impact it did a decade ago when they last told this story.  
 

And why not do a stunt to promote the show?  Especially if it can add a little levity to a sad time in the rest of the story 

1 hour ago, Toups said:

Anyone know the difference between The Talk/The View and The Drew Barrymore Show, and why there's uproar for one (TDBS) and not the other? 

I've been thinking the same thing all day!

I guess none of the other daytime talk shows have writers?

Gary Ewing could get it.  Not that bright, prone to addiction, and not always loyal.  But, boy oh boy could he wear a pair of boxers!

It is ironic, in retrospect, that the Stefano's obsession with Marlena got a lot of explanation in the cannon, but Hope is just sort of collateral damage.  It is no wonder that Hope was the one to finally shoot Stefano, because he tortured her just for sport. 

His main beef was Roman/John, not Bo.  He whisked Marlena off to Paris, while Hope was stuck in New Orleans (a nice place to visit, but the humidity would be hell for a woman with her hair texture).  And he was really only interested in the older doppelgänger version of Hope, which no woman wants to hear. 

15 hours ago, Xanthe said:

Big Bad Reginald was not subtly deployed and the writing didn't give much nuance for anyone to work with. Mary didn't really have much of a relationship with the Loves after the initial bombshell setup although before she and Vince left town she did have some nice interactions with pale pastel Marley played by Anne Heche. Relationships under Lemay and then Swajeski were just so much richer.   

Agreed, what's missing (in part) is the turn that precipitated Reg's motives.  In hindsight, I can't even recall why he chose to come back to Bay City while everything was going well in Paraguay. 

Scott and Mary experienced the softer side of Reginald, but from the moment he wakes everyone up to announce his return, he's a jerk.  Now, if they explained that he financed Mary's philanthropy through stolen art, that would have created some tension.  Or if he was upset that Donna let Carl steal the family's money, we could have understood his frustration.  But, torturing Donna, while Victoria seems blind to his motives, makes no sense.

As for the coincidental timing of Mary's employment, that feels like it got confused with the idea of Scott as the third triplet.  Mary was said to work for the Loves after Cheryl was born to earn some extra cash.  Of course, Scott was older than Cheryl.  But, it would have made no sense for Donna to have triplets, give one away, keep one, and then drag the third one down to Paraguay to live for a couple of years until Mary has an accident, gets amnesia, and is shuffled off to raise Scott.  It was only recently from discussion on this thread that I realized that Mary had never met Michael because he was banished during Donna's pregnancy, before Mary worked at the mansion. 

However, it makes no sense with the re-write that Donna goes nuts because she remembered that she had sex with John, and he might have fathered the twins.  If John was missing after fighting in Vietnam and the twins were born in 1967, the math doesn't add up.  John is younger than Michael, and if Donna was 18 when she gave birth, wouldn't John have been around 16?  So, wouldn't there be at least two years when he lived in Bay City before Vietnam?  And if Michael was banished when Reg found out that Donna was pregnant, wouldn't she have known she was already pregnant when they had sex? So how would it be possible for John to be the daddy?  It is like Donna took one look at the photo of John holding the twins and forgot where babies come from.

When we were reviewing Classic SOD news from this period, there was a fascinating series of articles about how unpopular Joe Hardy was within the production.  @dc11786 Your description of the Tracy, Monica, Lila, and Lucy scene reminded of those stories.

At the time of the 7,000th episode, Mr. Hardy held a press event to celebrate by unveiling the remodeled entrance for the Quartermaine mansion.  He showed sketches, toasted the set with champagne, and toured the new two-story foyer.  Which was all well and good until SOD began to question why nobody from the cast bothered to attend the occasion.  Hardy was left with egg on his face, when not one actor came to set, in the middle of the day, to help him celebrate.

In prior issues, he openly feuded with Michael Watson who played Dekker because the actor left for 6 weeks to film a movie in Eastern Europe, he criticized one of the Dawns for not learning her lines, and worst of all, the ratings plummeted to 8th place.

Overall, I enjoyed the period of Anna's singlehood.  It reinforced the notion that Duke was the love of her life because all of her subsequent affairs never equalled the passion that they felt for each other.  When Monty returns and suddenly Anna is tieing Robert to columns, it felt forced.  But, it is interesting to read that there was groundwork laid in the prior year.  As for Bobbie's brief foray into adoption agency, Monty drops that beat so hard, that Bobbie is inexplicably back at GH as a nurse as soon as her cousin gets hurt in the explosion of Tracy the Tanker.

Finally, watching 1990, aren't we thankful that male ponytails have never come back in fashion?

6 hours ago, soapfave06 said:

I've watched DAYS for years, until a few years ago at least, and I’ve never really understood the origins and reasoning behind Stefano being obsessed with Marlena.

It is an interesting question because it has become such a given fact over time, that the origin gets lost.  My opinion is that his motivation changed over time, and with different writers.

Originally, Roman was Stefano's mortal enemy, and Marlena is just a means to torture Roman and bring him anguish.  Stefano is equally willing to kidnap and victimize Hope and Marlena, simply by virtue of their affiliation with the Brady boys.

Then, James Reilly writes the Queen of Night plot and suddenly Stefano is literally possessed by Marlena's essence. Later in Aremid and the Rachel Blake story, the lore evolves. It seems like Stefano is the kind of man who needs to dominate the women he loves.  It is an over simplification of decades of story, but it feels like vengeance turned to obsession based on the fact that Marlena was the one woman who he could not control because she was always an independent person.

Stefano was always beholden to his many children.  And those who cared for him were inexplicably loyal.  Look at Celeste and Lee, who put up with years of his BS.  Then along comes Marlena who is single, professional, and unburdened by family history.  She is the ultimate challenge, because she cannot be subjugated; even by the devil himself!  To me, that is what drew him to her (and Hope).  It is a feminist allegory about women struggling to find an equal and be free of the old-fashioned definition of love being equated with surrendering to a man's desire.

I enjoy the lore of the Love Family.  They were a blank slate, and I think it is creative to establish new characters who have an unexplored history in Bay City.  Also, connecting the Loves and the McKinnons together is an interesting move, given that their origins are based on the relationship of Marly and Jake. 

The concept of a former family housekeeper coming back as the mistress of the manor is filled with possibilities.  Donna would be threatened by no longer being the de facto head of the house.  Michael is reminded of the class struggle that broke their relationship. Peter finds a mentor who will provide some motivation.  Victoria becomes the perfect audience surrogate because she wasn't around while Reg lived at the house, so the exposition becomes a natural way of catching her up to date.

But, the execution was terrible.  We never get to experience what Mary saw in Reg, so there's no tension in returning to her former family.  There are multiple recasts which slow the pace of the story. And, characters change their traits overnight.  So, the promise never lived up to the hype.

Also, he's on strike and not supposed to promote the material that he's written.

4 hours ago, carolineg said:

I just think Jamey's excuses are very lame and I don't find them very believable. 

5 hours ago, AbcNbc247 said:

Yeah... it's getting to the point that every time I hear one of Jamey's stupid ass excuses, I start to think that maybe I'm a little too hard on Ron and might owe him an apology

I am befuddled why Jamey even bothers to engage the fans on social media.  Going back to his podcast days, he was always complaining about listener reactions in the comments section.  Now that he's achieved his dream and written for multiple shows, why does he continue to insight drama?  He is just making himself unhappy, which is a shame given that regardless of the fans' acceptance, it is still remarkable that a podcaster from a small southern town has been able to achieve so much.

If I could advise Mr. Giddens, I would say, taste is subjective.  He's never going to please most people. So, give it a rest.  Do the job you were hired to do.  And stop trying to chase clout based on inside information.

2 hours ago, soapfave06 said:

Jamie being a fantastic villain

BTW if you haven't watched the "whatever happened to" video of the actor who played Jamie, it is worth your while

@Liberty City I would watch it on YT.  I've fallen off in recent months, and I didn't enjoy the repetitive ads on E4.  But, if it is easily accessible on YT, and the episodes are quick and snappy, I'll put it on my playlist. Will you keep watching?

3 minutes ago, Liberty City said:

Is their time on Hulu ending, then?

I didn't see any information about that.  The episodes will be uploaded to YT a week after they premiere on E4.  Is Hulu up to date?  If so, maybe it will be a similar system.

I am slightly surprised by the negative reaction of Holly Gagnier as Cassie.  I think the writing for the character at the time and her overall demeanor closely reflected her mother, making it easier to imagine her as Dorian's daughter.  To me, she is second only to Cusi Cram in the part.

Ava Hadid and Laura Koffman were saddled with playing Cassie as damsels in distress.  Women who needed protection and would do anything for their man.  Psychologically, that seems in stark contrast to the antagonist that Dorian was always written as being.  I prefer a tougher, and a little snottier Cassie.

It is unfortunate that the character was so ill-defined as she morphed from writer to writer that her primary motivations and traits were never established.  I mean, Tina was Tina even when she was played by the woefully miscast Marsha Clark (I still feel bad that she had to dye her hair for such a short run on the soap).  But, Cassie is all other place due to the presence, or absence, of Dorian and Kelly.

It is ironic that the Sanders and O'Neils feel so well established in the 80s, and then are so quickly disposed of by the future writers.  I always forget that Jon is Judith's brother, and Harry's brother was Pete.  They were heavily intertwined in the fabric of Llandview, and then, just like the Lord/Manning factory, we barely heard from them again.  Speaking of money, it feels emblematic of the time for a writer to introduce a whole family, rather than a single character whose siblings might later migrate to town.  Maybe everyone was chasing a new Newman or Snyder dynasty?

In hindsight, I feel like the biggest loss was Brad.  He was made redundant by Max, but I liked him so much more.

The reason given for this change is that 64% of viewers watch via first-look streaming or on E4, and the plan is to simplify how the audience – which has a younger demographic than the other soaps – consumes it.

It is an interesting analogy to DAYS, that the reason being promoted is more fans access the soap through streaming rather than over linear cable.  I don't know if it true, but it is not necessarily a harbinger of doom.

And, good news for US fans with a VPN, episodes will also be on YouTube.

At least he acknowledges it was only "one reason".  No mention of a lack of creativity or quality.  But, that may be asking too much from a guy who has overestimated his talent to this degree.

The plot thickens, Rachel Melvin pinched hit for Victoria Konefal

I guess there's no chance that Shawn's not an addict. But, he only wanted one sip today, and Belle is driving, so that's progress...

Or I'm a cultural co-dependent...

Also, so soapy that everyone referred to Chelsea as Shawn's sister, just in case we forgot how they are related.

TIL