j swift

I guess that tracks, since it is supposed to be in the Midwest, and Doug's Place was on the lake.  I forget that they aren't in Salem, Mass.  But, it seems much easier to spot a submarine in a river. 

Filed under totally unverified, possible untrue, read it online, etc...

@AbcNbc247 It has to be an ocean dock and not a river, right?

I mean, Rolf's submarine and Victor's freighter couldn't travel on a river.

I know we had a discussion of the minification of the square upthread, but originally didn't the Pub exit out onto the square?

Speaking of sets and the 20something crowd like Tripp, Johnny, Chanel, and Wendy, they need a more age-appropriate meeting venue for group scenes.  It is a shame that SweetBits doesn't have an interior set because a coffee shop would be perfect.  The Bistro and Short Bar seem too upscale for a Gen Z hangout joint, and I would like more natural scenes of them just sitting around outside their tiny homes.

Also, I just read a rumor that I'll add to the spoiler thread.

So, it's a real meta commentary on the audience that young, tech-savvy Wendy watches it on streaming, while older, nostalgia-addict Whitley watches videotapes of episodes.

It is like DAYS is saying,"watch streaming, or you'll end up as a lonely cat lady who kidnaps civil service workers."

DAYS is getting their money's worth out of that dock set.  In my mind, the dock is within walking distance of Horton Square, but I'd still like to know the layout of Salem.

I'm also questioning Paulina's wealth.  She owns the DAYS equivalent of Walmart, so is she Sam Walton rich?  Because she doesn't seem to use her privilege to fund the search for Abe, or to oppose the police commissioner for threatening her daughter.  Does she own other homes?  Is she on leave from work because her husband is missing?  Is she richer than John or EJ?

Also, while I appreciate that they needed to write a way for Marlena to tell Whitley's backstory, why is she divulging confidential information to Kayla?

Finally, it was interesting to find out the Body and Soul is still on the air, given that Wendy was watching it the other day.  Has it moved to a streaming service?.  I wonder if anyone in Salem recognizes that the actors look like familiar people in town, or if that is just a part of Abe's hallucinations?

Bill Geddie, co-creator of "The View" and a legendary TV-news producer who was behind many of Barbara Walters’ most notable efforts, has died at 68 years old.

It's ironic that both Rosie O'Donnell and Star Jones had extensive negative opinions of Bill in their respective memoirs (plane reads, don't judge me), but Barbara hardly mentions his achievements in her book.

Follow-up, people on social media continue to disappoint when it comes to basic human decency

28 minutes ago, carolineg said:

So, I don't think it was a case of white washing necessarily, but more the kids didn't want anything to do with an evil guy.   But that's just my take and other people could absolutely see it differently. 

Agreed.

I would also imagine that they created Nicole and her sister before they concocted her backstory.  Because, it would be unusual for a child born in the 1970s to take on their mother's surname, assuming that Faye and Paul were married at the time of Nicole's birth.  I would've assumed it was Nicole's "stage name" from her time as a model, but my question arose from the fact that her siblings all share the same last name.

Today, I learned/remembered that Nicole's father was Paul Mendez and her mother was Fay Walker, which begs the question of why does Nicole use her mother's maiden name?

And even if there's some specific reason for that, why would Brandon use the last name Walker?

Is this a classic case of soaps de-Latino-izing a family?

5 hours ago, AbcNbc247 said:

And, I see John was channeling his inner Clint Eastwood today. How many times did he call Jerry “punk”?

2 minutes ago, carolineg said:

I really can't take John/Steve's 'tough guy PI' schtick seriously.  They are both 70!

The Eastwood comparison is apt.  They share the same "get off my lawn" energy.  But, it also seems like both of them ache when they try to stand up from a chair.  Meanwhile, I don't know what Dr. Rolf did to him all of those years ago, but somehow John still looks five years younger than Roman.

Eric is really making up for lost time and living that baby making machine lifestyle.  In one year he's gotten Nicole, Jada, and Sloan pregnant!  At this rate, he's going to quickly catch up with Stefano as Salem's most prolific father.

Do Chad, Stephanie, Alex, Chloe, and Xander all live in the same building?  If so, that's sort of cute.

It is amusing on these tiny sets when someone pulls another person aside to talk, as if everyone in the room can't hear them.  I mean, it's Salem, and if everyone can hear each other conversations in the Kiriakis Mansion, I think they can hear each other in their tiny kitchenette.  BTW, are people ordering Chinese food and pizza because their kitchens are too small to cook?

I assume that we'll see the fall out of Lani and Abe on Friday, but today's dialogue indicated that it is now almost 8pm in Salem, so Whitley must have a huge supply of drugs at her place in order to keep injecting them every few hours.

Unpopular opinion, Li grew on me today.  Although Trask having drinks with the defendant in an upcoming case that she's prosecuting is just as unethical as Rafe and Jada dating (maybe that's the point?), Li felt much more natural today and charming.

EJ and Stefan live in the same house, but they didn't discuss Megan's assassination attempt until a week later?

Is Harris gone for good?

And now Gabi has a gun?  I will never understand why Peacock censors sex, but not gun violence.  Personally, I'm less offended by a tush and some oral sex double entendres than showing people threatening each other with guns on a semi-weekly basis.

Finally, character reformation is one thing, but Li's involved in a wacky romance plot one week after being responsible for people getting shot in the same bar as his blind date?

10 minutes ago, Paul Raven said:

Continue with the McCleary's as the main family?

May I ask for a refresher?  Did the McCleary's live in Henderson or did they move there after Hogan?

I just recall them popping up all over the place, but I don't remember if it was a Quartermaine/Frame thing where an entire family just immigrates to a new town, or if they were established there, but we just met more and more of them over time.

Unpopular opinion, but I prefer Maeve McGuire over Mary Stuart because she was a more natural actress with less quirks.  I know fans always prefer nostalgia, but I was an EON fan, so Maeve was nostalgic to me.

From Edge of Night, my favorite monologue from Raven as she is leaving Monticello and "giving" Jamie to April and Draper.

"I want to fly, but not on a plane. No, No, I want wings of my own.  That's why I call myself Raven. See, I was the one that took that name when I was a little girl.  My real name is Charlotte.  Can you imagine? But, one day I was sitting on the lawn and I saw this beautiful black bird with shiny wings fly by.  I wanted to be that bird. So beautiful. So free. With beautiful black wings..."

Then she turns around and flies off to London, presumably to seduce her stepfather Ansel for money, leaving April and Draper stupefied in their living room.

Oy, Marjorie Taylor Green and her ex-friends at the House Freedom Caucus can't understand Twitter, and they were already warned about AI from the creator of ChatGPT, imagine them trying to hold a hearing on AI and its effects on employment?

Even ChatGPT's own servers couldn't write a script more absurd than those fools trying to figure out regulations.

Here's the NYT article on the flood

https://www.nytimes.com/1986/02/23/arts/search-for-tomorrow-rating-are-down-and-flood-waters-are-in.html?searchResultPosition=9

For the TL:DR crowd:

The serial's executive producer, John Whitesell, who joined the staff last November, hopes that the flood disaster will stave off an even worse disaster: cancellation.

''We need to shake up the situation. 'Search' is in desperate need of refocusing,'' acknowledged Mr. Whitesell, who at 32 is considered something of a wunderkind in the daytime soap-opera field. He began his career directing ''Texas'' in 1981, then joined ''The Guiding Light,'' where last season he won an Emmy Award for best director.

18 minutes ago, robbwolff said:

I do recall the owner of Liberty House from around April 1986. If I'm not mistaken, he was even seen though they never showed his face. For some reason, I got the impression that he may have been someone from Jo's past.

The day after the flood, when they all move to Liberty House, Jo is given a hardhat and told that she will manage the place at the behest of the owner (that image was later incorporated into the opening sequence).  This sets up a mystery about the identity of the owner and why they chose Jo, but those issues are never resolved. 

9 minutes ago, Soaplovers said:

This wouldn't be a problem had our government put limits on the use of AI... to be used more as a proof reader and maybe even to help out with character inconsistency.

I mentioned this earlier.  The whole rhetoric about "privileged" actors striking is an attempt to distract from the issue that the AI concerns that they are fighting for will have an effect on all areas of employment.  Why will we need human lawyers, if ChatGPT can write a C&D letter.  But, should I pay my lawyer for something that they can derive from AI?  However, by framing it as an issue that only effects the elites, the media is doing a disservice. 

So, the obvious question that comes up over and over is why don't soap cops call for backup before they enter a suspect's dwelling?

8 hours ago, AbcNbc247 said:

That whole storyline with Shawn deserves to play out on screen

If Lani had called Shawn and either he screwed up due to drinking, or redeemed himself by not drinking, it would have been an interesting way to integrate him into the story.

All that aside, I hate that Brady has a gun and the audience is supposed to understand that violent threats are a reasonable result when a grown man feels threatened.  I hope John yells at Brady for taking his gun out of the safe.  Like, dude, just because you're a 50-year-old man living with parents, doesn't mean you can use their gun!

On 7/15/2023 at 8:55 PM, Paul Raven said:

I recall Ava (as played by Patty Lotz) being introduced as a construction worker?

How long was Patty in the role? Was she recast b/c the character was revamped?

On 7/15/2023 at 9:46 PM, dc11786 said:

At one time, I thought she was a construction worker. Later, in some of the 1984 material that has popped up, I think I saw she was on the construction site in the hard hat, but I don't think she was a construction worker. I think she worked in the on-site office, or that was the impression I got, but I could very well be wrong on that. 

Patty was in the role until October, 1984. 

An amusing (but unfounded) note about the recasting of Ava

BTW - speaking of Ava recasts, a small piece of gossip that may have been forgotten, Lisa Peluso and Perry Stephens dated briefly according to the soap magazines.

52 minutes ago, namkcuR said:

Has any other soap seen two back-to-back eras like that that are so polar opposites and yet both so celebrated/polarizing?

52 minutes ago, namkcuR said:

complaints about the the apparent retconning of Victor Lord's character(and death)

My immediate response to reading your well considered post was that part of the difference in reactions to the two time periods may be reflected in the changing soap press.  Soap Opera Weekly was launched in November 1989, coinciding with the end of the Rauch era.  In my experience as a soap watcher, the magazine revolutionized (hyperbole) the fandom by taking on a critical review of soaps, as opposed to digest's recaps, and other fan magazines more fawning interview style.  The prefect example is when Victor Lord's hologram appears in Eterna, SOD played along with the bombastic storyline, but years later when it was suggested that Victor may have been killed by his daughter, SOW points out the lack of logic in the plot.   Both ideas are equally ridiculous, but the different reactions assume a growing maturity of how people are consuming soaps.

So, perhaps each era was well suited to the sophistication of the audience at the time.  The juvenile audience coming of age in the Rauch era was drawn to adventure stories.  Whereas the audience of the Gottlieb and Malone era valued melodrama. 

Finally, your post inspired me to think about how I've underestimated the skill of the actors who straddled both eras.  They were able to play all of those different notes and maintain a consistent character.  I mean, name another actor beside Erika Slezak who could go from an Eterna jumpsuit to an Armani two piece and portray everything from sorrow over a forgotten child to an adult's reaction to suppressed childhood sexual trauma. 

Lani is strong!  She must've been working out in the prison yard. 

But, if she gets a get-out-of-jail-free card while Lucas is still rotting behind bars, then he's got to get a better lawyer.

4 minutes ago, Joseph said:

The Doctors Success Should've been inspiration!

Just a reminder, Retro TV, which owns the app, filed for bankruptcy in 2021 after being dropped from 120 affiliates to 80, so be careful what you call a success

I appreciate the consistency that the character of Phillip has an awful haircut no matter who plays the part.

Random thought, inspired by the number of responses to this thread, as well as the social media popularity of DAYS, it really was the perfect soap to move to streaming, because regardless of where it airs, it is still a part of the zeitgeist.  On these boards alone, it has double the number of responses of the Y&R thread for the past two months, despite Y&R being the number one rated soap.

I know someone will misinterpret my thoughts as defending Peacock, and counter that they don't watch, or NBC was stupid, or other rigmarole, but it is an interesting trend.

10 hours ago, Vee said:

I didn't see this speech, so apologies if it's up again:

 

 

There's some humorous irony in the fact that earlier in the week there was so much criticism online about Ms. Drescher's presidency, then one great speech later everyone is like, president for life!  Actors love a good performance.

I think her later answer about being pictured with Kim Kardashian was equally great.  Kim K has become a code word for entitled privilege (for good reason), but it is interesting to see how the media uses her image to discredit those in her presence.  Fran's point was that professional women have to juggle many priorities, and just because her work is glamorous, doesn't invalidate the fact that it is a job.