j swift

I'm confused as to why Chad isn't involved in the Stefan/EJ/Megan storyline?

Doesn't he still live in the mansion?  And wasn't he CEO at one point? (PS I know that's meaningless because everyone but Johnny and Sydney has been CEO of DE).

I vaguely recall that he moved in with Sonny around New Years when he was drinking too much while mourning Abigail, but I don't know where he works or why he still lives there now that Sonny is in New Zealand? 

Is either or Kristen or Megan sleeping in the room where Abigail was murdered?  I hope they changed the sheets...

They've really limited Megan's plot potential unnecessarily. 

It is one thing to want to be a power player at DE, but in the course of one week she's got people tied up in the cellar, she's planning an assassination, and trying to fund an army.  It feels as if there is no plan for her to be a long term character.  Once these crimes emerge, she is completely disposable.  

Meanwhile, I am ashamed at myself for giggling every time Li or Megan openly talks about Stefan's impending death (which obviously will not happen).  It is just so funny that they cannot control their impulse to quip about him dying every time they see him. 

It is like, "Hi Stefan, how's the weather? (it'll be a cold day in hell soon), Nice tie (can't wait to see it in your coffin), Have you heard from Will? (or did you write your own will?)

1 hour ago, carolineg said:

I also don't know why the Dimera's keep champagne in that room as well.

Not to mention (a) why bring champagne to a job interview, (b) what kind of job could Sloan offer Kristen, (c) why is Kristen the only Dimera who needs a job outside their company?

I made this joke before @Soapsuds, but this is what it looks like when Leo opens Grindr in Salem

DAYS takes a unique (not a compliment) approach to character growth.

I was thinking while watching this morning that Tripp started as an angry young man whose traits resembled Patch's rebellion and Ava's insane reactivity, but he was quickly neutered and now is just a generic nice doctor (BTW who paid for med school if he gave up all the Vitale fortune?)

Paulina was offensive and overbearing, and now she has a panic attack over the mere idea of threat.

It feels as if there is an ethos that no character can be unlikable.  Whatever happened to creating characters that the audience loves to hate?

I would add that Liz Gillies was an excellent Fallon.  She balanced vicious and vulnerable in a very captivating way, and they clearly played to all of her strengths.

Sam Underwood was the epitome of Adam.  He played creepy and charismatic in ways that Gordon Thompson could never hope to achieve. 

Adam Huber as Liam and Sam Adegoke as Jeff were written as strong enough to be Fallon's partners, rather than the one dimensional Jeff in the original version. 

Alan Dale's Anders was a mysterious, moody and tender foil for Rafael de la Fuente's Sam.

Of course, nobody will ever be a better Alexis than Joan Collins, John Forsythe and Grant Show were equally adequate, and arguably some Cristols were better than others, but the new cast was mostly superior. 

11 hours ago, Cheap21 said:

How was the Dynasty reboot? Worth checking out?

 

Not to be a contrarian, but I was a fan of the re-boot.

Pro's -

1. By re-telling the story in a modern context, they had the opportunity to side step many of the earlier mistakes, for example Fallon was really the central character because the actress was in every season and didn't need to be re-cast. 
2. It was also more deliberately funny, they played with genre by adding musical episodes and dream sequences
3. The costumes were exquisite (Nolan Miller made it look like everyone in Denver shopped at the same boutique, but the reboot had characters in everything from Gucci to quiet luxury brands). 
4. They also tweaked the story just enough so that there was still a sense of mystery.  For example, when Alexis goes to jail for throwing someone off of her balcony, it touched on all of the original details, but changed the culprit.
5. The diversity was fun if you were a fan of the original.  Making Sammy Jo into a Latino male, having the Colby's be Black in Atlanta, and making Cristol South American, were interesting methods to modernize the story

Con's -

1. Much like the original, the reboot was filled with recasts, there were three Alexis's, and three Cristal's - it became an inside joke within the series, but it definitely limited the storytelling.
2. Multiple writing staffs meant that the tone changed varied wildly from season to season.  The first season was sexy and mean, the later seasons were cute and funny
3. For whatever reason, they chose more of a closed episodic structure over longer story arcs, and it became very repetitive.  Fallon was forever learning the lesson that putting business before her love life was foolish, she would seek forgiveness, and then engage in the same conflict in the next episode
4. Why does every version of Dynasty need to sideline Stephen?  He's one of the most interesting characters, but no matter the decade, he's always pushed aside in favor of Adam as the focus of the story.

I'm also not writing Johnny off yet because so much of his introduction was intertwined with the possession story that I feel like we haven't gotten to know him.

Unfortunately, I think the actor's persona is influencing the writing of the character (the one true weakness of this writing team is their inability to write a well-rounded character inspired by something other than the actor's social media profile).  I like the idea of a Brooklyn Beckham/young EJ type.  But, he lacks the sophistication of those men (not to imply that country music enthusiasts can't be sophisticated, but you know what I mean). 

In a perfect world, the love triangle would be between the responsible, earnest Tripp versus the fun-loving, impulsive Johnny, yet those traits haven't been developed. I hope he'll emulate Tony and be a romantic suave dude, he just needs to find his Anna, because early Tony and Anna were some of my favorite times on the show.

I'm willing to wait and see how the summer plays out because I disagree that Johnny is either undervalued, unimportant, or unnecessary. 

I feel like we need some strongholds in the 20something generation because the current cast skews so old.  We all agree that the optics of Nicole playing a mistaken pregnancy storyline is ridiculous given the age of the actress.  So, we need characters like Johnny, even if they are marooned storyline-wise, in order to maintain plot potential.  

My only wish is that they would reference history like Anna kidnapping his sister, or Stephanie's relationship with the family, rather than only using the past for humor.

46 minutes ago, carolineg said:

He lives at the Dimera mansion but isn't involved in any of the shenanigans with DE so they aren't utilizing that side of the family.  At the same time he is never involved in the Evans/Black side of his family either.  It's very strange how much they have dropped the ball with his character.

I was thinking the same thing the other day when they had the cocktail party to welcome Megan and Johnny wasn't even home.  He has referenced his new cousins, but they haven't interacted.  Dimitri is twice his age, but they both have an affection for European culture, and it would be nice if Johnny could show him around. I don't think Dimitri has left the mansion since he moved to the US.

However, I don't mind Johnny not being involved in the family business similarly to Tony.  I enjoy a rich soap playboy, you don't see it that often anymore, and I can't think of anything dreamier this summer than lounging in a mansion with an eternally filled ice bucket, pool, wine cellar, and a mad scientist laboratory in the basement.

I'd also like to see more Anna and Johnny scenes, they are both always looking for surrogate family relationships, and she could be a good confidant (even though she did once kidnap his sister....)

We are in an odd place ethically as a society if we value cultural relevancy over racial equality.  I applaud Nene for taking a stand and fighting for the rights of black women to be represented and compensated fairly in a genre of entertainment that has made white men rich off of exploiting the lives of minority women.

I wonder if the use of Jackson Montgomery as a lawyer is part of the reason that Kin Shriner feels that Scotty is being written off?  The timing is interesting given that Port Charles has no shortage of attorneys within its boundaries.

I feel like we don't talk enough about the marriage of Justin and Bonnie.

It's giving Rebecca/Vertigo.  I mean they have nothing in common except for the fact that she resembles his dead wife.  At this point I can't tell if she keeps her hair and makeup like Adrienne in order to please Justin, or because she feels that he expects it.  His kids don't seem to notice that their father has developed an obsession with keeping Adrienne's memory alive.  In the past, Bonnie's manic energy and lack of sophistication would have been a turn off for Justin.  But now, he stands by her despite her rather obvious lack of intellect.  It's a little sick.

hIn my college dorm I played December on repeat so often that my neighbor complained to the authorities...

ttps://twitter.com/pamelagreyson/status/1666813046650728451?s=20

The clickbait nature of this headline amused me

Spoiler Alert: No

I think TJ is the weak link in the surrogacy storyline.  An uninteresting character played by a non-charismatic actor. 

htthttps://deadline.com/2023/06/abc-triumphs-against-lawsuit-ingo-rademacher-mandatory-covid-vaccination-1235409986/p

s://twitter.com/DEADLINE/status/1666214504974385152?s=20

4 hours ago, Forever8 said:

If anything, I would've had Reva off with Kyle who somehow found her after driving off that bridge in Florida. 

So, this is totally just conjecture based on reading Zimmer's memoir and Pam Long interviews.  It seems like Long felt some ownership over the character of Reva, which eventually caused some friction between the two women over discussions of what Reva would or wouldn't do as a character.  Zimmer writes of a lunch with Long and a CBS executive that devolved into a screaming match when discussing Zimmer's desire for some time off to go to LA for pilot season, resulting in the executive wanting to hide under the table.  And in her exit interview with SOD, Long talked about scuttled plans to bring back Reva in a dream for Christmas. 

Thus, what I would imagine occurred is that Zimmer wanted to leave, but Long held out hope for her to return.  The resolution was an exit that needed to be semi-permanent enough to please both women. 

Does this mean Us Weekly won't be able to do any more cover stories hinting that she's pregnant? 

I read that he's going to be Jackson Montgomery, so I wonder if he'll represent Carly if she goes to trial?

2 hours ago, Darn said:

I was thinking of other sibling pairs similar to them where the new one ends up overshadowing the original.

The examples that came to mind were Ava and Julian Jerome (GH), she out lived, out lasted, and out smarted him

Natalie & Janet on AMC, Janet was arguably more iconic and had a longer lasting impact on the story over time

On Another World Vicky out shined Marley, Donna certainly surpassed Peter who was introduced first, and while Catlin may have lasted less time than Blaine, he was much more of a central character than Larry who preceded him.

And nobody could've predicted that GH's Tony Jones would've overshadowed Frisco, given that he supposed to be killed off in his year on the show.

The Sloan reveal was clever, except for the fact that DNA tests indicate gender, so it is unlikely that the lab would overlook that fact when determining paternity.

Also, doesn't her whole plan rely on EJ not being tested (which she wouldn't have known to be true because the plan was to swab them both)?  If EJ had also been tested, and both were ruled out as the father, they would have just re-swabed both guys and Sloan's plan would have failed.

So good

@Khan I feel like amongst the current crop, Sheri is the naturally talented to host a show on her own.  I love Kelly's singing, but she can't interview without reading every question from a pre-interview.  Drew has a unique take on interviewing, and seems genuinely interested in her guest's stories, but her energy is way too manic for my taste.  Sheri does a very good opening chat, perhaps due to her training in standup comedy.  But she needs a production staff who will prepare her better, fewer games, and a regular group of experts because she does well in those segments (like how Regis had the Love Chef and Mrs. Greenthumbs). 

Does anyone recall the name of the Persian lady beauty expert on Regis that used fruits and veg as a face mask (was it Regine?), or the blond lady fashion expert who was always introduced as the spokesperson for the cotton council?   

There's some irony that George Stephanopolous is now the token white dude on Sunday morning.

34 minutes ago, dc11786 said:

What were all the different versions of Bill?

Bill starts as a working class guy living with his family.  Then he instantly gains wealth and his family leaves or dies; except for Jenny, who also becomes instantly rich through marriage.  Then he gets a sudden evil ex-wife and kid.  Then, he becomes a single dad living in a lighthouse.  Then he is a light romantic hero with Julia and their fight against the cartel who wants to take over ELQ.  And then he takes a turn as a more malevolent character with his rivalry with Damien Smith toward the end of his life.  Visually, he goes from strawberry blond to platinum blond as he becomes a darker character.

Briefly, in the 1991 reset there was also a coffee shop, and bakery run by the Eckarts, which was poised to be an alternate meeting place for those who congregated at Ruby's Diner, but it was gone as quickly as cousin Joey and his dog.

But, most amusingly to me in the Monty re-set was that Bobbie had quit the hospital during her time seeking to adopt a baby, then she returned the day that Bill was injured, without explanation.  And Anna dated the awful Edge Jerome (with the ponytail) before suddenly remembering that she liked Robert and wanted to tie him to columns in order to seduce him.