j swift

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.

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.

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.

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: 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? Again, why does Holly suddenly have romantic feelings for Tate? 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.

Tripp pouring a beer for Wendy after they were trapped in a beer storage silo was pretty insensitive. I thought Xander would have a bit more than the stripes on his pants to free himself. Also, doesn't anyone in Salem actually go to court? That would be exculpatory evidence. His attorney wouldn't want him to share it with the police ahead of time.

We often lament when an actor dies and their soap roles are under-reported. How about his guy who was on GH for 17 episodes, but got a story on multiple sites about his "viral" marriage proposal? His part was memorable, but his GH alum status may be a bit overstated.

Except, Everett “saw” his mother today under hypnosis, and she definitely wasn't Jessica.

He anticipated this reaction

I'm speculating that, but I am unaware if there's any public support for my theory 😉

I think the news issue is why CBS is really the only network that is in the position to be able to develop a new soap opera. When DAYS was still on the network, it was the only daytime drama surrounded by a sea of news. So there was nothing else for soap fans to watch, unless DAYS was appointment viewing. If, NBC or ABC wanted to start a new soap today, they would have to attract a totally new audience. Whereas, CBS can coast off of those who already watch Y&R and B&B.

It would be very silly if Everett turns out to be Ben and Jordan's brother. And I don't know why Clyde wouldn't have recognized him during their visit in the prison, but it looks like that is where this is headed. Especially because everyone in Salem is someone's long-lost child, unless they were born on screen. (Tripp, Stefan, Chad, John, etc...) While I agree that historically Stephanie hasn't been cast as Horton-adjacent, she spent Thanksgiving with them, and she's close to the kids, so I will give that a pass. I was distracted that Chad brought a thermos of coffee to the graveside. Did Abby and Chad share something special about coffee? Was it just that the props department didn't want to make a fake Starbucks cup? It just seemed large and out of place. At least make it a fake Stanley mug. Why do Chanel and Johnny need to do it in the storeroom when they are staying at the hotel five feet away? And now they're going on another honeymoon. Also, a bit of heavy-handed foreshadowing that they mentioned the cabin being secluded. Could a certain drug smuggling murderer escapee be nearby?

She's fine, but her absence was notable for most of today's scenes, given that the action revolved around her son's christening, and she's Tate's lawyer.

In LA, we get six hours of local news a day on multiple stations, with traffic and weather every 15 minutes. Spoiler alert for Los Angeles, the weather is usually nice, and the traffic is always bad. My understanding of the original pitch is that they would discuss parenting issues, and not news or pop culture, because they tape a day in advance from LA (with two shows on Wednesday). It always inhibited their ability to seem fresh and up to date. Also, unlike conservative politics, who would want to be cast on TV every day espousing contrarian views about how to disrespect kids through harsh child-rearing techniques? Or, risk social media cancellation for seeming overly permissive? There's just no room for debate on those topics.