Vee

It's not that deep, John. GH fúcked it up. This is on the show.

Unbelievable. But I could tell they didn't want to write for him and Liz, and I could tell that's what he wanted. What a waste, especially since he made it clear last summer he wanted to stay long-term.

Wow. This show is ridiculous.

The loooong pan around the room that ends in actual action with Maria and Edmund vs. just silently surveying the damage is very technically impressive. I don't think I've ever seen more than bits and pieces of this; my viewing was very spotty early on in '93/'94. I mostly remember the aftermath.

I love the yellow bumpers with the crew lol. That's Donna Lewis as the music at the beginning! I haven't heard her in ages. R.J. and Tea were so hot and so underrated. I remember seeing the bit with the Buchanan men promising to show Max a good time in his bedroom and it's still hysterical.

I think a lot would've gotten over it the same way they got over the Trina recast, especially since it became swiftly clear NAC is never coming back. The key issue, we agree, is Frank. As long as Trina is onscreen he's not touching that. As for Nikolas, honestly I'd kill him off. Adam Huss has done a wonderful job in a very difficult situation but I don't think he has leading man power for a soap opera (not because he's gay, but he's very intense and I don't think it translates to potential lighter or romantic material; his flirting with Ava briefly was strange) and I was holding out for Tyler to recover and return someday. I am not interested in Nikolas #5 or 6.

Given how quickly he's picked up steam, I will again say they should've considered casting GM as Spencer last year. But that would not have suited Frank's preferences.

I'd be surprised if it was. Money is money. And yeah, Kathy's done all those things but tbh given the current tally for ruinous character choices in EE in recent years I'm kind of numb to it and find hers small potatoes by comparison.

I honestly do not see the point of Max coming back again. Zoe does not surprise me. I've been waiting for that since Bionic Woman flopped in the US, frankly. I'm not against it vs. some other pointless returns. Some returns work and some don't, some are just there. Like, am I grateful that Kathy is alive? Yes, absolutely. Do I love any of her stories? No. But she's not utterly destroyed, she's just there.

I think Frank probably wanted to try for Jonathan with Kate Mansi. I actually can't knock the idea of a Lucky/Kristina affair or flirtation on paper, as a romantic obstacle to LNL2, but not with the characters in the places they are at present or have been over the last few years. It would be a mistake to do right now and would poison the well. I think Jonathan probably made it clear when he came back that he wanted what had been promised to him years ago with Elizabeth, and between his not being one of FV's preferred focal leads and Liz being a grudging afterthought if she's not with one of his OLTL stars, I suspect FV was content to leave them where they are vs. where they should be, which is central on the show. It's like I said a few days ago: A lot of this is how Lulu has always been. But back in the day the issue was that Lulu (and Carly) were deified for it, whereas now it's that Lulu is just used as the heavy because FV has a preexisting favoritism for Setton/BLQ. And that's a waste of a key character and talent, namely Alexa Havins.

Frank does not care about them and resents having to write for at least one of them.

I think the issue with Lulu is less the character (which was the issue in the Julie Berman days under Guza II) and more the lack of nuance. The current GH team rarely writes nuance for any character or at least can't sustain it for long, or they reserve it for a favored few. I also think the rooting interest at GH BTS often remains on preferred characters or actors - BLQ/Setton - vs. Laura's kids. So it's easy to make Lulu the heavy if you think Brook Lynn and Chase are the money on this show. I don't, but I think FV does. And that's not to say I think Amanda Setton is bad in the role, or that I would get rid of BLQ. I don't trend towards either (though I do think that if Setton's personal beliefs keep getting in the way of material I would reluctantly recast). I think Brook Lynn is essential to use as a lead presently. But I don't think it needs to be the black and white dichotomy of suffering young matriarch BLQ and aggressor Lulu. While it's good that unlike in the Guza years they can recognize that Lulu can be obnoxious and rash, can be her own worst enemy and that that is part of the character, it can be toned down or given more layers than it has of late. There's nothing wrong there the writing can't fix.

In my field (not that) I've written my share of dreck when it's what people wanted vs. something good. In the end what matters is the check. These pilots may not be great, but whether or not those writers intended otherwise they got paid.

I think there is plenty to critique and/or roast about the show, but I think there's also good bones and a lot of progressive improvement. It's the Bell/B&B formula and house style that is hardest for it to shake and the most necessary IMO, as well as some dead weight actors or characters, but that formula also apparently works for a lot of general viewers and I suspect CBS. OTOH it's also very modern in certain ways (sometimes overly hip dialogue, and some story) that still make it feel like a show that's bouncing between distant past staples of soap opera fundamentals and the present moment. And the old fashioned product placement is fun but also so goofy, while material like June is hysterical. Imagine leading with 'the underpass is where I live, and I like it there!' It's an unusual show in that way, because its identity and tone is still not fully formed. You don't know what it'll be. But that's normal at this juncture. The closest thing to a glimpse of the future foundation, I think (besides the obvious core family setup that's been there since Day 1), is the rivalry and future familial bond - and likely love/hate relationship - between Kat and Eva. A la many central sisters or siblings throughout soap history.

Like I said, I think the writing was the primary failure. TSJ can be very good when he chooses to be and can have chemistry with most people, but if the writing isn't perfect and there isn't some control over him it turns into an episode of Nathan For You.

Cady had a fairly posh accent or manner as Rosanna - the character was a 180 from Dixie when she went to ATWT, and it was a huge success initially. As someone mostly only familiar with the nagging, miserable or clueless Dixie of the mid-late '90s and early 2000s it was what convinced me Cady could act. I thought she was incredible in her first run. Later, in future stints, her hair and story and performances were all over the place but a lot of that was down to the show for me. She brought some of Rosanna back with her to Dixie in her ill-fated return and a lot of people didn't like it, which I understood but I did think the character needed some change. I think she's had a little bit of the same persona and arch performance in every role she's played since, including Jennifer Horton at DAYS or Kelly at Y&R, who later became a maniac and was easily the worst work I've ever seen Cady do. It has kind of infected her overall mannerisms, I'll allow that, but I do think she brought Dixie back together as herself while still evolving the character when she returned to AMC again in 2012-13. Nonetheless, for me the upshot is that this is a character where Cady's kookier recent performance style suits the role. But I can understand it grating for people.

I was happy for JT that he had somewhere to land after GH, as during his last year or two there he looked like he was on suicide watch onscreen as Patrick was reduced to another clueless male plot widget under Carlivati. But he was always a miscast as Billy so Jill could bring in a friend, and he frankly now looks older than sin vs. the character. I think Tucker actually could've worked with Trevor in the role as TSJ has very visibly aged since OLTL, but the writing was never there and even with good writing he can bore very easily and start calling audibles onscreen. It just felt like they never had a plan.

And here I thought I'd never think about Lauren Tewes again after her brief appearance in Twin Peaks Season 3.

I may be the single person who does not mind Transatlantic Campy Pamela. I think it perfectly suits this sort of Absolutely Fabulous-esque supporting character she's playing much more than it did when Cady tried weird and often broad stuff at AMC* or Y&R, or later stints at ATWT. She's not Dixie and she's not trying to be. I will freely admit some of the other chances she took at other shows often came off stiff, hammy or downright mortifying (Kelly Andrews, come on down). (* - and I say that as one of the few who was somewhat into Cady trying to make Dixie more cosmopolitan in the Rosanna Cabot mold in mid-2000s AMC, just to liven the character up again)

This is an absolute '90s who's who, lol. Kiersten Warren (best known for being the first human atomized in Independence Day but I knew her best from SBTB: The College Years), Kurt Fuller, Ben Savage and Christopher Castile?!

I think it's probably just the above. He came in to help get the show off the ground.

Yeah, it's so undignified. And looked it! But man, you can tell Stephen Nichols, etc. are not acting. They should've canned the fake voice guy at the very least. Great, now I have to try to remember who the fúck Xander is related to.

Yeah, I don't think it was necessary to have a John body double in a hazmat suit scrabbling around on the floor with a dayplayer all to explain his death. They even have this crispy dude in a mask on a gurney. Nor would I personally have shown John wasting away in a hospital bed to die without the actor. John Black shouldn't go out like that. Even if his death isn't purely an offscreen event, you could still have woven him into a sweeps action event where John saves the day, mostly offscreen or seen in glimpses in the background without all the awkward talking to body doubles, voice clips, etc. Then he dies in an explosion or whatever and it's a blaze of glory, and no lingering in the hospital circling the drain. But I assume part of this was done so that the actors could say goodbye, and I can get behind that. I'm sure they'll all be great. Nor was it necessary to have some fake voice croak out 'go save Bo!' You could tell poor Stephen Nichols and Kristian were struggling enough as it is telling Crispy Fake John they know he'll be okay for the last time. The double was tacky enough in that situation! Not Hope going out in her Laura Bush ensemble to help save the day. Susan Seaforth Hayes has still got it, I don't care what anyone says.

I did not expect Bo and Hope to be back already, I thought they were coming later. It is nice to see John was apparently doing all this for them. Far be it from me to be hypercritical (haha), but this whole "let's show John Black from behind and play old sound clips" thing is super-tacky to me. But it's classic Days Brain about style and taste choices going back at least 25 years. We forget how they had Alice 'killed' by Marlena. If it were me I'd just have John die in a blaze of glory in some entirely offscreen heroism, or maybe seen only briefly in the background of some action-packed sweeps event doing the same. Not these awkward scenes where these poor actors pretend they are talking to their coworker who just died from behind (or in bed) while they play Drake's voice like it's the morning zoo radio soundboard. Maybe I'll feel differently as I watch more, we'll see.

Not sure opening my return to Salem by showing the surviving cast happily chatting to a body double seen from behind while old Drake Hogestyn lines are added to the soundtrack is giving me the proper 'all-new, mature Days' experience I was hoping for.