Vee

Oh no.

I was/am mainlining both the Dream Season and Season 7 of KL together, since that was the year of their big creative swap. That's the most I can take of Dallas consecutively. But I've been very preoccupied with other shows and work IRL and I need to get back to it after a long break from my Knots binge.

I'm not sure Passions is the model to emulate here.

Same tbh. His brother got all the attention as he got older and hotter but Eric I like best. I need to get back to this show.

Lucky Spencer for Thighbolt Round X! This show is cooked. I guess they had to justify Steve's contract somehow. For !@#$%^&*]in' real!

I apologize in advance for my delayed reaction to all of this soon enough!

Jesus Christ, Donna.

They didn't involve Lucky in things because they didn't want to, and when he didn't want to play the romance they had no further use for him. That's the issue AFAIC, not the character.

Which is what I'm sure the show wanted. Now Liz can be ready for Finn's triumphant return.

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.