Vee

A scorned ex pulling a stunt at a wedding is pretty typical soap to me.

Oh, how sad. Both legends. This is what I always think of re: David Johansen in recent years, from Sofia Coppola's A Very Murray Christmas special on Netflix I was obsessed with Angie Stone's Mahogany Soul and Stoned Love albums in college. What a loss.

I think the only way to revive most US soaps not named Edge of Night - AMC, OLTL, whatever - is to do them at 30 mins and yes, give them seasonal breaks of 2-4 months and make them arc-based for maybe 13-16 weeks at a time. Something Linda Gottlieb attempted in a way in a year-round format and got trounced for, and something Prospect Park only attempted when they ran out of cash lol. But it's viable IMO. Unlike GH or Y&R, it moves pretty fast. It's not a chore to watch at an hour so far.

Thanks! I'm still usually making my way chronologically as best I can through the Marland years but I do warp ahead at times for special stuff.

I won't reiterate my commentary about needing to recast Ashley. She and Martin are the biggest problems for me right now unless they quickly, hopefully improve (Martin being #1), because as others have noted characters like Derek are disposable. Then again, so is Ashley.

Frankly I don't think they have the room in the current landscape to move that slowly in a first week. They needed to make bold moves out of the gate to get eyes on them, and they did plenty of that in a first week. It wasn't nonsensical or rushed like other shows, it felt like it flowed organically out of an preexisting situation to me. Slowing down and bedding in can come once they've hooked people in these first couple weeks. Then it will be time to hit hard for May sweeps, which it sounds like they plan to do.

I would call it a pretty successful launch. The last 3 days showed considerable evolution and growth in the scripts out of some of the baldfaced expository dialogue in the first two, many of the characters have grabbed me, the potential is massive, the show looks great and Karla Mosley really impressed me with her power and authority. Is she subtle so far, not incredibly, but Dani hasn't really been either yet in story - she's making big moves. Nonetheless KM no longer came off like the creepy carnival doll I remembered from GL and early B&B, and I've been impressed. Whether Gen Z viewers will take to her deliberately arch performance or to soap opera in general remains to be seen. I've seen a wide range of reactions to the show or to certain scenes from the more uninitiated audiences, but what I haven't seen is anyone wanting to stop watching. That's a good start.

She's green but she hasn't gotten the kind of material he already has. Dude's delivery is like a video game NPC.

I am catching up, but Thursday is pretty strong IMO. Naomi impressed me, the dialogue has improved considerably with less exposition, and KM projects a lot more authority and imperiousness than I previously thought she was capable of as the momager supreme. You understand the faith in her MVJ has here, it's giving Black Erica Kane. Yes, the character is outsize but that's the nature of the role. If she's divisive (as she clearly is here) that's part of the appeal. Mona is very real. They should give her family ASAP. This show is much easier to get through than hour upon hour of GH. And the lighting in Uptown and wardrobe/hair on Chelsea is phenomenal - she looks amazing even if her acting is neon green. Ashley OTOH still comes off like they recruited someone from the crew.

Exactly. I had a feeling she would be on it. The other two young girls in the family, meh. Martin is like a host from Westworld. Shape up or ship out!

I just wonder what made them pull back on Kyle so fast other than Josh, unless LM was that much of a nightmare BTS.

I think it was supposed to be an in-joke because that was one of Leslie Charleson's nicknames on-set IRL, but it was still unnecessary and juvenile to me onscreen. I also found that scene silly. Lesley is an old woman who hasn't been on staff in aeons but manages to put on a lab coat and sneak in while poor Denise Alexander struggles to cling to the hub to keep her balance. I appreciated their wanting to use her but there were other ways to do that. I think Ron has a lot of love for the genre, and he's done a number of stories I truly enjoyed and characters or couples I loved at OLTL, and some stories I really enjoyed at GH. Unlike his replacements at GH he also understands energy. His efforts there saved GH and that can't be denied despite the work being very messy. But he's also developed far too much ego since being touted as the savior of soaps, has no filter, he loves to lazily bring up history in the cheapest way in recent years, and without enough constraints or checks and balances he goes off the rails fast. And when he doesn't get his way with either the audience or a show or actor he often develops contempt for it, and that shows onscreen. He deserved to be fired from both his last two soaps. I know very little about Jamey's actual soap work or the nitty-gritty of what he's done at DAYS but his fanfic always sounded goofy to me. idk about Jamey, but Ron absolutely does. I remember him writing in a 'get over it' to the fans re: an extended scene about which of Todd Manning's kids was inaccurately older than the other due to crazy SORAS. Like it was a three minute scene of just the two children awkwardly arguing over which of them should be older, and the one who was too old told the younger "get over it". Later he got so pissed about GH fans regularly commenting online that no one is accounting for Robin having PTSD from her abduction by having Robin stop a whole scene at Kelly's to repeatedly say she has no PTSD.

It's either blanks or she shoots the wall. From past production material:

Looks like the show is going to be moving at quite the steady clip.

It does amuse me that they went all in on Larkin Malloy/Kyle and a couple years later once they can get Josh back he is memory holed and never mentioned again. Yet I believe it was the same recurring creative regime, wasn't it? Long wrote his first year, left and then came back and wrote him out?

Astead takes another break from soccerposting for well, this: Someday he will be exiled to the political ash heap with the rest of the usual Bernie or Death suspects (because that's what he is; Astead used to hammer on about the 2020 primaries and was ranting again in a rare non-soccerpost last night about 'party elites' and online libs not understanding the candidate people want). Assuming we all live to see such a time, I can't wait.

Putting aside the fact that I don't think MVJ would do it I have very good reason to believe that was no daydream or fantasy, and I doubt I'm the only one. I'll get to these last two eps in full tonight.

Her puppet?? It is hysterical and reminds me of the pan from Will and Uncle Phil to the father-son statue at the end of the Ben Vereen episode of Fresh Prince, lol.

I will always think AMC and OLTL on streaming in an hour block (30 mins each) are viable. They have very unique flavors vs. each other, very different tones and both strike at the heart of the country in different ways. Do I expect ABC/Disney to do it? Nope, not any time soon. EON remains the most viable soap and it's insane to me no one has ever touched it. So many shows have its DNA even if the showrunners have never heard of it. I have told @DRW50 and others many times before that I think GL is uniquely viable given its historical roots and simple/wholesome Americana flavor (a la AMC in some ways, though that show can be more whimsical) but I would be legitimately surprised if P&G revisited it. Then again I was legitimately shocked they came back to soaps, lol. I will admit digging deep into the Marland years made me think about ATWT from time to time. But I also think the show got so bland and creaky by the end, and had so many rough periods long before that besides that I think you would need to almost totally clean slate, and then what's the point of doing it? I just found little inspiring in ATWT's new or veteran cast by the end, and the ones I loved are mostly gone.

Not Silk Press Sheila!

The kicker of all this insanity (Ross Marler: Stunt Queen!) is somehow the beauty shot over the end credits and theme where Kyle and Billy are still hugging, while even the DA and Ross are just shrugging like 'oh well! gg I guess' and shaking hands with the judge and calling the whole thing off right there. Incredible.

Oh my lord. At the trial??

What!! I don't remember that part and I've seen the hilarious assassination clip many times. ("Must keel Kah-yul. Ah cain't kill muh brothah!" And Larry Gates howling away!)

Bill is excellent. Timon Durrett always comes through on a show.

I could only watch part of today live so Imma save the rest for later on. Good start in the first 20 though.