Vee

Brennan is worthless to me no matter who plays him.

Anna didn't fúck the alien, did she? Valentin and Finn are almost as bad.

I would sooner cut 20+ useless people to bring one Brenda back. If you want to know what will get eyes on the show and draw attention, she'll do it. She's one of the only things that could at this point. I am not going to go to the level of imagination where Sonny can be fired, because it's just not going to occur. You have to manage his use.

I have always believed (since Valentin actually appeared) this was a cover story by Helena for something else she didn't want the Spencers or the WSB to know about. Which is how I'd play it, after executing Valentin.

I frankly think it was down to those actresses' fanbases (particularly the Liz fans) just being desperate for someone, anyone valued by this creative regime to be linked to their favorite. Liz fans knew Howarth was a FV favorite and would guarantee her airtime and some security, so a portion of them got behind the serial killer. And some Anna fans are just tired of Anna being single so they get behind this weepy wuss. I agree the only time I found Valentin interesting or halfway credible was when Mulcahey revealed him as the co-head of Pikeman. (The show seems to consistently avoid acknowledging that he and Brennan were in it together.) Lord, no. This show needs Brenda back on contract. I have no great ambition to rid the show of Sonny Corinthos. Sure, I'd love it, but it's not going to happen bearing some massive change at the network or in Maurice's life. But you can manage and control how he's used, and you do that by sidelining him for Brenda.

I think the obvious BTS logjam and inertia during Mulcahey's run (for whatever reason - it felt very stop/start and like a power struggle over what to do/cut, so instead half the show just ran in place and played musical jobs) that precipitated the ratings drop spooked the network into doing everything Frank's way, including rehiring his pets. It's so shortsighted.

I am honestly out of ideas for poor Anna, who I adore despite her recent humiliations, so I could get onboard with David at this point lol. I liked them together.

Frank will never stop bringing JPS back unless the network forces his hand. He's kept using him through multiple other jobs. He thinks this is 1991 and the dude is a major get from AMC. I'm not saying Stuart is not talented. But he plays a lot of slithery little creeps. He's good at it. Yet the show clearly thinks he is a major sexy male lead they refuse to let go of.

They were definitely playing Max/Luna in '92 from what I recall. A sort of Luna/Max/Blair/Asa quad IIRC. I believe they get together in the fall of '92 after Luna has been pining unrequited for almost a year, while Max is besotted with Blair. By the time Blair leaves I think they're set, though I may be wrong. I believe Suede mistook Luna for his wife but I think he was always intended for Marty, which flopped. But I have to watch/rewatch a lot of this. He was upset with Gottlieb in general, but I don't think that was necessarily about Max and Luna. At least I never heard that. A lot of the men were said to throw tantrums with Linda Gottlieb based on various aspects of the show (not that that's acceptable). The same seemed to happen with Tony Geary and Wendy Riche at GH.

I don't remember him being against the pairing itself, though I could be wrong. I do remember him being annoyed with their final days in '94 or '95 where he felt Max became just Mr. Mom.

Predictable behavior.

Most of the fans on social media complaining about Lucky are Liason dead-enders. They spam the GH hashtag and astroturf response hoping to make him go away every day he's on. I don't think Lucky's return in Africa story was good but I've seen a more positive sustained response from the general audience once they settled him in with Liz back home. Nonetheless you're going to continue to see the contingent of very vocal fans who will never like him.

I definitely don't think they're painting everything Dani is doing as right. She runs roughshod over her daughters and then has to pull back. And I think her latest actions are part of an ongoing spiral. I do think they have fun with the character, and I think a lot of the audience is enjoying her (as am I). But I think they also want to show her spiraling and being self-destructive. And they can, in fact, have it both ways I think.

I see what they're doing with Dani. I ain't mad about it.

I mean, that doesn't entirely surprise me given what went down BTS but I still thought what was done to Edmund was shameful.

Nnnope! You have no idea how annoyed OLTL audiences were to be roped into that baby switch lol. It took over half the show. The only good drama was when the truth came out amongst themselves with Kevin and Kelly Buchanan and Victor/Todd playing the angles, and that was in summer '04. The rest of the time we were marking the seconds and waiting for the AMC guest stars to get out.

Schumer's coalition to vote Yes appears to be crumbling - we'll see if he can pull it out with a few votes, but as Leader I think he may be cooked (as he should be). Gillibrand, who railed against the No votes for him so loudly yesterday that the press could hear her screaming behind the sealed doors, is now also pointedly ducking the press.

The intrigue re: Sheila leaking to Viki about female misdiagnosis at the hospital is actually compelling IMO. I guess this is Brenda's last story angle as she becomes involved and finds out Sheila was the source. It is funny watching Asa install Kevin at the hotel and tell the concierge he will be 'the next Buchanan' to run the place. He told them Max was that guy like 3 weeks ago. The scenes with Clint and Kevin mending fences up at the cabin and bonding, with Clint reminiscing about his rocky upbringing under Asa and Kevin telling him he's the best man he knows and wants to be, were very touching and well-written and played. Testing Luna with Jon Russell, another character not long for the show who I think may have only recently returned under Rauch as a spoiler for Bo and Cassie in early summer, is surprising. I have always wondered if playing Max and Luna was in the initial long story/bible for Malone (if indeed there was one) or if it was only Mia Korf's Blair at first. I believe Max and Blair was supposed to be the endgame was for a long time til they switched gears. Maybe they responded to seeing Susan Batten and JdP together and it grew out from there over time. Time will tell, I'm a few behind.

Thanks so much.

Pelosi sees which way the wind is blowing:

'90s Janet was pretty psycho.

I still don't get the whole thing where they brought him back in the late '90s claiming he and Lucinda somehow knew each other before when they'd met onscreen IIRC and she was snowed by him. But that is way OT for this thread.

I honestly think it was all just reverse-engineered from those old, equally gross discarded story plans with Stavros to cement Valentin/JPS on the show. That's it.

Mandy Bruno's Marina was ultimately cloying and boring. Occasionally she'd have moments of being vaguely compelling in dire circumstances, but she was just not ready to be a major lead. Predictably, genial and vaguely saintly mediocrity never deterred Ellen Wheeler (case in point: Jessica Leccia) so of course Bruno continued to star on the show.

And IIRC that whole situation was an outgrowth/rewrite out of something I strongly suspect Carlivati had planned there. In RC's later years RKK's Stavros became inexplicably obsessed with Lulu as his new bride a la Laura. He tried repeatedly to sleep with and/or impregnate her; I think at one point he tried to get her eggs himself to create their 'child.' At that same time Robin was being held prisoner at or around the Crichton-Clark clinic that Dante, Lulu, Teakwood Nathan West, etc. busted up when Stavros finally died again, I believe in late '14. It was a very silly September-October(?) action caper that was comically executed. They never knew Robin (or "Jason"/Drew) was there. Given Ron's adoration for weird baby swaps/surrogacy capers - something that's only gotten worse on this show since - I absolutely believed, then and now, that his long plan was for Kimberly McCullough to return again with the big reveal that Robin was now pregnant, having been forced to carry Lulu and Stavros' genetic rapespawn. Whoooaaa, soapy goodness, cries Daytime Confidential! Anyway, small favors it didn't happen. But Charlotte did, and in that story choice I strongly suspect the later writing teams were riffing on what RC had planned.