Vee

I did not know that. I'm not disputing it, it's just interesting.

Except I think that backstory became the core of the character, and made up a great deal of her greatest scenes. I also got tired of Ned and Alexis rambling on about being the gatekeepers, but I do think as smug as they could get the deep focus at least bolstered the character's integrity for a number for years when things got really rough later on.

Did she? That's interesting. I vaguely recall something about that. I think Alexis was very well-defined and deeply explored from her origins in '96 to about 2002, when JFP turned her into a ditz/stand-in for Sexis. Ever since then she has careened from extreme lows to occasional better times and various other peaks and valleys, so yes, I can see Nancy's critique. But I think her intellect and her integrity onscreen has always carried the character through those times that would've wiped many others off the map (and has). So I think it's more that Alexis has been humiliated over and over. Yet NLG for all her social media foibles has kept the character viable. The actor is the core they can't break.

I'm just not looking forward to the right wing media ecosystem turning its eye to it, because you know they will.

In fairness this appears to be a low budget horror movie. I wouldn't assume Zach just booked an A24 flick and is now going to be priced out of daytime, it's just another job (and good for him).

They've got like nine entries about It Had to be You on their blog connected to that Teri Garr pilot! It's quite a ride.

Y'all really slandering Hudson West in the thread while I was away! I will just say I totally disagree there (yet again). That moptopped kid was halfway carrying most of the show during that dreadful Chimera business with Billy Miller, Franco, etc. and was excellent for several years straight. And while I think he had some less than fantastic performances before his recent exit I also thought he was mostly fine to very good as a young adult. It's not like they gave him much to do since Steve came back either other than occasionally appear out of nowhere (and don't get me started on that Charlotte thing in the strike). YMMV, haters! Anyway, I do think Finn Carr has been excellent but I don't care about the supposed family unit of Sam, Dante and their kids beyond what that kid and DZ bring to this grieving period. Scout is a non-entity the show rarely remembers exists unless someone in her immediate bloodline dies. And Danny, as has been said, cannot stop grinning through every scene. At the end of the day, I'm sorry but Sam and Dante dated for a few years in a C-list pairing that was largely in the background of the show. And in all that time we never saw much of this Rocco/Danny 'bond' except for when Sam died and (very briefly) when Dante got shot. It's not like this was Luke and Laura raising Sly Eckert (who disappeared!) or Lucky and Emily as kids. Why should I buy two people who dated for a little while's two kids as foster brothers? Why should I care about their instant connection let alone Scout? We're not exactly dealing with the Hughes family and Andy Dixon here. It just seems like a somewhat awkward substitute for what was happening with Jason's feuding sons early in the year, and frankly AA (I am not trying to say that kid's full name) is not up to it anyway. Someone else needs to start working with him because so far Steve isn't helping much. Much more likely excepting Danny, the least talented IMO. At least Rocco has his mom back to keep him in the mix for now. I think that girl was pretty much your standard issue kewpie doll child actor. She's weak and pretty much always has been in any material other than looking cute, grinning wide or sobbing for Mommy. She's grown up to be a lovely teen but is not ready for primetime.

I'm very sorry. I do agree it's weak for Alexis. I think this loss would pulverize her if not for the show's disinterest in really writing for it, or writing much intense drama period. Any time anyone tries (be it PM or anyone else, really) the oversight and house style kicks in and deemphasizes and drains a lot of life from most initiatives.

I don't mind Eden McCoy in careful doses. I would still recast Joss eventually but I think she has very real BFF chemistry with TA and others, I think she can do well as a schemer or a comic vixen character and that's about it. She is not an A-lead and mercifully, for the moment at least, the show has ceased presenting her as one. I expect that to change again soon unfortunately. They can't resist. I don't think Ava is a shell so much as so much of what she is was built out from MW's always formidable and high camp performance - she is purely and simply a stylized villainess and operator. They've tried to modulate or neuter the character to keep her more of what they consider 'viable' at times and it's never worked well. I agree they resent Sprina and are terrified of activating that fanbase (or alienating racist viewers) with a recast. I do think they may face some pressure over representation in the coming months with BTG, and are responding to it in the typical passive-aggressive ways already now with Kai, etc. But I think they would've faced far more pressure if not for the election results we just had. If anything I think that will prove to either FV, the network or both that characters of color are best kept in their niche. I suppose one advantage of them losing interest in Gio is he would be more likely to be allowed to be a casual fuckbuddy for Trina after all. But I don't think it'll ever happen.

Drew looks like he has been in a damn car accident. He can't put some makeup on for Sam's funeral?? He looks like Martin after getting beat down.

I'll agree with DRW. Agnes repeatedly went back to Loving and kept trying to rework it, remold it and build on it better, all the way to almost the very end. Her stamp is all over a lot of that '90s stuff in a fascinating way - the show is really a test bed/lab for her reinventing old ideas or trying out new ones IMO. By contrast she never took much of an interest in OLTL after handing it off to Gordon Russell, AFAIK. All I'll say re: the Y&R thing is it took real chutzpah to name a Black character "Mamie" even in the '80s. I did a double take when I first learned the Abbott maid was called that and I've never recovered.

The kid playing Danny vs. Van Hansis reminds me of the old tagline for Aliens vs. Predator: "Whoever wins, we lose." I do hope they both surprise me, lol. I think VH has had some good chemistry early on with LW (though she can generate that with almost anyone) and others and I gave him a chance, but he put in some real messy work with the transplant fallout. And if you ask Van to carry heavy material even I, only an occasional tourist of the last years of ATWT, fear the coming tide.

Yeah, I definitely think he is done but I'm holding my breath a little there lol. It's Violet I think will be back soon frankly.

I have sympathy for Kelly's recent hardships in life. But in terms of the show, Kelly has often phoned it in for at least half her run because she knew she was safe for many years. Then she played with fire tanking her one safe harbor (Jason) and thought she would be repositioned. She got a C-pairing for her efforts and we see where that's left her. I think FV is petty and controlling, but I also think Kelly Monaco made herself vulnerable and irrelevant on the show. And I have no need to see Sam again.

John, no. This was as ridiculous as people suggesting Oscar or street urchin Dev could somehow be her kid and not living with her or going by some other name with other parents. Brenda Barrett is an international celebrity and the Balkan is long gone. She is not losing her child to the streets or having them live under an alias after claiming them. We do not have to prefab already existing characters into being everyone's clumsy secret child from some legacy character or family. It comes off stupid as hell 90% of the time, just like Sasha. The only time to do a story like that is when there is an immediate baked-in purpose from the beginning as opposed to some clumsy retcon edit long after they appear. If Alec ever appears he should purely and simply be Alec. I like Gio but I have no need for him to be Brenda's magic kid or some other such bullshit. I don't even like the idea of him being Dante and BLQ's kid. Whatever options were on the table at the beginning with the character is what I'd like to know about, but beyond that I don't need anyone to claim him for him to be viable. I think it could've gone either way with Ava earlier this year tbh. But I do think Ava is best as being a major dark player, and I think there is still mileage to be had from that if she is properly insulated via a power base. The issue is that the show and CVE's regime in particular seems loath to play too hard with Ava because they love Maura, and that (as I said before) her fanbase squawks when Ava is written too much as Ava and doesn't have enough friends and fluffy happiness on the canvas. For these stans suddenly it's all about the 'character assassination' of the woman who shot Connie Falconeri in Reno just to watch her die, to turn a phrase. If Ric and Ava were to couple up properly and Ric was to take back some power in town with Robert gone I'd think there is something with potential there, but as it's playing now it just feels like lighter, sillier fare to me - two schemers clucking about at each other and complaining about the town, but not doing much. This court case with Kristina is going nowhere. And I think treading water like this a lot is what this creative team (and much of her fanbase) is comfortable with, just so Ava can stay 'viable' and Maura can stay safe on canvas. Except there's other ways to do that. I will believe Valentin is gone when he's gone a few years. I think FV is just waiting out JPS' latest other opportunity. It's clear Jason and Anna aren't done with him, sadly.

I'm pretty sure VM would rebel if Brenda had not one but two secret kids. She barely acknowledges Alec is canon as is.

I'm not sure it's a huge change in the writing for Gio so much as it's what GM is bringing to stuff that is largely stale onscreen now that he's comfortable with his scene partners. I would easily make Gio cheerily and matter of factly bi, but they'll never do that.

Oh dear God. It Had to Be You. I've been dying to hear more about this.

Who the Christ is Nicola Mitchell? I remember being thrown by just Ronnie and Roxy years ago so I shouldn't be surprised at this point. How many branches does the family have?

I doubt it too, but I think it was worth finding out. Plus they could've played up the spoiled, fun-loving hedonistic child of privilege side of Spencer again with Esme gone, which is an energy GM can handle. I do think the only reason the Cassadines are on pause is because GH is terrified to recast Spencer with Trina still on canvas. They need plausible deniability on keeping that fanbase out of their hair. I do wonder whatever other family leads they had on Gio when he first debuted, because his many discussions of his dead parents were not subtle.

I think they should've tested him to see if he had enough raw talent to be a Spencer recast - Chavez was not a master thespian on Day 1 either. But I also think there was a clear agenda in not recasting that role right now. NuCameron could've worked. I like Gio and I think there is a place he could find on canvas without the needless secret child thing with BLQ/Dante, but I have no faith in this team finding it.

At the risk of coming off like a hypocrite, Imma just say it: Gio has a nice butt. And I've already called attention to his overall impressive physique they have taken bizarre, BLQ-esque pains to hide for months. But while the character still has very little discernable personality or purpose to speak of (beyond the looming fear of a pointless Dante/BLQ bloodline tie), GM's own energy onscreen is very bright and happy to be here. He's started to have more fun onscreen in scenes with the Qs as opposed to just standing around beaming and saintly like he was in the summer, and it's become kind of infectious. It's obvious they are terrified of doing anything interracial at this point since they backed off putting him with Trina ASAP after he first started, but hey, Gio's cute, increasingly fun and I'd still like to see them smash even if it's just once. Trina isn't gonna fall in love with Kai Taylor overnight and she needs a fling with a cheery twunk! (Though to be clear, Kai is also cute.) All I'll say about Robert and Holly's ridiculous exit that I haven't already is I cringed watching TR carry his own bags. Robert's appearance increasingly began making me think of an animatronic Star Wars puppet in his final weeks and I've spent days worrying a fall or other accident will happen on-camera. The onscreen decline is sad but if Tristan is happy with this HEA then I'm happy for him, even if I can't stand Holly or her whining rationalizations for her endlessly self-obsessed behavior. I don't really want to see them come back in a few months tbh but I'm sure they will for visits, and if it keeps Tristan cared for and poor Emma Samms financed that's good I guess. I've grown to hate Holly but ES doesn't deserve what she's gone through in the pandemic, and I am glad when GH can care for these actors. Anna staring aghast as Holly produced the diamonds from her wallet to once again explain herself sent me. Anna should just be like ‘remember the thing with the monkeys, Holly? Have you made reparations to them? Been by Tony’s grave?'

It hasn't started! This is planned to be a long-running soap opera! We know next to nothing about this actual show and need to chill.

I'm aware of who she is. That doesn't mean any random name in the credits is a good choice for a new EP.

Maybe we can stop picking random names we see in the credits out of a hat with no idea if they'd be any good.