Vee

Never did!

Again, I'd let Cody roam around giving lonely heroines (like Liz, as you said) a fun time. He doesn't need to have a bigger purpose than that any time soon, if at all. He's just a fun stud. Willow and Sasha remain barely distinguishable to me and they'd both be gone along with Michael, who'd stay gone for at least a couple years before returning solo. lmao I was thinking the same. This is the Face of Deception? Amanda Setton as BLQ should be going gangbusters but between the chaste, staid writing for most young people and the apparent BTS issue with Setton refusing to do intimate scenes it's a wash. I can think of many things to do with her but not if she's going to refuse to play hot material.

It's because Sasha is (like much of the canvas) among the most boring people alive. I'm not saying Cody is a work of genius himself but JK at least has some real charisma and could be put to much more fun use than the last couple years.

It's hard not to after the Sasha/Cody karaoke lipsync for their lives, which I straight up muted. I did wonder if the swift conclusion on the Spixie stuff was setting up an exit for them which, yes please. But I doubt it.

I will say I'd add the Selina Wu stuff with Sonny to the collection of stuff that feels tweaked and a bit sharper. She had a few pretty good lines in there beyond just scowling. Ava eavesdropping on them also made me wonder if maybe Wu was right to keep Ava out. The true Ava from back in the day that I remember could've orchestrated all this (including Nina's downfall) herself.

I do suspect they have tweaked some scenes, as we've discussed. But there's nothing that has straight-up jumped out at me so far in the way it did when Guza ghostwrote upon his returns, or when Malone and Griffith began ghostwriting at OLTL in January '03.

My Dallas roasts in that show's thread over the last year or two go on quite awhile and I haven't even gotten to those latter post-dream seasons. I've pretty much stopped doing them as I imagine people are sick of hearing me trash a beloved show. I know Knots transforms quite a few more times and has good and bad periods, but those changes and the drastic new shapes still fascinate me. I hope to find a lot to love in the latter half despite the peaks and valleys. Plus, as I've mentioned in the past it's given me a new outlook on the final, resurgent season of Melrose Place which was apparently masterminded by Peter Dunne. It wasn't a perfect year by any means but had stronger characters, an over-arching storyline (Matt's diary and its secrets about the complex), long-running elements (Amanda and Eve's teenage secret), and Eve herself was basically a singing Ciji analog by another name. By the time it ended it should've been allowed to keep going as it'd had a bit of a creative revival whereas 90210 was on fumes. Ah well.

A few interesting notes here: She was hired in December by Teschner, who was asked to approach her by FV for this arc and FV directed her first two shows. Frank has directed before of course but I'm not sure of the last time.

I don't think it means she won't continue to appear. But we'll see.

IIRC we knew she had a short contract when she debuted. This isn't surprising, though I did think the initial contract was already over.

I would not be surprised if this quick push on several couples and stories this week is to usher several characters out.

There is a lot more in the Loving thread if you dig around; there's much much more knowledgeable posters about the whole of that show than me.

B&E were never brilliant writers anywhere - their hackwork is equally infamous - but I will give them credit for the Loving Murders (which are controversial to this day, as a stroll through the LOV thread will tell you but which I enjoyed a lot) and for their seeming commitment to a Black canvas at most of their shows. A few years ago the entirety of the storyline was uploaded to YT; it lasted from (IIRC) July '95 to the show's end in early November '95. I don't know if it's still there or not, it went up and down a few times. That's how a lot of us got to revisit it during lockdown, I hadn't seen it since it first aired. I think a lot of people would credit the quality of the LM material vs. B&E's multiple attempts to revisit that hype (like the less popular Masquerade serial killer arc on The City, or the Nursery Rhyme Stalker mess on GL which I believe was also them) to the other creatives on staff at Loving at the time, like Linda Gottlieb who actors from the show recently confirmed was consulting in that storyline in some way - I suspect the excellent ad campaign was her, if nothing else. But as for how they've been referred to, it's always only been the Loving Murders online or in print. It was alluded to occasionally on other shows (OLTL '95 had Todd hilariously ponder if the unstable Viki might have been 'piling up the bodies like cordwood' in Corinth) and when GH had Luke and I think Holly visit Corinth and the abandoned Alden mansion in summer 2013, I believe Luke did actually call them 'the Loving Murders' in a clever way by referencing the killer's motives.

In fairness IIRC it wasn't Pratt; I believe Brown and Esensten wrote the original return story (supposedly with some input from Agnes, who I suspect may only have provided the idea of David Rasche's villain being a Gardner). It was Pratt who later added the angle with Natalia and Jesse having shacked up with Laura Bonarrigo from OLTL for decades. The story was far from genius but I will give B&E credit for frontloading Darnell and Debbi on multiple soaps and working with a strong Black canvas on Loving, TC and their brief AMC run in this period (which had like 4-6 Black characters at that time, not all related, though again the stories weren't great). I still remember us all revisiting it in 2020 and talking about how revolutionary the major Black quad during the Loving Murders was given what crumbs we often have today.

She mentions it in the new interview on TV Insider Errol posted. She's also only recurring, which is what I expected.

I believe Errol's report claims that it's a mix of PM/EK and old material from then on for at least a couple weeks, with the Jason return story the new team's work. I don't think anything is purely Korte.

I was wondering about them a bit myself.

You mean the Invader? I wonder, since I believe Carly just quit Crimson in record time. I was kind of expecting this Invader change with Nina to lead to Alexis quitting and heading back to the law (and I happen to like Alexis at the Invader, it's been a surprisingly refreshing change and given all her hijinks in the 21st century it did kind of make sense for her to suffer consequences to her profession).

People keep saying this and I'm not seeing it either tbqh. It feels like a fanbase thing. I would watch though, as I've begun to suspect a few scenes are already sprinkled with changes as I mentioned above. We're a little over a week away from Steve's return (sigh) which is supposedly a definite Mulcahey work.

Our Ignoring posters or not quoting them doesn't stop a bad actor from continuing to relentlessly attack or ridicule anyone who disagrees with them about anything from Marlena to who Suzanne Rogers fúcked 20 years ago to the Hortons, or telling people that if they critique Jim Reilly's writing they shouldn't be allowed in threads about his shows. When they continue on the attack then it becomes your problem, not ours. I really don't care if you give me warning points for the first time since the Obama administration; I'm probably overdue. Like I said a few posts ago, I don't have a problem taking a hit for my behavior in return for better oversight. But the responsibility here is not entirely on the posting community to just tolerate and avoid new people who come here on their worst behavior.

@DRW50 they changed it again after taking heat:

I remember her well. Great actress.

Makes me wonder if they’re clearing decks with various tiresome dangling threads in more ways than one lately by having Curtis come clean to Portia re: Selina Wu, in addition to the Dex/Michael business, etc. I will say I've wondered if a few scenes recently - specifically Curtis and Trina talking about grief, and Nina and Diane and Valentin and Scorpio's dual clashes and one other that's just now escaped my memory - got touched up by the new writers. All of them seemed a bit smarter than the average dross. But it's hard to say, and I couldn't pinpoint them clearly as a new/old voice.

Grand opening grand closing! I do wonder if the immediate 180 on Crimson is a new team choice or not.