Vee

Not that anger isn't warranted but it is legit hilarious how quick the entire Ashford clan all turned on Portia. I am fairly certain I remember Aunt Stella sucking her teeth and hissing about Jordan the troublesome jezebel a couple years ago to Portia and Marshall. Now it’s all come on in Jordan, you’re not Trina’s harlot mama! The Black characters, particularly women unlucky enough to be paired with Curtis, are largely interchangeable on this show. Stella and Bug Eyed Marshall's favor just swaps between them depending on the year.

Didn't she only get that job in the first place last time because the cardboard villain of the moment (Cyrus? Victor? Shiloh? idk) pulled some strings? Whatever. It's wild for Rocco and the mutant to be sitting there chatting about getting to see her dad right in front of Blonde Ace. That little dude's gotta be sitting there like "'Dad?' What's that?"

Tonight in idle, stupid thoughts: They had Laura looking very decent on Monday but Tuesday it was back to the Austin Powers ruffles. Elton John, check your closet! “Sure, Martin, I’m mad about what you did to the Quartermaines. But that plotline is over and the writers don’t care about it anymore blah blah my brother blah blah love you." Whatever! If Martin sent that note (and assuming he is not the shooter, which I don't think he is) this dude officially has no life. AFAIK it's just him practicing pure hateration on the folks involved. Just hating strictly for the love of the game. I have to respect it! BLQ is out here looking like David Byrne's Big Suit in these damn getups. Like a bunch of kids dressing up in a trenchcoat trying to get a ticket to Die Hard. Drew blaming Alexis for 'ruining Portia's life' is just hysterical work. Insane trollery. BLQ and Chase should’ve had a real nasty-ass knockdown drag-out fight after what he did on that stand. Instead they’re fine! She should’ve flat out accused him of still wanting to fúck Willow and being checked out on her the instant he found out she had Gio. They should’ve gone at it hammer & tongs. Brook's first love and the father of her child just suspended his ass from the force after he threw Michael and the entire department under the bus on the stand and they’re fine and happy still going to Christmas parties? Presumably the show is saving a bigger blowout between the two for sweeps and/or when he fúcks Willow, but it's just not realistic for these reactions to be this muted. They can fight bad and still make up, there can be levels to this chaos. LMAO at Portia just casually packing up her office. No shít! Elizabeth looking at her talking about coming back like 'no chance, bitch.' Not that she has room to talk. I remember what she did to Drew in the Billy Miller days. Frank is really flexing on these other soaps. Let’s show Mac's damn kitchen for a 15-second scene. Why not? Meanwhile the outdoor pool set on B&B has a crease in its backdrop! James (looking and sounding more like Howdy Doody than ever) is jabbering away about Daisy and Zombie Nathan grinning through all this on the reaction shot like ‘who?’ Never change, Paevey.

I don't know when, but it has been a consistent throughline across several regimes and I do appreciate that. They have kept it going this past year pretty regularly, likely because FV is so enamored of Josh Kelly. But I think Mulcahey was the one who played with the romantic potential. (That line from Tracy about Cody reminding her of Gregory shortly after his death will always stay with me, it was a clear signpost IMO.)

I do think that relationship started before PM, to be fair. I do think Gio and Emma are great and I would play them heavy, but with more wit as well as more edge. My only interest in Gio and Trina at this point is I think they'd be hot together down the road, as part of a romantic quad with Emma and a new, more exciting partner of color for Trina. They could swap partners for awhile and I think GM and Tabyana would have enough heat. These are sexy young people and they should all be utilized as such vs. the prudish ways the show often handles them. But the endgame couples would remain Gio/Emma and Trina and the new guy I've mentioned before, excepting the possibility of Spencer which I haven't factored in at present.

The impressive thing is that it's both very in line with the stuff they'd pull and also not all of it is at all bad. Kudos! You're bringing their level up! (Not that I think you're a bad writer, it's just two different things to write according to FV/ABC's tastes vs. one's own.)

Are you sure you're not auditioning for the show?

Of course, but it's been maybe a decade? of trying with her and they have other popular young people coming up. She's also been drifting in story and airtime a few times now, more than he'd usually allow for Joss.

I would say he's close to finally cutting bait on Eden Frank-style, but I thought that around November '24 too and then came the Alias Joss era. Now she feels equally marginal, so who knows.

I have been saying this for months, stop copying my paper! I'm kidding, but I absolutely do think we'll be subjected to months of Valentin and Carly 'trying to find out who killed Jack' while getting together. The rest of your guesses sound pretty solid, and not all of them bad ideas! Though I do doubt Gio and Joss will ever happen. Joss is in such a strange place on the show IMO. I know they pushed hard on her again with the WSB thing but it seems like an islanded dud for her atm, and her pairing with Vaughn an afterthought. She feels adrift to me again just as she did with Dex a little over a year ago.

Catching up a bit: Not news to most people here, but Monday's ep did have some lovely scenes with Cody and Tracy playing backgammon(?) and discussing the weight of her new role among the family. Even if it was a delivery system for more Cody/Molly. I will give their big moment a chance when I get to it, but Jane and Josh Kelly are just such a handsome couple (and one even JK wants) and I remain invested in Cody/Tracy. I see no reason to stop believing that Molly as a character needs at least 3-5 years away and a more interesting actress if they ever want to make her a major player. Cody and Molly still just feel like Hallmark filler to me, nice though it may sometimes be. You know Steve Burton's role on this show has shifted when his main holiday drama is a) being a plot mover for Cody and Molly by explaining the Britt situation and b) bailing Britt and Brad out of jail. Rocco and Gio's bond is still so wholesome. I can't say I hate that Emma and Gio are now spending more time with Trina than Joss is either.

Jonathan Jackson was insanely popular at that time and both Tony Geary and Genie adored him. They did not ever want the role recast because of this. He left to pursue movies.

I'm probably the only one not in the know, but the Christmas '87 episode's credit roll had a very interesting writing team. Kenney was the EP and the HWs were Ann Marcus and Norma Monty - I didn't know Gloria's sister hung in without her. Also on staff is quite an array: JER, Guza, presumably one of Marcus' relatives (Ellis Marcus), Gene Palumbo and a Soderberg, among others. People often forget Guza and Pratt both had a history at the show dating back to its heyday, for better or worse. They also do something I've long wanted to see modern soaps do more with special episodes or holidays: Run the end credits over more material or a montage. In this case they run them over a regular end segment of Steve wrapping up the Christmas story, which I think is lovely.

All true. He is doing that, but he's also been working hard and I have to give him that. I am sure @titan1978 will be pleased to know we've found another thread to bash Britt in!

The story I heard was that neither of them wanted Lucky recast but that Genie especially was against it. Jacob was also admittedly terrible in the role.

I have said this in the GH thread many a time, but I think that Kelly is on borrowed time. I don't think Frank has any great love for her after her comings and goings and various shenanigans on social media (and request to be perma-killed a couple years ago and throwing a tantrum over not getting Steve), I think his only personal interest is Britt's family, and having her back is just a means to an end to preserve Steve's leading man status since their various other romantic options in the last 2 years flopped. They have to be aware of the negative response to her return story thus far, and while CVE, etc. may love her I think FV can take or leave her. He'll do a hard push for an unpopular character (Natalia, Kristina) but once he's done, he's done and he cuts bait real fast. Which is why poor Kate Mansi is basically Where's Lesbian Waldo now onscreen while he lets her get her directing chops BTS, and I suspect she is just running out her contract. I think if he can find another strong option for Steve KT is dogmeat again in the next year or maybe 18 months. I will say I think Steve has actually soared back in the Quartermaine fold and with a renewed focus with him in that family, with Alexis' daughters at Christmas, etc. That is where he clicks now, and he actually clicks very well with Tracy, with the larger Q family as their talk-to and elder and so forth. It's any mob stuff with Sonny that now feels like an afterthought with Jason. You could keep him in an action-oriented role on the show that moves away from that entirely. He has become a surprisingly committed Quartermaine elder statesman.

They allegedly despised JW and vice versa. Jack was also pretty dreadful onscreen. I think Carlivati may or may not have had some quixotic plans to force Frisco and Felicia back together for his '80s dreams (I half-suspect that's why Maxie began calling Mac 'Mac' again when RC arrived), but that any hope of that fizzled the instant they brought Wagner in, began having issues and also saw just how visibly upset Kristina was to be playing material with him. It was hard to watch. He was also completely cold and wooden on-camera in a way I have never seen him, having been a fan of his on Melrose and having seen him appear as Frisco in the '90s. It was bizarre for an actor who's always had such natural charisma. Maybe he was just that profoundly unhappy with the writing or BTS environment, or felt the same as Kristina, I dunno. He did perform "All I Need" beautifully though. Or I may be being unfair to Ron. They scripted the 2013 Ball well beforehand of course, and it ends with Felicia definitively choosing Mac over Frisco. But I suspect that may not have been the case when they first approached him and RC was coasting on nostalgia.

Steve has had a messy divorce. I have my doubts he's going anywhere, despite his claims of wanting to retire in a couple years.

You could see the moment coming when they were supposed to make it happen - Lucky is revealed to be alive in 2000, Laura turns on Stefan and Luke and Laura go on the road together to find their son. All of this happened, they promo'ed it and as a teen viewer I was excited and more than ready; Luke and Laura had been apart for way too long as it was. And then it just didn't quite come together. I still don't know why. Maybe the BTS turmoil of that year, when both Guza and Riche iced each other out in mutually assured destruction. I don't think Tony was exactly demanding more of Luke and Felicia, though he did do his part in selling that story and the affair to the press. I think he was mostly just very courteous and fulsomely kind to Kristina Wagner. And I can't see Genie vetoing it either, since she played a reunion arc a little over a year later under a vastly inferior creative regime. I'm not sure what happened. Maybe they thought they were going to string it out for the 20th wedding anniversary? I do think Guza would've put them back together eventually. I wish he'd been the one to do it in 2001-2, for all his flaws. He never got much of an opportunity to write them fully together (willing or not). I am curious to see how it would've worked.

The episode where he and Laura leave town together in '83 was also up the other day, and was also very good.

We don't have to imagine. I remember what Carly did to Lulu re: Michael's trial years ago (a grace moment they actually played beautifully a month or so back which Alexa and Laura both played well, with layers). She made it a jihad. Probably the last old school Carly rampage and one of the reasons I still say LW is better at the core of the character than she's sometimes given credit for. As for Lulu's treatment, it's the Frank special. It's backfired so many times when pushing a character hard (Natalia, Kristina, etc.) or dragging another you'd think he'd have learned by now. Which is why I still say he'll do what he often does when he fails: Grudgingly give the audience what they want (Dante and Lulu) in like a year or 18 months in a half-assed fashion, then fire one or both.

So insane they got Alexa, one of the last ABCD stars, out of retirement as Mrs. Bruening to treat her like this. I don't blame the network who clearly wanted the Spencers, but the network is letting Frank run wild. You can say a lot about Guza but he'd never waste a star recast like this.

I think it's a very tame and nice message. I don't think it comes off annoyed or angry. It's also acknowledging that specific fan podcast's critiques and their POV. The fact is when soap people (or any people working in media) engage online they get a lot of heat and critique, and she is simply acknowledging critique exists for a daily show. Engagement for BTG has been relentless on social media, and at times heated. Anyway, it's not a patch on Ron Carlivati slagging off his haters on GH on Instagram during his post about its 60th anniversary lol.

I agree JHC is generic brand at best given her history, but she was clearly just hired as a knowledgeable pair of daytime hands while BTG already has multiple EPs (including Sheila Ducksworth from the NAACP I believe) and I don't know that it's come to beginning to add or mess with more. In six months I might say so.

Another treasure. Thank you (and the uploader)!