Vee

Which is why I still say that if this show ever undergoes a sea change, just do it. Get Scorpio in a room laying it all out for the other cop characters and how Sonny funnels all his worse businesses into intermediaries and then claims he's not doing them. We always knew he was doing that shít in the '90s and the turn of the century. But whatever, I'm bitter.

The sheer volume of years I have had to endure people telling me Melissa Ordway will soar with the right pairing simply by virtue of Abby's DNA astonishes me. I know people hated the Hilary/Devon/Mariah angle at the time and I know it was poorly done but I think with the right writing it could've run and run. So could Summer/Kyle/Mariah/another less boring non-Tessa woman, so could a lot of options. It was clear at the time (just as it was in McPherson and Thomas' DAYS, another very flawed rare bird I championed against the odds) that the day to day micromanagement, budget issues and oversight on the daily writing heavily mangle what they try to do with the plotting. I remember people roasting key details of the business stories they attempted with Lauren, Devon, Hilary, etc. live. And they were fair to do so. But I think it all goes back less to what's on the unedited page and more to the institutional rot, micromanagement and defeat of quality control that wasn't there 20-30 years ago.

"Sonny is the Tiger King/runs into Joe Exotic expy" is a viable plotline!

Yes. I was very impressed at the time. I'm not going to claim her return was totally a lost diamond in the rough, but there was a lot of potential and care there even with things the audience didn't care for IMO. I still remember her very candid interview at the time saying very few men could compete with Eileen Davidson onscreen without being blown away, that it was a longstanding issue going back decades and that they were working on it, and that the Ravi infatuation was intended to be a transitional thing. I was into that (as well as the Hilary/Mariah media feud, which was pretty poorly executed) but fans hated it immediately. Which is a valid POV. But in addition, I think another significant portion of the audience at that point had been trained to be more like an ABCD/shipper audience - the one CBS and Sony had actively courted for years - and were put off by more deliberate pacing and choices that had nothing to do with simply showcasing their favorite couples. See: Her attempt to move away from Billy/Phyllis which I believe Young interceded on, the handling of Cane and splitting him from Lily (in his only good story, ever), etc. And while I understand the optics issue, I think the Devon story would've been good. The fact is he was an even more anemic version of a 'power player' at that time than he is now. Making Mariah LGBT - I think it served the network's interests even if they were terrified of it, because they were not comfortable with Camryn Grimes in a young leading role and still aren't. If they can park her with a chick then she isn't in the running for hot young male leads.

I really enjoyed Priscilla Pointer as the tough Rebecca in Season 6 prepared to square off with J.R. and co. (The totally dropped romantic beat with her and Clayton Farlow is also interesting.) So of course she is killed immediately and the men continue to reign supreme. I've never been big on Morgan Brittany, not on Melrose or anywhere else, and Katherine's endless torch/obsession feels long since tired almost two seasons before she runs down Bobby. It feels like it's taken him five years to catch on to her infatuation with him as is.

This isn't another one of those episodes you guys hype up and then I watch it and they're still using that country-ass redneck music cue they've been using for 20 years, right?

Wrapping the second third/Block 2 of Season 6 now - I'll talk about it soon enough, but I think the Verna storyline lasted just long enough. The wrap-up is fine and the therapy work in subsequent episodes so far is excellent, but I cannot imagine them extending the Shula interlude even longer (which they had allegedly planned to do until viewer response) unless they intended to do something more nuanced plot-wise than 'local hick snows Val'.

His offshore casinos, etc. have been in play at least as recently as Claudia Zacchara, when she and Sonny visited them during their marriage in 2009 (and were often seen or referred to throughout the 2000s, when Sonny would take women or family there). There has not been any noted change in how his businesses have been depicted since then. That's why most of us believe nothing has changed despite how the writing elides the topic.

I've discussed this before and AFAIC he absolutely did run prostitution. I remember the Tammy stuff too. Sonny and Jason used to run protection for hookers all across the PC area in the late '90s. This was onscreen from what I recall, but the show pretended he never dealt in sex work later. The insistence that Sonny 'only imports coffee' has always been a convenient fiction. At his height he ran weapons, gambling, sex, etc until TPTB started pretending he was 'like a firefighter,' per Courtney's take in the early 2000s. He also still has many offshore or Puerto Rico-based casinos, etc. which I'm sure run a ton of vice including women and drugs. My personal take is that Sonny's organization still runs everything it always has - it's just distributed amongst his various subsidiary companies, associates, etc. so he can pretend he doesn't touch it or take money from it. Including probably some drugs. Were the show less micromanaged by the network or FV and more free to touch this topic, that's where I'd start: Scorpio breaking it down onscreen.

Julian Sands is a brilliant actor. I'm hoping for the best.

Hayden Panettiere (GL, OLTL) returns as her fan favorite character for Scream VI.

Lord.

Cassandra on AMC 2.0 had one in 2013 after having been raped by human traffickers, without paying any price. It was a very clear example of Agnes Nixon and co. sending a message, punctuated by Debbi Morgan as Angie doing direct address to the camera about 'men in power' trying to supercede a woman's right to choose (this was back during the renewed right wing push against abortion and the whole Todd Akin/'legitimate rape' flap). A number of women on soaps have had safe abortions - it's just the last 20 years or so of daytime that have avoided the topic more and more due to the regressive sociopolitical climate, and instead opted for 'of course this rape victim/lesbian/young gay man will have and raise this baby'.

This all about covers why I don't think real substantive improvement is possible for American soaps while they're still bound to network television oversight vs. streaming. Everything is about catering to the whims of the network and/or what is perceived to be a shrinking, geriatric conservative audience (babies, white people, gimmicks). And Y&R isn't even doing gimmicks anymore. It's a zombie soap designed to be background noise. Sussman's return is the last time I felt there was any creative vision for Y&R, and even then it was very messy, flawed and clearly deeply compromised (it's notable she apparently does not make mention of Mal Young, who played HW himself).

Another reason I am always hesitant to listen to these myself. If anyone feels like offering cliffnotes let us know, lol.

I guess I'll try to have a listen to this. I think her brief, truncated and very flawed return run was the closest Y&R came to rebuilding itself in recent years. That said, everything with her husband(?) is a shitshow.

I know, it's a cameo. But the reviews were half-decent so I'm curious.

I'm familiar with the different stages of the show. I have a specific interest in the Farm era because of it.

They have what?? I've always been curious about early Emmerdale.

I didn't know that. Malone would have worked, IMO. I am not a devoted viewer. I always skip and jump around with Dallas bc frankly it only fitfully holds my attention, it's so often repetitive and too two-dimensional at times. But I found Seasons 5 and 6 (Jock's death, the competition between the brothers for Ewing Oil, Clayton and Ellie) to be more compelling than most seasons and I watched a lot more of them as a result. The current season has my attention because of the beautiful new (and apparently short-lived) production style, the new base of operations for divorced Pam and her family and Christopher Atkins in a speedo, but I won't be sticking with it forever. I am just trying to watch a sprinkling of these two seasons so I can sync up the dream season/Season 9 and KL Season 7 soon, since they swap creative heads.

It seems like it was about as big as she wanted it to be at the height of her powers. From then on it seemed like she was more devoted to her husband and children. I do think she could still have it pretty big with the right project (and I feel very certain she would have starred as Kendall on the proposed ABC primetime Pine Valley project, for better or worse). But the question is whether it's a priority for her. I heard good things about her appearance in Do Revenge, so maybe I'll watch that.

Wild seeing Susan having gone gray/blonde, but it looks good on her and she looks well. I'm so glad.

This is the season after that, though I did watch a lot of that season (and enjoyed it and Season 5 more than usual). In this early season I'm in now, Season 7, Mickey Trotter just got euthanized. I believe I talked about Holly Harwood and Lois Chiles a page or two back.

I'm pretty sure Eli was not on the show then; IIRC he was introduced by Claire Labine In '97, two years later. You may be thinking of Paloma.

I don't think she does either. But she seems pretty content with her kids and her life, so whatever.