Vee

I don't know why we're tagging this, but whatever, I started it. It may very well be a SPOILER very shortly. @John, this thread should probably be retitled something re: a rumor about the mandate for now and moved into the other section, if possible.

For those of you playing at home, the rumor (well sourced, for me at least) is that it's - allegedly - I trust my source on this one, but I can't speak for other people's. It is no one above.

It seems the unthinkable may be true. 15 years late!

IIRC, he pre-dated Spinelli on GH. Hogan Sheffer introduced the comic character of Nick very well, and I was super into him and Chelsea. Then they bungled it very, very quickly by having him sleep with Billie, which could've been recovered from, but then it all fell apart. It was clear someone at the show (probably Corday) disdained the character type on a show largely subsisting on generic stud and heroine archetypes. Later Nick became some sort of psycho which I was not invested in at all, though I know people loved Berris' performance. It was all such a waste.

A wake-up call to fight harder works for me, tbh.

Nope. Which was fine by me. I assumed she had gotten back together with Brody, which the ABC finale hinted at. Jessica needed a long break.

I'm pretty sure Horgan/Racina attempted to write some long story for OLTL, as I suspect Agnes and co. did at AMC, despite the intense time crunch of getting those shows together. I don't know how much of the former survived, as the changeover in HWs happened very late, but I do suspect the entire Jeffrey King twist/Triskelion cartel tattoo people arc with Carl Peterson was there from the start - that's Racina's style. I know there were rumors of rewrites re: the Celia story on AMC or the whole thing with Jane the barista's mysterious life constantly getting cut out.

I agree. They should've kept the F-bombs! I believe the PP soaps are still on YT, for now. Someday I'll have to secure a torrent or something.

Today in, well, this:

I don't remember the skeleton children! That would've been cool tbh. It was the day to day writing and execution that was so often amateur level. And the fact that Reilly clearly thought Marlena could just do anything (it was obvious it was her before they revealed it) and it would be fine and make no difference. I still remember people weeping that Reilly's supposed genius-level original plan for the story was denied.

I'd agree. Some of the buildup to the kills was effective, or the occasional setpiece. It certainly got a lot of attention and buzz. But I've never forgotten a) how much it was played for laughs while being scripted to the absolute lowest common denominator, and b) how much certain folks who grew up watching Reilly DAYS insisted he could do no wrong and that this was all great soap opera. It was shít, and it was obvious at the time. You can create buzz and do a big, crazy storyline like that one - I love slasher movies! - without turning everything onscreen into a complete joke. Melaswen being very stupid does not negate the stupidity and folly of the actual execution of the Stalker storyline before it. Sure, I watched quite a lot of it. But it made absolutely no sense before, during and after. And of course, once again, it was all the DiMeras' fault. Zzzz.

No, it wasn't. It was trashy, exploitative and very, very poorly written. Reilly wrote his entire return run like Passions, from dialogue to plotting. It slaughtered a slew of beloved characters and treated it all like a joke. Which is why it was overturned, despite a slew of fanboys insisting to me that Great God Reilly could never be forced to rewrite or change a story.

Yeah, I'm just going about my day and hanging loose turning into the skid. Whatever happens or doesn't, most of the media narratives are pre-written. If it turns out for us, watching them slowly, grudgingly be undone is always a fun process. If it doesn't it's not like we don't have an insane amount of work to do as is.

From the ever-tiresome Brian Stelter, a nevertheless reasonably honest accounting of the problems facing the MSM (oh, except CNN of course, lol): Meanwhile: And for @DRW50

LOL:

My aunt gave up her first child and located her via FB decades later. My best to LK.

From Elizabeth Berkeley's IG. It's startling and really heartwarming to see LV back out among the cast, when it was such a concern in the first season.

Lark is back again, this time apparently with the rest of the originals for a Dustin Diamond tribute. I'm glad to see she appears to still be doing better:

It may, yes. But I think as always the media is going all in on a potential Democratic loss which may not happen. As soon as they don't, they're never referred to again.

Eileen doesn't want to commit to a long-term contract. Which is fine because Kristen should not be on a long-term contract, IMO. She is a character who should come in and do controlled stints. When Kristen is on year-round it looks like what you have now.

Nobody should be playing the role but Eileen, and on her terms and her schedule. I'm glad she agreed to appear, but I can't believe they let Haiduk and Davidson both appear as Kristen in relative close proximity on two different outlets of the show. That's just handicapping the recast they expect people to watch. Just work something out with ED.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Stacy Haiduk was unrecognizable and brilliant in a surprise cameo in Gillian Flynn and Jean-Marc Vallee's Sharp Objects on HBO. That showed me what she can really do. Daytime never has. I think Haiduk is stuck in a thankless recast she initially made mostly work, which has been made more difficult by Carlivati pushing a redemption arc for Kristen with her in the role which is probably unsellable for the larger history of the character, tbh. He also doesn't commit to long-term changes with many edgy characters, gets bored and backtracks or regresses them often. He's done that at every other show he's worked on. It doesn't matter who plays Kristen with some of this writing, IMO. I think if Eileen was here full time you'd see her struggling against the heroine arc Carlivati gave Stacy Haiduk, and probably playing against it onscreen. I don't consider it the fault of the actress. It's like if they turned around and said Marlena was behind Stefano all along. On a side note, the undead villains look exactly like Dark Shadows' zombie jamboree from the 1970 Gerard Stiles/Destruction of Collinwood storyline. @DRW50

Mandates get results: