Vee

If the writing was there to support an impossible recast with a talented actress, I would give it more of a chance. I gave it a chance, the writing isn't there, so it didn't work. I don't see any new Kristen that works; I see a idea that has never been effectively executed, never will be with the current poor writing, and probably can't at this point. And when they're already shivving her by regularly bringing Eileen back, I don't see a point in continuing.

It wasn't even that - they let Kerwin go near the end of the show in the summer of 2011 to do Viki and Clint, IIRC. It happened as an outgrowth of the Echo affair storyline. I had seen it coming years before though, after Ron made a point to drop an incongruous Viki/Clint easter egg into Viki and Charlie's pre-wedding celebration in 2009, when they found an old wedding gift from Asa for Viki dating back to her first marriage to Clint, saying 'you are a Buchanan and always will be.' Clint was at that point enmeshed as the inevitable loser in the emerging Bo/Nora reunion storyline while engaged/married to Nora himself, and was not being teased with Viki again in any way; that took another two years. Ron plans and waits, these days generally way too long lol. But back then I already knew, even though he'd created Viki and Charlie, done a wonderful job and was clearly committed to them on some level, that he had the nostalgia bug and probably intended to get her back to Clint sometime, somehow. And eventually he did. But anyway, that's wildly OT. HNY!

GH has followed suit over the last decade with its PowerPoint opening. I've binged a lot of Marland these last two years and I agree, they should never have dumped that theme - I've thought it again and again.

And in fairness, with Viki and Clint it was not the same. Not just because Clint Ritchie was long dead at that point and Brian Kerwin had been quite popular as Charlie (I was pretty sore about Viki and Charlie's breakup, as that was probably both Ron's best couple and best story at OLTL), but because Jerry verDorn's Clint was a markedly different iteration, having inherited the mantle of his father he had defied throughout his life. I felt it made thematic sense for the character and was very well played by JVD who sold it to the hilt while keeping Clint's humanity, but it was a divisive change in the character and the Viki and Clint who reunited at the end of the network run were very different characters than they'd been when together. I felt the chemistry and combustion, the searing intelligence between Slezak and verDorn worked, but not everyone agreed. It's not quite the same thing as the supercouple legacy of Deidre and Wayne Northrop, the original performers at DAYS. I think you can tease Roman and Marlena and still play out those beats, romantic and otherwise, strongly with the original actors, but for me it would end in Jarlena because I think that is where both the heat and investment has been for so many years. People mock Deidre and Drake and at times justifiably, but they headlined those product ads (I can't remember what product!) a few years ago for a reason; they are iconic, and I just could never buy Marlena going back to Roman for good at this point unless John were dead. ETA: I do agree Kristen has never gotten over John. What is really interesting was the suggestion that some part of John was still fascinated by her, hence taking her to bed a few years back during Eileen's second contract run. I never thought they'd go there with his character.

It would also be a nice button on the original story and that overall era's plotlines, to have Northrop's Roman back to conclude what was, for him, unfinished business. Roman leaving Marlena and the 'sin' of her affair with John was a major catalyst for her eventual possession that left her open to Satan. I don't feel anything with Josh Taylor in the role can ever be considered fully dealt with. Having WN back would allow them to reexamine all of that period and put it to bed. I'm not saying you need to reunite Roman and Marlena because I love John and Marlena and the fact is at this point they're endgame and that's that, but you can make a go of teasing the audience while also resolving old, old stuff properly. Every story Ron has ever done with DID has proven he doesn't understand DID.

A thread: This is a new one on me. I've never seen any of the Golden Girls break.

Nothing to be said. What a legend.

Anything is better than Dena Higley, on any program. Ron is capable of great work, but this isn't it and he hasn't been at his peak in a long time. Part of that is on the state of the industry, the show, the budget, the time and part of it is simply him.

God, it's like reliving all the Carlivati debates as OLTL degraded in real time all over again.

I feel like that's at least half the story on their current ratings. There's always been an element of that with soaps in the daytime of course, with people working in the home, but now more than ever.

Lord! Armond White!!

I mean, it's not Eileen's fault this is how the show is using her. They want to keep using her without having to make any concrete choice between the two actors so instead this is the stupid shít they do. It's also not Eileen's fault that the show clearly has realized the recast and the writing for the recast hasn't worked and is doing this insulting stuff that just makes Stacy Haiduk look like an afterthought, which she is, with Eileen the heavily promoted main event in these dumb cameos. What they need to do is make a decision and cut SH loose, but they have never wanted to accept that ED doesn't want to be there nonstop or that Kristen doesn't need to be. So, here we are.

@DRW50

I don't think they actually are field testing these promos that much. I think they've just been trying to emulate Frons' ABC Daytime for so long and are content with that facsimile house style in the marketing, and meanwhile I think Y&R as #1 is so baked in at this point that very little moves the needle one way or another. They also don't take big story risks at all, so things remain static.

I've been on a Shakespeare revival binge lately preparing to see the new Macbeth, and I forgot this was on YT - a 1974 NY Shakespeare Festival production of King Lear, featuring James Earl Jones as Lear, Ellen Holly as Regan, plus Douglass Watson (AW), Rosalind Cash (GH), Lee Chamberlin (AMC) as well as Paul Sorvino, Raul Julia, Rene Auberjonois and on and on - a very impressive cast. Holly appears throughout but if you don't want to look too far, you can definitely find her around 1:13:50: The symbiotic relationship between the NY soaps and NY theater was a fruitful one for decades and one we are weaker to have lost. @DRW50@SFK @Darn

Another set of spoilers that make Noah sound gay, or am I crazy?

What a shock. His work on Sharp Objects was beyond stunning.

Ever since they did this at the end of OLTL the prisons on Ron's shows are like Howard Johnson's.

Years and years ago, over a decade now and before my current work, when I tossed off a regular feature on a certain site under an assumed name to make a little cash on the side I was told (fairly late in the game) that Carlivati and Valentini kept an eye on it re: my rambling opinions. I imagine by now they'd like to crucify me. Oh well.

If Shawn and Belle had two actors who had more charisma than the pavement, I'd be for it. As long as Madison is in the role I don't care. Beemer I can take or leave.

I've seen some of John Fitzpatrick's Willis and am admittedly very curious to see him with Courtney, to see how that dynamic played.

It'll do in a pinch until they finally reunite her and Kevin; it's an inspired idea. MEK looks so good these days compared to the sad sack 2000s it's unreal.