Vee

It's important to distinguish between the AMC/OLTL productions themselves and the higher-ups, IMO. I think the actual creatives running the shows did very well in an impossible crunch and the shows looked pretty amazing and felt cutting-edge for soaps. I think the upper management of PP above the shows were fraudsters.

I will continue to think the PP model is the future of the medium, which is probably why it has no future as of now; thus far the networks have rejected it, with the exception of the Beyond Salem experiment which was far from perfect.

There's a very specific allegation about why there were no kissing scenes for L&L in that period dating back to a book published in 2002 by noted critic Martha Nochimson, which I think is probably unfortunately true and I think all the parties involved regret it today. One of the key sources for the book was, allegedly, Mulcahey.

I saw some of those Jones episodes of OLTL on YT. How long did she play Viki, how long was the maternity leave?

It's very deliberate. I think Emily even mentions Trump, or someone does.

Frank cares about dollars and cents and keeping the lights on, and his favorites, and not much else IMO. I've seen him bring back people he had vocal beef with at OLTL and GH many times (on the other person's end - Frank never speaks on that stuff in public). It was a financial and ratings calculation to bring Steve back, so I always knew it would happen eventually. He might even bring William deVry back if it became necessary, and FV was trying to dump him for literal years. FV thought he could make Burton bend the knee and continue on a recurring basis in 2012, and it didn't happen. So he waited til Y&R cut him loose and he was open to making a deal because IMO to Frank, with rare exception, all that matters is the bottom line. Bringing back Steve Burton meant a ratings bump. Same principle: If the gay storyline on OLTL costs them conservative viewers in 2010, he wipes that entire canvas out. If Ron wants to use less mob, they use less mob, until the audience or the network complains, then the mob comes back with a vengeance in 2013 and continues to this day. He was the same way with Dena Higley at OLTL - dispassionate. We know today, many years later, that he hated working with her but did he ever say a word about it in the press or stop promoting her product and start admitting error? Not once. And if he beefed with as big a star as Steve Burton, but it was years ago and he can make a dollar now, will he have him back? Absolutely. Frank is generally ice cold about this stuff. His only visible weak point, in terms of composure, not taste because his taste is a mess period (IMO) is the OLTL stars - all that cool goes out the window for Howarth #3 or Easton #4. If he could keep Burton IMO he would, and I am sure Steve will unfortunately be back. (There are exceptions, of course - Vanessa Marcil and Jonathan Jackson. Allegedly, neither have been asked back despite being willing, and that IMO is because Frank doesn't want big enough stars there to outshine his preferred frontburner stars who have more pull than him. Steve had to come back after Y&R. So I think we can also say that FV's barometer for not letting anything personal get in the way of the bottom line has changed since being at GH.)

He wouldn't be the first hypocrite.

They don't want to. ABC and GH are just marking time.

That's what's interesting to me. The gaps in the current playlists online have Margo discovering she is pregnant early in the Kim Hughes trial, then (for the 20th time!) walking in on Barbara talking to Tom. I was ready to roll my eyes again but then it skips to around June 9th and Tom and Margo seem to be dating/rebuilding and happy. So clearly something went down or the pregnancy was the inciting incident for Margo. I was wondering that as well. Larry Pine is a great, versatile actor of stage and screen who's been in a zillion things but woo he is sleazy here and clearly loving it. There's also Steve and Iva to consider.

That is my suspicion atm. But I think/hope ABC and Disney, the parent company, have a tipping point with Burton GH doesn't.

I'm legit beginning to think they're hoping to keep a lid on it til his last airdate bc they're so cowed by their conservative audience and diehard S&C fans. As I said before, soaps should try to hide exits for other, better reasons but here it just seems like cowardice. Meanwhile, Steve is still doing IG messages in front of the GH zoom background lol

Those are both huge red flags, but especially the Stacey scene. You can almost see Gwyn make the decision in her head, and then she holds up the key trigger for her murderous rampages. They really did plan the story so well from the start. I wonder when exactly Christine Tudor was told - I know she said she was before others, but IIRC it may not have been immediately but after the first couple of deaths.

A classy, warm and yes, sexy figure for years. They were so foolish to let him go. RIP.

Felicia was not on the show before Frank Valentini took over. FV and RC brought her back after many years and reunited Mac and Felicia. Say what you will about the current EP and the regimes of the 2010s, but they are the only reason JJY and KW are present at all.

It was a freak twist of fate that KT of all people, a B or C player for years, got paired up with Steve Burton in what seemed to be a floundering attempt at the show to find someone new for Jason. They would never have put her near him in the past and I still don't think she's up for the frontburner, but frankly he did come alive in those love scenes so that's something. To have it snatched away from her, well, I'm not broken up bc I've never liked Britt. But it's just one of those crazy things that happens in daytime sometimes, and sometimes they do work.

They were deeply stupid on Twitter and social media together for a long, long stretch.

I had no idea. That's wild. It seems like so much story snapped into place and climaxed very suddenly in the matter of a couple weeks - maybe a week and change - after what felt like a very, very slow build for months up to that point re: the Cummings trial and Tom/Margo de-thawing, even throughout most of May. It's ironic that both those climaxes seem lost to time and are not viewable, for now at least. Did Barbara finally get found out by Tom in that brief interval between late May and early June as well? I've been waiting for that but I would assume not. The blackmail of Barbara by Tad #3(?) is also quite sudden, and I still don't know he got involved with Emily.

This story is a bit different. The actual details seem vaguer than the headlines, which is typical for the UK press. I think he'll be back eventually. I do think he looks amazing slimmer and with a beard.

It's endless!

People have been talking shít to me for 15 years for saying Kate is Played Out. She was played out by 2005! I think people just loved Lauren Koslow. Yet she somehow has boomeranged back around, I guess, bc she's still fun and I can think of people I'd much sooner cut than Kate today. Go figure. I do think she is used as a mattress too often.

I'm in the minority in that I've never felt KT was very good, from Day 1. She can do snark but most weak actors can do snark and get easy approval. I think she's weak in dramatic scenes or pathos and always has been. I used to name each of her 'troubled' expressions back in the day when she was with Nikolas and keeping the Rocco secret; 'dull surprise,' 'misty nausea', etc. I've never felt she is ready for the frontburner. Also, I remember her online tomfoolery with former bf Bryan Craig. But hey, that's me.

At this point it wouldn't shock me at all if they announce it the day of or just before his last airdate. (Which is probably something soaps should do any way to cut down on spoilers, but still)

It is wonderfully insane seeing Duncan move into the foggy McColl castle(!!) as has been hinted at for a month. They appear to be playing slightly off-brand Dark Shadows musical cues. I know Hensley, his manservant(?) or whatever, has a big role going forward of sorts - hopefully I can make sense of it though there's quite a few gaps coming up. Speaking of gaps, the gaps in what's available had me jumping from what was apparently the end of May to early June, and in that time they've shockingly already resolved the Marsha Talbot/Kim murder trial in a matter of only a week or two, so it seems - Marsha has been apprehended after abducting Frannie, and Tom and Margo appear to already, finally be back together or close to it, shortly after Margo discovered she was pregnant as the trial began. Not sure what happened with the latter. Anyway this binge is still glorious, despite the holes I am trying to fill. Miss a day, miss a lot!

Oh, that's right. I don't know why I conflated them.