Vee

Paige originally came on at the tail end of Michael Malone's disastrous second run in 2004 - Frank Valentini fought hard to get Mary Beth Evans for the role, but at the last moment ATWT offered her a contract as Sierra and she took it. Kimberlin Brown took the role for maybe six months and did nothing but fück Bo on his desk. At the time Paige was little more than a transparent spoiler for a Bo/Nora reunion Malone was never remotely able to execute. Later, with Cady Huffman in the role, it seemed like they hoped Paige could supplant Nora - the actresses had very similar styles, and HBS was locked in a contract dispute with ABC which kept Nora in a coma for months. Only fan outcry saved Nora's life. Paige as a character never worked or went anywhere, but Dena Higley was obsessed with her creation Spencer Truman so that (along with the logjam BTS that allegedly kept the show from reuniting Bo and Nora for years) gave Paige a year or two more of longevity. No one cared about any of the Paiges, including the final one, Alexandra Neil from Texas.

Chrysta Bell discusses TP on her blog:

Nancy is no fool. She knows pageantry is all Trump cares about, and she can take it from him.

I think Robin played Dorian too OTT at least half the time from 2003-onward. I think it was because she was very scared she'd be let go again - that really hurt her. David Pressman had a cameo in a 2003 storyline, playing a Shakespeare-spouting homeless person Antonio and Jessica consulted re: Keri's death when Antonio was being blamed. He was not much of an actor, but I realized later that didn't matter - it was the show paying tribute to their beloved crewmember.

Good luck explaining this away:

BTS footage from OLTL staff legend and camera operator Howie Zeidman. I've never seen this.

LOL:

Michael Graziadei (Daniel, Y&R) is a murder victim's shifty uncle on the new season of True Detective.

Welp:

That's the brief and polite version.

Passions on paper, as a story bible, had many of the building blocks of classic soap: Its characters, families, future twists (Ethan being a Bennett, etc). The problem is JER never had any interest in decent writing or talented performers. He was a deeply screwed up Catholic with both prudish and perverse impulses re: sex, women, and anything 21st century and giving him his own show was never going to end well.

Daytime programming ennui and a misplaced and expensive loyalty to Jim Reilly, who NBC adored in the 90s and early 2000s.

Major bombshell tonight:

The pace never improved, lol

Today in news too bizarre to be false - Coming to America 2 is apparently actually happening, and Shari Headley (Mimi, AMC) is name-dropped among the original cast supposedly being asked back:

Travis Schuldt made Eric Martsolf look like Laurence Olivier. Martsolf has always been a way better actor.