Vee

It reminds me of Loving and its many attempts to re-center around Alden University(?). Except here BTG has a strong core, and it's just smart to maybe introduce the Banneker end of the canvas.

I still think this ends with Vanessa taking down Joey, possibly to save her son, and taking his empire. Unless MVJ and co. decide to scrap this entire end of the canvas, which I hope they don't. Maybe Vanessa will move into white collar crime after that.

A longer version. @DRW50

No, that's the same one. John Reilly made an appearance along with Courtney Halverson(?) as Annie. I thought they were going to use her more at the time but they never did, she was decent. Reilly only said a few lines which I thought was because Sean was supposed to be deathly ill, but who knows. He seemed alert enough onscreen. This was all in 2013.

I don't think that's what happened. I do think Chris was an emergency replacement. But who knows.

Jinx!

I don't remember the details. I thought she ran around with him trying to help for a bit. I know that's how Luke and Holly briefly ended up prowling around the abandoned Alden mansion in Corinth from Loving. Someone should've come at Holly's throat over the virus, be it Anna, Bobbie or whoever. They let her off too lightly for that, likely because the show realized immediately they'd gone too far with Holly and tried to quickly move her into lighter jungle shenanigans the next time we saw her in 2006(?).

I always got the sense Mulcahey viewed both Brennan and Valentin as disposable antagonists when he unveiled them as the two heads of Pikeman. The whole Brennan angle on Pikeman didn't get murkier and they didn't start ramping up him and Carly til PM was out the door, when they realized Jason and Carly just were not going to work (again). It was notable to me recently onscreen when they had Valentin-on-Zoom openly say that Brennan had 'covered his tracks' re: Pikeman - one of the first admissions in over a year that Brennan was, in fact, part of Pikeman, not just investigating it which is something they'd tried to avoid referencing when they tried to make a go of it with him and Carly post-Mulcahey. Which lends more credence to the likelihood that McKenna/Brennan's days are numbered. The rumors re: Mesure are all ugly, and some of them I have a harder time believing than others with these actors at their big ages. I just also don't feel it's responsible repeating them in public, but if CM is gonna keep showing out on social media we'll see what he says.

I never forgot that, or forgave her for it lol. I wanted someone to bring up the monkey virus just once!

There were rumors when Mesure abruptly exited (followed by GH's very brief, clipped statement) and I wondered if he would ever speak up eventually. I never cared about Brennan period and it's never a wise idea to fight on social media, but if he was treated poorly it's not entirely surprising and a shame.

It's so dumb. I'd still find a way to retcon the Dominique aspect if I could lol. I was not watching for the ins and outs of that onscreen reveal and don't know the exact details of what was said, so who knows if it's possible. It's very possible a shady ex of Mac's from his mercenary days could've glommed on to the Dominique backstory and lied to Cody to try to extract money or something. And then you could introduce a scheming mother! I just would not reuse Sasha much period, so I don't see a point in revisiting that issue. Agreed it was likely something done for Robert and Holly fans, and their knowing Tristan didn't have much time left. But I also think at the time they'd hoped to keep and re-cement Sasha (complete with Quartermaine baby), who PM had likely tried to 86. Then they had other budget concerns to deal with and off she went. I am pretty sure he's older and it's the latter. I have been trying for years to track down the scenes where Luke tells Ethan or whoever the whole story of that ONS. I don't know exactly when they were so I can't even find a transcript on tvmegasite or wherever. I agree it's real murky timeline-wise, but it's nowhere near the idiocy they tried to pull with these recent insta-kids lol. Sasha even regaled us with a story about how Holly ran off in her childhood to go run a con with David Vickers from OLTL, because of course she did.

I don't think @bossruen will mind me linking to their post with Charles Mesure spilling the tea during this slow week.

Don't get me started on the idiocy where they now claim Holly and Robert fúcked in early '92 while Anna was missing, then Holly somehow carried Sasha to term while being frontburner onscreen in Port Charles for the next year. If you really had to give them a secret love child there were many other time windows. Same issue with Mac siring Cody somewhere around the same era.

I don't have a problem with it. The show has enough characters as is and it's not unusual for a soap to slowly introduce a new family or assortment of kids. Deanna(?) can wait in the wings for awhile.

Banneker is the college Vernon teaches at which has been referenced often.

Oh damn. I had a feeling he might show out about this eventually. There were some rumors.

I should add those scenes with Martin and Smitty (can we please just start calling him Bradley onscreen) were also very good. It is not lost on me that this relationship is one of the most nuanced and layered onscreen, and I do think Claybon has improved right along with it through the months. Yes, he's an acquired taste at times performance-wise but he's also a very rare example of overt Black male queerness onscreen, and I think he is working hard. He sold that wistful regret with Mike Manning very well and wanting to extricate himself from the same cycle of their behavior. Whatever the issues BTG I feel has day to day, we're blessed that they have two very central LGBT pairings onscreen which are being substantially written for and played weekly in heavy story. I may find Chelsea's insta-U-Haul lesbian relationship with perfect Madison rushed and a bit too artificial, but it's clear they are committed to playing out Chelsea's romantic journeys onscreen and I really appreciate that - I'm sure someone else can come along for her. Over on ABC, GH has had fits and starts, made progress forward and backwards over the last year, but is still clearly uncomfortable or unsure on how to currently handle their LGBT characters for fear of what their sacred Facebook audience will say. BTG has no such hesitation. For CBS and for P&G, as well as a majority Black soap, that's a big deal.

Ted and Nicole (and Carlton) clashing at the club yesterday re: Dani and Andre's marriage and all the verbal jabs thrown back and forth was pretty good stuff, and leveled up from a lot of the usual B&B veteran house style material you see on this show too often. Who wrote that? Kat and Eva everyone has covered. You don't have to do much to help those two go all out onscreen. The pointless saga of Big Randy - hiding away from Joey in the most public venues possible, obviously his sister/cousin/whoever Hayley's accomplice re: her 'miscarriage' then returning to the fold with Joey - is silly, but I'll say again I think Jon Lindstrom has considerably upped his game from early on in the run when he seemed ill at ease in this role. He has great silky menace in a lot of this stuff, like when he shook Randy's hand and purred "I hate it when we fight."

I just don't find that dude compelling. But we'll see.

I think what kept it going longer was the addition of R.J., who was so often better than his material.

The dry, lackadaisical delivery Setton, Chad, even Maurice do just cracks me up. It also has more charm today when the Qs are the central core of the show again, as opposed to being a graveyard.

I still suspect the veteran star is gonna be someone like Ted King. Who I'd be all for pairing with Daphnee under most circumstances, but I fear it would send a less than great message in the immediate moment.

What I'd forgotten until recently is that Ellen was actually on for much if not all of 1994 with both Bens, including the somewhat hokey hospital virus story where she and Ben featured opposite evil Susan Gibney from Star Trek: The Next Generation as the crooked hospital administrator. I do think Ellen had considerable chemistry with the original Ben (I don't remember the actor), who I didn't remember at all til revisiting '93/'94. As a kid who started watching in '93 and was very familiar with Dark Shadows and Star Trek, seeing both Gibney and Roy Thinnes was a jolt. All I know is that supposedly the network made them cut Kirk for being too short. I just find it crazy they had these young guys in the role and then went out and got Armstrong, who was already playing teens a decade prior. He came off like Nazi Kevin.

A key issue with Marty was not ever really having a strong romantic partner to match Susan until they found Thorsten Kaye, who (IIRC) they wisely signed in under 24 hours or he was going to be offered to AMC. The best they had for her up til then was the tortured connection with Bob Krimmer's Andrew, which they never fully pulled the trigger on, or Malone's fascination with the Todd/Marty post-rape relationship which is very compelling to watch in a vacuum in some ways, but is also even more queasy and inappropriate today than it was back then. You can admire the writing in a lot of those '95 eps with Todd, Marty and Blair and still cringe at the overall themes and messaging. I think the rehabilitation of Todd was well done; I also think it went too far, and that is a key area where it did. I know they allegedly considered Kevin and Marty back in '92. Why it was never touched on later I don't know, but it could've been over many years. It's still a potential temptation I'd play today, assuming Kevin was married to Rachel. I agree losing Valarie Pettiford was a huge mistake - she was amazing and Stephanie Williams' Sheila was just a cipher. I know how I'd honor Mia Korf today and use her in connection to Blair if OLTL was still around, but it's not so there you are.

Erika talks to TV Insider.