alwaysAMC

My favorite writer (JDB!)

I just watched yesterday's episode and I liked it! I didn't think the ATWT reference was cheesy, I really loved it. This was actually the first episode where I enjoyed June, so that's a plus haha.

Happy to see higher numbers!!

Thanks for starting this thread! I was hoping others were listening and would want to chat about it. I'm really enjoying Montecito! The production and audio values are top notch. The storylines are interesting and keep me wanting more. There is corporation succession, cheating, alcoholism, bisexual relationships, divorced parents, brother/sister drama, scorned mother, father/son relationship issues, etc. At first I couldn't stand Mena's (sp?) voice, but I've grown to enjoy her and I love to hate her as a villain. I keep hearing Smitty (BTG) in Mike Manning's voice, so it keeps throwing me haha. The only thing going against it is one episode per week, at only 18 minutes long, so we need more content. Anyone else listening and enjoying it?

@slick jones - thanks!! He's gone on to do quite a bit, that's great to see.

Best episode of the week so far. The pacing on some of the side storylines is picking up too, which I like. And I'm always a sucker for a musical montage. I actually felt something for Derek and Ashley during it, both looking at pictures of each other on their phones and saying g'night. Music always helps bring out emotional moments.

Great scenes with Dani and Chelsea today. Dani was amazing and finally showed what a great mother she can be.

So I guess Dani and family know Chelsea is bisexual? I like that, didn't need to even be a coming out story, just is what is it and it's cool.

New camera angles from behind Uptown's bar (right?). Same with Bill/Hayley and their couch scenes - new angles! I don't hate Derek/Ashley as much as most here, but I agree this storyline about a scratched refrigerator (and I know, other minor little things) is pretty ridiculous and I don't care.

LOL! Yes, very much so. 🤣 Better episode today than yesterday. TMG really is a gift.

LOL - well ironically, on their last night in Florida, Reva and Buzz got into a car wreck while tailing Alan and his business associate. They were trying to prove that Alan was in charge of that Avnet company that was creating issues with the 5th Street rebuild (which of course Alan was, and of course Alan lied to Alan-Michael about it on his wedding day, etc). But yeah, Reva was trapped in the car for a bit, but they were able to get her out before it caught on fire and exploded. It became sort of a non-event after a couple episodes, but Reva needs to avoid cars in Florida You’re welcome! You have such a great memory, which I love. I guess I’m not surprised it was panned by the press, but I do think there were some gems within (the nuptials, Alex/Amanda sharing a room, Nadine shoutouts, etc). I’m a huge fan of soap opera openings, mildly obsessed because it’s so nostalgic for me. While I didn’t watch GL back then, I still knew their 90s opening generally and always loved it. The dramatic music and lighthouse effects that start it out always gets me excited, very reminiscent of AMC’s or GH’s dramatic opening music overlaying the scene. I was just so frustrated how infrequently they updated it in 1995 and into 1996, so I’m so happy to see the updated versions. I’m now a few more episodes into May and the second/B opening just debuted and I love it! It closes with Dinah. I loved, loved the version with Harley and her dancing as it closes out. Tangie replaced her, which wasn’t as great, but then when she left, it was just a fireplace closing out the opening for 9 months. Now we have Reva and Dinah, but still nothing beats Harley’s scene in that spot.

I’m up to May 16, 1996. Lucy/A-M are getting married and they were holding this big secret for weeks on where the location was… all to find out it’s going to be an ad for Universal Studios haha. Probably was fun back in the 90s, but a bit cheesy looking back now. Although they were on a boat alone, at night, reminiscing about Brent, and A-M promised a tearful Lucy that “the worst is over, there is nothing to be afraid of anymore”… and right after, freaking JAWS comes out of the water to attack them on the ride. LOL. I’ve actually been on that ride and it was as scary in person as it was watching it, but that scene ended up being very cheesy given how serious it was supposed to be. Rick being there in Florida with everyone makes zero sense considering he doesn’t hang out with any of these people, but he’s clearly there because Phillip has shown up. Very plot-driven, but at least I’m getting old flashbacks of Rick/Phillip during this. But yeah, outside of the nuptials, this wedding and the Universal Studios trip (ad) turned out to be more about Phillip than anything. Skulking around in the Frankenstein costume, listening to everyone’s conversations about him, was… interesting. Rick dancing in the street by himself, while the other couples danced together, was pretty funny though. The nuptials were beautiful and I loved seeing A-M/Lucy finally get married. I loved how they mentioned Nadine a few times throughout, but especially during their nuptials. It was a nice touch. I still can’t believe Nick, Susan, Bridget and David weren’t there. I really love the Amanda/Alex rivalry. The digs they make at each other are so funny to me. Dinah and Roger have gone off the deep end with their hatred for each other. She’s making him think he’s going crazy by dressing up as Hart’s mother, gaslighting him into thinking untrue things. Now, he’s putting a drug in her drinks that should make her hallucinate and be psychotic. They both want each other dead, and I can’t imagine they’ll ever come back from this. Blake is now pregnant with twins, and the fear is that Rick is the father, or Rick and Ross are both fathers by split parentage between the twins. I don’t hate this storyline because it’s unique and also possible, which I didn’t realize until I googled it. The storyline has been on pause for a bit while Rick is in Florida for the wedding, so I’m curious to see where this goes. Annie/Josh have also been on pause a bit given that Reva/Buzz/Alan are all in Florida. I’m sure when Reva gets back home, Josh will continue to lust after her while Annie grows more uneasy. Holly delivered Meg, their child with down syndrome, and she and Fletcher have had a rollercoaster of emotions about it, but overall pretty ‘slow’ and boring here. If I liked Fletcher more, I might care more. I found it really weird that Ben randomly decided to move away and go to boarding school because he felt like he’d be in the way, and Fletcher didn’t really seem to have a big problem with it. Seems more like the writers just didn’t want to deal with him and Meg together. Viviane just confided in Holly that Griffin is Gilly’s father, just as Griffin and Gilly held hands/locked eyes at the diner. Viviane is now trying to seduce Griffin, in hopes that it will make them stay apart. This whole storyline is gross. They’re really going to let a father/daughter get romantic before they know their true relations? And instead of just telling Gilly the truth, Viviane would rather try to cheat on her husband again with Griffin and ‘compete’ with her? This is awful. I’m also losing interest in Dahlia and Marcus. He just told her the truth about her mother, which upset Frank and got Marcus in deeper trouble. But yeah, I’m not really that invested in their budding relationship, especially since she’s still in high school. Oh and they just introduced cell phones on the show and it’s hilarious. Blake pulls out her cell phone and answers with “Hi, I’m on my CELL phone”. “Yeah, I have a CELL phone” - it’s so funny. They finally updated the opening on May 2, 1996! Which only covers half the cast, which tells me they will hopefully/finally have two separate openings. It was always weird to me that they could remove someone from the opening quickly, but never add someone new at the same time. The opening was getting so old that half of it was stock images that replaced people that left the show (Nadine, Eleni, Eve, Nick, Mindy, David, Tangie and then some shirtless guy I never could tell who it was). Reva has been on the show for over a year now and she was never in the opening until just now with the update. I can’t believe they let it go that long! Oh same with Annie and Dinah - both were on the show for like 16-17 months before they finally got in the opening.

I do enjoy a drunk Pamela.

Oh Tomas has a lot of tattoos! I'd like to see more haha. A bit of a slow start today.

LOL! You're right, I'm out of my mind This is me reacting to your post (if you know Phaedra Parks at all): Anyway, thanks for breaking it down for me. Sounds like I need Friday happy hour!

No it's alphabetical between the two openings - the A-whatever is opening 1 and whatever-Z is opening 2. So in theory, if his last name started with an A, he'd be first in opening 1 and they would have had to remove Maurice (who was in opening 2), which requires edits to both. Unless I'm going crazy haha

Well, it's alphabetical, so they got lucky with the actor's name fitting into place like that. Otherwise, if they stayed alphabetical, they could have had to change both.

Cady McClain and Jon Lindstrom had a scene together!! They're either friendly (which is great) or they're just professionals (which is great).

LOL - I wonder why Smitty was so weird with Vanessa.

YES! Glad it worked out - now Leslie is with Eva and Kat with her Dad. And they didn't have to rearrange the other opening at all.

LOL - such a good point. They think it'll go over well and be glamorous and amazing, but sometimes it just ends up being cringe. This wedding so far is a little cringe. They have ducks walking around the hotel foyer and towards the camera, for heck's sake haha.

They just aired a montage of Marcus and Dahlia swimming, with music playing in the background singing "Skin to Skin", for 4 MINUTES. No joke or exaggeration. 4 minutes of them swimming at nighttime, no dialogue, just swimming. WTF.

LOL - literally just added an edit to my post, because as I'm watching live right now, Dahlia is swimming in the pool alone and there is Marcus. So annoying. And Phillip just revealed himself to Rick. I have to stop watching now, but curious to see how those interactions go!

I would have bought it if Ed/Rick/Michelle were all there, but 1) Ed said he couldn't go because he had to work, to which even someone highlighted that he's chief of staff and could easily go if he wanted; 2) Michelle got on the plane with Rick to go, but J showed up and the Spaulding's kicked him off because why would they want another random teenager to go, so Michelle ran off the plane after him and Rick just let her go (haha, it was kind of dumb); and 3) Rick and A-M have barely said 2 words to each other in the 15 months I've been watching so far, so it was weird he's now just by himself with the Spauldings/Coopers. But I know now why they're doing this, Rick is clearly there because Phillip has shown up. Very plot-driven, but at least I’m getting old flashbacks of Rick/Phillip during this. Slight correction - Ed never showed up on the plane, just Rick and Michelle. Ed had already made the decision he wasn't going. Once 'Slutchelle' (haha!) ran off, I thought it was so weird that Rick either didn't run off after her, or didn't call from the plane to tell Ed. It was only when Blake called Rick, who happened to be with Ed at the hospital, that he happened to tell Ed, in midair, "oh hey, you may want to go find Michelle, she ran off" hahaha. Yeah, I get that being a location shoot, they had to minimize the number of people, but to have Dahlia there over Bridget still irks me. I get it, at this point, Bridget wouldn't have any connections to any of the people there outside of Lucy, just still hurts. ETA: Ugh, and now Marcus shows up!

Ahh interesting. Yeah, that's sad for A-M. I will say, he and Nick became fast friends when Susan started working at Spaulding. A-M/Lucy/Nick/Susan had a lot of double dates in those 7 months. A-M was Nick's best man at his wedding to Susan, which now that I think about it, is odd that he wouldn't have considered Fletcher. I remember those two were so close at the paper, and even living together with Ben. Once Tangie left SF, Nick left the paper, and Fletcher/Holly were rarely seen... so I guess they felt that friendship wasn't shown often enough anymore (which again, lazy writing).