Planet Soap

Ron Moss cannot act...Drake Hogestyn is rough too, but they served their roles and made it work lol. BIG FAILS... Y&R Phyllis as Sheila. Why? These characters had no history so how did that make sense? Maybe because Phyllis was the new Sheila in the 90s since Kimberlin went to B&B? Why end the run of an iconic villain like this? Thank God Brad Bell undid this. Guiding Light: Clone Reva/Amish Reva

With Sam on current GH basically irrelevant without Jason, it got me to thinking...how relevant was Courtney after her breakup with Jason? EDIT: Jason **Sonny and Carly have always been "The Trio" with an interchangeable fourth member.

That lines up come to think of it. Its a shame Brenda didnt last longer and yes...they were definitely pairing her with Jason. Then Courtney and Sam got in there some how. Sonny & Carly's last child served NO purpose. She didn't drive story at all.

Was there no way to make that fall look more realistic? Maybe it would have looked less stupid If they just cut to the shot of her falling out of the window right after the push. The window trope and soaps, is any window that weak? LOL.

How to get GH back on track? Some suggestions: Properly plan out and consistently stick with focused storylines for at least a year. Bell era Y&R was masterful at this. Dump unnecessary characters from the overloaded canvas. Make "the mob trio" part of the ensemble, not the show leads. Make scenes longer with more in depth dialogue. Stop stunt casting and bringing back old faces just for them to have no storyline. Make Jason have emotion and stop making him this ever patient wise soul SB: I think Jagger's return is the perfect catalyst to bring back Brenda, especially as a love interest for Jason. That last one was controversial LOL.

Well that dismissal was anti climactic! Being that the same soap writers from the glory days are still in the business why does soap writing suck so much now? Did they forget how to write? Are they burned out? Is it network interference?

Thank You!

I need to find that scene of Carly #2 kissing Jason!

The fact that Jason was prepared to leave again! At some point he needs to put his kids first and let Carly sort out her own mess...like carly told him to. At one point Jason even said something along the lines of he didn't want to be around with if Carly was locked up. He might as well be with her because she's clearly his greatest love. I suppose Jason friend zones Carly because he can see she would be a dysfunctional partner.

Yeah it's so confusing, because why get rid of the person who earned your show multiple Emmy wins and oversaw One of the greatest quality eras on a daytime soap in history?

I am totally out of the loop, but is Frank leaving finally!? His is one of the longest EP tenures I can recall in recent history. JFP and Guza were a terribly destructive regime. I shudder to think what they would do with so many veterans back on the canvas, but even they put on a better show than what we are dealing with today. If we had to have Guza back I'd take him with Riche. Why was Wendy Riche supposedly fired again?

Layman Soap reference! At 5:50 while discussing Richard Simmons death, talk show host Rickey Smiley recounts watching Simmons on General Hospital. The hosts also brought up watching One Life to Live, Search for Tomorrow, Ryan's Hope and The Edge of Night. I found it interesting because you hardly hear the latter three soaps mentioned outside of niche groups these days!

I would have to disagree. Nikki said herself she's tired of waiting on Victor to come through home and fulfill her everyday. Her entire life revolved around being victor's wife and being a mother to his children. It wasn't until Nikki invested in Jabot and especially until the MAB era that we got some independence out of the character. Ashley under Brenda Epperson was a lot more independent and well put together. Under Eileen Davidson Ashley did all sorts of desperate acts like sperm gate to hold onto Victor.

The problem with soaps today is that they lack the ability to write new characters in a manner that builds audience investment. I really don't see Steffy as the star of the show. She could be an interesting character independent of the repetitive writing, but that has yet to be accomplished. Yes, nothing lasts forever. After a certain point people are tired of seeing the same characters go through the same problems repeatedly, so it may be time to bring in new blood. However, after being invested in people like Victor and Nikki or Brooke for over 30 years, it's going to be hard to watch the show without them there. Soap writers need to learn to pen for mature characters. On the one hand you have shows like Y&R/B&B that embraces them but keeps them in the same boring stories and does not develop a younger generation of characters. Then you have the ABC soaps who back burner the vets. A good medium is Marland era ATWT. A Multi generational show that has storylines relevant to each age group. Agreed, let Bill give Victor and Jack a challenge or make Brad alive again. Send Heater Tom back to Y&R as Victoria and send Liam back to GH. Purge the rest.

Yeah was Hope hit with the men in black mind eraser because....

Truth. The whole show needs something else to do. B&B has no storyline variety, it's all romance. At least on GH and days you get that with some corporate intrigue, some spy drama, crime stories, medical stories etc, no matter how poorly written.

AMC: I guess because Jack was her "main piece" and all the others were sides with Dimitri being her favorite side. Kind of like Nikki is Victor's main chick, Ashley is the alternate and the rest are "sides" so to speak. GH: IDK who was worse with cheating Alan or Monica lol. I started watching GH in the mid 2000s so I had no idea Monica was like that back in the day. The both of them weren't your typical soap hunk/babe, they were average mature looking people so their history surprised me. Yes. Always crying in scenes, insecure Nikki (one of my favorite characters) came off very catty and pathetic in her behavior to Hope. I remember her telling Hope something like: "you don't get any sympathy points from me for being blind".

Y&R: Victor Newman had a thing for damsel in distress soft women that he could be the classic dominant somewhat paternalistic husband to. Nikki, Ashley, Hope (who turned out to be very strong), Diane at first, Julia, Cassandra etc. I don't recall ever seeing Victor with a strong independent woman like Lauren.Thr closest he probably came was his flirtation with Cricket in the mid 90s. Carly GH: Carly clearly has a thing for bad boys Sonny, Jason, Alcazar, Johnny, Franco, Drew, Todd, her friendship with Xander. Maybe you can lump AJ in there. The acception the the rule is Jax but he breaks corporate rules. Off topic, there are the people with no clear romantic type: Brad from Y&R will plow any woman that walks as long as she looks good🤣

those 3 characters: Liam, Hope, Steffy are tired. If Steffy is to stay let's explore story lines with her not involving Liam hope or any other tired romance plot.

If starting a new soap or wiping the slate TOTALLY clean were off the table Similar to @Soapsuds I would.. -Eighty six Brad Bell, get a head writer who hasn't been recyed through soaps. -completely write out Liam/Hope/Steffy/Finn -get rid of usess characters like Wyatt, Katie, Donna etc -start a new fued between Brooke and a strong older matriarch of a new family. -Bring Lauren over to resurrect her fued with Sheila in an actual concrete storyline -re-explore Justin taking over Spencer Publications to open the door for a strong black villain. (otherwise send send Dollar Bill & Sheila to Y&R)

You took the words right out of my mouth. As much as I like Steffy's charachter, Hope has remained consistent in being a genuine person while Steffy has bounced villain and anti hero and heroine. As you said, Brooke has a daughter like Taylor used to be (kind and genuine) while Taylor has a daughter who is like Brooke (more sexually open, scheming).

I have no knowledge of the plot but I'm going to assume the 'ding' from the toaster triggers the brainwashing just like the cup stirring from the movie Get Out.

Tyler Perry's Days if Our Lives perhaps? 😂 Lol but I agree. Yes. It's time to stop the musical chairs with the same recycled writers. Give me Y&R Please. I'd bring back the classic cues, dim the lighting, give Sheila and Lauren an actual storyline and get rid of stagnant characters. GH would see a major cast purge and slim.

Good God! Especially on GL's part. In general, why are head writer tenures generally short? Is it burnout from the 5 episode a week workload? Is it simply because soaps are a never-ending institution so people constantly cycle out?

This is so disgusting. I cannot recall they last time a soap star had their life taken in this fashion. RIP