Planet Soap

Reason why I really enjoyed 98-02 Brooke & Deacon, the departure and return of Sheila,Morgan/Taylor/Tim Reid, Brooke/Thorne/Macy triangle, Rick & Amber to name a few. I don't know why it feels like a switch suddenly flipped by 2003. I love this storyline recap from that era. I wish soaps still did this now to help get audiences caught up.

Bradley's greatest days were 1998-2002. 2003-2010 was highly tolerable. Everything since 2011 was bad, Stephanie was the only saving grace until 2012.

And the show continued desecrating their future generation by eighty-sixing Cassie, Delia and Colleen.

Dont know if this was posted already, but a colorized episode from 1961!

Bold is in a unique position. For other soaps we can blame their poor quality on instability of writing regimes. We can often say that show was great when that other head writer or EP was there. But with B&B the show has the same head writer from its glory days, he's just run out of steam. All soaps have repetitive plot lines, but B&B is insane. Its literally been Liam/Hope/Steffy for 15 years straight. They aren't nearly as interesting as Brooke/ Taylor/Ridge because they're broken up so quickly and often there's no time to get invested in either couple.

Wow! Both Romans gone now!

Ric is no saint but seeing him tear into Kristina is great. I love that he isn't trying to play both sides like Alexis and is vengefully defending Molly.

Brooks head jerking back after Stephanie slapped her, and then Stephanie smashing the vase with her cane was hilarious.

I thought he was good as Michael, but maybe it's time for a change. I agree with the suggestion to try to make a new generation Alan Q, or they can just cast Robert Adamson.

WOW! I thought he was a good Michael recast over Drew Garrett. I originally knew him from Wizards of Waverly Place. I know people are tired of him. Hopefully Robert Adamson gets the role.

Wasn't sure if this was the right thread. Thanks!

EDIT: Disregard.

I loved 2005 especially the story where Stephanie was revealed as true owner of Forrester.

Overall I liked the 95 DID story, even if it further destroyed Victor Lord Sr. IIRC One of the reasons for the story was research that DID produces more than one alter and is typically resultant of childhood sexual abuse. In that case, I get why they tried to correct the science by adding multiple altars and a sex abuse backstory.

What was also interesting is how immediately Malone's team went into the DID story, how early they were hinting at sexual abuse, And how early they hinted Viki killed Victor. The day after Sloan's death Vicky had a dream where The man she was kissing transformed from Sloan into her father, And she had a dream that she was "smothering" Dorian. I know this 1995 story understandably be considered a "bad move" but this is perhaps my favorite Viki story. Erica Slezak even expressed that the original Victor actor would have turned over it his grave if he knew what the character became. She also said it was unfathomable that the original idea of Victor with sexually abuse his daughter.

This is the scene I was thinking of. Shortly after Viki met Sloan he revealed his terminal illness was motivating him to repair his relationship with Andrew. This revelation came before their affair began. Fom skimming through this youtube playlist, It appears that Sloan thought he was in remission for some time and the Viki affair progressed. When his Hodgkin's disease returned, Sloan pushed Viki away, by pretending to be in love with another woman, to spare Viki seeing him deteriorate. That plan failed, and he wed Viki, apparently despite his terminal illness. IMO, it made no sense for Viki to leave her husband and invest in a future with a dying man.

To me, the Viki/Sloan romance was well written and acted and they had chemistry. It's just that the lack of Viki/Clint restoration and the subsequent irrelevance of Clint sucked. Bad Moves by Well Liked EP: The destruction of Tony under Wendy Riche, and written by (who? Guza? Labine? +more?). He and AJ were the largest casualties of baby Michael and Sonny/Carly/Jason. Another bad move: Planting seeds of the mob takeover. The mob stuff has always existed on GH since the days of Frank Smith. Under Riche (with writers Levinson and Labine +) it felt balanced. The mob stories were more humanist and consequential rather than an action show in the 80s. Wikipedia calls this the "Womanessence" era. But this set the stage for JFP/Guza to completely restructure the show around the mob. I don't mind GH featuring organized crime, but it should be a part of the show, not the whole thing.

Bad moves by well well-regarded writers: Who wrote the Viki Sloan affair on OLTL? Michael Malone? I didn't like that Viki betrayed Clint who stood by her through all the Niki drama. Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Viki know Sloan was dying before their sexual affair? Why betray your husband and marry a dying man, only to end up alone in the end? I could excuse the affair plot if Clint hadn't been back burnered t until Jerry Ver Dorn assumed the role. It kind of reminds me of how GH's Tony Jones was back burnered after the Carly affair. Good points.

Yikes. Once again, the YouTube comment section under classic videos proves its not a total barometer of soap fans perception. Everyone seems to adore that couple there. Regardless, The scenes of Nikki trying to frame Natalie into thinking she had DID were a little silly.

Did we not like Ben lol?

I think Malone was a good writer (in his first run) and I enjoyed the '95 DID story. I get that the writers wanted to make the origin of Viki's disease more medically accurate. I agree however, with your frustration about the destruction of Victor Lord Sr, and the retcon of Dorian's role in his murder. What was even more stupid was Victor being alive in 2003. Did Maline write that? Then the seed of doubt in 2008 with Dorian questioning if that was Victor in '03? How many times can you rewrite history. Agreed. Nikki pushing Ben out of a window and gaslighting Natalie was dumb. Agreed. Killing Rex was dumb. I never understood why Kate kept pining after Philip with little mention of Rex, even though Rex's significantly better husband. Speaking of the questionable racial dynamics between Jill and Mamie, I think this is the latest clip I've ever seen of Marguerite Ray. I presume this is when John had yet another medical episode, This time from Victor taking over his company.

I have been fascinated by Vanessa Prentiss after learning about her from during the 1980 episode that aired during covid repeats. In the bad moves by well regarded writers thread, The racial dynamic between Jill and Mamie was heavily discussed.This is the latest clip I've seen of her original actress Marguerite Ray. I presume this is after John had the (stroke?) when Victor took over Jabot?

Brooke/Decon was great stuff! One of my favorite storylines in the show's history, and 2002 Mark the last decent quality year for B&B. I always wondered why Y&R seemed particularly good from about '88 to '01 Now I realize that lines up with Ed Scott's tenure on the show. Good move by bad writer/EP: GH, The Metro Court Hostage Crisis. I'm not sure if goza wrote this, but it happened under the 10 year of Jill Farren Phelps, One of the greatest action storylines in soap history. Inspired by 24, it was riveting, and scary. Of course the bad writer (or EP) showed their head again by killing off Alan.

Based solely on looks, Nina Arvesen could have replaced Brenda Epperson as Ashley instead of Sherry Shattuck. Arveson eerily resembles Nicole Brown Simpson.

Yikes. I meant to type "(under Ron Carlivati?)" Wasn't sure if he was the one one who wrote it but thank you for giving me the answer.