chrisml

I wonder if Paul Rauch as producer of SB also caused a lot of the problems during the Dobsons' return. He made a point to destroy Augusta's character and fire Louise Sorel (wasn't it because they had had an affair at some point?) and Augusta kept having those flirtations/dream sequences with her sister's rapist. Rauch and Roscoe Born butted heads so Born was gone, and Bizeau soon followed. A real shame as I thought the Flame/Michael pairing was great. Runyeon also disappeared soon after.

I will never understand Kenyagate. It makes no sense. Nene couldn't even articulate what the problem was and Cynthia's explanation was confusing. She should have let Kandi explain even if "Kandi isn't important." Cynthia should have just said, "IT was my party and I'll invite anyone I want." Nene's nonsense reminded of Eileen Davidson's campaign against LVP in the sixth season. It also made no sense to me that ED was so upset about LVP's comment/question. I always felt Rinna was egging her on off camera (or Erika). I despise Erika. I know that's a strong word, but I can't stand her. When I watched last season, I FFed her material. I'm sorry, but why should I care about a woman who gloats about work that other people do for her??? Considering what her husband is accused of, it's madness and disgusting how she always gloats about her money. When she was on DWTS, my mother (who's not a housewife viewer) loathed her. She was particularly upset she got paired with Gleb who my mother and I lust after. Roxanne Gay was on WWHL and it was hilarious. She had to guess Kyle's disguised voice and then said how she feels so much for Lisa Vanderpump. I'm sure Kyle and Teddy were seething.

You would think BRAVO would remember that the best season and reunion was the season Nene was not there. I just don't enjoy her at all. Cynthia gets blasted for being boring, but I would much rather have her than Nene or the woman who accused Kandi of trying to rape her. I know most people like Porsha now, but I think what she did is so disgusting that she should never have been invited back. Same way I feel about Vicki from RHOC and why I stopped watching RHOC after the cancer fraud. Do we really need another season of angry Nene? UGH. If Tanya does get a peach, she should send Nene a peach pie with a nice note attached. RHOBH: At some point during the whole reunion, it might be nice if someone brings up that three of the women are involved or their husbands are involved in major lawsuits/criminal cases. It would explain using LVP as a smokescreen. I see Rinna trying to backpedal now that she knows viewers loathe these women. Like Kenyagate, I don't understand how the Radar Online story is the big to do rather than the dog ending up at a kill shelter. These women really love to gaslight the audience. RHONY: Just feels like the same schtick. When you compare it to Tinsley's heartfelt discussion about her dad, it's icky. Not to mention Dennis's overdose. I don't like any of the women on the show except Tinsley. I'm still harboring a grudge over the way Bethenny and Dorinda treated Heather.

I enjoyed the character of Amy. I think she would have been a lot more interesting if she had been written into another storyline and out of Randy Spelling's scenes. Her machinations tickled me. I'm feeling quite nostalgic for the show. There's something utterly depressing about a show with so much potential that never got the change to right the wrongs.

This is the problem with the housewives (Bethenny, Nene, Kyle, Erika, Teresa, Vicki, etc.) who think they are above it all because they're the "star."

I was watching Sunset Beach then but I have no recollection of Leo at all. I recognise the actor's name but not the face.

AW post-Heche and post-Cali Timmins just did not work for me for a bit because the new Vicky was terrible and she was a disaster as Marley. The build-up to the "who shot Jake?" storyline was great, but the story never went anywhere. They should have just killed off Jake. I know rapists as romantic heroes was big in the 90's (and before that) but I hated it. Evans was like the proverbial bull in a china shop where Timmins had more subtlety and I felt for her. I like the idea of Judi Evans as Nancy. Donna Swajeski had some great storylines, but her execution and follow through was often a mess (Red Swan). I wonder if the problem was from the network and P&G heads or if she just needed a co-headwriter to keep her on target.

I caught up with SB when you could watch episodes on YT and I was always perplexed why Ted was always treated as an afterthought. McKee was sexy and talented. Why not give him more to do? As good as the show was, they never seemed to tell a compelling story that did not involve the Capwells in some way. I had also forgotten all of the sexual violence. Who was responsible for all that? Am I wrong or was nearly every female character raped at some point?

Sunset Beach was the prime example of a show making idiotic decisions out of fear. Every time they made a decision in the hopes of getting ratings up they made the wrong decision (which I suppose is like any other soap now that I think of it). SBeach could have been such a great soap and I think it was hitting its stride around the Gabi/Antonio/Richardo/ stuff. Virginia and Francesca were great villains and Eddie Cibrian was a major improvement over Hamilton. I even liked Amy. Was it the network or the producers making these idiotic decisions? I can understanding Jennings' firing since the soap press lambasted the show for the storyline, but getting rid of someone as charismatic as Stabile and Guerrero seems lunacy.

I miss Sunset Beach. I know that it was not the critical favorite and it had a horrible impregnation story, but I think the Antonio/Ricardo/Gabi storyline was great. I don't know why Nick Kiriazis never did much after that. It's a shame. I did think killing off Francesca was a mistake.

These RHOBH really depended on LVP looking bad this season, but the reverse happened. They look like monsters. I think it was brilliant of LVP not to film with them because not they will have to turn on each other and/or show just how boring and awful they are.

I remember as a child my aunt would always complain about "that soap with the crazy woman who spent days making that damn fruitcake." I don't know who she was talking about, but it's something she never forgot.

That's what I wonder with his second tenure on OLTL and his work on AW. How much of it was his doing and how much of it was the suits causing the problems? It just seemed like such a different Malone. There was a vicious and sexist vibe to these stints that seemed in opposition to his first stint on oLTL.

I came across this brief mention of Patsy Pease's sudden departure from DOOL. Thought some people might find it interesting.

I have never seen Dark Shadows although I own the complete series (the one in the coffin). I've been told by some friends to start when Barnaby arrives, but I'd prefer to start from the beginning. Do DS fans have any opinions? Is the pre-Barnaby stuff really that expendable?

I've been watching some GL episodes from the eighties, and I was interested in how Elizabeth Dennehy's Blake was portrayed. Was she supposed to look and act like Glenn Close's character in Fatal Attraction?

I adored Roswell up until the introduction of Tess. I think the Tess character was badly written and introduced, and I think the quality of the show suffered. IT was something out of a soap opera writer's reject pile. I've never been so quickly repelled by a show. I usually start drifting away from a show, but the Tess character just ruined my enjoyment and I never felt the same way about the show. I hated the second season because it felt like it was a completely different show--and one I didn't want to watch. IT also made no sense (and I found it funny when cast members admitted they had no idea what was going on). I barely remember the third season and I think I just dipped in here and there just to see what was going on. The new Roswell has a lot of potential, but it's also plagued by the same problems: too much overplotting and an obsessive need to keep Max and Liz apart. I would find it more interesting to see Max and Liz together but dealing with the problems from that connection. The sci-fi/military angle does not work and it's as boring as all the sci-fi stuff from the original.

Michael Logan writes about Noelle Beck's 1993 Loving departure:

Here is Michael Logan writing about the fallout from Ellen Parker's firing. I didn't know where to put this one, but it's Logan's best of 1992 list. I figured I would put it here since McKinsey, Hayden, Simon, Breen (although for another soap) and Parker are mentioned.