Broderick

Slesar was definitely due for a rest (or some creative collaboration). He was kneecapped in the summer of 1981 when Draper and April both left. I'm sure he felt the rug had been yanked out from under him, as they'd driven his main stories for the past three years. He still had a good story in process (Jefferson Brown). The popularity of Larkin Malloy necessitated re-writing the conclusion of the tale to include a character Slesar had planned all along would be dead (Schuyler Whitney). I think those two events (the cast defections and the necessity of writing more story for Malloy) led Slesar into a "quagmire" that he was unable to dig himself out of -- resulting in the less than spectacular stories of the Maskers, Smiley Wilson, Jim Deidrickson, and several other rambling stories that didn't play out well. I'm glad the person uploading the videos made us aware that the final weeks of the Nora Fulton/David Cameron storyline were scripted by some "uncredited dialogue writers", because I could see, even as a kid, that something was OFF about the scripts. They got to the "point", but there was nothing Slesar-esque about the dialogue or the scenes. The "reveal" of Nora's killer was an especially poorly written script, and the episodes immediately following are also bad. As someone said above, the characters didn't change (much), but the film noir style of writing was gone by the 20th of May.

I sure hope they asked Stephanie Williams before defaulting to another actress. I don't think the show had ANY control over the second time she left. If I'm remembering right, she returned without a contract, making her a free agent to come and go as she pleased. After she taped a few episodes, General Hospital offered her a control role, and she took it. I'm guessing Amy will reveal she was pregnant when she left town, and Lil Nate has a half-brother who's now got a chip on his shoulder and will find his way to Genoa City to make life miserable for Nate (briefly) in some ill-conceived storyline, will bang Audra Charles once or twice, and after his storyline fizzles in six months, he'll be thrown in the dustbin with Keemo's daughter and Noah.

Stephanie E Williams & the Amy character were highlights of Y&R in the 1980s for me. She was so pretty, had such a dazzling smile, and she had great chemistry with all the characters in her orbit (Jazz, Tyrone, Paul, Andy, Lauren, Traci, and Nathan). When she left in 1988, I felt like Bill Bell had made a fairly serious mistake letting her get away. It annoys me that they're randomly bringing her character back with a recast. As far as I know, Stephanie Williams is still involved with the arts in St. Louis and is still suitably pretty. If they'd asked her, I bet she would've returned.

Trump certainly isn't any great intellectual or any great strategy specialist, but the "Springfield Urban Legend" clicks every box for him -- it concerns his favorite subject (the border), it highlights a trait he adores (racism), and it has a certain "tabloid sensationalism" that he loves (eating domestic animals). I look for him to keep this story going. He tried another "tabloid" type story at the debate -- "Joe Biden HATES her; he HATES her." That's the world in which Trump thrives.

I suppose the episode with Mrs. Handleman ("Constant Companion"?) was supposed to be a tour-de-force for Ginger, but it was written in such a way that the short nerdy guy from the school (Arthur?) and Mrs. Handleman stole the show, lol. It became less about Ginger's abortion and more about that weird little Arthur. And then to make matters worse for Lankford, Valene was getting her GED in that episode, and that's the storyline where all the seasoned acting was occurring.

Houghton & Lankford ain't HOWLING bad actors by any means, but when you stick Ginger in scenes with the other three girls in the cul-de-sac, you notice right away who's the weakest of the four. Even very early on, the other three girls seem to have established their characters in a more firm manner, and are already working certain "quirks" into their performances that Ginger just doesn't have. Same thing is true when you compare Kenny with the three other guys. You notice it even in simple scenes, like when Richard Avery is explaining the Pythagorean Theorem to Valene with kitchen utensils, and John Pleshette, Joan Van Ark, and Michelle Lee are sitting there acting their asses off over a triangle made with butter knives, lol.

They're definitely the weakest couple (acting-wise), and I suspect Jacobs & Fillerman picked up quickly on that unfortunate trait. I'm about finished with the first season, and they've basically thrown ONE episode exclusively to Ginger -- the one in which Mrs. Rebecca Barnes Wentworth torments Ginger about her teenage abortion. And even then, it was more of a "whodonit" (about a stalker), rather than a genuine look at the remorse a woman might feel about an abortion at sixteen. Almost immediately, that episode was overridden by Karen Fairgate's pregnancy & miscarriage, which were handled with introspection and sensitivity.

The biggest problem with the Wards seems to be that they play so much younger than their cul-de-sac counterparts, lacking the experience, wit, and sarcasm that we see in the Averys, the Fairgates, and the Ewings. Demographically, they're a bit isolated from everyone else -- which was probably a good idea on paper but didn't necessarily work in reality. In all the episodes I've re-watched so far, the Wards do seem like an afterthought.

Just finished "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" (Season 1, Episode 5). That's another really good one. Lilimae's first appearance inspired the writer to examine each mother/daughter relationship on the show in a pretty impactful manner. And I loved the "dessert scene" where everyone ditched the parfait (or whatever that was) for Valene's countryfied fritters that Lillimae warned her not to serve to those "city folks".

There's such a literary quality to the entire episode. The conflict commences with a disagreement about FOOD. Laura cooks Richard's eggs wrong. His horsey response leads her to cancel her plans with Valene and go to a bar where a strange man lights her cigarette, resulting in all the drama. Valene, the character whom Laura dumped, is the sole witness who understands Laura is lying her head off about what happened that afternoon. The conflict ends with another disagreement about FOOD. Richard nixes every menu suggestion Laura offers at the restaurant. His horsey response leads her to sashay into the lounge where yet another strange man appears with a cigarette lighter, and it's VALENE once again who sees where things are heading. Another irony is that the episode began with the 4 couples (separately) at breakfast, and it ended with the 4 couples (jointly) at dinner. Karen nailed the "Smartass Pollyanna" role, immediately ordering every menu item that Richard wouldn't allow Laura to order. I honestly couldn't believe how much thought and creativity went into that episode.

I just streamed Episode 4 (Season 1) "The Lie", and I can't even say how impressed I was with the entire episode. Couldn't take my eyes off the screen. The closing shot of the strange man lighting Laura's cigarette (after another strange man lit her cigarette in a bar a few days earlier and led to a tangled-up passel of lies) is a masterpiece of sad irony. If this is the kind of stuff David Jacobs and Michael Filerman were wanting to do with Knots Landing -- I think they were almost ahead of their time.

I've always believed Bell had a MUCH longer story in mind for his longtime pet (Miss Bauer) and his new pet (Mr. Braeden), with Nikki (and possibly Kevin) being two airheaded dingbat "spoilers" that could potentially send the story into different directions at the drop of a hat. Miss Bauer's exit and Miss Thomas's pregnancy turned it all upside down.

Dallas sent viewers an unintentional subliminal message after the dream season: "Don't take any of this seriously. We don't know what we're doing. We're writing by the seat of our pants." I was glad to have Duffy back (and thrilled to have Barbara Bel Geddes back on the show), but my interest began to wane drastically after the dream season, because there was no longer any pretense of "art" or "carefully plotted stories" after such a transparent reversal.

@Khan, that's my primary concern --- for the party to drop President Biden because he's supposedly trailing insurmountably in the Rust Belt, Georgia, Etal, and then end up losing those states by the *same* margin with a different candidate. That sends a horrible message to the electorate (especially to seniors). Perhaps this election simply is *unwinnable* for Dems, due to inflation (and the American belief that we're the only nation in the world suffering from inflation!) Has the GOP articulated their solution to global inflation? If so, I ain't heard it! But I do believe a fresh start for this campaign, with fresher faces, fresher energy, and fresher cash flowing into the coffers can only help at this point. That doesn't make me feel any better about Biden's treatment, but it does make me feel more positive about the chances of a win.

I didn't like it at all. There was too much "persecution", both from within the party and from the media. Even Sunday morning, I was still of the opinion Uncle Joe should stick it out and remain in the race. But I accepted that perhaps I was being selfish and putting my wishes and Joe Biden's (kind-hearted) reputation of statesmanship above the need to win an important election that I honestly believe is winnable with a candidate who can carry the swing states.

I've been thinking the short timeline awarded to Harris might be a blessing in disguise. Voters won't have a chance to get sick of her before November, and she won't have as many opportunities to slip-up. If she ends up running a successful campaign, we may start seeing shorter campaigns from both parties in the future, which we'd likely ALL appreciate. I'm outdone with the way Biden was "shoved aside". However, I'm confident he was going to lose in November, and it was beginning to sink-in to everyone surrounding him. If the Dem's in-depth polling data showed Biden had little-to-no chance in Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania (because of the polling deficits), then something needed to be altered, rather than trash a winnable election and ride-out a doomed campaign out of respect for the nominee, when there's still 5 months to right the ship.

They jumped the gun just a bit on Dark Shadows, too, promoting it while it was still a work in progress. In the promos that aired on ABC a few days before the show started -- they're posted on You Tube -- remote footage filmed in Newport, Rhode Island, with Alexandra Moltke, was used, along with the theme music. The graphics are wrong in some of the promos, and the voiceover says, "Victoria Winters probes the mysteries of Collins House." A week or two later, when the series started, "Collins House" was no more, and "Collinwood" had taken its place. I recently saw the "60-day-notice" of Capitol (CBS-1982) in the newspaper. Sixty days before the show premiered, they provided only the name of the show, the headwriters, the producer, and teased one storyline (Tyler McCandless & Julie Clegg). The article specifically stated that no casting had occurred yet for any of the roles. I believe CBS is actively promoting "The Gates"; but they don't want to issue a bunch of false information that Michele subsequently changes.

I don't want to spoil this storyline for you if you didn't watch in 1983, but let's just say that some things occurring in Barbara Montgomery's apartment that night were different from the way they seemed 😜 There's no question that Preacher arrived and offered to "earn" his $50, and he also asked Barbara for MORE money since he's broke & she's "rich", but it's possible that's the extent of his crimes against women.

Didn't One Life to Live premiere with all these billowing flames in its opening titles, presumably to reflect the name of the series -- Between Heaven & Hell, which of course ultimately wasn't the show's title at all? lol. At any rate, these types of shows are a "moving target" until they're put on tape, and even then, drastic changes can occur before they hit the air. Too much publicity too quickly (especially in these days of social media) can only serve to make Michele look like a lame-brain when something heavily publicized never materializes on-screen. Or even worse, the fear of looking like a lame-brain might cause her to retain a title, a character, a location, or a premise that she fundamentally KNOWS she should ditch once the scripts are being taped.

I wouldn't imagine there's much of anything to publicize at this point, other than what they've already announced: Michele Val Jean is creating a soap to premiere in early 2025. I doubt there's an "official" title yet, no cast, very few production slots filled, only a "tentative" bible and perhaps some rough drafts of the first few scripts. A lot of y'all are likely too young to remember Y&R's "publicity campaign" in 1973. A couple of months before the show began, CBS let us know that Where the Heart Is would be biting the dust "sometime in the spring" and would be replaced by Bill Bell's new show The Innocent Years, to be produced by John Conboy. A week or so before the show premiered, we were advised the title of Bell's show had been changed to Young and Restless Years. It was (vaguely) described as being about "man-woman chemistry in a fictional Midwestern city." We were treated to the names of some of the central characters, one of whom (Russell Henderson) never even made it to the air. A few days before the premiere, we got a cast list, and the girl playing Leslie Brooks in the cast list didn't play Leslie Brooks on the show. Someone else did. All of that to say -- as they tell writers -- "never get married to your first draft". The first draft of "The Gates" (as well as the title of the show itself) will probably change 15 times between now and January. (In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the "rich family living in the posh, gated community", who we're currently led to believe are the central characters, become minor, sidelined in-laws by the time the final drafts are submitted. Stranger things have happened, lol.)

I never understood (at the time) what was going on with Traci Abbott in 1987. First she announced she would finish her college degree in California, then she left that summer, and was removed from contract. It seemed as though Bell was done with her. By the fall, she was back on the show (and under contract again). I never knew if Bell removed Traci from Genoa City in order to facilitate a Brad/Lauren hook-up, or if he just got tired of Traci because he was tired of her, and then changed his mind a few months later.

Chance seems like an important "legacy character" who'd be especially easy to write storylines for, plus (in my opinion) they currently have a fairly charismatic actor in the role. It's difficult to understand why he and Noah Newman aren't the young leads right now. I agree that there's no significant antagonist on the canvas who weaves in & out of various stories.

Hard for me to figure out why they dumped Chance so abruptly.

They're still working Miss Sarpy half to death!! In addition to the recent diminished use of Sharon Case, I see Michael Graziadei is averaging only 1 episode per week for the past 20 weeks.

Have no fear!! Nola Madison will "thank the Academy, my producer, my director, and all the Little People in the Audience who made my performance in Mansion of the Damned so ENCHANTING", before she sweeps off the screen like Norma Desmond in Sunset Blvd. (It's an especially memorable farewell to an especially memorable character.)