Broderick

That's about right. Since 1980 or so, daytime television in American has served up the same thing -- the "trials & tribulations of well-to-do families in gated communities." And unfortunately with today's budgets, the concept seems silly. We already know what we'll get -- a daily budget of $2.35, and numerous references to the off-screen wealth of characters who supposedly have a private jet parked just outside, but their clothes will come from Dollar Tree. Glad this show is happening but can't get too enthusiastic about it based on what I've read so far.

To me that's the biggest problem that plagues the show -- the scripts. Yes, they're trying to tape each episode on a budget of $2.35. There's no rehearsal time for the actors. The directors are lazily slapping stagnant blocking and camera shots onto the screen, shrugging their shoulders and saying, "Okay, that looks like garbage, but I guess it'll do. On to the next scene!" The actors often recite their dialogue in the dullest and least imaginative manner. The sets are desolate and worn-out. But the biggest problem is the scripts lack wit, complexity, and humor. There are no twists of irony, no unexpected symbolism. Everything is surface-deep, and no one on staff seems to identify it as problematic. (Which is why I couldn't muster any sympathy for the fired outline writers; I'm sorry they lost their jobs, but they were working in the same dull, assembly line fashion as the head writer and the dialogue writers, adding nothing whatsoever to the product.) The failure (and laziness) of the writing staff became glaring post-Covid. Several scripts had been written, but not taped yet when the studio shut-down for Covid protocol. Any conscientious writer would've seized that opportunity to improve his work. ("Okay, they've got four of my scripts piled-up in the studio which haven't been taped yet. I'm going to retrieve them and rewrite them entirely during the quarantine period, add some humor and pathos, some sarcasm, some irony, and once I'm finished, they'll be the BEST scripts I've ever submitted!") Evidently, none of the writers was willing to go that extra inch to improve the quality, because once the show began taping again after the shut down, there had been no improvement at all in the scripts. The material was the same dry, mundane, tired, shallow junk that had been taped pre-Covid. Nobody bothered to use that extra time to improve their work. Same grade-C stuff as before. Nobody cares anymore.

PSM: "And then Joan Collins came in with her caricature, and it became less and less real." My sentiments exactly.

I believe when the show comes up for renewal again, we'll see even more of this. The household ratings are down from the last renewal, and the remaining audience is older. The licensing fee for the next renewal term will undoubtedly be even less than it is now. I expect they'll "secretly" drop a few more folks to recurring once the new budget takes effect.

lol. There's no way she's under contract. She had zero appearances in January, zero in December, 2 in November, zero in October, zero in September. That's 2 shows in 5 months. What actor would sign a contract like that? 😂

Sometimes I forget there even is an Elena Dawson. lol.

I dimly remember seeing Liz fall "up the stairs" circa 1973, when I was a kid. My recollection is that she went RACING up the stairs, two steps at a time, tripped, fell, said ouch, then died a few episodes later from the ruptured spleen. I think "fell ON the stairs" is a better descriptor. The online fans who "remembered" Carl Williams being presumed dead were likely confusing it with the storyline where Paul Williams pretended to be dead. As you pointed out, Carl's storyline was a complete retcon. He simply stopped appearing at the conclusion of the Cassandra Rawlins storyline with no explanation. Most of us assumed he was "down at the station" (or somewhere) until we were advised he was presumed dead, lol. That nonsense about Jill hiring the "look-alike" was complete fan fiction. After Nick Reed died, Jill's only storyline was desperately trying to snag Derek Thurston for a husband. She didn't have a quarter to her name to hire a "look-alike".

Couldn't agree more. Less than a decade earlier, Cricket had been a "teen model" enjoying Coke floats, while Victor was a middle-aged man who'd gone through multiple wives and vasectomies. It was silly. Pairing Victor and Cricket would've been about like pairing Kay Chancellor and Nicholas Newman. 😂

I feel the New York Times writer was just making a somewhat generic statement that Capote's book was like the general public's perception of soap storytelling -- "salacious and tawdry, devoid of symbolism".

It couldn't be much more negative. Truman Capote, in his heyday, was the very "literary" author of Other Voices Other Rooms, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and In Cold Blood. Late in his career, shortly before his death, for reasons no one really understands, he penned a volume of gossipy trash with zero literary value; it concerned the scandals of the Paley family, Gloria Vanderbilt Cooper, and other of his well-heeled Upper East Side friends. When he published a "preview chapter" of his book in Esquire magazine in 1975, he was snubbed forevermore by all of his friends. The article basically says, "Capote threw away his friends and his career for a piece of garbage that had no more literary value than an As the World Turns plot summary."

Soon after Peter Bergman took over the role (30+ years ago), the writers began giving him these cringe monologues in which he dramatically pours out his soul to other characters. It likely began during the Saigon Shack storyline, where he was asked to deliver these wretchedly over-the-top speeches to Keemo about "being the fruit of my loins". He delivered one of those speeches to Nikki this week. ("I've been there myself, Nikki. Thank God Neil and Phyllis were there for me! I want to be there for you, Nikki. I want to be your sounding board! I want to be your punching bag! Whatever you need -- as God is my witness! -- I will be there for you!!") Instead of "downplaying" the theatrics and making the scene look somewhat genuine, Peter Bergman amplifies his intensity, becomes overly earnest and sincere, employing deep conviction, turning on the tears, wringing every ounce of emotion from his performance, channeling all the great sirens of the silver screen in the golden age of Hollywood, as if he's trying to outdo Vivien Leigh, Miss Barbara Stanwyck, and Joan Crawford in delivering the most poignant and heartfelt monologue in the history of cinema. And it often ends up looking downright silly.

The "foreshadowing" was pretty over-the-top 😂 "But what will VICTOR think when he learns AUNT JACK is my sponsor?!?" "I know, I know, their feud is legendary and goes back DECADES!"

Seth struck me as being nothing more than a short-term plot device to explain how Aunt Jack suddenly became Nikki's sponsor, and to (unfortunately) renew the conflict between Nikki and Diane Jenkins.

Phyllis is being written like Peppermint Patty in those old Charlie Brown cartoons. "You wouldn't be having some FEELINGS for me, would you, Chuck?? You wouldn't be wanting to HOLD my HAND, would you, Chuck??"

Naw, she specifically stated that she'd be available if they wanted her. She said Jesse (her son) was 15 and only had a couple of years of high school left, and then he would likely be leaving home. She & Vince had decided they could afford for her to stay home more often during Jesse's last few years of high school, cutting down on the amount of time she spent commuting from Malibu to Hollywood & waiting around in the studio for her scenes to be taped. She said if the show wanted Ashley full-time, they should recast, but if they were okay with periodic appearances, she'd be happy to oblige as she'd be around and available. Seems like she took off completely four or five months, then started monthly or semi-monthly appearances. Jesse is about 20 now, and she appears willing to work more often than when he was 15.

Not so long ago, I was re-watching one of Sally Spectra's first scenes. She was having lunch in a restaurant with Stephanie Forrester. Sally kept making empty promises that she would make a LARGE DONATION (I believe the amount mentioned was $10,000) to one of Mrs. Forrester's charities, possibly a children's hospital. You could tell right away that Sally didn't have the money and wasn't a philanthropist by nature. Mrs. Forrester tossed Sally her fountain pen and encouraged Sally to go ahead and write the check. Sally frowned, dug around in her purse and said, "I seeeeeem to have forgotten my checkbook." 🤣 Right from the start, she was Rose DeVille 2.0 -- a morally bankrupt thief who was illegally stealing intellectual property from the Forresters, didn't have the social skills to conduct herself around "Queen Stephanie", and was as broke as a church mouse, pretending she'd forgotten her checkbook to weasel out of making a donation. As you said, she became more endearing and humorous over the years (and also wealthier), but in her earliest incarnation on B&B, she was almost as broke financially, socially, and culturally as Rose DeVille.

Ha, yes, Vince was utterly horrid too, and Rose DeVille would often lambast him loudly by calling him a "ninny" or a "stupid fool". They were like "Honest John" & "Gideon" in Pinocchio, that terrible fox & cat who were always trying to hoodwink Pinocchio. They typically escaped at the last minute, presumably because Bill Bell had hopes of using them yet again at some point in the future. He could've easily tied them to the crime syndicate storyline in the early 1980s, but he declined, probably because he'd have to kill them off in a shoot-out. He waited until all of the mob storylines were over, and they came crawling up again circa 1986 to hold expectant mothers hostage & sell black-market babies -- a crime they could potentially escape from.

Honestly, I expected him to pen some type of "redemption" storyline on Y&R for Rose DeVille, and use her more frequently. Because she was so wretched and seedy, she was strictly a short-term villainess that he couldn't overuse. But Bill Bell was clearly smitten with the actress (and with the character) so it really made perfect sense that he put her on B&B as a slightly less horrible person with many of the same characteristics as Rose DeVille. The new role on B&B was more or less her "redemption", I suppose.

Greg Foster is probably in on it, too, because of all the time he wasted as Tony Baker's attorney, searching for the "mysterious blonde girl" who was seen with Walter Addison shortly before the mugging. Greg even helped with the police sketch of the mysterious blonde girl who looked SHOCKINGLY like Melody Thomas in the closing credits! Rose was an offbeat and interesting villain. She had BIG HAIR, bright red lipstick, bright red fingernails, very poor grammar, and was often seen in "inner-city remote sequences", disposing of a corpse or making a getaway from the police. She was normally in a BIG CAR, an aging Cadillac DeVille, which made us wonder if she'd named herself for the Cadillac sedan. She had no class, no money, and was willing to engage in any underhanded and illegal scheme to make a few bucks. In her first go-round in the summer of 1979, she operated a shop called "Second Hand Rose Antiques & Pretty Things". The "pretty things", of course, were the girls she planned to traffic. She was an absolute wretch. When Nikki ran across her in late 1979, she was operating "La Plus Belle Rose" (the very beautiful Rose), and the "beautiful things" were girls in lingerie or less. And you remember her from 1986 when she was peddling black market babies. When she went to B&B as Sally Spectra, she basically played the same character -- just not as violent or lawbreaking. Still, she was that low-rent, low-class type of "broad" who was determined to play in the big leagues with the socially established folks.

😂 He really does appear to be playing a "pre-Floyd" version of Floyd. Maybe Mark Arnold will elaborate on what happened.

Yes, and somewhere buried in all this exposition, Barbara thanks Adam for "coming over and sleeping in the guest room", so we won't erroneously assume he slept in her bed during that 5-hour period between Mike's discovery of the listening device (at 1:30 a.m.!!) and the flight to the Dominican Republic (at 6:30 a.m.!!) which was overseen by Bert & Kelly (so Adam could get some rest!!) but only after Mike's early morning call to Rita (who revealed Roger had a listening device at Indian Lake!!! And she knows that because she heard Ed's voice!!! But then there was so much static she decided she'd imagined it!!) (I feel Douglas Marland got a bit too caught up in examining everyone's step-by-step itineraries for the evening to mine the emotion from the scenes.) P.S. This storyline seems like yesterday to me. I missed a dentist appointment because of it. My mother was supposed to pick me up early from school for a check-up, but I missed the appointment entirely because she was glued to the TV watching the climax of this storyline, lol. When she finally picked me up at school, I had to listen to exactly what befell Roger in the Dominican Republic.)

Oh yeah, the guarantees are important, but it often seems we catch Marland shoehorning people into scenes and creating unnecessary "clutter", which tends to zap the emotion out of the scene. Kelly was obviously Marland's "pet" -- the preppy little innocent virgin, junior chamber of commerce, goal-oriented young leading man who needed to stray into the main storyline to demonstrate that his heart was in the right place. And Charita got the thankless job of regurgitating exactly what Rita had told Mike on the phone, along with reciting all the details of exactly when the flight left Springfield (6:30 a.m.!!) and when it should land in Santa Domingo (in approximately 30 minutes!!) In doing all that exposition, Marland deprived Barbara and Adam of a tender and suspenseful scene in which they could've elaborated their anxieties about Roger and Holly, questioned their own parenting skills, and then ultimately been relieved when Holly answered and horrified when Holly dropped the phone, with them hundreds of miles away and unable to help. That's what makes Marland's work a little bit "cold" in my opinion -- he hits all the beats, but he sometimes accomplishes it in such awkward fashion that the emotion of the moment is lost in the exposition.

I'm crazy about Marland, but his primary weakness is definitely all that awkward exposition. lol. And he brings it upon himself; it's a self-inflicted wound he could easily avoid. In the latest episode posted, check out the scene at 44:50. What theoretically should be a two-person scene showcasing the anxiety and fear of the two oldsters (Adam & Barbara), culminating in their horror when Holly drops the phone, is shot to hell by Marland's trope of "herd mentality" and "over-exposition". Marland brings Bert and Kelly into the scene simply to provide exposition. It could be handled entirely by Adam. ("Adam, I thought I heard the phone." "Yes, that was Bert. She wanted us to know Mike and Ed caught an early morning flight to the Dominican Republic.") The director is forced to shoot 4 characters in a two-character scene, which results in poor Bert having to sit in that chair that matches her outfit and also matches the bricks just beyond the chair. Kelly practically has to sit in Bert's lap. And then the exposition becomes so clunky, Charita and Bob Milli understandably get tangled up in it and are left standing there flailing their arms and trying to get it back on track. "So Mike talked to Rita?" "Yes, Rita told Michael ..." "What did Rita say?" In my opinion, every bit of that dialogue could've been handled by Barbara and Adam, in a slower, more realistic manner while they wondered if Mike and Ed had arrived yet, and whether they should call Holly to check on her.

Rose DeVille & Vince Holliday. They were using Nikki as a lingerie model/hooker, and an old guy (Walter Addison) had a heart attack and died while Nikki was entertaining him.

She basically walked into Paul's office, threw some papers down on his desk, and said, "Please sign these, Boss. And by the way, although I've never mentioned her before in my entire life, I have an old sick aunt who lives a million miles away, and I need to leave Genoa City forever to care for her. Oh, and my plane leaves in five minutes. Bye!" Miguel got the same treatment. He randomly told Nikki, "Senora, I've finished the dusting. Oh! I must leave town forever if it is agreeable with you." She snatched an old clock off the mantel, thrust it into his hands, and said, "Here, take this with you as a gift for your decades of loyal service. And don't forget to close the door when you leave. Bye!" All those types of characters were dumped with no warning in the first round of budget cuts, and if you blinked you missed their exits.