FrenchBug82

2 hours ago, Khan said:

I think the worst story that the Lechowicks came up with on KNOTS was the one about drug smuggling at Lotus Point that ended with Paige, Michael and Johnny being stranded or held hostage in Mexico.  I mean, drug dealers infiltrating Lotus Point?  Come on!

Not to mention that I have a personal theory that them having Abby plant drugs on Harold was one of the things that resonated in Donna Mills that they didn't understand who Abby was and wasn't as a villain and that staying on much longer will lead them to villainize the character way beyond what she had worked so hard to establish and thus a factor for why she left.
 

2 hours ago, Khan said:

First, I would have casted better actors than Penny Peyser and Sam Behrens. 

We have had that conversation before but while I agree on PP, I thought SB was good in the role. Specifically because of that mix between ordinary and nasty. Danny wasn't a larger-than-life charismatic villain. He was a small mediocre PoS that was making him feel better by belittling and abusing the women in his life. An ordinary guy who wasn't nearly as interesting as he thought he was but who was still a villain and a threat to those around him.
This was, imo, a better fit for SB than Gregory on SB. He wasn't bad in that role but his pairings there required a bit more heat than he gives and he chose to carry the rich and powerful thing through coldness and it didn't quite always work for me.
But he isn't a bad actor by any means.
 

2 hours ago, Khan said:

Gary tells Amanda he thinks he got through to Danny, and Amanda is relieved.  However, an enraged Danny later breaks into Amanda's apartment.  He comes close to raping Amanda; however, Amanda is able to fight him off.  When Gary learns what happened, he urges Amanda to press charges against Danny.  Amanda is reluctant to press charges, but she does agree to file a restraining order.  When Danny receives the restraining order, he devises a plan to get even with Gary for interfering in his and Amanda's lives -- a plan that isn't clear until he arranges a not-so-accidental first meeting between himself and Val.

Definitely think the story would have been MUCH better structured that way. Definitely agree on the way you propose to remove the contrivances.
My only caveat would be what I mentioned above. I think maybe Val's idiocy might have been easier to tolerate if the audience also didn't know for a while whether Danny was really a bad guy. If we have a doubt, we can accept that she would too. IMO They didn't keep the suspense long enough for me so every repeated scene of Val refusing to listen once we saw who he was ended up making her look worse and worse.
So maybe up to the point of Gary's interference, they then show Danny "chancemeeting" Val and the audience groans thinking it is a contrivance until it is revealed later he did it intentionally, as you suggested.

2 hours ago, Chris 2 said:

I liked the Waleska story, but I wish it had been played out a little longer. It only took Valene an episode or two after their marriage to figure out it was a mistake. I think you could have had a season of Valene married to this guy whom her friends don’t like, and he gradually reveals himself to her.

If they had stretched the timeline they also should have stretched it for the audience: not knowing whether Danny was indeed nasty or whether the ex-wife was lying.
The audience had a taste of who he was pretty quicky - a little longer would have also made it easier to forgive Val for believing in him.

17 minutes ago, Soaplovers said:

Lastly it made Val look like an idiot.

Well, in all fairness, 80% of the plots made Val look like an idiot which she wasn't at the core.

But I hear the fact she stubbornly sided with Danny over everyone's warnings made her look bad - the classic contrivance of this kind of plot.
But keeping Gary and Val is what the show spent most of its run doing - sometimes well, sometimes heavily.

Around that time I thought something like Greg's insta-daughter getting killed after one episode and us supposing to care about whatever dumb mystery there was over it was considerably suckier
The Karen stalking storyline was also suckier, coz there wasn't any dramatic payoffs to it the way the Danny story had (arguably the only compelling moment came the following season and even that was cliche). And do not get me started with Aunt Ginny.

I am not a FAN of the Waleska story but I don't think it is the worst they came up with

2 hours ago, David_Vickers said:

I saw a rumor on another site, that Gwen will be killed wearing an Abigail mask, with her having Abigail kidnapped, so maybe Gwen with Abigail mask is killed, with someone thinking she's Abigail?  IF this is true, that'll be cool, and would keep Abigail from being killed off as was rumored previously. Maybe Marci Miler is leaving (as has been rumored), and Abigail won't be show for a bit, everyone thinks for awhile that Abigail is dead, but then it's realized it's Gwen, and a search for Abigail gets underway, with either Kate Mansi back as Abby or a new actress in the role. 

Of course if they are setting up a Gwen gets killed storyline, it might Abigail wearing a Gwen mask who gets killed because why not make it stupid and convoluted.

34 minutes ago, danfling said:

She was so good in both her serial roles on ABC!

 

I actually thought she was pretty good on Titans, dreadful as that show was.

She strikes me as someone for whom getting Baywatch was a career drawback in a way.
Because of the pretty typecasting and the lazy acting it required, her projects after that were of lower grade than I think she would have been capable of had she focused on her craft for a few years after leaving OLTL. She had the basics and with a few more serious roles under her belt, she could have been a very strong lead for a good drama.

I don't think the Waleska story was well-constructed - the "coincidence" that Gary's phone date ended up being his ex-wife was a lazy contrivance - but honestly that's one of the few stories of the latter years that I remember vividly with some great moments - Danny vs Gary in the barn, the hilariously casual way the twins found out Gary was their father, the murder mystery.
I am curious why there is so much hate for it. There were a lot worse plots around on the show during S11-12.

21 hours ago, victoria foxton said:

SOD covers back in the day were awesome. I also loved SOW's covers. The covers now look cheap as af. No creativity at all.

She might be actually pointing while pretending to hold her collar but I like my first reaction better that it looked to me there was a subtle clue that Nathalie was the only one not to point at anyone else.

20 minutes ago, edgeofnik said:

Can someone enlighten me on what the so-called never been done before or whatever twist was? Or is it still to be revealed

It has yet to happen.

Just now, victoria foxton said:

I disagree. I think i was the wonky writing. That did Anne no favors. Like when she was homeless. Hanging out with the obese homeless man.

The first episode of the homeless story was actually pretty good to me. That half makeup scene was obvious but compelling.
Indeed, it is when they went back to involving her in capers with that landlord that they lost the plot - quickly.

Do folks think Anne should not have been brought back for these last seasons?
I didn't like all the caper stories and didn't find Nick nearly as amusing the writers clearly did but I never questioned Anne being around. Her relationship with Paige was interesting and made Paige a richer character and even if they abused it, the mutual dislike with Claudia made Claudia more interesting as well.
The stories for her were often weak but the show was often weak in those years so it never occurred to me that they should have specifically written Anne out for good.

I am fine with standard-issue bland leading man that helps propel stories - and I mean I can buy women being into GV - IF they give him or the people around him decent story.
Until now Eric, even under JA, was never given many compelling stories IMO

Another way they could cover JMW's maternity leave would be to have the people who made the Hope doll make a Steffy one, backburner her for a while but insert the Steffy doll in the background for family scenes where she should be there.
Never been done before either!

54 minutes ago, Paul Raven said:

P

Phyllis is responsible for just as much (or more) s**t than Diane so her taking any kind of moral ground is nonsense.

I get the feeling that the D stories -we go from A to D on this show - are basically written to fill in airtime and give the rest of the cast something to do week to week.

Job changes, health scares, misunderstandings etc

AS MUCH?
She attempted murder! Twice!

Diane never was dangerous in that way.

19 minutes ago, Faulkner said:

I wonder if it’s possible that Annika Noelle could play Steffy-as-Hope while JMW is on maternity leave lol.

While thinking-I-am-someone-else has been done before, that would be a creative way to get around a maternity leave, I'll grant them that.

44 minutes ago, ironlion said:

You know they don't have enough foresight or ability to write like this!

(Your idea is much better than what the show did, BTW)

He is perfectly capable of writing like this. He has in the past.

But current-day Brad Bell suffers from terrible ADD AND obsessiveness.
He gets one idea that is super enthusiastic about, shifts ALL his writing towards arriving there at the risk going extremely fast and then... he gets bored quickly when no new idea comes, drags the first story because he had thought about how exciting the climax would be without planning the aftermath and stops caring until he gets a new bright idea and wash, rinse, repeat. There is no smooth story rolling into each other; it is a succession of plots. Plots that are often fine on the merits but not integrated in a narrative.
It is what he does with stunt-casting and new characters. It is what he does with big moments ("Sheila is Finn's mother! Never mind we killed him off because I have a new great idea for a twist!")
Maybe he doesn't have the people around him able to channel his energy and ideas anymore or noone willing to tell him to discipline his writing. And he clearly doesn't have the right structure around him to balance the show and pace things properly, presumably because once he gets an idea he is super excited about, that's all he is focused on and he pressures his team to get there.

I actually don't hate most of his ideas on paper, which is more than what I can say for every other HW right now. But the execution is insane and completely ADD.

25 minutes ago, Xanthe said:

It may be an interesting piece of trivia that Brad Pitt was on AW for a couple of days once, but he doesn't deserve a photo in a story about the show's cancellation when there is not a larger one of Victoria Wyndham. 

That was my thought too.
Another testimony of the little regard soaps are treated in the press that they thought people would only care about the cancellation of a decade-old show if there was a cameo by someone who later became famous.
 

On 4/7/2022 at 5:53 PM, Soaplovers said:

I'd forgotten Dru and diane interacted.  I think it was shortly after this that Diane was dropped.

Maybe I am becoming too socially conscious for my own good but did noone at Y&R pick up at the connotations of having a scene featuring a white woman hassling a black woman about touching/seeing her hair even after being told no?
 I know in context it made sense but that's a weird way to accidentally mimic a pretty common real-life microaggression without a trace of self-awareness

I hesitate to offer psychological diagnoses of someone I have never met but he strikes me as the kind of guy who probably thinks he is being funny. You can hear him scoff "Lighten up" at you if he hurts your feelings.
Not necessarily malicious but gliding through life thinking of other people's feeling - or opinions as his constant whining about fan feedback on social media  shows - as an inconvenience to his blessed existence where he should be able to say, joke and write about whatever he wants.

1 hour ago, Khan said:

It's official: Ron Carlivati hates us.

And he clearly hates Lindsey Godfrey.
Imagine having to withdraw from your job for a year because you suffer mental health issues and THIS is the stuff they ask you to play when you feel strong enough to go back to work?

5 minutes ago, David_Vickers said:

Instead of some assuming Susan Lucci is the bitch, maybe Liza Huber's the bitch here.  Just saying. 

Or maybe no one is a bitch and Love and Family are complicated and everyone can do things they think are best that end up hurting others and people don't handle situations well enough that it doesn't escalate to the point no one knows how to step back from it.

It is not movies where everything is black and white. Sometimes everyone can have a point and a reason to do what they do and be in good faith and still hurt people they care about in a way they can't take back.

I am OK with the gossip but trying to assign blame on the dispute or pass judgement on how people are handling HH's passing, going to the funeral or not, without one single piece of information about the situation actually is seems rather futile to me.

13 minutes ago, Khan said:

Frankly, "resetting" Diane is impossible after everything that occurred during the Maura West days.  She's long past the point of no return.

I am confused about this. What are you referring to that happened during MW's stint that would make irredeemable? Coz as I remember it she was more pathetic than evil during that sting. 
Diane's two "bad acts" was stealing the sperm - happened under AD - and the pool house fire - under SW. There is nothing that happened after that that was problematic by soap standards.

5 hours ago, Chris B said:

If the show was good prior to her return, this Diane return would be a huge flop. The way they’re presenting her as a dangerous super villain doesn’t fit any of the previous portrayals of Diane and that includes all three actors. The only reason this somewhat works is because the show was so damn boring and needed a character like this. It’s just a shame they can’t seem to get the character right. 

Yes. I am so glad people are seeing it too coz it has been driving me batty. As long as it is PR, it is irritating and misleading but fine. If they start writing her that way, as I suspect they intend to, then Ill be mad,

Why couldn't she just be the one daughter and Nelle an accidental misunderstanding? Nelle is dead and they have squeezed all the drama out of Nina blaming Carly for her "daughter"'s death.

There is no need to reuse the uber-tired "forgotten twin" story device.

Which show was the first one to do it? 

34 minutes ago, divinemotion said:

My main problem right now is tha ALL of the characters that i LIKE = Anne Heche... the psycho doctor Taylor and the blond...Sharlene... are going away in days and weeks. I have problem watching knowing that all of them are soon going to be gone. I cant relate to other characters. Why did I have this luck to start watching these episodes... I am sad right now. Last night I binged for 10 hours!!! I love the show, but I want to watch more Anne Heche. I LOOOOVE HER: Never saw her till last night in anything... other than the Psycho remake. And I love Sharlene. 

In all fairness that's the problem with watching old soaps knowing full well what will prove lasting and will not.

This was not the twist. 

This was not even A twist. A twist is something that challenges what the audience believed or thought they knew until now.

Finn dying was just something that happened - good or bad, depending on your take. And then there will be a twist. Imminently but we don't know when. 

1 hour ago, divinemotion said:

I was bored 4 hours ago and I started watching Another World without ever watching anything... I started with a playlist from 1991-1992 - Episodes from May 1991 and let me say... 4 hours later... I should be sleeping... and I am binge watching and scared if may continue like that for hours. IT IS ADDICTING. Amazing storylines. I feel like I've found something very exciting. Well... hello there people. Did I start watching at a good period? Also... is there a place where I can find more episodes... I am hooooked.

Yep. That's where I started and as I said above (that's the Swajelski era I was talking right a couple of days) I thought everything was gelling great.