FrenchBug82

Fun game would be CB's next interview ask him if he even knows his character is supposed to have a glass eye. Not to embarass him - he is obviously not at fault here - but to know how much the people who prepped him even bothered to include this piece of history.

I am in the minority on this but I actually didn't mind the story under Bev. First because there was enough trauma happening all at once for her - being had by Roger, being rejected by Nick - that it would make sense she would become a lot more emotional. And being able to tie back both issues to Mindy made her a logical target. I mean she did rage at Roger but pursuing this further would be a constant reminder that she had been conned - not something someone proud like Alex would want to belabor. And she couldn't be mad at Nick since he was her son. Mindy was the proxy for her hurt. They wrote Alex as a lot meaner and obsessed than I think she should have been but I didn't think it was entirely absurd that she would overreact in this way. Especially because of the subtext. Sadly they didn't explore it explicity except for that one insult from Billy when she told him about Mindy and Roger but I do think even the most secure older woman, humiliated and rejected by the two men in her life within a short period of time, would feel threatened in her feminity and self-worth. Being "replaced" by a younger woman, especially someone who should be beneath her like j swift says and only became a viable "rival" because she is younger and more "obviously" beautiful, can shake anyone's self-confidence and it would make sense to react with resentment towards the symbol of her inability to stop time from passing, her body from aging, and so on. I don't know if there really was an non-insulting way to be more explicit about this but I built up this theory of the psychology behind the story which is why I took to it more than, well, most everyone else it seems. And yes I know. I overthink things but sometimes it helps make potential bad stories a bit better Now once a recast Alex came back it became a lame trope of the shrewish mother-in-law instead and it was tedious.

This cuckold storyline is literally the blackface of storylines. Just like blackface, this is a trope that has a long hideous history of racism behind it and regardless of what a white person's intent is in using it now, they absolutely should not. I don't believe Bell is racist but he is using a story whose subtext is a mix of poisonous cultural stereotypes that has fueled violence and hostility towards black men for centuries (from the overall objectification of People of Color reminiscent of, well slavery, to the "threatening" sexuality of black men and the tropes that go along with it) and I cannot comprehend how someone on his writing staff, on the technical crew, on the cast, at the network didn't stop to tell him that the subtext with those particular characters is just atrocious. Not to mention that he is now adding a story where a black character is paid to tattle-tale on the sexual escapades of another black man with a white woman. I mean the historical parallels... Has he ever read a book about American history and the antebellum South before? It is a no for me. A serious deep no. And unlike most fans, I actually don't mind the cuckolding storyline in itself. It is sleazy but why not? But this is horribly offensive. On the other hand, I will play Devil's Advocate on this. While we have plenty of reasons to be skeptical, I think it is a bit early to declare it a bust. I mean, building up Sheila as a threatening menacing lurking presence in Steffy's life slowly messing up things for her is exactly how it should be. Build up the tension and slowly draw out Sheila's evil tendencies and the feud between them. I am not particularly interested in the Sheila return but so far they are playing it probably how they should be playing it - with the exception of the Paris/Finn subplot. Bell might get bored and drop it soon as he has before and if this turns out to be the extent of it then, yeah, it'd be a bust. But if the story is going somewhere and is going to build up further over time, then this seems like a reasonable opening round to me.

Does this really count as a continuity error? It certainly is one of the most famous "haircut without permission" but while I obviously wasn't watching at the time, watching these scenes now in isolation feels like it was well-explained and her character's motives seemed like they made sense. I dunno what the overall context and storyline was obviously but it looks like the writing clean-up did a decent job at explaining it, no? Thank you! I actually love the short hair on her - better than on Rena.

Around what time was all that? I am not very good at clocking these things without knowing already but I'd like to see if I can spot it if I know what time we are roughly talking about,

It seems hair is the bane of soap continuity LOL Don't they have contractual obligations to ask permission before changing their appearance so the timing works?

Inspired by Liberty City's observation on the hairstyles of GH actors being different throughout an episode this week, I thought it would be fun to talk about our favorite glaring continuity errors in soap history. Amusing or infuriating. Obviously we all know about the BIG ones - soaps forgetting a character has a kid off-screen, recasts, retconning history. Those happen so often it would be hard to keep count. I am thinking more fun less important ones I'll start with my two favorites: - Knots Landing's Abby being kidnapped into a car with long hair at the end of Season 5 and arriving on the boat she is held hostage at the beginning of Season 6 with a freshly cut short bob. - In 1999 B&B Brooke hearing Stephanie had some kind of stroke and rushing to the hospital with long hair... only to arrive with short hair. I guess she had time to stop at the salon first. Any other kinds of amusing continuity errors ya'll can think of?

(Removed. Will start a new thread)

It is the end of this episode (might be a mashup of two) More of the fall and the aftermath from the next day is visible here (starting at roughly 44:00) There is also more of the initial confrontation between Nikos, Carl, Felicia and Rachel a bit earlier at roughly 40:20

I like Alex in this one. Annie on the other hand... God those writers didn't understand what had made Annie compelling in the first place.

A few weeks ago, she referred to Kiki as Lauren (her birth name) which no one but Ava and I think Franco used to do. That's a huge hint she is connected to Ava and/or the Jeromes in some ways if she knows Kiki as Lauren. But then again, cynicism alert, considering the pace at which the things they had spent the spring and summer establishing are dropped, who knows if they will go further with that angle.

I am so incredibly furious still - the first post-return Sonny/Ava scene is... a peaceful conversation around the kitchen table? What? Who ARE these people? - that I am not investing anything into any of this anymore. But I will say the Nina/Sonny scene went the way one should roughly expect but it certainly did not give me the vibe this was the actual end of that. Inserting the kissing scene would be a strange move if so. But of course this has not gone at all in the directions I expected so the tears and all might just have been MB doing some acting that the writing will go on to ignore so who knows.

Her "Capitol" stint is why I will go to my grave blaming the reason it didn't quite work as Alexandra on the writing rather than Marj. At least during her first stint. The second one, the writing was even more atrocious but she was on "F it" mode and just hamming it up the wazoo.

Gropping a woman and apologizing to ... her husband is so doubly-s***y. And yet so unsurprising.

I concur with what everyone said. And I do agree it is for the best that they moved Brooke out of the romantic leading lady role that might come off as silly now that she is a bit older (still beautiful and all but the stuff she used to do that was already immature would look ridiculous on a woman in her 40s/50s), I personally think they are not leaning on the Steffy/Brooke dynamic enough. There are enough good reasons for them to eye each other warily, enough ties between them that they can't walk away, and enough resemblance between them that the animosity could make a lot of sense - and it would mirror the show dynamic where Bell is clearly writing Steffy as the lead the way he used to with Brooke. They are only exploring it in the context of Hope and, Brooke as marital counselor, setting aside the (dis)merits of her advice, is not really compelling material. I really wish they would find ways to pit Steffy and Brooke against each other in ways that cut deeper and that have nothing to do with Hope or Ridge (although they'd get dragged into it) the way the Stephanie/Brooke dislike ended up being driven by many things other than Ridge and Eric over the years. That would be my vote for the "counter-Brooke".

I am ambivalent about what I believe. I do not believe for a second she intended to stay in the role long-term. Of course it was stunt casting - and I am the first one to admit I was surprised that it worked. However it is also pretty clear what was intended to be, say maybe, an already short six-month stint ended up shortened further due to circumstances, rather than a intended-all-along plot. And it was shortened - and not only is it extremely plausible but we have heard it from enough directions - because she was taken aback by the amount of work and the speed of soap work. It is well-known many actors coming to soaps from other backgrounds are surprised by how much work it is and how fast they need to work. And I can't imagine what someone of JC's stature would have to gain from sticking to a role if she is not enjoying the work conditions that are nothing like primetime soaps like Footballers Wives. My theory is that it was intended to be a six-month stint as stunt casting while waiting for Marj's stint as Vanessa on AMC to be over - Vanessa had been written in enough of a corner that it didn't take a genius to know she'd be released soon. Turns out MD was free earlier than expected so when it turned out JC wasn't happy, it worked in everyone's favor. GL had gotten its publicity out of it and was saving money by switching to Dusaj early and JC got out of a job she wasn't enjoying that much. Btw my personal take on JC as Alex was that she was certainly closer to the energy Bev McK had initially brought to the character and she was a great fun watch. But I still couldn't help seeing "Joan Collins" everytime she was on-screen so I am not nearly as enthusiastic about it as an "Alexandra" in hindsight. Fun? Yes. Interesting performance? Definitely. But like Marj was not playing the same character as Bev, I don't think Joan Collins was either. She was playing "Joan Collins as Alexandra" if that makes sense.

Seriously! Is that Phaedra?

Damn. You're good!

Would love it too. I don't think they are still acting. They live in Pennsylvania, last I heard, and make their money as property owners renting to folks.

I obviously don't have any insight on MM's personality but I do know that JPL has had a slight stench of BTS drama type around him for a while so I am not surprised there were issues.

It is not dramatic. It is exactly how I feel. Those who read this forum know I have a tendency to be very indulgent with soaps and try to emphasize the good things they do even when everything sucks. But I am beyond incandescent about this. For the exact reason you said. They got me to trust them this would be worth it and it really really really wasn't. I feel like a major sucker. While I suspect it is not their fault, the current writers shouldn't count on me ever investing anything into any new attempt to tell a long-term tale ever again.

Let me ask something I have always wondered as delicately as I can: was Larkin M. considered attractive at the height of his popularity?

That first picture is stunning. I do agree that the longish straightened hair looked the best and I liked the early 90s (I guess?) look that I think the second picture represents but by the latter half of the 90s that hairstyle looked almost fake and wig-like on her. I don't know if the budget cuts meant lower quality of hair styling or if she did start to wear a wig but I remember being less enthused with the way she was styled in the last years. Which on that note... LOL Her wardrobe by the end certainly felt a lot more ... relaxed and comfortable I guess. Almost closer to what I would picture Victoria W. herself wearing in real life.

Turns out the first warning sign was the extremely weird way they handled Jax finding out with those stretched out scenes and him managing not to say anything. It felt unnatural and now we know why. I bet it was the point at which the forced rewriters started to derail what they wanted to do. I bet the only plot point that was part of the initial plan was Peter setting the fire and Sonny remembering Carly that way. Everything else reeks of last minute repiecing together a rushed exit to the story. I hope one day we get an BTS explanation. I cannot comprehend what could have prompted Frank V or whoever to intervene in that way. Wrapping up the Willow triangle in a rush? Fine. I get it. But this? This? With actors that are all producer pets and characters that are mostly fan favorites? Talk about shooting yourself in the foot. Only good thing to come out of this is they still managed to give us a few weeks of Cynthia Watros at her best so I guess I'll thank our lucky stars they still carved out this great showcase for her talent in the midst of the disaster.

My assumption until now was they suspended it - which was short-sighted considering how much it killed the great momentum - so that they could tell the Sonny vs Jarly story properly and would revisit it later but in my disappointment of today I am starting to wonder if they did not actually just purely and simply dropped it. And considering how enthusiastic the public response was, if they did, the question is which behind-the-scenes personality had a hand in that. We have Frank V as a suspect but that wouldn't be the first time SB dictated who he did or didn't want to be paired with and/or changed his mind. I am beyond cynical today but looks like this nest of vipers mess goes way beyond the vaccine debate.