FrenchBug82

I still 100% would but not denying the moustache is not my favorite choice.

I don't understand why they wouldn't ask him. There is nothing that he has done or said that would prompt the show who is bringing back people who have been off the show for much longer to target him. He is an idiot for saying no to a few days paid work and full of himself and deluded. And he definitely preempted the recast announcement to make clear HE said no. But I don't see why they wouldn't have at least tried. We have all kinds of thoughts about him and Sonny but the show has no reason to feel that way

Why not but I have to say if she is genuinely spoiling the twist in such a manner, she is really as self-centered as her politics would suggest

I genuinely believe he was asked back and said no. There is no reason for them to bring back so many people but somehow choose to recast him for a brief online series.

Yeah I had the exact same reaction when I read it: congrats on ya'll who called it! And extra special shoutout to Liberty City for name dropping Tinker for the role!

She is welcome to quit the show and go catch Covid in TX or FL if she prefers. I swear social media is going to be the death of us on many levels. It spreads nonsense like wildfire but also makes people think their dumb offensive thoughts are profound, meaningful because they will find three idiots that cheer them on. How deluded must a person with a public following be to think posting this is not going to seriously hurt their career and image and how convinced they are of their own wisdom that they think it is worth the backlash? I continue to think we are better off knowing as little as possible about the people whose work we enjoy.

Counterpoint: even those tragic storylines were better than being left to disappear unceremoniously.

I kind of agree but I'd say that liking RB is enough to give a decent foundation if the writing finds something good to do with her which, I concur, they never quite did.

I am going to wait to see how it unfolds to get mad but I am not excited about this. I hate when a show shoehorns story to try and recreate a different dynamic from another show. I like RB and I am fine with Hayden. However I don't need an AMC reunion - especially since Ryan/Greenlee was not, shall we say, nearly as popular as ABC seems to think.

I don't think it was unreasonable although of course none of us know why and how the talks broke down. There might have been unreasonableness! Who knows? In a show that's not doing well financially - look at the sets - even a reasonable request from her might have been too much. The veterans probably hog a chunk of the performer budget and producers may not have much room to move for most recent arrivals, even a star like MM But she absolutely was a headliner and they should have tried to hang on to her. And they definitely shouldn't have killed Hillary off - although "retribution" sounds a step beyond what we know. Soaps short-sightedly kill off characters all the time. All of this was a screw-up but there does not need to be anything personal involved. Who knows?

I didn't know she had been on GL. Thanks for the insight!

That's sort of what I figured: that it was more of a zero-sum game but the original comment made me think maybe there was something about her "fame" back then I was not aware of.

Was she really unusually expensive? I mean I know she had a movie career of sorts but this is interesting. I wonder why they invested in her if she was more expensive; it is not like she had a following that would boost the show or did I miss something?

What was the criticism?

I hope not because I like CH very much and I still see the potential but man they really don't know what to do with her either. I think this can be fixed by settling on a characterization for her: she can either be an ambitious gold-digger which is fine: with good writing, we can even sympathize with her if done right. Or she is genuinely a nice girl trying to do her best to survive. But the ambiguity and constant vacillation between the two is completely hurting our interest and attention span. I still think it would have been smarter to send her in Nick's orbit. The age difference would have been less jarring, Nick WOULD be stupid enough to fall for a gold-digger (while it is harder to swallow with Jack) AND there would be a fun subtext to play with her being a "younger Phyllis" (show Nick and Phyllis having problems and then her calling him out on dating a discounted younger version of her) AND the conflict with Phyllis and Summer would then write itself.

I don't want to hate on the actress who is not responsible for the awfulness she was playing. I do wish Alan would actually ask her - he won't - how it feels to be doing your best to give life to a character and entire storyline block that 95% of the fanbase either hates on the merits or resents the mere existence of. On a human level, it must be rough.

I have remarked to myself they dress her as if she were still pregnant but then I didn't comment on it because I thought it is maybe because AS is a bit sensitive about not having lost the pregnancy weight and, well, I didn't want to feel like a jerk to accidentally say something that would accidentally hurt her feelings if she read this forum. For the record, if you are reading this, you look great! We want to dress you better because you are a pretty woman!

OK The subtext of this was lost on me but maybe it is clearer to those who have watched the show. But these are goooood looking people, I will say that much.

Heck, it is not like they conspired to give her her dream job as a war correspondant in Afghanistan. It is a fashion job in Italy! My heart is breaking for Summer, really.

100%. Would have changed almost nothing as to the events on-screen and would have made a lot more sense for the character. Not to mention we are still seeing her in Milan so that is not her exit yet as far as I can tell. AND that the Tara storyline predates the breakdown in contract negotiations so the way she was written in this mess would have been written regardless. The Italy thing started very shortly before it happened and was clearly tacked on but the gist of the story around Harrison WAS the plan.

With all the talk of Hayden's shooting and Cameron Mathison appearing very soon, I'd be shocked if she didn't. But then again considering the very bizarre last-minute way she was written out, there might be some BTS problems. But it'd make no sense to drudge this back up if it wasn't going to involve her return. Anyone excited for a Liz/Finn/Hayden triangle? Anyone...?

Said better than I did. 100% agree. I mean, these are distinct issues. This is obviously true and its own tragedy but even having made that mistake to suit MS' version of the character - what is done is done - there is nothing that says they can't do something with it. I mean, as grating as Phyllis can be, she has successfully driven story in the past. Heck, I don't even think the Sally/Phyllis thing is a bad idea in theory. There is after all something intriguing about Phyllis developing an instant dislike to someone she doesn't realize is a younger version of her. But they decided about the end game - the feud - without figuring out how to get there and basically they haven't written anything compelling to explain it. They just told us they disliked each other and... now we are supposed to care! The reasons they are coming up to justify it after the fact are so lame that it defangs the entire emotional investment in what happens.

No. It is not her fault. We were reflecting on how weird it is for the show to have made those moves and not use her. As for the current SL, I am not questioning why Phyllis would be pissed at these two for being manipulative. That's fine. It is not absurd and I kind of agree Phyllis on the warpath have some entertainment value. But it is hard for me to drudge much emotion over "OMG These bitches got my daughter her dream job in Europe! Oh the humanity!". Summer is the one who ended her pending marriage. Which is not to say Tara and Sally did not connive and should not be criticized obviously - they did and they should - but when it came down to it Summer made that completely unnecessary call. There was NO reason for her to walk away. I am no Summer fan but she could have wiped the floor with Tara if she had wanted. She gave up - which is bad writing but now that's what occurred on-screen so it is canon. And Summer looked at the job and wanted it. Again, the fact those who offered it to her had their own agenda is irrelevant to the fact that Summer looked at the situation and thought that was the best thing for her. They didn't force her. Phyllis has her own selfish agenda in not wanting her to take it too after all so it works both ways In the end if Summer herself thought breaking off with Kyle and taking the job was a better path for her future than staying in GC, why should I be upset? Sorry, it is not high-stakes. Summer sleeping with Billy was high-stakes. Phyllis being raped was high-stakes. Those were situations where people suffered because of actions by others. Here Summer is not suffering; she is thriving. And it was her own choice. It is a criticism of the writing btw, not of Phyllis. Phyllis' reaction is reasonable enough in the situation but from the beginning of the Phyllis vs Sally story they have been stretching to find a good reason for them to feud and I have yet to see something that has me emotionally invested one way or another.

I find this so striking too. While I preferred GT's version, I can hear the case for luring back an OG when possible but the minute she came back, the character - who had been in front-burner story the entire time GT was playing her - suddenly had nothing to do.

Talking about whether Spencer should have been recast, I often think about Starr Manning. Now the connection of KA with the audience was stronger than Bechtel's and nobody (including me) would have accepted they recast. But maybe this will be an unpopular thought bubble but with the benefit of hindsight and some distance from the death of the show, I sometimes wonder if the character wouldn't have benefitted from a courageous producer ripping the bandaid and recasting her in teenagehood. The emotional connection with having seen her grow up certainly was nice and compelling but I am not sure the qualities that made her such a fantastic child actress wore off very well when she aged. I think Bechtell would have a similar trajectory.