prefab1

34 minutes ago, Brolden said:

 I just made my way through the Mick Dante storyline that started in 2009 and was seemingly quickly discarded following the show's cancellation. I didn't like the storyline much at the time (it didn't help that I'm no RH-fan), but even less so now (I'm pretty sure this would have to be in the top 5 worst storylines on the show). I agree this show wasn't suited for the more science-fiction type storylines, but I actually enjoyed the spa storyline in '01/'02. The reason I enjoyed that storyline was not so much for the Dr. Weston stuff, but for seeing MW, KMH and MB together, as well as the people in Oakdale trying to figure out what happened (again, I really enjoy storylines that affect most people on the canvas). Although the Dr. Weston stuff was admittedly whacky, I think they explained it enough for it to make sense if you were willing to suspend you disbelief. The Mick Dante storyline, perhaps because it was scrapped so quickly, never made sense. Was he supposed to be a de-aged James Stenbeck, who had successfully used that serum? Or was he brainwashed into thinking he was James? I always thought it was the latter, but Barbara had some of his DNA tested as match for James. There were so many plot holes I can't even properly explain the storyline. Another thing that bugged me is that when Barbara found out he was James, the man she had feared for decades, she was immediately willing to help him make up for his mistakes with their son. The whole thing made NO sense. 
 

You see, I remember that weird gothic Mick Dante storyline fondly, mainly because it's the only time I ever saw Marnie Schulenburg's Alison have chemistry with anyone. 

29 minutes ago, EllenP said:

HS had a long term story in place for Lily/Holden/Molly/Dusty and it was supposed to go for a year or so after Rose’s death, but then CBS pumped the brakes. Mid-2004 when HS really went off the rails in terms of planning.

Does anyone know why they decided to kill off Rose in the first place? If they needed to axe one of Martha Byrne's characters, then I think Lily would have been the more logical choice. They clearly struggled to write for Lily, and she came off as a mopey bore for most of her final decade on the show. Rose was a much more exciting, dynamic character, and it always looked like Martha had fun playing her.

Also, can you just imagine the storyline possibilities if someone tried killing Rose but ended up killing Lily by mistake? You could get years of story just out of Lucinda not forgiving Rose for Lily's death. 

2 hours ago, P.J. said:

. I try and remember everyone has the right to express their opinions. But for me, Marland was a GOD, the Snyders were a breath of fresh air, and CARJACK ROCKED.  

Speaking of CarJack... I know this will probably be an unpopular opinion, but while I liked both Maura West and Michael Park as actors, and I thought Carly and Jack were both well-defined characters who had a lot of chemistry together at one point, the Passanante era just made me so sick of CarJack as a couple. Most of their storylines seemed to keep falling into the same pattern: Carly does something that offends Jack's sense of morality, so he yells at her, then she yells back, then they break up for a while, then they get back together a few months later. 

It reminded me a lot of GL's Reva and Josh, another relationship I ultimately found toxic, with the man ultimately judging the woman and making her feel she wasn't good enough for him. That's why I'm probably the only one on these boards who preferred Reva with Jeffrey, who accepted her for exactly who she was. I actually felt the same way about Carly and Craig, and I thought Maura West had great chemistry with both Hunt Block and Jon Lindstrom, chemistry I wish the show had explored a bit more. 

35 minutes ago, NothinButAttitude said:

If this video reinforces anything (from all your commentary), it is that this genre is dying simply because it no longer possesses visionaries that care for the genre and don't fear fighting against TPTB to keep these shows alive and flourishing. 

I see what you're saying, but I'm not entirely sure if I agree. If we look at the 4 soaps on the air today, half of them (Y&R, GH) do seem to be written as generically as possible, with no particular vision or voice discernible from the head writers. But B&B and DOOL do have more distinctive head writers at the helm; I personally think Brad Bell's vision is inane, and I enjoy Ron Carlivati's distinctive style quite a bit, but YMMV.

Also, I think that "visionary" writers can sometimes harm a show; Bob Guza had a distinctive voice, and he ended up gutting much of what was good about GH. And Claire Labine tried to impose her distinctive style on GL, and the results were nearly unwatchable. 

Here's the extended promo. I didn't realize we were getting a new Claire this soon! And just when I'd grown to appreciate ORK.

6 hours ago, Markjeh said:

I thought JP's work on ATWT was overall really bad. 2005 was just a horrible year imo and I only found out later that's when she started. The organ story with Keith and Lily was terrible. Carly having a never-seen before sister in Gwen was so random and not convincing. The BJ Green story was terrible. A very lackluster year.

 

Early 2006 was pretty good with the big Emily story and Luke's coming out. Probably very unpopular opinion but I was a huge Jade fan. But the real ''gem''' of her reign was Fall/Winter 2009. The pacing was right and the storylines were interesting to me. Emily's egg being used and Hunter being her son was cool (why drop him?), Meg going crazy was the most interesting she had been, Henry being James' son was too contrived but the story surrounding it was nice (I'll never forget the car-window scene with Barbara and Emily), and of course Brad's death was,  I have to admit, pretty well written.

Agreed with nearly all of those points. I thought the show really went downhill after Sheffer left in early 2005. Every time I tried to turn in during that period, I kept seeing mind-numbingly dull Paul-Meg-Dusty storylines, or not-so-interesting drama surrounding Carly's insta-sister Gwen, or CarJack stuck in the same never-ending cycle of break-ups and make-ups.

The period you mention around late 2009 was MUCH better, and significantly, that's when David Kreizman joined as co-head writer. I know that a lot of SON regulars like to blame Kreizman for GL's problems in later years, but I think he's very good at developing character-driven storylines. And developing characters generally: I'd be surprised if Reid wasn't a Kreizman creation. 

4 hours ago, AlexElizabeth said:

I was LMAO today when Kate told Roman he doesn't look old enough to be a grandpa... oh please

"You don't look old enough to be a grandpa. Although with all that plastic surgery, you DO look old enough to be a grandma."

Speaking of Roman, I think the show has found the perfect way to avoid shooting love scenes while the pandemic is still raging. As soon as two characters are about to get hot and heavy, just have Roman walk in and interrupt them with his boring stories about fishing trips. 

8 minutes ago, te. said:

 

Wait, she's 22? I assumed she was around 16-17.

I think the actress is 19, and the character seems younger. But when Allie first came on, they had some dialogue about she'd already graduated college and was a legal adult.

11 minutes ago, Mitch said:

LOL..that is PROGRESS!!!  A

 

Beth's transformation could have been one that was totally believable if they had explained it and given it time.  I could see an abuse survivor (Bradley.Dr. Blackburn,Roy and yes, psychologically Alan) turning inward and cold and perhaps even acting out sexually...but they needed the other characters, especially Phillip, Rick, Lillian and Alex, to comment on this and suggest therapy.  They were kind of going there with Loreli or whatever, but that was just stupid. A cold, calculating split who takes over when Beth feels a threat (for example, when Phillip, her knight, was with Harley..or when Phillip was dead and Gus was trying to take his place as 1st son...) could have been good, if they have to go over the top, but I would rather they explain it as post trauma and then Beth get help...She could have still been more bitchy then Judi Evans saint character but..

I really liked the Lorelei stuff, but you're right: it needed better dialogue to help make the subtext of Beth's psychological split into text. But then again, I also thought the Beth/Alan relationship was really interesting, in a creepy way. I could totally buy that, due to Beth's early trauma, she would turn to powerful men who would make her feel safe (even men as vile as Alan). 

15 minutes ago, ranger1rg said:

Angry Sonny was so bad, but honestly, Will was no better.

 

The writing for these two is awful, and these two never fail to live down to it. Why should we give a damn about them as parents of one kid let alone two?  The storyline is bad, the writing is bad, and the acting is horrific.

 Yeah, this Allie's baby storyline started strong, but is quickly spiraling down the drain. All it's making me do is hate Allie, who now seems to be withholding her baby from Will out of spite because he didn't tell her that their mom talked to Rafe about the adoption. I still can't believe that Allie is supposed to be 22, because she acts like a middle schooler. 

7 minutes ago, Soapsuds said:

I've never noticed. Is he flat?...lol

Based on some of the shots of his crotch in today's episode, I'd say he's flat on the other side too. 

I just wanted to say that I'm appreciating how the show is using a more experimental style for the direction of the Ben/Eve scenes. Those experiments don't always work--case in point, the weird background music that was playing in one scene, which got even weirder when Eve started commenting on it and said was an unfinished song that Paige composed. But I still like that they're making an effort to try something different. 

On 8/3/2020 at 8:27 AM, YRBB said:

 

And is certainly approaching (reaching?) James E. Reilly territory...

If Reilly were writing this, then those scenes of Ben in his underwear being tortured and brainwashed would be stretched out for a whole month, rather than just a couple of days. 

4 hours ago, ReddFoxx said:

Why would Eve want to turn Ben back into a killer instead of just killing him?

Maybe she's as sick of Ciara as I am. 

5 minutes ago, pdm1974 said:

Am I the only one rooting for Eve?

Nope. Kassie's selling the hell out of this storyline, and the scenes with her in that red dress put the "opera" back in soap opera.

15 minutes ago, All My Shadows said:

If I keep seeing positive remarks about my Sami and Lucas (my Lumi ) showing up on that sidebar on the right left, I'm gonna have to tune in to Days of Our goddamn Lives. I'm getting desperate.

If you do tune in again, today's episode would be a pretty good place to start. No Lucas, but some quality feuding between Sami and Nicole, plus shirtless Brandon Barash, and a cliffhanger that genuinely took me by surprise. 

45 minutes ago, AbcNbc247 said:

And I do like Will and Sonny/Chandler and Freddie, but yeah their scenes are so low energy, it’s sad. But I do have to ask, how much of that is attributed to the one and done style of filming that DAYS does? 

I'm sure the rushed production schedule has something to do with it, as does poor direction. But that seems to be the standard on all the soaps these days. I was watching a YouTube recommended clip from GH recently, and I was shocked by how poor the acting was. It felt like most of the actors were reading their lines for the first time. 

3 hours ago, ranger1rg said:

I hear you about the little girl. It’s just that she plays the part like a bad seed / demon child. I blame casting, because I just don’t believe that’s the best they could do.

I blame casting for the fact that the little girl looks nothing like her mother, Gabi. But I think the "bad seed" part is totally intentional, as a way of signalling that she'll grow up to be a cross between her mother and her Grandma Sami. Hence the line about how she learned about bribes from "mommy, who uses them all the time." 

55 minutes ago, ranger1rg said:

You want REALLY bad acting? Those scenes with Will, Sonny, and their daughter were fricking horrendous. The girl is a terrible actress, and Will and Sonny do nothing but grin and act like parents who have spent ZERO time with their kid except for a conversation once a month on that couch.

I thought the little girl had some good comic timing, and I'd go easier on her because she's a small child. FS and CM have no such excuse, and they looked visibly uncomfortable around this little girl who's supposed to be their beloved daughter.

Scenes like this make the other characters' claims that "Will and Sonny would be the BEST adoptive parents" seem even more surreal. Just because they're a desexualized gay couple doesn't mean they'll make great parents!

Sami and Lucas were such a great comic double-act today. I hope that, in the midst of all the upcoming departures, the show is still able to keep the two of them around for a while. 

5 minutes ago, Aback said:

Is the Caucasus area Eastern Europe? Are the people from Armenia, Azerbaijan and ROG traditionally “white”?

I live in Armenia, and the people here certainly do think of themselves as "white" (and would be shocked to hear that some people might view them otherwise). 

28 minutes ago, Toups said:

If you've been at a job for 37 years and your employer was like, "we're not going to pay you for 5 months, but after that you can come back," would you be happy?  Of course not. You would look at other jobs.  I too don't see how she was spoiled or stuck up.  

Maybe my opinion is skewed by my perceptions of how little KA brings to Days. She's not a bad actress, but she rarely elevates the scenes she's in, and with a relatively high episode guarantee, she takes away airtime from far more interesting characters and actors. And there are some long-running actors on that show who are much better than KA and would have probably killed for the deal that TPTB offered her. 

I can completely understand why she's pissed about how the show tanked her pairing with Aiden (the one post-Bo relationship where she generated real romantic chemistry). But the way she talks about the show taking her off the canvas for 4 months, then bringing her back as part of a frontburner romance storyline--it just makes her sound spoiled. A lot of soap actors would kill to have that kind of break, because it would be enough time to work on some other project. 

However, some of these characters are needed to counterbalance the other male leads on a show. Yes, Y&R's Paul might be vanilla, but he's a refreshing change from the other men in his age range (Jack, Victor, Michael), who are all posturing d***heads. And Doug Davidson is very good in scenes where he has to be emotionally vulnerable. Now that TPTB at Y&R have demoted him to recurring status, they seem to be giving more of those scenes to Peter Bergman, who I find laughably bad and unsympathetic, even when he's blubbering away.

Now, Paul's insta-son, Steve Burton's character Dylan: that dude had the personality of a piece of aluminum siding. He'd be a good contender for this list. 

Sadly, more often that not, black male romantic leads on soaps (e.g. Eli on Days or Ben on ATWT) are written very blandly, and only the best actors would be able to inject some personality into them. And even then, they still require good writers and producers who see their potential. When Lawrence Saint-Victor started playing the much-recast Remy on GL, he was pretty bland, but the writers played to his strengths and worked with him to craft a very specific, memorable character (one who had great chemistry with both Michelle Ray Smith's Ava and Karla Mosley's Christina).