prefab1

I hope that whenever they bring Sami back again, they'll continue to explore this Marlena/Ben bond. Last time Sami was on, she expressed shock and horror that her mom had gotten close with the man who strangled Will. And there's a visible contrast between the way Marlena treats Sami--coldly, barely disguising her annoyance and frustration--and the nurturing way she treats Ben.

I actually enjoy watching that, because it reveals a lot of insights into Marlena's character. Of course, she'd gravitate towards a patient she believes she can fix, rather than her own daughter who's beyond help. In real life, there are plenty of people in the "helping professions" (therapists, teachers, social workers) whose identities are wrapped up in their jobs, but you don't see that on soaps very much, and you especially don't see many women on soaps who identify so strongly with their professions. So I like getting to see that with Marlena. 

Say what you will about Days, but I'm pretty sure it's the only show on television where you'll see a sixty-something woman using her sex appeal as a bargaining chip to get her great-grandson back from her babysnatching escaped convict ex-boyfriend. And also the only genre where you'll see her reach into her purse for a pacifier, then pull out a gun and shoot him. While still carrying the baby in her other hand.

1 hour ago, Soapsuds said:

Meg was a jealous money hungry cunning bitch. The ending she got was awful and so out character. She ended up in a mental hospital. Really?????  Ridiculous!!!

On the other hand, that's literally the only time I found Marie Wilson to be interesting in the role. So maybe it's a character assassination and a character redemption at the same time 

8 hours ago, vetsoapfan said:

TGL's Beth Raines inexplicably went from a sweet and shy heroine under Judi Evans to a tic-ridden, sofa-humping harpy shrew under Beth Chamberlin. Her behavior when the character was in San Cristocrap, for example, was mind-numbingly ridiculous.

Unpopular opinion here, but I liked Beth's transformation and found it totally explicable, given all the trauma the character had been through (including sexual abuse and kidnapping). Of course, it goes against the genre conventions of soaps, where the ingenue heroine endures this kind of trauma every few months but remains the same "sweet" person throughout (rather than becoming jaded and defensive like any real person would be). I think Chamberlain played her character's brittleness and coldness as a psychological defense mechanism, the result of a woman who had been deeply hurt too many times and refused to get hurt again. And to me it made perfect sense. 

35 minutes ago, Antoyne said:

 

I feel like the blackout is ruining some of the momentum the show had been building up. I’m tired of Clyde and Orpheus.

I agree that I'd be happy never seeing Clyde or Orpheus again (although Rolf is still a lot of fun IMO). And the blackout is putting some of the show's most interesting storylines on pause for a couple of weeks. 

But given all the behind-the-scenes chaos and the challenge of suturing together pre-lockdown material shot in March with more recent material shot six months later, I'm willing to cut them a lot of slack. Especially when they're still writing lots of fun material like those Gwen/Rolf scenes today.

7 minutes ago, P.J. said:

Michael Easton---Silas Clay/Ham Finn  GH  I do not understand GH's obsession with this dude. He's so low energy he makes paint drying a fascinating afternoon.

You might not like him, but I wouldn't say that the character of Finn is a flop. He's been there for nearly 5 years now, and the show keeps expanding his family; he's now at the center of a big story with Kim Delaney's Jackie Templeton.

For my tastes, Finn (with his dry sense of humor) is one of the only characters I can stand to watch on GH these days. And I actually think he's a better fit for Easton's talents than John McBain on OLTL, who might have been popular with certain segments of the audience, but really was like watching paint dry. Paint in some kind of dour, self-pitying shade of grey. 

Love that Sarah and Xander scene at the end of the promo. Also glad to see that Brady is getting thrown back into the Titan mix, rather than being isolated in the Kristen story. 

10 hours ago, AbcNbc247 said:

Switching gears, I'm curious as to who Philip's partner is. Some people were suggesting that it was Sarah, finally getting back at Xander for the baby switch but Sarah doesn't strike me as the type to launder money.

Wild theory, but I'm guessing that this is how the show is going to bring back Ava Vitale from the dead. 

Charlie the intern is super-cute. I just hope the show isn't setting him up to be Allie's rapist. (Who am I kidding...that's totally what they're doing). Given his Titan connection and resemblance to JKJ, a better option would be to make him Tyler/"Pocket," taking the internship because he secretly wants to connect with his bio dad. 

Also, even though the politics of this rape storyline leave a LOT to be desired, it is leading to some wonderful character moments. It was entirely believable to see hotheaded Tripp go about things exactly the wrong way with Allie, and Lucas Adams did some fine acting work with his body language where he was intimidating Allie and Nicole. And I loved the conflict between Steve and Kayla, who's both a rape survivor and someone who's been physically assaulted by Tripp. 

If I didn't know better, I'd say the show was heading towards a Ben/Hope coupling. As someone who got sick of Cin pretty quickly, it amuses me to imagine a future episode where a recast Ciara returns home to find her mother and her husband in bed together. 

4 hours ago, dio said:

these dumb stories. And then they're gonna bring back some dayplayer that was on 1 episode, and he'll be the rapist. Or, Alli was drugged and kidnapped by Rolf and impregnated w/ Stephano's spawn. 

Even though a date rape story makes sense, given Allie's ambivalence about her baby and her reluctance to talk about the father, I still wish we weren't going there. Agreed that they probably won't make Tripp a rapist. I've seen speculation that Allie's baby-daddy might actually be Evan. 

21 hours ago, KMan101 said:

Emily O'Brien is so wonderful. I'm thrilled she's on contract but I still fear Gwen isn't long for the world. But she's been great. Adds some spice to the show. And I love they have Gwen talk to herself like all the villains do.

 

I'm guessing that Gwen's as-yet-undisclosed grudge against Abby is going to tie her to the show's core families in some way. And I can't wait to see her as some kind of demented Mary Poppins, trying to turn Abby's kids against her as she looks after them. 

Okay, I did not expect Days to go all meta with the Marci Miller/Kate Mansi situation. That scene where Marci's Abby looks at a photo of Chad with Kate's Abby and asks, "Who the hell is this!?" cracked me up. 

Also, Emily O'Brien was just on fire today. She has to be the show's best casting choice in years. 

46 minutes ago, victoria foxton said:

I don't care that bland Eric is going. I do like GV. But the writers never bothered to develop Eric's personality. 

 

I'm also not that sad to see Greg Vaughan go. I'd rather have Brandon Beemer and his pretty eyes filling the show's bland hunk quota. But I did really like his scene with Sami at the door today.

Sami: "You're really gonna leave without saying goodbye?"

Eric: "Yes, I was. But seeing you're here...Goodbye, Sami." [Shuts the door in her face]

Marlena: "How are you holding up?"

Nu-Claire: "I'm just... I'm just kind of numb."

Me: "You sure are!" 

Now I'm very curious about that Gwen/Rolf connection!

It looks like Days is finally doing a fairly realistic John/Marlena story for once. I hope they keep with the storyline of John's neurological trauma (and subsequent inability to control his anger) because I'm finding it really compelling--and that scene with Sami was great. 

3 hours ago, Antoyne said:

I wanted to feel something with Ciara's "death", but they made the character such an insufferable Ben apologist that I legit feel nothing.

Yeah, I also don't really care whether Ciara lives or dies, but I do think the show has been playing all the right storyline beats here. I loved how we got the scenes of Hope breaking down in Abe's arms, plus the comic (but absolutely plausible) scenes of Victor wanting to shoot Ben. 

13 minutes ago, Soapsuds said:

Waiting for news that Matthew Ashford has been fired again and recast with Hunt Block.

Nope. Although... does General Hospital actually have Jon Lindstrom on contract...?

I'm looking forward to this! Hopefully Cady and Matt will have onscreen chemistry, and both can stay around for a while. 

45 minutes ago, Khan said:

Sami is a grandmother, for God's sake. When is she gonna learn to let [!@#$%^&*] go!?

Hopefully never, because stubborn willfulness and narcissism are what make Sami Sami. 

28 minutes ago, Mitch said:

Speaking of Nola, I was always sorry they let Brown off contract. Being in the boardinghouse would give her the perfect opportunity to counsel the young people arriving in town (plus give Brown, who was their acting coach,  actual scenes to work with them) kind of like Marland had Lisa be the mother hen of all the young people and especially any bad girls who came to town.  The problem with the show postMADD is that all they were worried about was the A story (which always had to be Reva) and not the B and C stories and the supporting players.

I think it's too bad that no one tried to get Melissa Hayden back as Bridget (at least, not until the final episodes, when they also brought Nola back). The Reardon boarding house actually would have been the ideal set for the later years of the show; it could have been a lower-rent counterpart to the hotel where half of the cast seemed to live. And it would have been great to have Bridget running it and mixing it up with characters like Vanessa and her brother Matt. 

33 minutes ago, InLoveWithSoaps said:

Do you think Deas could have worked as an Ed recast given recent discussion about the Ed's and the fact Deas' arrival meant Maureen's death? Might have kept her alive and fire PS instead. It's one thing I've wondered watching the excellent early 1994 episodes.

Maybe in 1984, when Simon first left the show, Deas could have worked as his replacement. But I can't imagine Deas playing any of the material that Simon got in the 1990s. He'd make no sense with Maureen, and I couldn't picture him in scenes with Holly and Roger. (Although of course Buzz did end up marrying Ed's affair partner Lillian in the final weeks of GL).

9 minutes ago, AbcNbc247 said:

I'm really liking the dynamic between Jake and Gwen. Even now that they're not a couple anymore, I still enjoy their scenes together.

Emily O Brien and Brandon Barash clearly have a lot of fun acting together; you can tell that they're each doing a bit of improv to keep the other on their toes, and it totally works.

Speaking of surprisingly great couples, I also loved Paul Telfer and Linsey Godfrey's scenes today, where they managed to spice up what would have been a pretty boring scene on paper (e.g. Xander broods about having to run Titan with Phillip). Although I wonder how they're going to film scenes like that now with social distancing rules in place. 

2 hours ago, Faulkner said:

Jana was a pretty annoying character who had wretched writing. She’s very talented. She definitely gives her scenes energy (and is very sexy), which is rare these days.

Exactly. EOB is terrific in this role, and hopefully (now that there's no longer a 10-month lag between filming and airtime) the writers will see that she's been well-received and make sure to keep her on as a perennial town troublemaker. There's also plenty of opportunity to flesh out her backstory (and maybe connect her to Xander and/or EJ).