Darn

When was the last week to not feature a scene at Crimson Lights?

Heather coming back is stupid. Her last appearance should have been her final appearance. Alley Mills is a lovely woman and looks properly, ahem, refreshed (good for you girl) the character is more than spent. Making her Esme's mother was itself a bridge too far but no, let's keep beating this dead horse.

I would love a peak into the behind the scenes discussion that went into bringing back Matt Clark for a redemption arc. How did this make it to screen? How are they all just...talking to him? He raped Sharon, Amy and Tricia and framed Nick for murder. He was never good or even misunderstood, there was never an ounce of nuance to this character. He has no ties to anyone outside of the crimes he committed, he has no legacy beyond the harm he inflicted. He was just pure evil. His "relationship" with Tricia was a sign of how mentally ill she was. Now they have Phyllis sleeping with him and we're meant to find it fun to watch? Was there a referendum from on high to bring on a rapist for Howarth to play? Since that's the majority of his career at this point. I'm not even much of a fan of his but he deserves better than having to play for type across three shows over for 30 years. But mortgages and kids are expensive so I get it. Was there a discussion at all? Or was Griffith just allowed to do whatever he wants? This has to be one of the most downright bizarre things I've seen a show pull.

That makes a lot of sense. KZ/Reva was a face for GL, like Nikki, Marlena, Viki, Erica, etc. even though unlike them Reva was constant diminishing returns. What I've seen of RM has been great, I'm sure I would've loved her. As someone who is still salty about Robyn Richards getting recast on GH I completely understand.

Thanks for sharing that video from NSA, @DRW50, I came here to post the same thing lol. While I didn't hate her in the role, she was never anything more than serviceable in the role and I started watching GL in '99 partly because of Bethany Joi Lenz so I was a harsh critic. That said, I didn't really care about Danny and Michelle, they were fine but I loved the chemistry between the actors. I've found that a lot the time I'm more into a couple with a good rapport, one that feels real and lived, not necessarily ones with the best storylines. I've always wondered, why was the show so invested in giving Reva frontburner story after frontburner story as ratings continued to dwindle? Kim Zimmer was a star but GL remained dead last, why remain so committed to keeping her constantly in outlandish A-stories? They were clearly logline pitches without much thought put behind why any of them were happening to Reva. All of soaps leading ladies have been given ridiculous material to play but something about Reva's stories just felt...desperate. In fact, the entire time I watched the show it felt like a show that was never satisfied with itself. Princesses! Time travel! Immigration! Mob! We've got it all! Next week we're have something different if you don't like this! Please don't leave! There was a tension to the show because it didn't seem to know what it wanted to be other than watched.

Colby Nixon not getting a nom is crazy work. Crazy! She’s such a star ugh. Amazing, astounding, knock me off my feet to see three black men nominated in supporting. Equally amazing to see two black women in lead. This is making my perpetual “rooting for everybody black” stance real hard. Y&R getting nominated for set design TWICE when their sets are held up by spit, hope and a prayer is insane.

Susan on MBJ and SMG. I'm pretty sure this is the first time she's said Sarah's name in 30 years.

I’m numb! I guess you could do worse, like Griffith for instance, but I honestly can’t even envision what an AMC TV movie looks like.

I’ve always thought they made Fen gay because Christian LeBlanc is (they also don’t care about Fen so it was a real “why not? sure” kind of decision). Does that make sense? Not really but I never claimed to make sense!

I have to disagree with you there, there's a place on daytime to tell really any type of story and it's a medium that feels almost ideally suited to cover the slow deterioration caused by Alzheimer's. I think the real problem is when they seemingly become the only major storyline happening, as I felt with Mike and Dina. The shows had their leads in these achingly depressing stories where all it felt like anyone was doing was watch old people die. It's a really hard story to tell I'll give you that. There's no sort of "beautifully dying" element to it like a heroine dying of cancer as her love interest cries manly tears while her rival curses the gods in the hospital chapel.

The flip soaps have done in the past 15 or so years will never not fascinate me. Being over 40 used to mean your job was in jeopardy, now over 50 vets basically have job security. We've gone from Phelps telling Jacklyn Zeman that no one wants to see anyone over 40 have sex, to great grandparents leading story while their grandkids sit around twiddling their thumbs. Of course this is a result of their desperation to gain new young viewers so much so that they alienated their existing ones, which in turn made them equally desperate to keep whoever was left. That actually makes me wonder what AMC would look like now if they'd managed to stay on network on as long as GH has.

Thank you @Franko and @EricMontreal22 for answering my question about Erica's fame. I've been on a tear watching 80s Susan Lucci interviews and clips of a young Erica and I'm fully grasping how she became so incredibly popular. My whole life she just...was, so it's been a lot of fun seeing how refreshing she must have been to the daytime audience. You knew that no matter the story that if Erica was on she'd say something so biting or hilariously narcissistic that you couldn't help but laugh. There was a short clip in a compliation I watched where Erica is talks about growing up in Pine Valley, describing herself as "a rose amongst the weeds" while doing a faux humble little headshake and it's got to be one of the funniest things I've ever seen. Susan Lucci is truly a singular talent. Daytime has plenty of heroines and vixens and funny characters but Erica managed to be all three and you bought all of them. I think that's likely why she didn't win the Emmy for so long. I mean, yes okay maybe she's not the best dramatic actress but I'm more of the mind that they struggled to categorize her, she didn't fit snuggly into the "dramatic" lane even when the material was melodrama, then the losing streak started to eclipse whatever was onscreen until she finally delivered a solidly dramatic performance through and through in a year where her competition was schlock like Kim Zimmer crying over her clone dying. I'm glad you saw the light @Vee , and as usual admitted that I'm right! I kid but really, I could see Kelsey doing that. She was very immature and stupid. I wouldn't have enjoyed watching it or the damage it would've done to a legacy character but I'd totally buy her pulling some BS like that once she got a hint at the attention it might garner. Walt Willey is a scholar and a gentleman (and hotter now at 75 than he was 30 years ago) but I absolutely hated Jack. He was not only terribly boring but a judgmental prick. I hate the trope of the bad girl falling over themselves to get the approval of some holier than thou full man. I don't like that he was Erica's endgame. She needed someone who challenged her, someone who appreciated the challenge she brought, not someone who liked her best when she dulled her edges. Jack's relationship with her makes me think of Marilyn Monroe and the men in her life (without all the abuse), how what attracted them to her is exactly what they couldn't wait to cage once they got her.

Ally! It's kind of insane that our options are the retired and elderly or someone brand new. These soaps haven't invested in anyone over the past 20 years? If they can go a single episode without characters sitting in a restaurant discussing their new job/potential job I'd consider it a win!

They definitely look alike. Same nose and hooded eyes.