Darn

The lack of thought and care put into this story is kind of astounding. But MTS and CZ look incredible. 70 ain't what it used to be.

And that would track since Rebecca Herbst looks to be on the verge of vomiting in every scene with him.

Susan (Lucci) in a similar vein had a lot of primetime work in the 80s and 90s, numerous TV movies and guest spots. But she stayed with AMC the entire time. I know she was loyal to the show but I wonder why she never left, I'm sure she was offered plenty of opportunities. Victoria Rowell did Y&R and Diagnosis: Murder simultaneously somehow. Full-time on both shows. It seems like daytime actors used to do a lot more primetime/outside gigs than they do now.

Good list. Sasha's had more tragedy in her short stint than other characters have in 30 years. And absolutely no one cares. Liz and Finn winning worst couple warms my heart. Poor Becky, shouldering the burden of yet another of ABCD's former bad boys as they've long aged out of "dangerous" and into filler and hair dye. Isn't that kind of crazy, ABC devoted so much time, energy and money into making Michael Easton and Roger Howarth the male faces of OLTL to only have them whimpering out a decade (!) later playing characters that are personality free and contribute nothing.

Honestly, that's the business. And they only worked with her for a year. Acting is such a transient profession, less so on soaps if you manage to become a staple but so many of these actors don't so you kind of can't get too attached to a co-star exiting. Especially on B&B where they've made it a habit to hire an established actor with fanfare only to dismiss them with a whimper shortly after.

Of course not. Daytime is increasingly a despicable, ego-driven, incestuous, clique-y industry. Anything said in support of her would just result in retaliation from Brad and jeopardize that actor's employment.

Oh this is so sad. Surely there are TV movies she could be doing, no? Maybe this is karma for wishing she could have been Putin's mother.

He has before and will again. Don't tempt him!

This is so so stupid.

You can't expect a show that's currently telling a "he might DIE--or? Maybe not." story with an 80 year old man to be capable of making good decisions.

And they only begrudgingly allowed 70 year Jack to have an adult son a few years ago. It often feels like the characters are stuck in status from where they between 1995-2005. It's downright bizarre that Victoria has no adult children (before whatever this thing is with Claire is) to interact with. Is the fear that if someone turns on the show and doesn't immediately recognize everyone as they were 20 years ago so paramount that they're not building for the future at all? Daniel, Mariah, Kyle, etc. should be driving story and they all could, they're played by talented actors who seem in it for the long haul. Why is Sony not demanding a true investment in them?

Crazy that the alleged next generation of Newmans has been window dressing for 15 years. They've done so little with him that he might as well have aged in real time. Has Noah ever had a memorable storyline?

Cole joins the Crimson Lights coalition I see. Is there an important conversation that can't be held in your local coffeehouse? Nope!

I simply don't understand the lightning speed of every major story. However, my theory is that Josh (Griffin, not Morrow, who is just showing up to work on time) is more concerned with the twist, throwing those pesky viewers off, than he is with the story. Diane's return was a SHOCKER. It got the show a lot of ink for a few days, and lapsed viewers went "OoooooH". Then, within a few weeks to a month (if that), everyone who mattered knew she was alive, and now, a year or so later, she's in story Siberia with Jack. Cameron Kirsten, a villain that viewers had been clamoring to resurrect (or at least fans of Sharon who wanted her to have a story that didn't involve her in a love triangle with people whose diapers she used to change). And they didn't have to LITERALLY resurrect him because he was ALIVE and in prison, and viewers knew this. They didn't have to pull shenanigans to bring him back. They could have easily brought him back after serving a 20-year prison sentence (in REAL TIME) as a long-term (or dear god at least six months) foil for the Newmans. I know some of us here would like to blame the mishandling of that story on Linden Ashby's availability. Well, guess what if you don't have the resources to tell a fully realized story two decades in the making? DON'T TELL THAT STORY. Write something else until you have him signed to a short-term contract or he's free to work on a soap for however long he's not booking guest spots or TV movies. My god, it's not like the man was starring in the latest Star Wars Disney+ series. Victoria killed her husband or something, I guess whothefuckknows and that was also a real shocking twist because uhhhh we saw the exit of handsome and talented soap legend Robert Newman. This wonderfully skilled man was brought on to portray a character who showed up (as the also handsome and talented Richard Burgi, himself a soap vet and primetime TV staple), did nothing of interest besides marrying a 50-year-old ingenue and died. Has he been mentioned since? As part of the anniversary festivities Joshy kicked off a story in which Phyllis faked her death as revenge against Diane. Big umbrella story, right? ripple effects across the whole canvas that would presumably last months, if not years. Within weeks, everyone who mattered discovered she was alive. The story culminated in her killing a man. Would you even classify that as a C story now (if it's even still going in any real capacity)? Because from what I can tell, it's done, and the show is moving her onto a story, featuring two recurring actors with nothing to do but certainly happy to reminisce in every scene they're in, where she's apparently going to pursue a man who has actively hated her for 30 years. You guys. You guys. She faked her DEATH in April. Of this year. Just...what was the reason for all of that nonsense? I don't even watch the stupid show and those are the twist-y stories I can think of off the top of my head that were told at a breakneck pace and ultimately amounted to nothing. Making a story work over months, if not years, is the lifeblood of daytime. But this this this MAN writes as if this show is a freaking weekly anthology series. Tune in next week! Whatever happened this week may or may not matter! But we'll be sure to include endless, tedious scenes of billionaires and their multi-millionaire friends sipping coffee and discussing their latest employment decision.

B!tch. Lmao. Easton next? Stay tuned!

For a soap I think GH has handled Robin's HIV pretty responsibly. They'd mention it regularly and it was always a concern whenever she had a medical crisis. And HIV/AIDS treatment has advanced so much in the last 30 years that I think showing someone able to live a fulfilling life was incredibly important.

The Newmans having a family group chat is hilarious.

This is just B&B's way of getting a little bit of mainstream ink every year.

Lazy, unimaginative paint-by-the-numbers storytelling. Why is this so drrrrrrrry

They were in an impossible position. Being overly critical resulted in the shows punishing them by limiting access. Yet lack of criticism drove readers away. During my middle/high school years I'd often find an empty cashier lane at Publix and do my weekly SOD reading (no allowance, no job and frugality. Don't judge me.) Memories.

OLTL killing off both Jessica and Natalie's best love interests is still so bizarre to me.

This is fantastic. "AJ! I don't think that boy has ever seen black people up too close!" "I mean come on, those people don't even have black servants in the house!" "That Reggie wore himself out trying to hide all the little lawn jockeys before we got there! I can see it now 'Oh, Master Quartermaine, how shall we hide all the little colored men on the lawn?'"

It's always crazy to me when soaps have a character involved in multiple dead baby stories. Frankly Nicole is too old for this nonsense. Anyway, that promo felt like a parody of a soap commercial. So much random soapy things.

I love the idea that they don't have each other's phone numbers.

What exactly sounds good to everyone? Genuinely. Danny's back in town. There will be flashbacks. What. Is. The. Story?