edgeofnik

During the past few months, Y&R has brought back EH, MCE, MM and MS. It takes a special kind of writer to create a boring show with those actors back in the fold. I would've never guessed that was possible. And it's not like key players in each of their characters' orbits are off canvas. Plenty to work with here.

Declawed Chelsea is simply the new version of StePhyllis. Ridiculous.   

It occurred to me that one of the flaws of the TJ is that we are so used to retcons or characters who returned when they were off-screen to have had secret lovers, babies, etc. that doing the jump is simply a variation of that. 

I'll use Kristen as an example.
1. April - Sept: She was 'dead,' came back and had the Nicole, Vivian and Tony resurrections tied into the story that happened off-screen but then was revealed later.

2. Nov-Dec (TJ/Off-screen): Kristen was happy with Brady, lost her baby tragically, killed Haley, went to convent. 

Is the TJ that much different? Maybe that's why we're not impressed.

32 minutes ago, DramatistDreamer said:

These daytime divisions (or what's left of them) had better figure out a plan to prevent further permanent erosion as a result of pre-emptions because if this impeachment process goes to trial in the Senate, there will likely be more pre-emptions, which could have even deeper impact on these shows' ratings.

The ratings of impeachment hearings are very low - they are actually less than what all the network/cable stations draw on normal weekdays. So all of them are losing. During Watergate, I read the networks rotated airing the hearings in order to preserve the daytime lineups and that was with 3 networks + probably PBS. Ironic when there are dozens of networks, streaming, etc. that they're all choosing to air the same thing.   

@Khan I've accepted DAYS' lower standard and kinda just go with it. I'm glad it's still around, but the Steveno plot is not even laughably bad. I'm certain I'll be FF through that next week.

Re: CM - I think your conclusion is the most likely outcome. JJ has been an enigma for the writers after the initial stuff with Theresa. 

@te. Perhaps she was was deported to a much hotter place for all the H--L we were put through watching her.

The best solution to enjoy DAYS - binge multiple episodes. I watched Monday's separately - and then binged Tu-Fri this morning. Standing alone most episodes are quite lackluster, but when you watch back-to-back, it certainly feels like things are moving along. My summary for the week:

1. CM has never looked better - and he has stoned JJ down pat. His character actually feels real now. And seeing Haley again reminded me why the character has not been missed at all.

2. Lani/Kristen - the two actors work well together. I would've never guessed. And, gosh, it's been refreshing to have SH given material where she can play restrained. 

3. The Gina/Stevano scenes are completely flat to me. Is Stevano just going to stay in the concrete storage space? I'm getting zero passion or drive. And the QotN goal is not inspiring at all.

4. The Abby/Gina scenes were terrible because both actors were struggling with such an obvious badly structured set-up. If Abby came to "Hope" with her theories, Hope would've been jumping at the chance to help her. The only good thing was Gina ripping Rafe. 

5. Chad/Gabi had some energy and urgency. But, again, so flaw. Does Gabi really think that getting control of DiMera and ousting the board would exonerate her if the Abby story comes to light? Guess she really does care more about power and DiMera than Ari.... 

6. Do NOT put Ciara & Sarah together - their names are too similar.  

@sheilaforever Bottom line: the vat served on purpose - ‘even good people do bad things.’ Shameless Thomas propping. B&B even promoted the gif on its Twitter page. C’mon.

Hope’s 24 hours of freaking out after defending herself after Thomas chased and was ready to assault her compared to what Thomas has done during past 6 months? That’s not the way you rehabilitate a character. I’m all for righting Thomas because the writers went way too far with a legacy character, but I’m not buying this at all. 

4 hours ago, BoldRestless said:

I'm reading on Twitter that Y&R aired Neil's funeral today. We were preempted in NY. So I assume today's show will air tomorrow nationwide.

You are correct: I just checked the CBS site:

Y&R: Full pre-emption for 12/4 scheduled episode will air 12/5 (barring more hearings)

B&B: 12/4 episode on CBS.com

DAYS: 12/4 episode available on-line

GH: 12/4 episode available on-line

2 hours ago, xtr said:

 

I noticed they were talking about how it's the day before Thanksgiving too. They got way behind lol. Y&R did get to catch up a bit on Thanskgiving and Black Friday by airing new shows, but the Bold slot aired something else on those days.

B&B lost 3 full pre-emptions. So M-W this week, was actually the M-W for last week. If it airs Thursday, it will be the scheduled Monday episode. It sounds like the networks did 'partial' pre-emptions for all shows from what I gather.

NBC didn't fully pre-empt DAYS once, I'm guessing it part of the strategy to push more viewers to stream, which is smart since it's revenue-based and they can track accurately.  

Thanks, everyone for untangling the Horton family tree. With all the retcons/paternity switches, etc., DAYS sure could done something to make this better - like Julie - Hope's mom, or Jennifer/Hope as sisters, etc. Even one or two tweaks would've better. Siblings work better than cousins. The biggest issue has to do with generation-skipping and that the 4 or 5 children from Tom/Alice  are long forgotten from the current canvas.

It does make watching the show harder. At least when watching Y&R/B&B and basically the last 4 cancelled, I could pretty much hop in and out and it didn't take long to figure out where most characters belonged. 

@AbcNbc247 Eli and Abby are cousins? I would've never guessed and now that makes his hostility even more appalling. As an on-and-off viewer for more years than I'll EVER admit, I suppose it's not surprising I've never seen them in scenes before TJ.

The one thing that has always irked me about DAYS has been the unbelievably convoluted family trees compared to any other soap I've watched - and not just one - Horton (by a mile), Brady, Kirikas and DiMera all require a flow chart! 

I understand why many are frustrated by TJ and wish it could've been bigger, but considering that nothing of this magnitude has been done in daytime before, I'm sure they were trying to be cautious. Plus that darned production schedule means no adjustments possible in terms of storyline pace, flow, adjustment, surprises, etc. based on audience reaction. Think if B&B did a TJ, Brad would be making adjustments as Week 1 aired and they would show up by Week 4 or 5. 

Strange B&B didn't get counted for Tuesday (19th) considering it aired two different episodes in parts of the country. Meanwhile, Y&R's abbreviated episode did count that day. The ratings for past two weeks are more interesting than relevant. I'm pretty sure December and January will see many more partial and full pre-emptions.  

One of the benefits of the TJ has been, IMO, far better looks for certain actresses, particularly SH and KDP - they both look far less harsh - weird how a convent and prison will do that for them. And even though Gina is utterly ridiculous, KA hasn't looked this fine in a long time.

I'm not as thrilled with the storylines presented in TJ, but I really am enjoying seeing new scene partners for so many characters: Hattie/Eve; Kristen/Lani; Sonny and Will with anyone else. I"m not sold on Justin/Kayla, but neither character has had much of a real story in a long time, so could be worse.  Even returning pairs like Eli/Gabi and Brady/Nicole are welcome. I hope they continue to mix it up because most of what was happening pre-TJ wasn't that good.

1 hour ago, John said:

Actually it came out that he never died. He just passed out. Rolf gave him a drug that made it look he died

Rolf and Susan found Will at Abby';s . He still had a pulse. They heard Ben returning, so Will was injected with something to make him appear dead and then given the antidote at the morgue

Ah, now that makes it far more credible and believable. LOL. Thanks for the background! I missed that part of the Will's now 'faux' resurrection. 

Honestly, I'd rather have two on-canvas characters jailed together rather than writing in some stereotypical cellmate that would eat up unnecessary airtime with meaningless banter. At least with Ben, Clyde & Will there enough history, tension and drama to keep it interesting - like Clyde dishing it right back to Will. 

1 hour ago, sheilaforever said:

For B&B this means that - if they have already taped the Christmas show - they will air THREE days after Christmas!??

Correct based on the 3 full pre-emptions. I'm guessing it'll be later than that considering there's talk of more public hearings. B&B was already scheduled for repeats on Thanksgiving/Friday. so no make-ups like Y&R is getting. 

Is anyone else surprised that DAYS didn't introduce 'an experimental' correctional co-ed facility that was founded during the TJ so that Ben, Will, Eve, Hattie and Clyde could hang out together? That would actually be interesting.

2 hours ago, jcar03 said:

Can someone clear it for me which days B&B aired this past week?  SoapCentral has recaps for M, T, W, F and cbs.com has episodes for M, 2 for T, and F.

4 episodes aired. On Tuesday, an error resulted in what would've been the 3rd episode of the week being aired in some parts of the country instead of the one planned 11/19(1). That 'forward' episode is known as 11/19(2). That episode ended up airing on Thursday on the West Coast only.  Monday and Friday were the only 2 episodes that were broadcast normally. 

I'm trying to keep track of all the episodes for all soaps in the "Pre-emption" thread because it's been incredibly chaotic and confusing as episodes are only partially or fully broadcast in some markets while fully pre-empted in other. I presume it's only going to get worse in December and January. 

I think they erred with kidnapping a baby that has been on canvas for like 7 episodes. I have zero attachment to that kid or what happens to her. If the point was to pressure Xander, then kidnap Sarah. We'd still get that Xander loves Mickey while having angst over Sarah.  Plus we'd probably get more Xander/Maggie scenes, which are always solid. 

Not buying the Eli as Gabi's stooge. The scene where he busted in on Chabby was ludicrous - Eli was saying that Chabby aren't permitted to have any private conversations in the house. If he could have overheard them saying something about DiMera Enterprises or Gabi, that would've at least given him something plausible. 

At least KA picked up it with the Commissioner/Gina back-and-forth. I finally felt some real energy from the performance and actually giving us a glimpse of how stupid Salemites are not to know the difference. 

Poor Charlie, he's working so much overtime on that special detail and it turns out the hazardous material had already been removed. 

I did like the scenes with Thomas/Hope - especially the lighting and the way Hope's relief and 'joy' turned appropriately dark by the end. Based on the "Even good people have secrets" gif on B&B's twitter, the show is trying to push a different narrative for Thomas. It's pretty inevitable where this going. 

KKL's command of her living room set is impressive from Ridge to Hope back to Ridge back to Hope over several episodes - it was VERY Stephanie-like (in the best possible way). I hope someday KKL gets the opening and closing shots of B&B instead McC.  

Except for the nannies, no one really knows what goes on in a marriage. The wanting kids thing is usually a topic that's discussed prior to marriage, but that sounds like speculation. I don't wish anyone ill, but these are 1% problems for two extraordinarily attractive people who have chosen to live a very public life for better or worse. I did feel quite badly for CS a couple of months ago when trolls were saying she should have her stepkids taken away from her because of Jordan's actions. 

PS - I hope Rolf gave Jordan the serum.  

1 hour ago, Wendy said:

Joe Mascolo is dead. Ergo? Stefano should be DEAD, too. It's disrespectful. But Ron is a hack, so I expect nothing less from him.

As bad as B&B keeping Sally alive and roaming the world picking up men. 

Y&R did absolutely the right thing with Katherine and Neil. 

Beloved characters that are so identified with iconic actors should be rested with dignity. Of all genres, soaps provide the perfect format for handling death. You’d think with all the ‘fake’ deaths that are suppose to create all this great material, ‘real’ deaths would be a goldmine for writers, actors and long-term storylines. But what do I know?

Also 2MM daytime viewers are not necessary equal to 2MM viewers in other dayparts. The value comes to the types of ads the network is able to sell based on audience income, demo, etc. It's far more complex than simply pure numbers.

And that's why I encourage every soap viewer to stream rather than watch live, unless you're one of the infinitesimal Nielsen homes. The networks can measure and track those streams, while the over-the-air viewing is based on a random sample of Nielsen homes.

@JAS0N47 Thank you for creating such a definitive resource! I'm glad you'll be able to continue adding to your site. 

I just noticed that DAYS went dark for 8 weeks from mid-Nov 16 to mid-Jan 17. So this upcoming gap isn't unprecedented. Perhaps they'll have more dark week blocks during the year. And unless NBC decides to give an early renewal, I'm sure we'll see a repeat of the contract cancellation next year. 

@beebs Don't get me wrong - it's a complete liability because the show is unable to both correct course when a S/L is rejected OR take advantage when lightning strikes (Brandon is a perfect example).

Granted B&B is 30 minutes, but the contrast is remarkable - that show seemingly pivots so fast, it's mindboggling. But even Y&R adjusts pretty quickly. 

@JAS0N47 Did DAYS wrap on Nov. 15 (with 7/13/20 episode) or are they filming this week?

If they start in early January, they will still be 6-7 months ahead. Clearly we all agree is far from optimal, but if its the only way to keep the show going.... 

Awesome news!