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I've been rewatching the show on Plex. I didn't start really watching until Season 11 back when I was a teenager, so all the earlier seasons were basically brand new for me. I hated how Laura was basically given nothing to do her last few seasons until it was time for her to die. CM was such a phenomenal actress! I really had a huge appreciation for her watching those early seasons now as an adult. I'm now in the early episodes of season 13....God, help me! You can see it going off the rails. I think the show held up pretty decently up until the end of Season 12. I don't think I watched much of Season 14 when it originally aired. So, that will be mostly new to me, too. I know a lot has to do with Mary Robinson. At least they tried to make Laura part of the narrative sort-of at the end.

I know! I actually like the current Ari a lot. I've been hoping they FINALLY give her a love interest and also let her interact with the Hortons some.

The guy playing Jeremy is the best casting the show had all of last year. He just feels very natural on the show and is handsome as hell to boot. I just hope he really isn't the one behind the Stephanie stuff. It'd be nice to have a Horton leading man again.

That is IF they actually cast a Latin actor to play the part (cough, cough Rafe).

Best/ worst couple - Best Emma & Gio GH Worst - Daniel and Tess Y&R - Just beyond ick. Best/worst new character Best - Leslie BTG Worst - Daphne on B&B (all her smelling!) Hottest new pairing - Dani and Andre - BTG Best mystery - Who shot Drew? - GH Best/worst use of history - Best- Doug and John's funerals - DAYS Worst - Bringing back Ian Ward - Y&R Most entertaining character - Leslie BTG Most over exposed character - Ridge B&B....why is he ALWAYS on? Most surprising twist - Hayley is conning Bill BTG Best wedding ceremony - Hayley and Bill BTG over the top campy fun Best casting - Rory Gibson GH Best enemies - Dani and Hayley BTG Most ruined character Sally Y&R How did she become so boring? Best/worst new/old sets Best- The updated B&B sets Worst - Redressed hotel rooms on Y&R Best/worst costumes Best- BTG, the whole cast B&B - For a show about fashion, sometimes it's hit or miss

Honestly, I couldn't even follow the Jean Hackney story. The whole thing felt soooo out of place.

21 episodes in a year has to be the most episodes Esther has appeared in a very long time. I do wish they would use her more often as she reminds me of all the great Jill/Katherine years. Other than that, the show was a pretty big bore for most of 2025. The writers need to make a New Year's resolution to not use the words CEO, COO, merger, take over, and launch for all of 2026!!😅

And, is there any point to the story that's happening to Mariah? Tessa and Daniel was....nope. Didn't want to see that. Both actors deserve a way better story than that.

Overall, I think the character development and family interactions under the new writers is much better than RC at the end, but we are missing MUST SEE moments and good plot twists.

Ridge, the most insufferable, misogynistic narcissistic character on all of daytime, on every...single...episode and the most of any character for the whole year.

I loved VH on As the Word Turns, so I'm happy to see that his version of Lucas is actually be developed and used! It's interesting to see how GH actors in general have much higher episode totals than actors on other shows do at this point. Is their budget that much bigger?

It could've been a great story! Peter returns and is still in love with Jennifer. Organic conflict for Jack and Jennifer. I know MR has played Jennifer almost the entire time, but I really, really enjoyed CM in the role. I thought she breathed some new life into it. Plus, she may be available full-time. If Cady were playing it, they couldn't gone full steam ahead with a Jack/Jennifer/Peter story.

I'm glad SSH is back on contract now after all those years recurring. With her history, she deserved to be on contract.

The show needs a huge overhaul with a fresh head writer, not one that's been recycled 100 times already, with new story ideas that focus on family and romance. Those endless business conversations would bore a coma patient. There's just no....energy on the show. I feel bad for Billy Flynn. I think he actually has chemistry with CK, but he's been saddled with all the BLAH that is Cane. Not to mention, he looks about 15 years too young. If they ever bring back their kids, it's going to look so awkward. It's truly turn into The Bored and the Middle-Aged.

Yep, it does worry me that BTG 18-49 demo is at The Talk levels now. I wonder how much streaming is taken into account at this point. GH is often in the top 15 on Hulu every day.

It's pretty insulting. This is the best they could do to come up with conflict for Mariah and Tessa. The one LGBT couple on the show.

1000% I feel like the show dropped the ball...of course...by not setting up the next generation of that by giving Jill a much younger long-term rival.

Right?! I wish we had all three characters on a regular basis again.

I agree, especially any time soon. Right now, the show has three leading ladies in the same age range that have all lost their male leads: Marlena, Julie, and Maggie. Out of three, I would say Maggie would be the best one to experiment with having a new relationship. Julie will continue to work well as the Horton matriarch. Marlena- similar with her family, but she also has the hospital stuff she can do. Did we ever find out why Marlena was having those weird dreams??? Or did that just get dropped?

I loved seeing Kate/Phillip/Lucas interacting today. All three actors have great chemistry with each other. It'd be great to have Lucas back even if it's regular recurring. Every Christmas Horton ornament hanging, I find myself wishing that we got more Hortons on the regular.

That's an interesting point. I wonder why they never brought Lucy on full-time especially in the later seasons when Dallas didn't seem to know what to do with her. It would have been a great way to cause conflict between Val and Gary in a very natural way. Lucy could have stirred up all kinds of potential trouble.

One of the biggest headscratchers was building up the character of Steve Brewer as Claudia's son and as Greg's brother/nephew. So much potential, and then they just randomly killed him off.

I started watching as a teen around season 10, and I had the hugest crush on Patrick Petersen. Even then, I found it perplexing that they couldn't come up with more for him to do. I feel like the show had a hard time, besides Nicolete Sheridan, in grooming the younger generation for big stories. Michael, Olivia, and Eric were all positioned to attract a younger audience as the years went on.

I agree. I would have liked to have seen Ari there as she has had almost zero interaction with her Horton side, but overall, it was a great episode.

Y&R, which I can only tolerate on occasion at this point, should make a new rule for the writing staff. The following words can no longer be used: take over, merger, CEO, COO, launch, etc etc. Anything regarding these mind-numbing business "stories" and I use the word "stories" loosely needs to be cut. Any time I switch the show on for just a few minutes, it's just people sitting at a restaurant or the coffeehouse droning on and on about some random company and taking it over or destroying it. Who the hell on staff thinks this is interesting to a daytime audience???? It's truly head-scratching. BTG- Has good bones, but I need them to pick up the pace a bit and give us an OMG moment we didn't see coming every now and then. B&B- Lost cause. It's practically a cartoon at this point, and that's an insult to cartoons. DAYS- Please, please ditch the sci-fi stuff. I could care less about who EJ has in some chamber in a secret lab. To me, DAYS excels when it focuses on family drama and romance and not bizarre sci-fi campy stuff. GH- Only started watching it regularly this year. While not perfect, it's honestly the most entertaining of them all to me right now. I'd love to see Liz in a major story...and more Gio shirtless at the pool, like this past summer, thank you!