ranger1rg

You are absolutely right. No other evidence as to the power of Tik Tok than to look at the ratings resurgence of Dancing With the Stars. SO much of the credit there goes to social media like Tik Tok and Instagram. I am stunned that BTG isn't using these platforms. -- Just started watching today's show, but Anita spends more time at the hospital than the doctors and nurses. -- The secrecy between Vernon and Sharon has now moved into the ANNOYING category.

-- A big deal was made of Leslie's involvement in the Fest, but we got nothing but a Pepe LePew insult at a character no one cares about. -- Why not have Tracy and Sharon sing if honoring Barbara was so important? Instead we got Keke singing one Christmas song.

They need an excuse for what we ended up getting. That was not good soap and I don't understand how anyone can be satisfied with it.

-- Josh Swickard is gorgeous. Wasting him on AS is a sin. -- I hope Valentin wipes the blood off his face soon. -- It is impossible to take the WSB seriously when Joss is a major player.

WinterFest was a DUD. I was so wrong about Vernon singing at the Fest. Instead, they're dragging out this insipid "Is he cheating?" storyline and substituting "legends" like Keke Wyatt. That's one reason the whole thing was a dud. Why mention the auction a dozen times and never show it? Then Eva takes Izaiah ice skating -- wearing that Ace bandage dress -- and all we get is a 10-second scene telling us that he fell down on the ice. What the hell are they doing to the Vanessa character? These scenes all tell us she's really falling for the Golden Corral Casino Mobster. If at some point we find out she's trying to take down Joey, they're crazy if they think we're going to forget all this crap. Exactly. I don't know how anyone can criticize Kat for any of that. Honestly, though, Kat is behaving differently with Tomas than she did. It's a 180 and she doesn't seem all that interested in him. -- I cannot believe we got TWO MONTHS of WinterFest buildup and ended up with this. -- Were there good/fun moments? Yes. But Vanessa's tongue, Leslie's Pepe LePew, and Dani's (harmless) shade at Ashley do not make up for "I can't believe that happened" or "That was so good." -- The intro of Greg Vaughan was good, but again, that doesn't make up for the lack of anything else. -- One thing they got right was having a ton of extras, but having someone like Martin missing -- a Congressman who's been talking about a tough re-election campaign -- made no sense. -- The changes on the writing team are not working out.

John McCook is chewing the scenery like nobody else 🤣

I love it that Ridge and Brooke spent about $75 on Eric's forced "retirement party." HILARIOUS😂

-- Dr. Kyle Rollins' first line is "WinterFest has exceeded my expectations." Dude, you just walked through the front door. -- Naomi was brutal to Hayley. Haven't we seen them be civil to each other lately? Now we're back to "You're evil and my family hates you"? -- It's great seeing so many cast members at the event, but this constant call to things off-screen (now there's an ice skating rink!) is annoying.

Appreciate your musings, and agree with much of what you say. Hope we hear more from you!

Yep. It is beyond stupid that they think "Articulettes Strong" is something that would have been said many decades ago.

You are so right about all of this. When I saw Naomi and Jacob kissing affectionately, I felt like I missed a month of episodes. I just don't get it. There's no sense creating major marriage drama unless there's follow through. Agree here, too. Everyone in this family is so lacking in self-awareness that it's unreal. No one can read the room because they're so caught up in The Dupree of it all. -- I have to return to a comment I made yesterday about the fashion on BTG. I posted all that praise when I saw Nicole. The problem was that after that, I saw fit after fit that didn't fit the occasion. So many characters didn't look like they were dressed for something supposedly special like WinterFest. Anita looked good, but Sharon and Tracy were dressed in outfits that looked like they were going on a ski weekend. Vernon wore a leisure suit from the '70s. Either that or he was leaving for a safari. I guess Chelsea looked OK, but I've seen her look better when having lunch at Orphey Gene's. Marcel was supposed to be a bit out of place, yet wore what looked like a really expensive fit from J Crew. So much was made of Eva's dress, and what we got was an abomination. Looked like someone decided to wrap her in mummy bandages but left huge gaping holes. But yeah, let's also give her wild boots to go with it. Then Leslie shows up wearing pants. Huh? -- The Christmas decor at the country club is a big letdown. It just didn't scream "wealth" to me in any way. I also rolled my eyes every time a character pointed to something happening OFF CAMERA. I guess we're supposed to pretend WinterFest is something special. -- An why didn't we see who Nicole saw getting off the elevator at the hospital or see his arrival at the event? I understand making your audience wait, but maybe giving us this or ANYTHING would have made the Friday show decent.

Same for me! All of a sudden every music cue is country twang -- even the Christmas songs. It just feels so off.

-- A minute after I brag on the wardrobe and styling on GATES, Eva shows up in a WinterFest dress with cutouts and boots -- and is all kinds of wrong. -- "Articulettes Strong" was back. Ugh. -- Ending the show and the week with the stupid "Is Vernon cheating" storyline was a poor decision. We had A LOT of buildup to this WinterFest thing, and it looks like that's not going to pay off.

It's soooooo tiring and lame. I can't believe they went with it this long. -- I am engaged by BTG, but I don't see how it's warm and welcoming. -- I agree that November was a bit of a stall, and that isn't good in the first year of a soap. But boy, do they know how to style and make up these actors. Even on slow days when I'm nitpicking everything, I am still wowed by the fashion choices for both the women and the men. -- The writers need to do better, though, with throwaway dialogue. Today, Eva dropped a line that she really didn't care what she wore to WinterFest. Huh? This is a girl who cares about everything she wears, and we can see party choices all over her couch. Then Leslie shows up and Eva is wowed by what she brought her -- just by pulling down the garment bag zipper. She didn't even look at the thing. -- Pacing continues to be a problem. Ted is just now getting after Tomas for sleeping with Kat and Eva? This should have already happened. Instead, we're all saying "Where's the father in all this? Ted is absent and doesn't care." We get one "gotcha" after another like this -- the show reminding us they haven't forgotten anything. As I've said before, they play this card too frequently.

-- After Mitch/Matt knew that Victor took everything from him, why wouldn't he follow through and go after Noah and Sienna? -- Why would Victor follow through with his thread before knowing that Noah was safe? -- The cops on opposite sides thing was interesting, but not seeing any of it played out on screen was laughable. Typical for this show. -- At least we're done with Nick and Sharon standing in front of the same piles of junk and trash, calling for Noah over and over.

-- Chelsea is a complete moron. I hope Madison dumps her little girl ass. -- Samantha knows rich people and doctors all over the place, and her dad is in Congress, so she goes to Eva for money and help. EVA. -- Sorry, that makes no sense. I hate stupid writing. -- Samantha is now on her 4th personality change. -- The Peaches story might be better if they cast an age-appropriate actress. I can't feel anything for this woman because the optics are so off. -- A 5-minute talk from Nicole and Peaches changes her mind about the clinical trial? Uh...ok. -- Nicole told Eva that part of the reason she spoke to Peaches was for Eva. Can these Duprees stop kissing up to people who hurt them?

All of these 20-second scenes are hard to take.

It wouldn't be crazy to take down Leslie at the all-important Winterfest? Making her seem even larger-than-life than she already is? If that's Anita's plan, she's more ridiculous than anything else. It's just a terrible idea.

😂 That would be an improvement over this. When I saw that oxygen mask on her, I broke out laughing.

Little things continue to be annoying: -- If Peaches With The Baby Smooth Skin is chronically ill, why is she being wheeled to the main nurses' station? It's just odd, and there'd be more chances of picking up even more illnesses there. -- Samantha goes to Eva for money? EVA? I mean, why? I don't understand writing this supposedly clued-in girl as so off. -- At Uptown, the seating arrangement is ridiculous. If Madison and Chelsea were alone, I could see them sitting across from each other -- but they aren't alone. Kat and Tomas would sit NEXT to each other. They clearly did this intentionally, but I don't think real people behave this way. -- Nicole is soooooo upset because she'll be alone at Winterfest and won't be coupled up. HUH? This is the self-actualized and independent woman we've known since day one?

-- If Vernon is written as a cheater, it'll be an enormous mistake. Not only has the cheating man trope been used twice, doing it with Vernon is ridiculous. -- We already know THE DUPREES are flawed. We don't need cheating to reinforce that. -- The healthcare discussion did indeed sound like it came from a pamphlet. I don't think we can blame the breakdown for that. June should not be speaking like a healthcare advocate asking for funding. I'm going to SMH if we get healthcare lectures from Samantha, Martin, June, etc. -- especially since none of them will mention the ACA or Obamacare. -- If organizations want to say "unhoused" instead of "homeless," that's fine. I can respect that. But the truth is that the vast majority of us don't see "homeless" as a negative. Saying unhoused is a solution in search of a problem. It's certainly not in the same league as needing a word to replace a slur like the r-word.

Daniel Day Lewis and Meryl Streep couldn't make this material work.

And wasn't Martin sanctioned at all for the Quartermaine estate mess??? I thought that would be his exit from the show. -- Family drama can be great, but Dante is acting such a fool that it's ridiculous.

-- David Lami Friebe (Izaiah) hasn't lessened any bobblehead movements. The truth is it was never a problem. -- I laugh when I see Jamey Giddens listed as breakdown writer, knowing I can count on reading here that the breakdown was terrible 😂 -- The Griddy has been around since 2019. Not exactly some newfangled dance move. -- Good moments between Ted and Shanice, but I can do without even another stuck elevator. Played to death. I don't get any romance vibes between them. -- The hospital Christmas decorations look cheap and chintzy. -- I'm against this show trying to get too into the weeds on Martin's causes and campaign. We all know what we're dealing with in real life, and we know they're NEVER going to address the elephant in the room -- the lying racist felon and pedophile. I just don't think it works to pretend they're feeding us reality in any way, not when we just ended a 2-month shutdown. Vernon suggesting TikTok videos doesn't cut it. -- I've grown to really like June, but I don't enjoy scenes written as lectures. The stuff she said about hospitals and the unhoused was awfully pedantic. -- Was June really so busy that Samantha needed to help her? They had her carrying 3 plates at once but the place was almost empty of customers. Regardless, would any restaurant be OK with that? -- Why Vanessa would want Golden Corral Casino Mobster Joey when she can have Diego is beyond me. -- If this is part of a Joey takedown plan by Vanessa, writers need to look at everything they're doing, because I'm not sure all or any of the steps she's taking make sense. If and when takedown day comes, everything happening before then should be a part of the plan.

As bad as the business stuff is on Y&R, it's just as bad on BOLD. Eric has to ask to be on the design team? Brooke is worried about the deadlines and pressure while Ridge runs around acting busy because the phone rings? Only recently we had a Ridge vs Eric battle at Forrester. We watched Eric designing (really lame) gowns in his living room, preparing for battle against Ridge. Why are we getting this nonsense again?