sheilaforever

6 hours ago, Videnbas said:

@sheilaforeverI just got to #1520 and the montage that you mentioned. It was very... odd. Not one of their "normal" duets but more like a tentative "fractured" song that didn't quite manage to become an actual duet - like it was broken.

That can't have been an actual existing song, it must have been the scriptwriters getting a sudden urge to do musical theater. (Sometimes I swear Thorne and Macy exist in a parallel universe to the entire rest of the cast, where everyone else is in a soap and they are in a musical.)

I either love it or hate it. Can't decide which.

What were your thoughts on it?

Odd is probably the right word. It was like watching a 60s musical. As you pointed out, it felt sooo out of place because it zero connects to the rest of the cast and usual style of the show. The whole settlement meeting with the lawyers was also yet another highly contrieved event where Macy and Thorne beat around the bush instead of talking. Yikes!
PS: I tried to google the lyrics and couldn't find any result. So you might be right about your hunch.

EDIT: B&B's only real headwriter change can now finally be confirmed, but not how we thought it took place...

#1532 which aired May 3, 1993 is the last episode with William J. Bell credited as head writer

#1533 has no credits

#1534 which aired May 5, 1993 has William J. Bell no longer listed as head writer but "executive story consultant". However, the writing credits start with John F. Smith in first position and Bradley Bell in second place... Could have either been a typo (but it happens again the following episodes...) or a trial phase before Brad Bell really took over as head writer.

40 minutes ago, cassadine1991 said:

Does anyone know when Brad took over as EP?

1996 (probably around Feb-April). The exact airdate is still a slight mystery as we have to wait for "re-runs" to reach that year. There is a lack of episodes with closing titles for 1996 so far.

12 hours ago, Videnbas said:

To me, the Taylor/Ridge/Brooke stuff is where I find my attention wandering elsewhere. I know they were supposed to be the frontburner triangle and I was invested in their storyline back in the day, but rewatching it now, I just don't find them as interesting this time around. Maybe it's knowing that they'll still be at it 30 years later...

It's most certainly the BOLDED part. I'm quite happy that I enjoy Ridge&Taylor as much as I remembered; I find them playful and charming. That's what frustrated me post 2005: It was a complete rewrite as to who Ridge had the healthier relationship with: Brooke or Taylor.

However, the triangle as such and the constant "say that you love we, Wiiiidge. Just say it, pleaaaaaase" is so one-note and annoying. It's really hard to stay invested in those scenes and the back and forth considering it's more or less the same drivel we have seen for 30 years now. LOL

4 hours ago, Videnbas said:

How many of you are currently watching the 1993 episodes from the Vault? I have been binge watching the first few months in the past week or so and I'm very excited about what is to come. (I keep telling myself it's time to start rationing the episodes so I won't run out of new ones to watch just yet, but I keep watching and I just can't stop.)

What have been your highlights of that year so far?

I'm currently up to #1529: Stephanie is about to stage the ultimatum to keep Eric from marrying Sheila.

Highlights of 1993?

The paternity test, Sheila& Mike - it still holds up soooo well. 

Lauren's visit in LA which felt so right as if she has always been part of B&B. The scenes with Sheila, Stephanie, Eric, Ridge and Brooke are all so spot on.

Highlight of a different kind...

#1520 - have you seen IT yet??? I don't want to spoil anything - I just say musical montage at Forrester Creations...

Macy's alcoholism as well as everything connected to it is NOT working for me. I think it all happens too soon and with too little investment by the writers.

The Ridge & Brooke stuff is starting to get annoying in April (wasn't fond of Connor's intro), but I'm really PUMPED about the battle for BeLieF because Steve Crown is already befriending Brooke in my last episode... 

On 6/9/2022 at 5:01 PM, Videnbas said:

And it saddens me because it seems like KB is really trying but everything works against her - the plot structure, the dialogue, even the camera angles and background music, everything seems designed to make Sheila more cartoonish, and it was the same in 2017. The sound engineer even adds reverb when she laughs to make the laugh more diabolical. Not easy to do a nuanced portrayal under those circumstances.

1993 Sheila still had her own theme music that followed her around, but only when her mind was working on something sinister. I feel this time around they are misusing Sheila's theme to create tension when it isn't there in the writing.

But then again, all the veterans are unrecognizable these days. Brooke is a shadow of her former self. Eric is an old fool. Taylor and Ridge are obviously not the same characters (even though KA occasionally channels 2002 HT). Deacon is the only one who is still somewhat in character, although he seems to become more of a loser every time he appears on the show (and the show has now completely forgotten that he too is an alcoholic).

I'm slightly torn on the assessment that all of these characters are a shell of their former self. Putting aside the obvious much less skillful storylines than in the good old days, I think some parts of Brooke's and Sheila's character is a natural evolution which is actually believable. The Brooke of old was a chemist and smart business woman. Nowadays, she is a desperate housewife who is walking around Forrester Creations in perfect hair, awesome outfits and big clutches, but does NOTHING. However, I could never care for Brooke back then because she was a pathetic homewrecker who always put her needs and destiny of the month first. Therefore, I like Grande Dame Brooke (which started around 2012 with occasional back to the roots moments like "Brill" affair) much better and think it suits her age and role in life to be more grounded - admittedly to some extent Brooke is now more boring, but I think B&B did the right thing by adding a viable younger generation because some stories should not be told with the old guard.

Same goes for Sheila: she was always struggling to find love because she lacked something in her childhood. She wanted to e loved for who she is, but was never able to experience true love. All this backstory was told on B&B in the mid/late 90s, sometimes in a rather religious context like in 1996. The evolution of Sheila already began with Amber and having a child with James.

I'm pretty surprised by the praise for her 2002 return: while it made great TV, it all really hurt her character: she killed Lance with bees (IMO; her only REAL murder) and her sole ambition was to get her daughter pregnant by Rick!? The shooting at the Forrester Mansion was an accident; so there were chances for redemption which Brad Bell did not follow up with. Her 2005 Y&R run started off amazing but then it was like WTF - and already over. Therefore; I liked her 2017 with a balance of camp and excitement, but never jumping the shark. Sheila's antics are now more grounded and less extreme. For this reason I find her current run also pretty smart and it is actually classic Bell storytelling that a character is making a BIIIIIG fuss about switching a lable of a bottle. Remember the good old days on Y&R and B&B when we viewers were on the edge of our seats by such important decisions (which often took and entire week) whether Nikki was driving into town from the ranch to confront Ashley!?

My point is: yes, the production values of B&B are way less exciting. The storylines used to be plotted smarter with better build-up (that said, I think Brad Bell and team show actual ambition to tell more than just one story at a time and make the consecutive stories actually fit with each other in the past 2 years…). On the other hand, I appreciate that Brooke or Sheila of 2022 act different than they did 20 or 30 years ago. It is always a thin line to keep such an evolution in line with the nature of the character. At least for those two, I can dig it. What I could do without is the hallowing sounds around Kimberlin Brown’s scenes because as you pointed it, it totally defeats the purpose to make her an adult character which wants to be good but somehow ends up doing bad stuff.

1 hour ago, Videnbas said:

Since the show just brought back Mike, I was wondering if you have a favorite Sheila/Mike scene?

The one with the elevator and the Dobermann is classic of course, but I really loved all their early encounters - just watched the one where he tries to force her to have sex with him and she turns the tables on him and threatens to "turn him from a bull to a heifer" using a pair of scissors. Mike goes from believing he, the tough guy in a uniform, can intimidate a little nurse into having his way with her, to utter terror when it dawns on him that one does not mess with Sheila Carter.

I always thought Sheila added drama to B&B, but it's not until Mike comes along that the character really reaches her peak IMO. They truly were the perfect match.

It's really difficult to pin it down to a favorite scene. They had so much great story going and the show was so smart to constantly bring back Mike in the 90s just when you thought that he was dropped for good.

The early stuff is oh so interesting because Mike was introduced as being tech-savvy and Sheila had to use quite a lot of her femine charme to play him. Later on, Mike was head over heels in love with his "babe" and therefore came off as rather one-note. I thought it was a shame that the Psycho house story with Mike and his brother Marty was cut short due to Kimberlin Brown's pregnancy because there was so much potential.

7 hours ago, soapfan770 said:

If Ken Hanes is back, can we bring back (a sobered up) James Warwick as well who is believes he is actually Finn’s father? And also longing for the woman who took his virginity, Taylor? Is that too much to ask for?

Bringing back James would be awesome indeed! That said: never in a million years did I imagine to have Mike Guthrie back in town. The 2010 return was so random when he gave Stephen (or was it Pam?) a gun. Even though the last 12 years did not go by on him without ageing

4 minutes ago, Videnbas said:

I kind of liked 2017 when they were doing the Spectra reboot and bringing back Sheila. But sadly, the initial ideas were better than the follow-up. Both returns started out very promising but ended in a very disappointing way.

I also enjoyed Aly in (I think) 2014-2015.

I second both. Mid 2014-2015 was GREAT. The best in many years. 2017 showed lots of promise and did some good stuff like the Spectra revival and Sheila's return. It fizzled in the fall, but overall it was still highly watchable. Ever since the only really strong moments were the baby Beth baby switch, Thomas and the Mannequin plus Sheila's latest return. Oh, and for camp's sake I really digged Sally's fake illness with Dr. Penny Escobar the wannabe designer.

EDIT: cast wise - 2022 is the strongest set-up in more than a decade, IMO. Bringing back Sheila, Deacon and Taylor were all unexpected but oh so smart decisions which have potential for greatness.

7 hours ago, Toups said:

Y&R:

- Nancy Ortenberg first listed as Director on June 1

 

 

 

Nancy has been with the show since 2007 as a Production Associate.

She missed out on the GOOD directing days at Y&R, but hey, promoting from within, is at least a classic Y&R tradition. Therefore congrats to her!

1 hour ago, Ponds said:

The last fashion show was way before COVID, so it's been ages and ages.  

I'm happy that occasionally this show is still about fashion, like when Ellen von Unwerth guest starred. This was a  pretty cool cameo.

Due to budget restraints, they just cannot pull a big fashion show twice a year these days. Taht said:even in the past we had backstage view fashion shows pr "previews" in Eric's office or so. Both could be done. 

11 minutes ago, dragonflies said:

From a reliable source, and it's on SOD's upcoming cover for their summer preview

 

FINN IS ALIVE!!!!!!!

I knew it. I guess: THAT is the twist…

however, the show will lose interest in Finn in max 12 months…

For those LOVING the Y&R crossovers: Don Diamont appeared as Brad Carlton in #1522-1524. There have been clips on YouTube for ages but the exact length of his first B&B stint (16 years before debuting as Bill Spencer Jr.) was unknown (at least) to me: April 19-April 21, 1993.

@ChickenNuggetz92As always: thank you for your dedication, tech-savvy-ness and time/money that you spend on providing these of a kind treasure troves!

2 hours ago, yrfan1983 said:

Fantastic Sheila/Lauren 5/4/92 promo here at 10:59, I hadn't seen it before https://archive.org/details/capture-a-6422

Awesome promo indeed!

2 hours ago, yrfan1983 said:

Paging @ChickenNuggetz92 the vault is full! Thanks!

Just my two cents for a quick clean-up for some data space: Folders 1993 -> January till June could be deleted because of the Videoland uploads. Yes, they do have subtitles in them ut are much higher quality than the previous and partial uploads in those folders...

12 hours ago, DramatistDreamer said:

How many grandchildren do Eric and Stephanie have? Is Felicia’s son Dino their sole biological grandchild?

I think so: Ridge is not Eric's son, Thorne had only Aly, Kristen never had a bio child and Felicia had only Dino who has not been around since 2006!?

6 hours ago, Videnbas said:

But that was just her final three weeks (and btw I thought Ashlyn Pearce did a wonderful job rising above the mediocre writing).

I'm talking about Aly's entire run. We learned more about Aly as a person in a short time than they ever bothered showing us about any other character in her generation. And her storylines were based around her personality, not her love life.

Little things like her hobbies and quirks (dressing up in Medieval clothing, writing in her diary, declining a date because of her goldfish's feeding schedule), and her special bond with Pam (who was usually not taken seriously by the rest of her family).

Her grief and the trauma of what happened to her mother, and the initially sweet relationship between her and the imaginary Darla.

Her naiveté and obsessive idealism.

Her anger issues that went back to when she was four years old.

Her sweet awkwardness in her first romance with Oliver, and how he helped build up her confidence and mental stability.

Her combination of academic precociousness and emotional immaturity.

Her inability to understand metaphors, subtext and nuances, instead interpreting everything literally and in black or white (I wondered at the time if the actress tried to portray Aly with high-functioning autism).

Her touching bond with Thorne.

Her dream of becoming a shoe designer. 

That is a lot more fleshed out and complex characterization than we've had for most other new young characters. And it was done without getting Aly caught up in some silly triangle - the character itself was the driving force in her storylines.

+1

I Loved Aly. It was a terrile decision to kill her off - in such a wasteful manner.

2 hours ago, boldau said:

Some key episode call-outs…
1573 - Brooke tears up the BeLief contract
1582 - Stephanie and Brooke slap each other (100% real)
1589 - Brooke tells Stephanie she’ll be under her thumb
1602 - Brooke demands controlling interest in Forrester / Eric goes ballistic
1606 - Brooke takes 51% control and appoints Sheila as Executive Liaison
1616 - Brooke’s first day / Sheila & Brooke take over Stephanie’s office

Soooooo excited for this. I've only seen clips (of all of it) but not the real build-up...

30 minutes ago, AbcNbc247 said:

Can I just say what an arrogant, pigheaded, selfish, immature, annoying, irritating [!@#$%^&*] Thorne has become? 

The whole process of dividing Thorne & Macy was not very flattering for either character. The shared apartment part was already pretty far-fetched considering that Karen the virgin came from Starlight Texas and was probably not used to such elaborate living arrangements and Thorne used to be stand-up good guy. Then, Thorne and Macy kept beating around the bush for months when Thorne mistook Macy hugging Jake for an actual affair. Then, Macy had the brilliant idea to send a tape to Thorne - instead of talking to him. I guess, someone told Macy that letters get intercepted in LA (Hello, Brooke!) all the time, so she felt super smart about it. Karen knows about the true story for the separation between Macy and Thorne but keeps it for herself after Macy goes full b*tch mode on. Perfectly fine, yet Karen is supposed to be this lovely person and therefore acts rather OOC. Macy is that desperate that she goes on a bender due to Thorne’s rejection (but was singing for Sly at Bikini Bar just two episodes prior)… While the story is quite the elaborate plot and makes attempts to add reasoning to all these rather confusing behaviours, nevertheless it made ALL of these characters very un-like-able for me.

23 minutes ago, AbcNbc247 said:

And I know this is technically a Y&R question, but why did Lauren cheat on Scott so soon after she got him back?

I only watched those few Y&R episodes available in The Vault from January 1993 so far which I listed a few pages back. There, it was etablished that Lauren did not really love Scott (anymore) but decided to reunite with him for Scotty's sake. The relationship between Scott (who always came off as a non-character to me BTW) and Lauren felt very cool. Lauren kept bitching about Sheila had done to her while Scott wanted to move on (for storyline's sake, I guess ;-)). Add: Brad being very handsome and Lauren being Lauren - so of course they had to find out if chemistry is still there and have sex. In a coincidence only happing on soaps Sheila who is living in LA permanently and has hardly been in Genoa City the past 8 months - was JUST in Genoa City at the time and JUST at this very moment in Lauren's suite when Brad and Lauren had their 1993 one-night-stand to snap some pictures.

10 hours ago, rsclassicfanforever said:

Everything will come online guys. I started recording episodes from VL

Someone provided the login credentials

they are coming in the next days 

!Vielen Dank!

8 hours ago, Liberty City said:

Honestly, I feel like Karen was never a fully developed character. To me, it was Bradley Bell's way of trying to fix a situation he created himself. Surely his father would've done ten times better than that. Makes me wonder if Johnson would've left had William J. Bell still been writing.

Karen was a creation of Bill Bell who did not step down as headwriter from B&B until the middle of Karen's original run. When JJ left again, it might have been her choice again because she was just not into acting that much and wanted to become a fulltime writer...

B&B has been getting a lot of SOD covers lately…

1 hour ago, Videnbas said:

I can't really answer about Erica since I never watched AMC regularly, but as for Stephanie, I'd say no. You can't "eat" the show if you ARE the show. Stephanie was always central to the premise of the show and she is basically what made the show what it was.

Besides, Stephanie never felt like the writers' "pet project" or "shiny new toy" the way characters like Amber or Hope did. Stephanie was simply the glue that held it all together.

True!

11 hours ago, te. said:

Heather Tom directed the episode aired April 15th (5x08) and this weeks episode airing May 6th (5x10).

Ah ok. Thanks for correcting me.

7 hours ago, janea4old said:

Brad Bell said in SOD for the May Sweeps preview, quote: "Katie is not really available right now because Heather [Tom] is directing DYNASTY" 

Heather Tom seems to be doing okay, she appeared April 24 in a selfie on Christie Clark's instagram
https://www.instagram.com/p/Ccvp-b0Dsw6/

Thanks!

The part of Tom directing at Dynasty is a cop-out - unless she is directing the rest of the show's current season because she has NOT done so since an episode that aired August (!) 2021.

That said, I'm not against the rather loose on/off-appearances from Katie because Tom is always a joy to watch, yet the show is not in desperate need to have Katie around 24/7.