Khan

In both cases, you had a show built around a comedian who had first seen success in the '60's and '70's (although, Cosby's act lent more material to his show's writers than Flip did his - unless they had plans to bring on "Geraldine" later, lol). You also had, in both cases, a co-star with a musical background, with Gladys Knight having the obvious edge there; and an oldest son (Malcolm Jamal Warner on "Cosby"; KSJ on "Charlie") who was good-looking, popular, and who seemed to care more about his friends and his girlfriends than about his studies. And then you had the parents in both shows as full-time professionals and not like the Jeffersons or the Evanses on "Good Times," where the mom stayed home while the dad went off to work. I don't recall "Charlie" focusing much on the parents' work lives beyond an episode or two; but, then again, I don't recall "Cosby" doing much with Cliff or with Clair's job after the first few seasons either. Ironically, I've heard or read somewhere that Jaleel White was supposed to play Rudy before they changed the character to a female or that he was in serious contention. So, "Charlie & Co." kinda, sorta gives you an idea of what, if anything, "Cosby" would have been like with Jaleel playing the precocious, younger child instead of Keshia Knight Pulliam. And of course, before Kristoff St. John portrayed the older son on "Charlie," he played one of Denise's many obnoxious boyfriends on an episode of "Cosby," too. (Seriously, it's a toss-up as to which Huxtable daughter had the worst tastes in men, lol). The only place where there is real difference between the two shows, aside from income levels, is in the depiction of the sole daughter on "Charlie." To me, she's a more stereotypical (black) teenage girl, obsessed with boys and gossiping about boys on the phone with her girlfriends and always there for a sassy, snappy comeback about how her parents just don't understand what it's like for teenagers these days. Sort of like Brenda and Tiffany on "227" - but, now that I think about it, Vanessa Huxtable could fit that type pretty well, too, lol. Oh, and "Charlie" had the better theme song, I'm just saying:

Exactly. Usually, the TV industry responds to the culture, rather than influences it, so I wonder if Reagan-era fatigue might have been setting in sooner than the latter shows would suggest - like, say, 1985 or '86?

TBH, I think Peter Simon was right: Ed and Nola were too different to be successful as a couple. He never would've understood her need for fantasies, and she would've been bored to tears being a doctor's wife (which is also why Kelly and Nola never would've worked out).

Actually, JM wanted to name him "Kegger" but his wife talked him out of it. I'm kidding.

Kinda puts the whole situation with whatshisname in a completely different light, doesn't it?

Kind of like how Roger was drawn to Meg. IIRC, there was a scene where Roger spoke to the baby and said he understood how it felt to be "different" from everyone else.

And I would be like, "Welcome back, Bob and Tony, all is forgiven!"

Amen!

Why are Trina and Joss sharing a pad? So Trina can help Joss into her corsets like a good mammy? On a show called GENERAL. HOSPITAL.

OMG, I so [!@#$%^&*] hate social media.

Thank you! That's exactly what I'm saying! You can't get on your high horse and tell TPTB what you won't do as Jason when we've seen what you did do as Harris! Steve's just playing power games with GH/ABCD and, like I said, he can [!@#$%^&*] off.

Maurice should just write a book called "Respect for Soap Acting" and be done with it. And Steve should just [!@#$%^&*] off.

You'd look tired, too, if you'd just gotten over being radioactive.

And to think that the Soderbergs (or whoever actually created Roger Thorpe) envisioned him as a blonde, Ivy League type.

EB gets it. He knows it's his job to make the material come alive for the audience, no matter how ridiculous that material is.

Better yet, DAYS should just crib off the final months of SFT and have everyone in Salem live in the same apartment building. That way, there's a damn good reason why everybody's home looks the same, lol.

I doubt his work as Nico Kelly or as Desi Arnaz makes MB the next Lee Strasberg, lol. I thank everyone who filled me in on BC's history...I think, lol. And WTG GH! I used to believe that "Baby M" was the most hideous story about surrogacy that I had ever seen. But no more!

Ah, that kinda tracks with the backstory that I had made up in my head years ago to explain/rationalize Heather's behavior. I figured that Alice's first husband (and Heather's biological dad) had walked out on them years before, and that Heather's stepfather was a drunk who had abused Heather sexually from the time she was a little girl. Furthermore, I figured that Alice was a decent person at her core, but that she had felt overwhelmed by being left with a young daughter to raise and no money or support from her family. In turn, because she was so busy ekeing out a living, Alice never had the time to give Heather the attention she really needed, turning Heather into a very needy child, who learned to "stretch the truth" if she wanted any attention from others. Also, Alice was always afraid of being left alone again, so when Heather, now a teenager, finally found the courage to tell her mother about the abuse, Alice called Heather a liar and believed the husband instead. Even after Heather decided to leave home (by forging that recommendation letter that got her the job as Peter and Diana's nanny) and the stepfather ran off shortly thereafter with an underaged neighbor, Alice still believed that Heather was just a sick person who lived in a world of make believe rather than admit she let down her own child.

Those flashbacks remind me once again how there used to be so much heart on DAYS. It felt like a show that was written, produced and directed by people who actually CARED. Oh, I'm so glad, lol! Seriously, @JAS0N47, if I were head-writing or producing DAYS, I'd definitely have you on staff as official historian.

At the very least, Ron Carlivati needs a Co-HW or EP who can push back against his insane af ideas and say things like, "No, Ron, you can't have John Black lose his [!@#$%^&*] just from looking at some dumb playing card. We don't have the budget, the time or the right quality of actors to play this stupid homage to 'The Manchurian Candidate'."

CUT TO: "BREAKING NEWS: GH Alum Bryan Craig IN at B&B!"

I must admit that I, too, thought Mark Derwin and Kimberley Simms had a certain appeal as a couple. More so than Derwin and Beth Ehlers.

Could someone fill me in on Bryan Craig's BTS antics? I know many were glad to see him go, but I never knew why.

You know, I could see Ron Carlivati writing a story like that, lol? Leo would undergo some sort of "Clockwork Orange"-esque aversion therapy where he'd be reconditioned to be not so pervy. And RC and the rest of the show would play it all for laughs, too. What is there to give up? She's literally giving away her inventory to total strangers on the street, lol!