Khan

That's possible. Remember, Dee and Wayne were popular BITD. Therefore, TPTB might have assumed that Roman/Marlena fans would be SO thrilled to have the original Roman back that they would forget all about Drake. At the very least, they likely thought they could parlay Drake's own popularity into having TWO supercouples on the show: Roman/Marlena, and John/Isabella. Unfortunately, three factors went against everything going smoothly, or according to plans: 1) the piss-poor planning of, and lukewarm reception to, the "Tale of Two Romans"; 2) the off-key writing for Wayne's Roman once he had returned, an issue that was apparent even before JER put the final nail in Roman and Marlena's coffin; and 3) Staci Greason's decision not to re-sign, which torpedoed the show's chances of developing John and Isabella any further as a duo.

Agree. In fact, I've been saying for YEARS that John being Stefano's son was the only outcome that would have made sense, and that the show was avoiding the obvious, likely because they were more concerned with shocking viewers than with being logical. Hence, all the ridiculous retcons to his past that invariably land with a thud with an audience that is truly past the point of caring. (But, of course, whenever I argue the theory, I'm always argued down. But Stefano has tried many times to kill John, they say. Why would Stefano try to kill his own son? As if Stefano would be above murdering his own son simply because his son had proven himself to be disloyal to him. Anyways.) And I also agree that, on the face of it, the "Tale of Two Romans" had potential. Of course, it wasn't something I would've done, had I been the HW. (At best, I would have said that John and Roman were twins, that John was stolen at birth, and that Stefano (and Victor) had somehow tracked him down and brainwashed him into becoming The Pawn). But, the idea behind it was certainly creative. It's just that its' execution is what ultimately let it down. It was clear the show didn't really know who John was supposed to be once he was no longer Roman, so they kept stalling, hoping to come up with some explanation for how he came to be that would "stick." In the process, the story became far too convoluted; and when they finally landed on the idea of making him the presumably dead Forrest Alamain, it didn't have the impact it should've, not just because the Alamains were gone soon after, but also because the folks at home had simply moved on. That's my theory, anyway, and I'm sticking to it, lol. Ironically, though, it would solve what I still think is Belle and Shawn's biggest problem - which is that they're together in the first place, lol. Of course, you'd still have the issue of Claire, but I think that's easily resolvable, too. Either we learn Sami did succeed in switching Belle with another infant OR Claire dies by her own hand after learning that her parents are in fact brother and sister and that she is a product of incest.

Agree. Not that daytime soaps don't have plot holes - Lord knows they do! - but I don't believe the primetime soaps were plotted as meticulously as the daytime soaps even WITH a "bible" for each season. With the primetime soaps, details often slipped through the cracks, because they had only so many episodes per season (with hiatuses), and because they were less concerned with the slow, steady build and more concerned with the instant, weekly gratification. Watching one episode of a primetime soap was supposed to be equivalent of watching a week or two of a daytime soap, so, again, not every "i" was dotted or "t" crossed.

IDK why, but I feel like that might happen in the very last episode of DAYS. Sort of like how OLTL's Allison Perkins told Clint and Viki toward the end of the show's network run that both Jessica and Natalie were Clint's biological daughters all along.

DAYS has never even TRIED to retcon Ben's past as the Necktie Killer, and that's what annoys me the most about him. I mean, come on, just say it was Jordan or Clyde doing all the killings and get it over with, lol.

I give up trying to make sense of John's backstory. It is what it is.

I'm always amazed by the fact that Mickey Gilley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Jimmy Swaggart were cousins and played piano together as children. RIP Mr. Gilley.

Exactly. Just as "abortion is good for business," per @marceline, so, too, is legislature that protects the rights of LGBTQ citizens. Frankly, I've learned not to put too much faith or stock into millennials. Millennials seem content sitting on the metaphorical sidelines, calling the rest of us "sellouts" for compromising (which is the dirtiest of words to them) and saying we're all the reason why everything has turned to [!@#$%^&*] and nothing in this country (or world) is worth saving or even fixing. (Nope, says your average (white, upper-middle-class) millennial, it's all gotta be burned down. Today. Now.) Millennials have been raised to believe that they're so gifted and precious in everyone else's eyes that they have an almost pathological disinterest in learning anything about anything that happened before their time. (I'm still rolling my eyes over the fact that Pete Buttigieg apparently had no idea what "Leave It to Beaver" was - which is minor and inconsequential, but still!). Millennials loathe us, because we don't flinch and holler and riot at every insensitive joke, and because we believe that one that should actually pay their debts, instead of expecting the government to cancel them. And those millennials who DO vote (and not just groan and meme about Gen X'ers and boomers, or disrupt otherwise peaceful protests and boycotts, so they can score likes on social media) do it while holding their noses because "he/she isn't Bernie (or AOC)." So, if it's up to the millennials to save us all? I'd just as soon go the way of the dinosaur, thank you very much.

Same goes for LGBTQ protections. Remember North Carolina's hideous "bathroom bill"? IIRC, the NC legislature was gonna let that stand as it was...until the NBA and other corporations threatened to boycott the state. Moral of the story? Money talks, and the rest can go to hell.

Ah, gotcha. Thanks, @victoria foxton. Is T.R. getting ready to slap her, or heal her in the name of Jesus?

They're CHANNELING Allie? She's not dead!

This is what I'm saying.

Well, it's not a full and total dismissal from the airwaves, but I guess it's something.

Greg Abbott always looks as if he's made another poopie in his pants. @marceline was right: this country cannot survive minority rule. Sooner or later, it's all gonna end in bloodshed.

"Clink/Boom" was good. Patrick Mulcahey did a masterful job (as always) of making it feel less mechanical (his word). But don't get me started on the Tin Man, lol.

TBH, I was going in and out on GH at that point. To me, GH fell apart pretty quickly once Claire Labine left. According to the ever-reliable iMDB, Leslie Horan had auditioned for Karen, Niki Langton and Carly before landing Miranda. So, perhaps, the show decided to throw her a bone? Me neither. But I wouldn't trust Frank Valentini to cast her properly OR his goons to write for her properly either.

The same goes for many FOJs. IMO, JFP often had the worst taste in actors. Speaking of characters who ate their respective soaps, there always comes a point in reading "Love of Life" synopses where I feel like I'm reading "Love of Bambi (Brewster)" instead. Like, who was that chick? Where did she come from? How did she become so important so damn quickly? How long did viewers suffer through her trials and tribulations before demanding her head on a stick? Suddenly, I'm having flashbacks to Patrick and Marty on OLTL and that "Henny Penny" poem he'd recite every frigging chance he got, lol.

Moreover, why are they reciting from "Romeo & Juliet"? Given Ben's past, I think "Othello" would have been the more appropriate choice. I just...I can't...DA FUQ??

Agree! To this day, I wonder who signed off on her. Was she Wendy Riche's pick? Or Bob Guza's (even though he was already out the door for the first time when she premiered)? Or Richard Culliton's (and Karen Harris')? Just who in the hell wanted that girl anyway!? If they wanted to build on Dano's apparent popularity among AW fans, they could have just brought her onto AMC or back to OLTL and then left it at that. Making her the face of Angela Shapiro's "network synergy" concept was bound to fail. You know, it was both my greatest fear AND my greatest wish to have David Canary pop up on GH as Adam Chandler and say, "Never mind, I was just messing w/ you, Skye. You're really mine and Althea's daughter after all." To think: we've watched those two women (RC and LD) travel from soap to soap, retconning the [!@#$%^&*] out of history at every turn; only to learn, in the end, that it was all some big, damn mistake. I mean, it would have been cruel to the fans, yes, but it also would've been so damn funny. Frankly, I don't think ABC should have stopped there. They should have had Dano, as Rae, popping up on all kinds of shows on the network. Not just daytime, but primetime, morning shows - heck, even "ABC's World News Tonight"! Just imagine "Rae" asking Peter Jennings for his help in tracking down her son/daughter! What can I say? The internet is a lot like high school.

Wasn't its' proposed title something like "The House of Hope"?

Yes! Thank you! My thoughts EXACTLY, @Darn! It seemed as if Brian Frons would not rest until everyone in the free fuckin' world loved and adored those four actors and characters as much as he did!

Well, I think they tried that a little bit when KMc appeared for a moment on AMC as part of the Alex/Anna (clusterfuck of a) storyline. ABC was really into synergy for a season, weren't they, lol? The whole Linda Dano experiment was predicated on the notion that Dano was so beloved as AW's Felicia Gallant that 1) AW viewers would follow her to ABC and 2) they would also follow her from show to show. The problem, though, was that ABCD couldn't secure the rights to the Felicia character, which immediately blunted any impact the experiment might have had on their lineup. Plus, speaking as someone who is mostly a P&G fan, I think it's tough for many P&G fans to feel so strongly for their faves that they'll follow them even to a non-P&G show. I mean, there is some overlap between P&G fans and non-P&G fans in terms of which shows they follow - like, members of both groups count themselves among Y&R's core audience, for example - but I tend to find that P&G fans stick mostly with the P&G shows, and vice versa. As for Jax/Ingo: I feel like his one, big opportunity to be relevant outside of Sonny/Brenda was when they introduced Miranda. Unfortunately, Miranda was so badly miscast, it almost made me wanna cry. In turn, I think, the storyline, and Jax's chance of being a true lead, was pretty much over before it began. Next to Susan Lucci, I think, it would have made the most sense to have Genie appear on all three ABC soaps. You could even have tied in Ceara by revealing that the two (Ceara and Laura) were long-lost half-sisters. (Maybe Lesley actually gave birth to twins, didn't know about it or remember, and Ceara was sold to the Connors.) That way, Myrtle still would have been a part of everything, since she was Ceara's aunt. Then, if you wanted to tie in OLTL, you could have revealed that Ceara herself gave birth long ago to a child whom she sold or gave up for adoption, and Laura goes on a search and discovers that child is now grown and living in Llanview.

More and more, I feel like Hallmark/Hallmark Movies & Mysteries and GAC Family are setting the stage for a blood royal this Christmas, and I, for one, cannot wait for it, lol.

On the one hand, you could argue that Jax needs to be still in Port Charles, if only for Joss's sake. But, on the other hand, you could recast Jax (even de-age him slightly!) and I don't think it would make much of a difference in the long run. That's how superfluous Jax and Ingo have become to me on GH.

Listen, there is a part of me that will NEVER forgive Skye for almost killing Cindy and Scott Chandler (in a house she set on fire while a member of a hate group) on AMC OR for faking both a coma and paralysis to hold onto Tom Cudahy. AFAIC, the heffa could drink herself into the grave and I wouldn't so much as bat an eyelash, lol. Agree. They could have used Susan Lucci or Genie Francis (with or without Anthony Geary). Heck, they could've used even Erika Slezak, Robin Strasser (even though she'd been on AMC before in a different role) or Jane Elliot (same problem as Strasser and Francis, but the precedent was there w/ her appearing as Tracy on THE CITY). Same here. I swear there are even folks who preferred her over Alicia Coppola as Lorna on AW, which boggles my mind to no end.