Khan

B&B (or Y&R) doesn't have to be written like a Bell soap. It just has to be decent. But, I do agree, @Liberty City: it would be nice to see Kay Alden back in that HW's chair under any circumstances, strike or no strike. But I also don't blame her one bit if she chose to enjoy her retirement instead. She's more than earned it.

Sorry, @Liberty City, I was joking. Who's the other Carly? There's two Carlys now? Like two Todds? What am I missing?

Wait, what?

No writer outside of William Goldman likes to think they fucked up a show they grew up watching.

Wait, who's Kristina again?

RME. Stay classy, Ron, lol.

Linda Gottlieb and the rest of her producing team at OLTL should feel very grateful that they got away with recasting Blair with a Caucasian woman when they did. That [!@#$%^&*] would never fly today, lol.

There was a point early on when it seemed like Michael Malone was making Viki far more snooty than she had been in the past. I certainly felt that way as I was watching back then.

I agree. Didn't Lesli Kay land the role instead? Lord, what a mistake that turned out to be, lol. It's almost as if you'd have to change either Lois or Olivia in order to have a real rivalry, depending on who's supposed to be endgame with Ned. Frankly, I had enough of Lois behaving out of character when she hooked up with Alcazar. Sometimes, when you watch GH these days, you DO get the impression that Chris Van Etten and Dan O'Connor have watched the show for years; that they love the show and want to do right by it. They're no "dream team," but they're trying to be. That's why, at the end of the day, I hope I'm not coming across as being terribly hard on the two, because it's better to have a HW or HW-ing team that carries genuine affection for the show they're writing for than to have one who clearly has never watched the show before and probably wouldn't under any other circumstances.

Nothing -- and I mean NOTHING -- could ever be as bad (or as boring!) as Tidal Energy. David Jacobs should have shown John Romano the door the minute the idea was proposed to him and Michael Filerman. I suspect Empire Valley was always supposed to be a front for an underground espionage operation. I just think the execution of that premise, along with everything leading up to it, got out of control.

I feel like that, more than wanting to bring back Patrick Duffy as Bobby, is why Leonard Katzman and others wanted to write off the entire season as a dream.

Kristoff's death left a hole on Y&R's canvas that only Malcolm and Shemar Moore can truly fill.

A Lois/Olivia rivalry might sound good "on paper," but I think the two are too similar for any rivalry between them to be effective. Often, I'll watch scenes with LLC/Olivia and think you could exchange her for Rena and barely notice the difference. I won't argue with your current assessment of GH, @Vee. The show ain't nowhere near being perfect -- the overall writing still feels shallow and superficial to me -- but I do think they're at least trying to give their audience good, old-fashioned entertainment (...even though I think many of their choices are questionable). That's more than you could say about Y&R, which feels like it's on auto-pilot at this point; or B&B, which is running on fumes and needs new blood, stat; or DAYS, which is just so batshit crazy now that it feels like watching a Japanese game show without subtitles.

The networks (and the corporations that own them) have always been about the bottom line. Yet, there was a time not TOO long ago when those in charge knew that you could produce quality work and STILL satisfy the stockholders' needs. Somewhere along the line, TPTB forgot about that philosophy, or decided it didn't matter anymore (and I'm not talking JUST about daytime here, I think TV shows across the board have experienced a decline in quality over the past few decades). Will they return to that philosophy someday? Maybe. But, even if they do, I'm afraid it'll be too late to save the shows that are still on the air today. I'm afraid that the remaining soaps -- GH, B&B, Y&R, even DAYS on "The Cock" -- will have to die before the genre redeems itself. I don't know whether CM is still battling cancer or has entered remission, so I won't criticize his facial or physical appearance. I just wish he would remember that he's supposed to be an actor portraying a character, not a media personality who's auditioning to host the new version of "Tic Tac Dough."

No, they can't. They're all too far gone. But, it's a free country (for now). Knock yourself out.

That's when you know Ron Carlivati has officially entered the building, lol.

I wish I could feel that creative about GH - or any current soap - but I just can't muster up the fanfic anymore. They are what they are.

Who would chuckle? Heather? Last time I checked, she still wasn't allowed to play with scissors!

Isn't A.J. dead...again? Oh, well. Maybe Steve Burton will come back when he's through with DAYS and play him. ("So what if he used to be Jason? That was then! He's A.J. now! Deal with it!!")

Just don't put her with Valentin, okay? The last thing anyone needs to hear is that sap serenading her with "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World."

If VM can make that happen, then Jesus can kick rocks, because Vanessa is clearly the messiah.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the Biggest, Baddest, Most Dangerous Cassadine of Them All: Stacey! She's come all the way from the Sherman Oaks Galleria and she is, like, so totally pissed!!"

Or if the "Nanny" revival still doesn't happen. Fair enough, lol.

So, while Lana's initial appearance on the show did give FC an enormous ratings boost, later appearances failed to match those results. (I don't count the S2 finale, because it was, after all, the season finale, as well as the climax of the "Who Killed Carlo Agretti?" mystery. "Climax" would have rated highly whether Lana appeared again or not.) I think that data reinforces my initial point: FC could have recast Jacqueline -- if not with another Hollywood legend like Miss Turner, then certainly with a formidable actor -- and the show would have been fine. They could have brought in someone like Barbara Rush or Dorothy Malone.

But, you see, Brenda would be just the woman to bring that spark into his life. Ah, well, it's all hypothetical anyway, lol.