Khan

Diana, I mean, AMANDA, looks very pretty in her gown and veil.

Agree. As I think I've said before, either in this thread or elsewhere: DALLAS was the almost mythical family saga; DYNASTY was the "old Hollywood" throwback about glamorous people suffering glamorously; and KNOTS LANDING was the soap that was (theoretically) about middle-class people caught in circumstances beyond their control. FC, therefore, was always a soap in need of its' own identity. For awhile, FC tried to be a combination of DALLAS' grit and DYNASTY's glamour, but I don't think the combination ever really worked. The storylines weren't as strong as DALLAS', and the opulence paled in comparison to DYNASTY's, too. Then, when Jeff Freilich became showrunner, FC finally had an identity separate from the other soaps, as a moody, noirish, crime drama that echoed "Crime Story" and presaged "Wiseguy." However, in the process, it seemed like the vineyards, which had been central to the show's storylines up to that point, became less integral to the show. If I've said it once, I've said it a million times: Lorimar should have just stuck with Earl Hamner's original vision for FC, as a "Waltons"-like family drama with Gothic undertones. That, after all, was more his metier, not glitzy melodrama.

DYNASTY's decline was worse, because the storytelling - or what remained of it after S3 - deteriorated so quickly. Not only did the Moldavian Massacre provide no real payoffs, but what DID come afterward was ridiculous even by their own, shallow standards.

Unfortunately, that happens all the time. We are a civilization who has been conditioned over thousands of years to think that war will solve everything. It never occurs to us that wars only beget more wars until, at last, there's no more people left to fight. The big wheel keeps on turning On a simple line, day by day The earth spins on its axis One man struggle while another relaxes I know it's only March, but I'm nominating this dude for Time Magazine's Person of the Year. God only knows how this will all end, but I give Zelensky props for fighting the good fight.

If you can't beat 'em....

I think everyone slapped Diana at one point or another. KL really miscalculated how much the audience cared about that brat.

Doug Sheehan was like a modern-day Jimmy Stewart. He was easygoing, had a good sense of humor, and was someone both men and women could like for different reasons.

Even I must admit it looked as if Richard Bloore was deliberately putting FS in David Byrne's big suit from the "Stop Making Sense" tour just to hide the fat.

Oh, Heather was nuts from day-damn-one. Didn't she even forge a letter of recommendation so she could work for Peter and Diana (pre-Jeff/pre-Steven Lars)? BUT WHY? WHY was she nuts? What happened to Heather, or what was it about her circumstances, that made her the way she was from the start? Alice always said she was no good - even as she loved her and protected her and sacrificed even her own freedom for her - but again, why? I've researched as much as I could about Heather, but like most characters that were created by the Pollocks (on GH, on THE DOCTORS and on DYNASTY), I still can't get a handle on her. And if I have to draw my own conclusions and/or make up my own backstory for her - maybe Heather's dad abused her and Alice chose to look the other way or blame Heather for being willful rather than put the no-good s.o.b. out of their house - then something's wrong.

"The Ropers" has to be the worst spin-off ever created. There is not one redeeming quality about that entire series. Not. One. "Mork & Mindy"'s swift decline is generally attributed to two factors: a time slot change, and too many changes to the show's cast after the first season.

On the one hand, it was great to see a series about a Black family NOT living in the ghetto. On the other hand, I don't think "The Jeffersons" ever had the quality of writing that its' parent show, "All in the Family," had in its' first several years. As for some other AITF/Norman Lear-produced spinoffs... "Maude" was probably the best, with writing that sometimes outmatched AITF's. "Archie Bunker's Place" was probably the worst, thanks to Carroll O'Connor having too much control. "Good Times," which was a spinoff OF a spinoff, was pretty bad as well, thanks to some almost minstrel show-level writing. (And I say that as someone who loved GT.) Of all the spin-offs that I've seen, none have been more frustrating than "Rhoda." The show had a good cast and good production team behind it, but they never found the right guy OR right job for Rhoda. (David Groh was a dud as Joe, and so was Kenneth McMillan as her latter-seasons boss, Jack Doyle, at the costume company.)

When I think about why I still love KL, especially its' early years, I think of moments like that. KNOTS could gut-punch you with drama in ways that the other primetime soaps couldn't.

Leave it to John Conboy, though, to stick his smug ass in the cast photo, lol.

I truly believe that DALLAS' decline in its' later seasons was the result of Larry Hagman exerting entirely too much control over the show. When you're the face and voice of your show, and the number-one reason why people tune in in the first place, no one's gonna question you or push back on your ideas for its' overall direction, no matter how mediocre those ideas are.

I, for one, don't want Heather back, under any circumstances, regardless of who's playing her. One, they've never adequately explained why Heather is so crazy; and two, she's gone so off-the-rails that she's now a cartoon.

Don't bring up that ridiculousness as an accurate portrayal of DID. Just don't.

My name is not Mimi.

If TPTB aren't pandering to the most rabid fanbases, they're telling the longtime viewers to FOAD.

I appreciate Ron Carlivati's efforts to give Thaao and Leann a story, but this...? Is ridiculous.

No pun intended?

Well, that figures. By the time the show had ended, most of the actors and characters who the audience loved - Chase, Cole, Julia, Melissa, Maggie - had gone. Angela would have been gone, too, had Jane Wyman not returned (against her doctors' wishes) for the last few episodes.

Now why on Earth would Liz be suffering from DID? See, folks, THAT is what happens when you stubbornly refuse to let your favorite soaps write off characters who've been drained of all story possibilities. You wind up making everyone's lives [!@#$%^&*] miserable with crap like Liz Webber catching DID.

I could have gone the rest of my life not knowing that Sam Elliott was a homophobic bastard. When will actors learn to keep their damn mouths shut?

I think the ratings would have been low anyway. S13 chased away a lot of fans. I'm just saying! There just didn't seem to be a point in bringing back Tom when it was clear Greg and Paige were endgame. And once Vanessa had split up Alex and Kate, it was time to send her packing. She had served her purpose.

The day Jonathan Jackson gets compared to Michael Cera is the day I give up the will to live.