Khan

I don't know what to make of this news.

I remember that movie, lol! BITD, before aiming for respectability, USA used to be a great go-to for trashy movies and TV series. Their original movies, in particular, were cheap and overheated and implausible as hell, but oh so fun to watch.

He's imitating his career after leaving Y&R and KL.

I see where you're coming from, but I'm not sure Val needed a babysitter/talk-to at that point.

Like I always say, you have to fight fire with fire. ;)

I agree. Fourteen seasons of KL was enough. In order to keep the series alive in some fashion, however, I might have tried spinning off the Sumner Group into its' own show. Have Greg die suddenly in the series premiere after marrying Paige, and maybe coax Donna Mills into returning full-time, as Abby steps up her plan to take over TSG and push Paige out in the wake of his passing. In the meantime, the series would revolve the twisted dramas that swirl around TSG and its' many employees, with recurring character Mort Tubor, still clawing his way up the ladder, offering his usual blend of comedic commentary on all the proceedings.

I agree. Granted, I thought Steve was horribly conceived and cast, but there isn't anything that says they couldn't have recast him and then worked on developing him more.

Oh God, no, lol. One thing I did like about the series finale that I would keep in the mythical S15 is Anne, Claudia and Nick all heading off to Monaco. But I might have Anne return right away - and once again, she's broke, thanks to Nick taking her AND Claudia's money and heading off for parts unknown. This time, however, Anne reinvents herself as a businesswoman - a madam, to be precise. ;)

That's precisely where my brain headed, lol. You have Val's father pop up at a very inopportune time; you have Val and Lilimae suspect there might be something wrong with the old coot; you have him finally admit he's dying; and you have Lilimae torn between staying with her estranged husband until the end or accompanying Al to Florida or wherever the hell they ran off to, lol.

I think the producers would've moved heaven and earth to convince her to stay, since she was exactly the sort of young, sultry type who would've kept the younger audiences from tuning out. And I think Michele Lee and Kevin Dobson would've stayed, if only to provide continuity. But the rest of the cast, including Ted Shackelford, probably would've been phased out; and younger characters, played by cheaper actors, would've moved into Seaview Circle as part of CBS and Lorimar's plan to overhaul KL for the '90's.

Which would have been for the best, IMO. If KL had had another season, it would've needed to evolve once more in order to keep up with the changing primetime landscape. In an era where MELROSE PLACE and its' imitators were becoming the "new hotness," as you would say, and with shows like "E.R." and "NYPD Blue" just around the corner, Greg Sumner would've looked like a relic from another, long-forgotten era. It's not dumb - hell, who wouldn't turn to stand-up after living the kind of life Val led? - but the question is, could the very mannered and not-at-all-funny Joan Van Ark have played "Valene Ewing, Standup Comic" without looking like a contestant on "America's Got (No) Talent"? I, for one, would have LOVED to have seen Val reunite with her father (who, in my mind, is played by Ben Johnson), perhaps as a spoiler in Al and Lilimae's brief romance.

In a way, reuniting her with her twins became a sort of dead-end for Val. Aside from shrieking "I HAVE GOT TO THINK OF MY CHILDREN!!" every fifteen minutes and wringing her hands over Gary possibly finding out he was their father - not to mention, having to dodge various psychos who were after her or Ben or those damn brats at any given time - Val had absolutely nothing left to do. Her writing career, like her pursuing a college degree, fell completely by the wayside, probably because Val as a writer never made sense to the producers (or to anyone else) and never yielded anything in the way of storylines. If you think about it, what did we REALLY know about Val, aside from her tragic backstory (abandoned by her mother and, we presume, father; married and a mother at a very early age; forced out of Dallas and out of her daughter's life by J.R.)? What interests did she have besides raising children and running everyday on the beach? I mean, Gary could've married another woman before moving to Knots Landing, and Val could've remained just another part of Ewing family history, and it wouldn't have made any difference.

I agree. Of course, Greg didn't really take much of a role in raising Mary Frances, so I could understand why he shouldn't have raised Meg; but if KL had been more like "Family" or "Eight is Enough," then I would've been interested to see how Mack and Karen, who were "of a certain age" and had grown children of their own, cope with raising another at a time in their lives when they probably assumed they were done with raising children. KL wasn't like "Family" or "Eight is Enough," though, and hadn't been like "Family" or "Eight is Enough" in at least a decade; so the entire scenario of Mack and Karen raising Greg and Laura's baby (with the needless wrinkle of keeping Meg from ever finding out the truth) becomes a big ball of "So what?" for me in the end. (Just as I never understood why Abby, Ben or Val always panicked at the thought of Gary knowing the twins were his, and why Gary took so damn long to figure it out. I mean, what's the big damn deal here, folks?)

Sequences like those are something of a signature for Latham (and for her husband, Bernard Lechowick, as well). The Lechowicks employed them all the time on KNOTS LANDING, HOMEFRONT and other shows they've written and produced.

It's actors like Andrew Ridings that really made me miss Joan D'Incecco as AMC's casting director.

OMGosh, Mama Khan LOVES binge watching those that are available on YT, lol. They don't offer much in the way of character development - a deficiency I chalk up to laziness on the part of the filmmakers - but they are a fun, convenient way to get one's "soap fix." And you're right, it wouldn't take much to produce 15-minute soaps like that: just good casting, directing and writing. Absolutely!

I feel another chapter of Megan's autobiography coming on.

Avery Pohl reminds me of every character on "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" who helps some pervert trap and molest young women.

Same here. 15-minute soaps would be ideal, especially for those who tend to stream shows on handheld devices (phones, tablets, etc). Viewers might return to the days of catching up on their "stories" at work during lunch and other breaks; and even if you're the type who prefers to binge watch an entire week's worth of shows at once, doing so in 75 minutes (with commercials, less without) might be preferable to 150 or 300. Moreover, if I were writing and/or producing my own soap, I might even repurpose each week's episodes into a sort of "omnibus" edition every weekend that would feature even extra scenes or moments that might've been cut from earlier in the week due to time constraints.

ICAM!

I think it was lusty and bold at times. My main issue with FC, however, was that it never was consistent. Just when they were on a roll with something, it seems like someone would interfere and mess it all up. Moreover, it never could decide whether it wanted to be like DALLAS or like DYNASTY, so it tried to be both, which meant the tone would be all over the place.

Perhaps, in another thread?

Oh, dear. Something must be very wrong with me if Gloria Monty and I are in agreement. But seriously. I think it was the way Mary O'Brien would deliver her lines that irritates me whenever I watch old clips on YT. To me, she always sounds like one of those flighty chicks who'd hang around the Sweathogs on "Welcome Back, Kotter." Even when her Heather is at her most cunning, plotting to drive Diana Taylor insane so she could get back Steven Lars, I never can take her seriously. (At best, I roll my eyes at her like I do at Lucy Coe/Lynn Herring). She couldn't cry for [!@#$%^&*], her hair and wardrobe were the cringiest of cringe and her LSD-induced breakdown is just about the most laughable performance ever, too. (She's supposed to be trippin' balls, y'all, not turning into the female Charly Gordon.) That's why I prefer Robin Mattson's Heather to anyone else's; her Heather might have been harder and more noir-ish, but she meant business!

Agree. She and Stitch made such little impact on Y&R that you forget they were even there.

IDK why, but Mary O'Brien grates on my nerves, lol. I thought Kevin Tighe would've made a good recast for ATWT's Dr. Bob Hughes. (Yes, I wanted to fire Don Hastings. Sue me.)