Faulkner

I had saved this from @vetsoapfan, who had picked his favorite years of each soap:

It’s been said before but 1993 feels like such a pivotal year for all soaps. Doug Marland’s death forever changed ATWT. Todd’s rape of Marty on OLTL changed the trajectory of that show to the end. Claire Labine took over on GH.

Barbrosa in Tel Aviv 🇮🇱

James from London 🇬🇧

It’s this guy: https://instagram.com/carloscunh4?utm_medium=copy_link

Nikki seems like an obvious option, as people have mentioned, and she’s been sitting around doing nothing since JG took over.

To say one nice thing, Mark Grossman looks good today. The haircut makes him look younger.

I guess it’s budget-driven? You can tell the shift over the past decade, and it was worse than it’s ever been, post-COVID.

They really don’t like Denzel lol. Very strange Best Actress noms with no Colman, Kidman, or Stewart. I know BAFTA selects some of it nominees via jury now, but still I wouldn’t have expected Alana Haim over them.

Carlos from Brazil 🇧🇷

They always half-ass it. They never really commit to it. They chicken out and go for incompetent needy daddy’s girl. They need to really lean into full vengeful power-mad yet cold bitch with her. But to your point, she’s horribly miscast role of Victoria as written.

She’s amazing. Just imagine Stafford trying to pull her usual nonsense in scenes with her. But you’re right. They’d f*ck it up. So good.

I so wanted Zöe Lucker on an American soap. If Mal Young were good for anything…

Was LK in scenes with DZ/Dante during her first temp run as Sam? I don’t remember.

That looks like his head has been cut and pasted on someone else’s body. (I know it’s beard and the way he’s positioning his neck but lol.)

MS is so shrill. That “Tell me that you love me! Tell me we have a future!” fantasy with Jack… 😬 They are making Noah look crazy af. They are wasting this dude:

So gorgeous in L’Avventura.

I love GH but there’s something about it that lacks a core to me, at least as long as I’ve been watching. Maybe because aside from the Quartermaines, it’s been much more about the bonds between adult friends and lovers than the passage of familial bonds, at least during the years I’ve watched. Feels a bit less rooted.

Just for shits and giggles. 1. Y&R (a lush, cinematic, thoroughly realized soap, which had the rare benefit of the vision of one writer, Bill Bell, for over 30 years, including the work of his protégé Kay Alden) 2. AMC (like Y&R, helped modernize soaps with daring, progressive content, with the singular perspective of Agnes Nixon, delivered soap’s most famous modern character in Erica Kane) 3. ATWT (Irna’s baby and the first blockbuster soap originating on TV, kept a lot of her DNA even as the show declined, introduced the legendary Hughes family and Lisa the vixen; underwent a major renaissance under Doug Marland) 4. GH (reinvented by Gloria Monty, took the genre to pop cultural heights never seen before or since; balanced James Bond adventures with family/romance/workplace drama; Labine/Guza both elevated and grounded the show in the ‘90s. Still I’d rank Bell/Nixon/Irna’s creations ahead of it) 5. GL (the original, dating back to radio; probably the soap alongside AMC with the most warmth and heart and sense of community; too erratic quality-wise to rank much higher, but the Curlee era was perfect soap) 6. OLTL (beyond underrated for successfully reinventing itself many times over and for its inclusiveness; still entertaining but lost a lot of its social vision during the Rauch years, only to recover it splendidly during Gottlieb/Malone) 7. DAYS (where Bill Bell first truly soared with his larger-than-life yet grounded perspective in the ‘60s and ‘70s; reinvented as an engaging romance/adventure show in the ‘80s; re-emerged as a gonzo fantasy show under JER’s polarizing vision, which deteriorated into madness later on.) 8. B&B (underrated and overshadowed by Y&R but balanced intimacy and the grandiose gesture, e.g. the fashion shows and over-the-top set pieces, very well. Bringing Sheila on was a stroke of genius, and Brooke Logan and Stephanie Forrester are two of soaps’ most indelible creations.) 9/10. PC/Passions: Meh and bleh.

Anwar from India 🇮🇳

That article is from May of last year.

It feels amateurish. Today’s scenes made two really good actors feel totally adrift.