Faulkner

1997 almost miraculously brought me back as a loyal viewer of GL (after JFP and McTavish drove me away), but the 1-2-3 punch of Clone Reva, the Santos crime family, and San Cristobal cut the cord for me. Even though there were things I enjoyed about the final decade of GL (GT’s Dinah being first and foremost), the spell had been fully broken and I mostly watched GH (even though it was rough as well).

He’s got a whole bearskin rug on his chest there. Wow. I appreciate when soaps allow their men to be fully hirsute. I was trying to find a shirtless shot of William Bumiller, who played Sean on GL (who found Reva on that deserted island after Annie sent Reva to her “death” on that airplane). His hairy shirtlessness was the only watchable thing about that era of GL.

And they aren’t being as blunt and transparent about the age difference as they should be, maybe to protect PB’s ego? But they should be more upfront about the elephant in the room. More people should be commenting on it from afar.

In true 2021 Y&R form, they’ve done zero to set this up properly. Just scenes of light flirtation and minor mentoring from Jack. I could totally see someone as ambitious as Sally going for the Big Daddy instead of a second stringer like Billy/Nick, but they haven’t played the beats to get there at all.

From Nigeria 🇳🇬

DAYS won this sweeps by miles, which is sad because it was a C+ at best. (That is mostly due to standout actors who rose above the material like Emily O’Brien, Marci Miller, Lindsay Arnold, and Cady McClain. The stories themselves were pretty bad.) GH is probably a D, and the Bell soaps will have to repeat the semester.

Big Sky, the David E. Kelley drama that dealt with human sex trafficking in its first story arc, has been a big success (mostly on streaming) for ABC this season, so I’m curious if that’s the tone they’ll aim for. It has a mild Twin Peaks feel to it. I can’t imagine Pine Valley being *that* bleak, but who knows?

The thing is, in the very unlikely event MB, IR, and SBu all go, GH would simply elevate Roger Howarth, Michael Easton, and James Patrick Stuart. The bland leading the bland.

From Malaysia 🇲🇾

From Bangkok 🇹🇭

A Black History Month message: https://www.instagram.com/p/CL0jiMRnTDY/?igshid=1ciehzbsxbcc1

This. Technology is moving so quickly that it’s hard to know what the media ecosystem will look like in 5-10 years, and certainly a lot of soaps’ core audience is literally dying off, but they’ll be on the air as long as the networks are around IMO.

Thank you for sharing this excellent interview. Just a joy to watch from beginning to end. She was incandescent. And yes, that Ruth Warrick story was hilarious.

What’s going on with GH? Personally, I’ve not been very engaged with the show lately. They really aren’t milking as much drama out of Sonny’s absence as they could be. Everything feels a little loose, even with Nina determined to exact revenge on Carly.

I’ve been banging the drum for Phyllis vs. Sally from the jump. As others have said, they feel more evenly matched than Summer vs. Sally. (Many of us wanted Courtney Hope as a Summer recast if Hunter King wasn’t open to returning.) Courtney sorta wakes MS up out of the shticky stupor too. And anything that moves Stafford closer to the man she *actually* has chemistry with, Peter Bergman, is a good move. It’s sad that the stories are so shallow these days, as I’d love to see how Ashley and Traci mix it up with Sally. Sally’s just a generically ambitious schemer right now. We’ve not had a scene with Sally as evocative as young Jill admiring Katherine’s things in the Chancellor mansion.

From the Philippines 🇵🇭

Agreed.

Where he belongs...

From Los Angeles 🇺🇸

3-minute-long thirst trap...