Faulkner

Question: we’ve had actors who identify as Native American (A Martinez has emphasized his Apache and Piegan heritage along with his Mexican background), but how many Native/indigenous characters have we had on daytime? I believe Kimberly Norris (now Guerrero) played a Native character on ATWT before she played Jerry’s girlfriend on Seinfeld.

She’s coming for Jax too. https://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/news/faith-stowers-thinks-vanderpump-rules-should-fire-jax-taylor/

From San Diego 🇺🇸

I used to hate her, and she certainly never gelled with the Winters family early on, but I think she’s grown a whole lot as an actress. Enough that I actually enjoy her. She and Mishael had wonderful hate chemistry. Y&R was dumb af for killing off Hilary.

I know ATL has gone on hiatuses. But BH and NYC both off the air leaves me with little to watch on Bravo, which is my go-to these days. Top Chef’s season finale is right around the corner, and I’m not a fan of Below Deck or M2M:LA.

I’d prefer Dru back from the dead than the long-lost twin trope, and that’s the only time I’d ever say that. At least she’d have established connections to characters on the canvas, even without Neil (Devon, Lily, Nate, a possible Olivia, Sharon, Phyllis, even Jill and the Newmans to an extent). VR is the rare actress who can sell bad writing, too, which is guaranteed on a soap these days. She and Mishael Morgan would be electrifying.

Danielle needs to shut it. Novak often makes himself an easy target with his lack of PR skills and outbursts, but it’s such a calculated move for a disliked player (like Danielle or Nick Kyrgios) to win fans in the Roger-loving tennis media by having a go at Novak. Nadal and Ash Barty spoke out first, but it’s Novak that’s trashed?

James Reynolds (I know he’s still on DAYS but seems open), Renee Jones, Donn Swaby, Petronia Paley, Vivica A. Fox, Loren Lott, Henry Simmons, Ellen Bethea, Nathan Purdee, Tonya Lee Williams, and Sherri Saum would also be good additions. I’d also like to hear from the “soap hoppers”: Stephanie E. Williams Russell Curry Randy Brooks William Christian

An interesting innovation:

I thought this was a joke but nope... lots of comments about the return of glory holes.

From Thailand 🇹🇭

Gina Tognoni or Carrie Genzel as Victoria on Y&R

Totally. You could clock that overeducated, overmedicated white female media types living in Brooklyn were Girls’ target audience, and that lent it coverage far beyond what the show actually deserved in the culture. You weren’t going to see HAHN recaps on Jezebel or Vulture.

It’s obvious that OWN and BET capitalized on that gap, especially with those cheap, repetitive Tyler Perry series that are aesthetically more similar to daytime dramas than shows like Dynasty or Melrose Place. Tyler saw the underserved market for daytime soaps with black viewers, hired recognizable daytime folks like Tika Sumpter and Aidan Turner, and watched the numbers soar. They had 3+ million viewers an episode and probably not that many non-black viewers among them. These shows’ mainstream media coverage certainly isn’t commensurate with their ratings. And those shows aren’t even *good.* Black folks were just hungry for their stories, and they weren’t getting served by the broadcast networks that well in the daytime.

I just remember she got called out for being racially insensitive at one point: https://dailysoapdish.com/2019/12/general-hospital-spoilers-star-chloe-lanier-nelle-benson-deletes-twitter-account-after-camila-banus-gabi-dimera-backlash-days-of-our-lives/ I just think someone with a legitimate grievance (or an ax to grind) against her was soliciting Ira to get her cancelled. Oh yes. We *all* know some deeply problematic people who were posting black squares on Instagram recently, among other things, because they felt it was the “correct” thing to do, not how they truly felt.

I know it happens at the Oscars all the time (Alicia f***ing Vikander). I suppose, on soaps, certain Young Hot Thing actors have more airtime to attract the viewing demos, yet traditionally haven’t had the name recognition to compete with high-profile daytime veterans like the Susan Flannerys or Tony Gearys. It’s definitely safer in Supporting. It’s odd to see folks like Scott Clifton winning Lead trophies, though, even though it’s obvious he’s been the male lead at B&B for a decade. I guess the issue there isn’t that he’s a relative no-name compared to older legends. It’s more that he’s not that good as Liam. Just like Cameron Mathison wasn’t that good as Ryan. He didn’t deserve to be nominated for an Emmy at all, Supporting or otherwise, much less as a lead. It was more egregious with CM, who was around when more soaps were on the air and thus eclipsed a wealth of better options. Scott Clifton could only thrive in a diminished daytime landscape. He’d be a footnote in the days when David Canary, Larry Bryggman, Peter Bergman, and Geary were dominating the Lead category.

One other thing to note: if VPR survives this and LVP/Bravo don’t replace these guys with POCs, it’s probably not going to go over well.

From Pereira, Colombia 🇨🇴

With Lea Michele, Hartley Sawyer, et al, this feels like a #MeToo-style reckoning. Who will be cancelled next?

Queen Scheana is coming for her throne lol. So weird that a VPR marathon FILLED with Stassi and Kristen is on Bravo right now. I wonder if they’ll air a statement before tonight’s reunion episode.