Faulkner

Thanks for this. Glad to see new material coming out lately.

I wonder how much the Sopranos-era push for more “antiheroes” played in that, but you could see the shift on soaps in the ‘90s. Obviously, soaps have turned rapists into heroes since time immemorial (Luke Spencer being most notable) and dark, troubled characters saved by a woman’s love are a romance-novel staple, but the feeling that good=boring and/or hypocritical, the pursuit of shock value, the valorization of Todd Manning not only after he raped Marty but terrorized Luna and Nora, etc. really shifted the landscape until Guza and co. just said “Fück it. Let’s put our thumbs on the scale and make killers heroes and more traditional characters the villains” and Sheffer professed the need to “give men their dicks back” to critical applause and Emmy wins. Do you feel like any soap has done that well recently? Sally could have been that on Y&R. B&B used her for a quick, empty nod to history that CH managed to transcend. On Y&R, Audra is in that mold. Imani could have been as well. Does GH have one these days? B&B with Brooke apparently having aged out of those types of stories?

Am I missing a John Conboy joke?

Funny to see these two country songs as the top 2.

Obviously, ideally, characters should be multidimensional and not fit comfortably into a box. And soaps have different story needs based on their style or what types of stories they are trying to tell at a certain time. BUT what are some basic “types” that every soap needs to maximize drama, create a sense of community, etc.? Which characters historically embody that type, and which soaps have lacked (or are lacking) characters of that type, to their own detriment? @slick jones mentioned Audra on Y&R as a good “sh!t stirrer,” and it’s been a while since the show has had an effective one of those, even though it’s a very broad type. A good, gossipy, strategic manipulative mind-fücker with a hidden agenda (at least to most of the other characters). The actress and the writing sometimes overplay the rubbing-her-hands-together scheming so that her victims like Elena seem dim when they can’t see through her, but in general, she’s a good addition IMO.

Edit. Delete.

Mauro from Colombia 🇨🇴

Tommy Paul 🇺🇸

I think AW is an inspired idea. Lots of actors who could have made music out of her literary dialogue like Mark Pinter and, of course, folks like Charles Keating, Linda Dano, Vicky Wyndham, and Stephen Schnetzer. Plus it would have been interesting to see how she would have handled the young scene (Lorna/Dean/Jenna/Matt et al), similar to how she handled Brenda, Robin, and that crew over on GH. I used to think Claire might have been a good fit for AMC, but I’m not so sure anymore. Then again I wouldn’t have naturally assumed she’d be good for GH, but she on paper should have been a decent fit for OLTL.

Cuba Gooding Jr.’s son Mason 🇺🇸

Word salad.

@AbcNbc247

Oy. I cut the cord, partially because my cable operator (Spectrum) didn’t offer TCM on anything but the highest tiers. Now comes news that Zaslav is gutting the network:

Luke Macfarlane is a bonafide daddy

That photo was my inspiration lol. He’s apparently very cruisy on social media, so shoot your shot! 😂

The oldest, palest, whitest blond twink who ever twinked: Ronan Farrow. Actually these are AI generations but go wild @Soapsuds @AbcNbc247

I remember they called the story about their breakup from last year fake news, but I guess they couldn’t hash it out. I know Chris’s mom is somewhere dancing a jig.

@Soapsuds

Ryan Hoang 🇺🇸 @AbcNbc247