soapfan770

I always still remember the very homoerotic friendship of Vinny and Thomas from a few years ago. Of course they made Vinny so obsessed with Thomas that Vinny sacrificed himself to ensure Liam took the blame for his death. What a mess that story was!

Is this show even worthwhile watching anymore? I read a couple recaps from this past week and it made my stomach churn….

Weird CBS just about eliminated FBI nigbt while the NCIS shows live on although Hawaii was canceled last year for being too expensive. Matlock and Elsbeth are about the only things I watch on CBS primetime anymore though.

Always thought It’s Your Move only ever aired on Saturday nights, didn’t realize it originally started out on Wednesdays. The rest of the schedule is pretty much self explanatory. Had I been in ABC programming Paper Dolls definitely should have definitely aired after Dynasty on Wednesday nights while Hotel could’ve been bumped to Tuesday nights or to Saturday nights with the Love Boat. Obviously a crappy washed up show like Glitter was just destined to be cancelled in that Thursday night timeslot.

I literally spit out my evening beverage here laughing at the idea of Leslie running over Ridge with Thudley using his “empty dark Muholland Drive” cliche he’s used repeatedly before 🤣

On the flip side Reva’s return also gave GL an additional 14 year lifeline. Idk it’s hard to say because by 1995 the show was on the downhill and it needed a jolt to the arm with Reva back from the dead and again in 1996 it was in serious cancellation territory yet got another serious jolt to the whole system with Reva/Josh/Annie. Problem was the show kept going for shock and awe like it was Melrose Place and just ran out of steam. I had wondered if P&G ever asked Judi to stop AW (at that point Paulina being written bad) to rejoin GL, but I can imagine Rauch pushing back especially given Judi’s weight issues at the time. Had Judi rejoined GL in late 1997, I can just imagine Rauch dictating a heyday between Harley, Blake, Amanda, Vanessa and Dinah joking how fat Beth had gotten. Yikes.

August 1997 is also when the show took a break of new episodes and instead for a couple weeks their new episodes consisted of “recap” episodes where characters narrated what was going on their stories were. I was definitely disappointed to see Elaine and Paula written out not long after after but honestly by December’97 the show gained momentum going into Terror island and the Olivia/Caitlin baby swap.

Some great choices here all around. I’ll add a few I didn’t see listed: ATWT: Margaret Reed’s return as Shannon in 1994 was a complete disaster. I mean I suppose it was a good thing that we found out Shannon’s head wasn’t shrunken by Lilith after all, but the whole story was such a disappointment and she was gone within a year. I’ll save the 2000’s character returns for another time, but Scott Bryce was failed by inept writing and management. AW: RKK’s return. Nothing else needs to be said. Also the Anne/Frankie story was….weird… B&B: Too many failed returns to count lol Days: Crystal Chappell’s return as Carly became a rather sloppy disappointing mess. GL: The waste of Robert Gentry’s Ed and Susan Pratt as Claire in their returns. For returning characters, Alan-Michael in 2005 turned into a big WTF. Y&R: Hmm another tough one. Poor David Tom in 2014. Malcolm returns but is now played by Eddie Winslow. Stafford’s return in 2019 is a return no one asked for.

@DRW50 @Vee @BetterForgotten Is Josh Griffith is biggest hack in soap history? For years I remember so many people always sung his praises until his 2012-13 Y&R stint went awry along with his earlier very disappointing 2003 OLTL return with Malone, but now looking back I do believe Josh Griffith has pretty much faked his way over the last 30+ years even going back to his Santa Barbara days and absolutely deserves no credit whatsoever.

That’s what happens when decent actors actually get decent writing compared to what we get from JG anymore.

THIS. For whatever reason Noah is such a failed character just like Abby.

My god. Well at least we have one person (that being Da Stafford ©️) happy on the prospects of a Stafford/Howarth pairing 🤣😂🙃

Going back to @kalbir mentioning about the upcoming 40th anniversary of the 85-86 season, what a difference between December 1984 and December 1985:

I’ve always been interested in how some of these primetime soaps were programmed in the 80’s. The big four were strategically placed and other than The Colby’s and Knots airing against each other in the fall of ‘86 none of the soaps ever really compete against each other. Wednesdays were for a midweek escape from reality with Dynasty. Thursdays were for some wonderful adult drama on Knots Landing. Fridays were for a way to unwind from the week with some wine with the double bill of Dallas and Falcon Crest. Yet the attempts to do a soap on either Monday, Tuesday, and Saturdays are failed. Some of these shows weren’t the best, and obviously Saturday nights weren’t the most ideal. On the flip side the 90’s soaps were all over the place. Melrose found success with its 8PM Monday night slot and “Mondays are a bitch” campaign, 90210 and POF did well enough on Wednesdays, and Sisters managed alright with Saturdays. Later on Providence did will with an 8PM Friday night slot. Wasn’t until 2004 we finally got a Sunday night soap with Desperate Housewives. I wonder if anyone in the 80’s had ever thought of programming a soap on Sun nights.

Pretty much my thought too my friend. I still remember Howarth getting hired at ATWT and Barbara Bloom boasting about how many ABC stars she had hired for all 4 soaps at the time. None of them lasted long except we were stuck with Howarth till the very end. (Don’t get me started on Brian Gaskill lol) Other than PB, MCE at her height of popularity there 2014-2016 when she was paired with Justin Hartley, and I guess B-listers like Thompson and Heinle for better or worse, has any major ABC star ever even made a lasting impression on Y&R? All the ones I can think of outright always flopped.

UGH whyyyy??? LOL my first guess is a Tucker recast too. I wouldn’t be surprised if either Michael Easton and/or Kelly Monaco are next to join Y&R. @DRW50 definitely agree that Y&R is now feeling like ATWT’s final decade as well between the guest stars, short arcs, repetitive writing, having potential but always squandering it etc. OF COURSE it should be noted that Josh Griffin did serve as the associate HW during a good chunk of mid-00’s ATWT, go figure…..

Now that Y&R has become the Cane show once again she’ll probably being a back from the dead Juliet 🙈

I have a love/hate relationship with Marc Cherry’s work over the years. On the one hand I’ve definitely enjoyed and been entertained by his material over the years. On the other hand some of his work has definitely inspired some righteous indignation from myself or left me in the he cold. DH was definitely a huge success but in its later years I felt it was plagued by backstage drama and creative mistakes, which I always got the impression that Cherry was a like a toxic entitled diva who probably stirred some of that drama up. He seems more humbled now but it didn’t leave a good impression.

TV ratings for the week Of March 2-8 1987. The Judith Krantz miniseries I’ll Take Manhattan dominated the week. Dallas was pre-emoted for the Wizard of Oz. Dynasty had a new episode but was a no show for the Top 30: 1. Family Ties 34.8 2. Cosby 34 3. Cheers 29.6 4. Night Court 26.1 5. Murder She Wrote 24.9 6. Who’s The Boss? 24.7 7. Growing Pains 24.6 8. 60 Minutes 23.7 9. The Golden Girls 23.6 10. NBC Monday Night Movie: The Karate Kid 22.6 11. CBS Miniseries: I’ll Take Manhattan Part 4 22.5 12. CBS Miniseries: I’ll Take Manhattan Part 3 21.4 NBC Sunday Night Movie: The Abduction of Kari Swenson 21.4 14. Moonlighting 21.3 CBS Miniseries: I’ll Take Manhattan Part 2 21.3 16. Matlock 20.5 17. My Sister Sam 20 18. Kate & Allie 19.5 19. CBS Sunday Night Movie: Deadly Deception 20. Alf 18.3 21. Amen 18.1 22. 227 18 23. Highway to Heaven 17.9 24. Knots Landing 17.5 25. Falcon Crest 17.1 26. CBS Special Movie: The Wizard of Oz 16.9 Perfect Strangers 16.9 28. L.A. Law 16.1 29. Harry 16 30. Miami Vice 15.8

Is Y&R the only soap with multiple golden eras? When I think of Y&R’s golden eras I always think of 1975-79, 1983-86, and 1990-spring 1994 as being the golden years for Y&R. Silver ages would be 1988-89, 1998-2001, and a Bronze Age from late 2002 to early 2004. I so meant to reply to your recent post in the B&B August thread after seeing we’re basically having the same feeling about both Y&R and B&B these days. Both shows are so embarrassing to watch compared to BTG (I really need to get more vocal/active in the monthly thread but everyone else seems to say it better 😁)

Preach my friend!!!! And thank you so much sharing @kalbir!!

Agreed. I feel like the 83-84 season was actually the real season all the big four primetime soaps were firing on all cylinders. Not really sure why Hotel ranked so high other than being a timeslot hit as St Elsewhere was also the better Wednesday night show…I guess something new although The Love Boat still came in at #17 while Fantasy Island was all the way down at #49.

Oooh this is great!

So true. Knowing Thudley if either Paris or a recast Zoe does ever return they’ll probably both go psycho over a psycho Thomas (Zoe already has displayed her own instability) so we can say the entire Buckingham family is unhinged and Thudley can boast how he has a love triangle between 3 psychos.

Victor was a Sharon fan until she went crazy between Adam, Tucker, and burning the ranch down. Always bothered me that their friendship was tossed aside from pure schlock value. Disappointed by Jill’s appearances this week. As good as it is to always see JW, of course JG’s current appalling writing has Jill be OOC when it comes this Cane crap. Is there a bottom to this trash can?