kalbir

A common soap storyline is sisters fighting over a guy. That element also has a biblical allusion (Rachel/Leah). Which soap storylines of sisters fighting over a guy from current or former daytime or primetime soaps are the favorites of this board?

I wasn't impressed. This season has not been good for primetime soaps. Our Kind of People and Queens are both flops, let's see what Promised Land will be like.

Is MTS no longer on contract?

Bill exposed Ridge's cheating to Caroline just before the wedding and then pushed her towards Thorne, whom she didn't really love. That's pretty manipulative to me. Yes, Ridge did hurt Caroline but I didn't list him as his actions weren't manipulative in the way Bill and Brooke were.

I was team Caroline. I felt so bad for her that she was manipulated by two people she trusted the most, her father Bill and her one-time best friend Brooke.

Murder She Wrote took a swipe at Friends in the 1996 episode "Murder Among Friends" and at CBS in it's final episode "Death by Demographics".

When an entire calendar year passes with no enjoyment of a single episode, it's another sign things are bad. We're 14 1/2 months away from the 50th anniversary and I'm still hoping we'll get something big to lead up to it.

'The Kings of Napa' Premieres Tuesday, January 11th (oprah.com)

I'd say 1984/1985 was the peak of primetime soaps, as the big four all finished in the Top 10 that season. 1985/1986 was the start of the decline and they all should've been done by 1987/1988.

Nina Arvesen arrived as Cassandra in March 1988. Eileen Davidson departed as Ashley in December 1988. I can't remember if Cassandra and ED's Ashley ever interacted. From watching 1989 episodes, Cassandra felt more like an Ashley replacement than recast Ashley Brenda Epperson did. This was really apparent when Cassandra was in Victor's orbit. Funny thing is, EB actually had more chemistry w/ NA than BE, even though I felt Victor/Cassandra as a couple was initially cat & mouse then later rebound more so than actual feelings for each other.

1986/1987 season Dallas fell out of the Top 10. After that, CBS was a mess in primetime for the most part until Survivor and CSI premiered in 2000. From 1986/1987 to 1999/2000, the CBS shows that finished in the Top 10 were Murder She Wrote (1986/1987-1988/1989, 1991/1992, 1992/1993, 1994/1995), 60 Minutes (1986/1987-1995/1996, 1997/1998-1999/2000), Murphy Brown (1990/1991-1993/1994), Designing Women (1990/1991, 1991/1992), Major Dad (1991/1992), CBS Sunday Movie (1992/1993, 1993/1994, 1997/1998, 1998/1999), Touched by an Angel (1996/1997-1999/2000). From that list, CBS's biggest hits of that era were 60 Minutes and Murder She Wrote. Of course we all know how Murder She Wrote was purposely tanked in it's final season 1995/1996 when it was head-to-head with Friends.

This was around the time Brooke intercepted Caroline's letter to Ridge I think. Bill Bell used the letter intercepting plot with Leslie/Lorie/Brad. Caroline/Brooke rivalry was in many ways a redo of Leslie/Lorie rivalry. Bill Bell had rape storylines on both shows in the late 1980s, Caroline and Cricket. Both were virgins at the time of their rapes. Caroline's rape storyline was a redo of Chris Brooks's rape storyline while Cricket's was a summer social issue on date rape with PSA dialog.

The London concert and ball was timed to cash in on the Charles and Diana wedding hype.

@SoaploversI think Tracey Bregman told Bill Bell in early 1989 she was planning to become pregnant so Bill Bell created the Lauren/Scott pairing to accommodate a future pregnancy. Also notice how TB's hair color changed from platinum blonde in 1988 to her natural color by the end of 1989.

Hahaha, so true. Shari Shattuck not passing the chemistry test w/ EB is maybe what lead to Bill Bell alluding to a potential Victor/Christine pairing. When you look past the obvious ick factor of LLB being Bill Bell's daughter and at the time she was half EB's age and look at where Victor and Christine were as characters on the show, it makes so much more sense. Victor was at a point in his life where he was all alone. His marriage to Hope had ended and she returned to Kansas with baby Adam. Nikki had moved on with Brad. Ashley left town in the aftermath of Blade's death and discovering Rick's deception and when she returned she did not pass the chemistry test with Victor (if the chemistry tests w/ Victor and/or Brad were passed, we might have gotten a Victor/Nikki/Brad/Ashley quad). Christine was also at a turning point in her life. She was in love with Paul but Paul kept pushing her away as he couldn't get past Christine being with Danny just before Paul and Christine were to get married. Meanwhile Danny was desperately trying to win Christine back. Victor and Christine were placed in each other's orbit in a professional capacity, first during Nick's trial and then Christine joined the legal team at Newman Enterprises. Slowly a friendship started to form. In their first social outing (dinner at the Colonnade Room the same night Nikki and Brad celebrated their engagement there), it's clear that Victor was drawn to Christine, not just because she is young and beautiful, but because she is also intelligent and kind-hearted. Fast forward a few episodes to Victor's office where Christine realized her relationship with Paul is over and she took off her engagement ring and Victor comforted her with a hug (Nikki witnessed this and it lead to the Legal Aid confrontation). On those two occasions, Victor could have easily made a move but he didn't. Victor kept himself in the friend zone, and I think that was due to Bill Bell knowing that the audience was aware of Christine's past as a survivor of both date rape and sexual harassment (even though it wasn't mentioned on screen, I'm sure Victor was aware of it too. I doubt he would've hired Christine at Newman Enterprises without having her background checked and since there were trials for the date rape and sexual harassment cases, those would've been discovered in a background check). I also think Victor knew Christine still loved Paul and wouldn't be over Paul that quickly and Christine knew that Victor still loved Nikki, so they weren't going to be each other's rebounds. In the primetime episode it was set up as though something was going to happen between Victor and Christine but as we know nothing did. On a totally shallow note, EB really glowed up in the spring of 1996 🥰. Do we have LLB to thank for that? 🤣

Agree. Nepotism for sure.

@soapfan770 Shari Shattuck was the worst recast ever. Her first scenes with Victor and Brad felt like chemistry tests which as we saw were not passed. Can't believe Bill Bell didn't realize that during the casting process.

RIP Sidney Poitier. All movie award shows need to give him his own in memoriam segment.

When analyzing a nearly 45 year old sibling quad is more exciting than what's currently on screen, you know things are bad.

@Broderick pointed out in the B&B from the Beginning thread that the Lance/Lucas/Leslie/Lorie quad was influenced by Le Morte d'Arthur. Maybe I'm way off here but it recently occurred to me that there may have been some biblical allusions in the quad with Vanessa in the background. Think about these comparisons: Rebecca/Vanessa Jacob/Lance Esau/Lucas Rachel/Leslie Leah/Lorie Rebecca favored Jacob over the hairy hunter Esau./Vanessa favored Lance over the rugged bearded sailor Lucas. Jacob loved Rachel but was tricked into marrying Leah./Lance was drawn to Leslie but married Lorie. I wonder if the biblical allusions were coincidence or intentional on Bill Bell's part. I don't know how religious Bill Bell was in his personal life, as I never got a religious element from much of his writing.

Maybe Bradley has something big in the works for the 35th anniversary in March. I can't believe Melissa Claire Egan started on Y&R over 10 years ago. I think MAB was still in charge when MCE was hired. We all know MAB loved ABC leftovers and former sitcom stars.

I respect EB's social media game. Remember when he was trending on Twitter?

So Doug Davidson did not appear at all in 2021. No official word from CBS/Sony, and no exit storyline.

RIP Betty White and thank you for your contributions to the entertainment industry.

This month will have a special episode for CLB's 30th anniversary. If we are counting anniversaries from first episodes, April will be Kate Linder's 40th anniversary, and June will be Jess Walton's 35th anniversary, Eileen Davidson's 40th anniversary, and Beth Maitland's 40th anniversary.