Manny

I wonder if CBS will give the show a multi-year contract from the get go, along with the multi-year contracts with the cast. If they go only for one year, they could have a bunch of the cast leaving after year 1, requiring them to recast if the renew past year 1. 

Wow! Congratulations on getting this off the ground! I must say, I was skeptical til the last moment. But I am very happy they are investing in a new soap. I just hope they give a real shot and not bolt at the first drop of ratings.

Lets see who gets cast

George's storyline comes to an end. It was a good story arc. I enjoyed it. Great acting and interesting topic. With Eddie in jail and Gloria dying (once again great acting by Colin Sampson, but also lady who plays Gloria), I wonder where this takes George. If this storyline will have any repercussions. Maybe George will seek out his brothers (I assume not), but Eddie mentioned George's son at some point, I think? Maybe he will look for him.

And then there is the UK police... who seem to arrest you as soon as someone says you did something. lol It was funny that Linda went to give a statement that she saw Dean drag something into the Cafe, and they immediately went and arrested Dean for Keanu's murder. No proof whatsoever. Sure, during that interrogation police found the murder weapon, but that was after they arrested him. But anyway, I wonder if this sticks. Would this be the end of the Six storyline? It cannot be, can it? I would not like it if this is the end and Dean just takes the fall.

I am finding Yolande's storyline with the Pastor interesting. I wonder where it will go. He is clearly getting too close to her, but he manipulated her into thinking it was all in her head. I wonder if (boxing) Denzel will beat him up or something, if he does something to Yolande. 

I am not sure I am liking the ladies framing Dean for Keanu's murder. I don't like Dean at all, but still...

This week was exciting! I did not think they would find the body now. But I guess 3 months is good enough time to hide the body..  I wonder where they go from here and really I wonder how it ends. I mean one of the 6 is going to end up in jail finally.. Has to be Linda, right? I dont see how she gets out of this. Maybe they find some surprise security camera at the vic that recorded everything and Linda gets off easier? 

Lets see! But good week behind us! Although this Sharon arrest was reeeally rushed. Based on that voicemail that Bernie had? That was no evidence that she killed him. To make her a prime suspect? Sure. But to outright arrest her? Nah.. Phils lawayer will get her out straight away.

After finishing yesterday's episode, I guess I was wrong and these might as well be Ben's final episodes, as he was expressly arrested for something that happened last year while I was not watching. LoL So I guess thats it

I sort of wish there was more build up to this, but oh well.. I am tired of the Mitchells so one less

Oh snap!!! March 19 was amazing!!!

So Martin caught Jack and Stacey kissing, and at first I thought they (and Kathy) managed to talk him out of saying something. But when Chelsea caught wind of something happened, she started telling Martin all sorts of things that triggered him into telling her the truth. And then [!@#$%^&*] hit the fan!!! 

Chelsea revealing it in front of Denise and the kids... and then everyone dumping on Stacey and Jack! hahahaha It was awesome! It's what Stacey and Jack deserved.

Jack and Martin had a huge fist fight, Lily cried and yelled at Stacey, Chelsea slapping Stacey, Harvey even telling Stacey he was disappointed, Martin REALLY dumping on Stacey.... It was so soapy and so good to see this reveal and the downfall of Stacey and Jack. WELL DESERVED! And great acting once again.

17 minutes ago, NothinButAttitude said:

@Manny I saw the clip of Jack's affair coming out and I have to say that everyone in that scene was on point; however, I am over the Slater women sleeping around the Square. It's old. They're like turnpikes at this point, as everyone has ridden them. But I am glad that Diane Parrish/Denise is getting some shine in this story. I love that she is emerging as the star of the fallout of the Xmas episodes. 

Oh I definitely can understand your frustration with the Slater women. I guess I can tolerate it still, since I haven't watched in years and years, so I missed a lot of it. But even I wasn't a fan of Stacey and Jack's affair. But indeed, there was some great acting and some exciting scenes coming out of it. And Denise is really awesome. I saw now March 18 and Denise is trying to get her life back on track and she is really telling Stacey off. And I am loving it!

Speaking of, I did not expect that Jack and Stacey would have a kiss at Denise's house, my God, they can really go low, those two... But they did surprise me that it was not Denise's who caught them (as I was expecting), but a returning Martin!  I hope he really destroys both Stacey and Jack now!! 

And once again, what Dean is doing to his own daughter is deplorable. 

I haven't caught up yet and I don't follow social media about EE, so I cannot answer you. However, I am in mid-March and Ben has not been on in a while with any kind of storyline. No story in 2024. So I am curious what they will do for his exit. Which why I think he probably posted about his last filming day, as I don't think they will be able to get some exit storyline in only a few episode. But I fully agree with you, Ben should be given a rest for a while. And with all the time he was not shown recently, I did not really miss him  

On another note, I watched March 14, with Denise and Jack, where he is pushing her to tell him the truth. My, my.. awesome scene! She was really trying to lie her way out of it. Denise was on a emotional rollercoaster there in that one scene. And Diane Parish once again was awesome!

Oooh and Yolande slapping that church gossip lady caught me off guard! I laughed so much!  

I fell behind again and I am trying to catch up now. 

This George storyline has really made me a fan. It is so heartbreaking and I love all the beats that are happening. When Eddie and Gloria first arrived, I was annoyed, to be honest. But once the story turned into George's true parentage and racism, wow. I just finished watching March 13, after Eddie's trial, George meets Angela, a friend of his mom and learns some more things... heartbreaking  And Colin Sampson has been amazing!!

OMG!! What a blast from the past!! This aired in my country in the 90s.. I loved it! I completely forgot about this. Fun stuff!  

On 3/14/2024 at 12:00 PM, Huntress said:

I'm sure Germany will end up dead last again this year. Our NF had three better options – Ryk, Marie Reim and Galant – but somehow, the German public always votes for the underdogs. We can only prevent coming last if some other dud (like San Marino, Slovenia, or Malta) qualifies from the semi-finals, but most other countries receive at least a few pity points from their neighbors. Germany usually doesn't, even though we are the country with the most neighbors in Europe 

This is my current Top 10:

1. France
2. Austria
3. Australia
4. Ukraine
5. Belgium
6. Denmark
7. Norway
8. Netherlands
9. United Kingdom
10. Spain

Just missing out:

1. Czechia
2. Cyprus
3. Estonia
4. Sweden
5. Finland

Oh, I do think Germany is really going to be, I wanna say bottom 3 again. The song is too forgettable, and that's the worst sin in Eurovision

My top 10:

1. Italy
2. France
3. Switzerland
4. Croatia
5. Lithuania
6. Slovenia
7. Greece
8. Portugal
9. Luxembourg
10. Armenia

I am happy we finally have all the songs. Looking forward to the running order which should come out soon. 

On 3/9/2024 at 10:01 PM, I Am A Swede said:

The Swedish final took place tonight, and this will be our entry this year.

 

This was the first year I watched Melodifestivalen finals. And my God, you Swedes know how to produce a show. Wow! It was amazing! And the gigantic arena, filled with people! Jeez, it was huge! And even though most songs were just generic pop songs, you elevate them so much with staging. Like the winners... I heard the song beforehand, with just audio and didn't think much of it. But the staging is WOW! Incredible! I am looking forward to you producing Eurovision again and of course, happy to see Petra host again!  

On 3/10/2024 at 1:41 PM, Huntress said:

The UK has the same problem as Germany (my country): Both countries usually pick contemporary songs which are radio-friendly, but their staging is often bland and forgettable. In the past 10 years, Germany has only had one entry that finished higher than 18th place (including 4 last places!), and the UK hasn't fared much better.

And some more entries ... this year's field is nearly complete. We're still waiting for the songs from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Israel.

Hera Björk won Iceland's national final with the song "Scared of Heights" but it's unclear if she will compete in Stockholm following some drama.

Australia 2024: Electric Fields / "One Milkali (One Blood)"
Language: English

Austria 2024: Kaleen / "We Will Rave"
Language: English

Greece 2024: Marina Satti / "Zari"
Language: Greek / English

Portugal 2024: Iolanda / "Grito"
Language: Portuguese

Serbia 2024: Teya Dora / "Ramonda"
Language: Serbian

 

You are right. UK and Germany sometimes seem like they have given up. Although, UK recently seems like they have woken up a bit. But you are right, it is still this basic pop, which does not, ironically, pop out among 25 other songs during the final. Germany tried last year with Lord of the Lost, but still ended up last. 

I wonder if this year, the new rule change will help the Big 5 in general. The fact that they will also perform in the semi finals, giving the audiences to hear their songs twice, just like the others. So maybe the radio friendly generic pop songs will feel different in the finals as some viewers have already heard it and might even remember it and hum along. 

As for these new crop of songs, I know Austria has a huge hype around it. For me, the song is okay, but nothing like so amazing. I have lived through the 90s and heard this many MANY times lol Maybe if she did a modern spin on the 90s sound (like the trend was to do with the 80s recently). But instead, she really just took 90s eurodance elements and made a song, without really updating it much.

Australia... I just don't think anything. I listened to it twice and two be honest, I don't remember it at all. 

Greece is good, I like the mix of traditional and modern. But the sound of those traditional instruments is not so pleasant for me, which downgrades my enjoyment.

Portugal is quite lovely. And out of the other ethnic ballads, I enjoy this one the most. The staging is also quite impactful. 

Serbia is the other ethnic ballad this year (placed in the same semi final  as Portugal). I find this so boring. A lot of people are praising this and I just don't see the magic. haha I have watched the PZE (Serbian national final) and I don't see why this won and why people are loving it so much online. So if it comes to choosing between Portugal and this in semi 1, I really hope Portugal goes through. 

Since you wrote this, Iceland has confirmed their participation. I love Hera Bjork, loved her previous song that she competed with many years ago. But this ain't it. This is super bland and boring. 

Armenia, Israel and Georgia have also all come out, and we are now only missing Azerbaijan. 

Georgia is okay. I expect that live performance will elevate the song. I think they are interesting moments and as someone who wants to see Georgia get back to the Grand Final, I really hope they make it this year (along with Latvia and Ireland!!)

Armenia came out today and I only heard it once. It is fine. I love that it is in Armenian. It has this ethnic sound, which is very Balkan, not sure of this is also the sound of Armenia. I am not a fan of this sound, even though I am from the Balkans. lol Also the song is super short, it flies by and I feel like there is not much singing. 

Now, Israel... I follow a lot of people who comment on Eurovision online and almost everyone has skipped Israel, giving a clear statement on the political situation. I personally like the song, it sounds very nice and her voice is beautiful. However, I don't know why Israel would push to participate this year. They have got to be aware that people will not be happy to see them, they will probably boo at her (just liked the booed those Russian twins in 2014 or Polina Gagarina in 2015, when Russia annexed Crimea). I would not be surprised if they don't qualify to the finals. I would not be surprised if she doesn't get interviews or media space. I feel bad for the girl that she will go through that, but she is going voluntarily into this, so...

I enjoyed the Oscars for the most part and I am pretty happy with the awards given. I haven't seen all the movies, but out of those that I did see, they all received some recognition, so I am happy. 

I have loved Nolan for years and I think that he (along Denis Villeneuve) is one of the best directors today. So I am happy Nolan got it. I hope Villeneuve can follow next year

I adore Emma Stone, so I am happy she won. If Lily had won, I would have loved it too. She was probably my favorite part of Killers. But I don't think Emma should feel bad at all. She was giving a performance of her life in Poor Things.

RDJ and DJR winning for supporting was great, she gave a nice speech. There were some good speeches in general. I hate when people just list random names. There wasn't much of that this year. I loved Cord Jefferson encouraging studios to do 20 10k movies instead of one 200k movie per year. I enjoyed Hoyte van Hoytema encouraging filmmakers to film more on film. Ukrainian speech was sad. I was happy for the Japanese Godzilla team. 

I enjoyed Jimmy Kimmel's opening monologue, but I thought it was too much to joke about RDJ's cocaine addiction. 

I LOOOVED I'm just Ken performance, even though I am not a fan of the song in general. But Ryan is so awesome and the whole productions of the performance was so fun. 

I think the idea of 5 people presenting each nominated actor instead of the acting reels can be interesting, but only if the actors presenting are really friends of the nominated actor and can say something personal and touching. Which did happen (or at least that's what appeared to me) in some cases. However most of them seemed to be reading text from the teleprompter and that was boring. 

The "In Memoriam" was not one well. I could not even see the people being honored, because they had such a wide shot of the stage to show off the dancers. In Memoriam should be on our screen, not the screens in the arena. And we don't need dancers to distract. You can bring someone to sing, but that's it.

But all in all I had fun  

I am just still surprised that they would even consider this, at this day and age, where the remaining 3 soaps are still on a downward trend with their numbers. So the online viewing figures on these different platforms must be doing well enough for them to believe soaps are still quite profitable (obviously they are, otherwise they would cancel them, but it is one thing to keep these existing ones, and completely another thing to invest in a brand new one). 

3 minutes ago, DaytimeFan said:

They were different scenarios. Y&R's current deal came to an end and this is a fresh deal, hence the 4 year window.

B&B's current deal included a 1 year extension pickup, so that's why it's short - no new deal was negotiated, CBS simply exercised it's option to extend for that one year.

This is certainly exciting news for the genre and I hope it gets a series order.

My hope is The Talk gets The Axe and this is its replacement.  

Aaah okay, then it makes sense thanks!

I don't think they would ditch B&B, because if they trust in the genre so much to be developing a new soap opera, then I would assume they would try to keep their soaps. Although it is weird that Y&R gets 4 years and B&B gets only 1. 

Neither Y&R nor B&B are owned by CBS, right? Maybe Bradley is really inflexible and they cannot control him, so they would cancel B&B only to have more freedom to control a new soap, which they do own and get all the money to themselves? 

I am shocked. But I still wont believe it until they really pick this up. 

But wow for them even considering a new soap in this day and age.

Just caught up with this week.. and omg!! How fun was it all the Panesars coming together and kicking Nish out of the house?!

But I do wonder what he will do next to get back at them. 

It is also interesting how one by one people are finding out... Stacey told Jack, that was interesting I wonder if he visits Denise soon and talks to her about it. 

And Dean, what a piece of [!@#$%^&*]!!! Taking the medicine from his own daughter... wow! I mean, I get he wants to keep her in town, but still... disgusting!

Anyways, enjoying Eastenders a lot still! 

While I do think the UK soaps (and US for that matter) are getting close to their endings, the British soap awards will apparently air in 2025 and were only cancelled for this year.

https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/soaps/british-soap-awards-2024-cancelled-newsupdate/

Oh most definitely  I fully agree with all your points.

It's just that I think people expected a lot from the UK this year, since it was announced that Olly Alexander would represent them. Even though this song is exactly something you'd hear from him. So not sure what everyone expected... maybe because he is such a huge fan of ESC, so maybe people expected something more ESC suitable (or at least maybe I did). 

Also, to be fair, I am not sure that many people will recognize Olly as someone who sang with Years&Years, but the fandom seems to think his name is so recognizable. 

1 hour ago, I Am A Swede said:

Isn't that usually the case with the UK though? They rarely have anything really bad (well, except Jemini of course, because that was.....yikes!) but their songs are so bland and boring. And if there is one thing you don't want to be in the ESC it's boring. Even the horrible songs find their fans, but if you're boring.....

I really enjoyed Lily in KOTFM. But I looved Emma in Poor Things. Whatever the Academy decides on this one is actually fine by me

Actually for all the acting categories, I am pretty much in agreement. I keep going back and forth between Murphy and Giamatti. I loved both performances, but they are so different.

I am fine with RDJ winning Supporting. I think the others were fine. I haven't seen American Fiction yet, so I cannot comment on Sterling (although I am sure he did awesome). 

DJR is a great actress and I loved her on The Holdovers. Haven't seen Color Purple, so I cannot speak about Danielle Brooks (who I only know from OITNB and she was one of my faves there), but all the other ladies while great are not really close to DJR.

Looking forward to Nolan finally getting his first Oscar. Long overdue!! Next I want to see Denis Villeneuve win one, as I find him (and Nolan) to be the best directors of this generation.

Croatia - my country, I am very happy with our song this year. And seems like others like it too, as it is currently 1st in the betting odds to win  Even if we don't win (Switzerland I think might come for us, if done well live), I hope we make top 5 (or top 3 even).. We haven't been in top 5 since 1999 and we have never been top 3. So I hope for a good result.

Cyprus - a typical pop song, sounds like something Britney would do in the 00s. I kind of like it, but there is so much competition on this genre this year, and Cyprus is in the first half of the first semi, so I worry if they can qualify. Maybe if she does a great show and has good dancing.

Netherlands - it is really not my cup of tea. I get that it is supposed to have a nice message and all, but it is in Dutch, so I don't think the message will get through to people. 

San Marino - I didn't like Megara last year when they competed at Benidorm fest and I don't really like it this year either. But this year they don't have much competition in this genre, so maybe they can qualify. Also Spain is voting in their semi, so they might get votes from them.

Switzerland - so great! I really like it. The changes in genres, from musical theater to opera to rap to drum and base and pop.. wow! The music video is awesome, so I wonder what they will do with the staging. If this sounds awesome live on stage, this will be a contender to win.

UK - ah.. UK... again a basic pop song. I know that this is supposed to be the "British sound" and from what I see, all the Brits seems to be super happy with this. But this is so safe and generic. Olly has a nice voice and I hope he does a good staging, because that can make the song a bit more memorable. The song is nice and very radio friendly, I even listen to it. But I don't think this will make people to vote for it among 25 other songs. 

I am enjoying it quite a lot. But considering there are so many people that hate it, I guess it will all depend on what you like... BTW, if you are only interested in Denise scenes, she might be off screen for a bit. They way they rotate the characters, and the way she was shipped off to the hospital now, maybe this is a way for to give some rest to her. This is all my speculation, I don't follow casting news or spoilers, so I might be fully wrong lol

Wow, Wednesday and Thursday.... heartbreaking, watching Denise crumble, while Jack, Chelsea, Amy and others round up around her. Great acting! And I really did not think the story would go in this direction in December. And I still have no idea where this is going. This is a serious thing for Denise, it cannot go away easily. So I am curious how they tackle this going forward.

And on top of this, the knife is missing!!! Who took the knife?!