Manny

It's amazing how terrible they were. Al least in the beginning. My favorites from those first few years were Kay (Taylor Anne Mountz and Deanna Wright; was not a fan of the Kay which was in between the two); Luis & Sheridan; Whitney & Chad; Timmy & Tabitha; Julian. On the other side, I absolutely hated the whiney Charity, Grace and Theresa. My God, all of them were so annoying. I hated Jesse Metcalfe's acting. He was better later on when he joined DH. I found Eve and TC to be boring. All of this! Plus flashbacks! So many flashbacks. I would cringe every time when they would flashback to something that happened yesterday... so annoying.

Thanks for this, brings back so many memories! It was such a long time ago... I was surprised when "Ben" was revealed as the killer. Even though it was hinted up until that point many times how Ben was a weirdo who killed his first wife. But I didn't think that they would really make Ben the killer, so when his face showed up, I was surprised. But then with time, I figured it out that it must be an evil twin lol

Amazing idea! I vote for this

Oh Lindsey Korman was/is beautiful, so I can see why the crush, but the character was horrendous to me.

Oh, for sure! Streamers might be the way to go. You hit the nail on the head there. A lot of soaps today are written as if we are still in 90s or 00s. It's like they are afraid to write modern stories (for the most part). Soaps are still popular in prime-time. But daytime is just so behind modern times, it's ridiculous.

I stopped watching by the time Theresa became a bitch and hooked up with Julian, even though I would read up to stay in touch with the show. Grace was horrible. I did not like the actress one bit and the character was super annoying. Same as Charity.

Oh my God, you're right! It's been a while since I watched them. EDIT: Anyway, I don't think a summer break would help. I personally think that soaps are very much a habit thing, so if you break the habit, it is difficult to come back. Soaps could get better viewership by increasing their budgets, getting better actors, sets and most importantly writing. No summer break would help anyone if they kept shrinking the budgets and writing horrible stories.

Terror Island and Shockwave were everything to my teenage self back then. I was so into Scream and I know what you did last summer, so Terror Island was awesome! And Shockwave was really well done, I remember. I obviously loved Titanic, so then having a soap doing a shipwreck stroyline was awesome (even though this was a copy of Poseidon Adventure, rather than Titanic, but still...)

OMG, I always hated Theresa. She was such a crybaby lol My friends and I always laughed at Theresa. Even now, years later, people will remember Theresa's overdramatics over telling Ethan she loves him while speaking to herself, over vowing to be with Ethan all the time, weeping and sighing... so over the top haha I always preferred Luis and Sheridan. But Timmy and Tabby were funny together. I would love to try a Martimmy

I have no clue about NZ soaps, but I know UK soaps are pretty bad ratings-wise and what I read about Aussie soaps was also not stellar.

Well PC tried the arc type of storytelling and it did not work. And the "summer haitus" thing is not really saving UK and Aussie soaps. I believe they are losing ratings just like the US ones.

Oh, there was a period for sure where characters stayed in the same clothes for months. I am sure of that!

For me, it would be something like Tricia shooting Ryan during his wedding to Victoria; or Days' Greta's coronation episode when everyone gets shot. Or Days' episode when Abe/Lexie give Zach back to the Bradys. I showed Cassie's death episode to my Mom, who never saw Y&R ever in her life and she was really glued to the screen and cried. Tornado episode from 1994 on AMC. EDIT: How could I forget.. one of the soapiest episodes ever I can remember... Sami/Austin wedding, interrupted by Carrie, who exposes the truth about Will's paternity and then the PUNCH that happens.. so campy, overdramatic and soapy.

The first two years, while ridiculous, were even okay, when compared to what followed. The pace was horrible, one day would last for months and months... the storylines became even more ridiculous. And they started making fun of themselves even. It was just unwatchable.

Well for example, IMDB has Rosemarie Thomas listed on April 7 1987 (in credits April 8 1987), but then on April 22 1987 (in credits April 22 1987) they have Carla Herd (Sands). Then again on June 22 1987 we are back to Rosemarie Thomas. And again on July 14 1987, we have Carla back and July 17 is back to Rosemarie, with Carla back again onwards. Maybe it is just an error on imdb, because I do not see anyone listed for Alex around June 22 or July 17, even though she appears. And then again in August we are back to Carla Herd in the credits.

Does anyone know what the deal is with two actresses playing Alex Simpson? Rosemarie Thomas and Carla Herd seem to be rotating in the roles each few episodes. What is up with that?

No, I agree. It's not bad, I can listen to it too. But I just don't think that it has anything special within the song that will make it to stand out during the actual contest. Same with Bulgaria.

It's an average dance pop song, with absolutely nothing fresh or interesting. I can listen to it, it's fine. But it will not stand out whatsoever. And with Czech Republic's horrible track record, I would not be surprised if this does not qualify.

If someone told me that I am being cheated on, I would never be hurt by or upset at that someone. I would be upset at my partner who was cheating and got caught. I think Bill's timing was horrible, telling her just minutes before she was about to get married to Ridge. So Bill should have done it much earlier, imo lol

Yup! Me too! I was cringing as Ridge and Stephanie were trying to justify and defend Ridge's actions while trying to make Bill the bad guy there, when all he did was reveal Ridge's true self... a sleazy cheater.

OMG, I had no idea SON had a Eurovision thread!! Oh, I will be here on a regular basis.. I am not loving the Bulgaria song. They are clearly trying to capitalize on Maneskin success, but it never works. The song is very "regular rock song", I don't see anything special in it. So far, listening to Estonia, Chechia, Albania songs... I am not in love with any of them. I kind of listen to "Theje" by Alban R. from Albania, it's very dramatic and intense, but none of the songs proposed by these three countries could I see winning.

Seeing the award lists, it reminds me how many movies I still have to see... I have been slow this year in watching the award nominated films.

There is a wikipedia site which lists all soaps in the world. I don't know how correct it was, but all the ones listed here are listed there from what I can see... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_soap_operas

I am obsessed with Ed Sheeran's new album. Aside from the previously known amazing songs, I am in love with The Joker and the Queen... and Overpass Graffiti. Love First Things and Love in Slow Motion... Plus Colide, Sandman, Be Right now are all so cool...! Loving it! Already bought tickets for his tour close to me in July 2022!

I started watching this weekend. I never watched B&B in my life until now (and through the years I watched pretty much all other soaps on and off and now for year I have not watch any soaps). But I must say, I enjoy B&B. I got to Ridge and Caroline's wedding. She just collapsed after Bill told her about Ridge cheating. It is fun stuff. But really... are they really trying to portray Ridge as a hero here and Bill as the bad guy? Ridge was a dick that cheated on a girl that he proposed only to spite her dad and then Ridge has the audacity to blame Bill when he tells her the truth, calling Bill cruel? lol Was that considered as romantic in the 80s? Anyway, quite fun! Oh and I am surprised that KKL is not really featured a lot in the beginning. It's really Caroline who is the main heroine. EDIT: And oh my God, the guy that plays Thorne is so hot! I realized that he is the person I realized I was gay back in 90s when B&B started airing in my country and they were showing photos of the cast. I saw him and I thought how hot he was.