Manny

Yes, it kind of reminded me of that opening with how characters were positioned within the promo, one in the forefront, another slightly in the back and then kind of the similar color palette. Again, having seen it only once (as the second time I was only listening to the music lol), I could be wrong about the color palette, but anyway, it immediately reminded me of that opening.

Oh okay, I see, the second part of the promo has a bit more musical theme.. Could be a theme, yes, indeed.

I have never watched the Housewives, so I don't know. You think the music could be the theme? To me sounds very promo-y lol I forgot already how it went (lol), but I felt when watching it the first time that it sounded very "horror movie trailer" I don't know if I would use it for the opening theme.

First of all, geo-blocking a trailer.. I'll never understand this. Annoying. I haven't watched a US soap in years, so I cannot compare the promo to any of the current soaps. The promo itself looks okay. I like the stringy music. I like the outdoor scenes, looks primetime-y. The indoor scenes looked very daytime (maybe daytime of old, according to your comments of how Y&R and others looks today?). The only thing I didn't love was those posing shots of characters that looked like the opening sequence. Someone said it looked like 2007 ATWT opening and I agree. But one would think in almost 20 years, graphics would have been a bit better now. Otherwise the rest looks solid. Good that they started the promotion now.

That was a powerful scene with him and Peggy. Adding some audio to showcase what is going through Phil's head might not be a bad idea. I would have then maybe just added different bad moments, not only that one. Just to show the chaos in his mind that was probably happening at that moment.

I am glad you enjoyed it as well! It really was done so well. I loved the door opening sequence and how they immediately showed us this episode will be something special and focused on our addicts. I loved Sharon calling Nicola out in front of everyone regarding what she did to Phil. I really enjoyed Nicola A LOT when she arrived, now I am a bit cooled off on her and I was so happy that someone (Sharon) knocked her down a peg. Linda's stuff was just hard to watch, but it was so well done. Loved Kellie Bright's acting. And they really showcased well why Linda was left alone. Linda saying those awful things to Alfie was really heartbreaking. The final scene of Linda alone sitting on the bench, next to the big Christmas tree. Chilling. I was thinking Linda might freeze to death, but I guess not. Phil's last scene of the episode where he's fighting not to drink was so intense. Steve McFadden was amazing. I was so relieved when he did not drink finally. I was so happy for him.

Today's episode has been AMAZING. I loved it so much. It was heartbreaking and awesome performances from Steve McFadden, Tish Dean, Kellie Bright, Jac Jossa and Charlie Suff. Not to spoil for those who didn't watch yet, so I won't talk details yet.

Really weird how they did that 2 months into the show when some shows don't update their openings for years

Oh yes, maybe I would have enjoyed AJ more if Elaine was there. Especially since Olivia, Bette and Elaine were friends and then both Olivia and Bette dated AJ at some point.. So Elaine was needed for sure. Leo never did anything memorable anyway haha Ah okay. I am curious if you will enjoy it this second time around

Oh yes, exactly that. I think I remember reading an article way back when that this is exactly what they were trying to do. They wanted to restructure it to have several soap core families, and less of the individuals, chosen families etc. Which was a shame. I mean, I did enjoy the addition of Carmen and Antonio, but I did not really care for the Cummings' (including Sara). Even A.J. and Leo Deschanel were pretty meh for me. I liked the other characters that left much more. Oh you didn't enjoy Terror Island? Oh if I was enjoying SuBe, by the time Terror Island hit the screens, I was obsessed lol But I was very much into Scream and I Know What You did Last Summer, and I've always been into "whodunnits", so this was exactly my cup of tea. The only thing I didn't love as much was that they made "Ben" the killer, which was obvious.. I mean, the twin was obvious.

Yeah, I guess they wanted to expand the Deschanel, Torres and Cummings families, so they had to lose some people. But I felt really sad losing all the characters after year one. Even if I enjoyed some of the new characters like Antonio, Carmen and Emily. But it would have been interesting where Paula, Elaine, Mark, Rae and Tiffany would go. Why did Adrienne Frantz leave the show? Was she fired? Or did she leave on her own choice? I think she got hired at B&B right after, so I guess that was a win for her, but I wasn't sure if she left because of B&B or was she fired from SuBe.

Oh I mentioned earlier that Annie and Bette are some of my all time favorite soap characters. But I really loved Vanessa and Olivia and Gregory. Even Meg, although in retrospect, I think I would not love Meg today. She was so whiny Instead, I think today I would love Gabi more. I did not like her watching back then, but I think today's Manny would love someone like her more. Oh and Kelly Hu's character Rae was so cool, I really thought she could have been used better and more. Alas... Oh Francesca was awesome! And even if she was gone too soon, considering that the show ended in the same year I am happy we got the who killed Francesca storyline. I really enjoyed that. The cake scene was so campy and soapy

Oh yeah, I never found him to have chemistry with anyone (even Tiffany), and just found his acting really bad. Especially when he was in scenes with Lesley-Anne and Sam.

I think who they should have recast was Randy Spelling as Sean (or just dump his character, send him to school or something). I never cared for Sean or Randy Spelling. I know he was the boss' son, but he just didn't work for me. I loved Emily and Cristi Harris, and always thought she was so wasted on Sean.

Oh yeah, those sets would look really shitty nowadays. Didn't they already ruin the Capwell mansion set by 1993? I have a feeling like it shrank at some point already then. And SuBe would for sure lose all of its outdoor set and scenes. EDIT: Oh yes! Absolutely, Ashley would have matched Kam much better. I never liked her to be honest, so I would have preferred if we had Vanessa Dorman and Cibrian till the end. Vanessa was a bit green, but I'm sure she would have gotten better as the time went on. I had to google who George Hamilton is. I recognize him Did not know he was Ashley's father.

Oh SB was much different for me. It was also a HUGE hit in Europe. And I enjoyed it a lot, in the early years. And you're right, both shows would have been shells of themselves by the 2000s. Santa Barbara already was in somewhat by its end. I couldn't even watch it. I actually loved the original opening BECAUSE it seemed to primetime-ish. And the Shockwave opening was cool, but it never aired in Europe. I guess it was only for the US market. I cannot imagine Cole Deschanel being so awesome if Ashley Hamilton continued in the role. He was very bland and lacked all the sexyness of Cibrian. Cibrian was a perfect Cole, the con-man, thief, lover and anti-hero.

I got hooked to SuBe instantly. But I was a teenager and European, so as someone said, I guess it was suited more for the younger audiences and went better with Europeans than America. I adored the show, even though I found the 3rd year slow down to a painful pace, with a lot of repetition and dragging out stuff. I loved the Terror Island and Shockwave storylines. I still think Shockwave was one of the best disasters I've seen on soaps ever (probably followed by the tornado in AMC in 1995). I adored Annie and Bette, they are to this day some of my favorite characters in all soaps. And after the show ended, I was writing the SuBe continuation for 100 episodes which got published on this SuBe website. It was so fun to do way back when. However, I tried watching it from the start during COVID and I could not do it lol Oh also, I loved both openings. LOVED! The original one was so sultry, sexy, soapy. My God.. everyone was so gorgeous in it. The second one, I love the theme so much. The visuals were less interesting to me, but I still loved it overall. You could be right. Because later on when they switch Ashley Hamilton with Eddie Cibrian they also update Adrienne Frantz's picture for some reason. I think she's the only one that gets a change in this original opening. Or maybe they change her later on in the year and not exactly at the same time when the added Cibrian, but I always thought it was interesting how she got that update, considering she wasn't even there for the full year. Speaking of the openings now, I went to YouTube to watch them and oh my God, those tunes bring back to many memories and take me back to such a nicer simpler times. I got chills and almost started crying.. it's ridiculous. Those tunes will forever make me smile.

Omg, yes to Bernie and Nish!! Bernie is such a non-entity. If she didn't learn the truth, the show would be the same. There was no impact on the story whatsoever with her finding out who killed her brother (aside from her telling Eve, which could have been done any other way). That is such a let down. And Suki watching Nish die with a drink in her hand was such an awesome move and should have been the ending to that storyline. I hated Nish and Suki's pretending to be a happy family and then Nish confessing to killing Keanu and now this silly plot point. I am curious what Nish will do, because the only way this works for me is if we get some real fireworks and maybe Eve dies. I am bored of Eve and that would at least have some lasting consequences. I really loved the show when I came back last year, but now the last few months really is just fine in between the superfun return weeks (I adored Jane week and David week and Bianca has been fun). The crush was great, but I hated the aftermath. An I'm just not into the Cindy/Junior affair. Lauren has been so obnoxious. An Cindy is a terrible person. Looking forward to her downfall. I really liked learning about Elaine's history, that was interesting.

No, they havent hint or mention Zoe so far. But maybe down the lines as we get closer to the 40th.. because seems the Christmas and New Year will be centered around other characters, not so much Kat.

Thank you as always for including me! Lovely treat! I will try and watch it this week

What is this netflix soap? Lets set it up please! I need more details

Good job, @will81!! I thought it would have started off with a higher rating and then dropped off. Thanks @jason47 ! It's fun seeing these old ratings

I will guess it was somewhere around the middle. So 20th?

Lets guess.. 6.5

Yay, these are so interesting to see!! Wow, Somerset was doing terribly. Thank you, as always, Jason!!