Michael

Nothing about the new RHONY is blowing me away yet. It all looks... "fine." I'll certainly give the show itself a chance. Welcome to Crappie Lake is delightful. I love seeing the women as their oblivious selves and yet also not looking down on the town or its people. There's a general kindness to the whole thing that I find endearing. Although Sonja seems DRUNK in every single scene...

Man. Way, way too young.

Dimitri's father is someone we've never met or previously heard of named Oscar Von Leuschner. Megan said it in dialogue a few weeks ago. We have no idea how the broader family tree lays out, but presumably this Oscar is the brother of Carly and Frankie's father. The Von Leuschners and Alamains aren't related. They said something in the first Beyond Salem about how the Alamainian Peacock originally belonged to the Von Leuschners and was supposed to be part of Carly's dowry when she married Lawrence, so that's why Dimitri wanted it back. Nicholas Alamain is both an Alamain (through his father, Lawrence) and a Von Leuschner (through his mother, Carly), though -- he's the sole link between the two families.

Someone on this thread (I think) had at one point suggested that Debbi Morgan could return as her PC character, Ellen, which could also work if she were open to doing GH.

Seems like it's doing impressive numbers and getting good press thus far, and I'd love to see an adequate Twitter replacement take over. But functionality-wise... I use Twitter for way different things than I use Instagram for. I don't necessarily want my soap discussion friends to be following my Instagram, or for all my family and friends who follow me on Insta to be seeing my soap discussions or whatever (not even that I CARE about them seeing it, it just seems weird to be serving that stuff to them). I dunno, having them all linked doesn't make it very appealing for me.

It's definitely supposed to be the same space, but they rotated it 90 degrees. Except the entrance that connects the living room to the foyer is still where it used to be, right?

Good call! Thanks. Probably both. The Diana who showed up in 2019 played by Judith Chapman was absolutely not the same character that Genie Francis played in the 80s.

Leo was thought to have been killed when Will and Sonny rolled him up in that carpet. Nicole "died" in that warehouse explosion. I'm sure I'm forgetting plenty of people. I don't think Justin has ever been thought dead, though I could be forgetting something.

I don't think Xander has. Gwen, neither. Wendy hasn't... Johnny was, as a kid. I don't think Paulina and Chanel have been presumed dead. Or Gabi, but I might be forgetting something there. Actually, Brady has been at death's door but I don't think has ever been presumed dead! He's probably the longest-running character right now who hasn't been. What a cartoon.

Why did Tripp go in to work at the hospital right after he was downing tequila shots with Wendy? I know we're low on doctors here, but jeez.

Ugh, hated even seeing these headlines. Hoping for a quick and full recovery.

I have to say, I'm liking Cameron Johnson more as Theo this go-round. I wish they'd invest in this character more.

I think the biggest problem was that we never had a sense that Hope was looking for Bo or had any idea that he was "out there somewhere." The audience was longing for it, but that was never baked into what we saw onscreen. Super-weird. I also have a (completely unfounded) theory that the showdown where Bo was about to shoot Kate was the original climax of the BS3 story, and that was supposed to be Hope on the other end of the gun and that's where Shawn would've shot Bo. So perhaps BS3 itself would've been confined to that lab setting rather than all the crap with "Bo Kiriakis" taking Kayla to Greece. It says a lot that the absolute best part of the entire arc was that final episode where Hope was at the hospital with Shawn and Ciara.

She said numerous times she would never be back "in Salem," for one thing. That's why she agreed to do a BS special but not the main show originally. Editing to avoid drama even though my post has been quoted. I still think the recent Bope arc was a mess and there were a lot of production constraints at play, which have been discussed elsewhere.

She's CHILL! Can't write a press release without input from at least two men, but she's a COOL CHICK!

This always kills me. "Chugging from the bottle" is code for Drinking Problem, whereas "pouring a glass of liquor from your living room bar at 10 a.m." is absolutely normal in soap world.

I thought the Bope arc was terrible for a variety of reasons, but anyone who thinks the actors weren't largely responsible for it -- at least in terms of logistical stuff -- should go back and read every interview KA has given since 2020. I know Jamey backtracked in his tweets, buuuuuuut...

Yikes, I just assumed they were moving under the banner of Peacock PR and this was an outgrowth of shifting away from NBC. More belt-tightening by Ken & co.! I also never thought there was going to be "Peacock money" (why would there be?) aside from whatever was going to be Beyond Salem 3 being folded into the main show.

Nothing will ever be as hilarious to me as the time they went to... Bosnia? Germany?... for something involving Jeff Branson's Shayne and they literally just put the flag of whatever country it was supposed to be in the middle of Peapack's lawn. Guten Tag! Sorry to get off-topic in the GH thread, but uh... Frank can take Steve Burton back now, because I have no idea why he's in Salem.

It was very "90s sitcom coming to an end." I guess I was just glad they bothered wrapping up threads and didn't try too hard to do something daring. Jesus. I just remembered Reva -- REVA! -- even had a baby near the end. Not to defend the explosion of baby and pregnancy stories in the last two decades, but I do think they automatically add stakes, which too often are paper-thin on these shows. So even your most inept executive or half-assed viewer can understand what a character wants if they're trying to save their child or get custody from a nasty ex or whatever. The actual children are just weird Macguffins for the lame drama that surrounds them.

That GL finale was crazy. And also somehow an okay finale?!

SCREAMING.

Yes!

It's insane. I know @Vee has referenced it before, but it reminds me of late-stage Guiding Light where Harley had a kid with Philip and Rick, and Rick had a kid with Mel and Beth, and Beth had a kid with Philip and Alan, and everyone was just half-siblings or half-cousins or whatever commune fantasy Ellen Wheeler was living when she wasn't weeping in her office that had been turned into a 7-11 set or whatever.

Any time I turn on GH and they show or bring up one of the kids, I go down some horrible Wikipedia vortex of trying to figure which f*cking child belongs to which character. Doesn't Maxie have like three children now?