Michael

I don't need Denise back as a full-time Housewife or even a Friend Of, but a one-time appearance to kind of put a bow on the Rinna thing would be fun. I have been thinking that Marysol's whole thing with the "cockies" is a gag and an attempt at branding, and I agree that she never seems drunk-drunk, but it's legitimately all she talks about when she isn't dragging Adriana (or that moment reflecting upon Mama Elsa, which was genuinely lovely). She talks about drinking like a college freshman who just found out about alcohol and thinks that the mere act of consuming it makes you a cool person.

I'm with you on Kim. She has given us some incredible television, but I never feel great about seeing her onscreen. Something about it is too dark and she seems too fragile. re: UGT3 -- How can Marysol watch this and not agree that she has a drinking problem? Her entire storyline is that she's in physical pain because of drinking but needs another drink to handle said pain.

She wasn't quite so famous by the time she did DAYS, but seeing T-Boz in Salem on a regular basis a few years ago was such a trip.

I don't mind Reckell's portrayal of this version of Bo as much as I mind the complete lack of clarity about what's going on with him. He remembers everything but doesn't give a f*ck about any of these people? What was that whole deluge of memories the other day?

I see things are as classy as ever around here.

Is it bad I'm cackling?

...I guess at least we don't have KA still around and on her 4th character by now? That's something.

Ciara on DAYS also felt like one, even though Zach was more of a child than an infant/toddler when he died. But the lore has always had that vibe.

That credits thing was so weird! Good episodes the last two days. I'm still cracking up at everyone just standing around chit-chatting in this lair, though. How about a little urgency, folks?

I agree with you, but I think there's a huge value for Peacock in having a show that compels people to reliably open the app every single weekday.

That's where I'm at. I think GR is pretty good! He's certainly funny, and he's shown depth in Leo when it's occasionally been written. I thought Beyond Salem 1 did a nice job of keeping Leo as a shady schemer but also warming up the main characters toward him, so it made even less sense when they all came for him, guns blazing, back on the main show when he turned out to be Craig's boyfriend. They keep teasing growth and then regressing him, and there's just this obnoxious sense of self-satisfaction about all his dialogue. Leo is someone who should be an Ivan-level character who's instead the new Daniel.

Leo has become excruciating. WHY is this tertiary joke character getting soooooo much focus? What story is this even advancing?

Maura West was the first one that came to mind for me, too.

This strikes me as exactly like last time. For whatever reason, they're parking the character for a bit with an open-ended exit. You have to remove her from the contract cast credits if she's not on contract. That doesn't mean she won't return (Sarah will return in some form, given how she left), and when she does, she might be on contract again. But they won't just keep listing her as a contract cast player if she wasn't on contract during the episodes that are airing...

I have completely lost track of which kids belong to whom on this show. Is this Ridge's last kid? Or does he have another one somewhere? Jack is the one that is actually Brooke's kid but was supposed to be Taylor and Nick's? Where is that child?

Well, that's disappointing. I was beginning to regard her as a really shrewd bit of casting.

I think Brady is pretty played-out romantically, too, but I could also see a use for him as more of a middle-aged dad. SORAS Tate, bring in Parker, keep Brady and Chloe together trying to make this crazy blended family work (with that little demon Rachel in the mix). I like EM a lot -- they've just thrown a LOT of love interests at him. To his credit, he's made most of them work at least somewhat, but it's resulted in a character without much of a throughline or evolution.

That Stefan/Brady moment actually made me laugh.

I think they mentioned last fall that Parker is in boarding school. Prior to that, he had been in NY with Nancy and Craig because Chloe "didn't want to pull him out of his school" or whatever. Amazing how easy parenting is in Salem!

Pretty sure that photo was taken at the 50th anniversary celebration in 2015.

Sloan's entire reason for coming to town was Paulina and Chanel. Paulina has said a LOT about Sloan (whether one considers it warranted or not). She also paid off the authorities to rule Sloan's mother's death an accident, while Sloan blames Chanel for the death *and* Paulina for the cover-up. Paulina has been wholly unsympathetic to the fact that this woman lost both her parents.

I wish I could join them!

This one seemed so ridiculous in 2008, but it actually works for me these days. They just really skipped over that whole "Hey, you put flesh-eating bacteria on my face" business in favor of "Uh, Sami is annoying, right?" Then it actually upset me when they gave them tension over Daniel (UGH) a few years later.

This is an absolute f***ing disaster. How can the financials at Y&R be worse than DAYS?!

I'm assuming fans want to give them a biological kid. Much crazier stuff than that has happened on Days, but it's a tough sell that pushing-50 Nicole, who could not carry a baby to term in 2008 or 2012, would somehow be able to do so now.