Michael

Sarah Buxton also had that brief stint as Nicole's ex-porn associate, "Crystal Galore," in 2004. I think she was part of that kung fu fight Marlena got into when she was in prison for being the Salem Stalker (good grief).

God bless whoever keeps putting Chad in those tucked-in polo shirts. At least he gives me a reason to keep my eyes open while I try to slog through this show.

Yeah, I don't think it's supposed to literally be that someone is standing there for a minute or more completely silent while they recall a previous moment in perfect linear fashion. I can think, "Oh, I got in a fight with my friend yesterday" and sort of... remember the whole thing without having to go step-by-step through it mentally. 

1 hour ago, AbcNbc247 said:

Today wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be, though this biscuit stuff is so pointless and contrived. They did look good though, they looked like the ones you get at Popeyes

There were a lot of decent scenes today, especially Wendy/Li and Johnny/Chanel.

Jessica Serfaty and Remington Hoffman still need some work, but I was totally Team Li and Team Sloan today. I like that they’re giving Sloan more of a personality and more vulnerability. That’s what makes her rootable. 

Chanel encouraging Johnny was nice too. And I did like Johnny listing all of Tripp’s great qualities

I thought today was relatively watchable, too. Totally agree on the biscuits! LOL. 

I liked Sloan telling Eric off. In general, I like what they've done with them. It's the most interesting side relationship they've given Eric away from Nicole. It's not a long-term thing, but they've hit some decent character beats.

I was howling at EJ barking about Melinda, "This... this... civil servant!"

I will literally never know the difference between Willow and Sasha. It just will not stick.

It's jumped out to me how they keep saying "Uber" instead of "rideshare app," too! 

This is awesome!

Kassie did some very strong work during her time as Eve. The writing was generally just not there, and they had no vision for the character. That said, the way she was brought on, it made sense for her to have hardened this much -- I don't think it was the most enjoyable thing to watch, but Eve had had a rough life. It felt like a legitimate evolution of a character who hadn't been seen for 20+ years, but people don't usually watch soaps to see a completely new iteration of a character they once enjoyed.

26 minutes ago, MichaelGL said:

It seriously seemed like Jordan/Ben/Clyde were going to be a Austin/Billie/Curtis redux under Tomlin, but Jordan/Ben/Clyde intentions changed each writer that followed. 

That was my original impression, too. Aside from how long it took for anything concrete about Jordan's past to come out -- remember we had that whole interlude with her old roommate, Sheryl, too? -- the part that never worked for me was how Kate Roberts, who had gone through something so similar with Curtis, not only dated Clyde but took his side over Jordan. I know Jordan encroached on Kate's territory by getting with Rafe, but it made Kate seem both heartless and stupid to side with a man who had done to Jordan exactly what Curtis had done to Billie. One good thing Ron has done is address that dangling thread by having Kate own how awful it was of her.

1 hour ago, Taoboi said:

What immediately came to mind was when AS left DAYS for the first time. So much of the show was about her and EJ at that point that it seem there was a bit of slump from what I remember because the writers did not bother to set up anyone to take people's attention from Sami leaving. 

Ooof, definitely. DAYS was surprisingly strong from fall 2012-fall 2014. I mean, there were duds -- the Jordan story, early Abigail/Ben, the weird disregard for John, Dannifer -- but there was a lot of good stuff going on. The Brady/Kristen and Nick umbrella stories were highlights in particular. Then Sami and EJ left, and we were left with a huge focus on Serena and that damn elephant statue, plus more of Jordan's crew. Things didn't improve until Josh Griffith took over the following summer, and we all know how that turned out...

38 minutes ago, carolineg said:

I don't think Denise is cut out for it either.  There seems a lot about her life she doesn't want to share and I do understand that because she's 'famous' on her own.  It's just not what the Housewives is about.

Yes, there is something dark about watching Kim and I always feel nervous watching her.  I believe she is in a better place, but I am not sure if she is equipped for this either.

As far as Marysol, she is so open about her drinking I almost think it's a gag and she doesn't drink that much.  She honestly never seems super intoxicated.  As someone who has had ulcers though drinking would be absolutely painful and not dull my pain at all lol.

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. 

17 minutes ago, carolineg said:

I think I might be the only one not excited about Kim and Denise returning.  Camille I adore, so I am happy about that.  I don't know if this is an unpopular take, but I find Kim in general so awkward and uncomfortable to watch.  I know she is an iconic part of the series, but I genuinely think she is someone who is better off not on tv and I don't enjoy her.  As far as Denise, I liked her first season, but her second season was rough.   I actually think Denise handled everything really poorly surrounding her even if she was the victim and I don't feel the need to see her back. 

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.

5 hours ago, Darn said:

That's a big frickin get for daytime. When was the last someone really famous was on a soap? Snoop on OLTL?

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? 

12 minutes ago, te. said:

Interesting that they seem to be keeping the daily / ~40 minute format. I still think DAYS (and all daytime soaps really) could benefit from cutting back.

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. 

15 minutes ago, carolineg said:

If Ron insists on keeping Leo (which seems to be the case) they need to make him a real character.   He is just a walking stereotype that cracks cringey jokes at this point.  It wouldn't be so bad if Leo's only purpose was to make snarky one liners and was strictly a sidekick that popped up every now and again, but Leo is practically a main character.  He has no depth, he's not interesting, he's made no personal growth in the 3 or 4 years he's been on the show, and he doesn't seem to be popular with the audience.  I imagine Ron wants Leo to be somewhat similar to David Vickers with the harebrained schemes and witty humor, but it's not landing.  GR is fairly talented so I think he's capable of making Leo seem like a real life human being and not a character out of a bad sitcom.   At this point I would have rather seen Paul and Andrew talk about the weather or read a phonebook on their plane ride home to Salem for an entire episode than see Alex/Leo have an entire episode dedicated to Ron's personal homoerotic fantasy.

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?