YRBB

So very devastating. Thought I'd do some light Friday night viewing. Charlotte Bellamy has got to be one of the best soap actresses that ever existed.

EPISODE 17: MY BULLET Val makes her one appearance to tell Karen that she and Danny eloped. The look on Lee’s face is great but then the writers turn our stomachs with the sight of Val and Danny in bed about to make love. What did we ever do to deserve this? Poor Val, indeed! Michael wants his money back from Harold for blah blah blah. Ugh, it all pretty much develops exactly like you’d think: Harold is paid a threatening visit, he’s desperate to get the money. He ends up asking Mack to loan him $13,000. Both Mack and Karen (who are dealing with goldfish drama) are stunned at this… and then proceed to lose about 60 IQ points each. I mean… neither one, not the wise busybody, not the former investigator, suspect something serious is going on if Harold is asking for that much money? It doesn’t even occur to them. A little coldly, they say no without even summoning him to ask more questions. It’s all because the writers need to get Harold blackmailing Tom with the secret of him being a dirty cop, of course, but I still didn’t expect them to give the MacKenzies the shaft for once! The opening scene is hilarious: Greg, back to his old self, has had enough of security meetings and bodyguards. He calls his security team 'police academy rejects' and Tom and Ricardo are 'clowns trying to do comedy'. (Well, in all fairness, Ricardo's jokes were wildly inappropriate for the situation and setting). It all goes downhill from there. Carlos calls Paige to ask her to visit Greg. She lies to Tom about where she’s going but he finds out when Carlos calls back to ask Paige not to come following Paula's unexpected arrival. Well, she’s his girlfriend, so…. The ensuing Paula/Greg/Paige/Tom interactions from this little misunderstanding are a lot of lighthearted fun, leading to Tom's confession that he’s in love with Paige. Her reaction – instantly melting and deciding they need to get condoms – shows it actually does mean something to her despite all her bravado. Things don’t end so nicely for Greg. He receives a visit from the shady Robert, who oh-so-subtly tries to take Mary-Frances’ notebook. Surprise: They end up hating each other. It is in this fun scene that the problem with having a talent like Devane on your show reveals itself: A lot of actors, especially the younger ones, can’t stand up to him, so to speak. Even if they have the talent, they lack the gravitas. But we’ll take the talented actor anyway. Things then really take a turn when Greg, drinking heavily, sees a vision of Mary-Frances (yay, more Stacy Galina!). How very Six Feet Under of him. But the true shocker comes when Paul Galveston shows up as well! Wow, I surely never thought we’d see him again. He does seem to be written entirely too overtly, speaking in a way I don’t quite remember him ever doing, but he’s dead, so whatever. These visits, of course, lead to the obvious question: Why isn’t Laura there? They may or may not have asked McCashin to return but, to their credit, they address her absence by having Greg say she wouldn’t fit in with them because she actually loved him. Well, OK, that kinda works. Greg indulges in his self-pity and literally tries to outrun his ghosts by leaving the ranch and paying the MacKenzies a late-night visit, but they kick him out. Greg returns home, where he ends things with Paula and continues to be tormented by the ghosts of his dead relatives (now that they make a point of it, wow. He really does have 3 major relatives of his dead). All in all, this is a little too on-the-nose for Knots Landing but seeing the actors and Devane's work help sell it. Strangely poignant is the Meg story: One of Greg's daughters is dead, the other one is about to learn about death when the goldfish she suckered Mack into getting her passes away. "The fish is dead," Mack deadpans to Karen in perhaps one of Dobson’s finest comedic moments. Touchingly, neither one can bring themselves to tell Meg the truth and they pretend the ‘fish doctor’ saved the goldfish. Meg believes them. "Thank God for the fish doctor," they proclaim, which would have made an excellent title for this episode. "There’s been too much death," Karen further explains to Mack in one of those moments where the audience’s thoughts perfectly meld with the characters’. After a night of heavy drinking, Greg realizes that Mary-Frances’ notebook is gone. As he stares at Mary-Frances once more, he asks what was going on with her, and she disappears, leaving him and us to wonder. This could be really good!

EPISODE 16: OUT OF CONTROL When the episodes begins – chaos! It’s all so shocking; hard to believe Mary-Frances is dead. I could rage about the Lechowicks wasting Mary-Frances within an episode of her return, but it’s all so surprising and captivating. Most of the episode, of course, deals with this unexpected event. Brilliantly, Jane Sumner also returns to the show (this time, played by the same actress) and, despite her relatively brief previous stay, her scenes with Greg bubble with the weight of the past. The scene in which Greg calls Jane but can’t say the words is particularly touching – some of Devane's best work. And, then, another twist: Mary-Frances was operating under an assumed name. Initially, I thought this death was connected to Oakman and that mess, but what if the writers are developing a separate mystery? Or maybe they’re making us think it’s a separate thing! Tom learns that Greg and Paige were an item. It’s perhaps a little unconvincing that he either hadn’t heard that or found out earlier, but it’s funny he becomes a little jealous and territorial. Meanwhile, unconnected to absolutely everything, Val and Danny continue their seemingly unstoppable gallop towards marriage. You’d think at some point Val would have something to say about Greg or Mary-Frances’ murder, but she’s not only a blind caricature, but a self-involved one too by now. I never thought I’d be annoyed by Val. Thankfully, Gary won’t give up and there is one amusing scene where both Val and Gary visit Pat and Frank regarding Danny (finally, the Williamses involved in something) but by the time Val and Danny are unexpectedly getting married, a sense of cold and dread is taking over me. I’m beginning to really resent this storyline. They’ve got to fix this. And, while they’re at it, I do wish they’d settle on how they want to spell Mary-Frances. They’ve had three different versions so far!

Thanks, Carl! I wanted to mention that Gary/Olivia scene but forgot. Once again, she reminded me a lot of her mother.

Yummy! Let me get bodyguarded! Aaaaw Oh, God. Oh, Lawd! One after another! So, now, I wonder: Could drinking have been the reason why this sudden recast happened? Did his firing lead to the drinking? Or was it a random event that went very, very badly?

If that's the reason, then I don't see the connection. The arc of Tomas and Nina's relationship (whether working or romantic) lasted a year and a half and was completed. I don't see how they could have fleshed it out and developed it any more than they did. This was simply an issue of character-driven once again being deemed boring. Of course, that story promised to and should have morphed into the discovery of Nina's child. I can understand how that story never happening leaves one disappointed (as it did me - promise and potential hugely wasted, although I suppose by no fault of theirs), but the story so far can stand and be judged on its own merits. +1. Great character, great actress.

I will never forgive the show for how they treated him.

A good read. I thought it a little ridiculous that serialization was a concern, considering how today's shows are so continuous. Even more troubling that they thought the volume of episodes was too much. If they think 331 episodes may prevent viewers from starting the show, then our old soaps with tens of thousands of episodes stand no chance! But, what they've seen is what I have been saying all along: Give viewers something GOOD and addictive to binge, and having tons of episodes available is a PLUS! I loved the reasons given why the show is so beloved -- ensemble, great characters, action, energy -- but also that they pointed out it's low-concept. There is no lead character that's secretly a mass murderer, or a nurse that can fly, or anything. In the end, ER was always about that hospital and that's why the revolving cast more or less worked. I did a double-take the other day when you said you'd reached season 8 and yet had started watching, like, 2 days ago!

That saddens me but doesn't surprise me. After all, it was character driven. No explosions, no evil that tears them apart, no one was cheating or killed anybody. Therefore, it must be boring! In reality, it was a sweet and often sad story about two people with their own issues holding each other up and trying to better their lives, played by two wonderful actors. As a Y&R watcher, I appreciated it for that but I'm sure it couldn't compare to Leo and Greenlee! If you ever get the chance, do watch the whole thing. It was intimate, smart, character soap opera.

It most certainly was not! Who's been lying?? It was a lovely, small, character-driven story: Tomas becoming a mentor, helping Nina become a better writer, encouraging her to deal with her baby's kidnapping, while having his own issues/drinking. They also had some lovely chemistry. The really sad part of the story is that it got cut short by Cast's exit.

EPISODE 15: MY FIRSTBORN What a shocker of an episode. Season 11 continues to twist and surprise. A marvelous showcase for Greg. After being a relatively nice romantic lead in recent episodes, his more villainous side resurfaces. He’s such a fascinating and complex man. I find it hilarious that after all Mack went through to get the evidence he needed in the Oakman case, the D.A. simply says he’ll look into it. When Mack discovers Greg is behind Oakman (so fast!), the truth about the pension fund goes public and Greg hilariously and quickly fires Mr. Willis and blames him for everything. Exactly how much money does Michael make? Not only has he been spending money left and right, he has thousands of dollars just lying around to lend to Harold. At least, by the time Harold loses it all, the show brings us back to reality and Michael needs the money back to afford a new apartment. I’m seeing even more money-related trouble for our fiscally challenged young couple. I do hope the show surprises us, since it’s easy to see where the rest of the story is going. Big head-scratching moment, the young man and woman saying goodbye. Is this Knots Landing? Did the wrong film get edited into the show? No, t’s Mary-Frances!!! What?! Show, what do you do to me? I was initially saddened to see the original, great actress was recast, but I have to say, they did some marvelous casting here. Despite the new person, I instantly felt like I was watching Mary-Frances. "I’m Mary-Frances!" says Mary-Frances to Karen. "I bet your father didn’t even recognize you!" replies Karen. We could have done without all that. Mack and Karen tell Mary-Frances the whole story of Greg and Laura getting together (is it possible Mary-Frances didn’t know who Laura was just from when she lived right next door to her?), that she has a sister, that Laura died, that Greg gave Meg away. That’s a lot of soap to catch up with in one dinner. As always, the show doesn’t cut any corners when it’s invested in the story its telling. Not only do they rebuild Season 5’s campaign headquarters set for a fake flashback with the new Mary-Frances, Greg's hair looks exactly like it would during that season, and we get Devane’s son to come back as young Greg once more! Such thrillingness. And then… oh boy, that ending. You know something’s about to happen. Surely Mary-Frances will find something terrible on Greg's computer? But, no! The whole computer explodes, Greg runs back into his office, finds a bullet hole in the glass behind his desk and Mary-Frances … what? Unconscious? Shot in the head? Surely not dead! A mouth-agape, gasp-loudly kinda ending.

EPISODE 14: ROAD TRIP Named ‘road trip’ but nobody actually takes one. Having a little difficulty coming up with a title there, Knots? Paige goes to Tom's really ugly apartment and tells him she’ll try anything once. Alas, she doesn’t get the chance to prove it because Mack calls Tom and asks him to come to Canada with him: He’s found Pomerantz. It turns out much better/interesting than I would have anticipated. I mean, they served grilled swordfish on that flight to Canada. Was the world really that different? Most of the fun in the episode comes from Tom's gargantuan efforts to trick Mack, Mr. Willis, and Joe the stupid hitman all at the same time. It’s really something as he zigzags from lie to lie and manipulation to manipulation. In the end, he gets away with it: Mack gets the pension fund scam books from Pomerantz and remains alive, Joe (after suffering a litany of stupid jokes from Tom, all of them very funny) is arrested while trying to shoot them all, and Mr. Willis is told Pomerantz is dead and he should disappear. Not bad for a day’s work… until he realizes the one person he didn’t fool was Paige. Amanda is having dinner with Gary and his corny jokes, when she begins hallucinating seeing Danny. Well, that’s enough to drive anyone crazy. She goes into hiding for the rest of the episode. Meanwhile, Karen and Valene share a beautifully tender moment in the MacKenzie kitchen when discussing Meg's clothes and Karen mentions some of these things are clothes Laura bought her. They exchange a look before moving on without saying a word. Valene then pushes Karen to admit she doesn’t like Danny. Karen is also trying to mend fences between Michael and Eric when she learns that Olivia and Harold have separated. "What is happening with everyone?" she bitterly asks in a small but very strong moment. I definitely didn’t see the next part of Olivia and Harold's money woes coming: Harold gambles to make some extra cash (loses big) and Olivia somehow manages to get sucked into insider trading. Naturally, the seed money for that comes from Gary, who oh so naively and sweetly tells Olivia that, unlike Abby, she has integrity. Olivia chuckles and shakes her head in the exact same way Abby used to do when someone gave her what she wanted. I hope it was a purposeful thing. And just as I was wondering if all Mr. Willis does is sit by a phone all day, he shakes things up: He tells someone that their pension fund scam has been discovered. That someone is of course, naturally, who else… Greg!

EPISODE 13: OH, BROTHER The stuff with Greg and Paula was enjoyable: Her demand that he show her that she’s all he can think about provided some interesting humorous actions from Greg. Meanwhile, I don’t know what to make of Aunt Ginny's psychic abilities; it’s not like she wasn’t annoying enough as it is. I’m not objecting to the actual abilities, and the show proves her right by having her divine the rape. But why does it have to look so goofy? Why does she have to put some-thing on her forehead and gasp orgasmically? Might as well shove it up her hoo hoo. I did love how Gary tried to give her a gun and she chewed him a new one, though. Most of the focus of the episode is on the fallout from Michael and Linda's emotional affair. Eric overhears Michael and Linda talking, finds out they want to pork each other, promptly punches Michael, and disappears. It’s actually pretty sad. After Eric leaves, Linda moves out, and then Michael moves out. Karen looks like somebody bitchslapped her.

This is a spoiler.

In many ways, 2003 was the beginning of the end of B&B's mediocre to good years. That being said, I still have so many fond memories of its trash! lmao

How did I never realize this?! Now that you've said it, I can totally hear it. And quite funny/ironic that Salonga ended up doing the singing voice.

That's very sweet. I've been on the fence about trying it, but I would like to see them go on (Justina Machado, Rita Moreno) so I guess this rainy Saturday is it.

Meredith Grey came out to PLAY!

That's good to know. I'm not seeing a lot of chemistry in the present and it feels a little forced. I'm glad they don't end up hating each other's guts. If I remember correctly from when I first watched, it did feel like she came on board and suddenly it was all about her all the time. An exaggeration, but considering she was a little annoying... Considering I was mostly too young the first time around for this show, all this backstage reasons/info is very fascinating. I agree that Lucy had run her course by the time she was stabbed.

OK, but I don't know about Susan/Carter...

I agree about Carol, but Doug? They tried to make him a tortured man but I never felt it took off. IT's like he was meant to be this very complicated man, but I would not care for him if not for Carol. Perhaps I need to rewatch. Oooooooh! I did not know about this! It always struck me as weird that they ended Benton/Corday when it was really working and they had really good chemistry. And then Corday/Greene just... happened. The only reason I care for the couple is the actors.

Abby Lockhart sees all y'all's shade and... Perhaps one of THE most shocking moments of TV. Deserves to be rewatched. I can see how the big focus on those three could rattle some, but I am loving it as I properly watch for the first time. I'm willing to follow where the show is going, provided they keep me entertained. The show did become more soap opera by season 6 -- and therefore, more addictive and entertaining than ever. After 6 or 7 seasons, I think that's why they were able to keep interest going for several more years. The key is not to let the stunts become too much, which I will have to keep watching to find out.

I'm halfway through Season 8 and I love it more than ever. Honestly, I'm finding the middle years just as great, if not greater, than the early ones. The only character I miss is Carol. Doug never clicked all that much, not in the way some of the others did. I adore Maura Tierney and Abby. Abby's supposed to be annoying at times, just like Weaver has purposefully annoying traits. I think her coming out story, so far, has been done very well.

In case your childhood hasn't been ruined enough, you randomly see this from the Hercules of the 90s: And before you say who cares, many people love(d) him and have fond memories of the show. Also, what an IDIOTIC tweet. But do ready the replies/comments. They hand him his ass!