detroitpiston

Naw I think that argument would only hold water if this was a show filled with nothing but criminals and downtrodden black folks and no nuance. The stereotyping accusations mainly come when that is the only representation black characters are given. What they’re currently doing by having Joey exert power and control over the Dupree’s and he, Vanessa and Ashley hogging all this airtime leaves a far worse impression for me. You invited an audience and said “this is for you” then pulled the rug out from under us.

The Impaler reveal was so bogus I’m about to seriously reconsider my viewership. The last thing this show needed was another white person running murky operations, making it Joey’s never before seen sister just put salt in an already growing wound. I’ll be 100% honest and say that if Joey were played by a black or even Latino actor I wouldn’t be bothered by his control and story focus on canvas. Watching this tired white man wield so much power on what was sold as a black soap opera has become too blatant for me to ignore at this point, and to top it off he and Vanessa and their low budget Sonny and Carly adventures from the 00s aren’t even interesting outside of Deanna being on their asses. I’ve been very disappointed by the trajectory of the show overall these last few months. I think the creatives in charge have mediocre taste and lack consistent quality control. Post Guza’s exit the storylines I did care about have become so stalled I’m barely invested anymore. Weeks of episodes go by and it feels like nothing truly significant is happening. I wish they weren’t so insistent on portraying the Dupree’s as this happy black excellence family who only endlessly praise themselves and each other and would instead delve deeper into some of the inner conflict we saw brewing during the first season. It would make things so much more interesting. As it stands the show has become little more than background noise for me which is so disappointing.

I saw her last YR return and still wasn’t impressed. She has a very dry generic presence on screen that may work for low budget Christmas movies but I wanted someone stronger for Serena.

I wanted Serena back but I’ve never cared for Kelly Kruger as an actress 😕

I binged the last couple weeks of shows over the holiday weekend and Lulu and Dante have had some amazing scenes. Dante confronting Lulu about not telling him what happened to Rocco and later when they argued over her taking Rocco on the run was damn good stuff, reminded me of Guza era. This regime is really good at rage baiting the audience and keeping you engaged, I damn near threw my remote at the tv when Britt took off with Rocco. I hate the weird ass bond the show keeps pushing on us but I do enjoy watching the material its created for Alexa Havins, Finn Carr and Dominic Z.

Once JJ left Kristina became nothing more than a talk to. They abandoned any trace of her potentially getting involved with the mob and Frank letting her direct and consult for the Endometriosis story gave me a feeling an exit loomed. I would like another recast tbh, Victoria Konefal would have my vote.

Yeah congrats to Sally but he needs a full permanent exit.

Congrats to Sally. Unfortunate JG didn’t exit all together.

I love Ashley Jones. Brad Bell gave her absolute dreck at Bold but she held her own there for years. I wonder what the role is. Vanessa’s sister?

I hope she gets replaced eventually. She has terrible quality control as a producer, always has.

Lol at this reaction and Maurice just openly talking about Steve’s issues with his ex wife. KT/Britt for me has been far more interesting to watch in Sidwell’s orbit at Wyndemere than any of the nonsense with Jason/SB. I just can’t buy Jason being with a woman like that but her and Sidwell have an almost Barnabas and Dr Julia on Dark Shadows kind of energy that I actually enjoy. This break could be good for Britt IMO KT needs to free herself of whatever attachment obsession she has with working with SB as his female lead and lock in.

I wish they would stop spoiling when actors leave/go on LOA or are returning. Whatever his exit is would have been nice to have as a surprise same with Kirsten Storms return.

Hope BTG can maintain the growth season 2 has been much improved Happy for GH as well

Typical DAYS. Whenever they have a viable young couple played by actors who don’t seem ready to bolt for another gig they always end up rewarding them with a firing. The few times this year that I’ve tuned back in Johnny and Chanel were one of the couples I watched for. Their firing definitely feels misguided. I wasn’t as impressed by Holly and Tate but they invested so much time into them just feels like a waste especially if the actors weren’t trying to leave the show.

So I’m still three months behind but curiosity made me want to watch the CorrieDale special and the new 30min episode format and its literally the exact same storylines going on 😂 seemed like barely any plot movement either. I might just jump ahead so I can be done with Becky and her ugly haircut interfering with Swarla already but I do want to see the full Rovers Return take over. I was disappointed they had Shona go into labor and David have a seizure in the crossover only for everything to be fine by the time we get back to Corrie proper. Tim and Chas, Charity and Carla, Ken and Eric trying to get food out of the vending machine, Steve recognizing Jai, and everyone from both shows moving the car with Swain away from the fire were the best scenes but it felt like a bunch of car crashes for 20 minutes. Theo leaving Billy to die was effed up man, poor Summer but tbh I wanted more casualties on the Corrie side. Carl is terrible for gaslighting Debbie and I still hate Kevin and Abi.

Top 6 for the year definitely the right choices for carrying the series.

This last week or so has proven once again how much stronger the show is when they lock in and focus on the Dupree’s. Anita’s cancer diagnosis has been fantastic, old school soap and very relevant and emotionally investable. Me and my mom chop it up on the phone about the show and she’s been really moved by it and I have as well. Tamara Tunie and the rest of the big 4 are playing every beat exactly right. I love how they are utilizing Kat here as well. She’s the exact type of character/actress you can make the audience feel frustrated with because they care about them enough to want to see them make the right decisions and her not wanting to know if she has the cancer gene feels believable. I like most of the pivots that have been made for Season 2, some more than others. Giving Hayley her own supporting cast, and Bill being too busy longing after Dani and his relationship with the Dupree’s to notice his wife is trying to off him has been my favorite bit of comedy, and Andre also feeling like the odd man out after he spent way too many months yearning for boring ass Ashley feels exactly like what he deserves. Leslie hooking up with Marcel Malone (I wish a better actor was in the role though 🤦🏾‍♂️) and circling Joey and Vanessa’s crime syndicate is a good shift for her, now she’s reminding me more of Sandra Nelson era Phyllis as opposed to Shelia when Brad let her run a little too rugged at Bold and I like it. I like Madison and Chelsea but too much of the meat and potatoes for their story plots end up being rushed or happening offscreen. Idk if that is intentional in this MAGA Paramount climate or what but its disappointing because the two actresses have good chemistry and screen presence and the story with Madison’s mother actually sounds interesting but we only hear about what happens second hand. The increased Hawthrone male presence was also a good change (mainly Elon though, I think Izaiah’s casting wasn’t the right mark for what they have written and they need to do some pivots on his character if they aren’t going to recast). I enjoy Nicole getting her groove back but think it was an odd choice to randomly introduce Greg Vaughan the way that they did for 2 episodes and then expect the audience to reinvest in her and Carlton (who I actually really like and wish the show would go forward with in a meaningful way but he screams stop gap pairing who will probably turn psycho). I still love Ambyr Michelle but Eva being accepted so easily by the Dupree Richardsons and also reconciling completely with her mom, and getting to be rich and get a new boyfriend just feels unearned and stripped away a lot of her rooting value. I hope they play up more of her jealousy of Kat like they did for the tree trimming episodes. I like Shanice having more story and if Ted is the way she gets it cool but I think he had better chemistry with June and Shanice with Derek. 🤷🏾‍♂️ Yeah I was hoping with his recent GH pop ups we’d get a Vanessa kills Joey plot and Jon Lindstrom would go back home, he fits better over there imo. Someone should have told MVJ and JHC that it isn’t 1993 or even 2003 when Thorsten Kaye had already usurped him for male lead of Port Charles and that whatever they are going for with Joey just ain’t working. Its like he’s doing his best Maurice Bernard Sonny impression and its not landing at all for me. To see them doubling down on the investment of him, Ashley, and Tomas is very disappointing (I’ll add Naomi to the list as well she’s the first Dupree I wouldn’t mind seeing written off after a slow burn Jacob and Kat affair story). I’m very happy to see Derek off contract. He works better than Ashley but the actor is still a dud and had no business being a series regular. I hope as the year progresses they continue to make more cuts and additions and we get an easy path to a multi season renewal.

This happens a lot and its particularly unfortunate when Maurice has a really great, open and honest guest. Eileen Davidson, Laura Wright, Erica Braeden, Genie Francis, Tabyanna Ali and Chris Mckenna are some of the few who were able to pivot the conversations back every time he would steer things in the wrong direction by wanting to talk about himself only. Maurice has admitted a few times the last couple episodes to looking down a lot in scenes when he’s in a bad mental state and I noticed him doing that on GH a few weeks back while working with Rory Gibson. I also suspect that’s part of the reason we got the sudden flip on Ric and Sonny’s relationship and the story with Laura.

Does he have a following or did he get lucky as one of the go-to actors producers could trust to spit their lines out when they got the sudden and always temporary urge for Hispanic diversity on canvas?

Yeah not a fan and the fact they are pairing him with Ashley doesn’t bode well at all.

This last month has been absolutely terrible man. Went from consistently being my favorite soap to barely getting through episodes. They’ve centered things around Zoe, Vicki, Nigel, Harry and Ravi in these miserable, thinly plotted, predictable and repetitive storylines and its making for an awful watch. Every initial fear I had about Wadey based on his past work has proven true. 😔 I’m going to stick around for Sam’s return and the flash forward episode but woof, I hope someone is hitting the panic button and making changes BTS.

See I don’t think they dislike Brooke Kerr or Portia. They just treat her like the one Black character they can reliably dump into endless “harboring a secret” storylines because they know BK can sell em. It’s lazy, and it lets them keep the rest of the Black cast stuck in that virtuous, sanctimoniously boring box. Portia deserves actual nuance, real backstory, and family of her own on canvas instead of being glued to Curtis and his snoozefest orbit. I noticed that the dialogue has gotten very heavy on story regurgitation and telling the audience what is about to happen as opposed to just letting us see it. If they spent less time on writing scenes like endless plot recapping and more on actual plot and character development and understanding you’d have a much more interesting show. I got a good chuckle out of Lulu and Dante having to watch their son be carted off to jail the same way Michael was after they convinced him to confess to killing Claudia. Good use of Finn Carr and the legacy grandkids with this lab plot. I should have known Ric and Sonny trying to make amends was only so he could screw up Rocco’s case lol. I still have no use for Britt and it feels like she’s on everyday and in every storyline 🤢 is this how the Carly haters always feel? 😂 They missed an opportunity to tell a whole storyline with the Mayoral campaign competition. I get that Genie takes a vacation but having the whole election race take place offscreen until it was debate and voting time was a misstep. I want Laura to lose for her allegiance to Sonny. I also expect Daniel Cosgrove to be revealed as the person Jacinda was really with the night Drew was shot. Speaking of Jacinda it feels like Frank grabbed the first cheap bland and blonde actress he could find and slotted her into Sasha’s place on canvas (who was useless herself until they finally dumped her). The scenes with Michael/Nina/Willow/Drew have been fun though. Is it bad I kind of want Michael and Nina to end up hunching? RG and CW have good chemistry. Lucas acts like a petulant immature teenager, I’m glad Carly told him how stupid he is for moving into Wyndemere and that she whacked Josslyn for convincing him to do it too. I like Sidwell and the teases of him and Ava but I still have no idea what the hell his villain purpose actually is. Every thing just feels very vague and he’s been on canvas for over a year at this point trying to get those docks with very little actual movement.

Dupe post

They really missed an opportunity with Monica’s will especially given how long she was moving about off-screen. They could’ve revealed that AJ was secretly alive and hidden away again, or brought back Keesha with a secret Quartermaine heir, at the very least the will could’ve been used to shake up the family dynamic like forcing Drew to move back into the mansion. I loved seeing Erika Slezak and Tracy having the house feels good, but there was definitely more story that that could have played out and had stronger long term impact to the status quo. I like the Quartermaine’s we have on the canvas currently but it still feels like there are some missing pieces. Whether that’s Dillon, AJ, another Ward, a gold digger IDK but they need something.

Bringing this into November, I’ve enjoyed every minute of this arc with Erika Slezak as well. Its especially cool seeing ES in scenes with fellow ABC vets she never worked with before (she and JE have been electric of course but her scenes with Genie Francis, Finola Hughes, and Cameron Mathison were pretty strong as well). The OLTL reunions have been special as well. I know some fans hate the references but I loved the shared ABC soap universe so I’m happy whenever we get a wink wink nod to it. 🤷🏾‍♂️ Lulu’s scenes the last few weeks have been strong IMO. I love her home set and taking Tracy in after Ronnie kicked her out has given us some great material. I cringe at this Britt and Valentin circling Rocco and Charlotte stuff but I do like how they’ve used it as an engine of story for her family unit. Those scenes with Charlotte and Rocco lying about Rocco having dinner with the weirdo Obrecht’s had nice chemistry and made me want them to get moving on putting Lulu and Dante and that whole family back together. Also loved Lulu talking it over with Laura. Lulu and Nathan reuniting was also interesting I could dig a potential pairing their if the show wanted to give it a go. CM has really leaned into playing the villain as Drew and I love it. Same way RG plays Michael as someone intense and willing to play heel if it means protecting his family makes. Its made Michael 100x more interesting, loved him forcing Nina to hire Jacinda and circumventing Nina’s loyalty flip attempt with a devil smirk the whole time. I enjoy the messiness of Portia’s storyline and she has slid into one of my favorite characters. The scene where Isaiah snatched her wedding band off before d’ing her down at work was hilarious, I’ve been a stan ever since 😭 and I can’t stand Curtis or Jordan sanctimonious asses. I’m glad Carly is finally on to Brennan but yuck at Valentin’s involvement: This story should only end with her putting a bullet in Jack. Sonny and Brenda bot 1300 🤢 Molly and Cody 🤢 Britt and Jason take the cake on yuck factor couples though. I don’t get this pairing. She is a completely unpleasant character and actress to watch. Carly is nasty to other women but she’s never talked down to Jason and none of his romantic pairings ever have. Its super hard for me to buy his interest in her. The excuse that she’s being so awful on purpose doesn’t wash away her being hard to like or watch. I’m pulling for this to all end like the last actor Steve Burton begged Frank to hire back (at least you got another Emmy JJ) One thing I’ve noticed about the writing since the episode Willow got arrested for shooting Drew is that they’ve gone back to scripts with endless plot regurgitation, flashbacks, telling instead of showing, and characters spinning their wheels until the next convient plot movement. Anna’s already figured out Faison is back pulling stings but instead of taking action she keeps meeting with people and about to burst into tears while mentioning his name. I didn’t care for the way they used Gio and Lois reuniting to rush him to a revelation of giving Dante and Brook Lynn a chance again either. Why have Nina and Drew suddenly been reset to their 2024 dynamic is beyond me as well. If these writers would remember they have 5 days a week to play every beat of a storyline even with the ridiculous scheduling their material could be so much more compelling.