Contessa Donatella

So both Maeve & Ross died in commercial air accidents. That seems to hit too close to home. Yes, I know I'm replying to myself. All I was going to say is that there's this really old film with Jennifer Jones in it that reminds me so much of the "Travel Through Time via Portrait in Attic" that I feel like that must've been where they stole it from. This is a non sequitur but do you recall DAYS, Reilly and the Paris underground? Found it described as a serialized foreign graphic novel, European.

Neat! I wonder if she watched their upside down show. You know, K. Alderson played Rae. All the kids played adults. All the adults, .. you get the idea.

She mentioned Chris Bernau as the one with Alexandra! And Holly/Fletcher is easy. Meg was a Downs baby.

Who is this dark haired man? Did you ask to see a pic of the ex? Don't leave us hanging, we know about OLTL, too! Edit to Add: New Hashtag #TooStupidForWords

Well, for me, it's a streak of very good luck. I am behind. I have been behind since I was inpatient hospital end of May. That's 3 soaps I'm behind on. Maybe a chance to catch up on this one.

All I meant was that I thought an exec or execs wanted to do a mobster element possibly copycatting GH rather than some HW pitching it as what they wanted to write. Personally not a fan of mob junk or copycats so NOT advocate of it! Yes but they used the word abuèla. LOL

Okay, here he is again but this is Bunny straight not in drag. In reading about him on 'We Love Soaps' I was reminded of how the character started cross-dressing. https://www.welovesoaps.tv/2012/04/mirth1989.html#more Anyone interested in drag, drag on soaps or comedy in soaps, you will find more of interest in this 'We Love Soaps' essay. Among other things it calls out Agnes Nixon writing AW, Opal on AMC, Calliope on DAYS. It mentions AW's Cass but not by name.

Here he is, on Santa Barbara but Bunny straight, not in drag. In reading about him on 'We Love Soaps' I was reminded of how the character started cross-dressing. https://www.welovesoaps.tv/2012/04/mirth1989.html#more

And, when at that point in time was any US daytime drama NOT chasing the younger audience members.?!The ad agencies did such a great job [cough] (over)selling that one demographic group was valued more than another. OY.

Well, I just about bust a gut laughing at this concept. Don't get me wrong. I absolutely believe Paul Rauch's ego was big enough to try to foist his image over the surface of a show & that his strong confidence in his own preferences in decisions from the biggest items down to the smallest details were so right that it made perfect sense for him to supplant his choices over all others but I look at the mob in Springfield and San Cristoblah & it literally makes me laugh to keep from weeping. But two things here. Although I hated both, the mob & the island principality, I loved PAS as an actor. And, yet another Minority Rapport because I thought the Marvel tie-in was delightfully creative & a bit of fun in an all new way. Not that I would've wanted the superhero universe to have become permanent but thoroughly enjoyed it as a few day's diversion. Same when they did the C-O-P-S schtick. One element of my personal soap philosophy is that you agree to get on the ride & to ride it for a good while. To me these little enjoyables are part of the ride. And @chrismlI do not think the Marvel tie-in was aimed at lapsed viewers AT ALL. I think it was meant to be a fun temporary diversion with a creative bent that was outside the box & maybe a little nod to the genre ghetto sharing between soaps & comics. YMMV of course.

It's gonna take me some time to adjust to reading discussion about the incomparable Michael Zaslow who so amazingly portrayed Roger Thorpe in the same discussion the very mention of that hack Bradley Cole. Is lightning gonna strike us? Maybe we should adopt a construct where we never uttered that name instead just typed these characters. B--C--. It worked so well BITD on AMC with L*

RIP Joe Marinelli I loved him on Santa Barbara, as himself & also in drag, most famously a character called Bunny Tagliatti but this is not that character. It is marred by having Brian Frons playing God.

Okay, what do we know about the writing of the Santis? I must be laboring under a misapprehension as I thought someone actively wanted a writer or writers who would create for them a mob story on the show. So perhaps I am in need of enlightenment.

Terrell Tilford & his wife, who did they play? And, yes, I could/can look it up. @Mitch64I was thinking about O'Leary. He always needed something (or someone) to make him as important onscreen as he was to the cast & crew backstage.

I think it has something to do with Mo. After they sent Blaze packing it looked like she was earmarked for Little Sonny. Basically, they dated, flirted, ate meals together, she was let in on the secret about his heart, his health issues. They did story about his heart but no story about his libido. This was strange. This IS the point where it went off the rails entirely. They stopped dating, stopped everything. Then, only then, did Sidwell become a thing. But, you notice, Marco does not suffer from the same Sidwellness of it all.

Such a tease! That should be your middle name. Errol The Teaser Lewis. Yes, that has a nice ring to it.

OH NO.

Doesn't Roger have some missing years in San Domingo? And, no Jami couldn't overcome it & if they couldn't, no one could. There was this thing about the Bennifer marriage that said it reset the time line to 2004 and what did it do to your show... #1 Danny became a Bauer via Mike.

Supposedly Cole had a fanbase similar to Kim's. Actively, screaming that they HAD to have him on their screens. I never knew how accurate or true that was. I mean, about BC not about KZ, where I know it was so. Now you have me intrigued. How would it have been tied? If we only had a son of Mike's, he could have had a romance with lovely and interesting Latin woman & if they married, then is it a dynastic pairing? Wait, it could have been Michelle & she falls for this dashing .... This really writes itself, right?

Now, we have just had a complete screw-up. I did not say that either BE or the Costume Designer came up with squat. What I said had to do with them implementing what they were assigned to do. My point was that the decision to do the Marvel tie-in would have happened pretty far above the level of ANYONE at the studio. It would have happened IMO at least, at the corporate levels of P&G/CBS and Marvel Entertainment. You think it was Ellen & David, I disagree. Did they run with it once it became a possibility? Of course they did. Literally, any soap on the air, would have done so. Did they write the scenes? This is not really a question, it is that obvious. And, the reason I think these things is because I have a modicum of information of what was going on BTS. Was corporate excited? You bet they were. This was meant to be a feather in some people's caps!! Were fans largely disdainful of the whole thing? Again, it's obvious. We were all there. And, to your point about it not being a dream, well, Marvel would have wanted it to be real. Oy, what am I thinking? They DID want it to be real. There are things that I block out until someone brings them up, here!!!! I have a soap group on Facebook. Even though I was dubious, at FB's urging I let them run their AI in my group. It does 3 things. It summarizes posts. It asks questions in the form of a post. It sends me things it thinks are grand via FB Msgr. I haven't decided yet whether to throw it out with the trash. This week it asked us who was the most compelling villain ever? Of course I replied Roger. And, I described him in terms of why. So nuanced, so layered, so complex, never boring, you hated him, you had to hate him, but you could never look away. Why is this hard to understand?

I think we agree that the actors "played the subtext". Or said another but similar way, they "played against the text". Although I am making an assumption about the Sebastian actor, where I actually, literally know it about MG. I have a problem with the Sebastian actor, when he was hired, going by what was known about him & what had been written about him, I was quite excited. Later, of course, so much about his personal life came out, but that's for a different thread, or not, who cares at this point. Hmm, I see what you mean, why wouldn't ANYONE with a pulse have it bad for MG's Holly?!!! Before I knew anything about his personal life, I found him to be quite appealing. But, I still dispute about a romance between Holly and Roger's son. I suppose this is where people say, "But, it's a soap." Meh.

Now, I am going to make a speech. You have been warned. I have put it off as long as I can. In discussing GL & the end times, we have reason to speak about P&G, CBS, Conboy, Weston, Wheeler, Kreizman, Swajeski and perhaps even Hurst. Possibly MADD or Rauch, also. Most of us can talk about these entities & assign BOTH pluses and minuses. But, there are some, fortunately few, who only assign minuses and only to one entity, Wheeler, and we know who those posters and if they admit it they know, too. If they say, which they do, Peapack was all Wheeler. The Wednesday shows same. The Marvel tie-in same. The Katrina helping hands, same. This idea that she somehow did not honor the history, which makes no sense at all, BTW, but to them, same. I'm sure I am leaving off many things. But, to my point. The new production model was mandated. The only way any of it came from her was that she had the job of implementing it without sufficient budget to support it. And, I would remind you, this is not opinion, this is fact. So, for example, Peapack, was it Wheeler's idea, yes and no, the only reason she ended up going with that was to accommodate the new production model which came from CBS & should have been paid for by P&G but they did not provide the budget to do so. Now, do you see the very real dilemma? This can be applied even more. And, of course, the Marvel tie-in was not of her concept or design. Whoever happened to be EP when it came up would have to deal with it & she did. Both Harley & the Costume Designer were engaged in making it happen, both onscreen & in print. Now, the choice of music, Ellen and/or her staff. The Wednesday shows, yes, her idea & her staff assisted. The Katrina helping hands, yes, again, Wheeler & her staff. The Irna Philips tribute show, yes again, her idea, her staff, etc. Now, I think I've said enough. Possibly the naysayers this is really about may be unmoved. Such is life. The rest of us are doing fine with pluses and minuses.

Another example of a time & event where it showed that Wheeler's judgment was at best questionable & at worst, maybe actionable (? not sure there's anything to sue over). Anyway, to this second example I am thinking of, Wheeler tried to get Maureen Garrett to play like she was feeling romantic toward Sebastian. I MEAN what the phuck was going on in what passed for a brain in her head, assuming that was not just an empty space between her left & right ears! Of course, MG rejected it entirely & thank god for actors who have the mental fortitude to say NO. That "idea" was stopped, dead, in its tracks, did not continue on. But, Sebastian did actually kiss Holly, if you remember when he had her held in a literal cell. This screencap shows where Holly & Sebastian almost kiss. This was something Wheeler specifically gave MG the direction to do & it was not as bad as what she wanted, which would have been not almost but that they did kiss.

Well, I'll jump in here on this PJ quote, but in a way this is to & about everyone who has posted at my request more about toxic Jeva. I'm not surprised I never saw this before 'cuz like I said I honestly had so little interest in them, together at least, that I paid no heed. One interesting thing is now I see why so many people were resistant to the idea of Pastor Josh. This guy is a lying piece of shite & also possibly worse a manipulator. And, all for the sake of, OMG, Reva-Shayne-Lewis-Lewis-Spaulding-Lewis-Winslow-Cooper-Lewis-Lewis-O’Neill. Personally I think the ending of the show left us to believe that Reva & Josh would marry again, so another Lewis would be added on the end. And, no, I was not in favor of their reuniting in the final scene. Plus if I never hear the words 'Always' or 'Bud' ever again it will be way too soon.

Which opening? And, prefab, forgot to say that I never rooted for Jeffrey EVER for any reason & my rationale was that I did not want Bradley Cole on my screen & that he raped Young Olivia & took away her innocence.