alexisfan07

7 minutes ago, Taoboi said:

Very true. 

 

Well...that has potential. Heck, that could be slow burned, too, into something bigger.

For sure! The show always has a lot of potential in so many areas. It's always the question of, will they follow through? I hope they will!

4 minutes ago, Taoboi said:

EXACTLY!!! From reading recaps, it appears Spencer is brought back when needed, using have some presence in storyline. And then he leaves again. So I don't mind that for a while, allowing for the character to grow.

 

In fact, the reunion might be a great reset for what they want his personality to be. I don't know if he kept up the self absorbed rich kid with a heart when I stopped watching, but perhaps the fact that Nikolas kept himself 'dead' for three years might make him be a bit of a introvert, trying to put out the image of what a good prince...one who does not need to fake his death to get things done...should be. Even be a bit brainy. Maybe...?

 

 

Yeah! He has appeared in a very small handful of episodes in the last few years. Admittedly, I think they probably thought Nicolas would've grown up more by now, but again, completely out of his control lol.

I'm afraid they won't follow up with this Spencer/Nikolas stuff for a bit. I hope I'm wrong. I don't think Nicolas's other show is still on but I think he's in school so maybe he doesn't want to be full time right now either. There was a throw away line about Spencer flirting with girls at gastropubs and being a bit of a troublemaker recently lol but that doesn't really jive with what we saw of him onscreen the other day. I hope he becomes a rebellious troublemaker! With a heart of gold, of course. He's definitely still smart.

10 minutes ago, Taoboi said:

IKR!!!  I might have seen him maybe once since I stopped watching regularly and he was a little bit taller and had his glasses, but still looked the same. 

 

So....wow.  I admit it is nice to see a show let a kid grow up onscreen a la Robin/Jessica/Maxie1.

Sadly, a lot of soap Twitter is calling for him to be recast because he's not tall enough or good looking enough or whatever to fit in with Josslyn, Cameron and Trina. I understand why they want him to be their age and have a quad. But why can't we just appreciate Nicolas for his acting ability and for having grown up with him and be patient and realize he will grow into his features within the next year or so? I just feel bad for him. Puberty is rough for anyone, let alone an almost 15 year old who I'm sure wishes he was taller etc. by now. That doesn't mean he should be recast. If he was also a bad actor, I might understand it, but he's not. He brought more emotion in the reunion scenes than Marcus as Nikolas. I do agree that the "precociousness" of the character is now gone a bit and they probably need to decide what they want Spencer's personality as a teen to be if they want him on full-time but none of that is Nicolas's fault. 

1 hour ago, KMan101 said:

 

Glad I'm not the only one to notice the subtle, little changes. I can see they're trying but yeah, a looong way to go. Frank and Varni are still there and pets are still around so ... time will tell. At least it's becoming watchable and almost entertaining. 

I have noticed it too. I wonder if Varni has realized micromanaging the writers wasn't leading to good ratings. Like, let the creatives do their thing and stick to your business ish if that's what you're good at. 

1 hour ago, KMan101 said:

 

Eh, I kinda agree on Spinelli, but it's time for Maxie to raise her daughter. 

 

Love Setton as Brook Lynn. And honestly, Dustin has grown on me these last few days.

 

It's called a soap, I'm all for Nelle sticking it to Michael and lording Shiloh's shares over the family. Is she kinda played out? Maybe. But we need some drama, dammit. It's a soap not a Hallmark movie.

 

I know they put the Sasha actress on contract, but it's kinda clear they'll eventually bore us to death with Willow and Michael, and I imagine Brook Lynn gets put with Chase at some point so .... bye?

I cannot stand Spinelli. I wasn't watching during the Spixie "supercouple" days but I don't want him around permanently. I feel like TPTB have finally wised up to how disastrous Peter and Maxie/Peter have been though and are setting up a Spixie redux, whether it's permanent or a one night stand. I'm sure Wes Ramsey will somehow, against all odds, keep his job but I can't see Maxie and Peter recovering from all this and they shouldn't. They have like 1% of the viewer support. Horrid.

Amanda Setton was always going to set the screen ablaze as Brook Lynn and I'm glad they've let her inject comedy into the role. 

Nelle as Shiloh's widow was predictable months ago but it's so fun to finally see it play out and not have to wait a year for the reveal to happen. I do hope this is Chloe Lanier's last ATM stop though. I need Nelle to go out in a final blaze of glory. It's time for Chloe and the show to both move on at this point. They could've easily placed Chloe back into the opening with an old headshot but they didn't, so I don't think either party views her "recurring status" as permanent a la Bobbie or Monica. It's just surprising how long this story is taking to play out. I assume it'll come to a head in "February sweeps."

I actually like Michael and Willow's chemistry but, as pretty as they both are, Sofia and Katelyn are very limited actresses. I actually think Sofia might be a little stronger than Katelyn but both need some major work. They're not bad or unwatchable but they're also not very good. Extremely green. There's a depth issue that becomes very apparent in deep emotional scenes of sorrow or anger - they ring hollow. I actually think Josh and Donnell (don't hate me!) have the same limitations but get a pass because the viewers think they're hot. I wish they'd get an acting coach in here for an intense boot camp for these people, haha.

32 minutes ago, Antoyne said:

I will fight you over Flynn and Mansi! I love Chad and Abby.

I remember liking Billy Flynn a lot years ago and thought he was a really good Chad recast. But the last few years, he comes off super smug onscreen in a way that goes deeper than the character. I don't know what it is! And I think both of their stuttering tics have snowballed off each other in scenes together lately, haha. I read a rumor there was tension between the actors and they didn't like each other that much? I want the tea!

I also noticed Kate Mansi is recurring by choice. I wonder if they're planning to write Abby off for a while at some point or if she'll just be indefinite recurring like John Aniston? It's interesting.

On 1/14/2020 at 9:22 PM, Antoyne said:

Chandler was doing this pretty consistently before he left the show. It's been a complaint about him for years. There are very few scenes in which he actually acts without smirking his way through it.

Thank you for that info! I've been in and out for years but I don't remember it being this bad, my goodness. It's physically uncomfortable to watch. Like watching The Office, that secondhand embarrassment feeling. 

18 hours ago, ranger1rg said:

live been complaining about CM’s smirking for so long that I can’t remember when I wasn’t. He ruins just about every scene.

Lol, you poor thing! I don't know how anyone can stand it.

10 hours ago, Gray Bunny said:

 

Ah, well that explains why Billy Flynn is always smirking when he's throwing digs towards Gabi. Catching up on Christmas episodes right now, and yeah... some things never change. 

Another insufferable presence. I don't like BF or KM and desperately wish they'd never brought back Chad and Abby.

What has happened to Chandler Massey? He never used to smirk in every [!@#$%^&*] scene, did he? He's dreadful to watch. That inappropriate smirk ruins every moment of realism (I know, I know) of the story and takes the viewer completely out of it.

What dreadful news.

On 1/12/2020 at 3:04 PM, titan1978 said:

It looks fine to me design wise.  It also looks clearly smaller than either the library or the sitting room that used to be their main sets.  The foyer looks about the same though size-wise, maybe the stairs don’t go as high.

The foyer is definitely smaller. They took out a good five feet at least width wide to the left of the main staircase, since that's where the front door used to be. The living room doors have moved to maybe a foot to the left of the staircase, eliminating nearly the entire space the front door held previously.

18 minutes ago, KMan101 said:

 

What they need to do is focus on the core vets they have and anchor around them. They sort of do that but I want a little more consistency this year with the vets. Not on for a bit then disappear for weeks/months. Use them a few times a month, it isn't hard (but I imagine servicing 60000000 castmembers isn't easy lol)

I agree with everything you said! I wish the usage made more sense and was more consistent, as well. For example, Mac and Felicia were pretty unnecessary in yesterday's episode. Was it nice to see them? Of course. Would I rather have seen their Christmas party that Anna and Finn supposedly attended? Of course. Like why have them pop up after New Year's in silly scenes vs. showing them having that party a week prior? I don't get it.

I am glad that Lucas is finally semi prominent but I, too, wish he was leading the story instead of Brad. I know Ryan likes to keep busy with other projects so it may just be that Parry is the one of them that isn't busy outside of GH but obviously, since Lucas is the "good person" of the two of them, he sadly takes the backseat story wise.

49 minutes ago, titan1978 said:

The balance has improved.  Still too much Sonny though.  But I think I will be saying that during the last month the show airs at this point.

Oh absolutely, haha

Since I help put these counts together, I see the stats month to month, but it's so nice to see that overall most of the recurring vets had higher episode counts than last year! Leslie Charleson, Lynn Herring, Jon Lindstrom, Tristan Rogers, Kin Shriner, Kristina Wagner, John York and Jacklyn Zeman were all up from last year's numbers. I will take the win! The only two who were down were Wally Kurth and Lisa LoCicero (if you count her as a vet) due to Wally doing Days for most of the year.

Ryan Carnes was in over twice as many episodes as he was last year, and Parry Shen was 10 episodes away from being in twice as many episodes as he was last year also, which I think are great improvements. Laura Wright has her lowest episode count ever in history for a full calendar year. There's more character balance on the canvas.

It is sad that John York wasn't used at all in the fourth quarter at all and Kristina Wagner only once. I assume this is due to writing regime changes driving them further into the background. Mac was named the Chief of Detectives after the fan outcry demanded he be the commissioner again - and then we basically never saw him at work again.

Haley Pullos has also slowly disappeared over the last few years. There's absolutely no reason they can't write a story for Molly and TJ. TJ was on talking about wanting to propose to her - and Molly was still nowhere to be found.

Anyone finished season 5A? I won't spoil anything but I can't lie, I teared up a lot watching episode 9.

1 hour ago, Cheap21 said:

When did they change the opening credits? I just saw it for the first time and that thing looked so lazy

Second week of January this year. The version that ran from January - May was seizure inducing (literally) so be happy you missed that one! 

15 hours ago, titan1978 said:

Any word on Finola Hughes returning?

 

Lucas should be in actual story and featured more.  He is an attractive, decent actor with character ties to the hospital and family.  It’s mind boggling.

I believe the latest is she is returning onscreen in December, per Soaps.com. That will have given her a full six months off. No one knows in what capacity she'll be returning in, i.e. contract, recurring or short-term to wrap up story.

I don't disagree but this is actually the most consistently Lucas has been used in years. As of this posting, he's appeared in 45 episodes this year, which is tied with his 2014 and 2015 year-end totals. A breakdown of his year-end totals since Ryan Carnes returned:

2014: 45

2015: 45

2016: 24

2017: 4 (yes, 4 for the year!)

2018: 27

54 minutes ago, David_Vickers said:

Thanks for the info.  I see 1 mistake.    Garren Lake Stiitt is NOT on the show any longer, so why list him as "Contract actor not appearing".  He's not appearing because he's off the show.  Oscar's dead.

jcar03 and I meticulously keep track of the show's closing credits and base contract entrances and exits based off of that, which has never been inaccurate as far as we know.

Oscar died on May 1st but Garren was on contract through July 5, noted in jcar03's post. That's why we saw Oscar a few times as a ghost/hallucination of Kim's throughout June. They were still paying Garren for two months regardless so they probably wanted to use him a few more times before his contract was up. So because Garren was credited as a contract cast member for one week of July, he's listed as zero appearances.

3 hours ago, KMan101 said:

 

That's good! And LOL I do know it's true! I always notice when she disappears, lol. I notice when any of the vets disappear for long stretches. It's funny because when I start thinking about them, the show clearly has been too and then all of a sudden, there they are (or like, if say, I notice they hadn't used Diane or Epiphany/Milo in a long time, and voila, all of a sudden, there they are! lol)

 

It was nice to see Jackie/Bobbie a bit more but the problem is they don't do a good job keeping them involved. It isn't hard. Look how easily they re-inserted Mac, Felicia, and now Scott and Bobbie. They feature them a bit and then they vanish. But I do think it's improved this year, personally. Not great, but at least we see them.

 

Maybe don't have 1,000 cast members ....

Doing the episode counts makes me painfully aware of those long absent stretches. They make me sad! 

I agree, consistency and integration is key. Mac, Felicia, Bobbie and Scott have been utilized really well lately. This is Bobbie's little story resurgence. I think they noticed she was barely used the first few months of the year and are trying to rectify it. Mac, Felicia and Scott have been consistently used a few times a month, if not more, on average this year, and I love it!

20 hours ago, KMan101 said:

And interesting how Leslie Charleson gets no screentime when Jackie Zeman/Bobbie is featured. Not enough money in the budget for both Frank?

You know it's true! I do believe a summer story that involves Monica got delayed though, which is why she's absent. I think she'll have a bigger presence hopefully near the end of July and into August.

4 hours ago, FrenchFan said:

They took Finola off contract while she is on vacation? I am surprised.

Me too! Ive been helping jcar03 put these together for years now and Finola has never been taken out of the end credits for her summer break before. Maybe her contract was up and she won’t be renegotiating until she returns? Or it was up and the show decided to have her re-sign for a fall start to save the show money? She’s still all over the opening credits so I assume she’ll be on contract again when she returns.

As someone who's never watched Y&R a day in his life, I'm selfishly over the moon about this news as a GH fan. Stafford was largely heinous as Nina. Sure, she had her comedic moments, but the character was pointless from the get and never found relevance. I'm mostly angry that it took so long for her to leave and that it was more or less her choice. Five damn years of waste and gobbling of screen time and scenery. If we're lucky, they'll act like Nina never existed, like they did with poor Sabrina. Let's all pray they don't recast Nina because WHEW, no.

If somehow, some way, we could rid ourselves of Roger Howarth and Wes Ramsey next, I might believe in GH again. 

On 2/7/2019 at 7:14 PM, John said:

Maybe Eve's Mom, Gabrielle???

My thoughts exactly. I didn’t see the original actress but she A) seems to be focused on directing now, B ) is a few years younger than Kassie, and C) has some similar features to Robin. Plus, there’s no way Ron wouldn’t take advantage of the opportunity to put Kassie and Robin together again onscreen!

1 minute ago, OLTL #1 fan said:

that would be great, don't know if I can make it through 18 episodes of him acting like this

There's no way they'll do that, don't worry

2 hours ago, OLTL #1 fan said:

on episode 4, did drinking the coffee making him normal or was it just hot/bad coffee?

Just hot coffee I believe! But a lot have speculated coffee will make him "normal" again in some way very soon haha.

I thought the same thing, boo! I showed my parents the first episode of it and they both remarked that he looked dreadful. I almost thought that when Stamos said his line about "Damn we all still look good," they might cut to Stamos "on accident" out of perversity.

I binged the entire season last weekend. I rather enjoyed it! I agree with everyone else that it got a lot better as the season progressed. I know I watched bits and pieces of the regular show when it was on (or perhaps in reruns) but I don't think I was watching every episode or anything.

Was I the only one who found Kimmy's husband obnoxious? He was as a complete racial caricature. Not only that but is it supposed to be a positive message that his betrayal and infidelity is a mere punch line and then she

takes him back later? Granted they don't get married but still.

I hope he is written out next season.

I found the show amusing, I chuckled a few dozen times and smiled a lot but did anyone else not genuinely laugh a whole lot while watching the show? Maybe I am too accustomed now to humor that actually has some finesse and wit behind it. The forced AF laugh track didn't help matters. But still, I certainly didn't LOL a lot.

Stephanie and Max (DJ's youngest son) were by far my favorite characters.

Loved seeing soap alums John Brotherton and Ryan McPartlin getting some work!