juppiter

Of course, even as I watch 1991 AW I have read ahead on Eddie Drueding’s amazing AWHP. And good god did TPTB totally wreck this soap. Is AW patient zero for TPTB annihilating a soap through total malfeasance? By the plots in the last five years of AW it is no wonder this soap got canceled. It depresses me. Honestly, reading Eddie Drueding is funny because he is mostly extremely (Canadian) polite and doesn’t want to outright admit which storylines are stupid, but can’t help himself at points. Case in point, Cindy’s medicinal deficiency is “had extremely low self esteem.” Lmao, what a polite Canadian way of putting it.

i do seriously admire the work he put into that website, though. Unparalleled for any other soap. 

On 3/30/2019 at 1:12 PM, DramatistDreamer said:

Coming to the realization that next week will be another anniversary where the only acknowledgement of this show will be from a few bloggers and some fans.  

It's unlikely that there will be so much as a peep from P&G acknowledging all those decades of talent, hard work and drive in service of this dramatic series.  No nods to the decades of fan support. 

No magnanimous gesture as a way of saying thanks or celebrating an entertaining and sometimes great show.  

 

Thinking about it makes me a bit sad.

It is sad. There is no legacy for this show and when the people who remember it, probably universally over the age of 35, die, it’ll pass completely from the collective memory despite being watched by millions at its peak. 

10 hours ago, j swift said:

 

A quote for Soap Opera Digest at two months before the switch about Cali Timmons finding out she shot Jake

 

 

It would be incredibly cruel to say this about somebody you knew you were about to fire. Plus, they freeze frame on Timmins on her last day, which feels almost subversive. I’m thinking P&G and/or NBC told them to find a place on the cast for Judi Evans. But if that was the case, they should have just made her Vicky. She at least has some heart/vulnerability. Jensen Buchanan has none.... 

I am watching 1991 on YouTube. I’m guessing this is an era AW fans are fond of? I’m really enjoying it and find that this show largely has its [!@#$%^&*] together and has a good cast and writing. I’m familiar with most of the characters as I watched 87-89 on SoapNet and kept track of AW over the years but never watched it day to day except when it was on soapnet. But this seems to be better than I remember the era soapnet showed was. 

Why did they switch Paulinas? I didn’t think the old Paulina was bad. The new one is fine, but the timing just seems so strange. They must have known that it would be very difficult for the audience to adjust to a new Vicky (and, indeed, I hate this Vicky), so why put the audience through two major recasts within days of each other? I wonder if there was some behind the scenes change or if the network insisted since this actress came from DAYS. 

Poor P&G soaps. In the 90s they always wanted to turn ATWT and GL into the ABC soaps, and they seemed to always want to turn AW into DAYS. Why couldn’t they just accept their soaps for who they were? #bornthisway

If only I could stream ATWT, GL, and AW. I love that I can watch what is available on YouTube, but that is very limiting.

for God’s sake, The Wonder Years was released with substitute music. I have to think it was much more damaging to the integrity of that show than it would be to release our soaps with substitute music. 

Why not just charge money and release the shows in their original condition? You wouldn’t make much money, but you also wouldn’t make zero. 

Currently watching 1990 on YouTube.

marland certainly has some annoying ticks as a writer. But I can’t fault him. This show is so damn watchable. What jumps out is that Oakdale is a terrific place, and I want to live there, and the Hughes family is front and center.

pros:

Ming-Na is very likable as Lien in spite of the writing.

courtney is a unique and interesting character.

doug marland uses the Greek chorus technique to great effect.

Oakdale is a town ruled by gossip. From day to day, who knows what and who was told by whom is the main plot. This is awesome and something that soaps have lost. The dishiness of Oakdale is highly addictive.

characters have jobs that we see them doing.

characters have values and morals. 

Scott DeFreitas is terrific as Andy and Andrew Kavovit is terrific as Paul. They are not the mold of soap hunks, unfortunately, so they would not last. 

cons:

Heather Rattray. Not her fault, but she is just not Lily. The character should have been written out when Martha Byrne left.

People treating Lien as if she is special needs. She is not special needs. She is Vietnamese. 

Kim keeps saying she doesn’t want to talk about Susan and doesn’t want to see Bob, but sees Bob every other scene and mentions Susan every other sentence.

The Duncan/Shannon disappearing dead body storyline makes no sense and I don’t care, but Michael Swan was shirtless for half an episode which was lovely. 

It it is a juicy and terrific show in 1990 and I am enjoying it. 

I haven't watched any of The Conners episodes. It is too painful for me.

I am still not fully comfortable with what happened and never will be. I wish we could be more nuanced as a society. When Roseanne says in the quoted article, "They're taking my show from me" I feel for her, because she expressed the exact same sentiment in the 90s. It was true then and it was true now. And yeah, I am kind of mad at Sara Gilbert. Roseanne had the energy to fight the network in the 90s, and didn't anymore. Sara promised she would and didn't deliver. I can feel for Sara, because Roseanne was not exactly stable, but Sara knew that going in. What Sara didn't know was that Roseanne had to fight the network when Sara was a kid and hid that from Sara. IDK. I am not cool with Sara Gilbert becoming famous off of Roseanne and then instantly dropping her.

Only there wasn't twitter then in the 90s. We all can agree the original series was terrific. But if there had been twitter then, would it have been? Roseanne was as batshit crazy then as she is now, but fought the network, and won. Because there wasn't twitter for her to show her insanity.

I'm extremely torn. I hope Roseanne's reputation will be rehabilitated at some point. I do think she has a brilliant creative mind and is a brilliant writer, and is not a racist. She just couldn't make it in these somewhat ridiculous times.

And when her daughter told her, "You did that on purpose," there is also a kernel of truth to that. Roseanne is a self-saboteur and always has been. I know it seems like I am making excuses for her, and I also am, and admit that, but she is way more complex than these black or white times give her credit for. It's still so unfortunate. IDK. It saddens me. She is an artist and always will be. It is a shame that her art will be tarnished just because she is imperfect. If we start demanding artists be perfect what kind of art will we get? IDK.

I may not be rational on this subject and I admit that. I am extremely upset by what happened and always will be. To me, this was the corporate fist crushing Roseanne. The corporate fist that tried and failed to crush her in the 90s and easily succeeded in our era. I hate it.

Chelsea being blamed was ridiculous... the murderer said he has been planning this for two years. But multiple blue checks on twitter doubling down against Chelsea was surprising. 

On 9/26/2018 at 9:02 AM, DRW50 said:

You wouldn't have a man with a body like that on a cover today. People would bitch about him not being roided out, or about his having a hairy chest, or whatever else. Everyone has to look exactly the same now - usually, like boring twinks, or dead-eyed ab machines like the hacks on Riverdale.

Such a shame. I would take Luke’s bod and hairyness over the shaved Abercrombie model 10 out of 10 times. 

11 hours ago, j swift said:

I'm of two minds on the Marion/Brent story.  At the time I recall being on the proverbial edge of my seat during the story.  The youtuber who covers Springfield history has a brilliant edit of the story with all of the tension and drama.  However, in retrospect, the transphobia and HIV scare tactics are heavy-handed and inappropriate.  

I just watched the video, and yeah, I have never seen this storyline but the video is like.... this is crazy, but in a way it’s crazy enough that it kind of works? Ridiculous and over the top, but, like the famous Sonni/Solita story, so ridiculous and over the top that it circles back to good. 

See I was going to say Y&R, and yes, it did remain a cut above the rest until LML IMO, but:

Ashley stealing the sperm

and

Jill becoming Katherine’s daughter 

19 hours ago, vetsoapfan said:

 

When WAS the last time a daytime soap was consistently good? Twenty five years ago?

I would like the answer to this, honestly. GH in the mid-90s perhaps? 

On 2/28/2019 at 12:08 PM, Mitch said:

Roger was rather one dimensional at this time. I think the Dobsons wrote James Stenbeck the same way...not that AH as hot as he was, was an actor of the same caliber of Zaz, but I always wish they had written him withe more conflict then just EVIL..

 

Is anyone else having problems on this page with Google ads blocking posts?

Yes when I view the board on iPhone this always happens to me. 

3 minutes ago, Faulkner said:

Maura West and Scott DeFreitas.

+Lesli Kay (Molly) And Keith Coulouris (David #2) - now divorced

The Dems are already so contemptuous of Bernie's candidacy. Even moreso than Republicans were of Trump's in 2016. They clearly do not want to have Bernie be their candidate. Unfortunately for them, Bernie has a strong following and has raised $10 million already. Bernie's fans were treated badly by the Dems in 2016. I think if the same happens or is perceived to happen in 2020, it will hurt the Dem candidate. 

3 hours ago, DRW50 said:

The breakaway Labour group is already tripping over their own feet. 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/feb/18/angela-smith-apologises-for-funny-tinge-remark

Can we not claim that we know what is going on in the U.K. when Labour does seem to have anti-semites among their ranks, and the US Democrats now seem to have the same? 

1 hour ago, Soapsuds said:

Once Flannery left B&B it became the Liam Show and totally went downhill. Even KKL was reduced to nothing without Flannery around. 

B&B was always fully dependent on LaFlannery and I thought they knew if. Turns out they didn’t. Bradley Bell was just the figurative monkey on the typewriter in the same way his contemporary ken Corday was. Which soap trust fund baby revealed himself sooner? 

Susan Flannery legitimized the trash that B&B always was. In the best of times, B&B was addictive trash and a guilty pleasure, but Susan gave it a hint of legitimacy. In the worst of times, B&B was mindless Hollywood stars without a third grade education, and Susan Flannery was Alex Trebek’s mustache, sneering and towering above them. 

I do think B&B with Susan Flannery was sometimes a great guilty pleasure, sometimes awful, but always watchable. Without her, it’s just another soap, and coincidentally, a bad one. IDK if there’s ever been another soap so dependent on one actress. 

56 minutes ago, DaysFanatic777 said:

.  It's all about money and control; those sick pieces of garbage!!! 

At least you take a strong stand against hate, though!

21 minutes ago, Khan said:

 

Well, I'm glad you can find the humor in this situation.  Right now, I'm too mad over the thought of MAGAts everywhere gloating over the news.   I know this isn't the political thread, but if you ask me, I feel like we've just handed the 2020 election to the GOP.

 

 

Yeah, we're screwed in 2020.

While he did the wrong thing for sure, I don’t think this is quite the case.

people have short attention spans these days. People will forget about this in roughly 15 minutes and be outraged at something else. 

1 hour ago, Khan said:

Meg Ryan is like Genie Francis.  She wants to be Taken Seriously, to show she can do more than what the public loves her for.  The only problem is, her goals exceed her range as an actress.  They always have.

 

Add to that the feeling that she was becoming overexposed even as a romcom star -- audiences weren't sick of romcoms; they were sick of romcoms starring Meg Ryan -- and you have a reasonable explanation for why MR is where she is now.

I was not sick of romcoms with Meg Ryan. Funny, I just watched When Harry Met Sally for the umpteenth time last night. And I was wondering why they didn’t release one Nora Ephron/Meg Ryan movie per year in the 90s. They should have. 

I believe it was mentioned when Kim onasch was Jennifer that she knew Hal was not her bio dad but I don’t think we ever saw her being told that on camera. 

I didn’t really remember the LB era all that well, so now I’m reading SOC recaps from that era... and what a plot-driven mess. I can’t even really make sense out of the recaps without watching some clips for context, and yet I strangely have no desire to do that. 

Way too many new characters, and way too many characters doing things just because. 

And David switching a black baby with a white one and nobody noticing still has to be one of the dumbest storylines of all time. 

On 1/27/2019 at 12:00 PM, NothinButAttitude said:

 

If I am not mistaken, I think that is when she started to realize it. 

 

Can I add another scene to the list?

 

Can I just say that Maureen Garrett was phenomenal in this scene along with JVD and Sherry Stringfield! I thought Holly was gonna flip the f*ck out, and I loved jilted and jaded Holly. 

I have to say thank you for posting this, because it sent me on a deep dive of Bloss 1992 scenes on Youtube and I just finished watching the entire playlist.... and, wow. I have loved watching this storyline over the past few weeks. And I did not realize that what you posted was Sherry Stringfield's last episode. It just sucks to see someone leave when a storyline is really peaking. GL did a slow buildup on this one, and while I'm grateful Sherry Stringfield stayed for the climax (pun not intended), it was lacking on the denouement due to her absence. But I thought the entire buildup was impeccably done and again I will say I miss stakes on soaps. This storyline was loaded with them.

Watching just this storyline gives me the distinct impression that GL definitely had its [!@#$%^&*] together in 1992 and I would love to watch more from this era.

These handsome pictures of Kristoff bring a tear to my eye  Especially the one with his son.