20 minutes ago, kalbir said:

I remember a Donna Mills interview where she said that Abby becoming a kidnapper would make her irredeemable to the audience. There's also the conflict of Abby being a kidnapper when her own children were once kidnapped.

She (and you) were right on both counts.  Abby would've never done to Val what was done to her; and the audience never would've forgiven her for doing that either.  To this day, I wonder why they ever thought having one woman kidnap another woman's children was a good idea - but I guess that's what happens when you have men writing for women but not thinking as women would think.

Edited January 3Jan 3 by Khan

8 hours ago, Khan said:

As Tommy Krasker points out in his blog, however, Anne Matheson WAS the type who'd go from man to man. 

To be fair, I don't think she was per se arguing that Anne was above trying to jump from man to man (hence why there was still a flirtation there), just that it would be far too much repetition at that point to have Anne just jump to another man. And she was probably right, especially if they didn't have a long-term plan behind Gary and Anne sleeping together other than her being kicked to the curb again. So Val only being paranoid about it worked just as well. 

10 hours ago, Khan said:

She (and you) were right on both counts.  Abby would've never done to Val what was done to her; and the audience never would've forgiven her for doing that either.  To this day, I wonder why they ever thought having one woman kidnap another woman's children was a good idea - but I guess that's what happens when you have men writing for women but not thinking as women would think.

Well, Michael Filerman also suggested Val only get one baby back lol. We just have to be thankful that David Jacobs was around to push back on his more over the top ideas.

9 hours ago, Chris B said:

Well, Michael Filerman also suggested Val only get one baby back lol.

Which I actually thought was a good idea, lol!  If only because they needed something to keep the audience tuning in as long as possible.  I'm not saying a reunion with both babies never should've happened, but the longer you delay that gratification, the better off you'll be.

36 minutes ago, Khan said:

Which I actually thought was a good idea, lol!  If only because they needed something to keep the audience tuning in as long as possible.  I'm not saying a reunion with both babies never should've happened, but the longer you delay that gratification, the better off you'll be.

I agree.  I loved the scene when Val got her babies back but I think keeping one of the babies away until the series finale would have been incredible story telling. 

21 hours ago, Khan said:

To this day, I wonder why they ever thought having one woman kidnap another woman's children was a good idea 

Especially when Abby was a mother herself that had been a victim of that particular crime. Abby may have been a villainess, but she loved her children and was for the most part a good mother to them.

2 hours ago, Khan said:

Which I actually thought was a good idea, lol!  If only because they needed something to keep the audience tuning in as long as possible.  I'm not saying a reunion with both babies never should've happened, but the longer you delay that gratification, the better off you'll be.

Co sign.  And maybe that could have been Val's season 11 story instead of Danny..or even over the brain virus story.

3 hours ago, Khan said:

Which I actually thought was a good idea, lol!  If only because they needed something to keep the audience tuning in as long as possible.  I'm not saying a reunion with both babies never should've happened, but the longer you delay that gratification, the better off you'll be.

A part of me agrees, especially as it was clear the show had no real idea what to do with Val after the story was over (and this might have more believably pushed Ben into Cathy's arms), but I also don't trust the team who were at Knots in the mid/late '80s to do a great job with the story.

Ben and Cathy was such a bizarre story. I felt Cathy long outstayed her welcome, but surely they could've come up with something else to run out her contract. Val risked Joshua potentially hurting her or her kids to defend Cathy and that's how she repays her?

48 minutes ago, Chris B said:

Ben and Cathy was such a bizarre story. I felt Cathy long outstayed her welcome, but surely they could've come up with something else to run out her contract. Val risked Joshua potentially hurting her or her kids to defend Cathy and that's how she repays her?

Which is why Lilimae epically bitch slapping Cathy a couple times in their confrontation felt so right and why Cathy understood she was in the wrong from there.

Was it planned for Cathy to appear again at least in early Season 8? The scenes of Val trashing Cathy’s house are so weird and never followed up on,  especially given Cathy had already left town? 
 

Ben’s more bizarre storyline came in Season 8 which for me was a story more suited for Richard Channing over on FC.

Edited January 4Jan 4 by soapfan770

1 minute ago, soapfan770 said:

Which is why Lilimae epically bitch slapping Cathy a couple times in their confrontation felt so right and why I Cathy started understood she was in the wrong from there.

Was it planned for Cathy to appear again at least in early Season 8? The scenes of Val trashing Cathy’s house are so weird and never followed up on,  especially given Cathy had already left town? 

Ben’s more bizarre storyline came in Season 8 which for me was a story more suited for Richard Channing over on FC.

Cathy's story did feel somewhat unfinished - maybe they were seeing if Lisa wanted to return.

I think one of the reasons the Cathy/Ben story feels so cheap is because it's the type of story you often hear of other Knots actors vetoing those empty cheating plots. Clearly neither of them had the power (if they objected to the story). It also reminds me of how hollow Cathy was as a character. 

Everything with Jean Hackney did feel suited to Falcon Crest, although it provided one of my favorite Knots scenes (Ben putting Lilimae in a headlock).

40 minutes ago, soapfan770 said:

Ben’s more bizarre storyline came in Season 8 which for me was a story more suited for Richard Channing over on FC.

 

34 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

Everything with Jean Hackney did feel suited to Falcon Crest

Jean Hackney, Angelica Nero, and the Falcon Crest henchwomen were all straight out of a James Bond movie.

19 hours ago, Efulton said:

I loved the scene when Val got her babies back but I think keeping one of the babies away until the series finale would have been incredible story telling. 

No no no, I wouldn't have delayed it that long, lol!  You can get away with delaying for 6-7 years on a daytime soap, but the rules are different for primetime soaps.  Audiences there don't have as much patience.  I'd say maybe a season, at the most.

Edited January 4Jan 4 by Khan

15 minutes ago, Khan said:

No no no, I wouldn't have delayed it that long, lol!  You can get away with delaying for 6-7 years on a daytime soap, but the rules are different for primetime soaps.  Audiences there don't have as much patience.  I'd say maybe a season, at the most.

Some of the audience may not have that much patience but I am part of the audience and it do.  I think watching Val try to move on with her life with that loss always being there would have added layers to any story being told for her.

I had to skip Season 6 about 10 episodes in and just jump to the last two. I couldn't stand how long the Val-knows-her-twins-are-alive-but-doesn't-know-where-they-are-so-now-has-split-personalities storyline. Am now in Season 7 - much more interesting with the Empire Valley intrigue. AND Hunt Block is in it. 😍