I'll go first:

B&B

- While not perfect, the show is currently in the best shape it's been in since 2003.

Y&R

- Genie Francis is terrific as Genevieve Atkinson. I know she wasn't well liked in her first few months on her show, but I'm currently watching June 2011 episodes and I LOVE her campy take on the character, despite the overall wretchedness of the storyline. Although I never saw Francis on GH, so I don't have that to compare it to. I'd love to see her on B&B in a Sally Spectra/Jackie Marone type role.

- Phyllis is one of very few characters to actually flourish under MAB (save for the Lucy custody madness). And of course, I still consider La Stafford to be the best actress in daytime.

- Maura West was AT LEAST as miscast as Diane as Shari Shattuck was as Ashley.

Peter Reckall recast or not is probably one of the top 5 most underrated actors on daytime along with Melody Thomas Scott. He could have easily thrived without Hope. I don't dislike KA as some do and Bope are probably the most consistent and still believable couple on daytime. I'm usually more an advocate for actresses over actors but in this case I would have written off Hope and allow Bo to interact more across canvas. He's one of those I think could have transitioned into an anchor for that show and continue to be a lead vs the other half of Hope in their own bubble.

Amelia does get far too much flack. Like most pairings, she the woman carries it. The only reason Billy and Victoria half work( and I hate them) is because of her. She tries he just grins 24 by 7. As for Victoria, I wonder if folks remember why HT left the role. Apparently not.

Heather left because they wanted her to agree to less airtime? The guarantee would be 2 eppies/week, right? On another note, I've always felt her to be tremendously overrated!

ANDREA

Peter Reckall recast or not is probably one of the top 5 most underrated actors on daytime along with Melody Thomas Scott. He could have easily thrived without Hope. I don't dislike KA as some do and Bope are probably the most consistent and still believable couple on daytime. I'm usually more an advocate for actresses over actors but in this case I would have written off Hope and allow Bo to interact more across canvas. He's one of those I think could have transitioned into an anchor for that show and continue to be a lead vs the other half of Hope in their own bubble.

Amelia does get far too much flack. Like most pairings, she the woman carries it. The only reason Billy and Victoria half work( and I hate them) is because of her. She tries he just grins 24 by 7. As for Victoria, I wonder if folks remember why HT left the role. Apparently not.

I started out at the beginning of the recast Victoria/Billy story thinking Heinle was terrible, then I realized how hard it must be to be paired with someone who is totally unaware you're in scenes with him because he's so busy mugging and acting cute. It would be like acting with a court jester.

I agree with you about Reckell. He could be doing so much more than they give him to do on that show and he never seems to get noticed much except as half of the couple.

MTS is downright good. I love to watch her, always have. I started watching Y&R because of a bunch of guys I knew who scheduled their lunch breaks every day so they could watch Y&R. They got me hooked. They all thought MTS was the best thing on that show, and not because of anything superficial; they all related to her character and loved her acting.

Yes to all of this.

I even agree with you about bo/hope being a very realistic couple on daytime, as much as i hate them. I do totally believe tho, as you said, Reckell could be lead and carrying that show on his shoulders if his character was able to exist outside of hope. the few times he has been allowed he has thrived. The carly era this second time around is a prime example, the story was weak, but reckell shined and Bo was a leading man again only to be thrown back to hope and for it to be rewritten as basically big bad bo cheated and poor innocent hope was able to forgive him.

Reckall is phenomenal IMO. Very understated yet a very real performer. You never see from him the OTT acting many others in the genre get praised for as good acting but he has a very quiet presence and power on screen.

And unpopular, Days needs to stop listening to fan bases.Every time they do the show digs itself further into the gutter. Case in point the return of all those characters killed off in 2004 to lower ratings. And now this flop of a reboot. I don't care how much Fangurls online scream for this or that couple or character, the audience they've lost is the general audience who doesn't care who is with who.

Heather left because they wanted her to agree to less airtime? The guarantee would be 2 eppies/week, right? On another note, I've always felt her to be tremendously overrated!

ANDREA

I do recall part of it also had to do with creative direction for the character

I like her on B&B and I could see why she likes the climate that show, not a lot of egos, but IA with Carl she's very underutilized there much like many others.

Edited April 17, 201213 yr by JaneAusten

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I always kind of feel like Ameila Heinle gets a bad wrap; she's just in the wrong era of soaps. With strong writing and a strong producer she would be fine. It's sad to say the last years of Loving had a stronger writer(s) or producer(s) than Y&R of the last five years, but they did.

she was fine as Victoria when she first came on and I preferred her over HT. Problem now is the writing sucks and is uninspiring and she isn't one of those actors that can rise above that and turn sh-t into gold. She's also fallen into bad habits and that also comes from her co stars that also don't seem to care

Edited April 17, 201213 yr by Cheap21

I don't think DAYS was wrong to bring those characters back. Many of the characters who were left alive pretty much sucked, and the ratings were always going to fall. I don't think ratings would have risen if Maggie or Abe were still dead.

I don't think DAYS was wrong to bring those characters back. Many of the characters who were left alive pretty much sucked, and the ratings were always going to fall. I don't think ratings would have risen if Maggie or Abe were still dead.

I think it was a case of a soap doing something huge, then backtracking because they didnt know what to do next. Bringing them back was a mistake, but it did give them more story to play, but then after the return they still didnt know what to do and the show fell.

I think the problem is killing people off and then not planning a story. So Mickey ended up with Bonnie (which I just didn't get)? Lexie may have had some chance with Abe gone, but given the history of black characters on soaps, I doubt it. The only character I would have kept dead was Roman, and Jack, since they kept killing him off anyway.

Another unpopular opinion

Kim Matula is as good as JMW on B&B. I think she gets a lot of flack because she plays the "good girl" to JMW's alleged overly propped bad girl( and I do like JMW).

JMW has a more showy acting style which can hide how crap the material is. Matula is good in the breakdown and angst scenes, she just doesn't seem to do well in romance.

I still have no idea how Steffy is a "bad girl".

So Mickey ended up with Bonnie (which I just didn't get)?

Believe it or not, I think that particular story had "on paper" potential. If nothing else, it would have given us more Maggie and a different side to Mickey's personality. Unfortunately, the whole idea was sunk once Mickey was recast with John Ingle.

JMW has a more showy acting style which can hide how crap the material is. Matula is good in the breakdown and angst scenes, she just doesn't seem to do well in romance.

I still have no idea how Steffy is a "bad girl".

she was one. She currently isnt being written as such

There are a couple of problems with this. Lucky and Robin's portrayers both wanted to leave; GH did not throw them away.

Both of them were unhappy with their respective stories and wanted out. They probably could have been coxed into staying if the show didn't give them such horrible storylines to work with. JJ left because he wanted LnL2 and he didn't get it, Kim was also dissatisfied with the Lisa Niles story and was particularly offended by the HIV syringe storyline. That being said it's not as if both characters couldn't be recasted. Lucky and Robin were characters who could have pushed the show away from the mob and are characters viewers have history with. Which is why I think they should have been valued characters instead of the same triangle of suck who have destroyed GH. They were a valuable alternative.

"Legacy" on GH pre-dates the 80s.

No it doesn't. The soap medium calls Brenda Barret a "legacy character" - she was created in the 90's.

Edited April 17, 201213 yr by Skin

Waste of space Brenda is mostly a legacy of GH's decline.

How is Brenda a legacy character?