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.

I thought Tess 2.0 was mostly designed to have us guffaw at her running wild. I never saw an actual storyline. Part of it was probably also down to finding a way to absolve Jared and Natalie. I thought it was a story which heavily damaged everyone and, as with most of RC's stories, had no followup. Todd let Tess plot violent acts against people and he never had any remorse, and no one ever held a grudge against him. Viki sees Jessica dancing around to rock music and sees a broken mirror, and never wonders what is going on. Viki goes on a vacation for months, right after her mentally unstable daughter was widowed. Tess, who supposedly loved Nash, was more than happy to let his unborn child slowly die from neglect and malnutrition. I thought the story was just nasty. We're supposed to get hot over Tess licking a glass door, and then a few weeks later, sit through endless scenes of her delivering a stillborn child? That story was when I realized how tone deaf RC was as a writer.

Well, maybe we should just agree to disagree here, lol. But . . . I think Tess 2.0 was obvs. a consequence of Nash's death (which I didn't understand until all the story it spring boarded, but I liked all this, so I know that makes me super biased) and it allowed Tess to reemerge, gave Jared & Natalie a post-finally-getting-together-story (always a hard thing for RC to do), and seriously affected a lot of the canvas. It was a multi-generational story with the comparison of Tina/Natalie and the whole Tess blackmailing Tina development . . . and Todd's involvement was, to me, a great twist I never saw coming and bled into the Todd/Marty and Starr's pregnancy stories. And though you thought it was pointless, I thought the stillbirth was amazing at Nash & Jess' cottage (great scene with Bess commenting on all the memories that never would be made there) and gave Niki and Tess material to play relevant to Dena Higley's Tess 1.0 story/rationalization. And then it kick-started the baby switch, Bess, and Jess' rehabilitation.

IA that there were serious issues. My biggest, like I already mentioned, was Jared & Natalie's underserved absolution. Viki never should've left, but ES was scheduled for vacation. And Todd should've faced more backlash, but he was knee-deep in the post-Marty and Hope 'dying' fallout. Plus, Todd, to me, has always been a reprehensible character incapable of usually experiencing too much guilt, even involving Viki and Jess, two of the only people I thought he ever actually cared about. I already stated my problems with Bree and the unborn baby.

Honestly, apart from the Montez', I have very little to complain about RC's tenure from the beginning to about June/July '09. That's when I started selectively tuning in because I couldn't handle Gigi/Rex/Stacy, Blair/Todd/Tea, Jess' stalker, and Starr & Cole's effortless time with teen parenting. I did enjoy pretty much everything else (particularly Kyle/Fish/Layla/Cris), and wound up loving Stacy once Kim showed up (and didn't even mind the usually hideous Rex & Gigi once the whole Kim/Rex/Gigi/Sky/Stacy/Fish/Kyle group was firmly assembled in late '09).

I felt like all of the initial Brody story was written from the POV of Rex and Gigi. Everything they did was right, and Brody was the guy who may have cared about Shane, but slowly went insane. I think they did like writing for Mark Lawson, since he was one of the only men on the show who could act, but I think that if they hadn't written Nash out and so many of their 2008 stories hadn't flopped with viewers, Brody would have gone after shooting Rex.

IA that Rex & Gigi were the rooting couple and, ultimately, the audience was intended to want to see them persevere through Brody's breakdown and Adrianna's interference (after Rex was shot) . . . I just think Brody and Adrianna were given voices the audience was meant to listen to, rather than being one-note obstacles. I agree that late 2008 brought a lot of (creative and cast) changes that likely affected people like Brody staying on, I just think he, like Jared and Charlie, was a RC creation that seemed to get a lot heavy story and POV.

Lol Jax was tested with Emily as well.

RC threw some of the characters I liked under the bus/degraded them to prop others like Adrianna and Layla. He didn't give a damn about Antonio nor Christian outside of who he could prop.And Starr and Jessica as leads were difficult to watch.

I guess I never felt like Brody had a strong POV, aside from the brief story in St. Anne's. I felt like he was just sort of there, and Lawson filled in the blanks.

And Todd should've faced more backlash, but he was knee-deep in the post-Marty and Hope 'dying' fallout. Plus, Todd, to me, has always been a reprehensible character incapable of usually experiencing too much guilt, even involving Viki and Jess, two of the only people I thought he ever actually cared about.

If the show wrote it that way I would have been less angry, but instead they just pretended it never happened, and we got wonderful moments like Jessica inviting Todd to her wedding and Todd laughing at her when he learned she had been raped. This was the man we were supposed to see as a hero.

I think this period of time was when RC just stopped caring about anything beyond one or two pet projects. My all time favorite was when Dorian was going to be arrested for drugging Charlie and dumping him in an alley. She went on vacation for a week, and when she got back, nothing was ever mentioned again.

RC threw some of the characters I liked under the bus/degraded them to prop others like Adrianna and Layla. He didn't give a damn about Antonio nor Christian outside of who he could prop.And Starr and Jessica as leads were difficult to watch.

Starr and Jessica are soap goddesses compared to Natalie. Damn, that was a mess.

RC threw some of the characters I liked under the bus/degraded them to prop others like Adrianna and Layla. He didn't give a damn about Antonio nor Christian outside of who he could prop.And Starr and Jessica as leads were difficult to watch.

I hated Antonio until he got with Talia and thought it was a shame they didn't get more airtime. I was pumped for the reveal that she was Carlo Hesser's daughter and thought we'd get so much great story for Antonio & Talia and Cris & Sarah from the return to Mendorra stuff, but all we got was a lame supporting story feauturing the god-awful Montez'. I thought Cris & Sarah were very likeable and were decently featured and I think RC was as invested in Cris & Layla as anyone writer would be for a supporting couple, but the Teen Jess disaster happened and RC seemingly just gave up on Cris, which was a shame. I was glad that DF made it till nearly the end, though.

I think, though she eventually basically only existed to affect Rex & Gigi's stories, Adriana was handled well enough under RC. Her turning psycho really was the very best thing that could've happened to her, IMO. And she was redeemed enough when she exited as a contract player, complete with her last scene being with Marcy. Then I thought she was very effectively utilized as a frequently returning recurring guest star, something I thought RC did well with (though I know many thought all the quick returns were pointless).

ICAM about Starr, someone who I've always hated since she was demon child . . . but I think Jess was a lead since Lorraine Broderick & Chris Whitesell were head writers, and then I definitely think she was a lead under Michael Malone & Josh Griffith. But I guess she wasn't truly catapulted into adult stories until sometime during Dena Higley's run, who I think is really the responsible party for making Jess/BW one of the mainest main characters on the show.

I guess I never felt like Brody had a strong POV, aside from the brief story in St. Anne's. I felt like he was just sort of there, and Lawson filled in the blanks.

If the show wrote it that way I would have been less angry, but instead they just pretended it never happened, and we got wonderful moments like Jessica inviting Todd to her wedding and Todd laughing at her when he learned she had been raped. This was the man we were supposed to see as a hero.

I think this period of time was when RC just stopped caring about anything beyond one or two pet projects. My all time favorite was when Dorian was going to be arrested for drugging Charlie and dumping him in an alley. She went on vacation for a week, and when she got back, nothing was ever mentioned again.

You'll get no argument from me here. I hated Todd passionately through my entire experience as an OLTL viewer and will never understand how characters like him, Sonny Corinthos, and Zach Slater represented the leading male category of ABC Daytime in the last decade, all reprehensible, horrible people. This is why I can handle the insane favoritism and business move ABC Daytime thought they were making with Cameron Matheson; despite Ryan Lavery pulling some shady, shady moves and never facing the consequences, I never saw him like I did the other ABCD leading men.

The only time I didn't hate Todd was during his brief involvement in the AMC baby switch crossover (I loved any opportunity to see Todd and Kevin together) and Todd/Marty (because I really never thought we were supposed to sympathize with him during or after, I just thought it was a fascinating study of this sadistic sociopath thinking he was earning redemption but all the while was still freakin' insane with the Tess and Starr stuff). And I can't even go there with the Tale of Two Todds, one of the dumbest things I've ever seen. OMG. I was able to enjoy some of RC's later work on OLTL, but Spring '10 to the end was mostly the hottest hot mess ever.

Ya, RC definitely had a lot of holes and sweeping-under-the-rug, but that's something I've just learned to deal with as a soap viewer.

Plot holes don't bother me if I think the story is worth it, but when you get something like years of story being undone so Tuc Watkins can say PA PA PA PA every few months, then I wonder if RC was even trying.

Starr and Jessica are soap goddesses compared to Natalie. Damn, that was a mess.

::DING DING DING::

Natalie could've worked as a supporting character for me, maybe. I enjoyed her with Paul Cramer (just as a funny supporting thing), but aside from that she was pretty nauseating. She had a function and fulfilled it well, so I guess I didn't want her off the show, but she was usually painful. John & Natalie are also one of my all-time least favorite soap couples. She was kinda tolerable with Jared, but I'll never forgive them for Nash.

Why is she pregnant and posing with a bottle of booze?

Natalie and Jessica towards the end of OLTL were completely unneeded. I still don't understand why they couldn't have been given a rest period like their counterpart brothers were like Joey and Kevin. They both were really run down by the end because they were constantly entrenched in endless love triangles and stories for the better part of 10 or so years.

Edited May 7, 201213 yr by Skin

Natalie and Jessica towards the end of OLTL were completely unneeded. I still don't understand why they couldn't have been given a rest period like their counterpart brothers were like Joey and Kevin. They both were really run down by the end because they were constantly entrenched in endless love triangles and stories for the better part of 10 or so years.

I think it's sad Kevin and Joey weren't around for the finale. There were others I lamented not seeing, but given how Viki-centric the show and finale was, it was a shame. Kevin and Joey got a raw deal during the show's last decade.

When I started watching OLTL, Joey & Kelly were one of my favorite couples, I can't believe how badly RC handled those two characters. HOW was Gina's return so messed up?!?

Here's another likely unpopular opinion, I sorta kinda prefer Heather Tom to GT as Kelly, though I do flove GT.

Why is she pregnant and posing with a bottle of booze?

She's posing, not drinking. She's preggers in real life? Why did I not know that

Natalie and Jessica towards the end of OLTL were completely unneeded. I still don't understand why they couldn't have been given a rest period like their counterpart brothers were like Joey and Kevin. They both were really run down by the end because they were constantly entrenched in endless love triangles and stories for the better part of 10 or so years.

Didnt you already say this? I could have sworn you did....

Edited May 7, 201213 yr by Cheap21

She's posing, not drinking. She's preggers in real life? Why did I not know that

Most pregnant women kind of avoid being around booze. If you can't drink it, why hang around with it?

If that isn't a pregnant belly, she really needs to hit the gym, maybe find one that will let her move in for several months.

Most pregnant women kind of avoid being around booze. If you can't drink it, why hang around with it?

Most pregnant woman dont drink booze. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being around it. Its not like lets say an alcoholic wo has trouble controlling their urges. Besides I dont know what context that picture was taking. What if she's out at some type of celebration for a family member/friend. Is she not supposed to go bc there's liquor around?