On 11/23/2019 at 11:08 AM, Khan said:

Should "Ambitions" be renewed for another season, my suggestion would be for them to hire a more experienced showrunner who can build on what has clicked with viewers and jettison what hasn't.

 

If I am not mistaken, aren't Michele Val Jean and Susan Dansby tied to this show? 

51 minutes ago, NothinButAttitude said:

If I am not mistaken, aren't Michele Val Jean and Susan Dansby tied to this show? 

 

Yes, they are -- and any (new) showrunner would be smart to keep them on staff.

36 minutes ago, Khan said:

 

Yes, they are -- and any (new) showrunner would be smart to keep them on staff.

 

Maybe he needs to just make then co-showrunner alongside him. That'd be the best option. 

God, the gritted teeth acting from Robin Givens is especially awful in this episode

1 hour ago, te. said:

God, the gritted teeth acting from Robin Givens is especially awful in this episode

I’m glad you noticed this. She was exceptionally bad tonight which is a shame because this is some of the best writing Stephanie has had over the season. No layers in her performance at all. She was chewing the scenery and twirling her mustache in the scene where she stole Evan Jr’s hat. She was so ridiculous that it didn’t make sense that Bella wouldn’t suspect anything. Her acting took away the suspense of it. 
 

Other than that I did love it! I liked the smart and more low key exit for Damian. I loved Lori’s return. Stephanies mom being behind the kidnapping was a true shock. I love that character the more we see of her!

 

Rondell, Evan and Darcia is also a fun story. It reminds me of Dallas which always did those stories where a document would pop up and change ownership of Ewing Oil or Southfork. Considering we’re closing in on the finale I wonder where all this is going. 

It may squeak out one more season, but I can’t see this lasting beyond that. 
 

 

On 11/24/2019 at 1:09 PM, NothinButAttitude said:

 

Maybe he needs to just make then co-showrunner alongside him. That'd be the best option. 

 

Jamey believes watching soaps for decades qualifies you to run one.  He's finding out the hard way.  He better get a co-showrunner and fast!

Termite Givens is 55 today.  Wow!

Wait, I thought Kevin Arkadie was the showrunner on this. He has production credits from New York Undercover (which he co-created with Dick Wolf), NYPD Blue, Soul Food, The Shield, etc. He is extremely experienced. Not even OWN would entrust a total novice on a series, unless I’m missing some news. That said, he may not be the right person for the gig.

Experience in primetime TV is one thing, but even a serialized primetime series like "NYPD Blue" or "The Shield" isn't exactly the same kind of series that "Ambitions" is, or wants to be.  Just look at what happened to KNOTS LANDING after John Romano, a primetime vet who had worked on "Hill Street Blues," took over as showrunner from Lynn Marie Latham and Bernard Lechowick before the start of season 13.  KNOTS went almost immediately from CBS' most reliable Thursday night performer to the "critical list" -- to the point where creator/EP David Jacobs literally had to shut down production for a month (I think), fire Romano and hire Ann Marcus, who had had experience (both with KNOTS, and with soaps in general), to retool the show.  Granted, KNOTS lasted only a season longer, but it's a season longer than it might've had, had Romano stayed with the show.

I totally agree. He did work on Soul Food and The Quad and some soapier fare, but they could have found someone with a more appropriate “on the nose” background. My guess is that they hoped that Jamey was a visionary enough to thrive with just a steady hand who knows the ins and outs of a TV production. Maybe he needed someone with stronger input for executing what Ambitions wanted to be.

Edited November 27, 20196 yr by Faulkner

I think the writing is fine and this is one of the best plotted seasons of a modern soap that I've seen. The twists actually make sense and have pay off and the dialogue has become excellent. My biggest problem with the show is the casting as I've always said. I also think the show looks fantastic which is great considering it's probably on a budget. The only people I'd fire would be the people involving in casting. I feel like Robin Givens is the main reason the show hasn't been successful and I put that over any other issue the show may have. She was all over the promos and her acting is *terrible*. If every black actress her age wanted the role there HAD to be someone with a better social media following and a better actress they could've picked. As the lead she has tanked the show IMO.

Even Tyler Perry's new crap on BET is scoring better ratings than this. It's almost telling that the only time this show seemed to score relatively OK ratings was in the beginning when it followed THATHN. This doesn't seem like a show anyone would tune in for on its own merits, it's more dependent on its timeslot and what comes on before it. 

 

 

3 hours ago, Chris B said:

I feel like Robin Givens is the main reason the show hasn't been successful and I put that over any other issue the show may have. She was all over the promos and her acting is *terrible*.

 

Yup. I'll admit that I have a hard time to focus on what's happening when she enters the screen.

 

Since Dynasty just blatantly recasted Cristal and Alexis, then maybe Ambitions can be, well, ambitious enough to recast Stephanie?

1 hour ago, te. said:

 

Yup. I'll admit that I have a hard time to focus on what's happening when she enters the screen.

 

Since Dynasty just blatantly recasted Cristal and Alexis, then maybe Ambitions can be, well, ambitious enough to recast Stephanie?

 

Honestly I'd *love* that! She's a nice woman, but she is not strong enough for this particular role. This past episode was so well written and she had so many layers to play with different characters, but she was so cartoonish that it ruined her scenes. Imagine had a stronger actress been playing the role how much better those scenes would've played. Not to mention the series as a whole. They've done a good job of writing her but it's a group effort.