6 hours ago, StevieM said:

Maybe.  But not until after she marries him.  It feels like she is going to go through with the wedding and then take it from there.  She seems to think that the marriage to Drew is her best shot at getting the kids back...even if she now realizes that he is the whole reason she lost them in the first place.

I think Willow will marry him too.  She's not wrong about it being the best chance to get her kids back to be honest.

I still think there has to be a happy medium between writing Sonny off entirely and centering every storyline around him.

Brando doesn’t have nearly as much screen time as Pacino in The Godfather, after all (is what FV could say to Mo).

Sonny would be more believable looming large as the PC kingpin if Mo were struggling to remember his lines and flirting with the latest Brendabot in 80 episodes per year rather than 160.

5 minutes ago, bossruen said:

I still think there has to be a happy medium between writing Sonny off entirely and centering every storyline around him.

Brando doesn’t have nearly as much screen time as Pacino in The Godfather, after all (is what FV could say to Mo).

Sonny would be more believable looming large as the PC kingpin if Mo were struggling to remember his lines and flirting with the latest Brendabot in 80 episodes per year rather than 160.

So you just cut his pay in half. 

8 minutes ago, Contessa Donatella said:

So you just cut his pay in half. 

If they can do it to every woman on the show (except LW, I guess) they can do it to Mo. 

26 minutes ago, bossruen said:

If they can do it to every woman on the show (except LW, I guess) they can do it to Mo. 

I'm not aware of the show doing it to individuals or groups. Is there something you're thinking of that I might not be aware of? And, they have no problem dropping LW's count. Generally the same people are in the top 12 slots but LW was MIA for 3 weeks a few months back & it was no big deal, just the way story fell. If people's minimums/guarantees are cut it's usually, for example going from 3 per week to 2 per week. Adjustments rather than extreme cuts. ????

1 hour ago, Contessa Donatella said:

LW was MIA for 3 weeks a few months back

LW has appeared in more episodes this year than any other cast member. I can’t remember a year in which she wasn’t in the top 3.

That closing shot of KM was magic - the look on her face was so eerily perfect. 

I do believe KM having so many scenes during the past year with CW/CM benefited her.

While Lucas' tunnel vision with Marco (Sidwell) is annoying, what the writers did to Carly is criminal. C'mon she sounds like a psycho in her absolute defense of Sonny. LW is certainly capable of providing nuance to Carly's feeling, but not when the writing is that rigid. They gave her nothing to work with. 

Is there any reason why they haven't reunited Sonny/Nina after the Nathalia disaster? Unless the plan is for Nina is more Drew H8sex, it seems like it would be a good bridge until they figure out love interests for both characters.

1 hour ago, bossruen said:

LW has appeared in more episodes this year than any other cast member. I can’t remember a year in which she wasn’t in the top 3.

Two different things can both be true. She literally could be missing for 3 weeks AND also be regularly in the top 3. I know you know this, just like I know that. I mean, LW is a lead on this show, so these numbers only make sense. There's not any question. It's true, she works really hard. 

But, my original question remains unanswered. Who is it you know of who was cut by half?

47 minutes ago, Contessa Donatella said:

Who is it you know of who was cut by half?

By half? I can’t think of any off the top of my head. But it’s a rarefied group who are in that many eps to begin with.

Maura West, for example, was down 23% as of end of June 2025 vs. 2024 (41 vs. 53).

9 minutes ago, bossruen said:

By half? I can’t think of any off the top of my head. But it’s a rarefied group who are in that many eps to begin with.

Maura West, for example, was down 23% as of end of June 2025 vs. 2024 (41 vs. 53).

Now, I think Ava is the part that Maura was born to play but that neither surprises me nor alarms me especially since there is some fan lore that says that there was a plan considered where she would've been killed off that year & it was one of those thing they ultimately did not go with. So, they could've been cutting her back because of this plan they were considering. The fan lore attaches to her adding onto tampering with Sonny's meds, which I agree is an odious thing to do but Ava's done stuff that is odious for a pretty long time & has survived.

Didn't mean to be tangential. Half was the starting point because of your IMO very valid supposition that Mo would be much easier to tolerate if we saw him half as often as we do. 

2 hours ago, edgeofnik said:

That closing shot of KM was magic - the look on her face was so eerily perfect. 

It really reminded me so much of Carrie in the movie of the same name which I realize is creepy max. 

2 hours ago, edgeofnik said:

While Lucas' tunnel vision with Marco (Sidwell) is annoying, what the writers did to Carly is criminal. C'mon she sounds like a psycho in her absolute defense of Sonny. LW is certainly capable of providing nuance to Carly's feeling, but not when the writing is that rigid. They gave her nothing to work with. 

I liked the irony of her telling him ahead of time, not to do it & why & talking about the danger in escalating a reply to the fire at Charlie's. But, then, when Lucas wants to say it shouldn't have been done, they make her abandon her own belief to be supportive of tit-for-tat. Very soapy messy. 

2 hours ago, edgeofnik said:

Is there any reason why they haven't reunited Sonny/Nina after the Nathalia disaster? Unless the plan is for Nina is more Drew H8sex, it seems like it would be a good bridge until they figure out love interests for both characters.

Little Sonny's supposed to be busy with the Brenda doppelganger ambitious ADA.

It's funny some people here think that Sidwell's real life wife is an actual important character that is some sort of Brenda replacement.  Frank doesn't care about the real Brenda.  This isn't Guza lol.  Just because a pretty brunette has scenes with Sonny doesn't make her a Brendabot.  The two have nothing in common at all and frankly don't even look alike.  This was obviously a nice gesture to Rota to give his wife a job too.

1 hour ago, carolineg said:

This was obviously a nice gesture to Rota to give his wife a job too.

Which is a fundamental problem with the show, even when Frank's loyalty sometimes works out for the older vets. This tiresome character model has reappeared on the show what, at least three times?

8 minutes ago, Vee said:

Which is a fundamental problem with the show, even when Frank's loyalty sometimes works out for the older vets. This tiresome character model has reappeared on the show what, at least three times?

3 or 4 probably lol.  And every time that mold of character has fizzled out while completely losing their dignity, so I guess it's nice Rota's wife is getting paid and getting health insurance out of it.

Mo is not gonna make any effort on this random D-character plotline.  It's at least three steps down from Eva La Rue's homophobic Natalia and we saw the effort there.

I think in general the idea Frank has going for the show is decent, but the favoritism is wild and he can't get out of his own head to see the bigger goal in the long run.  

11 minutes ago, carolineg said:

I think in general the idea Frank has going for the show is decent, but the favoritism is wild and he can't get out of his own head to see the bigger goal in the long run.  

Pretty much. That and paralysis on key issues (Sonny, Carly, etc). They would not have these D-list pairings years ago just to say they're there.

Edited July 27Jul 27 by Vee