22 hours ago, ranger1rg said:

-- Ending the show and the week with the stupid "Is Vernon cheating" storyline was a poor decision. We had A LOT of buildup to this WinterFest thing, and it looks like that's not going to pay off.

When has MVJ given us a payoff where a story is concerned?

22 hours ago, ranger1rg said:

-- "Articulettes Strong" was back. Ugh.

😂

29 minutes ago, Soapsuds said:

😂

Yep. It is beyond stupid that they think "Articulettes Strong" is something that would have been said many decades ago.

On 12/3/2025 at 2:57 PM, Melroser said:

As if any restaurant manager would let some teenager hang around to "help" and get in the way

I let my teenager help me bus tables at work when others (hired workers) wouldn't pitch in. And, you're right - it didn't go over that big with the boss.

Yeah, I agree with others who said it on Friday. The NEXT WEEK promo really did not look like much. Especially giving the buildup to Winterfest. Thankfully, the week synopsis looks great...I know someone is going to have to come get his girl. ;)

Also like seeing the potential in Marcel and Silk Press Sheila. Loved it from him checking her out months ago.

Now let me get my rewatch on. hehe.

21 hours ago, Soapsuds said:

When has MVJ given us a payoff where a story is concerned?

The Articulate story. A beginning, middle, AND an end. I said it has been the only story on this show so far that has had that and tied up with a bow,too IMHO. And I still stand by that. That it has ripples in the form of SPS being Barbara's daughter and we still see the characters is typical soap. But the initial story...outside of a few problems with the rotation of stories at the start...did have a payoff.

12-1

Linear notes...

The bubbles and onions were bubbling and onioning...hehe. And I really love how Timon looked in that shirt...and he was in it most of the week so mmm.

I said it the first time when I watched it that I felt like Monday was going to be a good episode with rewatch value. And it came across even better. I know from glancing through that a few of you like Christopher Dunn, but he's been my less favorite of the breakdown writers. So I'm surprised how much this episode just flows and how much I like it.

I think for me it was just the stories involved. I'm always here for Vernon/BIll scenes. The follow-through on the Dark Derek storyline and him finally getting to read Ashley down. Seeing the POTOMAC girls gave me Dani/Vanessa scenes. And of course Smitty vs Joey.

I can't believe that this beat is being played with Joey and Martin. So I continue to feel that the Martin's Secret storyline is still in play.

On 12/5/2025 at 9:50 AM, 1974mdp said:

I feel like BTG builds to these interesting huge events, but they have boring lulls in between. I wish they would improve hitting better and interesting story beats throughout the build up to the climaxes. For a November sweeps, nothing happened. I believe this is why their 18-49 ratings are down so much. Younger viewers are not going to stick around if the whole journey isn't interesting.

I started really watching GH for the first time about six months ago. And, while it's not perfect, I feel they do a much better job at integrating interesting story beats where it feels like things are at least moving. I at least feel more motivated to stream it every day.

Right now, I feel like I can watch BTG once a week and not miss a thing.

Yeah, BTG as of late does feel like it is having problems with momentum. I still enjoy watching it (and rewatching it), but it would be nice if it would get back to one event a week. Or like I said...if they would focus on one of their A stories with stories around it like it did at the start, it would be doing better I feel. Right now, it just feels like scenes with no connectivity. It was part of the reason that I loved the start of Winterfest because it started to tie scenes and storylines together again. And then it started to get momentum. I was so disappointed that the momentum got lost in the middle of November. It appeared it has been picking up again, but I hope they will do better. Next week is reading good so fingers crossed.

Same. Something I never thought I would say about GH. lol. In their second year, the writers appear to have found a way (even with their writing tics) to manage to keep momentum while shifting from storylines to storylines. I even mentioned last month in the thread that it really feels like they are telling a giant umbrella story because right now so many of their storylines move and have the ability to affect the other storylines going on parallel to it at the same time. And that's high praise for those writers coming from me. Looking forward to binging a little bit later on.

Awww. Hopefully good week this coming week. :)

On 12/5/2025 at 12:11 PM, ranger1rg said:

But boy, do they know how to style and make up these actors. Even on slow days when I'm nitpicking everything, I am still wowed by the fashion choices for both the women and the men.

I thought that was just me. Lol. I feel the same all the time even on slow episodes days. I can look at Ambyr's hair for dayssss even as I'm hating Eva. And we know I can talk about bubbles for weeks. :)

On 12/5/2025 at 12:12 PM, Rmodelboy said:

Leslie and Marcel are a good looking match made in hell. Im loving this distraction from Teddy Weddy at least for a bit.

Same. More please.

On 12/5/2025 at 12:11 PM, ranger1rg said:

But boy, do they know how to style and make up these actors. Even on slow days when I'm nitpicking everything, I am still wowed by the fashion choices for both the women and the men.

I thought that was just me. Lol. I feel the same all the time even on slow episodes days. I can look at Ambyr's hair for dayssss even as I'm hating Eva. And we know I can talk about bubbles for weeks. :)

On 12/5/2025 at 12:12 PM, Rmodelboy said:

Leslie and Marcel are a good looking match made in hell. Im loving this distraction from Teddy Weddy at least for a bit.

Same. More please.

Damn this got over 7 thousand likes!!

Can't wait for someone to get burned up about that.

On 12/2/2025 at 12:07 AM, dragonflies said:

Ewww MVJ no, Joey is nothing like Sonny.

The fact she was implying it was a good thing - to be inspired by Sonny - kind of let me speechless.

On 12/2/2025 at 9:25 PM, Liberty City said:

Absolutely! Both felt very focused, tight, and concise. Didn't feel like anything was too random or erratically thrown in.

I agree.

Yet there's so much room for improvement in the romance department. Eva and Izaiah don't have a tiny bit of chemistry and their story has no stakes. Why haven't they had sex yet? Do these writers think young people aren't horny?

And then you have Nicole and this blind date... I don't read the spoilers but for now I don't see any anticipation or stakes.

Same with Ted and Shanice - where are the stakes? (apart from Leslie going ballistic, but that would happen with any woman)

BTW they have no idea what to do with Ted and Keith is an epic fail. He has no charisma, no presence, he comes across as cold and unrelatable.

On 12/3/2025 at 3:28 AM, ranger1rg said:

-- That corner coffee area (at some mall? Huh?) is not working.

-- Who directed the extras to act extra? Those two taking selfies and talking animatedly in the Hayley and Randy scenes were ridiculous.

Been saying that from day 1 of that set. They have the extras do all kinds of weird actions when they're in that ugly area. No idea why.

GLATWT said

What was the point of the flashback? It did nothing to drive story nor was it very intriguing. I felt like Dani and Bill could have had the conversation about the events and it would have served the same purpose. I'm all for a flashback, but this was a complete waste financially. They redressed a set and hired actors for that?

On 12/3/2025 at 4:05 AM, ranger1rg said:

Completely agree about the flashback. I don't think it added a thing to the Dani and Bill story.

In addition, I don't get the casting for Dani. That actress looked entirely too light-skinned.

I disagree. The flashback was a nice touch. For once they weren't just TELLING, they were also SHOWING. As for the casting, remember Dani was a 'model'. Young Dani could pass off as a model in the soap world and she wasn't too light-skinned IMHO. Young Bill, on the other hand, was darker - and I don't buy him in a hoodie.

On 12/4/2025 at 10:30 PM, Soaplovers said:

I just wish MVJ wasn't stuck in the 80s/early 90s in regards to the wealthy family trope...

She is indeed stuck in all kinds of 90s tropes (<cough>the elevator</cough>)

On 12/5/2025 at 7:08 AM, BoldRestless said:

The storyline with Madison feeling unsupported by Chelsea with her mom is actually interesting because it's different and topical without being overly political, but maybe it would have been nice to like, show it? They are getting to be like Y&R, too much narrating. We should be seeing the dynamics of dinner with her mom instead of being told. It could be done at a restaurant if creating a house set is an issue.

On 12/5/2025 at 7:12 AM, alwaysAMC said:

1000% agree. Don't just tell me, show me!

Been saying that for months now - they have off-screen characters being catalysts for stories and we never see them, yet we deal with the consequences of said characters' actions. It's very Josh Griffithy, but hey- I was told this was also Irna Phillips' style from the golden era, 100 years ago, so we should really be thankful.

On 12/5/2025 at 9:12 AM, Broderick said:

I imagine the writers considered dramatizing the scene involving Madison, Chelsea, and Willow but decided it could easily backfire from a medical perspective. Either Willow would've had to go WAY over the top with her observations, or else her commentary would've come across to many viewers as completely reasonable, especially with Chelsea sitting there smiling & encouraging her, while Madison frowned in frustration. The end result, unless Willow was presented as TOTALLY bizarre, would've appeared that Michele Val Jean supported the position that a "smile and a crystal" are more effective than an antibiotic in clearing up an infection, and I don't believe that's the impression BTG hoped to give.

That's a very good point - but at the same time, why would the writers embark on such a story if it takes them into such a conundrum? And to think they have everything planned in advance...

@Errol @Toups I like the new look but replying from one's phone is a NIGHTMARE.

Edited 9 hours ago9 hr by Aback

For once in a blue moon, I'm up to date on watching the show, and it's early enough in the month that I was able to catch up on this thread before the weekend was over. So I'm jumping in with a bunch of random musings.

Winter Fest is not what I was expecting, but I won't write it off just yet: I was just relieved to see (halfway through the coming attractions, which really should have been in chronological order) that the event isn't completely over.

On 12/5/2025 at 10:40 AM, 1974mdp said:

I've watched since day one, but am I the only one that feels like we've been in a hold pattern for weeks and weeks with nothing really happening? For the first time since the show started, I began to skip over entire episodes only to tune back in and see that nothing has still happened. Now, sometimes it's just background noise for me while I do other things.

I don't need constant huge plot points, but it just feels like people are repeating the same conversations over and over.

I got excited when it was revealed that Hayley was planning on offing Bill, but nothing has really happened with that, either.

On 12/5/2025 at 1:09 PM, MontyB said:

Although, I do agree they need to step it up, I feel the opposite about GH. I can watch BTG every single day and I'm completely engaged. With GH, I'm FFing all the time. They have things happening, but it's the same boring stories and over the top villainous characters. It's all plot driven. I guess it's a matter of preference.

Again, you are right. BTG needs to bring it on. Those 18-49 demos need work.

I agree with parts of both of these posts. I have no interest in GH or any other of the remaining 20th century soaps. I will say some of these down times on BTG can start to feel like a chore for me, which in a way is a compliment, because I am already invested in some of these characters that I feel obliged to keep up. I maintain the non-event phases where characters not directly involved in each other's stories reconnect would be much more enjoyable with better dialogue. The exposition is sooooo clunky, and when we're bouncing back and forth between catch-up scenes...

On 12/3/2025 at 7:02 PM, ranger1rg said:

-- I'm against this show trying to get too into the weeds on Martin's causes and campaign. We all know what we're dealing with in real life, and we know they're NEVER going to address the elephant in the room -- the lying racist felon and pedophile. I just don't think it works to pretend they're feeding us reality in any way, not when we just ended a 2-month shutdown. Vernon suggesting TikTok videos doesn't cut it.

+1000

I feel so badly that by the time this show finally made it to air, it had to be in this moment. For a lot of reasons, but most relevant to this topic, I don't pretend to know how MVJ and Co. could effectively navigate the national and network politics. DC is a ****show and for probably multiple reasons they clearly can't say that in the script, and yet these characters are in the thick of it: some more so than others. Martin's character has really suffered from this, and that makes me sad because I really want to like him (and Martin/Smitty), but essentially every attempt to incorporate politics/reality has seemed behind the times or depressingly reminiscent of the headlines, or sometimes both all at the same time.

Speaking of which...

On 12/5/2025 at 3:12 AM, Broderick said:

I imagine the writers considered dramatizing the scene involving Madison, Chelsea, and Willow but decided it could easily backfire from a medical perspective. Either Willow would've had to go WAY over the top with her observations, or else her commentary would've come across to many viewers as completely reasonable, especially with Chelsea sitting there smiling & encouraging her, while Madison frowned in frustration. The end result, unless Willow was presented as TOTALLY bizarre, would've appeared that Michele Val Jean supported the position that a "smile and a crystal" are more effective than an antibiotic in clearing up an infection, and I don't believe that's the impression BTG hoped to give.

In this case, it was probably better for everyone to discuss it afterwards to highlight that Willow is down in an internet rabbit hole, and Chelsea was encouraging it.

As Anita said today, "I thought Aunt Melba was completely normal and fine in the brief amount of time I spent with her, but I realized Vernon and his mother had FAR more experience with her than I did."

That's a good point that I hadn't considered. Although see above, re: keeping pace with the headlines - we've already escalated from arguments with anti-vaxxer relatives at Thanksgiving dinner all the way to RFK Jr. being in charge of U.S. health care policy. Why wouldn't the Duprees say something about that when discussing this topic at this point?

It's also unfortunate that this isn't the first part of Chelsea and Madison's relationship that happened off-screen...

On 12/3/2025 at 10:45 PM, P.J. said:

Just a tad behind, but while I'm annoyed the Duprees were spread all over and eating at the country club, Vernon's toast at Thanksgiving felt like old school soap. Bob Hughes would've given it a stamp of approval.

On 12/4/2025 at 11:19 AM, Melroser said:

My first thought at the time was Mac on AW and all the toasts he used to do to the audience. Loved it.

I thought of Mac Cory as well.

I've been struggling since the '90s to understand how a crowded restaurant scene is cheaper/more efficient for a soap to film than a comparatively smaller number of people on the set of the core family's home, and I still don't get it. At this point, I guess I can live with it.

On 12/1/2025 at 6:07 PM, dragonflies said:

Ewww MVJ no, Joey is nothing like Sonny.

This reminds me of the story Patrick Mulcahey told in an interview about MVJ's only note on his first GH script: that Sonny wasn't smart enough for the extended monologue PM had written for the character...

In some ways, Vanessa's arc with Joey is like Brenda on GH, if all of her stories from 1994 to 1997 (or possibly up until one of her later returns, which I never watched) were condensed into ~6 months, plus some of the subsequent Real Mob Wives of Port Charles's drama thrown in for good measure. She was so fun, and she became really draining, but we skipped the part where at least most of the journey made sense.

Speaking of Vanessa, I'm sure this is old news but is Donnell just gone? If he was meant to be short-term, why didn't they cast Deanna(sp?) for the funeral as well? It made no sense that she wasn't there, but I assumed they wanted to leave a blank slate if and when they introduced her as a main character later on. And where exactly is Banneker supposed to be: Isaiah works there and is frontburner, but Vanessa's kids aren't around because they're "away" at school?

2 hours ago, Taoboi said:

The Articulate story. A beginning, middle, AND an end. I said it has been the only story on this show so far that has had that and tied up with a bow,too IMHO. And I still stand by that. That it has ripples in the form of SPS being Barbara's daughter and we still see the characters is typical soap. But the initial story...outside of a few problems with the rotation of stories at the start...did have a payoff.

In hindsight, I wish THAT secret had been the catalyst for Leslie/Dana and Eva infiltrating the Duprees. At very least, I think they could have pivoted at the time the original actor parted ways, and made Eva's paternity a red herring for the real revelation re: Barbara and the trust. To me, Ted has seemed aimless since the recast. Eva and Kat don't need to be sisters to have a feud, and Nicole had plenty of reason to be pissed at Ted over his role in keeping Martin's secret from her. If they really wanted to keep Ted around and even have him in the Thomases' orbit, they could have established that he did know Dana (not biblically) in the past and he could have befriended her and Eva.

Edited 4 hours ago4 hr by DeliaIrisFan

12 minutes ago, DeliaIrisFan said:

For once in a blue moon, I'm up to date on watching the show, and it's early enough in the month that I was able to catch up on this thread before the weekend was over. So I'm jumping in with a bunch of random musings.

Appreciate your musings, and agree with much of what you say. Hope we hear more from you!