This photo gift from Vernon to Anita.... We need to discuss Andre's career choice, cuz this ain't it.

I mean, Photoshop was better than this a decade ago.

I didn't want to say anything about the photo because it was so poorly crafted and I expected better. Perhaps production wanted to stay away from AI but this would have been an acceptable use if they didn't want to hire anyone to photograph as young Vernon and Anita. It wouldn't have cost that much to pay for a couple of models to pose for a picture.

That photo is a hate crime.

3 hours ago, ranger1rg said:

This photo gift from Vernon to Anita.... We need to discuss Andre's career choice, cuz this ain't it.

I mean, Photoshop was better than this a decade ago.

I will say, this adds to the age confusion. Clifton is from the civil rights age but Tamara definitely isn't. With The Artiqulettes, they play them like The Supremes but acknowledge in reality they would've been at their peak in the late 80s. Then you have that picture of Vernon and Anita meeting at a march when they should be 15-20 years apart.

5 hours ago, ranger1rg said:

This photo gift from Vernon to Anita.... We need to discuss Andre's career choice, cuz this ain't it.

I mean, Photoshop was better than this a decade ago.

I've seen worse! Including on daytime. But yes lol, I was still definitely reminded of this from Twin Peaks Season 3 (which is admittedly worse, and intentionally so)

@DRW50

Edited December 27, 2025Dec 27 by Vee

2 hours ago, Chris B said:

I will say, this adds to the age confusion. Clifton is from the civil rights age but Tamara definitely isn't. With The Artiqulettes, they play them like The Supremes but acknowledge in reality they would've been at their peak in the late 80s. Then you have that picture of Vernon and Anita meeting at a march when they should be 15-20 years apart.

The timeline doesn't totally make sense at all, but it's a soap so I let some of it go. What I do factor in is Anita is meant to be older than TT.

6 hours ago, ranger1rg said:

This photo gift from Vernon to Anita.... We need to discuss Andre's career choice, cuz this ain't it.

I mean, Photoshop was better than this a decade ago.

Chile someone has to tell them... I mean... Bold did better with Eric and Stephanie in 1987 with similar fake photos. You can't tell me that in 2025 this is what they come up with. A fan can do a better collage in literally minutes... For free. Sloppy.

Who knows maybe this will be a horror movie twist in the future.

Amen.

17 hours ago, Maxim said:

It's so right. 🤭❤️🎁🎁🎁🎁

A tradition!

12 hours ago, Chris B said:

I will say, this adds to the age confusion. Clifton is from the civil rights age but Tamara definitely isn't. With The Artiqulettes, they play them like The Supremes but acknowledge in reality they would've been at their peak in the late 80s. Then you have that picture of Vernon and Anita meeting at a march when they should be 15-20 years apart.

10 hours ago, Vee said:

The timeline doesn't totally make sense at all, but it's a soap so I let some of it go.

"The Articulettes" doesn't seem like the right kind of name for an R&B/Soul trio that peaked in the late '80's. Not when you have similar groups from that same period with names like Klymaxx and Exposé. Unless they were more like the Pointer Sisters or Patti Labelle and the Bluebelles/Labelle, groups that lasted decades and went through several transformations.

I'm kind of with @Vee : timelines are always somewhat dicey on soaps. I just assume that Vernon and Anita first met during the Civil Rights movement (when she would've been very, very young) but that things between them didn't turn romantic until much later.

Edited December 27, 2025Dec 27 by Khan

1 minute ago, Khan said:

Klymaxx and Exposé.

The TASTE!!!

10 hours ago, Vee said:

I've seen worse! Including on daytime. But yes lol, I was still definitely reminded of this from Twin Peaks Season 3 (which is admittedly worse, and intentionally so)

@DRW50

Oh, dear Lord. That's straight-up creepy.

I wish that The Articulettes backstory and drama had borrowed more from the Klymaxx backstory instead of the Supremes. There was a lot of tension/strife in the Klymaxx that still plays out to this day in that group long after their time in the 80s.

I could have seen Sharon pull a Cheryl Cooley.. which gets Anita and Tracy back together to fight her while their late band-mate could have been a Bernadette type or even a Joyce type that had passed away after being kicked out of the group.... which would have given SPS/Leslie more motivation to be a thorn in Anita's side as a way to pay back the woman she viewed as driving her mother out of the group and out of getting her cut of coin.

MVJ was in a group called the Articulettes so the name was taken from there (most probably already know that though). Toward the beginning of the show the movement that Vernon was involved in was labeled as being in the 70s which pushes the timeline back a bit, but it still makes the Articulettes era a bit confusing. I think that Anita is supposed to be somewhere around the age of Diana, Gladys, Patti, etc. but the Articulettes music is late 80s/early 90s sounding.

And yes, a fan could have done better. A contest to come up with a picture with the prize being a walk on role would have been nice for an aspiring graphics designer.

On 12/17/2025 at 4:02 PM, Soaplovers said:

Perfect example was the Doug/Vanessa/Joey story that had both of them slowly becoming ensnared in Joey's web with Joey using their addictions (gambling for Doug and Sex for Vanessa) to his advantage. Doug's 'death' with his son coming to investigate were the last episodes of Guza's stint and all of a sudden the son was sent back to school and Vanessa is now becoming pathetic without the cunning glint in her eyes that we saw in the first 150 episodes or so).

The Hayley bombshell was a great swan song for Guza's stint. but the aftereffects have been a bit lackluster with Hayley since episode 151 with her making such careless mistakes (no way would she be eyeing Jacob's brother in plain sight, nor talking to Randy in public, nor being overly insistent on Bill drinking a special tea, etc)... and now this random chick that came out of nowhere.

Yeah, I felt out of all the B plots introduced on this show in its first year, Doug/Vanessa/Joey was not only the best and most organic, but also the best paced. Solid enough to be a main story...which it showed the week of Doug's death or any week where it was the main story. It was just so well done to me, allowing for the characters to develop individually before the stories converged into something bigger. I loved Doug was over here dealing with a gambling addiction, but yet we saw a capable doctor who was loved by all his co-workers...some of my favorite scenes were him with Shanice, Ashley, random doctor at the nurse stand. Then you had Vanessa over there playing sex games with different men (hey, Diego, hey!), but you also saw her being a town gossip while being BFFs to Dani and saw she was a shark in her real estate business. Just the different sides to both characters. Then you had Joey in the background which made the fact that he was pulling the strings behind both of their vices just genius. And a cat and mouse game insured...right up until Doug's death. You said it perfectly...Vanessa currently would not bother me currently if she still had her cunning edge that had been established over the first 150 episodes, but she's little more than a weepy heroine and it does not ring true. The only thing saving her is the actress playing her putting in layers sometimes and that is stretching thin.

Yeah, the build to the Hayley reveal and how it made some of the odd things that came before it make sense was superb in hindsight. I'm still enjoying her channeling Kristen Dimera circa late 90s DAYS myself, but she's not coming across as being cunning right now either.