TeeVee329

The "Again With This" podcast's coverage of "Melrose Place" has just hit the arc where Nancy Lee Grahn (Alexis Davis) is playing the mother of Matt's annoying niece Chelsea, as you can see here: Said annoying niece is played by Katie Wright, who I remember from the '90s horror comedy "Idle Hands", which also starred Devon Sawa and Jessica Alba AND Kelly Monaco (Sam McCall).

Aw Frankie's exit today - including her adopting the Carter surname as she embarks on her new adventure - was sweet. As someone who really came into EastEnders during the Age of the Carters, it's sad that there's so few left. Speaking of Carter offspring, I didn't buy Janine's handling of her pregnancy. I think she'd be much more likely to a) use the baby to lock Mick down, partiuclarly with Linda still in the mix or b) would have an aborition not because of Mick, but because she has no interest in being a mom again (didn't Michael have to like beg her to keep Scarlett?). I do think there's no way this baby is being born, so maybe we're heading towards Janine losing it, but then faking that she's still pregnant to keep Mick on the hook?

This is reminding me how much I didn't like Starr on GH. While her desire to kill Sonny was relatable, all the snarling and sniffling she was doing at that time was not good, and then her relationship with Michael couldn't have been more boring. Starr would need a big reset - and, sacrilege I know, but also maybe a new actress - to ever interest me again.

I'm surprised anyone in the writers' room remembered the Reese history, as long ago and retcon-y as it was, but unsurprisingly they went with a corner of Carly's history where they can potray her as a hard-scrabble heroine versus the nightmare shrew we know she was. It's like with Nelle, they picked something for the antagonist to have a grudge about that wasn't actually Carly's fault. The Brook Lynn/Cody interaction just made me sad we didn't get more of scheming sibs Cutter and Kimmie on OLTL. In other news, there have been more hook attacks on this daytime soap opera than last year's mostly terrible "I Know What You Did Last Summer" Amazon Prime show.

I'm sorry, an in-character Carly is not pleasently engaging in small talk with strangers, smilingly inviting them to join her table, etc.

I am VERY behind, but am I to understand there was a scene (sadly a dream sequence, but still!) in which both Carly AND Michael were dead?!?!

They really are. There are couples I like and (mostly) couples I hate, but this is the only pairing that like actively icks me out.

That was my point, that the only crumbs of info we're getting are those that service the Cody plot - there can't be enough for him to sue for, etc. I mean, do we even know why whales versus the many other environmental causes she could have thrown her back into?

I get your point about the writing, but I just hate the idea that a viable legacy character will be wasted, have her entire life off-screen. And even the bits we're getting are incomplete - to your point, did she really give ALL her money away? If she did, how is she supporting herself? - because they're not about her, they're about Cody's story.

Catching up on last week, I enjoyed Lucy interacting with Anna, Mac, and Felicia about this Dominique/Cody mess, and I liked hearing that Lucy called her daughter to appraise her of the situation, though I'm cranky the show seemed to again be locking Serena in place off-screen when a better soap would be using this story to reintroduce her. Lucy also looked very pretty in her casual pink top/white pants look, and her running a flirty con on Victor Cassadine was fun. Not fun? Carly and Drew. Their flirting was so cringe and the smooch so yuck. ETA...Nicholas Chavez was also fantastic when Spencer found out about Nik and Esme. I liked that the way Chavez played it, for all the bravado this character often shows, reminded us that Spencer's really still just a kid.

I'm glad Emma Samms is feeling better and it'll be nice to see Holly, but the show's dipped into this well so much lately - presumed dead character is actually alive and being held by an evildoer - that I can't see it being that interesting a return.

I thought it was interesting they gave Britt that moment with the Ben picture, it was a quiet moment this show rarely goes for. And then transitioning directly from that to Spencer coming to see her and them more firmly getting their relationship back on track was so smart.

Isn't Rebecca Budig still off the grid? And relatedly, every time the idea of Dr. Michael Easton contacting Liz's family comes up, my first thought is always, "Will he explain to Jeff or No Name or Sarah that he's the father of Jeff's granddaughter with the daughter Jeff apparently never knew he had?". ETA...and didn't Franco pull this act too? I remember something about him emailing Sarah, against Liz's wishes, to tell her about their engagement/upcoming wedding.

I loved Scotty and Lucy 1) sharing scenes for the first time in forever and 2) Scotty wanting to get Lucy up to speed immediately on an antagonist tied to their daughter slash shared history. It's so easy to please me, Show, why do you do it so rarely? Not pleasing me...what...was that...with Chase today? To palate clense, here's Amanda Setton and Scott Clifton in a much better fashion montage:

Ugh, this Cody situation remains incredibly frustrating to me. I was looking forward to Josh Kelly coming on and, had he clicked, would have been thrilled with him not only being tied storywise to Britt, but other faves of mine like Scotty, Liesl, off-screen Serena, possibly even Lucy. But he hasn't and so his insertion into their orbit as Dominique's long-lost son is just eye-rolling, especially because (and I wasn't watching when she was on) they really seem to have taken a hatchet to her arc/history to wedge him in. And yeah, why is he mad at Scotty? Because Scotty's not psychic and didn't know that Dom had a son when he never came forward with that information? Because off-screen Serena is a girl so he can't sucker punch her? As is, his mealy-mouth "I want that money, but I really respect Serena too" was lame because it's the show trying to have it both ways. "Oooh, he's a charming con, but he has a heart of gold too!" Ugh. Anyway, pitting him against Scotty and Serena, two characters the audience actually likes, is not the play here. And it feels like this would be the moment to reintroduce Serena to the canvas, but they won't, which will only make the viewers resent Cody's presence more. Moving on, the setup with Tad Martin Gray's ex-wives sounds like it could lead to soapy fun for him and Lucy, but it also smells of opening the door for stunt casting. "Oh look, it's Tad Martin Gray's exes - Cady McClain, Bobbie Eakes and Jamie Luner!". Drew trying to be intimiadting with Valentin was just pathetic. Previews...you know, it's really okay, Show, you could just drop Roger Howarth from the cast.

Okay, so we got an important update, Serena Baldwin is back on US soil. Why again weren't we watching her be banned from Denmark instead of most of we're subjected to? I guess we didn't see Carly's meeting with Cameron Mathison's wife because she would have had to explain that all her success came from the men she married and, often, criminal activity? The writers have already made Cody so unlikable, now they have him punching Scotty? I'd say poor Josh Kelly, but it's his own fault he's here. Shut up, Drew.

Trevor St. John (Victor Lord Jr.) is taking on another soap: https://deadline.com/2022/08/the-young-and-the-restless-trevor-st-john-cast-1235083092/ I was a little surprised by this, I feel like he's been working fairly regularly in primetime stuff, I know he was on the "Roswell" reboot as a regular for at least a season.

I was very charmed by that actually, two random strangers brought together across the globe by the feel-good power of Ramsey Street, and I liked that they said as much in their part of the video message montage.

Loved Ava parapet-ing Esme. I'm sure it won't take - she's Ryan's daughter AND the parapet hasn't been as lethal in recent years, Ava herself survived a plunge off it - but it was still rad.

I should say, I appreciate that Kylie and Jason were like, we'll appear, but the finale shouldn't be The Scott and Charlene Hour. But maybe, instead of the powwows Mike and Jane separately had with a motley crew of supporters (Mike being advised by Jane's ex-husband Des and ex-lover Paul was classic "Neighbours", oh that tickled me), it would have been cool to see Mike and Jane have those conversations with Scott and Charlene respectively. Although I also read that Guy Pearce and Jason/Kylie were never on set at the same time owing to scheduling conflicts, which is why there's that weird cut away when Mike goes to hug them. Speaking of Guy Pearce, I forgot to mention I loved the moment when Mike's daughter pointed out that Ramsey Street is, like, not a street but a court, and Mike is like, "Huh, you're right" lol.

So obviously, Izzy's storyline with the Kennedys ended the way it was always going to - Izzy caught out, Susan triumphant, etc. But it was a nice twist on the foregone conclusion that, instead of her smooch with Shane being exposed by Susan/Karl, she fessed up/owned up to Mal on her own. And her self-realization about what she was really after - acceptance and validation - tied back nicely to what I thought about her in 2018, that she's a soap bad girl who schemes for money or men, but not because she's malicious, she's just a screwed-up person trying to fill a hole inside herself. And tying those two halves of herself together, I loved that her modicum of personal growth didn't stop her from hooking up with Shane haha. In non-Izzy news, even though I never watched their original love story, I found everything about Mike and Jane really sweet. Guy Pearce is, duh, a great actor and he and Annie Jones have a very natural, easy chemistry, and their arc across the hour was much more impactful than the much-ballyhooed Scott/Charlene appearance (Kylie Minogue had, what, three lines total?). Watching Toadie and Melanie prep for the wedding the last week or so, was I the only one hoping we were heading for a "I, Toadie, take you Dee" moment at the altar? Even better, they could have had Dee show up to try and stop the ceremony, only for it to turn out to be Andrea again! It's just weird to me that, given how many alums they got to put in an apperance, Madeleine West was absent entirely, especially given how much story Andrea and Dee drove the last few years. The ghosts were hit-and-miss for me. Seeing Sonya with her kids was really sweet, but I could absolutely have lived without seeing stupid Finn again. All in all, it went out as "Neighbours" always was to me - a show about nice people being nice to each other admist classically soapy situations.

There's a whole article on the main page about FloLo (Tea Delgado) appearing in the new Netflix show "Keep Breathing" opposite "Scream" star Melissa Barrera slash the joys of seeing actors we recognize from soaps pop up in other roles. https://www.primetimer.com/features/keep-breathing-and-the-joy-of-finding-soap-opera-stars-on-premium-tv

Wait, so why is Paige doing real estate work in a town where she doesn't live? This is kind of a boring return for her, but maybe I was hoping they'd reveal she flipped from Mark back to Jack, even though I know I'm in the minority on preferring that pairing. At least Paige is clearly rooting for Paul and Terese, as are we all. The longing going on with them the last few episodes has been so great and soapy. And I had to laugh when I realized that this show, always a fan of incestural pairings, had Terese leap from Paul right to his half-brother lol. Uggghhhh Roxy, the groan I let out when she came stomping in. So annoying!

I will never not be sad that Joss didn't grow up to be a hellion who was constantly clashing with Carly instead of this half-Carly, half-Starr irritant.

I'm trying to give it some leeway because it's obviously a story pivot brought on by the cancellation, and it makes sense as an endgame given the fandom, but Elly suddenly showing up and declaring her love for Chloe, that it's always been Chloe, feels very abrupt. Susan sawing through that loaf of bread clearly imagining it was Izzy's neck was quite funny to me. But easy, Iz, I don't think Mal is liking this color on you. ETA...what was with Yashvi slamming Izzy's past? I seem to remember another character who had an affair and broke up a marriage - your mom!