Aymery

ASJ is not Hispanic so wasn't his Jagger also white? Bagger (Blond Jagger) would make more sense to me.

I hope he is, because it is genuinely scandalous instead of what passes for scandal on B&B, and also because it would really justify Li's pure rage towards Poppy. Monday's episode has Poppy make a big request of Finn - keep silent about their fling? Wouldn't that mean Finn knows Luna is his? I did see spoilers for next week, which is a short week due to March Madness. It revolves around Hope giving her answer to Thomas's proposal, the resurrection of Hope and Steffy's feud, and - most bizarre of all - Carter trying to convince Liam that Thomas is a changed man. Spoiler 2 suggests Hope turns Thomas down, but Spoiler 3 suggests the opposite. I'm actually curious for the first time in a long time.

I thought this board prohibited denigrating an actor's physical looks? I'm cringing at some of the comments made about the young man portraying RJ. It's fine to drag fashion sense (or lack thereof) but the poor guy has no control over his jawline or teeth, unless the intention is to coerce him into needless cosmetic procedures, the likes of which have been condemned for actresses. Turning back to the story, is Eric fully cured? I don't mind him marrying Donna. I don't ever recall her marrying anyone for money, so the golddigger accusations seem out of the left field. Yes she took him for all he was worth the last time they divorced but wasn't that because he sided with Stephanie after she all but pushed Donna's mother into the pool to drown? Rapey scenes are a rite of passage for the Forrester men so if there was any doubt about Zende truly belonging to that clan (and not 'just' adopted), it will dissipate once he boinks the drugged-out teenager in his bed. I believe the character was de-SORASed when he first reappeared as an adult, and was portrayed as under 20, so following that chronology he hasn't hit 30 yet, but the actor comes off as mid to late thirties. Still, it's a significant difference to a 19yo who just lost her virginity yesterday, and who is his cousin's girlfriend. A creepy story for sure but very on-brand for B&B. A misunderstanding where Luna misinterprets RJ sharing a close moment with, say, a female model - dude is always changing in the office, so a starstruck model throwing herself at him while he isn't wearing much won't be a difficult proposition. Of course Luna flees unseen before seeing him turn the model down, and seeks comfort from Zende who'd be more than willing to remind Luna that RJ has a broader sexual history than her, that he might even have seen as a trophy to claim her virginity, and lure her into his own bed. See, no rape, Luna still has an out, and it would've gone a long way to remove the nonconsent from the cheating premise. The show has never been great at portraying minorities but Michael Lai and the Avants were the two times they made a solid attempt. Maybe this round with the Nozawas will prove a third. But it bewilders me they still can't be bothered to include a Latinx regular in a city where they are the majority. There is a casting notice out which specifies an ethnicity the show already has in abundance.

Are RJ/Luna supposed to be the next best thing? It sure doesn't seem like it. I mean, they even had their first-time sex offscreen. That was an odd choice, maybe even a soap first, especially when one character's the only Bridge child, half-Forrester/Marone and half-Logan, while the other seems set to belong to the third original family, the Spencers. I don't get why they cut some of these scenes which actually help flesh out character arcs but keep in all the recycled scenes where supporting characters simply update each other/gossip about the leads' A story without actually moving it forward. All the soaps have the problem where they take a character too far and then either try a half-assed redemption or pretend their crimes never happened, with the handful of characters who very occasionally still dredge it up treated as an annoyance by the "heroes". How much easier to not take the character that far down a dark path, or at least preemptively lay the clues to a tumour, doppelganger/clone, brainwashing or whatnot? Are they really giving Bill, a retcon character, four living children while Thorne doesn't even have one left???

You'd think if he was dying they'd pull out all the stops and include Kristen, Felicia and Rick too. IIRC, the daughters and Tony did appear in that video tribute when Stephanie died. (Of course, no Ridge back then because they hadn't recast yet.) I know budgets are not what they used to be but with location shoots in Europe, B&B seems to have access to more funds than the other soaps. So I'd imagine they could spring for Eric's other children and maybe even his nieces? Who's betting they forget all about his adult adoption of Marcus, even though he's the only child Eric shares with his current partner, Donna?

I'm surprised Hope isn't already pregnant and having a WTD crisis over the child's paternity. But I'm glad it seems to be off the table because it's been months since she slept with Liam so there's no way he could be a contender for the baby daddy. Unless, of course, they pull another retcon and reveal Hope did fall back into bed with Liam offscreen at some point recently, or have a surprise reveal that she's actually halfway through her pregnancy without having noticed she was expecting. If this really is the end of the road for Eric, I simply cannot fathom why they would have an unnamed, mystery ailment what kills him. Is it that hard to come up with a proper medical reason - maybe even raise awareness on some lesser-known disease? RJ and Luna are uninteresting and drawing them into her mother and aunt's drama which is already a nonstarter isn't going to help jazz them up. At this point I don't know what will unless the show finally bites the bullet and has RJ's ex from Paris show up - his male ex, that is. A bisexual guy would actually be novel. But the show just doesn't have the cojones to do that. So instead we get this tired, low-stakes romance between two forgettable characters - all the more egregious when you consider that one of them is the only child of the Unforgettable union. I will say this though - less really is more with RJ. The actor's attractiveness went up exponentially when he returned from surfing with less clothes, less product in his hair and less manscaping. Kinda funny how the youngest actor on the cast is the only one with hair on his chest. Pretty sure the last time he was shirtless on the show, they'd made him wax. Seriously though, having Luna giggle about RJ's muscles with his SISTER is beyond inappropriate - but then again, totally on brand for the quasi-incest vibe they always have going with the Forrester-Marones.

I'm pretty sure this week's episodes are still from a WGA script - it's only been six weeks since the strike started, they tape roughly that far ahead and scripts are typically another few weeks ahead of production - but I would certainly welcome more shirtless men. At least this time RJ can put on a show for someone other than his sister! I do wonder what changes might happen when the non-WGA writers take over (probably in late July?). Maybe one of them can do us a solid and divert RJ's attention to one of FC's male models - who of course will turn out to secretly be Deacon's long-lost son, and thus Hope's other brother, since the show does love its quasi-incest. RJ's own siblings of the opposite sex are currently engaged in 'steamy' (barf-worthy) fantasies so why should the gays escape unscathed? At least there's some beautiful backdrops to enjoy while they film on-location in Italy. But I query Hope's wide-eyed wonder at being in the Eternal City. (It isn't the City of Love - that's Paris, surely?) Wasn't she in Italy during her long absence (between actresses) after miscarrying her first baby? Do they mean to say that, in all those years, she never once set foot in Rome? It's only 3 hours by train from Milan, which is presumably where FC has its Italian offices. It's also incredible that a wealthy mother like Brooke wouldn't have taken her kids on holiday to Rome. She clearly has contacts in the city. It does indicate that the Rome scenes were filmed in May - summer there can be swelteringly hot, as I discovered on a long-ago trip to Italy. MA definitely has a villainous resting face. It's not just the eyes - though they're a big part of it - it's also the way he styles his facial hair. He can't help his eyes, obviously, but you'd think he would at least choose facial grooming that doesn't amplify them!

While I fully expected the Braylor lovefest to unravel sooner rather than later, I did not expect the level of venom from Taylor. "Logan blood", really? You're a rapist and a killer, and your son has turned out to be both as well. I'd worry more about the Hamilton-Marone blood. I do wonder if Hope is being drugged, but who could be doing it? It would be perfectly legit for it to be Thomas, who has form, but I have the awful feeling that Brad Bell plans to give us a SHOCKING reveal of the culprit being Deacon, at Sheila's behest.

On Friday, RJ is due to reveal to Hope the "real reason" he came back to LA. Let me guess: to parent-trap Bridge back together again?

I cannot bear to watch this Hope lusting after Thomas nonsense. I know this show has always had a problematic relationship with what constitutes consensual sex, so I should not have been surprised that they would make Hope fall for the man who treated her abusively and whose advances she's always resisted, even without knowing his laundry list of crimes against her, her daughter, husband and mother. Then again, she does not know the FULL list of those transgressions. Thomas really is his mother's child in that sense: just like years passed without anyone being the wiser to Taylor's transgressions (until today no one knows Taylor was ready to jump into bed with Eric way back in the early '90s) - no one knows that Thomas drugged Liam into bed with Steffy, or that he was ready to drug Hope into bed on their wedding night. I'd really like Taylor, the self-serving cheerleader of a Breacon reunion, to wind up falling for Deacon herself. I'd also like RJ to get his own storyline. It doesn't need to romantic. He's an influencer; that comes with its own set of challenges. He could be dealing with difficulties upping his subscribers, a sleazy agent, a stalker, body image issues, boycotts, etc.

I read that the airdate would be end June or early July. That jives with the typical 6-week lead time from taping to broadcast for soaps (except Days, where it's 6 MONTHS). I'm guessing the episodes will be interspliced with scenes in LA with the actors who didn't travel to Italy, so that will probably work out to a week or more of episodes with Italian scenes. Meanwhile, reading the daily spoilers for the next 2 weeks, it's just as I predicted. RJ is doing nothing but talk about his parents and siblings. My next prediction: he'll be downgraded to recurring or gone by next summer.

According to Brad Bell, a new ingenue is on her way as he plans to beef up the 20-something cast. As of now it's just RJ and Paris (and Zende?) in that group right? The fact he markets it as the "next gen" makes me think it will be another of Sheila's spawn. After all, Mary/Erica Lovejoy made a beeline for RJ's big brother Rick, so another Logan-Forrester son/Sheila daughter pairing would be par for the course. I suppose anything would be better than RJ joining the rest of the supporting cast in sitting around with a running commentary on the love lives of his parents and half-siblings. Of course, Brad could throw us a curveball by having RJ's love interest be male, but he plays it safer than his father did half a century ago when Bill Bell, Sr wanted to give Katherine Chancellor a lesbian lover on Y&R. (The network nixed that.) https://daytimeconfidential.com/2023/05/01/b-b-showrunner-brad-bell-we-are-going-to-be-introducing-the-next-gen

Even in a genre which traditionally demands leaps of logic, Hope's sudden hankering for Thomas is a hard pill to swallow. All this while, she has been resistant to his advances, without knowing the extent of his atrocities. Remember when she married him for Douglas's sake and didn't want to sleep with him, so he planned to drug and rape her? She didn't know anything then - not his complicity in her daughter's abduction, his abuse of their son, his vendetta against her mother - and yet she had no desire to consummate their marriage. She's seen him shirtless multiple times and not felt even a drop of lust. But now, NOW, she thinks he's so hot that she can't stop dreaming about him while making love to her husband???

It's not just your comment, it's the sum of all the comments that accuse gay men, regardless of their roles, of using their shows - and male cast members - for personal wish fulfillment (putting it a lot more "politely" than many of the offending comments). Their sexuality is weaponized against them and assumed to be the primary, if not sole, motivating factor behind all their decisions. I go between the DAYS and GH boards and I see the same alarming insinuations on both - only gathering momentum as it becomes more common in public discourse. I almost never see this kind of language directed at various straight writers/execs, even when they have female characters (for example) model a lingerie line on B&B. They, too, cast attractive actors who aren't great at emoting and have them take their shirts off frequently, but because the showrunner isn't gay, there's no accusation that the motivation behind those scenes is personal enjoyment. How can something that happens with frequency on all soaps be cast in a different, incendiary light just because a person in charge (on GH, not even of the writing) happens to be gay? You could argue I'm being overly sensitive but given the appalling rise in homophobic rhetoric, I don't believe it's unwarranted. It's worse when a member of the LGBTQ+ community contributes to this harmful narrative.

Why is this kind of accusation only ever lobbed at an openly gay writer?

Apparently next Tuesday's episode will be a special to mark the 9,000th episode by celebrating "family and love" by paying tribute to the "jaw-dropping life" of the show's standout heroine. "From running an international fashion house to loving large, her nostalgic reel will be a memorable one." Oh wow, another Brooke-centric episode. Well, KKL deserves it for 36 years of service, but I'm sure she wouldn't begrudge them if they mixed it up a little and focused on Eric - after all, he's the other day-1 actor and certainly led a colorful life too: fashion designer, CEO, patriarch, lover. WAIT - the heroine is STEFFY?! You know, the character who wasn't even BORN in the first 3,000 episodes, and was a child of little consequence for the next 3,000 (except when she was kidnapped by Morgan and turned into Stacey). THIS is the character you think represents the 9,000 milestone? Who embodies "family and love"???

I am so not here for Thope. The show is definitely stuck in a rut. We had a nonsensical twist - albeit somewhat enjoyable if you turn your brain off - but that fizzled out pretty quickly. And I have to say it's really icky to have two men sleep with Sheila as part of their great plan to bring her down. But I suppose it's very much in line with B&B's past interpretations of sexual consent. I can think of several other twists that would be more entertaining. Douglas can be Ridge's. Or RJ can not be Ridge's, paving the way for the return of Nick and Jack.

Well, the Nurse's Ball has always been one of those instances which combines equal parts cringe, comedy and the occasional genuine (if raw) talent, which IMO is true to the nature of most community-organized charity fundraisers. (The use of auto-tune does take me out of the moment a bit, because that's not normally available to amateurs.) To me, it's fun to see the cast do something different once a year - I wouldn't want it to be more often than that! - and the show does make sure it's not a total hiatus from the ongoing stories, which are woven pretty well into the ball. Like this year, you have Victor's evil plan, Gladys' gambling issues, Linc's sleazy behavior, and several troubled romances: Sonny/Nina, Spencer/Trina, Joss/Dex, Portia/Curtis/Jordan, Carly/Drew, Liz/Finn, Brooklyn/Chase. As for the acts themselves, I can't say I've loved all of them. The opening number was better than the usual nurses' performances - no wonder they stuck TJ in with the nurses (although, having seen him shirtless, he should've been in the Magic Wands - is it really just Dex and Cody this time instead of the usual half-dozen cast members?). I think they missed a trick not having Liesl perform, because she was the showstopper most of the time. This year they sprung for a real singer, and she of course blew everyone else out of the water. Not thrilled by Joss/Trina's song choice, it was a bit too thin, if you know what I mean. Chase/Blaze's song worked for her, not so much him. I always cringe at the little kids' performances, but I liked their bond with Oma Liesl, and I especially loved how it worked into her abduction. I'd completely forgotten Liesl was involved with Victor, even pretending that he was Nathan's bio-dad, so that came as a total surprise to me. Given all the ridiculous obstacles they keep putting in Sprina's path - writing them as if they were a middle school couple, or a gay couple in the mid-2000s, where they're repeatedly interrupted for the dumbest reasons before their lips can meet - I was expecting Victor to throw another wrench into their romance, by kidnapping Spencer as his chosen Cassadine heir, and put a twist on the old "damsel in distress" rescue mission by having Trina and Joss and maybe Esme rescue Spencer instead. I was relieved that Ned showed up today - I know Brooklyn is a Quartermaine too but it seemed like the major rep for the family was going to be retcons Drew and Austin. Is Laura, the MAYOR, really not going to put in an appearance at the ball? Could they not work in an appearance by characters like Audrey, Monica (even if it had to be a voice message, perhaps over flashbacks?) and of course Robin? They just had Robert and Emma a couple of days ago, couldn't they tape something with them? The one flashback they did air was one of the worst selections they could make. They couldn't afford something for the Stone remembrance? It would be especially poignant given the reason for the ball. I also agree think they could've put a bit more effort into making the ballroom/crowd look bigger than it was. And those cheap-looking chairs - just cover them with some fabric and add a pretty, sparkly bow made from the ladies' dresses, for crying out loud. Speaking of sets, I read an interview the other day where the headwriters mentioned they'd been begging FV for a pool set forever, and it took him a while to agree due to the cost. So when they fill it up once, it needs to be used for several days of filming in a row to make it more cost-effective, and that's where FV has to make the budgets and filming schedules work. That's the primary job of an EP, not writing stories or squeezing in personal wish fulfillment, as has been repeatedly implied on this board.

The red carpet is always cringe, but Lucy's commentary took it to another level. Too bad Britt and Brad can't give her lessons on how to snark - their bitchfests were the sole reason to sit through the red carpet episodes. I saw TJ in the previews - with the nurses. Why? I don't remember any other doctors being part of the nurses' performance. Even with Willow at home and Epiphany dearly departed, they still have enough nurses to front the opening number: Head Nurse Liz, Bobbie, Felix, Deanna, and Amy. I'd rather TJ be roped in for the Magic Wands - much more suitable now than when he was a high school student!

Yeah, I appreciated that Franco is Esme's half-brother and she and Cam have him in common. (I guess this means she is technically his step-aunt in addition to being the mother of his adoptive cousin.) Well, at least stripping is one thing Dex might be good at because he's been an epic fail at being the mole in Sonny's "organization". I'm not a fan of Dex, or his relationship with Joss, (unless he's revealed to be AJ's son) but he does look good with his shirt off. I think the show has contributed to it by dragging out how long it took for Sprina to even kiss, and how many "near-misses" they've had. In that sense it does feel very old school where romances took months, even years, to develop into a full-fledged relationship, but modern fans aren't quite as patient (in all aspects of storytelling) and it does stick out like discriminatory treatment when all the other couples on the show don't face the same long wait or obstacles.

They're also missing Valerie, Charlotte and Baby Amelia.

I know there is a preference with each new regime to create their own characters, but it would really have made a lot of sense to have TJ be Tommy Hardy, Jr. Failing that, Portia could have been a Ward. Nina could have been a Barrington, Baldwin, or even a Quartermaine (although the latter would complicate Michael's relationships and children with both her daughters). It was incredibly short-sighted to create all-new families for both. Speaking of short-sightedness, if the goal of Willow and Esme's concurrent pregnancies was not a baby swap, why did they have BOTH of them give birth during February Sweeps? Esme's childbirth was linked to the Sweeps reveal of the Hook killer, so that had to be timed together, but why not drag out Willow's pregnancy so she might give birth during the 60th anniversary week to a Quartermaine heir? (Ideally named Alan Quartermaine III, Alana for a girl.) They should also time Sprina's first time to occur during the week (and again, it would have been even more meaningful if Trina was a Ward through either one of her parents - so we would witness the union of a Quartermaine and Cassadine). The longer they drag out Sprina's first time, the bigger a disappointment it will inevitably turn into. I still think they should have had Trina lose her virginity to Rory. The thing about Spencer - and the "bad boys" in general - is that they strike me as being primarily focused on their own pleasure, not their girlfriend's. They don't put in the effort to woo the girl beforehand, much less once they have her in their bed. In Spencer's case it would be exacerbated by the fact that the only girl he's ever been with, Esme, would not have needed wooing since it was her father-given mission to seduce him into stalking Ava and destroying her marriage to his dad. If Jax has to return - and I agree that his absence, while not really felt yet, will be glaring if Joss is imperiled by her relationship with Dex - it will have to be a recast. It's not like they have a limited talent pool either; there are plenty of Aussie actors in Hollywood, and if all else fails, get someone who can put on the accent. I don't expect the Magic Milo strippers to be polished; the guys are supposed to be amateurs, not professionals. It would be weirder if they all performed like it was what they were trained in and did for a living. And the nature of charity performances like this is for the performers to put themselves out there and embarrass themselves a little in order to raise money for a good cause. I don't believe the women on (and off) the show should be shamed for enjoying the performance. God knows Epiphany always did and I liked that a larger, Black woman did not have to hide her desires. I only wish they had done more with her and Milo's romance which was almost entirely offscreen. As for this year's Magic Milo, I mainly hope they can rope in Chase and TJ. Drew and Cody don't quite cut it. And speaking of wooing, maybe Spencer can perform his own private Magic Milo routine for Trina.

Every story is a retread of what happened in the recent past. None of the characters show any growth in the main stories (I thought we had Braylor making up - on the way to making out - but that's evaporated, while Steffy's growth where she saw her brother for who he truly was turned out to be incredibly short-lived). And lastly all the regulars have been considerably dumbed down to make Sheila permanent (I still don't get why, when they have way more interesting characters like Li whom they've not explored at all). So yeah, they're stuck in a rut. Believing the likes of Sheila, Thomas and Steffy are your golden geese will do that to a show. You want someone to mess with the Forresters? Try a SORASed Eric Sharpe. That kid must have serious abandonment issues - once highly coveted but ultimately tossed aside like yesterday's trash. Or maybe it's time Morgan make a reappearance, revealing that she spirited away a barely-alive Phoebe and revived her. There'd be actual stakes in Phoebe being brainwashed into thinking of Morgan as her mother and Taylor/Steffy as traitors for shacking up with her first love, Uncle Rick, who was also responsible for her "death". (Maybe it's rose-tinted nostalgia but Phoebe was never as loathsome as her siblings. Wasn't she the sole Taytot who thought it unfair that Brooke and RJ were turfed out by Taylor's second coming?)

His looks do line up with the teen RJ we had before - more quirky than conventionally handsome. If the show was smart, they would do a story dealing with that, especially in light of his parentage - maybe even a body dysmorphia story. Have any of the soaps done that with a guy? See, groundbreaking stuff. (They could also make him bi, which I don't think any of the shows have either, but we all know they'd never do THAT!) Knowing this show though, they will simply put RJ in a love triangle with a relative. Thankfully not Thomas since Hope is RJ's biological sister, but Cousin Zende's girlfriend Paris is probably fair game as some have already speculated.

I've been hugely skeptical of whether the show would actually pull the trigger on a Braylor romance, but now I'm wondering if their lovefest was simply testing the waters for a