SingerIslander

I thought the show overall was pretty good. I loved Succession and liked Beef and The Bear alot, so I'm ok with the winners. But while I understand that the strikes delayed the Emmys and there was an intentional plan to schedule it as soon as possible after the strikes ended, it's unfortunate that it came so soon after the Globes and the Critics Choice because for the most part, the same people won for the same awards at ceremony after ceremony. It took some of the surprise and spontaneity away from this awards show. I will also never understand the seemingly endless need to give John Oliver and his team an Emmy or two every year. But one of the highlights for me was seeing Brett Goldstein and Juno Temple present together. It was a nice consolation prize after this last season of Ted Lasso. Roy and Keeley forever! Actually, I thought the presenters in general were excellent. There were lots of good choices for which casts to reunite, which two people to pair together, and which performer should present solo. Two thumbs up from me.

I enjoyed the show from start to finish, and that included some of the segments that celebrated some honorees I didn't know that much about. The Dionne Warwick segment was great and a very strong start to the show. It's amazing how gorgeous those songs were, especially the ones written by Bachrach and David, and how perfect her voice was each of them. I'm a sucker for when the honorees are surprised or get emotional. I'm also a Bee Gees fan, and I thought having Barry's eldest son Stephen talk about growing up in the Gibb family, and give a nod to both Maurice and Robin, was a very nice touch. I think Barry wiped away some tears at that moment as well. The quality of the performers for every honoree was outstanding. Such beautiful voices, one and all. And I enjoyed the comedic bits in Billy Crystal's segment, with Lin Manuel Miranda, and Whoopi's shout-out to Robin Williams. He should have been there, indeed.

I'm a huge fan of Stephen's and I watch his show every night. But I can't think of a pre-taped segment of his that was as funny as the Paul Rudd interview for Sexiest Man Alive. Stephen's and Paul Rudd's commitment to the bit was unreal. How they didn't crack up on tape, I don't know, and I'm sure there are lots of outtakes when one or both did lose it, but that was brilliant comedy. I kept expecting the gag to end with Paul not getting the title. I'm just fine with him getting this honor this year. There's nothing sexier than a very funny man, IMO, and both Stephen and Paul fit that description in that segment.

Based on Kelly Ripa's anniversary celebration on LIVE with Kelly and Ryan just a few months ago, I think you can add Sarah Michelle Gellar to that list too, and that won't work for me. SMG is a good actress with an Emmy to her credit from playing Kendall but for 10 years, Alicia Minshew was Kendall, building a beautiful relationship with Binks and Erica, falling in love and raising her boys. I loved AM's Kendall and didn't particularly like SMG's. If it happens, that kind of casting, hiring a good friend over the one who played the role longer and as an adult who actually grew and matured in that time frame, would make me think this show is more of a vanity project for Kelly, her hubby and her friends, each of whom hadn't been on AMC for years (other than some cameos in 2011), rather than a sincere reboot. I know that's a cynical way of looking at it, and hey, it might not happen. Maybe SMG would rather do other things or would be too busy to play Kendall again. But if it goes that way, I'd be very disappointed.

I would have preferred the 2013 version from Prospect Park if it had been more focused on the next generation with an occasional drop in from AMC's veteran characters. This sounds good to me as long as it doesn't rewrite AMC's history. That's my one big ask of any show that calls itself a sequel or reboot of AMC.

I feel for his family, especially his teenage daughter. I know he'd been divorced from ELR for many years but they seemed to have figured out how to co-parent, and she often talked lovingly about him. Edmund was a great soap hero, until they wrote him off as a warped version of himself. But before that, Edmund and Maria were awesome, and I even enjoyed him with Brooke. It is truly sad news.

In an interview in SOD, the actor who is now playing Thomas said that he returns home with Douglas, but without Caroline. It sounds like we’ll see Thomas as a single dad.

I've been wrong before, but I was thinking there was a BTS reason for why Ridge had that talk with Bill at this time, on this day. It felt to me like B&B was ending (for now) Bill's non-stop pursuit of Brooke, as he hears from both Ridge and Brooke that she wants to be with her husband, so that he can be more attentive to Katie with IR leaving. Timing-wise, these scenes were taped right around the time when Ingo made his decision not to stay, right before the holidays. B&B ends things abruptly sometimes, when you're not even aware they're doing it. It kinda reminded me of how they ended Ridge and Quinn's flirtation--quickly, with no real explanation other than "I love my fiancee/I love my husband", mainly because Kimberlin Brown was about to show up, and B&B needed Quinn committed to her husband to form the third side of the Sheila/Eric/Quinn triangle. Plus, while I like Brill, it was a bad look on Bill, consistently pursuing a woman who wasn't really kissing him back when he'd kiss her, and who told him repeatedly she was married and in love with her husband (just as he'd also done with Steffy). This way, they've kinda cleared the slate for Bill to look elsewhere. I could be wrong about this, but that was how I saw it.

I might not have been clear, but I don't think TK has ever tossed a script out a window because he wanted to ad lib. No EP, let alone a HW, would stand for that, and in this day and age, when actors can be replaced so quickly by the hundreds of unemployed soap actors roaming around (especially actors who already live in CA), I don't think TK would have a job if that were the case. I do think that adding something new to the script, that doesn't change the meaning of the scene, is often allowed, and in some acting circles, encouraged. (It definitely was on All My Children, as Michael E. Knight, Ricky Paul Goldin and even David Canary could also attest.) B&B may be a set where most actors don't do that, but CaRidge was successful, in part, because TK did add things to scenes that weren't on the script, and that his leading lady happily joined in doing. I don't think that makes him, or even LG, unprofessional. It makes him different from alot of other B&B actors, and it's an adjustment I think he's been struggling with since he was first hired. TK is 4th in airtime on B&B this year. (Guess who the top 3 actors with airtime are and you win a prize.) He's front and center in this custody story, when alot of fans are asking why on earth Ridge should give a crap about Will's custody. I think that shows that TPTB have not given up on Ridge at all. Ask Jacob Young if he thinks that B&B has given up on Rick or Maya--trick question, since JY has already tweeted his answers a few weeks back. It's all about airtime and writing for the character. Ridge is written to be aggressive, irrational at times, obsessed, and oblivious to what his wife is doing, but he's a player in this story. Ridge may be out of character, and totally repugnant. I get it. Maybe RM's Ridge would never have gotten this writing, but TK didn't write it. He's playing what's on the page. I can't fault him for that. If he sounds like a bully, if he sounds Zach-like (and to me, they're not the same, but YMMV), that's Brad Bell's doing.

I’d followed B&B, even watched it occasionally, before TK joined B&B, but he is a big reason why I watch. IMO, he’s miscast, and has been from the start, and I have no problem admitting that. I have some different takes as to what’s going on with his performances, so here goes. I was a huge Zach and Kendall fan back in the day, and a big part of why the couple worked was because he had a leading lady who was willing to go with him on the long journey, whether it was an ad lib, or a touch, or a laugh. He’d go off script with something, and she reacted warmly, often doing it right back. So far, he’s had a very different experience on B&B. Heather Tom—IMO, she was an iceberg with him. He’d go to touch her neck, and I swear I saw her recoil. Different kind of actor, I guess. If it wasn’t on the page, she didn’t do it. There was an interview with HT and TK where HT said that they had a good collaboration, where if TK had a suggestion which differed from the script, they’d both go to Brad Bell to discuss. But I called bullshit. HT has had the success she’s had by not rocking the boat, by being a team player, and going along to get along. Not a knock on her, but just another reason why I didn’t see any chemistry between the actors, though I'm sure they got along just fine. LG—His best pairing to date, and he knew it. It was new and fresh, and LG played with him. He’d ad lib, she’d match him. He’d pinch her or caress her, she’d do it right back. It made me wince when I’d hear him say the same lines Zach said to Kendall which made them work so well together—he certainly tried to recreate Zendall with CaRidge, heaven knows. But I understood it. Here was an actress giving more to him than HT, and it was a fresh pairing with no baggage, like “But she used to be your sister in law!” with Katie. (The Caroline I connection was rarely, if ever, mentioned.) He thought he could create gold with her, like he did with Alicia Minshew, but B&B cut that short. For a short time, his disappointment came through in some of his acting choices, particularly with KKL--I'm not defending him, just stating what I think was going on with him, and I do believe that's subsided by now. KKL—IMO, she’s somewhere in between HT and LG. She’s more willing to laugh with him or caress him when Ridge is playful, but she’s also very much tied to script. She respects and values Bridge’s history, so it stands to reason she’ll go along. But she’s also not an ad libber, and TK is more stilted with her, as he was with HT. He likes KKL, you can see that in his interviews and even in his scenes with her. And I’ll go a step further—TK is a practical man. He knows that his recast has not worked with some of the audience, and yet he's paired with KKL, the Grande Dame of B&B. So he’s going to try to sell Bridge as much as he can, in interviews and on screen. But I think he’s limited by the writing (where he’s got zero influence, as he’s recently admitted, which has to be frustrating for him), and by a leading lady with whom he’s working hard to connect. No shade on her, just an observation. Different actors, different styles. I would like TK to be more clean-shaven in his scenes. I’d like his voice to be stronger in his scenes. He doesn’t speak as clearly as he should, whether it’s due to exhaustion, or sinus issues, or whatever. And I agree that sometimes, he’s made the wrong acting choice in a scene. But I buy him as JMW’s father. I have no problem with his performances in his scenes in the custody storyline. Ridge has been written to be consumed with hatred—that’s on the writing. So as of the scenes that are on the air and have aired over the last few months, he’s doing ok. Not great, but ok, IMO. I’m not sure what would happen if he was paired with RS, but one thing I noticed was that he held back in Quidge scenes. RS played infatuation, lust, whatever, to the hilt. He would do it, too, but then he’d stop. I saw him hold back, and thought I might be crazy, but then RS said something like that in an interview at B&B’s 30th Anniversary show—that she was flirting with him, but TK wasn’t giving much back—that confirmed it. I would guess his strong ick at a son seducing his father’s wife, when son/father were close and loving, influenced his acting a lot. In the end, since they didn’t go there with Quidge, his acting choices didn’t hurt the story. But if they ever do go there, he’ll have to give more to their scenes, and that will be interesting to see what kind of leading lady RS is on the HT-LG-KKL spectrum.

This may sound odd, but while I think this entire Hope/Liam/Steffy/Bill storyline is poorly written, and I'm not a fan of AN's Hope (I really liked Kim Matula), I would be ok with this storyline if it actually caused some honest to goodness conflict on this show. I saw Steffy/Hope confront each other and it lacked fangs. I keep reading that the problems with their daughters will cause friction between Bridge, but when exactly is that going to happen? All I see are them discussing it calmly with one saying to the other, "I think your daughter will be disappointed/no, I think your daughter will be disappointed". Brooke has a low opinion of Steffy, which is fine, but why not let Ridge overhear it? Let's see Bill show up at Forrester events as Steffy's guy and watch Brooke's, Ridge's, Katie's and anyone else's heads explode. I just think there's too much civility in this storyline and nothing close to what B&B has advertised (at least with respect to Bridge), and it's boring the heck out of me. IA that it's ridiculous for Steffy to even consider turning to Bill for any reason, and the writing is repetitious and idiotic, but if it leads to some action, fights and meaty drama for a change, then let's get it going.

The show's creator had Season 2 mostly mapped out in his head and gave this interview to EW.com: http://ew.com/tv/2018/05/27/deception-season-2-what-wouldve-happened/ Not every twist and turn sounds appealing to me, but alot of it does. I'm not getting my hopes up, but it sounds like he's willing to continue the story, or wrap up the loose ends, elsewhere.

I've been a fan of this show. Took awhile, but the show grew on me. But one thing that doesn't work is Cam/Kay. Buddies, friends, partners? Yes. Love interests, nope. I don't see sexual chemistry at all, and as a result, this episode was kinda meh for me. I'm here for Dina/Mike, with a little Jonathan thrown in. That triangle works. I'm going to miss it when it's gone. :(

I don't think Rinna is in danger, but ICAM that she has brought zip to the season, and her faces and attitude have annoyed the hell out of me. Maybe it is an act, but it wore thin with me from Day 1 of this season. It's her sole contribution, and it's mostly annoying, but also boring. If she's back next season, I predict she will not be quite so above it all. RHOBH can't justify her paycheck if this is all she brings to the season.

My recollection is that HT's and KB's husbands went into business together, and then the business went south, and the two men had a huge falling out, which impacted their wives, who were both on B&B at the time. I definitely remember HT hiring the bodyguard. I think there was an interview with either KB or HT which tried to do some damage control, saying that the disagreement was mainly between their husbands and they were getting along ok, but they weren't as close as they once had been. I didn't completely buy it. In any event, I'm guessing that KB, who's barely working on the show nowadays, wasn't anywhere near HT when she shot her scenes.