From: sager@cbnewsf.cb.att.com (mike.r.sager)
Subject: SB: more stuff
Organization: AT&T
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 06:21:25 GMT


Since most of the talk on SB in this newsgroup is positive, I'll throw
in some negativism to balance things out.

I don't like the way the SB writers carry out stories.  From what I've
seen, they seem to follow a certain pattern.  The stories start out
pretty good and the viewers become interested.  Then they hit this lull
period in which things go back and forth with inconsistencies everywhere.
The viewers start to think, "I'm pretty confused now, but I'm sure it'll
all make sense when the truth comes out".  The story proceeds to its
conclusion usually after being dragged out too long; still, we're all
in suspense because, overall, it's been a good story.  Then the writers
hit us with a weak ending and we're all disappointed.

The two stories I'm thinking about are the Ballymore story and the
current BJ/Frank thing.  In the Ballymore story, the writers built
things up pretty well; we had the mysterious staff, the emergence of
Micah, Aurora, and Abigail, the strange things happening to Mason,
Julia, and Samantha, the possibility of Aurora being somewhat psycho,
or possibly Micah being the bad guy, and so on.  Things dragged on for
awhile; then the conclusion.  Abigail was evil and was responsible for
everything gone wrong.  It was quite a letdown, almost as if the writers
changed the story in midstream.

Now, the BJ/Frank thing.  It started out okay with the BJ/Troy stuff
and the new Walker family.  Then some of the inconsistencies start; Reese
undergoes a sudden character change and Frank is brought in to replace
Reese as the bad guy.  Admittedly, A Martinez's departure messed things
up a lot, so we accept the changes.  We learn about what Frank did to BJ
as a kid and also the BJ/Cruz relationship.  The story is back on course
and eventually the murder occurs.  So far, so good.  We have a lot of
characters involved; we've got some clues.  We think BJ did it.  So here's
the writers chance to give us this great ending telling us it's not the
obvious choice (BJ), but rather some other character we know but never
suspected.  But we don't get the conclusion.  Instead, the writers start
throwing in these new characters, Dolly, Eugene, the girlfriend, the
babysitter, etc. and the story drags on.  Does anyone think the writers
had these new characters in mind when the story started or are we headed
for another nonsensical ending?  Obviously, I'm writing this before we
find out what happens, but I have a feeling we're going to be disappointed
just like we were in the Ballymore story.

I guess what I'm saying is that when these writers start a story, they
hane no idea how it's going to wind up; they change their minds midstream
leading to inconsistencies; and sometimes they get burned by this lack of
foresight and stick us with sour endings.  We'll see if they prove me wrong.

Negative mode off.

A comment on what McCabe is up to.  I think he's doing whatever he can
to get BJ out of this mess.  He's not sure exactly what BJ's involvement
in the murder is, but he's hoping she's innocent.  I think he wanted
Dolly on the stand not to harm BJ but rather to bring out more of the
truth.  Then, if Dolly's testimony proved harmful to BJ, he figured Julia
would be able to discredit Dolly's testimony by showing that Dolly was
a bit flaky.  Anyways, I think McCabe is going to turn out to be the hero,
and with Warren's help, disclose what really happened.

Mike
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv.soaps