Post by Dallas on Nov 29, 2019 10:01:10 GMT -5
A November to Remember - BTS
***WARNING: BELOW CONTAINS SPOILERS; IF YOU HAVE NOT READ UP TO EP. 577 PROCEED WITH CAUTION**
With the final episode of November sweeps having been released, I thought I would do a blog (It's been awhile!) to wrap up some of my thoughts about this month which saw some pretty shocking twists & turns.
Let's start with the fact that I continue to be pretty far ahead in my writing of One Day at a Time, which really gives me the time to set up storylines properly but also find inspiration from various places. Leading up to creating the 2019 bible, I had binged watched a lot of the original Melrose Place; there was an arch where Kimberly in a mental hospital and she had electroshock therapy; this is where the original idea came from with Felicia & Barbara in Raven's Meadow together and the electroshock therapy.
Let me back track, however. I also sort of thought that on soaps, one of the classic stories is a DID story and on some soaps (OLTL comes to mind), the alters come back through a character's history on the show many times. I don't know how many times Viki's alters came back … but thinking how many Emmy's Erika Slezak won for the show, I'm thinking many! This is when I decided that Victoria's alter would return, which is why then I started the set up of her near rape in February. I needed something to truly trigger the return of Brandy. This story sort of needed that slow burn; it couldn't be one night Victoria is raped, the next episode her alters are back, and then next episode she's getting revenge on half the cast. It had to be played out properly.
Once Victoria's alter was back, the next step was to place her at Raven's Meadow. Because Victoria is a doctor, it was pretty easy to explain that she wanted a second job to keep herself busy and to keep her family from really seeing that Brandy was in control. This is where Barbara came in; I knew that because of Victoria's past, she would instantly want to get back at a woman who caused her granddaughter to be raped (or at least give the appearance that she caused Dawn's rape). To get revenge on Barbara, I thought this is where I could use the Melrose Place inspiration with the electroshock therapy; I thought the idea of giving someone electrotherapy was just so fun and so crazy that I had to do it! It's really out there, but in a fun, soapy way.
Secondly, I knew that I wanted a pretty epic conclusion to the fire at the boutique storyline as this had been going on for over a year (Kim started that damn fire in October of last year!). This is why Tyler was slowly getting closer to the truth and Kim was slowly getting closer to Greg; again, all the pieces of the puzzle had to fit before the picture was fully complete. With Brandy firing on all cylinders, I knew that November would be a great time to wrap this part of the storyline up. So, Tyler learned the truth just as Kim and Bob were seemingly at odds over Greg. Of course, Robbie saw a close moment between Greg and Kim which will really be a huge factor in the next phase of the storyline. I also wanted something tragic to happen, which is where the car accident came into play. I knew Bob would be one of the persons in the car accident but for max impact, I wanted the other driver to be a main characters which is then I thought of Helen.
Helen had sort of been on the backburner as she dealt with her feelings for Adam, who was moving on with his romance with Robin. I thought Helen could get really upset over Adam's engagement and get into a car accident. If Brandy was the doctor that handled Helen, anything could happen because Brandy could also blame Helen for Dawn's attack.
Soaps in the past had done buried alive stories but the most classic one that I remember watching was the original Vivian/Carly on Days of Our Lives. It was just so sick and twisted but fun. I knew I wanted to do this type of storyline and having Brandy on the canvas was the perfect way to do it because ODaaT didn't really have another character that evil running around. I also thought that burying a woman alive would be more dramatic than a man; there's something about a heroine in distress that seems more dramatic than a man. This is where the idea of Helen getting trapped in the coffin came from.
Overall, I thought the execution was pretty well done. I love that Adam/Dawn got to see a "dead" Helen in the morgue to make it appear real and right after the funeral, this is where Brandy revealed to the audience that Helen was alive and in the coffin while Adam and Dawn were mourning Helen at the gravesite. It's so sick but delicious!
All of these events, of course, set up another set of storylines as well … like Will Bob survive? Who will take the fall for the fire now that Tyler/Dominick know the truth? Will Felicia get out of Raven's Meadow now that she has been cleared of the fire? How will Adam/Dawn handle Helen's "death"? How long will Helen stay in the coffin? Who will catch Brandy?
I've always said that the best soap stories are the ones that when there is a epic conclusion, it spins new storylines from it … this was definitely the case!
What did you think of the November Sweeps? Sound off below.
Until next time,
Dzkw
***WARNING: BELOW CONTAINS SPOILERS; IF YOU HAVE NOT READ UP TO EP. 577 PROCEED WITH CAUTION**
With the final episode of November sweeps having been released, I thought I would do a blog (It's been awhile!) to wrap up some of my thoughts about this month which saw some pretty shocking twists & turns.
Let's start with the fact that I continue to be pretty far ahead in my writing of One Day at a Time, which really gives me the time to set up storylines properly but also find inspiration from various places. Leading up to creating the 2019 bible, I had binged watched a lot of the original Melrose Place; there was an arch where Kimberly in a mental hospital and she had electroshock therapy; this is where the original idea came from with Felicia & Barbara in Raven's Meadow together and the electroshock therapy.
Let me back track, however. I also sort of thought that on soaps, one of the classic stories is a DID story and on some soaps (OLTL comes to mind), the alters come back through a character's history on the show many times. I don't know how many times Viki's alters came back … but thinking how many Emmy's Erika Slezak won for the show, I'm thinking many! This is when I decided that Victoria's alter would return, which is why then I started the set up of her near rape in February. I needed something to truly trigger the return of Brandy. This story sort of needed that slow burn; it couldn't be one night Victoria is raped, the next episode her alters are back, and then next episode she's getting revenge on half the cast. It had to be played out properly.
Once Victoria's alter was back, the next step was to place her at Raven's Meadow. Because Victoria is a doctor, it was pretty easy to explain that she wanted a second job to keep herself busy and to keep her family from really seeing that Brandy was in control. This is where Barbara came in; I knew that because of Victoria's past, she would instantly want to get back at a woman who caused her granddaughter to be raped (or at least give the appearance that she caused Dawn's rape). To get revenge on Barbara, I thought this is where I could use the Melrose Place inspiration with the electroshock therapy; I thought the idea of giving someone electrotherapy was just so fun and so crazy that I had to do it! It's really out there, but in a fun, soapy way.
Secondly, I knew that I wanted a pretty epic conclusion to the fire at the boutique storyline as this had been going on for over a year (Kim started that damn fire in October of last year!). This is why Tyler was slowly getting closer to the truth and Kim was slowly getting closer to Greg; again, all the pieces of the puzzle had to fit before the picture was fully complete. With Brandy firing on all cylinders, I knew that November would be a great time to wrap this part of the storyline up. So, Tyler learned the truth just as Kim and Bob were seemingly at odds over Greg. Of course, Robbie saw a close moment between Greg and Kim which will really be a huge factor in the next phase of the storyline. I also wanted something tragic to happen, which is where the car accident came into play. I knew Bob would be one of the persons in the car accident but for max impact, I wanted the other driver to be a main characters which is then I thought of Helen.
Helen had sort of been on the backburner as she dealt with her feelings for Adam, who was moving on with his romance with Robin. I thought Helen could get really upset over Adam's engagement and get into a car accident. If Brandy was the doctor that handled Helen, anything could happen because Brandy could also blame Helen for Dawn's attack.
Soaps in the past had done buried alive stories but the most classic one that I remember watching was the original Vivian/Carly on Days of Our Lives. It was just so sick and twisted but fun. I knew I wanted to do this type of storyline and having Brandy on the canvas was the perfect way to do it because ODaaT didn't really have another character that evil running around. I also thought that burying a woman alive would be more dramatic than a man; there's something about a heroine in distress that seems more dramatic than a man. This is where the idea of Helen getting trapped in the coffin came from.
Overall, I thought the execution was pretty well done. I love that Adam/Dawn got to see a "dead" Helen in the morgue to make it appear real and right after the funeral, this is where Brandy revealed to the audience that Helen was alive and in the coffin while Adam and Dawn were mourning Helen at the gravesite. It's so sick but delicious!
All of these events, of course, set up another set of storylines as well … like Will Bob survive? Who will take the fall for the fire now that Tyler/Dominick know the truth? Will Felicia get out of Raven's Meadow now that she has been cleared of the fire? How will Adam/Dawn handle Helen's "death"? How long will Helen stay in the coffin? Who will catch Brandy?
I've always said that the best soap stories are the ones that when there is a epic conclusion, it spins new storylines from it … this was definitely the case!
What did you think of the November Sweeps? Sound off below.
Until next time,
Dzkw