The Bay

I got as far as episode 8 and I really should have followed my instinct and stopped about half way through the first one. Trust me, it does NOT get any better. The only redeeming quality is that the episodes are mercifully short.

I just finished watching the Bay and its companion series, the Confession of the Garretts. If you enjoyed Falcon Crest, Santa Barbara, or any of the great soaps, you will love this show.

The show features a cast of daytime soap stars and new actors who bring much experience, energy and passion to the show:

Mary Beth Evans stars as Sara Garrett, matriarch of the Garrett-Nelson clan. Her character is the heroine with a devious streak. Other cast members include Tristan Rogers, Dylan Bruce, Sandra Robinson, Martha Madison, and Gavin Houston. Lane Davies, the great actor from Santa Barbara, has also been cast.

The does a great job also with diversity.

It kills me to have to say this, because I have loved some of the actors on this show for decades, but are you guys serious? Who is awarding all these awards and 7.2 rating? What am I missing?

This show features several heavy hitters of daytime TV royalty but even they aren't enough to save it. My problem isn't the melodrama and far-fetched plots because it's clearly a guilty-pleasure show. I can live with the really weird production quality because it's a web series. But the acting from everyone except the established soap stars is painfully cringeworthy and unwatchable, the dialog is painfully cringeworthy and unwatchable, and the pacing is actually physically frustrating. And that's coming from someone who loves Lifetime movies.

Specific criticisms: most of the young actors chew every scene they're in, the pacing/plot is all over the place, and the casting choices are...weird (Charles Shaughnessy as a police CAPTAIN? I mean, I LOVE this man but he's about 20 years older than the average police captain...I would know, I'm in law enforcement and unchecked details like this are laughable to us). One main character is blond in the first episode and then by episode 2, has red hair, but since we haven't gotten to know her yet, I didn't recognize her as a redhead and spent the whole episode wondering who the heck that was. Just weird production decisions like that that take one out of the story.

I wanted to see this show because I love Matthew Ashford but at 7 episodes in, I've found that skipping all the scenes except the ones he's in makes the show more palatable. And that really tells you all you need to know.

This serial is geared for soap opera aficionados only. Soaps are practically extinct now. This show bring back memories by including many soap vets from :"Days of Our Lives" - Kayla, Jack, Shawn Brady and Belle, "General Hospital" - Bobbie Spencer and Robert Scorpio, "Bold and the Beautiful " - the original Ridge and "Santa Barbara " - Mason Capwell and Lionel Lockridge. Episodes are 30 minutes. Acting is what you expect from a soap. This is not a Scorese film. Recommended for soap fans only.

Hey, I can enjoy trashy soap operas as much as the next gal, but 'The Bay' is pure babble. Rubbish script and hysterical acting, with dreadful characterisation, this garbage makes 'Days of our Lives' look like Shakespeare in comparison.