All My Shadows

Gosh, what a shocker! As always, thanks for the tag, @DRW50 . This is the most shocking classic soap news since the Doctors reruns were announced years ago. I'm interpreting this as being a retelling of the original set-up rather than a continuation, but that's just me. I guess it's also possible, though very unlikely, that it's a literal continuation - picking up in 1980 with the outlines that were recently found (which I still haven't had time to read). My preference would be for a retelling of the original set-up, honestly. I think it's a huge disadvantage for a project like this to start with nearly 30 years of lore to manage, especially when the basic set-up around Van and Meg is so timeless and adaptable. My perfect "reboot" of Love of Life would be an hour-long primetime soap that focuses on Vanessa and Bruce's new marriage, the young and sexy drama Alan and Barbara get into, and Meg's various schemes and plots as well as her difficulties raising teenage hellion Ben. Plus Van's best friend Ellie Crown and Meg's best frenemy, the iconic Evans Baker. And to be honest, the only names I'd change/modernize would be Bruce and Barbara. "Evans" can become just "Evan."

I started watching in June 2001. I have yet to see the exact episode make it to YT, but I distinctly remember a scene between David and Jesse McCartney's JR catching my attention. I was 11 years old, and I really really really liked looking at Jesse McCartney. This was when JR was acting out and hanging with druggies because Dixie was with David. The Laura/Greenlee/Laura triangle really hooked me in, though, and I watched for the rest of that summer mainly for them as I learned the rest of the characters and gradually got into the entire show. Gillian's death was big that summer, too, and I kinda picked up on the idea that this Jesse character who was "guiding" her in the afterlife wasn't just some random guy, that he'd been a character on the show too at some point, and I think that's what led me to look into the show's history. Once I realized that this was the soap with Susan Lucci, I stayed on the lookout for any glimpses of Erica, but they didn't have her doing much at the time. Soap Central was a godsend at the time. I remember being up at 4am one night, reading their old yearly summaries that stretched back to 1970. I was pretty much locked in by summer 2002.

IIRC, he literally told the medical staff at the hospital to "keep him alive, I need his heart" or something similar. I love all the 2000s AMC talk. We're far enough away from that time for me to shamelessly acknowledge that it was the AMC I found, the AMC I loved, and the AMC that took my hand and brought me deeeeeeeeep into this soap opera thing 25 years ago. It wasn't perfect at all, but I can't bring myself to completely crap on an era that meant so much to me as a pre-teen/teenager and introduced me to the genre that damn near defines my pop culture life.

I know the show had quite a few drop-in type characters through the 80s, but Anne would have been great in the high-glam Dynasty era. Spending several months abroad, dropping into PV to comment on whatever Phoebe's up to, be a confidante to someone, visit with Kate, and then roll out until next year. And dressed in the swankiest threads for the time, hair done as hell, etc. We get a teeny tiny glimpse of Judith as the "with-it" Anne in that woefully brief (color!) clip from 1971, and she just oozes leading lady vibes. It's very easy to forget that Anne and Paul were heavy-hitters all throughout the 70s. Paul was more prominent than Joe.

TVLand aired the pilot in 2005 for some kind of Warner Bros. celebration. I remember being glued to the TV that whole weekend. They also aired various episodes of Falcon Crest, Dallas, Eight is Enough, and Sisters, plus the Dallas reunion movies and a ton of other stuff that wasn't on the regular rerun circuit at the time. It was awesome.

I really don't think I can add much of substance to any Dolly tribute that hasn't already been said, but since hearing the news yesterday, I've constantly had the chorus of "Think About Love" playing in the back of my mind: "When you think about love, think about me." Girl, trust me, when we think about you, we will always think about love!

I've actually not watched much 90s AMC! Back when I still had tons of time to regularly watch soaps, you really only had scattered episodes on YouTube. By the time the big month-long blocks started to pop up, I mostly watched the 80s stuff, and then I had less and less time to watch on a regular basis. I definitely have an interest in watching that era, and I guess at this point it's just a matter of committing to starting it lol

Oop, once it started and I saw that it was Soft White Underbelly, I bristled.

I enjoyed Shelley Fabares on The Donna Reed Show, but I truly adored her as Francine on ODAAT. That era had so many great stylish, glamorous ladies who played comedy so well, and she was one of the best. A truly underrated supporting actress on three very disparate sitcoms, and she worked so well on all of them. RIP.

Funny because when watching the 1980 episode, I was thinking of how sexy VB's Benny is in an understated way. He's cute, but his devotion to Estelle made him sexy. Or maybe Richard Shoberg on full display alongside Alan Dysert just made me think everyone was hot in that episode. But yes, since early Benny was supposed to be a grimy 70s greaser type, I would imagine he had some real sex appeal. It's crazy, but that listing of characters, as basic as it is, makes me so happy. This was AMC in the midst of its reign as daytime's #1 soap. We can talk about it until we're blue in the face, but as much as the early 80s was a golden era (and I am SO glad so much of it is out there for us to watch today), no one can convince me that 1975-1980 wasn't the show as its absolute best.

I need to be more active in this thread lol All of the new Woolery-era daytime WoF has been fun to watch. I've always liked Wheel, but I've never really sought out many classic episodes. I guess the fact that it's just been a constant throughout my whole TV-watching life, plus GSN aired plenty of 80s/90s reruns back in the day. It's interesting to see it as a smaller show with less bells, whistles, and gimmicks. Once that gold curtain comes down, it's just the contestants, the wheel, and the puzzle. Despite all of Chuck's political BS at the end of his life, he's still one of my favorite hosts, and his casual style was a good fit for Wheel's humble beginnings. I've always been watching a lot of "Pass the Buck," which I'd never really looked much into until recently. On paper, it's a great concept and very addictive game, but I am regularly shocked at how willy-nilly the judging is - and the contestants just accept it and roll along. There was one round where the category was "Do an impression of a celebrity, and if Bill can guess who it is, you get to stay." As funny as it was, I would be pissed if my future in the game depended on Bill Cullen's ability to guess who I'm doing an impression of.

Okay, the stuff with Christopher Reeve paying a surprise visit to Love of Life is super sweet and cute. It feels like any BTS glimpses at that show are few and far between, so it's just nice to see Audrey, Tudi, CHH, and Larry Auerbach looking so cozy.

Welp, I learned my lesson. When "new" AMC is posted, put everything else aside and just watch it, because now it's gone ☹️

Gotta echo @DRW50 and thank you for those uploads from allllll those years ago. Tbh, when people first mentioned this 1980 episode, part of me assumed that it was just one of those that you posted. Thankfully, it wasn't, and so that gives us, what, five full episodes from the year? Two from February, two from May, and one from September. Five episodes of AMC from 1980. Now two from 1979. One from 1978. Howwww is AMC the legendary long-runner with so few available eps from this period? It's never not infuriating to me.

Mitch S. has put up the May 1980 episode from the streaming channel!! I believe only a part of it was previously put online. I am practicing self-discipline and trying to get some work done so I can watch it guilt-free later on, but mannnn, just skimming through it, this one looks to be heavy on Erica, the Cudahy brothers, Frank Grant, and Paul Martin with Gwyn Gilliss's Anne!!