All My Shadows

I feel like the show could have leaned into targeting an older audience. All those shows were coming into their own, but CBS was about to embrace stuff like Dr. Quinn, Walker, Diagnosis Murder, and Touched by an Angel. I think there would have been a place for Knots in that lineup, but only if they had refocused on the core characters in the cul-de-sac.

@Paul Raven I always thought that the 1985 reunion was generally well-liked and received with fans of the series. It’s “Murder” that flopped hard.

I remember when the other shows had their retrospective reunions, there was a blurb somewhere where Jane was asked if the FC cast would be interested in doing one, and her answer was a very Angelian and simple, "No." Some of them ended up reuniting at the Paley Center a few years after her death, and it seemed like they had a good time, so it's sad a proper lookback never happened.

I say start with Dallas and add the others in when appropriate. Start Knots halfway through Dallas’s third season. Start Dynasty once you’re halfway through Knots Landing’s second season, and start Falcon Crest where you just about a third of the way through Dynasty’s second season. If you really want to fill out the set, throw in Flamingo Road where appropriate. Paper Dolls is easy to find, Yellow Rose has some identity issues but is a fun watch. I think Emerald Point NAS is out there somewhere? That might be on my list to watch this summer. I watched the 1981-1982 seasons of the four Lorimar shows (Dallas, Knots, Flamingo, Falcon) simultaneously last year, and it was a real blast. I’m really a devotee of early Knots. It’s at its best, for me, in seasons 3-5. The first two seasons are as everyone says - some great episodes, some duds, but I just can’t imagine skipping episodes if your goal is to watch the complete series. I’m liking season 6, but it’s become a show that is mostly different from what it started as and even different from its initial “soapy” form. Dallas. It’s become a hard watch for me bc it really does start to center on JR outsmarting everyone. But you can’t beat the atmosphere and vibe. It was #1 for a reason. Falcon Crest turns the tension on in the first episode and it just goes on from there. I’m almost done with the third season, and IMO, it has the strongest start out of the big four. Def just my opinion, though. People will say that Dynasty was only good in its first and final seasons, but if you want to watch DYNASTY in its most beloved, iconic, and remembered form, it’s the first 4-5 seasons. It ain’t gotta make sense. It aimed to entertain, and it did exactly that. Watch the trashy seasons because that’s Dynasty. Flamingo Road was my first 80s primetime soap, and it still holds a special place in my heart. It’s a quick watch with a great cast and a different vibe due to its setting and focus. It has its weaknesses, but it’s a good show. Paper Dolls is amazing. That is all. Peyton Place is the granddaddy and, imo, most like daytime soaps when it comes to episode and story pacing. I’m almost 200 episodes in, and it is glorious.

Oh yeah, that’s definitely true. AMC has a little trove of early early 70s stuff, and OLTL has a trove of mid-to-late 70s stuff.

I wouldn’t say there’s less OLTL since there are quite a few from 1975-1977 now accessible online. AMC really is the only major soap with absolutely nothing from the mid-70s online (besides audio recordings). And yep, Tom and Erica’s wedding is the next full episode after the B/W kines.

Eileen stopped by the Martins’ house and caught up with Kate first. I can always hear the clunkiness of Kate #1 referring to her as “Eileen Riley Siegel.” IIRC, this is the ep where Joe is late coming from the hospital bc of a car accident involving teens, and Eileen mentions Julie and Tim. I adore the nice little set of early episodes that have popped up (including those ripped from the original broadcast!), but it is so ridiculously beyond (beond) time for something from 1972-1977 to show up somewhere.

In the 170s, not long after Norman and Rita’s wedding, and I am so in love with the pure romance of their newlywed scenes. They have that smooth 60s love story that somehow manages to be super gentle yet super intense all at the same time.

I am currently in the 130s and loving every minute. I watch like 4 episodes at a time most days. I’ll have more thoughts when I can use SON on my laptop again, but I do have to say I had no idea David Canary was on the show. I’m sitting here thinking, “Man, they did a great job casting all these hot men,” then I look up and see it’s Adam “Candy” Chandler.

Dang, I didn’t realize it was only the first 20 minutes. I would love to see more of Anne from this time. Not sure what to make of GG’s portrayal besides what we’ve already known, that she presented as much younger than Judith Barcroft. You’d never believe this was the same character as the Anne we see in that color clip from ‘71. A year later, the character would die in a car bomb explosion intended for Paul. I wonder how big of a deal her death was, considering she’d been a leading character throughout most of the first decade and still had some established friendships across the canvas, plus the whole Tyler family was still around in one way or another. My suspicion has always been that they went through it rather quickly so as to continue building the new core group of characters. Either way, killing her off was totally unnecessary. PS. I will literally pay for access to the boards at this point bc right now I am unable to log in on my laptop and so I can only use the mobile app, which is a nightmare with all these ads, the page auto-refreshing whenever it wants, etc.

Currently watching it and I am in heaven. It’s definitely the episode from BEOND, and I am oh so very thankful that it was posted somewhere for everyone to see. The Cudahy brothers at their absolute hottest. Tom/Erica deliciousness. Tom/Brooke/Mark triangle goodness. Benny/Estelle. Frank Grant. Gwyn Gillis as Anne. It really feels like this ep embodies what the show was in 1980. The waning days of the 70s era as it transitions into the early 80s.

The Martins really needed a female voice. Besides Kelsey’s brief stint, the key family members in the second half of the run were all men at varying degrees of annoyingness. Paul could have had a daughter a la Don & Christina Hughes who would show up in the early/mid 2000s. Kelsey staying on would have secured regular visits from Tara. The Tylers are tough. They started out as a family of only adults, and none of them had any surviving children, so it was easy to phase them out in the early 80s. Brooke was the de facto continuation of the line, though she wasn’t actually a Tyler. I wonder how willing Francesca James was to make more appearances in the 2000s? She came back for Phoebe’s and Myrtle’s funerals, and then she played that other character on 2.0. I think several people said way back then that Kelly could have worked as the new owner of the boarding house.

The thing with Paul that’s always crazy for me to think about is that, in the 70s, he definitely had much more to do and was more of a leading man than Joe was. Joe had the romance with Ruth that led to their wedding only 2-3 years into the show’s run, and they immediately became the show’s established couple. Paul, meanwhile, was involved in several triangles and quads. He really fell victim to the same “other brother” syndrome that hit Mike Bauer, Bill Horton, Don Hughes, etc. Once the soaps hit the 80s and started bringing in more “exciting” families, they pared the originals down to just one sibling as a regular character. Joe lucked out bc grown-up Tad brought all kinds of new connections.

I see that he posted the 10/16/1958 episode of EON a few days ago, but only for his paid subscribers. Insanity bc that episode has been on YT for years now. Read the room, bro.

Thanks for the tag. Those little clips are like gold. Jim Storm as Larry catches my attention the most because I'm so used to him done up in his Dark Shadows garb as Gerard, it's so weird to see him a contemporary setting. Similarly, I see Gillian Spencer and immediately think Daisy, but in just these few moments, you can see how well-suited she was to the ingenue role (which makes sense after her GL run). I feel like we have to be close to finding something substantial from the Carla/Clara story.

The channel posting Musical Chairs episodes is branching out to material from other rare games, including this amazing reel from “Everybody’s Talking.” This is ABC in 1967, when their top primetime hit was Bewitched. It’s three solid minutes of dick jokes, including allusions to BJs, cumshots, and gay anal sex. In 1967!!

Donna's online presence is just magnificent, cool, casual, fresh, etc. I love that she addressed a nasty comment not with more nastiness but by making light of it while still saying "Imma do meeeee, and you can do you." What's funny is that even in the old lady get-up, she still looks great.

Alan Locher posted on FB that he received "two hard drives filled with classic episodes" of ATWT, EON, AMC, OLTL, GL, "and more" from the 70s-00s. Seems like he plans to share them via YT, but I'm not sure how that's gonna work if P&G and ABC get wind of it. He's asking where he should start, and it's like...dude. This is daytime. This is soaps. Start with the earliest stuff you have and just go forward from there.

If DAYS starts putting out classic episodes, and the focus is on the damn demonic possession, that would be disappointing and embarrassing as hell.

I think Holly's appeal was that she was able to make fun of herself and didn't mind being the awkward "kid" who was constantly botching the prize presentations. The first few times, it might have been a little nerve-wracking, but once it became an endearing part of her role on the show, her getting stuck with a refrigerator that kept popping open or crashing a moped into the set was just as good as, if not better than, everything going according to plan. Janice and Dian (and Anitra) were more polished as models, but Holly leaned slightly into being an entertainer, and the others followed her lead and loosened up a little as time went on. Any time we get some new early 70s Password is worth celebrating, but I always have to remind myself that they were still playing the game in its original, basic format. In my mind, once the 60s series ends, the puzzle is added as a permanent part of the game. I think even the more recent revival just stuck to the original format, which is silly to me. It's like debuting a new TPIR and going back to the Bill Cullen format of just having the contestants bidding on various prizes.

They've had one or two off episodes, the rest of the series has been pretty good and refreshing. There's a certain candidness about it on the part of the guests that I've rarely seen them exhibit anywhere else, and you have to credit Greg and Rebecca for making them comfortable. It's definitely a mistake to write this off based on who the hosts are, IMO. My first thought re: Morgan was also of how much healthier she looks now. For a while, she just looked so physically tired all the time while still being very open on social media. She's perked up a lot in the last year or so, though. I just absolutely love that she, Donna Mills, Susan Lucci, and Joan Collins are so active online all the time. They really are the grand dames we've always believed them to be, in all the biggest and smallest ways.

Guhhhh, not Su doing all that cussin!! Can’t wait!

I always enjoy the clips that I see on Instagram, but I do get frustrated with the fact that the people who have such ready access to so many important people don't really know much about the soap genre/history outside their own experiences because LIAMST should have been a major part of the conversation with Donna. If they ever interview Clifton Davis, sure they can talk about his career in music, but I also expect a soap podcast to ask him what it was like to be a young black actor in daytime on "A World Apart" over 50 years ago, working with Susan Sarandon, and being part of a storyline that was controversial for the time.

So sad! I love Frank and Janie in the early episodes, especially Frank. I wish the show had invested more in the non-Sugden characters so that they could have been around a lot longer. I know, it’s insane to think that this show was once too focused on the Sugdens.

I might’ve watched the first night of these back in 2006 and never tuned in again lol it was enough trying to juggle the daytime soaps I was watching at the time. I always thought these shows would have been interesting as Saturday afternoon dramas, but this was a few years after that daypart really ceased to exist.