All My Shadows

This is such a shocking loss. No matter how many times John and Marlena were written out or taking a break or whatever, you always knew they'd come back, and they always did come back, but now? It reminds me of Jackie Zeman's passing. We just don't feel ready for this generation of soap legends to leave us. Yes, we've already mourned plenty of them over the years, but there are just some who seemed like they'd live forever. They were supposed to make it to Frances Reid/Helen Wagner/Ruth Warrick status. It's really a privilege to live in a time where 70 is seen as an early death.

I just finished up season one, which ends with Hurricane Michelle hitting Truro, which is situated in Florida’s Big Bend region…just as Hurricane Helene is about to hit Florida’s Big Bend region.

I am IN LOVE with the new title. "The Gates" really just had that something missing, and simply adding "Beyond the" totally completes it. It's a classic, vintage soap title without sounding too dated. Brilliant. I'm also very thankful the family isn't called Gates because that would have been too much. I'm not gonna sit here and fawn over Tamara Tunie and Daphnee Duplaix coming back to daytime because everyone has already adequately expressed how exciting it is, but...man. Talk about doing everything right! As it important as it is to highlight black talent on this show, it's also important to highlight those who who've already made careers in daytime. Cornelius Smith, baby, you better be next.

Might be an unpopular opinion, but I think it's time for awards shows to do away with memoriam segments. The number of significant deaths in each industry (especially television) gets larger each year, and it will never be possible to truly honor everyone the way they deserve. A good compromise would be to simply post the segment online each year so that there are no concerns over timing for the actual broadcast.

An Electra complex is when a woman has creepy sexual thoughts about her father, so it fits with this show.

Absolutely. I was listening to Silky Soul, their tribute to Marvin Gaye, last night, and it’s just so fitting because now it’s just as much a tribute to Frankie. Frankie Beverly is like the male counterpart to Betty Wright, imo. The people who know just know.

Maze featuring Frankie Beverly was such a gigantic part of my childhood. My dad was a big fan, so the likes of Golden Time of Day, While I’m Alone, We Are One, Joy and Pain, Before I Let Go, Can’t Get Over You, Running Away, I Wanna Thank You, and, his favorite, Happy Feelins, were on constant rotation. The music just puts you into a weekend mood, whether it’s a backyard party, Saturday morning chores, going fishing down the bayou, etc. Some of the best memories of my life.

What an awesome find, as any 70s ATWT is. This was the show’s last year on top, and you can definitely feel more energy here than you would two years later. Kim must have just started to wear her hair like that within the preceding year because she still had her big blow-out in 1976.

I think what benefitted all those primetime shows is that they were in daily reruns basically since they went off the air, meaning anyone tuning in to a reunion movie would have most definitely been familiar with all the characters. I think in the case of AMC, it would be wise to find a balance between spelling out connections and letting the new audience figure it out. No one tuning in needs a play-by-play of the Martin family history. Returning viewers already know it, and new viewers will need to know only what they need to know for the storyline of the movie(s). I wish the show still had an “official” home on the web that curious new viewers could be directed to in order to learn all the history. They can’t exactly promote the numerous YT channels with old episodes.

Seeing this as anything other than a positive/win is insane to me, but whatevs. I absolutely 100% mentioned this as a perfect way to continue GL and ATWT back in the day (do not make me go find the posts!), so to see it actually happening with AMC is incredible. To me, in several ways, this is almost (almost) better than it returning as a regular series. No need to worry about the regular ratings race (or whatever it is for streaming), no constant cast comings and goings, no aimless storylines going on and on, no complaints about front burner/back burner characters, etc. If it moves forward, we know we’re getting two complete movies telling two complete stories. If they’re a success, maybe we get more. If they’re not a success, we are losing nothing. It just seems to be a much safer, less stressful way to bring back a show that last aired over a decade ago and primarily appeals to an older audience. To me, it’s exactly the same as when the likes of Perry Mason, Gunsmoke, Eight is Enough, The Waltons, Dallas, Murder She Wrote, The Rockford Files, and Hart to Hart returned as movies in the 80s and 90s. If our soaps join that canon of classic TV franchises, I am thrilled because right now, they are just collecting dust. GL and ATWT have basically faded into obscurity at this point.

That’s exactly what I suggested for ATWT and GL (albeit via Hallmark Channel) when they were cancelled. As always, not getting my hopes up whatsoever and will probably forget all about this news within a week, but it’s a nice thought and I’m here for it.

Nothing much to add to all that's been said about James Earl Jones, but as a 90s kid, my earliest and strongest memory of him is The Sandlot. I love the fact that as extremely talented he was a serious stage actor, he never turned up his nose as less prestigious TV and movie fare. That's the mark of an actor who just loves to act, in my opinion.

Ooooh, I can answer this one. Somewhere in season 6, there's like a 2-episode arc where a man expresses interest in buying KLM. Karen is against it at first because of course it's like selling Sid's dream, but Eric eventually convinces her to sell because he's not interested in running it as Karen focuses her attention on her other business endeavors.

I'm excited to be watching this show again for the first time in 20 years! I am hell-bent on being able to watch most of the 1981-1982 season of Knots Landing, Falcon Crest, and now Flamingo Road together, so I have to make my way through S1. Flamingo Road was the first of the 80s primetime soaps that I had regular access to watching, so it has a special place in my heart, but I'm looking forward to watching it through grown-up eyes (I was 13 the first time lol). Some quick observations from the pilot movie and two-part series premiere, and please forgive me if these things have been brought up in the thread before: - They burned through SO. MUCH. in the pilot movie that could have and should have been developed over the first season. It's very hard to see Lane/Field as this great tortured love story when, if I have it right, she spent more time in jail after meeting him than she did getting to know him and falling for him before Titus had her sent away. And then she continues to pine after him, even though as a woman who traveled with the carnival, you'd think she'd have less trouble getting over a short-term fling that was destined to go nowhere. - There was no reason at all that we needed to know A, that Constance was adopted by the Weldons, and B, she's actually Claude and Lute-Mae's daughter, so soon. Like whyyyy would you squander that? - It starts off as a very loveless show. We have only three established couples in the beginning, and the only one that is truly in love (Skipper/Annabelle) is over by the end of the pilot. Eudora and Claude have no warmth, and obviously Field is not in love with Constance. The series premiere did show some cute/fun stuff with the two of them, and IIRC, the second season does an excellent job of showing them as snarky friends/ex-lovers. - To me, a mistake in the development of the series was the decision to put the Weldons at the center. The original book/movie really wasn't about who lived on Flamingo Road as much as it was about who aspired to live there, and as someone already posted, that's the more interesting set-up anyway. The Weldons are cold, old money, and we find out pretty quickly that they're not even all actually blood related, so if they were going for Ewing-style family dynamics, it was never going to be that. - It's a Lorimar production, so there's tons of overlap with BTS personnel (plus we get Jordan Lee as the minister who marries Field and Constance lol), but I did not expect to hear some of the exact same music cues from Dallas and/or Knots Landing used throughout the two-part series premiere. - Mark damn Harmon. That is all.

I was going to mention this - the season opens with three very good episodes focusing on Sid's death, but man, his absence was felt back at the cul-de-sac. With Sid gone and Kenny and Ginger taking a backseat, the show feels a little empty. Lilimae's a good addition to lighten things up, but I'm finally seeing why this is a point where the show's future was in jeopardy. Knowing that the best is yet to come makes it easier to watch, that's for sure.

A thought that crossed my mind is what if Kenny and Ginger were siblings instead of a married couple. Let’s say they grew up in the cul-de-sac (not sure how old the houses are supposed to be - isn’t Val and Gary‘a supposed to be new?), their parents retired to Palm Springs or wherever else, and instead fretting over apartment rent, the siblings just stayed in the house. You could have told some of the same stories, just without the extra drama of them being married. Ginger could still be a kindergarten teacher who dates her student’s dad, Kenny could still be involved with a horrific “singer,” etc. One of the things that I think I’ll miss as I go forward after Sid’s death is the potential for that type of adult sibling relationship. It kinda makes sense that they brought in Karen’s brother for a while, but that was never going to hit the same. ”Loudest Word” gets me when Gary trashes the bedroom (which now lives on in the opening credits) and breaks down to call Miss Ellie. Absolutely cringe-worthy, but again, I am literally the middle Ewing son’s whore. When he hurts, I hurt.

Ginger kicked him out, but he realized Sylvie was aggravating as hell and kept trying to get back with Ginger. She dated the father of one of her students until she realized she was pregnant. I have to say that Kenny becomes a very sweet guy after all that goes down, and I’m glad I know next to nothing about what happens with them in the third and fourth seasons because I want to be surprised. I hope they stick it out, boring as they might be. I do think it’s funny how right from the start of S3, you know the Wards will never be more than supporting characters ever again. I don’t believe they even appeared in the season premiere, and in the new scrolling opening credits, Houghton and Lankford technically share a collage of clips whereas everyone else gets their own individual sets. You just KNOW the PTB hated the fact that their names came first alphabetically lol

“Critical Condition” - easily one of the greatest hours of television ever created. My God, I need a cigarette and I don’t even smoke. Fully aware that Sid was going to die, I was still speechless at the end. “Aftermath” is shaping up to be just as great. People who dismiss soaps are really missing out, man.

Your point about the sleeping around being kinda moot for a show rooted in that 70s mindset is so spot on. Everyone is cheating or thinking about cheating, but the people who were cheated on (or almost cheated on) were never much more than a bit miffed by it. And then everyone had a chance to possibly cheat back. The Loudest Word was my favorite episode of season 2, and I fully acknowledge being a total simp for Gary (at this point), so I don't see him as a bad guy for his reaction to the possibility of Val having a colostomy. It was raw and real, and he stepped up in the end. I wish we'd had more of that with them than the Trent Affair, especially the pointless return of Earl and his suggestion that he and Val get revenge on Gary and Judy. Abby's "Gary...you ready for me now?" is not praised enough as an iconic line/moment because wowza. I'm in to Season 3 now, and I am so excited! I will probably slow down my watching now just to make it last because 3-6 is the Knots Landing I've always wanted to watch.

Currently watching “Man of the Hour,” which I’m assuming is one of the final Eight is Enough-style episodes that focus on the Fairgate kids. Eric is such a sweet and earnest kid, absolutely adorable, and in terrible need of a haircut. My question is - did the show ever resolve his fate after Shaw’s death? Even in the reunion mini-series, was it established that Eric was no longer living? General season 2 observations before I finish it up soon - you can just tell some changes had to happen because halfway through, we’re pretty serialized but every couple on the cul-de-sac is just dealing with a different stage of adultery, and then we go back to self-contained episodes.

I think the fundamental difference is that JR and Alexis both arrived on our screens as powerful, manipulative a-holes who were playing games from day one. They had opps from day one, and so their entire stories began with them against their enemies. Abby, meanwhile, rolls up in her station wagon with two bratty kids screaming in the backseat, and her only real opp is the ex-husband whom we don't even see right away. Karen comes running out of the house to hug her, she and Val become good friends, and the cul-de-sac loves her. She has no powerful over anyone, and she has to work as the bookkeeper at her brother's car dealership. Her first indiscretions are sitting on her butt while the other ladies help to move her furniture in and then keeping poor Eric up all night babysitting the kids while she's out on the town, but that's just crazy Abby being a wild and crazy gal. Compare that to Alexis, who is whisked away from her glamorous jet-setting life to testify at her millionaire ex-husband's murder trial, showing up dressed to the nines and immediately turning heads in the courtroom, getting everyone who knows her in a tizzy because, "Oh fck, here SHE is..." JR - introduced already as the millionaire president of Ewing Oil, wheeled and dealed to get his way up there, already drove his wife to alcoholism, ready to drive his brother's wife out of the family fold, we soon learn that he destroyed his other brother's family, it's clear Momma and Daddy love him but also realize he's bad to the bone Angela Channing - from day one, she's the queen of the valley, running Falcon Crest and feeding off the blood of her enemies, tampering with her brother's dead body to make his death look like an unfortunate accident, quickly ready to send her nephew and his family packing so that she can add to the power she already has Even going further, Constance Weldon - not at all very powerful but super spoiled rotten rich btch who is manipulative from day one, cares not at all about her husband's feelings but he better not dare put his own wants and needs above of her own because she'll withhold a divorce and use her daddy's influence to make things tough for him

I am very jealous at how much late 70s GH and OLTL is available while all we have for AMC, full episode wise, is Tom and Erica's wedding and then Tom's birth control blow-up. Looking at that 1981 episode, I always wonder how fans felt at the time with Liza, Jenny, Greg, and Jesse becoming such big parts of the show in such a short period of time while Phil, Tara, Anne, Estelle, etc. were all being phased out. Obviously it worked out for the best, and the show continued to ride high with new iconic characters, but it had to be a time of adjustment for sure.

Pardon me for knowing nothing, but what is "interlacing" and how is it presenting a problem with streaming the show? I'm still on DVD with season 2, but I'll be done by the end of this week. I'm currently watching "Scapegoats," which is an unexpected but very good (for its time) look at ADHD in kids. Good on them for giving Michael a chance in the spotlight after we got several Eric and Diana plots. You can definitely tell they're pulling more and more toward fully serializing the show. The self-contained episodes are building off of and referring back to previous events. I don't think I ever made a final decision on my top episodes from season 1, but I'm gonna go with a Top 5 that includes the pilot, Will the Circle Be Unbroken, Small Surprises, Courageous Convictions, and Bottom of the Bottle Part 2. The first part of Bottle annoys me because how quickly Gary relapsed in one night (and I know nothing about alcoholism, so if that's realistic, then my bad), but the second part was perfect as a season finale for what the show was in its first season. I'll have season 2 observations when I'm finished, but so far, I much prefer season 2 Gary and season 2 Richard. Abby's introduction is perfect because at the time, did anyone really foresee who she would become? She really just felt like a sophisticated tart with brains. Kenny and Ginger's story isn't bad, and Karen/Sid really do work as the solid couple. Sylvie's singing sounds like ass.

Sid: “Abby’s always been a little wild, but she never did any harm.” Oh, Sid 🤗 Seriously, though, I forgot how hard it is to watch Karen and Abby’s warm sister-in-law relationship quickly deteriorate into what it will be for most of the series. Karen really did try.

The Lie and Courageous Convictions were both great Avery episodes. Richard is really an interesting character but I keep wondering how they ever could have kept him on longer than they did. He had some pretty abhorrent traits right from the very beginning, and it was just clear that Laura could do much, much better and was on the way to a come-up. It absolutely sucks that her story ended the way it did.