All My Shadows

Yep, they were married by September 1978 and were guests at Erica and Tom’s wedding, where Frank tried to throw some weak ass shade at Erica over being late to her own wedding. They’re at around 1:20.

Yes, I totally agree, especially since Phoebe was so proud of her family's history in PV. They introduced Brooke at just the right time to slowly integrate her into the cast and make her Phoebe's tie to the core of the show throughout the 80s and 90s. They might have also had Anne and Paul's daughter Beth Martin live - would she have been the only true link between the two original core families? Even if they'd had her raised by Paul off-screen, they could have avoided SORAS and had her be a major player in the late 90s and into the 2000s. I do wonder if we ever saw more of the Kennicotts as a family unit. It seems like they were never on all at once - you had Mary, then Dan, then Betsy, then Katie. I think there was overlap with Dan and Betsy. Not further exploring Mona's family is easily one of the show's biggest missteps. I think we've mentioned it before, but did we ever even hear Mona's maiden name? I'm sure it might've been mentioned during the first five years, but her family was a complete blank slate. Any writer at any point could have taken advantage of that, but no one ever did, and it's not like this was some obscure branch of the show's history. It's Erica's family!

I can't imagine Betsy and Frank together. Perhaps there was a minor character named Betsy that he dated before Betsy Kennicott came along?

I think a part of the difference is that soap music back then was really written for the beginnings and ends of scenes. You needed something nice, calm, and pleasant to ease you into the Brooks family home, so you got something like their theme or the Genoa City Theme. If it was a tense conversation between two characters, the music came in near the end and get a crescendo right before your fade to black. Plus - you could actually have nice, calm, pleasant background music because you had nice, calm, pleasant scenes. At some point, soaps decided every scene needed to have a backing track through the entire scene. I remember back when I was a regular DAYS viewer in 2003-2004, it was RARE to have a scene play out with little to no background music. Even in today's repeats, they felt the need to add music where there presumably was none.

Were the Fosters supposed to be always “poor” or did they only become “poor” after Bill abandoned them? Because that house is big as hell for a “poor” family. The Brooks family scenes were fantastic and everything I needed them to be. Classic soap opera is regular people living ordinary lives. A family getting home and having dinner is so mundane, but there’s beauty in that, and it grows and grows and grows over time.

The sound is kinda muffled, but this episode looks absolutely gorgeous. I used to have a pipe dream that Antenna TV, which AFAIK has access to the Sony library, would rerun the 70s episodes in the mornings and post-primetime. Seeing this look so beautiful on my screen, I absolutely believe it could work. Sliding in an 80s music cue to underscore Chris and Leslie was so unnecessary 🙄

I mean, If Sony had any imagination, they would’ve asked Brenda to record the intro for tomorrow’s presentation. “Just go on for as long as you want to, darling, we’ll edit together the highlights.”

You're welcome! I just edited my post to share what I do know about the Philip saga. If you haven't watched the two 1977 episodes that are out there that were included on the DVD set, watch those, too! There is early Spaulding drama there, too.

Philip, biologically, is Jackie and Justin's son from a marriage that took place before any of the characters came to Springfield. Someone else who knows more about it than I do might be able to share the details of the rest of that backstory, but I think the gist is that Jackie gave Philip up to a doctor who in turn gave the baby to Alan, who had Elizabeth believe that the baby was theirs to hide the fact that their actual child was stillborn. Roger is on trial for raping Holly. You might've just missed the episode where it actually takes place (March 6, 1979). Definitely go back and watch that one. It sucks that there aren't more consecutive episodes from throughout the time, but it's so easy to follow the stories, even with the large gaps.

I just watched this a few weeks ago, and I agree with everything you said. CP played Jackie's disgust with Alan so well as she watched him feed all of that Mike hatred to Philip, and then you remind yourself of the inner conflict she's facing, knowing that she's pregnant with his child. There are so many interesting characters on the show in this period - I'm currently obsessed with the deliciously shady Diane Ballard. She's that great archetype of the coolly calculating torch-carrier, devoted to dirty dealing in the name of the object of her affection. I don't know if she wants to be with Alan more than she just wants to be Alan.

I took a very long break from the show after getting to 130, and I'm probably around the same place as you are now. I feel like it's losing some of the human drama/comedy in favor of more satirical social commentary, and it's suffering because of it.

I have a very teeny tiny but strange observation - they couldn't clear that short piece of background music that opens the very first shot of the truck!? They replaced it with a sound-alike version.

@DRW50 What utter crap! I never did get the fascination with those types of games with the mean-spirited, self-hating host basically sh!tting on everyone on the set while also humiliating the contestants. It really all comes across like some sick fantasy of an unhappy teenager. Then you have the programmer - "Oh, Freddie Starr is SO outrageous!" Poor thing doesn't realize that so much of late 90s culture had a shelf life of about three months. I do love the concept of this particular show confronting the people responsible for the game show and telling them "This is stupid, when is it going off the air?" Jeopardy! will be rerunning episodes from its first decade next week, including the 1984 premiere. The following week has some Celebrity Jeopardy! repeats, including a Donna Mills sighting!

Oh mannnn, Billy Clyde and Jewell I loved them keeping Adam holed up in their trailer. That episode has both the terrible Nina recast and the terrible Liza recast. Wowzers.

I just really need them to not do the film processing on those 70s episodes. Did they ever do it on any others besides that one 80s ep from a few weeks ago? I can see them thinking "These are old, we have to make them look more modern." No, you're literally ruining the aesthetic.

Nah, I can’t agree with that at all. This is a real tragedy for Ms. Rivera’s family, friends, and coworkers. It has nothing at all to do with LM or the type of person she is or what she did. I doubt any of the people actually personally affected by her nastiness care one way or the other whether or not she posted anything about Naya’s disappearance. If they do, they have enough tact to know better than to make it about that. She’ll reap what she sows when it is about her reaping when she sows.

Has the first episode ever been rebroadcast after its initial airing? I know they've made it officially available online at times, but I can't remember it ever rerunning in the last 20 years (assuming it hasn't mainly bc of the 60-minute time slot). I figured if they did thirty-minute episodes, they'd just air two on a day. I'm excited! Katherine's facelift is also one of those legendary soap storylines that has become embedded in my family's TV-watching culture. The older folks talk about that like they talk about Who Shot JR?

MEK really isn’t that far off, though, I think he was born in 1958 or 1959, so only 4-5 years off of Tad’s established age. I think Tad managed to escape any kind of SORASing or de-SORASing bc he was introduced as a 10-year-old in 1972-73. But god he does look a thousand times better these days, and it sucks that we don’t have him as Tad on our screens regularly anymore. He was so checked out by 2005, probably earlier. I bet he’d be a lot more dynamic now.

Linda Cristal, Who Starred in 'High Chaparral,' Dies at 89 I just heard about her passing. It's been a long time since I really dug deep into the classic westerns, but High Chaparral is a favorite, and Linda's portrayal of Victoria is one of the genre's best.

Wasn't 90210 also supposed to be "Potomac" with the zipcode to reflect Darren Star's actual backstory? I feel like I should know more of these and might have forgotten some over time. Like, something is vaguely telling me that "I Dream of Jeannie" was originally "The Lady in the Bottle" or something like that. "One Tree Hill" was "An Unkindness of Ravens," playing on the unique collective known for the Tree Hill High mascot.

I'm watching the 35th anniversary episode, and I've seen it a million times, but something just occurred to me - when Tad and Erica surprised Joe with his anniversary party at the hospital, it really looks like Ray MacDonnell was actually surprised and wasn't expecting the episode to somewhat be built around him. Was that ever established or discussed in the press at the time?

I mean, Glee was basically a cartoon/fantasy series. That's why I could never really get into it. It was one-note s far as plot and characterization were concerned. You knew the CHEERLEADERS were CHEERLEADERS because they were always in their CHEERLEADER uniforms - that kinda stuff just bugs the hell out of me. Now that we're five years removed from it, I can see its merits. It was/is a very happy place to go to for its fans. Plus, it changed a lot as far as peer acceptance of LGBT youth and brought music education back to prominence, so its place in pop culture history is solidified.

Lea Michele deleted her Twitter because people were harassing her about not tweeting about Naya's disappearance, which is the type of disgusting behavior that only social media can bring out in people. Amber Riley said it best, "No one owes anyone online a performance of grief."

I did notice that everything went away today. I was actually watching your GL ep from 6/01/79 while you were privatizing your videos. I hate it when those people ruin it for everyone because this is content that is so very hard to come across. Everyone should just be appreciative of your willingness to share.

I never a GLEE fan, but I've been following this, and it's so devastating. My heart really goes out to her family and friends. That show's cast has had to grow up in so many ways over the years. I hope for peace and prosperity for the rest of them.