All My Shadows

I pulled out the 25th anniversary book, and it has a different photo from the same wedding listed as being their second wedding and occurring at Thanksgiving time in 1980: "An anguished Dr. Frank Grant came close to leaving Pine Valley when his ex-wife Nancy accepted Dr. Russ Anderson's proposal of marriage. As their wedding drew near, Nancy realized she still loved her ex-husband Frank, and they remarried in a Thanksgiving wedding." It's gonna stay IDK how I feel about a couple coming in and commanding so much time, especially in Cliff and Nina's case. Nothing from their introduction into the show is online at all, and I don't think it ever has been - we have one 1979 episode that doesn't feature them, but we do have that string of masquerade ball episodes from Feb. 1980 thanks to Eric. I just want to see how they were integrated into the show, and I definitely want to see more of Sybil.

It was the same for Cliff and Nina - their September 1980 wedding was huge and ushered in the era of location shoot weddings for supercouples, and they'd been on for maybe a year and a month or two? I think the Cortlandts first arrived the previous summer. I'm entering April 1989, and I have some comments and questions. - Walt Willey deserves credit. The energy he had in the Jack/Erica romance 30+ years ago was still there later, even as they were on rehash number-whatever in the early 2000s. Regardless of the stories between the two, the chemistry was always there between the two, and they just felt believable. - Bye, Julie girl! They kinda rushed her exit, though, right? We went from lovey-dovey Julie and Nico couple scenes to him being an [!@#$%^&*] to justify her deciding to leave. - Do people generally prefer this earnest, homespun, country boy version of Will as played by LQ or the more villainous version as played JPS? Was the change in characterization gradual or quick? - I can't help it. I love David and Melanie. Maybe not LOVE, but I'm falling for TPTB's manipulations to make me like them. The lingering looks, the wispy music in the background that plays every single time, the dorky cute motif of them enjoying classical music, etc. It's all so sugary sweet, and I'm eating it up. - I know that this is definitely a big transition period for the show (maybe it's biggest?), but it's so weird to see Donna pop up as barely a supporting character. I know she gets more to do when Chuck comes back later in the year, but you can already see they were unsure of what to do with people like her and Benny.

I’ve wondered that over the years, too, and I don’t think a connection was ever made. Montgomery was Claudette’s married name through her ex-husband Spencer (mentioned here), and I’m not sure he ever even appeared onscreen - could be wrong, though.

Claudette was WILD! I sure hope Erica confronts her in the following month, and if miracles are real, that confrontation exists somewhere on tape.

Court jester Julie. I was barely barely BARELY watching when Annie was first introduced through all of the stuff with Richie. I just remember having very little interest in her because she was created solely to further the SuperRyan narrative. Once she was put into the Chandler mix, that was it. The dynamics of devious JR, frosty Annie, aw shucks Scott, and pink flannel Marissa bumbling around the mansion shot some life into the show, and even though AMC was far from perfect, the show as a whole was watchable for the first time in foreverrrrrrrr. Dave'n'Don did all right by the show, as far as I'm concerned. Also - it's so good to see you around these parts again, Eric!

Okay, Paul, watch it with the Susan crack, kiddo.

AMC, still on fire! I've always been fascinated by the Margo character, but that fascination just keeps growing. Obviously by this point, Erica was fast becoming soaps' most well-known schemer and conniver, but Margo and Claudette seemed to be much more malicious, and I finally see now why they didn't build more around the two characters in the long run. The Phoebe/Charles/Mona story - I've always thought of it as lightweight comic relief that cropped up in the late 70s, and I never realized just how long and spread out the development of Charles and Mona's relationship was. Charles and Phoebe were still together when Erica married Tom over three years later. I'm curious as to how the child abuse storyline really played out onscreen. The Doctors had done a child abuse story a few years earlier, and AMC had just introduced Tad two years earlier as a victim of child abuse and neglect. Were the Coles meant to be long-term or were they just shoe-horned in for the purpose of the abuse story and to facilitate couple drama for the main characters.

That Tony/Katie clip is fire! Greg Beecroft is one of the sexiest men in soap history on the strength of charisma alone. I felt tears well up when Charita announced GL as a nominee! She was and always will be Ms. Guiding Light.

There was not a goddamn thing groundbreaking about Hogan's ATWT. Was he still around for Luke's coming out or was that all Jean? I seem to recall Hogan was there, then he wasn't, then he went back to work under Jean? And this is the problem. No one in the room respected ATWT enough to say "You can't do that" nor did Hogan respect the show he was tasked to write enough to say "I shouldn't do that." I can't herald someone like that as a soap hero. I'm sorry for the struggles he faced in his post-soap life, though, and I hope he was able to find some kind of peace before his death.

Some interesting tidbits. I've read in the past about her thoughts in regards to wanting more story, and of course, she's right. I'm not sure if Hazel, as a character, could have added anything different from what was already going on with the show, but there was no real reason to not give her more to do anyway. I remember seeing photos of the cast partying together back in the day, and Christina was absolutely much more outgoing than her character Terri ever was lol I wonder how far in advance TPTB knew where they would be going with the Rick story. Did they write Terri out knowing that he'd come back the following season for the school shooting story? Both women are so fun and look fantastic. I'm glad they're being real about both the highs and lows of doing the show.

What are everyone's general thoughts on Cecily? I'm seeing her a lot for the first time, and I didn't expect to enjoy her as much as I am. She's a nice plucky breath of fresh air in a younger set of teens and twentysomethings that was filled with very "good" and "earnest" characters (not just ragging on ol' Julie this time - also thinking about David, Melanie, and Will). I know that she and Nico end up together, and I'm liking the beginnings of their attraction, which really hasn't been spoken of yet, as Julie prepares to leave for Washington (bye, girl). Her scenes with Myrtle also highlight how perfect and important Myrtle's role on the show was through all these years. I mostly like David and Melanie. They're a classic AMC "young love" couple in the tradition of Phil and Tara, so it fits and it makes sense. And honestly, I'm not gonna lie, Trent Bushey was hot as fck.

Oh, Ms. Betty! My heart is aching! Rest In Peace, sweet legend! I’m so thankful this was produced and aired while she was still with us. I don’t know what the last month of her life was like, but I hope she was able to see all of the praise and respect this episode revived for her. It’s gonna take me a while to get over this one.

Crying REAL TEARS because this is the AMC I want to see more than any other era at all. These are the stories that placed the show as ABC's top-rated soap and would eventually help propel it to #1 across the networks in 1978-1979. THIS is the Erica I'm so desperate to see - before she blew up and became a local celebrity, when she was still a young, immature, petulant, opportunistic little bitch who just shat on everything and everyone that stood in her way. In fact, in this synopsis, the ONLY truly wealthy, well-off family is the Tylers. Everyone else were upper middle class or lower, and it made a huge difference. Phoebe still had an actual family to play off of, not a merry-go-round of surrogate children living with her and Langley. The classic AMC leading characters of Nick, Paul Anne, Kitty, and Linc were still the stars of the show, and the younger set of Erica, Chuck, Tara, Phil, Jeff, and Mary were growing up into adult storylines. The delicious Margo and hot mess Claudette were important players. It's just crazy how much of that foundation was chipped away once the show went to the hour, the Cortlandts and Chandlers came to town, the high school became a major setting, Erica became larger-than-life, etc. Still classic AMC, but not the same. I would kill to see more of the mid-70s.

I hear Mark was in the first few episodes of Netflix's Never Have I Ever, which just released last week. He was one of the unsung heroes of ATWT's last decade. He was good at romance with Jen Ferrin and TC, but I forget how funny he was any time he had to play "straight man" to Henry (I know, the jokes write themselves). And nothing made me appreciate MC and his portrayal of Mike Kasnoff more than when that atrocious, sweaty cousin of his with the gross hair showed up and was pining over Carly.

I've been hankering for someone's corona version of The Decameron, but I guess this will do.

That whole episode might be available in full on HamiltonBernique's channel. I can look later on and see. I started March 1989 last night, venturing into AMC territory I've never really seen before at all. I had no idea how "religious" Will and Dixie were supposed to be in the beginning, but it's a nuance that I like. It doesn't feel out of place in an era where characters were allowed to have background stories that colored who they were. In later years, it would have been a plot point and nothing else. Julie, damn Julie. She's been a flop for me. Once upon a time, Maurice Benard really had sex appeal and could be a warm romantic lead. Even in that Lucy/Desi biopic he did around the time he left AMC, there was some charisma.

"Jesus, be a fence...be a fence...be a fence...bc I want to tell this whack ass bitch something so bad, Jesus..." Ahem. I will be in attendance for the full program. An afternoon with the Looch will be heavenly!

Easily one of the greatest set of soap scenes of all time, so representative of everything that this genre can do correctly. My personal favorite part is the slamming of the phone with no regard as to who was on the other end. The hurt, frustration, betrayal, etc. EP played it all pitch perfect, and Tina and Peter were no slouches either. I know it's well established that Maureen carried on a torch from Bert, but these scenes are such an evolution. This is the type of stuff Bert would have said to Bill had they gone through their marriage woes during a different time.

I was going to say that there is one, but I was only thinking of this snapshot from Phil and Tara's ceremony. There used to be bigger photos from their wedding online, but this is all I could find plus another small image.

Yay, they added episodes that they actually already have uploaded and ready to go on the website (along with the rest of the 70s). I just really need them to get on my smart TV so that I can avoid wiring or casting from my laptop.

What a lovely photo of Erica and Jeff's wedding! I really hope that someone out there has a copy of her weddings to Jeff and Phil to complete the collection.

As a rule, I simply do not fck with Jimmy Fallon or anything he puts out. He is a literal aggravation. Debbi, sweet Debbi! Beautiful and strong.

It actually is (was?) hard for me to be empathetic because there have been better actresses than she who dealt with even greener performers than JR Martinez, and those people didn’t choose to downgrade their scene partners in the press while also trashing their respective shows (which they had been on for longer than a mere year). Identifying “blunt” doesn’t make “blunt” appealing. I can think of several, and none of them featured Beth Ehlers. The character was a flop on an already bloated canvas. Brot ended up actually serving a purpose and was integrated into an established family. Taylor was pointless, and I’m sorry JR Martinez’s first year was stuck opposite such a boring character.

https://daytimeconfidential.com/2009/06/27/beth-ehlers-talks-greasy-about-chuck-pratt-and-jr-martinez I remember the "Shakespeare" line getting lampooned regularly. She basically expected to slide into Pine Valley and set the canvas on fire. It wasn't her show, and there was never going to be space for it to be "her" show.

Santa Barbara was budgeted at $30 million for its first year, making it the most expensive soap on the air at the time.