All My Shadows

Good for him. He arrived to GL at the worst possible time and couldn't do much for anyone, but I've always liked his offscreen personality. I'm glad he's working steady.

I've always assumed Tood-ee, rhyming with Judy. She was on Match Game, so if anyone ever finds an episode, we can hear Johnny Olson say it. Do we have any information whatsoever on where the house used for exteriors of the Martin home is located or if it's still standing? I'm assuming somewhere in Connecticut, probably near real-life Pine Valley Hospital.

By the time of the 1985 episodes I've been watching, Erica was determined to turn it back into that. I'm digging into the '81 episodes, and it's interesting to see the show in a time of transition. In the first one from August 18, only Kate and later Charles are characters who'd been around since the early 70s. No more Linc, Kelly, Nick, Phil, Tara, Anne, etc. I wonder what the initial reaction to the Cortlandts was as their introduction coincided with the fading out of so many characters who'd created the show's identity in its first decade. I know Cliff/Nina were huge, but by this year, people had to be tired of watching them fight against outward obstacles, especially Palmer. I didn't realize how important Betsy Kennicott was (or how important they wanted her to be). Mark La Mura continues to prove to be AMC's most handsome actor and one of its most charismatic. I ain't mad at that one scene of him shirtless digging in the refrigerator. Uncle Mark had cakes. Dorothy Lyman never missed a beat as Opal, but wow, I never thought I'd ever see her and Jenny first showing up. Now I see what they always meant by Opal being less comedic and more villainous in the beginning. Early Jesse with Frank and Aunt Bess is also a treat that I never thought I'd see any time soon. I'm three episodes in, and Opal and Jenny just pulled up at Foxy's. Great stuff. Is this between John E. Dunn leaving the role of Tad and MEK showing up? Everything I've seen of JED means that his Tad would be younger than Kim Delaney's Jenny, but he's supposed to be older, buttttt doesn't MEK show up in the following year? How long was he missing from Pine Valley? Also great to see Tudi Wiggins as Sarah Kingsley - yet another character I thought I'd never see. These episodes are awesome! No disrespect to the late Harriet Hall, but she sucked. Sorry for my habit of saying so much when I binge classic AMC, but I have so many thoughts and observations lol Alan Dysert was so cute and clean-cut, stereotypical early 80s.

When was Tempo first introduced? I'm planning to dig into these tonight and tomorrow, but I already see a Tempo cover in one of the thumbnail shots.

Heaven...I'm in heaven...and my heart beats so that I can hardly speeeakkkkk

Chris Lawford (Charlie Brent) has passed away.

It would seem to be late 1976 or early 1977, so shortly before the Spauldings arrived.

That Matlock/Diagnosis Murder/In the Heat of the Night block would have made my late grandmother so, so happy. Then it starts right after Hallmark's morning Golden Girls block. The late 80s/early 90s really were the halcyon days for geriatric television.

I want to see some of this, too! I'm glad we also have audio from Mary's death, but she seems to have been a popular character in the show's first five years. It's crazy because we usually just hear about Tara, Phil, etc. when it comes to the early days. We have some short scenes of her brother Dan (he was her brother, right?) out there, too, with Brooke, so there's that. There's just this whole world of Pine Valley that existed in the 70s that was gradually wiped out in favor of the new characters that would come to form the show's core in the early 80s. And of course, the Cortlandts and Chandlers are important and beloved and became just as rooted as the show as anyone else, but my heart will always yearn for those first ten years.

Ah, I see. That's basically what I meant, though. The very thing that's always drawn me to the character of Margo is the foreboding sorrow she carried with her, the loneliness, the aging, etc. Part of me wishes she had stuck around, but it's understood why a character like her doesn't stick around for long. Whenever Krystal and Babe were introduced, I'd sorta projected what I'd read about Margo onto Krystal, and in my mind, there was always a sadness under the surface. Of course, the show itself really didn't give that impression, so it was mostly fan fiction in my head.

You start off by saying that Margo wasn't involved with Jason then go into detail to explain exactly how she was, in fact, involved with Jason. I don't understand. Were Margo and Claudette on the show together for very long? From the sounds of it, they were not. I didn't know that Claudette appeared much later. I know she was still on for at least two years after Margo left town as she's listed in the closing credits of Tom and Erica's wedding from 1978.

I always imagine poor Margo taking a nice long sip from her champagne when learning of Anne's death several years later.

Yes indeed! You can hear some good audio from that storyline on YT via Danny Hill. As SFK can tell you, Margo is the soap character I'd most like to see any kind of footage of.

Yep, Margo was Erica's mentor/roommate when she moved to the city to model, and they were both involved with Jason Maxwell.

I'm enjoying it, mainly for the weekend binges. The weekday schedule leaves a lot to be desired, and I don't understand how/why the documentary stuff is still such a focus. Expanding the "Television Through the Decades" block to all day would be an obvious improvement. Or at least make that the theme for the daytime schedule and then have primetime be a microcosm of that. Something like: 7am-10am: 50s 10am-1pm: 60s 1pm-4pm: 70s 4pm-7pm: 80s 7pm-8pm: 50s 8pm-9pm: 60s 9pm-10pm: 70s 10pm-11pm: 80s And then maybe do the weekend binges on rotation by decade. This weekend a 50s show, next weekend something from the 60s, on and on. Still wish they let us know what the binges were ahead of time! I'm not interested in The Commish at all, and I've already made plans for next weekend I'm gonna be "sick" the following weekend for PW.

I've been watching Tarzan off and on this weekend on Decades and I'm in love! It's like a western but not. It makes me so happy when I can still find classic TV shows that I've never watched and enjoy them. In two weeks, they're doing Police Woman, which is another I've been wanting to see for a long, long time.

AMC really seemed to change a lot between 1975 and 1985. I'd of course give anything to see anything from the former. Margo and Claudette have always given me the feeling of a 70s version of Krystal and Babe. When did Mona and Charles become a thing? Were the signs there from the very beginning like with Joe and Ruth or did it start later? I know that Charles was visibly unhappy early on.

RIP! Growing up, there wasn’t much Aretha in my house at all, but I’ve come to appreciate and respect her musical legacy. I’ll have to marathon some Got 2b Real this weekend in tribute. I always was Team Ree over Team Patti.

When I see the name Jean Rouverol, I immediately think of the near-Thanksgiving 1977 episode of GL from the DVD set. Her Wiki page says she left the show in 1976, but her name appears on the writers list immediately following the Dobsons.

I wish they'd do more on the weekends now that school is open again. I don't even need huge blocks, just two-hour blocks would be fine.

Bailey Chase, was paired with Alison in the form of Jessica Dunphy

I'm interested in IAL, for sure! I've gotten so spoiled by streaming websites that it's hard for me to make it a point to tune into something on cable regularly. I haven't been watching the Angels (or Alice over on Antenna), but somehow I always find the time for three or four episodes of Gunsmoke on Saturday mornings.

The yellow/black bumpers that matched those ads were also well-done! The gorgeous BW photos plus the music that sorta matched each character - just really nice! Erica had this really grandiose piece of music that you can hear a little bit under MEK's announcement:

I’m watching Carol Burnett on MeTV, and she mentioned AMC and even had Nick Benedict in the audience and pulled him onstage for a quick talk and some questions (most of the questions were edited out). I don’t think there is any video floating around of his Phil (not from his heyday on the show with Tara and Erica, at least), so it was nice to see. Very macho and brooding. I just can’t shake how different in appearance and demeanor he was from Richard Hatch’s gentle, sensitive Phil.

Chit, are you sure it wasn’t just gone in your area? I don’t think it left my affiliate at any point.