DRW50

@Xanthe Great spot. @mikeaw1978 @EddieAWHP if you're here this may interest you.

That was nice of her but in the long run damaging to the show. Janet had more to give. If Lemay had known more of the show's history he would have had a field day with her.

Thank goodness for small favors. Mindy's toughness seems to vary between actresses. I think you or someone else said Ann Hamilton's Mindy was a crack shot. Krista's Mindy likely would have kneed him in the balls. Barbara Crampton was so vapid...

Deadline did, although they seem to think she was recurring. https://deadline.com/2026/03/jennifer-runyon-dead-ghostbusters-a-very-brady-christmas-1236747120/ Sad to hear of Jennifer's passing. I used to mix her up with the blonde on Gimme a Break. She wasn't on the level of Mary Page Keller but she seemed to be a decent Sally.

I think @VelekaCarruthers and @dc11786 put some lists of each regime and what they did or didn't do for the show a while back, each one from the late '70s to 1986. Maybe it's not as many as I think but it seemed like about 500 people.

That was probably 30 regimes later.

This is a trope I've seen repeatedly in TV and movies. I don't know if anyone has done this in real life - just walking into someone's home and stripping naked to join someone in the shower that you are estranged from or who is not ready for intimacy with you. I hope not. It's especially disturbing because I swear I've seen this trope done with rape victims more than once.

It was the opposite for me. I enjoyed him as Ben and despised him as Craig. I don't think it helped that I was fond of Scott Bryce's Craig and tired of hearing about how bad things he'd done nearly 20 years earlier meant it was understandable for Craig to be a complete sociopath who had zero rapport with anyone. The mannerisms and "clever" ad-libs also felt more out of place to me on ATWT. It would have been like pairing Nancy Hughes with Luke Spencer. He also had a terrible dye job and cut through his run on ATWT.

Thanks @slick jones I didn't even know Morgan Fairchild was on B&B. I'm glad the soaps are helping her keep her health insurance.

Some thoughts on the April 1982 episode: Jackie and Luke work much better as friends talking about his missing Laura than as any romantic pairing. The scene where she was in her Barbie dress and hair and disappointed at him not noticing her made me cringe a bit. They clearly let Tony have plenty of room to ad-lib, which was smart as his showmanship sold the opening of the Haunted Star. I can't imagine the script having him refer to Jackie's "Flash Gordon" outfit. Or mentioning Lenny Bruce. (the only Lenny Bruce mention ever on a soap?) It amuses me how much Rick clearly hates Amy in any episode from this period I see. They do a very good job of showing Lesley trying to move forward while still being scarred by Laura's disappearance. The monologue to Rick about how she doesn't even want to go on the yacht due to it representing so much of her fear over Laura was very important, and not something we'd get today. Robin Mattson looked beautiful in her evening getup and styled in a way I don't see very often for her. She looked like she was from the Princess Amethyst comics. I realized while watching this that I've read about Emma Lutz but did not recognize her. She's very pretty. I see that she is around through 1984, but her husband Charlie is near the end of line. I wonder what the reason was for that. In only a few scenes the Q storylines and dynamics are put through so succinctly. They are in their own universe, so I appreciated seeing Edward drawn into the drama at the Haunted Star opening. Janine Turner is just so green. One of the greenest actors I can remember on a soap. I can see why she didn't last very long. (naming her Laura probably didn't help either) David's plans for JT Laura are confusing to me (admittedly I haven't seen most of the story). If he's worried about how much she knows and her wanting to be with her sister again, you'd think he would just kill her. I wonder how fans felt when, after months of talk of sisters reunited, Laura was gone not even after a year later. Maybe relieved? The bond between Luke and Ruby is the perfect blend of tough and tender. I truly appreciated the atmosphere of the opening night scenes and the episode as a whole. This wasn't just what we often get on soaps with a bunch of characters sitting around. There is a folksiness along with a certain naughtiness, which is not an easy combo to make. Gloria's age makes me think that she never forgot the movies she saw in the '30s and '40s - I could easily see Andy Hardy wandering into Kelly's or the Haunted Star. Something else Monty does well is working with an hour episode. That's not easy - most hour-long soaps are slogs, especially when they aren't firing on all cylinders. Somehow, scenes like the whole magic game with Tiffany and Robert don't just seem like killing time (even though they were) - they're a smart lead-in to the more fraught material which closes out the episode. The whole sudden psychic break with Luke was...certainly a turn (complete with that dramatic music), but Tony sold it. He was presumably glad to get to play some darker material. Kin Shriner was very appealing during the Scotty hero days, but he is the right kind of dirty hot here. I'm sorry, but I loved him trolling Luke with the gift from Laura. For as questionable as the stories may be, I will gladly admit that the cliffhanger with Luke lunging for Scotty, the lights going out, and JT Laura appearing was terrific. Monty and her directing team, her whole production team, knew how to do these set pieces.

PC's biggest problem in those crucial first few years was how much the show gave the vibe of something that was created just to be created, rather than having an identity. I have seen various fans say the show did improve around 2000 but by then it was too late. Maybe 6 years is all they were going to get anyway - many better shows have not lasted that long.

Per AWHP, Denny Albee (ex-Edge, OLTL) auditioned for Another World's Peter Love in 1985, at Sharon Gabet's suggestion.

Always nice to see you back on here.

Thanks. I had never seen this. No wonder they wanted to be unknown - that's some real tea. Dan Hamilton was hot but (allegedly) he was a little too aware of how hot he was... I can't see Geraldine Court faring any better as Miranda than Judith McConnell did (the problem went beyond being too similar to Iris - she existed solely as a placeholder in a dull, dull period), but I am sorry she didn't find some role after June Laverty. Maybe Elena? Sad to hear how funny she was when she was always given drab parts onscreen. Given that Marland was reportedly very funny and bitchy, I suppose you had to be the same to keep up with him. I had never heard anything of Lemay's 1988/1989 story plans. Or I forgot about them. I can see why the baby broker story didn't go anywhere, although it would have been very juicy. I imagine this would have tied into Felicia and her child.

Whatever stories planned for Vicky and David seemed to cut down by this time. Given GL's history with black characters, sometimes I'm surprised they even bothered with tokens by this point. It's especially annoying with David because they had made the character a complete shell - the David viewers first met hated cops and had good reason to feel the way he did. There was never a journey onscreen to make him a cop. After Monti Sharp the character ceased to exist.

Thanks @dc11786 @Franko @Paul Raven I can't remember if Eve was ever on ATWT later on (not with the same actress, obviously).

The uploader said this won't be up for long. The opening of the Haunted Star. General Hospital April 6 1982 W/original ABC commercials One of the first lines being Ruby saying, "I'll tell you how I got off if you tell me," is certainly a jolt. I wonder why they didn't have Luke's psychic powers return when they had that silly psychic warfare story with Helena and Chloe. Maybe Tony told them hell no.

I thought Dusay was all over the place in her first run. The second was her best. The third was also all over the place. I agree she, and the writing, were influenced by Vanessa. They even ripped off a Vanessa story not long after Marj returned. The difference was Vanessa was meant to be a monster, from the start. Alex was not. Dusay, likely thrilled to not be playing yet another recast, tapped into Vanessa immediately and kept her going for longer than anyone else would have.

Thanks @alwaysAMC You weren't kidding about how long the Blake/Ben back-and-forth goes on. Longer than I remembered. I do think they had more chemistry than he has with Carmen, although they have some decent moments. So India is still there. Such a waste of her... Some very unnecessary contrivances in delaying the Drew and Selena reveal, but I thought the buildup of Jesse falling for Drew was natural. And Annie is still there, after any real story value is over. I'd forgotten they had Dinah becoming a nun. That would have been a hilarious and perfect end for her. Likely becoming this: The Devils (Ken Russell, 1971)

She's going to guest star on Shortland Street! She'd fit right in...

Thanks @Paul Raven A very snooty article all around. At least Anne did pop up in soaps for many years. I wonder if Love That Jill was any good compared to those "pseudo-realistic" shows...

Thanks @Paul Raven I enjoy hearing the stories about RH. I wonder if she was in Lisanti's book (she has a Facebook profile which stops around 2021). The story about how she met her husband is very sweet.

Thanks as always for finding and sharing these articles @Paul Raven (the one in the OLTL thread too) The main EON channel has uploaded some fragmented versions of the conclusion of the Clown Puppet Murder saga. They are asking for better copies if anyone has them. There are about four videos. This is the first.

https://variety.com/2026/film/awards/anonymous-oscar-ballots-sinners-one-battle-after-another-chaos-oscar-race-1236680748/

That would be good too. More interesting than anything onscreen here.