DRW50

Her final show was True Colors - she died around the time the final episode aired. Cleavon Little, who was the male lead, died months later.

I may be wrong, but I think Princi's last airdate is in mid-January. I think it may be at Andrew and Cassie's wedding. There is a break of about a month, I think with the line that Dorian went to a spa, before Dorian returns with the show trying for a cute reintro. There's some big change around January/February, which makes sense I suppose, starting the year off with a jolt (it's nothing monumental so don't take this as overhype), as they were using November and December to wrap up stories and wrap up families, dynamics, etc. Much smarter than soaps now where stories just end at any random time, if they even have an ending. Happy Thanksgiving to you too. I've appreciated all your work and passion for AMC and OLTL over the last year as it helps motivate me more to go back when I'm mostly too lazy to do so.

Thanks @Maxim . Feels quaint to see characters only starting Christmas shopping a week before Christmas instead of months earlier. The scene with Viki and Dorian is terrific, from Dorian without missing a beat singing along to "do you see what I see" when glimpsing Viki and Sloan, to Viki rattling Dorian so much by preying on her fear of being unloved and alone. The scene with Blair and Dorian is also good, although the whole part with the broken angel is overwriting to me. Elaine Princi is at full powers in all this material. If I didn't know better, I would have no idea she was almost gone.

Based on the shadow I thought it was Groot.

I would have been especially interested in how they would have dealt with topics like Vietnam. I didn't know for a long time that Ma Perkins lost a son during WWII.

Never thought I'd seen Hotel being subjected to a Psycho ripoff.

Another World-April 1983 Another World-May 1983 Clips/partial episodes.

Including the current cast?

Thanks @Vee I am surprised I remembered as much as I did. That [!@#$%^&*] is still hilarious. Poor Daphnee. Terrell was never this bad on GL. Then again, he never had anything to do.

I guess there just isn't a market (that AMC movie still seems to be going nowhere). I wish they'd try. I can't see any network putting on a primetime soap these days, but I wish Lauralee luck as I said the said about a new daytime soap never premiering.

Soaps were best at a half hour. I'd take shorter soaps and more game shows. Instead we are likely to get GMA9 and Bari Weiss having Alan Dershowitz host a show about his underwear.

I mostly stopped watching on a regular basis in 2000 and she was barely on even then.

The first Vicky was very stiff. It sort of fit the part, but I wasn't shocked they recast. I remember being surprised when Victoria Platt was cast as I remembered her for her voodoo princess role in AMC's infamous Jamaica story (didn't they try to bring her to Pine Valley before thinking better of it?). They barely do anything with Platt. She just sort of hangs around until 2000 or 2001, in a triangle with David and a woman named Ruth that ran once a month. Tilford wasn't great, but he would have been serviceable if they had used him. This wasn't exactly an era for leading men kicking ass on GL (that's one of the reasons Paul Anthony Stewart likely got a following so quickly). I do remember him being rough on OLTL. When he said those lines about brains and feet wasn't he also running around the hospital like a headcase?

I never knew that either. Maybe some writer wanted to give her work.

I remember that it included a storm warning at one point, which felt very apt.

Jensen was not that well-received at the start - SOD named her Worst Recast of 1991 - but her chemistry with Paul Michael Valley and the show phasing Marley out benefited her (some fans would claim Vicky just became Marley). I guess it helped Ellen that the show was brand new to TV so many viewers had no real attachment to Jone (who seems very good in the surviving radio episodes). I really wish I could see the transition between the Vanessas. Peggy's has some spunk and humor in the 1952 episodes. The scrap available of Bonnie Bartlett is much more somber, and the bit of Audrey is more of the long-suffering, wise matriarch typical of soaps. I know that many fans would tell you what a mistake the show made in the turn from Hulswit to Simon. Watching material from the time I can see why they felt that way. By 1986 I do think he fits in better, even if he never really has the warmth the Bauer family needed for a patriarch (which may be why Ed never became a patriarch - as Peter Simon never wanted to play that part of Ed anyway).

I don't think we have. Fran talked a bit about that here: TV InsiderFran Drescher: TV Land Rued ‘Happily Divorced’ CancellationDrescher’s sitcom, based on her and her ex-husband’s relationship, ended after two seasons in 2013.

I think the show did a good job of writing for Nicolette's range after her first season, which went a long way. I can see where people would dislike Paige or feel that she had ruined the vibes of earlier years. I probably should have as I'm sure Constance McCashin was let go in part for newer hires like Nicolette, but I thought she suited what the show had become more than many of the longstanding cast members, and I did not find her as draining as I found Karen, Val or Mac by that time. I do think Greg/Paige became too much of the will they/won't they, but at heart Greg was always an immature character (Laura knew this, she just loved him anyway). Beyond stretching that out too long, my main issue was the show refusing to let Greg be a bigger part of Meg's life.

I genuinely liked Buzz (not just because I thought he was cute, although it didn't hurt), but Sonja was not needed. The main thing I remember about Orleans was their incest story which got a lot of buzz (buzz did not = viewers) Recently, Fran Drescher said she'd told TV Land execs they would regret canceling Happily Divorced, and one later told her she was right. I didn't love that show, but I preferred it to Cleveland.

Those 911 fans really did seem to adore his character though - I assume he was salary dumped, so maybe they will follow him elsewhere. I hated his character on Six Feet Under but now I can appreciate his talents.

Unfortunately, the 1987 clips seem to be gone. If I can find my discs, I will cobble the AMC clips together and post them.

Thanks. I suppose she must have been glad to see the syndicated years where Dorothy was completely defanged and just had to play an idiot (one of several reasons I think the syndicated years were inferior to the network version - and no, Bubba's ass wasn't enough compensation, as we already got that with Buzz on the network version anyway). One of the problems with Fran was she was mousy but not in an interesting way. Iola, who was in some ways a Fran replacement, was mousy, but quirky. The only thing I remember of Fran is when she once confessed to a crime - she had ripped the tag off of her mattress.

I think Betty did perfectly fine at giving Ellen Harper layers. I think that was her best role. Sue Ann was always a caricature, so it would have been difficult to make a caricature come to life. Still, they could have tried. To me Hot in Cleveland was just a very false show - I could always see LAUGH NOW signs in the background. I don't think I ever laughed when I saw it, although my parents enjoyed it so I'm glad for that.

Kimberley is another, definitely, especially as she got to stand on her own with the Musketeers phasing out. Those are the responses I was most interested in seeing, but I didn't want to make a lot of rules because I am enjoying seeing the different suggestions, even for people who were replacing lesser-known performers.

Thanks @Paul Raven for all those details. I saw a post on Facebook reminding that the last major radio soaps ended in the US yesterday, 65 years ago. Still such a short-sighted loss...