DRW50

Poor Kristen Meadows. No wonder she went back to OLTL.

Beyond cheese. The perfume makers must have cringed a bit by this point as Dynasty was in freefall mode. I wish they'd said, "Dearest Krystle, I made you this perfume to apologize for raping you..."

Thanks.

Thanks.

There was an ATWT character named Kitty Fielding - she mostly popped up in fall 1992 to cause problems for her ex, Scott. She reminds me a lot of Margaret. Does anyone know if she was Kitty? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPJk4jPYAuw

Well, that's Kathleen Tolan for you.

Her behavior in the story works, but the lack of followup makes her look awful and I think it takes away her integrity as a character. Maybe Lynch wasn't tired of it and I just was, I don't know. I did like Andy. The whole thing just seemed a little, "This is Twin Peaks, it's what we do," somewhat perfunctory. I think season 1 got the tonal balance right. Season 2 was darker, no doubt, but I think you can still have comedy with darkness. I just don't know how often they got it right in season 2. Watching the start of that video - hearing that about how Bobby wasn't supposed to smile surprised me. I guess it shows how Lynch was willing to work with the actors and not stick to a vision of a character. I loved Maddy. Watching the series over again I'm still impressed with Sheryl's commitment to the role and not just making Maddy a Laura stand-in. That means when she's murdered, you feel the loss, instead of just seeing it as an artistic moment or a horror moment.

It helped when he stopped calling Liz "kid" over and over. (and I'm so glad this was before the era where Liz would have faked a pregnancy, kidnapped Penny, etc.)

I do wonder what Long would have written for Hope if they hadn't fired Elvera. Long's writing, especially her first year or so at GL, seemed to have heart. I think that's the main thing missing with Marland's writing. Not entirely (the Morgan/Kelly wedding is very beautiful and touching), but it just...I don't know, it feels like pieces being moved around.

I know some Audrey fans thought the Daddy's Girl stuff was a drag on the character and prefer season 1 Audrey. I can see why Sherilyn wanted more...I just don't know if her working with her father was the best way to go about it. I would have instead had her continuing to help solve mysteries. But I have a limited tolerance for Ben, which colors my view.

That was nice of Bethel. I think Liz had the charisma and look to make it in primetime or film; perhaps she just played as too old. Either way, I'm glad daytime kept her. One thing I'm interested in seeing as I get to the spring episodes is if the show changes tonally once John is gone and Bethel is on the way out, and people like Ed and Jody arrive (and Martha gets more airtime). It already feels like Nick has changed a great deal tonally (although maybe he was like this before the story with Liz and Althea started).

To me there wasn't a huge change in Maddy. She'd slowly become more of what she saw Laura as being starting at the end of season 1, with the wig. This just continued, until finally she snapped out of it (sadly too late to save her life). Donna did change, and some of it was a put-on (the sunglasses and "sexy" smoking), but part was also just LFP struggling with the material, which was itself struggling. There was a lot of fan hate for Donna's behavior with Harold, and the decision to have her angstily talking with James about their relationship right after Harold had clawed his face and suffered a huge setback thanks to her deception. This is where Donna and James both feel more like pieces or pawns than actual characters, and that continues on, to the point where I just did not care about anything they did (that melodrama at the end of the season about Ben being her father didn't help). I watched the premiere with my father and he was annoyed with the lengthy scene of Andy getting hit in the head with the floorboard. I remember it mostly because it felt somewhat forced (as did a lot of the Andy/Lucy/Dick stuff this season), like the show knew fans wanted wackiness but no longer felt interested in writing it.

If possible we watch anywhere between 1-3 episodes a day; it just depends. Sometimes there are long gaps before we watch any. She didn't think she'd care for the show at first, because of all the green and because she thought the characters were tough to follow at first, but once she got into it she really got into it. John Rice is one of her favorites so I don't know how she'll feel when he's gone. (I hope someone interviews Terry Kiser at some point...) Thanks. I'm so looking forward to seeing Vestoff as Althea that I'm afraid I'll end up hating it, but I am trying to keep my expectations low. I really loved her work on Dark Shadows, so whatever happens, I'm just happy if I get to see more of her daytime work. I do remember Nancy saying she hadn't intended to get back into daytime so soon after DS, but she did, so you're right, that's a while off. I hope they have it up to that point. If any of you know any ways to get more people to support Retro TV, let me know. I called my cable company and I wrote Retro TV - I'm not sure what else there would be to do. One of the other parts I like about the show is seeing what references they make to current events. One new episode I caught a bit of had Matt and Maggie talking about Mike's commencement speaker discussing how modern youth reject their elders, and why they shouldn't. It reminded me that The Doctors, while having a few young characters (mainly Liz, if you don't count the children), was written firmly from an adult POV, whereas today's soaps often feel like a 50-60 year old trying to pretend they're writing for a 16 year old.

In my watch with my mother, I wound up the board meeting episodes, when Matt gives his long speech about judgmental attitudes and how no one but God has the right to judge. And we met the main man on the board, who was, refreshingly, presented as a taskmaster and too rigid, but also allowed to be fair and willing to listen. Today he would be paid off by Bunker or we'd learn that he hates Matt because his great-grandfather is a supervillain. What I liked the most about these episodes was that Nick and Althea tried to approach the board so differently, but they both ended the same way - humiliated, berating the board and Bunker. It's a great reminder of just how made for each other they are. And Althea's rage over a right to privacy and how sickened she is by people trying to tell her who to be and not caring about her ability because her "morals" aren't good enough for them - this is all so timely for modern women, and modern America, that it makes me want to cry. Althea is such a special character. I'm so happy to get the chance to know her. And as someone who always loved Liz Hubbard on ATWT it's refreshing to see her very different performances for a very, very different character. It's a treat I never expected to have, outside of the episodes that saynotoursoap and others were kind enough to upload. My mother watches GH and gets through it better than I do these days, but she's told me repeatedly how much she's grown to love The Doctors and how much better it is than anything on daytime now. I just hope there are more people out there like this (and people who actually get Retro TV) and we'll at least get to the early '70s. I really want to see Virginia Vestoff and Nancy Barrett.

I can see why fans hated to see Bethel go, especially since it seems to have been fairly sudden (was Lydia just a temp recast, as some say, or was she a permanent one all along?), but it's saddening to read that Lydia got hate mail. I'm glad that turned around and the show was patient enough to let this ride out. I think Bethel was terrific at combining Maggie's seeming toughness with the tender heart she hid underneath (and I especially loved her relationship with Nick as his "school chum"), but I've also been impressed with what I've seen of Lydia early on (I watched some of her early episodes even though I'm still technically behind). She adds a lot of surface vulnerability to Maggie and doesn't rely as much on the sarcasm that would seem like an imitation. What impresses me most is that she still plays Maggie this way in the 1982 episodes, so even after nearly 15 years of unstable writing and an extended period where they all knew the show was on the way out, she didn't phone it in. That takes strength as a performer.

I wonder if this will affect any politics in Israel. Sounds like most of them are moving to the UK and Israel, but I guess some are moving to the US. I'd read about how bad this was getting in Europe but I don't think it hit me until the last year or so. http://observer.com/2014/09/wealthy-french-jews-are-fleeing-anti-semitism-and-bringing-their-money/

March 1958 Modern Screen

Some articles on Jews leaving France. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/a-new-anti-semitism-why-thousands-of-jewish-citizens-are-leaving-france/ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2903600/Every-single-French-Jew-know-left-Paris-Editor-Britain-s-Jewish-Chronicle-claims-people-fleeing-terror-hit-French-capital.html

Yes. The first Aaron viewers ever saw was a kid, maybe 10-11, I can't remember, played by Charley Webb (Debbie)'s kid brother (their other brother is Jamie Lomas, Warren from HO). He met Chas for the first time and didn't have a great reaction, but visited a few times. A few years later they aged Aaron up, with Miller in the role. This is his first scene (or close): You can also see Nicola Stapleton (ex-Mandy, EE) wandering around - she did a great job in a very small role. I wouldn't mind seeing her again. (I'm really glad he eventually grew his hair out) Yes, Ryan Hawley plays Robert now. Robert can be a huge !@#$%^&*], hurtful, cruel, etc. Most of it's a defense mechanism because he's never gotten over his father rejecting him. Sometimes he shows his decency. He's a little more of a caricature this time around but the decency is still there. Hopefully we will see more of it and he won't be turned one-note or into a psycho killer or rapist, the way many soaps now do. This Christmas episode has a glimpse of the vulnerable Robert. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2dei7a_aaron-robert-part-16-25-12-2014_shortfilms I never know how long I'm going to stay with Emmerdale (a day, a month, a year - who knows) but of all the British soaps it's always the one that reminds me most of ATWT and GL, so I'm happy to talk about it if you have any more questions.