DRW50

October 1978 Digest

I guess the episode here was when the strike was winding down or had just finished. That whole movie story with Natalie (which was over by this time apparently) screams strike. I didn't realize Carol was pregnant at this point. Did she lose the baby? I was reading an SPW article during the '91 anniversary where they listed most of the new characters and recasts and graded them based on potential. They got more right than they got wrong (they said no one cared about Sabrina and she'd probably be gone soon, that Linc would go as he had no chemistry with the women he was with), but they made me laugh when they gave Courtney an A and said she'd be around for many years to come. Given that they gave Connor a D and said she had no reason to stay around, I was amused, because Connor outlasted that whiny dullard by 2-3 years. They also said that Andy would only be viable if he took after John and not his saintly mother, which I never bought - to me Andy was best as a heroic, flawed, vulnerable figure. I don't know why but the soap magazines at that time had a stick up their ass about Kim and how sanctimonious and self-righteous they thought she was.

I didn't know Brenda had two with Joe LaDue. Were they popular together?

I think she played her around 70-81. Sorry I forgot to list her.

Thanks! I think Terry already had a foot and a half out the door by this point.

Considering that they'd both been involved with the same man more than once, or had feelings for the same man, it's a credit to the show that they didn't have them getting in tacky catfights, like what you'd get now, and instead they were trying to encourage each other. It made me like Annie more, this and her earlier scene with Carol where she seemed to have some humor. That's probably the best part of some of these scenes, like the one with Hayley and Eric, that the actors sort of play them as loose. These have already been seen but if anyone hasn't seen them:

The material for John and James seems to be what carries the show in this period. The show seems so lethargic, as it has in most of what I've seen from these years. I guess that must be one of the reasons why Deas and Margaret Colin were so popular with fans - they have a lot of vitality. Deas is much more low-key here, which I appreciated, but he still had some charisma even in a basic scene. And Colin bounces off Larry Bryggman perfectly and even does OK in that scene with Cricket (Lisa Loring is as bad as you said...). Still, it was pleasant enough to watch, which is more than I can say about most soaps now. It just doesn't quite seem like ATWT. Or anything. It's oddly formless.

That was a Christmas episode We Love Soaps put up for a few days when they were making the ATWT and GL DVDs. I think that was her last appearance, per Soapcentral. I remember that she had scenes with Tom in that. Nice way to take her full circle, I guess. Thanks. I kept thinking I recognized Larry Travis. IMDB says he was in Knightriders, a notorious B-movie that was on MST3K. Maybe that's it.

Was that from After Dark?

Sad to say no one like Rita would be cast today - she'd have to have fake lips and breasts and a frozen face. It's a shame. Carol seems so real, and likely was a nice touchstone for the average viewer at that time.

1. Karen 70-74 2. Stephanie 74-76 3. Karen 76-77 (I may be a little off on these dates) 4. Nancy - 77-79 5. Nancy - brief 85 return 6. Karen - brief 95 return

I assume she wanted to retire, but I don't know. Maybe the show let her go, as they were more and more youth-focused and Carol had gone through a lot of story. I do have a fair share of Rita interviews, as she was hugely popular with ATWT fans in the '70s (she was the only young heroine on the show outside of the revolving Annies and Dees). When I find them I'll post them.

Before.

GL, ATWT, GH. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephanie_Braxton

Yes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dlu2pYZNU0&list=UUMzfXBdkJBnz14rGTDBnVDw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jX3372URz6s&list=UUMzfXBdkJBnz14rGTDBnVDw

I didn't know Winter was in story with Miles.

Ad at about 6:50. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jX3372URz6s&list=UUMzfXBdkJBnz14rGTDBnVDw

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/24/world/europe/europes-anti-semitism-comes-out-of-shadows.html?src=me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDN2j2UCC74 Carol was such a popular character in the '70s...the only younger heroine they really had who stayed around and had a following. I don't know if Rita McLaughlin wanted to retire anyway, but I wish they'd had Carol pop up sometimes. They could have had her come back into Tom's life when he had problems with Margo. I never knew she and Annie were close enough that she'd name a child after Annie. They seem very funny here along with the drama of the day - it's nice to see that side of Annie. The Eric and Hayley scenes are like that too. I wonder if it was down to the strike or if the actors were just having a good time, or what.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSZQ7EEhKg0 Generally Margaret Colin was OTT in a lot of the Margo clips I've seen, but she's relatively subtle here. Good performances in both scenes. I like her relationship with John at this time, before she was a heroine. They're both hotheads with a lot of baggage and they just do not mix well, yet you can see how much they care about each other. That last scene was terrific. Lisa Loring is...well, she's energetic. I'll give her that. She reminds me of Andrea Evans on OLTL around this time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WF43N6Pgfg For a criminal mastermind, James is a terrible liar. I enjoy seeing Kim and John spar at the start of this, Kim as feisty as ever. I don't know that doctor Annie and then Rick are talking to, or that nurse. I wonder who played them. Rick is so smarmy. I've always sort of liked Gary Hudson so I wish he'd stayed on, but then Rick was never a long-term character. It's interesting that each of his stints on the show were defined by his schemes about Bob/Jennifer and Bob/Kim back when Kim was pregnant with Bob's child. Annie is as dull as ever, although she's a little peppier here than she was in the 1979 clips I've watched of her. That's Lisa Denton's Betsy. I don't think she was around long. The actress who played Connie went on to play the pure and good and long-suffering daughter of the central heroine on Christian soap Another Life.

Perfect gif. It breaks my heart. I was hooked on the show at this time. Hooked.