DRW50

Thanks again @Paul Raven Reading the summary I was briefly worried we were going to get one of those is-it-rape scenarios with Lisa and Grant. Thankfully not. The reconciliation seems like some of the more lighthearted material I've heard of with Lisa and Grant. I can see why he was likely her favorite partner with viewers (I can never remember if it was his choice to leave the show or not). I love watching Judith McConnell and I think she could have been a natural fit for this "goddesses" era of the show. Still, I have wondered and still wonder about bringing her in at a time when the show already had so many women in her age range. It's clear with her resentment toward Kim and dating Dan and Bob, all central figures, that she was also a central figure early on, but when you are a new character, no matter how central you may be, I don't think it's a great idea to rely so heavily on unseen backstory to drive you. She already knew Kim, she already knew Kevin...what about time on new people she didn't know? I wish I could see John's outburst scene.

I think someone here a long time ago said that Crawford was seen as being too old. He had aged a bit but still looks good enough in car ads from around that time. I wonder if he suffered from being so closely tied to Brenda's Jill to where he stopped just being the town lawyer.

Thanks @alwaysAMC Those sound like the classic I'm-not-an-alcoholic lines but as we haven't heard of her having any more trouble over the last 15 years I'll take her word for it. That tribute really was garbage. I was not surprised but I was still disgusted. GL was the first of the long-running soaps to go in the era where it was said that the public didn't care about soaps anymore, so there was no effort made. IIRC, the "So Long Springfield" tours generated much more of a public response than anyone expected. I think this is one of the reasons that ATWT got more publicity and merchandise when it ended. I remember buying SPW's goodbye issue for GL. I felt like I had to do so to show support for someone, anyone, paying tribute to GL, even if by that point SPW wasn't even useful as toilet paper.

I only ever know of Laurie from that time and I agree it's hard to see her as a sub for Emily. Thanks for the other suggestions. A while back I did get to read a number of TV Dawn to Dusk issues and I agree with you about the quality. They looked very cheap, especially the covers. The cast list/character bits might have been the best part, along with some interviews here and there (I think they interviewed Diane Ladd - can't remember if anyone else did). Afternoon TV, Daily TV Serials were the best for me, Daytimers and the first decade of Weekly after that. There are a few short lived soap magazines I wish I was able to read more of (like All About Soap or Mid Day TV, etc.) but this has probably dragged on enough - sorry.

I don't think the idea of Josh as a reverend was terrible, as it's not like Josh was ever a very rigidly defined character - he was mostly just a bit of a prick who liked crazy ladies and obsessed over Reva. I think the problem is what do you do with the story once he's a reverend? Where does that go? Philip in that role might have made more sense, trying to reform after his hurtling toward the dark side (including killing someone - not that anybody gave a damn). I agree with you about the final weeks not having strong enough stories. That is probably true for the show in general long before the end. There's a certain hokey, wholesome air to the show by the end. That isn't really "my" GL, but it is closer to my GL than the show often felt in the first half of the decade. If we are going to tear our hair out over the agonies of what Wheeler did to GL and how she ruined the show, as Kim or others might, I mostly put that time to the Jonathan era (which I tended to avoid and don't care about rewatching) and how it capped off so much of the sickness and sleaze also peddled by late Rauch and Conboy, rather than the last year of the show.

Thanks for replying so quickly. Yes, I figured she meant something like Afternoon TV (that and Daytime TV being the main two). I don't know who the women in her age range were at the time that she could have temped for, if that happened.

I think the Emmy Lucci won that year may have been her most deserved time of winning, if it was for the Bianca intervention episode. None of those would have been on my immediate list either for returns but I thought they were low-key and didn't have the smugness some pet returns can have. The cameos I appreciated were more the longtime cast of previous eras, even if I wish they'd had more to do.

https://www.welovesoaps.tv/

Thanks. Not that that ever matters on soaps.

For whatever she supposedly tried about renaming the show, Wheeler did seem to try to tie in history as much as she could. Some felt a bit half-hearted but I still appreciated the idea (like the "hairy arms" opening and bringing in a relative of Reverend Ruthledge), and then she worked hard for so many returns in the show's last year. The last episode even had a montage of every opening. Night and day to ATWT at this point. I respect Parker for declining. It would have reminded viewers too much of what they had lost and taken them out of the anniversary.

Didn't Cane have some kind of evil lookalike? Was that part of the evil cattle ranchers story? I almost want them to revive that just to see what the hell Flynn could even do with it.

That's very true. No wonder she would be drawn to a Phoenix...

We need Maria Arena Bell back to teach those "honoring history" classes... - Why is Y&R so obsessed with Chancellor as a business (which was not a big thing for most of Katherine's glory years) yet has so little use for her actual family (aside from retcon Devon, I suppose)? - Why does everyone on Y&R need to be involved in business? Bill Bell never wanted that. I don't even think he would have wanted Nikki to be a businesswoman, but at least MTS makes it fun. Can you imagine if Josh Griffith and the rest were writing his old stories? Sally and Pierre, Casey, Brock, Marge...all warring over companies in coffee shops. I feel a little bad for Conner as we won't even get to see his work for almost a year. What if Flynn's move to Y&R is a flop and he doesn't last that long - a lot of fans are going to be clamoring for him to return to DAYS as they won't even see what his replacement is doing. Still, a job is a job, and I can see why Conner would jump at the chance for a steadier gig. A part of me agrees with those who think Chad needed a rest, but he already seems to have been deemphasized as it is, and the show does need a more "normal" branch of the Dimeras if the family is going to stay around (plus the inevitable Abigail return). I wish Conner a lot of luck, either way. Maybe they can find some primetime name that never was happy for a gig. Or maybe Guy Wilson, who seems happy enough to step in for brief roles (just give him a haircut). I do wonder if anyone at Y&R wonders if they should use the younger male talent they have if they are just going to get hired elsewhere. In some ways, but they still emphasize quite a few vets (I'd argue too many in Y&R's case).

Around 20 minutes Dorothy Lyman talks a bit about her time on AMC, including that she regularly rewrote her lines, although she just changed the dialogue, not the emphasis of the scenes. She also let her co-stars know from the first rehearsal of the day. She gets some bits wrong (Carol Burnett and Vicki Lawrence couldn't have seen her playing Opal while taping the Carol Burnett Show...), but still, it's interesting hearing her talk a little about Opal and how AMC led her to Mama's Family.

Thanks again. They sure did love that music cue. I would have had Viki be more skeptical, but then she'd just been shot and had a stroke not that long previous... It's going to be a real adjustment with Dorian and Blair in 1993.

In this interview from 2023, Dorothy Lyman mentions her first Edge of Night part being a couple of weeks work filling in for an actress who had gotten in a skiing accident. She said the show appreciated her work and a few months later she was cast as Ellie Jo. Clearly, she doesn't remember all the details (she says SOD named her as the best new character of 1972), but this seemed like something she was sure on. It's at about 13 minutes in. Have any of you ever heard of this? @vetsoapfan ? @slick jones She also goes into a little detail about her Search for Tomorrow part, although she still doesn't give a name for the character. (she says the character was a friend to Kelly Wood's character)

I found two old clips in some files that don't seem to be on Youtube anymore as far as I could find. I'm not entirely sure on the date for the second clip. My file was listed as February 24 and the partial episode after it as February 27, but the version of the latter episode now on Youtube is March 2.

This makes sense. It's a positive sign that they see soaps as an avenue again. I just hope that continues and BtG stays on for some time or we even get another soap. I think P&G still cared about content with GL up to the late '90s but seemed to give up after that.

Thanks @Maxim the rivalry between Blair and Dorian is very entertaining. You could say Dorian should know better, but the days of Dorian being quite so sharp had already been in the past. Elaine and Mia click as rivals, helped by the show not having them compete for the same man.

Compared to many producers, Gottlieb did revolutionize her soap. She did not revolutionize daytime, but delusions and all, that's a quote which gets attention, and at the time OLTL needed attention. I'm just sorry that in the long run, her biggest revolution for OLTL was a gang rapist. I do think Slezak, and likely many others, resented the outside nature and arrogance involved. In the same interview, she praises Frank Valentini for working his way up from being Rauch's "slave."

I have a difficult time judging Malone for his comments - they were true then and they are true now. If Ryan had wanted to make appearances, we might have had the same material Michael and Brad had on AMC a few years later (some extremely chaste reminders that they are a couple), but that was the most we would have gotten. I think they missed a trick not doing more with him later (and the role could have easily been recast as I've never thought Ryan was anything special), but considering the fate of other gay characters on OLTL, maybe it's for the best.

You are me back then... I do think they all get better in 1995 (well, Nick and Alex), but that's not saying a lot. It was very difficult to watch as we had no idea what was going on. I remember fans would be happier some days if he sounded "better," but there was a marked decline. In all my years of watching soaps nothing I've rarely seen that situation as a viewer. And then when we found out, everyone was heartbroken and fully supportive. I never saw a fan who said Zaslow should be let go (the most I saw was later on some fans who tried to go along with Dennis Parlato, although it was clear that wasn't going to work out). P&G, however, did not agree.

Thanks. I had wondered if it would be a situation like Chris McKenna, who is a delight, managing to be so likeable either on social media or even trashy quasi softcore films, but is stuck in a dead end part as Brennan.

Thanks @Maxim Phil Carey was having the time of his life in this period - even if he was another who IIRC had no use for Gottlieb, she did know how to maneuver Asa. He was horrible at this time, but it wasn't really out of character. This was also Pat Elliott's best run on the show, as they tapped into her penchant for old school melodrama without tipping over into caricature.

Erika Slezak complained about the Jane story in the press (which sums up her disdain for the Gottlieb era), saying viewers can't care about guest characters. I am very fond of Megan, most of which I'd put on Jessica Tuck, maybe one of the most unconventional soap stars, thrown into, frankly, insane storylines for a newcomer, but viewers still took her into their hearts. This frail story is probably not the best intro to her... I am also a big fan of Jason's so I'm glad you are too. Thank you for the Blair clips. Something I notice - and I'm not sure how intentional it is - is that in the early moments, there is an undertone of Blair playing up the submissive Asian female stereotype to win everyone over. Mia is just so good, believably playing the meekness yet her sly ways are obvious. It's an interesting contrast to cousin Cassie, as Laura Koffman often struggled to play her material in a way that went beyond hysterical, even when Cassie was meant to be strong. Elaine Princi is the perfect fit for the Cramer women story. She has a strong physical resemblance to everyone, and the tragic and melodramatic backstory is perfect for her talents. Robin Strasser has her moments - particularly her connection with the divine Pamela Payton-Wright - but I will never believe her Dorian made sense in that group, especially the raggedy version from the '00s to the end. I never knew Mia's Blair had that music cue early on. The Renee and Asa scene you mention where she weeps over him telling her to go adopt some kid is interesting in hindsight as a decade later the show would retcon and claim they had a son (a dull-as-hell son...). It actually does fit with that sequence, somehow. You aren't wrong about early Luna...that astrology clip was tough to take and felt like something rewritten from the '70s. We were clearly meant to see Cord as an abusive tyrant (no wonder John Loprieno quit - they got Cord badly wrong, and Gottlieb/Malone would continue to not understand him when he returned a few years later) but I just find the whole thing annoying. That scene where Cord gets Blair a job at the Banner felt very strange. I got the sense Bob Woods and John thought the whole thing was [!@#$%^&*] and didn't care about hiding their opinion.