DRW50

They made the character look awful by having her bed down Michael after taking Mikey from Donna and Michael. Kale Browne and Hilary Edson had no chemistry and they both came across as pricks, even though the writing clearly meant for us to side with them over Donna. Anna Stuart had to play against the writing for Donna during most of Swajeski's tenure, which she later complained about in an interview. Edson was also very cold in many of her scenes, more than I remember her being on GL a few years later. I wonder if it wasn't a happy experience. @Paul Raven from the Texas! thread - in 1991 (?), Carl had a henchman try to kill Rachel at the TV studio. She managed to fight him off, but had vision problems for a while, I think due to some type of explosion.

If any show ever requires people to use Ozempic, I hope they get sued to hell. It's toxic and just leads to everyone who takes it having sallow faces and eyes, the exact opposite of what the appeal of soaps is often hyped as being. I think JJ's main draw will always be nostalgia, but the issue is nostalgia is not enough. I think he could be a leading man, but he left the show for a decade and things moved on. Then he left for another decade and things moved on even more. There's just nothing left. I've made my share of digs over the years so I can't really say anything, but I think the cast looks fine (I'd prefer they not use cheap hair dye or any fillers and other procedures, but of course it's not up to me).

Thanks for watching. I always forget how much AMC is not on Youtube, due to huge purges 5-6 years ago or however long.

General Hospital- February 25, 1981 (partial) : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

All My Children (April 26, 1993) : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Thanks. Never heard of him. I am not vested enough in B&B I guess.

Thanks @slick jones I didn't realize Jay North had been on GH. Who is Emily Kasprzykc's parents to be a nepo hire?

Iris was also there when Rachel was briefly blinded in the early '90s.

Feels odd seeing A Martinez used in this way. I guess this was very very early on for his SB run. (I didn't even know the Search guy)

AWHP have started their anniversary gifts. They also mentioned this message from Kevin Carrigan, posted on a video. "I have acted with Richard Dreyfuss (he taught me to play poker), Gus Alleghretti, Eugene Troobnik, John Caprice, John C. McGinley, Maria Tucci, Dominic Chianese, David Proval, Mike Starr, George Segal, Hal Linden, Ossie Davis, Glynn Turman, Judd Hirsch, Clevon Little, Vincent Gardinia, Neil Maffin, John Lithgow, Arnold Vosloo, Esai Morales, Al Pacino, Rick Zahn, Sheryl Lee, Lars Mikkelsen, Mark Moses, Kevin Spacey, Campbell Scott, Mahershala Ali, Robert Downey, Jr. (briefly...my room-mate), Paul Sparks, Luke Hemsworth, Hemky Madera, Paul Johansson, Diego Tinoco, Harley Jane Kozak, and Robin Wright (among others); but, I am as proud of this toe-to-toe with Bill Espy as anything (1:04, 13:19). What a cool guy! Bill, should you ever see this...I love golf now, too! And--Oh, My Goodness!--was Hilary Edson gorgeous in this episode! We had our great differences at this time (I wish we had not; or, that we could have resolved them. Alas, we didn't.); but, she was simply stunning. I don't even think she knew how truly breath-taking she was. After the fact, I believe she realizes now. Maybe none of us are ever able to fully understand what we have when we have it; only, many years later, someone can point out to us that we once did."

You're right, although AW kept Rachel and Mac apart for almost all of Texas! lifespan anyway. But Rachel moving to a new show entirely would have been much starker. I do think it could have been interesting...and maybe this would have been the time to bring back Pammy and Gerald. (sorry, I know this is all more suited to the AW thread now)

She truly is Sonny's daughter.

@P.J. Thanks. I see that's Megan McTavish with Amanda at the start. Odd knowing she was among those who recast Amanda (although P&G might have insisted the show go with a younger model). I guess this is Warren's first episode, or close. I see he's trying to be more butch here compared to later on when he was queening out with India and Alex. Thanks for the answers about Trish and Vanessa. IIRC, the woman Josh is drooling over is Nola. I can't remember the episode, but there's one where Nola, after she can't go through with marrying Floyd, dresses up to go to the disco, I guess to try to catch a rich man. It's cut so oddly in the opening you'd think they are two different shots, but they aren't. Can't remember if they ever had any serious interaction after that, other than group scenes I guess. All of Tony's shots in this opening (the cup and the kick) annoy the hell out of me. Somebody should have put a foot in his ass.

I saw a bit of the moment where he was clearly angry and hurt and wanted to tell all, and she steered him toward cold calculation. A good insight into how they have both always been.

Welcome. Nice to have new people here, especially those who enjoy the vintage soaps. We have a good group of GL posters here, which helps. Beyond that I do credit Youtube. I don't think I would have gone back to GL for its last year if not for Youtube, where I got to see a lot of stuff I'd never seen via the ClassicGL channel and was reminded of the show I'd loved.

This must be why they paired them on GL. I can't say anything done with Larsen there impressed me.

That could have worked, although if she had just been moved over to Texas it may have been too late. I do think Laura Malone could have carried her own show.

In one of her later episodes Philip is hanging out with her and seems to have a crush on her. That could have been a good angle to continue, as they aged Philip so quickly, too quickly, once he graduated high school. I don't think a lot of the Quint mystery stuff is that thrilling even with Marland there, but at least it has a throughline. As you said, this is clear stall mode, mostly just helped by some of the supporting people, like Helena. Thanks for the answer about Kelly.

That's a good idea. AW would have been hurt without Rachel but at least she could have carried a soap (and the show doesn't really know what to do with Rachel in the early '80s anyway).

It's too bad they got cold feet about the Doctors spinoff as I think that could have actually worked.

@P.J. You probably already saw this but there are some fun Vanessa scenes. Maeve's performance here is interesting to me - she was never just OTT as Vanessa even in the bitchiest plot mover days, but it feels like a bridge to her later work, even if there's still a foot in the past (like her repeatedly calling Trish "darling" in that society circuit way - I wonder if they ever considered each other genuine friends). I laughed when she said young women only marry older men for money. How prophetic. Mike White would have had a field day with her character arc. Someone in the comments mentioned expecting to see Diane sashay in and how they had quit for a while after her murder. The office does lack a great deal of spark without her. So much earnestness. Still, at least one Marland touch is gone (Trish and Alan did not throw stones at Vanessa as she ran out of the room). Jennifer Cooke had improved as Morgan by this point...still not great, but they were writing to her strengths - more direct, less of the ingenue. I wonder if they had any plans to put her back with Kelly or if they were done done. Jennifer may have already chosen to leave by this point, I'm not sure. I rarely see Kelly in 1983 or 1984 episodes, although admittedly, I am not exactly looking for him. Something about the character puts me off. Mona/Rebecca reminds me of Sheena Easton (who reportedly could have played a great villain). The character is generally more entertaining when she enters into the bitch phase of that meandering storyline, which I guess we are at by this point. The couch she is sitting on is hideously ugly. I wonder if the real reason Mrs. Renfield left so hurriedly is because she had murdered a housewife and stole her suite. Jennifer must have been one of the biggest sad sacks in GL history. Poor Geraldine Court. Morgan shutting down her trying to use her delusional marriage as a yardstick for other couples was satisfying.

The L&L wedding was in November 1981 - if you meant the first Texas sweeps when the show was on the air a full year, my apologies. I think the best way to compete with GH would have been trying not to compete with them and doing their own thing. GL did manage to compete with GH, but that was with the headwriter who had helped build GH's comeback. There just wasn't any reason for Texas! to exist, at least the way it was put together. I do not believe 60 minute soap debuts are a good idea, it was clear strong plans weren't in place, and this was the worst time to try to spin off AW. If they were going to spin off AW, then some of the suggestions of characters like Pat, or other Matthews family members who weren't on the canvas at the time, might have made more sense to me, but even then, I don't know. I guess they were too early on the train to realize that trying to imitate Dallas was also not going to work. The only successful daytime attempts (or primetime attempts for that matter) were fusing OLTL and GL with Ewing offshoots. Of course, GL would go on to inherit so much of Texas' spirit, minus Carla Borelli (I wonder if she ever regretted that).

https://variety.com/2025/film/news/sian-barbara-allen-dead-scream-pretty-peggy-1236352951/

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I think it's because JFP did not see GL as a community-based show, unless the community was a shantytown in service to her friends. We were meant to be honored by their presence.