DRW50

Thank you. Debbi Morgan is a treasure and still has such a joy about her. I'd never heard the story about Henry Fonda. I'm glad they acknowledged Angie.

I still associate him with his China Beach role - he's always been a good brooder.

Brittany Allen and Jeff Kober will be on The Pitt. https://deadline.com/2025/12/the-pitt-recurring-cast-season-2-1236632155/

Don Stewart as Mike Bauer on Guiding Light. I'm not sure if Mike ever had a big fan favorite before him (Gary Pilar may be closest) but Don seemed to define the character very quickly - he's already getting major coverage in soap magazines around 1969 and 1970.

Maybe the timing, or Lily Tomlin was too much of a clash. There seemed to be behind the scenes issues too: https://deadline.com/2012/10/kevin-abbott-checks-into-rehab-takes-a-leave-from-abc-comedy-malibu-country-350886/ and from the show's Wiki: On April 23, 2013, it was announced that Nastaran Dibai, who took over as writer and producer after Kevin Abbott left in October 2012, had departed as well from the show

I can see some of the worst sides of her Mindy in her Tina, but none of the best. And she was also a decade older, which hurts when you are trying to play a dumb character. The whole thing is just sad. I think someone once said she didn't even audition. If that is true, then it shows they weren't taking Tina seriously. I'd give most of the credit to Karen - on paper I don't think most of her material is up to much.

Connor was never an iconic character, but she did have fans. I was one of them. I think it was easy to take her for granted, which is why FMB and MADD felt so comfortable firing Allyson Rice Taylor to give a friend a job. Taylor was a very thoughtful, intelligent actress who did a lot with what she was given (although even then I couldn't sit through her last year of stories). She wasn't. The material was bad, and she struggled to play it. Malone's disdain for Tina was also very clear, as it was through his whole run. Inexplicably SOD named her best recast of 1994.

Laura also learned from her mistakes, and she was never babied or deified in the writing. The show was never the same without her but a part of me is glad she escaped the fate of Karen and Valene.

Chuckie was Meta's son, only there in the radio years. I'm sure someone else will know the story better than I do, but Meta had given him up for adoption. She married his biological father, Ted White, to be a part of his life, but she was very unhappy and full of neuroses. Ted was obsessed with the idea that Chuckie wasn't manly enough, and took him camping, made him take boxing lessons. Chuckie died during one of the boxing lessons, I think (I'm not sure). Meta lost her mind and shot and killed Ted. Viewers got to decide Meta's fate - they found her not guilty via temporary insanity. I think this is also how Meta met her next husband, Joe Roberts.

I'd add the third Pat Ryan, Robert Finnocolli. He always seemed like he wanted to rip somebody's head off.

This happened repeatedly with Lesli in the '00s - I thought she did a decent job replacing Colleen Dion on B&B, and Colleen was one of my favorites when I watched B&B. She never really found a foothold on any soap after her ATWT exit.

I never knew Chuckie was mentioned by that point. I wish that was available. Probably why I was struggling to come up with some memories for GL.

Heather Rattray for life! Hensley's comments are interesting as to me he had little chemistry with Martha Byrne when she returned in 1993. Some would return when he did in late 1996 but I don't really think they ever clicked onscreen the same way they did in her first run.

Nothing against Jacqueline Schultz, who was there during extremely dull years, but beyond a certain ethereal presence I thought she was window dressing. The bits I've seen of Dawson are a little better to me, but it wouldn't have mattered as Dee was somehow both overused and inert. I thought Sheri was OK, if a little brittle, but I agree that Brooke Alexander had a unique presence and wry humor which helped make the character work. I am still not sure if Sam would have returned if not for the regime change, but what a horrible exit for her and for Kirk.

Kassie had originally started playing Eve in 2014 and would be off and on for the next decade, so that was a year or two pre-Ron (he did bring her back repeatedly). I wasn't watching on a regular basis. I thought she did good work when Eve's daughter was murdered but I do think it's hard to replace Charlotte Ross in her signature role.

When did they ever go away? I see the painfully underrated Chris Parnell, who missed an SNL episode or two making that pilot (he was fired [for the second time] that same season). He'd later have one-season sitcoms Big Lake and Happy Together, was on the first season of grown-ish, and may be best known for Rick and Morty and recurring on 30 Rock. The show was by Paula Pell, who left the SNL staff the previous season (complete with various cast holding up "we'll miss you Paula" esque signs) and promptly returned. She would later star oncamera in AP Bio, Girls 5 Eva, and her biggest solo part, a Quibi mystery parody called Maplewood Murders. Sharon Gless, beyond her US work, also had a well-received recurring role on UK medical soap Casualty.

I love Crystal Gayle, but it sounds like someone was a big fan of her work on the One from the Heart soundtrack. Marlo's not wrong, although I'm sorry for the fans that the show never got a proper ending. Some shows just belong in their place and time, as many, many revivals prove.

An I Love Lucy comic strip. I never knew there was one. April 16th, 1954 as seen in the Standard-Star Post by @forgottencomics.bsky.social — Bluesky

Maura West had to do this on ATWT and Kassie de Paiva had to do this on OLTL, which disgusted me. I remember the OLTL scenes being especially ugly and then they had her come back not long after giving birth to have more traumatic scenes and have her character go back into a coma.

Thanks for sharing.

Thanks @Maxim That was such an interesting scene, as I think a great deal of what Sloan is saying is genuine, but part is also a knife-twist. Beyond the Brooke comparison, it reminds me of something Dorian might do. I wish the show had explored Sloan/Dorian a little more.

I'm sure they are, I just don't enjoy this format, I generally don't enjoy them in their other roles, and I'd need someone I have a connection with to care about sitting through it.

I think Crystal Gayle's guest stint on AW was shorter than that theme song.

Locher is still rough and makes it about himself but I still watch him sometimes because of the guests, and I just don't know if I have enough room in my life to sit through a lot of Rebecca Budig and Greg Rikaart.

@dc11786 I appreciate you writing about the material with Lee as that sounds most interesting to me but what I didn't remember. At the time I mainly remember Frank in his true sleaze era (which Jay Pickett did a great job with) and some of the build of Chris/Julie. These parts were compelling and made good use of performances. The stuff with Scott, Eve, Lucy and Kevin I found to be extremely alienating. I thought DV was miscast (too young to be Scott's father, lacking charisma, on and on) and I can't think of a worse way to bring him on than a rape story with Lucy that they tried to half-dress as romance.