DRW50

I wonder why they even reunited Katherine and Rex, since they had so little story for them. Leanna is the only role I've ever liked Crampton in (aside from her first 4-5 months as Maggie Forrester). I would still bring her back if I thought she wouldn't be ruined. If I were writing the show, I would have her hosting a show that exposes all of Phyllis' crimes, like running over Christine and Danny.

Barbara Crampton went on recurring in 1992, I believe. She then went to GL in mid-1993. Did they use her any between those periods? Or did she leave Y&R once she went on recurring? Did Bill have any plans to use her?

Oh I can see where they cast actors in multiple roles, it's just driving me nuts for some reason to see if he's the same character. I wish he'd started randomly yelling "LORIE LESLIE LANCE LUCAS FOUR L'S!!!" just to help me out.

So Peter Brown was playing the same character then?

That was in summer/spring 1996 I think.

This is great. It's also very honest, although they don't seem fond of Taylor Miller. Who was David?

I know this period is seen as a low point for Viki's character, but I love the way she treats Clint in these scenes. I much prefer this to any relationship between Viki and JvD's version of the character. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmBBk2HwDN0&feature=channel

I always forget about Redeker. I guess it's weird to me to have Peter Brown play a lawyer twice and not have it as the same character.

Jill Abbott or Whitesnake member? You decide. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHbMG9V--f8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3MXiTeH_Pg&ob=av3e

Speaking of the Gottlieb era, here are some very powerful scenes I'd never seen before. Another reminder for me of how soulful Chris McKenna's Joey was (especially the scenes where he is holding an unconscious Billy) - something that was lost with the recast. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2JP4Il2mlA&feature=channel

In one of the 1990 episodes recently uploaded to Youtube, Peter Brown plays a prosecutor in Danny's drug trial. Was he playing the same character he played in 1982? Bell usually didn't cast actors who had been fairly prominent in other Y&R roles, did he?

I like the idea of her being a shrink (although she was not in that field until after SH left in 1997, right?), but it just seems like the show got stuck on making her the traditional heroine. In many ways I feel like the rape cut her character off long term in terms of development. What bothers me about the Viki story long term is I think Viki became a very weak character. There's nothing wrong with adding more layers and pain and explanations, but when it became about this crippling burden of her life, and Todd as the reminder of her father's evil, and the annual trips out to the Lord crypt to yell at Victor, and so on, it just felt like Viki had little strength. This was probably enhanced by the awful changes Disney made once they bought ABC.

I think in some cases it was down to the decline of soaps - certainly, in a strong soap era, Andrew would have remained a core character for a long time. But many of her ideas seem like they were more suited to a project with a shorter lifespan. Once Marty goes through all the fallout and rebuilding of her life, what is left for her? Aside from fans enjoying her chemistry with Thorsten Kaye, there was nothing. What was there for Todd? He was an unworkable character mostly powered by an intense actor. Keeping him around killed the character, and heavily damaged the show. Alex reached her peak after a few years and then had a slow decline. The Viki abuse story was powerful at the time but led to so many bad story consequences. I agree with you about the rape story - I thought Todd had enough motivation (based on what was shown of the character).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=866ykBvdqKI

Even at the time the social stories got quite a bit of criticism - I was surprised to go back and read SOD give a "thumbs down" to the rape story, saying that while they liked the directing of the episode, Marty was extremely unlikeable, Todd did not have enough motivation to become a rapist, Marty had no reason to believe Kevin raped her, Kevin sitting around outside made no sense, etc. I think a lot of the soap press saw Gottlieb as an outsider and judged her work to a higher standard than they may have judged others. Beyond that, I do think that she had good decisions, a lot of style, put building blocks in place, but it's also very noticeable how much of her era only really worked in her era. Todd's character, Luna, Luna/Max, Tina, Marty, Alex, the changes in Viki. So much of this fell apart very quickly after she left, most of it in a year or less.

Apparently there are big spoilers up for season 2 on the show's website, under their DVD section. So if you want to know check it out.

I think she meant in the broader sense, because a success in soap terms is someone who is copied.

Thanks. I hadn't seen that before.

He was sued by Sandy's husband and then had to clear his name when the man died, and the show teased Sandy and Bob reuniting, but that never happened. It seems like every man on the show in that age group, except John and Don, was in love with Valerie.

Yowch - not a fan of Mia Korf at all. I actually think the early Blair was KDP's weakest work in the role. If nothing else it's a good reminder that Korf's Blair was not universally popular (I like her work a lot - I just think the character herself was easily degraded). I don't mind that OLTL had quite a few unrelated characters at that time. I'm surprised Marlena didn't remember that the last golden era of OLTL was full of "others" - Marco, Edwina, Ina, Ed, and even Karen and Brad often existed as loners, family ties or not. I hate the idea of random relatives, and OLTL had way too many of those in its last years. I do think that era in the long run did a lot of damage to Viki.

Those are from the ATWT Daytime TV Library book. I really wish we could see some of Gillian Spencer's work as Jennifer. She was incredibly popular with viewers, and while they killed her off to give Bob more to do, he actually struggled for material for a number of years, or was put in weird stuff (like Miranda Marlowe).

It's birther time...again. http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/03/sheriff_joe_arpaio_claims_obama_birth_certificate_a_fraud.php?ref=fpa

Wasn't Fantasia in a much more modern R&B type direction? I remember some fans who were very upset about her first album for that reason.

Did the Michigan GOP rewrite their rules to benefit Romney? http://www.freep.com/article/20120301/NEWS15/120301038/Mitt-Romney-gets-Michigan-s-large-delegates

I never watched 90210 either. We should form a club. Julie played the Betty role on Return to Peyton Place, but was let go close to the end, replaced by Lynn Loring in a ratings grab.