DRW50

Thanks. That explains why Trish always felt like the most believable to me of the family. I think you could just write Iris off as eccentric.

Thanks @Paul Raven I watched the whole of Paper Dolls on Soapnet and maybe I just wasn't in the right mood but I didn't think it was good even in the episodes that TV Guide seems to love. The story involving Mimi Rogers was a particular dirge for me.

I was wondering if anyone has a strong guess about the dates for these summer 1966 episodes? In the first episode, Andrea says Len and Patti will be married on July 8th. An episode or two after that has a character saying that the wedding is "five weeks" away.

I guess the ratings are the only way to know for sure, but I don't really get any of the buzz the show had during the last year or so of Sprina. Of course that was never going to last forever, but there really aren't stories that are going to get the same type of sustained interest. The closest would be the few weeks of drama surrounding Willow/Drew, but that is mostly gone now. I wish the show would realize those types of moments, which are "soapier" (much as that term annoys me) drama rather than yet another serial killer, are more likely to get interest. I knew Lucky's return wasn't going to provide much drama, as the character is mostly part of the past, but given how much Alexa Havins settled in and that she has several kids who are central to the current canvas, they should have done much more with her return than they have. I'm not too amazed. I think I said it too much at the time but I always thought that was just a sop because they were raked over the coals for writing out a bisexual woman and trying to make us feel sorry for her homophobic mother. They have given Lucas some nice material with his family, which was more than I had expected to be honest, but his just being there before slowly fading away doesn't surprise me.

I guess George W Bush might be one of the last examples of a Texas accent on the broad national stage. I just read that Larry Gates, whose most famous roles were as Southerners, was born in Minnesota. He stayed there until he graduated from college and then went to Virginia, per his Wiki. I wonder if he ever talked about why he was so often cast in those parts. I am not sure if any of the Lewis actors were born in the South - not sure where Rebecca Hollen was born.

Yes. I remember some Kelly fans felt it was a deliberate slight as those were some of her final moments with her family. It's difficult for me to even count that period because it felt like the same generic hand-wringing characters always do over Sonny (and they always revert to supporting him). In today's climate this is the best we're going to get, sadly. Maybe BtG will do better. At least we don't have a Leo. (that was formerly Brad)

I suppose you could say early Josh and Trish fit the bill (was it stated in Marland's run that they were from Tulsa?). After that point I think they just got swept into Kobe/Long remaking Texas and the idea many had at that time that anyone in the South with money was just like the Ewing family.

He's likely much cheaper.

Reading about that story enthralled me. I've wanted to see it, even a moment of it, ever since.

I wonder how much of the Lewises was her along with Gail Kobe just trying to recreate Texas! rather than drawing on her knowledge. She clearly cared a lot about the Lewises, but I notice she didn't try to introduce similar character backgrounds when she wrote for other soaps.

Everything probably moves too quickly now for it to be deliberate, but given how much I don't believe Frank wanted Lucky back, I wouldn't be surprised. I'm reminded of when Eileen Fulton was unable to film and suddenly viewers saw Lisa again after not being on much for a good while.

I would love to see anything of Nancy playing Patti. I'm sure she was very different then but it's still jarring to imagine.

Thank you for all the extra information. I know I probably took this thread off course. I will just say the info about how the show treated Sharon when she was pregnant makes that story even more disgusting to me.

Those are all good suggestions. I don't think Frank will ever ask her back, unless he has no choice, but I could see a future producer, if GH has one, doing so.

That was very kind of you to share so many priceless episodes (as these are 15 minutes each it's a ton). Thank you so much.

Finished last week's episodes... The best part of the week for me was Aaron being too late trying to reconcile with Rhett and then almost dying from a spiked drink. The latter scenes were full of "special effects" so derided by many of us on soaps now, but even as I rolled my eyes at what seemed like a ripoff of Requiem for a Dream and various '90s music videos, it didn't detract from the material for me. I was impressed with the physicality from Matt Wilson, especially the moment where he almost walked into a car before jerking back just in time. Wilson has been the quiet MVP of Neighbours since the revival. He's good at comedy and at drama and has very natural emotional connections, even when he is often kept with a small group. He may never be known as a "legend" or an "icon," but maybe that's for the best. I liked Fallon much more when she just got in and helped clean up the vineyard. Why do we need the convoluted backstory with Seb? Why does she need to be scheming against Krista? This story would make more sense to me if the sister Fallon was against was Reece, as Reece was brittle. Krista is just increasingly vapid, there to react to another nefarious plot and look vaguely confused. How many times do we need Fallon to drone on to Krista about Seb and what she isn't saying? Holly continues to be entitled and delusional, which I suppose I should praise because she isn't written as a saint, but given how much airtime she inhales, I can't be so generous. There was no need for the pratfalls over the hotel job. And they didn't need to focus so much on her being jealous of Max's friend rather than just concerned for Max's safety. Meanwhile, the whole segment in the bar where they tried to make Sadie, Byron and Max pals only made the elephant in the room stand out more. I am not sure if they only had the budget for Remi and Taye's father to appear one day, but if this was the most they could manage, I wish they hadn't bothered. Years of backstory casually started and stopped. And Taye is all good now because of the big secret reveal and because of a seminar - absolutely none of which we saw oncamera. The actor who plays Taye was not suited for this heavy dramatic material, to say the least. I don't think anyone involved was doing that great, although Naomi Rukavina was doing her best. That this story got one episode while we will probably have 10 episodes repeating the same lines about Chelsea just annoys me. Annie Jones is doing a wonderful job, but the fling with Clint was much more interesting to me when it was just about her facing her insecurities in being with a younger man rather than all the secrets. Choices like playing up the guilt over her leaving Sam alone to be with Clint or having Clint leave a condom behind after their tryst just adds a punishing and seedy tone that wasn't needed.

Lauren Holly went on a break to make a movie with Andrew Dice Clay. After all the buildup with Nico it must have been disappointing to them, but I don't think that story was ever very interesting. Julie was so tied to characters who were all on their last legs, although that didn't have to be the case with Ellen and Mark, with better handling and more patience. I agree that the large cast seems much more wisely utilized in the 87/early 88 episodes.

That's sweet. Aiden's story remains in 1996, but considering our current climate, maybe I should be grateful. No, I won't be - but I am aware it could be much worse.

Nothing against Parry Shen but I might actually watch Brad scenes if Christopher was in the part.

How random! I saw someone suggesting that this was taped around the time of the fires? GH seems to have temporary recasts much more often in recent years. One of the most interesting things about the show now. I always thought Guy was overhated as Will, but that hair makes JJ looks like a Prell model. Apparently - do we need spoilers in this section? -

If you haven't already seen this over the years you probably just didn't want to, but for the time being, SNL's Youtube channel has uploaded the very first episode of the show. Happy anniversary, SNL. A show that at times has been offensive, stupid, maybe even dangerous, but a show that, like daytime soaps, has been a formative part of my life, one always with me, with many people along the way who felt like best friends, even though I would never know them. SNL never leaves me, even when I leave it. May your last few years on the air go out on a good note.

I love Knots Landing but I don't have the money to buy episodes and even if I did, I don't know if I would in the current economy. Doing this instead of just finding a streaming outlet is a mistake.

That was a ludicrous story, but they did rebound with David/Erica, and then Kendall's return and Bianca's rape story. (no comment on Chris Stamp)

Well said. I know the Eric story was not well-received, but I wish they'd found a third way beyond writing him out for good. By the time of the Dimitri/Erica pairing, they started Erica on a good path again, but it all came unspooled around 1997. I know some believe that the babynapping story was put onto AMC by Disney/ABC, given that this was the peak of JER-mania. They probably did have some involvement, but I can believe Agnes was fine with the story because once again Erica was stripped of everything and had to learn and grow. I don't think they anticipated the backlash the story would receive. I do think they did a good job most of the way through in showing Erica's mental state and punishing her for her actions (the mistake was the story given to her after all that wound down - wasting her chemistry with Nick Surovy on that triangle which just seemed to be a reason for Jack/Erica breakup #10). Then they did manage to get Erica into a better place again for a while. It was stop and start until the mid/late '00s and after that I don't think they ever got the balance right. I had forgotten about the doppelganger story until now, but what I watched I didn't think was that bad. It's some of the other stuff (Ryan, and Michael Nouri, and the unabortion, etc.) that were mistakes.