DRW50

With his money, and the media on his side, he's been very lucky - too bad he keeps making such stupid comments. This type of thing makes me very uneasy. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/12/mitt-romney-pressure-adoption-book_n_1200865.html

The 1995 anniversary. I mean I'm not sure if they ever really managed to recapture the feel the show had or the strong cast of characters it had once they started letting so many longtime actors leave. Some, like Donna, or Benny, I would say had probably reached the end, but others, like Mark or Ellen, or even Ross, it makes little sense to me, and you end up with Pine Valley seeming like a bit of a void, mostly carried along by OTT stories, and starting to suffer noticeable by the mid-90s. There didn't seem to be a lot of very popular, long-term, malleable characters created after those years. You mostly had people who were overused and burnt out after a brief time (Maria, Noah, et al). I think he got Enchantment shares from her and then sold them to Adam or some other enemy, horribly betraying her, before skipping town.

Watching the first anniversary episode for the first time and I was so surprised to see some Mark/Erica flashbacks, and a scrap of when he learned he was her brother. Mark LaMura looked so exotic and he had a real edge. I also thought there was some serious chemistry with Susan in that scene. Now I'm kind of sorry they made them brother and sister... Seeing Ruth go on about that house not being home is bitterly ironic, as MF's Ruth only made a handful of appearances in that house. Awful hair on Daisy. Did Dixie just lose her accent overnight or was it gradually phased out?

This is from a June 1993 Digest. It's just drama, drama, whine, drama. I'm not sure I ever would have been a Harley fan if I'd read the soap press back then.

Corvina is always more interesting in the comments here than she seemed to be onscreen. She reminded me of a Hungarian Laurel. June 1993 Digest

That's funny. He looks like a pirate to me. I think my favorite is the "What the hell am I doing here?" look on Richard van Vleet.

I thought the million dollar baby story got too unfocused - marrying three men in a year, and then they seemed to be pushing for a Brad/Carly pairing, even though they kept recasting the actor. I liked her initial reunion with Jack and the lie bet story. After Craig came in I lost a lot of interest, and I think the character lost some of her spark, although I think generally her strongest period was her 95-96 run.

Love this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-N66ZM9gA98

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVt9-qu_tog

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bP2OQ12NVNE

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71312.html

Thanks for finding those. I don't understand why they got rid of Brainard, he seemed popular as Joey.

He doesn't do a lot for me either, just a lot of ham and weakness masked as strength. I think I like it more when this is addressed in the writing, as it was in his last year. Speaking of not doing a lot for me, here's some of January 1994, which has Shannon's return (which I missed a lot of the early part of, and which apparently was terrible from the start - those "comedy" scenes with the pinup guard...at least the scenes where she doesn't realize he's remarried are OK, but the aftermath lets them down), Lily/Holden dullness, and the depressing Connor pregnancy story I did not get at the time and still don't. The plus is John's cancer story, with what is, I'm pretty sure, Duke's last appearance, and some nice family scenes and John/Lucinda scenes. I think Glynnis O'Connor works well in these types of everyday scenes, she just wasn't charismatic enough to be a lead. Apparently facial hair was mandatory in the family at this point. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTmAFPA7Tew

Dial M for martyr with this big-hearted gal. Ellen is one of soaps' all-time nitwits. It takes her years to do something healthy like leave Ross when he is unfaithful to her a second time, but Ellen also frightens with her ability to negate any progress she makes in one fell swoop. And this is how she did it most recently: Under oath she testified at Rossie's trial that no, she didn't think a man like her husband, a known alcoholic prone to violence and sexual promiscuity, could have raped his former mistress, Natalie Cortlandt, despite a previous plea by the ravaged plaintiff to believe her. We could see Ellen wanted to, but she's not really capable of thinking the worst about anyone, which in the case of her errant husband, is the only choice a woman has. Whatever slings and arrows outrageous fortune sends her way, Ellen can take it. She was built to last, and suffer. But I give up. May the truck find her. And park.

One of the old Digests from back in the late 80's blasted Ellen as being stupid, a victim, etc. Yet Noone's intelligence as an actress played all that off.

Charles Keating was the only return. What always annoyed me was that Sam Groom came back as a minister...Russ' daughter was still a main character on the show! Did Goutman just not know that he had played Russ???

Looking back you wonder whether they found any new characters to fill the void of the old favorites - the only ones who seemed to stick were Dixie, and then, a few years later, Hayley.

For some reason I thought she and Mark LaMura were fired, but I'm not sure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vE4F-1KSxtw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q52YAhY2eVI&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RETOKmG5qEo&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

I would have taken just one day, for Dorian and Herb to reunite. You could do a lot with Karen and Jenny. I always had so many bad fanfic ideas, as I'm sure many did...times like this I miss Gerald Anthony more than ever.

I didn't even recognize her. She was so underwritten on OLTL. I would have loved seeing Nancy as Melinda.

December 21, 1982. This is the last of 1982 I have.

November 9, 1982

Your banner is great (poor invisible CJ and Dan).