DRW50

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mM6doty2HAc

Imagine if they'd done the story with Chris McKenna, which was vetoed by ABC.

November 1974 TV Radio Talk

This is a clip from the late 1994 Joey/Dorian, end of Sloan, etc. era that I'd never seen before. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ag-k2rH5BvU&feature=related

When I see her here I just think of Lyla trashing and I get annoyed. I kind of wish they'd kept Georgia around, although her leaving was probably for the best - she would have just floated around doing nothing and occasionally screaming at people, like Abigail did.

I guess this was their attempt at getting a teen demo. It's sort of cute (although Eddie Man and that Chris and Katie still annoy me). I loved Drew on Dancing with the Stars and knew very little about 98 Degrees, so the image of him pouting in a backward baseball cap is always kind of strange/disturbing/hilarious.

I'm not sure how many of those who don't like Gingrich are Ted Kennedy supporters.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZIP-cRfN50

If I thought Gingrich or Cain had any plans that would help the country in any way, I might support them. I don't. I must also say that some of Gingrich's treatment of his wives, like dumping one when she was severely ill in the hospital, goes beyond just affairs.

What I meant was I have never seen his name thrown around as some huge womanizer. There are all kind of politicians who, after they're gone, are found to have had affairs. I don't see how that goes to him being notoriously known for this. I'm not sure what the point would be. If Nancy Pelosi said, "I just want to let everyone know that I think JFK was sleazy," she would be torn to pieces by most conservatives. And most conservatives would probably immediately say JFK was a far more worthy President than Obama, even though Obama has not had any affairs. So that would end up meaning that both parties love adulterous Democrats, I guess?

Adultery from FDR or Jack or Bobby was not known when they were in office. Unless you're saying these men were elected because of adultery I don't see the comparison. I'm also not sure when FDR was declared one of "the most notorious womanizers of all-time."

I didn't know they'd done two stories about Sara having drugged tea/coffee. I guess it's a good thing she wasn't around in the roofie era. I didn't think Joe died in the Kit story, I thought he died a few years later.

I can't watch this until they stop acting like Brendan is a victim and that Ste should bow down to him. I get annoyed when I read comments that Ste needs to know how much he hurt poor precious Brendan by thinking Brendan was a murderer. Brendan IS a murderer, but beyond that, he beat Ste black and blue, again and again, and loved every minute of it. This story has repeatedly glorified domestic violence and made a violent, sadistic monster into the true victim. Ste is now a worthless character.

I think she did grow, but sometimes they seemed to tell stories just to regress her, like the baby snatching story. I thought it was a pretty good story, but I also feel like if you have to basically tell viewers that the point is for Erica to learn a lesson and grow up and so on, then what was the point of the years of character growth.

They seemed to mature Erica again and again and undo it again and again for dramatic purposes. I sometimes wonder if they would have been better off giving the character some long breaks, so they wouldn't have to regress.

was a professional model. At six, she made her first commercial film, and her first dramatic TV appearance on the dramatized religious program, Lamp Unto My Feet. At seven, she had a role in a Studio One drama. At eight, she originated the part of Patti in the CBS-TV daytime serial, Search For Tomorrow. For these past ten years, Lynn and Patti, together, have crossed the boundaries between childhood and girlhood. Lynn has carried many regular roles in radio serials, done nighttime TV drama - including Play Of The Week twice, in "Seven Times Monday" and "The Climate of Eden." She has done off-Broadway plays, made an Elia Kazan movie, "Splendor in the Grass," with Natalie Wood, for release this summer. She does commercial films, recently appeared on NBC-TV in a one-hour Special For Women - the one called "Mother and Daughter," in which Patricia Neal and Arthur Hill played her parents, and she was the rebellious teenager. Despite her show-business background, Lynn could be any very pretty, well-bred girl on any college campus. Her eyes, hazel and wide-set in a delicate oval face, are clear, kind and candid. Her hair hangs simply in a soft cloud of auburn-brown. She is five-feet-three, holds her weight to one hundred pounds. Take this question of weight, just as a starter. When all the other kids are ordering hot fudge sundaes, Lynn can't. "I wouldn't be aware of having to watch my weight that much," she sighs, "if I wasn't on television. But I know very well that everyone photographs about ten pounds heavier, and I must stay around a hundred to look right on camera. "At one time, I got about fifteen pounds over - just when I was sent a script for a movie. The girl in the script was described as 'painfully thin.' They had to 'shadow' me in the the screen test to make me look thinner. Other girls can get by with a few extra pounds. I found out an actress can't." Although she doesn't look like an actress - she uses less make-up than most teenagers, wears untheatrical clothes - there's that other ever-present problem of having to make the best possible appearance at all times. "When I am dressed up, I may not meet anyone I know or who knows me. But just let me go out - even in my own neighborhood - without being properly dressed, and I meet everyone, including my TV fans!" Still another problem is trying to be like everyone else in her crowd. Going to a party to enjoy herself as other girls do, not to be asked to entertain and not to be singled out as different. Forgetting she is an actress, separating her work from her social life. The last thing Lynn wants to do is to capitalize on it - if only people would let her. At a charity ball, last winter, the boy who was her escort was busy in the receiving line while newsreel photographers were taking pictures. Lynn was attractively costumed, and they took her picture and asked her name. "This boy was surprised that I hadn't told them who I was. He went over to them afterward and said I was an actress and told them what I did. But I wasn't there as an actress, only as a girl lucky enough to be having a good time at a wonderful party for a wonderful cause." Other boyfriends have been amazed if she acts like any other fan when glamorous tears are around. "I'm completely awed," she confesses. "When someone like Zsa Zsa Gabor or Julie London swoops into a party or a night club, looking absolutely gorgeous, and the photographers rush to take pictures and everybody stares, I stand there and share with the rest of them. Why shouldn't I react like any other teenager? Why pretend to be blase?" Problems arise about dating. A boy who dates Lynn always runs the risk of having it broken, sometimes at the very last minute, through no fault of hers. "One night, I was to be hostess at a dinner party a boy was giving. Dinner was at seven-thirty, and I promised to be there not later than seven. I was filming a commercial, to be finished by five. But the filming went on and on, until ten in the evening, and I simply couldn't leave. It was unfair to the boy - yet I had an obligation to my work. "Some boys simply don't or won't understand about my work," Lynn acknowledges. "If they take me to the theater, they can't see why I can't always go somewhere to dance afterwards. 'An hour more or less can't make that much difference,' they argue. I try to explain that an actress goes to work, sick or well, tired or rested - but she owes it to herself, to everyone she works with, to be well and to look well. A girl can go to school the next day with circles under her eyes, but an actress can't. And she has to be absolutely punctual and keep to a schedule, or else she throws off everyone else's schedules. She can't do only what she feels like doing, when she feels like doing it." The greatest problems, of course, concern a teenager's education - how to get the best one possible in the "staggered" hours left for study. In Lynn's case, this has worked out well, largely because of the emphasis her parents put on doing school work first and studying scripts second, but also because of Lynn's own capacity for hard work and concentration. Grade-school years were spent at the Mace School, from which many young stars have graduated - Tuesday Weld and Patty McCormack among them; Carol Lynley was in Lynn's own class. In June, 1959, Lynn - not yet sixteen - was graduated with honors from the Calhoun School for Girls, where she had taken her high-school work. She was admitted to Barnard College in New York - just before a movie role was offered her. The college released her for the part, Search For Tomorrow wrote her out of its script temporarily. Then her mother, who acts as her personal manager, saw the complete script for the first time and refused it, because of scenes she found objectionable for Lynn. "I hadn't minded the break in my college year," Lynn says, "because I'm two years ahead of my age group and I felt, if I missed one term, it wouldn't matter that much. But, suddenly, I was left with all these upset plans, involving my entire college program. So as not to miss out completely, I enrolled in some classes at Hunter College. I would like the same education I would get if I weren't an actress, but this takes more work and more self-discipline. "Other girls have classes at regular hours. I take mine any time I can - sometimes I start at five in the afternoon and work through until eight-thirty. Sometimes, if I'm not on a show, I start early in the morning. Not that I'm complaining about it - I have been very lucky. I chose this way, and I don't mind having to pay the price for it." There is the problem of how much freedom a teenager should have, even an actress who has been treated like an adult in the professional world. "I go with an older crowd, especially with older boys. Some actors, but mostly young business men. While I feel perfectly capable of handling myself in all situations, I still don't think it looks right for a girl of my age to do all the things the older girls can do. Like staying out as late as I please or going any place I please. My mother wouldn't like it - and I really wouldn't blame her." "Lynn has a curfew," her mother explains. "If it's a Friday or Saturday night, and she telephones me and says she is having a wonderful time and wants to stay longer, I don't mind. I just want to know where she is. Every boy who takes her out must call for her at the house. That's one strict rule. She must be escorted back to her door. That's another rule. Outside of that, there aren't many others." Lynn realizes that most of her friends can do things she simply hasn't time for. "My best friend wanted me to go to Washington, D.C., with her - but I had commitments those days on Search For Tomorrow. Last Christmas, our crowd went skiing over the holidays - but I had jobs to consider." People are prone to think that, when an actress keeps busy and earns well, it's all profit. Lynn's money goes into many necessary expenses. More than half is paid out in income tax. "I am happy to pay the tax - happy to be earning enough to pay it. But nobody understands how little is left over when all the expense is added." "A child in show business needs many special lessons," her mother says. "First, there's private schooling, because of the odd hours. This costs Lynn a minimum of $1,200 a year. There is tutoring in subjects she may have missed during the school year - algebra, geometry, languages. Special coaching is required for some parts. Dancing lessons, ballet, vocal lessons, dramatic coaching. "When she plays a younger role - which she can, simply by changing her hair style and her clothes - she has to get a whole new outfit. If she plays an older girl, the clothes she has may not be suitable. She had to buy a new wardrobe just to take one audition, although nothing came of it. But it was important for her to look right." Her mother adds: "She pays dues to three professional unions - A.F.T.R.A., because of her radio and TV work; S.A.G., because of her movie work; and Equity, because of her stage work. Fan mail must be handled - she keeps up with it as best she can - and all this involves expense." There are advantages in being a teenage actress, and Lynn is quick to admit them. Some boys like to date an actress. They feel she has that "extra something" that makes her more desirable. On the other hand, there are boys who shy away from a girl already doing professional work for professional pay. This puts her at a disadvantage. She has learned concentration, cooperation. To control her temper, even when she may feel she has good reason to blow up. To take criticism, listen to instructions, and take direction. To be part of a smooth-working team. "I love my career," Lynn says. "It's my first love. But, as I grow a little older, I realize that it has its place - that, in order to grow as an actress, one has to grow as a person, and being an actress is only a part of my life. Getting out and having a good time has always been more fun for me when it was a change from work. "There is no denying that being an actress has often interfered with other things I wanted to do. No denying the dates I missed, the parties I couldn't go to, the evenings I wanted to stay up late and had to be in bed by nine. "But I chose it, and I enjoy what I'm going more than anything else. I have a wonderful life. I know I'll never feel the cost has been too high."

In some shots he reminded me of Michael Ryan (John Randolph, AW) but Ryan was a little wilder-eyed. They did seem like a beautiful couple.

were friends, but that was all. Then last year Ann decided to take up skiing. Bob, an investment counselor by trade, is a ski enthusiast by choice, and a member of the New York Athletic Club so he arranged to have Ann go on one of the ski tours. He even lent her his skis, a pair of ski boots and three pairs of ski socks! Ann enjoyed her first venture with the sport and was looking forward to her next trip, one on which Bob was also planning to go. They both had dates with others but at the last minute Ann's date couldn't go so she called Bob, as one friend to another, and told him he was stuck with her. And that's how it all started. Looking back, Ann recalled, "We were engaged for two months and it seemed to be such a long time. For the first ten days of our engagement we couldn't even kiss (that strep throat). Ed was my doctor." We remarked that he seems to be an important person in their lives. "Yes, he is. He even gave us our blood tests before we were married." In what is probably the understatement of the year, Ann smiled and said, "I think it's going to be nice. This was worth waiting for. I think we have the ideal relationship. We are good companions and we have love on top of that. It's very good that we started out being friends." Ann and Bob share many interests aside from skiing. Their favorite evening out is going to a really nice restaurant. They worked together deciding how their new home (a penthouse apartment) would be furnished. Each brought some things from their own apartments, both love the Spanish influence and their dining room is furnished completely in that style. As we listened to Ann relate her real-life love story, we were especially impressed that she was so aware that although she and Bob love each other deeply, there is much more to a good marriage than that. She stressed the fact that they shared interests and tastes, and it was obvious from how she talked that she feels great respect and liking for Bob, in addition to love. "He's just beautiful. He's very strong and very moral. He wants everything to be just right for us. And he has a great sense of humor. Ed (his roommate) took ribbings from Bob all the time. I made him promise not to play jokes on me like he did on Ed. I couldn't take it." We were sure that Bob, given the chance, would rhapsodize over Ann just as she was doing over him. Ann smiled, her eyes twinkling with joy over the truth of what we said. "When it works both the same way, it's fantastic." The Welchs hope to have a big family. Bob comes from a large family and Ann is thrilled with all her new brothers and sisters. She has one brother. Both families get along very well. As a matter of fact, according to Ann: "My mother loves Bob. She warned me if she was 40 years younger, I'd have had to watch out!" Ann plans to continue in her role as Dr. Maggie Fielding on The Doctors. "Bob doesn't mind," she said. "He just won't get as many home-cooked meals this way, but that's all." Her talent for acting was evident back in high school in Washington, D.C., when her dramatic efforts won her a four-year scholarship to George Washington University. While still in college she spent summer vacations touring with the road company of Pajama Game, and appearing with professional groups in Washington. At one point she was called to Broadway to understudy Gwen Verdon in New Girl in Town. Ann's television career ranges from nurse portrayals in Edge of Night to dramatic roles in programs like Kraft Theatre. During the 1960-1961 season she joined the repertory company at the Alley Theatre in Houston, Texas. Upon her return to New York, she was cast as Dr. Erica Brandt in the Young Doctor Malone series. In that part she attracted the attention of the producers of The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore, and they cast her in that play during its first run on Broadway. But the mood that day was one of romance, not career. Ann's light blue dress set off her expressive eyes which danced with mirth as she recalled an incident that took place last August, when she and Bob were engaged. "You know the building at 666 Fifth Avenue, where they have the television sets turned on for the public? Well, Bob walked by there one day and it just so happened that they were turned to The Doctors and there was my face looking out at him. A little old lady was staring at the program and he walked over and said to her, 'See that girl? I'm going to marry her!'" Well, he did, in a lovely formal ceremony that marked the beginning of a good life for the Doctor and her groom. BY ALICE SCHONINGER

Thanks for reading it. I know these articles probably all start to seem the same...although this one stood out for her looking terrified in two of the photos. I hope Erika has a lot of great primetime work coming - I know it's not likely but I would enjoy seeing her in another role.

desire to remain single at her age would have raised eyebrows. Happily for Erica, things are different today. Maybe not as different as they might be, but enough changes have come about to make being single an acceptable alternate life style throughout a person's life. "It's still true that the world is designed for couples, but it's becoming less so," Erica comments. "It's definitely much more acceptable these days for a woman to remain single longer than in the past, or not to get married at all. Years ago, if I were 27 and unmarried, I'd be regarded as well on my way to being an old maid forever. That kind of thing, thankfully, doesn't exist any more. It's absurd. Women are getting married for the first time at 35, 40, or 50 simply because they didn't want to get married before then, that's all." Needless to say, one great big reason why Erica feels so comfortable in this independent role is because she has a very satisfying career. She truly loves acting, she wants to be successful at it, and she can't imagine not acting. "I've wanted to be an actress since I was a little girl, and I've never wanted to be anything else," she observes brightly. "My career means so much to me. I have to say I've been very lucky - I think the longest I was out of work was two weeks - but I can't tell you how often I think about how wonderful it would be to be a star, not because of the glamor but because of the opportunities stars have to pick and choose among the best work that's available." With typical candor, Erica confesses stardom would be marvelous beyond words for another reason, one which shows how very seriously she takes her work. "If I were a star I'd never have to audition. Auditioning doesn't just make me nervous - it makes me sick to my stomach; I want to cry; I want to die. I go out there and nobody can tell what's going on inside. I'm great at covering it up, I come on like Miss Supercool, but inside, ohhhh!" So marriage waits for now as Erica gets a few things out of her system. When she decides to give marriage another try, she'll have in her favor a fine model to follow - her folks have been happily married for the past 35 years. by Linda Rosenbaum

January 1965 TV Picture Life

July 1961 TV Radio Mirror

November 1974 TV Radio Talk

So nice to see actual closing credits, with new scenes, and the final, beautiful shot of the Christmas tree.

Watching AMC's 1995 Christmas episode was such half and half, although more good than bad. The scenes where Liza left the Martin home, had a very strained encounter with Marian, then Tad told her about her life and the scared girl she'd been under all the seeming success, the girl he'd known in school, ending in the two of them kissing - fantastic, amazing stuff. MEK and Marcy had such chemistry in her first year back - sometimes I forget that. The scene was just incredibly done, and is a far better way of showing Liza's vulnerability and showing a man "getting" her than the horrendous stuff a year later where Jake went around berating her 24/7. Stuart pleading with Scott about not being bigoted towards Michael was also an incredible set of scenes. I thought they were just going to say, well, Stuart loves everyone, so let's make Stuart our bastion of tolerance. But no, he instead went into a detailed, heartbreaking story about the people who cared for Cindy in her last years and how many of them had been gay and how many had had AIDS. This scene really got to me. Would we see anything so direct, or moving, or such use of history, on a show today? The daytime soaps wouldn't do it, and the primetime soaps are generally too busy choking on their own hipness or sleekness to ever show a hint of emotion. I also loved the short, warm scene of friendship and understanding between Gloria and Michael, and the humor of her saying she was relieved to know he was gay because she wondered why he hadn't responded to her flirting. And, in the midst of a story I did not care for at all (Brooke/Pierce) there was a tender bond between Janet and Brooke over losing their daughters. Now, on the negative side - I was struck again by just how unpleasant the Santos family dynamic was. Papa Santos was such a caricature, who always found reasons to hate the partners of his children. Is that unrealistic? Probably not. But it's extremely draining, and forced, and makes their family scenes almost impossible to watch. The shaming of Hayley for being an alcoholic, and that extremely disturbing scene where Hayley wanted to leave or defend herself and Mateo seemed to grab her kind of forcefully to keep her in place - a harbinger for the major control issues and dourness that would define these two for years. The scene of Cicely, who never even knew Liza, cackling and being very nosy, aggressive, and bitchy with Opal and Dixie got on my nerves. I'd forgotten how out of place and, frankly, annoying she was.