DRW50

I don't find that too unrealistic these days, considering the state of Congress (just look at Nancy Mace...).

Thanks for sharing. A classy tribute to Kate. Carole Ann Ford was very gracious in the interview. Loved seeing her react to the huge TARDIS (my favorite part of the last few seasons).

Thanks @Paul Raven That Pat story sounds like a lot of trash. Not sure why there was a glut of middle-aged female patients scheming to get men on soaps at this time. I guess at least Pat didn't have Diana raped, like on The Doctors. Did Leslie stay in that penthouse? I sometimes forget what a cheesy introduction Monica had to the show. Mr and Mrs Intern indeed.

Thanks as always @alwaysAMC The remote was panned in the soap press at the time, especially Philip wandering around in the costume as well as some of the comedy. I have to admit it didn't bother me, even though I knew how ludicrous the idea was of the Spauldings having a wedding at a theme park. I thought there were some fun moments and I did like the scene where Lucy got to cry and grieve over what Brent had done to her. I think I was just glad to get away from the stories in Springfield, which were bad and getting worse. There are a number of attempts at revamping the opening music in 1996. I'll be interested in what you think of them. I remember being glad they updated the photos but also noticing how cheap they looked. The show did need a new opening. Sadly, Rauch would instead just not even have an opening for over 5 years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_of_Five_(2020_TV_series)

Shemar Moore's SWAT show is back from the dead again, sort of. https://people.com/swat-scores-all-new-spinoff-starring-shemar-moore-days-after-series-finale-11737408

So basically this is the new Party of Five and Charmed reboots?

Oh that's right. Thanks. Thanks @dc11786 I guess Conroy did last for a bit. Never knew why AW didn't see his potential either.

Grant Aleksander talks a bit about Capitol 50 minutes into this interview. He says he did the show because he was under a hold due a pilot he made for Aaron Spelling and only had limited choices in what he could do. John Conboy agreed to hire him at Capitol for six months but told him he would only really have two sets - a pool and a bed.

I think in some ways the story could have been stronger because Wendy and Stephanie had a more nuanced mother-daughter relationship and Lisa Peluso could act, but I don't really think Louise worked as Stephanie, so the impact wouldn't have been the same. That would be a better way to bring drama than another serial killer story. And Sarah probably would have snapped and Jo would have been held hostage again... As someone said above, I do wonder why Philip Brown didn't last longer. Then again, I'm not sure why Kevin Conroy didn't last longer either.

I do think Vanessa was lesser than Reva and Alexandra in those runs, but I think Long also gave Vanessa a centerpiece on the show she never would have had otherwise, and she did bring the character back (I know Maeve had only wanted a break but if Long had not wanted her to return, she wouldn't have returned).

Grant says he's still close to or in touch with Robert Newman, Michael O'Leary, Beth Chamberlin, Justin Deas, Ron Raines. He also says he's still close to Phil Macgregor, the Rick recast he came into the show with. He talks a bit about what Phil does now (he and his partner do flower arrangements), and how unhappy he was when Phil was fired, but he quickly got over it because of Michael. He's very diplomatic about worst storylines - his best story was the original Four Musketeers. He is also diplomatic about his 2004 firing, but says they were already in contact with him trying to bring him back a month (I think he said it was a month) after he left, which confused him. He also said he became friends with Gianni Versace when he was modeling in Italy in the early '80s, to the point of Gianni even going to his apartment after Grant returned to the states to give him some of his modeling photos. There's a little video cameo from Gabriele Calindri, who I think dubbed Grant in the Santieri broadcasts. A fan asks him about the Peapack production model (he did not like it although he knew it was down to budget reasons). At about 50 minutes into this they talk about Paul Rauch trying hard up to his death to bring back Guiding Light. I had not ever heard much about this or I had forgotten about it. Had you? Grant says there have been a number of attempts to bring GL back, but P&G won't give up the rights. He mentions that after he left AMC he started being mentored for the director program and did some directing. He said it was and wasn't what he thought it would be, very challenging, he wishes he'd started earlier. He says he was in Home Depot when Ron Raines called him to say GL had been canceled. He initially thought it was an April Fool's Day joke. They all knew the show was in danger but knowing and happening are two different things.

Jane Wyman had health struggles and was written out after the first few episodes. IIRC, she went against medical advice to film the final episodes of the show. I guess they likely did think Alicia was just there as some kind of eye candy for viewers and could be replaced. As mentioned by several people in the CBS primetime soap threads, Moonves and others brought a real culture of misogyny to the shows in the mid/late '80s where every woman was seen as replaceable. I didn't realize how many times Wyman's health had been a factor in the last 4-5 seasons of the show. Here is one example. www.falconcrest.org | Deutscher FALCON CREST - Fanclub / German FALCON CREST Fan Club

That's a lousy ad. They didn't even choose good headshots. That's the least attractive I've seen Gregory Harrison look in his entire career. He looked hotter on GH last year! And CBS would keep bringing over ABC or NBC actors (more often ABC) for their soaps, further gutting their identities. Sad all around. Of course, they are the only network to have more than one soap on the air, so who am I to judge?

@dc11786 Thanks for taking time to answer my various questions, along with giving your thoughts on the different writing teams. I wonder why they didn't just have Ryder and TR leave together if Jane was going anyway. The discussions over the last few pages have made me more interested in watching these episodes than I have been over the years - without the extra details and analyses provided, these years can be difficult to decipher (not helped by how often Jo seems like a side character).

I didn't think this was very good (I've never yet seen a good episode of this revival), but you do get a lot of Michael Stroka. And if you are a Donna Reed Show fan, you also get Paul Petersen.

A very rare, fascinating look at camera blocking in a 1980 episode. Very loose, almost startlingly so (who expects to see Will Vernon with a cig dangling out of his mouth?). @vetsoapfan There's some Jacquie Courtney content in the back half of the video.

Barbara Stock shares memories of her time on Dallas, including that Ken Kercheval was the only cast member she knew outside of the show and that she did not actually realize she was being written out. https://www.remindmagazine.com/article/29593/barbara-stock-spenser-for-hire-dallas-chips-spinoff-doing-know/

Thanks @Paul Raven I concur that this isn't the most interesting material, but I do wish I could see how JoBeth Williams played those trial moments.

I think that worked, but not as much by the late '80s, where I think they started getting things wrong with Mack. I do respect Kevin Dobson, who did well when he was given the material he deserved (like the story with Jason).

Sometimes I forget Mindy had been married four times in the space of a decade. Those are Erica Kane numbers.

Thanks. Some of that sounds even heavier into crime than EON was at that point, although I guess you still had the Vickie/Julian romance and Heather losing her baby. The biggest difference is probably the comfort characters at EON, like Nancy and Mike. Oh, now I think I remember a little about the raciness. Was there something about toes? Considering the short time he was at OLTL, I'm not sure if moving made a big difference for Jameson, but I guess it still helped moving to a show that was seen as being revived around that point. Thanks. I'm sure there are other options listed in Paul's proposed soaps thread, but Lovers & Friends was so hurriedly thrown together it gives the impression NBC was just desperate, flying blind. They took for granted the audience Somerset had in that timeslot. I wonder if one more year might have mattered...probably not, but you always wonder, as that whole thing ended up leading to even more headaches and bad decisions for NBC Daytime. What I might have done is consider moving some AW characters over to Somerset. Trying to figure out who I'd choose...definitely not Iris.

Thanks @Paul Raven really appreciate this. Did Parker Stevenson leave Somerset for OLTL, or was he written out by the show? The Ellen and Dale story seemed to get a positive response, at least in some quarters. Maybe that was too much for P&G. I didn't know about any stories Ellen had after the relationship ended so I'm glad to know a little more now. Seems like almost every woman on the show had to have some tie or desire for Julian. I assume this is not written in chronological order, but I notice we got from many typical melodramatic soap stories to all crime stories. All this focus on Carrie, Vicky, Heather, etc. reminds me of how much the show seemed to cycle through heroines compared to how they settled on Julian. Who was the long running woman who got focus? Ginger? I didn't realize this final headwriter was an unknown. I wonder if Henry Slesar may have recommended him? Or knew of the real him? Somerset had already had a long run for a soap spinoff, but I wonder if the show would have been renewed if Lemay and Rauch hadn't agreed to try their own soap...or if NBC/P&G were just done.

You're right about the potential many of those stories could have had. The execution was more of an issue. Something never clicked for me in Angelique's present-day adventures - some of them I actually found very irritating due to the slanted writing and her voice being overshadowed. It took the Leviathan story for me to enjoy her in that timeline. I wish they had just left Peter/Vicki to the past and used that to inform who Vicki became when she returned, instead of bringing him back.

Thanks @slick jones I appreciate the interviews you share.