DRW50

I shouldn't write like an authority, which I do too often. It's how I feel but I respect that others did appreciate the writing last year with Sonny.

I would have been more impressed if it hadn't been built on a con (Sonny's meds already being used to make sure he would be exonerated later on). The show has been doing this dance with Sonny since the mid '90s, including Mulcahey's previous stint. I almost prefer them just being honest, as Laura doesn't have a great deal of integrity to lose anyway. The problem is Sonny is just completely spent as a character. If he wasn't, we wouldn't have to see this comment from Laura again and again. He would actually be doing something on the canvas. Instead, he's written like he's already dead. If only.

That guy also abused Beth (the one Lizzie killed), which the show probably should have done more with rather than just giving her a split personality and having her do whatever the plot demanded.

Thanks @slick jones I should mention that someone on the comments for the Ryan's Hope video with Susan Marie Snyder said the episode must have aired in July 1985. Those photos of Denise Alexander are lovely. The one with Denise, Leslie Charleson and Susan Brown got me emotional. We were so lucky to have them for so long.

I agree in a sense, but I think in some cases that was down to the actors. When some of those actors, like Kate Mulgrew, left, some of the issues with the writing came to the fore. There were complex characters who were well-written and acted, like Jill, but many times we would end up with "good" characters I wanted to kick off a cliff. It's one of the reasons I was so protective toward Delia when Randall Edwards played her.

There was tension between Alan-Michael and Philip because Alan-Michael was sympathetic to Blake (and married her) after Philip left her to chase after an amnesiac Beth, but the show exaggerated that tension when Philip returned. Meredith was Fletcher's sister. She was a doctor. Rick was married to her. Philip slept with her. She got pregnant with his child. When the truth came out, Meredith lost the baby, and she and Rick split up. I think Philip had faked his death to escape murder charges (with Rick stealing a corpse to help him). Someone else will remember more.

Angela Bassett was also on somewhere in 1985 wasn't she. The NY soaps did so much for struggling actors. That's one of the reasons I will never stop hoping we get more of them.

Thanks. I had wondered why he never went back with Claire Labine for RH's last years. Given how well-liked Sonny was with fans and how much Sonny fit the template of an '80s lady for soaps I am not sure why they took a hatchet to her.

Thanks for sharing.

@VelekaCarruthers As someone who struggles to tell apart the changes in Search's NBC years I am so appreciative of your insights. I wanted to ask (you or anyone else) - what did you think of the whole circus story in 1985? I was watching bits and pieces on that channel and was kind of surprised how much focus the place was getting. Usually on soaps if they had a circus it was just briefly or if characters were on the run, rather than their ingenue being in the thick of it. It would be like if Lily Walsh had worked at the circus with Holden and Dusty.

Oh you may have been watching the Teresa/Tom storyline...or "Terry the tumor" as she was called.

I think she would have been fine, although Beth was a thankless part. She probably was seen as aging out of the genre after AW. I forgot she was on Sunset Beach.

I assume not as we would have probably heard, but she could have been a good fit. I could see her being a good Leslie Brooks recast, although by that point the show had fully moved on from Leslie. I'm not sure who she could have been on B&B, although I could see her playing yet another Beth Logan recast.

I had forgotten this. I guess it must have been for Peter, unless it was for Hart's abs.

Does Jack ever dress in drag during that early '00s period where he was trying to get Jennifer back...or does he just fake being gay around then?

I think Kevin's 1996 Emmy was fair enough. He barely appeared for his second. I don't think anyone else on the list is that deserving but I might have gone with Moore as he did try with the whole Keesha AIDS story. @alwaysAMC Thanks to slick jones' cast list I was able to see that Nikki Rene played Tina. Not much on her, as you mentioned. Tap and a few Broadway listings (it doesn't help that a younger actress with a similar name is in a lot of roles). Nikki Rene: Credits, Bio, News & More | Broadway World https://onceonthisisland.fandom.com/wiki/Nikki_Rene Nikki Rene - IMDb

Thanks. So they really had to work under a cloud. I'm glad they got a chance for more.

I can probably believe the Spauldings reacting that way, as Alan barely cares about anyone but himself and maybe his family, while Amanda only had that one experience with the Coopers, but I see your point. I do think 1997 was a better year than the last 3-4 before it, for whatever that's worth. You are right about Marcus. Kevin Mambo winning two Emmies (the latter during periods where he had nothing to do) helped.

That's a lovely way to put it. I know, similar to Neighbours, a two-year plan may have been there all along, but it's still good to see them picking up a second year. I hope this is just the start, but with the state of soaps and TV now I'm still just amazed a new soap got on the air.

I remember this getting a lot of criticism at the time.

A very very brief excerpt from a CBS special is up. That's it. @jam6242 Thank you for the lovely Susan article. I adore that photo of her with Denise - such strong yet different personalities on display. I remember seeing that photo of Denise, Bill and Susan on soap magazines like Afternoon TV. I wonder if they took it or if DAYS did.

I think the first 4-5 years have many strong spots, some beautiful writing, and I didn't find it that hard to watch, but one of the main issues with the show for me - and this just gets worse - is many of the characters we are told to root for I find extremely unlikeable.

I don't see the people who were brought into AW around 1986 as being that different from JFP, but I don't feel like going back and forth either.

I can see both sides here. I don't believe that everything in that period was intended as comedy, but I think John Considine played the part in a very mustache-twirling way, as did Marcus Smythe as Peter until near the end, and that did come across as the material not being taken seriously. And I think the same is true of some of the treatment of other stories. The Sin Stalker, for instance, has that incredibly batshit material with Crystal Gayle being attacked. It's pure WTF, and something that, if done in more recent decades, would probably end up having the part played by a Drag Race queen or a Real Housewife. The main takeaway I have from that period is how little those running the show cared. There's just a callousness. And that leads to a real cynicism onscreen.