DRW50

What did you think of Susan Scannell?

Did you enjoy Daniel Pilon? I thought he was kind of bland on GL. Regarding Pat, sometimes I wonder if they should have always had him as a supporting character - I guess Malcolm Groome would have left even sooner, but he had a lot more personality when he wasn't in the spotlight.

I know from what's been said that ABC felt the ratings weren't going up fast enough with Labine/Mayer, and that the ratings did initially rise with Falken-Smith. What did you enjoy of her time as writer? Sometimes I wonder why ABC didn't just cancel RH outright, since they wanted to make it into a mostly brand new show.

Did your mother get to see Penny back on ATWT in 1985? I always thought the whole Prinz situation with HSTAM was odd, since I could never tell if she planned a longer stay or if she was just a guest star. Her exit seemed very abrupt.

That's too bad. The show could have been a long-running soap if they'd waited. Considering the problems they seemed to have in developing HTSAM they could have waited a little while, maybe replaced Somerset with HTSAM.

It's too bad they weren't more patient; they should have remembered their other soaps were starting to falter at this time. I'd love to hear your comments on How to Survive a Marriage too. I have some stuff on both these shows but it's always tough to find but I will enjoy posting as I know you're reading. I wonder if they should have asked Lee Grant if she could come on for a while. I guess this may have been around the time she was on Fay, or in some movies, but she might have considered a brief run.

Casey went back to his planet. Bradley Lockerman then played another role, as a reporter, until Gloria Monty fired him and a number of others. I have an interview with him somewhere if you want to see it. I think Kim McCullough said this was her favorite story.

Thanks. Do you think the show was getting better as time went on or did you understand why they canceled? Should they have been given more time?

Eastenders has finally cast Derek Branning. This should hopefully produce some big drama and more importantly fascinating family conflict. http://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/s2/eastenders/news/a337182/eastenders-announces-derek-branning-casting.html

Who were your favorites on the show?

BTW, sungrey, if there's ever any Somerset-related material like recaps or interviews or whatever you are interested in and don't have, let me know.

Too bad Slesar didn't have a protege who could have worked at Somerset.

The consensus with Texas was that it was a mess until Pam Long took over as headwriter. I don't know if anyone had an opinion on Somerset, even when it was on...

Have you heard anything about some of those rumors about Jay Mohr replacing Andy Cohen? They have died down and I guess it was just gossip, but, how random.

That's great. I'm glad she is so nice to fans. So she watched RTPP? You probably already saw this, but even Lynn Loring said she thought they had been stupid to fire Julie Parrish, and that they'd only hired Lynn as a stunt.

Thanks. If you can't find it I may have it. It sounds like Rusty's arrival was around the time the ratings started falling. Where do you think Search went wrong in the writing for Travis/Liza? I don't know why it annoys me but I also wonder if Jo and Stu would have run that place we saw in the March 1983 episode. It, and Jenny's outfit, don't really seem like them. Then again I have barely seen them so what do I know.

When was the back from the dead story? Before or after this? I've heard some good things about Lee's era but this was mixed for me.

This is from a February 1971 Afternoon TV about soap actresses and their husbands.

Another media darling tells us that Social Security and Medicare were horrible for America. http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/rubios-reagan-speech-entitlements-weakened-us.php?ref=fpblg This is the true heart of the GOP - gut anything that does not help the rich. And many will go right along...

August 1973 TV Dawn to Dusk.

Thank you for the extra details. I always hesitate to be critical of these shows because you're really doing us a favor by uploading them and they're all great, but I do agree with what you said about this episode. I actually did like the scenes with Stephanie and the little girl (I especially liked that she was a fan of comic books). It was mostly the stuff with Rusty I wasn't crazy about. I didn't realize he was Father Reddin. I remember him briefly on RH as a lawyer during the Barbara Wilde story. Was Michael the blind character? What did you think of Linda Gibonney as Jenny? I see her there in the scenes with Jo and Stu. That outfit kind of annoys me for some reason...it reminds me of a mime. What was the place Jo and Stu were running at this time? I wonder why they kept Janet's house yet didn't keep her. It's strange that Rusty would want to stay in her home. I didn't think she was rich.

I'm just glad people enjoy reading them. Aside from a few fleeting glimpses at WOST and some old AW snippets from the 70's I didn't have a lot of involvement in older soaps until a few years ago, so it's been amazing to find so many other fans who have so much info, episodes, etc. I always look forward to your material and your comments. I agree that she did look older than her age on AW - someone I was watching with recently kept saying there was no way she was Mac's daughter. I've never really seen her look the way she does in these photos - I especially like the one where she's holding her scarf over her head, on the last page.