DRW50

Some stunning vintage clips in this, along with more familiar scenes. This also seems to have the burning down of the Wade bookstore. I will see that store set someday, I swear... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNgOHdTir74

Thanks again. It seems like The Doctors held around this same level for a few years. When did the steeper dropoffs begin?

saynoutoursoap has very kindly uploaded the full February 1981 episode of The Doctors. I have to say I was really surprised at how much I enjoyed everything. I love seeing these old soaps but sometimes parts of the episodes are a muddle (as any show is); this, however, has a real energy and followthrough in every scene, even the casual conversations. The best part for me was the Mona schemes and the flashback to the Mona/Nola throwdown. So just how much did the strike derail these stories? How long before this was the strike? I know that Jason ended up dead but I don't know if that was a strike story or not. I wonder how it affected the Billy/Greta/Natalie saga. video gone

True. I can't see any game show today getting anywhere near that. I'm trying to remember what AMC was doing at this time. Was this when Phil "died"? Thanks for sharing these with us!

Thanks - surprised to see AMC at the top so early on.

It looks like we're going to gut retirement plans for the military. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/08/15/eveningnews/main20092652.shtml I wonder if those who spent years talking about those who "hate the troops," will have a word to say about this? Or if it's OK because it doesn't raise taxes?

Perry has said we should leave the economy "up to God." What does that mean? And since he said that we should go "ugly" on Ben Bernanke, does that mean he expected Bernanke to be turned into a pillar of salt?

The moment when Lily learns the whole truth about Aaron has been uploaded. It's very strong stuff, full of all kinds of complex emotions and drama only daytime soaps can do. I was especially impressed by Susan Marie Snyder's work.

Thanks for that. I have been lax in watching a lot of GL episodes from the 80's. I'm not sure why. I guess because I'm wary of what was done to the show. Either that or I'm holding out for more 80-82 stuff.

I don't know if he did or not (get work done) but his face in the last years reminded me of that look men get when they've had a facelift. It's one of several reasons I don't watch anything with Jon Voight or Michael Douglas now. I think Amy Ecklund left the show because they weren't giving her any stories. I liked her a lot. Her story was one of the few things McTavish got right without demolishing it later on. I get the idea behind the ultimate betrayal of Phillip, sleeping with Rick's wife, and the baby, but that type of thing never has any real consequences. It would have worked if Rick and Phillip had been at odds for a long time, but that didn't seem to happen. It's similar to when Rick got Harley pregnant when she and Phillip were pretty much done, and Phillip was angry. In the end this just became another kid viewers never saw or heard about. The story with Beth/Jessie/Mindy and Sampson Gal, what did you think of that? It's strange to me how Liz Taylor's son pops up at random throughout the mid/late 80's. I thought he was a music person and then there he is working at the trucking company. While he looked good in jeans, I don't quite get the point.

Jamie Lomas is leaving the show, to prove his versatility. I guess he can prove how versatily he can vanish back into obscurity. Since the show already has Brendan to weep as he beats his doormat, they didn't need Warren anyway. http://www.rte.ie/ten/2011/0816/hollyoaks.html

That's very true about Marland's work, about being able to appreciate it. That's very odd about Jay. Did you miss him, or did you prefer Carol with Steve (or with neither of them)? I like the idea of trying to modernize the bookstore instead of burning down the set. You could have had a lot of scenes there, with Tom, the studious Stewarts, various spies hiding behind books, etc. Lisa's working in some sort of corner. It was Peapack before Peapack. I think I would have enjoyed her more in a phonebooth, like the announcer on GLOW. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Y8blLm5-9E I never can get past how they style Annie to look so old.

I think Michael was very cute back then and remained handsome when he returned...he aged, of course, but whatever he may have done to his face 3-4 years ago was the big mistake. I wonder if they broke Rick/Mindy up to try to move Mindy into bigger stories? It seems like they had no idea what to do with Rick for years. His fling with Claire was a rewrite, wasn't it, or did that really happen? I also think the show aged that group a little too much. For instance, by 1987 wasn't Rick already getting involved with Meredith, who looked much older? That whole story about passing Phillip's child off as Rick's also seemed too old for them. I think SOD named Rick/Meredith worst couple of the year. I wish the show had done more with Mindy in the last year. The Rick/Mindy reunion was so rushed. I thought Infinity was Ryder, but I don't know.

I also wondered why the show felt they had to burn down the Wade bookstore. Was this supposed to signify some new beginning or something? It's kind of sad, in the May 1981 episode, seeing Lisa work at what seemed to be the hospital gift shop. Nothing against hospital gift shops, but it's not exactly what I expect for Lisa.

As always thank you for the tantalizing details on these stories, saynotoursoap. I sometimes think Irna must have had a soft spot for Carol, as she brought Carol back after previous writers had gotten rid of her, and Carol also represented a lot of the purity which Irna felt other young women on the show lacked. I wonder what her long term plans for Carol would have been. So throughout the 70s was Tom just this uptight guy that reacted to other people? Did his role diminish as time went on? I know he had a story with some woman who was in jail or had been in jail or something (or maybe not) and then Barbara dumped him for James. Was this down to anything with the actor? Peter Galman seemed popular, and so did his replacement, but I haven't heard much of anything about the last Tom before Deas (what was it, Tom Tammi?). Why was Jay written out? Was it something abrupt? This is one character I wish I could see, because the description of him sounds very different than the man I've seen in photos and interviews - singing, dancing, antique-hunting. Since I've never seen the character I just end up picturing the actor. What did you think of Carol/Steve? What did you think of the Lisa/Grant/Joyce stories?

Rick Perry feels that Ben Bernanke is "almost treasonous." This is very clever. The more that the "liberal" media spins this, the less people know that Rick Perry wants Texas to secede. http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/perry-calls-bernanke-policies-almost-treasonous.php?ref=fpa

I think in some ways Long's writing choices set the path for what it was after she left - the heavy focus on the Lewises, big mystery stories, etc. I guess they just weren't able to pull this together the way she could. I also think some of the story choices were odd, like the whole thing where Simon is a con artist who has a torrid affair with India but gives it all up for mousy Jessie. Really? And some of the writing for India also seemed a little odd to me, sort of taming her when she didn't need to be tamed. But the show had strong enough characters to where it's still very watchable. So Long was gone by the time of stuff like Floyd going psycho, and the Infinity story? Or was that still her? Did she have any involvement in the creation of Rusty, Sarah, or Hawk? Or did she have nothing to do with them? I thought the show made those relationships very believable. I've always had a soft spot for the Reva/Hawk relationship. I'm glad that he was there even close to the end. I just wish they hadn't killed Sarah off. I have very mixed feelings on the Roxie character, as I don't think Kristi Ferrell is a very good actress, but she has a lot of heart and this adds to emotional scenes. There's a scene with Mindy/Roxie in this clip that is beautifully done. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCHs8OaexCw

I think in terms of us analyzing stories, part of it is down to watching scattered episodes on clips. For instance, until the last year, I'd only ever seen a handful of a handful of ATWT episodes from 1988 or 1989. I'd only seen a handful of 1986 or 1987. I've still only seen, recently, a handful of 1990-1992 (I was watching at the time but it was so long ago). When you watch the show that way, you become more analytical than if you are watching in real time, 5 days a week, because there isn't the same flow - for instance, if you watch an episode from May 1986 and then 3 years later you watch a new one uploaded from April 1986. I love Marland's work, it's what got me hooked on ATWT, and I still enjoy it. Analyzing it, good and bad, makes me love it even more, because there are so many layers. And the good thing about a character like Sabrina is that she never really had a final end, so we can talk about what might have been, instead of being depressed because she was hacked to death under a Christmas tree a la Guza GH.

I wasn't able to watch on a regular basis at this time so I don't really remember (my strongest memories of watching back then are mostly of the Aaron story, because I was a big Iva fan, Lucinda fan, Julie fan, and the Charter and only member of the Heather Rattray Fan Club). Watching some of it back now, on Youtube, I think the story is decent, aside from a bit of a non-ending and a few too many characters. I think it works mostly because Rex Smith is so charismatic and because of the focus on core characters like Barbara and Frannie. But I can certainly see why, at the time, playing out over 2 years, it was too much for viewers.

I think we all loved Marland's ATWT. It's just a chance to talk about some of the stories that we thought may not have worked. I felt like we never really got to see what Sabrina could have been. It's a testament to his talent that we're talking about this all these years later. Other than saying "That sucked," I don't know how much I have to say about a lot of what came after his passing (although there are still good moments, at least until Sheffer).

Apparently this was in September 1993, which was around the time Marland's material would have finished playing out. I had no idea Sabrina was back again at this point - she was in Montega still and she and Duncan were fighting Hans. I just wonder if this was that dull Claire Beckman again.

I wonder what ideas Lemay would have had for ATWT. All I knew was his complaining about 3 characters having their own jets. Do you remember Sabrina coming back in 1993?

I always thought they should have had Nancy start to go back to being more stern and cold, in contrast to Kim. When Nancy first came back they had her as the judgmental mother in law type (like her unhappiness with Bob moving into Kim's place), but that was dropped.

May 1974 Daytime TV - Syndey Walker, last seen on Secret Storm, substituted for Ernest Graves as Victor Lord when he was hospitalized for a sudden illness.