DRW50

There was also Jerry. although I think that Jerry is married in real life to the woman who played Alice at the time, so maybe not. David Bailey (RIP) was so dull onscreen...if he was saving that for his personal life, it explains a lot.

That could have worked. If it was a woman they may have had Mike go between sisters like Leslie had with brothers. I also briefly thought it was Ross' house.

Before I forget, I wanted to say that even though the August 1973 episode has big technical issues, it's still worth a watch. I never thought I'd get to see the aftermath of Charlotte's death. What I appreciated most was the nuance in how Bert and Mike reacted to the news - as Bert said, she hurt Mike badly, but they still felt sorrow for her ending. Not sure we would have gotten that on the show enough in later years. It may have also been Lynne Adams' first episode back as Leslie. You can immediately feel an energy difference (and an age difference).

He was.

I think there is some character-driven basis on Jason's end, more than anything with Anna, or when he was with Britt, etc. but from Sasha's side it reinforces how much they just pass that character around. That would have been worth a watch, although Jake was shipped out as quickly as possible.

I agree. And it clearly did better in syndication than any other soap aside from Dark Shadows. That's also why I think the show could have been revived, and still could.

The part about having episodes all the way from February 1978 made me wish more of those had been made available by P&G. I guess that must not have been true.

I did wonder about the timeframe due to thinking Irna was still there at that time and also how heavily pregnant Kim was. So they fired Ellen and then brought her back in the mid-70s. I had forgotten Konrad played Roy. I assume Jennifer and Bob were married by this point and Jennifer was ready to have Frannie, based on the story about the crib. I wonder if Jennifer and Nancy ever get along or if Jennifer ever changes. They seemed to keep her as having a strong personality as we know a few years later there was the story about her wanting to go back to school and Nancy being unhappy.

Watching this now and it's such a pivotal episode. Kim hiding away in her last months of pregnancy and bonding with John. This is also a prime episode for the pre-Marland Nancy who is so much blunter and more manipulative. I wish I could see Jennifer - or anything of her outside of one tiny clip and her 1998 ghostly return. It's utterly fascinating, especially when soaps could often be black and white even in these more nuanced years, to have a heroine who is written as so forthright and uninterested in who might not react well to her, while Kim, who is on paper, more in the wrong, due to pursuing Bob, is the character seen as sweeter and easier to love, at least if Nancy is any indication. I loved that thole segment where Nancy is grilling Chris about why he hasn't been asking Grant more questions about his wife. I have seen wives in that type of moment with husbands. Were they already laying the groundwork for Joyce? Speaking of Grant, I had forgotten another actor played Grant (he isn't shown but is in the cast list) Larry Brygmann is styled in an oily manner in these years. Was it the Dobsons who let him look more like a leading man? I forgot Jay started this early on. I didn't know he had any early stuff with the Stewarts or Ellen. I get so confused about the timeline as I thought the Stewarts had been written out for a while. Had they already been brought back by this point? Or had they never been written out?

I have a soft spot for Loving but I can't really disagree about how by-the-numbers the show could often seem (with some exceptions, mainly in the early/mid '90s). I know Claire Labine stood by 30 minutes being the ideal format. I think she was right. There are few who can handle 60 minutes as writers or producers, and it's even more difficult today. In a world with increasingly short attention spans, 30 or 15 minutes are no-brainers to me. Warm and realistic is a good way to put it. I don't know if I credit OLTL enough for that in these years. I think it's something the show missed (as all soaps missed) later on, especially once JFP came in.

Watching the first episode...I didn't know we'd be getting some of the Victoria story (which I've never heard good things about). It mostly just seems dull here. Nice to see Barbara Rodell as Leslie. She certainly is styled differently than the other soap roles I've seen her in. Nancy Altman was even better than I expected. She brings a truly deranged air to the role of Kit that livens up a potentially moribund atmosphere (how many times did we need interior monologues). She left me unsettled even just from a few moments.

@Mona Kane Croft Thanks for the extra info on the crossovers. I can see how difficult it must have been to keep them going. It's always interesting to wonder what might have been. @chrisml Thanks. The story from Tina about Joel Crothers made me laugh. I wish I could see Kate. She sounds more interesting than Tina's other soap characters ever were. A shame they had to give her such a poor exit story, especially since I don't get the feeling her replacement in Julian's life was that loved by viewers.

Thanks @chrisml . These are juicier excerpts than I had expected. I wonder who the affair might involve. I also wonder if this is why she was written out after a year (then again AW had huge turnover at this time - maybe everyone kept finding out about the affair).

Watching the first episode. Nice to see Melinda O'Fee not as campy as she was later on but it's still a step away from the more grounded work I remember her doing in that Love of Life episode that used to be on Youtube. Did they give Anthony Call the Ellen Demming special? His hair looks unnaturally grey. I don't remember him looking like he had a dye job on OLTL. I agree - the ties to the Bauers would have made more sense to explore. With Ed gone they should have brought in Hope and Mike. Instead, we got more "A. Spaulding" and a love triangle with an angel.

Thank you again @Vee . What a wonderful surprise in such dark times, and with a new P&G soap on the way. I never thought I'd live to see any of these moments - even fragments, let alone an episode. It's so nice to see my Oakdale friends and family again. I assume this must be not long after Irna left. I hope some of hers might pop up someday (we already have one in B&W).

@Vee Thanks! This is incredible. Looking at the credits on that first one I will FINALLY get to see Nancy Addison as Kit Vested! I never thought I'd see the day. Thank you so much for telling us. @vetsoapfan I know we've talked about this period a few times so I assume you will enjoy them too.

If Ron had truly loved his sad little wink winks, he should have had Tori burn it down with them inside (Shane could have gone to comics camp).

Viki probably would have been better off staying there. Bauer is another good choice. I might say Leslie Charleson too. Thanks for crediting Don Wallace as he's one of those writers whose contributions I tend to not know enough about. I see he stayed at OLTL through 1986 - that may be why the conversations start feeling more and more unnatural in the Rauch era after this point. Even in some of the duller parts of the early '80s you still have "real" moments. I see he moved to Loving for a few years, a show that needed many more natural conversations than it would have had in that period. Your point about actors growing out of bad habits is another reminder of what we've lost in soaps - it's all such a grind now people can barely get beyond saying their lines at random points for random episodes. Yes. I think the first hour episode is the day Brian Kendall is run over.

He did for about six months after Rick Hearst left. He mostly seemed very young and green.

When I try to look sometimes I do often get real estate listings. I see the second actor in that part went on to win an Oscar for co-writing On Golden Pond and has a website. I wish he'd do an interview about the show, if he is still in the industry or willing to talk. https://ernestthompson.us/

https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/little-house-on-the-prairie-reboot-netflix-1236289832/ A mistake. I have already seen some dying sites like AV Club claiming this is being done to appeal to traditional values people/Trump voters. The books and the show were much wilder than that, especially the show. But Netflix is often very good at numbing everything out.

Thanks @chrisml always interesting to hear a bit of the bts details. Other than the Slesar period Somerset does seem generic, the Loving of its time, but I wish I could see anything of it beyond the scraps we have.

I actually think Carl might have had the better material. RIck spent a lot of his time as Alan-Michael scheming or pouting. Carl had so much charisma. Even in a bad part on ATWT.

Other than the Chicken Shack degradation (which Whitfield didn't really blame on her specifically - he said he was told they just weren't going to have Derek and Mimi marry in a church because they'd already used that set for other recent weddings), I think some fans might say McTavish gave better material to the black characters than what they would get through the rest of the '90s - although I think that may be more down to ABC likely feeling the black canvas could just be replaced by the (sanctimonious and dull as hell) Santos family. Still, I think Angie was better served with Loving at the time, at least once her stories got going - I know some fans feel that her story doesn't really pick up until the time she's sick and Janie dies, giving her a transplant. After that she gets steady, good material. I actually had a dream a few days ago where there was a big special episode, done with a filmic quality, and a premiere, of Angie going to Loving, and Angie and Pat walking out of a big movie theater, etc. Maybe somebody can turn that into an AI someday...probably around the time we all get turned into AI.

It's still special, but I wanted to share an earlier link.