DRW50

The show is stunning. Beautiful people, nice sets, good lighting, great writing, great acting (not too sure about the wardrobe though). With better handling the show could have been #1. I know a lot of people may feel the move to ABC was a death knell but ABC's upturn in the late 70s probably kept EON on as long as it was. And if not for P&G, ABC probably would have continued EON.

It seems that, in terms of blatant youthification of P&G, the big moment was firing Mandel Kramer and bringing in Dennis Parker as the new police chief. What I wonder about is the fan reaction when, around 1976, Calvin, Steve, and Deborah all arrived, and ended up on the force (I don't know if Deborah was a cop when viewers first met her). This was a pretty big shift for Edge, wasn't it? I know they had always had young characters in the middle of the action, but hadn't most of the "law and order" characters usually been older?

I guess we can't embed clips anymore but you should try to watch this scene after Hank grills Rachel on the witness stand during Marty's rape trial. Such incredible work from Ellen Bethea and the chemistry between Kevin and Rachel is so strong. The scene where she says, "What father?" is chilling.

I remember one of the soap magazines called Sherman's estranged husband for comment and he wasn't too friendly... What was Ann Williams like? Did you get to read the book her kids wrote? They have their own Youtube channel with some videos of her. Have you seen it? I'm sorry to hear about Kathy's mother.

Thanks for that. I didn't know CBS asked for one more season. I can see why they said no - the show was a mess in those last few years. I don't really agree that Laura's death opened Greg up. I thought it shut him down and limited his story options. I also thought the Dallas crossover episodes were a little better than he gives them credit for. Nice to know more about things like the purpose of the Ciji/Laura relationship. I didn't know about why they had some actors write episodes. I certainly agree with him about that Hitch Hike episode. It is so badly dated, and was probably dated even then. Unfortunately the show brought back the "poor but proud folk against Karen" in that disastrous paintball vigilante story.

I'll have to look for the Swan's Crossing stuff. I keep meaning to watch Sherry before those episodes are gone, but I never can muster up what it takes to watch the show's post Soapnet years, for some reason. I think after ABC took over in 1979 they very quickly began eliminating any of the touches of familiarity like Kathleen. It's too bad. A family with Diana, Louise, and James Mitchell could easily be my favorite soap family ever.

An excerpt would be great. The part about the shows being paid for a tobacco scene is strange, but then they probably needed every penny they could get. This would be a good setting for heavy smoking, as the whole show sounds very atmospheric and overheated. I noticed the 32 part as well. It's strange. I wonder if they were going to have some big paternity revelation about Hud, or say she was his sister.

I never paid a lot of attention to Art on the earlier runs of the show, but did this time around. When I saw he was named Greg Abels I remembered seeing him in a few of the early 70's magazines. This was a little more than I expected (most of these don't run 6 pages). I wish they'd used him a little more on RH, but you have to give Claire Labine and Paul Avila Mayer credit for trying to find roles for their old WTHI ties. This is the only chance most soap viewers will ever have to see Abels, Robyn Milland, Delphi Harrington, or even Louise Shaffer. I have another article somewhere that has a rundown of the characters when the show started - it's just some photos, but when I find it I'll post it. I do like Louise's hair. I'm not overly fond of their dresses (a little long when they stand and too short when they sit) but Louise looks great. Diana van der Vlis is so wonderful - she hooked me from the first time I saw Nell. I wish she'd lived longer so she could know the fans she'd get when Soapnet began running the show.

Is it me or was there some type of quasi-incestuous vibe in there? It's odd they needed to specify that she was good-looking. The part about her bare leg on display and the stocking being removed seems a little trashy.

April 1971 Afternoon TV.

Some 1971 and 1972 Afternoon TV articles. The Diana one is from the issue whose cover Paul Raven posted.

I have no desire to see Zoe again but I do wish they'd mention her more often. There has always been some doubt about whether Zoe ran away from the law but some have said that she knew she wasn't going to be in trouble when she left. I like Lucy Benjamin as an actress but Lisa was such a depressing, joyless character - the prime example of how Phil destroys women. I also hated the way she treated Mark. Looking back the only reason I tolerated her was because I really hated Phil and Mel.

Donna was a fascinating character. It's too bad most of the clips are always taken off Youtube. They were all up at one time. Then some were put up again by a Danielle/Ronnie fan, only to be taken off again by Youtube. When Donna came to Walford she didn't tell anyone who she was. She went to work at the Vic. She kept telling lies about her life that Pat caught her in. She was also used and strung along by men like Wicksy (Pat's ladykiller son). She started calling the Samaritans all the time, coming up with stories, because she wanted to talk to Kathy. Finally Kathy figured it out and when she confronted Donna Donna told her that she was her daughter and she'd come to Walford to find her. Kathy said they couldn't be close, because of the rape. Kathy wanted to keep all this quiet, but Donna began flirting with Ian in order to force Kathy to tell everyone the truth. Donna continued to limp along until Kathy was raped for a second time. Donna tried to comfort her, and Kathy lashed out at her, as she was a reminder of Kathy's first rape. Between this, Donna's lack of self-worth, the way Wicksy treated her, etc. she began falling into drug use. She dated Rod, who liked to try to save screwed up women, but he couldn't stop her from getting hooked on heroin. After he left her, she also began turning tricks. She was almost gang raped. She destroyed the marriage of Sue and Ali Osman after she told Sue that Ali had been paying her for sex. She spread rumors that Colin had AIDS. And so on. Finally when she had no one else she went to live with Dot. After one last meeting with Kathy, where Kathy couldn't give her what she needed, Donna overdosed, with the implication it was deliberate. Dot came home and found her on the floor, vomit beside her.

What in the hell is this? We're not even a week away from default and the House Republicans are in the middle of a bitter blowup. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0711/60022.html

The writing tends to make a lot of people seem wooden - people said the same about Vanessa. She choked on her own vomit in Dot's living room. That led to the scene where, after Peter said she deserved to die, Dot started hitting him with her purse.

Thanks. I didn't catch that.

A screenname like that is quite a pedigree! The only way I can see them creating a new character for Robinson is that they may have wanted a blank slate in order to explain his backstory with Mary. Either way, it did seem pointless. I agree that they should have kept Liz around. I think the problem for her was that she and Rachel were never very close, and she wasn't overly close to the Corys, outside of Mac. They could have expanded on these relationships. I also wish they'd brought in another young Matthews (I'm sure Susan could have had some kids) to spend time with Liz. Or she could have been close to Cass, which would have caused conflict with Frankie, given Liz's hatred of the Frames. Irene was fired in 1986, yes. She returned in late 1987. I remember her returning from San Francisco wearing sunglasses and vamping it up to Mac, for a laugh.

Thanks for sharing these details with us. Some of it is fascinating, and very daring. The parts with Hud and his mother seem overheated or remind me too much of stuff like Carrie. Francie seems like the traditional heroine having to deal with people who aren't traditional. Sowolski - Marland used that name again at Loving.

This man is a mess. Did you see the tiger photo? http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41725593/ns/politics-capitol_hill/t/oregon-congressman-says-he-took-painkiller/

Doctors Return to Peyton Place

I was reading a late 91 Digest that talked about why actors left shows. They had some discussion with Cali Timmins, which helped shed some light on exactly why they recast her. For a long time I'd just assumed they were waiting until Judi Evans was available but that seems less and less likely. She says in the article that she felt Paulina was becoming more and more of a victim. She was upset about this. She spoke with TPTB several times and never got a response. Finally, a day after an Emmy party, she was told she'd been replaced. Michael Laibson just said something to the effect that she couldn't find the strength in the character and that it was a bad mix of actor and character, and he wished her well. I do see her point - Paulina became very weak in the last 6 months of Cali's run (although Paulina had never been a tough heroine anyway). I wish she hadn't left that way. But I guess she was prophetic, especially considering the mess Paulina was in the last 3-4 years on AW.

If you go to the Doctors thread and search for 1973, saynotoursoap has some synopses for some of the stories which went on that year. It seems like there was a lot of big drama for Nick and Althea.

I keep forgetting about how much work Abigail Spencer has had since vanishing from Pine Valley around ten years ago (Becca never had an exit did she?). I guess because I keep expecting Kathie Lee to pop up and say she got her friend all these jobs too. http://gofugyourself.com/well-played-abigail-spencer-2-07-2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHCbdWa9trk&feature=related