DRW50

April 1972 TV Dawn to Dusk. I'm going to type up the rest.

No.

Margaret had a lot of heart problems. I'm not sure if she had them during her time at Y&R but before that she'd had open-heart surgery twice, I think. I think she also had had cancer in the 60's or 70's. She talked quite a bit about this in SOD in 1982. Very brave woman.

There's also a lot of earnestness - I think that's what I miss the most on soaps. Soaps are so ashamed of themselves. So it's all sneering, sick camp. You can see some of the old earnesntness in Brad Bell when he tries to do "issue" stories, but unfortunately the rest of B&B is just derivative and unfocused trash. I also love this too - this has been posted a few times but I might as well again.

Thanks. I wonder if he was going to have her with Stuart in a story like Linda and Bob Anderson had on DAYS. I guess this was around the time they began writing Liz and Stuart out. I wish more early 80's Y&R was available...there's a certain level of purity and beauty in everything and big emotions. The show is still very well-written and decently acted as the decade goes on but it also loses some of that luster, to me, under all the big hair and Dynasty-era gloss. Like this early 80's scene: video gone

Were the plans for Mason/Eve fulfilled or did they have to cut it short? I don't know how long she was on the show up to the time she was written out after she tried to kill Victor and Nikki (did she just vanish or was there an exit) or if they had other plans which didn't happen, until her brief return for the Cole story.

Yes. I always forget about that. I wonder if they were also casting Cliff too and just dropped Jeff or if they initially planned Jeff/Nina.

She was definitely very tough - I think there was something of a warmth but also a hard edge. Mary Fickett was also strong but it seems like a quieter, velvet glove strength. I remember a fan comment that said you could finally believe Joe and Ruth actually had sex. I didn't want to think about that.

I think her Kelsey return was about 2-3 weeks. I'm not sure. I don't want to check at SOC since someone said they had a virus. I don't think Tara was there for the Charlie/Cecily wedding (although I might be wrong) but she did have one scene with Charlie, and it was jarring. As much as I liked Lee Meriwether's run as Ruth, the family still lost something without Mary Fickett. I would have brought Tara in more frequently as an adjunct to this, perhaps played up some tension between them, since Ruth had not raised Tara and Tara might have felt she was mishandling Kelsey. Tara could have thrown Tad and his heavy baggage in Ruth's face, as well as Joey basically leaving the family for years and not doing a lot. Ruth would have said Tara had no business talking about the proper way to raise a child. Joe would have looked pained and done some strange squinty smiles. There was a real wasted opportunity in Kelsey's Martin ties. She was mostly involved in stories with other people and her family interaction was limited to Ruth hectoring her.

I thought they made her look ridiculous. I think that was to try to sell her as being the mother to middle-aged Chris Lawford but it didn't work. The whole return was frustrating as she was mostly just there as a Kelsey prop and then never seen again. There was also the stuff with her husband, which rumor has it was going to be revealed as her husband being lovers with Michael Delaney. The only times I've seen Tara besides the few 70's glimpses like her wedding and her early days is when Nancy Frangione appeared at Kate's funeral.

That's always been something that upsets me - of course it's not real life, but still. I think they had Patsy Pease do these stories twice and she refused. She almost lost her second baby and she felt if she'd played out the story on DAYS she would have lost it.

Do you think it was a mistake to have Paul's siblings gone for so many years, or was the mistake in giving him siblings at all? I also wonder about some of the plans Bell had for actors he used on DAYS. Susan Seaforth only had a year or two of story on Y&R, Patty Weaver was mostly a supporting player after her first few years, and Margaret Mason only had story for a few brief strong periods. Or did he have more planned for Margaret but her health problems were an issue?

I don't really know. To me it seems like a lot of AMC's characters in the 70's were very one-dimensional, and they tended to repeat similar stories year in and year out. If you were playing saltier characters, like Erica or Phoebe, this must have been fun, but for the stalwart characters it must have been a big drag. They did try to make some story changes with characters like Ruth but it would always go back to a safe outcome.

In late 1977 Karen was basically let go from the role - she said it was fine with her, as she had asked them to change Tara (mature her, I guess) and they wouldn't. I think the problem with Jeff and Tara is that they were duplicated by other characters - Jeff by Chuck and to some degree Linc. Tara was fairly unique for AMC in the 70's but they burned through a lot of story with her and someone like Nina, or Donna, who sort of fulfilled the same story purpose, came in. Then by the time story was there which should have brought these characters back, AMC had moved into more glamorous territory. It also seems like a lot of AMC's roles in the 70's and early 80's were unable to catch on after a popular actor left. It doesn't even seem like they really tried with Jeff (just a few short recasts that went nowhere).

It's tough to say, as I can't really see KLG as Rachel or Harding Lemay being inspired by her. But who knows, he might have been. I think KLG would have been more suited to a show like Ryan's Hope. I also think that one of the reasons Tara disappeared may have been some of KLG's issues - for instance, she was out in 1977 because she wanted the character to change and they didn't. Of course she was probably right.

This is the scene where Phillip "dies." http://soaphunks.net/moments.php?rank=010

Yes, Noelle left early because she did not want to play out a stillbirth story while pregnant.

video gone

I guess they wanted to move Joyce into other stories, so just gave part of her story to this Tina? This is one of the few soap stories to ever address agoraphobia, although as with others it doesn't sound like it was ever really studied. I think Doug was gone not long after this, as he was interviewed in a December 1978 SOD and they said as they went to press that he'd been fired. Who was he involved with again? Valerie being passed among the various men of Oakdale, again. At least the show did not do what soaps now would do and have her sleep with them. I'm still confused about Ralph returning in 1991 or 1992. I wonder if they just wanted Keith Charles and then realized he'd already been on ATWT. Did he have any story threads that carried through in his return?

Why are Lori and her last husband in those outfits? Pauline looks like Eve Arden there.

Thanks so much for sharing these with us. I didn't realize Randolph was off Loving for quite that long. How was Robert Dubac received as Alex ?How long was he around?

Well Ben, based on some of the reactions at Digital Spy, I can only imagine that if you did not enjoy the last episodes, you a) just do not understand Corrie b ) just do not understand comedy c) are not a Northener. It's some of the same reaction to that awful stuff where Jim held up a bank. It's just a parody. It's irony. It's comedic irony. Brilliant! I don't believe Phil Collinson has any interest in what made Corrie special. He just steamrolls all over it for the latest stunt. And none of these stunts ever have any fallout or purpose.

I think The Deep End was some show about astronauts. I didn't watch as I don't watch much primetime now. I'm sorry it didn't work out for him. What was the lesbian kiss story on Neighbours a few years ago? I saw some of the story on the channel that has lesbian soap stories.

What did you think of the story where Nikki began faking her terminal illness? Do you think that it hurt the Traci character when Beth left for a year or two around this time (87) or did she need the break?