DRW50

How soon after this did Tiffany die?

Slowly continuing to make my way through the first season, one disc at a time... For Love or Money - I actually forgot about this and had to go check up on IMDB. It is yet another installment in the painfully slow discovery by Maggie and Chase that Angela is a living hell. There is a nice understated performance by Bettye Ackerman, whom I believe was on Peyton Place, plays an old love of Jason Gioberti's who was split from him for good after she was nearly killed in a car accident. This story isn't too bad but is a bit pedestrian, especially with the possibilities of a secret room Jason spent years writing and losing his mind in. The high spots are the great scene at the beginning where Lance drives fast, then Angela asks to take over, and drives even faster, and a very strong scene at the end where Angela tries to break Chase by playing a tape that suggests Jason gave up on Chase...only for her to play the full tape (which says Jason would always love Chase) after Chase leaves. The real downside of this is a half-assed story about Lance rebelling yet again. This time he falls in love with a dull girl played by Cindy Morgan, who played Gabrielle Short (who was that?) in a later season. It is impossible to care about this in one episode, at least when the actors are so wan and their entire relationship takes place offcamera. Then this woman gives up on Lance immediately after Angela sweetly pushes her out. What was the point??? This was done over and over. This also has an unspoken actress playing Melissa. I'm glad they recast! Family Reunion - The arrival of Lana Turner, who, in spite of not being the best actress, gives a lovely performance. I kept hoping for more between Angela and Jacqueline - I would have saved her for the Emma reveal, as she figures it out quickly and when she's gone it's back to more stalling. The climax is a scene where Jacquline makes the entire family, including Emma, come over to Chase's home for dinner. Unfortunately this turns into squabbling and momentum is lost. The best part is Angela dressed in Nancy Reagan red and Jacqueline in heavenly white. Is this the last time Jane and Lana filmed scenes together? In the second season they refused to film scenes together. I do wish we'd seen more of Jacqueline's more manipulative, dark side, which had been referenced before but not really shown in this episode. I would have jettisoned Vicky's fawning over her, which was all too much like Diana from Knots Landing. The scene at the end where Chase asks his mother to stay and this proves that he does love her and need her is a touching moment. The Candidate - a by-the-numbers "man of the peepul" type of episode, with Chase more dully earnest than ever. I was more interested in the subplot of Emma acting out by stealing jewelery, and Angela going to increasing lengths to keep Emma from facing charges. The main story feels shoehorned into the story and interesting sideplots like Cole's legal problems haunting him and Maggie resenting Chase's selfishness go nowhere. Seeing Andrew Robinson - he really WAS typecast wasn't he? - as the psycho who guns the councillor down just points out the perils of self-contained episodes. Why not have him appear throughout the season, slowly losing everything? Then I might have cared. The scene where he holds Angela hostage was not an Emmy reel for Jane Wyman. The best part of this story is the last scene where Angela, in an overhead shot, listens to the news of Chase's election result. You can feel the ice in the room. It's brilliant. House of Cards - Finally getting somewhere! A superb performance from Margaret Ladd as Emma realizes how mentally ill she is and is finally able to go to a psychiatrist and talk about some of her pain. Angela plays Julia like a fiddle to get out of this situation. The subplot of Lance working for Douglas finally utilizes Douglas in a way he should have been from the start. I also like Douglas being more aggressive in trying to help Emma, although the "heart attack" scene is a bit cringeworthy. I still think they made a mistake killing him off. This is also the debut of Ana Alicia, who is a bit wooden, but already has charisma in spades, and clicks instantly with Cole. I wonder if they had any idea just how wonderful she was going to be.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcDF_Nj7xUk

This ad is like a bad parody. http://www.politico.com/blogs/davidcatanese/0511/Most_depressing_ad_ever.html#

Really? I barely get through Emmerdale a few times a month. I dread to think how they will ruin him. He was great on Hollyoaks. Fun and goofy, yet capable of seriousness when he had a chance. I hope Emmerdale doesn't fail the way they have failed so many others.

It's too soon to hope for anything but since Garin Wolf has been called a protege of Doug Marland I hope that means he knows what an incredible actress Jane is and will write for her accordingly, the way Douglas did at GH and GL.

It's nice to see Chris Engen and Victoria Rowell again. And Terry Lester.

If you're GLBT or you know anyone who is, then you should know this about Wisconsin. The governor and the attorney general are working hard to make sure that same-sex couples - any unmarried couples, probably - will not be able to have hospital visitation rights. http://www.jsonline.mobi/news/statepolitics/121956273.html

Love those. I'd never seen them before. How much of a role did the black character have?

This episode has just about everything - Emily perjuring herself (great work from Melanie Smith), lots of juicy drama simmering with John and Lucinda, and some light relief with Duncan and Shannon, complete with some cheesy singing from Duncan - I miss romance on soaps. The best part is midway through when Lucinda and Susan go at it. There's also a cheesy little ad heralding a local newsperson being on ATWT (she's in the Orient Express scenes).

Nice!

She looks like Inez in a way. Frons hates history so if she came back it would be as a psycho, but the only way I would have made sense of Bo caring about Inez would have been if she reminded him of Deililah. I think Marco posed as Mario for about a year.

Thanks for the detailed info.

Of all the GL stuff we can't see I think it's the early Norris days I want to see most.

That's great. I've never heard this story.

I forgot to say, pages ago I posted a not all that positive Daytime TV Stars review of Search at the time Edwards was probably producer. When was the picture page from? Was it when Search was still (barely) on CBS?

Thanks for finding out more info. I knew they recast when Ethel was ill, but didn't know what happened to her. It's strange that she was just never mentioned again - it made Lisa seem like she had no past.

Daniels is very unpopular with social conservatives. He tried to mollify that recently by banning funding for Planned Parenthood in Indiana, but I still don't think they will accept him unless they have no choice. He made the mistake of suggesting that there should be a "truce" between social conservatives and those in the party who don't care about social issues. This led to broadsides by Huckabee and others about how unacceptable this idea was. I think that the awful "T-Paw," who has been hyped by the press for years and who blatantly panders to the religious right (he said his biggest regret as a state legislator was voting for a gay rights bill) and to other far right wings of the party (his backtracking on global warming, his refusal to call anything he did in Minnesota a "tax" even though it ended up costing people more than taxes probably would have). He's also not Daniels or Romney, which makes him appealing to many in the party. The Democrats are always so weak and lack a message. The Republicans have a message they stick to at election time, but then when they are governing, it's about abortion, it's about race-baiting, banning gay marriage, blocking repeal of DADT, gutting Medicare and Social Security, giving more money to the rich, etc. If the Republicans find anyone who is not a disaster then I think they will win. Even if Obama does win I think it will end up being like Clinton's last term (not the sex scandal, but being a hobbled pariah).

I think she pretended to be rich when she was actually from poverty. She also loved Marco, but he lied to her about his identity. I'm not sure what her story was after that. I do remember that after she left soaps, the New York Times erroneously printed an obit on her.

Is that Christine Jones as the Viki temp? Edwina looks more like a sickly Rhoda than whatever they were going for.

Kitty died of cancer or some mysterious soap disease a few months after she finally married Linc. Fans were very upset, and when Francesca James decided to return to the show, they created Kelly. Kelly was a singer, high-strung, being fed pills by her sleazy manager. Eventually she learned she was Kitty's twin, and after a lot of trauma, and the murder of her manager, she married Linc.

Sorry - I got a phone call and when I got back on here I forgot to finish the article! I will type the rest up.

Francesca James looks so stylish in those first shots. Was that from when Kelly and Linc were visiting Pine Valley, or were they still on the show?

There was something so special and beautiful about Ellen Bethea. A sense of peace and strength that you knew she had to have in order to get through life with such crazy and demanding parents. I hated Mari Morrow's Rachel. The writing for her was lazy and demeaning - oh well of course she has to be a mess who was ruined by her parents, and they have to wring their hands over her. Morrow was also a weak actress, at best. If you watch the mid-1995 gala ball clips that VickRobCal put up recently, she sticks out like a sore thumb compared to HBS, Purdee, Parros, and Bob Woods. What was done to Rachel basically epitomizes daytime's attitude towards black women.