DRW50

I wonder if Long was just intimidated by Quint/Nola, especially Nola. The writing for Nola in this clip is frankly bizarre and I'm not even sure if it fits anything the character had been. Would she really be upset about a kid not swimming and going on picnics? This is just a strange story in general although better casting of the child actor would have helped.

Poor Kym. This seems to happen to her quite often. Will Libby's absence make an impact?

Michelle was good on Eastenders and she can probably spit out wooden one-liners better than worthless Kylie and Tracy, but the show is so full of nasty people now that if she is playing a Cindy type she will just fade away.

Just a small little Jane/Tracy bit from an October 1989 Digest recap.

It was a bad ripoff of both, yes, and also showed how little they cared about Liz. They just slapped it on at the last minute. Now they just need to rip off Hollyoaks. How about having a parachute murder for half the cast. John Stape can cut the cords, for 'comedy.'

So any views on Liz's exit? I thought the audio flashbacks were good but I didn't buy that she cared about the pub and I thought it was all rushed. The rest of the show was so nasty and miserable. Why does Tracy and her hypocrisy and nasty, badly written one-liners have to take such prominence? And what is the point of any of this with Maria? Is it to teach a lesson that rape stories can be just as boring as any other story? I can barely stand to watch now - is it always like this, anyone who watches daily? Oh and in more stunt casting, Michelle Collins is joining as the new landlady. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/soaps/3529414/Michelle-Collins-to-play-new-Rovers-Return-landlady.html

Suzanne Shaw is gone. I guess I can't blame her, given how poor the show has become. http://www.itv.com/soaps/emmerdale/newsandgossip/suzannesoff/

I hadn't heard that, badboy93. I wonder what it will be. I enjoyed most of the episode. I have to admit that I could have done without the car crash, because you know Max and Abi aren't going to die, and it just seems like a pointless stunt. I'm also not a fan of Max's obsession with "Tan" and I think this hurts his character because he loses any meaning beyond wanting her. I would MUCH RATHER Tanya stay with Greg and have stories about her family and her career. Greg is obviously doomed, but I like him now, even if you can already see they might turn him darker. However, his scenes with the family - who are incredibly believable even though Cora is barely known to us and Rainie has barely interacted with them in years - shone, and there were a lot of other little moments I enjoyed, like Greg and Ian, Jane confessing the kiss to Tanya, Shirley spotting Rainie in church, Amy waving to baby James. This is what shows like ATWT used to do so well. Michael is better as a pot-stirrer than he was as a hunk, and the way he has unsettled Ronnie has been good viewing. The scenes where she almost confessed all to Kat were haunting and halting - they have finally nailed just how lost Ronnie is.

Wanda and Viki were close friends for many years. They could bring her back, but I will be surprised if anyone comes back besides their big name Howarth, and probably Dan Gauthier. Check VickRobCal for more Wanda videos.

I first started AMC through a wedding videotape, which I did really enjoy (I watched the "Just You and I" duet for Greg and Jenny several times). I didn't start watching the main show until around the time Marcy Walker came back as Liza. I was riveted by her early story and also drawn into Janet's story, Michael Delaney, etc. Unfortunately after that it all started to decline and while I do think AMC has had many great moments over the years, I never had the strong emotional connection I had with some of the CBS soaps. But I have still dropped in and out and I hate that this is ending. I also respect AMC for bringing back Angie and Jesse and proving that black characters can be viable and that returns of long past characters can be successful. I wish this was not their exit story, but at least it's better than seeing ATWT end all but holding up a "whites only" sign. I don't think it can be stated enough just how powerful and prominent AMC was for many years, and what a strong connection they had to pop culture. Disney destroyed this - making AMC just like any other soap was its death.

Susan Bedsow Horgan or something like that. I think she was a permanent headwriter and they just moved on when they got a bigger name. The show was in a lot of transition in the few years before that. Her ATWT seems very different from Marland's, but it is still good - a bit more youth-oriented and not as deep, but there are some absolutely superb scenes. You've seen the episodes on Youtube where Bob tracks Kim down to the cabin and she's delirious and she finally tells him about the baby they lost, right?

That's fascinating. I tried that and found a few, and also a lot of Ellen Degeneres. I have one or two more Ellen articles but thought they were getting repetitive. I will post them when I find them again. Thank you and so many others here who have had stories about her and helped show another side of her than just the usual. She is such a beautiful woman. I know it won't happen but it would be nice if she and OLTL were together again one last time.

One of my all time favorite scenes:

I've posted a lot of stuff here over the last six months.

Jessie Wallace photo shoot for Buzz. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/video/tv-biz/buzz/

Was Kathy only in this episode?

Not really, I just remember reading about Paco in FrenchFan's synopses and thinking it was rare for a show to have Hispanic characters at this time (the only other soap that did was Ryan's Hope), and I wondered who played him. I always misplace by copy of Soap Opera Encyclopedia and was too lazy to really look online. So when I saw a photo and his name in the Digest it answered for me. I have one or two more articles somewhere and hopefully someone else has more. Like you I have never seen this and wish I could.

Most of August and September 1989 are now on Youtube, and this means you get to see the last (or should have been the last anyway) hurrah of James Stenbeck unfold. There are a few moments where people take stupid pills to justify his presence, but overall most of the characters are skeptical as his tendrils again make their way through Oakdale. In many ways his return is pathetic, and I assume deliberately so. He has to rely on bad disguises and one teenage boy who lives at the Earl Mitchell Center. He spends a lot of time eavesdropping and manipulating Lucinda and Tonio. When he finally does call Paul, Paul, who had always had a soft spot for his father in the past, now speaks with open loathing and venom, wishing his father dead. Somehow, I did end up feeling sorry for James, in spite of what a monster he was. His last episodes are also very emotional, and have an impact, aside from his death scene, which is a little amateurish. This is contrasted by the Lily/Derek story, Martha Byrne's exit, which is a slow burn - is Mr. Perfect cheating on Lily? Holden's back, what does that mean for Lily? This is clever as it hides the real story, which is Derek and his father having deadly plans for Lily. Background characters in this are cop/construction worker Jeff, who seems to have a soft spot for Lily and who is distrusted by the other men in Lily's harem. Does anyone know if there were more plans for this character? He's very handsome - he reminds me of Matt Bomer. He didn't seem to have a lot of credits on IMDB (ATWT wasn't even listed). Derek's trashy sister, Trish, also stops in, pushing Derek's buttons and having a lot of fun with the pieces of ass that were Caleb and Holden. She looked familiar to me and I finally realized she's married to Grant Aleksander. Apparently she gave up acting and is now a lawyer. I liked her work here - she's very believable as someone who wants to have fun but is also more than a little bitter and lost. James' death episode also has the goodbye for John's niece Pam, who has graduated from nursing school and is moving to New Jersey with her mother. I have a lot of respect for Doug Marland for not just having her disappear, as so many did in ATWT's later years. She was such a levelheaded character yet not self-righteous or whiny or judgmental. Her exit coincides with the last appearance of Roy and Nella Franklin's mother - again there was no "need" for her to return but it was a nice touch. They also explained what had happened to Nella - apparently she and Beau moved to Los Angeles together. I wonder why they show didn't keep her around, as she'd been there for 3 years and had ties to various families. Was this the old "only one black woman allowed on the show at a time" system? The only part I don't care for is about a dozen episodes repeating scenes of Julie painting herself as a victim to Andy, Andy believing her, yelling at Duke to back off, Duke being confused, etc. It seems very stalled out. I wonder if it's because they initially planned to write Julie out until Marland was impressed with Susan Marie Snyder's work. This is the James death episode and the next episode. The next one also has some great scenes with Hal and his family in West Virginia, and at about 41 minutes in, a delicious fight with Emily/Susan/Lucinda.

I didn't realize that was Kassie's husband - I remember seeing them in some photos but didn't make the connection there and in this behind the scenes video. I guess some of the garish outfits on GL at this time would be a good fit for the Joan Rivers of this era. It was nice to get a backstage look at GL here, since this was right around the time the show started going nuts. I still can't believe Kristi Ferrell auditioned for India. I wish there was a video of that.

Those clips are starting to go up on Youtube (the Jonathan story) and they write Nola as so OTT with a crowbar, trying to open boxes, she seems to be channeling Janet Green. The scenes are so strange. I think they just saw Nola as "wacky" when generally I'd say Lisa Brown does better with dryer comedy. Having Quint and Nola stand in front of a huge fake computer isn't the way to go. I do like the brief scene where he's showing her how to use a computer. Ahead of its time I guess.

I'll post the whole article at some point - it's kind of sad though remembering when New York had so many soaps. Here is the November 1978 recap. It's a nice surprise to see who played Paco.