DRW50

I don't know why anyone would replace MEK with Terrell Anthony.

I didn't know that. I remember him from the movie. He was blonde right? Alec Baldwin also spoke very negatively about his experiences at The Doctors. It must have been a very tough time those last years.

That's all true - I wondered how it was watching in real time, compared to watching a lot of episodes on Youtube. I'm glad to hear it still flowed. I might have already asked this, but do you remember the story from spring 1985 - most of it isn't available on Youtube - I think it started with Kim or Nancy finding a body. This was tied to Shannon's entrance. I read a few of the summaries from SOD at this time and one of them mentions Kim and Margo being held hostage in Kim's living room and subduing their captors? I'd love to see that.

I wonder if this is a BBC decision, a higher up one. Someone at Walford Web said that the previous woman might have gone because of inconsistency.

I'd love to see Colleen Dion as Cec. I didn't know Jack had a blindness story. How long did that last?

Did you like the mystery stuff then? Watching as much of his ATWT run as I can, sometimes the mysteries can get dense and involve so many offscreen or recurring characters, although the drama is usually worth it. Like everything with Lilith - a psychiatrist we never saw, who was killed, her brother, Duncan's assistant/James' thrall Teresa, Duncan's assistant/red shirt Tobias, etc. It's tough sometimes to know a story when there are gaps. The story about Duke, for instance, seemed to start with Margo and Tom getting weird phone calls and a woman with a hacking cough running into Pam at a library.

Apparently Goutman told Soaps in Depth that the finale was cut by 12 minutes and there were good scenes with Lisa cut, including her scenes with Bob and Kim, and he wanted to make them available online, but wasn't allowed. I find this hard to believe, because he didn't do a damn thing with Lisa for ten years, but beyond that, there were deleted scenes released, about seven minutes of them, with Lily, Craig, Parker, Faith, Rosanna, etc. So is he saying that they weren't allowed to release anything with older characters? Who knows. Thanks for answering the question about the Grant story. I do think Jim Douglas played up the menacing aspect well, it's just kind of odd seeing him that way when I'd read he was a good guy. What did you think of the story about Casey's illness? It was so gradually done, and I've always wondered if they started it knowing Bill Shanks would leave, and he was to die all along. I know they extended by six months when HBS left. The scenes where he has to use crutches to get to the delivery room to be with Lyla, and you have his family outside, are a little hokey, but beautiful. When his mother says, "Surgery is his whole life," and then his grandmother says, "What's in there is his whole life." I tried to watch a little of the scenes where Margo told Katie about Casey's death but Terri Conn was doing the cheerleader bit and I couldn't.

Kat's line about "who would want to go into a pub where tears wash the gin" or whatever, was just beautiful. That was also such an Elsie Tanner type of line. I loved that Kat/Jean scene. That's the long type of scene most soaps are terrified of now. Michael just does not work for me, although he was a little better with Ronnie. Sam Womack was very good, I'm just so weary of this woe stuff.

I've been watching some of the late 1988/early 1989 story where Lisa is being gaslighted with Earl's voice and gifts and so on. What did you think of this story? Eileen Fulton is doing a good job, but what I don't get is why they made a big deal out of whether or not Grant is the one who is driving her mad and trying to get her money. Would anyone really believe Grant would do that to Lisa? Either this would be a very clumsy red herring, or it would be a total hatchet job on a longstanding character.

Did Morgan or Kelly leave first? I know Kelly was with Claire but never heard of any story Morgan had after the one with Josh and the birth control pills and such. I was never sure who made Quint Henry's son. I know Diane Ballard was blackmailing Henry with the info that he had a secret child - did Marland not intend that to be Quint?

That's interesting. She was at Emmerdale from about 2005-2007, or longer. She did a lot of stunts. By the end it had fizzled out badly, but I'd still take that over today's Emmerdale.

Thanks for doing all this. Why are they bringing back characters from the incest story? Is that going to be resumed? I wonder why they didn't ask the original actors back. Have any fantasy stories ever been successful on German soaps? How did they wrap up the one you mentioned?

That makes sense. I wonder just how many of the failed attempts at core families there were on Loving, or when they were just a few characters with no plans to expand (like Casey and his father or Dinah Lee and her sister). I wonder if they ever thought of recasting Isabelle with Jane Powell. What did you think of the various Curtises and Lornas and Anns and Lilys?

When I see them I think it's interesting because he really doesn't look like the typical hunk. I think it makes for more believable tension because you can't rely on a prop. It's sort of like - not comparing them! - when Liz Taylor married Larry Fortensky, who was a poor guy and who also wasn't a pin-up. I just wish I could see a bit of the character. I also wish I could see more of the family. Aside from Ava and Kate and Ally I mostly just have seen people like Carly, who looked a bit glamorous to be part of the family.

Would you agree with Roya that the character already changed before she left? Was the other brother Wade? What did you think of Jane Powell? (If I've asked this before I'm sorry, I'm too lazy to look through the pages)

Thanks again for this. It's funny because I just saw a photo of Phil when he played Rick - I didn't realize he was on Loving too. So how long were Trisha and Steve married before he was killed? I wonder if they should have waited longer. It's always like another world to remember soap stories where the husband cheated and it was out of lust and not because the wife is a failure or because the other woman drugged him or whatever. I wish I could see more of Gwyn/Ann. I think I just saw a bit in the 1987 episode on Youtube.

I don't know. I know many feel only Marland could write for them. Quint was such a very unique character and Michael Tylo has never seemed very interesting outside of that window. Nola I think had more potential but I'm not sure. It's a little hard for me to imagine her in the late 80s or early 90s GL, but you never know. I would have liked to have seen her become friends with Reva, cause mayhem around town - imagine Vanessa's reaction.

Elsa I love your memories. I feel like I'm watching the episodes thanks to you. What did you think of Lisa Peluso's Ava? Paul Raven thanks for the recaps. They take so much time and yet you always have more. Wow Gwyn seemed like a monster. By the time I started watching she was this guilt-ridden and sad woman and now I kind of know why. I wonder if AW borrowed some of this with Sam/Amanda (they met when Sam was a valet at a Cory family party). I still wonder if they got rid of Steve to basically bring in a studlier version of him in Trucker. Or did the actor want to leave? Who was Link? The drink-throwing sounds so cheesy. Almost as bad as the he slaps her/she slaps him type of thing. dc thank you so much for your answers! Rita Lloyd again. I remember some fans criticized Marland's GL because Lucille was written out, but clearly Marland was fond of Rita, as he cast her on all his shows.

There is a lot more of Helena at quintnola's Youtube channel. There are a few scenes at ClassicGL under The Prisoner. Here are one or two others that I enjoy just for silly, sentimental reasons, like when they worked in a bit of a Nola fantasy to Key Largo. Marland's GL was so damn stylized and dense. I could analyze every scene. Yet I can see why it fell apart after he left.

The episode I've wanted to see for a while, finally uploaded. The one where Josh beats up Tonio. I'd only ever seen flashbacks. It was a little better in the flashbacks but still fun. I wonder if Bill Finchtner asked Peter Boynton's permission to spit on him. Lisa seems to be dressed as some sort of Golden Girls harlequin. Geez Shannon really was a moron.

Helena was an old associate/love of Quint's who was dangerous and tied to some of Quint's enemies. She was one of Quint's harem, along with Nola and Mona/Rebecca/whoever. She was a lot of campy fun, as was Vanessa, who also floated around that storyline. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UmaTk5_nY4 Rose Alaio's other major soap role was Rose on Ryan's Hope. I loved her on that show. She was fired around the time of the 1981 writers strike.

From the April 12, 1983 Digest. I got a kick out of Helena, I wish they could have had Rose Alaio come back later on, it might have given Nola something to do in that horrible return. This issue also talks about how chaotic GL is backstage, with Geraldine Court (who had just been fired) basically calling it a madhouse. John Wesley Shipp also quit, as he wanted to do a play and they kept telling him he had to make a decision now, and that he was upset about changes to his character. Didn't he end up staying on a while after this? I know he was with Claire, and that was a while after this wasn't it?

The "hot" brother looks so much like another soap actor. I can't think of who. Here are the Savage brothers. I guess they've totally given up on the pretense of Noah not being campy or femme?

It was very claustrophobic.