DRW50

Ryan's Hope 1984 promo.

Quick Loving promo. Is that Tony with Stacey? Perry Stephens was so gorgeous.

From my admittedly partisan viewpoint, it looks like Obama is more than happy to cave in and do deep cuts to Medicare and Social Security, but he still wants tax increases, and Republicans don't want tax increases. They want even more cuts to federal spending. Obama is now saying that by August 3 they will stop sending checks for social security, disability, or veterans. I have seen no evidence in recent years that Republicans in power care about veterans, and they hate social security and Medicare. Are they willing to just stand this out so they can have an excuse to gut these entitlements once and for all? I keep telling myself that both parties will not let this happen, but I'm less and less sure. They don't care about the struggles of ordinary people, or how this will devastate us.

I think Collinson probably wants this type of press attention. I think he sees it as another way to get ratings. There was no reason to go on TV about this. It isn't that huge of a crisis. As others have said, Louise Berridge, who was under attack for over a year, did not go on TV. He seems so eager to get hype that he is destroying any integrity or quality Corrie had. Why was Michelle Collins there? And didn't they previously say that she wanted to do the accent? Now she's saying she had no choice. I also don't believe that Sean is a popular character. A few years ago, possibly, but I think his stories, especially that story with Violet and the baby, destroyed most of his popularity. Cotton was horrifically bad (remember all the crying into a pillow?).

I'm glad they moved away from that yellow/red background. Poor Ed Zimmerman.

Thanks for all this. I wonder if Nick and Althea were just instantly popular.

That's a fascinating cover. I love that unique pose. Did anyone ever learn if the Diana Walker quoted in the NYT article about Celeste Holm is the Diana who was on soaps?

Have you ever seen the cover of Marla with all the dolls? I like that. Dan Hamilton looks about the same here as he did at the end of the decade. Did he become a director?

That's a nice cover. I didn't know if she'd ever made any soap magazine covers. I think they had one other, can't remember who though.

So that magazine above is from around 1973, 74? I think Fulton's fun stage shows might have been more entertaining than her serious singing, which doesn't do a lot for me (although her rendition of "As the World Turns" in her 50th anniversary episode was sort of haunting).

That's very nice. This first 1982 clip shows you just how integrated the Southern/country/Texas/Dallas characters had been in Llanview by this time (although Becky Lee preceded the Dallas craze, I believe). There are also fun games between Clint and Viki, although the stripper she hires is a little jarring. She reminds me of Anita Morris, or a knockoff. This 1982 clip has some very nice Viki/Clint moments, and an appearance by Nancy Barrett, wearing her old school DS hairstyle.

I like that cover. It's so different from most soap covers. Groom badmouthed being on soaps, so they may not have thought he'd be interested.

That's nice. I hadn't seen that.

Terry quit once, for money reasons, but I think he may have been fired the last time. I've seen copies of his book for sale, but never read it. He died a few years ago. In the 50's he was married to Jan Miner, radio actress who later became Madge in the dish detergent commercials. They would repeatedly have Radio TV Mirror photo shoots in "theme" outfits. I really like that early format of Afternoon TV.

Larry Casey seemed to get a lot of publicity for the show. I wonder if his departure made any difference in ratings. The fan magazines of that era seem a little confused at times whether to treat this like another daytime soap or like the inheritor to Peyton Place. For instance, Guy Stockwell got his own section in one issue, not just an article in the daytime section.

That's nice. I wish there was more of Lahoma. She seems so unique for a soap heroine. And she even ended up getting her own spinoff!

Love all the purple. Did they say what happened to the grandmother?

That first photo is more like miming. I'd love to see a documentary or something on the life of a New York soap star in the mid-70's to the early 80's, before things started getting so bad and so many died. Richard is a first cousin yes, I think. Or perhaps not, since Tina almost married him. He was recast so many times. I think Reilly and Jill Voigt (Becky Lee) were married on the show, then they were fired, with the show saying the happy couple were on an extended honeymoon. I can't remember who replaced Reilly at that time. Richard and Tony Lord were two of those characters who might have had an impact if not for all the recasting. Speaking of that, I have wondered why Denny Albee didn't make more of an impression with viewers. He was so good on Edge of Night.

August 1977 TV by Day.

From the Jan 1979 Afternoon TV, it's Disco Dorian!

I always miss the AW characters. I never feel like the show is gone. The characters are just so alive. I think AW had the most human, three-dimensional characters of any soap. I guess I should go read the AW soap that is still going on. How is it now? The last I heard was when they were trying to kill off Donna. I was just watching a DVD and when Louise wouldn't tell Iris what she wanted to hear, after Louise went to get Rachel, Iris went outside and started oh-so-politely started cutting up Louise's plants! It was just such delicious material. Speaking of delicious, I was reading Beverlee's reaction when she won a fan magazine award in 1979. "I learned everything I know from Laurie Heineman."

Thanks. I liked it too, especially the dress, which isn't really what I think of Tracy wearing.

Thank you so much. That writeup on Carolyn's wedding made me tear up a bit. It's so patronizing to say "____ was so brave," but that's all I can say. I love how much respect she had for Capitol and how she was trying to shine a light on the show even at her own wedding.

Could someone give me the link to the Capitol fan site again? I found some party photos or something along those lines but didn't want to post if they're already available.

I forgot to say that in re-reading the original interview I realized she did NOT say ABC resented her for having a talk show. I'm very sorry about that. I was just reading into the article. I think the spin from ABC or spec on it anyway, was that they wanted Tudor back because they were taking Gwyn in a direction Tudor would be better at playing.