DRW50

Marcus Dent is returning to marry Sean. This seems very sudden, but then the show is paced so poorly what can you expect (although all the soaps have this pacing problem now, not just Corrie). I liked Marcus quite a lot. He was adorable and played by a talented actor. I wish they would actually give him some stories, but other than weeping over being gay and miserable that doesn't happen on any of the soaps it seems. We'll see if he and Sean have a nice hug, like Paul did on his Emmerdale wedding. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/soaps/3319909/Corries-Sean-Tully-to-marry-Marcus-Dent.html

Those are great! What picture quality. Sometimes I forget how handsome Anthony Herrera was.

There are rumors that

I'd like to see more of that too. It's probably the story which is available that I'd want to see the most, along with the full Carrie storyline. I have an interview with Rita Lloyd from around this time I will post sometime. Mitch, I agree with you that McTavish was probably make or break for GL -- on the one hand, the ratings did go up for a while, and if that hadn't happened then there's a good chance GL would have been canceled. But by the time she was fired the show was a living hell. Looking back it's actually surprising GL managed to survive that...I guess this was when CBS/P&G still cared. Then Rauch revived the show before the long, slide downward. I do wonder if McTavish helped create the initial plans for Meta. She had already come in by the time Laibson was going.

I think Bunim was EP, then Calhoun took over from her. I always want to hear more about the backstage stuff then. I know Tonya Pinkins/Heather said she thought that the female producer (Bunim I guess) liked her, only to learn that the woman actually hated her. Then she said that Calhoun wouldn't let her do other projects and rarely used her and then basically after she went on vacation she was told she was fired. Calhoun denied all of this and seemed surprised.

I'm not sure. It's hard to tell. I don't think he was the one escorting Steve. That's Judith Barcroft (Anne Tyler, AMC; Lenore Bancroft, AW; Barbara Wilde, RH) as the prosecuting attorney. Apparently the show was a real mess at this time backstage (one of the actors who played, I think, the fiance to Steve's sister, Ernie Townsend is his name, talked about some of the problems after he left -- he wasn't allowed to touch the man who was strangling his girlfriend because the man was "the star" of the show; actors had to wait around 3 hours for sets to change; characters would be put in scenes together based mainly on what sets were up; he was brought in to kill someone and then that person suddenly got a long term contract). But it does have a lot of entertaining stuff too. Diana is fascinating to watch, and the early Lisa/Lucinda feuding is fun, as is Lisa having a big family of her own. It's also a little more freewheeling. I also LOVE the Montgomery family dynamic and I still will never understand why Maggie was never mentioned again after her sudden exit. I realize that her being around meant less story for Lyla, but I still enjoy her presence, and it's fascinating how much she reminds me of Margo. Margo also seems a little more fun here and not as much misery as she started getting with Marland. It's a shame about this goofy Tom at this time but he didn't last long. I love the Montgomery bits of the episode where Maggie has to give baby Jill back to Cal. Not so much her blubbing, but the laughing before Cal arrives, and then the family standing up to Cal. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIi2Lynz7wE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zl4QtJ64m7k&feature=related

This is very jumpy but it's a fun scene, an early, awkward argument between Lucinda and Lisa, about 2 minutes in. The wardrobe seems very wrong for both ladies, especially Lucinda (that boring necklace and smothering hat and coat), but I love some of Lisa's lines, like, "the ladybird will soon be a jailbird." The outfit for Kim also seems odd -- she looks like she's going to a British Royal wedding. You can see a closer look at that in the first clip. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zi3KrThPgok&feature=related

That's probably because Jo Joyner is still losing baby weight. She seemed about the same in characterization to me -- passive-aggressive, cold, and in need of attention. You make a lot of good points. I actually think most of the characters are behaving true to themselves, but the problem is it's trait I don't necessarily want to see. I'm tired of Phil the hardman or Ian the sleaze. I would like to see them change. Ian has regressed so much lately. I'm bewildered that Jane, after everything, has gone back to being the wife who can't see what's in front of her face. That story is one I would love to know the details of in the writers room -- all this feels like damage control because of whatever happened with the story to have her get revenge on Ian, Lucy's abortion, Melissa Suffield's exit, etc. The newer characters are still difficult to invest in, like Ryan, Whitney, or Connor (although I don't think he'll be around much longer). Some other characters like Janine I think have been developed recently to what their true characterizations are -- the show is still very plot-driven but she is one who seems to be closer to what I remember her as being and what I believe she'd be today. As for Roxy and Ronnie -- they've both had quite a bit of time off in the last six months or more. I have mixed feelings on them but I think Ronnie still has her moments when they know what to do with her (she was great yesterday). Roxy I could do without but I think she's been rested, which she never really was before, and I think Rita Symons has come a long way. I do see where they are superfluous but for the first time in quite a while I think they might be able to move beyond that. For about two years I just wanted Roxy off my screen. I just hope Carol will get a story soon.

Kate Ford suffers because there is no layering to the writing, no one to contrast to Tracy (Becky is too compromised by overexposure and bringing Tracy in to menace her doesn't change that), and nothing based on characterization. There is no way that her family would be so passive about her, and if they are being limited to try to show us how evil Tracy is, all it really does is make you realize how shallow the characters are. Everything is based on plot, plot, plot, which means storylines that could easily improve with just a little mention of the past sputter on the screen. They also don't seem to really want to pace stories, which leaves them with claptrap like Leanne changing her mind about Nick again and again, whenever the script falls for it. How are they having the exact same conversations now that they had before the man she supposedly loves was crippled because of Nick? The only time anything ever changes is if they can fit in a Lifetime movie of the week cliche, They don't want to touch stories that actually could progress or be different. They seem so reluctant to give Gary more than 2 minutes of airtime a week I wonder why they even decided to tell the PTSD story.

That's basically what Emmerdale has become -- the same depressing things happen over and over and over every single day. I've found them sexy ever since David got his haircut (even if they need to lawnmow his face a little) a few years ago, and Carl, I think he's always been hot, perhaps a little more now after he's become a sociopath. I do miss the days when he'd walk around in his underwear, but the sight of him in the sweatpants was a nice Christmas present.

I think Ryan gets the blame because he's there, and also because he slept with Stacey while married to Janine, which helped lead to Janine going after Stacey and running her out of town. Watching some of the episode again, they crammed so many story threads, years of them, into those 56 minutes. While it wasn't all great (I would have left Janine's stabbing to later in the episode and possibly left it up to viewers to decide whether Stacey stabbed her), I thought most of it was good to excellent, and some wonderful performances. Those scenes with Jean and Stacey, especially the one where Jean got Stacey to admit she killed Archie, were superb. You can see how much Stacey meant to Jane and how everything with Stacey is going to push her over the edge. I also liked that Stacey mentioned her horrible childhood. Some were upset with Max saying he loved Stacey/leaving his family, or saw it as poor writing, but I think that's true to the character. I will miss Stax. That scene where she left and he had tears in his eyes was gorgeous; Jake Wood is a wonderful cryer. I also loved the scene where he was in bed smoking. It will be interesting to see the fallout with his family, especially Lauren, over his decision to leave. You can tell Tanya is waiting to stomp in and give one of her lectures. Her belittling him during the Charades game was just the start. She is always so insecure. And she's still in love with him. I loved the scene where Stacey almost jumped and Max had to stop her. That scene could have just been pointless melodrama but instead had a lot of genuine heart. That and the view of London over the credits were my favorite moments. I also think the show did a very good job of showing that even if Stacey did not "pay" for killing Archie, it has taken a huge mental toll on her. Lacey was wonderful through all this, and the way she said she loved silly Bradley, even if she wasn't sure why. That summed up their relationship. Bradley Janine seems to be crossing over into truly disturbed territory now, and Charlie Brooks is rising to the occasion with some of her best performances in years and years, and yet also very different from her earlier work as Janine. I hope the show has the guts to truly explore her madness and sociopathy. I wish they'd been able to fit the choir story into the Christmas episode, because I loved those scenes, whereas the stuff at the Vic with Dot didn't work as well, it seemed very edited. I do like seeing Alfie and Kat so happy though. Shane and Jessie really do work well together. Great work from Ronnie and Roxy when Ronnie told Stacey to go. Stacey and Ronnie are both so damaged, I'm sorry the show never explored that further. The ratings were pretty good -- 11.3 million, a half a million more from last year. Given that Stacey's exit probably wouldn't get as much interest as Archie's murder mystery, and that the BBC wasn't supposed to have had a very good lineup this year while ITV's was stronger than usual, I think those are very good numbers.

From the November 11, 1980 Digest (SOD Publishing Inc).

From the December 7, 1999 Weekly (Primedia). Article by Robert Schork, photography by John Paschal, grooming by Moon Kim. The interview is titled Ham on Wry.

Oh I wasn't saying you were doubting him, I was just saying that role showed me he could playing a leading man. It seemed like his other leading man roles on soaps besides LOL weren't successful, so perhaps Rick was offbeat and Lacy tapped into that.

From the August 29, 1995 Weekly (K-III Magazines).

I think Jerry Lacy proved something of his ability as a leading man when he played Tony Peterson on Dark Shadows. He and Nancy Barrett were wonderful together. I thought it was a big mistake to write Tony out and to stick Carolyn with duds like Adam and Jeb.

Also from this issue.

At one time the Barlows at least stood up to Tracy when they felt she went too far. It's degrading and lazy writing to have them shrug off everything she says and does, especially since she is now non-dimensional. The show is so insecure about making sure Tracy is seen as pure evil that they have her throwing drinks on her daughter and humiliating her crippled brother, whom she was once close to not all that long ago. The show has become so empty and also very stupid.

Yes, Marcy was back briefly. I can't remember much of the story but I remember her coming in wearing widow's weeds, and Michael Logan on Pure Soap saying he was happy because ATWT had been so boring and this might liven it up. From the August 29, 1995 Weekly (K-III Magazines). It's written by Caelie M. Haines.

I think it will be the cop. The father is annoying and creepy. He also seems wooden, which is odd, since he's been in TV for many years.

From the August 29, 1995 Weekly (K-III Magazines).

That looks great. I wonder where Pat will go after this, as she washes her hands of Janine. Of course that never lasts. Some insisted that this made Max look awful or trashed his character, but I thought it was exactly what he'd do.

From the December 7, 1999 Weekly (Primedia). I never liked this story but I guess it's a masterpiece compared to today's Y&R.