DRW50

From the December 7, 1999 Weekly (Primedia Inc).

From the December 7, 1999 Weekly (Primedia Inc).

These look great! I've never seen that cast photo -- I would have remembered Brenda's orange top. Poor Peggy with the sad look and the jailbird sweater on. Stuart Brooks looks surprisingly young there.

No

I hope Stacey has a happier life than Kathy did. I know some have said they ripped off Kathy's exit but I think there are some differences (namely that Kathy wanted to leave - Stacey had little choice). I still get emotional when I hear Julia's Theme...

Yes, it is her. Good eye. I should have remembered because I saw a black and white photo of her, but I have to admit that every time I picture this era of Christina in my mind it's Diana Scarwid. She has a bit of a wild look about her - what was her character like on SS? I really like Amy's sweater and skirt too. Who is the other guy with Coster? I probably know him but can't place it.

I think Santer tended to write more with forced camp -- which does work in some cases. Janine, she's campy, sure, but she also has a real jagged edge, which I think Kirkwood gets. That's a shame she didn't get a final scene with Kat. I had forgotten about the BBC's money crunch in more recent years. I really liked that they used to have them for various characters. If Stacey is a ratings grabber then they might be able to do something. Too bad they can't make those DVDs like Emmerdale and Corrie have with ITV.

I'm glad she got away -- I hope that even if she doesn't come back they might someday do a one-off on her new life, like they did with Bianca. Do you think that would work? I wonder where Janine will go next. I can't wait to see her scenes today. Kirkwood has done a wonderful job bringing her back to her best, or close anyway.

I haven't seen it yet either but I've heard there's some good Stacey/Max stuff. I will miss them together. Some of the anti-Kirkwood posters at DS are creating multiple threads demanding his firing and saying "Salford" needs help so that alone is a good time I guess Tracy and yet more bad writing ruining Corrie's Christmas episodes has caused some upset.

The other blonde looks like Ilene Kristen too. Who is she? Yeah I love the 60s clothes in color. There's something striking about those plain, monochromatic dresses when they have blues or reds or greens.

For all I complain about how Collinson has hollowed out Corrie, it's still helping their ratings. http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showpost.php?p=46820956&postcount=729

I liked that too. I thought all the Kim scenes were very sweet, and they do a great job with the Kim/Denise relationship. I also liked that bit where the water started falling onto Jordan's card and at first you assumed Denise was crying.

In the August 29 1995 Weekly (K-III Magazines), they had a story on how actors survived live TV. For Secret Storm, Nic Coster talked about a love scene with Jada Rowland on a bearskin rug, in front of a fireplace, when a camera ran into a live plug on the floor. All the power in the studio blew out. Gloria Monty was yelling "Don't move, don't do a thing," and Jada started giggling. When they got back she was still giggling. He said he almost had to smother her in the bearskin rug. Rowland talked about how she had a reputation even as a teenager of knowing her lines. During a scene where she had to make a peanut butter sandwich while giving a two page speech to her mother, she reached for the peanut butter, only to realize someone had replaced it with a jar of pickles. That was the first time she ever went up on a line. Another time, she was supposed to empty ashtrays. She threw the butts into the trash, and looked down, only to see her sneakers on the bottom of the trash can. They also talk about the story of a bull from captain Kangaroo that chased Gloria Monty into the control room. Rowland said it was a cow, but Gloria thought it was a bull. Rowland said she wouldn't be surprised if someone had done that on purpose. Here's a photo I hadn't seen before. It has a Dark Shadows type of tone, don't you think?

If you want to post the photo here then I think you put the URL for the image code. That's what I do. I'm not great at it either so if someone else knows more then please tell us.

Marla Adam is on Y&R occasionally too. They could bring bring her in as Gloria's older sister. If the show hadn't killed off the Carltons I would have had her as Brad's mother, fussing and plotting against the various ladies in his life and manipulating granddaughter Colleen. Here's another promo, at the start of this ATWT episode from October 86. It's tough to see. It's very early in the clip. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2el0P4KXtMI&feature=related Another from sometime in 86. It sounds like they're saying, "in heat." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91KVQOJnIOE

Post them here, please! I have some more 70s stuff too but was trying to add other decades. I'd love to see more 70s things, there's so much out there and it's tough to find. I have a few other Tom Hallick things too I will try to post soon. I can't wait to see your articles.

This is a late Capitol promo. I love that pink ice background, like something out of Superman II. Marj Dusay is born for this type of cheese.

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

Tracey's arrival was self-conscious, smug, stilted, a bad self-parody, and a very dated knockoff of an American primetime soap. It will probably be a big ratings grabber too. Is Diedrick Santer now producing Corrie? I really hated that fishnet stockings thing -- Tracey never wore those. And the show seems to have forgotten she and Peter cared about each other. Of course the show forgets a lot of things these days. At least Kate Ford looks pretty good, so that's something.

Ryan has also killed, although that was in self-defense. I think they should do a prostitution story with Ryan. It would make more sense than the Glenda stuff, and he's not exactly Mr. Personality or Brains, so that body is most of what he's got going for him. I think they are giving Ben little dialogue because they want to show him as being menacing. It works, but this character will have a tough road ahead if he is ever going to become an important character. Santer so firmly established Ben as a joke that anything beyond Ben all singing and all dancing is going to disappoint many. Bradley was a nice guy. He did pressure Stacey to have an abortion and he dumped his girlfriend he moved to Canada with, but other than that he usually tried to do the right thing. I miss Bradley. Santer and DTC had no time for him and only saw him as Stacey's patsy, but his absence has left a void, as there are no other nice guys, although they have kind of put Fatboy in his role.

One of my favorite holiday songs. Get well soon Aretha... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svm0K7ykYbA

Yeah I don't know how they're going to fill the younger woman absence left by Stacey. I am liking Lauren a little more lately but she still has a long way to go. I forgot to say how much I loved the scene of Janine playing the recording to herself over and over. There have been a lot of quiet and showing, not telling moments in the recent episodes. It makes a nice change.

Yeah, that scene where they said Bianca told them to steal, it was a good scene. This is the type of material I would have preferred for the family in the beginning instead of all the cutesy kids and their cutesy reactions. If they were living in poverty then they probably would have been stealing more often and would have been more out of control. It's also a good contrast to the life Ricky's led and what Bianca's been doing in recent years, something the show has rarely addressed.

I thought this was a fine episode, and whereas some other Christmas episodes, I admired the storytelling more but wasn't overly interested in the characters, this year I could see some writing issues but genuinely cared about most of the people involved. These recent episodes have really excelled at driving up your emotions for the characters. Last year while I could see how they worked out all the details for Archie's murder but it was all so cold, I didn't really care. Yet the show has worked that Christmas, and the Stax Christmas blowup, into this year's story. This story has really built on 3 years of material. Still don't understand the pacing or reasons for Glenda's push down the stairs -- I wonder if they cooked this up because they were writing Peter out? Shirley was amusing at least. Every time I see Roxy without those awful extensions I keep forgetting who she is. It's a shame that the hell of Jane's revenge schemes has been replaced by another big lie she doesn't know about, and she seems dense to not wonder more about exactly what they're hiding. I hate seeing Ian taken back to this level, as the character can be much more. In spite of all this the work from Adam Woodyat and Thomas Law carried the day. Thomas still has a long way to go but I can't believe this is the same actor in those teens in the woods episodes. The scenes where he threw a brick through the window and denounced Ian had a real punch because we've seen more of Peter's good side and we've seen him slowly dragged down by all of Ian's lies. After years of the show not knowing what to do with him, he might finally have some real potential. I hope Thomas will be back. Only when they had the scene of Peter being seen off by mute Ben did I get just how much the teen set has changed over the last year. Only Whitney and Abi made it through the whole year. Loved the scenes with Janine and Max - I don't think they'd work as lovers (she'd never be satisfied being one of Max's harem), but I'd like to see them fighting over the car lot or something. Wasn't as crazy about the scenes in the Vic but for what they were I thought they worked. Janine scenes like that fall into bad camp or good camp -- most of 2009 was bad camp but this one I would put more in the good category. What a contrast to Tracy on Corrie strutting in like the bad Melrose reject most of Corrie has become. The whole Bianca exit story is contrived but I thought Patsy Palmer did a fabulous job. I always love when Bianca is quiet -- Patsy Palmer is so much more than the screamer. The scene where she stole the perfume was contrived but Patsy carried it off. I loved her work in the scene where Bianca lashed out at the cop, and her shock when she realized what she'd done. And Ricky got to do the shouting this time. LOVED everything with the choir. I don't know if you remember, but Emmerdale did this a few years ago, they had a big comic relief choir story to contrast to the misery going on elsewhere. I liked that story more than many others did, but I think it was let down by going on a little too long and being a bit too silly. This story has been shorter and more character-based -- Dot being befuddled by Boney M, Dot wanting to sing solo, only for Kim to take over. And where else can you find glittered cleavage on your soap? Then Lacey delivering such a moving performance when she confessed the truth to Ryan. Moments like that are why I'm going to miss Lacey, even if Stacey is played out. I will also miss her with Kat. This episode also had the first montage I've really enjoyed in a British soap. What an up and down year for Eastenders, possibly the most unstable ever. As the year ends I am still where this summer, before everything became so ugly and hostile and the show fell apart -- I think Kirkwood has added a lot of community and heart to the show and I find it more watchable than I have in quite a few years. I just hope it lasts.

I'm glad you got to read it. I wasn't that into the show but I know it had a lot of devoted fans and since I just have this stuff I hoped someone might be interested. The Weeklys are tough to scan so I'm glad you were able to read it. So was Dalton James let go to hunkify his character? Then they never really went anywhere with the character anyway.