DRW50

SOD covers the 1989 AMC Christmas party.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/why-was-gingrich-so-ill-prepared-to-run/2011/06/10/AGDlxmOH_story.html?hpid=z2

I wonder if Marland knew some of his limitations and that's one of the reasons that Liz Hubbard got to have so much leeway over the dialogue. Looking back at those episodes she really does seem to have such a reign over a lot of her scenes that she didn't have after he passed away...the closest was probably the show's last year, when Goutman probably didn't give a crap and she got to go back to the Lucinda I knew. I think I would have liked Wert more if they'd had him in more story with Lisa, instead of the quad with Mike, Rosanna, and Carly. Mitch, did you see the Digest 1988 critique of ATWT I posted a few days ago?

How long had Sven been around? Just for that story?

Thanks so much. Did she ever have anything to do? That's quite the gauntlet of actresses - I didn't even know Yarlett and Saunders were close in age. I didn't know Yarlett ever did any other soap work.

Ellen Wheeler tested for Dr. Whitney Baker (whoever that was) on DAYS.

December 20, 1983 Digest recap.

Also from this issue.

Also from the May 14 91 issue.

January 1, 1992 and May 14, 1991 Digest recaps.

I remember when I first read about the shooting story my reaction to Sven being the shooter was kind of, "Who?" I do appreciate the idea of not sacrificing characters just for a shock reveal - that has been the death of soaps. But I do wonder if, considering he ultimately faded away, they might have done something like had Michael Crawford as the shooter.

A January 1992 Digest writeup on the domestic violence mini-storyline. Erika Slezak doesn't exactly hold back in her criticisms of the story.

I wonder what the reaction was to Who Shot Jill?

I was reading some of the best/worst of 1991 in SOD, and David Kimble was named Worst Villain. Basically this was for the plastic surgery storyline. They said it was ridiculous no one recognized him and that he worked out of his old office, and that aside from the ending, the story lacked punch. Do you think that's true? Other awards that year were for most overexposed heroine (Nikki), most underused character (Paul, Y&R), best constructed show, and probably a few I forgot.

Thanks for finding that. So it looks like the show did have a recovery in late 1983 but couldn't build on it. Perhaps they should have moved to a different timeslot.

I love that clip with Mandy and Kathy. I had mixed feelings on Kathy, mostly because she became such a miserable person, but I like it when you see some fire in her, as you do in this clip. Revisiting the Donna story was just brilliant and I'm sorry they never did again. I really like how the show used the Mandy character to push buttons. Yet she doesn't seem like a plot device. You may enjoy this somewhat random clip of your favorite character's first boyfriend, going to be interviewed on BBC Wales.

I didn't realize there were that many Kendalls. I just knew Lloyd, Estelle, and TR. So was Robert Reed after Peter Haskell, and Joe Lambie was after Reed? I liked Robert Lupone on GL and of course he was popular on AMC as the infamous Zach Grayson but I wonder how he was in a more sympathetic role. What I've wondered about on the NBC run is ratings. I thought I read that the ratings had been going up in its last year. Was that not good enough for NBC? What was the ratings trajectory in the 82-86 run? It must have gone up for a while as I don't think NBC would have kept it for almost 5 years. Sorry if this has already been discussed. I tend to get amnesia on past discussions.

December 1983 Digest. John Kelly Genovese reviews Search. I didn't type the names of the actors, but if you want those, I will. Until recently, insiders hinted that "Search for Tomorrow" would bite the dust after thirty-two years. Shortly after Joanna Lee became the show's executive producer, that talk abated - with good reason. First, one must examine why such a television classic would drop from the top five to the bottom of the barrel in a few years. The original sin was not adhering to a viable, unified story structure, which had been ingeniously set up by Joyce and John William Corrington, the head writers who revitalized the show in the late seventies after a slightly anemic period. Theirs was an ideal bend of the new and the familiar, a carefully interwoven family set-up which could have carried the show for decades. Self-made tycoon Ted Adamson was designed as an overall catalyst much like John Dixon of "As the World Turns." His triangle with the widowed Collins sister-in-law, Janet and Stephanie, brought about the disapproval of Janet's loving dad, Stu, with Jo as the buffer. The love of Liza and Travis was a vital cog in the overall wheel - Liza being Janet's daughter and Travis, the nephew of Jo's unstable husband, Martin. Travis' history as a young New Orleans tycoon naturally brought about a combination of romance and action in that old world setting, with Ted Adamson's daughter Sunny, a TV reporter and journalist, caught up in these doings through family and personal connections. This ideal balance was shattered, however, when succeeding writers tried to milk the Corringtons' action-oriented trimmings with little regard for their story and character subtleties. The marriage of Liza and Travis dominated the show, with Liza getting kidnapped seemingly every other week and Travis fighting an endless parade of evil forces. The rocky romance of Janet and Ted could have resulted in a conflict-producing and often hilarious marriage, but instead dime-store romance novel techniques were applied. Finally, there was the unkindest cut of all - when simple, loyal Ellie Bergman dumped Stu for a French chef and waltzed out of Henderson with her king of Bernaise sauce. "Search for Tomorrow" was doomed, therefore, because it had become one big dead end. It's newer elements (i.e. Liza being kidnapped) had become as tired as its former elements (i.e. Jo being kidnapped). Except for a sensitive story in which young Wendy fell for a young imposter claiming to be her brother, "Search" was searching for an identity and replaying formula. Typically suicidal was the elimination of Janet and Ted, the two who held all the story elements together. Now Ms. Lee and her writers (headed by Gary Tomlin) have to pick up from square one and clean their predecessors' mess. Though the quality of the results vary, they are doing just that - and not wasting any time. Gradually, the Bergman family unit is flocking back to Henderson. Stu's son Tom is investigating the criminal doings of sly Warren Carter, who is also involved in a romantic triangle with best friends Wendy and Suzi. Danny, Stu's grandson, is another recent arrival. Humanness, in fact, has returned to Search." Powerful Lloyd Kendall is a dynamic character without coming across as a bellicose ass, hence Sunny's attraction to him is believable. Lloyd's son Steve is the sort of cool, assertive younger man who would attract a sexual and verbal powerhouse like Stephanie. And all sorts of plot lines have opened up since the discovery that Steve is really Martin's son. The romantic exploits of ex-prostitute Jenny and Steve's blind musician brother, Michael, were often on the sappy side, but at least Michael was portrayed as a positive force rather than a self-pitying boob. On the more mature side of the spectrum, Stu's new relationship with Dr. Barbara Moreno is a delight. And - thank God - Liza and Travis are more interesting now that their storylines are not so labored. True, "Search" still has some annoyances. Country star Rhonda Sue Huckaby is too overblown to be all that humorous (one Opal Gardner will suffice). The scripts tend toward the obvious, the sappy and the cute, as witnessed by Stu's hiring a bogus psychic to pick up Jo's "vibrations" when Jo was - yes, friends - kidnapped again. But compared to the strides "Search" has made in a mere few months, these are minor flaws which can be worked out with far fewer pains than what Joanna Lee and Co. have had to do with this once-limping warhorse. "Search" is not off and running yet, but it has regained its legs - just when we thought the nail was in its coffin.

I'm not sure about Rick and Murder She Wrote - it's not on IMDB. Why did the Dobsons return become such a misfire? Had they just been away too long? Did their anger over how they'd been treated show up in the material?

Yesterday I was watching some of the fighting between Rachel and Mac after she drove Blaine and Jamie out of town. It was so ferocious, and while it was at times a little hammy, I was riveted to the scenes, especially when Mac said he finally knew he'd married the woman everyone had warned him about, and Rachel said Mac wanted to turn Amanda into another Iris. There's an especially good moment when he grabs her arm - electric. It's a shame the show never really worked out a way to keep them at odds that didn't isolate the characters, as seems to have happened during the time Rachel was with Mitch and David Canary's Steve. I also really liked seeing Richard Backus/Ted Bancroft playing verbal tennis with Iris and trying to worm his way in with Rachel. It's a shame that they gave up on the character. The 90 minute episodes are your only chance to see Brooks and Louise discussing table arrangements in extensive detail

I was reading the SOD panning of the Eden split personalities story - they basically said the story made no sense, it was tough to tell some personalities (like Channing and Linda) apart, and that it made no sense that Cruz didn't recognize Eden just because she had a dark wig. They named it the worst story of 1991. Do you agree with that?

I have a lot of issues with her going back to "Lord." I wish she had taken her mother's maiden name.