DRW50

Thanks. I've heard some of those stories but didn't realize Weiss was behind them. I guess that makes sense, as his time at WTHI seemed to have some risque stories (did he come up with the priesthood and the artificial insemination stories at Secret Storm). It's too bad this didn't help the ratings for The Doctors. Perhaps by then a lot of people had left and weren't coming back.

From the July 1976 Daytime TV (Sterling's Magazines Inc). This is the article on pilots that I thought was in the Digest. Is Janice's pilot available? I've seen some of the one Tom Hallick was in.

From the November 26, 1991 Soap Opera Weekly (K-III Magazines). I have a tough time scanning Weeklys so apologies for the quality. I decided to crop around the words on the first page and just type that up. If you can't see the second page clearly I can type that up too, let me know.

From the June 1971 Daytime TV (Sterling House Inc).

From the May 1981 Rona Barrett's Daytimers (Laufer Publishing Company).

Reading through a 1971 Daytime TV, they said that Lee Lawson temporarily replaced Zina Bethune as Barbara on LOL, in 1970, when Zina was ill.

I hope the article I typed up helped you some then. I'd like to know more about him too. I would say he seems ahead of his time, but considering most of the producers in daytime haven't been great, perhaps not. I do wonder how he might have been on, say, SFT in the early 80s, if he could have turned them around. All of his shows seem to have a very unique character. What unique stories did he do at The Doctors?

Interview with Stefan Booth. I find him much more charming and attractive when he's talking to the interview than I do in the beefcake shots...

All of this is really interesting. The Ames family sounds so complex, as so many of the "boring" 50s soap families were. If Secret Storm had continued to focus on them the show might still be around.

Thanks for finding this. I guess Chase and Maggie must have been hard to cast. I like Samantha Eggar and she seems OK there but I'm not sorry they recast her. Jane Wyman doesn't look as bad with the wig as I had expected but I still don't like it. I wonder why the pilot jumped so far ahead into the story? The show also seems a little more gothic. I cringed when Vicky called Angela "Angie." I hate those opening credits. I know they weren't going to have a big number for the pilot, but it seems like the start of a religious program.

He leaves about 2-3 months into the color episodes I think. I really like his goodbye scene with David -- one of the few times David Henesy didn't annoy me.

Christmas spoilers. Some sound very good, at least on paper. http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showpost.php?p=46264993&postcount=61 Ryan/Janine photo shoot for The Sun. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/3258938/Dont-miss-this-weeks-buzz.html

Do you think they made a mistake in getting rid of her after the lesbian story ended? Or should they have never gone into that story at all?

I couldn't believe it at first either. I think this was the soap role he was most known for until he was cast as James Stenbeck. I do wonder what long range plans Y&R had for him, if any. I think they quickly wrote Jack and Joann out after the Joann/Katherine lesbian story caused a ratings drop.

Thank you so much for posting that June Brown interview. I knew very little about her life -- she has overcome so much tragedy yet manages to keep her head high. It's fascinating to watch her, and also slightly surreal, as some of what she says and that nicotine laugh remind me of my grandmother who is now gone. I think Fern is very patronizing but she helped get a real picture out of June. DS, which seems to be even more hysterical than ever, had some thread trashing June because she said she didn't expect to end her life on a soap, but I can see why she said that. I do wonder why they didn't talk about her leaving the show for 4 years. I thought the part about her asking, and receiving, permission to rewrite huge portions of an episode because of her personal issues with her scenes was fascinating. To me that is another example of Louise Berridge, for her many faults, genuinely caring about the people on Eastenders. Many producers would write June off as difficult and gleefully convince her to leave. There were a lot of really interesting moments in here. I had no idea about the origins of Dot.

I have to see this every Christmas.

Oh I don't disagree with you -- I like Lacey Turner but the character was wrecked several years ago. I was being serious about which exiting characters you actually missed.

Quite a shock in the top 50 character poll; it looks like Gail wasn't even in the top 50. Mavis, surprisingly, managed to get in, pretty high on the list, even though she's been gone for over ten years and is now mostly known for saying she doesn't like the show. I really liked Mavis, so I'm happy. I just wish Jerry Booth or Ray Langton could have made it. http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showpost.php?p=46200209&postcount=317

Which exiting cast members did you miss when they left?

What were Alan and Susan like then? I don't know very much about the characters. Susan was one of the Ames siblings right? I think that people would actually prefer to see talking heads. There's so much fake and shallow stuff out there now. Simple conversations might be a refreshing change, as long as the writing is good and has a narrative.

Yes I meant Rhona. Thanks. Apparently five letter names are too much for me.

Does anyone else wonder if this Mercedes story was initially supposed to go to Mitzeee? Riley has lusted after Mitzeee. She's slept with Carl. And the initial talk about Hollyoaks Later mentioned that Riley and Mitzeee were going to get together. I still can't believe they didn't mention any of Steph's family I also read that they are bringing in a new character for Teresa instead of the cop she was with in Later. I wonder why. He was even in their calendar.