DRW50

TJ's boyfriend Ryder died.

Do you think they could have kept her around? I think ATWT did a good job for a long time with those diverse types of soap heroines. Her husband was on the show even in the early 90s - he performed the vow renewal for Kim and Bob - it's a shame they didn't have her make a brief return. I would have wanted to have seen her interact with Margo, as it seemed like there was a real dividing line with Tom's history pre and post-Deas. The only merging was when they used his Vietnam service to bring in Lien. I didn't know that was how Steve came into the show. Was Jay killed offcamera then? I wonder if the actor left or was let go.

Have you ever seen the live episode (the one from 1984 or 1985)? Did he have anything to do with that?

You know that if Tomlin or Carlivati were writing the show they'd have the Pattis all show up like the Beckys on Roseanne. Oh wait, Tomlin did write the show. Never mind.

Of what is available I most want to see the Marland years, as those seem very special. And then after that I would love to see the early stuff with Alan/Elizabeth and Jackie and Diane. I also wish we could see the early material for the Norrises, and since I was always so fond of Caroline McMorris on Benson and Soap, I'd like to see something of Janet. For whatever reason, aside from the Bert/Bill marital tumults, most of what I've read of the show in the 50s and 60s doesn't jump out at me, although the clips posted of Gillian Spencer's Robin, I devoured.

I think he must have a bitter argument with Kat. They have been building up to that -- she hasn't been all that warm to him on her return.

I wish we could see all the Pattis. It would make a good Youtube clip. I think at one time, everyone from Nancy Pinkerton to Tina Sloan played her. Mary Stuart once said that the Patti who had just been fired was a short redhead and the next was a tall blonde, and the first line Jo had for the new Patti was, "Is that you dear?" or something like that. Mary thought it was ludicrous and tried to get them to change the line, but no go.

Spoilers for Charlie's exit. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1334439/SPOILER-ALERT-Who-EastEnders-Alfie-Moon-chasing-tube-platform.html

Sexy Santas - I was hoping that might be the guys. Remember Garry's Santa calendar? Does the Billy/Julie stuff remind you of Hollyoaks when Jacqui was sent back inside for a few months because she missed her curfew after a night with Tony? It will be good to see more of Dot and Pat together. That caption for Glenda cracks me up. While I don't think the show is as overly sexualized as some are claiming (it's not any worse than last year where Ryan was bedding Janine/Ronnie/Stacey within a week or two of each other and Ronnie was with Ryan and with Owen), it isn't necessarily a bad thing to see characters like Glenda who know how to use sex as a weapon. It's true to life anyway.

You're right - although I do think that bringing Peggy back when Roger and Holly finally got together again would have been more interesting than the Mr. Tashewa crapola. There is so much of GL that I wish we could see... I was going to ask if there are any articles or anything on any particular GL actors or characters you were interested in. If you want me to find anything and post it I'll try.

Apparently

One of the Digests I have from around this time has photos of Janice and Tom as they were filming their pilots. When I find it I'll post that. You've probably already seen it but when I watched some of the Time Tunnel episodes, the last disc had the pilot he was in - Time Travellers.

11/26/91 SPW, The Grapevine, by Dorothy Vine I don't remember any of that about Kim meeting her first husband's brother. Did that story go anywhere?

Jon-Michael Reed listed his solid gold memories of the year. He praised Janice Lynde, "Daytime Ophelia", very impressed with the work in her breakdown, saying that her scenes in the mental hospital were as frighteningly chilling as any he'd ever seen. He also praised one particular scene in January with Jeanne Cooper where Katherine sat at her dressing table, shaking while trying to control her drinking, and she had an extended monologue about her happy younger years and the bitter woman she had become. She then crawled to her bedside phone, gasping with hopeful resolve. He also praised Jaime Lyn Bauer for how much she had grown as an actress over the year, calling it one of the most astonishing transformations of the year, and praising the writers for the material they had given her. Lastly he praised the gentle breeze of love from William Gray Espy and Trish Stewart.

That's a good question, I've always wondered that myself. Were Leslie and Brad a big couple the way that some of the later LLLL combinations were, or do you think they didn't get as much attention? It's always hard for me to gauge what fan reaction was to some of the couples then, like Chris/Snapper.

Thanks. It's so hard to tell sometimes as these magazines are very far ahead. It was nice to see that photo of the first set of Brooks sisters. Most of the photos I've seen of them together are from later on.

Meredith was the villain wasn't she? I wonder how Greg and Jo were together, if people liked them.

Thanks for getting through all that. I think the first time around they played it up more as obsession and anger than love, but you're right, it was not that way when MZ and MG returned. They never mentioned Peggy when Roger returned, did they? I loved Maureen's work so much but I do wish we could see Lynn Deerfield. I know very little about her work on the show. My prevailing memory of her is Maureen saying that Lynn used to show up in the studio and watch her tape, which made her very nervous.

Thank you, dc. That makes sense, about the misprint. I was going to ask, this might have already been talked about and I've forgotten, but how long was Jo involved with Greg Hartford? I have an interview with him where the actor talks about being on Our Miss Brooks and then later in life he had basically given up acting to go into real estate, but SFT brought him back and he was happy and wanted to be there for a long time. Apparently that did not happen. I'll try to put the article up later.

Thanks for typing all this out. It sounds like some of these stories were treading water, but I do like the sound of Susan's problems, and Mary/John. I wish I could see Jay -- Dennis Cooney, just in the photos I've seen is kind of an offbeat leading man for ATWT at that time. I'm surprised Annie didn't like country clubs -- I always kind of saw the Stewarts as country club types. This was when they were testing Alex with various women on the show, weren't they? I was reading a Tonya Pinkins Digest interview from 1991 and she was surprisingly frank about her time as Heather. I can't remember her exact words at the moment but she basically said that the female producer at the time she heard hated her, although the producer was nice to her face. Then Robert Calhoun came in and she also felt he didn't like her, and he refused to let her do outside projects, even though she only worked on the show once a month. Finally Heather was sent on a vacation, but they told her she wasn't being let go. After she left, she was then told that she'd been fired. Robert Calhoun denied all of this when he was asked for comment. It's a shame they didn't try to keep Heather around and write for her, as I really liked her.

That's crazy, NBC canceled and then changed their mind. How often does that happen? If the show was that tough imagine how it would have lasted on CBS or even ABC.

Was the decision to get rid of Mona last minute? Meg Mundy didn't want to leave, right? Do you think any of the new characters brought in on the show's last few years were a success? I have the issue right after this one if you want me to transcribe what's in that. If you already have it or it's already on here somewhere then I won't.

I'm glad it's still airing. I wasn't sure, as I know that they seem to be tired of their own soaps.

Thanks for summarizing this. I guess a lot of the actors who were leaving must have known the show was almost done, but it seems like a big hole was left in the canvas, if Greta, Nola, Billy, and Mona were all going. Which characters did they plan to fill the void with? Did they ever actually plan to kill Matt off or was this just a disease of the month type story?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dJgGx8LO34&feature=related