DRW50

From the July 26, 1990 SOD. News America Publishing. Did this pilot ever air? I guess it wasn't picked up as a series.

Speaking of Flame, this is a few months old but I thought some who haven't watched Youtube as much recently might not have seen it. It's a short clip of Flame, early in her run I guess?

You might remember Tameka/Kim from Beautiful Thing. I've never seen it, actually, but do remember her from the promo, as she dressed as Mama Cass and when someone asked why she didn't dress as Madonna she said Madonna was rubbish or something. New spoilers: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=1372352

Marcy has put some blame on the writing changes -- Nancy Curlee, who had come up with the Tangie character and her backstory, left the show several months after Tangie arrived. The show was very uneven at this time and not that great. There had been a lot of new faces in the last few years and some important longtime characters had been written out or were being recast. I don't have a lot of strong memories of that time because I was tired of the show and I was busy, but I remember that I was happy to see her, because I remembered her as Eden, but I remember feeling that she was very low-energy, and her backstory confused me. When the pairing with Josh failed they seemed to start flailing around, and still didn't know what to do with her. I never understood the idea of putting her in a triangle with Alan and Alan-Michael. Nothing against Ron Raines, but he was one of the most asexual leading men ever on GL, and it was obvious the show still really wanted to do Alan-Michael/Lucy and were just biding their time. At the time some fans wrote in to SOD asking why the show couldn't pair Tangie with Det. Cutter, whom she'd dated casually, and JFP gave one of those "anything can happen" type of answers, I think. My guess is they never had any plans to go there because he wasn't a "big" character. They did at least share an easy chemistry. The last 4-5 months Marcy was on the show I thought she'd finally found a groove, working at the paper with Nick, Holly, and Fletcher, but by then Marcy was, understandably, leaving. I remember the contrast of how vibrant and alive she was at AMC when she first returned because she never got to be like that at GL.

Do you think the older fans would have believed that story with Beverlee? I thought Beverlee's Iris was less involved in corporate matters.

Do you think SB had a tough time with keeping or developing characters, or no more than any other soaps? What do you think SB did best, what were its strengths?

It's interesting how the show is, whether intentionally or not, sending a message to teens about how miserable sex is and why it might be better to wait. That weird stuff with the world's oldest 12 year old, Amber, and the O'Connor son, and then I guess at least that might mollify those who feel Hollyoaks teaches teens to be irresponsible.

Isn't India going too? I know you aren't doing this, but I've seen other people who are trying so hard to see "Stendan" or whatever they're called as some great love story. I think they're setting themselves up for a big disappointment. There are some promos for Later up on Youtube. You can kind of see how Nancy's scenes were originally for Michaela.

I've heard some say a new family should take it over. I think that would be a mistake.

Yeah she does. I like the vibe of that picture. It's something which GL ignored when they turned Maureen into a frump. You're a Maureen Garrett fan, right? I had wanted to remind you that her RH episodes are on again. Also I was going to post an interview with her from 90 or so, although you might have already read it. She has some very harrowing details about why she decided to become an actress -- basically when she hitchhiked, she was hit on the head by the guy who picked her up, and she had a cracked skull and he was going to hit her again until he became guilt-ridden. She agreed not to tell the hospital what had really happened (and she didn't tell the cops until she knew she was safe). After that she decided to do what she wanted, because life was short.

Oh no, I guess I gave you the wrong impression. I'm not in any way bothered by your comments. I look forward to them. You're not spoiling me. I haven't seen the episodes but I already know most of the important details for the stories and characters. I read AWHP slavishly for years. And bitching too much, not at all, you're very fair. Tom is very attractive but I think the only time I lusted after him was when he had the fling with Donna. That was scorching heat. Such lost potential. I have an interview with Tom from 91 or 92 I will try to find if you ever want to see it. So, watched another episode or two. I'm glad they had Kathleen and Frankie actually talk, not snipe, after Grant was shot. Alice Barrett was very good in the scene where Frankie finally realized Kathleen knew she'd had a miscarriage. Is it me or is David Hedison not all that good?

Pratt. Both popular in Europe.

Cat you do the best publicity for AW... I am still in early August 91 around the time Grant was shot. Iris seems so concerned and so fond of him. I wonder if they would have gone with Iris/Grant if Dack had stayed in the role. That episode also has a good scene where Paulina is weeping (of course -- I swear Judi, as much as I like her work, cried more in her first weeks alone than Cali did for her whole run) in the chapel and Jake squeezes her shoulder, and when they cut to his face, he actually looks concerned for her, not gleeful. I haven't heard that much about Robin as Lorna. I never got the feeling that the character was all that developed while Robin played the role. She was basically Grant's piece on the side and they sort of tried her with Morgan, but she wasn't a big character. JFP's fondness for Robin seemed to give her more to do but even that seemed limited. From the little I've seen of Matt and Lorna I think they have great chemistry, although they probably should never have been a real couple, just a fling. Matt has a real charisma (and such a nice ass) which adds an edge to his youthful looks.

Thanks for finding that. I thought it was early November.

I've seen some of Kathleen/Cass. What I saw I loved, like the scene where they were arrested in a foreign country and had to translate through a French man who spoke the native language (Kathleen spoke French), and then some of the Majorca stuff. And a very beautiful remote at Coney Island or somewhere when Kathleen was paralyzed and they went around the abandoned park as "Your Love is Lifting Me Higher" played. And then when she appeared to Cass for a few days after he had a breakdown over Nicole. They had such a natural chemistry. I don't see that with Cass/Frankie. I see it more with Frankie/Ryan. It just makes me feel sad seeing Kathleen so isolated and so lost, clinging to a man who is constantly running off. If it had been me I would have split up Kathleen/Cass again by saying she had to go into hiding, and then have them deal with that and have him go back to Frankie in time, after they both deal with everything that happened.

They're adding a scene where Patrick and Charlie talk about the drastic new spending cuts in the UK. http://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/s2/eastenders/news/a283418/eastenders-to-reference-spending-review.html

HD starts November 3rd. http://www.digitalspy.com/broadcasting/news/a283202/bbc-one-hd-sets-launch-date.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BB-WIamLS-s

I guess they felt Frankie was more established and Kathleen could easily go (if it wasn't Osburn's choice) but I think it was a big mistake (especially since AW had lost so many actresses), and that type of isolation is one of the reasons Cass was almost written out after Frankie was murdered. I was reading an SOD from 1990 and they criticized AW for not killing off Jamie, because they felt that when a character was recast that many times, death made more sense than another new actor. Do you think they were right? I think Jamie was still a viable character, with a proper recast, but it never seemed to happen, so perhaps they were right... While the episodes are still up, here's the start of an episode where Rachel was hit in the head. It kind of makes me laugh, mostly because it has that dated music video look. I wonder if Vicky Wyndham was involved in the direction of the scene, as she had said before this that she thought soaps should become more like MTV. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QpPziZuTJk&feature=channel

Weren't Born and Bideaux married in real life for a while?

I kind of wonder if she was right about Hagman not wanting a mother who would stand up to him. I remember that Schemering, and perhaps some others, said that Miss Ellie eventually became very docile and even when JR did absolutely horrific things to the family, she would just say "Oh, JR," and look disappointed. This was after Hagman and the other guy had taken over the reins.

The Aaron/Jackson story pushes my buttons in that it's the type of story where it's always about the pain one person is suffering. Everything is about poor Aaron and his struggles. Clyde is dead, Jackson is possibly going to be severely handicapped for the rest of his life, but Aaron is the one who is suffering. I don't know if you watched China Beach, but this is the type of thing they used to do with Dana Delaney's character, McMurphy, and it got on my very last nerve. You're right about the new characters. It's kind of odd because the more established characters aren't used that much but it's not like a lot of new characters are taking their place as the greats. I think Blyth brings in a lot of new people but then isn't sure what to do with them. Or things get in the way. Surely there must be some reason why the Sharma brothers have barely had a storyline in over a year.

The Billy/Billie confusion doesn't die even after Billie did. At first I was surprised they were casting a son for Alan, since he probably won't be around long, but now I see why -- the little boy looks so much like Billie did at that age. Carol is going to be devastated.

Why did NBC/New World want Hayley dead? So of all the dumb decisions at SB, the only one the Dobsons were responsible for was Mary's death? And then I guess some would say the Kelly recast?

I'd love to see that. I think Donna Reed claimed she was not a temporary replacement, or she thought she wasn't anyway. I believe that for a while they really did believe Barbara Bel Geddes wasn't coming back. Then when she agreed to return, they fired Donna, which is why she sued.