DRW50

Hopefully it will be good. Collinson's Corrie is generally very bitter and likes to make fun of people so I am expecting more of that.

All that is known is he's returning with a rich boyfriend.

Corrie is still peddling this stuff about Ken and Dennis Tanner being enemies. They weren't. Dennis disliked Ken early in the show and that was it, for about eight years. If this is how they are bringing him back then Collinson has failed with another return. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/3482421/Watch-out-Ken-Dennis-is-back.html

She was popular, yes, although some have said that those spinoffs were just fulfilling contractual obligations. I don't know if anyone would care that much about seeing her again though as I don't know if her last years were very popular, when she became a bitter whore.

I see what you mean, but soap vets have been passing away for so many years that I don't associate them with the genre as much as I would have at one time. It's down to the individual person. For instance, with the Doctors, the guy who played Steve Aldrich died 20 years ago, yet Liz Hubbard is still alive and healthy, etc. I'm just sorry that these actors never really got all the recognition they deserved - Helen Wagner lived out the last 53 years of her life on ATWT, yet James Pritchett's last major role was in 1982, meaning a lot of people will not even remember him.

Apparently Gemma Atkinson (Lisa Hunter) says she was asked to come back to Hollyoaks for a year but said no, as she wants to go to Hollywood. I'm not sorry to see her skip Hollyoaks, as she was just miserable, but I do wonder if this is why they brought Lee back. Without her around they may ditch him.

It sounds to me like she's still not coming back and that was just lip service. Did he really call Phil and Shirley the king and queen of Walford?

Early on Sunset had an Asian actress, Kelly Hu, in a love story with Tim Adams. Then they brought in some hokey thing about an arranged marriage, but it was obvious she was in love with Adams. Suddenly, she was fired, and she went off with this fiance she suddenly loved. The show never had any Asian characters again.

I think a general consensus was that the idea was good for occasions but not every week. I haven't seen all of them but some of those I saw were strong, like Reva's goodbye party, or when Olivia learned she was dying.

The way you describe the show makes me want to see it. It sounds fantastic. I have mostly only read about it, and the stories seemed fairly dark at times (like the bad seed story) so it's nice to hear they had a warm tone. Do you think CBS should have given the show more time? If they had do you think it might have regained steam? What did you think of Michael Zaslow and Paul Michael Glaser? I also wonder if Michael Hawkins was better here than he was on RH.

That whole "Amanda's friend" story or whatever it was, somebody's friend, confused me at the time, and she seemed so wan. I feel like they really never developed a believable love interest for Gary outside of Abby. I think the show hit on a good thing when they had Ben/Val and Abby/Gary and that both characters were strengthened by being apart. I agree that Knots usually had a story. For all the talk of the public being too stupid to understand dense plotting, long-term story was what helped you hang on with Knots when the story itself wasn't the best. There were some exceptions (I never cared about the conclusion of DIRTYCOPDIRTYCOP or Ben's spa saga) but usually not. The show was also very good at followthrough and playing the beats. It was only when they stopped doing long-term story - the season of tidal energy - that the ratings really fell.

I never knew her mother was involved in that, I always just thought it was Norman Lear. I'm glad you enjoyed the scans. I have a few more (not of Nancy unfortunately) I mean to post sometime. She really is stunning and it annoys me that she was fired and that Asians still seem to have no place on soaps. The idea of hey let's fire the Asian and then our show will take off played out again on Sunset Beach. What did you think of Diana Douglas on the show? She's the one I seem to see the most articles about at the time (aside from the young stars), I guess because of her marriage to Kirk.

Thanks. That's a shame. I would have thought the OTT stories of the Reilly era might have got some favor in australia given some of the crazy stories on some of the Australian soaps (although not as crazy as American soaps).

Thanks for letting us know. I read that the ratings are going down again so more teens shouldn't be an answer for that.

ATWT was never the same for me after about 1995 and it was tough to watch when the show that was so beautifully tiered was demolished, but I was always going back, to try, then leaving again...I think it was finally Goutman/Sheffer who drove me out for good. But I started again in 2009 even though I knew it was probably over, and I do think the show could have continued on. No other soap has ever had the collection of vets ATWT did, incredibly talented and charismatic actors who could still carry a story even when they were near 80 years old. There were also some solid actors in the middle age range and a few like Billy Magnusson with promise in the early twenties range. With more time and effort I think ATWT could have gained back more viewers and defied the odds. I did not feel like there was a natural end, as I did with GL. For that reason I do still miss the show, every day. The only way I "replace" the show is through Youtube and reading old magazines, but it still isn't the same as knowing and living the characters. It especially frustrates me because I felt like they finally got Barbara and Lucinda again, after a decade or more of misuse, and had incredible newcomers like Reid. It just wasn't time to go.

I didn't know Mulcahey was at Loving. I wish he'd been at ATWT - he would have been great with Lucinda. That line is hilarious. I don't even think the Forbes consumed the producers very much, didn't most of them only last a few years.

I've never known that either. I wish we knew. I think Michael Hawkins talked about it once but I can't remember what he said. This Paul is kind of cute, although I've never seen him acting obviously. Thanks for the kind words. I post this stuff hoping no one else has seen it either. I was especially interested to see the photos of Dagne Crane, as I have only seen her Sandy in one or two photos, looking more severe. I wish we could see more of her. And this must be very very early John Dixon. "Friend of Dan's" indeed. Does it annoy you when you see articles calling Don Hastings "an original cast member"? This isn't the first time I've seen this from around this time. You'd think a soap magazine would know better.

Was this before they cast Elvera Roussel or was it before Robin Mattson?

Thanks. Well at least I got the non-Flannery part right.

Santa Barbara offered the role of Augusta Lockridge to Jane Elliot, but I guess she turned it down, as Louise Sorel was cast.

Is this Susan Oliver Laura? I thought Susan Flannery was still around at this time but it doesn't look/sound like Flannery to me.

Tanya is NOT Angie. Tanya would turn her nose up at Angie and Angie would throw a drink in that smug face. I guess my time enjoying Max will be winding down. I wonder who Heather's boyfriend will be. Probably someone like Patrick.

September 1969 Afternoon TV.

I was watching a bit of Tracy's 1993 departure - I didn't know Marco was still on up to that time. I wish they could have had him pop up when she came back in 1996. I would have loved seeing him on The City. What did you think of Jenny Eckert? I thought she was very annoying in the clips where she busted Tracy about the accident, but that might just be because I like Tracy.