DRW50

April 14, 1981 Digest.

October 26, 1982 Digest.

I think Anne was only in a handful of episodes. Sister Mary Joel was a very short term character before vanishing for ten or more years. Another actress, I can never remember her name (not Sylvia Sidney), just finished up a temp run as Mary Joel. Soapnet running these for so long is a great way to figure out dates or at least number of appearances. I wasn't even sure if Gale had been in eight, as it went by so fast. I wish more soaps had hired such brilliant actresses in short-term roles the way RH did early on.

I'm glad Eastenders won. The episode with Billie's death was superb, the best on any soap in a long time, and Lindsey deserves this. What a contrast between that and the bad camp that Phil Collinson serves up as drama.

I think they planned to kill Nell off at this time all along but the killing of Ed did seem very random, and rushed, and had little followup, so I wonder what happened there. I'd still love to see what the show would have been if they'd killed Frank off as they had initially planned.

Thanks for telling me. I will need to watch while I still can, before any of that becomes priced out with all the upcoming broadband caps and so on. I'm glad they're giving Carol more to do, I love her character, and hopefully this will help Lindsey get some more votes for the BSA.

I'm not sure. It's tough to know how accurate the dates are with something like that as this was before the daily synopses and people are just going on memory sometimes. Do you know if he was fired or did he choose to leave RH? I think that killing Ed off was a mistake in the long-term. I also think it's odd that he felt Ed was cold, as, although they referenced his coldness a few times, generally onscreen he was warm and at the most, stern. Soapnet aired the episodes last night where Ed died and it doesn't get any less cheesy or awkward, in terms of the stunt, but it has some beautiful performances. I think that and Nell's death were big turning points for the show.

Does anyone know if Marland had any story planned for Chris Marcantel's Tim Werner that never happened? Did Tim just disappear? Was this after Marland, or during? I guess Marcantel was just transferred to AW? I ask about Marland because I wonder if he helped get Marcantel cast on Loving. I know Tim had the alcoholism story and the pining for Morgan, but that was mostly with Kevin Bacon.

You've probably already seen these and they're not exactly 70s (just the end of the decade) but this person uploaded some rare clips of Liza after Steve's death. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CC7JSqUKTNw&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3_IMz-Qd-U&feature=related I have some Search interviews from the 70s I will try to post at some point. It's kind of sad seeing Carl Low interviewed jointly with Mary Stuart, as I believe he got the here's-your-hate-what's-your-hurry type of exit. I'm really glad that Mary and Larry Haines managed to avoid that somehow.

I never got to see most of those either - just bits and pieces. I agree that the earlier episodes are quite good - I was fascinated by the one with Don Knotts and the "door" into his mind. There's also such a lovely, understated performance by Mary Stuart in some episodes, my favorite being the Christmas episode from the mid-60s, which was all singing and contemplation. Mary Stuart and Larry Haines were such an unbeatable team, it's a shame no other show snapped them both up, especially since they both went on to prove they could play other characters.

I've only seen a little of her - I should watch while I can. I wonder if SFT should have brought her in a few years earlier. The whole idea of that ad campaign about her being the new Alexis seems ridiculous but I've only ever heard positive things about her work. I do wonder why no one else took her up after Search ended. That picture of her from 1977 is stunning. Isn't it odd that I feel such a strong emotional connection to a show I have not really seen very much of...

I thought the material for Toby under McTavish was offensive - Liz Keifer said she was uncomfortable with the comments they made her say about Toby, and I could see why. They repeatedly attacked her appearance, not the character. I hated the madam story. She went around for months vamping Ross, which made her look pathetic, and she would repeatedly remind us that Matt only had sex with women, just in case anyone was confused. The stuff with Roger could have been more if Zaslow had stayed around but even then I don't know. I don't really blame B&E, as it was clear that Amanda was on the way out, but I do think that more could have been done with her. Unfortunately, even if the Spauldings were relatively intact for most of their run on GL (usually at least three or four of them around - they were never a big family anyway), they served mostly as plot devices and their family relationships were never the same after Beverlee left. Casting Raines as Alan was a huge misstep IMO - he was a perfectly competent actor in a role that demands you be dazzling and fire and magic. I like Marj Dusay but she wasn't ever going to be able to lead a family the way Beverlee did, and even if she could, the show never gave her the chance. She was a plot device and a third wheel from close to the start of her run and she stayed that way throughout. They *did* try to write Alan as a leading character, for a while, and Raines just couldn't deliver. I hated Nadine's murder. Other than that I thought it was a very solid story, genuinely creepy, brilliantly acted, the only time Sonia Satra ever rose above grindingly mediocre, a way to build a love between Lucy and Alan-Michael that the actors themselves couldn't generate, and a wonderful umbrella story. I can understand why people were offended by the HIV test switching, but I thought this was balanced by Susan, who was one of the strongest and best new characters McTavish has ever created and a refreshing change from the usual short-term character who is brought in to die, and the only woman that Vincent Irizarry worked well with in his run as Nick. I hated to see her go. I'm sorry Nancy Bell never had any other soap work.

I knew about McTavish but can never remember who was responsible for the one with Amanda and Brandon. For some reason I thought that was with the interim writers between McTavish and B&E.

I would have been OK with this if they had actually done something with it! They just dropped it entirely. It was ridiculous. The scenes with Amanda/Alex, Alex/Alan, Phillip/Alex, Phillip/Alan were great, and then nothing.

I never knew that. I knew about Lisa Peluso but not NLG. I would have liked to have seen her. Toby Poser, although I liked her, was such a departure. Of course the material was so wretched - I still don't know who came up with the idea of her being a madam.

95% of the people on Hollyoaks now don't have a personality, so he fits right in.

When was the Long/Ryder period? Was all that with Roxy the amensiac prostitute or Lujack and Infinity their work or was that Ryder alone? I can never remember if Hope's drinking story was Kobe or before Kobe. Someone once said that the story was given to her as a punishment and then Kobe fired her to set an example to the rest of the cast, but I don't know if that's true or not. Do you think they should have recast Amanda after Kathleen Cullen left, instead of writing her out?

Thanks! Did they ever explain why Dusty (offcamera) said that all he knew of Spence was something awful had happened to him? I also wonder if it was Marland or the scabs who brought in the recurring players like Duncan's servants at that time, like Sofia Landon. I know Marland wrote her out of GL. I loved her on GL so kept wondering why she didn't have more to do at ATWT. You can see that his outlines were probably in place but some of that material was a bit overheated, especially the whole Holden/Josh and Holden/Caleb rageathon, complete with Lily yelling and gasping at Holden every episode. Then Beau overnight becoming a jealous type. You liked Kirk/Iva, right? I wonder why that didn't work out - I mean why they show broke them up. I did like Kirk and Ellie but it was nice to see Iva having some fun for once. Later on I feel like her misery overwhelmed her. At this point she still had a chance. There's such a poignant moment when Hank Elliot tells her that he finally learned to like himself, and she says she wishes she knew how he did it.

He looks cuter here than he does on the show. He takes this very seriously...

Thanks for going to all the trouble to find that. I wonder what the bare breast closeup photo was - perhaps that was shown only in the blackmail scenes. I do find these scenes disturbing, if fascinating. I'm surprised at just how far the show went with Roger at this time - this was not long before he drove Henry to attempted suicide - as I thought they brought him back as being somewhat reformed, believing in peace, etc. Zaslow and Zimmer had a very natural connection. Instead of using Roger in a misguided attempt to make Dinah the show's beloved central heroine I wish they'd paired Reva/Roger when Zimmer returned. That would have had more fireworks than Reva/Alan, as Raines was so asexual in the role. Didn't they think of pairing Josh/Vanessa in 1994, until they brought Matt back?

I should watch some of that, what is available. Mona was the one who pretended she couldn't speak, right? Were Alan and Hope still together at this time? Do you agree with those who feel Long wasn't any good without Culliton? I was also going to ask if you were watching during the 88 strike and if anything seemed strange to you at the time.

Didn't Culliton help Long early on? I only remember Ryder from his solo run. What do you think was worst about the show after Marland (and before Long)? Just meandering, or confusing? The story about Mark seems very confusing to me on paper.

Would you say Wilmore or Kobe were better?

I can't remember. For some reason I thought all that and Roxy's breakdown was around the strike, but you're probably right.

Does anyone know if Marland intended for Emily/Tonio to sleep together? Or was that strike material? Emily seems to have genuine feelings for Tonio in the strike episodes, which seems off to me - I don't think she would fall for Tonio, not at that point in her life. Did he plan for Emily/Craig? I also wonder if Marland planned more for the Emily/Holden marriage. Then again, he did create Angel, and she was waiting in the wings by the time Emily/Holden were done. Watching some of the August 1988 episodes over again I realize that Spencer, the Robert Tyler character who mooned over Lily and worked at the stables and pretended he knew Dusty, was talking on the phone to Kirk and they seemed to have some secret plan. Was that dropped? And did the show expect Dusty to return quickly? In the August episodes they talk like he will be back soon. Surely they knew Brian Bloom wasn't coming back?