DRW50

Thanks for answering all my questions. I guess that wasn't much of a triangle then with Katherine/Earl/Allison. This must have been one of those times they weren't sure where to take Katherine. Did they bring Lauren in right after the Stevens were written out or was it still a while before she was with Paul?

I have some summaries of this time, I'll post some of them when I have time. I don't have complete though...I think FrenchFan does, but not from the Digest issues. I wish I could see the Laurence story, even though it doesn't sound very exciting (they were still telling stories about women in decades long comas in 1982, why?). Thanks for your help. I have an article from the mid 80s talking about DAYS and Y&R actors soap-hopping. It might have already been posted here but I'll post again in a few days - it has pictures and talk with Halick, Patty Weaver, among others. I wonder if Earl was mostly created just to give Mark Tapscott a job. I think he'd been written out of DAYS a few years before that. That photo with Ed Mallory, also recently hired by the show, was kind of sobering -- he'd aged a lot in only 5-10 years. I wonder if he'd been ill.

Yeah the summaries around this time mention Traci too, even if she isn't in the photo. It's also mentioned in a September issue that Tom Ligon and Lynne Topping had been fired. I wonder why they just didn't have Chris leave with Snapper? Why did they wait until later to get rid of Leslie? Were they not sure about whether they should keep her around? One of the readers writes in asking why they got rid of the woman who played April, because she was so talented, and SOD said that Wes Kenney, who had just arrived, requested that the entire Stevens family be written out. I wonder why. What was this story with Katherine/Earl/Allison? I know it must have been summarized before by FrenchFan but I'm blanking on it. I also wondered if anyone knew why they didn't keep Kevin around. The actor seemed to soap hop until the mid-80s and he's done little since. In one of the Digests from mid/late 85 they talk to Tom Halick briefly, as he showed up for a DAYS fan dinner. He said after DAYS had fired him he and his wife got to go to China, which they'd wanted to do. Did you ever see his DAYS role? Apparently he was Megan's evil father.

From the September 10, 1985 Digest (Network Publishing Corporation)

From the 1986 Daytime Yearbook (Sterling's Magazines)

From the October 12, 1982 Digest, Y&R says farewell to Jaime Lyn Bauer. I didn't realize so many Abbotts were already on the show by this time, I thought it was just Jack and John.

From Daytime TV Yearbook (Sterling's Magazines).

9/24/85 Digest, From Reel to Real, Tony Rizzo's column.

A letter from a read in the September 24, 1985 Digest laments what has been done to Liza, her behavior with Hogan is out of character and does not compare to her behavior with Steve and Travis. They then say they were relieved when Sherry Mathis left because she no longer had to be subjected to what was going on, and they wish her luck in her future career. I wonder how many other fans felt this way.

I'll look in the bits I have and see if it's mentioned. I have one, you might have already seen it, where they interviewed Charlene Keel and she was not exactly fond of the version of Rituals which made it to air.

The show had quite a few from 2000-2004 or so didn't they? I wish they did more now, their cast is much stronger now than it's been in a long time. I saw the Michelle/Sharon two-hander when it was still on Youtube. It was very powerful. The early scenes were devoted to Michelle and Sharon laughing and talking about old times. Then Michelle told her, and Sharon was furious and devastated. Amazing acting, especially from Sue Tully. They didn't make up until Vicki had meningitis. The show did such a fantastic job with that secret and the long, slow impact it had - soaps don't know how to do that now.

Of all the weddings to return for, Ian and Mel. Odd. Diehards may already have so many issues with the show as it is, the show might as well take the risk. I think with time and care - if soaps can do that today - it would be worth hiring a good actress who would have chemistry with Dean and work in the role Michelle once filled, especially since there is no one like that on the show now. There are no quiet, strong women. I was just watching another 1985 episode, episode 49. This was on the heels of Sue being completely shut down after Hasaan's death, to the point where she let herself and the cafe go to ruin. She recovered because she held Mary's crying baby, and the next day she gave Hasaan's baby clothes to a disturbed Pauline. Meanwhile, Annie's crying was so constant that Mary began yelling at her to shut up, and finally, in a moment of madness, almost suffocated the baby. Can you imagine ANY of that being allowed today? All that brilliant drama, all kept off the air by censors and the press, while stuff like rape, child molestation, and constant violence are seen as no big deal.

I wish they'd recast Michelle. I really want to see the Fowlers on the show again. I don't mean Martin, as he bored me and I thought he was a drag on the family. I mean close to what they were again in the show's best years, 85-88.

If anyone's interested, I have some Digest synopses and interviews and photos, and a two-page roundup a Daytime TV Yearbook. I can scan or type out some of this. Here are some promos:

Corrie promises yet more degradation of women, which seems to be most of their output these days. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/soaps/3354344/Maria-Connor-will-be-sexually-attacked-on-Coronation-Street.html

That would be a very refreshing idea. The show is so hated at the moment by some vocal fans that the idea would probably get a lot of backlash, but if the actors and writing is good enough it might work. It has to be better than thrilling storytelling such as American = drug dealer.

I wish they would just kill Fiz off. She's become so annoying and even John barely seems to be able to cope with her now. Sad that Claire's last episodes were mostly about other people pulling stupid faces. I was surprised at how terrible Craig Gazey was. Making Graeme a romantic hero still confuses me and I wonder if this is one of the reasons he quit. The best part was the very natural bond between Claire and Becky. The only one Becky had on the show (the stuff with Roy and Hayley doesn't seem genuine in recent years). Their last scene was beautiful. I don't understand why everything is fine just because she is going to France. Is this the France of the old Conehead sketches?

How do you think Susannah would have been as Sable? I wish they could have cast her in the role boring Katharine Ross played. That's a beautiful photo. It must be tough for Joan, as she's lost so many of those she cares about in recent years. Susannah was thinking of others to the end - there's a Daily Mail photo of her from December, about Christmas trees, and she asks that money be donated to cancer charities. I didn't know she was forced not to appear in 9 episodes of the last season. I always assumed that was her choice. Did they also push Linda Evans out? If they'd put Alexis front and center then they might have gotten some revived interest, since Alexis/Sable were a fun rivalry.

Love Crystal Gayle! I remember a sneering journalist once wrote a book saying she was famous only for her hair and sister and belonged in Vegas, and wasn't real country, but I think she has a great country soul and I also like that she doesn't rely on all that awful schtick like Gretchen Wilson and never tried to pander. Some of my favorite songs of hers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePnW-MxubNs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsdgOWC4JyI&feature=related

At the time of the oil spill I thought Bobby Jindal came across as showboating, and it looks like he was, even more than I'd realized. http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/14/spill-report-accuses-jindal-of-showboating/?hp Why does this not surprise me about Anderson Cooper (or today's media):

I figured he didn't fire Terri, since she left around late 1984, but wasn't sure if she left of her own choice. It's nice to know she did. Jay stayed around until early 1986 so I wasn't sure with him. I still wish they'd kept him around.

At first all I saw of Jay was the brooding rebel, which is a bit dull, but the more I see his goofier side the more I liked him. Were he and Terri Vandenbosch both fired? I wish Marland had kept him around. I guess he wouldn't have fit into the whole Snyder era but you never know.

Do you know if Eileen Fulton had issues with him? I remember reading her say that she threw cake in his face and left the show. I never knew if she meant Lisa did that to Whit or she did it to him. Then she returned only after Whit was dead.

Yes, most people on the show know about it, which is why Ian said she had been "fiddled with by a paedo."