DRW50

That was very kind of you to share so many priceless episodes (as these are 15 minutes each it's a ton). Thank you so much.

Finished last week's episodes... The best part of the week for me was Aaron being too late trying to reconcile with Rhett and then almost dying from a spiked drink. The latter scenes were full of "special effects" so derided by many of us on soaps now, but even as I rolled my eyes at what seemed like a ripoff of Requiem for a Dream and various '90s music videos, it didn't detract from the material for me. I was impressed with the physicality from Matt Wilson, especially the moment where he almost walked into a car before jerking back just in time. Wilson has been the quiet MVP of Neighbours since the revival. He's good at comedy and at drama and has very natural emotional connections, even when he is often kept with a small group. He may never be known as a "legend" or an "icon," but maybe that's for the best. I liked Fallon much more when she just got in and helped clean up the vineyard. Why do we need the convoluted backstory with Seb? Why does she need to be scheming against Krista? This story would make more sense to me if the sister Fallon was against was Reece, as Reece was brittle. Krista is just increasingly vapid, there to react to another nefarious plot and look vaguely confused. How many times do we need Fallon to drone on to Krista about Seb and what she isn't saying? Holly continues to be entitled and delusional, which I suppose I should praise because she isn't written as a saint, but given how much airtime she inhales, I can't be so generous. There was no need for the pratfalls over the hotel job. And they didn't need to focus so much on her being jealous of Max's friend rather than just concerned for Max's safety. Meanwhile, the whole segment in the bar where they tried to make Sadie, Byron and Max pals only made the elephant in the room stand out more. I am not sure if they only had the budget for Remi and Taye's father to appear one day, but if this was the most they could manage, I wish they hadn't bothered. Years of backstory casually started and stopped. And Taye is all good now because of the big secret reveal and because of a seminar - absolutely none of which we saw oncamera. The actor who plays Taye was not suited for this heavy dramatic material, to say the least. I don't think anyone involved was doing that great, although Naomi Rukavina was doing her best. That this story got one episode while we will probably have 10 episodes repeating the same lines about Chelsea just annoys me. Annie Jones is doing a wonderful job, but the fling with Clint was much more interesting to me when it was just about her facing her insecurities in being with a younger man rather than all the secrets. Choices like playing up the guilt over her leaving Sam alone to be with Clint or having Clint leave a condom behind after their tryst just adds a punishing and seedy tone that wasn't needed.

Lauren Holly went on a break to make a movie with Andrew Dice Clay. After all the buildup with Nico it must have been disappointing to them, but I don't think that story was ever very interesting. Julie was so tied to characters who were all on their last legs, although that didn't have to be the case with Ellen and Mark, with better handling and more patience. I agree that the large cast seems much more wisely utilized in the 87/early 88 episodes.

That's sweet. Aiden's story remains in 1996, but considering our current climate, maybe I should be grateful. No, I won't be - but I am aware it could be much worse.

Nothing against Parry Shen but I might actually watch Brad scenes if Christopher was in the part.

How random! I saw someone suggesting that this was taped around the time of the fires? GH seems to have temporary recasts much more often in recent years. One of the most interesting things about the show now. I always thought Guy was overhated as Will, but that hair makes JJ looks like a Prell model. Apparently - do we need spoilers in this section? -

If you haven't already seen this over the years you probably just didn't want to, but for the time being, SNL's Youtube channel has uploaded the very first episode of the show. Happy anniversary, SNL. A show that at times has been offensive, stupid, maybe even dangerous, but a show that, like daytime soaps, has been a formative part of my life, one always with me, with many people along the way who felt like best friends, even though I would never know them. SNL never leaves me, even when I leave it. May your last few years on the air go out on a good note.

I love Knots Landing but I don't have the money to buy episodes and even if I did, I don't know if I would in the current economy. Doing this instead of just finding a streaming outlet is a mistake.

That was a ludicrous story, but they did rebound with David/Erica, and then Kendall's return and Bianca's rape story. (no comment on Chris Stamp)

Well said. I know the Eric story was not well-received, but I wish they'd found a third way beyond writing him out for good. By the time of the Dimitri/Erica pairing, they started Erica on a good path again, but it all came unspooled around 1997. I know some believe that the babynapping story was put onto AMC by Disney/ABC, given that this was the peak of JER-mania. They probably did have some involvement, but I can believe Agnes was fine with the story because once again Erica was stripped of everything and had to learn and grow. I don't think they anticipated the backlash the story would receive. I do think they did a good job most of the way through in showing Erica's mental state and punishing her for her actions (the mistake was the story given to her after all that wound down - wasting her chemistry with Nick Surovy on that triangle which just seemed to be a reason for Jack/Erica breakup #10). Then they did manage to get Erica into a better place again for a while. It was stop and start until the mid/late '00s and after that I don't think they ever got the balance right. I had forgotten about the doppelganger story until now, but what I watched I didn't think was that bad. It's some of the other stuff (Ryan, and Michael Nouri, and the unabortion, etc.) that were mistakes.

I thought it might have been done to help set up the whole gimmick with viewers voting for whether or not she should get off for shooting Peter. Given that Sharon and Thomas were both already leaving (presumably), I'm not sure why they needed such a laborious setup for her shooting Peter anyway - wasn't it something about how he frightened a horse, and she shot him on reflex? I can't remember. I'm probably wrong. I'm sure someone enjoyed the Love material under DePriest, as the ratings went up, but anything I've tried to sit through has made me very uncomfortable and I just can't even watch. John Considine was so badly miscast and poorly directed, Marcus Smythe was not good as a full heel, all the women were victims...on and on and on.

I thought Joe Lambie was just great on Edge of Night - it's a shame his Search role never worked out. I'm not sure how you go from him to Robert Reed. Then again, I'm not sure how you go from Sherry Mathis to Louan Gideon. So much of those last few years it seems like you have to wade through iffy recasts. I guess that's another reason the writers found it easier to focus on the McClearys.

I'm probably making it seem more scandalous than it was - I believe it's Lucinda, Craig and Tonio in a sauna setting or somewhere, taunting Sierra (we don't see her, she's just the camera), but it's heavily implied they are both getting together with Lucinda (I think they are kissing on her arms or neck at some point but maybe I am making half this up). Early Holden was very interesting, I agree. Marland tries to go back to that here and there, mainly through his wanting to be a corporate shark. I wish they'd fully committed. I think Tonio works well for what he is in his marriages to Sierra and Meg. And Barbara and Emily, etc. were so lacking in self-worth, so I'm not surprised they got involved with him. It's just when you spend as much time as Marland did on, essentially, how many women he was dicking down, you need an actor with more charisma than the guy who played Tonio.

You're right, it probably was a sudden rewrite. I do credit Marland for trying to add a little story with Iva's biological father and sister, but more could have been done. I do remember some other fantasy sequences, including one I thought was genuinely great (Sierra having a nightmare of Craig and Tonio having a threeway with Lucinda), but they were such an odd fit for ATWT, I wasn't surprised they didn't last. I feel like I should have enjoyed Meg, and the axe she had to grind with her family, with spoiled rich girl Lily, etc. but everyone around her was so extremely earnest (I think the only Snyder who didn't become earnest and dour was Austin Peck's Brad, because Peck was just too much of a himbo), it was like dropping Cher Horowitz into the Grapes of Wrath.

Marland tends to just float Barbara along as a pot-stirrer until she is paired with Hal. I'm glad he saw it couldn't last forever (maybe her being drawn into story with the inherently dull Tonio was a wakeup call). I assume Marx and Bryce gave a lot of advance notice. I think - although someone else will know this better than I would - they may have held the role of Tom open as long as they did because they were hoping Marx might return. The original plan was for Holden to just be a spoiler to Lily/Dusty so the back-and-forth might be part of Marland adjusting the canvas. I can never remember if they always planned to say Iva was adopted or it that was also because of Lily/Holden being popular with viewers. On paper, that Lily/Meg/Dusty/Holden should have been much stronger than it was. Given how much Marland wrote Meg as a young Nola Reardon, and his original plan was to pair Kelly and Nola for real not just through Nola's scheming, I am surprised they never tried a genuine Meg/Dusty pairing. Instead, Dusty is clearly made into a B or C player, pining after Lily and being a stopgap for her, while Meg is thrown into the hellish marriage with Tonio, leading her to be put with an older set. I don't think Jennifer Ashe worked as well as a bitch or in camp mode (IIRC Marland tried to give her fantasy sequences too, which never really worked) as she did as the tortured bird in a gilded cage in the Tonio/Josh year. I wish they'd tried an Emily/Dusty pairing. That could have been something. Honestly, I think any man would prefer to be with Emily over Lily, unless they are Holden, I guess, and he was always a bore anyway.

@Maxim I think these are some of the first comments on Karen that amount to more than just saying she was a failed character, so I appreciate reading them. A great description of Ellen Wheeler's profile as well. I always figured Agnes was the reason for David/Lainie as she kept redoing the star-crossed young couple story through her run, to diminishing returns. I know Paige Turco went on to a respected run on NYPD Blue, but she always seemed very bland to me in her soap work. Not bad, but bland. I think if they were going to break up Natalie/Jeremy it probably should have been over more than Marisa and David - such a waste of the divine Nancy Addison. You can never have Erica baking cookies and wearing cardigans, but I think there were ways to allow her to mature and still be Erica. I don't know how many viewers wanted to see her with Ryan or feuding with Greenlee. I don't believe that was a good use of the character.

All I remember is a clip or photo of Kim wafting along while standing near a Greek statue, which looked a bit silly.

Thanks @Vee ! I remember someone here, maybe @vetsoapfan , mentioning that a bunch of 1966 episodes used to be on Youtube (I guess from the same batch of GL episodes). I had never seen them. Glad they have appeared. Really appreciate you tagging me. @slick jones you might need these as well for your lists.

Roberta Sherwood - IMDb Roberta was a singer and sometimes acted, per the mini bio.

Cady and Tamara overlapped for a few years. I don't know if they ever interacted. By the time Jon joined the show Tamara was mostly gone. The best I've seen from Jon was his '90s work as Ryan/Kevin. He lost a lot of spark after that (as did daytime in general), although he still did some good work as Ryan in his various returns. It will be interesting to see Cady in a new part. She's very up and down - sometimes excellent, sometimes very mannered. I already said this in the BtG thread but I wouldn't be shocked if Genie ever tries to move to this show if it can happen, especially with the right part, as her heart was always with more "bad" type ladies anyway.

I am happy for Jon and Cady to be moving on to new roles now that they have the chance. I think a lot of Jon's work in the '90s as Kevin was extremely good, but they lost their way with the character on Port Charles and most of what I've seen of him on GH in recent years has felt like going through the motions. His chances to act tended to be with Ryan, and how much more can you do with Ryan? Bring him back from the dead again? If BtG stays around, then given how little interest Frank has in Laura I wouldn't be shocked if Genie Francis eventually joins him, as she has always wanted bigger non-Laura roles anyway. I am not sure what role he's playing but hopefully it's going to be better use of him than what he had to do as Craig on ATWT.

I could see her on a soap again someday, probably more of a short-term spot than a big role. I actually think DAYS would not be a bad fit for her. If she had a bit more of her old energy, then a Dimera role would be in her range.

You aren't alone, as that's how he was identified by someone in the comments of the video. He did look familiar to me, but I don't really know him that well (whenever I think of him, I think of poor Sherry Mathis).

If this is true, then poor Kathryn Hays was not only getting hate mail, but having to loop old lines like she was in one of those Italian Hercules movies.

Jerry Lanning and Joanne Dusseau (who is ACTING for her life) as SNL Weekend Update characters - The Most Annoying '70s Couple You Know.