DRW50

From the November 8, 1994 Digest.

Thanks for catching that. Sorry for the confusion. I think his RH character was killed similar to the way Ryan's mother was...

Oops. I thought he'd passed away. You're right. He's still alive. Yeah I remember Constance's Y&R role. It wasn't much of a role, she deserved better, but she did a great job and she did get some dramatic moments. I think she was only on like one or two episodes. But Bell might have helped get her back in the spotlight, as she got a cameo on Sunset Beach after this, and that role is probably what led to her being cast as Helena.

I didn't know Lochran was on AW. He seemed to all but vanish after Capitol. I guess Deborah Farentino has gone on to quite a bit, although I haven't seen her in most of her projects. If P&G had focused on Conboy's record they would have hesitated about hiring him at GL when he clearly likes to focus on $$$$$$$$ above all else. That worked for him in the days of the soap boom, but those days were long gone by 2002.

Thanks for reading. I do apologize for the length of the text -- I decided to type it out because it was only two pages in the magazine and I didn't want to scan just for those as I've been doing that more lately and it takes up more room I should be using on pictures or whatever. I'm so glad you read it -- I wasn't totally sure if it was already out there but I didn't think it was. I thought Constance wrote a moving and grounded story, and she did her best to avoid any condescending colonialism. She also focused on how this could just as easily happen in the US. Thanks for posting the biography on Carolyn (does A&E still even do Biography now, or is not "hip" enough for them). It's a sign of her talents that after seeing her as Myrna I totally forgot she even played Morticia, and I wondered why John Astin (RIP) was interviewed. It's nice to hear the stories from Constance. Even though Capitol was a relatively short part of Constance's life, you can see how much she loved some of her co-stars, through this and through her singing at Richard Egan's funeral. I know a lot of women say playing good girls is boring but I think that Constance, and Lara Parker, among others, both managed to make a good girl more interesting because they could play her with backbone.

From the December 17, 1985 Digest. Network Publishing Co I will type up the other two pages.

Does Bart still look like a middle-aged man?

That seems very bizarre and also disappointing. I guess it's a good reminder that just because someone acts in a pro-gay storyline, it doesn't necessarily translate. It's a shame because I think Adam Thomas is one of the only young people Blyth has brought in who can act, and I had wanted to see more of his character, but this type of thing just brings bad PR.

I never knew that. Fascinating. Do you think they made a mistake? Or was the actress playing Ann not that relevant because the character was done? Khan, I remember reading that Lezlie left GL for theater work -- perhaps she just stayed there.

The interview with Amanda was pure class. She had such wonderful comments to make and you can see how much effort she put into the role, to the point of even staying longer just to make sure the story was done justice. I'm really going to miss her.

Do you put anything in the rumors that Lauren is being written out?

I don't know if she was ever very popular. I liked her best with the first Nicole from the little I've seen of her. I think she fit what Nicole probably should have been, flighty, vulnerable party girl.

I think it was Ross's...I know they abducted him and took his clothes. Maybe it wasn't Ross then.

Thanks. I guess those aren't online. I wonder why they made the change in 2007? I wish I could remember if I had them. I taped over some 1981 stuff as I was not fond of that year, to say the least. I really appreciate you telling us about this. I hope I haven't posted any articles or anything you already did. I loved the stuff you posted earlier this year.

Oh. Thanks. I wonder if I kept any of those last 1981 episodes or not. I can't remember if I saw those. So was that 10 episodes, or 5?

Thanks for giving us a heads up. That's a shame. I wanted to see the extra episodes one last time, as I think I taped over mine. The last episode of that run was, I believe, EJ working as Barbara's assistant and being caught in her dressing room or something.

The list is starting to get a bit too focused on modern characters, with Simon Barlow (who stopped working once they wrote him as too self-aware) at #35 and Sian Powers (!) at #33. Sadly I am also not even sure about whether Carla should have been on the list. She was fantastic in 2008 but has not had any interesting storyline since.

That's sad to hear. I always looked forward to seeing her on GL. She had such a warm, comforting presence, and helped lend a dose of humanity to some OTT pregnancy stories.

Diane last returned for Frank's funeral. She is a lesbian now. Her biggest story was being homeless. And dumping a child on Ricky and Bianca in 1997.

Janine's mother died of cancer when she was 4. Janine went to live with her mother's sister, Clare, before going to live with Frank.

Grayson McCouch was teaching acting??

That's great to hear. It's a shame he didn't get to stay on AW but at least he's happy.

From what some fans at DS said the first episode was a bit dull. The previews don't seem to be a whole lot better.

Philece's Donna was more of a victim (and also cold and whiny) until her last year, when she was more of a meddler and social climber, and she had the story where she and Michael adopted Mikey. This was after DePriest/Whitesell were gone or going. She was also backburnered for a lot of this time. Probably I most enjoyed Philece when she was dealing with Michael's mother, or as she called her, "Mother Hudson." One time Donna snapped at her and the woman keeled over! Hilarious. I love Anna's Donna as well. As nasty as she can sometimes be, you never forget her vulnerability. One of the last episodes I watched before taking a bit of a break was when she tried to tell Marley it was OK if she didn't have a biological child and Marley was very cold and told her that it was OK for her because she gave her babies up. Donna was clearly so shattered, she was shaking. It was tough to watch but reminded you of how fragile Donna is. It's just too bad so many of AW's brass did not understand this character and at times seemed to outright loathe her. Reginald had a sense of humor too but he was just so hammy and so diabolical. They tried to show some vulnerability, mostly through his obsession with Mary, but I felt like he was a mark-down Stefano, or Victor Kiriakis. It doesn't help that I was not fond of the writing on AW at this time. I think AW's cast is what often kept it from going under. While I think the ratings did increase at this time, and the show probably needed the refocusing after so much turnover in 1985 and 1986, the stories on AW for a lot of the Reginald era were so vile towards women. I was especially offended by MJ's story. The Sin Stalker story also sounds awful but then I have never seen it, only read about it.