DRW50

From the 10/12/82 SOD, Network Publishing Co, an article on soap sets. The photo is of Myrna's "inner sanctum", Sloane's living room, and the Clegg dining room. I will type up the sections of the article which refer to Capitol.

October 12, 1982 SOD. Interview with Peter Haskell (Hollis Kirkland).

I'm sorry but I seriously question what these carefully worked-out plans are. Ryan has barely had any storyline in his year and a half on the show. I also don't know if he is "massively" popular. Popular? Sure. James is a handsome and charismatic actor who does a good job when he gets the material. MASSIVE? I doubt it. He has barely had a chance to do anything on the show other than let us see what a nice butt he has in coveralls. As for going back to Hollyoaks -- I doubt it. Marquess is dumping anyone and everyone he did not create and he would probably also see John Paul as a part of the past, or a threat to his creation, Bart McQueen, the wizened looking block of wood passed off as a hunk. I also don't know if Sutton would want to go back, especially since Hollyoaks might not be on much longer. I wonder if they may already be writing her out, she seems to have nothing in the village, even the relationship with Jai is over.

Sounds interesting. I do wonder why they call her "feisty" and then say she's an antidote to the snarling women of Albert Square. I wonder if they have a child?

I'm glad you're enjoying Emmerdale. I think you would enjoy the show's past as well. It's a shame a lot of clips have been taken down recently. If you want a few scenes from their earlier years just PM me. I haven't watched the show much in the last month or two, as I am not overly involved in the stories (I kind of miss the heart the show had a few years ago), but I still enjoy it and will get back in soon.

From Schemering's book. December 13, 1954 - July 1, 1955 CBS The radio version of The Road of Life had been popular since 1937 when Irna Phillips and Procter & Gamble decided to bring the drama to television. Replacing The Seeking Heart, the serial focused on three generations of two families, the Brents and the Overtons, and their long feud in the town of Merrimac. Don MacLaughlin and Virginia Dwyer, who had starred on the radio version, repeated their roles as Dr. Jim Brent and Jocelyn McLeod, the foster daughter of rich Malcolm Overton. Since this was a medical drama (remembered chiefly for its opening; "Dr. Brent,...call surgery. Dr. Brent,...call surgery"), poor Jocelyn was afflicted with every dread disease known to man and some never known, including "rubimortis," and the dreaded "Meniere's syndrome." On the short TV version, spiteful Sybil Overton was furious that happily married Jim Brent did not return her affections. She had Jocelyn arrested for "technically" kidnapping Sybil's child, then had Jocelyn classified as an "undesireable alien" when Jocelyn returned from Samoa after medical treatments. In one of his earliest TV roles, Jack Lemmon had a short run on the show as a supposedly nerves-of-steel surgeon. His stint his chiefly remembered for a tense operating room scene in which he turned to a nurse and barked, "Give me the hypodermic needle!" Although Road of Life was cancelled on television in less than a year, it continued on radio until 1959. MacLaughlin later starred for over a quarter of a century as Chris Hughes on As the World Turns. Dwyer played Mary Matthews on Another World from 1964 to 1975. The show was written by Charles Gussman, produced by John Egan, and directed by Walter Gorman, who was Dwyer's off-screen husband. Nelson case served as the narrator. It ran daily for fifteen minutes at 1:15 P.M., E.S.T., following The Inner Flame.

The cheapness of that show never ceases to amaze me. That theme tune Jason Manford is kind of cute. Was he wearing that shirt in honor of Alfie? It was nice to hear all that laughing and fun, and it seems genuine. The clip looked good, so hopefully it will be. I love her giving away what everyone already knew and then being horrified she might lose her job. Shane Richie kind of looks like an older David Tennant with that eye job.

Good ratings for last night's episode. 19:30- EastEnders: 8.86m (41.7%) 22:00- EastEnders (BBC3): 1.22m (6.1%) While I can see where the OTT stuff was annoying I hope some of those viewers will stay around, I think Kat's return has real potential and I think she's fit back in well, even if the pregnancy reveal was contrived.

It's confirmed that Charlotte is gone Why not just have her leave with Dave? Marquess just seems to want to get rid of almost anyone from the cast he didn't create. I'm worried for those few who are still left. Is he just waiting until he can fire them? http://www.e4.com/blog/hollyoaks/post/8wod7k7sblacbfeaotd4ew/view.e4

I can see what they mean. I do think the late 80s were pretty decent for Corrie (not fantastic but decent), while the late 80s were Eastenders peak. The early 90s were decent years for Eastenders and for Corrie. 1996 was seen as a weak time for both shows, with Corrie going through radical changes in 1997 and Eastenders in 1998-99. In recent years it's been more of a back and forth. 1999-2002 were when EE went up and up and up, while Corrie struggled. 2003-2006 were seen as decent to strong years for Corrie, the opposite for EE. EE went up and Corrie went down in 2007. Corrie had a good year overall in 2008, while EE's 2008 wasn't that fantastic. I don't think 2009 was good for either show but it was better for Eastenders, in terms of ratings and in some of the stories getting a buzz and a big response. Corrie collapsed in 2009. Honestly I can't even watch Corrie at the moment and haven't in a few months, I got turned off with Nick and with Tina/Graeme and when one of my favorites, Ashley, was fired. There was some controversy over this as he said on Twitter he was done with the show (in response to a thread criticizing him at DS, I think). I do think some of these stories still seem like him. I think the show is decent at the moment but a lot of fans seem to be getting fed up so I hope they will improve more on plotting and some of the characterizations. I do think some of the complaints are off -- I don't really have a problem with most of the exits and I think the longing for a "big exit" and the disappointment when you don't get one is a big example of what is wrong with soaps today. It becomes hey what if this person was killed off? What if that person died? Well, then it wouldn't be a big exit.

Many of the show's most prominent characters had left. The show struggled at bringing in new characters -- Kevin Wicks and his kids were especially unpopular. The stories were seen as being uninvolving or, like Grant Mitchell's affair with Jane Beale, bizarre. Sonia Fowler suddenly becoming a lesbian was also very unpopular with viewers. They also made decisions which infuriated longtime fans, like killing off Kathy Beale (offcamera) to bring in her and Phil's annoying son, Ben.

That's also where I first found DS. I watched starting around the time Barnabas was terrorizing Maggie, somewhere around the time they went to color. That was some great stuff, the buildup with Barnabas biting Carolyn and terrorizing Julia. I kind of wish they'd done more with that after 1795. Sci-Fi Channel, I loved those bumpers they had for the show, remember those? Back when that channel actually had interesting shows and wasn't staring at its navel...

Y&RWT you do such a great job recapping each episode -- I always forget to tell you that. This episode was so loud and busy, at least the scenes with the Slaters. I enjoyed them when they were quieter and we got to hear Kat and some of the tension with Charlie and her reaction to Stacey's problems. I think they could have done without the comedy crooks, although the one Mo was threatening had a nice rear end. Alfie was OK. He seemed to have less of his old personality. Jean was really getting on my nerves. Stacey alone on the stairs with the baby was a moving scene. Glad that Minty is gone. Some were upset with his exit as they said it wasn't big enough -- this dead space deserved a great exit why? At least he got to leave happy and we saw him walking down the street. That was more than a lot of people get. Some were also upset that he just left his house to Heather. That's soap for you. I did enjoy Sam's exit, although I wish she'd stayed. At least she has a great potential return, what with Ronnie paying her off, and she could come back with Courtney at some point. I just don't care about Heather's pain. I wonder if Vanessa will be back. I read at DS that Harry wouldn't be back, is that true? These last few episodes have seemed very chaotic. I don't know what will happen next but I think it would be nice if the writers don't overwrite and try to be as profound or big or whatever.

I think you would like Emmerdale once you got to know the VERY confusing backstories. Of all the UK soaps it's most like a Doug Marland or Agnes Nixon soap. It has the wacky characters and bizarre family relationships of Nixon in particular, although not as much heart. I think Aaron's first time in a gay bar would be February 2010? March?

If you have any questions we'll be happy to answer them. So you're in 2008 now. Crappy year...

I don't know if Phil has had any involvement in years.

That would be great. You are doing us a huge favor, so take all the time you need. This sounds wonderful. These audio recordings are sort of a lost art. We take for granted today how difficult it must have been for fans like you back then.

That's great! I would love to hear this. Can you put it on Youtube?

Probably because they are about the same age. I had the same confusion as you when they first started years ago.

He helped deliver Heather's baby.

What happened to Mitchell Ryan? He seems to have had a decent career since cleaning himself up. Louis Edmonds also had some classic duff lines. Made even more noticeable because he would so overdramatically try to make them seem like part of the script. "Oh what did I say? How silly. I meant..." I agree that Victoria was more interesting before Barnabas. Most importantly, before she became stupid. That's one of the reasons I don't care for the 1795 story. She's so stupid in it. One thing I hope that one-note Tim Burton and the critics who adore him realize is that the old Dark Shadows was not just a bad joke. It had some genuinely fantastic moments and a lot of brilliant actors who made their scripts into gold. I have this awful feeling that when he drops his latest "masterpiece," the critics are going to go out of their way to trash the old show to try to build him up.

That shirt is so ugly. He should have taken it off immediately...

It seems like Marquess is just casting random actors he wants on one of his shows into the Brady saga. So many pointless characters, from Brendan (I'm sorry but I just don't buy anything with this man), to Darren Day, whom I only know of from being on that I'm a Celebrity show. And although I liked her in Hollyoaks Later, Lindsey is also pointless. Veronica was awful -- a less talented Patsy Kensit. Now that Glen Wallace has left, Malachy is also pointless. Maybe this stuff is the reason he left... As for Kevin, he's definitely going. He was listed as leaving in an article about Carley Stenson's goodbye party.

The guy on Emmerdale who is out to get Aaron, he was on Corrie last year in their much praised AA meeting. He's the guy telling the horror stories which repulse Blanche.