DRW50

I think her era had some big weak spots and her love for certain characters led to poor writing (like what she did to Nicole Love because she adored Frankie Frame). Then you have stupid stories which ultimately went nowhere, like Derek Dane. But I think in terms of consistency the show was good...there was some stuff I didn't like, other stuff I think had a good flow, like Jake's descent into the darkness, Vicky's slow path to maturity and her moving on from Jamie and eventually finding Ryan, Sharlene's relationship with John and her MPD, Paulina's arrival (although I think the show had Rachel move on from Mac a little too fast), the story with Sam/Amanda/Evan. I don't think there was as much of a big moment of brilliance as you had with other shows but I think, of what I've seen of other soaps from that timeframe, AW was consistently more solid, with the exception of ATWT. The problem is by that time AW was already in a place where that wasn't good enough and perhaps even sustained brilliance could not have saved it. I agree about the friendships. That was something which they began seriously building up in the early 80s and it was what saved the show during very lean periods.

I guess she feels this story should not be broadcast at all in the timeslot. The whole thing is that Eastenders broadcast these types of stories, actually in even more graphic detail (Donna Ludlow, Nick Cotton) a long time ago. I guess that was before the era of complaints but still, this is not new for Eastenders. This is a story which is about pain and is an important way to talk about drug abuse after various soaps have done a poor job depicting it. Why don't you complain about Chelsea getting over her coke habit in a week, or Phil's alcoholism being treated as comedy? Not to mention some of the ugly stuff going on during the "gangsters" era, which was apparently acceptable because it didn't involve drugs.

There's some stuff from the late 60s available. Another World Home Page has a list of some. I think the storytelling for the show was pretty decent from about 89-91 or so, not great, but consistently good. I haven't seen as much of 91-94 but I've heard that wasn't bad. I would probably say it wasn't any more uneven than the writing for GL in that timeframe. GL and later ATWT benefited from their networks and history enough to survive, for a while, slumps, whereas AW didn't have as much of that luxury.

Some have speculated she might be the one who starts the fire. Natalie Cassidy speaks out against Phil's drug story: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/s2/eastenders/news/a263280/natalie-cassidy-phil-plot-is-outrageous.html

Were the other Peters in the role popular?

Thanks. It's too bad they didn't keep the focus on the Ames family, they seemed to have such a strong and believable dynamic. That scene is just so expressive of the pain of a grieving son or child in a way I've rarely seen on TV.

I thought today's episode was good. Like you both said I have no pity for Heather and while I know Shirley felt guilty I'm glad she didn't cave in to Heather's whining. I don't understand why Billy or Jay weren't there to help. I'm glad Zsa Zsa will be gone soon -- she's so wooden she can't even clap properly. The scenes at the club were almost like a joke, with overaged Fatboy being teased about an older woman, and Zsa Zsa being asked if she can drink. Leon seems to be getting a bit thick around the middle. Linda Henry was amazing in the scene with Phil in the garage. I liked how she underplayed most of what was going on, to trying to help him to the last scenes where Phil chose the drugs over her. I wish they'd addressed that Shirley has dealt drugs (remember the ice cream van) but it was still powerful. I wish they hadn't taken Glenda in this direction but I thought Sam Womack and Glynis Barber were both very good...I don't know how Womack keeps up as Ronnie goes through one tragedy after another after another. There comes a point where it's almost overload, and Womack is probably right to take this like someone who is so weak and has to steel herself for the next hit to come. I thought that Roxy and Jack were believable as quiet, slightly traumatized and ill-at-ease background players, and then Roxy's reaction when Ronnie talked about Glenda rejecting her after the abuse began. That surprised me as I thought they had set up that she was always closer to Ronnie while Archie was closer to Roxy, but who knows. I hope they can work out a way back for Glenda but I'm not sure how. Peggy meanwhile is quickly forgiven... The last scenes cutting from one set of characters to the other reminded me so much of Knots Landing, their opening credits, and some of the episodes, like the one where Abby had to give Diana kidney.

About ten minutes or so of a 9/87 episode have been put on Youtube. Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fE6Y8PkS9ow&feature=channel

Still don't understand the way they are handling this story with Gabby Sharpe, the flirting and ha ha stuff and us rarely seeing the moments where her husband is abusive to her. Phrina and Nick do have good chemistry together, I just don't know why this needed to involve a half-hearted domestic violence plotline with a husband we barely see. It's also kind of odd seeing Teresa as Cupid since they have that bad history together, but...oh well. Nick Pickard has a good chemistry with so many women he shares scenes with. He's a very underrated actor. Don't really get the stuff with Heidi and Charlotte, how she could easily tell Charlotte was a lesbian (was Charlotte leering at her or something?) and then telling Charlotte that she needed to look at this gorgeous man and how could she be gay. Strange scenes, they were trying a bit too hard to be cute. Glad the stuff with Ravi and Jem and Tricia Dingle is done. I'm sure Sheree Murphy is a better actress than this? The scenes where Jem found out about Ravi's night of adultery were cheesy soap (the old standby "Who told you?" "You did") but at least it's over. I'm not entirely sure why they started the relationship in the first place. Was that before Stephen Uppal told them he was quitting? I did think the scenes with Steph and the boy who is dying of cancer were just right, very moving yet not sappy. He's a great character and Carley Stenson is at her best with him.

From an early 1980 Daytime TV (Sterling's Magazines, Inc)

I remember that letter vaguely I think. I'd forgotten the magazines used to post kind of crazy letters at times. I can't remember most of them. One I do remember, not because it was really crazy but just because it represented for me one of the reasons GH probably lost some of the old during the Labine period, was a fan who wrote in a letter saying that Stone from GH should be cured of AIDS by crystal fragments found on an adventure - I guess because this is the type of story GH might have done in the Monty era (not with AIDS but with some generic soap disease). I think Labine or Riche responded to the letter and basically said they were committed to telling what actually happens when someone is dying from AIDS.

Daniel Markel was adorable...I wish he hadn't quit acting. Thanks a lot FMB/MADD

My favorite Andy scenes are when he walks around in his underwear. His thighs are incredible.

Jerry was killed off later wasn't he, or just written out? That clip impressed me more than I expected. There's a real sorrow there, not any type of exaggerated emotion. The way he talks about his mother's death, and his relationship with his sister, seem so real.

I think Kirkwood and to a lesser degree Santer both did a good job of interweaving stories in 2007 (although Hollyoaks has always had huge black holes -- the other soaps did not until more recently), but then that fell apart in 2008. Santer's became just laughable by 2009 and early 2010. I think cast integration has improved markedly over the past month or two, but whether that will last, who knows.

Finally watched yesterday's show: For what was supposed to be a big event I was surprised at how dull the opening of Chez Chez was. I don't think it helps that you have two people who suck the life out of their scenes (Cheryl and Boring Brendan) at the center of the drama. The only memorable scenes involved Charlotte finally showing up again and convincing Heidi to throw her next party at the SU. Aside from that my interest was in figuring out just who Brendan reminds me of -- he has that same extremely offputting face that the Baldwin men get when they start bloating and bloviating. For a moment I thought he was Stephen Baldwin. Ugh. Malachy and Lynsey have such a great chemistry together. I hope they leave town together. Preferably after Cheryl walks in on them having sex. Repeatedly. I like Phina and she has good chemistry with Tony but I was confused at how Gabby is perfectly happy and charming all the time except when her husband is around, then she's terrified. I'd think she would be terrified most of the time, with the number he's done on her. The scene where he banged on the table and then stormed out was so clunky. I thought it was more interesting when he kept trying to belittle Tony. Speaking of clunky, while Jem is improving as an actress, and her bond with Carl is becoming more believable, the dialogue is not as fortunate. Carl: Want some sprouts? Jem: I almost died from sprouts when I was traveling for three years because of you! Carl: Give me a break! You're my daughter and I love you and miss you. Jem: Give you a break? Like you broke my boyfriend's leg for looking at me the wrong way? Carl: That was an accident. I swear! I will never do anything to hurt anyone else ever!

Looks like Stefan Booth is joining as Greg, the latest fantasy man for "Tan." Short-term, so I wonder if that means the Tanya/Max stuff is going to be back again very soon, unless some other poor man is roped into this mess. http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2010/08/17/tanya-s-new-man-joins-eastenders-115875-22492904/ Stefan played Jamie Nash on Hollyoaks, the barely dressed bad boy who gave Becca VD and then after reforming, died in a potholing trip with Max, OB, Ben, and others. He went on to almost win Dancing on Ice. In Google Images you can find some photos of him doing his version of the Daniel Craig James Bond trunks look.

I watched a bit of the early episodes but couldn't after that, too depressing...beautiful acting and filming though. I know that Thatcher-era England was seen as producing a big wave of quality, cutting-edge drama, like Brookside and the Boys from Blackstuff (?), among others, but that was a few years after 1981-82. Actually now I wonder if one of the reasons I enjoy season 3 of KL so much is because it did go more for a serial drama, and less of a soap (not that there's anything wrong with a soap, just that I think some characters like Karen were better in less melodramatic situations). I think that season was Michele Lee's best work and also some of Donna Mills's best work, John Pleshette's, on and on.

I see what you mean, it's a bit "let me show you how much I was affected." I do like seeing KL get some praise though, especially in their earlier, underrated years. I couldn't help laughing a bit when they talked about the superiority of British TV -- at this time I think aside from some random PBS stuff the only thing you were likely to see in the US was a Benny Hill rerun.

I was watching some clips from when Stephen Nichols was on the show. Such a soothing voice but such a dull character. This was Pam Long, right? All this ridiculous overly earnest, pseudo-intellectual dialogue makes my brain hurt. Everyone seems to be trying so hard to be so restrained. It doesn't seem much like Rauch or Long at all. I like Janis Paige and I thought, "It's nice that Janis got to be on a soap" but then I read that she was playing Minx Lockridge? Really?!? How do you see Judith Anderson and say, "Hey, I know who can fill her shoes...Janis Paige!" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuMhMOgdhkM&feature=related

From the 3/2/82 SOD. CRITIC'S CORNER "Knots Landing" Critical Condition From its inception, "Knots Landing" has been a solid show with good scripts, good acting, and good production values. But this season's second episode transcended all of its previous levels. Watching it, I kept telling myself that this was a television play. It isn't real, I said, and because it isn't real, Sid won't die. There's got to be a happy ending. There's got to. But as in reality, there was no happy ending. Sid Fairgate (Don Murray) took the biggest gamble of his life and he lost. He died. Sid and Karen (Michele Lee), those charming make-believe people, faced a crisis that faces many real people, and like real people, they employed no histrionics. They made jokes, and edged around the awful possibilities just as they would have were Beachview a real hospital. The hours dragged by for Karen while Sid underwent very high-risk surgery. And when Sid was dead, the doctor didn't have to use words to tell Karen. She knew - from the look on his face. Karen didn't go into hysterics, because you don't - not in real life. The reality is too awesome, too horrifying, to be grasped in its totality. You leave the hospital, you drive your family home. You don't talk much because there isn't anything to say. Shock has a numbing effect on the brain. The sensibilities that cushion you, make you able to do the things that must be done, while all the time you try your best to be brave. Karen is going to arrange things the way Sid would want her to. She will face life with the same courage and dignity with which he faced life and death. The tears, the anger, the anguish will come later, as it does in reality. Don Murray and Michele Lee deserve every accolade there is for their performance in "Critical Condition." So do the writer, Diana Gould, who is Executive Story Consultant for the series, the director and that night's supporting cast. They dealt with real human tragedy with dignity and nobility. It's easy - and somewhat chic - to disparage American television because, with very few exceptions, it fails to measure up to the quality of much British work we see on our screens. This segment of "Kntos Landing" can stand beside any television show ever aired and still be outstanding...even memorable shows from the Golden Age of "Playhouse 90." "Critical Condition" was devastating in its impact. There wasn't a false note anywhere. Bravo. - Kay Madigan Solmo

My favorite Madonna song. Very close to favorite. Just love this one, utterly haunting. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvaId8X4GGY

For about half of that article I didn't know what to think as he said he didn't know what his story was, he didn't remember his first scenes, and he didn't seem to think much of them. I can't help wondering if Hollyoaks is just made up as it goes along at this point. I wonder if they are going to make him a young Tony, which is what they were doing with Ste for a while. Apparently Marquess has said they will be doing recaps -- they've already started them but I guess they might be permanent from now on? I don't know. I think recaps are so dull, and honestly, there is very little going on in the stories that would need a recap. The show is already losing so much of its identity or has lost it, why not just keep the silly intros. The recaps also look extremely drab.

I was surprised by that too. I wonder if they were trying to give the show an extra boost or if they just mentioned it because The Doctors is a daytime show and Carol might watch that at the moment. I wonder if Carol's 1997 exit is online (I think her 99 one is). I have a soft spot for the "look around one last time" exits.

Just Another Woman In Love - Anne Murray