DRW50

I've heard it was done by the same people who did the poor seasons. I know some were annoyed with the writing in the miniseries, especially in regards to Steven's and Blake's relationship (where they suddenly went back to 1984), and also they said some key roles were poorly recast.

I've heard some claims that it was the Krystal's double story which hurt the show more than Moldavia. I've never actually seen that story -- all I remember is Linda Evans doing this very creepy voice that sounded like a dirty old Southern woman who had a few too many -- but apparently that was one of the reasons why that season was so widely disliked there was talk of the producers publicly apologizing to fans. The people who made a mess of the last seasons are the ones who did the miniseries right?

The show had some good ideas but never knew how to execute them. Stuff like Blake/Alexis running for office should have been gold. I think they waited way too long to replace the showrunners. The showrunners in question focused too much on a big event, moreso than what would build that up. That had been done so much, that by the time the last 2-3 years of the show came around, I don't even think having the cast appear in Frankie Goes to Hollywood's "Welcome to the Pleasuredome" video would have been enough.

I think one of the things with Dynasty is all their breakout characters were introduced in the first few years of the show. After that they just kept on going with those characters, even as a number of them were noticeably diminished. If they'd continued bringing in fresh blood I wonder if the show might have kept more of their ratings. I thought bringing in Sable, and to a lesser degree, Monica, in the last season was a huge shot in the arm.

clips2share has a lot of Matt/Ellen clips and some clips from the story where Matt was revealed as being from a mob family. I was never much of a fan of Matt's (I thought he was kind of self-righteous and dull) but I did grow to like him a bit later on. http://www.youtube.com/user/Clips2Share

It's interesting that with the exception of Al Corley, all the Collins supporters were the more aristocratic actors. That Cellini clip is awful. That was her last scene? She's very rough looking in the mouth area and her voice suggests quite a few packs a day. I know Pamela Sue Martin was going through big personal problems when she played Fallon but I think one of the reasons she lost so much energy after a few years was that the approach of the show shifted away from fiery, strong performances into much more artificial posing. Only a few of the more established actresses seemed to be able to work with that (Joan, Diahann). It really hurt the show in terms of younger women.

If she's a witch she's a witch but I'd rather she not be a plot device for her mopey son. At least have her be a plot device for someone who's worth it.

I don't like the way Graeme speaks to Jason. I get the idea that we're supposed to think it's funny that Graeme is keeping Jason from getting money by renting the house, and running rings around Jason, but Jason went into debt for that house, and then Tina casually dumps him and refuses to let him near the place. I almost wish he'd call the police and have them bodily throw her out. I would be less annoyed about this if Jason actually had a story of his own. Ryan Thomas is gorgeous and he's a good actor...give him a story! I don't care about Steve/Becky and their baby so I skipped most of that, but I did laugh when she saw that he'd been with "Ronnie," and was surprised that he'd been with a man. Then he had to say Ronnie was a woman. Which of course led to bringing up his night with the transsexual, which always cracks me up. I liked Gail's cellmate. She reminded me of Jacqui McQueen, and early, non-morose Tina. Tracy is just kind of whiny and dull when she's not doing the bitch stuff. Kate Ford's not a very strong actress. I also hate her constant harping at Deirdre, especially since Deirdre always goes along. Poor Teresa. She's such a great character and a great actress, and yet she's just there to be shrugged off by Lloyd. Speaking of that, I wonder how much they will update the credits or if it's just an HD version. I hope they still have the shot of the cat. You can imagine how terrified this cast might be of HD. They aren't known for their looks.

That's why they recast Amanda? A raise? How dumb. She would have been worth the raise. Then again, they did such a poor job with female characters in those later seasons. Look at how they wasted Leann Hunley. Emma Samms spent 3 years walking around like a zombie before they finally livened Fallon up in the last year. I guess AW could have modeled Sandra's Amanda on Amanda Carrington, I hadn't though of that. Of course they obviously didn't model their Adam on Adam Carrington...

Oh, and Aaron's lawyer apparently was in Beautiful Thing, and was in the big gay storyline Paul Marquess wrote for The Bill.

I think Zainab was telling Syed that she thought it would be better for him if he were dead, not for her, although I guess that isn't great either, but I don't think she meant it maliciously. The Masood stuff was so fast I still don't know what to think. Why does a show which has so many episodes rush through things? I didn't even process the gall of him chatting to Ian after he tried to run off with Ian's wife until you mentioned it. What bothers me the most with this stuff, and which for all I know was the point of the show doing it, is that now, the many selfish, harmful actions Syed committed over the past year are much less noticed, because someone can just say, "Well, Masood and Zainab aren't any better!" I don't like even the score writing. If this was done to tarnish them in order to make Syed look better, then it wasn't worth it, because they are damaging characters who had potential to be much more than this. Zainab is a hilarious, wonderful, complex character. She isn't just this gorgon they now make her out to be. Even if or when she does have some big epiphany, a lot of fans will still always hate her after this. A lot of viewers will probably never like the Masoods, they don't have the same luxury that a family like the Mitchells might have with viewers. The show had a real chance to make this family a cornerstone of the show. Christian is such a vapid character -- if anything he's more vapid when he does the martyr stuff than he is when he has fun. I don't know why they keep writing to Partridge's weaknesses. I still wonder what this story might have been with someone else as Syed. Probably not extremely different, since the pacing was a major issue regardless of the actors, but I rarely sense anything from Marc Elliot. Even those drunk and suicidal scenes were very sluggish. It was like a parody of a drunk. The woman who played Amira, she had a good moment when she started drinking, as she recoiled with her first sip. For someone who doesn't drink alcohol, Syed handled it like a pro.

There are a lot of clips on Youtube that go back to the start with Aaron, called Aaron's Story. The other stories you may not need catchup on, except maybe the Wylde family stuff.

Farewell to "Laura" Branning. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/soaps/2972483/Madeleine-Duggan-who-plays-Laura-Branning-axed-from-BBC1-soap-EastEnders.html I guess now we know how Lauren leaves. She reveals her secret desire to be a Laura Branigan tribute artist. As she leaves, "Solitaire" plays over Max's slow, painful walk back to his home.

You'd probably hear a lot of, "Well he used a tear stick" or, "People only praise him because he's playing a gay man," or whatever. Some of the best performances never win awards, and this was one of his best performances. He really nailed those courtroom scenes but the scenes before the courtroom, when he was trying to avoid showing any emotion and when he couldn't bear to let Chas hug him, were what got to me. That and when he was in court and kept staring up at Jackson. So many of the scenes were just about perfect. The reactions in the courtroom, the Dingles talking afterwards and Cain warning Zak about what not to say (the Dingles are much better now that the DINGLE LAW!! seems to have been phased out). I do wish Gennie had been there. The acting in this story from so many people has been incredible. The Emmerdale cast never gets enough credit. I love the Aaron/Adam scenes too. WHat a wonderful friendship they have. And it never gets too soppy. It's truly an ensemble story, and one of the best I've seen on a soap in years.

Yes Catherine was beautiful back then. Karen Cellini not so much.

George supposedly left because he wanted Blake to be a nicer character. I think the crossovers started not too long after the shootout in Moldavia, are they up to the part yet where Krystal has a double?

Billy Campbell was very sweet on Dynasty. Jack Coleman always looked uncomfortable in this role but I liked Steven and Luke together. Naturally Luke is killed, but at least he got to die with Ali Macgraw... I haven't seen the Dynasty/Colby crossovers in years. Were they well done or did they seem clumsy to you?

AW did some great dream episodes, they started back with Valentine for Singles. I keep meaning to watch on Hulu but never get around to it. I'm sure that the day I decide is the day they will all disappear...

Thanks. For some reason I'd always heard that they were just waiting until Judi was available.

Late 96 to mid 97 was a dramatic period for KKL, as I think she almost quit B&B in late 1996. I remember some headline about that in Soap Opera Weekly. Then when her pregnancy was further along, she was unexpectedly confined to bedrest, which meant that a huge portion of Brooke's story, far more than they'd anticipated, was played by a temporary recast. So Sandra, as she said at the time, really got to play some huge scenes. I've never seen Cat's turn in the role. I miss the days of temporary soap recasts

Never mind already posted.

Here's the start of a May 29 1997 episode Sandra was in. The main story at this time was that Brooke's husband Grant (played by Charles Grant) had been shot. Ridge was arrested. Grant kept quiet about the real shooter. He finally told Ridge that Rick, who was angry at Grant for breaking up the family and had also been playing violent video games (so that's why Rick is so screwed up....those damn video games), had shot him. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W93tjzofxuo&feature=related

You should watch the 2009 Emmerdale episodes with Max Caulfield, he still looked pretty good (bad rug aside). The average, boring stuff was killed off Dynasty after the first season but I thought Claudia was a good contrast. Both she and Krystal were very common, low class figures, awkward in their designer clothes. That's why their friendship was believable.

That was it for Cali and soaps. She had been on Ryan's Hope for about 4 years before she was on AW. RKK left because he was having a whole lot of problems. I think there were rumors that he threw a chair near Sandra Ferguson. I think he basically left unexpectedly and they had to recast in a hurry, which is why they hired, I believe, Thomas Gibson very, very quickly -- this wasn't too long after Thomas had been on ATWT as Lily's con artist husband Derek. Gibson was there long enough to send Sam out of town until yummy Daniel Markel took over for a while. Rachel and Michael were very popular characters at the time. I'm sure they still are. I always liked Rachel, she was terrifying, but she loved her family dearly and she would cut you if you spoke out of turn. She had such beautiful yet scary eyes. She's better before they start to heavily medicate Rachel later in the show's run. I think they put something in while they were spending all that time straightening her long, long hair... I was not a fan of Michael. He was OK earlier on but by the time he got involved with Stacey he was a cruel and self-righteous ass and his callousness towards Donna offended me. I liked Sharlene a lot, although that may be down to Anna Holbrook. Loved Felicia too. She's OTT, but AW was such a unique show, she fit into that. AW was a show where no one was too one-dimensional, just about everyone could surprise you. It was a very human show. I miss it a great deal.

Amanda was a heroine. She was also a bit of a spoiled princess. I did like Amanda, as I felt like she was a genuinely sweet person, but not a pushover, as Vicky quickly learned. She also tended to pay for her mistakes, there was rarely the propping you get sometimes. I liked Amanda and Evan but I loved Vicky and Evan. I've never understood why they wrote Charles Grant/Evan out just as his story should have been picking up steam. They basically stranded Sandra with poor or nonexistent Sam recasts for years until she left. I've never seen the second Evan. Here's a photo of him. He looks a bit like Dan Gauthier. http://www.igs.net/~awhp/1evanf.html Dennis was Iris's son. He was AW's resident hunk at that time I guess. Chris Bruno. Bruno played gay teacher Michael Delaney on AMC from 1995-1997. He also played a sheriff on the Dead Zone TV series.