DRW50

@Mona Kane Croft Thanks for the extra info on the crossovers. I can see how difficult it must have been to keep them going. It's always interesting to wonder what might have been. @chrisml Thanks. The story from Tina about Joel Crothers made me laugh. I wish I could see Kate. She sounds more interesting than Tina's other soap characters ever were. A shame they had to give her such a poor exit story, especially since I don't get the feeling her replacement in Julian's life was that loved by viewers.

Thanks @chrisml . These are juicier excerpts than I had expected. I wonder who the affair might involve. I also wonder if this is why she was written out after a year (then again AW had huge turnover at this time - maybe everyone kept finding out about the affair).

Watching the first episode. Nice to see Melinda O'Fee not as campy as she was later on but it's still a step away from the more grounded work I remember her doing in that Love of Life episode that used to be on Youtube. Did they give Anthony Call the Ellen Demming special? His hair looks unnaturally grey. I don't remember him looking like he had a dye job on OLTL. I agree - the ties to the Bauers would have made more sense to explore. With Ed gone they should have brought in Hope and Mike. Instead, we got more "A. Spaulding" and a love triangle with an angel.

Thank you again @Vee . What a wonderful surprise in such dark times, and with a new P&G soap on the way. I never thought I'd live to see any of these moments - even fragments, let alone an episode. It's so nice to see my Oakdale friends and family again. I assume this must be not long after Irna left. I hope some of hers might pop up someday (we already have one in B&W).

@Vee Thanks! This is incredible. Looking at the credits on that first one I will FINALLY get to see Nancy Addison as Kit Vested! I never thought I'd see the day. Thank you so much for telling us. @vetsoapfan I know we've talked about this period a few times so I assume you will enjoy them too.

If Ron had truly loved his sad little wink winks, he should have had Tori burn it down with them inside (Shane could have gone to comics camp).

Viki probably would have been better off staying there. Bauer is another good choice. I might say Leslie Charleson too. Thanks for crediting Don Wallace as he's one of those writers whose contributions I tend to not know enough about. I see he stayed at OLTL through 1986 - that may be why the conversations start feeling more and more unnatural in the Rauch era after this point. Even in some of the duller parts of the early '80s you still have "real" moments. I see he moved to Loving for a few years, a show that needed many more natural conversations than it would have had in that period. Your point about actors growing out of bad habits is another reminder of what we've lost in soaps - it's all such a grind now people can barely get beyond saying their lines at random points for random episodes. Yes. I think the first hour episode is the day Brian Kendall is run over.

He did for about six months after Rick Hearst left. He mostly seemed very young and green.

When I try to look sometimes I do often get real estate listings. I see the second actor in that part went on to win an Oscar for co-writing On Golden Pond and has a website. I wish he'd do an interview about the show, if he is still in the industry or willing to talk. https://ernestthompson.us/

https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/little-house-on-the-prairie-reboot-netflix-1236289832/ A mistake. I have already seen some dying sites like AV Club claiming this is being done to appeal to traditional values people/Trump voters. The books and the show were much wilder than that, especially the show. But Netflix is often very good at numbing everything out.

Thanks @chrisml always interesting to hear a bit of the bts details. Other than the Slesar period Somerset does seem generic, the Loving of its time, but I wish I could see anything of it beyond the scraps we have.

I actually think Carl might have had the better material. RIck spent a lot of his time as Alan-Michael scheming or pouting. Carl had so much charisma. Even in a bad part on ATWT.

Other than the Chicken Shack degradation (which Whitfield didn't really blame on her specifically - he said he was told they just weren't going to have Derek and Mimi marry in a church because they'd already used that set for other recent weddings), I think some fans might say McTavish gave better material to the black characters than what they would get through the rest of the '90s - although I think that may be more down to ABC likely feeling the black canvas could just be replaced by the (sanctimonious and dull as hell) Santos family. Still, I think Angie was better served with Loving at the time, at least once her stories got going - I know some fans feel that her story doesn't really pick up until the time she's sick and Janie dies, giving her a transplant. After that she gets steady, good material. I actually had a dream a few days ago where there was a big special episode, done with a filmic quality, and a premiere, of Angie going to Loving, and Angie and Pat walking out of a big movie theater, etc. Maybe somebody can turn that into an AI someday...probably around the time we all get turned into AI.

It's still special, but I wanted to share an earlier link.

Thanks for letting us know. If anyone wants to see the Youtube version this one has been up for about a decade:

Granger is one of those performers I think of having such a strong presence onscreen, which is well used in his Hitchcock films. I think the day-to-day grind of acting wasn't his forte. He's not awful here, but it stands out for me compared to some of the others in these episodes. I can't see this being what they had expected. I started watching that 1975 episode earlier today but am still only partway through. Dorrie has such a formidable presence as Cathy. Harmon is also very good but it does feel more like seeing the character wind down with her in the role. Thanks for reminding me of those three 75/77 episodes as I'd never saved them (they also have some Manhattan Transfer variety series episodes).

I could see that being true. I can't think of another reason why they would have let Delano go. Admittedly it's just a very short clip, but he's a handsome guy with screen presence, seems to be an OK actor too.

@vetsoapfan Thank you for the info on Peter's accent. The explanation reminds me of when EE realized the Vicky Fowler they cast could not do an American accent, so one day she just started using her natural British accent and she gave the same line about trying to fit in or something along those lines. I haven't ever seen Erica Hope so you may be right about her being better than MTS early on. I had forgotten Gerald Anthony's quote about Brynn Thayer. It makes me laugh all the more knowing they were married at the time. I can see her being somewhat wooden early on - she just had so much presence. Watching the fourth episode on the channel, I am glad to get to see more of Tony around Llanview. I only ever associate him with the Dorian and Victor story. Never knew much about his involvement with Cathy or that Wanda worked for him. I thought George Reinholt did a good job in the depressing commiseration scene with Joe. Wanda is such a spark plug even here. I can see why Paul Rauch kept her even as he wiped out so many longtimers. Marilyn Chris never loses what makes her special. It took me a while to figure out who was talking with Viki - Will Vernon. I wouldn't have recognized Farley Granger. He was never much of an actor, but at least on ATWT he had the same charisma from some of his old films. There's just nothing here, aside from, frankly, a very shaky performance. I can see why he was recast. Erika is styled better in this episode. I will say it's weird seeing Viki in that house. I know she was in there for a lot of the '70s, it makes sense for her to have her own home with Joe (did Joe ever live in Llanfair?) and have the resentment in the background of Dorian "taking" Llanfair from her, but I'm glad Joe Stuart or whichever producer eventually let Viki take Llanfair back. I just love watching Nancy Pinkerton. It's such a deeply intelligent performance. You know Dorian is troubled, but she doesn't let Dorian's neuroses overwhelm her. She seems like an everyday person, but you know she isn't - that's what makes her so dangerous.

I didn't watch the whole thing but I think even Steve Burton said on his podcast he doesn't want a Sasha/Jason relationship. I hope they listen to him. I think it would just be lazy and sad, and kind of gross given his history with Michael. I think it makes sense if Jason becomes attached to Sasha and her baby, but that doesn't need to turn romantic. It's not exactly out of the norm for GH, or any soap, in recent decades. This show can often be brutally plot-driven. Tracy has never liked Sasha anyway. I think it just stings more because of the periods when they do write better material for Tracy. Seeing her put back in some of the slop that reminds me of when she was just there to be a foil to the "good" Quartermaines is beneath her and Jane and us. And I don't even mind Sasha. All the Carly and Brennan stuff, what I've seen anyway, leaves me with mixed feelings. I do see where he's something of a temporary character, the type who would have been killed off in "events" back in the day, and it's just a stopgap until the show figures out which big pairing to put Carly in...but it is better than going with Sonny/Carly again, a pairing I genuinely do not think any viewer wants at this point. Carly needs to be rebuilt, and doing so while she's lost so much of her family would be a good time to do it. For a long time, I would have said they should take away all her money and status, but I'm not sure it would matter now. Still, I hope they give her a big reset.

Thanks. How is it that Peter still has that Allo Allo accent in the December 1976 episode but does not in the May 1977 episode? Did he go to the no-accent clinic we saw on GH last year? Was that whole thing just Frank Valentini honoring OLTL in a way we never appreciated? Nice to see a Pat episode from this time beyond the truncated Daytime to Remember installment from around the time Kevin was born.

This may seem like small potatoes, but it's still a sign of voter discontent, one that explains why the GOP are so eager to dismantle anything stopping them and why they own our entire media. Democrats flipped a state senate seat in a district Trump just won by 21%. This was not expected. Dave Weigel mentioned that Democrats in the district had recently "waved it off" when he asked them about their chances. https://www.kcci.com/article/iowa-senate-district-35-election-democrats-win-mike-zimmer/63596596

Finishing the last episode I now see why this Vince was vaguely familiar to me - it's Sam Lucas from AW. The scraps I've seen of him on there are better. And he could even play a blue-collar man without having a Guys and Dolls accent. There's a good, understated dream/nightmare sequence with Dorian and Joe in the third episode. Matt so clearly wants Dorian and can't accept that she has no interest in him. In this last episode it came through more and he wasn't as much of her frenemy. In some ways he feels like what David was to her in 1995, before they made the relationship more romantic and made David into either a good guy or a complete moron depending on the writer.

This OLTL episode has a GH promo at 16 minutes with Terri Webber and Mark Dante. I think this is Michael Delano. Is this the first clip we have of him?

I know Dorrie herself was a big feminist, based on her interviews. I think she may have mentioned some back and forth with George in those although it's been a while. They must have just been trying to find any part for Albee after his allegedly messy departure from Edge. Definitely. Or one of the doomed girlfriends on Soap. Watching the third episode and we see this Felicia who was a devoted maid to the Lords for years. I am guessing she was whipped up just for this story. Does anyone know if she was ever mentioned later on?

I kept meaning to watch but hadn't yet. I'll keep him in my thoughts and prayers, cliche as that phrase has become. I know he and his family are facing so many unimaginable choices. I see that during this part of the interview an old clip of Jerry ver Dorn randomly pops up, which is eerie, but comforting. I wasn't sure what he meant about not being in contact with his daughter - I'd need to go back and watch. Locher remains as awkward as ever, but you can see how some of the P&G actors do still trust him, and I don't think we'd be getting these interviews without him.