DRW50

1 minute ago, vetsoapfan said:

I found 1982 to be fascinating, with Pat Falken Smith's short tenure a breath of fresh air. She hit the ground running. It was clear she had studied the history of the series and had an understanding of the characters. I was relieved to see that the show would be in capable ands after Marland's departure, just as General Hospital had been when PFS assumed the writing reigns after DM left.

Sadly, I don't know if any of her episodes are available to watch, aside from Quint and Nola clips.

I haven't been a big Survivor fan in a long time, but I remember Sonja fondly. 

https://deadline.com/2024/04/sonja-christopher-survivor-dead-season-one-contestant-was-87-obituary-1235897137/

Is it anything new for other characters to call out Sonny? Calling out Jason is more of a rarity. All the way back to Guza, Sonny could be dragged, but it's mostly a smokescreen.

I'm more interested in some of the responses to Sasha becoming the Q cook (mainly the fans who think the show is through Trina and Sasha trying to subjugate women) than I am in the story itself. 

Heartbreaking. I am sorry that what may have been her best work (Belle on Secret Storm) is all gone, but her work as Dina Mergeron was fascinating. In many ways Dina was an unsympathetic character, but Marla always gave her layers, and stood tall against actors who were extremely talented and extremely charismatic. 

I remember that clip that used to be on Youtube of Dina going to the Abbott home, getting into it with Mamie, and THEN getting into it with Jill. No catfights, all class, all shade, and all ice. A delirious viewing experience. 

When I heard of Ashley's current story, I wished that they had kept Dina around to play a part in it, but now I see they made the right decision. 

Even if I didn't follow most of her last story, I did see the end, which felt moving due to the work of those involved. Compared to how a number of soap legends were treated, Marla got to leave on a high.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/apr/25/laurent-cantet-film-maker-who-tackled-diversity-and-class-in-france-dies-aged-63

Someone here recommended The Class to me a few years ago and it was well worth the watch.

I can't really speak as I have only seen scattered episodes, but based on how moribund most of 1982 feels to me in those episodes (and frankly, a good portion of the Marland era I've seen in the scattered episodes), I can see how early Long/Kobe would have felt like a burst of energy. 

I'm reminded of what happened when JFP took over OLTL in early 1998 after years of the show feeling lethargic. That also ended up being a disaster in the long run, probably even more than Kobe/Long.

Pathetic.

I can definitely see the resemblance.

All those guys and gals who were crushing on them in their CW years can be happy.

@Vee Thanks. Their reaction to this all day has been defensive, petulant, and deluded - their only real personality traits these days. That paper has rotted away for a long time now, which is why Biden was comfortable shutting them out in the first place. And you can tell they feel their relevance fading and can't handle it. They would sell every family member they have to get Trump back in power because they think he can save them, and because they were fond of him on a personal level. One of the many reasons I hope Biden wins is to shut down the power of these publications once and for all, but no matter who wins, they are in their last few years.

24 minutes ago, Vee said:

I think that was still what Frank tried for after she got paired with Spencer, lol. He was only somewhat successful.

Regardless, Trina's love interest just got written off dramatically and the show is undergoing a writing change. The character is going to be recalibrated and yes, sometimes on less whenever something like that happens. I'm not going to assume the worst just yet. Especially since elements of the fanbase are wildly unrealistic if they expect a) Spencer to be recast immediately or b) Chavez to return ASAP and play out a reunion. Neither is likely to happen any time soon. it also remains to be seen if 

  Reveal hidden contents

a young man from the Cerullo family apparently appearing at the wedding might be someone for her, or if it's just a random dayplayer.

 

I think that position is valid. It's more the show's history (or any soap's history) of heavy airtime after one half of a popular pairing goes compared to Trina's airtime, and also the tone of the writing that I can understand getting a negative response. I also think the decision to repeatedly have her show up to apologize or to sit for Ace while Laura spends a lot of time doing prop duty for lunatic characters we are meant to feel sorry for (Cyrus, Heather) hurts the setup that should have been there with the characters.

38 minutes ago, John said:

 Trina knows she never made Spencer chose between her and Ace. Trina is playong the WHAT IF game. We all do it when people we love die. 

I think one of the problems with the framing for Trina is she has limited POV and screentime so those nuances are lost in the writing. Any fan of a character can be entitled, but I am not surprised that her fans seem to think she is being minimized or put into "safe" roles, especially as that was likely the only plan for the character before the pairing with Spencer took off.

Thanks to both of you for the extra info.

7 minutes ago, Xanthe said:

Perhaps Australia was exporting rather than America importing. 

Probably both. I assume someone at ABC was a big fan of Heartbreak High.

The usual NYT projecting and condescending moments. I loathe that they simultaneously chide Democrats for thinking Biden might win even as they bend over backwards to remind us of how well Trump is doing. I don't know any Democrats who are blithely assuming Biden is going to win - whether you believe the polls are not, they are very clear in most of their narrative, enough to cause angst galore. 

On 4/19/2024 at 2:48 PM, janea4old said:

Preview for week of April 22:

 

@DaytimeFan @Khan I am convinced Eileen took inspiration from that time Angela Lansbury played Jessica as a barfly.

On 4/22/2024 at 2:02 PM, Xanthe said:

Another World had Carmen Duncan and Julian McMahon in the 90s. (I do not mention Joy Bell because I am not aware of any other soap credits for her.)

ABC also made a run in the mid '90s with Corey Page, Ingo Rademacher and Vince Poletto. I suppose this was another case of the ABC-ification of CBS.

New Jersey Rep. Donald Payne Jr. dies - POLITICO

10 hours ago, Ben said:

I don’t find the situation with Paul/Krista any different to his past crimes, especially the time he gaslit Steph Scully and tampered with her meds so he could drive her out of town because he believed she was a danger to his grandson, Jimmy. But out of those ashes developed a friendship between Paul and Steph after he was framed for the hotel explosion, a friendship that ended up being the best thing about that storyline.

I haven't watched as far back as many fans, so I can't compare to most of his past crimes, but what bothers me about the story is I just don't think there was any real fallout for the severity of his actions. I don't need Paul to be drawn and quartered, but the most we got, beyond Aaron being mad at him, was Leo moving out for a few months. This was undercut by how much of the framing was on how he suffered, how Paul got his groove back, etc. 

There was no real need to tell this story - they could have had Eden find out about Krista another way, and David still die defending her. Then he and Krista would still be at odds and eventually he'd come to care about her. Chelsea would still scheme and exploit his grief. 

The way the story unfolded to me was the show having him inadvertently kill his son and somehow this be treated as a way to make us feel sympathy. I just find that a little grotesque, and unnecessary, and it didn't work for me at all.

I do think Finola and Maura both try their best, but both their characters tend to suffer from still being dictated by the plot - Anna in particular often feels far away from what she was in her first run for this reason. 

I think this happened with Tracy as well, during her marriage to Luke, but with him gone now, she doesn't have as much constant degradation on her back - also due to the choice to not have her as the whipping girl of the family as she was for many years. 

On paper, any survival of the Quartermaine family runs through Jason or Michael, but Tracy just has such a compelling arc, even if a great deal of it was not intentional on the show's part. The longtime outsider of the family is now essentially the last one left to remember what once was and trying to guide them into a new world. 

I remember Leslie Charleson talking about how Gloria Monty had done her best to minimize the Qs during her second tenure and how fitting it was that most of her last creations in that second run ended up having their scenes in the Q living room. 

I'm glad that after all the unforgiveable damage Guza did to the family, they have still somehow managed to survive to be a focal point for another potential new era. 

5 hours ago, NothinButAttitude said:

That makes sense. But per the book, there were no younger Ryan leads, so it made sense for EJ to be shoved down viewers' throats as she was the only other Ryan on the cast besides Maeve and Johnny. However, I have found that an issue could've been that all the younger Ryan women took on Mary's characteristics. Even Siobhan lost her spunk and became a Mary prototype. You can tell that Paul and Claire grieved the loss of Mary and never truly got over it. 

Siobhan was also there at that time, although I agree EJ might have been their attempt at bringing in another Mary. The problem is so much surrounding the first Mary was lightning in a bottle. And Mary just had more interesting relationships. I remember some lesbian undertones with Rae and EJ (which likely were not intended), but otherwise you just had self-righteous, smug Roger, and a lot of humiliation of Delia.

I should say that I did think Ron Hale was a real talent, as shown in the early years of the show (and maybe the later years - I haven't exactly locked those down) and his thankless part on GH. Any criticism I have is not based on Ron's work.

5 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

Were the cousins established from the outset or just written in ?

I would hope the former as Labine/Meyer seemed to have a comprehensive backstory/bible. It's always smart to have some characters available for down the track.

I never found Richard Backus particularly appealing. He never got a long lasting role.

Maybe a different actor could have made Barry work better?

I think Richard did a good job as Barry when he had the chance - he was extremely smarmy, but we also got some of the more tender sides of the character. He didn't stand out to me from that era of the cast as a weak link, although I guess viewers might have been put off, especially compared to most of the other men on the show at the time.

I don't remember any mentions of EJ and Barry, although someone might know more than I did as I haven't watched those in a long time.

1 minute ago, Paul Raven said:

The only actor I recognized was a young Douglass Watson as the Private.

Thanks! I'll mention that on the video. I thought he looked a little familiar (easy to say now...). And now that I listen he sounds just the same.

Sad. My parents were big fans of McCloud.

The last surviving cast member of Sgt. Bilko.

Sorry if this is the wrong thread, but as this thread and the soap hopper thread have such detailed bios for many soap alum, including their anthology show work, I wondered if any of you might recognize any of the cast in this (and it could be added to their bios). The uploader was looking for cast info. IMDB does have William Post Jr, who was on a number of soaps (Love is a Many Splendored Thing, Where the Heart Is, Young Doctor Malone).