DRW50

I know this material isn't exactly classic, but I was wondering if anyone knows the first and last dates for GH's 2023 strike material? I was bored and looking around at some old clips and see that Obrecht returned at that time. Was that a long-range plan or did Frank just figure hell, we've got months to fill, let me bring back a pal? I also see that she was with Scott...was that at this time? How long were they together? And finally I see that Shari Belafonte was on GH as her close friend. I guess the days of weight loss commercials are long gone for Shari, but they could have done better. Too bad they couldn't have had her as a new wife for Jake Meyer.

I agree. I think this is what they intend Kristina to be. She is clearly heading for a breakdown, and perhaps once the breakdown happens, she will be softer...but as I saw someone say, she's been like this since August. I'd argue even further back than August. This isn't a time when the show should have stuck to realism, because it's unwatchable.

Do any of you who know more about these old miniseries than me know what the "production problems" on Deceptions were?

I am hoping the moment where he goes to the Wall might show up, and there are lots of glimpses of other moments I'd enjoy (like his big tirade at the picnic, or Noreen talking about AIDS research, or James Horan's arrival as the real Clay), but I am so glad to see these moments I never thought I would.

Thanks @Franko for posting and thank you @GymnastGuy for uploading. I have wanted to see this since SPW wrote about it in 1997. I know not all is there but I'm glad for what we can see. A strong performance from James Kiberd and classy support from Callan White, who feels more checked in here. On paper, I wouldn't be a fan of the army buddy who is his conscience, but it mostly works. The only slight complaint I have is I wish they had had some of the scenes at the Memorial without music.

I've heard that too. I think Smith did a decent job with a character who on paper was extremely vague, and he also had chemistry with Mary Ellen Stuart, which hadn't been the case with some of her other love interests. I can see why Marland was torn. But I also think they were hedging their bets much of the way through because there were a number of occasions where I felt like the writing tilted more toward a framing of what happens when someone who seems like the perfect murder suspect actually isn't, instead of laying out a case for viewers the way they did with Doug Cummings. I do wonder if they realized how quickly Rex Smith was going to leave and if Marland had plans to recast the character if he'd lived.

The '08 and '23 writers' strikes were a benefit to GH. I can't speak about the 1988 strike as I haven't watched a ton of that period. I know some fans think the strike made the Sonni/Solita saga more compelling, even if it also made the story a mess. Does anyone know if anything on GL changed through the '08 strike, or did the show even have storylines at that point? I think she's good as the early mysterious Blake, from what I've seen. I'm not as sure if I could have seen her bedding Alan-Michael, but you never know.

And that's probably why Marland got cold feet. The story is a whirlwind, probably too much so (Frannie and Darryl are intimate only a few months after Carolyn's murder), but Darryl never comes across as being as much of a heavy as Cummings did, so it's not as much of a retread as it could have been.

You aren't wrong about any of this, but I only have one real issue with the story. I don't think making Darryl the killer was the best idea, because it's just so predictable and there wasn't going to be enough fallout (the real fallout was Darryl leaving town alive, as, in a world where Frannie was recast and Jennifer learned about her father, or if Connor had stayed around given the odd decision to create a past fling between them, there was plenty you could do with him), but they should have done a better job finding another killer. The Harpers, or Arthur - who cares? If they were going to have a minor character as the killer, I might have gone with Dana, as she didn't go on to have any purpose once the plot was over anyway. When I was able to watch at the time, I never felt the story was overly confusing or boring because I just cared about Frannie and the turmoil she was in. To me that was the engine. And in recent years, when I've rewatched, Frannie, as well as Barbara and the fallout she suffered from her paternity lies, still make me feel invested. The parade of bit players is OK with me because they are often just rattled through Margo and Tom, and this is when they still felt like real people instead of shouting all their lines. This is where my feeling connected to the central characters was key - once that connection was broken, I had a much harder time, which is why I thought the whole Diego murder storyline was somewhere between boring and wretched. The only stories at this point on ATWT that bothered me were the stories with characters like Hutch and Rosanna, which bored me to tears, aside from Tess' bitchy asides.

The few times I watch these scenes, Mansi comes across as very cold and aggressive. I imagine this is intentional as she is the child who is closest to Sonny and is meant to be similar to him now, but it just makes the character as tiresome as her father. I think they just assumed they could hire a name from DAYS and give her anything, without caring about how fans would feel - and not just Lexi fans, but fans in general.

Thanks. I thought there was a Hank recast but maybe not. I am derailing the thread so I'm going to stop - apologies.

I mostly thought of Irna because of P&G, admittedly. I was trying to think of when Sunset Beach fired Ashley Hamilton and Adrienne Frantz. There may have been something at Passions (I don't believe there was at PC in the first month) but it was the only other one in recent decades that sprung to mind.

I am convinced Irna Philips is in contact with someone through the spirit plane. She would recast in five minutes and did not give a damn.

They know it won't pass. The plan is to slash the department to bare bones so that it can't be of any use.

More Leo and Alex. Who is this for, beyond a writer who has gone to [!@#$%^&*] another daytime bed and tell us how great it smells?

https://deadline.com/2025/03/jack-lilley-dead-blazing-saddles-little-house-on-the-prairie-1236346792/ Instagram The link is to Melissa Gilbert's tribute.

He looks better with his hair grown out some.

I or someone else posted a post strike interview with headwriters somewhere in here (I think) - I can't remember exactly what Long said but she clearly was not thrilled with the treatment of Blake during the strike. I think she may have said they moved too fast with her in story, and that meant Long had to change some of her plans for the character. Thanks. That's what I was thinking of. I loved Sherry as Blake but she always looked older than her age, so the change was a bit of a wash. I think the biggest difference for me is the characters often seem to lack inner lives under Marland. We hear how they feel - boy do we hear it - whereas with the Dobsons, we know how they feel.

Yes. I think at that time he is living in a home.

Thanks @Franko. Until reading one of the comments I did not realize Leslie played Gwyn for as long as she did (6 weeks). I find Leslie to be very dreary in her soap roles (the "best" being Maeve on GL) so I was definitely glad to get to see her finally getting a much more complex part. She doesn't bring the layers Christine Tudor brought, but she does OK. She was also thrown in at the deep end in being given maybe the ugliest Gwyn/"Clay" scene I can recall. Viewers knowing that this is not actually Clay makes these scenes more interesting, as Gwyn can't understand why "Clay" is so cold toward her since his return. And cruel as the real Clay could be to Gwyn, I don't know if he ever was this nasty. Admittedly, Gwyn started the ball rolling by saying she wished he'd died in the prison camp (!). How I wish Tudor had been there to play that scene. The scenes with Jeff aren't as interesting, but still worth watching. Jeff is still not in full crazy mode and genuinely cares about Gwyn, even as you know, like "Clay" told him, he will regret caring about her. And Leslie seems more at home in the bar scene, even playing her drunk moment in an understated, appropriate manner. What a wild month for the show - not only the Clay/Alex secret about to blow, but recasts of Ava, Jeff and Gwyneth (even if the latter was temporary).

No Knots people in this TV-movie, but the screenplay was co-written by John Pleshette and William Devane (both pre-Knots), which is crazy to me. I can't remember if either of them ever talked about this later on.

I didn't care for what I've seen of his work on Y&R, but the China Beach story he had with Marg Helgenberger was powerful. I think some are just better outside of soaps.

Thanks so much @VelekaCarruthers

I believe so, yes.