DRW50

There are a few other tidbits, mostly about Maureen Garrett and Jean Carol, but not much.

She speaks of AMC being canceled. I'd guess it was written between that time and Agnes Nixon passing away.

Her comments about Michael Zaslow.

I do think the Brent/Marian story garnered some interest. The ratings went up - the show was very close to being canceled up to that point - and Frank Beaty was widely praised. I thought the story was very compelling to watch on a day-to-day basis. Ugly, and yes, a ripoff of various films, but entertaining. I hated that they killed Nadine but I was still watching and enjoying the story. I think the inherent ugliness of the plot and the one-note treatment given to the "good" characters was masked by the pacing and the drive and by Beaty. And Rick Heart and Sonia Satra did well, even though I never cared for Lucy. I knew they were making us feel sorry for Lucy, but in this case, it worked, as she was put through hell, instead of just endless "poor Lucy has a crush on Alan Michael," stuff. The woman who played Susan, Nick's girlfriend, also did very well with a thankless part. I imagine someone at the show might have agreed because I was pretty sure they had planned for her to be killed by Brent but she survived and then just left with Nick (Vincent was fired, right?). I do wonder what would have been if they had tried to keep Brent on the show, as they seemed to be planning before Frank Beaty's breakdown made it impossible. I can't see it working, but it still would have been better than the other stories on display. That was the biggest problem - there was absolutely nothing else to care about, maybe other than Annie's spiral into pill addiction. You had "A. Spaulding" and "Save Fifth Street," and the incredibly grotesque Lonitrat stuff with Roger/Dinah/Hart. I tend to agree. Nixon did come from P&G soaps, and GL was the P&G soap of all P&G soaps. The writing team in general at GL had so much upheaval and there was no one of value running P&G at that time. Maybe McTavish and MADD could have worked better together, but then MADD pissed all over any viewer goodwill almost immediately.

Never published.

Thanks again @Maxim . I knew of Trevor starting out bad but didn't know about the coercion with Marissa (although I imagine many would have said it was no big deal...). He looks so grimy there - Kiberd does play up all the slime. I wonder who saw in him the chance of playing a more heroic version of the character. He was on AW playing a psycho (a more cleaned up version) not long before this.

Thanks. That does sound familiar. She was very green on Loving but very likeable. Thanks. I wouldn't be surprised if Eva just joined the show because of the promise of sharing material with Maurice Benard and didn't follow most of the rest.

Who would you say the good younger actors were? It seems like Conboy repeated many of his mistakes at GL (I haven't seen enough of his Santa Barbara to know if he did there too). Tells you how much Bill Bell must have had a strong voice at Y&R. Do you think things would have been better if the Karpfs had stayed?

Maybe they were going for more Hollywood names who hadn't been on soaps (Cypher had been on ATWT a few years earlier). He would have been a good choice. Thank you. This is a worthy read. Having all the anecdotes from cast and crew adds a touch of genuine historical coverage. @Vee The mention Tonja Walker gives about Carolyn Jones teaching her how to do "eye acting" makes me realize that some of the big/crazy eyes Tonja could do as Alex Olanov does remind me of Carolyn. Do fans feel the Sloan and Ali story was a mistake? Did they break Trey and Sloan up for that story or had they already split? On the one hand, it is far-fetched (although the mid '80s was the peak of vague Middle Eastern adventures in TV and movies intertwined with DC...Goldie Hawn and Buck Henry even made a movie about it), but I do think Farantino and the guy who played Ali have good chemistry and there are some compelling dramatic moments. She's certainly selling it for all she can. I do wonder why they went through such a spinning wheel with characters like Kelly and Trey - I am not sure why the show split them up. Peggy Sloane is a better writer than Lipton, although she was mostly a "just there" type of writer, especially at OLTL. Her most praised work was probably at AW. I'm sure it's already been answered, but did Conboy ever say what plans he might have had for the characters if the show had been given a reprieve? I'd say Sloan would have lived, but if Farantino was leaving the show, maybe not.

I was never a big fan (I think I liked him most as Desi Arnaz), but many did see Maurice as sexy at the time she wanted him back on AMC. I remember her being married to a guy in a band (Shandenoah?), which was a factor in her leaving. I liked Gloria too. Teresa Blake was such a unique presence.

Thanks. So I guess the previous team may have had plans for Kelly but Ellis didn't. I'm still not sure why the show gave up so easily on Lorna. There was some talk about this on the Loving blog post for Colby Cantrell, but the huge turnover in the young female cast led to so much being on Trisha's shoulders (and Stacey's). I may have seen Kirsten, I'm not sure. I don't know if I ever saw Rob. Dave was the longest lasting of them, vanishing somewhere in 1990 or 1991.

You give me a lot of insight into Nancy. Thanks. I haven't watched tons of the Bible story, but it seems like something that was never suited to the show, and maybe only could have worked if GH or DAYS of that era were involved (I can see Alice, Caroline, Shawn and Tom being drawn into a Bible mystery. I wish they'd taken your approaches with Jeff. If he had stayed maybe he could have become jealous of Dave, who was so accepted by everyone. I do think the cast changes played a part. Miriam is also written out around that time. And most of the newer people aren't as compelling - the younger female cast (and the Lori recast) in particular.

Thanks for reminding me I never posted that mention here. It's at about 55 minutes and goes on for longer than usual. I guess ABC/Capital Cities wanted their money's worth. One of the most interesting parts about '80s Loving and up to about '91 is you will find completely random characters who will be in one or two videos and then I never see them again and have never heard of them. In this episode, it's Ava's beau, Tony (whom I briefly thought was the Tony that Stacey and Lorna were involved with - odd to re-use that name so quickly), and this girl Kelly who is talking with Shana and Jim. I can't find anything on her. Considering she was staying with the Aldens you'd think they had bigger plans for her.

Could be. I wish we knew. Hopefully someone out there can help with cleanup.

Thanks.

I think they tried him with Greenlee. And maybe he had a bad seed brother and one or both died? Was he named Juan Pablo?

@Maxim Thanks. Robin Christopher reminding us of the struggles in playing drunk. I did laugh at the way she said "Cooneys" and "I HATE THAT BABY!" I also marvel at how good the set design and atmosphere still was at this time. It feels so claustrophobic, like you are losing air the longer you watch. I wonder if that priest was meant to have more story at the time.

EXCLUSIVE: Memo details Trump plan to sabotage the Social Security Administration Please share this with so many who are in the dark.

You're right - she does become more mixed as time passes (but never fully redeemed, similar to Russ). I wonder if they thought being on CBN meant they'd have more time. I remember saynotoursoap's reviews (read them again recently) about how the show was in a strong place and then stumbled for a while. I'm not sure if that helped lead to the cancelation or if it was inevitable. At least the closing story is mostly strong.

That does make me smile, silly as it may be. I wonder what the last time even AMC mentioned Lainie was.

A few minutes of silent footage here from 1976's Afternoon TV Awards.

The idea of her getting a helicopter, and not having to play Marley, was always too much. Buchanan was never a great choice for the part, she made both ladies feel like caricatures, but once they molded Vicky to her talents, she got better in that part. It still wasn't worth keeping her around. By the end she just felt too generic, too golly-gosh, and would probably have been more suited to stuff like When Calls the Heart if it had been on at that time. She always felt very out of place on GH. JFP's arrival coincided with the end of so many of the actresses on the show (beyond those mentioned, Sarah Brown and Amber Tamblyn also left soon after she showed up), and she just ended up shoving all these new women at the camera. I think Hannah also left somewhere in that timeframe (no big loss).

Just did.

I missed all that, but I also appreciate your reviews, and all the time you spend making the short clips. This isn't a period of AMC I rush to watch so it's a good re-intro.