DRW50

Did Erika once say that she had a hard time playing Tori or am I just making that up? Tori was the alter who interested me the most, but she never does return, even when she would have made sense (as mentioned in another thread, Niki in 2002 was basically Tori, just with much worse writing).

That's a good idea. Brenda would probably just say have at it, given the end of their relationship.

Speaking of Tina - I was watching some of the Viki DID story ('95 version) yesterday and was reminded of this scene where Jean...well, the video title says it all. I got the sense a number of times that Malone had no great use for Tina. She was a big fixture when Karen Witter played her but, in some ways, she felt like a new character - even from Rauch to Malone Witter's portrayal changes (I have no criticism of Witter - she was terrific). Tesreau's Tina is just pathetic. Then she was completely trashed offcamera when Malone returned. Kirsta was good on GL, and I can see where a casting director thought she would fit Tina, but Mindy was not Tina. And Malone decided to write Tina as if she were in 1986, but only Andrea Evans could have pulled that off.

I haven't watched all of that period so I can't say but I just thought the show was dull as hell when I was going through that time in 1980. I love Judith McConnell but having her scheme about Mac/Rachel was a dead end because viewers were never going to accept them being apart and she came in after two more compelling schemers (Iris, Janice) had already left their orbit. They would have been better off having Miranda involved in another part of the canvas, although it would have been a struggle because so many men on the canvas at that time just weren't compelling. If they had a stronger figure as Russ, I might have sent her his way.

Considering how many Australian actors keep trying to crack the US market I'd think they could find an Aussie actor, but I agree Jax isn't needed. I'd be fine sending Joss six feet under, frankly. Maybe they can have Sebastian Roche play Jax for her funeral and have him wink at the camera.

I'd imagine it is low. Even if they didn't seem like vets to us, Easton and Howarth had also been at the show for a decade, and they were fired. Kelly was fired. The backstage transition with Mulcahey in and out was a mess. And they've seen a number of co-stars pass away in the last few years. Add in that there's a good chance the show is in its end stages and some may feel they want to leave on their own terms while they can.

I do think she was more inclined to play MJ as weaker, but the writing also made MJ incredibly weak. The show seemed determined to degrade most of the women on the canvas under DePriest, with just a few escaping. Considering DePriest did an entire story revolving around attacking and murdering women who were seen as acting the way a woman shouldn't, if MJ had been strong, she likely would have just been killed off. I think Sally captured a great deal of vulnerability and sympathy in MJ, even though the material was trash.

I think she just is good at getting over Frank, which is nice for her after how she was treated in some past eras. I was going to joke that you can probably tell based on who has a podcast...but there aren't that many, I guess.

I think the only longtimers they really prioritize are probably Maurice and Laura Wright. And of course we don't know if they have also taken cuts.

Neither have I. I know many adored Garrett, but all I remember is a lot of tics and we already got that elsewhere on the show. I am glad they have moved Michael more into the Q sphere but he was brought up in what essentially gutted all the best of GH and that's hard to get past. I assume Michael will be recast, rather than killed off, but I do wonder if they will let the character rest for a while. I don't think they'd fire Duell; he's been more central to the canvas than Kelly has in recent years. I can believe this. For him and for many in the current cast. It's telling that likely the only reason the story with Drew, Willow and Sasha even kicked into gear is because of Duell leaving. No wonder, as you have mentioned, there was little to no genuine feeling to the plot.

Thanks as always @Huntress

I guess they really are going with Lulu/Cody for a while.

I think for a while Viki didn't want to go as heavily against Dorian for killing Victor and then something pushed her to go with what Sloan wanted - maybe Dorian paying Emily Haynes to say Sloan harassed her (?). Dorian was written as such a gorgon for the whole story up to the trial. I can see where Robin wasn't thrilled.

@Planet Soap I don't think I could deny the whole buildup to the "break" was extremely effective, and difficult to watch. The music cues alone were terrifying. Unfortunately, for me the most terrifying part of those segments remains Kirsta Tesreau as Tina.

His condition didn't really come back up again until his last months, when he was trying to hide from Viki that he was about to die.

No idea where to put this Circus of the Stars as it has performers from GL, Dallas, Dynasty, Knots, and future soap stars like Steve Burton, but I may as well put it here for Don Diamont. Only a partial taping but Don's part is intact.

One of the aspects of the Sloan character that annoys me is giving him a dead gay son (I wonder if Malone was a Heathers fan) and pouring on the sympathy for him over the way he treated said dead gay son. All this at a time when other than a recurring character who mostly disappeared after the plot ended, there were no gay men on the canvas (something Malone would try to rectify a decade later, but that didn't really end well [not that the end result of the story was in any way Malone's fault as he was gone by then]).

I never really felt onscreen that it was a younger man/older woman story. Of course it was, but Derwin seemed older than his age while Erika Slezak aged well and managed to maintain a certain vitality that never moved into the Sally Field Soapdish mode of desperation. That may be another reason I didn't care about the story - there was no believable conflict. I'm not saying I would have wanted her paired up with Jason Webb, although that would have been preferable to many of the choices made with Viki in OLTL's last few decades. It's always interesting to see opinion now compared to the time. I remember some fans who VOCALLY loathed Clint and the Clint/Viki relationship. They thought he was controlling and abusive and were glad she got to move on. I always liked Clint and Clint/Viki, but then I started OLTL much later than they had - if I'd watched all through the Rauch years or the early '90s when they made Clint a homophobe, I might have had a different view. The Rappadavidsons and other toys like Tim Gibbs' godawful Kevin were a forerunner to the divisive, cynical approach of soaps in the last few decades, and of JFP as a producer - to try to make them popular she was willing to trash large portions of the canvas. And they were popular only with a subset of fans who only seemed to watch for them (similar to many fans now), which meant when Gary Tomlin booted their asses, many fans didn't seem to care. (I will say I never even saw a single fan of Gibbs' Kevin) She also tried hard to use Asa as a boo hiss baddie to make viewers warm to them, as had been done in the past with characters like Lee Ann, but for the most part I remember fans siding with him. IIRC, once Tomlin comes in, Ben does become a more palatable character, but he was also heavily backburnered as it was clear Mark Derwin was leaving.

@Liberty City Thanks for the article. Another reminder of how important soaps are in keeping actors going. The part about Justin paying her SAG dues even when she had decided to leave the industry is sweet.

That does make more sense. That's true. I have never been sure how popular the Phil recast was, but I know Linc and Kitty/Kelly had a following. I suppose Agnes felt after all the turmoil there was nowhere left to go, and ageism may have also played a factor. I do wish they had tried to keep Linc as a more active part of the canvas, as White had a unique presence I don't think Richard Van Vleet quite had.

Thanks. As we age we lose more memories but it's kind of shocking self-professed soap fan Andy Cohen did not know SMG played Kendall and thought she played Bianca. I suppose it was more of a jolt for Y&R fans because Jaime Lyn Bauer was still there. Other than Paul, all the members of the Tyler and Martin families who were written out were not played by anyone viewers cared about.

The show has such a terrible history on this front. They had the social issue pairing of Simone and Tom, which they never seemed to take seriously as an actual couple, and then we start getting the couples where you get the sense that they are just default pairings, and the show would rather find a more "suitable" white partner. I guess Nik and Gia might be the most prominent exception, but not much of anyone cared about Nik during that period of time due to the recast.

Given the current climate I am unsure if there will ever be a major interracial relationship on GH again (there were very few in the first place). For many years I've resented Steve Burton's presence on GH because I feel like he has often done the bare minimum and any time he manages more it's seen as a miracle, but I do think there's a more open path for him these days with many of Jason's key relationships gone (Robin, Sam) or just not as important anymore (Sonny). The scene where he whooped Drew's ass was effective even if the story isn't anything special because you were reminded that isn't Jason Morgan very often now. I wasn't exactly a steady viewer during Sam's heyday, but I think there was something unique about Kelly - a mix of intensity and vulnerability. As time passed, this seemed to just fade away to sleepytime. I still would have kept Sam over a number of other spent characters, but in theory, there is so much more story for her dead than alive. If only I thought they would make the effort.

I do think the show in that period tried to write Lily as more mature - one of the few positives of the nasty story with Molly drugging Holden to lie that they had had sex was Lily did not believe her and soon found evidence proving Holden's innocence - but returning Lily to being hysterical was an inevitability. Darryl being the killer would have been a fitting finish, but I don't think it was the reason the story didn't work. The whole thing just ran too long. Even then, if Frannie had remained on the canvas, there would have been a powerful story, not just in showing her getting over what happened, but also her hostility with Barbara. I felt like they might have been teasing a Frannie/Hal pairing too. I'm sorry Marland's likely plans to bring Frannie back never got to happen. That was a real mistake and made the whole Darryl story seem like a waste of time.

The Brent/Marian story, if we're mentioning GL, falls into some of the same pulpy and very charged material. There's so much that I don't even know if I could rewatch and was disgusting from a writing standpoint - even having Brent fake HIV results to make Lucy think she was positive - but it was a very strong story in performance and atmosphere most of the way through and easily the highlight of Sonia Satra's tenure. The show may have been canceled if not for that story. Frank Beaty was an extremely rare talent and McTavish used every drop of that talent. It did seem obvious at the end of the story that they were planning to keep him on if they could, which would have been a horrible choice, no matter how superb he was.