DRW50

I remember Susan Bedsow Horgan not remembering some of her ATWT decisions when interviewed. I suppose it's inevitable, especially with material from 30, 40 years ago. Probably the only way they might is if they sit down and watch the episodes with their names on them, and how many writers are going to do that? At least Nancy Curlee did a bit for Locher Room.

@NothinButAttitude Here's when Curtis meets Rick. @dc11786 As always, I enjoy reading your breakdown/commentary of the period. I agree with you about the generic nature of the material (which is often an issue with Loving in the '80s). I wish more of the material Lily had after the affair reveal was available, where she worked at the shelter, to see if that touched on her past. As it is she is just a generic schemer, and Britt Hefler is a competent but not very dynamic actress. I agree about not being into all the stuff about Jim's past. I don't mind Jim, even if he wasn't the most dynamic of characters, but it's all so convoluted (and too reliant on offcamera backstory) and I don't think Mark Pinter had the charisma for the role he was put in. The most interesting element for me was the torture scenes with the double agent. That guy had a presence. They should have considered putting him into the regular cast. I also agree the Ava and Clay material was the standout. Roya is just enthralling to watch. Yes, her Ava was another Erica, but she makes the character compelling in her own right, and Clay/Alex was a more dynamic love interest than Erica tended to get. The added elements of her history with the Alden family help.

Thanks @SoapDope for the clip. The poor quality of these last few clips gives them a real horror vibe. That deeply sad scene with Betsy and Melinda in the previous clip followed by her going back into the main living room of house that looked like it was rotting away. It's very difficult to watch. I suppose it was just too easy for future writers to not mention Melinda, as she was only on for a few years and never had any truly substantial story with Kim or Barbara. Similar to why Maggie was never mentioned (even though Cricket had a few mentions over the years).

Thanks for the extra info. I know how time-consuming it is to work on Wikis, but I wish they'd chosen a more flattering photo...

I was reading the Soapcentral bio for Brad Hollister, which has at least one major error (saying he left in summer 1981 when we know he's there up to at least December 1981), but I assume has the right info about his exit. After Dee admitted her feelings for him on the stand at John's rape trial and Annie lost their child, he and Dee had sex, but he admitted to her that he had schemed against the family over the silver mine, and she wanted nothing more to do with him. This seems like a very abrupt wrapup to their relationship - I wonder if they had planned to reunite Brad and Dee but another writing changeover dumped him. I am also trying to figure out how much of this story was by strike writers. The strike ran from April-June 1981. Did the Dobsons leave with the strike and not come back for a while? How much of the rape trial story were the Dobsons responsible for? Any? After all the hard work they did with the Holly and Roger story, refusing any justifications for him raping her, the John and Dee story almost feels like a gruesome parody, playing into tawdry stereotypes about "crying rape." I wonder if the show did originally plan for John to rape Dee, but someone realized he was too valuable a character to lose (and he had already raped one woman as it was).

Someone uploaded this to Archive not long ago. It's February 8, 1988. I know a ton of this period of the show (the Wild West story) was up on Youtube at one time so if you've been around long enough it won't be new to you, but I'm posting again anyway. If you have a problem watching the video you can download by clicking on the mpeg4 button and then clicking again to download the file. One Life To Live (Feb 8th, 1988) : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Someone uploaded this to Archive not long ago. It's most of February 8, 1988. I don't think it's been up before (apologies if it has) so I am posting it. If you have a problem watching the video you can download by clicking on the mpeg4 button and then clicking again to download the file. "Loving" Soap Opera Full Episode From February 8th, 1988 : Junknasium : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive @slick jones @Vee @Sapounopera @Kane @dc11786 @FrenchFan @Paul Raven @Matt @NothinButAttitude @Khan @John @Joseph @j swift @Forever8 @Franko @Manny @BetterForgotten @te. @Soaplovers @Joshua Montgomery @chrisml @Maxim @Contessa Donatella @Soapsuds @soapfan770

IMDB credits her in this. I wonder if it's another one of those likely mixups with actors having the same name, like the Natalie Ross credit I mentioned in the AMC thread. M.U.G.E.N (Video Game 1999) - IMDb

Looking back at the photos from the previous page I just saw that Harley Jane Kozak was there too. Richard Eden. So many people. Now if only a producer could take the opportunity to use some of this talent while they still can.

The comments are reminding me of how hated Courtney was. Just despised. I remember when she decided to jump into freezing cold water while pregnant and fans tore her apart. ALW looks a lot like Laura Wright here. I guess it explains Jax/Carly.

Based on her writing at OLTL and GL...even if I know it was probably impaired or sabotaged, I'd tend to agree.

Reminds of her hair around 1988 - a bit of an odd look. I guess she was experimenting.

I was thinking yesterday of how many weren't at the AW reunion, and of course all have their reasons, but it did make me wonder. Glad SB got such a turnout.

You're probably right, I am just curious as RFK Jr was desperate to get something from him so he could drop out. This has definitely lowered my opinion of her. I was going to say I won't watch any more of her work but I don't even know what she does now without Larry David.

I agree with @Paul Raven that Marcy would benefit from a shorter haircut but otherwise I think she looks nice. You can still recognize her and she seems very happy to be there. It's nice to see her enjoying herself and this is the moment the long-suffering Cruz and Eden fans deserve (yes I know they aren't their characters). Can we talk about how great Judith McConnell looks? Get her on a soap! Vincent also looks terrific. He's aged well. So nice to see Carrington Garland there.

Most of that came out in an article a month ago - someone edited it afterward but not quickly enough. Being tied to Aaron means he will probably only last a year and not make it out alive. We'll see if they avoid being as lazy as they were with Jamie Tate and Tom King.

When she came back it seemed like a number of characters did support Annie over her, but that was a rarity. The age difference with Vigard and JWS did stand out, but she had more of an edge and sincerity. Cooke was just...there. The best I can say is she seemed stronger in the role as she was leaving. I think they may have just decided Newman was more appealing as a leading man, although so many writers came in and out during that period.

@Vee I guess we already knew this after he got his younger brother hooked on drugs (he later died of an overdose) and ended up leading to his wife's suicide, but the man is just a sociopath. This is incredibly horrifying and premeditated behavior. Yet his ever-diminishing band of cultists won't say a peep because they are still busy writing about "the duopoly." I almost wonder if Trump asked him to say all this to distract people from his troubles.

I did prefer Dawson in the day-to-day stuff I've seen, although I think Schulz might have had more of a presence. I think you're right and Dani did live with Susan for a time. She was only on for a few years (95-97 - if she even made it to 1997) and then not mentioned again for a long time until her disgusting, sleazy brief return late in the show's run that felt like Goutman trying to demoralize longtime fans.

She's also excellent in the scenes with Kim after Dan died. I am not surprised they recast her as this was when P&G was trying to cast more generically attractive actors for young parts but to me she and Lindsay are the two best Betsys and they both have that subdued quality which fits the part given all of Betsy's losses. I remember a story Meg Ryan told (when she was still on ATWT) in an interview about early on in her tenure she was at an event and she was pointed out to the crowd, and she barely got any response, because fans still missed Davidson (which likely doomed the Betsy in between them). Of course Ryan won people over quickly enough. Ironically the time that Pat Bruder was dumped is when Ellen could have had more relevance than she'd had for a number of years (at one point she was just there to hold Courtney's hand), given that Susan and Emily were feuding, and Emily was making threats about going for custody of Alison. This was also when Dani, Ellen's great-granddaughter, had arrived in town. I think Dani initially lived with her and had scenes with her. They should have done what they did with Emma - she was put on recurring but still made appearances. Instead, she was just dumped, although Lorraine Broderick, to her credit, brought Ellen back a few times in 1998. That was it, sadly. I don't even remember her being mentioned after that period. It would have been interesting to me if one of the quads came back in the '00s and Ellen took them in and they confided in her that they were a lesbian, or struggling with their gender identity, and there was conflict as Ellen accepts them, but Annie doesn't. (I know they did this with Lily, Luke and Lucinda, but all stories are repeat stories, and I didn't care about Lily or Luke that much anyway) Speaking of Stewart banishments, I noticed that IMDB and Soapcentral did not have Dee or Annie returning for David's funeral (although Soapcentral mentioned it in Dee's bio). I had to actually go back and check to make sure they were there. Another reminder of how unreliable IMDB is, I suppose. I wasn't a huge fan of either '80s Dee but I got the sense Jacqueline Schultz was the popular Dee (and I think I would have liked her more too if not for the incredibly lethargic and depressing stories and atmosphere surrounding her...and constantly being preyed on by creepy older men). I wonder if she didn't return in 1991 because of her split from Larry Bryggman. Vicky Dawson is a perfectly fine performer from what I remember but her more upbeat demeanor is an odd fit for this occasion. (I remember reading that Melanie Smith only JUST managed to return - so glad she did as a recast Betsy and a recast Emily would have been tough to take)

By the time of the 1983 episodes when he and Morgan break up, he already seems to be written sympathetically, especially considering only a year before he was heavily pursuing her when she was vulnerable and just married. I don't know if Josh was ever a very likeable character (I remember being disgusted when his response to Reva trying to win him back post return from the dead was shaming her for being sexually abused as a young girl), but they seemed to drop the complete baddie routine after Marland's departure. I like him more in his last few years (although I haven't watched closely) but I find him difficult to stomach under Marland. He seems so toxic and the way he treats Nola (annoying as she may have been) bothers me - constant berating. When watching the Quola clips a while back I noticed that he becomes nicer toward her almost as soon as Marland goes. I figure this must be why he had a guest spot on Cybill. At least she remembered him. Derek/Vanessa would have been a good pairing, if the show had gone there. Beyond being a plot mover for the "good" characters I am not sure exactly what plans Marland had for Vanessa. I have very mixed feelings about Ed. Peter Simon was my first Ed. I didn't see Mart Hulswit for many years. I truly did warm to him as soon as I saw him. Sometimes I change my opinion on a recast after seeing an earlier actor (I can't ever get much out of Peter Bergman as Jack after seeing Terry Lester), but I still connect with Simon when I see him in the part, even as the character can behave in an insufferable way. Simon is just such a strong, incisive actor. I think if I'd seen Hulswit first I would have a more difficult time with the change, as GL of all shows is the one I had the most harshly negative reactions toward recasts for (I never accepted the replacement Billy, and it took me years to get over the exits of Rachel Miner, Sherry Stringfield and Beverlee McKinsey - in Beverlee's case I never fully did). Gentry seemed OK when he came back but there wasn't much spark and there was not much of a family for him - you had the somewhat forced Michelle recast (Rebecca Budig), and Rick. I don't know what plans they had for Ed, but they gave up very quickly.

I was mostly glad many of them seem to have tried to age naturally, so I can still recognize them. It's comforting to know that Julie Osburn still has the same smile and is what I could see Kathleen being at this stage of her life. I thought Russell Todd looked good as well for someone his age who was likely outdoors a lot. Alice Barrett also looked very good.

I know some other versions of these photos were already posted but I'm not sure if the AWHP's 60th anniversary photos were. ANOTHER WORLD: 60TH ANNIVERSARY (anotherworldhomepage.com) Nice to see the turnout from a number of actors who were on the show in the late '60s and early '70s. I know Judith Barcroft was interviewed by WLS years ago and Barbara Rodell has a book coming out, but I hope some of the other vets of that era like Jordan Charney and Leonie Norton can be interviewed while there's a chance.

I think he was one of many cleared out in 1982 after Marland left. He was very insecure of her obvious feelings for Tony. Per Soapcentral they broke up after she spent the night at Tony's (platonically). I wish they'd kept him around. He had a quiet wit and was attractive. I liked his quasi-friendship with Nola too.

Those are great ideas. The show wrote Don into something of a corner but they could have easily tried. They just gave up, I guess because they thought he was too old. I'm surprised sometimes that P&G allowed the focus on David and Ellen.