DRW50

I wonder how much of the in love turn is from Chad Duell leaving. And Nina will go under the bus soon enough, I'm sure. I just watched a clip of Liz telling Cam that Franco is dead (which seems to have been filmed through a potato) - what an overwrought, trite mess. I will give Lipton credit for going all out, even if I thought he was going to burst out laughing (or maybe that was just me). The show barely even tried to do anything with Jake and Jason this year before shipping him off. What an utterly pointless return this has been. There is something amusing about starting the year with a publicity photo of Carly, Jason and Sam and ending it with Jason being passed down to Sasha for lack of any other ideas.

@Maxim Thanks for sharing. Very disturbing.

Thank you for transcribing all this tea and tagging me @NothinButAttitude . She certainly didn't hold back. I was not even really watching AMC at that time but even then, I knew her treatment was incredibly shabby. I'm glad she blocked Frons.

I still think killing off Dawn was a mistake, as Jennifer Guthrie seemed to have some fans and even if that wasn't enough to keep the character, there was no real story in killing the character. It just seems like Monty trying to make a statement. You could say the decision paid off with Emily's arrival, but given how ill-used that character was, I'd still say it wasn't worth it.

Thanks @slick jones for the info about all the new photos. I didn't know Melissa Reeves was ever on AW.

All great ideas. Alex/Gwyn would also be interesting due to the Clay factor.

Savage was more like the long-suffering but plucky heroine of '40s movies, while Tudor was more like the anguished noir lady of '50s films. I can't see Savage playing those later stories. It's tough sometimes to even remember she was meant to be a mother. A few questions: - who would you all have paired Gwyn with if you'd had the chance (someone she was not already paired with)? - if Gwyn had not been the killer, what would you have done with her? Killed her? Sent her to The City? Or something else entirely?

Weren't there claims someone at P&G was the big Cole fan? They did finally write him out in the last year, but too little, too late.

I think the age difference would not be as big a deal in this case as he should be several years older than Serena anyway (I see he's about eight years older in real life but there have been bigger leaps in soap).

Thanks.

I can't remember but is she a part of the whole Alex kissing up to society/running for mayor story?

You're always very polite about who you don't like or like, even when that probably gets very exhausting. If you don't hate Sonny it's not a bad thing, it's just your opinion.

Thanks. This is a nice gift.

This channel is putting up some original broadcasts, with commercials. No big finds here but if you prefer original broadcasts this one's for you.

I'll always wonder how it felt going from what seems like the moribund early '70s period to when the Dobsons took over, although I assume the changes they made were gradual. Aggressive and entitled fan bases being catered to were one of the death knells of soaps. (and so often for the dullest couples)

That would make sense. He was too likeable for that era of the male cast. He would have been a fun host. I guess he falls into that too famous/not famous enough middle ground which stops many from hosting.

If he meant an older man preying on a troubled younger woman, he's not far off. Is that what he meant? I agree that there's nuanced material with Lucky and Cam they could have tried, but that would mean making an effort.

@vetsoapfan You're right - I did like the glimpses of Holly/Ed (not so much her talking about Otalia, but I suppose we can take that as an homage to her scrapped lesbian storyline). I remember the AW story a little, due to some controversy over fans voting over which characters should be killed off. Every once in a while, I see a Twitter account that in the bio says they used to be part of a GL roleplaying experience and now they are mostly politics oriented. That always makes me feel sad because it reminds me that somehow even 2009, 2010, 2011 was a calmer world than what we have now, even if it didn't feel that way at the time.

Whatever your reasons were, I'd mostly just wanted to let you know I appreciated the post as I hadn't heard of some of these.

You may be right. I couldn't remember if that was promotional.

I think Another World and Texas from 80/81 were also briefly repeated on the old AOL P&G channel or whatever it was called.

Maybe it was Gio and Trina arguing about Sonny vs Ava at the time. The connection to Sonny does make me think there were some plans from early in his arrival to make him Dante's son...wasn't this when all the babymaking stuff with Brooklyn and Chase started too?

Wasn't he mentioning some kind of anger toward Sonny early in his run? I remember people speculating at the time about where that would go.

Mainly the returns, some of which were not what the actors deserved (like Holly), but I still appreciated that they were done, and some I found oddly touching, especially now (like Nola). And Vanessa and Billy getting back together. Even Frank and Blake, which was obviously just a filler and part of needing to pair everyone off at the end, I appreciated, as I loved their relationship when Sherry was in the role. There's certainly plenty I could pan, but I suppose I just appreciated that someone still seemed to care, which I was missing in ATWT's last year. And I didn't feel as repulsed by the show in ways I often did in the mid '90s or much of the '00s. I think expanding to an hour was a bad idea for most of the soaps. It's a punishing expansion. I notice no international soaps, even as they have made many of the same mistakes that killed the American soap genre, never made that mistake. Only Josie was there for the Matthews, and she barely ever interacted with them. She was also in a very bad state (frankly she never had a good state...), similar to the Bauers in their last years. I agree AW surviving so long was the bigger miracle. I don't really blame Wheeler for GL's death. By all rights GL should have been canceled after Conboy busted the budget. She kept the show going for 4-5 years. That whole period was a mad dash to cancel soaps and bring in shiny new saviors - four soaps gone, bam bam bam bam. (five if you count Passions) Moonves also had a clear contempt for soaps. I wish the show had survived but I don't think there was any way out. I just wish there was some sort of alternative out there now, so the show won't completely fade for people. I never really read it but I appreciated them having a followup show on Twitter for a few years after GL ended. I hope Beyond the Gates has a few mentions of Springfield, even if many viewers will think they are talking about The Simpsons.