DRW50

If DAYS had moved to ABC, as was rumored at the time, I wonder if they would have kept AW or still cleaned house of that and Sunset Beach.

That makes sense. I see what you mean. I think I'm just too sour on EE's recent years to be impartial the way I should be.

That's a good line. I imagine some NBC higher-up. They should have kept the show on longer if they wanted them to try to push out that gunk. Thanks.

The only part of a possessed Rachel I would have enjoyed is if Iris had returned (less likely in AW's last years than demonic possession). Amanda: Iris...Mom's been possessed by the Devil! Iris: I've been telling people that for 30 years.

I haven't seen the episodes myself but from what I read some patient came into the hospital with vampire bites and I think Tomas may have started having dreams or was bitten (?). It didn't go very far.

They kept flirting (vampire Tomas, Carl selling his soul), but luckily kept averting until near the end with Lumina. At least none of that really affected central characters (Amanda, but she was so generic). Maybe the original version would have had more of an influence.

One of my least favorite soap opens. To me it has dated much more than the Gayle/Morris intro. And then they could not afford proper updates (although they had a few, like Rhonda Ross - hell knowing P&G by then maybe she paid for it herself). My "favorite" was when they didn't bother to update Kevin McClatchy leaving but kept the shot of Dahlia Salem, so we just got shots of her spinning in some unknown figure's arms. Any time I see that I keep expecting to hear "AAAGGGHHH!!!" and to see her go flying. So that's when they choose to listen to the fans... I did see a fanfic on here a long time ago that made good use of them but the possibilities in the last years of a soap were not much. At least they didn't go through with the plans to have Carl bring Satan to Bay City (imagine a possessed Rachel).

That would have been DePriest, yes (I didn't realize her work was still appearing in January 1997). At that time I'd just seen select clips of '80s AW, so had rose colored glasses, but I did prefer them. The best I can say about late '96 AW is you had some good actors who made you care when the writing didn't. They were also smart enough to center Rachel, even if the story was dumb (the twins and the tumor).

Tony arrived on Helena's arm - another story that seemed to be dropped.

I think Danielle was killed off in the spring and then Rib (what was his name - Jake?) a few months later, at the Nurses' Ball (starting that weird continuity issue with GH/PC where horrible things would happen on one side of the NB while the other would be fine and dandy). Someone must have taken pity on Katherine. Looking back that's where I should have known she wasn't long for the show and had very few connections left.

You're right. And then she was living back at the Q mansion for a while, for some reason. I didn't pay extremely close attention to early PC but I mostly remember the Rex story being dull and a waste of talent, and Danielle being dull, even if Rib Hillis was gorgeous. I'm not a big fan of money scheme stories in general, which didn't help. I think moving the Cassadines away from their earlier malevolent/gothic roots and into being about money schemes also made them less interesting.

Bekins was definitely the best for me, even if I wonder how he'd be with Reinholt. My introduction to the show was through AWHP. I saw some of their '80s tapes and read their site at the same time as I started watching the show, which was much worse in comparison. I think the first "new" episodes I watched were from late '96.

Neither do I. I remember her sparring with Lucy and maybe the Nurses Ball appearances (wasn't she "dead" for 98 but alive for 99?), but that's it. Reading some of the recaps I do remember some people at the time pointing out how stupid the whole gaslighting Rex story was.

This looks like Ralph Waite is going on a Godzilla-style rampage. I agree that the story lost a lot of steam very quickly. I am not sure if the show, or Ted, were worried about Gary looking too foolish, but Jill veered so far into just being pathetic that it was difficult to care. I wonder if it was cut short.

I can see the similarity, now that you mention it.

That didn't happen until a year or so after PC's premiere. Looking at IMDB she did make a number of appearances, but only a few involved the Dominique story. Port Charles Recaps: The week of January 12, 1998 on PC | Soap Central Port Charles Recaps: The week of February 16, 1998 on PC | Soap Central

Thanks. Great work.

If you want to compare: ia800506.us.archive.org/7/items/another-world_202308/Another World.mp4

That's always how a number of fans operate. The show just doesn't care about Trina, period. I think sitting through some of this is when I moved away from GH for a very long time. It was extremely uncomfortable. I don't know if they were trying to emulate the old Our Gang shorts, but it came across more like Baby Burlesks.

Cindy's return has been pretty rough as they don't even bother to write for her relationships with anyone, even her kids. Just repeats and "shocking" moments. They left so much on the table. She could be anyone. EE has been stuck in repeat and meta hell for years. I still wince at the attempts to make Sonia into Dot and the endless trumpet jokes.

Charlie always seemed too old for her.

Olivia had such a presence. And many consider Black Christmas to be their favorite horror film. Dayle Haddon has also passed away. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/dayle-haddon-dead-model-actress-1236094849/

I do wonder how people would have felt if Matt had stayed as Brian for the Dixie/Brian story. The recast allowed them to just make him a brand new character.

Having Cindy attacked shows they have no faith in the story itself (with good reason). The laughable choice to literally recreate a scene from 1986 shows how little faith the show has in its own future.

That's lovely. Thank you.