DRW50

RIP Tony Lo Bianco. Tony Lo Bianco Dead: 'French Connection,' 'Seven-Ups' Actor Was 87 (hollywoodreporter.com)

Thanks. Given how beloved Alice was by the heartland viewers I suppose it was something of a risk to have her with a black best friend (to this day soaps don't really know how to write those friendships - GH recently had a black woman calling herself a "bitch" as she asked her white BFF to forgive her). I guess that friendship was forgotten about as Susan Harney came in.

@Efulton Thanks for the quotes. When he talks about the black character, does he mean Linda? Peggy was already mostly gone by the time he came in, wasn't she? It's a shame all that I have seen of Linda is a few scraps near the end of her run (and she didn't even get an exit, IIRC). I do think if they had framed Michael's story within the context of the fallout for his parents, audiences would have accepted it, but then it's easy for me to say. It's just depressing to think about in a time when soaps are increasingly hesitant to even acknowledge that gay men exist (Emmerdale just dumped three gay men in a month and the only two left are barely shown or have no life).

I think the show is less out of this world than it was in some past eras (Brash and Cwiliky, or whatever their names were, were seen as the last good writing team on DAYS, and even they had to bring in a flying saucer), but that doesn't mean much when your headwriter is a thin-skinned no-talent who last had an interesting idea when George W Bush was in office. And to be fair to him, even if he did finally leave, clearly Corday and Sony don't care about their show having any quality - just burning out episodes 50 years in advance.

Thanks as always @Huntress

It's not great (and has the inevitable struggle of a wacky sitcom trying to address topics like suicide), but definitely interesting.

I know the talking points against this are that now Democratic voters are more likely to vote in all elections so it doesn't matter - I'm not sure I believe that, but I do remember Democrats doing well in a lot of 2004 special elections and still losing in November. Hopefully the environment is better this year.

https://deadline.com/2024/06/frasier-cast-dan-butler-edward-hibbert-season-2-1235970224/

Apologies - I had forgotten Pete was not the father. I still don't know why that family was written out so quickly, but then I've barely seen them.

This is another reminder of the creative teams at GH being stuck 20 years in the past.

Dark Shadows Author Dan Ross On David Letterman ShowD : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive Dan "Marilyn Ross famous author of the Dark Shadows series of novels based on the intriguing ABC soap opera. W.E. Dan Ross has been called the world's most prolific author. This is his appearance on Late Night with David Letterman from April 1987 These The Complete Series of Dark Shadows Abridged-Stage Play : Casey Zoglmann : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive On October 25th-28th, 2018, Wesleyan University presented a student's production of a play based on the ABC TV soap opera, "Dark Shadows." It was written and directed by, student, Casey Zoglmann. Art Wallace The House Goodyear Playhouse Recreation : Art Wallace/Dark Shadows Cast : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive This is a piece of lost television. On September 8th, 1957, Goodyear Playhouse presented a teleplay by Art Wallace. "The House" served as a basis for the TV soap opera, "Dark Shadows." "The House" was first presented on a show called "The Web" in 1952. The second version was expanded from 30 minutes to an hour and featured a different cast. While "The Web" version has survived, the one by Goodyear has not. Fortunately, actors from "Dark Shadows" met to perform the play, reader's theater style.

That makes sense.

Thanks.

Sorry for the trigger! I had heard a bit about Munchie in the last year or two but never have seen it. Looks like he got lost on the way to the Garbage Pail Kids.

Wishman was a 1983 ABC pilot, a ripoff of ET, even if the design of the alien might make you think it was imitating Paul Rudd's favorite film, Mac and Me. It was beaten in the ratings by a Magnum PI repeat. The pilot has a slew of soap names (past and future) in the cast, with Linda Hamilton (then best known for her work on David Jacobs soaps) and Joseph Bottoms (pre-Santa Barbara) as the lead couple, Jean Bruce Scott (just off DAYS) as her friend, and John Reilly (in-between ATWT and GH) as the evil government boss. Bottoms rescues the alien, very, VERY awkwardly putting him in a potato sack, and flees the facility. Hamilton is, rightfully, astonished and doesn't want to be involved, but quickly comes around. They go on the run, and the end sets them up to keep going on the run. In this sense it also reminds me of Voyagers, with the late Jon Erik Hexum, which had started earlier that TV season. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyagers! I got to watch the pilot, but I don't see it online now. There are a few clips. Most of it is the generic "heartwarming" cheese (the alien helps Bruce's husband [the actor stopped appearing in front of the camera not long after this pilot...] and son reconcile) and generic government bad guy schemes, but there is some odd sleaze in one particular segment where the alien watches Hamilton as she is in the shower and leaves the shower, and she is...bemused? She then goes back to her bedroom (actually her friend's guest bedroom), and they laugh, and say they want to have children, and start making out while the alien is still nearby. Only when he jumps on the bed (which Hamilton says reminds her of her old family dog) do they finally stop. Hamilton is the best part of this, as she often is, although Joseph Bottoms is worth watching as a very stupid character and possibly the most tanned warehouse-bound scientist ever. The shirtless scene and extremely tight trousers he wears don't hurt. https://fb.watch/sE5gkiDRvH/

I hadn't thought of it that way, as MWC was so little known early on, but I can see some of the same vibes.

I think that might be Sandy. The singers are Louise Mandrell and Roberta Flack (a shame that last one had to be muted for copyright reasons). I agree the clips aren't great, partly due to lack of choice, although I enjoyed the scene with Iris and Cecile side-eyeing drunken spectacle Gwen, and it was morbidly fascinating to see Pete Shea's death (on a location shoot no less). The roller disco is as cringe as any soap attempt at a disco. I was surprised at how much time they spent on the Steve return given how ill-received the plot was.

It seems like more of an issue for the ITV soaps than Hollyoaks and EE.

That would have been a fascinating idea, especially as Nadine was so unlike any of his love interests. And I'm sorry we never really got any Nadine/Nola interaction.

Thanks. Glad I wasn't crazy. I remember thinking at the time these shows were already a number of years out of date. Tina Fey made fun of this genre when she made her debut as an SNL host.

The mother in this looks familiar to me - does anyone recognize her from a soap? (sorry if this shouldn't go here)

I can see why Marland didn't love the Steven Lars storyline, although it made for some very dramatic material. Still disappointed, if not surprised, that when they finally brought Steven back, it was with tiresome Scott Reeves, 15 years past his prime (and he wasn't much in his prime either).