DRW50

Thanks so much @slick jones I had never heard of that pilot channel.

I think Vanessa's hair went gray as soon as Maeve was no longer on contract. I respected that she just said [!@#$%^&*] it as soon as they had no real hold on her. I think Ron was a likeable presence but just not believable as a villain, or as a ladies' man.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/jac-venza-dead-pbs-great-performances-1235913497/ As Jac was a big reason why many of the shows we were talking about got on the air I thought this was a good place to put his obit.

They should have sent in sheets like the Jarlena fans at DAYS... That story with Beth scheming and Vanessa freezing Matt out could have been worthwhile if pushed further, instead of just Beth saying how old Vanessa looked (which felt like Rauch working out grudges against Maeve Kinkead). I wonder if any of that story was originally meant to go to Dinah as they were always hinting in Wendy Moniz's run of going for Dinah/Matt. By the time they did it wasn't with a regime that had contempt for Vanessa (even if she was not a central character by that point) so it didn't bother me the way it would have in the mid/late '90s. We got to see a lot of believable anger from her instead of just "oh she's so boring and old, who can blame him."

I mainly know her from her guest spot on the Mary Tyler Moore Show - that or the glimpses I saw of her as Minx Lockridge on Santa Barbara (certainly one of the more...unique recasting choices in soap history).

That's a good point. Not to say ABC soaps were not for thinking people, as I know that isn't true, but I do think those fanbase tactics were closer to what you got on ABC soaps (or from some of the crazier DAYS fans). Another example of P&G causing their soaps to lose all identity in their last 10-15 years.

Having such entitled fan bases rarely worked out in the long run for GL "supercouples" (Gus/Harley and Michelle/Danny being others). Oddly I don't remember a lot of Reva and Josh fans behaving that way - maybe because toxic breakups were a part of their DNA.

Around 2000 he was answering questions from SOD and responded to complaints from "Mattessa" fans by essentially saying nothing was ever good enough for them, and when the show had done a big story for them (maybe it was her return, or pregnancy, I don't know) their fans had just complained about them not being in tons of scenes and not being on every day of the week.

@Vee Help us all. These are also many of the voices that elevated loathsome Boris Johnson, presumably. As if Washington Post and their cliquey, bitter hordes weren't bad enough. I've been trying to cut back on my news reading for a while because it's just so numbing and depressing, but I do appreciate your updates. I also saw that Maureen Dowd breathlessly announced that her sister believes Trump is a victim and is voting for him. Shocking.

Thanks. I was wondering about 95-96, although I don't want anyone to watch that period if they don't have to... I know they interact around 89 or 90 when he takes compromising photos of her.

Is this something you are anticipating on here or on social media in general? As said above, this place likely doesn't have enough people now for such heavy reactions. This isn't 2010.

Thanks!

I forgot Reva and Roger were intertwined a bit in Reva's last year pre-bridge. I remember reading a long-gone GL fic from the mid '90s where Roger interacted with Reva when she was singing by the piano at Towers - I can't remember if they had much interaction in the real GL at that time.

A Billy/Vanessa/Josh/Tangie quad could have been plausible. I do wonder how different Josh's stories might have been if he and Tangie hadn't been such a flop. The idea of Kim Zimmer and Marcy Walker facing off is compelling, although Cynthia Watros probably never would have been hired in that universe.

This presumably is also why all the Sesame Street Muppets ran humans off their street, never to be seen again...

I'm trying to remember if Josie had some madam who came to Bay City or if that is another show entirely. As for fan backlash to these pimp and prostitute stories, I don't know of any. The only thing I remember is that Roscoe Orman had to leave his role as a pimp on AMC because he was on Sesame Street at the same time. I suppose the serial killer stories on DAYS had more ramifications, especially the one in 2003 - but then everyone was brought back, so maybe not. And Loving, which doesn't really count because the show was ending. AW's mostly just had the long-term effect of killing interesting characters and leaving a stench of misogyny.

Yes, I think that was the original plan for Vanessa and Josh (and there was setup with Peter's custody battle). I don't think Lucy had much chemistry with anyone, although I grew to accept her over time.

Yes, I don't remember Wanda being in the credits - if she was it wasn't for long. Williams had such a striking credits shot, which made his absence stand out even more. Vanessa vs Vicky was yet another story of that period which seemed to mostly get dropped. A real waste. To me Matt was worse than Frank because even if he was never the most interesting part of the Coopers, I did believe Frank's relationships with his family (especially Harley in her first stint). Matt had scenes with Bridget, and Nola, but I just never believed them as a family unit. IIRC Matt was initially intended as a love interest for Lucy (was it Lucy?) and the fling with Vanessa only became a real relationship because of vocal audience support (just ask Paul Rauch about that - if you want his spirit haunting you, anyway). I imagine that's one of the reasons why their relationship never felt overly genuine. The scraps I've seen of them around the late '00s do feel like a more natural path of where their relationship would have gone rather than just a passive Vanessa wandering around in oversized pajama sets.

Thanks. I couldn't remember if bringing back Philip was her or L Virginia Browne.

Guiding Light Pat Falken Smith - 1982. I'm not entirely sure what stories she had the chance to create. Was she the one who came up with Company?

Thanks so much @Paul Raven it's wonderful to get to read a review I know I'd never see otherwise.

Thanks @janea4old . Nice to see Tricia is still doing OK.

Thank you @janea4old for all this info. It seems like Chance never did get a chance (no pun intended) as a character in any of his turns. I am only interested if it means we see Nina again. On paper the whole Abby/Devon relationship could be very compelling but I'm guessing that wasn't the case. Hearing about Devon and sex scenes reminds me of him humping his aunt immediately after learning she wasn't his aunt, or whatever that was.

I think most of the Estelle story was over by the time AIDS became more known to the public. I'd agree that Nixon did a better job with those stories than other writers did. I wonder if she ever planned any at AW but they didn't go through.

Roy Boyd, who had a regular role on Crossroads in the early '80s and was in a slew of TV parts, including Doctor Who, EE, Emmerdale Farm, Corrie, among many others. I thought he had a lot of charisma in his Emmerdale stint. https://www.atvtoday.co.uk/238951-crossroads/ Dryden Hogben | Emmerdale Wiki | Fandom