DRW50

Thanks for the extra info. The idea of Shana and Tess interacting is compelling - I could see them staying friends due to both being outsiders, although maybe not when Tess started going against people like Stacey. Generally I think soaps aren't the best place to tell those types of stories with kids anyway, as shown with how they were handled with Ann on AMC or Holly on GL. The UK soaps, for all their many other flaws in recent years, do seem to be better at letting mothers have the kids and still have stories and lives outside of them without the kids being killed off or written out.

I've seen a number of people, often peddled on the "mainstream" channels, who insist that it doesn't matter if Trump wins or if terrible things happen following his win because the situation in Gaza is so much worse. There is now an idea commonplace among many on the left, at least online, that all roads lead back to this one issue and any sacrifice must be made. I feel like a lot of people who are struggling mentally are being preyed on to further this narrative. This martyrdom seems to be leading to more and more toxic levels and preying on people who are struggling, like the man who self-immolated yesterday in front of the Israeli Embassy, or the man in this article. The more that these actions are cheered and validated, the more I worry about how far people are going to go:

@dc11786Thanks for the help with the date. You have a good point about Shana having more story in 1994, but I think the choice for the special needs baby made that much less likely, unless they killed off another of her kids.

The start of this has a brief glimpse of a UK ATWT airing - they must have been about two years behind. Yes, it was a real mistake to never do anything with Dee or Annie down the line. I suppose Marland may have thought they would make no sense with the later canvas, but I think it could have worked.

That's very true. Shana in an Iris role makes sense. The start of an episode during Loving's UK run - if Mike is mentioned this must be from 1985 or 1986 at the latest. Sadly, this channel has said before they don't care for soaps, so I don't see them sharing the rest of the episode.

I think what upset me at the time was, beyond how cheap and crass the show started to feel (like infamously having a lengthy sex scene between Mark and Connor in the show's 40th anniversary episode), I missed the history and tradition, the returns of former characters, etc. Choices like dumping Ellen upset me a great deal. With hindsight, I know that wasn't their fault and the show was going to be yanked in that direction no matter what, even if it still doesn't make me see their era as much better in quality (if I tried to do a full rewatch I might have a more positive opinion, as they did at least give story to the vets, and while it was somewhat criticized at the time, I think they wrapped up Mac's Alzheimer's story decently enough, especially compared to how many soaps handle this topic).

Thanks for your help. I would like to see them too. I didn't remember Keith had been let go twice. That must sting. I suppose she was on the show long enough that I assume she might have been a more popular character with viewers than she was. I get the choice in 1994 but I think there was still more to do with her in 1989, with so many moving pieces around (why not revisit her old ties to Alex/Clay? Why not just kill off Jim around that time and play out the estrangement with the Aldens we got when she came back?).

That's a good point. I suppose that while I do find it completely inappropriate to intervene based on some kind of morality, I'd still prefer it to what we got later on, which was just constant poking and prodding and wanting puppets in charge.

If fawning and dishonest soap press kept soaps on the air, OLTL might still be here. I really wish life worked that way. Logically I know that nothing was probably going to keep the soaps on the air, and it was a miracle most of them lasted as long as they did, but I'll still always wonder if ATWT (as it's the topic, sorry to go off course) and others might still be here if they had been run with any level of care by greedy, soulless networks who never understood that the time the genre made them the most money was when they had the least involvement in the product. I'm glad some soaps are still on and I hope there will always be soaps on but it's always a tough moment to remember that something made in 1950 through a radio so often feels more relevant to today than soap product made in 2024.

Thanks! I had totally forgotten those recaps were on tumblr so this is a good resource.

I'll never forget seeing those scenes praised in soap magazines for their great comedy element. That was when I truly knew how much the bottom had fallen out on those publications.

It was when we got scenes like Julia punching Jack and killing a horse, and all of Craig's sneering (which we were always meant to find hilarious and true) that I truly did feel like the canvas became repulsive in ways that were difficult to get past. There was indeed a mean-spirited, callous nature that was exalted at every turn, a sociopathic tint that was so typical of that era of pop culture and infested onto daytime by people who hated or misunderstood the genre. ATWT always had a steely side, and there were certainly patches of ugliness before Sheffer (like the Diego stuff or that David/Reid fiasco), but nothing to that level which seemed to consume the entire canvas. I felt dirty even trying to watch. If the James return/Margo miscarriage story had happened in that era, we would have had James pop into her room to laugh at her and call her barren, as we were invited to clap our hands in glee.

Other than some truly gross choices with characters like Emily (taunting a blind woman - how hot!), I don't think anything they did was as damaging in the long-term as a number of other writers (including Hogan Sheffer) - their problem was just being so out of step with what the show should have been and coming along at a time when the show and the genre were in deep distress. This was also when such badness was still a relative surprise as Marland had only been gone a few years. By the time of the mid '00s it was just another day. That doesn't surprise me. I wonder what other 'suggestions' he had - I wouldn't be surprised if he was into the sleazy, trashy, soulless stuff, especially Diego/Emily (before he raped her). And the influx of generic young people.

I would guess that Manchin always thought he'd have more support than he did, and he seemed genuinely angry that Trump tanked the immigration deal that epitomized so much of what he believes in politics (beyond $$$$). It seems like most of the emphasis now is on getting people to stay home or vote anyone else because of Palestine (to the point of MSNBC having "Democrats" on to say that it's fine to support Trump in order to teach a lesson to the party). And of course, RFK Jr, who is very cynically trying to get black voters with a "why should you have to pay child support?" argument (he actually did a photo op with a man at the forefront of this movement). As soon as I saw Killer Mike hyping him, I knew the fix was in, as Mike was out there for Brian Kemp and Herschel Walker in 2022.

A part of me also wonders how many actors had been fired to waste money on all that...I don't know who the guest actors are but that must have been one hell of a day for them to get to play out a whole wedding and reception. I used to think they were more of the problem compared to Valente as his work before they arrived wasn't as bad, but I wouldn't be shocked if this was the case. Something was just alien and rotten at the time beyond even what made sense. I guess P&G being so rudderless didn't help (and then the solution was just to try to copy ABC - their final fatal mistake).

I wonder if Susan Keith wanted to leave and they wrote him out with her. I think when they approached her to return they pitched the idea of killing off Jim and their son. Thanks @Kane for your help.

Thanks so much. The Loving casts were small enough to where sometimes I think I know most of them but there are always surprises. I appreciate your help. I hope we might get more from this period so we might know for sure if it's Geoffrey. These have probably already been posted, but if not:

A partial episode from around the same time they uploaded a few weeks ago. This is right before Trisha marries Steve. Peter Davies spends all his scenes in a towel so @Soapsuds you may enjoy this. Is that Geoffrey Ewing in the prison scenes or is it someone else? If it is him, I never knew he was on Loving twice. I never knew the town paper was called Corinthian either.

Not sure if this one has been up before. I am not sure of the exact date other than sometime in 1987 due to Steve and Luke Perry/Alexandra Wilson all being around. Unfortunately, it's not in English but I thought people would still enjoy it, especially as this period isn't well represented. You also get to see Shana in one of the most hideous sweaters I've ever seen on television. I wasn't sure who the woman talking with Gwyn and Ann is. @dc11786 @slick jones @Kane @Sapounopera @Paul Raven@te. @j swift@Khan @OzFrog @Vee @Franko

Skimming through this, I notice several overacted aw shucks one-episode characters that I don't associate with ATWT that often before this point. I guess it is about on the level of hackiness of that writing team.

All My Children clip (February 10, 1986) : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

https://deadline.com/2024/02/sherri-executive-death-investigation-debmar-mercury-1235835736/