DRW50

Was there any talk of changing the opening credits as the years passed, or was the intro seen as too iconic (or they didn't want to spend the money)?

Thanks. So I guess he was a casualty of Michael Easton's contract struggle around that time?

Yes. I'm not even sure what he did as Del, to be honest with you (was he involved with Anita?), but 50 is too young.

I really liked Jeff Phillips at the time because I liked the idealism of his Hart and his love story with Julie. When I saw him on AW I got his limitations more (although at that point Matt was just a cardboard cutout anyway). I was still so mad with GL about Maureen's death and the flood of exits that I didn't pay a lot of attention during the time Leonard Stabb was there. Looking back I can see his charisma and what might have been, although I tend to wonder how long Hart would have lasted. I thought Marshall was OK, but the character was so ill-defined and the story with Dinah and Roger was, at that time, one of the worst I'd ever seen on GL. Frank Grillo was mostly a generic, amiable piece of ass. I accepted him in that role, but he never was Hart. I guess it didn't matter as most of his time on the show was disconnected from Roger, Bridget, etc. anyway.

I think he said in the interview that he'd tried out for Hart when Jeff was cast. He said he tried out for a lot of soaps (I don't think he said exact roles). He went into some details about how much he pursued the role of Hart, much more than a lot of actors do, apparently (it wasn't just him saying this as someone who worked at GL sent in a message to Alan). I don't think they went into a lot of details over why he didn't last but he did seem to suggest he knew the writing was on the wall and wanted to try different things to stand out if he'd stayed - for instance, he wanted to grow a beard. The most interesting part was probably when he mentioned that in a scene where Roger hit Hart, he wanted to hit Roger right back, to show that he wasn't going to take it. Michael Zaslow didn't see the relationship that way and it didn't happen. (I think Marshall is right about how Hart would have reacted but given how degrading and awful that period was for Roger I can see why Michael didn't want to have Roger in that type of scene) There was a lot of talk about his attempts at getting his own TV and movie scripts made, and about helping Leonard Stabb (they showed a recent photo of Leonard - he seemed happy). And he mentioned, post-GL doing a lot of background work on other soaps like GH and Y&R (I think). I don't know if @slick jones has any of those listings or not.

I was dreaming about ATWT (which isn't that common for me) still being on and seeing Kathryn Hays performing a scene. When I woke up, I saw this news. Bill and Susan had a love story that beat most that hit the big or small screen and took viewers along for the ride. Yet somehow, they managed to navigate this crazy balance for all this time. I don't know how they did it, but I'm glad they found each other and that they were willing to continue to be a part of the show even after being seen as past it by the show and network they'd helped define. It was still Doug and Julie, Julie and Doug, to the end...true love winning out in a brutal, cynical world, on and offcamera. 98 years is a triumph, but the biggest triumph of all may be that after Doug was seen as a part of the past, he not only returned, but was a cornerstone of DAYS, all the way to the end. I know there are some fans here who watched Bill for 50 years - even longer, given "Davy Crockett" and Your Show of Shows. My own time seeing him can't really begin to compare. Still, I have to thank Bill for being a bastion of everything that soaps should be - history, warmth, humor, and yes, a lot of drama - in an era that so often violently went against these instincts. It didn't matter what the show threw at Doug, even a serial killer or a demon - Bill made it real and made you care. And that is something that is almost impossible to replicate, no matter how graceful his work seemed. Thank you, Bill, and farewell.

https://www.wired.com/story/david-lynch-dune-sequel-script-unearthed/

On the one hand, I think it's a nice tribute...but to me it's always going to be Kelly's. At least now they don't have to worry about new viewers saying, "Who was Kelly???"

I can't imagine how tough it must be for Kristina Wagner to play that again having lost a child.

Good eye. I completely forgot about that whole Hugh story. Wasn't Hugh murdered? I never knew he was also in one of the more memorable Always Sunny episodes with fellow ABC soap alum Alexandra Daddario, as the rich [!@#$%^&*] who...loved to wrestle.

I didn't realize that Amelia Heinle was the original female lead in Jack & Jill (she was recast with Amanda Peet). The pilot was uploaded last year.

You can find a number of other videos on the channel showing moments from the Governors Awards.

This isn't on her credits, but it must be one of the final appearances of Doris Belack. You can see her a few minutes in and again at around 22 minutes.

I didn't think that was too bad, although I may be grading on a curve because of other memorials like Hal's that I found somewhat distasteful (mainly because they kept "joking" about how many children he had by various women). I wonder sometimes how much they avoid flashbacks in recent years because of how different they look to today's setup. Either that or they just didn't care about going through all the material.

The start of this has a Mike Douglas Show promo featuring John McCook and Victoria Mallory (no idea if that episode is around).

https://variety.com/2024/film/awards/sag-awards-nominations-2024-1235866459/ Not great SAG nominations, other than denying DiCaprio a vanity nomination and giving it to deserving names. If only they'd done the same with Cooper.

So true. Sadly many of those same people who could have used this clip (some of whom went on to write for soaps themselves) would likely say that failed camp and ludicrous plots are what soaps should be.

He was a fertility doctor they hinted at pairing with Marley.

@DramatistDreamer That's very true about Hal. (I can't remember if Ben Hendrickson was gay or not - that also may have been a factor) @Soapsuds Thanks. Never seen that news clip before. Given the other recent thread it's fitting to hear Marland talking about soaps being ashamed of themselves.

I do wonder if they transferred any of those qualities to Margo, unless they planned for an entire family of "loose" (as they used to say) women (and loose Craig). Then again once Anne Sward took over as Lyla, that side of her personality seemed to fade. Such a lost opportunity due to Helen Wagner being driven off ATWT as we never got to see Nancy react to Tom being with a woman with had been kept by James Stenbeck. (a few scenes for the wedding weren't going to cut it)

Unfortunately, finding a lot of that time frame is spotty. I've been impressed with what I have seen of how Hank was handled, especially given the era and P&G's conservative views and audience. We see explicit homophobia, but not done in a cartoonish manner, and they don't try to do what, say, AMC later did with Michael Delaney and make sure we know that he's a macho sports loving broski - through his run he remains closest to characters like Iva and Barbara, and on the outskirts of Oakdale. I do think it might have been more interesting if Hal had been homophobic (initially, anyway) instead of having him as accepting mostly to generate conflict between Paul and Hal.

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