DRW50

Oh I think Pam would have found some juicy material for Diane, but as you said, there's Gail Kobe, and also some huge cast culls on the way for three successive years.

Promo at 50 minutes. It's my and @Mitch64 's favorite, Brad!

Promo at 50 minutes.

Another Liz/Stuart promo at 50 minutes.

ATWT was struggling, as GL had been before the Dobsons were hired. On paper, it made sense to move the Dobsons over. @slick jones Not sure it will have anything you don't already know, but there's a full cast crawl.

I got your point, I just don't think it was worth it long-term. I appreciate that Marland wanted to end the stories he inherited, but I think what replaced them was, in most cases, not really up to the same standards (like what he did with Amanda).

I haven't seen enough of the full story to completely weigh in, but I don't think the Carrie story was worth Diane's murder, especially as Carrie was boxed into a corner early on. Admittedly, Diane would have just been dumped in 1982, 1983, or 1984 if she had lived...

It was an awful move - Diane was a spark plug character who could have easily fit into many parts of the canvas. Marland was a brilliant writer but he always (in my opinion) struggled with complex characters, aside from some terrific exceptions like Lucinda Walsh.

Opening the New Year with a dead teenager. Bleh. And it's one of Viv's kids, which makes it even worse. If they wanted more impact they should have killed off Noah.

Rose DeVille - not sure who the guy is. Someone else will know.

Kudos for diving in - I'm sure it must be a mix of confusing and underwhelming at first, but there's a lot worth watching (nothing before or since in Emmerdale history matches this period in seeing the show tear itself down and build itself back again). Sadly, the way Frazer was treated is par for the course with Emmerdale, but it was a very bad mistake, and I'm sorry they never tried to rectify it.

Promo around 50 minutes in.

Promo around 50 minutes in.

Promo around 50 minutes in.

At times I felt like 2023 would never end, but I always had this place to come to - so much of my enjoyment at SON is due to our collective past with soaps, trying to reclaim a world we once had, one many of us never actually knew. In that sense we are making soaps live forever, and any little morsel, an episode, a scene, a script, an article, even a photo, is a priceless gift. I hope 2024 will give us so many of those gifts, but above all else, I hope you and those you care about have a good year. 2024 won't be easy, but you can still find a way to make it special, as soap fans so often have to do.

Promo around 49 minutes in.

A promo at about 49 minutes.

A promo at about 49 minutes.

A great end of the year gift! The last few minutes are missing but that's definitely nothing to complain about as this is one of those transition periods that we don't have much of. Two more episodes after this as well. @Vee @dc11786 @Khan @SoapDope @soapfan770 @vetsoapfan @Khan @Mitch64 @Dan @Donna L. Bridges @slick jones @FrenchFan @Soapsuds @MichaelGL @jam6242

Thanks, as always.

I think it was more along the lines of Robert or Ross - a complete sociopath and sadist we were supposed to see as hot. Then once that seemed to spin out of the show's control, the human trafficking and ugliness, they put him more into misery mode.

I'd forgotten about him singing this on the show. (I can't even remember if he had an exit - by the time I stopped watching around the time of Althea's amnesia story he was barely appearing). Was Link on ATWT at this time or had he already left? (funny as I think someone named Colson also played Tom a few years after this) That or "Groovy Kind of Love."

A David Frost Show performance of "If You Let Me Make Love To You Why Can't I Touch You" from the off-Broadway musical Salvation (the song became a hit through Ron Dyson - too late to save the show). C.C. Courtney (Jody Lee) co-created Salvation, and was in the original cast, although I don't think he's here (it's been so long since I've seen Jody maybe I'm wrong).

I enjoyed reading all the posts about 2002-2004...more than I enjoyed watching any of that period, when I managed to watch (I think late 2002/early 2003 was the one time things started to click into place for me). The investment even in discussing the bleak last years of the show just reinforces for me that GL could have gone on for a long time if the level of investment had been there for P&G. I was watching this 1986 Christmas episode. Was this the Christmas episode? Sad to not see Ed and Maureen, or even Ross. I can't imagine how I would have felt watching this back in the day, especially when the closest they get to nostalgia is using Grant Aleksander's return (he'd returned this very month - not sure what exact date) to dust off Beth and Philip flashbacks. I did not know Grant played Philip during any of his writer phase. I had to laugh at Nick's "help" for Philip, as Beth was alive and he told Philip she was dead (I guess Nick can't guess future scripts) and he urged Philip to keep writing, which clearly didn't last. This was essentially a Shayne Christmas. No matter how many times I see Rusty I still think he was gay, especially in the early scenes. The best part of this is probably Reva and Roxie talking about how they have no money to pay his bail - not even $500. Something you'd never get with Reva in later years. Jennifer Gatti wasn't a very good actress, but this rougher Dinah is more interesting to me than Paige Turco's generic turn. Dorie is OK but she is very child actress. I do enjoy getting the full closing theme, but I have never understood the choice to have this era's closing screen being that bright white background.