DRW50

I see what you mean, especially about Siobhan. That first year, before they made her so generic, was a wonderful mix of actress and writing. Mary never quite worked for me as a character, even with Kate, but I can see where Kate helped translate the writing. (I think one of the other problems with Mary was it felt like her story reached a natural conclusion after she and Jack reconciled)

IMDB has her as being on in 1988 (for Mac and Nancy getting married) but not 1986. She does have the somewhat toothy look Kelly had but I am not sure. I wonder how viewers at the time felt about Chris' funeral episode having so much of the histrionics with Lily and Meg (which I sometimes have to skip when I watch that period).

Rosemary Prinz frequently did theater work - that may have been why Penny wasn't back. I am not sure if it was ever said. I am trying to remember if her absence was addressed (did they say Penny couldn't handle going to the funeral?).

Thanks for this nice tribute. I had forgotten he temped on DAYS.

I think you're right, although in that strike consequences article in SOD from somewhere in the late '90s or so Labine did praise the Rae/Michael pairing.

I can see what you mean, but when I think of moments I enjoyed with Mary or Pat, or even Siobhan, it's down to the actors and their charisma, rather than my seeing the characters as being well-fortified. I don't think, say, Pat was any worse when John Blazo took over - I actually liked his Pat a great deal - but he didn't have what Malcolm Groome had for viewers, so when they gave his Pat such flat storylines, Blazo got the blame.

I think we're in the last few years...ITV taking a pause on their soap awards, the ever declining ratings, etc. We'll see. I hope they can have some good moments before the end. I just can't watch the current show, especially Aaron returning to be even more of a thuggish piece of [!@#$%^&*] than ever.

I agree - the Nell story was one of my favorite stories on the show. Or any soap. I am not biased against Michael Corbett, as I enjoyed his run on Y&R, but I hated his RH character and any story involving Kimberley is a non-starter for me. I'm sure he did have fans, but given that the character helped cause Siobhan to lose her baby, I question if he was that beloved. Even if he did have a lot of fans, I don't think killing him was a huge blunder. He wouldn't have gone anywhere noteworthy if he'd stayed on the show. Look at what a hard time they had with other characters like Joe Novak.

I don't even think it was Labine and Mayer who killed him off - Labine gave an interview about watching during the strike and seeing him die, which did not make her very happy. I wasn't there either, so I can't begin to guess, but if he had been that beloved, I don't think ABC would have let him go. Not that long after he was hired by Search for Tomorrow.

Everything said earlier in the thread about how much ATWT and soaps suffered from trying to still cling to old patterns in the OJ era is so true. ATWT was based on complex friendships and family dynamics - they did have one of the first soap supercouples (Penny and Jeff) but that wasn't their calling card. ATWT trying to still cling on while running away from the family units and complicated histories and becoming whatever mutated '80s primetime soap the show was trying to be for so much of the mid/late '90s (aside from some of the stronger moments of 1995) was unfortunate. I remember disliking Mike and Rosanna so much, but assuming they were loved by viewers with how heavily pushed they were. Only years later when I read more soap magazines from that period did I learn they weren't ever very popular. All that for nothing.

On paper, I don't think the idea of giving Eric a Parkinson's story - in older people, the disease can sometimes progress more slowly, so the show can tell the story in more detail; it would also be interesting to see the old Eric (who was so in need of being in control at all times) in this situation. Unfortunately, I have no trust in the show to do the story justice, and with David on the way out, Eric is going to be very isolated.

It was mentioned in the soap hoppers thread but I was waiting for official confirmation. Very sad. He was a beautiful man, along with being a very good actor. I have only seen fragments of his work on AMC, but he was excellent in Boys in the Band, in a very difficult part.

I should also credit Betsy and Steve for tapping into a younger audience while pleasing older viewers. Looking back at my post I should have mentioned them even if they aren't to my own taste.

I think you're right. What hurt ATWT was no one in place there seemed to have any idea what this shift needed (was anyone in the viewing audience horny for Brad Hollister?). With a few exceptions, like the casting for Margo and Craig and recasting Tom, they didn't seem to figure it out until around 1984 or 1985.

I think the problem with the Ryan kids was most of why they worked was down to the original actors and their appeal. The characters themselves were not special. The character who was the sturdiest was Frank, at least after Michael Hawkins was fired, which is probably why Frank had the most well-received recasts of any of the kids. As for Ann Gillespie, she never should have been hired in the first place. She was a bad fit for the part.

@slick jones Thanks for letting us know about Peter White. (if there was another thread I missed it, sorry) He was such a gorgeous man, a magazine ad come to life. I loved his work in Boys in the Band.

Beyond having less interesting Hughes relationships compared to the Bauers on GL, and maybe not understanding Nancy, I wonder how much of the change is down to the Dobsons joining ATWT at a time when P&G was beginning to more actively push to phase out older vets and core families.

I was watching the podcast of Nate Bargatze, who hosted the most recent SNL episode, and he mentioned that Dorinda was at the afterparty.

This is actually what I thought they were doing when I saw that Nicholas Lyndhurst had been cast.

@Vee https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/judy-nugent-dead-actress-the-ruggles-adventures-of-superman-1235633202/

That's a good point.

I respect that choices like this or saying the Ncuti season will be "season 1" are to try to bring in new viewers, and I hope it works, but none of that is for me (especially colorization).

I think Cali's Paulina was still more involved with Grant.