DRW50

About 17 minutes in there's a Soap Talk segment asking viewers about whether Liza and Tad have changed. There is then a clip of Liza/Marian and another with Tad/Dottie/Alfred. One lady said Tad was getting better and Liza was getting worse but most of the others felt both were getting nicer (and a few felt they were getting duller). We then get a bit of Marcy Walker and MEK meeting people during the trip with the Soap Talk lady. When did Marcy leave AMC in 1984? I thought she was out the door by this point. I still wonder what plans may have gone through with Liza if Marcy hadn't left. My guess is she probably would have lost her way and been written out within a few years, based on how aimless AMC was in the mid '80s, but you never know. KSTP-TV Good Company, July 26, 1984

Thanks. I guess I wasn't clear enough with my description.

I don't know if Twitter videos ever work now if you aren't on it, but I thought this was a fun recent video with some of the cast. Salina🦋|| All of my ships are going Canon🤭 on X: "Actually obsessed with them😂😜 #GH https://t.co/UxU0cV6mfK" / X Sorry to not attribute. This is from Kelly Thiebauld's Instagram.

That version of Diana - so hardened - could have worked for me. I think Diana was probably going to go even if Starrett had stayed, but I think she might have at least had a stronger end run. She is third or fourth string by the end in that whole story.

And your recaps are a big reason the thread is entertaining (and covers so many eras).

I would have been tempted to dump Mack and try to rework a new era for Gary and Val but it probably would have been too much. If only the show had had a stronger cast beyond the originals in those last years (I love Kathleen Noone, but can you imagine a show led by Claudia). I tend to think Nicolette would have left for new things but considering her work post-Knots ended up being softcore HBO movies, maybe not. I might have had Joan play it as bad, but somehow the public appreciates her anyway, because of her sincerity. She would not keep the gig long-term but might start to finally move on from her old life and demons (and moving away with Gary and the twins when JVA chose to leave in season 13). Ben Johnson would have been a great choice. Maybe do the old terminal illness reunion storyline.

Thanks @Maxim I agree it doesn't make a great deal of sense for Cassie to fight so hard for Blair. I suppose the idea is that she's the good Cramer trying to bring the family together, which is preferable to the times she comes across as sanctimonious. Elaine Princi gives a beautiful performance, especially the end when she asks Cassie, like a child, if this means Cassie isn't choosing Blair over her. I always had mixed feelings about Laura Koffman's Cassie, and I'm reminded why here. I don't think she plays the scenes right. She's very shallow - her line readings at the end are more like something a mother says at the end of a sitcom episode.

I don't think he would have either, as I imagine there would have been a large pay cut. I doubt Nicolette would have so they could have just left together.

You're right. She became ossified very early on. I still think we could have seen her father, or something completely random for her. I know this sounds dumb but given how horrible her late '80s/early '90s stories became anyway, I might say she could have had a story where she became a standup comic and used her insane life in comedy for therapeutic reasons.

I know it's a soap but I still don't know how Heather was meant to be having children. Wouldn't she have been about 60?

Probably tough to survive in the Monty years. I've only seen Mary O'Brien in the infamous LSD scenes, but I think her work there is excellent. It's Brooke Bundy and her constant jitters that tend to annoy me when I try to watch her scenes.

Depends on the period. For me that stops about 1996.

That's mainly what I remember her for, which wasn't about her and likely just done to trash Nick as a character. You're right about Billie post-Lisa. I think Krista had her moments, like the heroin withdrawal, but the character was lost both times. There's a general apathy and distance about Julie Pinson's work outside of her early days on PC that tends to annoy me, even when she was repeatedly cast as snappy characters.

I tend to agree about Val. The book made sense for her exit story, I guess, but also reminds you of how irrelevant Valene's own journey had become. I liked the little story early that season where she taught a waitress to read (?) because that at least felt like a story for her. The main time you could tell Devane was bored was when he'd just do a lot of scenes behind sunglasses. The material could become dreary at times, but if he did fight against Greg being a villain, I'm glad. This wasn't Falcon Crest, Dallas or Dynasty. The attempts in the later seasons of the show to try to pit him against the "good" people, like the custody battle for Meg, did not work for me, partly because they tried to pin it on Abby, partly because I never wanted Karen and Mack to have custody of Meg anyway. That whole story never stopped annoying me - they had run out of story for Karen and Mack, and they didn't want to saddle Greg with a baby. They should have just had Laura send Meg away somewhere if they were that reluctant to try something new with Greg. I think initially Mack helped balance Karen, but he became such a sour, sanctimonious character, and beyond the various "Mack sort of cheats" stories, there was little left for them as a couple. They should have brought her brother back, as they had a good dynamic in his brief run. If Stephen Macht didn't want to return, then recast him. You're right about Sheehan, and why the last stories for him were so wrong in so many ways. Val was never the same after that pairing ended.

I would guess one reason is the interracial aspect, although that probably would have hurt him with the show more than her. Amanda's spoken about her ATWT experience many times but here's one clip. It wasn't just that she was fired, it was the unpleasant atmosphere. Amanda Seyfried Discusses the Toxic Environment on 'As the World Turns' | SiriusXM

I thought Micah Alberti was OK. Bruening was better, if not anything that great (which about matches his career), but not noticeably so. I always assumed McCartney left by choice because of his music career.

That's a great idea.

The only thing I know about it is down to Sydney Sweeney being in it, the likely third or fourth mega-flop in a row finally leading her to do a way too late PR response.

They were, yes. Laurie was meant to be stuck up (contrasting with Reggie) while Laurie was the latest AMC version of lower class. I was mostly interested because Robert Clohessy played her father and I enjoyed him on Oz at the time. He was teased with Liza but he soon vanished, Laurie not far behind. Joni had a lot of potential though - Seyfried was still very green but she had clear star quality.

Exactly. I have said this too many times now but they make so much sense in today's world. We now have those vertical movies or whatever they are called which are just short snippets people can watch a few minutes at a time in their phones. The budgets would be very cheap, a small cast. Just get decent writing and casting and that's all you need. Much of the available footage of 15 minute soaps is better than anything on daytime in recent years, to me.

I agree - I'd love 15 minute soaps coming back.

No problem. I saved some on VHS from when they ran on the Africa Channel although they are probably just rotting away as I'm not likely to get them put anywhere else. They ran maybe a year or a year and half and would then loop back. One story after that period which sounds like something I might want to see (just because it sounds strange and random) was Len dressing as "Lenita" and thinking of becoming trans. Len was such an interesting character - maybe the first guy I saw on a soap who was a sarcastic and unapologetic bisexual. A shame he didn't seem to have much of an ending.

Thanks for remembering me and sharing all these details. I think I saved the first 100 (some were taken down or missing by then) but didn't know there were more. If I ever get the chance I will try to see the others. This is such a fascinating show, and the early days are a world away from what I watched (that was around 2008 and by then there was a JR Ewing type figure and many more corporate plots). The early episodes having the father with his mousy daughter and her dumb but sweet fiance. By the time I had to take a break I think there was a very dark secret with that family. I am especially hoping that some of the Steve story pops up sometime as I'm curious as to how they handled his being gay (and didn't they briefly almost pair him with Dusty before changing course).

It could happen, and I think in some ways that would be enhanced by Nathan being so blank, but I think the momentum is lost. There aren't enough people really close to Nathan who will be there to feel hurt and angry when the truth comes out. Not that I'm complaining but I'm surprised Obrecht hasn't been on more.

I don't think it helped that her return was once again causing problems for Bo and Hope, as JER never wanted to let that story go. The Chelsea story seemed to be despised by the audience. Once that was done, did she have a story beyond bedding various men she shouldn't have? And wasn't she a third wheel to Patch and Kayla? Or am I mixing her up with someone else?