DRW50

My favorite part of that partial episode was Lisa digging at Holden for taking Aaron from Iva. Loved it. Not as dull as some of the 1993 episodes I've seen, probably helped by certain characters not being on. Still those traces of Marland's ATWT, like everyone hearing about the trial even if they weren't involved. I'm reminded of why I never really warmed to Martha's Lily when she returned - she just wasn't suited to play the more mature, business-involved Lily, which is probably why she was regressed by the next year. Always glad to see Janice, so smooth...other than her hatred for Lily, which she never could hide. Nice, restrained performance from Liz Hubbard, and a reminder of the heart Lucinda could have. This isn't long before they had Emily go off the rails again. KMH was...fine here, but as always back then I couldn't help missing Melanie Smith (who is being interviewed on Locher Room today - hope I will be able to watch).

Not sure if this episode is already up in another form, but: They also have closings from a 1999 and 1997 episode.

I still wish we knew whether NBC kept any of it.

Jean LeClerc and Nancy Stafford, among others. We also won't be seeing any of Ivie, the singer at Luke Dancy's club who declares her love for him at the end of the show - that was one of the things I was hoping to see the development of (if there was any). As @Chris B mentioned, we also won't see Althea's return, which is a real shame.

Is there any way NBC might still have kept some copies (not that we will be seeing them)? There used to be some 1981/1982 episodes online...not sure if they still are.

https://people.com/andrea-evans-death-one-life-to-live-costar-john-loprieno-pays-tribute-exclusive-7558872

Watching some old clips to make myself feel a bit better after today's heartbreaking news. I know this type of scene was an affront to everything Agnes Nixon and many others had wanted OLTL to be, but I still laugh and laugh every time I watch it. Bless Erika Slezak for just...going for it. And Barbara Luna is her own delight as always.

Thanks @JAS0N47 @slick jones Great to see Ketty acting again.

"I take thee...Cord." My first real glimpse of Andrea was that OLTL weddings VHS tape I watched over and over in the mid '90s. A good portion of it, rightfully so, was devoted to the insane Tina spectacles of the peak Rauch era. An era that would never have been possible without Andrea. No matter how many bad things Tina did, Andrea found the heart of the character. You believed she did care about other people - Cord, Viki, Gabrielle, her kid - even if she often wanted to put herself first. Her work holds up exceptionally well too. If you showed somebody new to soaps the Tina material from back then, gross and stupid as a lot of it could be, they would probably still be fascinated by her. I don't think you can understand just what a difficult job Andrea had in making Tina so beloved unless you look at so many other failed attempts at the same character over the years, or even on the same show. Andrea was a delight to watch. She lit up the screen. She had such a presence. In many ways I might compare her to Judy Holliday, another very intelligent actress who never quite got her due. I'm glad Andrea at least got to return at the end to give Tina a happy ending. It's been a tough few years for soap fans, but much as all of these losses hurt, this one really makes me sad.

@Vee You're right about BMH. He had a very soulful quality when given the chance, which is what Joey should have been. Instead we often just got Joey as a loser, a cuck, over "edgy" Tim Gibbs Kevin, or Todd, or whoever else. Tom Degnan was fine enough but clearly never there for any real reason. It was painful seeing the show try to throw Gina Tognoni at various men when Gina did what she did best at OLTL - have no chemistry with them. She and Degnan were adequate together, and that's the best to hope for in this situation. Didn't they even have Jen drive through a plate glass window like Marty? Any time I think of Bree Williamson as Jess I shudder.

@slick jones Thanks as always for putting this together. I didn't know he was on GL - can't remember how many Santa Claus roles they would have had (probably quite a few).

I was going to say you can't ruin [!@#$%^&*], but then I remembered Ron trashing the Nancy/Craig relationship to prop him up.

I'm sorry we never got to see Cali Timmins, even though I imagine the writing would have been terrible. She could have easily gotten the many sides of Tina, as she did when she played a similar role on AW (Paulina). If only Malone had been better at writing for Tina.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/betta-st-john-dead-south-pacific-dream-wife-1235531153/

John Deyle Dead: ‘Annie,’ ‘Urinetown’ Broadway Actor Was 68 – The Hollywood Reporter John Deyle is listed in the obit as being on AMC and OLTL (in bit parts, I assume)

Sure. I never understood many of the choices they made with Silver, like killing her off just after making her a schemer, one who could have been a part of Erica's stories for years.

After the show won Emmys for more glorified shootouts after Columbine, I gave up on them ever changing.

Janet Hubert (ex-AMC). 'Fresh Prince' Alum Janet Hubert Joins 'Sweet Magnolias' Season 3 - Variety

I know you can't really blame one character, or one actor, for tanking a whole story devised by many hands, but there are times when I'm very tempted. My main case of this would be with the 1840 story on Dark Shadows, which, in its early months, was, other than the usual generic figures of Barnabas and Julia, full of very jagged, complex characters, throwing venom at each other but also still having their moments of sympathy and heart. The triangle between back-from-the-dead Quentin, embittered wife Samantha, and her new man/his old friend, Gerard Stiles (then a fake psychic, on his way to being taken over by a malevolent force) was extremely dramatic and very entertaining to watch, especially with the other side characters like Quentin's nasty brother Gabriel and his scheming wife Edith, ditzy Flora, Gerard's partner-in-con Leticia Faye, inventor Desmond, and last but never least, Angelique, returning to Collinsport after hearing her "beloved" husband had returned. And then we get...Daphne. Kate Jackson would go on to have her share of primetime success, but that was never when cast in ingenue roles. And every DS part she had was pure ingenue. She had, in setting up the 1840 plot, already recreated the Beth and Quentin storyline from several years earlier, but at heart she was basically a Maggie replacement, who had been a Victoria replacement - very generic women who were there to be victimized, kidnapped, and fall hopelessly in love. This part had grown steadily duller as the show progressed (to the point where in the show's very last storyline, they all but did away with this trope - better late than never). Making matters worse, Kate and David Selby had little chemistry, so when this wan character not only took a major role on the canvas, but essentially took Samantha's place in the triangle (with Samantha appearing less and less, finally just returning to be abruptly killed off), it took me right out of the storyline. And around the same time most of the 1840 plot hit the skids, although it still had its moments.

This wasn't an affair, but if we're talking about forced default pairings (which maybe would be better off in its own thread) then Holly dating Buzz and Billy (two men she never would have gone near romantically - especially Billy) on GL has to be on the list.

I definitely got the sense from the kiss, only sprung when he had no other choice to keep Leo quiet, was meant to show he's a predatory bisexual. (unlike Leo who is predatory but good and right...just because). If they decide to keep him around he will probably be gay, just not as sympathetic as Leo because he's Ron's forever pet. Those two waxwork faces rubbing together made me think less of chemistry and more of some homophobic joke in Team America. I kept waiting for projectile vomit.