DRW50

I think the stories themselves are effective, but I feel like there's much less interest in the characters themselves. Liz, Roger, Carolyn lose any real personality (Maggie, bless her heart, never really had one, but it just gets worse). By the time of the 1970 story I feel like Carolyn just goes around saying "Oh Jeb."

Don Briscoe did stay on for a little while after that, but it did feel like the story as a whole have shifted away from him. I think they extended the story because the ratings had increased. The later months of the story had many riveting moments, but the downside was trying to clear all that up and figuring out where to go next. And that was a mess, even if the Leviathan story is better than given credit for. @Vee or someone else, not sure if I'm just hallucinating this, but wasn't there a claim that Dan Curtis and company were thinking of never really returning to present day? A part of me wishes they hadn't. You could see the lack of interest in the present day characters and stories and it just got worse and worse - I think the Quentin haunting story was the last hurrah.

Yes. I think Terry Crawford said that when Beth went off, she actually bounced on the mattress below, hilariously, although you can't see it oncamera. I can't remember which Gabriel went off (1841 PT maybe?) I had forgotten about that last bit with Joanna. Odd. I do remember finding Lee Berry interesting to watch, and similar to the last Victoria (Joanna Groves...I can't remember her name, sorry), I wish we'd seen a bit more of her. I know Virginia couldn't have stayed on DS anyway due to being in 1776, but her absence as 1840 goes along is a shame. I think she may have been David Selby's best female partner on the show, in terms of chemistry.

The story, IIRC, was that Samantha had let her die. There was a tease over whether or not she was actually dead. She then was revealed as a ghost and caused Samantha's death. The whole story came out of nowhere and similar to other rushed decisions at that point like Gabriel killing his wife Edith (which would have wiped out the Collins timeline and led Barnabas and Julia to return to a whole different world), seemed to just be panic mode to try to wrap up a plot (similar things happened with the end of 1897 and the really really lousy "return to 1795 96 97" mini-story)

Eh. It's the type of thing I've already seen too many times, often much better.

If I ever find my scans (if someone else doesn't post it first) I'll share it. She basically just describes it as a low period for her because she was sitting in makeup and they were telling her how they needed her to look old. She was like fine, whatever, as they put grey streaks into her hair.

The years of Reva's "death" became even more of a mess later due to the San Cristobel story, but at the time I think the line was that she had been in a coma for some time. She woke up and lived as an Amish woman (wasn't she called Sarah?) in Goshen, until Alan ended up finding her there when his car broke down or he was hiding away from his family. Annie didn't start going crazy until after McTavish was out. The interim writers had Josh and Reva nearly reunite at Cross Creek. Annie cut up her diaphragm and went nuts. Reva was married to Buzz at the time, and he somewhat graciously broke up with her, over her objections, as he realized he was never going to be able to compete with Josh. (the show was bringing Jenna back in this same period) Kim Zimmer had a fascinating interview around late 1995 or so with Soap Opera Weekly where she addressed never becoming a "star" after leaving GL, a demoralizing guest stint on Models Inc, her extremely tense relationship with Pam Long at the time she left GL (she said that at a lunch to try to get the two of them on common ground, a P&G executive left the table to be sick because the two of them were so hostile toward each other), and her initial attempts to meet with JFP about returning to GL, only to be told by her that the show had moved on from Reva.

That's wonderful news. Anita is one of those people I'm surprised was never on DW until now.

Thanks @victoria foxton

Which scenes have had him as homophobic recently? All of the '80s content I've seen doesn't seem far off what you could watch on television today (just more thoughtful and better written and acted). I think only some of the '70s episodes have that marked difference.

I think the strike material starts around April 1988, or a little earlier (a partial May episode popped up on the same channel, one right before Philip humiliates and destroys Alan, and I figure it it is strike material because of the unnecessary flashbacks to pad out the episode). There are also some excellent scenes with Alex and Alan in the March episode. It's near the bottom of page 738.

That's it exactly, and is why stories like that feel so inauthentic. In later years, Josh was always meant to be good and right with zero layers.

The one and only Bonnie Bartlett, whom I will always associate with a highly annoying character on St. Elsewhere (I say that with love), has written an autobiography. Headlines have been generated due to her writing about a "painful" open marriage. Interestingly this time would have included her time on Love of Life (and an affair she had with an actor was in 1959, the year she left that show). I wonder if she writes anything about LOL in the book. https://people.com/tv/wife-of-boy-meets-world-william-daniels-devastated-by-open-relationship-early-in-marriage/

The biggest problem with the writing for Josh was that most of the time he was written as a sanctimonious [!@#$%^&*] and not much else. There were times they tried different roles for him, like when he decided to become a minister, but mostly he was only there to judge. That March 1988 episode was a reminder of how much Pam Long understood the Reva/Josh relationship (given that she created it) in a way later writers didn't. Later writers had Reva obsessing and striving and Josh being shut down and cold, while it should have been both of them in mutual toxicity. The scene at the end of that episode where Josh tells his pregnant wife that if Reva dies, he will never get over it, is truly a disturbing moment, and to the show's credit, it's treated as such. There is an honesty you got less and less of in GL's last two decades.

Thanks. The more we hear about the Buffy set the more I regret ever watching it. I've seen comments about the AMC set too but she never really talks much about that (and I guess people don't care, beyond the Lucci feud). When SMG tries, she's very talented, I just don't know if she picks the right projects. Jeff Davis is a hack. I wish her luck though. I also love the boots she has on in those photos.

JFP/P&G also repeated this parlor game in 1996 at AW, where, IIRC, Alice Barrett, Anna Stuart and Judi Evans were all in the firing line about who would go to pay for RKK's salary.

I saw that there was some ugliness on Twitter where a Carly fan said she was so upset that if she saw Cynthia Watros in the street she'd punch her in the face. She even tagged Watros. Watros, as well as Laura Wright, responded, and the tweet is now gone. Even as the soaps are in their death throes, the remaining fans are so often the worst of society.

I remember seeing one of those episodes on Youtube a few years ago. Just weird, but given Billy's Reva obsession, it would have made sense.

Here's a clip of Arthur and Betty White reunited in 2017. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=10154497437610894

I remember seeing him on Lawrence Welk repeats. A great talent.

I thought Eli was one of those characters who disappeared before Todd left in 1998.

"a new daytime drama you'll care about" Get the hint? Connie sitting beside that huge-ass headshot of Bill cracks me up.