DRW50

I hesitate to link to TMZ, so I will just link to her gofundme. Sally Kirkland (DAYS, Valley of the Dolls) is apparently in hospice, struggling with dementia and a number of other ailments. https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-sally-kirklands-urgent-medical-care A quasi-parody with Sally as herself, Sallywood, is premiering on Amazon Prime tomorrow.

I would agree if this wasn't GH, and this wasn't the GH fanbase. I was surprised they even did as much as they did with Lucas in terms of intimacy.

https://deadline.com/2025/11/betty-harford-dead-dynasty-the-paper-chase-actress-1236612229/

Thanks for taking the time to watch.

I think what helped Evie was that Janet Grey was, while not the best actress, very earnest and able to be vulnerable onscreen. You believed in her relationships with other people. She was a good outlet for flawed characters like Rita and Ross. I'd guess she is also one of those characters the show just forgot to write out. I should try to watch more of what's available of Ross becoming greyer due to her. Thanks for the info on the father. Logan Stafford is a great soap name. Wasted on non-characters. The crazy thing is if you tell the whole Jennifer/Mark/Amanda story to someone who has never seen GL they'd probably say it sounds juicy. Then you just get a big plop onscreen.

Thanks so much as always!

@DeeVee @P.J. @Mitch64 Thank you as that whole story is incredibly convoluted to me. And was any of it worth the time spent? Geraldine Court was a beautiful, elegant, intelligent actress, but Jennifer was so dull. Amanda was also made very dull under Marland. And Morgan was too after the recast. Chet seemed to be the energy vampire of the family. Wasn't there a grandfather on the show too? This does help explain why Alan and Jennifer seemed to have no real feelings for each other in present day. I suppose that is more realistic, but it also feels like a lost opportunity, especially when you remember how much material the show had gotten out of Alan and the women around him under the Dobsons. I've said this before, but I still think the story should have been Ben and Jennifer falling in love, rather than Mark, if Stephen Yates had been willing to stay. Chet, in the few times I've seen him, was more flaming than JFP's January 1995 stunt. Given the dreariness around him they should have just gone hogwild - have him make a pass at Ben, have him tell Amanda that Ben was much hotter than Mark and she has no taste. Hell, reveal that he slept with Mark too, because it's not as if Mark seemed to have any ethics anyway, until they very belatedly tried to make viewers feel sorry for him. At least Chet helps explain where Toby's Amanda came from. I could see him flying into Springfield, shouting, "GET YOUR ROOTS DONE!!!" to Marj's Alex, who promptly gasps and has Hawk throw him off the property.

Thanks @vetsoapfan (and @Tisy-Lish in the other thread). I appreciate such detailed responses into a world I'm never going to get to see. I wish I could see some of Prager as Laurie Ann. She is a big "what if" as she was a cast member on SNL that is never actually ever on air during the episode she was there, and her sketches in dress rehearsal were cut and all she did that made it onto the air was a short film which aired a season later...where she stands there while Tom Davis pushes a button. I remember someone here saying a long time ago that Linda Cook's favorite soap role was Egypt. From the little I've seen of her as Laurie, I can understand why, although I did think she was touching in the brief appearances where Laurie Ann returned in the final episodes. I'm still surprised they remembered her, even if Timmy was still forgotten. That one is left for the EON fics, I suppose.

There's so little talk about Shortland Street online compared to a decade ago, as shown on this channel and how much they used to do for the show. Still, I did find an interview with the current producer, Oliver Driver, that has almost no views.

I think Jason at his peak was a little too pretty, but I could have seen Sonny having that appeal at certain points. I think Maurice just lost that along the way, whereas Eric Braeden didn't (his work has declined but his charisma is still there).

Thanks. I've only ever seen Cook, and even that just in bits and pieces.

That and Lucy's speech at Monica's memorial are the Lucy I remember from when I first started GH somewhere around 1995. She doesn't appear very often (not even when she was on PC), but any time she does you're reminded of how special Lynn Herring is.

I remember the scene mostly because it felt very clunky as there was some focus on Brook Lynn's reaction when Dante praised her. If we are heading toward Brook Lynn/Dante/Willow/Chase (given the tension building between Chase and Dante) it is taking a long time to arrive. I'd say he's going back to the old soap approach but that approach had emotional resonance and inner lives. Outside of some lovely scenes here and there (like Lucy/Tracy recently - still not sure how those got snuck through for Lucy), that doesn't happen often now. I think as others have said this is also down to Frank being focused almost solely on the budget, keeping friends going, filling five episodes a week, rather than quality.

Thank you! This is probably more suited to the EON thread if you think we should move it there, but what did you think of each Laurie Ann?

I used to play video games too - sometimes I still wish I did but I stopped a long time ago as it was just too expensive. I'm never sure how much crossover there is now as most of the current audience for soaps is likely older, conservative, white, female. I can see where Disney is hoping this or Smith's appearances will bring in male viewers, but what's missing is the male character who would draw male viewers, like Victor Newman. That's never been Sonny, and it's not going to be Jason, or Valentin, etc. If marketed properly I think Rory Gibson's Michael could have that appeal, but that isn't going to happen.

For some reason I thought at that time she didn't even see herself as being in a real relationship with Jamie due to his still wanting to be with Lisa, but I don't feel like checking so I'll take your word for it.

If it has Dean Cain I will not be watching.

I think if they had had a better choice in the role of Jamie during Laurence Lau's run, they could have done more with him. It took Vicky a while to move on from Jamie - other than her bond with Evan she didn't have a proper love interest again for over a year - but there just wasn't any chemistry between Lau and Anne Heche, so viewers never wanted them to get back together. On paper the show was clearly trying to recreate Rachel and Steve but soon gave up.

Oof. Le Soleil doesn't sound so bad after all.

Thanks. I thought it was Joanne too but soon realized it wasn't. @jam6242 @vetsoapfan @SoapDope78 Sorry to tag you, just wondered if you knew any of these women.

The ladies in these ads are so familiar to me - I'm not sure if it's from soaps or something else.

If he's also doing bits on ESPN I wonder if Frank is even involved or if Disney just asked him to work Stormare in for cross-promotion, similar to the Stephen A Smith appearances. I don't know why Disney thinks these audiences mesh, but it does go with the sudden attempt to try to bring back spy intrigue...

I think even by the time Polly left, Flo wasn't quite the same - there was only so many times they could have the catchphrases, and the grit that made the first season or two stand out more was gone. Diane was hobbled with a bad catchphrase, a messy character, and the show being out of steam. I think bringing Jolene in and marrying Vera were good ideas, but the show still was lucky to run that long.

The end of Alice, with Linda Lavin blaming the show's end on timeslot changes (love you, Linda, but that show was lucky to last as long as it did).