DRW50

Karen Morris Gowdy at the start of this.

Barbara Crampton was never really given much of a chance at GL. Mindy was as bland as possible, stuck in a dull relationship with a man who had to be the center of story attention at all times. It didn't help that she barely got to work with the best of the Lewis family, like Jordan Clarke and Larry Gates. And she just never felt like Mindy - she was too California, too Hollywood. In her last few months in the role she finally clicked, thanks to Rick's return, but it was too late. The same happened with Marcy Walker, oddly enough.

Big arrests in Ohio. @marceline may know more about this. https://www.npr.org/2020/07/21/893493224/ohio-house-speaker-arrested-in-connection-to-60-million-bribery-scheme

The media have gotten their marching orders (again) - running pieces on a man who once wore a wire for an FBI investigation against Biden, positive pieces on Trump's mask tweet (no mention of the "Chinese virus" portion, naturally), and the above. They will do anything to help him win. In other news, the Lincoln Project's razor-sharp attack ads against Trump and the GOP are leading to serious heartburn, leading to hit pieces from the grift circuit. Steve Schmidt responds, forcefully, and reveals some details of what a sorry state National Review is in.

Other than that tedium with Holly and her badly miscast fiance, I agree that the Dobsons seemed to have a better handle on her character. Marland seemed to write mostly bland female characters if they weren't able to be campy; it did sort of feel like there were hints she and Ed could get back together but Maureen didn't stay around for that story to conclude. I wonder how bad the atmosphere was backstage around that point.

That was a writer under JFP (I can't remember who). They did write a number of other rape stories on the show (Hayley, Julia, Summer, Kelly).

How convenient. He was also a "men's rights activist" and a Fox News regular. I imagine we will hear the media say little about that.

The Dobsons were very adamant about these scenes because the year before, they wrote scenes with Roger raping Rita, and when they watched the material onscreen, it had been turned into a seduction sequence. I don't think most people today would know how groundbreaking this material was, especially the rawness and ugliness. GL was always one of the more raw soaps to me, so this is was the truest representation of GL's core. Michael and Maureen are absolutely phenomenal. Much of the time in that first run Holly is written so passively (that is one of the reasons she ultimately left), but in this you can see just what a talent Maureen is and the skills she brought to the role when she came back in 1989.

I'll keep you in my thoughts.

Oh. OH. This really is getting serious now. I guess Barr will be stepping in to stomp this case out if he can.

That Harriet Tubman comment is the usual Kanye obscenity but also makes me wonder all the more if he is in concert with Trump. Can't you hear Trump using this as more justification to his zombie followers about why you should never stop supporting the Confederacy, and saying "even blacks" don't like Harriet? That Salas news is horrific. I don't know what the reasons were, but it just reminds me again of how much threats against the judiciary have ratcheted up over the years.

I agree about Philip. I know Thom wanted to leave but while he did bring a sweetness and earnestness to the role, they could have recast (if it had kept us from having to deal with Ryan, all the better). I sometimes struggle with seeing Jess in these first few years as it feels like she's still in Brenda's shoes, but this episode does show a vulnerability that I think Brenda had struggled with by the time of her exit. Jess was terrific.

I saw that Brenda Dickson had put up a message about tomorrow's repeats (although she thought they were from 1971).

Return to Collinwood has a few details about some ill-fated attempts at reviving Dark Shadows in serial form: Another opportunity arose in 1997 when 20th Century Fox's television production arm - called Twentieth Television at the time - and The Fremantle Corporation proposed producing with Curtis either a new daytime version or a weekly primetime version. A daily version in the original soap opera format was preferable since the Fox Network was considering possibly expanding their affiliate programming into the daytime market - a scenario that did not transpire. For the next four years, Fremantle continued to explore possibilities to resurrect Dark Shadows as a syndicated primetime weekly hour-long series but the deal was contingent on filming in Canada for budgetary reasons, a stipulation that Curtis could not accept as he felt the program would need to be produced under his watchful eye in Los Angeles, close to home. --- In 2001, Curtis teamed with Aaron Spelling's company, Spelling Television, in an attempt to bring Dark Shadows to the Fox Network as a primetime weekly serial. Writer Eric Bernt was hired to pen the story with new twists, including introducing the character of Angelique in the premiere episode. Curtis' creative input remained a vital element but in early 2002, after delivery of Bernt's script, Fox decided not to pick up the project. Also in 2001, Fremantle made one last attempt to get in the Dark Shadows business with a plan to produce a new daytime version in Spanish using the original daytime series' scripts. But the idea once more failed to materialize.

For many years only Jackie knew, which is why a confused Alan belittles Jackie for hurting so much over the custody loss and over the mind games he played with Philip to try to turn him against Elizabeth. By late 1980, Elizabeth learns the truth (I'm not sure if she also finds out Jackie is Philip's mother) and begins removing herself from Philip's life as she thinks it's the right thing to do. In 1980 or 1981, Jackie tells Justin - they talk about it when she gives birth to Samantha, and Diane overhears them. You can find the rape sequences, and the aftermath with Holly driving to the hospital, in clip form.

@vetsoapfan thank you for donating something so special to fans. I hope it can help more people see how great Jacquie Courtney was.

I think Fiona and Jean both wanted to leave - Jean because of lack of storyline. It never made any sense to me why they didn't do more with Nadine - I adored her. They really wasted her when she just began obsessing over Buzz. Jenna also lost most of her spark with Buzz. It's an example of how many characters were squandered in these years. I think the main reason Buzz stayed so long was that by this point Deas was happy enough for a steady job in order to allow Margaret Colin to be able to pursue artistic freedoms. As a result I'm not sure if he was very demanding about money or storyline. Jackie and Justin had had a brief, unhappy marriage, which was, I think, one of the reasons she had given Philip up for adoption (Justin had never known about Philip). It's still so disappointing to me that all the key moments of this story took place after Cindy Pickett left. I'd love to see her get an interview.

Tim Dunigan, who seems to be best known for a show around this time called Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future, which also starred Jessica Steen (who would go on to do some very grueling temp work on Loving as Trisha Alden). He does seem a bit wooden, especially early on, although I wonder if part of that is down to the very heavy dramatic material he had to play for his episode (not sure if he was in any others). It's classic Bill Bell pamphlet conversation, but Christopher Templeton does a great job and it's a perfect contrast to all the melodrama going on elsewhere in the episode. Bell had phased out the blue-collar elements of Y&R by '83 or so, but this was a way to bring some of that everyday life back, in a more fashionable form. I'm glad I got to watch both of these episodes, but especially that first one, as it seemed to be pretty important. The scene with Nina realizing Philip was the father of her child was brilliantly done - Katherine not even having to say a word because Nina could tell just from what she wasn't saying and how she wasn't reacting that it was true. Such a great way for Jeanne to show her acting skills beyond the usual, and Tricia was also first-rate. And then you had the beautiful, emotional showcase for Jill at Jabot, connecting with her son. You also had the quieter Nikki material (Roberta and MTS always work so well together, I'm sorry we lost that relationship in recent decades) up against the insanity of Leanna and Victor. I knew that Bell was still doing his gonzo fantasy scenes up to the early '90s at least, but never knew of this completely bonkers sequence with Leanne in fetish gear, whipping a shirtless Victor! I'm half-surprised Braeden was willing to go along, but I guess he thought if you have a great body you can show off and you get to act out some kind of BDSM fantasy while being paid to do it, who would say no? (Armie Hammer sure wouldn't...) Then as if it wasn't nuts enough, you have Leanna taking off her big GLOW belt and beating the hell out of her mattress!! It's a credit to Barbara Crampton that she somehow made all of this work. The acid trip sequence reframing their office argument was genuinely disturbing - well done. Victor's amusement and interest in Leanna after she blew him off reminded me of how Bell balanced Victor's cruelty with his genuine fascination for women - when they challenged him, he would be charmed. Something later producers, especially MAB, replaced with sadism and bile. The second episode was quieter, but I thought she was even better there - her work in Leanna's manipulative conversation with Nikki was absolutely masterful. (I guess they had dropped her obsession with Steven by this point as she had no reaction when Nikki mentioned Ashley's name) I think my favorite part of the episode was getting to see one of the vaunted Abbott breakfasts. By the time I started watching those had been phased out somewhat. This was a lot of fun, especially their teasing John about marrying Jessica. I will say that I paused when John and Ashley said the table would be getting too crowded and John jokingly warned Steven - it made me wonder if Bell knew even at this time that Steven wasn't long for the world.

Thanks.

I have had my criticisms of Gina Tognoni but I think she was probably a better choice for Phyllis than someone who hadn't been on soaps in 20 years. I think Sherry would have been a great fit for daytime again in a certain type of role but I'm not sure how she'd be in a Blake type of role all this time later. I loved her work as Blake, and I did like her on ER, but with the brokenness of soaps today she would need a lot of care to avoid the same car crashes as so many names who have come in and gone right back out over the last few decades.

Not sure if this one is already available.

Such brave and strong men, fighting a battle it's too easy to cast a hazy glow on today. I was reading that only 22% of the public supported their fight. They risked their lives for a basic freedom many take for granted, and spent their last years watching this country slide back into what they never wanted it to be. I'm glad they are at peace and I hope current and future generations can learn from their fight.

I wonder if he could do an accent? He might have worked if he could have. I guess it paid off for him though as he got a fairly big part in the last years of Walker Texas Ranger.

Sorry if these were already around. They were put up on Archives today. https://archive.org/details/the-young-the-restless-may-17-1988-convert-video-online.com https://archive.org/details/the-young-the-restless-june-10-1988-most-convert-video-online.com

This will be the first time the second episode of Y&R will be available, right?