DRW50

Sheffer didn't want to make the effort because all we really needed to know was that Craig was a "man with balls," so to speak. He was tough and nasty and that was meant to make us swoon. That's why he included scenes of Craig laughing and sneering at Jack for being raped. I would agree Block was playing what was written, but I was never that thrilled with his performance either. I remember a lot of weird noises and a lot of deadness and coldness even in moments that could have been played differently. I couldn't connect to him at all when Bryant died - I remember cringing at his attempts to show grief. And I really enjoyed all of Block's work on GL, so I was not averse to finding him good in the role. It just didn't happen for me.

Tara Reade has canceled her Fox News interview, citing threats against her and her family. In other news:

Bobby was one of JFP's last creations, I think (she would later hire RKK on GH). His backstory changed multiple times due to the constant changeover. Malone rewrote his backstory to fit the Southern gothic atmosphere for his soap, 13 Bourbon Street. I'm not sure if he planned to keep Vicky and Bobby/Shane together or if the network pushed for Jake and Vicky. I do remember it seeming very sudden when Vicky actually fell in love with Jake. For a while she seemed to be marrying him just to get away from her feelings for Shane. I think Malone was going to keep that as a messy group (Bobby/Vicky/Lila/Jake/Matt/Amanda - was Amanda still in scenes with Jake by this point?) but he was fired and then so was Moss and RKK (I think Brian Krause was too).

Laura was on from fall 1996 (I think she came back around Christmas) to early 1998. She was mostly saddled with a lousy "revenge" story where she and Matt (recast with Brian Krause) set Carl up as an adulterer in order to break up his marriage to Rachel. This all annoyed a number of fans as Matt and Amanda had grown to accept the relationship. Michael Malone, then-headwriter, added some of his usual faux-gothic tryhard touches by having Amanda pretend to be the mistress, wearing a short brown wig, calling herself Hadley. She would start to think she actually was Hadley and lose her grip on reality. Once Malone left, all of this was dropped, and Moss was fired a few months later. Moss had a lot of spark and potential and was badly wasted. Sandra once said in an interview she didn't even really want to go back, so she asked for what she thought were terms too high to be accepted. To her surprise, they were, so she agreed.

Thanks for finding this stuff. According to this he got his start on GL in 1956. https://www.deseret.com/1996/11/30/19279986/bill-bell-keeps-y-r-on-top (I did not realize Lee was Irna's niece)

munecojim has year-by-year playlists from 1985-1993. They haven't been updated in a year, so just to be safe you may want to put "as the world turns _____ " in search and look for results from the last year, as 1986, 1991 and 1987 have had new episodes uploaded over that time period.

There was a lot of speculation (and some evidence) that these protests have mostly been Astroturfed by big money conservative groups. They probably are, but by and large they seem to be an excuse for bigots, Nazis, and lunatics to get to march around as part of their big global takeover. That's one of the reasons the conservative organizations that have something to lose, like the Koch foundation, have said they aren't involved. Just a few days ago these types of protesters were at Michigan's capitol building, carrying guns, talking about how they were going to kill the governor. The Michigan GOP generally had little to say until they were all but shamed into doing so. This is their base. They need them and they fear them. And this is the base that is happy to kill themselves and their families through the brutal hand of the Republican Party as long as the rest of us die along with them. The lockdowns are ending, and there will be more and more pressure to end them because they aren't feasible economically (especially thanks to the GOP Congress refusing to give more money to people out of work - many still haven't gotten a dime), and they are too much of a strain psychologically for many people. I'm half-surprised they've even lasted this long, since America as a whole no longer has anything close to the strong resolve of, say, Germany. But they are ending in spite of these protests, rather than because of them. Ten years ago these would have been much more seamlessly organized and effective. The madness and sheer evil in much of the GOP base is just too much for anyone to control. I just hope that we "get our country back" before it's too late...if it already isn't.

Other than "The Days of the Week" on SCTV, I've never liked them, and they feel especially dated and embarrassing in recent years as they just show that no one has bothered to watch soaps in decades. I did like this one just because they bothered to include some soap people (sort of like that Sandra Bullock rehab movie).

I don't think Andrew and Nana were on at the same time. I do wonder if the lack of chemistry was more of a factor than Dirty Harry. I have a hard time believing daytime viewers were that big on the film to the point where they couldn't accept him. Geoff Pierson was very hot, but otherwise DHK is the only Frank I could really accept. I thought he embodied every facet of the role. The only thing missing was chemistry with Faith, but no one had chemistry with KMG's Faith, so I can't say I am surprised.

I barely watched most of that - at least they remembered it again.

I think Cory Publishing was last shown in 1993 or 1994. It was mentioned again around 1998 but I don't think it was shown.

I think he was trying to manipulate her, yes. I wasn't watching much in the early or mid '00s but I do remember a time when Craig and Lily became closer, before that was dropped. Hunt Block was so so awful as Craig. One of the many things they got wrong was that he did care about Lily. He wouldn't have just used her. There was an interview with Marland while he was at The Doctors where he was very candid, to the point of criticizing Julia Duffy for leaving the show when he had story planned for Penny. I don't know how close Liz and Julia were, but I do wonder if any of that period, with Julia's exit, and her own exit, stayed in her head for the rest of their working relationship. It seemed like his unpleasant experiences at GH and GL may have gone on to shake Marland up a bit about the industry, so maybe he was different by the time of ATWT, I don't know.

I thought Pelphrey was awful on GL and ATWT. I'm glad he has found success elsewhere...he was alright in Iron Fist (I think I made it partway through the first season). I'd posted that Debbi message in the COVID thread as I wasn't sure where it should go; so heartbreaking, and such a contrast to a lot of the glib celebrity messages. This isn't really the best tone shift, but Susan Lucci has a very quick cameo about 3 minutes into this video, along with Mary Beth Evans, Heather Locklear (I think - she looks a lot like old school Patty Weaver here...) and Maurice Benard.

Lucinda of 1984-85 does seem like a ton of fun, but also not a sustainable character. I suppose she doesn't see it that way. The battles with FMB brought the Liz vs PTB conflict out into the open whereas before it probably just simmered in the background of each regime. I'm still surprised at times that she stayed to the end with Goutman, that he didn't try to push her out. Lucinda was one of the only reasons I watched the last year so I'm glad that never happened.

I think Liz had a very specific idea of Lucinda and didn't necessarily mesh well with others about their own ideas. I wonder if she had issues with how much Marland could use Lucinda as a plot mover (I think she worked pretty well in that role), or that Lucinda had to be humanized and punished. I think she may have also said in the past she was unhappy about the Lucinda/John relationship ending. I'm trying to remember her old quotes about the Lucinda therapy story he did (which led to the arrival of Royce and Neal) - I think she may have wanted the story but didn't really like the execution. She complained about scenes with her mother having liquor bottles laying around, as she thought it was cliched.

The talking point tends to be "he let his daughter intern for Weinstein," as these people tend to believe Obama is the worst of humanity and have been giddily waiting for more reasons to "prove" this. Hopefully these people are a minute section of voters, even if they carry large media attention, but with the race so close I'm nervous of everything. But no matter who was in Biden's spot, the same accusations and games would be put out, so I'm just left hoping Biden can hang on to November, and if he doesn't think he can, he will leave while there's still time.

Oh I can't wait to see this one. Who can forget when in an interview one of the powers that be answered viewer concern about whether Ashley still had a dead fetus inside her by saying, offhandedly, that he threw it in the fireplace.

Poor Debbi.

You made the right choice. I kept on, off and on, for many years, but finally gave up for good around the time of Ben's character trashing and then Jonathan's arrival. The best I can say is the show did at least have a much better ending, highly flawed as it was, than I would have expected of a show that had spent 20-30 years self-immolating. Sadly I can't say that for the other soaps canceled in this time frame.

Someone found a missing episode of Benny Hill's 1961-1963 series.

I'm sorry GL got to the state it was in by its last decade (and going back further, since 1993), but I don't really believe anyone else would have been better as EP. ATWT had one who was, in the long and short run, much worse, in ways we're still hearing new elements about a decade later.

I never really cared much for the Debbie Downer sketches aside from the first one, but the last on here has some Betty White content that isn't around, if any of you are missing her today (I know she's still with us but she has mostly retired). It was a dress rehearsal sketch from her 2010 episode.