DRW50

It's interesting Farley went back after his previous stint (or do you mean he was on another show?). At least he seemed to try at ATWT.

I wonder if one of the reasons the show is running some older episodes (even if they aren't going far back enough) is the show is more by committee than the other soaps these days, with someone who has less interest in only keeping to recent material. Valentini's ego is too big to go back, and whether it be Ronn Moss or other ego problems, Brad Bell isn't either.

The odd part is I believe Jacqueline Babbin had enhanced AMC's production values, which shows you where they must have been in the '70s I guess. I didn't even know Tyrone was still on in 1986. I guess he wasn't for long. It's a little sad to see Paul's wide friendship group slowly dismantled over the course of 2 years, especially since he never really has a close friend from this point on (instead they mostly just overdo the Mary relationship and Lynne pining for him).

Here's an old photo I scanned - it's from her OLTL role, presumably. Some in the industry were clearly not happy she got a nomination, or just with her in general, as there are repeated digs at her as well as one article I remember expressing delight that Leann Hunley had won instead.

Didn't Mary supposedly feel the producers were trying to phase her out of the show?

I saw Katy Tur tweeted and deleted (she said she deleted out of caution). I'm seeing people celebrating this on Twitter but I feel like it could all go very very wrong. I know it sounds glib but I just hope you all stay safe.

I've wondered how viewers at the time felt about this saga. SFT had never been immune to tragedy (Jo's various husbands, and of course, poor Marge), but this was the first highly sensationalized death, especially of a core character, wasn't it? I think there was a guy killed off during a writers' strike a few years earlier but nothing is available of those moments.

This couldn't be coming at a worse time.

I hope all is well with you. I'm glad Angela Merkel is leading in this crisis. Very few people have been wearing masks here either, from my experience. Meanwhile the US continues to get results like this, due to astroturf shitburgers.

Lois on GH, in 2004.

I remember her trying out for some soap roles but that never went anywhere.

Thanks. Weren't there rumors GH was going to bring Carla on? I never did know what happened with Amy Van Horne's career.

Was that that Richard Steinmetz character?

The tasteless ending of Sydney's murder sort of suggests how those behind the scenes felt about Morgan, and about her leaving, but a lot of that was their own fault and failing. Jane Elliot was ultimately a much better fit as Tracy - it's too bad that wasn't in the works earlier. (I guess it helps that Jane had been a producer on Loving and was less likely to put up with nonsense - one of her interviews after joining the show even mentions her correcting lighting problems!)

I hadn't heard that. You'd think they would have been more appreciative of having jobs. I guess that's the peril of having so many young, green actors erroneously assuming their careers were ahead of them.

It wouldn't have been a world away from the year or two that Erica lived in NYC in the early '80s. The more I think about it the more disappointed I am.

We wouldn't have gotten the baby stealing story (which was more suited to The City anyway, probably...), so that would have been something. That period feels like a lack of ideas on what to do with Erica. Debbi still wanted to play a character who was unsympathetic. I remember a letter in SPW taking her to task for wanting to play a bitch, and how that had already been done with Dominique on Dynasty, etc. but I can see why she tired of the heroine role. Of course Ellen was never that unsympathetic, so if those were plans they changed early on. Heinle was wonderful as Steffi, which is the only reason I had as much goodwill as I did for the rest of her lackluster soap career. I've heard people say she has finally improved as Victoria in recent years - I wouldn't know as I don't watch it.

It just seems nonsensical to me. It's a miracle Jill survived that period at all. I agree Liz should have stayed. I wish Bell had tried. Julianna fit in so easily each time she returned. I have to hear that sometime. Few soaps manage to appeal to so many elements of pop culture the way Y&R did in its peak years.

I get angrier every time I think about this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8sU45ax2Hs This is wonderful - a true love letter to Sarah Jane, written by RTD, who singlehandedly brought her back to the (inter)national consciousness. I won't give any spoilers (if this type of thing even counts for spoilers), but everyone involved is just fantastic, and Jacob Dudman, who provides the crucial narration, goes above and beyond, particularly since he had no connection to any of that time period. I only have one quibble about any of this, which probably isn't worth going on about considering how strong the rest is. I'll never say goodbye to Sarah Jane, and I am very happy that Russell knew this, felt this, and let us say goodbye to her without actually having to let her go.

I enjoyed Peluso on AW, especially once they paired her with Cass, but the material wasn't really a patch on her best as Ava. It's still a real surprise sometimes at how well she managed to make Ava her own, given how special Roya Megnot was in the role.

Youtube has been recommending these Depression Cooking videos over the last month. Fortunately, rather than being a maudlin or exploitative exercise, the videos, and the woman in question, are quick, warm, quietly melancholy, and make you feel like you're a part of something. She passed in 2013, but her family have kept the channel going, and have recently added even more content due to the spike in interest. This one, where she says, jokingly-seriously, that kids these days couldn't have survived the Depression definitely hits on multiple levels...

It never made much sense to me either. I was pleasantly surprised at how well the material worked in those episodes various kind people here gave us last year - mostly thanks to the connection between Adair and Julianna McCarthy and how they managed to tap into Jill's enduring battle to get what she saw as hers even if it cost her love and happiness. The whole thing felt like a needed reset of the character after she spun wildly out of control in the late '70s (I do wonder how that material played onscreen...especially the tasteless sounding triangle with her mother and Stuart).