DRW50

There were a few other factors with Lillian as well. Maureen had been her friend for years, and Lillian was supposed to be a morally upstanding character. Some fans still would have blamed her, but the show chose to make her a self-absorbed martyr in this period, with that silly letter used to expose the affair, showing up after the funeral to offer apologies no one wanted to hear, etc. I don't know how true it is, but I once read that the show planned to pair Ed and Lillian until they realized fan backlash was too severe. It may have been shallow of me, I'll admit, but I really could not accept Lillian after this story for years. I think it took at least 3 years. I don't know if one of the other rumors about Lillian is true (that Tina Sloan didn't ever really ask for a big salary because she didn't need one), but if it is true, that is probably the only reason the character survived those years until Beth's return.

Thanks for the rundown. Giancarlo Esposito played Clay, right? The lack of black cast on GL in the '80s, compared to what ATWT and AW were attempting, is striking (even though they were far from perfect). The most viewers got was IQ, or whatever his name was, who was mostly there to support Lujack and Beth. I don't think I've heard much about Matt. JFP, I believe, once tried to take credit for why people were upset over Maureen's death, saying that they had built her up in the last six months and trying to treat it as an, "oops, lol" type situation. I had been a fan of Maureen from the time I started watching, pre-JFP. Ellen Parker always brought a lot to the part, even in lean times, and successfully replaced a well-liked actress. She made Maureen mean something to viewers. Not Phelps. The failure of many of JFP's new characters makes that very clear.

I hate these people so much. https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/02/us/face-masks-stillwater-oklahoma-trnd/index.html

That's a shame. I do wonder if they would have recast them both... Not to go off topic but if Maureen Garrett ever does another of those chats I hope someone will ask her about the "Children's Hour" type lesbian story that someone (was it Labine?) supposedly wanted her to do.

It's very sad, especially when I go back to the '70s soap magazines which were very wide in tone and had fascinating critical commentary in some cases. They are our only documents for what was going on in that era beyond generic outlines. The soap magazines really started to go sour in the late '90s, between egomaniac editors and increasing censorship from the industry, as did Michael Logan's work (the number of times I saw pieces that laughed at or downplayed rape still bothers me), but at their best they were vital.

True. I meant reversing posting on totals at all. I think Florida has stopped, or maybe I'm thinking of somewhere else.

I wonder how much longer it's going to be before they start completely covering up totals.

Definitely. I do remember some attempts from the soap press to tsk-tsk viewers about their virulent reaction, but once Connor began speaking in a Southern accent and dusting blinds, they just couldn't.

Michael Moore is a con artist who has done nothing but hurt his so-called "movement" going back to the late '90s. He helped get Trump elected in 2016 and is now trying his best to help the GOP again and big business and all the usual suspects. That so many so-called liberals had him on their shows to spread lies without bothering to check first is one of many reasons the left has become so bankrupt. As for Trump, his approval rating seems to be going up and he is improving in polling against Biden as well, so I dread what is coming next.

And they're in them until at least March 1983. I guess these must have been stock credits they didn't want to bother changing...

Thanks for the explanation about the credits. That is definitely interesting about Moore. It seems that the crime stories which involved more traditionally "soapy" (much as I hate that term) characters like Cecile, or later, Carl, were more popular. Did they ever try to put Cecile in with the mob stories of this period?

I wonder if they were just slow to update the credits (although you'd think it would have been easy to change out a few shots).

That ABC reporter has now deleted her whole thread. These people, and the media that so desperately push them, are liars and desperate con artists (and it turns out one of the other people pushing this story worked for Tulsi Gabbard). They are doing untold damage to women who actually have been harassed and assaulted.

More lies falling apart, although the media, as shown here, is still doing their best to keep them going.

That is pretty. I'd never heard it. I didn't realize Vera Moore was still on at this point. I guess she was passing the torch to the next black actress, as the show so often did...I didn't know Jim was still around either. This Alice looks so old. I first read about the mob story on AWHP, and so much of it, especially Jason's last words, read as genuinely gripping. It doesn't seem to be as gripping onscreen, sadly.

Most of them didn't seem to want to go. Some of the firings, like Tom O'Rourke, will forever puzzle me. It's as if someone at P&G saw a greenlight to plow through the cast for shiny new objects...not having the common sense to see that most of these objects would not stay long-term and that many fans would not support or accept these choices. GL was very lucky to stay on the air. I will never get past how eerie it is to see Jerry ver Dorn doing the goodbye for Charita Bauer. The man had been on the show for 5 years yet he was the senior cast member! Insane. And if viewers, and presumably cast and crew, had not taken Jerry into their hearts so quickly, he likely would have been gone too.

That's an odd mix for the cast shots. I think I see the last Tim recast. I thought he was also gone by this time.

The desperate soap press overhype tends to blur opinion (although Block did have his fans). I think this is especially true when it comes to Julia, whose "crazy Julia" stories were never as well-received as you'd think if you flipped through those old magazines.

I thought Corinne Jacker brought Steve and Alice back.

You've probably already seen this but the only later 1982 I can find is the Christmas episode. i wonder if she was there then.

Do I really have to see W trending because of a cookie cutter statment about partisanship. He and his chief guru Karl Rove did more to advance partisanship, including calling heroes like Max Cleland terrorist supporters, than almost any President. I will not forget, no matter how much they pretend.

The most I remember is Chris Schemering's book saying the ratings rose by a million viewers during her tenure. I think she may have been the one who aged Philip and they recast him with Grant Aleksander, but I'm not sure. There are a few March 1983 episodes on Youtube but they seem to be after her departure.

I was trying to describe what I found off about Block's work in the grieving scenes (which I might blame on poor production and direction, as Block was a better actor at GL). I think the closest I can get is this SNL parody about "my drunk boyfriend." It's about a minute and ten minutes in where one of said "boyfriends" does this weird, honking, "my uncle...my uncle..."