DRW50

A promo and closing credits for the December 24, 1985 episode. Sadly, I don't believe the episode is around (if I'm wrong my apologies).

New York Daily News ad (1985) An ad which surprised me (I won't spoil the soap actors who are in it - although you can see them in the description anyway).

Some of us have. I tend to assume this opening was a test run for OLTL's change (I prefer the Loving version). The Loving Murders openings were very clever - one of the best parts of the story.

Thanks @Paul Raven I have a feeling this is more exciting to read than to watch, but I wish we knew for sure.

Alan was so wonderful on Corrie. David was a good man, but certainly not a flawless one. He knew how to play the different shades. He could also be funny, he played the fiery love story with Irma (Sandra Gough) perfectly. The show made a terrible choice, one of their worst ever, in killing David off just because they brought Gough back, especially as she only stayed for a year or so. At least Alan had a lengthy career elsewhere. I remember how touching he was in his brief role on Emmerdale as Steve's father. And he was incredible on Brookside.

I'm sure there were others before but the furthest I can think back to is when Ed Zimmerman died and GL recast his Joe Werner role.

Thanks so much @slick jones I think you listed Carlos twice.

I could see that too, although I was never sure how much that story still connected with all the recasts.

Thanks. Is the husband Fran is talking about Johnny Fletcher? Was the woman who burned a child Charlotte? It's very interesting seeing them talk about stories they struggle with and the cab driver getting the wrong idea. I wonder if they remained friends post-GL. Funny to see Fran saying Bill could always return...

They must have styled her that way because of how old Charlie was. If they couldn't break his contract to get rid of him (I know he was gone by early/mid 1996), they should have just kept him offcamera. What a poor choice (McTavish said as much and was right). The speculation I remember was that he and Michael would have been lovers at one time. That could have been explosive drama, given Kelsey's closeness to Kevin and Kevin's bond with Michael - maybe too explosive for the period, I don't know.

@Franko There were a number of times I wanted to leave comments but kept getting logged out. Too late now, but I just wanted to say thanks for the last month or so of recaps I hadn't said anything about. Your insights into Lucy, into Monica, and into the whole Laurelton mess (which seems like a Jean Holloway AI program). And your details about Buzz, a character I barely knew and had much more prominence to the canvas (admittedly very forced prominence) than I'd realized. I would miss this blunt and sharp Lila by the time she is just there to say "Oh Edward" or gaze adoringly at Jason. What I wanted to say most was how I appreciate your writeup on the whole dead patient and the hospital suing a reporter (I guess that is still going on). It's very sad that this is the only appearance of Jessie for months, and barely more for Steve and Audrey.

The Fall Guy & Dynasty 1984 ABC Promo Briefly thought Elvira was on Dynasty. If only...

Bobby and Anita were also not well cast. I do think there was much more to play with Kelsey's background. I know there was some fan speculation that her father was gay, although maybe I am hallucinating that. Clearly the show was not happy with Tara's return, but they could have just tried to recast again. Nancy Frangione was out of work by summer '96...

She felt like a very real person, which wasn't the case for a lot of the younger characters on AMC in those last decades.

I like the Prince Albert story but I can agree it was cartoony. The reason it worked for me is because it tapped into the vulnerability Edwards had (Ilene's Delia was always more scattered and harder). By that point Delia did not work as a villainess and the attempts at taking her back there with the whole Barry hit and run story really hurt the show for me. I agree Siobhan and Jack were a no-brainer, even if Labine felt that Jack would never do that. It's a soap...

Christine Tudor was just a goddess. If she'd been on any other show she would have gotten more notice for it, but then she may not have had this type of material on another soap.

Kelsey may have as she lasted a year long than the others. Poor Scott was recast in a little over a year to make him a more generic "hunk," which took away anything unique about the character.

Thanks @safe @Paul Raven That Delia fantasy material was lousy...they really put Randall Edwards through the wringer.

I could swear I had some memory of a clip with Barry being revealed via a face mask being taken off. I guess I at least got the hospital part right. That Isabelle story in 1990 sounds batshit compared to most of what Dabney played...reading your blog I see that at one point she was running around with a gun, disguised herself as a nun and they thought she tried to suffocate Jack because a nun was seen with a pillow over his face or something. Were whatever writers had popped up in 1990 trying to make her Sophia from Santa Barbara?

That would have been a lot of fun.

Cindy, like Alex, was also unhinged (and unlike Alex was always intended that way). Malone also re-used the sex game motif for Carlo/Alex with Cindy and her husband, Grant. You are right that the Fall of the House of Cory made no sense with the characters involved, although that's off topic, I realize. Malone also redid the rape trial story, to much lesser effect, although the story did not try to redeem the rapist - it was more about the town divided. I know he redid the rape story again with "Todd" and Blair when he returned to OLTL.

Thanks so much @slick jones

Someone else will explain in better detail, but... I'm not sure why Meg Mundy was not continued in the role after the TV-movie. Augusta Dabney was fired to try to refocus Isabelle's role on the canvas. Celeste Holm's Isabelle was colder and scheming. She was married to Wesley Addy (Cabot) in real life. They had killed Cabot but had him return so Isabelle could talk to his ghost. This went further and further until the story was set up to reveal that Isabelle had had an affair with a man and conceived Clay, whom she passed off as Cabot's son. Celeste Holm wasn't happy with the material, I believe, and left. Isabelle was burned with bad face cream and via plastic surgery became Pat Barry. Barry played the character very close to her character on GL almost a decade earlier - scheming, ineffectual (and vaguely Southern). She stayed in the role for about a year and a half or a little more before leaving. Months later, Dabney returned, and the character returned to Dabney's settings (if, as some have mentioned, a little colder). To me, Dabney was the only Isabelle and shouldn't have been recast. She's no Celeste Holm, but I don't think that type of role suited Isabelle and I would have just brought Holm in as a new character.

Thanks. This is a refreshing interview compared to the egomania of many producer interviews.