DRW50

Trevor did seem popular with fans and Kiberd was a strong performer, but given some of the claims I am surprised he lasted the whole decade.

Thanks @Paul Raven I find this show fascinating - unfortunately many of the available episodes aren't as compelling as those which were wiped, but the history is still very interesting to read up on. I am hoping more of those first few hundred episodes are found someday. There were a number of episodes on Youtube but they were taken down. Brollie, a free streaming service, has been uploading episodes - they are up to 899. A few hundred to go. They also have, in the 1973 section, a bridging episode with tons and tons of clips from the lost period, showing just how button-pushing the storylines were (including very ugly racism alongside the sexual antics). I am hoping they will eventually upload the last months of the show, which, due to falling ratings, tried to return to the more ribald old days, with full nudity (even some rare male frontal nudity), and a very controversial Nazi biker gang story which the actor who played the gay lawyer Don warned them would get the show canceled (and it did). This period also had a beloved character being gunned down in his nightclub. https://watch.brollie.com.au/apps/845/tv-shows/tv-shows/number-96 They also have Number 96: The Movie.

I think she did a bit, although I'm not sure it was different than what we'd already heard. IIRC, Maria was meant to be paired with Trevor down the line, but then during the Maria/Edmund date they saw the chemistry between Eva and John.

I also thought he was attractive in a wholesome way. This is the mentality which helped lead them to dump him for someone who was leaner and presumably meant to be more attractive, which I never felt for Peter Simon (although he looks fine).

In Maria's case it was only a few months before they really started establishing her, I think, after they abandoned Brooke/Edmund. I agree Eva is a good actress. I just never thought she was a very sympathetic one, which the show finally played more into in her second stint.

Another reminder of how needlessly bitchy soap columnists (or now, Twitter obsessives) often are...

@Vee Most comments I would have made were lost days or weeks ago, but I've loved reading your breakdowns of the last months of 1991. They remind me of your pieces on Knots Landing, clearly written from such a place of respect and love. Much more thoughtful than many articles pumped onto Substack with ridiculous prices. I didn't realize Megan and Andrew went as far as they did. They really could have been a wonderful couple, although if Jessica Tuck had stayed, I have a feeling the show would have focused more on Cain/Megan with Andrew on the outside, similar to Luna until Mia Korf left the show. Malone did keep Andrew in story without Megan, clearly, but I do wonder if he never had as much heart for Cassie/Andrew. I wonder if John Loprieno ever regretted leaving when he did, as Cord was never the same level of character when he returned. I'm not sure if the show would have had a story where Blair was involved with both Cord and Asa, rather than Max. That may have been too far for Cord. The show is so frantic in these months, to the point of confusion and exhaustion. I can pace myself through all the shifts more with your breakdowns. That is the most compelling part of early Gottlieb or Gottlieb/Malone - she is just trying everything, never taking a moment of screentime for granted. These little flashes with Viki before she is deconstructed with Sloan are fascinating. Roger Gordon is a big what might have been. I thought Larry Pine, similar to his ATWT role, was just badly miscast (his best soap work was as Adam's henchman on AMC). You're right about how many themes Malone kept repeating during his run as headwriter. Angel Square is a more honest have/have-not combination than Jason and Wanda, but I genuinely connected with Jason and Wanda, whereas I just never did with Antonio (and as the show was criticized for at the time, the way the characters were brought into the show wasn't the best).

In terms of storyline, I suppose you could say Jonathan, as he only added to storyline for his mother (and story that wasn't sidelining/degrading her, as Dinah did to Vanessa), and gave the show a lot of buzz. I found Jonathan repulsive, personally, so I'm just going based on the overall response.

I am still barely able to log in, almost never on Edge, barely on Chrome. Today for the first time I also got one of those warnings, on both browsers, about the site not being safe and may steal your passwords. It's gone now but I wanted to give you a heads up.

I think this is a new promo for us. 1984 Rituals syndicated soap ad Tina Louise, Pflug, Lazenby - YouTube

Lynn married a man who was in news or something along those lines and he wanted her to give up her acting career. She did so, but seemingly regretted it, which is one of the reasons Maureen mentioned Lynn turning up to the studio early in her run as Holly and watching her play scenes.

I forgot Judith subbed for Jess. I imagine it had to be better than her work as Gloria.

I do wonder if Slesar had any involvement, off the credits, in Sara's stories from the early to mid '70s (Lee Gantry to Kit Vested), as they remind me of his work.

Why not just focus on Lexie crashing the memorial instead of throwing in various stories? Why is this so lackluster? Why is Stacy Haiduk finding ways to drag out every line?

I can only assume we're well past the point where Brennan would have been written out but Frank doesn't want to fire a friend. Chris McKenna seems to love being on GH, he's very active on social media about the show and not in one of those weird needy ways using fans as weapons or asking them to buy his underwear, and I do really like Chris, but Brennan should be going. (as should Joss and Valentin...)

Temp recasts are one of the best parts of soaps for me. They are endlessly fascinating. This one in particular given Lauren's role as Lindsay Wells. Jill has had some very interesting temp recasts over the years. There was Melinda Fee, and then that period where Brenda was gone for a bit, Deborah Adair returned, at some point Jess was temping for Brenda, then Brenda returned, then Jess was back for good. This led to that "Hurricane Jill" Y&R video which is now, sadly, lost media. (if 5000 different Spongebob clips can be called lost media this can too) I am sorry Jess won't be back but it will be good to see Lauren on Y&R again. Hell, I might even watch, and I rarely do that with this show in recent decades.

@Sapounopera You may be interested in the 1986 episodes.

These days Congress would just burn everything and tell him to use AI to remake the movies... My main memories of his as a kid are probably the Tomahawk Chop, but I do remember those cheap looking colorized movies. He did love film, he gave us TCM, which is so important...and he also saved a number of film vaults from waste and destruction. He's not wrong about many refusing to watch B&W, but now we're in an era where thanks to the dumbing down of our country, many, even college students, don't watch clips beyond two minutes and don't want to read a book. You can't save them or dumb down enough for them. This is just who they are, and where this country has gone. Luckily for him, he isn't around now to see just how much worse things will get.

Thanks @Vee I can definitely see Stone being the type they were going for, although she was a little hard.

PAUL REISER'S HOLLYWOOD ADVENTURE 1989 NBC PREVIEW BETTY WHITE, HASSELHOFF, BOB HOPE

From what people have said I think Holly was meant to be a neurotic daddy's girl. Didn't she hate Leslie? I wonder if this ever came back up when she and Leslie were married to Mike and Ed.

Eileen would have suited RH very well.

That's when Carl was going bad (had a brain tumor). Nancy called Rachel offcamera to tell her Chris had fallen from his apartment window or something. Richard Culliton tried to use history during his brief headwriting stint. I do wonder how many AW fans by that point even knew who Nancy or Chris were.

We've already seen her mourn dead (or "dead") kids and I didn't think it was very interesting. I don't know what I would do with Laura.

I wonder if they are going to pair this with their Doc Martin remake. My grandparents watched Highway to Heaven every week. It meant a lot to people...but I wonder how much of that was down to Michael Landon and Victor French.