MichaelGL

4 hours ago, DRW50 said:

I'm wary of how many are now pushing Avenatti as some kind of crusading hero and tsk-tsking Democrats who don't walk behind him. Something about him and his grandstanding just feels off for me. I'm also wary of these accusations, especially the way he's framed them. I know a lot of people (fake concern trolls, like that Jedidah who was on the View and the ever-phony, smarmy Beltway shill George Stephanapolous, and people with real concerns) are concerned about the way the New Yorker story was written too, but at least that didn't come across to me as attention-seeking.

I want to like Avenatti, but a part of me can't help but to feel as if I'll get the rug pulled out from under me with him, similar to Anthony Weiner. 

 

I would have loved to have seen what the Dobsons would have done with Search for Tomorrow. 

Speaking of Nola, KH has great chemistry with AA's Mike. She would've been a great spoiler for Toni and Mike, who I am kind of over at this point. 

41 minutes ago, RavenWhitney said:

I've just started watching the July 1976 episodes. Wow

- Maggie DePriest was ahead of her time.  The show was so well written. The script writers were outstanding: Lanie Bertram, Anne Howard Bailey and Lee Zlottoff (who went on to nighttime fame). 

 

- The acting is so fierce with the exception of Billy, Greta, Wendy and Iverson.  Paul, Anne, Mona, Maggie, Steve wow.  Love those actors.

 

- Gene Lasko was a great director. Norman Hall was senior director but his episodes are sometimes sloppy.

 

- When does Marland take over?  I can't believe Depreist didn't last; probably network execs fiddling.

 

- Score productions music is awful.  Some of the sets were nicely done; but the nurses station is so cheap.

 

- Is Toni Carorlee's daughter?  Weren't the actresses near the same age?  How did they write Carolee off? When does Jada start airing?

 

- Did Cenedella or Depreist create the Dancy family?

5

Toni is not Carolee's daughter. However, Toni's half-brother, Billy, is Carolee's stepson from a previous marriage to Dan Allison.  Carolee took Billy in as her own after Dan's death, and it was around that time that Billy's actual parentage was revealed that he was the love child of Toni's mother and a man she ran off with. Toni's mother Barbara gave the child to Dan Allison and his first wife to raise as their own. Dan's wife died, and he then married Carolee. 

Jada has already started airing in a few scenes. Carolee was written off originally as leaving town during a rough patch in her marriage to Steve (which in some instances was fueled by a scheming Ann). I tuned out for much of this so I can't really give more detail other than that. As for the actresses ages, after some research it does appear that the show de-aged Carolee a bit by recasting the role with Rowland.

Cenedella created Jerry and Joan if I'm correct. DePriest expanded the family to include Nola, Lew, Sara, and Virginia. 

Marland is slated to take over in the fall of 1976. It might be in October that we start seeing his name. 

I always wanted to know the backstory between Chrissy and Lachlan's dad, looks like we'll never know. Oh well. 

If Beto O'Rourke wins in Texas, and that's huge IF, barring any surprise scandals I can see him becoming president one day. His campaign in TX reminds me of Obama's run for Congress in IL. 

Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley has officially canceled a committee vote on Brett Kavaunagh's Supreme Court nomination. 

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/kavanaugh-sexual-assault-allegation-dle/h_9ad5f54f56191d6c23fc67a01bdced63?utm_term=link&utm_content=2018-09-18T20%3A45%3A32&utm_source=fbCNN&utm_medium=social

Remember OLTL's special Christmas opening from 1995? I kind of wish they eventually made this permanent. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YZtYdjn5CQ

The show really suffered IMO from not having a long-term antagonist like Dan Allison (a John Dixon type character) to stir the pot in Madison through the years.

Love to know what your ideas Khan as to how you would've saved Dan. 

Despite Margaret DePriest's faults as a writer, I can honestly say the show is pretty entertaining now(IMO it hasn't been this way since the height of the Pollacks tenure). I love how the Dancy storyline is involving much of the cast. 

It seems like NBC has poured plenty of money into the show with the revamp of the hospital, Matt's office, and the Conrads set as well. 

Rest in Peace John McCain

Ira Avery and a solo Rick Edelstein(sp?) were the lowest of low points so far for the reruns IMO. 

Watching this weeks worth of episodes with Ann and Paul scheming(which I love), with Stacey high on drugs and wanting have sex with Rico,  this definitely isn't the same show it was under the Pollocks! I do find Margaret DePriest's tenure entertaining, but it is lacking a few things as well. Watching these episodes, its similar to the way I felt about B&E being at GL in the late 90s. 

 

Mathew would've been a great character to mix it up with Spaulding men like Philllip and Alan-Michael. 

On 8/6/2018 at 12:58 AM, dc11786 said:

 

I never understood how characters like Mallet, Natalia, Grady, Cyrus, and Susan became so prominent in the shows final years. So much low-energy to no-energy additions that I just couldn't get behind. They weren't necessarily played by bad actors, but I felt so many of Wheeler and Kriezman's additions brought so little to the show in those final years. If the storytelling was stronger it could have worked, but I don't know if Kriezman told any story that built to a satisfying climax that didn't involve mental gymnastics to make the story work. There were always interesting ideas and dynamics that would be touched on occasionally, but anything that seemed worth investing in longterm just petered out. 

Mallet and Susan's returns all failed because they were not the characters they were before they left, at least not at their core. Heck, Susan was de-Sorased  and Mallet was banging his Goddaughter. Marina. I'm glad Hurst took over when she did, because she tried to make the show somewhat familiar in those final months. 

Reva was dressed pretty well IMO. It was the younger set she was a total MISS on, most notably Marah. 

Interesting perspective. Some points I can agree with, some not so much.

It's rare to find others such as myself who viewed Lloyd Gold's tenure as good. I loved how he began to focus on Holly/Billy/Buzz, had Claire pulling her usual manipulations around Springfield and interacting with Alan, and the earthquake was a guilty pleasure of mines. I think his tenure injected new energy into the show, and it showed with the ratings. It was until the time travel story that Gold lost me and telling from the ratings around that time, he lost a few other viewers too. 

Even though I think Gold was on the writing team, it was Ellen Weston who wrote the reveal that Gus was the product of Alan and a nun. I would have made Gus the love child between Rita and Alan IMO. Millee Taggart brought back Annie during the Reva stalker storyline in which she was in a mental institution. 

I will never forgive McTavish for killing off my favorite character Nadine, and in such a disgusting way. Her tenure was a hit or miss for me.

Someone else noticed that there was a subtle shift in the feel of the show from when Pam Long and Nancy Curlee co-wrote to when Curlee wrote with Demorest and co. I agree there does seem to be a change. 1989 IMO was the show's best year. 

 

Lemay briefly wrote for The Doctors for a few months from 1981-1982. He was one of its last few Head Writers. 

Watching Twin Peaks last year, both the first two seasons and then season 3, I really came to love its opening/theme. 
 

I loved when on DAYS a certain music cue would play over the credits. This is a brilliant example of one of the many times it did. 
 

I wish they had kept the 2004 opening theme of DAYS. It was majestic, and sure beats the shortened one we have now. 

In retrospect Y&R's porn opening was pretty good, it just took me years to realize how good it was. 

Not much to add here in the thread, everyone has touched upon what openings are the best. I liked GL's lifesaver opening in the sense it was the last good period of GL, and the openings that followed were absolutely horrible. 

GL's theme from 2005 was underwhelming and sounds like the intro to some daytime talk show. It sounds so generic and uninspired. 

38 minutes ago, DramatistDreamer said:

I was pointing out that Calhoun was there for only a few years and it is still surprising how much of an impact he had for a relatively brief tenure (in soap years anyway).

 

Calhoun had almost the same impact on GL. One can say he was the last great EP of the Proctor and Gamble soaps. 

I've always been curious about Douglas Anderson's tenure at Guiding Light. I wonder if he would have succeeded on a different show at the time, that wasn't ahem, dying a slow and painful death, with a better EP at the helm. I remember stumbling across a article about him via Google about him taking over GL and they made it sound the start of a new golden era almost. 

So when did Henry Sleasar leave Capitol?