titan1978

GH is the only one I could leave, even for a couple of years at a time, and still tune in again and pick up the habit. Your example of AMC was pretty much when I stopped watching it too. I also would pick it up when their was a new HW or I heard people talking about a good story, but it just felt hollow in a way that even JFP and Guza’s GH did not. Plenty of classic characters still on the show and being used, unlike GH at that time. But something felt off in Pine Valley and it was sad to watch so I didn’t. Angie and Jesse cured a lot of that, and made it at least watchable when they came back, kind of breathed new life into it. But I can’t say even they would have been enough at that time for me to watch for years again, because everything else was not enjoyable. I felt the same way about OLTL when Dena was the head writer. It just stopped being a good show for me at that point, and even though I watched a lot of the Carlivati era, I was never a consistent, daily viewer again. I watched a lot of these shows in shallow periods. But once it’s all characters I don’t recognize or care about, it’s easy to walk away.

The why is pretty easy. The show wanted a spike in ratings for the short term, which was the ABC pattern by that point. Their bonus was to kill off characters that either Guza had run out of story for, JFP was over, Frons, or all of the above. Never forget JFP killed Maureen by the results of a focus group, which the data can be manipulated to get the result you want. They stopped thinking long term. I would say if there was a bible by that point, it was the length of two sweeps periods-max. I also think for all his faults, Pratt usually writes a young heroine type on all his shows. On GH both Georgie and Courtney screamed Pratt to me, and Maxie aligns with Guza’s more self destructive characterizations. Because she wasn’t just a snarky bitch, Maxie does have layers even if the show doesn’t use them very often. Pratt was gone by then.

Bold and the Beautiful. I’ve tried to get into it several times since the early 1990’s when Sheila arrived. I found a lot of hammy acting, bad acting, and it just wasn’t my thing. Susan Flannery could be excellent, Darlene as well. But McCook and Ronn Moss have no appeal for me, and KKL, especially back then, has the most flat line readings compared to her co-stars. Once Brad took total control it was even harder to get into.

Those images have popped up several times over the years. Unless there was a new one I am unaware of.

I agree with this. At first, some of the tragedy played into her self destructive nature. But at this point, they want her to be quirky, bitchy, and also mascara stained and holding babies at the hospital bed of her latest man.

Thanks @Frankoand @will81! Can’t wait to spend time looking at it!

By many accounts Bill Bell was much more collaborative and supportive than Irna was. Almost all the DAYS actors loved him, and many of the Y&R folks seemed to have a lot of affection for him. Even years later most actors don’t talk about him like the ones that worked under Irna! From everything I have heard Gloria Monty was a much more demanding boss than Bell. He certainly accepted input from people like Victoria Rowell. By all accounts Y&R is a tough show to work on- not just the excellence required (those days are long gone), but the talent and backstage have been filled with drama almost the whole time. Bell and Conboy clashed, the top stars have several instances of fighting or not speaking to each other, etc.

I agree Alicia did an incredible job. When I saw they were recasting Kendall I was really skeptical. But she nailed it, I didn’t spend a lot of time comparing them. However, Sarah played the nasty side with so much more visceral rage. Her Kendall was a nightmare for Erica. She showed us how broken and sad Kendall was too. SMG also was on a much stronger written era, a better overall version of All My Children. I also know network execs. The role is SMG’s if she wants it and agrees to their deal. I would be shocked beyond belief if she isn’t approached before anyone else for the role. Even if Kendall isn’t going to be a lead character, I would think she gets the call before anyone else. The question remains though- how does Susan Lucci feel about that?

I just cannot get over the amount of tragedy they have given Maxie. She is at her best when she can be bitchy and fun. Three dead men, currently saddled with a liar and criminal, all these kids and baby stories. I have felt she should be closer to Sherry Springfield’s Blake from GUiding Light- bitchy, sarcastic, career oriented, impulsive and self-centered. She used to be this way, that’s why her working for Kate was such a perfect fit.

What is Soaps of Yesterday? I’m blanking on it, and I would love to see this stuff being referenced!

Oh that is very sad.

I saw an interview with Genie where she said that Ceara and the incest story were presented to her in a meeting with Agnes, who had the story mapped out. It was one of the reasons she agreed to it after her stint on DAYS- that it was Nixon herself, that they had a specific character and a story ready.

This has Ron’s stupid writing all over it.

I felt the same way, although I didn’t start watching until the very end of Natalie’s time on the show, so I didn’t see formative Trevor. I agree about his relationship with Hayley as well, I could enjoy him there. I just wasn’t a huge fan of Trevor. Or Laurel or domesticated Janet for that matter. But I also felt the same way about Jackson and people love him dearly. That’s why soaps in the old days were better- you might dislike a character here or there, but usually the show was full of characters you did like. My mom couldn’t stand Lesley on GH. But GH was her favorite show and for almost a decade Lesley was a lead character that drove tones of story. Now they put almost all their eggs in one basket, and if you hate that basket then why watch?

I loved Skye on GH and I would welcome Robin Christopher back any day! One of the bright spots of JFP’s tenure.

Man, Bryant. I didn’t get it when they did it, and never did. Reid sucked as well, but Bryant was a real waste because the show was still airing for many years after that one. I know this one may not be popular, but I also think Rose on ATWT should not have been killed either. I hate when a show does such a major character tied to the core and then kills them off within a couple of years of their arrival. Hate it. And Will as the killer never seemed like a good direction for me. Plus I think Rose added something, certainly to Martha. The only thing I hate worse is undoing a death and then killing them again. I think I will call it being Carlivatied from now on- Victor Lord, Frank Smith, AJ, Duke...I’m sure I’m missing some.

I didn’t notice it all that much, but I wasn’t really looking for it. I love that scene in Tootsie though when Dorothy grabs the actor and forces him to look at her instead of the teleprompter 😆 I just read an interview with Mary O’Brien (ex-Heather, GH) where the interviewer talked about using them. He is referring to Brooke Bundy in his question. GB: Brooke also said everyone relied on the teleprompter for phone scenes. MO: Yes, the guy holding the teleprompter was usually crouched below (the camera). And it's funny because when I started the show, I couldn't read it! I realized I needed glasses for the phone scenes. I wound up getting contact lenses. But other than the phone scenes, I decided early on I'd better not get into the habit of relying on the teleprompter.

How cool! I thought he was so handsome when I was a kid, and I loved him with Delilah.

The stories might have been ridiculous and the characters did become idiots, but people forget Reilly featured THE characters on the show. Some newbie nobody wasn’t possessed, Marlena was. And all the stories were rooted in romance and love- having it, losing it, wanting it. People also forget there was an evolution- they wanted the ratings of his last 18 months, but he had laid the groundwork of those stories for years. The show didn’t just become crazy for sweeps one year like everyone else tried and failed at. There was a long period of time between the experiment of Carly being buried alive and then the possession, and then the Secret Room. I didn’t think about it this way back then, not until Curlee complimented it in the interview Toups did with her, but Reilly was great at structure. The plots dragged on, but he kept the interest up with those mini-stories he would tell around the larger plots to build excitement. Back to ATWT- when Riche left GH, I hoped she would go back to daytime on another soap, and I though she would fit well on ATWT. I’m not sure why, it just seems like it would have benefited from her and she would have made a good fit.

People forget it wasn’t just cable that was drawing away the soaps audiences- the decline happened as the TV talk explosion happened. Which was truly the reality TV of its day. I know everyone I knew when I was a teenager watched Ricki Lake, and only a few also or only watched soaps. I think the issues almost always had to do with the quality of the shows declining. I think several things happened all at once. The shows got really expensive- the biggest stars were making more money. Everything explodes in luxury in the early 1990’s- I watched six soaps across all three networks and they were lush in the early 1990’s. I do think they had to up the production values at the time because they needed to stay current, but I think it added to their issues when the audience eroded. The shows stopped being strongly writer driven and became much more under the creative control of the producer/network/production company. Which was happening in prime time too- NBC’s must see tv period is full of instances of those shows dealing with empowered network people that used to leave them alone all of a sudden thinking they were part of the creative decisions on the shows. This was happening on the highest viewed shows in the country at that point, daytime was not going to escape this. The networks and production companies got rattled when OJ took away their audience, and panicked. They started chasing a demo at all costs, and drove out a lot of the talent that didn’t want to fight all the time about every story approval, or be forced to change gears mid-point, or have focus groups tell them who should be used in story. As early as 1998 or so it seemed like growing talent from within (especially writers) was no longer happening, in some instances because they saw how horrible it was dealing with the network. When things had settled down, they were not at their earlier numbers, but still had solid numbers. But everyone, network, soap media, everyone seemed to think all of a sudden they should be back at their all time highs, and because they were not it was over. Enter hack writers, serial killers, shocking storylines and killing off/firing vets.

That’s just about all soap fans now though, isn’t it? I still care because I used to really care when it was better.

I always love it when actors don’t trash their soap experiences. How awesome that she paid respect to both how hard she worked and also the benefits of the format for talent just starting out and props to folks that made it their living. I know some people legitimately had terrible soaps experiences. It just seemed for a long time it was always maligned, or never spoken about like it was shameful.

Because ABC has spent the better part of 20 years making Carly, Jason, and Sonny the central characters of the show and the stories only showcase their points of views and rooting value. Not to mention these same characters have been “protecting” Michael as a storyline for over 20 years, and Nelle was hurting the precious. Or maybe no matter how great an actor they have playing Nina, that character does not work, hasn’t worked, and isn’t easy to root for because they are not successful. And maybe the fans of this show, especially the ones vocal online are pretty much trash. The only time I have agreed with one of their campaigns was when Genie Francis was let go.

I agree. The only member of that family I hated was Kale Brown’s Sam. At that point in my soap viewing nobody had ever been shoved down my throat so much that I didn’t like. Plenty of actors had ghosted airtime, but often these shows centered around someone because the audience was responding to them, not the just the whim of the EP of the show. And it did mess up Lindsay, and all the fun was kind of gone. Lindsay was a lot of fun to watch until then.

It was pretty clear to me, maybe right around 2006 or so, that TPTB came to the realization that the genre was really dying, and they just gave up on protecting any characters for future story and the foundations of their shows. Everything was based on one sweeps period to the next. People like Brad and Colleen could have simply been written out. Same with Georgie and Emily on GH. Alan would have been a little more difficult. There were certainly people I would have released from contracts before Stuart Damon (who by all accounts was a team player and would have probably taken a reduction in his next contract). I guess we should be lucky that GH didn’t kill off Bobbie once JFP was so disgusted she wouldn’t let a camera film her kissing someone, because she was too old and the audience didn’t want to see older couples.