titan1978

And they never tried to make Roger the hero. They explained his actions, you saw his pain and his kinder side, but they never let you forget he was not the hero, and the other characters did not excuse his misdeeds like other soap rapists turned hero’s, Todd and Luke (among others). Even Alexandra, who was turning a blind eye didn’t excuse it once she knew about the affair. Because she was complex too- his misdeeds in business could be overlooked, but not when he violated their marriage with Mindy.

We waited so long for Andrea Evans to return as Tina and we got a half assed Mendorra and not nearly enough with her and Viki.

What a classic moment as well when he was finally revealed. Both characters were so well served under the HW teams Curlee was a part of. And the recast of Blake with Sherry really added to the dynamics of their family. I don’t think Maureen Garrett gets nearly enough credit for her work on the show. She is such a cerebral, subtle performer. I can always see Holly thinking. And also has charm to spare as Holly. I can agree with that, it was a huge mistake to kill Will.

If you can believe this- she looks back fondly on Sheffer’s writing for her character. It’s when Marland made her a vixen going after Tom that she didn’t enjoy. She thought that was out of character. On these recent interviews, she has spoken highly of Sheffer. I think she just didn’t like being a home wrecker that was set up to loose- it was always going to be Tom and Margo.

Kristen’s return- talk about giving a show a shot in the arm. She was so great. And Vanessa’s first return was another desperately needed arrival at the right time. Guza and Pratt’s GH really came came together there and recovered from their rocky start with the story about Laura and the attic. I haven’t seen Tricia’s latest return, but I thought her previous ones were fantastic, and made me miss her so much on the show.

I just remember watching Burton try so hard to play against feelings for Sarah’s Carly. So much so that I actually laughed when he was so broken up after being shot and finding them together. Why would he care? Maybe about Sonny. Their modern relationship was cemented when Tamara was playing her, but back then it was wild to see him playing against writing that was setting them up to be a couple. I think I even remember him saying in an interview back then that Jason would never be in love with Carly. Well Bob Guza clearly had other ideas lol. He also noticeably came back to life when Liz rescued him and they started hanging out after Lucky “died”. I think Vanessa was against where the story was going with Dante in her last return as I recall. She also has been vocal about that kid being a mistake. The only demands I remember from her was she wanted the same kind of schedule that Riche gave to Genie Francis when her kids were born- her scenes came first in the day and not to go over her guarantee so she could be with her young son as much as possible. JFP does not respond to demands from women very well and that’s why her first return was not extended.

To piggyback on the post by @SoapDopewhat returns ended up really working? GH- Luke & Laura It really gave the show a shot of adrenaline, and great casting for Lucky. They seemed like the same characters, just older and fit back into the show really well, and still had chemistry with lots of characters, and each other. For good or bad, it also allowed a vehicle to redeem Sonny and keep him on the show. Laura seeing that house and the eventual introduction of the Ward family was especially strong. AMC- Jesse returning and reuniting with Angie. I didn’t even start watching AMC until they were both gone, and they fit in so well once they were both back it was like no time had passed. It felt natural. The show felt like it had a center again for the first time in forever, and they still had it. They made a great center for AMC 2.0 as well. DAYS-Hope as Gina (not Princess!) Maison Blanche was a great storyline, and Kristian looked incredible and the show took its time getting to her identity. It also had a fantastic triangle with Bo and Billie, especially when Rinna was still there and they were not writing them as rivals. These were three good people in an incredible circumstance fighting for love. The only thing I think was missing was more time spent with Doug and Hope. I know they had scenes, but there should have been more time spent with the two of them. Honorable mention- OLTL- Gabrielle It started so great, with all of Asa’s widows, but they show ended up neglecting her terribly, and then killing her off.

During GH’s 50th, so many of those returns worked out because of the performers, even if the story was a hot mess (the vampires should have been forgotten, but Lynn was great). Except Frisco. I thought Kristina did pretty well considering she was asked to play feelings for an ex-husband that betrayed her (I know they are on great terms, but that is still an ask), but Jack seemed to struggle. I will also add Jacklyn Zeman to this. After watching a ton of classic GH, I think I know what is missing-her Bobbie was never as mellow as she plays her now. Even though Bobbie was a nice person she still was quite catty and emotional. I know part of it is the writing, but you have people like Kristina, Lynn, Tristan, etc, with similar years away, able to bring the essence of their character to the front even if the writing has no character. She just can’t seem to find much of Bobbie. I know she is there as supporting, but there is little there. Even Denise Alexander can still show glimpses of the real Lesley. I am happy to see her though.

I can’t think of another character as offscreen agenda dictated as Jason. Almost every natural turn hasn’t happened because of SB and or TPTB. Guza and Phelps (and Frons) ran the show together for a decade, and their agendas and style would never have supported Jason Q. Not even a logical version of Jason getting some of his memories and emotional connections back, but still choosing Sonny. They didn’t even do that! We have Steve fighting against being paired with Carly (any version), and whatever happened with the viable Liz triangle (which could have been going for years)... The final nail in Jason Q’s coffin was killing Alan. Without Alan, there is no point.

I know I’m not her and I can’t read her mind- she has her feelings for a reason. It is just strange to me when you look at how Lucinda was written for (and not) post Marland.

What I remember (again, I started watching in the early 90’s) was Pine Valley felt like a place, a real community. Everybody wasn’t rich or famous like Erica or Adam, and lots of characters had a real sense of integrity. Watching the clip posted about Michael and Kevin coming out really reminded me of that community sense. Stories and characters were connected but also had their own stories going on, with great supporting characters tying it all together.

It is strange how much she disliked Marland’s writing for Lucinda. She had it made for a soap star of her age- love affairs, kids to manipulate and fret over, a career storyline and stuff that was just about her. And none of it seems like they are trying to keep her young and in stories that are not appropriate. Look at poor Marlena on DAYS- they had such trouble moving her from romantic heroine and show lead to mature woman. They literally didn’t know what to do with her several times in the 2000’s. As far as Colleen Zenk- maybe what she hated was being on the losing side of the the stories as vixen Barbara. The rooting value was for HBS’s Margo to reunite with Tom. Barbara had been chased by all the men up to that point, now she’s chasing. Maybe it was more of a vanity thing than she cares to admit. She also loved being bad during Hogan’s time as HW.

It did. However, up to Faison as Duke shooting him, I would have taken Jason any day over Sonny. Now I’m just indifferent to him for the most part. The only time Sonny is even memorable to me after he left Brenda at the altar and quit the show the first time are always tied to the women he is paired with. Brenda, OG Kate, SJB Carly (I prefer TB with Alcazar and Jason).

That’s easy. Burton would have left, and if they recast or lured him back, Bob Guza would have killed him off. Or turned him into a monster of some kind.

The mandate to bring back that version of the theme (although updated) might be the only good thing that Frons did.

Lorimar became Warner Brothers Television. I am hoping HBO Max (Warner’s streaming company) will eventually have a lot more classic Warner material as time goes by. Especially since only three seasons have been released on DVD. The show doesn’t even get really good until near the end of the fourth.

That doesn’t surprise me, because for as much as I love Bell and the aesthetic of Y&R, I have also found it static, staged, and emotionally chilly. It’s part of the old school Hollywood aesthetic they used. Most of this is because I grew up on ABC shows. They all had more action in every sense. Their characters emote more by showing, not telling. On Y&R, you have the classic shots of someone talking to the back of another character with the camera facing both, the sweeping shots of sets, and a lot of classic soap elements like characters talking about every step and emotion of their lives, often telling as much or more than showing, and not much character based humor. Marland’s ATWT feels patrician to me. I haven’t seen enough of his other soaps to say if he wrote this way specifically on ATWT or if it was his style. The GH I have seen written by him is still filtered through Monty’s lens, and she did whatever she wanted with the script to get the show she wanted. I’ve seen some GL and with Nola it does have more spunk.

I’m burning through the Luke/Laura/Lucky playlists, I watched all of Laura’s trial and I’m now at Lulu’s illness and the introduction of Nikolas. I really miss how meticulous these shows used to be plotted out. They didn’t rush through the beats of this at all to get to the reveal they are heading towards. The little details are what I miss from soap storytelling. Its also Illuminating to see so much of the rest of the cast. Even Simone is onscreen often, both in her relationships with Tom, Justus, and as a doctor at the hospital.

Yes. She left to work in her own show, which never landed. We Love Soaps: So working on GENERAL HOSPITAL was such a positive experience for you and the viewers. Why did you leave in early 1996? Claire Labine: We had a show in development and NBC was interested in it. We left in order to pursue the development with NBC. And then we discovered that it was not exactly their plan, and they were going with, what was that weird show? SUNSET BEACH. So that was it. We took it back to ABC and they were really, really interested. I had done a first version of it for Michael Brockman when he came back after I had left RYAN'S HOPE. He was about to greenlight it when he got replaced, rather summarily, to my great regret. And then new management was not really ready to think about a new show at that point. Pat [Fili-Krushel] was really interested in it but it was difficult to get her to take the leap. The show was set in Brooklyn, and Matthew [Labine] had this absolutely marvelous insight to tie Lois and Ned into the show because they weren’t using Ned [Wally Kurth] and [Rena Sofer] was gone at that point. But they decided to go instead with PORT CHARLES from Wendy Riche.

After the heartbreak of Stone, the show was just starting to move the characters forward into new story directions when Claire Labine left and Guza took over. And one of his big first stories was the murder of Damian Smith. I forgot how much fun the show could be, especially when you have a room full of these characters. The reading of the will starts around 8:15, and continues in the next video. It’s soapy and I remember how refreshing this was after so much sorrow with Stone. I loved Labine but this was also a great time on the show.

Except some of the most critically acclaimed and highest rated shows in the last decade have proven people will watch slower rolled out material if the characters are strong. Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Mad Men, are all shows that slow it down quite often. Lots of Netflix and other streaming programs tell incredibly slow, meticulously crafted stories. I think the key is to take advantage of what you have if you are a network. You don’t want to loose momentum? Then run a show like this from January to May. No reruns. You want to capitalize on that heightened soap thing? Have a cliffhanger each week (could be emotional like This is Us, could be danger, or a piece of a mystery revealed, etc). Be like Agnes- flexible enough that when something is happening in the real world, you can add it to the storytelling. Promote the [!@#$%^&*] out of it. For ABC, I say a week of GMA reintroducing the classic characters and themes, and meet the new cast. Finally- learn from the mistakes of the past and network shows that fall apart between season one and two that like a mystery angle- Solve one mystery from your premise before the end of the season, even if the characters do not know the resolution, the audience should be in on it by that point if you are carrying it into season 2.

It’s like they burn through two or more years worth of story in 6 months. Prestige shows string you along with all the character bits that soaps used to use (although soaps also did a lot of recapping due to the nature of the format to fill time)- the scenes that illuminate who these people are. I think it’s why so many of them have a sophomore slump and are cancelled within two to three seasons- they just burned up all the ongoing story and the next set of stories is either a retread after a pivotal climax, or focused away from what made people tune in in the first place. Soaps need momentum. I get a network is not going to give a show as long as Knots had to get there, but those first five seasons gave them material for almost another five, and more viewers over time.

Truthfully- them. If the show finds enough success to warrant a spinoff, it makes business sense for them to do the same thing on the new show, serve as EP and find a show runner to produce and run the writer’s room. They question is what superfan would they find to do that with them?

Everyone involved has said repeatedly that clause was not in effect by that point. That miscarriage might be the single most controversial thing Douglas Marland did on ATWT. After my summer of classic soap viewing, I can see why. HBS and GM are so good together.

It would be something for AMC to lead to OLTL this time. I think the best part of this is that ABC might finally see some value in something they have ignored and neglected for a long time. Might even be good for GH in the long run. It is fun to think of Erica on a set that primetime can afford- think of the closet and wardrobes!