titan1978

I love reading the history of sets and who loved where. These sets used to be so good for a long time. As good as a primetime set a lot of times by the early 1990’s. Then they just got worse and worse.

I appreciate KT’s original Mindy. But Kimberly Simms grew that character up, and was a pretty great recast. She is the definitive version for me too. I love when a recast works, but is different and it helps add new dimension to a character. I think Beth Chamberlin only really made Beth her own when they made her more shady when she came back in the late 1990’s. Even though I have mostly watched pre1997 GL on YouTube, it’s hard for me to not see Judi Evans as the definitive Beth.

That was a great interview. I also love how he didn’t denigrate his time on soaps. He told the truth- it is fast paced, they do repeat more because of the amount of episodes, and the one take is fast but limiting. But he also went out of his way to say they are great.

The amount of writer changes and shifting sands of storytelling are crazy. What a difficult show to follow for a fan, and the actors must have been driven crazy!

The first time I remember Loving being in soap mags often was Ally’s relationship with Casey and his sad death on the show. I also remember some activity when Debbi Morgan moved Angie to the show. Especially in Soap Opera Weekly as opposed to Digest. They really were covering the murders a lot too. I remember because I wanted to watch it.

My dream at this point would be Melina, Sherry Stringfield, Rick Hearst, Frank Dicopoulos, Melissa Hayden, Morgan Englund, and Monti Sharp. And Maureen Garrett can be on all of them!

Amelia Heinle is pretty good on Loving! I barely noticed her on AMC, and I hate her version of Victoria. But she’s much more compelling here. The more I see Buck the more I love him. Same with Darnell, even though he isn’t really Jesse. Debbi Morgan is, as always, spectacular as Angie. From what I can remember about the soaps airing at this time, only Y&R and GL had blacks casts as well utilized and integral as Loving did! I did not watch AW, it was opposite GH in my town, so I have never really seen much of Peluso. She is fantastic. It’s pretty compelling. Had my network carried it at the time I would have watched this storyline and moved to The City for sure. I think this show deserved a better shot. PC had way more clearance than Loving or The City did. Imagine If affiliates had given the show a chance.

Has there ever been a better soap name than Tess Wilder? Eden Capwell comes close, but Tess Wilder is so great. Buck is pretty hot and a compelling character/actor. I also really like Tony. I’ve always heard about Laura Wright and Paul Anthony Stewart on this show, and I remember seeing photos of them in soap mags. I guess he was gone by the time we got to the murders.

My local ABC affiliate did not carry Loving after 1990, and never carried The City. They did pick up PC because a local talk show ended its run right as that show was hitting airwaves. I’ve never seen more than a handful of Loving episodes, all surrounding the murders. So I am really enjoying these updates. The show has a good cast and the murders are creepy af. Were AMC fans upset they killed Jeremy, or was he not all that popular? I wish ABC had just retooled OLTL and AMC as half hour shows instead of cancelling them. I enjoy that format for Loving so far!

Duke’s DNA. And yes, they are a match made in heaven/hell. I am skipping around a lot, so I have also seen some of the period of time John is engaged to Emma Snyder. I just love her. I have such a weakness for Holden Snyder of this period. Having grown up in the Midwest near lots of farmland, that type of guy was for sure an early and often crush.

I’ve been watching some ATWT from 1985/1986 and other bits here and there on YouTube. I didn’t start watching the show until Broderick’s run, and stayed through Sheffer, so a lot of this is new to me, although I have read about it before. Lucinda is just awful! Trying to make the bank take the Snyder’s farm. Keeping DNA tests away from John. I know her as a mostly meddling mother and grandmother, and businesswoman. I have never seen her this close to villain. I also have come to really love Scott Bryce’s Craig, and Iva Snyder. Also- Holden is more than a little rapey with Lily. I’ve seen this clearly older man forcing Lily to kiss him more than once. He is so different even just a couple of years after this. I’m not saying he isn’t hot as hell because he is, but I had no idea their relationship developed this way. About Lily- I liked her when I was watching the show in the late 90’s to mid 2000’s. But now going back and watching her she is incredibly annoying, and often a depressing character. Just dour all the time. HBS and Gregg Marx are by far my favorite Tom and Margo!

That was fantastic!

That Goutman one is a shocker!

What a waste that they did not keep Bridget around. She’s great. I find it fascinating that Long kept Reva so central when I read that she and Zimmer were so antagonistic with each other.

Along those same lines, have we ever seen Katherine finding out about Jill and Phillip, and early confrontations about it? I love angry, bitter Katherine. The cut up photo of Jill and Jack storyline/Phillip returning as a teen were so much fun because we got to see the softer side of Jill again, and the hard side of Katherine again, and then all the facets in between of both. Katherine was a bitch. The thing viewers and the show forgot was Jill was often scrappy with everyone, often adversarial. But Katherine was absolutely Jill’s villain, even when she was not that way to most everybody else. She was also pretty awful to Nina. This show is really missing a character like Katherine.

People forget there was a huge span of time that Victor and Nikki were not together. I personally liked her with Jack and him with Ashley at that time, and the pull between them still being present. I really rooted for Ashley and Victor though- both versions of Ashely.

Well, He can be a compelling actor. I also think he was at one point incredibly attractive (pre GL). I also cannot blame him for the fact that the writers on the show were so in love with him that they centered too much of the show around him. He ate some scenery, but so did a lot of his peers on this show and others. Tony Geary ate whole sets sometimes. But I can’t deny that when he is given good material and strong co-stars, he was good. Same with Buzz.

As someone that did not watch GL regularly as it was airing until the Annie story, and has only watched most of the show on YouTube, it works better for me during the Curlee era, before the Buzz takeover, when it was really an ensemble. It’s one of the reasons I love watching that period on the show. It’s so rich with characters that all have a point of view and something going on. No denying Reva’s importance on the show and as a daytime diva. Certainly no denying Zimmer’s talent at playing Reva, especially when she has good writing. I think it is easy to take her comments about her son at face value- the show wanted more of a commitment than he wanted to give. I also think when that story was airing, anyone would have been nervous to play a gay male character at that age. I was nervous enough in my own life about it, at a similar age and I was only dealing with my immediate worldview and family. Not millions of viewers.

I think a child (or twins!, a girl and a boy)for Gary would have been best utilized either before Paige arrived, or towards the last couple of seasons so we didn’t see the same storyline twice in short time. But it is the kind of time span that a daytime soap would have invented an island country that Gary or Val was married into royalty and the kids were prince and princess.

This was great. I also wish Maureen and Robert had been picked up by one of the remaining soaps. I think he would be a perfect Jeff Webber on GH. Really a treat to see Maureen and hear her voice.

That 30th anniversary show really makes me miss John Beradino.

I totally agree. As a matter of fact, when I watch whole episodes from before FOTH but during Riche, it does seem kind of strange. It was certainly perfect for what Labine’s team was writing once they arrived. She and ABC did a fantastic job with that intro. Retaining the ambulance, the opening notes. Even the added patches didn’t show for a long time. I especially will always love Lucy’s eyebrow raising, Luke & Laura’s section, the medical scene at the beginning, Puerto Rico, and of course the ending with Felicia’s changing hairstyles followed by Mac’s never changing shot/turtleneck. I remember thinking when Frank and Ron’s intro started why didn’t they just go back to the ambulance and hospital and OG theme? And the one they use now is just amateurish beyond belief.

That speeding ambulance and original theme is still way more exciting than any opening they have had since. And I loved Faces of the Heart. But the old open was just more exciting. And easy to make a quick version. They should have just updated that one in recent years. Modern instrumentation, an ambulance with sirens going, a shot of the hospital and logo, and quick cut to black and back into the show. Maybe 15 to 20 seconds and pumped with energy. Although it would be leading in to a show that is often lacking in energy.

Something from another thread reminded me of Bill Bell once saying he would love to just recast and restart the original Y&R all over again. Just update the scripts for contemporary pacing and language. I remember this from after he had left the show as hands on HW. That he felt it would still work, the show was that strong. What a fascinating idea if he had pulled it off. Also- he really loved the first version of this show. It is pretty clear in everything I have read that he was very proud of the show as it existed when he left, but he loved the original version.

Really quite heartbreaking.