titan1978

Apparently fire is the only thing a Spencer man can do to deal with a location and emotional trauma.

There is just something special about those New York soaps when they they were at their best! As much as I love west coast soaps, you just don’t get characters like AW’s Iris or GL’s Alexandra, OLTL’s Karen Wolek, or EH’s Lucinda Walsh. That fondness was so present onscreen.

She will be missed. There have been many incredible actors on soaps over the years. My favorite kind to watch were the ones that clearly had an internal life going on as their character as well as what they said and emoted on screen. Especially when they were at odds with whatever they were saying, and you got to see layers in their performances. You could tell in the best of days she relished Lucinda Walsh. It’s such a treat that her fans can have access to Althea as well.

Thanks! I think the great 35th anniversary special has a scene with Lee arguing this case. I have said it many times, but I loved Lee. There should have always been a place for him with or without Scott on the show.

How many times was Jessie on trial? She really went through it, the long suffering character that you desperately wanted to have a happy ending. Jake was my favorite pairing for Bobbie. Tony was so sanctimonious.

And the show could have used Devon and Lily being at odds with Phyllis because of Dru for years. They mined the hell out of Katherine/Phillip/Jill for decades. Lily and Daniel being involved just makes it richer.

When they brought it back I remember thinking why? It wasn’t my favorite back when the show was excellent. @Vee how dare you bring that Luke/Felicia monstrosity up from the depths of my memory. Some of these things are best never mentioned again!

She was my favorite of all the new characters introduced during Monty’s second run.

And this would have been fun too- something the show is desperately lacking in. I would have loved a small moment of them talking about Rex and Katherine, with Leanna adding something like your dad was a great man.

I have to think the worse use of history on AMC was the un-abortion. Even though I wasn’t watching during the original story, when Liza returned and we got to see the pull she and Tad still had towards each other, which ultimately was not good for either of them, was great. They didn’t have to just run down their own greatest story hits together- it looked and felt lived.

As Vee said- it’s his taste level that has gotten him into more issues with me.

I think the abrupt ending to Empire Valley hurts the overall impression of the story. Especially after such strong umbrella stories as Wolfbridge and Val’s babies. So many characters are tied into both of those plots, and their crescendos. Empire Valley wasn’t the same.

And then followed it up with Luke has DID. I hated the Kate/Connie story, her kid, Sonny shooting AJ, all of it. And then to follow it up with Fluke being revealed as DID. Awful. The whole show wasn’t working and it felt like he was doubling down on messy. As much as I loathed Guza, at least it was well written depressing deconstruction. RC’s last year or so just felt both generic and amateurish.

I prefer rivals not be besties unless they have earned it. On GH I can buy Liz and Carly getting along at times because they have earned it, their kids were involved and they are not presented as being all that close. Sam and Liz I do not get, they should not be on good terms overall. Jill and Katherine on Y&R should never have been friendly for long stretches of time. Laura and Bobbie were excellent examples of rivals that had matured, but still had an edge as they were different people. Especially when Laura was still connected to Luke. Now that relationship is gone, and Bobbie and Laura act more like family and I am fine with that. Without Luke there is no heat for Bobbie to get mad at Laura kicking him out, etc. And with Jamie changing careers between actors, it’s so easy for the show to handle things like that! Once casting has begun have Rachel receive a letter from Jamie from medical school, saying he might be coming home for part of his residency. It still doesn’t cover the time needed, but at least the audience is aware that he has made the change and spend a year finishing up his medical schooling on the show. But instead they always want to hit the ground running!

While ranting about Ron Carlivati on another thread I started thinking what does the use of history really mean to us on a soap? For me, it’s not bringing long gone characters or locations or plots back in name only. Or name dropping famous events or characters discussing history like a fact sheet. It’s deeper than that. And I think the actors bring it out more than we give them credit for. Its the warmth and camaraderie we see in scenes with Robert/Felicia/Anna on GH. It’s Laura having anguish on her face when talking about Nikolas and his failures as a parent. It’s Liz remarking that she worked at Kelly’s when she was Cameron’s age. It’s Maggie on DAYS helping Lucas with his addiction. Sami reverting to her darker side when pressed. And family ties matter- who is related, how they know each other. What I hate are people just reciting facts or bringing things up for a joke. Not every detail in the history of a character needs to be brought up in every conversation.

His biggest success at GH as far as ratings was the Robin storyline. And it was only told slowly because he had no other choice- KMc was not available. So the payoff worked to build anticipation because they used Anna and Robert to get us there, and he had to wait due to outside forces. I think he uses history in the hackiest way possible. Bringing back AJ, Frank Smith, Duke, only to just kill them off again. Or Julian Jerome in name only. He takes things too far because his personal tolerance does not match the audience. He writes characters into corners and then just hopes we forget about it (Ava, Julian, even Sonny). Hell-even renaming Jakes to the Floating Rib just because he liked the name was stupid. If Mac was going to rename it wouldn’t he go with The Outback? He writes from a facts spreadsheet, devoid of character.

The Chancellor one is more iconic to me. Great picks! The elevators with the classic font for the numbers would be great. Would the C from Capwell Hotel have blood on it? I didn’t watch SB, but it did fall and kill someone, correct?

Ron is such a baby.

I don’t mind the colors. That artwork though- not a match for Sonny.

That perm scene was improvised! I recall Joan Van Ark talking about it during one of the reunions in the last 20 years. They decided to add the perm instead of just talking over coffee or something more generic.

Let’s say your favorite shows are participating in an online auction, everything goes! If you could have one thing from your favorite show, what would it be? I don’t care how practical it is, what are you bidding on? GH- the Monty era round hub nurses station. I don’t know what I would do with it, but that’s what came to mind. DAYS- the puzzle box that revealed Gina was Hope. OLTL- Dorian’s painting, in all it’s ridiculous glory. Y&R- A copy of Ruthless signed by Leanna Love (in the actual Y&R Auction thread I chose a glass of alcohol hurled by Katherine). ATWT- Marland’s bibles! GL- the ridiculous (and loud) dress Vanessa is wearing when Billy finds out Roger slept with Mindy. It makes so much noise as she runs from one scene to the next, including Billy throwing her into a wall.

If you could have anything, what would it be? A glass that had alcohol in it that Katherine threw across the room would be mine. Or the envelope with the photos of Jill and Jack having sex.

Laura’s house (formerly Ward) used to be one of the best sets on any show. It looked and felt like a real older house, and I loved the porch. I wasn’t a huge fan of the facelift but I still liked the set. Lucky burning it down is about the most Guza of any Guza story turns. The current sets are very nice, and I like we have such a broad range of locations. What is missing for me is the same feeling on the rest of the show- different socio-economic lives. Where does Cody live? Because we need to see people living above Kelly’s, and similar locations. Not as nice as everything is presented now. Not everyone is a hotel owner. At least we got to see Cameron working. I can’t get over how tiny Sonny’s set is now that he is back at the Penthouse. Sam’s looks bigger! I remember him complaining when the shrunk the original Penthouse set down. Now it’s really tiny! The main thing driving me crazy with these new sets is the changing of where the doors are located. The Q mansion, Sonny’s Penthouse, etc.

I miss the front facade of the brownstone. I know they repurposed those steps in front as another building where Sonny or Jason was once shot at. The original Brownstone also had either a courtyard or a side yard that the individual apartments had access to. They used it quite a bit in the early 90’s.

I believe Bobbie was a surgical nurse. She was maybe head surgical nurse but Audrey was the administrative head nurse as long as I can remember, and by the time she was gone Bobbie pretty much was too thanks to JFP/network. The tribute was lovely, but like @Vee, I think it would have been really special had the hospital crew from when she started been around too.