titan1978

It was such a strange time on the show. They had Laura in limbo due to Lucky’s death, and because they were dragging out L&L reuniting until the Lucky reveal. So she had literally nothing to do but cry and try to heal while Luke went back into fun adventure mode with Felicia. To have them end up together was one of the worst of many Guza plots I hated. I did think they had chemistry as scene partners, but not a romance. And much like Tony Jones- once their character had been compromised, they were just boxed into a corner until KW left the show. This was also when I finally started to turn on Luke. I had always enjoyed him before this story. But it ruined him for me.

I can’t imagine how thrilling and hard it was to be that young, be given that pivotal a role on a soap opera, have no peers your age on the show and then to become an actual pop culture icon. The fact that she survived is pretty incredible all things considered. It’s pretty awful when you compare what was happening on GH to it’s closest clone in those days, which IMO was Days of Our Lives. Nearly every major female character was raped, and most disgustingly, it often was used as a super couple obstacle. On GH, until Karen’s storyline they just did not do stories like that after Laura was raped. I’m not saying stories of sexual violence don’t belong on soaps, they do. It’s just on DAYS rarely were they as impactful beyond a plot point instead of being a story centered on they character assaulted.

We often complain about the characters that have been forced down our throats over the years. So I started thinking about how often soaps had frontburner characters that I just never got tired of. On GH in the mid 1980’s, it felt like Anna, Robert, Frisco and Felicia were on all the time. I never got sick of them. Same with Vanessa Marcil (although I know some fans feel differently), especially during her first return. I could have watched her 4 days a week with no issue (and she was on close to that during her first return stint). Viki on OLTL- I could take Viki 5 days a week and never get sick of her (unless it was Nikki Smith). DAYS- Reilly had Marlena driving so much story in his first stint, I can’t imagine the show without her back then. I remember missing her as the show sidelined her over the years. Had I been around to see Flannery as Laura Horton on DAYS I think I would have never gotten tired of her. Or Jessie on the early years of GH. Or even Luke and Laura when they took over the whole show.

Monty learned her lesson- I don’t think there was ever another rape on the show in either of her tenures. She didn’t do a lot of damsel in distress type stuff either. Alan and Monica have some questionable scenes, but I don’t recall if Monica ever vocalized herself as being raped by Alan. Genie said later that it was date/acquaintance rape before that term was commonly know or used and that the show certainly didn’t handle it properly. That was so cool. I guess I don’t think I have seen much of that set in color either. I didn’t remember it being so blue. Cool to see all those older actors- and kind of shocking/sad. Poor Emily aged a lot from this video to 1978.

I am playing catch-up on a bunch of episodes, and I may never forgive Ron Carlivati for luring me back to the show with possession 2.0, and making me sit through Johnny singing whatever that was. And damn, Bill Hayes is really killing it here. Him not coming right out and saying it is such a Reilly throwback.

I felt this way before, and I feel it even more now. Ryan going on an actual killing spree is needed here for the buzz (have to compete with MarDevil2.0) and the needed thinning of the canvas.

I thought Meg Ward was fantastic, and just did not get the point of a recast. To then saddle her with DID, and that kid…oof.

KMc was pretty disgusted with the show using Robin’s HIV as a plot point during the Lisa storyline and was ready to move on to directing and from what I recall was talked into the possibility of return by Frank as her final scenes were being shot. He arrived not long before she was set to leave, and I’m pretty sure her death was a re-write to leave them some wiggle room.

I miss the characters that were on the show then, but GW was just mostly continuing in the steps of Bob Guza, without the spark. The show needed to be reset and he and JFP were not the right team at that time to do it. For all the faults I have with Ron and Frank, their first year-ish really did reset the show. GW was just more of the same to me.

I thought Witter ended up being an amazing recast. As you said, she felt like Tina, just a little more mature and grounded. But still Tina. I loved her. This would only work with Evans for me. Think of the flashbacks to her finding out about her family ties!

I think it would have given all three actresses more notes to play. Because AE could go over the top as Tina, but imagine her getting to play more heartbreak over just how bad Viki’s life was due to Victor. Lots of layers to play in her escaping that, and then finding out Todd is her brother. Plus the scenes where Dorian tells Tina what happened would have been cool to see, as they grapple with being trapped, each caring for Viki in their own way, and both also incredibly selfish as people dealing with their situation. We could have had comedy and tragedy.

Hard to say, because had Evans been there they would have given her more significant material to work with. I think she would have played a much more important role in Viki’s alters, possibly even ended up captive with Dorian.

Thanks for posting these! Very interesting to see how not just the Possession, but the show itself hooked viewers. The ratings were steady and climbing, but then they go even higher after Marlena’s exorcism, and stuff like Hope/Gina and Sami/Carrie/Austin is hitting peaks. The DAYS team too advantage of all the buzz and more eyeballs to get the whole show rocking. Maison Blanche was my favorite of all the Reilly pocket storylines. Marlena in a cage underground was my least favorite. I have been rewatching his DAYS run in edits up through when I got sick of the Possession story the first time. There is a significant shift in how the show is written. By the time he left for the first time, it felt like people spent entire episodes talking to themselves out loud and being interrupted by the person they were talking about- and a cliffhanger established if they heard them. In several stories, in every episode. I found with Passions he really leaned into the style of writing he was using towards the end of his DAYS run, it wasn’t for me. This is the same guy that wrote grittty and emotional stuff up through the possession. It’s like he got a personality transplant.

A regular episode of the Brady Bunch played the drama more than GH does.

We had a couple of great flare-ups with Laura as Carly. Robin telling Nikolas that the baby was his and Jax was not the father was kind of fun. SJB’s Carly was just this side of dangerous. She had so much anger, neurosis and also when she was paired with Sonny- power. I think Claudia is more like what her Carly would have been like- more cunning, certainly the wardrobe and style. TB’s Carly settled into a romantic heroine with and edge, and Laura is playing someone named Carly but she doesn’t often get to play the wounded animal. SJB’s wounds were the kind that lashed out. I did think she and SBu and MB had more chemistry back in the day with LW than they do now. Steve especially had great chem with Sarah and decent with TB. I never liked Sonny with Sarah’s version of Carly- it was the beginning of overly Sonny centric writing dominating the show for me. They both were on all the time and tied to everybody, and now they are together literally eating the show alive.

Why this show won’t pair Jason with Liz is ridiculous. They actually have chemistry, it would drive Sam and Carly crazy. They have history, a kid…if Lucky isn’t ever going to be recast then what’s the problem? Instead she gets Franco. And now Finn.

What a fantastic couple of months Guza’s return was back then. I also think this was one of her best scenes. She did an excellent job of playing the fact that she was coming up with her plan right there on the spot. And I didn’t hate Tony going dark. I just hated that they didn’t also bring him back out of that. I don’t think Vanessa would have been there for more than a year or two had she stayed. However, JFP and the network wouldn’t agree to her terms for a reduced workload, more money, and a better schedule. I know from many things I have read over the years that JFP does not like the schedule to be dictated by the talent. She had to accept it with Erika on OLTL. Riche allowed things like that, especially for the cast members with young children. She did get a lot of credit for the ratings increase. The show was also genuinely good those 6 months after kind of flailing a bit before then. We know Guza wanted her to stay- he had an entire storyline he liked planned for her that he grafted on to Sam.

I loved V! She wasn’t like anyone else on the show at that time. Kind of a refreshing, fun character. I also didn’t mind Hannah. Angel though- oof. That was bad. But we did get a cool set out of it.

Yeah, him leaving his kids did not ring true at all. Re-watching all these scenes reminds me how much I hated Sami back then (but she was fun to watch). Especially in scenes with Roman. Just too clingy and daddy this and daddy that all the time.

I remember thinking the show either didn’t want them together or wasn’t ready for that endgame yet. There were times it seemed like the connection was being kept alive by the two of them and not the show. I loved Wayne. And he could be very intense as Roman, but he also had a sarcastic and fun side in his original run and his whole story upon returning was dealing with the trauma of what happened, creating a bond with John, and convincing Marlena he was Roman. He wasn’t really written well. Although I do think his Roman would have been utterly betrayed by the affair and his anger rang true to me.

As I recall, someone thought Alexis was too old for Jax. I’m not sure who it was. At that point Ingo should have been so lucky.

And eventually she does once it grew out a little. By the wire story she still had pretty short hair, and it was very flattering on her. I just think it was so stupid of the show to force her to have long hair.

Not a continuity error, but all these wack hairstyle changes reminded me of Vanessa Marcil cutting all her hair off and the show made her wear that strange wig for way too long.

I have re-watched a ton of Marlena stuff from her return, the affair, and the early possession lately. The tale of two Romans, while kind of a disaster in that Roman was ultimately ruined, was also really an emotionally complex story that had a lot of depth and every beat was played. From the early part of Roman’s return, it feels like the affair was inevitable. It is also very interesting seeing John in two viable romances while Marlena is with Roman and fighting her lingering feelings for John. Isabella and Kristen both had rooting value with John, and at the time I wasn’t so sure he and Marlena were going to end up together until much later on in Reilly’s run. Its so easy to forget how good and not campy Reilly’s run was before the possession (and really, that story being stretched out). It was a fantastic time to watch the show. Reilly lost me about a year before he left though. I missed his earlier run.

A super rich corporate raider doesn’t scream Labine to me either. Jason’s accident could go either way- it is believable as either a story created by Labine or Guza. It has the tragedy and family dynamics and medical aspects of a Labine story, and the Guza dramatic tendency to pit people against each other.