Soaplovers

Leta Powell Drake was a unique interviewer for the times.. she usually would speak off the cuff and get the guest to relax and have fun (if they were willing). Her interviews with Michele Lee and Joan Van Ark were quite fun to watch.

Seeing the interview with their son compelled me to rediscover an interview that Lisa Brown gave in early 1986 where she talked a bit about that time from her perspective, or at least the perspective she was presenting to the world. She talked a bit about where they moved, how being on a soap allowed her time when her than almost two year old, having her parents living with them, etc. I have a feeling that the divorce that she went through in the early 90s is what changed her and you could kind of see that in how she approached her work because she had a sadness/melancholy that seemed to seep into her performances in the 90s. It was used to great effect when she was Iva because that character went through so much trauma, but it stayed with her when she came back as Nola in the mid 90s (and I wonder if what her son describes is narcissism was his mother trying to adjust/make sense of post married life trying to be a single mother to two kids since the father didn't want to be a father.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYsBsK0plic&t=239s

Hayley vs Ashley scenes are a lot more interesting to me because of the subtext and the facial expressions/mannerisms both actresses do in reaction to what the other does. Hayley vs Naomi (yawn... Naomi is just a weak character to me) & Hayley vs Dani (best done in small doses) are predictable/by the numbers... but Hayley vs Ashley isn't rooted in actual history/bad beef between the two.. it's mostly based on word of mouth and under-estimating the other. Hayley thinks Ashley is simple/gullible while Ashley thinks Hayley is performative/dramatic... but Ashley was the one that honed in on the sonogram situation and basically had her foot on Hayley's neck until Naomi got involved and stupidly believed Hayley. I still recall the Hayley/Ashley scene in Uptown where the two basically had a conversation about the sonogram.. with Hayley putting on the innocent act while Ashley basically stating 'You had an affair with my best friend's father and broke up his marriage.'.. and I recall Hayley backtracking a bit. Chelsea situation came out of left field.. and I'm hoping it isn't one of those '1st anniversary call backs with no follow through on actual story'.

Debbie seemed a replacement of sorts for Tess Shelby, who had connections with the other characters because she was Hal's niece, lived with Barbara, interacted with both the Hughes and Snyder families, was friends with Andy/Courtney, and after briefly dating Paul Ryan ended up dating Hutch.. which helped tie him to the rest of the show outside of just the Snyders. So when Debbie showed up, she was the daughter of the man Emma Snyder was dating and had recently been released from the hospital after having some emotional issues. She had been mentioned several times with her father Ned and his soon to be ex wife trying to find the right time to tell her that they were divorcing. So it seemed as though the original plan might have been for Debbie to be more fragile and more of an ingenue type. I say this because the earlier version of Rosanna had a lot more edge, and went toe to toe with Tess in their confrontations while not revealing where and why she was running away. So when Tess left suddenly (due to Parker Posey getting Party Girl), the character of Rosanna softened a bit and than Debbie came on looking sweet and was a schemer underneath it all. I think the outlines that Marland had ran out before the end of 1993, and I recall that Hutch/Linc/Woody/Linc's mother/Hutch's mother were all gone by the end of the year.. while Debbie's Dad Ned leaves in early 1994. At this point, I figured that the new writers plus P & G knew that the show needed to be streamlined and that the various stories/characters needed to be pared down. All My Children had that issue in early 1989 and they employed a headwriter (Depriest) that knew how to streamline their canvas... it's a shame that ATWT didn't have the same luck with getting a strong head-writer in 1994 that could have helped streamline the show in a way that wouldn't hurt the show long term.

The thing about Guiding Light vs ATWT was that GL had gone so many changes/revamps that most of the time would work and kept the show going. I was in my 20s when both shows ended, but I remember people being more saddened by GL ending than ATWT ending the next year. Maybe because GL had so many close calls going back to the 80s and would always find a way to right the ship somewhat.. that people hoped that the new film location/technique would right the ship again.. but alas it was not to be. The last weeks of GL seemed to right some of the wrongs, and I always felt both happy and upset over that... because it showed to me that the show could have made modifications to right the ship.. but didn't care to until the show was ending.

@DRW50 Wow.. blast from the past! This was still being written using Marland's outlines, since he had passed away not too long before this episode aired. Some thoughts: Aunt Mary.. I had forgotten Lisby Larson was on this soap, and she had a nice rapport with Kirk. If I recall, it turns out she's Hutch's mom that had abandoned him and his father. Iva - I had forgotten she took Aaron and MJ and vanished after Holden found out he was Aaron's father. This was the start of the end of her relationship with John in retrospect. Hughes backyard.. I missed that set in later years Sharon.. I mean Debbie! And with much prettier hair and how I'd forgotten how expressive she was as a performer back in those days. I had forgotten she and Faux Linc hooked up Janice... I liked her. Holden/Lily/Damian was just getting started. I always wonder what Marland was planning for them.. would he have done what future writers did by keeping Lily with Damian instead of going back to Holden right away?

Ironically in the 80s and 90s, Days was known as the Chemistry soap (i.e. Supercouple era) because the writers tended to write story/couples based on chemistry they saw onscreen vs keeping strictly to a story bible. Genie Francis remarked that she spent two years trying to make her character on the soap viable, but found she had no help from the writers (while I think the writers were following her lead).. but mentioned when they discovered she had chemistry with Drake H.. she was quickly paired with him instead of Michael T Weiss (Mike Horton). They also weren't afraid to write off a character that wasn't clicking (i.e. Pamela Roylance as Sandy Horton.. even she said she struggled because she was acting based on what the writing was giving her while the writers told her that she needed to give them something to write.. and her chemistry tests with Tony Dimera and Chris K (Josh Taylor) didn't work nor did her friendship/scene chemistry test with Marlena Evans work.. and she was written off after nine months). Filming so far ahead prevents Days from doing the very thing that made them popular in the ratings in the 80s and 90s. BTG has already shown that filming so far ahead (four to five months) has hindered them somewhat, while they also seem unwilling/unable to deviate from their planned stories and couplings (i.e Ashley/Andre, Derek/Ashley, this Hayley poisoning Bill story). I also wonder if maybe that's why the Nicole dating Carlton and Kial story went on so long.. because they filmed so far ahead.. they wanted to see what the audience was leaning to and also to see the chemistry before making a decision. While Nicole/Kial have more chemistry, this stalling derailed Nicole's character arc and she lost momentum as a character. Of the Core 4, she feels almost like a supporting character when the first week set it up that she and Dani were co-leads with Vernon/Anita being strong support (I so want to see Vernon in a story that isn't tied to be Anita's butler... I want to see more of the Vernon that we saw during his interactions with Joey). Hopefully with this filming break.. the show has assembled a good set of break down and script writers... and come up with a viable season 3 outline that carries over the momentum of season 2 instead of it feeling like how it did at the start of season 2 (a reset of sorts after season 1).

Dani/Andre coloring scene was filler that didn't need to be seen. With the vast amounts of characters already on the show, we don't have time for a filler scene featuring a character (Dani) that has been daily for awhile. SPS/Leslie episode from Thursday I think was trying to show how she saw her and Ted's interactions and why she ended up being so hooked on him. Especially when she seems to have a guy (Marcel) that seems interested in her, but she keeps holding on to these delusion that Ted loved her. I'm hoping that this episode will be the start of her breaking away from Ted and moving on since she seems to have the free clinic to run, seems to approve of Iziaiah with Eva, has tensions with Darlene, etc. Season 3 I don't believe is starting until January 2027, but I could be wrong.

Problem is that MVJ, rather by her choice or a mandate from one of the various production companies, has basically made the Core 4 unrealistic and boring. Also, a soap opera shouldn't have a core anything.. that's the gift of a daytime drama.. you have numerous characters and families co existing and having several plotlines. Having a core anything can limit the story potential. Heather is the sparkplug needed.. and I'm hoping this means that SPS gets a clue and stops obsessing over Ted/Duprees or Hayley is getting caught and leaving the show. I think SPS has the best chance of long term potential since she runs the free clinic, has a non Dupree daughter, can interact with the Duprees in a professional manner, has a promising conflict with Darlene, and could find herself a handsome unattached man that values her as much as he values her. She could be the Lucinda Walsh of ATWT if she were written/positioned correctly.

I've noticed on Twitter (X), Facebook, & IG that there are a lot of comments under videos for BTG from black women asking why the more interesting characters have been the YT characters and why the black characters are so boring. It does make me notice that other than Kat and Dani.. most of the black characters are not at all interesting. Is it because MVJ is having her hands tied by other producers? Is it because she wants to present the black characters are intelligent, noble, and above everyone else? Because going by a lot of social media, the target audience isn't liking what she's presenting.. even going so far as to say that the Dupree's are boring.

Thanks to the yearly write-ups that were shared, Sara had previously been involved with Dr. Paul Fletcher and her presence caused his insecure wife Robin even more insecurity and led to her killing herself. It's a shame those early years of soaps are lost forever because it seemed like soaps went all out in the 50s and 60s in ways that soaps in the 2020s don't.

She's doing a great job thus far! When she said that she had to go through the long audition process for the part, I was confident that she would do well.. though I had a moment where I remembered that the actor playing AA auditioned and there was no way he was the best one out of that bunch so I worried for a minute if MVJ wanting to work with Ashley Jones would cloud her judgement like it did with Lindstrom. Thankfully that wasn't the case this time (though I can't lie I would have loved to have seen how Daphnee would have tackled Dani since she auditioned for Dani originally).

I'd love to have an episode without Dani being featured. Actually.. I'd take a week of episodes without Dani being featured and have that airtime given to other characters. Naomi is the perfect example of a toxic manager/boss.. and is someone that is better working for herself than leading other people. And I detect a bit of classism and maybe even prejudice from Naomi toward Tomas while I totally suspect Tomas has old fashion ideals. To go from Bill to Naomi would be a shock to the system of anyone working .at the law office because they work and manage differently from one another. It's nice we're getting one step forward from Kat in regards to Eva... but I think it'll be realistic if the two continue to have moments where they bicker. but will also support one another when the chips are down. I'm intrigued to learn more about the Heather and Andre connection from back in the day. I know that he didn't want to be photographed nor be in any video for several months for a reason..and I had a feeling when he happened to be in the background of the Eva/Chelsea livestream that Heather, or someone close to her, would figure out where he was and go from there. I also wonder if Heather somehow caused Andre's parents to be killed in that crash.

Beth was with Coop, but I don't think Olivia got with him. Holly/Billy.. I think the show thought it worked once with him and Vanessa.. that they assumed another odd coupling would also work. Oddly I thought they were charming as friends, but I couldn't see any romantic sparks between the two.. but I preferred them as friends that dated on occasion to the odd attempt to pair her with Buzz.

I'm going to be honest that this caught me off guard. I remember her best from this Christmas Tv Movie from 1999, or 2000, called If You Believe where she played an inner child for the protagonist and she was adorable. And also the Bring It On follow up was hilarious. RIP