Soaplovers

I'm curious as to what TPTB define as boring... from what I've seen, she's seems like a real sweet girl.. and quite frankly the show needs someone nice on the show. Plus, she isn't totally blonde and plastic either LOL

I was curious about Fernanda.... was she suppose to be a full-time housewife and TPTB changed their mind? The reason I'm asking is because I thought her story seems interesting... plus her being a non-blonde helped too LOL I liked that Lynn came back.. she seemed interesting but is Jeana back for a visit or did I miss it?

I uploaded a video of my thoughts of Lady Gaga, Judas, and how it compares to Just Dance. Gaga Thoughts

Yeah, i remember Cain with that Vietamese character... glad that story ended quickly. I wonder what the other writers for other shows said post 1988 strike.

Maybe the show was looking to change Faith's character and figured the stalker/breakdown was the way to do it to explain a recast. Of the actresses that played Mary after Kate Mulgrew left, which was the least offensive? I read that Labine wanted to kill Mary off but the network didn't want to go that route at first. However, even though the recasts didn't work.. I think having Siobhan/Mary's sibling discourse shown on-screen and having Sibohan's husband Joe inadvertently responsible for Mary's death did drive story for quite awhile.

Did they fire the original Faith because they wanted to change the character from fragile to more strong-willed? The soapnet reruns are now in June 1976 era and the original Faith had her last airdate not too long ago.. the show was laying the groundwork for her becoming a more mature adult.. but the original Faith still was playing her too meekly. I'm anxious to see Nancy Barrett's brief turn as Faith plus see Catherine Hick's stint as Faith. So I can do a comparison since I've only seen the first and last Faith in action. Plus, the first Frank isn't all that bad... he plays a very thick, one track minded guy very well. I know that I should be able to see the 2nd Frank before SoapNet goes off the air then I can do a personal comparison. I've seen the other three Frank's in play.. even though he played Frank too serious, I like the fourth Frank's portrayal (circa 1983-1985) the best so far.

Probably been discussed but I was most interested in the year 1981 for Ryan's Hope since it seemed to be such an interesting year story-wise. It seemed to be broken up into 3 parts (pre-strike, strike, and post-strike).. Just wondered which part did everyone enjoy? Looking through old youtubes, I was fascinated by episodes from 1983... most of the stories were very interesting (i.e. Rae/Charlotte/Frank, Jill running for office, Leigh Kirkland, Siobhan acting more herself again, and that cute actor playing her police partner). I always wondered how did Rae exit? Was she fired? Did she quit? Did she leave in 83 or 84? I think Rae was a great thorn in the side of the Ryan's and the episodes I saw of 1981 (pre-strike era episodes) that she was an island character along with Kim/Michael... When did she start to interact with the other characters again? For me, the one problem Ryan's Hope seemed to have was that supporting characters left after a year or so (i.e. Nell, Reenie, Rose, etc). It would make growing attached to a show hard, at least for me.

At least Long tried to write for Nola/Quint... and she got Nola better then Mctavish and the other writing team. I noticed that within several months of Long's arrival that Amanda/Morgan/Jennifer/Kelly/Hope/Justin/Helena were all written off the show. It was like if they didn't fit into her idea of a Texas based show then they wouldn't kept on. That's the impression I got from the characters chosen to be written off... granted the argument could have been made that the character's ran their course but I disagree. There was lots of fall out with Amanda/Morgan/Jennifer after that one con artist dude was killed... plus Justin just left somewhat after the paternity secret was revealed.. not understanding why when years of story could have been generated.

I always wondered about the writer that was there before Marland... i think her name was Susan Horgan? I believe she was there for several months... was wondering if she was an interim writer until they hired Marland.. or if she was suppose to be meant to be long-term? I saw a few episodes from her regime.. and it was a very well-written show.

I read somewhere that Catherine Hicks (3rd Faith RH) tested for Holly on GL the same week she went out for Faith.

In regards to Loving's identity... I remember my mom tell me that when the show first premiered, the first thing she thought of when she saw the show was an 80's version of Love of Life (since the last few years of that soap had strong ties to the university, etc). Loving should have been conceived as a Twin Peaks based around a university with lots of curruption, drugs, rape, etc amongst the students, faculty, and the families of said students.

Not sure if this was mentioned before or not but Elizabeth Hendrickson (Chloe Y & R) tried out for Michelle in the mid 90's but lost out to Rebecca Budig. Also, Eric Martsolf (Brady DAYS) tried out for Rafe but was cast as Brady

I had heard Iris became nicer when she went on Texas. Did she have the 'daddy' issues on Texas that she had on AW? Do you think when Iris came back from 1988-1994 that she gradually got rid of the 'daddy' thing? Do you think Mac's death caused Iris to evolve since daddy wasn't around anymore?

The episodes end on 10/5/1992.. just before Donna Swajeski left as headwriter and replaced with the associate writer Peggy Sloane and some other guy. Since telenext stopped uploading episodes before the changing of the guard, I was wondering if there was a noticeable difference in tone, story, characters, etc after the changeover? For instance, was there any sudden storyline shifts, character departures, character changes, etc?

I've found some episodes from August/September/early October 1992... so you are saying not every episode from 7/1 till that point is posted?

From what I can recall the last year of AW was an improvement and might have continued to get better if the show had continued. Or since NBC canceled it, there was no interference from either NBC/P & G so the show was able to tell the stories it wanted. I also recall that Paulina was somewhat repaired in the last year as well and ended up a balance between the weepy stand-by-your man character that JFP tried to portray and the hot-headed woman we loved in the early 90's. I remember when she found out about the guy pretending to be her child.. she decked him hard-core (just like she did to Jake at the altar back in the early 90's when she found out he was trying to take over Cory).

I pick a pack of episodes from Feb. 1992 offered by Telenext productions on Youtube... Thoughts: Jake/Paulina: She was engaged to Grant but you could see she had a yearning for Jake and vice versa. You could just see the chemistry oozing when you saw them together. I forgot how fiesty she used to be before they turned her into a pill junkie years later. Marley/Dennis: Strangely I liked the two together.. I remember the buildup to them being a couple was good but once they were together, nothing really happened. However, I will say that I liked JB better as Marley then Vicky. JB played Vicky as an unlikeable bitch while AH always played Vicky with a soft side lurking beneath that tough exterior. Lorna: Love her!! Felicia and Lorna are snarking at each other and we all know what ended up happening there down the road Grant: I was surprised that he was actually kind of nice! Plus, he was getting along with Ryan! I figured Grant went all out mean when MP took over... when did Grant fully embrace the dark side? Olivia: I actually liked this character. What I think soaps fail to do now is make all parties in a triangle likable. Olivia is pregnant and pretending the baby is Sam's. You can see she still loves Sam but that she knows deep down that he's with Amanda. What I gathered in the seven episodes I viewed so far is that she still is optimistic and dreamer. Plus, she isn't focused just on getting a man... she has career goals as a dancer and is trying to figure out how to balance that with the upcoming baby. I also liked the interplay with Sam/Amanda. A part of me wishes that the baby was Sam's because it would have been interesting to see how all three of them would react to one another especially with a baby in the middle. Finally, I forgot that Jenna and Jake were friends with Olivia (another problem with modern day soaps...lack of friendships) Valentine Day Ball: This proved how soaps used to be the medium to watch to see a party in full-swing. Extras, bigger sets, and some great action to propel the plot forward. You had Lorna throwing a tantrum with Rachel/Felicia trying to kick her out, you had Paulina/Vicky coming in the same dress (every woman's nightmare) and fighting to the death, and you had Jamie chasing after a mysterious red-head (I think that was Kelsey, right?) Iris: Last and certainly not least! She was awesome! I know some of you preferred BM in the role but I only identified with CD in the part. She had the regal, dismissive essence that BM bought to the part but she was different then BM's Iris. I just loved her and it was a shame they never thought to keep Spencer/Iris together longer then they did. Thus ends my overall thoughts of Feb 1992 episodes that I happened to catch!

Do you think Philece might have worked better as Nicole? I know Nicole came and went several times during the 80's then never mentioned again. How was she received in each of her stints?

I agree another "eurotrash" character would be interesting, or someone that comes from old money in D.C. who is a really snob. However, I think keeping the Sahali's on would just be rewarding them for their passive aggressive behavior. I agree with another poster to elevate that bitchy Erica character. In regards to Stacie, I think we need someone who is somewhat above all the backbiting (and her facial expressions are the best!)

Didn't Stacy Edward's character accidently kill another character named Amy Perkins? What was that character like? My mom, to this day, swears SB's fall started with Mary's death and that the final nail in the coffin was when Eden went bye-bye circa 1991. What was everyone's impressions of Flame? I think she was in cahoots with Quinn then reformed and vanished?

Totally watched part 1 of the D.C. reunion. Cat is so hilarious (her facial expressions, and her snappy one liners) Lynda was a funny, warm person (so not how the promos portrayed), mary is just a void but kind of funny, Stacie is nice but a little too sensitive, and Michaele's weird take on the world (and everyone's facial expression's every time she speaks). RHOBH: Kyle is my favorite, Kim looks to be on the verge of a nervous breakdown, Lisa is so Alexis Carrington for the 21st century, Adrienne is a scary person (looks and her flattening that guy), Camille is very delusional (sad she spends time talking about her husband... women should look at her and do the opposite in terms of living in hubby's shadow), and Taylor has been nipped/tucked too many times that she looks like Frankenstein's bride on the loose! If you have to have surgery because you fear losing your husband, perhaps it'll be best to just lose the man and go on with your life. I think they should do a Real Housewives of Chicago. Chicago is such a melting pot with high class, middle class, working class, blue collar, and poor people that it would be interesting to select women from different classes to see how the jive with one another. A sociological experiment at its finest!!

That was what was so great about the show in it's heyday! There was enough variety to go around! So if you didn't like Frankie's brand of humor.. you always had Rachel, Felicia, Cass, Donna, Ada, Iris and even Rachel sometimes(especially with her deadpan way of delivering lines). Nowadays, character's seem to be interchangeable and that's one of the downfall's of soaps (lack of variety).

I loved AW circa 1991/1992. It seemed to include every type of character that you could imagine but they weren't just character types, they seemed like flesh and blood. I haven't been able to watch the AW episodes on youtube but I was wondering if they focused on Jake/Kathleen's family relationship that much? I do remember one time when she stood up for Jake when he was being attacked but couldn't recall if they had any scenes together (she could have counseled him about Paulina/Marley, had helped him deal with his half-brother Kevin, and they could have paired her with someone else as well) Were they close when she was on in the 1980's?

What I always found funny was that even after Barnabas came into the picture, Victoria was still sort of smart and could figure out things (i.e knowing that Cassandra was really Angelique in disguise, knew that Jeff Clark was Peter Bradford, and that Nicolas Blair was evil). However, when it came to Barnabas, she had no idea that he might be a little weird LOL I always viewed Victoria as the everywoman of the show. Once she left, it lost a certain something. Granted, they had Julia/Barnabas/Quentin but something feels missing in the later years to me.

Barring the Gorilla appearing in the last episode and that stupid hip-hop dance to lure the gorilla out of the tree.. the rest of the last episode was wonderful. It had a wedding, had every single person give advice via a video montage (sort of a good-bye to the fans as well) and it ended with Rachel looking over all the photos in the Cory living room before she and Carl turned off the light and went upstairs.