Soaplovers

I did think yesterdays episode did a good job of providing a bit of difference between the Vanessa and Pamela's characters in regards to their function in Dani's life. We all have friends that provide different functions so I could see Vanessa being the social friend (i.e. drinks out, having a laugh) and Pamela being the fixer (i.e. her snapping Dani back to reality, bringing the stuff Dani asked for, and being calm/posh). It also was the first episode where Pamela had more then just a few lines so we got to see a bit more development of her character, plus got to see how Cady would make this character different then her previous long term characters. The posh/upper crust accent and mannerisms differ considerably from Dixie and Rosanna. Also, soaps do adjust/change once they air for a bit vs what was planned originally in bible. While it appears Ashley/Andre might be in the cards, the chemistry he has with Dani and Eva supersede the chemistry he has with Ashley so the show could shift gears. Santa Barbara is a perfect example with Cruz/Eden ending up being a couple vs the original plan of Cruz/Santana and Eden/Warren. So it isn't out of the realm for plans to shift down the line. @BetterForgottenMy thinking about if there will be any shifts/changes would most likely be four to six months into the future since the show taped about 12 weeks in advance before it debuted and probably wrote several more episodes ahead of them being filmed.

Megan did have a good rep from her first stint as head writer at AMC so I could under P & G and Laibson thinking they scored a coup in landing her as a head writer. What P & G and Laibson didn't realize was that one of the reasons her AMC was good in her first stint was because Agnes was still there behind the scenes to sort of reign her in. As we saw, a reigned in Megan wrote some great stuff in that first stint at AMC. Also, Guiding Light and All my Children were vastly different shows with different audiences and expectations. What she didn't do was adjust her style/approach to Guiding Light. Her confusion over Roger/Holly being a couple was a valid one because even though Roger had sort of been redeemed.. he still raped her and kidnapped her all those years ago. So I supported her breaking up Roger/Holly... but what I didn't support was making Roger a one dimensional villain and pairing Holly up with Fletcher. It was as if she was trying to recreate Maeve/Fletcher with Holly and Fletcher.. and it didn't work at all. And the Marion Crane story could have worked if it lead Brent to realize what he had done to Lucy was truly heinous and led to him turning himself into the police. The only thing I did seem to like during her brief stint was that she definitely wrote Annie with more depth/layers then the one note psycho route

The same thing that caused Edge of Night and Search for Tomorrow to be axed caused Another Life to also be axed. https://www.nytimes.com/1984/08/23/arts/christian-broadcast-network-cancels-its-cable-soap-opera.html I have a feeling that the Bible story turned viewers off, and they tuned out so affiliates responded by dropping the show. It looks as though the show finds its footing again by its last few months.. but it was too little too late.

I think Capital would have been less crazy/plot driven if Sloan had managed to take over as headwriter since her writing stint on AW was a lot more social issue base and less over the top/gimmicky. It's a shame the show didn't think to keep Slesar on since he managed to balance the more political/mystery element with romantic soap opera plots quite effectively. Much better then Lipton ever did.. imho. Now that you all mention it, Tonja did have a Carolyn Jones element to her acting. I often wonder how Myrna would have evolved had Jones not fallen ill/passed away from cancer. Her Myrna had this intensity that you just knew would be used to strike at her enemy when least expected so I imagine later stories involving her character would have gone differently.

I must have been either in school, or adulting, when that sexiest man contest was going on. I don't understand why soaps insisted on these type of contests without actually seeing if the person could act. And yes, the actor that played Carlos was very photogenic and looked great in photos. Sometimes a models looks doesn't translate to a tv or movie screen. @MaximI've enjoyed your 1988 and 1989 write-ups since I like to see what a newbie thinks of past episodes of a show. Especially during this period where you had Broderick as headwriter, Depriest as headwriter, and then the strike episodes. Agnes takes back over as head-writer by the Christmas 1989 episodes I believe so I'll look forward to reading what your thoughts on the back-half of the Depriests brief stint.

Hayley must be a good paralegal since she was able to pick out small details that Dani and Pamela didn't think of. We got some fire from her, and it's about time that she removes her gloves and fights off that pathetic ole Dani. I believe Pamela (Cady) is supposed to be a spa owner, but I could be wrong. I like that Cady has a different stance/demeanor playing Pamela than she had playing Dixie and Rosanna.. and her voice is a bit more regal here. Good 1:1 between Andre and Nicole. Kat vs Eva is still bubbling underneath the surface while I'm glad Nicole noticed that Silk Press Sheila was at the award ceremony. Usually characters tend to have selective blindness when it comes to things like that so it was refreshing that wasn't in play here.

@DRW50 I decided to watch the last 50 episodes of the show (episodes 825 to 875) and Nancy is a bit more of a grey character then she is in the episodes that @dc11786is reviewing. I can tell that the cancellation notice came quickly because the show is operating at a semi slow/decent pace up till around episode 855/856 before it goes into quick overdrive trying to tie up stuff around episode 860. In fact, a new story was starting up around the 840s that I suspect would have climaxed during November 1984 so the final episode doesn't resolve the plotline.. but gives hints on what will end up happening in the story. The DOMI story is pretty good, and I think the later twist cheapens the story.. but I suspect the cancelation notice probably caused the twist to come out of left field. Deadly Pursuits/Assassin has decent focus in the last 50 episodes.. but it seems to be dropped and/or resolved off screen.. but I'm at 861 in my viewing so maybe there will be a resolution of sorts mentioned. Of the younger characters, the actress playing Courtney is a natural and it makes sense she ends up going to Search for Tomorrow for awhile in 1985 as Adair. But the best conclusion I can come up with is that the episodes are well written, the acting is good, and it definitely had legs to continue on had the show not been canceled. In my opinion, Another Lie achieves what the soap opera Loving was trying to be when it debuted. A college town soap opera that had a strong focus on the college and the townspeople.

The Days Facebook page under comments is a real eye opener. Women were hot and heavy over Ben and Ciara.. and the amount of angry emojis I would receive when I pointed out that Ben was a serial killer and not understanding why they were gun ho over a character like him. I'm awaiting the last week of April since that's when the new regimes material starts airing so I suspect maybe the episodes from the week or before that might have tweaks to them.

1) Agnes was character driven while Megan was plot driven. The only reason I can think that Agnes suggested the guilt element with Julia was based on character. Julia was raised in a religious Catholic family and always felt overshadowed by her perfect older sister Maria. So I could see Julia deciding to have an abortion because she was raped brutally, but also having some residual guilt based on her religious upbringing. Had Agnes written it, it would have been powerful. 2) Dixie/Tad were a wonderful couple in 1989/1990... but realistically, they should have stayed broken up after the Liza affair.. but stayed on the canvas at the same time. 3) You know my position on Jack LOL

It's not that serious. It reads like a rough draft and I have a feeling that had she made revisions/corrections.. it wouldn't have resembled what we read. However, I like that someone finally called out all of the toxicity and egos that plague the soap world even if she is part of that toxicity herself.

Ashley and Dani are examples of negatives that all soap operas have been doing in their shows over the last few decades. Ashley is an example of telling instead of showing. All the characters talk about how wonderful and gifted she is, and we've yet to see many examples of that. It's as if the writers are intentionally trying to sabotage her character on a subconscious level. Dani is an example of a character that we're supposed to root for, but the writing and acting don't justify supporting such a vile character. Karla saying she's trying emulate the Reva and Erica characters fascinates me because her acting choices don't support that. It's only been three weeks, but my initial instincts say that MVJ is good at implementing other people's ideas/visions.. but doesn't have the ability to be an effective headwriter/showrunner. I get Sally Sussman vibes from her (another talented writer that lacked the ability to be a showrunner/head writer). At least MVJ has the good sense to have writers and a co-head writer (Bob Guza) with ability join her staff unlike Tyler Perry.

I remember that fans were begging the show not to fire Robin, and it was after the way Janet handled her own defense when she was accused of killing Laurel so I'm sure Lorraine brainstormed how to save Robin's job. Thank gosh she came up with the Witches of Eastwick plot of Janet/Erica/Skye hiding Kinder's body and gaslighting Marian. It was a genius move. @KhanIn regards to Felicity, I think it was a case of a good actress, wrong show. Felicity just oozed New York Upper East Side and it's why she did so well on Ryan's Hope, but she just never seemed to fit in on AMC. I don't know what other soap she could have thrived on.. at least on the East Coast in the 80s/90s (maybe AW?) Cady always seems too stuck on herself and a bit of a diva, so I can imagine she was unbearable behind the scenes. Jean Carol, on the other hand, had admitted she felt stifled and that the show said they couldn't think of anything for her to do.. and she pointed out that she had a lot of ties on the show that could have been utilized... and I think she had said she went to talk to McTavish about her concerns and thought she was receptive (guess not if she got killed off shortly thereafter). I had no idea that McTavish was approved as an interim writer after Pratt and before Kreizman/Swajeski... but I think Lorraine ended up doing it instead and it was so well written that it felt like whiplash once the inferior Kreizman/Swajeski took over from her. In regards to Susan Lucci and her discomfort of younger actresses in the 90s vs how she was in the 80s (where she had lots of scenes with Jenny, Dottie, Julie, Cecily, and even a few with Robin) was due to her age. When she was having scenes with the 80s ingenues, SL was in her 30s and early 40s so she hadn't been hit yet with a midlife crisis. Also, by the 90s, ageism was even more apparent with actresses in their 40s and older then it was in the 80s. Paired up with the fact that SL was in her mid 40s to early 50s during that time and it probably caused her insecurity that she could be replaced/upstaged by one of the younger women on the show. Oddly, when SL had her short hair cut in 1996/1997.. she looked younger and more youthful then she did when she had her longer hair. Shame she didn't think to change her hair style in the 2000s to a shorter hair style (she had it cut shorter in the mid 80s and mid 90s.. that made her more youthful).

What is this first draft was a spoof/satire and not actually the truth?

The Kate Collins/James Kiberd stuff confirmed the rumors, and even during the Locher Room interview that Kate was at.. she framed it as deciding to support her new husband in his career and to be a stay at home mom after living her dream. While I think what she said in the interview was true, she probably felt good quitting because the work situation for her was no longer healthy/positive and she decided to leave. She mentioned Robin Mattson, and didn't elaborate on what exactly happened with her.

What I didn't know was that McTavish grew up in the same area that I grew up in though 30+ years before me, and I also didn't know that the Gloria Marsh character hailed from Pekin IL. Pekin residents were known for being closed minded in all ways that you could think of.. even in the 2000s when I was in college. I do recall the Julia Barr/Roscoe Born part of the story with Julia Barr being into the story and being disappointed that Roscoe quit suddenly. And I recall Erica rescuing Gloria from trying to unalive herself and finding it odd.. so I don't blame Susan Lucci for being confused by this event in the show.

They kind of defanged Carla in the final year of the show by making her the heroine opposite the 'antagonist' Judith Wheeler... except that when I was watching those final months on YT, I found myself rooting for Judith over Reena. I remember that in the early months of Texas, Vicky was carrying a torch for Alex Marshall and seemed like she and booze were long term friends.. .while Reena was a daddy's girl and very distant with Vicky. And that Vicky was closer to Samantha, which only fueled Reena's jealousy. Also, I preferred the Taming of the Shrew story between Max and Reena over the Justin/Judith/Reena triangle that dominated the final months of the show (though I did like that Judith was written with layers).

Accurate (i.e. Dani and Nikki comparisons) I have a feeling Dani has always been impulsive and emotionally unstable. That flashback we were shown was from Dani's perspective... but seeing how the family walks on egg shells whenever Dani is around tells me that this isn't a new thing going on with Dani.

I think the reason her first run was pretty successful was because she was 2nd in command for months on the show before she became the official head-writer in August 1992. Although, I do recall her first months were a mixed bag and i think it was because she was finishing up stories that Agnes had started (i.e. Edmund vendetta against Dimitri, Galen/Carter story, and Dixie's breakdown). I do remember the blind date between Maria/Edmund that McTavish referenced in that except.. and I happened to be home from school that day as a kid watching with my mom.. and I remembered thinking 'oh they make a good couple' so not only did she notice the chemistry between them.. but so did viewers. Although I do think a Maria/Edmund/Brooke triangle would have worked better then the storyline where she married Tad and degraded herself for him when he was hooking up with Dixie behind her back. If I recall.. it sounded like the character of Risa ended up being split into two characters (Becca and Greenlee). And if I recall, Tim Dillon was also supposed to have been the guy that Risa was supposed to go for in original plans.. or that could have been just a rumor.

Here's a blog about that show https://zebradelic.blogspot.com/2013/02/lynne-moody-in-charleston-1979.html It starred not only Delta Burke.. but it also starred Lynne Moody and Jordan Clarke (of Guiding Light fame).. with Clarke/Burke playing a Rhett Butler/Scarlett O'hara enemy to lovers story while Moody is in love with Burke's brother. I wish I could see it because it sounds like awfully soapy.

If I recall, Malone was more interested in short term arcs rather then long term stories so it's possible he might not have had an end game in terms of a love interest in mind for Luna at first. I recall that Luna had a crush on Max when he returns to the canvas, but it was unrequited. I think once Cord leaves, Max/Blair are tested and the show opts to go with them with Asa thrown in as a big obstacle with Luna waiting in the wings until she has a brief love interest of her own (Suede.. I think was his name). Mia Korf also quit the show suddenly in early 1993 and I recall that the writers had to scramble to re-vamp their Feb 1993 sweep plans since she was heavily going to be featured along with Max/Asa.

Dani... yawn. One note character played by a one note actress. Andre/Ashley/Derek = Not working Hayley has potential, but I would love to see her mixing it up with other characters in town.. and not just isolated to Bill and Dani. Tamara is a great actress.. is that why she's given the most cringey words to speak because she has the ability to make them sound good?

Considering that Reena spent months on AW with a simmering feud with Pat, it would have made sense to carry Pat over onto Texas instead of Iris. However, wasn't Beverlee talking of leaving AW due to burnout so her being added to Texas was a way to keep her on as Iris?

Mctavish sounds like a major witch, toxic to the very core. Her first stint was pretty good though it did move away from the Gothic touches of Nixon's AMC, but it did have some strong stories that brought the show into the 90s. Her other two stints were horrid

Her worst was the 2nd stint of AW. However, she did a load of good during her brief stints on The Doctors, AMC, and Sunset Beach... and from what I understand, her stint at Days in the early 80s was also interesting. But I liked her stint at AMC because she made some changes that made sense such as moving Skye out of the Erica/Travis/Jackson orbit. She broke up Barbara/Tad and paired him with Dixie and put her back into the Erica/Travis/Jackson orbit. She also made Natalie less of a victim and closer to her original 1985 version of the character in terms of her relationship with Jeremy. And she started the process of writing Nico/Cecily off the show, and @Maximwrote some other interesting things for Erica/Mona in the 2nd half of 1989 before Agnes returns as head-writer.

The first year of the show was derailed because of ABC interfering with the Lily Slater tale and forcing the show to wrap it up earlier then planned, plus the Merrill V story was not popular with fans either. So I have a feeling this Jonathan story was an attempt by Agnes and co to make Loving stand out and to establish a new identity. Had she continued this more supernatural/gothic vibe for Loving, it could have been the ticket to giving the show an identity. Corinth could have been the daytime version of Derry Maine with all the weird and random going-ons mixed with the typical soap opera plots.