Soaplovers

Tad and Dixie were a couple that if you broke them up, you had to keep them apart and not reunite them unless you were committed to keeping them together forever. Adam and Brooke were soul mates, but keeping them apart until near the end of the run served both characters well... and once they reunited, they stayed together forever. I remember fans at the time celebrating when they finally reunited and left together to live their lives outside Pine Valley.

I think the combination of Clarita Bauer (Bert) passing away in real life in the first half of 1985, plus adding Jeff Ryder as co-headwriter probably caused some sadness/disarray backstage and it translated into the writing of the show. Plus, Long was pregnant and preparing to leave GL in the fall of 1985 so she probably was more apt to listen to input from others on the staff instead of going with her instincts. The 2nd half of 1985 seemed to be more neo-noir then the the fun and spirited GL of the 1983/1984.. and it doesn't really regain that fun community spirit again until 1989 I could have seen her Blake be more of an antagonist in the Beth/Philip/Blake triangle in the 2nd half of 1989 then how SS played Blake during that time. Dennehy's Blake played her final scenes as so lost/tragic after discovering Adam Malik was really her long believed dead father Roger. I often think how she played Blake was more how Blake should have been after the trauma of what happened to her parents played out in her childhood and what we believed was her life growing up after Holly left the show.

Seeing the Ava switch was something I never thought I'd see. Roya's last scene seemed more subdued and less flighty while Lisa's first scene reminded me more of Lila on AW then Ava (or at least she ended up playing Ava long term). Seeing Leslie as Gwyn was interesting since it occurred a short time after she quit GL as Maeve. So I could see some of her Maeve in her take as Gwyn, yet also seeing her sort of take on a bit of Tudor's portrayal of Gwyn. When Tudor had left the role in the late 80s, I could have accepted Leslie as a recast of the part. Seeing the Mike scenes at the Vietnam memorial.. it kind of read as more gothic.. and i don't think it worked in this case.

Seeing the Dobson episodes from 1979 really highlighted how dry and boring Marland's episodes were in comparison. The dialogue alone during the Marland was so unrealistic that it made me want to tune out of the episodes while the Dobson episodes had dialogue that seemed less stagey/cringey. Long's 1983 and 1984 had some stellar work and equal airtime amongst the newbies (Lewis Clan/Reva) and the veteran mainstays (Bauers/Reardons.. Parker siblings). Plus, she managed to make Springfield look like a fun town.. which was a welcome relief from the dour and stodgy Springfield that Marland presented. Her 1985 was an interesting year that was too focused on the Lewis/Shayne clan though I did like Lujack's music video and had a soft spot for Infinity (Only because it was an umbrella story, the constant use of the black background during the climax of the Infinity story was interesting, and there was fall out with Lujack's death). Long/Curlee were a good team that balanced one another out, though I have to admit that Long leaving in December 1990 took away a fun energy that could have been an asset during the more literary Curlee/Demoerest era of 1991 to 1993. Also, I notice that Ed became more dour after Long left the canvas.. no longer did he make wisecracks nor have the couple banter with Maureen that had been there in the 80s up through 1990.

From reading the first pages of the early 1991 plans, it looked as though the Carolyn Crawford murder was always planned to span months (going to at least May 1992 sweeps). His first mistake was the victim he picked was someone that the viewers didn't really know nor care about. I think she was only on the show on and off for several months, but we didn't really get to know/care about her. His second mistake was having Frannie be the other woman/follow up wife. Not because the actress wasn't capable (I prefer her to Julianne Moore), but because Frannie already had the psycho boyfriend story so why subject her to another psycho/killer. His third mistake was deciding to not make Daryl the killer, and I have a feeling his decision to change that caused the story to drag even longer because he had to figure out who could logically be the killer. His fourth mistake was the use of so many small parts/characters that viewers didn't know nor care about.. that ended up killed just as they were going to reveal vital information. The one minor character I think was interesting was Dana. She was kind of a hot mess and was kind of comedic in her performances.. and I do recall she did kind of intersect with other characters during major events for a time.

Ashley was more animated and interesting when interacting with her mom. Of course, we already knew her mom had some personality since she and Silk Press Sheila have friendship chemistry. Speaking of which, Eva and Silk Press Sheila each have pulled a stunt that the other isn't aware of yet. Eva having her mama kicked out while Silk Press Sheila did a bit of bumper cars with the assistants vehicle. I have a feeling this tale/scheme will climax in May.. I feel it in my bones. I know that a wait and see attitude is in order for Ron C and Jamey... but breakdown writers make sure that the head writer and their vision is laid out effectively. MVJ/Guza might have a good idea, but if the person implementing the idea is subpar then it doesn't matter how the good idea was.... and Ron C and Jamey don't exactly have a good track record (from what I hear, some viewers haven't been thrilled with Jamey's contributions at Days although the quality hasn't been good there for awhile).

Ellen was not a good choice. She was too delusional and too into her emotions to be an effective EP. She should have just remained a director and kept away from the EP chair. The idea that Megan wrote in the book to counteract the showgirl idea would have been better and more befitting of Erica. She probably would done either a cabaret show, or been a singer ala Lyla Montgomery of ATWT fame.

Ron and Jamey as breakdown writers are a massive red flag. From what I understand, breakdown writers have the most contact/interaction with the head-writers so I assume that MVJ and Guza were on board with Ron's Friday outline. I am curious if every soap has a new breakdown writer for each episode, or if BTG is the only soap that is doing that. I would think it would be more logical to have the breakdown writer handle breakdown each episode for the week, with the script writers alternating per episode. With that said, I did like that there was a bit of break between Dani vs Bill/Hayley... with Hayley's not being welcomed by the staff of the country club (as Vanessa eluded to in the first episode) and Bill potentially being sued by former employees of his due to his promoting Hayler over others (which I like that the conversation Hayley and Caroline had in the first week was a foreshadowing). However, Naomi has no business taking on the case. It's a conflict of interest and she doesn't seem like she's able to put aside emotion in order to do her job (which seems to be the norm with lawyers nowadays). I have a feeling that Eva is actually Ted and Nicole's child.. and that Silk Press Sheila managed to have that embryo implanted in her. It's not far fetched, or she did a baby switch and perhaps Kat isn't really a Richardson and Eva is? Unpopular opinion, but Tomas is a decent actor and kind of hot. I would be on board with a Tomas/Kat/Eva triangle down the road. Dani is just pathetic and if she passed away from alcohol poisoning, I wouldn't care.

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.