Soaplovers

I remember her as Ellen's mom on Ellen.

April does sound like the start of Depriests 6 to 7 month stint as headwriter. She was hired to reset the show since the network stated that there were too many stories and characters. The things I noticed she did that I liked was dropping Barbara/Tad...and moving her back into the Travis/Erica/Jack orbit. Also dropping Skye/Travis, showing the reality of Jeremy enjoying the chase, Natalie becoming a bit more like how she was in 1985 where she was desperate for Jeremy, and I liked that Dixie/Tad started up. Lanie/David/Cecily/Julie/Nico was an attempt to revive the teen set...which was popular in the 70s and early 80s. I think Lanie was an attempt at being like Nina was...sheltered and sweet. Once Agnes comes back, the teen set improves a bit. For me, his best contribution was writing the screenplay for Friday the 13th...the original. And based on how soapy that movie was, I wasn't surprised he ended up writing soaps.

Kim zimmer's take on Nola seemed to fuse some of the qualities of the two previous Nolas. Her Nola in 1979 was kind of carefree, but I watched a few 1981 episodes and her take on Nola was different. She had a more regal sounding voice and seemed more confident/sure of herself. I actually liked all three actresses in the role.

I haven't watched it in awhile, but i was surprised at how many topics and out of the box stories were covered in this soap. I loved one conversation Lori had with Terry about pre marital sex and how things were changing and how conflicted she was. It was more realistic then what the other soaps were doing. Lastly, if I recall, Miriam became such a naunced character...and some think her leaving in 1984 was a blow to the show. One of the final stories that got cut short due to the show being canceled was role playing army games at the campus, and one of the students started taking it too seriously. I was intrigued to see where the story would have gone.

I would have had become more like an Olga and be to someone like Olga was to her. One of the consistent threads for Erica in the 80s was taking a young woman under her wings. She did that with Jenny pre 1984, Dottie in 1985, Julie/Cecily in 1988/1989...and Gillian in 1997. I also liked that she also helped Janet in 1997. Erica's stint at Oak Haven near the end of the show was welcome...and her helping Dixie and Janet was gold. I also think Erica could have started a business helping women...especially women over 50 that still had something to offer.

Jack and Erica were blah...and I think he held her back as a character. When they were apart, Erica had two great pairings (Dimitri and David) while Jack didn't. He should have been written off in the late 90s because there was no use for him on the show any longer.

Shannon in the pre Marland episodes was less zany/eccentric and was more of a free spirit...and a positive person in teen Lily's life. I wish SBH has stayed on as a writer since she would have been able to keep Shannon as less campy. That 1977 episode with Joyce is so interesting since it explained why Lisa amd the Hughes family were so guarded about her in the 1980 episodes. As the World Turns always seemed too serious and stodgy. The early 80s was a fun time, but it reminded me of a middle age person trying to be hip instead of embracing who they are.

I understood the original plan to go with Josie/Matt...she was the daughter of a Frame and he was the son of the two people that were involved in the death/downfall of a Frame. It was set up as the late 80s version of Romeo and Juliet during the strike and post strike. However, Josie lit up as a character when she was around Ruben and it's a shame that P & G was too skittish to go forward with it because of one segment of the audience. AW was lower rated so what did they have to lose by moving forward with the coupling. But P & G was more skittish and risk adverse in general compared to ABC so any blow back from an audience standpoint and they backed off. It's why I kind of enjoyed their 1988 writer strike episodes...some great male and female conversations were happening. And those episodes really helped give Ronnie and Lisa some good dimensions/layers that neither really got during non strike episodes.

Kimberlin was interesting as Rachel at first. She started out as a more sane version of Sheila Carter with a score/vendetta...while trying to manipulate her patient Julie Devlin. At first, fans were receptive...but the writers dropped the ball and she was quickly written out. She lasted about a year and a half.

I do recall his introduction and he was borderline abusive and didn't he start a fire that burned down Mary's place? I think it was by accident and I think it was done as a way to write out Vince and Mary. Shame Rueben/Josie never became a thing.

The Silver/Natalie story went off the rails due to the strike. I kind of liked the Jack/Jeremy/Silver/Natalie quad that was starting up before the strike. Plus, the Erica/Travis/Pamela story was promising...given Erica was the other woman in Pamela's parents marriage so I liked the potential of Pamela deciding to settle the score...and would be a reminder of why Mark and Ellen broke up before. I think the 1988 writer strike derailed the momentum of the show long term..imho

Moving a soap that was old fashion to 3 PM was CBS looking to cancel it and needing a valid reason to do so. If they truly wanted the soap to survive, they would have stuck it at 2:30 directly behind guiding light. Seeing the last episodes in full, the disco and young characters were an attempt to youthify the show..partly based on the later time slot. I think Dana Delaney's character had promise and I liked Lianne...but not sure if Lianne's sister would have survived long term based on the writing/acting. So Judy Launders character was just introduced in the last week of the show..or was she introduced the week before? Having her enter as the blonde that caught Wes' eye was a good scene direction wise.

Unpopular opinion, but they need to keep going on the episode recaps...and release the actor interviews on the same week as an episode recap. The rate they're going, it'll be Christmas before we get to season 2.

The Alex story content in 1993 and 1994 was exactly the reason why Beverlee opted to quit when she did in 1992. She correctly predicted where the show was taking Alex and bailed. I do recall Marj mentioned that when she first started on GL, she said the writing was pretty good..but mentioned within a short amount of time that wasn't the case. Her fall 1993 material did show a more subdue Alex that could be warm, but also icy when provoked. In fact, her first scenes was trying to be cordial to Mindy...and Mindy kept poking the bear. Then Mindy would play victim when Alex responded. I think Mindy was on edge since this was after the Eve ordeal..but the writing wasn't in depth enough to examine these elements. I think once Nick/Mindy broke up..and Mindy was moved out of the Nick/Alex orbit was when Alex and Mindy could function and allow both new performers to put their own stamp on the characters.

The whole finale story had Tory deciding to kill Ross because he rejected her...but she also felt he also treated Blake badly as well. So she decided to free Blake from the man since she didn't think Blake had the strength to divorce/leave him (in her defense, she only saw the Blake of 2001/2....not the Blake of the late 80s/early to mid 90s). Blake even mentioned Roger and his not being in her life as evidence that men had left her and she still carried on. The scenes were pretty good...but I didn't like that there was no fall out or long term effects for Ross/Blake. Blake could have been conflicted because she had cheated on Ross in the past and so she could have been conflicted over whether she had a right to be upset with being cheated on....and Holly, instead of being totally team Blake, could have felt for her daughter...but also felt a bit of satisfaction that Ross cheated on her as well. Pam Long or Nancy Curlee would have played those beats if they were headwriting the show during that tike...imho

No, she didn't have the hots for Blake. She was trying to kill Ross in order to save/free Blake from him. Downside of the story was that there wasn't any long term effects on Blake or Ross.

I found Princi's take on Dorian to be a wonderful mix of Pinkerton and Strasser's take of Dorian. It was such a good take that Strasser's first year back as Dorian in 1993 was closer to Princi's Dorian (more subtle and cold).

My unpopular opinion was that I enjoyed the Infinity story. It was an umbrella story that involved a large number of the canvas...and ended with the death of Lujack. I also enjoyed the Tory/Blake/Ross story in the early 2000s. It had a good start, middle, and end with a twist where Tory was really fixated on Blake...not Ross.

Lakin was dating Marcia Cross when he started GL in 1985. Kristi F (Roxie) said she recalled when Lakin dumped Marcia because it happened at a party/gathering she was hosting. I think Kyle started off well, but I think once Pam Long left...his character got lost in the shuffle. When Long was leaving, she had set up a potential Spauding/Lewis war because Alexandra blamed Billy and Kyle for Lujack's death...but it looks to have not progressed beyond that.

Sabrina had the makings of a bad seed daughter. Remember she pretended to be Frannie in order to get with her boyfriend Seth...then she dumps Seth and marries another man. And Claire Beck had played a more crazed and desperate character on AMC so she could have easily tapped into Sabrina's darker side. For some reason, Marland refused to go all the way in making Sabrina the black sleep of the Hughes family. 1977 and 1979 episodes really highlighted Joyce's dark and demented side. No wonder people in early 1980 were leery of Joyce...and if I recall...it turned out Joyce was faking the nice act and was exposed in 1981 before leaving town.

I think KB was the correct person to play Karen in the first year or so before Judith Light took over. Seeing the Aug 1976, April 1977, and May 1977 episodes shows the subtle changes in the Karen character. Aug 1976, Karen has a confident persona she shows to the world, but we see cracks in it during her conversation with Jenny. She instantly assumes Jenny is judging her like she always has after Jenny 'judges' her after her conduct with Larry. April 1977 shows a happy and joyful Karen that feels she's achieved what she's always wanted....financial and emotional security. May 1977 shows Karen determined to keep up with the Joneses and being mentored by Dorian. You see a quiet desperation in Karen to maintain her newfound status. I can imagine summer/fall 1977 would have shown other instances that led Karen to become a prostitute. From what JL said, she was on set on standby because of KB's health issues and that even though KB did show up that day....Joe Stuart asked JL what she would do if playing Karen...and I bet her answer led to the producers and KB mutually parting ways. I think KB set a strong foundation for the character of Karen that JL was able to build from. Also, I don't know if JL could have played Karen as well in the first year of her character. She would have played it more cold and less warm then KB..imho. Lastly, Pinkerton is fab as Dorian...and I think Claire Malis was an excellent bridge between Pinkerton and Strasser. She could play restrained like Pinkerton, but could ham it up like Strasser.

Couple: Two people that exist well on their own or together storywise. And if broken up, can co exist without the whole will they or won't they....and can be paired up with other people in equally popular couplings. Supercouples: To me, a kiss of death in terms of plot and character development. They cease to exist as an individual character. Only way to pair them with others successfully if one of the two leaves the canvas. Examples of super couples: 1) Luke and Laura 2) Greg and Jenny 3) Tad and Dixie 4) Josh and Reva 5) Bo and Hope Examples of couples: 1) Adam and Brooke (AMC) 2) Tom and Erica (AMC) 3) Ed and Holly (GL) 4) Lisa and Bob (ATWT) 5) Paul and Lauren (Y & R)

From what I gather, it sounds as if the soap spent more time preaching instead of focusing on telling compelling stories with 3 D characters. The Fran story sounds like the exception rather then the rule with cards and sympathy being sent in by viewers. Maybe the focus of the soap should have been on her with the Chris story being the secondary story. And having her remarry her ex seemed like it was done because viewers weren't attached to a tale of a newly divorced character...especially one audiences hadn't had time to become attached to.

AMC had a gothic vibe most apparent between 1979 and 1992. That element helped to introduce the Cortlandts, Chandlers and Marick/Grey's. The only time it didn't work was during the Goldie/Silver story. The 2013 reboot did bring the gothic element back with Celia and her mysterious benefactor. I do recall SOD would run summaries of the shoe..and even printed summaries of things cut when the show went from airing 4 days to 2 days. One of summaries featured was Celia's story...and it had revealed that Billy Clyde was connected to her. However, there were rumors the show had opted not to go that route so those scenes were cut..and a new direction was being decided. Rumor had it Dimitri would have been the benefactor instead..since fans thought she favored Gillian.

Apparently someone several years ago researched and compiled the TBS schedule from 1980 and beyond It looks as though it was edited into 30 minute episodes aired in the morning for a few months in 1983. Looks as though it wasn't paired in the schedule with The Caitlins. http://www.sitcomsonline.com/TBSLog1980-Present.txt