Soaplovers

Apparently it briefly was rerun on TBS in the 80s. I think they reran it as a way to get viewers to sample their own short lived soap opera...so they were paired together. Not sure if it was successful or not.

Not sure if shared in the past so re-sharing. The part I enjoyed was their discussion on character and their backstories. The how and why of a character is vital because it informs how you play and write the character..even if not shown on screen. Perfect examples of female characters on AMC with the Nixon touch (imho). 1) Erica Kane (Abandonment issues, seeking constant validation, poor social skills with women) 2) Brooke English (Adopted mom hated her, trying to mother teen girls that are lost due to her lack of being given love by a female/motherly figure..plus grief over losing her daughter, always opting for Erica's leftover 3) Gloria Marsh

Angie had more focus and attention on Loving during her time there then she would have on AMC at the time. God knows what McTavish would have subjected her to during that era. She had two strong relationships with Charles and Jacob, a good friendship with Stacy and Jeremy, explored her relationship with her son Frankie, and I think we even had her mom Pat come for visits as well. It makes me wonder if that same treatment would have been given to Ellen Holly back in the 80s when Agnes wanted to bring Carla and Sadie over to Loving?

Erica in early 1988 was peak form. She was dramatic, but was still being written with layers so she wasn't a cartoon character. @MaximI'll be interested to hear your thoughts on 1988 once the writer strike episodes come into play. I believe those episodes start in late March/early April and span about five months or so. @KhanI think Erica/Travis are badly damaged as a couple starting with the strike era episodes.

919 Fifth Avenue was probably put in 2nd position because CBS was 0bsessed at the time with courting the Melrose Place audience. I think with a better production 919 Fifth Avenue would have been a better fit at CBS then Central Park West (which seemed like an east coast attempt at Melrose Place)

I'll leave to hear Donna's take on Abby's season 2 arc. To me..it was my favorite season of Abby..it was her most carefree season.

I had forgotten about Brooke and I viewed Jack/Brooke as a stop gap until the show paired her with Edmund and then tried to pair Jack with Angelique then Laurel. In fact, in 1994...the plan was to reunite Jack and Erica permanently...but audiences wanted her with Dimitri so the show changed gears. I remember during that Libizone stunt when people taking it lost their inhibitions that Jack went for Erica while she had to tell him that she was only into friendship with him..while she went for David Hayward. David was Erica's last pairing that I enjoyed her in. They has chemistry, looked good with one another..and had long term potential. A shame it ended.

Jack and Erica were fine in the late 80s/early 90s...but their affair causing her to lose custody of Bianca should have been the thing to end them as a couple. Only reason the show kept reviving them.as a couple was due to Jack not sparking with anyone else. And as a stop gap before Erica got her next love interest. The show tested him with Natalie, Barbara, Angelique, Laurel, Gloria, and Carmen. None of them took.

Back then, shows weren't afraid to drop an actor if they weren't working. Agnes made the right call it sounds like with recasting Ann, Linc, Chuck, and Jeff...and dropping Bobby. Though I would have bought Bobby back later on once Jeff and Tara's stories were completed in the mid to late 70s.

Soaps nowadays produce so quickly and out of order that for newbies...there isn't time to learn the naunces of acting. Back in the 80s, people like Moore and Tomei had the luxury of learning from those around them and had more rehearsal time to work out the kinks in blocking and scenes. By the 90s, it appeared on ATWT that if you weren't a broadway nor stage performer...you were treated differently...and not in a good way.

I always wonder how Nancy would have evolved if she had remained in the role. She had a more fragile take when playing Nancy that if the intention was for the audience to not like the character...her take would have made that harder. While Meredith had a stronger and more strident take when playing Nancy...that when Nancy did something selfish..the audience could be angry at her.

I think the Sherry story was cooked up last minute because Josie Bissett opted to leave the show for personal reasons. It would explain why the Jane stalking Jake/Allison story was dropped and ended so badly. I think Donna did as much as she could with the role, and it was a shame there wasn't other adult oriented dramas that could have cast her in a recurring basis (she had opted to pull back on acting somewhat because she had adopted and was focusing on being a mother).

I'm not surprised that Daphne was fired because I thought I had read that she wasn't happy with how she was written in season 4 and went to TPTB.. and they basically gave her the boot. I have a feeling had Daphne remained into season 5.. she would have been the heavy against Jake/Allison.. a position Jane was slid into and which didn't make much sense.

Co sign. And maybe that could have been Val's season 11 story instead of Danny..or even over the brain virus story.

Afton was an interesting character..who knew how to read people..even better than JR at times. Melissa going crazy could have worked if it happened during the earlier seasons when Hamner was still involved in the show.

I liked that Jane Wyman didn't play Angela as this over the top person... she played her as decisive/confident.. focusing on family honor over being affectonate/attentive to her children/family. Chase/Maggie/Cole/Vicky were a nice contrast in season 1/2 because the four had a love and genuine affection for one another even when they were having conflicts... plus they had more relatable 'middle/upper middle class' events like Maggie doing chores in casual clothes, getting their place ready for guests, etc.

What I liked reading the summaries of 1974 to 1976/7 was that Meg and her two children Ben and Cal were driving the majority of the story. It's a shame that Cal was phased out eventually because Ben and Cal were kind of like Val and Meg back in the 50s. Ben seem more like Meg in terms of wanting money/being his own worst enemy while Cal seemed more like her aunt Van with her being more of a good girl.

Ryan's Hope - 1982. I've seen the 75 to 81 episodes.. and there are a lot of 1983 to 1989 episodes that have popped up over the years... but the year 1982 would be nice to see. The Doctors: 1980 to 1982 For Prime time soaps: All the episodes of short lived prime time soaps like The Secrets of Midland Heights, Kings Crossing, and even Beacon Hill from the 1970s. I know Kim Zimmer mentioned in an interview when she went to audition for Reva.. she was amazed that Pam Long wrote a bible for the character. I would love to see if any other character bibles existed for the Long era of GL including what the intention/plan was for Blake before the 1988 writer strike.

I think one of the issues with modern day soaps and 'good' characters is partly due to casting and partly due to writing. Van is a good character.. too good to be true.. and that can be a difficult character to write and make interesting. This is why casting is so important because the performer needs to add personality, humor, and other layers in order to make the audience like and root for the character. Peggy McKay was pretty good with putting that spirit/humor into Van.\

I kind of bought Gary with Kate only because he was in grief and she had been in the twins life for a year or so.. with Val being a refuge for Kate like how she had been a refuge for Olivia in the past. The way the show handled the Gary/Kate situation once Val came back was well done and the final scene between Val and Kate was heartfelt. Ironic that Kate also had a child with Gary and didn't tell him.. just like Val back in the day. Too bad that story didn't get more focus in the reunion movie.. including Kate's secret relationship with Abby's son Brian. @KhanI view that the 'Sally Friend's' as Latham and company realizing that they didn't plan for what would happen to Gary or Val once the Jill story wrapped up. When I viewed it recently, it looked as though it was being thrown together without any thought or idea on where it would go. Had Paulson or Dunne been helming season 10.... they would have probably played up the fall out of the Jill story with Val coming to terms with almost losing her kids again due to Jill, maybe some hidden resentment for Gary/Karen for not believing her yet again, and maybe she could have focused back on her writing (with the Jill saga a perfect inspiration for a book.. which would cause conflicts with Gary, etc).

Speaking of which EON alum... I always thought it was nice to see Ann Flood playing shorter term roles that were a departure of Nancy... such as Ella on SFT.

I think had Jill not been found in his trunk, but staged her disappearance with her playing 'Sally's Friend'... that might have worked.

East Coast soap performers were broadway/stage performers.. and sometimes they forgot to tone it down for tv and it became too showy and not realistic. I prefer the more subdued acting of someone like Ms. Mnoco over the over-acting of Maura West or Michelle Stafford.

The online AMC revival would have had plenty of funds coming in had Erica Kane appeared on it. That is a hill I'll die on. The online show had a perfect way that she could have fit in without the toxic weight of Jack around her neck. Dimitri was back, plus Brooke was back with a talk show. I could have seen Brooke and Erica having competing talk shows with Adam egging on the feud between them because why wouldn't he like his two ex wife's battling it out.

Sounds like Dorit understood that her job was in jeopardy if she didn't show her real life.. and now is doing what Kyle should have been doing all this time... being active and showing her real life.