tune_in_tomorrow

Leann Hunley (Anna, DAYS) left around the time she won the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in '86. She did some guest shots - Designing Women, Hotel among them - then landed a regular gig during the last 2 seasons of Dynasty. She also had a key supporting role on Dawson's Creek, before returning on a recurring basis to DAYS. Even with the Emmy, I always thought she was underrated as she handled heavy drama/somewhat villainous in her early tenure before switching to some comic relief when paired with the hijinks of Arleen Sorkin (Calliope), but I think she ended up with a pretty good post-DAYS run in primetime before she aged out of good roles and returned.

The actress now known as Alexandra Neil (since late '80s?) was originally billed as Dianne Neil when she played Emily Benson on Another World in the mid-'80s, then Alex Neil toward the end of her run. From what I gather in her pre- AW days, she started on Search for Tomorrow as Dianne Thompson Neil but by Texas, had stopped using Thompson

Watson, your memory of 1985 AW pretty much matches mine! The only thing I remember a little differently is that Brittany regained her hearing before becoming a villain. I might be wrong - obviously it's been a long time - but my recollection was that she was still deemed to be "good" or a victim for her first several months on the show, both to other characters as well as the audience. Her character and that of Peter were all over the place later in '85 and into '86. No wonder Gabet was unhappy... nobody knew who Brittany was supposed to be. Watson's description of Carl explains why I found Rachel's marriage to him offensive when I tuned back in for the final couple of weeks after not watching for a decade. He was not an antihero or a misunderstood character, but an out-and-out villain. It makes no sense that Rachel would forgive him, let alone marry him, after what he did to her and her family. It really soured the ending IMO. I didn't watch any of the story of his redemption so when I read about the propping of Ben on DAYS, I just think it's been done before. Unfortunately, I think soap viewers are more likely to enjoy what they see if they have short memories.

The soaps are at a damned if you do, damned if you don't point, so...why not dolls? If the consensus is that daytime soaps are running on fumes anyway, then this gives a bit of a boost in interest although it won't last. It might not even last till B&B starts airing. I kind of think viewers will be looking fondly back to the days before March - it's not like budgets are going to increase, and now with extra precautions, fewer cast members on set, and probably more complicated technical work to make it all come together, a lot of that budget may be eaten by these technical realities. Add in the fact that advertisers are going to be more conservative because of their new financial realities, AND that it doesn't take long for many viewers to fall out of the habit (now 4-6 weeks and counting, depending on the show), I think the soaps have gotten closer to death. We'll see.. I have been wrong before. In 2012 I figured we'd be in the post-daytime serial world. One thing I am pretty confident about is that there isn't enough talent in daytime to really do anything creative enough that will make this period work to the shows' benefit. Even if there were, trying to churn out 5 shows a week would hamper them.

I only watched AMC during the first run of Cecily and I agree with All My Shadows - she was just fun, lively, and clearly intended to be the counterpoint to Julie. The actress went by Rosa Langschwadt in that first run if I remember correctly. I'm trying to recall without the help of Google. The characterization of Julie changed pretty significantly right before Cecily arrived when Lauren Holly replaced Stephanie Winters. To be honest, Julie never interested me under either actress but I only watched from maybe late 85 to spring 87. Maybe Holly brought some fire to the role after that.

I know I am with several others who wish we could have seen more of Audra Lindley's vicious take on Liz. For those of us who only know her sitcom work from the mid '70s until her death in 1999, it would definitely show a different facet to her career.

I'm sure I am rehashing something we've talked about at length previously, but AW did a lot of recasting in the 80s. I only watched '84-'87 or '88 regularly during that era but there were 3 Marley/Victorias, 3 Peters, 3 Nicoles, 2 Sallys, 2 Donnas, 2 MJs, 2 Jamies, 2 Vinces, 2 Blaines... Not to mention that Cecile and Iris who I saw were replacements. The replacement MJ and Jamie and the last 2 Peters seemed to be efforts to completely change the characters. There was little or no resemblance to the previous characters. I know, mostly through this site, that this was a turbulent era for the show and so much was just thrown against the wall to see what would stick.

I agree with everyone else here that killing Sally off was a mistake. It was certainly a shocker as she had driven story for several years prior to that. There were so many unnecessary deaths in the 80s but most of them weren't leading characters, at least not for long. The other character besides Alice that should have been around for the last decade was Nancy. Jane Cameron made a couple of brief returns at Mac's and Ada's funerals but if she didn't want to return full-time, they could have easily replaced her. I liked her a lot on the show, but she was far from Irreplaceable. I think she would have made a lot more sense in some of the shenanigans than Paulina did.

In addition to Sally, keeping Nancy around would have also helped the balance. I'm surprised she didn't resurface on a regular basis, either with Jane Cameron or a recast. AW certainly wasn't shy about recasting in the '80s/early '90s even if most were unsuccessful.

Fair enough opinion, AMS, and I should clarify that I wasn't hoping to see a revival of a feud or a rehashing of anything that happened 20 years ago but trying to make a statement that there were a lot of characters with a lot of history still on the show but many were given very little to do in the last 9 months following the cancellation announcement.

I never watched GL until the end so can't really speak to it but I knew that there was SOME attempt to respect history -- at least back to the '80s so most fans who tuned in at the end could at least identify the characters. I'm one of those who thought the last several months of ATWT were a waste. I didn't need to see a turnstyle of characters or actors from the golden age but with as much time as it had to wrap things up, there was more than enough opportunity to acknowledge the history that made it successful. Instead what I saw was a last minute scramble to *pretend* there was a nod to the past but there really wasn't. There were, what, about 15 characters (not necessarily actors) who had been on the show for more than 20 years and I saw nothing that acknowledged the past except for the reunion of Lucinda and John. Meg was a vixenish spitfire in the '80s; in 2010 she's carted off to a mental hospital because of her obsession of some man (as I recall). Dusty and Craig were entirely different characters. No revisiting of the Kim-John, Kim-Susan, Bob-Lisa battles, or even more recent Barbara-Carly conflict. Instead it was make sure Katie had a man, Luke the Gay was unhappy, and window dress the rest. Sorry for the long rant. As unhappy I was with "my show" AW hooking up Rachel and Carl somewhere along the line, I appreciate what they did with their finale with only a few weeks notice. ATWT deserved better...and I wasn't even a loyal viewer.

I agree with Watson71. I thought Gabet did a very good job when she came on the show, portraying a sympathetic character but with an edge. I think Brittany as a character was a great interloper in the triangle because she was layered - not a villain, not sugary sweet. Others are more knowledgeable about the writing changes but that era of AW was all over the place. Brittany alternated between villain and victim, married off to Peter, who changed from nice guy to villain with a recast, Thomas Ian Griffith seemed to check out as Catlin (in my opinion) once Mary Page Keller left, so Gabet really wasn't given much to shine in as time went on. I actually liked her Melinda on OLTL although I never saw the other actresses in that role.

I'm late to the discussions about Erin Torpey and whether Viki was a matriarch, but what it reminded me of (in my admittedly inconsistent viewing in the last several years) was how cold the relationship between Viki and Jessica was once Bree Williamson was in the role. There was little warmth between them, as there had been with Torpey or even with Melissa Archer as Natalie. I know the whole DID storyline was to put a wedge between them but I never saw that relationship really thaw. It was a huge disappointment to me at the end to see Viki's relationship with her children either strained or nonexistent except for Natalie. I liked both Natalie and Archer but really her existence as Viki's daughter shouldn't have happened. She already had unknowingly given birth to another child so she already filled that soap trope quota!

I'm also enjoying the vintage AW clips from and thank you all of you who have pointed them out. Some of them are just brilliant in their simplicity and others pack a lot of emotion. I watched during the mid '80s, which was filled with some great actors and characters but not a lot of story. Victoria Wyndham had very little to do but seeing her in the 70s/early 80s really makes me realize how good she really is. And seeing the late 80s allows me to see how good Carmen Duncan is. I didn't see Beverlee McKinsey's years (except through the magic of YouTube) but I can see why Duncan lasted as long as she did.

I thought Carmen Duncan did an excellent job in a role that was pretty iconic. It helped that Iris was gone a number of years. I think in retrospect it's good that a name actress wasn't brought in.

I thought that Sin Stalker storyline was dumb altogether. As far as Quinn and Maisie as victims, it was just an easy way to get rid of two 40ish actresses whose characters had no familial ties to anyone on the show, and add a little shock value. Regarding the McKinnons, I was surprised that they never tried recasting Ben. As I recall, Ben and Jake overlapped only a very short time (if at all) and that's when the McKinnon family was being positioned as a prominent one. The "good v bad" dynamic of the two of them could have been played out, with both eventually showing shades of gray.

The aging of her children AND grandchildren. Seeing a 50ish Patricia Bruder as the grandmother of a 30ish Lindsay Frost (as Betsy) and 25ish Melanie Smith (as Emily) circa 1987 was jarring to say the least. The generations of the Stewart family were squeezed so much there wasn't any realistic way to use them as a family unit.

The other thing I seem to remember about Peter is that the character changes coincided with actor changes. John Hutton as good Peter, Christopher Holder as cad Peter and Marcus Smythe as villainous Peter. I don't recall a gradual character change but had there been one, it might have made sense, especially once Reginald was introduced.

I got interested in AW in '84/'85 because I really liked the cast and there was quite a bit of humor. I also thought MPK Sally and Catlin were a great romantic couple. My interest didn't last long because of cast defections, and the sudden turns in character personalities. I wasn't familiar with Sharon Gabet or EON but I liked Brittany at the beginning. She was clearly going to be an obstacle in the Sally/Catlin romance but her hearing impairment, a deceased son, and her friendship with Zane made her a sympathetic character which might have led to a complex triangle where the viewers' allegiances might be challenged. But Brittany underwent the personality change and nobody liked her. I think Peter Love's personality change was even more drastic and made less sense. By the time the Sin Stalker storyline came to an end less than 3 years later, I was done with the show.

Thanks jam for the pic. At first glance I thought Kathleen Beller was Mary Page Keller (AW's Sally). I didn't know Beller played Liza. I remember Meg Bennett, Sherry Mathis & Louann Gideon. Was she before Bennett?

I watched AW from '84-'87 and sporadically the rest of its run, and really enjoyed Jane Cameron's Nancy. I also was surprised the role was never recast because there were plenty of recasts of other characters --Donna, Peter, Marley/Victoria, Nicole, Sally, MJ, Jamie. Most of them weren't successful but as Melroser and sungrey mentioned, she was a key character. Even though I liked Cameron, I don't remember her being considered irreplaceable.

Back when I was in college in the 80s and studying this sort of thing, a 30 share was considered the "magic" number if you will to be considered successful in prime time. If the audience were younger and/or more affluent, a show in the 27 or 28 range (ala Hill Street Blues or St. Elsewhere) would stick around. So a 25 share in 1965 when Our Private World aired would have been pretty unsuccessful. There were even fewer TV options in '65 so my hunch is that its competition was probably pulling in the 35-40 share range.

The lack of returns didn't bother me too much, although I would have loved seeing Iris and Nancy back. But as Max said, there wasn't any time to pull much off. I would have been fine with Carl Hutchins not being there as I only knew him as a killer, but CarlD2 explained upthread that he was redeemed (supposedly) at some point. I never really got my head around that as I watched the last few months of the show after about a decade away. The Kathleen/Cass/Frankie triangle should have been great because there should have been no villain. I guess I'm lucky that I missed Julie Osburn's return because it sounds like it wasn't handled well There was a warmth about her that I liked and I completely bought in to the Cass/Kathleen pairing. I didn't pay too much attention to who the writers were, but I seem to remember reading Margaret De Priest wrote the Sin Stalker story only a couple years after she wrote the Salem Slasher story on DAYS, and there was a lot of criticism of her for writing multiple serial killer of women stories. I was furious on DAYS when Trista and Letitia (Ruth Buzzi's character -- Eugene's cousin with the pet lion) were murdered, and so I took notice of that article since the Sin Stalker claimed Maisie and Quinn -- two other characters I liked. I wish I had seen AW a few years earlier. The years I watched consistently are definitely considered the "bad" years, yet I enjoyed the cast and characters, if not always the storylines.

Thanks for the additional background, hendersonite. I know there was discussion upthread about Jo's sister Eunice's murder so I apologize if I'm repeating anything -- according to Wikipedia, Jo's sister Eunice was murdered in Nov. 1976 so it would have been just over a year since her husband's murder. She definitely did have a lot of tragedy in a short time. While I was posting, I saw hendersonite's last post. I kind of remember Clay Collins' murder as well. There was a bloody shirt found in someone's house. Maybe Janet's? It wasn't her, but wasn't his killer an unbalanced young woman instead? If I am remembering right, then SFT also had a couple of those in a short amount of time since Jennifer killed Eunice.

Thank you for the information on Robin. I don't remember Tony Vincente but do remember in the credits that Jo's last name was Vincente. I also remember Kathy Phillips in connection with the Jennifer/Scott/plate glass window story. She comes up to Scott at the hospital and offers sympathy on Jennifer's condition. My grandmother explained to me that Kathy and Scott were divorced. At that time, I thought all divorced people hated each other so I remember thinking it strange that Kathy would care what happened to them.