will81

I'd say with Y&R there is more to the story. In 80-81 most or all the core characters were onscreen, definitely by 1981 all the Brooks sisters, Stu, Liz and the Foster kids were on canvas and had story. In late 81 both Pamela Solow (Peggy) and Wings Hauser (Greg#3) left the show and Greg was recast and Peggy was supposed to be recast but wasn't. Howard McGillan (Greg #4) just didn't work, I'd say in large part because Howard seemed slightly more like Jim Houghton's Greg and Wings had a method actor vibe to him, though he mostly seemed a little over wrought all the time. You can't turn back the clock and it seems Howard barely appeared except as a supporting character to Jill and sometimes Chris. He probably stopped appearing by July 1982. In spring 1982, David Hasselhoff (Snapper#2) left for good and recasting Snapper wasn't going to be easy and I don't blame the show for not trying. Next Jaime-Lyn Bauer (Lorie) left, another one who couldn't really be replaced. Next Lynn Topping (Chris#2) was let go, it made little sense for Chris to stick around when Snapper was gone, though Bell tried. Although considering they let Lynn go in 1980 without a recast, I don't think he tried too hard. I liked Lynn, not sure Bell was as invested. That left Deborah Adair (Jill#3) and Victoria Mallory (Leslie#2). Bell tried to link them to new families, for Jill this was dynamite as she worked in the newly formed and already popular Abbott family. The Laurence family didn't gel and he let them loose and then dropped the axe on Leslie. I honestly don't think Bell was as inspired by Victoria Mallory as he had been Janice Lynde and I think it was harder to make Leslie work without Lorie with Victoria in the role. He tied the two together too much. I found Lynde seemed to hold as much onscreen power as Jaime-Lyn and I think Bell would have had her and Lorie sharing the spotlight more. I feel under Victoria, Leslie was a supporting player to Lorie. Stu would go six months later and Liz a few years later. I think Bell would have kept his core families, but it was getting harder and harder for him to maintain interest as original actors left and recasts left or didn't work out. I also think he created the Abbotts because JLB was going and he had a very fractured set of original core characters and needed a stronger foundation. Bell always said the show was more important than anything else, no actor, character or writer was above it. I think he did what he had to do to help the show survive.

I guess Cricket from Y&R would fit the bill. I never had issue with Lauralee Bell, but Cricket was suddenly the in demand model, teen advocate, teen slueth and desire of every young man in town. Then her mother turned up and married into the main family on the show, though oddly she had little to do with them during that period.

Agree - I am trying to get through to him that $20 a tape might work for a few tapes, but you aren't going to sell 200+ tapes for that much.

Yeah I was hoping for that period too. I will keep in contact with him. Hopefully we can swing something. I told him I want those episodes, haha.

Update - I talked to the guy. He's holding on to them for now. Apparently other people also talked to him and he seems to know now how valuable they might be. He told me he has at least 200 tapes and looking at the picture they were 120min - though LP or EP mode could have been used. He felt it was mid to late 80's through to mid 90's. He seem to suggest the last tape had eps from 1994 on it. He doesn't know how many episodes per tape yet. There could be 400 eps or 1000+. Depends how many on a tape. My guess would be 88 - 94 in EP mode. Just a hunch based on what he has told me. I told him about the One Drive and said I would be happy to help pitch in money if he wanted to digitise them and upload them. He was open to that idea. He was also looking at ebay and some exhorbitant pricing like $20 a tape. I asked him to keep in touch. Hopefully we can get our hands on these.

He's on a VHS Resource FB Page. He collects VHS but I'm not sure he has any interest in soaps. It was just part of the collection. I messaged him, so hopefully we can find out what he plans to do with the tapes and if he isn't going to upload the eps, I might see who wants to pool some money and buy them off him if possible. I can't tell if he has 200 tapes with Y&R eps on them or 200 Eps. Not sure what period but definitely 80's and possibly mid to late 1980 or he might have meant mid to late 1980's. Have to clarify.

This was just posted on the Y&R FB page. Maybe we can ask him if he is willing to upload or sell them and we can pool some money together

Julia Duffy did appear and I think she may have appeared in an episode with Fred Dryer. Maybe not, but I'm pretty sure she did.

Have you visited the One Drive Vault? All the episodes and more are there. Feb 19, 1986 is there https://bit.ly/3kMIjRN

Thanks for the tag @victoria foxton I am a bit behind The Aug 4th ep What an odd opener - Did Donald Briscoe hurt himself or was it Tony? Laura makes no reference to it and even tells Tony he is the picture of health as he holds onto his foot in pain, and it didn't sound ironic to me. Once he has his shoe on he is fine or acting that way. I got so lost in thinking about Donald's foot and missed the scene entirely. I wonder how many scenes Susan Flannery's Laura had with Tony. From synopsis it doesn't seem like much. Laura was brought into the Mickey/Bill feud pretty quickly. I like Floy Dean but even without having seen more than a few short clips of Susan, I feel like Susan's grounded and thoughtful approach would always win me over. Days had some amazing actresses, in fact the more I get to see from all the shows back in the 60's and 70's they all had amazing performers. The scene between Alice and Marie is so beautifully acted. No shouting and histrionics, just two women talking about love and relationships. Alice can guide her daughter without seeming like a busy body and can be pretty blunt without seeming like a jerk. Bell allows Marie to need her mother in that moment. Dysfunction works well on soaps, but I miss this sort of thing. Two characters relating and talking and sharing a moment together without all the drama. Soaps did this well back in the day.

I love this stuff @allmc2008 Thank you so much for sharing. I am surprised she loved working with Jack Smith. I still blame him for ruining the show (for me anyway) Some things I would love to know Has she ever talked about what happened with Brenda D? Did Bill Bell consider her a co-HW as far back as the 70's or was that just what she was unofficially? Did they even have official titles for the writers in-house? Was Terry Lester right in saying Sally Sussman was largely responsible for the Abbott storyline push in the 80's?

Thank you @victoria foxton Another solid episode Interesting choice Bell made to have David and Susan loathe one another. It seems Susan simply hated David for getting her pregnant. I wonder if there was a moment when things turned between them, or if it was simply the situation that made Susan hostile towards David from the beginning. She can't seem to help herself but to always respond to him with vitriole. What I find so interesting about older soaps is that you didn't need over the top stories to grab people's attention. You needed solid characters with depth to make whatever story you were telling fascinating. Ultimately we talk about Susan/David/Julie and not just the story, because they are why the story works. I do think this was a large part of why Bill Bell was such a good writer, he invested in his characters and cared about them.

I thought he had a falling out with the WGA or whichever union he was part of and left, so the strike didn't affect him. Much like Irna in 1973 he was the only HW still writing his show in 88. Maybe I totally got that wrong though. At any rate, even if he was on strike as a writer, he was still the Senior Exec Producer. So it would have been like he was still writing the show in many ways

Was Bill Bell out during that strike? I thought he was still writing during the 88 strike. Either way I loved 85% of it. Jill and Marc was only okay not great, Marc just didn't fit the show anymore. I didn't realise David and Marc had any real interaction, but seems they did.

@BoldRestless and @YRfan23 Thank you so much for that episode What a banger - Steven finally shows his true feelings about Victor. I don't agree with him, but he has a point. Victor wants Ashley in his life, he turns to her, and insinuates himself, only I don't think he does this on purpose or with malice or intent. That's why the scene with Leanna is so telling. She sees him a certain way and he sees himself quite another, she all but rolled her eyes at him. Steven sees behaviours in Victor that Victor doesn't comprehend but Steven held his feelings about Victor down and he lost the ability to convey his concerns to Ashley in a way she might understand. Ashley can't see what Steven sees, she has too much history with Victor and Steven is too jealous to communicate properly. Then we have Nikki once again planning to use her daughter to manipulate and try to hang on to Victor. All up this story is Brilliant writing. The kind of writing that takes years of story and character development to pull off well. Brad confronting Lisa - the end was awesome. Brad trying to reason with her, Lisa being sweet and innocent and Brad threatening her. I like that Bell has Lisa firmly in control at all times. Brad is flustered and threatened but Lisa is chill af. Everything he throws at her she hits right back. Her smile in the end was like her knowing she is getting to him, and in her delusional mind it means he still has passion for her and still loves her. That last scene was tense and filled with anticipation. I wasn't sure if we would get to see it, but it was perfection. Paul walking around the house and the camera following him only added to the tension. When would she appear? haha. They don't make them like this anymore. Special note to Marc Mergeron - he sticks out like a sore thumb, he simply didn't fit into the show anymore.

@Tonksadora Thank you. I am a big fan of Bill Bell. I love the psychology of his characters/shows. I really enjoy the community here. Everyone is always full of information and opinions I hadn't considered before or things I hadn't known about.

I'm not sure why Julie initially kept her romance with David a secret from Susan, but I am pretty sure Julie didn't tell her later, after David and Susan had been together, because she didn't want her friend to feel worse than she did, by telling her she was dating David and was in love with him. Julie assumed the whole thing would be over in 9 months and everyone could be discreet and she and David would reconcile. She also blamed herself for what happened between David and Susan because it happened just after Julie and David were to elope. Julie changed her mind, David was heart broken and found Susan, who was equally miserable. They consoled each other in the back seat of his car (I think) it was impulsive and driven by heart ache and lack of self worth. I think Julie didn't blame Susan for what happened, and just wanted to help her deal with the mess they had gotten into.

@victoria foxton Thanks for tagging me I always loved Denise in both Days and GH. She has such a natural acting style. The scene with Susan and her mother Diane is well done. Introducing her to David for the first time.....as her husband, haha. Susan being mean to David, calling him lover - the way DA says it too is great. Julie still blaming herself for everything and David just wanting it all over with. Bill Bell really knew how to build a character, so that episodes like this worked. The reason they can't do this sort of episode anymore is because there is barely any character building/development anymore. It is more story based, with characters servicing the plot. That isn't how a soap works best.

Oh yeah I meant more that I doubt much of Lesley's back story was brought out during those months. Could have been, but possibly not. Not sure with the Hursley's and if they were in the union and went on strike. I was always under the impression Irna was the only prominent HW at the time who was still writing during the strike. I remember Bridget saying her mother got cancer around the time Bridget had first planned to leave GH (I think for GL) and Doris' health was the reason she stayed and possibly why she took over as HW. I am pretty sure it happened around this time, maybe the strike delayed Bridget from moving over and then Doris got diagnosed shortly after. I have never been able to find a firm end date for the Hursley's and start for the Dobson's. Post strike of 1973 had a fair few writer shuffles happening though. I really want to see everything from any show from 1968 - 1983. Such a great period for soaps as a whole.

Sweet. Happy when gaps are filled for people. May - Aug 1973 is still missing, though the writers strike was on during most of that period so possibly nothing of note happened anyway.

No worries. We are just missing May - Aug 1973 Hopefully I will get some more months from 1974 as well soon.

Sorry this is late - April 1973 (NOTE: The words cut off on some of the scans are like that on the copy I have)

I feel like Denise is a fairly straight shooter and I am pretty sure at the time her explanation was always that she wanted a better deal and GH offered it to her. I do feel she would have been more vocal if she had had a real issue with the story. If you look at the lead up to the events in the park, Susan was actually having a few flashbacks of David (one was actually newly created and not just a past episode), which adds weight to the way the story played out. However it reads in synopsis as if Susan was remembering things right and Eric was a rapist. Up until the end with the hypnosis. Susan's memory was that she consensually slept with Eric, saw David's face and was traumatised and ran off, now believing she had been attacked. As I said above, this makes the flashbacks seem like forshadowing and they happened about a week or so before the events in the park.

Hey everyone I got access to March and April 1973. Here is March, I will put up April later today

I am fairly certain he passed from Alzheimers. From what I have read, symptoms most likely began around 94/95. Maybe he had minor things happen prior, but generally I think 85% of people pass within ten years of symptoms beginning.