will81

WHAT?????? He said F*ck or the other one? Are you sure you didn't mishear or something. I can't believe he swore. I mean the characters wouldn't even say Hell, they'd say Devil instead.

Ah thanks for that, past the 90's my memory gets very fuzzy about details.

So was Murphy a character and was he believed to be Jill's father? I have this vague memory from about 2003ish of Kay, Jill and Murphy (I think) in the court yard of the Chancellor home and Jill is being such a grumpus and Kay and Murphy are like characters from Touched by an Angel lol, telling her she needs to cheer up and let's be a family and just accept it and let's all be happy and I seriously wanted to throw my tv in the bin, haha.

To sidetrack slightly on this. I read that after PFS left GH that Gloria Monty simply hired a bunch of new writers but there was no official HW for that show until Ann Howard Bailey in summer 1982. I get the feeling after Gloria took over during the 1981 strike and when PFS left pretty much a month after the strike was over, Gloria decided the show didn't need a HW and she could basically do it with the assistance of a writing staff. Which ultimately led to a massive drop in ratings. In terms of Days you also had an overlap of writers throughout the 80's. Maggie DePriest and Sheri Anderson and then pretty much Sheri with Leah Laiman and Thom Racina then the two of them then Leah solo. Pretty sure they all worked on GH during the PFS era at some point or possibly together. There was no totally new regime between 81 - 89, they all kinda overlapped. Pretty sure I read PFS brought most of her GH writers with her to Days. I do think if PFS had stayed the show would have been less fantastical, but they certainly got the GH formula down.

I feel they went from mortal enemies to frenemies over time.

Same. She would even dismiss her own son when he would tell her that her vandetta was self destructive. She was so full of bitterness and contempt. She was utlimately willing to destroy herself just to bring Jill down with her. This is why when Jill raged at her in 1998 over Phillip and everyone in town was like "Leave poor Katherine alone" I was like fuming, steam was coming out of my ears, haha. Of all people Jack at least had her back for a little bit.

Always loved this. I know Bond, Deb and Jess were stronger actors, but no one played Jill like Brenda.

Yeah agree, he was definitely much more hands on. You can tell during the Bell era that others may have suggested stories and stuff, but no one made a move without his okay and no one made decisions about characters in any way. I like Alden's era, but it is obvious Bell was very much in charge during his tenure and not just a figure head.

I think we also have to take into account that Bell was sufferring from a horrendous disease that probably started affecting him by around 1995, and he probably wasn't even aware of it initially. I do think that had a large impact on him and the show and ultimately led to him stepping down as HW. So we won't ever know what the show might have been between 94 - 98 had he not been ill. With Agnes, it is confusing as to how much Wisner Washam was doing on AMC. I know she was there up until Loving or even a little bit after that show started, and she came back and forth to AMC over the years, but I have always wondered if she was really just looking in on Wisner and co but not doing the daily grind so much and if that's the case, when did that start. I get the feeling she somewhat abandoned OLTL once AMC started, though I could be wrong there too. I always got the feeling OLTL was second best to her true love AMC. Yes Alden did reinvigorate the show. You can see the marked difference in 1998, which is pretty much a return to form. However I am convinced her run was marred by Sony and or CBS interferrence. The kind JFP talked about recently. Ratings for soaps were tanking across the board around the time Alden took over and I bet she was under a ton of pressure to deliver. I am also convinced that is how Jack Smith was eventually able to take over.

Oh awesome, thanks, was always wondering : )

I'll add Brenda Dickson from Y&R. She had chemistry with just about everyone she was in a scene with, even in a non romantic way. Such as with Jeanne Cooper, Eileen Davidson etc... They were setting something up with Skip before Brenda was fired and you could see it happening with the way she flirted with him. I also think Terry Lester had chem with everyone. I would have totally believed Jack and Eric were getting it on behind Ashley's back, lol.

This is a question maybe no one really knows but I will ask anyway. When Mark Brooks was revealed to be Tommy Horton, did he continue to go by Mark? Or did he switch to Tommy immediately or was it a gradual thing?

Agreed. John was such a moral centre. I just recently watched Eileen's first year back on Y&R in 99 and when John comes back she is so happy, you can tell they had such a respect and love for each other. It was such a sweet reunion. Jerry really made John more than just a patriarchal figure. I liked that he loved his kids, but also knew when to give them a metaphorical back hand. Loved when John would stick to Jack (more so Terry Lester's Jack). When he tells Jack he's going to get Brad to move back into the house, lol. "Oh you're going to get Brad back" and Terry "WHHAAAATTT!!!" haha Even Jerry and Terry's first scene together, it just worked immediately. How comfortable he and Eileen really were and seemed like a real father/daughter. Actually the whole of the original Abbott's (well technically Jerry was a replacement) just worked beautifully. They seemed like a real family. I also remember hearing that Jerry credited playing John with making him a better father in life, which I think is very sweet.

Yeah I think Luan worked better with John. I agree, she needed to have more spark as a character too. Luan was too impossibly perfect, where else could the show take her but six feet under. Much like Jessica, those impossibly sweet characters rarely last (well except Cricket) Honestly I would have given up Phyllis for Patty returning in 94. It is clear in 96 or so when Bell toyed with her return that they were setting her up to be a bit unstable, at least it seemed that way to me. Too bad they didn't decide to bring her back earlier and have her take Phyllis' place. Otherwise bring her back in 96 and yeah having Jack and Patty reunite with her wanting revenge and having Ashley with Steve Williams would have also been great. This could have resulted in a return to the Diane/Jack/Patty situation. Otherwise yes I agree, Ashley should have been left in Paris. What did they really do with her between 96 - 99? Not much. Maybe Matt and Nikki, instead of Brad and Nikki? Possibly Veronica was an ex of Matt's and Matt and Nikki play out the Josh Landers story. Maybe Matt struck it rich while he was away. Also Veronica could have easily left Nikki for dead and taken Matt and we never see him again, but it keeps the door open for a possible return.

That is interesting and I never thought about it like that. I do believe you are right that Bell never spent 10+ years with a show before Y&R and I guess the Brooks/Fosters were gone just as Y&R turned 10. In saying that, I would also say he made some odd moves. Ignoring Ashey/Brad and going for Blade/Ashley was a mistake. Bell seemed to be more interested in keeping Michael Tylo around rather than either recasting or ditching the character. Blade never worked, in large part because Bell never seemed to know what to do with him and Michael kinda of floundered. His chem with Brenda was okay, but not as scorching as Brenda and Don Diamont. I would have even been more than okay with another Nikki/Ashley rivalry, this time over Brad. I did a post previously on my story ideas for Luan and her family. Make Luan a Dominique Devereaux (Dynasty) type against Jill's Alexis and let the fur fly in their quest for John. Make Mai slightly older and replace Amy with Mai, thus connecting the Abbotts (assuming Luan and John marry) to the Newman's story when Matt was shot and pit Jack and Keemo against each other for Mari-Jo. Let Jill loose and give her a red hot romance. I think Jill and Silva worked well, but it was so sporadic and unsatisfying. They should have gone with that romance full time. In saying that The Abbotts were not the only issue back then. I can't say I cared much for the Vikki/Ryan/Nina/Cole snooze fest and recasting Nathan with an actor ten years younger, giving him the Maxwell Sheffield special and placing him in a mid life crises affair was silly. As a side note: None of Jill's pairings were great after John except Sean, and that ended before it began. Alden and or Smith then paired her with Larry Warton for some strange reason and her two big stories when she was with him were "Who stole my lighter" and "Let's train for a marathon" Her character was dead by that point. I know that was post Bell but I really hate what they did to her. I think there were options, but different choices were made. I think Phyllis and her story worked and I think outside of Adam Lazzare-White, the Winters/Hastings were still great to watch. The Newmans were doing well too, but I remember 1996 feeling such a chore to get through and I recently tried re-watching eps from that year and it is still a chore.

I don't know that he lost interest, but I do think things went off track. Looking back over Brenda Epperson's early run, Bell kept her on the back burner for well over a year before she got any substantial story. I think he was finally getting into a groove with her around 1990 and her stories were great until Blade. Blade was a bad move. I firmly believe Bell was interested in having Tylo on the show but had no idea how to write for him. The character just never worked and pairing him with Ashley only brought her down. Brenda worked it as best as she could, but the whole thing just fell flat to me. The lack of real chemistry and a lousy story just didn't help. Then Brenda left and Bell was left to deal with a miscast Shari. Maybe he did lose interest in her at that point, it really didn't matter much to me, as I never recognised her as Ashley. She might as well have been an Abbott cousin who came to stay. As for Jack, well I agree with the idea that Bell was trying to make Jack into Cliff Warner, with Peter fighting against it (sorry not sure who mentioned this previously) this can't have helped things. Also I have talked about my issues with Jack/Luan, that story fell flat too and Jack felt like a different character. Jack needs trouble in his life and a woman who will bring that or needs to be causing trouble for the woman in his life. He doesn't work as a full on romantic lead without at least some drama, even with Peter in the role. Plus Luan should have been paired with John and Jack and Keemo should have been left to fight over Mari-Jo but I have gone through that many times in this thread. Meanwhile John and Jill spent most of the 94-97 period bickering over their divorce and custody issues which really drained both characters of any life. John being bitter all the time didn't work, and Jill without passion in her life and being grumpy all the time was a real downer. In summary, I think Bell had interest in the Abbotts, but all the moves he made during that time basically drained the life out that family and honestly for the first time I felt like Bell had lost sight of who this family was. All of them felt off in terms of characterisation during this period of time. Maybe Bell was beginning to struggle health wise, I'm sure it didn't help things.

I just heard about Jerry Douglas passing away. Truly sad and very sorry to hear. I hope he led a very rich and full life and much love to his family.

Oh that's right, that is when she got abducted and we saw her very pregnant belly when she was being 'probed' and they made it look like 'they' (the government/aliens???) were inflating her stomach with something.

Thanks for all the answers. I often wonder what Eileen really thinks about her post Bell time at Y&R. With Tylo I was very confused as I have such a fuzzy memory of 95 - 97 B&B even though I watched daily back then. It all melds together for some reason.

I mentioned this in the other thread, Melody Thomas Scott from Y&R had both her real life pregnancies written into the shows storyline. I think in both cases Bill Bell hadn't intended for Nikki to have a child. Jaime Lynn Bauer (Y&R) was replaced by Wesley Ann Pfenning in 1980 during her maternity leave. Her real life pregnancy was not written in and the show had to work around her, unfortunately her pregnancy was rough on her and she had to go on maternity leave early. Wesley Ann Pfenning was only there briefly before Lorie was sent to New York on a book tour Katherine Kelly Lang was replaced by Sandra Ferguson during her maternity leave around 1996, her pregnancy was not incorporated into the show on B&B and as the story goes almost didn't return and Sandra almost replaced her full time. I believe Sandra said it was down to the wire and KKL signed a new deal at the last minute. Lynn Topping (Y&R, Chris Foster) had her pregnancy written in in 1980, though it was undecided initially whether the show would give her twins just like she was carrying in real life. Lynn was not replaced during her maternity leave and when she returned David Hasselhoff who played her onscreen husband Snapper had struck a deal with the show to basically be a guest star while he worked on the sitcom Semi-Tough. They wanted Lynn to take the same deal, she refused and quit. She was originally going to be replaced but returned with David in early 1981. Krista Allen (Billie #2 Days) was pregnant while filming scenes where she was forced to be hooked on drugs again, around 1997. They covered up her pregnancy by having her tied to a bed and hollowed out part of the bed so her mid section would sink slightly in and reduce her stomach. I am sure this was covered in Soap Digest back in the day. Wasn't Alison Sweeney replaced by a guy playing Sami in drag or something while she was on maternity leave? Or was that some sort of fever dream I had, haha. Hunter Tylo famously was fired from MP when she became pregnant and replaced with Lisa Rinna. She returned to B&B and I think her pregnancy was written in or am I confusing the timeline with when Taylor was pregnant with Thomas? I guess this leads to Heather Locklear (MP), who was pregnant during Hunter Tylo's trial and had to testify that the show had shot around her pregnancy and covered it up to keep her on the show. I think this may have helped Hunter win her case. Susan Lucci (AMC) was pregnant during a storyline where ironically Erica's husband Tom wanted children and found out she was on birth control. I can't remember how she was written out but I am sure she wasn't replaced. I might be confused but I think she ended up in a mental health hospital or something. Was Ashley pregnant on Y&R when Eileen was in real life? Around 2003? Ashley had a miscarriage though. Can someone confirm. So they wrote in the pregnancy but had her lose the baby, I assume after Eileen had given birth. I think this lead to another break down for Ashley.

On Y&R Nikki and Victor's story was altered when Melody became pregnant. There were no plans for Nikki to have a baby at that point, but Bill Bell simply rolled with it and incorporated her real life pregnancy into the story. It would be interesting to know what Bell had planned originally and whether the Bancrofts were added only after Melody became pregnant, or if they were added because of her pregnancy.

The bomb story was 1995 and it did get affected by the bombing that happened. From April 27, 1995

I put the dates up on the previous page (855) Jul 30 & 31 1980. ETA: Oh @Franko has also put them, haha. I guess my post got lost in the mix of things

No worries, I do it all the time

Oh right, are you referring to Natalie Wood? I was referring to Jean Spangler, she was an aspiring actress who vanished in 1949 and has never been found, she worked on a film with Kirk Douglas and when she disappeared he called the police and told them he knew of her from the movie but they were not involved. Though she was apparently 3 months pregnant when she vanished and may have been seeing someone who was married and or famous (an actor maybe??) My theory, she was seeing a married man, when she found out she was pregnant she may have organised an abortion, in 1949 this was very dangerous and she probably died during the proceedure. Whoever was responsible probably buried her in the desert.