soapfave06

I found Carlo and the entire Hesser family rather boring, especially coming off the 80s with some of the most menacing villains in the history of Llanview. I think it may have been a more fun twist to have Carlo almost Stefano-lite (not in the vein of brain chips and mad scientists) concerning Viki but ultimately I’m not sure he added anything to the show. As for Todd, that would never fly today but I think he served a great purpose in his time but the show made a grave mistake focusing probably 90% of the show on him and the 90s and for what became of VicTodd the less said the better, he was unbearable by the time he was yelling and beating Cole for what felt like an endless time. I do feel the Tale of Two Todd’s was a fantastic story despite the rewrites that was unfortunately halted by Victor’s murder and the cancellation though.

I am officially hooked on 1986, this show moves insanely fast and every scene is well-written and produced and the background music is insanely good. The action scenes, and there are a ton of them, are very much above the daytime norm and very well choreographed. In three months Mitch developed a cult, the leading ladies infiltrated the cult, the cult members went nuts and staged a protest at Llanview Hospital, tried to burn Cassie and Rob alive then went after Tina and Cord on their honeymoon with a machete, Rafe went undercover to expose corruption within the LPD, Dorian stood trial, went to prison and before Llanview could breathe they are now facing an ever going crack production ring which was shot to the frontburner with half the cast robbed at the Pony’s Ball, not to mention the side plot with the Barons and Brad with Llanview having their own horse racing gambling issue. However this all moves naturally, Llanview feels like a true community, the family scenes are top notch and feel so real, they rarely miss a beat in making you care about all the characters. With that said, they continue introducing characters at rapid pace but do well to keep the Sanders tied to Herb and Dorian and the Dennisons tied to Viki and Clint. The use of Tom’s introduction continues to use history well as Wanda recollects to Clint how she once deeply loved Joe before he ended up with Viki. They have set up the quadrangle with Tom, Viki, Clint and Maira fantastically well and used to propel the Tina and Maria feud and the secret of Cord’s paternity. A birthday party for Kevin coinciding with a welcome home party for Viki built to the big moments of Viki seeing Tom for the first time and (fainting rather dramatically) Tina and Maria taking the claws off fully for the first time so, so well. Dorian in Statesville uncovering the connection of the warden to the crack ring is also fantastic and the action scenes of Dorian and Susan beating the crap out of each other are phenomenal camp. Also, to update, they randomly brought Lisa and Josh back after over a month offscreen for the Pony’s Ball and to cause tension for Connie and Brad. Lisa sees her father off before he heads to Statesville and gives Brad her father’s thoroughbreds at the local stables; Brad is shot playing hero in the robbery and Josh treats him, but Lisa and Josh share no scenes and again haven’t been seen in weeks. The only minor complaints are the lack of story for Wanda and Larry; the slow erasure of any diversity and Pamela and Asa, which feels like such missed potential, and I’m not too familiar with Delila but I wish she were doing more than complaining about how much Rafe works since we know it doesn’t go anywhere. July seemed to be the end for Mike Rivers; September seems to be the true end of Josh and Lisa, and for sure Richard Abbott, Cassie Callison and Joy O’Neill have left town while former cult member Susan Bates has been murdered rather brutally by Vince and Jamie. From my memory of watching the classic episodes, I believe it was around March or April 1988. I would have loved to have seen Ed back to take part in an investigation to the Faux Bo plot, maybe working on a higher level. It would have been great timing with the 20th Anniversary that summer. Of course Ellen would never have been asked back nor probably agreed to return, but it would have been a good chance to close that chapter.

I’m glad someone else noticed it, I watched just a bit from February 1986 and they were actually very frontburner, in almost every episode and the chemistry was off the charts. I’m not sure when Blair Underwood left but I think Erika Slezak mentioned in an interview he left for prime time, so it was his choice. From the episodes or maybe edits on YouTube, Lisa had a small scene with Cassie where she was preparing to go undercover in the cult and investigating a drug to counteract Mitch’s drugged iced tea, in the same episode, she and Mike make plans for a date, and Josh had been pursuing her before she was kidnapped, but then all three have vanished suddenly. I know Laura Carrington was on GH within the next year so I’m not sure if she chose to go to LA or if the show dropped her, but it was quite a loss. I’m hoping Ed appears one more time, but he took part in a drug raid at the Waterside Inn for Mitch’s cult, it was cool to see Mitch and Ed square off, I think that was his last scene and in the early August ‘86 edits is the offscreen phone call Rafe has with Ed where Sadie and Carla are mentioned directly. I remember Ed appearing in 1988 at one point in my watching, but I’m not sure if they just pretended he was in Llanview all along or he was visiting. Ed doesn’t even appear at Rafe and Delila’s wedding, a shame they didn’t get Lillian back for that as Sadie. I think that Josh Hall in ‘77 was Guy Davis, who played Bryan on GH I believe, and I was shocked they tested him with Samantha. They were more daring in the ‘70s than today, but oddly that went nowhere and they dropped Josh, though I am not sure Guy was well received or given the chance. It should have been so easy to honor Ed and Carla and that lane attempt with Jared Hall just didn’t work. I wish the Gannons would have been Josh and a brother (since he was adopted) or they introduced Jared or Josh later on with actual care and integrity. I did save some March 2000 episodes at one point, and he did cheat on the Bar, it’s a shame a pairing with Ellen Bethea did not pan out as I LOVED her Rachel, and a shame that her return itself did not work out. Daniel Wolek and Josh Hall were two characters that should have been on the show IMO to honor the Wolek and Hall families.

It’s hard to tell with Guy Davis as he is given little to do, so he just seems “there” but there was a great, extended scene of Ed and Josh confiding their issues in each other and I did enjoy it, but Josh was played very straight laced and based on his history I think he should have had a bit more attitude and savy. Speaking of Josh, I believe he was at Rafe’s bachelor party and now with Mike, Lisa, Bart and Ed gone, he isn’t even shown directly on camera, is kept completely off to the side. I’m not sure what happened in August 1986 that led to this mass exodus. Mike Rivers had great potential, he and Cord come off as genuine friends and it works well since they both work at The Banner. Another actor played him before Eric and I quite liked both. I think Bobby Blue has left town at this point, I’ve seen episodes with him and I must say I think Lisa/Bobby could have been something MAJOR and Bobby and Viki/Niki are fantastic. There was also a little schemer named Stella, who clashed with Lisa and tried to bring Bobby back into trouble.

Continuing my random era rewatches: Summer 1986: -The show phases characters in and out at warp speed, this really sets the standard for what’s to come as they struggled to build outside of the Buchanans and Max/Gabrielle, which hurt the show by 1990 greatly. -I’m really surprised how deep they went with Asa’s prejudice, Cord feeling he is not good enough for Tina due to being working class and half-Mexican, Maria even slapping Cord when he allows himself to feel shame for his heritage, so on. -This is the beginning of Rauch disposing of all black characters as Lisa Baron has been kidnapped due to father Bart’s dirty dealings, such a waste as Laura Carrington is a breathe of fresh air. Lisa seems torn between Josh Hall and Cord’s sports reporter friend, Mike Rivers, but now Ed, Bart, Lisa, Josh and Mike have vanished almost overnight. We always hear of Ellen Holly and Lillian Hayman being dumped but this was very blatantly done. There is also a black Lt. at the LPD named Bill Monroe and very diverse casting for the extras compared to what I’ve seen in 1987-90. -The show moves FAST: Mitch has been released, started a cult and been killed with Dorian on trial for his murder in barely three months time, and it’s super fun to see Cassie as a strong woman on a crusade to save friend Joy; Viki and Tina putting aside differences and placing themselves in jeopardy to bring Mitch down; Dorian fighting to rescue Cassie, etc. -It’s a shame a show set in the publishing industry didn’t maintain a standard of strong women, dangerous undercover assignments, etc instead of focusing on…rape. -It is almost effortlessly good as it builds a Tom/Viki/Clint/Maria quadrangle and Dorian is torn between her past with Herb and affair with Jon as she stands trial. Tom and Maria fit right in and the chemistry is there, compared to the horrid Roger/Viki/Clint. -The O’Neill’s are being phased out and almost seem out of place outside of their ties to Mitch from Harry’s death a year earlier…Cassie and Rob are about headed out…The Sanders family is slowly being introduced alongside Daniel Wolek with an almost gay toned friendship with Jamie Sanders. -Mari-Lynn, who plays as a Barbie in Peril, is slowly introduced with Tom revealed as her father. -Perhaps an unpopular opinion but I’m bored by Asa and Pamela- Pamela almost has no purpose. I wish she would have been power hungry and eyeing a role at BE keeping her at odds with Asa or something. -The best is the great use of history: Rafe is on the phone with Ed, whose helping Carla care for Sadie (I’m surprised they mentioned Carla and Sadie since they were dumped a year earlier); Viki recalls the car accident that killed baby Megan after she crashes her car while pregnant with Jessica; Tom’s return brings memories for Clint, Viki and Larry. -Missed Opportunities from this era are definitely losing Cassie and Lisa, Ava Haddad is perfection as Cassie and her friendship with Lisa is enjoyable; the miscasting of Daniel Wolek and Josh Hall is unfortunate; Allison is quite interesting as she tries to move past the cult, I wish they could have kept her after the Jessica kidnapping arc as a consistent sociopath. Viki/Clint/Tina/Cord/ Max/Gabrielle could have used a group to offset them and Lisa/Cassie/Josh/Daniel/ Allison would have been great, as fun as Mari-Lynn had she and Wade weren’t exactly anything to write home about. Fall-Christmas 1996: -Not much to say as literally the entire show revolves around Todd, Todd, Todd. Viki’s entire purpose is Todd and killing Kevin in these episodes. Wtf. -I did enjoy the original Todd and Blair angst as I haven’t seen much and the toxicity that revolves around them. I hear nothing good of it, but interesting to see Blair/Marty/ Patrick/Todd quad. -It’s nice to see Hank, RJ and Carlotta so involved in Llanview going-ons. -I wanted to try to like Antonio-Andi but I guess since he is undercover it’s not a good time for this. -Patrick and Marty bring down the Men of 21, not sure this is the climax but it was very..boring and low stakes with a basement blown up and an arrest at an airport with equally boring Max and Maggie. -The show feels aimless as Joey, Kelly, Drew, Rachel, Jessie, Christian are just…there. This wouldn’t be so mad if Viki and Dorian had something, anything to do of note. I did enjoy the Kevin/Cassie/Andrew triangle though. -Did the show do anything with Jessica and OG Christian? They have great chemistry, had broken up at some point and discussed trying to get back together-compared to what GH (coming off Robin/Stone) and AMC (the Kevin Sheffield story) was doing with their younger set at this time, seems like a lost opportunity to not better utilize Jess/Chris.

This! Exactly this should have happened, with Doug and Julie clashing with Susan. Although DAYS did well for sidelining the vets and focusing on the supercouple craze, but this always hurts the shows long-term when cast upheavals occur.

They really lost out letting DA leave as Lesley, this was over money, right? But wasn’t Lesley kind of on the sidelines for almost three years at this point? DAYS has totally rebounded, but I think they had opportunity still in keeping Doug and Julie, and imagine if they could have got DA back as Susan fresh off her GH gig. OLTL completely dipped, I think Paul Rauch starts as EP in June. I’m not sure anything was even happening story wise outside of who Bo or Asa was sleeping with at this time. AMC still holding in but the rest of ABC just losing it, insane to see after following the rise. It’s a shame AW wasted Jackie Courtney’s return, she could have done for that show was DA had the potential to do for DAYS, at least if it was written well.

Andrea Evans returning as Tina Clayton on OLTL in 1985 completely reset and revitalized the canvas, ratings and and the trajectory of the show for years. I agree Debbi and Darnell back as Angie and Jesse on AMC was fantastic, the build up to their reunion at the train was insanely good, it’s a shame there wasn’t a long-term story planned for them as the actual Hubbard unit was complete, the casting on Frankie was phenomenal. I don’t know if they should have rushed them back together as they did and into a wedding with 4.5 months.

OLTL is one of my faves too and I did notice they didn’t seem to get any direct rating jumps for several big events, unles so missed it, like the Karen Wolek on the stand confession, Marco/Mario exposure at the wedding and the baby switch climax. By 1983 they lost their young ingenue in Tina/AE, Karen/JL gone and the show was kind of stagnant story wise until they launched the Viki/Niki story in 1985 with Tina back. I really wish they had some sort of shot in the arm between 1983-1985, as even by 1985 I think it took a while to build them back up. The only thing going for them in ‘83 was Viki/Clint and the ongoing Asa vs Bo with women in between.

Thank you both for always sharing such treasures of information and yes, please continue sharing if you’re willing.

Did the show have more plans for Grace when she returned in 2006? It seems she just randomly came back with a big secret, then killed off before making it to Harmony.

@FrenchFan thank you for all that you do to share your findings and keep the memories of these shows alive. These episodes sound great, would love to see them. Did Claire stabbing Michael happen before or after these episodes? How did she get out of that situation? Didn’t Michael end up dead and Tom accused?

Oh, wow. This is devastating, one my all time favorites. I was watching a ton of clips of her over the weekend with my friend who’s never seen soaps and even he was enjoying. Sad sad.. this has been a tough year for losses. I wish her family well.

I’ll keep searching for more 2003, that’s a shame they squandered their story potential as most of what I’ve seen of the early-2000s isn’t exactly driven by chemistry oriented couples. I did catch their wedding episode and it was quite nice and I must say David and Kamar still looked quite good in 2003. So BMH Joey was similar to TD Joey, where they did well in family scenes but were just kind of…there? I hope to see more of him. It’s interesting how quickly they disposed of what wasn’t working (Flash, Joey) in correlation to the core families, yet there’s a laundry list of performers consuming screen time for years outside of core families (Jessica Rappaport among them)

August 1989: Issues: -It’s a shame what they did with Daniel and Larry Wolek, and they truly never did the casting justice on Daniel. Brenda’s involvement in the baby switch story works, but Larry comes off like an ass and Daniel just moved his hair supporting Brenda. -They really hyper-focused on Viki/Clint/Tina/Cord/Max/Gabrielle that other characters struggled to take off but there is also a lack of romantic chemistry with Mari-Lynn and this fellow actor (forgot his name), ditto with Brenda and the Woleks, there is a beautiful and talented actress playing Kelly who runs Max’s Place but they don’t do much with her either. Blade, an escaped convict who I think once beat Audrey, actually shows some potential with some edge. -There is a major lacking of long-term story direction: the Crown Jewels plot, the baby switch plot, Ruby Bright is all temporary, though most of it builds from one fun story beat into another. THE BEST: -The Statesville Prison Break, complete with wonderful stock footage is absolute end of summer fun: Llanview’s reactions, luring Tina to Seaside Arena, Ursula debuting as AMAZONIA to win Jamie back, Cord flying on a rope to Tina’s rescue then facing a trident-yielding Titan threatening Cord, before Cord is forced to wrestle Titan for their freedom, complete with Tina coming to Cord’s aid and putting Ursula in a headlock with Cord’s “I’m going to Disneyland!” NOTE: I know most would see the wrestling arena arc as beyond stupid but I rather enjoy the quick flight of fancy and it doesn’t take up much screen time, I love this show for its varied social and diverse offerings, with a balance of flight of fancy on and off. -The unfolding of the baby switch is also fun to watch with Brenda turning to Max who then enacts a baby switch scene on Fraternity Row to taunt Gabrielle into the truth, Megan/Max/Gabrielle triangle, even though Gabrielle is with Michael, Megan facing Ruby Bright alter ego, etc October 1990: -I’m doubting he was popular at the time, so they didn’t learn their lesson, but Daniel is in almost every episode in a lackluster romance with Laura Jean…Brenda is on the back burner alongside Larry, but they aren’t together. -Viki and her stroke is the singular strong story, I love the family drama and ES is killing it, she really did her research here and I love the use of Niki Smith as Viki battles to regain her strength. -BEST POTENTIAL: VP as Sheila is a great infusion, she has such a warm presence in a plot driven mess of a show (compared to the fun of August 1989) I wish she had better chemistry with Troy. I’m seeing Rika Price for the first time and I almost wish they had Rika more of a schemer wanting to take advantage to Sheila’s ties to the Lords, maybe Sheila stays at Llanfair and Rika manipulates her way into becoming a houseguest. -Jake and Megan are actually rather boring, I’ll blame Charlotte. It’s a shame they lost JB as Sarah, they completely had no one to refocus the show with going into the 90s and it’s a long while before they reset. -I don’t think they have found their ground with KW story wise as Tina yet, and Johnny Dee triangle with Cord is blah. 2003: -I watched random playlists here and it seems they refocused the show to be more serious after 2003. -I’ve never seen Natalie and Christian together and WOW, the chemistry is amazing. -The family scenes between Jess/Viki/Nat are actually quite nice, it actually seems like a mother with her daughters, with natural conflict (granted, the conflict was Viki having to choose whose heart goes to Victor) it made me realize how it became so wooden in later years. -The Victor Lord alive reveal was wasted since he died so soon, never should have came back, but I enjoyed it for what it was and just pretend it didn’t happen. -I would say pairing Jess with Antonio and Nat with John aged both characters about 10 years. -Al/Marcie, the little I got to see, I love. I actually enjoy Antonio/Carlotta/Christian Vega family scenes. RJ has ties to multiple characters and serves. -I’m not mad at Keri being a little schemer but this triangle with Jess and going under the bus is a no. Sorry for the long post, just miss this show.

As a big AE fan, I’m rather glad they did not recast Tina. I really appreciated the little call Tina/Cord had with CJ/Sarah over the phone at the end and forever grateful they reunited, I think RC did them very well at the end. Did you think Joey worked as a minister? Where did they go wrong with he and Jenn or was it her as a character? I hope to find full 2003 episodes, I went through a Natalie/Christian playlist and caught some things, I really have to see all this manic story direction. Thank you, as always, for sharing your memories and thoughts!

They actually mentioned CJ by name several times and hinted on air at his being gay or it was just heavily implied? I would love to see more of this era (especially interested in Al/Marcie, I’ve always liked Marcie) and would have to watch seeing it as some sort of alternate reality (Victor Lord being alive? Something about diamonds in Llanfair I’ve read about through the thread) I just hate to see all the wasted potential. I guess a bit more care into some of this could have gone far and while I don’t think we would have necessarily seen more vets, not having CJ on and having a miscast Sarah (a year into her run, they could have course corrected the casting prior to AE return in 2008) really hurt some of that potential there to build into the next generation-Al, CJ and Sarah could easily have fit into Llanview in the mid-2000s.

Her look caught my attention the most, I liked the more darker hair, giving her similarities to JL and the facial features resembled AE. That’s a shame they gave up on the character, and SW seemed a bit older than needed for the part but it seemed a good fit when compared to JB. As a big fan of Tina/Max/Gabrielle/Cord, it’s a shame how they decimated the Al/Sarah/CJ group, particularly with how essential they were even as children from 87-96 or so, in a way it almost writes itself. I had no idea about the Nathan Purdee scandal, wow.

Can anyone give feedback on Shanelle Workman as Sarah/Flash? I am aware the story was a bit of a mess, but caught some quick scenes on Twitter that led me to YouTube and I find that she seemed to resemble Andrea Evans rather well and had some similar quirks as Tina. Did the actress leave on her own or was she written out? Was there wasted story potential or romantic potential? From what I have seen, I certainly would have taken SW back as Sarah over JB recast.

Did Belle fake this illness in her quest for revenge against Amy to break up her marriage? I would love to see this year of SS, going from Robin’s death to Belle coming after Amy, to assume faking this illness. Thank you for sharing this information!

One Life to Live: Tina, interrupting Cord’s wedding to Kate, baby Al in hand: ”Stop! Am I too late? Cord, I’ve come so far. This is your son!” *faints* Tina, at her wedding to Max: ”I Tina, take thee Cord…oh, what I meant was, look what I meant to say was I take thee Max!”

Wow, definitely wondering what happened on SEARCH and Y&R, had CBS not changed the time slot, they may have given ABC a better run for their money. Amazing to see SEARCH at #4 and Y&R at such a high #1

I look forward to seeing the ratings for the Marco/Mario story with Viki’s murder trial on OLTL, not sure it was a ratings winner and almost difficult to determine the OLTL ratings as it wedged between the leading of the pack AMC and GH

Wow-what a cliffhanger heading to May! Thanks for posting these!

100% agree, I would happily pay to see 1975-1983 and 1989-1991, I have some interest through 1993 but the more I read about how JFP stirred the pot, I just can’t. Between this thread and the ratings thread, it’s absolute insanity how they set the soaps to fail so very intentionally.