soapfave06

Andrea Evans returned to One Life to Live in January, I think Roscoe Born as Mitch Laurence arrived in May so now you have the Mitch/Tina/Clint/Viki fully going.

Thanks for the feedback everyone - this makes sense. Overall, it’s quite fascinating and one of the things I love about soaps, how their story progressed over years and years. Looking back, the only thing that I would deem silly would be the retcon that Stefano took Marlena from Orpheus. I can accept Queen of the Night and Lady in a Cage but that’s too far. I think the psychology of Marlena actually living on the island with the children of Orpheus would have more dramatic aftermath than Marlena in a coma. Stefano’s introduction seems all over the place, going from Doug and Julie, the Horton’s to primarily the Brady’s and seeking revenge on Roman for destroying his operation, this coupled with Megan’s death drives him to Marlena and for some reason wanting to raise the twins. I didn’t realize how well JER laid out the groundwork for Stefano/Marlena-from her seduction to the possession to his paralysis to Maison Blanche and Lady in a Cage. That’s an unrivaled era!

I love the early 2000s era of B&B and was checking the ratings wondering how they did after Brad did that overhaul in ‘03 and it does look like he ranked the show. I’m aware a lot of soaps had steep losses that year but the show was pulling consistently above a 3.5 in the ratings and by the end of the year and especially into 2004, barely a 3.0. I really wonder if something happened behind the scenes that led to this as it is absolutely bonkers, the show was on a such a high and then giving nothing but the most random casting and plots. Two big misses later on were Y&R botching Deacon’s return in concern to Amber and Daniel, they could have been great, but I loved Deacon and Nikki down the line and wasting Amber’s return in 2010. Amber/Rick/Maya should have been frontburner, especially once Maya was exposed as transgender. That could and should have been years of story.

I’ve watched DAYS for years, until a few years ago at least, and I’ve never really understood the origins and reasoning behind Stefano being obsessed with Marlena. I’ve watched YouTube edits with various Phoenix climaxes: the theater being set to explode, the plane crash and now the ice rink and it seems it stemmed from Roman’s death and Marlena standing up to him? Or is there more to it? I understand he wanted to essentially make Marlena his and raise her children in 1985 by kidnapping the twins or was the obsession more full force in the ‘90s since they retconned her death to being abducted by Stefano? (I never understood why they didn’t just leave Marlena with Orpheus raising his kids on the island instead of killing off Orpheus and Marlena in ‘87?)

Yikes, is it just me or did the ratings seem either stagnant and much lower than usual for Spring? OLTL went down four weeks in a row, hopefully they increase once Mitch arrives.

I haven’t seen the story myself but when I was looking into it several characters ended up in Miami searching for treasure and after Victor Kiriakis, I hope to see it one day!

I was just going through some big DAYS adventure stories and February was the Stefano DiMera ice skating climax where Marlena shoots him, they did really well for that!

That’s such a sweet video!!! I wish they would have brought Jamie back at least once before the end, he despised the Buchanans, Viki, Tina and Dorian. I found a little bit of gossip where Laura Carrington’s husband, a photographer named Anthony Barboza was remembering the past. He explains he and Laura met and married in 1985, then she got the part on OLTL, after which they hired his ex-wife Tery Ferman. I believe this actress played Stella, but couldn’t confirm from google. Tery and Laura did not get along well, so this may explain Stella not sticking around. Later, he said Laura went to GH but they kept their NY apartment and did long-distance, so I’ll assume that she didn’t exactly choose to leave OLTL and once she had a baby in real life, it seems she left GH to return to NY.

I was hoping to see more of Tiny but since October-December wasn’t available, I’m not sure where things stand, the scenes where she speaks for the first time were wonderful. Wade also hasn’t appeared since I picked back up over these three weeks beginning in ‘87. I like the idea of the Sanders family and the casting was phenomenal but outside of Jamie being a fantastic villain, they don’t add much and I didn’t see the worth in dumping other characters to put them at the forefront and they are certainly eating airtime. Louise Sorel is one of my favorite soap actresses but there isn’t anything truly meaty for her to showcase talent, at least not yet, and I’ve grown bored with them. I would disagree with Ava Haddad’s Cassie was a damsel in distress, from what I’ve seen she is a true heroine not afraid of anything and I like that the younger characters tend to make a mess of things-she happily put herself in jeopardy to aid David and Jenny in Vienna and to rescue Joy from Mitch and when she left in September 1986 she chose herself over Rob. I can’t explain why I don’t care for Holly’s Cassie, never have, but certainly the romance with Jon never helped. Longterm fans may disagree but I would have liked Brad Vernon to be a partner in crime to Tina from 1985-86, and maybe Tina engaged to Brad instead of Richard Abbott at the time she met Cord. Steve Fletcher is extremely attractive and I know Brad did mingle with Tina a bit in scheming but it never was sexual. I don’t mind he and Connie but not sure what was there to offer story wise for them. The show was very crime oriented in the mid to late-80s so Brad and Marco should have fit right in. So many things worked long-term and story-wise in 1986-1991 or so but so much of it just moves at an insane pace with a lot of characters coming and going outside of the core characters.

I believe Connor and Mark in one of the episodes released on SoapClassics DVDs, that was my first time seeing them and they were in a barn maybe “making love” as well as another episode and there was definitely something about them that turned me off and brought the whole episode down. I couldn’t imagine watching them day in and day out during their actual era.

I’ve made it through December 29th, 1986-January 16th, 1987. The umbrella arc for the Allison kidnapping Jessica, with Maria’s scheming and Viki’s having amnesia after a fight between Tom and Clint is definitely the saving grace for this period as they have completely dropped every character and almost retooled the show into the Buchanans and the Sanders, who are about eating the show. They cast well for the Sanders family, but they aren’t interesting enough to be eating up this much airtime. I’ve started to fast forward through their scenes so it’s not taking as long to move through the episodes/edits. I had no idea Maria ever framed Tina for being the accomplice of Allison and this moves the story forward dramatically well, Maria and Tina clashing is definitely addictive. And seeing Andrea Evans on an episode by episode basis (before the plot driven Schnessel period, which I also love) is a delight-I can really see the comedic angles she added to Tina even in the smaller scenes and find myself laughing out loud often. The drama between Viki and Clint is great, though her amnesia is sometimes confusing for what she remembers and doesn’t. They have money to splurge on the budget too, building an elaborate winter set in the middle of a snowstorm for Kevin, whose run away, and using actual footage of a volcano exploding and lava engulfing an island for Pete and Pamela on Malekeva Island, in a fun mini-story where they do not heed warnings of the volcano set to erupt thinking Asa is up to his tricks, with Asa using the rescue to play hero and declare that a volcano is no match for Asa Buchanan! They once again erupt with even more newbies as Rick the skier is introduced, a recast Cassie arrives (never liked this Cassie) and Dorian’s ward Diane is causing problems. I really can’t believe they dumped half the ‘86 cast and the show is being eaten alive by new faces, but they remained in the top 3 from the fall of ‘86 to ‘87 and that has to be due to Viki in constant crises and Tina’s antics.

B&B: I sampled the show between 2006-2010 but didn’t get hooked until the Brooke/Oliver camptastic sex scandal. Then Steffy/Liam/Hope drew me in and I was hooked on the show until Ally was killed, the final straw being the Avants leaving. PASSIONS: I watched with my cousin, brother and aunt in the summer of 2001 with Julian trying to poison the ring leading up to the double wedding and Tabitha/Timmy antics, such fun! AMC: The Mardi Gras Ball, this was the first one I got hooked on my own when I got a tv in my room as a pre-teen and the ball followed by Janet kidnapping Babe then the Dixie mystery drew me in. Maybe not the best time for the show, but I lost interest once Babe hit the back burner in 2007 and got hooked again when Jesse/Angie came on, even though I knew nothing about them. GH: I sampled the show throughout 2006 but never got hooked until the Luke and Laura 25th Anniversary special, Laura waking up then relapsing broke my heart and the Metro Court Hostage Crises sealed the deal for me as a fan. OLTL: The tornado drew me in, I remember loving Evangeline, Jessica/Tess, Natalie and Adriana but almost tuned out when Evangeline was written out. OLTL is a show I didn’t necessarily love from the beginning of watching but once I discovered it’s rich history (Carla, Tina, Billy Douglas, Marty) it is now my number one show. Y&R: I sampled the show from 2006-2008, but I was mainly interested in Dru/Sharon so if they weren’t on I didn’t really stay invested, I could beat myself up for not enjoying Dru in her final year. But what hooked me was the Kay/Marge redux. Y&R had an old school quality I loved. Unfortunately, Kay didn’t stay on the frontburner, Kevin played chipmunk and Y&R did more and more not so great things. DAYS: I got hooked in early 2006, with Mimi/Belle, Marlena/Hope and especially Carrie and Lexie vs Sami hooking me. I actually loved the show when they scaled back on the cast and did character-driven drama, well with the baby switch, but Marlena never should have left. Lost interest from 2011-January 2013 when they launched the Gabi vs Sami story and Kristin’s return, I think outside of Daniel Jonas the show was on fire until Nick’s death. It’s been downhill since outside of brief periods of fun like Shoot the Bride, so I come and go.

I remember saynotoursoap posting that, I miss their posts and YouTube videos! I wish more was available of early SEARCH, it seems so gothic and crime oriented, a little shocking compared to the tales of other 50s soaps and the Hazel story is one I want to see the most.

I can’t believe Y&R gave this music up, it would add so much.

I’m surprised to see GL outdoing AMC so often. When did Luke and Laura return at the end of ‘84 exactly? Thanks for all you do Jason, 1985 is going to be a fun year to see unfold with OLTL turning around.

I appreciate that and I had no idea they posted those, I just found the playlist and can’t wait to get started, I’ll have to look into October-November soon though, I can’t wait to see the fallout to the baby Jessica kidnapping and over the top Devil’s Claw adventure.

I meant more so in relation to if they managed to increase the affiliate percentage, the ratings would easily outdo Loving, Ryan’s Hope and other floundering soaps, but I’m sure that’s not as easy as we think, so I agree from a business standpoint, Edge, Loving, Ryan’s Hope, all needed to go.

I hope I’m not boring anyone by posting all of this. But I finished what was available on YouTube of 1986, it seemed the poster was going to post more but stopped abruptly, I’ll have to find the rest on DVD. Lisa Baron appeared one more time in an almost flirtation with Brad, giving him rights to her father’s company over a nice lunch. Then Jeannie Johnson is released from prison and sets her sights on Brad, with Connie up in arms over Brad taking the company. Lisa is actually there as Jessie is born and part of the set up with Allison posing as Niki Smith, Tina seeing Allison in the wig from behind and alerting. Allison officially kidnapping Jessica and the hysterics that Viki goes in, screaming how this could happen twice in a lifetime are bone-chilling, Erika Slezak put the work in. I was surprised by the climax to the crack ring’s ties to Statesville: we actually see the inmates producing the crack before Dorian, who traded places with another inmate, is caught and defeats the Warden and Matron with Jon’s help. The unraveling of the Maria/Clint/Tom/Viki quad with Maria hysterically confessing to Viki that Cord is Clint’s son, the truth coming out, it’s connection to Viki’s state of mind as she is accused of being Niki Smith and Tina rushing to cover her tracks as Cord intends to refund his inheritance is great and knowing it leads to Devils Claw island is even better. Cassie, Rob, Joy, Richard Abbott all exit in September with Diane, Jamie, Mari-Lynn, Allison and Daniel all taking over the younger set, but of course only Mari-Lynn lasted. I would have liked to have seen a long-term story with Allison/Daniel/Mari-Lynn and maybe Wade later on. I really enjoy Allison. I know I’ve said it a million times but there was no investment beyond Viki/Clint/Tina/ Cord/Max/Gabrielle besides Viki and Megan and the show would lose Tina, Megan, Sarah and Max. Had they invested in these other characters long-term, those casting blows in 1990 wouldn’t have hurt as bad. I read a SOD Best and Worst of 1986 and they named Asa as a bigamist with Pam as a wasted plot point and it’s very obvious they had no long-term story, I wish Pamela had her nose in BE and giving Asa a run for his money. One thing I really like is how natural and warm everyone is, Viki was played so cold and uppity by the ‘90s, perhaps due to the more dark drama they were playing, but the family scenes with the kids and their ties to Llanview just play so good here. I know Clint and Erika had some issues but watching Viki and Clint in 1996 is like night and day.

RH seemed to be doing very well, but wasn’t there a lot of interference from the network with recasts and plot? Between that and the time slot change it just seemed it was ranked on purpose to be kept on so much longer than it needed to. Loving seemed pointless in general. The biggest shame to me is EDGE being canceled when it had equal ratings on a thirty percent less clearance rate, that’s a tragedy. What years did ABC really trust in Agnes? If she contributed to recommending on how to save GH, and ABC was at the top of its game, what happened in the mid-80s and how did ABC end up in such a mess by the late-80s and early-90s (OLTL and GH were dreadful and RH officially canceled, AMC had a rough patch but was better than ever by ‘91)

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.