soapfave06

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.

I was never the biggest GL fan but Kimberly Simms just has it, if I pick an episode up, it’s usually from that era or the last 70s. A huge disappoint to see they could have kept KS as Mindy and of course BM as Alex. It’s amazing how fast these shows will let go of talent, especially women, but are so eager to hire a “big name” that has no impact.

Wow, what a packed month! The Meg climax seems chilling, was definitely not expecting some axe throwing. Peggy Nelson officially introduced for the big Audrey plot and Phil realizing he is in the clear! While the stories don’t move at warp speed it does seem you miss a day, you miss a lot.

It is mind boggling how swiftly the ratings changed or perhaps how much they destroyed the shows Ryan’s Hope and Another World were performing rather well before heading to the doldrums of the ratings and SEARCH is in the middle of the rankings, at the bottom in two short years. The Doctors was even ahead of DAYS!

Thanks for sharing; interested to see where the Meg breakdown story goes and I like the slow build up of Diana uncovering Phil’s past.

Thanking you for sharing more episode descriptions, I would really love to see more Amy and Valerie scenes. I read more of Owen/Ian in the recap thread provided, it seems Owen tumbled down a flight of stairs to his death, perhaps in a fight with Valerie. It’s interesting how sometimes you get great details in these summaries but then portions seem to be missing. I am very intrigued by this show.

Awesome, the beginning of the baby story for Tom/Steve/Audrey. Did the show have a rather large cast at this time for a 30 minute soap?