DramatistDreamer

Very sad news about Ms. Rapelye. Sadly, there aren't even many episodes of Maggie Crawford on YouTube, just a handful, it seems. Interesting that, just a few weeks ago, some were complaining about there being too many characters on ATWT around the time she was on. Has anyone considered the possibility that P&G wanted the cast trimmed? P&G is one of the most cost-conscious companies out there.

A few reasons, really. The top reason is that ATWT was a steady gig for almost two decades, in a very uncertain profession, (especially for Black women) provided some security. Also, as a producer, she might have frequently had to chip in her own money, if unable to raise it all from outside sources. Having money in your bank account can really help in that matter. For example, she was one of the producers of the musical "Spring Awakening", which later went to Broadway and became something of a hit, she likely got her return of investment (ROI), but that's a scenario that is far from guaranteed as most productions either barely break even or lose money. I think having a steady stream of income likely allowed her to produce/invest in the projects that she truly wanted to invest in (which may be risky), rather than just going for those that are perceived as the "safe bet", yet something she may feel no passion for producing. Of course, we know that in the final years of the show, TT went to L&O, because she was under-utilized at ATWT and L&O offered to make her a cast "regular". Smart move on Tunie's part, as it was likely better pay for less work.

It was a rhetorical question, more than anything else.

An often drugged up Robert Downey Jr. once passed out in a little girl's bed, nearly scaring the entire life out of the girl's mother. This was before he went to prison, but in the midst of him becoming practically uninsurable from previous narcotics binges. (film production companies and studios had to pay out of their personal accounts-then unheard of- just to insure him as he was deemed 'untouchable' by any insurance company and actors on sets run by major studios and production companies were not allowed to work uninsured, so he actually cost the studios extra expenses). I am not citing this to belittle or dehumanize Robert Downey Jr., but to state that the only time his career even slowed down was when he was doing time in prison. And, People have made much worse personal/professional choices than Janet Jackson, yet never suffered the damage to their careers that she suffered. I don't think I need to state why this is the case as I believe it is fairly obvious. Again, I am not casting aspersions on RDJ but his career was only ever stopped when he went to prison, which he admitted likely "saved his life". And the moment he was released, he resumed his career immediately. Why are folks holding Janet Jackson to a higher standard than Robert Downey Jr.? On what criteria? I am interested in knowing? Thoughts?

That was one of my favorites. The love and respect was genuine. I felt as if those three were to reprise their roles with a decent script, it would be as if no time had passed. I was actually hoping that Alan (or some capable host) would make good on that promise to bring them back with Anne.

It is fascinating, lol. The part with Anne Award, seems like a function of just how disjointed and dysfunctional the show had become in its last 12 or so years. I did notice during one of the GL reunion livestreams that ED kind of seemed a bit like the 'odd one out' in some of the discussions, which made me question if she had left by the time many of the other castmembers had arrived in the show. I had only caught a bit of the end of her run on GL, and then some on YT, so I was surprised to find out that she had been in the show with quite a few of the other actors since she seemed a bit distant. I don't know, maybe she's just one of those people who do the job and go home-- not really there to make friends? 🤷🏾‍♀️ Come to think about it, ED was in ATWT since 89 and AS left sometime in the early 90s? Colleagues have bonded in less time. Maybe it's just how ED is personality-wise.

I saw ^^this on the news earlier in the week and had wondered when it would become a bigger story. Considering the fact that there are at least a dozen other candidates and the race has a ways to go before people truly start to decide, I would think that alliances have a lot of room to shift, at this point. One of his public endorsements have already shifted to another candidate (Maya Wiley).

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Not to brag, but what other soaps have as many Oscar, Tony and Grammy award winners? In the decade from the early 80s to the early 90s alone, there were so many actors that became very well-known/famous in popular culture worldwide, in movies, in Broadway, television, making platinum status albums. The downside was that most of those actors were never going to stay beyond three, maybe four years, which kind of throws so many aspects of the story/show for a loop. The lone exception had to be Tamara Tunie (Tony award winning producer) and it's pretty obvious to me as to why she stayed as long as she did.

As to the gains of Texas and Florida, one word-- IMMIGRANTS. So ironic, considering how vehemently anti-immigrant pockets of those two states are. Immigrants helped those states add seats. Arizona has been another fairly anti-immigrant state, I guess Joe Arpaio hasn't attracted newcomers to the state, over the last decade. Vegas...er, Reno, we, I mean, Nevada is not exactly a place that attracts residents, visitors, maybe. I know someone who lives in Las Vegas who complains about the cost of living a lot. Speaking of the cost of living...hello, Northeast! And the birthrate in the U.S. hasn't been this low since the "Great Depression", because, guess why?

At least it didn't drag on past midnight. When Delroy Lindo didn't get a nomination, almost immediately I guessed that Oscar likely had Anthony Hopkins' name already engraved on it. Don't ask.

Thought some of you TP fans might appreciate this.

That was the ONLY thing that convinced me that they weren't the same movie, lol.

Why does this remind me of that movie she did with Kevin Bacon, 😂? Very similar premise, ao much so that I got confused for several moments. "You Should Have Left" was the name of the movie.

Maya Wiley is spoken of by progressives, but so is Dianne Morales. NYC politics is not NY state politics. One cannot take a cursory look and have things figured out. Mark Greene and Christine Quinn were once frontrunners in their respective mayoral races as well, until they weren't. I guess we will see how the primary (NYC' first foray with Ranked Choice voting) shapes up in June.

There are several other candidates that are in Yang's way and can, in fact stop him from being elected.

Such a missed prime opportunity to have an Earth Day tie-in with the spinning globe when ATWT was still on the air. Seeing the infamous Fiona, lecture everyone on how to buy groceries while saving money during that NYE '85 episode made me chuckle. I don't remember seeing any other episodes on YouTube where the character appears. In about 7 or 8 months, Fiona's advice is revealed to have more sinister intensions, lol.

This seems as good a thread as any to post this article, as we have often discussed music rights affecting streaming and boxed set collections if classic soap episodes. Interesting to note that the musicians themselves want their music to be on these shows but the record companies like Sony are the biggest obstacle. I would imagine that indepedently produced artists, unattached to a major label would present more attractive prospect to television showrunners these days. Good for shows like Freaks and Geeks, for not compromising quality.

Those are wonderful keepsakes that you can enjoy, time and again. I bet you are glad that you grabbed them when you had the chance. Now, if only the collective parts of the entire industry made a holistic effort to get a visual and audio history of the roots of the genre itself, the socio-political aspects (civil rights, the sexual revolution, post WWII economic gains, consumerism) and the changes in daytime drama and what was really behind it. There is so much that is worthy of introspection. And of course, there are the personal stories of Phillips, the writers, the cast and crew, the network and production executives. I feel like we're running out of time with some of this. There are actors who had personal interaction with the creator of the genre and we're not engaging with them the way that we should. They won't be here forever and we haven't really talked enough to them about the specifics of those early days of daytime drama. That GL podcast was a great listen but it was but a brief snippet and it reminded me of how much archival footage, episodes, etc. are sitting somewhere, possibly degrading because of neglect. Bothersome.

Absolutely. When the PP/TOLN soaps chose different writers than some soap bloggers' faves, boy were there some bitter Betty's coming for those AMC/OLTL reboots!

There was one match at the USO, on one of the smaller courts where Feliciano Lopez and another player, I don't remember if the player was from Spain or Argentina, but they were endlessly bickering in Spanish at the end of the match, all the way through the handshake, as they packed up their gear... just as one walked toward the exit to the locker room, they other hurried to catch up so that they continue bickering. So bizarre, yet so funny.

There has been discussion in the GL thread but it really has been imprinted in my mind that we really still have actors still with us that are directly linked to Irna Phillips, yet there is no Ken Burnsian-style documentary on the history of the daytime drama! I know there have been podcast interviews and NATAS sit-down interviews tucked away on YouTube done 20 years ago but never on am expansive scale that would actually get the genre recognized on a cultural and artistic level. Talk about Six Degrees Of Separation? We have actors who are literally one Degree of Separation, yet there is little recognition of this. I don't get it.

That was a pretty good status discussion. Here's your quote: "You can do the soaps for 30 minutes at 2-4 episodes a week tops like the UK. You can airdrop them in a package on streaming, 30-40 episodes done in seasonal blocks, arc-based then let them take months off, like PC did with its production schedule but with an actual break in broadcast/release. It's perfectly doable and it's something Linda Gottlieb experimented with (and never fully abandoned, IMO) 30 years ago at OLTL. Also something Degrassi kind of did more recently. " ________________________ Still, a fair number of soap die-hards expect the 30-60 minutes, 5 days per week format when it comes to their favorite soap. I even heard chatter demanding that Netflix do this. When has Netflix ever streamed a daily show?? I feel like a fair number of soap fans would still have to be taught the vagaries if online streaming because they still don't get it.

Another one with Evans. SMH.