Mona Kane Croft

16 minutes ago, Contessa Donatella said:

DW? You mean DS? 

Anyway, just noting that Swajeski was network & came to writing for the show by jumping that fence. There is some thinking that people who work for the network first & then a show, or shows, have some unknown advantage. 

Pete Lemay? If so, no, didn't quit. Let go. And, as far as we know, she wrote from his outlines for at least 8 months, perhaps longer. So that would effectively make a theory that they had different visions not really work at all. 

Lemay and Swjeski never worked together.  He was fired when she was hired. It's likely they never even met.  

4 minutes ago, AbcNbc247 said:

Were fans and soap publications upset and angry about it at the time?

I don't recall any backlash to much of Nixon's work.  But at the time, I was a young adult and not paying attention to that sort of thing as much as I did in later years.   

36 minutes ago, watson71 said:

I really wish Lemay’s bible for AW in 1988 would show up online- so we could see what storylines Swajeski used, as well as how Lemay planned to reunite Mac and Iris after the fallout from the takeover.

That would be fun to see.  But actually, one can almost tell by watching AW in 1988-89, which material was from Lemay's projection bible, and what was original to Swajeski.    If I have time later, I'll try to review it all and give some specific examples of each -- which will be only my opinion, of course.   

1 hour ago, Contessa Donatella said:

And, did what seemed like her special treatment somewhow accrue to her being from the network?

Good point, Contessa.  After a strike, scab writers often get special treatment.  But Swajeski seemed to get EXTRA special treatment.   Was it the quality of her writing during the strike?  Or something else????    

On 5/30/2024 at 10:42 PM, Paul Raven said:

I would add not keeping Harding Lemay when he returned in 88.

He had been responsible for great success in the 70's and the stories he put in place looked promising. How it would have worked out in the long run -who knows?

But he definitely deserved more of a chance than he got.

Why was he dropped anyway? Was it a budget thing? Or was Donna Swajeski easier to work with/manage as wellas being cheaper?

Shades of Mulcahey and GH...

Lemay said or wrote somewhere (I assume an interview) that he was fired immediately after the strike ended and before any of his scripted episodes had even aired.  So he certainly was not fired because of ratings.  It is fairly typical that TPTB try to reward the scab writers in some way (often by hiring them later in lower level writing positions).  But P&G hired Swajeski as head-writer immediate after the strike, which was a pretty bold and obvious move.  There must have been something in her work as a scab that they liked, and thought she would be a better fit than Lemay without even waiting for his episodes to air.  Funny though -- if Lemay was not a good fit for AW in 1988, why did TPTB allow Swajeski to use Lemay's storyline projections for almost an entire year after the strike?  

2 hours ago, Aback said:

I've just found out DS's entire run is available! Where is it exactly?  

I watch it on Tubi. Beginning to end.   

43 minutes ago, AbcNbc247 said:

I’m actually curious as to whether or not there was any backlash from fans since, at the heights of the AIDS epidemic, AW (and Days too) were doing so many storylines that involved prostitutes and prostitution?

Nobody did prostitutes like Agnes Nixon at All My Children.  Donna Beck and Estelle with their respective pimps, Tyrone and Billy Clyde.  Nixon's prostitute storylines were both overtly simple and full of stereotypes, while also being nuanced and complex (unexplainable, I know).  No other soap opera's prostitute storylines could hold a candle to Nixon's work on AMC.   And the Estelle/Billy Clyde stuff was also during the height of the AIDS epidemic.

After the 90-minute disaster, what would you say was Another World's biggest failure during the show's last 20-years (1979 to 1999)?  I'm really asking about big fundamental failures -- not casting decisions and smaller mistakes.   

I'll go first.  I think AW's biggest failure during it's final 20-years was never hiring an established well-known head-writer with a long record of success (a writer similar to Nixon, Marland, Bell, Lemay, Phillips, Labine, etc.), AND giving that head-writer the freedom to write, AND keeping that head-writer for 7-8 years.  

What do you consider AW's biggest failure during the show's final 20-years?   

18 minutes ago, DramatistDreamer said:

You’re welcome. They might need to have a separate FAST channel for their more daring programs but it would be nice to be able to view those episodes of show. Maybe something like PBS Arts?
Although it would also be cool to see episodes of the Bill Moyers program. So many thoughtful programs that were deemed too risky by PBS and dropped and all but completely forgotten these days.

I mean, whatever happened to American Playhouse? As much as I enjoy Masterpiece, I get a bit weary with constantly getting bombarded with British dramatic fare, I would love to see more pieces by writers from the Americas…Canada, the Caribbean, Texas, Miami. How many iterations of Upstairs/Downstairs can they churn out?

Classic episodes of Mystery is another series that I enjoyed and would love to get a second look.

I agree about American Playhouse.  I'd love that to return to the PBS schedule for exactly the reasons you mentioned.   

4 hours ago, Contessa Donatella said:

Recently in a TwiX conversation about GL under John Conboy I was asked which actress he had an affair with. So I made a sarcastic reply about what he would DO with a woman-just talk or read poetry. However, was this actually a thing? 

John Conboy had an affair with a woman? While he was at GL?  That's a new one, Mama...

On 5/20/2024 at 8:40 PM, Soapsuds said:

I had a Macbook Pro back in 2011 and I loved it. It went to computer heaven in 2020. My boss at the time had a 17 inch Pro and she let me borrow it for work and it was an incredible computer and much bigger than my 13" pro.

I wanted to buy another MacBook Pro but they had gotten so expensive. I saved up money but instead I bought an IPad the 10th and newest edition in Christmas of 2022.

So there I am happy with my new iPad and my family is like open our present for you. It was a box. It was heavy in weight and had no clue what it was. To my surprise it was the 13" MacBook Air I wanted and saving money for. That was one of my best Christmas ever!

I still eye a 17" MacBook Pro.

After observing this "irritating ad" situation for another week or two, I am thinking the ad is just a symptom of the problem.  And the problem is much larger than simply an irritating ad. I think the larger issue is, something is taking almost complete control of the page.  In addition to the ad(s), it is changing the type font on the page, rearranging contents of the page, making the reply option completely disappear, and generally making the entire page unreadable and unusable. Could it be some kind of virus or malware (or some other form of corruption) that has invaded the site, or maybe even the host software?  I no longer believe it is just a legitimate ad that is malfunctioning.  

13 hours ago, carolineg said:

I only saw the living room and didn't notice the stairs, but it appeared very similar.  I think the paint was different, but the chair and the couch were either the same or just re-upholstered or something.  There are people on here that are much better with sets than I am, but I didn't notice anything different structurally.

I just watched the episode.  The Horton set appears to be exactly the same as the former set, including the staircase and a short glimpse of part of the front door.  It is possible the living room is slightly smaller -- less "deep" with the fireplace a few feet closer to the entryway.  But I'm not sure about that.  We'd need to do a side-by-side comparison, and I don't have any pics or screen shots.  Also, I suppose since we saw the foyer in the background, that means they will continue to use the foyer for scenes at least occasionally.  If anyone notices any differences or changes later, please post them here.  I find it a little hard to believe TPTB would destroy and rebuild such an iconic set without at least a few cost-saving measures.   

9 hours ago, AbcNbc247 said:

Doug!!!!

It was so nice to see him again, and nice to see everyone moving back into the Horton house. Idk about the new couch though

So does the new Horton house look exactly like the old set?  Is it different in any way?  Smaller?  Different paint color?  Do they still show the staircase?  Or is it an exact rebuild of the old set?  I assumed TPTB would use this as an opportunity to make the set either simpler or smaller, to save money.  

By the way, staircases are usually the first thing to disappear when a soap opera decides to save money on sets. For example on ATWT, by the mid-2000s nearly every staircase on the show had disappeared.  Note, I said nearly -- not every one.  

2 hours ago, Soapsuds said:

MacBook Pro are great! Do you have the newer version? 

I have the MacBook Air. 

I use a fire tablet to surf and post on here. 

I got mine in 2018, so probably not the newer version.    

14 minutes ago, Michael said:

I'm having an almost identical issue as @Mona Kane Croft. Some ads jump in and change the entire layout of the page. The font goes from the usual sans-serif to Times New Roman and the page becomes unreadable.

 

I had begun to believe I was the only person this was happening to.  What browser are you using?  Are you on a laptop?  I'm on a MacBook Pro using Safari browser.  

3 minutes ago, Broderick said:

They're speculating about a pretty blonde girl who was on an ABC soap in the 1980s, her male co-star who might say, "Bon jour, mademoiselle", and a boy on another ABC show who did some nekkid pictures.   I don't believe any of the 3 ever acknowledged any of this. 

I *Hope* I told it right.  I don't know the three people, and I've got no insider knowledge, as I'm from a place as rural as South Dakota.   

Yes, I know.  But I assumed the original poster would eventually tell us the names of the people he was talking about.  

When are you going to tell us who these people are?

Here are two better examples of the ads and how they irritate.  You'll notice in both photos, an ad is covering part of a post, and the part of the page that is visible/readable is distorted -- strange type font, etc.  Again, no idea why they appear sideways.  They are in the correct orientation on my laptop.  

14 hours ago, Errol said:

What advertisement are you referring to? What brand? Do you have an example/screenshot that would make it clear what you are talking about? Is this happening on Desktop, Tablet or Mobile view? The type of device you are using matters.

That said, I do not personally control the appearance or behavior of any individual advertisement displayed on the message boards or the main website. Advertisements appear after bids are placed via AI, which is how most advertising is handled across the internet for highly trafficked websites such as SON itself.

Regarding the reply button, I made great strides in coding it so that ads do not block important sections of the message boards, particularly the reply box section. If an ad is doing so, take a screenshot and send it to me so that I can alert our advertising provider. Maybe they can look into it and contact the offending advertiser about it. Otherwise, that shouldn't be happening.

Further, the only example of what I think you are talking about that I could find was a recent ad I saw on Desktop for Sirius XM. It appeared within the confines of the video ad unit (the one playing a rotation of Emmy videos), but it closed on its own after a few seconds—it DID have a tiny "X" so you could close it yourself, to be clear.

(see screenshot below)

P.S. To be clear, pop-up ads do not exist on soapoperanetwork.com. What you are likely labeling as a pop-up ad is an ad that appears within the borders of your currently viewed browser window. A pop-up ad opens in a separate window or tab.

Lastly, reading the off-topic posts in The Gates thread, keep in mind that posting comments like that within topic-specific threads is not helpful. Regardless of whether you were aware of this support desk forum, there are better ways to reach @Toups or me, including PM (Private Message) or email. Those two methods are the fastest methods to reach either of us without interrupting the conversation flow within a topic-specific thread.

 

Couldn't get a real screen shot, so I took a photo of the screen.  Not sure why it is posting sideways, because the orientation is correct on my laptop.  If you can see the photo, notice the distortion of the page.  The ad itself is not appearing on this shot.  It seems the page will only allow me to attach one photo per post, so I'll try to post a couple of others seperately. 

14 hours ago, Errol said:

What advertisement are you referring to? What brand? Do you have an example/screenshot that would make it clear what you are talking about? Is this happening on Desktop, Tablet or Mobile view? The type of device you are using matters.

That said, I do not personally control the appearance or behavior of any individual advertisement displayed on the message boards or the main website. Advertisements appear after bids are placed via AI, which is how most advertising is handled across the internet for highly trafficked websites such as SON itself.

Regarding the reply button, I made great strides in coding it so that ads do not block important sections of the message boards, particularly the reply box section. If an ad is doing so, take a screenshot and send it to me so that I can alert our advertising provider. Maybe they can look into it and contact the offending advertiser about it. Otherwise, that shouldn't be happening.

Further, the only example of what I think you are talking about that I could find was a recent ad I saw on Desktop for Sirius XM. It appeared within the confines of the video ad unit (the one playing a rotation of Emmy videos), but it closed on its own after a few seconds—it DID have a tiny "X" so you could close it yourself, to be clear.

(see screenshot below)

P.S. To be clear, pop-up ads do not exist on soapoperanetwork.com. What you are likely labeling as a pop-up ad is an ad that appears within the borders of your currently viewed browser window. A pop-up ad opens in a separate window or tab.

Lastly, reading the off-topic posts in The Gates thread, keep in mind that posting comments like that within topic-specific threads is not helpful. Regardless of whether you were aware of this support desk forum, there are better ways to reach @Toups or me, including PM (Private Message) or email. Those two methods are the fastest methods to reach either of us without interrupting the conversation flow within a topic-specific thread.

Here's another one

2 hours ago, Errol said:

What advertisement are you referring to? What brand? Do you have an example/screenshot that would make it clear what you are talking about? Is this happening on Desktop, Tablet or Mobile view? The type of device you are using matters.

That said, I do not personally control the appearance or behavior of any individual advertisement displayed on the message boards or the main website. Advertisements appear after bids are placed via AI, which is how most advertising is handled across the internet for highly trafficked websites such as SON itself.

Regarding the reply button, I made great strides in coding it so that ads do not block important sections of the message boards, particularly the reply box section. If an ad is doing so, take a screenshot and send it to me so that I can alert our advertising provider. Maybe they can look into it and contact the offending advertiser about it. Otherwise, that shouldn't be happening.

Further, the only example of what I think you are talking about that I could find was a recent ad I saw on Desktop for Sirius XM. It appeared within the confines of the video ad unit (the one playing a rotation of Emmy videos), but it closed on its own after a few seconds—it DID have a tiny "X" so you could close it yourself, to be clear.

(see screenshot below)

P.S. To be clear, pop-up ads do not exist on soapoperanetwork.com. What you are likely labeling as a pop-up ad is an ad that appears within the borders of your currently viewed browser window. A pop-up ad opens in a separate window or tab.

Lastly, reading the off-topic posts in The Gates thread, keep in mind that posting comments like that within topic-specific threads is not helpful. Regardless of whether you were aware of this support desk forum, there are better ways to reach @Toups or me, including PM (Private Message) or email. Those two methods are the fastest methods to reach either of us without interrupting the conversation flow within a topic-specific thread.

Thanks for the response.  I'll try to get a screen shot next time it happens. I can't remember the topic of the ads, but there are several of them and when one closes another immediately replaces it.  The ads themselves partially cover the posts, which is strange because none of the other ads on SON seem to do that. These ads are not in the margins of the page as most SON ads are.  They actually cover part of the page content. I think this might be some kind of rogue situation, because when the ads appear, the entire look of the page changes -- even the type font on the posts changes.  And the reply button is not covered by an ad, it just disappears.  It's almost as if the ads are controlling the page.  I'm using a laptop, Macbook Pro.  As I said, I'll try to get a screen shot.  Thanks again.

Thank you, Contessa.  Did anyone get pics of Beverly Penberthy's children?  Or the children of Liza Chapman?   

7 minutes ago, Maxim said:

Hmm... since I know you are talking about me, I will comment - I did not misunderstand your post. Not at all - I agreed with it and said I have my own pet peeve about ads.  Read my comment again. I was adding my 2 cents on a similar issue. I specifically said I HAVE MY OWN issue. Did not misunderstand anything. I went off on a tangent? Really? Where? And you have to come here in a completely different topic and say that about the only person that actually responded to you. Interesting.

Also you shouldn't be so fast to USE the word Worthless concerning the admins @Toups and @Errol. And yes, - they are called ADMINS, and they are the people responsible for keeping this forum for you to post in. And they read the Support Desk. You not getting an instant response doesn't mean they are not doing their job and thinking how to solve something or respond.  

I came here to reply because here is where the original suggestion was made.  And I was replying.  Otherwise, I have no interest in arguing.  So I'm done.  

On 5/6/2024 at 1:51 PM, DramatistDreamer said:

Have you tried going to the Support Desk? If not, that should be your first place to post this comment.

I did, and I got absolutely no response from any of the moderators (or whatever they are called).  I did get one response from a fellow poster, who misunderstood my post and went off on a tangent.  LOL.   So I wouldn't suggest the Support Desk as a way to solve anything, because apparently nobody monitors it -- or if they do, they only respond to the posts that interest them.  Worthless.  

Interesting that there were very few Lemay era (his first era) actors at the reunion.  There were several from the Nixon and Cenedela (pre-Lemay) eras, and many from the post-Lemay years (of course).  But no Susan Harney, no Leon Russom, no Dorothy Lyman, no Maeve Kincade, no Susan Sullivan, no Robert Doran, no Mike Hammett, etc. Are Gail Brown and Ariana Muenker the only two actors from the (first) Lemay years who were there?  I feel sure Nick Coster would have attended, if the reunion had been held a couple of years ago.    

50 minutes ago, Contessa Donatella said:

Lau had problems. Attitude, demons, addictions. After AMC they said that ole thing about never working again. Then AW & after it was said again. But, he did rehab & martial arts & lost the "tude & dropped some pounds & beat his addictions & the better self has always looked really fine. 

That's a very nice and positive way to describe Lau's journey. So many people bash him.  You found a way to explain, while still being positive. Thank you.  

On 5/8/2024 at 6:49 PM, Maxim said:

At this point I have started to love this ad and take it as part of the forum. I hope it never goes away and I see Alley Mills every day hundreds of times for years.

These are not the ads I was asking about.  The ones I'm irritated by are much worse.  They actually cover parts of the posts, prevent you from reading the posts, and stop the entire page from working correctly.  The Alley Mills ads do not do any of that, as far as I know.  If you ever encounter the ads I'm talking about, you will be happy to see the Alley Mills ads again!  LOL.