Jagger1966

Deborah Shelton did a lot of those radio ads in the 80's.  I remember her doing them for at least two radio stations in my area (the Flint-Detroit area) long before Dallas and even before her role on The Yellow Rose.

7 hours ago, yrfan1983 said:

Oh gosh, this is going off a long-ago memory... I just tried googling it but nothing came up.

 

I think it was the Tonight Show in the late 80s or very early 90s ... Dana dissed her experiences being on Love of Life and ATWT. Something about soaps not requiring or empowering "real acting" - just memorizing dozens of script pages.

 

Jeanne responded, perhaps in SOD? saying that Dana was very mistaken and soap actors are the most talented and hardest-working actors in the biz.

     I remember watching that Dana Delany interview!  It was on Later with Bob Costas and she was talking about the acting on soaps and taking shortcuts with the acting or something like that.  And later I remember Jeanne Cooper saying in TV Guide that she was so angry she wanted to reach through the TV and grab her by the throat!  That Jeanne Cooper, she did not suffer fools gladly!

I remember seeing Marty West on a show called Dog Eat Dog in the early 2000's.  Contestants had to do these really tough physical challenges and Marty did all of these challenges and ended up winning the game and $25,000.

I remember watching Behind The Screen when I was a teenager.  Debbi Morgan was in it and I believe Michael Sabatino was as well.

I discovered soap opera magazines around the age of 12.  My first was a monthly publication called Daytime TV.  I lived for every issue of that magazine.  There was another one I used to get in the late 70's/early 80's called Rona Barrett's Daytimers.  Then of course I found Soap Opera Digest, Soap Opera Weekly, Soap Opera Update, Soap Opera Magazine.  There were all sorts of them.  It's sad that with the exception of Digest they are all gone now.

That whole Becky Lee return was weird.  The sweet Becky Lee we remembered was replaced by a money hungry schemer.  I remember it was very unpopular with both viewers and critics and Mary Gordon Murray, who had signed a contract, was let go I believe after her first 13 week cycle.  And I don't think anyone was sorry to see that version of the character go.

I believe the man in question is Christopher Durham who  played Michael Jonas on OLTL for a brief time..  He had previously been on Capitol and Ryan's Hope.

Ryan's Hope had a LOT of recasts during its 13.5 year run.

Mary Ryan Fenelli-Kate Mulgrew was beloved in the role.  Her first replacement Mary Carney was a good actress but being a theater actress she tended to shout her lines.  Then came Kathleen Tolan who I thought was just awful in the role.  The final Mary was the late Nicolette Goulet who I really liked but unfortunately no one could ever really replace Kate Mulgrew so the character was distpatched.

Frank Ryan-Michael Hawkins was the first Frank and I thought he was one of the worst actors I'd ever seen.  Frank #2 Andrew Robinson was slightly better but I think #3 Daniel Hugh-Kelly really brought that character to life.  Two more Franks followed him, Geoffrey Pierson, a very good actor who has had a nice career and finally John Sanderford who I also really liked in the role.

Siobhan Ryan -Original Siobhan Sarah Felder was a breath of fresh air.  Don't know why she left but Siobhan #2 Ann Gillespie was decent.  Everyone remembers that Marg Helgenberger was Siobhan #3.  She was there for 4 years and really made the role her own.  The final 2 actresses in the role, Carell Myers and Barbara Blackburn were ok actresses but they never felt like Siobhan to me.

Patrick Ryan-No one could ever match Malcome Groome's Patrick.  Of his 3 successors, John Blazo, Robert Finoccoli and Patrick James Clarke, Blazo is the only one I even remember.  I didn't think he was too bad but he did not win over viewers.

Faith Coleridge-I liked all the Faiths.  Faith Catlin, Nancy Barrett, Catherine Hicks and Karen Morris-Gowdy.  Most people seem to prefer Hicks, but Karen Morris-Gowdy was my choice for best Faith.

Delia Reid Ryan Ryan Coleridge Crane Coleridge-This was Ilene Kristen's role to be sure.  Her first successor Robyn Millan was awful and thankfully short-lived.  Delia #3 Randall Edwards did a great job in the role and even got an emmy nomination.  She left in 1982 and Kristen returned only to leave again in '83.  In 1984 the wonderful Robin Mattson was cast but the general consensus, which I agree with, is that she was mis-cast in the part.  Luckily Ilene Kristen returned in 1986 and stayed until the end.

There were also numerous re-casts of Joe Novak and Nancy Feldman as well as Little John Ryan and Ryan Fenelli although once the characters were aged to near adulthood Jason Adams and Yasmine Bleeth played the roles until the end of the series.

My vote goes to Jill Farren Phelps.  As far as I'm concerned that woman destroyed nearly every show she's been involved in.  Killing Maureen Bauer off GL, the horrific murder of Frankie on AW.  Someone correct me if I'm wrong about this but I believe she also fired Laura Koffman from OLTL when Koffman was going on maternity leave.  Then of course there's the disrespectful way she treated Genie Francis not only on GH but also Y&R.  And if memory serves me correctly she was the producer that famously told Jackie Zeman that "nobody wants to watch old people having sex."  I think she was also the producer that got rid of Shell Kepler's Amy Vining after 23 years without even an on-air mention of where the character went.  In my opinion she shouldn't be allowed to produce a commercial let alone a television show ever again.

It was interesting to read about Saundra Santiago's two roles as Elena and Isabella.  She actually had three as she was a re-cast as Carlotta toward the end of the show's run.  She might have had four roles on the show as I do recall that she was originally cast as police officer Maggie Vega in 1992, but something happened and the role was re-cast with Yvette Lawrence before Santiago had started. (I'm not sure if she had ever filmed an episode as Maggie).

I believe the set is Viki's carriage house.  That's where Viki was living until she kicked Dorian out of Llanfair.

19 hours ago, cassadine1991 said:

Wonder how it would've been had ABC let Malone do the coming out story as he originally intended with Joey

     That would've been a great story and it would have been long-term.  But this was 1992 and network execs were still skittish about a story like that with a core character so whenever a gay character was introduced it was always an outside character who had no ties to the canvas-easy to write off.  It's too bad, I think Malone would have written a great story.

3 hours ago, EricMontreal22 said:

SOunds right.  Interestingly the same article said that even if they were brave enough (their words) to keep Billy on, it would have to be recast because Ryan had just booked the NBC primetime "soap miniseries" The Secrets of Lake Success which they hoped would be successful enough to be a series (I'd never heard of it--though I see it's on DVD so I guess it wasn't.)  Variety's review starts off: 

When the Atkins family patriarch dies, the town of Lake Success is inundated with more gold diggers than a Dean Martin roast. Resultant fast-paced soaper may be -- however inadvertently -- the funniest series on primetime TV, with florid acting and script on a campy level that makes "Dallas" look like "King Lear." Pity it's only scheduled for three two-hour installments, concluding Oct. 15.

 

I remember watching The Secrets Of Lake Success.  I don't remember much about the story, but I remember that I didn't think it was very good.  As for Billy's appearances, he was still around after the quilt episodes.  He met Rick on Christmas Eve and a few weeks later there was an episode where Billy and Rick had lunch with Billy's parents.  Billy's dad was still having trouble with Billy's homosexuality  but after a chat with Sloan he kinda sorta came around a little bit.  That was about it for the Douglas family and Rick.

On 9/9/2018 at 12:26 PM, All My Shadows said:

No disrespect to the late Harriet Hall, but she sucked.

     I didn't know Harriet Hall had died.  I remember her brief time as Brooke.  I thought she was pretty and an ok actress but she was no Julia Barr for sure.

On 8/25/2018 at 9:39 AM, Khan said:

 

Dear God, did anyone "get" Becky Lee in the '90's?

     What was done to Becky Lee was a travesty.  One of the show's  good, kindhearted heroines of the 80's was turned into a money hungry hick.  I think Mary Gordon Murray was put on contract when she was brought back but I think the show got so much negative feedback that she was written off at the end of her first contract cycle.

10 hours ago, danfling said:

I would have enjoyed seeing Dr. Dorian Lord again with Jason Webb.  He was so concerned for her when she had a cancer scare.

I wonder whatever became of Mark Brettschnieder who played Jason.  He did an Afterschool Special and had a small role in That Thing You Do.  That was his last acting credit.

3 minutes ago, John said:

Billy got a BF, Rick for a minute & Joey and Billy were at Cassie and Andrew's wedding but Billy left in June 1993 returning a year later for one episode with Nathan as Joey

I heard they fired Chris as Joey caise ABC didnt think he would sell His Joey and RS' Dorian

I do remember Billy meeting Rick and the lunch they had with Billy's parents.  Chris' Joey never would have worked with Dorian, he was and looked so young.  I really liked seeing Joey, Billy and Alana in story together.  I think the three of them worked really well together and I loved their scenes in the episodes with the AIDS quilt.

3 minutes ago, John said:

i wonder why they didnt keep her unless the actress wanted out

Once the homophobia storyline ended the show seemed to be done with the kids.  Alana was gone, Billy barely got any screen time for the next six months and then left and I can't even remember what the show did with Chris McKenna's Joey until he left.

I vaguely remember Alana still being around for the 1992 Halloween episode but I don't recall seeing her again after that.  I think she started around spring of '92 so I guess she was there for around 6 months or so.

Nathan Fillion is the best.  He has never forgotten his daytime roots and always speaks fondly of his OLTL time.  It's also great to see cast members like Susan Diol, Tracy Melchior, Vanita Harbour, Jason-Shane Scott and  Christina Chambers there.  I wish I had been there!

When Linda Gottlieb came aboard she cleaned house and I do mean CLEANED HOUSE.  She quickly dispatched a dozen or more actors.  Some characters, like Hunter and Andy got a brief exit story but I don't remember others like Rafe and Brenda getting a proper exit at all.

I always liked Lois Robbins.  She's in one of my favorite horror movies from the 80's called Girls Nite Out.  Several  soap stars are in it including Loving's Lauren-Marie Taylor and James Carroll and One Life To Live's Julia Montgomery.  Glad to hear she's still out there working.

1 hour ago, Paul Raven said:

There were 4 Brians in 4 years

Paul Joynt

Larry Joshua

Gene Peitragallo

Jay Acavone

 

Didn't Tomothy Patrick Murphy's Spence character also pretend to be Brian?

I believe you're right about Spence pretending to be Brian.  I remember him pretending to be someone.  I can't remember the exact details but your mention of Brian is ringing a bell.

3 hours ago, j swift said:

Per the OLTL Anniversary book - Viki sued for the rights to live in the main house at Llandfair (she was living in the carriage house with Clint and two little kids) after Dorian married Herb.  The judge ordered her out per Victor's will which required her to move if she remarried but, Viki had to buy out Dorian's part of the house because while she couldn't live there she still owned half of the estate.  This leads to the scene where she refuses to leave and Clint has to pick her up and throw her out the front door.

 

Also, I just found out that Gretel "Rae" Cummings originally came to Llandview as the assistant of Adam (Pat Ashley's rebound guy after Tony and Paul who kept secret both his epilepsy and his larceny).

Yes, when Linda Dano first appeared on the show in the 70's she was Gretel Cummings.  The Rae was added when she returned years later.  I don't recall any mention of the name Rae during her first run.

I would say that is Ms. Tudor.   Looks like her and sounds like her to me!