robbwolff

There was also Daniel Dale who played a teenage Matthew from 1986 to 1987. I really liked him in the role and would have loved to see what he would have done with the role. But the character was aged by a few years and recast with Crane in 1988.

There's a few inaccuracies in this. Jada didn't join The Doctors in that April 1977 one-hour episode. She had already been in the cast for quite some time. I believe she arrived sometime in the summer of 1976 but Carolee was catatonic for a while. Beside the 1976 90-minute episode and 1977 60-minute episode, there was an episode in early 1975 that was 60 minutes long.

She really does look younger! I hope some photos of Liz with Van Hansis show up. I always like their chemistry. I follow Van on Instagram and he's out there for the Emmys. (He's nominated for EastSiders.)

Actually, I believe Campbell and O'Brien were given star billing concurrently...in the same episode. I remember how happy I was that they had received special billing. In that episode, Carolee appeared after Lydia and then David was last. That was reversed in the next episode with Carolee appearing last. I was surprised by the change since she had been on the show longer longer than David. And I forgot all about that special credit for Bethel. I'm so glad we got the chance to see Bethel as Maggie as she was incredible. I loved that episode with her and Althea dancing in the clinic right before Bethel left.

I thought so, too, but then remembered that David O'Brien was on TD before Lydia Bruce came on board. She appears before him in the credits. And Carolee Campbell was on the show before either Bruce or O'Brien, yet she appears last. I do recall that when O'Brien and Campbell were added to the top tier credits that Campbell initially appeared before O'Brien.

Agree completely. I very much liked Browne's stint and liked Canary as Steve Frame. I think he worked well with Victoria Wyndham. I think the problems were the poor recasting of Alice with Linda Borgeson. (I actually liked Vana Tribbey in the role of Alice.) And I shudder at the name Corrine Jacker. Truly one of the worst writers to grace daytime television.

I believe Luke Dancy has something to do with the restaurant that appears soon. Marland alters the show by centering it on the Powers, Aldrich, and Dancy families as opposed to Hope Memorial. Lots of changes are coming up. One central character has a career change. Jason Aldrich returns as a lawyer as opposed to the doctor he was under the Pollocks. MJ goes from being the granddaughter of Emma Simpson's husband Andrew to being Carolee's cousin. I've read that when Ethel and Mel Brez take over writing that character continuity gets even worse. I like flashbacks, but I felt that the Pollocks overused them. They got better with it after some time but I recall times when they'd have flashbacks that lasted upwards of four or five minutes.

I believe Cenedella exits around February 1976 and is replaced by DePriest, who is in turn replaced by Marland a few months later. Personally, I think the Pollocks were overrated. I liked their first few years of TD but tuned out when Retro got to the late 1973 episodes. Their constant use of flashbacks (which we didn't see until they arrived) and recapping was irritating. So much of their time was spent on a lackluster character like Ann Larimer. They resorted over and over to stories of Hope Memorial staff having medical crises. Worst of all was they drastically altered the personalities of some of the show's characters. Carolee became an ordinary soap heroine, mostly devoid of the humor and charm she had in her early years. Cathy Ryker went from a sexually free conniver to an obsessed psycho. That said, there are some good moments yet to come, but mostly a lot of uneven dreck, especially in the last few years.

And thanks for doing these. They're amazing!!!

I believe Hubbard was on TD until 1977, not 1976. Marland was head writing when she left and complained in an interview about Julia Duffy leaving abruptly as he had to change his plans. That was in 1977. And Curry wasn’t on GL for three years. Monti Sharp was playing David Grant into 1995. I think Curry was there from 1995 to 1996.

Tichina Arnold also moved from RH to AMC.

If I remember correctly, Guiding Light has taped Reva’s failed wedding to Kyle at the same church that OLTL later used for the AIDS quilt storyline.

Indeed, OLTL did a remote shoot at Odyssey House. I believe there was also a remote in Central Park.

According to the Another World Home Page, Cenedella wrote both AW and Somerset from March to December 1970. He continued at AW till he was replaced by Lemay in August 1971. Supposedly, there is a Somerset bible floating around. I would love to see it.

I really liked Carol Pfander as Cathy. She was such an interesting character. I liked both of her replacements but especially liked Carol in the role.

Cathy predated the Pollocks. She arrived in the spring of 1970 when Ira Avery and Stanley Silverman were head writers. I'd argue that the Pollocks actually ruined the character by taking a sexually free woman and turning her into a clinging baby-obsessed lunatic. The forthcoming story you're referring to was actually very well done and riveting. I remember the story sucking me in because it was so real, so true to life. Plus it affects the relationships and friendships of Matt, Maggie, Carolee, and Steve. Very exciting times are ahead with that storyline.

I, too, long for the Pollocks to be gone. I liked some of their initial work but bailed around early 1974. They’ve destroyed so many characters. They took a funny and sexually independent woman like Cathy Ryker and made her a clinging neurotic who lost her mind. They’ve stripped Carolee of her sense of humor and turned her into a run of the mill cliched soap heroine. As for Steve, he bares little resemblance to the charming cad he once was. I keep seeing people say that it’s all down hill once the Pollocks leave. BS. It’s nothing like it was when Rita Lakin was writing but there are good times to come.

Cenedella is next. His work started in August 1975 days after Jeff Young became producer.

I don’t think it’s a matter of that ability leaving soap writers. Rather, soaps have been adjusting their format to appeal to modern viewers. And it’s just not soaps. In academic research, we’re reevaluating ways to promote our research in a variety of ways since our constituents don’t have long attention spans. For years, soaps have been tinkering with their formats in this regard. Port Charles went for 13-week arcs. Most soaps sped up their stories. One Life and All My Kids contemplated 13-week arcs as well. Watching the reruns of The Doctors on Retro, the shorter arcs are not new. The Doctors was doing them in the 1967-1970 era.

The anniversary week is on classicGL's YT page. The series is called "Shine the Light." Here's the first segment:

According to an interview with Stuart, she left TD with the intention to not do soaps again. GH kept bugging her to join the cast. She eventually agreed to a one-year contract. I recall seeing an interview after she left TD where she was very vocal about her unhappiness with the show and the direction that the writers take Mike Powers in, in terms of his career.

There was CO2 at the mall.

Thanks! The info. on the Another World Home Page could be wrong. The tidbit about Ellie was taken from a synopsis in December 1985. It could be from a soap magazine, which always mess up details.

According to Eddie Drueding, Ellie was the daughter-in-law of Michael's brother Eugene Garrison. I recall Josephine Nichols (Kate Marshall on Texas) appeared on AW around the same time. Was she Michael's aunt Bertha or somehow connected with the man that Donna had hired to impersonate Michael?

I thought the story was that NBC wanted to keep SFT going through March 1987, not another full year, but that Procter and Gamble wouldn't agree to that. I've read that a few times. That would keep in line with executive producer David Lawrence's statement that he believed SFT would air through March.