BetterForgotten

And I could watch Maureen Garrett play anything. No histrionics or annoying tics, always a believable and realistic performance. It's sometimes hard to reconcile this Holly with the one who returned a decade later, but the heart of the character was always there and Maureen never phoned it in.

They may not want to go through the effort of showing two 30-min episodes, or bother with editing two 30 min episodes to complete the hour-long timeslot. Little sh!t like that could be more money than they're willing to spend.

That 'dead leaves' music is probably one of my favorite soap themes ever. It also defines one of the best eras of this show to me.

It’s hard to say, but she did seem a bit hurt at the time based on some fairly subtle comments she made on her Facebook page. My guess would be that Brad didn’t feel her contributions were worth what he was paying her. He already had Minnis as his Co-HW and Patrick Mulcahey had gotten a story consultant credit as well. Between all of that, he likely felt he had gotten B&B fully into its next era and Alden’s services were no longer needed.

‘Incredible’ applies to very few of those people... Will someone ask Jim Brown about covertly praising his own work on Facebook? Lol

Not very closely at all. Brad Bell was Alden’s boss and Scott was/is the Supervising Producer, not EP. Brad ultimately fired Alden too (she’s admitted this) but for reasons that were never disclosed publicly.

Didn’t Marland replace them in late ‘79?

They also had fairly terrible producers in Bartholomew and Bunin to contend with at ATWT. Their transition to ATWT also coincided with the explosion of ABC Daytime, so they were likely being forced to ‘ABCfy’ the show. ATWT always had the reputation for being the most traditional and old school soap, and was often the soap cited at the time as being “uncool” when GH and AMC exploded in popularity in the late 70’s/early 80’s. At GL, they came in at a time where they likely had more freedom and support from P&G to really tell the types of stories they wanted. Their GL is pretty amazing soap, and I definitely think it surpasses Marland’s tenure in overall quality, IMO. It still felt like a P&G soap, but very contemporary and modern in its own unique way.

It was Calhoun, this opening premiered in January 1991 when Calhoun was still EP. JFP didn't arrive until the summer of 1991.

What's funny is that Gottleib improved the overall production values (lighting, directing, sets, etc) a lot, yet her opening didn't reflect those great aesthetical changes at all.

And because she was brought up, “retired soap opera star” Beth Chamberlin now runs a fitness boot camp. https://youtu.be/5Xk_pL3OBuQ

Missy Reeves has been looking hard and dry for a while now...

And no, Doug Davidson, they still won't put your ass back on contract.

Is she still selling cheap jewelry on QVC?

I'm sure Carla would have been serviceable, but Betty Rea knew what she was doing when she fought for Zimmer, I guess. It's sad that we don't have a casting director in daytime with Ms. Rea's intuition and talent anymore.

Carmen was a mess of a character, much like everything else Latham wrote. Dru/Neil were having marital problems before Carmen (mainly due to fining out Lilly was Malcolm's biological daughter), Carmen saw an opportunity there and tried to weave herself in.

This is an isolated clip, but overall, Latham wrote terribly for Dru even though she kept her front-burner. Latham had scenes like Dru breaking into Carmen's closet and madly ripping up her clothes with a pair of scissors, and of course getting physical with Carmen at Newman. She often wrote Dru like a "ghetto woman" stereotype in other parts of that story. Carmen was definitely insensitive and indirect with her animosity a lot of the time though, which was the opposite of Dru and really pushed her buttons. Can a Latina like Carmen be classed as a 'Karen?" It's a complicated matter when all characters involved are underrepresented minorities.

I tend to prefer Long's second stint (after Calhoun arrives as EP). If only because I think Calhoun and Curlee and Trent Jones (who were now her Co-HWs) may have tempered some of her worst tendencies. Ratings may not have exploded, but I think the show was more tightly and cohesively executed. I've said it before, but Bob Calhoun never gets the respect for his contributions to ATWT and GL. I'm sad he never got the opportunity to steer another soap prior to his death.

Ilene would have been awful in that role, but Labine had lost the plot by the time she wrote for GL...

That’s embarrassing, but not surprising... Brown and Esensten were also breakdown writers on Nancy Curlee’s team, so they did at least have some history with GL prior to 1997. However, they’ve always struck me as writers who should be staff writers and never HW’s...

And what their 'first day' was like...

I don’t often say this about anyone, but Beverlee’s hairstyles definitely got more flattering in the 80’s...

The ideal creme of the crop of still living former GL writers would be Bridget & Jerome Dobson, but that would never happen in a million years. Pam Long, Nancy Curlee, Stephen Demorest, and Patrick Mulcahey also go without saying.

LOL, called this lame lineup (except for Courtney and possibly Millee). I hope he asks Courtney about writing those Maureen/Lillian confrontation scenes, but I won't hold my breath for questions that specific.