BetterForgotten

Didn't Agnes Nixon own the show outright (and not ABC)? It makes you wonder why she didn't seem to have a tighter grip on it or maybe fought harder for better consistency with its production/writing. It's a a very strange show overall due to the constant identity changes, that's for sure.

Damn, this looks terrible:

ABC almost hired Curlee twice, but she backed out at the last minute both times. Once was for Loving in mid/late 1994 (but she must have realized that show was a lost cause no matter who wrote it) and then GH after the Labine's left/were fired in late 1995/early 1996. To think, we may have never gotten Guza at GH had she accepted the offer...

1991 was in large part a huge transition year for the show, but also quite seamless. Goes to show what having a great set of writers and a talented ensemble cast can do. I'm interested in seeing if there are any changes between Robert Calhoun leaving as EP and JFP coming on. She likely got a lot of credit for things he/Curlee/Demorest had already set in motion. P&G soaps always got derided for being too "old-fashion," but early 90's GL has aged a hell of a lot better than what the ABC soaps and DAYS were producing at the time. GL was such a contemporary soap at that time and that never really seemed to get noticed.

Laurie Metcalf was on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert:

These 1991 episodes have been an amazing trip down memory lane.

I never liked Crystal and thought Natalie West was a terrible actress. I can see why the show, in later years, just had a recurring troupe of supporting best friends for Roseanne. Crystal's place on the show seemed a little forced to me - she was never really Roseanne's best friend, that was Jackie (along with being her sister obviously). I think Crystal herself pointed this out in an episode where Roseanne said she was her best friend.

If CBS doesn't allow Johnny Galecki to make appearances on the show, I wonder if they'll have Darlene and David divorced/separated. Or maybe he'll be mentioned and not seen...

I wonder if ABC plans to do a retrospective special as well - next year will also be 30 years since the show premiered, so makes sense to me.

The YouTube version of the ABC promo video:

ETA - Nevermind, technology not working for me

https://www.facebook.com/168779806472372/videos/vb.168779806472372/1772768269406843/?type=3&theater

Don't even know why I'm listening to this, but whatever...

The first 6 season are the best (IMO, the show really hits its stride in seasons 4-6, with 5 being the best). Bruce Helford was the EP in season 5, so good news that he seems to be involved in this revival. I'll always have a soft spot for Roseanne (show and woman) - the show is like the best comfort food, and has aged amazingly well overall.

That was a great haircut on Bev.

Also, it was Calhoun who installed the Curlee/Demorest team in the first place, and I know Curlee in particular has mentioned he went to bat for her material several times in the beginning. I don't understand why Marland has issues writing for her, but thankfully (unlike many from her era), she came back and flourished for a few years.

Holly is such a unique soap character (almost un-soap in many ways), there really isn't a prototype of someone I can easily compare her to. She also felt so real to me, and Garrett played the part as realistically as possible. She felt like a lot of people I knew, and I identified strongly with certain aspects of the character. To me, what's what made GL special for a long time - there were just these wonderfully complicated characters (female characters in particular) that were grounded in reality. That obviously withered away throughout the years, but it was good while it lasted.

Maureen Garrett/Holly looks stunning here. Too bad Robert Calhoun didn't stick around for much longer or work longer with the Curlee/Demorest team. He really deserves credit for re-positioning this show and for grounding Pam Long's material in her second stint (which is far superior to her first, IMO).