BetterForgotten

^The REAL Blair!

Didn't Marcy and JFP's relationship sour at GL? I remember when Marcy was interviewed around 1997 and was asked how she would feel if JFP came to AMC as EP (at the time, JFP was consulting at ABC, but obviously ended up at OLTL), and she didn't seem very enthused... It was the right move for her to go back to AMC (even if they later ruined Liza).

Marland likely found Agnes infuriating to work with. We know how involved he liked to be in the writing of his shows, and to have to answer or collaborate with someone like Nixon must have been hard for him. Patrick Mulcahey, who wrote for Marland at both GL and Loving, once mentioned how much he disliked Nixon's involvement in Loving's writing process: How did you start in Santa Barbara ? Thereby hangs a tale. After working with Douglas Marland on Guiding Light and then on Loving, which I hated (and where Agnes Nixon was like some psychotic schoolmarm on speed, making copious condescending red-pen "corrections" in the margins of scripts - "You used the same word on page 2 and on page 34 ! Too repetitive !") - after that, I decided I was done with writing for soaps. Douglas was the best. He'd taught me more about writing than any ten literature professors ever could have, plus I'd won an Emmy. I figured I'd never have another experience like that, so I decided go back to what I knew best : waiting on tables and writing plays at night and being a starving artist again.

Agnes at least did train Gordon Russell to take over the HW duties at OLTL when she left to focus on AMC. Loving just seemed to float in and out of different regimes every few months (Agnes herself did come back at one point). To be fair to ABC, they did give this show a lot of chances to catch on and it probably lasted way longer than it needed to given its ratings in relation to other soaps at the time. The fact that they kept it around for as long as they did was probably due to their relationship with Nixon.

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.