j swift

The 1989 SOD end of the year issue was published today on Tumblr.  There is a gossip item about Chantal Contouri (Prunella, GH) and Tristan Rogers (Scorpio) that I am dying to know more about.  It mentioned a grievance note that Chantal "slipped under Tristan's dressing room door" and apparently leaked to the soap press.  A quick search pulled up many old articles that required various forms of membership to read.  So, does anyone recall this dust up?

Mary Vernon, Katrina and Brad's baby that was switched for Jenny Wolek's baby, would have been the perfect kid to SORAS and return to exact her revenge on those that had caused her to have attachment issues. First ,with her mother and, then in her relationships; except by the time Mary grew up everyone involved had left Llandview and there had been numerous baby switches since her birth.  A Mary Vernon/Steve Grande-McGillis/CJ Roberts triangle is my fanfic dream; imagine an all switched-at-brith triangle.

1 hour ago, xtr said:

I remember some people saying they should have brought Tim back once Amanda came back onto the show as an adult.

Dylan Fergus played an adult/hunky Tim in 2002; he was only on for a month

In 1991 there is a sudden shift in many of the stories that summer including the sudden departures of Stephanie Hesser and the Medina family (Gabrielle's mother and sister who never fit with her origin story; but I digress).  Does anyone recall the backstage changes that lead to this sudden shift?

At point did they go from preempting a soap for live news coverage to rescheduling the episode for late night?  For example, in Los Angeles during the OJ trial and beyond the soaps would be shown at 2am rather than actually skipping a day.  I understand that there are always planned preemptions from holidays and sports but at some point the networks seemed to have decided to reschedule rather than preempt for live news coverage; at least on the west coast.

I'm re-reading early '80 OLTL history from the anniversary book (got it for $1 on Amazon).  I never realized that Larry Wolek was a real "Perils of Pauline" character during that period.  From 1981 -1984 he was kidnapped every summer (and held mostly shirtless) in various jungles and basements.  Ivan Kipling and Rachel Wilson (his obsessed former client) tortured him and tied him down every time the temperature turned warm in LLandview.

34 minutes ago, robbwolff said:

What other members of Jody's family could we have met?

Jody mentions her father and brother died fighting the mob and that is her motivation to free the Republic of Eden.

15 hours ago, victoria foxton said:

Doesn't seem like a story Henry Slesar would write. I wonder if TPTP forced him to write that mess? It's so pitiful that Edge couldn't shoot those scenes on location. Those in studio ''location'' scenes looked really bad.

Agreed but, there is still great dialogue and characters. 

While Jody, Nicole and Miles are cavorting in a cardboard castle, there is tons of humor and mystery. Mitzi has a cold and is fending off Gunther, Raven calls Geraldine while being held hostage and Geraldine assumes she's calling for money while Calvin and Gavin are trying to use a landline to get in touch with their loved ones.  Also, it fills in Jody's backstory and we learn if we'll meet other members of her family (spoiler alert: we won't) and it is mob related which is very much in tune with EON's history.  I think if they had just called it Sicily rather than Eden it would have seemed less silly.  All of the bad guys were obviously Italian so to make up a phony foreign land does not give the plot any credence.    

I'm watching the Eden story finale that has been recently uploaded.  I know the whole thing is ridiculous but, why was the Republic of Eden having their Tricentennial Celebration in upstate New York?  It is such an odd detail that they repeat in two different scenes.  As an audience, we knew that they weren't in Paris or St. Moritz.  So why not go to Eden?

That being said, I would watch any scene with Geraldine, Raven, Mitzi, or Jodi.  Geraldine is especially great in these episodes.  Her TV station has a liberal leave policy as both Jodi and Nicole need time off from their live daily shows to go to the Eden party.  She never moves, she is nice to everyone, and she is super cool about telling Jodi to go have fun at a summer party while she still young but to be careful.

I find it remarkable that were women nicknamed "Cricket" on both Y&R and ATWT.  It does not seem like a common nickname.

I can think of tons of Sean/Shawn's and Becca/Rebecca's but only one Raven.

1 hour ago, robbwolff said:

I wouldn't say that characters were rewritten because the initial concept didn't work. A clear example is your own use of Iris Carrington. Iris' parentage worked beautifully for years and provided plenty of storylines and conflict. Rather, very often other writers come along with their own vision and rewrite a character's past to fit that vision. What would you cite as a character rewrite that was dictated by the fact that the original concept didn't work?

I think Shane/Bobby Reno on AW is a classic example as well as Andrea Bedford on Santa Barbara.  Bobby Reno had Ryan Harrison's corneas and Amanda Cory's ex-husband's head and body and then was clearly re-written into Shane.  Andrea was brought on with the clear intent for her to be the Dragon, then it was pinned on a nurse and she became a heroine.

2 minutes ago, robbwolff said:

They changed Victor's story in the mid-80s when the secret room under Llanfair was discovered and it was revealed that Victor had had an affair with Irene Manning, leading to the birth of Tina. 

Rather than a change in history to fit current stories, I was thinking about characters who are introduced with one set of historical facts and then those facts change while the character is still on screen.

So, Iris Carrington's parentage is fair game because it was never established as part of Iris's initial backstory as ex-wife to Elliott and spoiler for Alice.  However, it never made sense that Dennis could be Alex Wheeler's son on Texas because Dennis was introduced with a genetic heart defect that was inherited from Elliott's side of the family.

Sudden ex-wives or long lost children are soap staples but I am interested in those characters who were clearly re-written because the initial concept did not work. 

44 minutes ago, Michael said:

In the 80s, there was some reveal about his actual identity being "Alan Jackson" and that Neil Curtis was either a stolen identity or an alias.

Neil also had a sorted past with Carlo Forenzo in another backstory.  Carlo was Don Diamont's first role. Neil had gambling debts to Carlo's family and they tracked him down but not before Carlo and Liz had an affair.

1 hour ago, Xanthe said:

Does a character have to have been onscreen for the backstory to be considered "changed"?

There are certainly no rules to this game but, I am interested in characters with multiple origin stories like Shane/Bobby or Marco Dane.

For example, I would give Adam Chandler a wide birth because he was introduced as man with a mysterious past so anything was possible.  However AW's Carl Hutchins's motive for evil doing was rewritten five different times (hyperbole) from Donna's European ex-husband to Justine's Massachusetts lover.  Asa Buchanan would have arguable lived a colorful life prior to moving his oil company to Llandview and London.  Yet, we met Max Holden's brother and he never mentioned a ranch in Texas or a half-brother who looked like the guy from Dr Quinn Medicine Woman (I know it came afterward, its just an attempt at a joke).

I would also put ping-pong mental illness diagnoses in this category.  Texas's Elliot was portrayed with a variable ability to function based on his response to his wartime experience.  However, at one time it was because of the guilt of being a traitor to his prison of war camp and at other times he just thought he was a traitor but it was actually Barrett's fault.  That plot twist was so clearly decided due to audience response to the characters that it barely made sense.

2 hours ago, titan1978 said:

Stefan and Katherine together.  Ugh.  So forced.  I didn't see any chemistry between them.  But Stefan and Laura were smokin'!!! 

I enjoyed the pairing of Stefan and Bobbi.  There was a moment when as an audience we were unaware of Bobbi's motives.  Was she going to betray Luke or Stefan?  I barely recall scenes where Luke was actually spying on Stefan and Bobbi with a telescope and it was really thrilling.  Looking back now, one of the anachronisms that is amusing is that everyone runs around town wearing blazers.  Bobbi is off work as a nurse, she goes to seduce Stefan so, she throws on a suit jacket?  Even the teens are constantly wearing blazers as if a board meetings could be called at any minute.  

I forgot a few

Shane Roberts/Bobby Reno (AW) - he's a carpenter/doctor/race car driver who also may have murdered someone and also was married to Ava from Loving - another classic in this category - Bay City was a place where a guy could start a new life but somehow his lost wives and children always find them.

Monica Quartermaine (GH) - came town married to Jeff but in love with his long lost brother Rick but also had an affair in med school that resulted in Dawn

EJ Dimera (Days) - also a race car driver and an attorney-at-law - a lot of people gave up professional careers for race car driving in soaps

Robert Barr (SB) - right hand man of mob boss Tonnelli but also a twin from a gothic family in New Orleans but also knew Eden as a teenager but not in Santa Barbara when she knew Cruz, Tori, and Keith

Palmer Cortland (AMC) - told Nina that Cortland Manor was his ancestral home until we found out that he was from Pidgin Hollow

John Hudson (AW) - merchant marine/n'er do well brother who hated his brother but also changed his last name to the same assumed last name of his brother and also was a doctor but he didn't tell anyone he was a doctor for about five years

Whether it is due to a change in writers or a new producer some characters can not keep their backstory straight over the years.  I've thought of a couple but I would be eager to hear about others who suffer from the same flaw.

1. Max Holden (OLTL), came to LLandview as a rancher who lived in Argentina with a brother named Steve.  Later, he had a father in Texas with a ranch with his new siblings Jake and Andi.

2.Steve Frame (AW), from only child former football player to oldest of seven from a farm town.

3.John Black (Days), the classic in this category former priest/spy/jewel thief/heir to two family fortunes

4. Doug Williams (Days) - from Bill Horton's conman cellmate to having a long lost rich twin that left town and was never discussed again. 

5. Jake McKinnon (AW) - grew up in Lassiter, Pennsylvania but somehow his uncle Vince and cousins were in town for years and he never contacted them nor invited them to his first wedding to Marley?

2 hours ago, JarrodMFiresofLove said:

The Clegg home was practically a character in its own right.

Myrna's bathroom with the sunken tub, telephone, and turban closet were iconic.

Did you ever notice that a signature of the Conboy producing style is a tracking shot through an archway into a rich family's cream and beige living room?  It is as if the audience is eve dropping on the action.  I know he was neither a set decorator nor a director but, there were definitely similarities across his shows.   Looking at the daily opening scenes of Capitol and SB, the Clegg's and the Capwell's both had the same shot.

point taken - I went back, read the synopsis and, my recall was in error, I tried to erase the post but I can't.  I also didn't recall that Clay was one of the victims.

That being said...it is still my favorite soap serial killer story, along with Port Charles first serial killer plot, because the pace and number of victims was addicting to watch.

It's interesting to hypothesize about who would leak this info.  From the OLTL perspective, they are trying to hype the recast and explain Ilene's departure.  From Ilene's perspective, knowing she was never right for that part, she could be using the leak to help negotiate her next contract.  However, the weight issue does both sources a disservice. 

I loved when the soap press was this vicious.  It seems like historically soap coverage has always been both cattier than the rest of celebrity press as well as more honest about issues involving drugs, alcohol, and other darker aspects of the actors.

In the soap openings discussion someone mentioned the theme during the "Loving Murders".  I'm sure others have noted the plot holes in the denouement of the story.  However, my nitpik is with the actual promo.  For weeks the promo suggested that the "click" would proceed every murder.  However, in the end the "click" was just a locket?  That locket held no clue to the murderer, we never saw Gwyneth wear it.  It is entirely possible to commit each of the murders without the use of a locket.  We're not even sure who gave her the locket.  It was a complete red herring but, the whole publicity campaign was based on this one plot device.    

I find the inverse relationship between SFT's ratings and the number of new openings amusing.  In the final years they changed openings with every new EP.  My vote for campiest image was the McClarey brother doing a soft shoe with a cigarette in his mouth; very disco/Fosse/soap.  It's the best example of the trope that a new opening theme will bring in new viewers which I don't think has ever actually worked.

Does anyone recall Ilene Kristen's role as Georgina the Geologist in the early 80's?  She came to town with nu-Tony Lord to mine solariam(sp?) under Asa's house.  She had a quick affair with Bo and then left town.  Someone recently referenced the storyline but I've never seen clips from this period.

I'm wondering how different the character was from RH's Delia?  When she was on AW she played a very snobby character that was years away from Delia.  Also, did anyone ever reference Georgina when Ilene came back to OLTL as Roxy? 

51 minutes ago, Vee said:

I wasn't aware "Buchanan City" existed beyond the Old West years, when it was a frontier town.

Me too but, I was reading a tumblr SOD recap from 11/89 and Clint wants to move to Buchanan City in Arizona with Viki and the boys to get away from the stress of living in LLandview.

I hate it on soaps when rich women are expected to sideline their familial wealth to be loved by the men in their lives.  I was just reading a AW recap where Brian asked Iris to give up being an heir to Mac's wealth.  Why did these losers want their wives to be dependent on them for financial support in order to humble them?  Why would Victoria Lord give up LLandfair, her paper, and running water to go live with Clint?   My advice to any soap heiress would be to hold on to what is your's, you never know when your parents will locate a long lost child and then you'll have to share the wealth.