j swift

I think the introduction of the Loves was a great period, but I think in later years Grant Harrison makes Peter Love redundant in terms of a snivley whiplash guy, spoiler for the heroine's couple-hood, who was desperate for his father's approval.

There's some irony that Donald May was later cast on Texas, which was not only re-played on TBS, but reports at the time were that actor's contracts limited the residual payments for the rebroadcast so that they made less than industry standard.

While I agree that Peter could have returned for a variety of different stories, at the time of his exit he was really written into a corner that would have been difficult to turn around. While Britney was not the most popular character, I don't think anyone wanted to see her verbally abused and threatened whilst pregnant. The writers gave Britney a believable motive for shooting Peter, as well as creating sympathy for her relationship with Catlin, but in the process Peter became irredeemable. I guess he could have found a new love and turned his life around, but who cares about a sniveling brat whose entire adult life (after a few recasts) had been in the service of trying to gain his father's respect? And, while I enjoyed model/drug addict Nicole, by the time she became a murdering clothes designer who allowed Felicia to be tried and convicted for a crime that she didn't commit, she also lost whatever sympathy she may have garnered over the years.

Still no return date set ?!? I continue to be puzzled about her rapid decline from late summer when she last hosted the show to the fall start date that she did not show up for (apparently at the last minute). Wendy has always been a bit scattered, but she held court for Hot Topics alone on stage for at least 20 minutes an episode. So, it alarming that 4-6 weeks later she was no longer able to do so, and now four months later there has been no word on if she will ever be able to host again.

I think it is interesting that he was asked the question in the first place. I mean how often are network executives asked about older pilots? My "hot take" is that the answer is related online clickbate. If you look at the TVLine numbers, the stories about soaps do very well and are usually in the top 10 stories of the week. Last week's EW story about the death of Luke Spencer did better than a story on the Golden Globes. There is a hunger for soap news online, even if it does not translate into broadcast TV ratings (probably because those online readers are not in the prefered demographic). But, I wonder if online entertainment sites are crafting questions in order to get more views, rather than gaining real newsworthy information?

I can't tell if it is just a cheaply made, poor fitting garment, or if Johnny's fly is open (or both)?

Just as aside, much like I think Eileen Fulton's story about being slapped in a supermarket has become folklore, after listening to the Slate podcast about Marty's rape, I wonder if anyone actually said "rape me" or if Roger Howarth didn't want to be typecast as a rapist forever more? Podcast: https://slate.com/podcasts/decoder-ring/2021/06/one-life-to-live-todd-manning and the transcript : https://slate.com/transcripts/aVpLcjE1dXdHVmRQdmV1aVFlOXZFWGJ6aEN5eGxXeE9DNERYN05oWWZMaz0= Someday soon we'll need a topic of soap opera urban legends culled from actor's hyperbolic stories in interviews over the years.

I am always delighted in the history of soaps when you get a character like Donna Love, who was introduced as an antagonist for Sally, but surpassed her, and eventually became a heroine in her own right, due to the undeniable charisma of their portrayal. Donna is so interesting to me because whatever Depriest's original intentions were for the character, she became a muse for so many future writers who fleshed her out in other directions. I guess we could put Clarice and Felicia in the same category. They were supporting characters who were introduced to be a spanner in a relationship, but grew to become leading ladies. Unlike, Victoria, Blaine, or Rachel, who were reformed by love and became heroines in a typical soap development, one could never have predicted the longevity of characters like Donna or Felicia.

Agreed. I think that writers may avoid certain topics because of concerns about backlash, but that was true prior to social media, but, in practice, I think that social media response has very little effect on planned storylines or characters. One only needs to recall the "Otalia" fanatics of Guiding Light to see an example of how rabid fandom had very little impact on the focus of stories. We need to remember that even today when it is estimated that 70% of the topics on Twitter are related to television, still less that 20% of the population is engaged on the platform, and 70% of twitter users are male, which is not part of desired daytime demographic

For me, the difference is that Nola, Ava, and later Sara on Sunset Beach, fantasized about "Old Hollywood", whereas these plots were directly cribbed from movies, not a one episode lark. I actually think the less iconic but more amusing example was when Siobhan had a "Jaws" sighting in Montauk.

What I think is so nuts about the summer of Silver, Erica, and Jenny modeling in New York was how much of the plot was directly lifted from classic films. The iconic images of Erica modeling are directly influenced by images of Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face Silver's story is obviously cribbed from All about Eve and there are shades of A Place in the Sun in Jenny's story, and the shady photog who tried to take topless pics was taken directly from the movie Fame. Copying classic films was a "thing" on soaps at the time, and at ABC in particular, but I wonder if today's audience would tolerate such direct plagiarism?

I remember the TC car story slightly differently. Julian hit TC with the car and the injury ended TC's career. But, it was later revealed that Julian was with Eve (or maybe her sister?) and they were under the influence when the accident occurred. TC had hoped to use the evidence of the car against Julian when the time was right (although in Harmony time was relative and the "right time" might have been decades later). Then, it came out that Julian was not alone in the car and was covering for either Eve or her sister, so the plan failed.

I think Pam in the miniseries and the first season is so different from what she became that it is difficult to image Linda in the role. As I recall, Pam was a bit more antagonistic. Miss Ellie was warning Sue Ellen to have a baby quickly, or Pam would have the first grandchild and solidify her place in the family. In later seasons, both Pam and Miss Ellie became so sweet that butter wouldn't melt in their mouths. However, in those early episodes they really played up Pam as being Digger's daughter and as a result she was more of a contrast to Sue Ellen and Miss Ellie (maybe a bit more like the character of Afton).

This one's funny because the text says that it's "like no other series done before", and then the ad looks exactly like the ad for Texas, with the dominate woman at the center top. Also, I know neither of us were fans of this soap, but what are the chances that one of the plots was about an interracial gay love affair with the Gorton's fisherman? Now, that would be like nothing I've ever seen before!

As indicated by my thread about soap caricatures, I have an affinity for that form of mid century advertisement. I also id'ed Steve and Alice kissing, with Rachel on the floor attended to by Ada in leopard pedal pushers, then Lenore at the top of the stairs. But, I cannot figure out the couple on the stairs (maybe John & Olive Randolph?), or the guy on the sofa, holding something (Vic Hastings or Walter Curtain holding either a murder weapon or a remote control?) Perhaps, someone can recall the plots surrounding the hour expansion and that would solve this mystery.

I meant that her son/grandson's uncle just killed her ex-husband, and when the inevitable justice occurs for Victor what will it mean for Spencer? I think there's a lot riding on Spencer as the future of GH, and perhaps his grandmother's grief will effect the choices he makes with regard

Historically I am the worst at predicting GH plots, but I think Luke's death plays on a couple of levels, (1) Laura recently came back to town and this will cause conflict in her relationships, (2) it solidifies Victor as a threat without having to kill off a contract character, and (3) it resets Tracey making her more likely to interfere with BLQ and Austin.

I think this was discussed recently on another thread about 80s news and gossip when Ms Lyman did an interview about taking the role on Generations and there were a few conclusions, (1) she was run ragged from the commute btw NY and LA at the start of series, and AMC had not been accommodating about her schedule, which may have soured the relationship,(2) she had developed an active directing career while working on Mama's Family and got many opportunities behind the scenes elsewhere, and (3) NBC was desperate at the time she was cast on Generations and they offered the kind of money that was not previously discussed on AMC.

I am amused by your Freudian analysis of whatever the sisterly version of the Oedipal complex would be called. I think if Sable was allowed at least one memorable monologue about not settling for being second best to Alexis after being betrayed by Francesca, it would have gone a long way to explain her motives with Blake.

I was just thinking about the number of times that Krystle cheated on Blake versus Alexis's disloyalty during their marriages. We know that Alexis had a brief affair with Roger Grimes, after a years of marriage, neglect, and three (or four) kids. Krystle kissed Mark Jennings within her first months of marriage, was lusted after by Matthew Blaisdel, had an "almost affair" with Nick Toscano, and then kissed Daniel Reece. But she was adored by Blake and given furs, jewels, and a new couture wardrobe each week. Its another soap opera case of the "bad girl" not being quite as complicit as the "good girl."

Speaking of Sable, I think we never got to see what attracted Jason to her as a wife. By the time the series began he had some serious animosity toward her, he yearned for Francesca as soon as she came back to town, and his sister despised her. By contrast, we knew what drew Blake to Alexis, they were both on the come-up, and he appreciated her tenacity and loyalty, until she betrayed him, and his ego no longer allowed them to stay together. I believe that a little backstory about why Jason married Sable would have filled out the drama, and made for a more interesting triangle. Maybe she brought some class into his life, taught him how to spend money on luxury goods, or allowed him to appreciate art? As it stood, Sable was just a second choice when Francesca was unavailable because she was attached to Jason's brother, which was a crappy descriptor for such an interesting character.

Since they seem to post so many Jackie and Owen episodes it got me thinking about how dumb the character of Whip seemed to be. First, Jackie inexplicably moves into Steffy's old apartment with the tub in the living room and those huge stairs, while her son lives in a much fancier house. Anyone who has lived in LA for more than two seconds will tell you that it is torture to commute from downtown to a store in Beverly Hills (although it might have been closer to their warehouse). Then, Whip moved into the unforeseen apartment above her which can only be accessed by the stairs in her living room. And, his attempts to break up Jackie and Owen involve a series of photo shoots where Owen wears skimpy outfits. It was as if someone in production one day looked at the stairs on set and questioned where they went, and it became an entire plot. And, where is the logic that Jackie seeing Owen in a fig leaf would suddenly make her want Whip? And, then they all just went away one day to travel the world.

Although one imagines that everyone on this thread has seen all of these openings, I clipped it at the disco intro for contrast with how brilliant Hold on to Love had been (btw - mildly unpopular opinion - I also like the 2007 poem opening, but I will never abide by Only Love can Save the World with the awful lyric "everybody clings to sex like soap on a rope")

I just saw on Facebook that it is the 31st anniversary of the "Hold on to Love" opening of GL (Debuted 1/2/91). I re-watched it and it struck me that it is a remarkable piece of editing. This was before digital logging and editing, so in order to get that iconic image of Harley dancing across the screen someone had to recall that moment from an episode, and splice it in so that it perfectly fit within the semicircle and moved in the correct direction. Bravo! Just for contrast, there's an earlier disco opening of GL where the cast were specifically mugging straight to camera (Ed blocks a journalist camera, Josh oogles a woman's ankle, and Hillary spins to the disco beat) and it looked so corny. It is no wonder that Hold on to Love became the standard bearer for soap openings.

Wasn't Kristen a social worker at one point, or did she just work with under privileged youth? Because I wonder how she supports herself? One imagines that Tony has investment dividends and other forms of passive income. I guess Tony and Kristen would have been the only benefactors of Stefano's will. But, she lives awfully high on the hog with no viable means of support, and masks, private jets to fly your enemies in trunks out of town, and hair coloring don't come cheap for a woman who doesn't even own a home! I know we're not meant to ask how people in Salem afford their lifestyles (I mean Ben's having a baby, while he and his wife seem to not be bothered by need for jobs), but Kristen's source of wealth is a question that I have every time she's in town.