j swift

Having read Eight Years in Another World in the last decade and being utterly charmed by the memoir, I am defensive of Harding Lemay and feel that he is often misunderstood in present day discussions. As one can hear in his podcast interview on We Love Soaps, he was a witty, sometimes old fashioned, raconteur, who liked to take the piss out of others. I mean his take on Doug Marland's Rules for How Not to Ruin a Soap were very amusing and I appreciated how he immediately dismissed the essay that most fans had taken on as a gospel on soap production. He was hired to turn around the ship on a soap that was loosing viewers and he helped it gain awards, press, and increased ratings, so the idea that one needs to be beholden to the legacy of a soap were understandably seen as an overrated value. First, imagine writing a book after quitting a job, anyone would tend to be sassy, subject to overstate their importance, and air their grievances. It wasn't necessarily representative of his feelings about soaps in general, nor was it meant to describe how he would feel about writing in the future, it was just a collection of stories about that time period. Second, I think he is pretty clear from the outset that he was an employee of the production, and although he had opinions, he lacked the power to enact his wishes with regarding to the casting and pacing of the show, which is one of the reasons that he ultimately left the show. Third, when taken out of context his comments on Irma Phillips and Virginia Dwyer may seem rude, however he is clearly using the opportunity of writing a memoir to dish some dirt and entertain the reader. He writes as if he was bitching to a friend, and he was not trying to diminish the entire contribution that both woman made to the show. In fact, he tries to be diplomatic when retelling his stories, from his perspective, and he never directly insults either person. So, I think notions about his motivations may be a bit overwrought, and we should remember that especially in the days when soaps were owned by the advertisers, every decision was done by committee so that nobody had complete control over the product.

@DemetriKane Here you go Podcast: https://slate.com/podcasts/decoder-ring/2021/06/one-life-to-live-todd-manning and the transcript : https://slate.com/transcripts/aVpLcjE1dXdHVmRQdmV1aVFlOXZFWGJ6aEN5eGxXeE9DNERYN05oWWZMaz0=

I thought this ad for the premiere could benefit from some additional editing to the copy

I found one for the premiere of Texas I think the drawing is more flattering than the photos, but I find the copy to be amusingly hyperbolic

Liam should be embarrassed. It took Anders one phone call to track down the information on the money laundering scheme, while Liam's been searching for months

I totally missed the part about what happened to Liam's kidnappers after they escaped. May I ask anyone to fill me in on the details?

Did anyone else catch all of the Wizard of Oz references? Fallon was was wearing a blue gingham dress, they showed just Kirby's shoes sticking out, Jeff offered Alexis an emerald necklace, and they followed the golden clip to find Liam. Also, Cristol needed a new brain, Leo the contractor caused Culhane to need courage, and something about Adam and a heart I know they already did a Wizard of Oz themed episode, but the imagery was really interesting. Love the reference to The Colbys in Space from the OG series when Fallon was captured by the aliens. BTW, except on soaps, do people still consult huge printed blueprints? Wouldn't it more likely be digital? Less cinematic I guess.

I had an amusing thought about Victoria Lord-Riley-Burke-Riley-Buchanan-Buchanan-Carpenter-Davidson-Banks; - a single kidnapping is a misfortune, but when two out of three of your babies have been kidnapped (four out of five, if you count Megan and Natalie) the mother is at least partially to blame. I mean the woman forgot giving birth to two different daughters, so she wasn't that careful or observant. Dorian was probably correct that Vicky shouldn't have lived at Llandfair, because she certainly could never hire an adequate security team. Allison Perkins and Cathy Craig were very unstable women and could have been easily deterred by the hiring of a bodyguard for the babies (for you nitpickers, I know Vicky didn't live in the main house when Kevin was kidnapped). Victor maintained a secret room for thirty years that was never destroyed until Vicky stumbled upon it. And let's not even discuss the number of times the Manor was on fire, people fell out off windows, or was almost bombed by wedding cakes.

I re-read the entire SOD synopsis of the show on Tumblr during lockdown and it was a fun read that I would encourage others to try. In my opinion, the show suffered because of the "too many cooks" syndrome. As I read the interview with the original author of the novel Rituals, it was a good starting point for a nighttime soap. As the title suggests, the plot was structured around a variety of university traditions. Much like B&B used fashion shows in its early years, I felt like these traditions could be used as tent poles for different plots and would give the characters a reason to interact at various points in the year. Homecoming, Spring formals, and Summer harvest festivals would have set a timer on certain stories so that you always felt as if you were building toward something. However, the college plotlines did not do well with test audiences and the other cooks diverted attention to ridiculous business stories, and way too many murder mysteries. RIP Phelice Sampler, but she was horribly miscast. Apparently her character in the original pitch was closer to Renee on Days, a mean bitch with a cruel tongue. However, she did not do as well playing an earnest P.E. teacher who was given no autonomy. The fact that the faculty looked the same age as the students, the cheap sets, and hair model male characters did them no favors. Monte Markham is a one note actor, with very little charisma or sexual appeal, so it was hard to imagine him as a match for any character played by the remarkable Christine Jones. I remember Greg Mullavey from Mary Hartman, so he came off as being more comedic than menacing. And neither Jo Anne Pflug nor Tina Louise was ever going to be a viable Joan Collins-type. However, that ending is pretty iconic...

Let's discuss Trevor St John as a recast Todd. First it was such an interesting move to recast the role. There was that podcast recently that discussed the phenomenon of Todd, including Roger Howarth's dilemma of having a distaste for the role while being financially dependent to OLTL to help raise his young family. Obviously Blair could have been written to find many other loves, and as I recall, Tea had already left the show. So, there was no need to recast the role, especially given that plots about his retcon status as a Lord heir could have been given to Tina, or even David (also I never understood the soapy logic that heirs found after the death and the probate are entitled to any money). I never liked Trevor as Todd. He was handsome and wore clothes very well, yet brooding was one of the only emotions that he could play. In the Wiki someone referred to him as a "young Brando", but Trevor only mimicked Brando yelling as Stanley in Streetcar and never showed any range. I thought his acting during Star's teen-aged pregnancy was awful, the angry outbursts through gritted teeth were far too over the top for a story that was trying to be socially conscience. His rape by Margret was not only terribly concieved, but also totally unbelievably portrayed, given his lack of any vulnerability or sincerity. It goes without saying that the writing in both the "rapemance" with Marty and Walker Laurence plots were egregious. However, I would argue that the writing alone was not at fault for the failure of those stories, because Trevor did not do enough to sell emotions of Todd in order for the audience to understand his motives. However, I would forgive all of that for the writing around the return of Roger/Todd, which I still think was one of the most creative plots on OLTL. The "meta" nature of Todd's disbelief that his loved one's accepted Victor Jr's story was almost revolutionary. Finally, a soap character was remarking on the idea of how ludicrous soap stories can be and how quickly people in soap towns move on from trauma and upheaval. I think the St John years were worth it for those few scenes that I still remember fondly.

The odd thing about these stories that show "made" Robin stay longer is that it negates the idea that she had representation. She had just appeared in one of the biggest movies of the year, one suspects than any agent or manager would work hard to get her into a position to make another film. The whole story never added up for me. Not that I doubt that she had a contract, and New World made her stay throughout the length of the contract, but the notion that time was added on without her consent always seemed fishy. As for how SB would have been different if she stayed, given her track record of poor working relationships with male co-stars, I don't think she could have ever been in a supercouple.

As much as I enjoyed the novelty of Dorian and Joey (Joe), I don't feel like either actor sold me on the idea that relationship was viable.

I was thinking about this comment and it struck me that Brandon was around five years old when SB premiered (although he seems much younger until the recast) which would have made it cruel for Santana to take him away from Gina who was the only mother he ever knew, especially given that Stockman, the only father he ever knew. had just died. I don't know if, as an audience, we're supposed to be conflicted about the moral issues in the situation. However, just given the facts, I am solidly on Gina's side and I think there is no cause for Santana to maintain a relationship with Brandon. And CC should have totally laid off. Given that Channing was not his biological son, and he was switched at birth, CC had no standing in trying to influence who should have custody. Also, I get that Cruz was sympathetic to Santana, but Channing was her first love and she never gave Cruz the time of day until he fell for Eden. She also toyed with Mason and Keith whenever it was convenient. So, I agree that a fictional hatred of Santana is justified.

An amazing example of 80's hair - truly defying gravity! Interesting that Eileen didn't opt for nails, but the person who matched the earrings to the dress detail was a genius. And somehow they looked 20 years older than they did in the 2000s?

Clearly the Residence 1.0 was visually superior to 2.0. However, Senior Executive Producer John Conboy (thanks @Chris 2) had a penchant for shooting through a set, as if the audience was spying in on a conversation. If you watch episodes of Y&R, Capitol, or Santa Barbara, there are always these shots from between columns or through an open staircase to start an episode. It was very effective in demonstrating the grandiosity of the setting. He used fewer establishing shots of the exteriors of the buildings, favoring a tracking shot through a set to start the action. The newer version of the set allowed for those types of shots. Also, of note, time slot competition GH had recently renovated the Quatermaine mansion, so there was a trend between shows. Lastly, the newer set seems more functional, Residence 1.0 didn't have a large dining room, and frequently characters were forced to stand around during scenes because there were very few places to sit. The open courtyard was lovely, but lighting it proved to be a nuisance, the fake sunlight from the center caused shadows on the entry way, and it had be adjusted to suit the time of day in the other scenes. If you look at other sets developed during the same time period, like the house that Mason bought Pamela in the episode that was uploaded to YT today, you can see that they were trying to give a peachy/pink pastel look to all of the spaces which reflected light nicely on the actors and seemed more modern that the classic dark wood and deep red casita look of the Residence 1.0. All of which is why Conboy was often criticized for valuing style over substance.

Ironically, as I recall, he was used in the "designer drug" storyline. The teen group of Nancy, Perry, Thomasina, and Carter were all involved in selling and buying what were referred to as designer drugs, like ecstasy. It was pretty typical soap drug plotting, an evil syndicate was manufacturing the drugs, an innocent kid was lured into selling the drugs, a smarmy kid was using peer pressure to get others to take the drug, and an ingenue became hooked after a single snort. The talking points in the soap press at the time was about how it was au currant to discuss designer drugs, which at the time were not yet illegal because they were derived from over the counter medications. The usual scare tactics were used to frighten the audience into staying away from these party drugs for fear that they, or their children, would fall prey to life a debauchery (apparently, Mr Sedgwick did not learn that lesson). Although, to be fair I may have completely confused him with Nancy's boyfriend Greg. As a coda, I was thinking about how many of us feel that Nancy was a missed story opportunity and her exit was poorly planned. However, strategically, if you think about that period of the show, because she wasn't SORASed at the same time as Sally, she was younger than her, but older than Marley. So, once those characters became leads, there was really no peer group for Nancy. Sally was already playing the reformed rebel teen who transformed into a heroine, and Marley was the innocent virgin, so Nancy becomes redundant, regardless of her potential.

Did any other Real Housewives of Salt Lake City fans think Fallon looked exactly like Whitney Rose in her undercover wig?

I wouldn't mind if it were Steven, I think it would further alienate Liam and Fallon if Liam was unable to attend the funeral because of his investigation. But, it wouldn't move the rest of the story forward, except if it was a set up for recasting the role, like in the original series. Although, it does raise speculation about cause of the original actor being fired if current cast doesn't want to discuss the issue or at least mollify fans by saying they wished he would return as well... I think the writing is on the wall for Adam to become obsessed with Cristol after helping her being cured from the tumor. So, my current bet is on either Blake or Culhane, but the main issue will be that Liam is unable to attend the service, Fallon has an affair, and then Liam returns proofing his father's innocence. If that lady playing the senator's assistance was a bigger name I would say that she was the key to the investigation, but given the show's penchant for solving things off screen, I think Liam will do fine on his own.

Do anyone else think that was supposed to be the mid season finale, because the cliffhanger was gripping? We have multiple candidates for death. Liam was kidnapped, and Fallon doesn't know where he is. Blake is going back to flying after being a failed pilot once before. Cristol's convenient brain tumor that doesn't effect her speech, attention, logic is causing her to randomly pass out. Culhane is being threatened by the mob. And Kirby is a coke addict after a single hit. So, anyone could be in the casket. Also, I adore the throwbacks to the origin story, this week Dominque's husband was named Brady, just like in the 80s when he was played by Billy Dee Williams (I'm just glad it wasn't Garrett Boydston) Note the lighting was so much brighter in the 80s.

Did Cheryl Stansbury know that her sister's real name was Elsie Mae Crumholz?

Whoever was the writer to give Holden a brain injury was a good problem solver. The plot matched the characterization and explained his sodden presence. As I vaguely recall, the scenes with Lucinda that caused Holden's miraculous recovery in a cellar were captivating, but mostly due to the skills of Elizabeth Hubbard. Catty quotation for the week: it didn't help that he didn't age well...

What if Amanda is the person in Europe that keeps messing up Fallon's IPO? My new theory is that Liam is reported dead, Fallon goes to Europe to meet Amanda, she falls for her husband Miles. Fallon and Miles begin an affair, then in the season finale, Liam returns!

Given that ratings seem to show that nobody is watching this season, it seems fortunate that they're already renewed for season five. I wonder if it will run during the summer again or restart in late fall? I continue to be endlessly amused by Dominique's full body shimmy every time she speaks. The cover of diver's license was fun. Anders and Alexis commiserating over the kids they abandoned as teens was ironically fun. I still don't understand Blake's wealth - he could afford to buy back the manor, but can't seem to start his own business?

Skeeter Mckee? Was this GH in the 90s or Our Gang with Spanky and Alfalfa during the Depression era?

With all due respect, I would also offer a hubbard squash to anyone who can find a retired cabaret singing, doctor's wife, and great grandmother in the outer suburbs of Chicago (close to the farmland) who was that chic. Even with this obvious misstep To be clear, I don't doubt that women in the midwest can dress well. I was merely remarking on the universal styling abilities of the characters seemed to reflect an urbane New York sensibility rather than the suburban setting of Oakdale (even with its rather active nightlife).