j swift

This may be too generous given @RavenWhitney's assessment of the writer, but I thought the names were meant to represent the duality of their sibling relationship, Beth-the-virgin and Liz-the-sexy one, etc... It was akin to a character with multiple personalities but played by separate actresses.

I am straining to recall if any of ATWT Lisa's friends defended/supported her after she was humiliated by John Dixon at their engagement party?

I wonder if we are catching up on screen to the point that production was shut down earlier in the year and if there will be any noticeable changes?

I'm reading the 1984 summaries when Nikki found Victor's mother played by Dorothy McGuire, and certainly she did not affect a Tuetonic accent, nor did Victor's brother. And when they finally introduced Victor's father, played by George Kennedy, he was supposed to be Canadian. So the origin of Victor's accent is as mysterious as why nobody in Genoa City sounds very Midwestern. Maybe his orphanage was run by German nuns?

I hadn't watched that show since Christina Ferrare was fired, (or the early days when Steve Garvey's second wife named Cyndi was a regular), so I was shocked to read that up until now it was being produced two hours a day, five days a week! It was reminiscent of a time when Hallmark wanted to have a daytime lineup which included Martha Stewart, her food editor, and that show about training your pets. I miss that kind of DIY, use-a-sheet-for-a-window-curtain, kind of content in the morning. As tacky as most of it was, at least there was entertainment in the attempt at original ideas. It reminds me of the endless parade of Canadian decorators sponge painting on HGTV in its heyday.

The will is such "soap opera logic", no probate court would allow someone to bequeath their estate and then state how it could be spent. Once Edward got his inheritance, his father had no rights over his bastard grandchildren and their fortunes; they're not the royal family. Also, ELQ was always Edward's company, not the family's business, so his cousins were not likely to benefit, or suffer, from the profits of those endeavors. My favorite "soap logic" errors are when adults are written as if they immediately have rights to inherit a family fortune as soon as they find that one of their long lost parents were rich. Doris Duke left a chunk of her estate to a woman who she adopted as an adult that she felt was a reincarnation of her dead daughter and Leona Helmsley left a fortune to her dog. Proving that in real life rich people don't owe you money just because you share DNA.

I am constantly amused when I find out that actors are using their middle name as their stage name. As pointed out in that article John James's father and brother had the last name Anderson. Now, maybe it was John's stepfather, but still I never stop to think when someone has a first name for a surname that it is fake (e.g. Lea Michelle & Chuck Todd) It is a good thing that Lynda and JMR went into soap reporting and not psychic predictions because from assuring us not to worry that Paper Dolls will return, to their hopes for the future of Berringers, they sucked at prognostication. Whether it was 1985 or 1991, Jack Wagner's contract seems to always be an issue. Would You Rather? (1984 edition) - Attend Ann Flood and Forrest Compton's finale party for Edge of Night, Search for Tomorrow's holiday gala with surprise couple Lisa Peluso and Perry Stephens, GL's Christmas party where Grant Alexander wore his "trademark" tux and an anonymous source remarked that he's a "weird bird, hot one minute, cold the next", or Bob Mackie's birthday bash for Brad Maule?

How about Rena Sofer as Lois Cerullo on GH? She was from New York, not the Cyndi Lauper School for Girls who want to have fun.

Between Alexandra, Celia, and Lorena, (not to mention Quentin, Betsy, Hal, and Herbert), the Q's were much more welcoming of distant cousins than they were of their own daughter Tracy. Edward invested in the spa, paid for both of Celia's weddings, and gave Alexandra a top job at the family business, while Tracy had to withhold his heart meds just to get some scraps. It also begs the question of why all of these rando's would come to Port Charles rather than the family's historic home on Long Island, where Tracy and Alan were raised?

I don't think Celia and Alexandra were siblings. The writing was very careful to point out that Celia was a second cousin. I assume because they didn't want viewers to be confused when she had an affair with her new found relative Jimmy Lee. Since everyone was so helpful with my first set of questions, I have a few more: Was Crane Tolliver Lila's first husband, or was he just trying to blackmail the Q's about Lila's first husband? BTW I always confabulate GH Crane Tolliver with OLTL Talbot Huddleston; two creepy older killers with weird names. Susan Moore, and later Lorena, were obsessed by the idea that Lila or Edward could have been bigamists, but (other than embarrassment), why would it matter if they were together for more than three decades and their children's inheritance was determined by their wills, not their prior marriages? I get that Lorena could have been Monica's cousin, but given Monica's backstory as a neglected orphan who found a substitute mother in Gail Baldwin, would she and Lorena really have any shared history? Did Jimmy Lee always know that Beatrice was his mother? Because, why was he from the sticks while she was wondering around in Europe?

We've moved quickly from the end of 1984 to the beginning of 1985 First on the docket, we get confirmation of the Tina casting shenanigans at OLTL I find it amusing that she dyed her hair and now I really want to see those scenes Meanwhile, weeks after this odd party We got this news Of course, spoiler alert, Maule survives at least two attempts to kill off Tony before he finally bit the big one on GH And then there were 13...

Oh, I was hoping Roger Howarth would comeback playing Serena, now that would be a twist (jk)

Everyone cackles at a good bitch fight, but I've also always enjoyed the portrayal of close female friendships on the soaps. Reading the GH summaries from the 1980's I was struck by the scenes between Celia and Holly. At a time when intergenerational stories were unpopular, writers used a character's peers as talk-to's, rather than patrician mothers or tongue clucking aunts. Celia could confess anything to Holly without judgement, and together they fought their way out of being held hostage at various times by the DVX, Grant Putnam, and Lorena Sharpe's spa hooligans. In the late 1990's we got a new generation of female friendships on soaps. Inspired by girl-power and Sex & the City, we began to see cadres of young women supporting each other through the cruel world of romance, international spies, and suddenly appearing siblings. Certainly the Fusion gals at AMC come to mind, as well as GL's bookclub moms. Some of my favorite girlfriends of all time include: Lois and Brenda on GH Erica and Opal on AMC Nina and Cricket on Y&R Marcy and Franny on ATWT and a special mention to the short term, but fun, friendship of Tori and Julia on SB I was hoping to gather a list of women who never betrayed each other for love or money in soaps.

Upon reflection, the Brooke/Erica rivalry almost arose out of thin air. Early on when Brooke was involved with Dan, Benny, and then Tom, I don't remember any significant interactions between the two women. Erica never pined for Tom, and given Phoebe's disdain for Mona, she and Brooke rarely socialized. It wasn't until Brooke hooked up with Adam that Erica began the narrative about how Brooke took all of Erica's leftovers. Then, Brooke's relationship with Jack cemented their animosity. It feels like various writers used Brooke to remind Erica that either Adam or Jack were the loves of her life. Erica was usually willing to toss any guy aside, until she knew someone else wanted them. Certainly Brooke never did anything to Erica to deserve her scorn. They just happened to have the same taste in men.

I'm reading summaries of 1983-1984 on Soaps of Yesterday's Tumblr, but I was wondering if anyone has a link to more information, or just a good memory, regarding the Tale of Two Grants. I know Grant came to PC with Celia (a distant Quartermaine cousin). During the Prometheus Disk plot it was revealed that he was actually an undercover Russian agent. Then, the real Grant Putnam comes to PC, and they start calling the other one Grant Andrews. Putnam is secretly a psychotic maniac. He kidnapped Celia. Scorpio and Grant Andrews save her, Putnam is arrested. He goes off to a mental hospital for a few years, then escapes, kills Philomena, and kidnaps Anna with his huge dog. Here's my questions: Did Celia first meet Putnam or Andrews? How long before the move to PC did Andrews take over Putnam's identity? Given that Putnam was responsible for his brother's death as a teen, did Andrews know that Putnam was a maniac when he assumed his identity? Why was Andrews allowed to stay in PC after everyone found out he was a spy? Didn't Andrews have another name besides Grant? (Was it an 80's thing that everyone decided his real name was too hard to say or spell?) Was it plastic surgery or did they just happen to look alike? How was Celia related to Alexandra Quatermaine? (and why did all of the Q cousins come to Port Charles rather than the family's home in Long Island where Edward and his brother were raised?) It seems clear that Putnam was an afterthought used to keep the popular actor on the canvas, but it created a lot of plotholes to fill.

I think of Maria as more of a good girl yin to Erica's bad girl yang; much like Tara was with Phil. But, she did inspire the iconic "St. Maria of Wildwood with her push up bra tending to the sick and needy" in Erica's Woman of the Year Speech. Barbara and Brooke felt like rivals on an equal playing field. They were accomplished ladies who posed a real threat to Erica's happiness. Whereas Krystal was the kind of gal men would settle for when they could no longer handle Erica's needs. After all, Barbara was present for another of Erica's most iconic fights when they spewed the word bitch to each other more times than have ever been heard in daytime tv. BTW in Pine Valley or Llandview if someone offers you the Woman of Year trophy, you should definitely decline the honor because it was always the worst night of that woman's year.

The world of soap headlines can be cruel (perhaps this was part of Ms. Fulton's infamous, but fictional, grandmother clause?) Also, can we give a hand to the ultimate “settle a bet” question of the week - no, TL from Baldwin Park, Brian Patrick Clarke is not married to lesbian comedian Lily Tomlin, and Susan Lucci's mother is not Phyllis DIller.

There are two things I enjoy about this Tumblr; the headlines and the gossip The headlines this time were mostly puns about the cancellation of Edge of Night None of them were very inspired, nor were the stories, P&G wanted to keep producing the show but ABC affiliates wanted the time back to expand local news programming. It was the lowest rated soap of the time, meaning that only 3 million people watched and it got less than a 10% share of the audience, which needless to say any soap would kill for in 2021. On the gossip front; they dated and they dated and Robin Leach (who was dated Jackie Zeeman) really got around Meanwhile the juiciest gossip was once again about actors being fired. Bryan Cranston and John O'Hearly were fired from Loving. Jason Kinkaid was too old to play Tom Hughes on ATWT, Dane Witherspoon was too stoic to play Joe on SB, and Joanne Pflug was too Christian to play Taylor on Rituals. But, the jaw dropping story was that Patty Davis (first daughter of Ronald Reagan) was only on Rituals for two episodes!

There's been two comments about the language in the Don Stewart firing article. But, how about that awful headline? "bower loses a leaf" - now that's an editor that should have been fired. Is correct grammar and a basic knowledge of the subject being edited too much to ask for?

Ahh, so that must have tied into why Laurie was released from the sanitarium at the end of series. It is starting to make sense. It may also explain why the bust was amusingly bad, because it may have been why Liz didn't recognize her sooner, as well as its slight resemblance to Lionel Richie in the "Hello" video. It's funny how the details get lost in my memory. I recalled that Chris Egan had a son, but I forgot about Walter Ganz and his relationship to the whole cast. It is great to have this resource to be able to remember everything.

I'm reading the 1984 recaps on Tumblr. Who did the bust/bones turn out to be and why did people try to destroy the bust?

The moral of this story is the Eve continues to have the best timing in show biz.

Yes, I had no memory of this detail but one week's recaps during the period when Caitlin was investigating who/where was Marley's father he interviewed Michael's grandmother who thought he was dead and a women identified as his ex-sister-in-law (unclear if she was an ex because she divorced Eugene, or an ex because everyone thought Michael was dead), but she believed Michael was alive. Then, there's no mention of them again, and when Michael comes back to Bay City, he makes no attempt to contact his local family. To be fair, Britney thought he was at the Love Mansion to apply as a stable boy, so he was pretty busy mucking the stables and running an international conglomerate at the same time. fair point Cass, Kathleen, and Felicia were also caught in the secret room at some point Secret rooms were big during that period because there was also the "treasure cave" where the stolen poisonous Egyptian artifacts were stored, and the secret room at the La Soleil spa where Felicia underwent a "visualization procedure."

Bravo!!! and thank you, that was the timeline I wanted, needed, and desired! I hadn't even considered Ben and the fact that he was the same age as the twins. Reg and Mary's original affair must have been quite brief, but memorable (pardon the pun), given that she was still having kids with Vince throughout her employment at the mansion. Now, do Carl, his marriages, love affairs, and children please.

So Donna comes along in January 1983, mostly as an antagonist for Sally, and later Cecile, in stories involving Peter and Caitlin. Then, Marley comes home from school in May 1984, a week after the 20th anniversary when Alice came back to Bay City and David Thatcher (Sally's secret baby daddy) was shot. Donna was involved with Carl, they hooked up again after their divorce a few years earlier in Europe. Donna was housing Carl and his son Perry in the Love Mansion (which leads to the eternal question of whether Perry was older than Ryan, Carl's other son). Donna was a suspect in the David Thatcher's murder because she wore a ring that Carl gave her which Sally remembered as being on the finger of the woman who shot David. Given that (spoiler alert) David and Royal Dunning were involving in an illegal adoption ring, the ground was laid early that she was actually Marley's mother. Donna also gasped whenever Marley kissed her boyfriend Ben and was overprotective in a different way than she had been with Peter or Nicole (her med school student/coke addicted model/reporter/lounge singer/murdering everchanging sister). Vicky was first revealed the next year in April 1985 in an amazing cliffhanger. Jake came back to the boarding house, and opened the door to find a girl who looked like Marley, but styled as a Madonna wanna-be in a seductive black leather jacket, smoking, and with a sultry lower vocal tone. The LaSalles (aka Reginald Love, Mary McKinnon, and Scott) came in August 1986, and Donna #1 left after seeing the fake photo of the triplets in November 1986 (which probably coincided with the expiration of Anna Stuart's original three year contract).