j swift

Does anyone else follow Fourrures's account on YouTube with soap clips of Women in Fur Coats? There are many clips posted each week and this week's post centered on Guiding Light. I have enjoyed the choice of clips, but I seem to be missing the point beyond that it is an amazing amount of fur coats. Is this account trying to communicate something about women in fur coats? Is it a media collection that just happens to center on women in fur coats? Any information about the intent of these posts would be appreciated, just for context. Also, (just for the trolls), let's avoid any political/moral/ethical/social or perverted discussions of fur coats in this thread.

I was just thinking about all of the lost Courtland heirs. Andrew, the son of Cynthia, was adopted by Palmer because they had such a close bond. Then, he caused Alex Hunter to fall off of his horse, which led to a heart attack, which was judged as involuntary manslaughter, Andrew went off to jail, never to be heard from again. Ross, Palmer's unknown son, started off as a good guy and unfortunately wound up as a rapist. It seems like there was a period when various writers were trying to find Palmer a son. Just like the Quartermains have always had a daughter-like figure at GH, the Courtland's kept trying to give Palmer a younger guy with which to spar. Either Andrew or Ross could have been redeemed and would have been great partners for either Brooke or Erica.

I understand the plot value in getting rid of Gunner. A part of the focus of the story was Ariel, so killing off Gunner moved her story forward. Also, Gunner was never going to be Barbara's "end-game" or the love of her life, so she needed to be free. Finally, being a rich orphaned teen made Dusty a perfect love object. However, Gunner and Burke played such similar roles in the story that they even died of similar diseases. Gunner was around for just under three years, so it was probably the end of Hugo's initial contract. So, I still wonder why were they both necessary to the plot as it was initially designed? And was it always the plan to kill them both? Was there critical backlash to Hugo's performance? Did ratings go down during the romantic story? It just seems like there were an unnecessary amount of Stenbeck heirs. Upon reflection, it strains credulity that James would be so concerned about the heir. He had already inherited his fortune legally, so no court could make him give it back. Gunner and James were both already successful in their respective legal and criminal businesses, so they wouldn't need additional income. Senior Stenbeck (who I always confuse with Brandon Spaulding) knew who was his legitimate heir when he wrote his will, and he could leave his money according to his wishes; regardless of legitimacy.

I was wondering about Hugo Napier/Gunner today. The character's disease and death come out of left field, especially given Burke Donovan's mysterious brain disease earlier in the story. Hugo also left AMC, so I wonder if it was an actor or a character issue? I understand the plot value of having Dusty as an orphan, but both of his father figures (besides John Dixon) were gotten rid of rather quickly. Is there any scoop?

In my initial post, I was actually referring to Jack Krizmanich who played Grace's faux-long-lost-son John Hastings. I am willing to bet that he spent more days being photographed for the soap mags than he did on-set.

I need a memory refresh on Matt McCandless. I recall that at the end of the serial in 1987 it was resolved that Matt was a member of the Royal Family of Baraq. However, I also recall that Christopher Durham left in 1984, following the revelation that his blind girlfriend was the daughter of Natalie Wood's sister and Sam Clegg and he was paying for her eye treatment in Europe. So, did Matt return at the end or was he just mentioned? Why involve him at all if he wasn't on-screen?

I was just reading the Crane Family Wiki and it struck me that Passions came along at a particular point in internet fandom when everything was cataloged, but there was still a communication barrier between the audience and the productions, (in the age of Twitter no soap could have had that much rape). I remember a character who was heavily promoted by NBC daytime with photos of his long hair and string necklaces; only to disappear from Harmony, like so many of its townspeople (BTW my most vivid memories of Passions were those annual summer hunk photo sessions). For a soap whose fans recorded every episode with a summary, there were certainly a lot of loose ends. One last note: I really liked the way Reilly played with time on his soaps. He would stretch out stories until the audience wanted to scream, and then resolve things in one week or never at all. It felt like the pace was deliberate, and almost a meta-parody of the genre itself.

Christopher Atkins has always been my number one hunk, but I've only recently begun to appreciate that he never wore underwear on-screen Blue Lagoon BTS screen shot Pirate Movie - final scene

Cady McClain was on TV Guidance Counselor podcast this week http://tvguidancecounselor.tumblr.com/ I've been trying to suppress my disdain, but I had to let it out. She mentions that Y&R was the least professional of the soap sets. She goes on to say that production banned cue cards a year before she started; which seems unlikely given that she was on within the past five years and no soap production could afford cue card writers since budgets were slashed decades ago. As soap fans, we've heard already this trope from other dissatisfied actors. It absolves them by suggesting that they learned their lines while shifting the blame onto their former co-stars. I can imagine that there are many frustrations of working with people who have been on the same set for 25 years, but Cady played Kelly like a maniac whether or not cue cards were present. She also mentions being a bad barista in a coffee shop after ATWT. So, unfortunately, she doesn't seem to have much of a plan B if her current documentary on female directors doesn't make more than Mary Poppins at the box office this weekend.

The Richard Character Profile reminded me of Alonzo and Rob; two very temporary spanners in the Richard and Cassie saga. Alonzo, the real heir, of a democratic sovereignty, came along just when nobody cared about the story anymore. While I was not a fan of the period, I enjoyed the Beth and Cassie conflict. I preferred when Cassie and Reva had a common enemy. While it seemed unlikely that Beth of the Four Musketeers would harden into Lady Macbeth, the casting change and acting choices kept it interesting. Today, I would hope that we would explore more of what made Beth devolve into such manic character that she began kidnapping people, but given the times, ladies arguing in ballgowns was always fun to watch. Worth repeating: the San Cristobal stuff also reminds me how unlikely it was to produce a motorcycled-jacketed, brunette-ponytalied, scruff like Jonathan. When Marlon Brando owned an island he stopped dressing like a character in the Wild Ones, but somehow Jonathan Randall was the Stanley Kowalsky of the Carribean?!?

I was reading Today in Soap History at the welovesoaps website and there's a mention of Rachel encouraging Sharlene to go to the Snowflake Ball. I found it remarkable because I recall a more adversarial relationship between the two. Sharlene seemed to always be talking s%^& about Rachel when Josie was dating Matthew. She also was snippy about Rachel to Jason. When did their relationship change, or was the animosity one-sided?

Sorry for the simplicity of these questions in advance but: I know Penny was Ellen's friend, so were they younger than Lisa? Wasn't Marcy's Prince somehow related to Penny? Was Penny involved in the London remote to find Sabrina (or was there any reference to Penny living in London in that story)?

It was discussed recently that Rosemary Prinz regretted that Penny had been written into a corner by the time she left. So, I went back and read the character history today and I wondered when she would have considered Penny to be beyond the point of no return? Her first love Jeff came and went relatively quickly, but she was paired with multiple other partners. I wonder if she felt that Irna wouldn't let Penny commit fully to a man after the passing of Jeff?

I always thought that both the casting and characterization for Jonathan were poorly executed. Here's a kid who was born on a fairy tale island, the son of Prince Richard and Reva, raised by Olivia's sister in the Midwest. So, why was he long-haired motorcycle jacketed thug who looked ten years younger than his father? The whole idea that he was seeking revenge because of his childhood abuse made no sense because why would he blame Reva (who had amnesia) and not Olivia or Richard? Also, if Edmund was threatening her baby while she was the princess, why didn't Reva have any agency over him getting punished? Why didn't Olivia check in on the progress of Jonathan as he grew up? Why didn't the Royals give the Randalls a lot of money to raise the prince in order to ensure a good education? Weren't they ever going to bring him back to the throne? Overall, it lacked logic that Jonathan's main motive was Mommy-issues rather than wanting to run a kingdom.

Good for Nancy Pinkerton, trying to get equal pay, she was Times Up-ing it about 40 years too early for her time. As for George Reinholt, he was not team player. He had to actually release a statement to say that he hadn't signed the other statement in order for the press to know, (I doubt the press was cross-referencing signatures on their own). What stories were going on at the time that concerned the cast?

I watched the Amazon Prime season of The Bay this week and found it hard to focus. As an 80's soap fan, it is missing the pacing of a daytime soap, (and it looks too cheap to be a nightime soap). Without the commercials, scenes with heightened emotions get oddly transitioned into scenes that have a different tone. The episodic cliffhangers aren't as captivating because they are resolved as soon as the next episode buffers. Overall, I think it is like eating too much cake, it is tempting but it gets quickly sickening. Watching characters that are barely more than just hunks, bitches, and ingenues indulge in over the top acting is fun in small doses but it does not translate well into a medium of binge watching. The same is true for the network soaps, I would never watch the on-demand episodes back-to-back because the repetition involved in each episode would become too boring to follow. So, I guess that explains my aversion.

@victoria foxton - total retcon, that reeks of a change in writers - Evan came to Salem to be involved in Neil's IVF program with his wife who died in car crash, so how Stuart's specimen got into Neil's lab strains credulity. In 1991, Sarah was in a minor accident, and Neil admitted the switch to Maggie, and to explain his reasoning, (because it was very unethical and Maggie should have sued him rather than slept with him) he told her the tale about Stuart's sperm. Also, interesting that Neil would feel such guilt over Sarah's minor accident, but later felt no compunction about leaving her behind when he went out to a mail a letter, never to return.

Thanks @Bright Eyes , I finally found the summary online. It seems that when Evan came back to Salem with Sandy everyone wondered why he would come back to town given the Sarah debacle. However, Evan had inherited documents from his father that proved Stefano's guilt as part of "the syndicate." Never one to miss an opportunity, Evan blackmailed Stefano for a million dollars. In return, Stefano caused a car accident in which Evan was fatally injured. He had to have Sandy as his surgeon, and Alex Marshall changed medical files, so Evan was exposed to penicillin, which caused a deadly reaction. Also, here's a twist of which I was unaware - Neil switched his sperm sample for Stuart's because he didn't want Maggie to have Stuart's kid, and Evan was lying the whole time that Sarah was his daughter. I knew Neil switched the samples, but I was completely unaware of the Stuart twist. It is so odd to think that Liz, Maggie, and Marie were younger during that story than Jennifer and Hope are today. I guess it was that I experienced them as a kid, but they seemed so much more mature.

Does anyone recall Evan Wyland, because I have questions? I know he returned from Hawaii in 1982 with his fiance Sandy Horton and then he has surgery and dies, How long was he gone? Did he leave because of Stuart? Was he complicit with his father? Why did Stefano and Tony strong arm Stuart out of his house and out of Salem? Any more information would be appreciated.

@EricMontreal22I read it and my jaw dropped at the idea of what passed as a dissertation at Ohio State in 1976. There are five pages on writing a letter of introduction to Agnes Nixon? I get that media and theoretical studies don't include data, but that is just a guy sitting in someone's office for a few days. It's like a four grader's report on Bring Your Child to Work Day. The parts about the dogs on the street in front of the studio and the hot dog cart made me think that you and I are the only people who read this because a dissertation committee who normally require edits of such obvious padding. I googled him and couldn't discern if he is the behavioral researcher or the political commentator, but I couldn't find any further soap references for him. All in all, it reminded me of an episode of the Dick Van Dyke show with two smart guys and a wisecracking gal-Friday trying to appease everyone.

Eric Luvonaczek was always a weak link in Alex's character history. First, I always confused him with India's father Leo Von Halkein. Second, he suffered from multiple headwriters rewriting his motivation. Initially described as a poor artist who fell for Alex and had to raise her twins when her dad paid him off to leave town. Then, Lujack describes him as a bad father, and he abandons Nick, (despite getting a settlement from Brandon). But, somehow, Simon needed to avenge him? Alexandra was devoted to both her sons and her nephews. So why did both of her stepchildren, Simon and India, dislike her so much? It seems like she was a totally different character when she lived outside of Springfield. However, after reviewing how many writers had their hands in the proverbial pot at the time that these facts were being established it is clearer how Eric became such an enigma. The other character that always intrigued me is Mark Evans. I think it is a clever casting choice to have typical good guy Mark Pinter play a guy with a hidden agenda. I really enjoy watching the entire arc, especially because his ties to Quint are never tipped off during his introduction. One other random thought: remember when Joe Lando played McCauley West in the summer of 1993? I went back and read the articles. The head of CBS, Jeff Segansky, asked Lando, who was on summer hiatus from Dr. Quinn, to take the role on GL. Looking back was that just about money? Was it counter-programming against GH and the return of Luke & Laura? Why Joe Lando? Do you think they went to other people first?

The "presentational" nature of the actor playing Simon makes it difficult to infer his sincerity. So, when he goes from being to a con to a charmer, I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Why didn't Dan Woleck fight for his right to the Lord fortune? Didn't Meredith get anything in the will to leave for her son?

I agree. It seems like post-Mindy and Beth, GL had a hard time finding an ingenue to contrast Harley. We got Lacey, Jessie, OG-Dinah, Samantha Marler, and a slew of other young female characters that never took hold.

I watched an episode on Retro on Saturday and they mentioned that it was 1969. I thought they were up to 1976? Do they replay older episodes on the weekends?