j swift

We've discussed The Republic of Eden as a low point, but a review of the conning of Raven to get her out of town when real-Sky returns is very clumsy. EON had a history of short term mysteries, but there was usually an interesting transition between stories. Margo's murder thru to the Clown Puppet Murders is a great example of two short term arcs that allowed for long term characters to be involved in the throughline between the stories. Also, as evidence of the entertainment value of EON at the time, the mysteries were a background for romance. However, this misguided effort to keep the theater open is just oddly violent and unnecessary. Gavin and Jody are involved in the periphery, and there is a lot of attempts to justify why they are being so mean to Raven; who had done little to justify her punishment. By comparison, Raven's kidnapping near the end of the series, during the actress's maternity leave, was so much more artful.

I wholeheartedly endorse these views. It worked because it was a story about the parents. Today the whole story would be told from Phillip's POV, but that was the least interesting part. I'm guessing there were some influences from OLTL's long running Jenny Woleck baby switch story; it is as if there was a competition to see which soap secret could be kept the longest. I believe as long as the audience knows a soap secret it works, its when a secret is held for months, and then explained with long exposition scenes, that do nothing to intrigue me.

Agreed, I like that it is aspirational without being flashy. They all have careers, dinner parties, and nice homes, without being princes, or super villains. It seems like it is always trying to be a heightened reflection of the culture at the time. Even the discussions of family planning seem so much more evolved that the baby crazy women portrayed on soaps today. Jackie isn't trying to ensnare Alan in order to mother Phillip, she is pragmatic that Phillip was close to his father and marrying him was a good way to join the family; also Alan was unusually magnetic when he wanted to turn on his charm. Jackie and Justin were so groovy it is hard to believe what a wet sock Samantha turned out to be, but her casting was an excellent use of history given the SORAS-ing of Alan-Michael.

The backstory is that Justin dated Sara while they were in med school, but then he left her for Jackie, whose family was well connected. Justin & Jackie met Alan & Elizabeth in Europe when both women were pregnant and had the same doctor (who later becomes a part of the story, even through Diane Ballard's murder). Justin and Jackie came to Springfield (many Europeans chose Springfield for the first place they settled in the 70's) when Justin worked at Ceder's. Then Alan and Elizabeth come to town. Justin and Jackie split first, then the couples change partners because Elizabeth really likes Mike but Phillip doesn't like him so she settles for Justin. I think the sequence of people knowing about Phillip's parentage/switching is Alan (because he set it up in the first place), then Justin (he treated Phillip's hysterical heart problems), then Jackie, and finally Elizabeth. Spoiler alert: Jackie &Justin reunite then she dies in plane crash, Elizabeth gets institutionalized, like all 1970's women who were too liberated, at his high school prom Phillip finds out from Beth's abusive father Bradley that he is adopted, Alan and Justin confirm it, then Justin leaves town. So, they got seven years of stories out of Phillip's switch and the resulting butterfly effects; and then never mentioned it again....

I wonder if Ms. Argento's and Ms. McGowen's respective skeletons in their closets doesn't solidify their cases against Weinstein? It is reasonable that both women were reluctant to come forward if that they feared that their past errors in judgement would invalidate their current claims. In fact, this may have been why the fees negotiated for their silence were relatively low. However, their willingness to tell their stories regardless of the consequences of being humiliated in public by their tormentor, who has had far more access to press and the means to investigate their backgrounds, makes their stories far more compelling to me now. And now that their secrets have been revealed they have nothing to loose by telling the truth about Weinstein.

I may be late to this party, but I don't think anyone has mentioned the saga of George Pilgram, (J Chamberlaine, GL) and his involvement with Sumner Redstone's girlfriend. His life has been far more colorful than his character so it seems like a good career move because he'll never be cast in Fox soap opera now... https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2015/10/sydney-holland-george-pilgrim-sumner-redstone

Agreed, because no matter what timeline exists, Donna left Marley in European boarding schools long after Reginald was gone from Bay City, and kept her there while she was a mother figure to Perry during her time with Carl in Paris. To me, Vicky and Marley were more like split personalities than twins. Like Viki and Nikki on OLTL, Vicky was the bolder, angrier side of Marley. By the end of the series, after her time as a damsel in distress, they merged so that Vicky became very Marley-esque. If we just ignore that Marley came back, burnt her face, and became a horror, then my interpretation works. Also, @Xanthe does John being in the picture that made Donna go mad fit with his entry into Bay City? I recall Rhonda Lewin's Vicky was there when he was introduced and she was inappropriately flirtatious until she found out that he was her uncle when Donna confronted them on John's boat. While, John may not have recognized his now grown niece, wouldn't he know that they were twins if he posed with them in a picture? I know its a kerfuffle but, I would be eager to hear anyone's remembrance of if these two events fit into the cannon once the triplets were re-written into twins and their uncle.

Is it their departure in 1984 that causes the exodus of Burke Donovan and Gunner St. Clair? It seems odd to have two characters, in the same story, have fatal diseases that they want to keep secret from Dusty and the women they loved. Also, I'm sure that I'm not the first to notice, and I know that they are spelled differently, but it would have been fun if Henry and Maddie Coleman had been relatives of Joyce and Grant Colman. That scene from the 50th Anniversary of Soaps when Joyce feigns a headache and Lisa tells her she wouldn't care if she had a tumor; gets me every time.

It is amusing that James tried all of these schemes from drug running to mind control to make money, meanwhile he could have lived off of Barbara's investment in Lisa 's company. While James is trying to figure out how to manipulate his wive's dreams, Lisa is quietly inventing J Crew's entire business plan.

I was wondering if David was being played as having prodromal symptoms of his stroke because he cannot seem to recall his lines. Why was Fashions having such a boost in their sales? I laughed when Lisa answers the phone call from Vermont and asks if they want to pay by cash. Who knew Fashions Lmt was the prototype for Fashion Nova?

Today I'm fascinated by Jerry Grove. I was a fan of this period of AW simply because it was available to me every day at lunch. Looking back, Jerry was such an intriguing character. He was recast three times in two years. He had the silly kind of soap opera psychosis where it comes and goes; at convenient times for the plot. It seems like there was an attempt to redeem him but, once the recasting never worked, they abandoned him. It was also a dangerous period for the women of Bay City, they were often being sexually victimized. @Xanthe, here's two weird details from the anniversary book - 1. Reginald believed that he hadn't fathered either Donna or Nicole when he locked Donna in the basement. 2. When Nicole left the first time (after being a model and getting hooked on drugs by Ted Bancroft) she was going to go to medical school (I guess they just totally dropped that thread when she came back as a fashion designer). For voting purposes, I was a Felicia and Lucas fan. I liked that they were forming the nucleus of a new family and the history involved in their story. Although, I think it is silly when childhood sweethearts randomly find each other in anther town years later. I was not fan of Felicia and John because I don't see Felicia as ever being willing to be second fiddle in a love triangle. She had written enough romance novels to know how that relationship would end. I liked Zane purely for the romance of the story. I did not Alexander because it felt like his motives were never clear and I don't even remember how that story ended. I agree completely. I never thought about it until you brought it up but Rachel barely knew Mitch. She met him in St Croix, they did it, he goes on the run, gets shot, gets amnesia, yadda yadda. Rachel and Mitch were passionate lovers but they weren't very intimate.

I went back to read the anniversary book to catch up on the story: Donna had the twins. Reg took them away. He gave Vicky to Bridget to arrange an adoption with a family in Lassiter who died 16 years later, and kept Marley to raise as Donna's sister. When Bridget found out that Marley was going to inherit 22 million dollars on her 18th birthday she felt it was unfair and told Victoria that they were twins. Then Vicky, Bridget, and Jake went to Bay City. Vicky impersonated Marley and learned she had a "blood disease", later that day Perry found out that she was impersonating Marley fell, and died. Vicky then came out to Donna and Marley, they had to tell Marley she had a fatal "blood disease", then Vicky agreed to the transplant that would save Marley. However, by the time they tuned 18, Carl stole the family's money and neither twin got the cash. Talk about yadda, yadda, yadda-ing a story! 1. Wasn't Donna's mother already dead/ran off; wouldn't people ask how Reg had a baby on his own? If Donna's mother wasn't dead in the OG timeline why did she let Reg lock their daughter in the basement? Wouldn't Mary and the other household staff still have to cook and clean for Donna? Why was splitting up the twins a solution to the problem; why not just send them both away? 2. Bridget starts out as calculating and manipulative of Donna then, for no reason, she becomes nice and is OK being a maid/nanny for the rest of her life; even staying on when Donna lost her money and couldn't pay her salary. Why did Bridget stay in Lassiter for 16 years? Certainly Vicky's parents in Lassiter couldn't afford a nanny for all that time? Why wasn't anyone ever angry at Bridget for her part in the scheme? Everyone is mad at Donna but Bridget is much closer to blame than an 18-year-old pregnant girl who was held captive by her father in the basement for six months. 3. Perry's death is out of the blue, and then never discussed again. Nobody ever knew that Vicky saw Perry die. Many people on this board like to play "fantasy network executive" but, clearly, I would be terrible because I would constantly demand explanations for each illogical part of a story.

Also a silly question but, if Rachel named her youngest son who was born in jail after her first husband's family who were going to take care of him would his name have been Matt Matthews? Also, AW's subplot about a radical father's rights group during this period was nuts.

from today's Vintage Soap Recap Tumblr: THE EDGE OF NIGHT: Week of March 1 - March 5, 1982 (4:00pm - 30 minutes - ABC) Libby Webster, the Black Widow, questioned Valerie about Sky. Valerie was alarmed that a photo blowup of the Whitney Theater included the image of “dead” Sky. Smiley devised a “scenario” for Raven’s benefit to prove that Gavin was innocent of Gunther and Sky’s deaths. As part of the plan, Johnny was sent to the Caribbean to seduce Raven while Jinx was to arrive on the scene as a fake jealous, gun-wielding wife. Jody learned that her mother, Billie Mae, was arriving. Smiley boasted to Hector that he was making the grade with Sid, who was loaded with insurance coverage. I never knew Jody had a mother that appeared on-screen. I wonder if she was related to Nicole on her father's side? We know from the later storylines that Jody's father and brother died fighting mob crimes but, I don't recall anything about her mother. Now, I'm waiting for these recaps just like when they were first published...

has anyone ever asked/answered if Victoria Love-Hudson the character name was inspired by Victoria Wyndham the actress's name? Also, thinking back, what was Vicky's original plan to swindle Marley? I remember she wanted Jake to seduce Marley, but what good would that do them to get money? Did Vicky know that they were sisters or did she just think it was a coincidence that they looked alike? I remember the scene when Donna told them that they were her twins but did they already know that they were sisters? I guess the whole integration of Vicky into the Love family happened pretty quickly after she donated her kidney to Marley that I've forgotten the details of her original con (just like the writers forgot that Vicky had donated her kidney later when she was pregnant and in two comas). However, I vividly recall the cliffhanger when Jake got back to the motel after spending the day with Marley, and a vixen look-a-like turned around and said, "It's about time." Around the same time, it's funny that Peter Love was introduced as a lawyer at Cory Publishing who was interested in Sally. Until Donna came on a few months later, one would never predict that actually he was from a rich family, with three glamorous sisters, and huge estate next door to the Cory's. Also, when he later worked for his father Reg he was always depicted as a bit of a screw-up in business, so its odd that he trained under Mac.

That makes me feel sorry for his first wife Emily who was kind enough to raise the child he had with another woman. Upon reflection neither Sylvie (Iris's mother) nor Maria Hernandez DeSilva (Paulina's mother, again probably not a blond; pseudo-appalling) were actually hookers but Mac's relationships with both seemed temporal. As I recall the limo incident, Mac had a habit of gifting women who he dated a certain bracelet. When Rachel saw the bracelet in the back of the car she assumed it was hers. Then, when she went to put it away she saw that it was not her bracelet, she put two and two together and figured out that this was Mac's move to get the ladies. That's some good Lemay stuff. Neither played dumb, nobody went nuts and nobody kidnapped each other. It was just Ada getting a chance to say that all men are dogs (essentially) and Iris got a dig in about how many bracelets like that her father has given away. It also knocked Rachel off her game because she assumed after Steve and Alice that she wouldn't have to compete for Mac's attention. She told him that and that was the basis of their relationship. It's a long way from a Sin Stalker who kills women for being too slutty...

Not quite, Mac didn't live in Bay City when Rachel got pregnant by Steve with Jamie so, Paulina could have been younger or the same age. She would have to be older than Matt or Amanda because they sprouted on screen while Mac lived in Bay City. While I've never tried to imagine Iris's age (because a gentleman wouldn't do such a thing) Sandy and Jamie were played around the same age in the early 1980's when Sandy was introduced. Jamie never grew any older after that; he stayed perennially in his early 30's throughout the 80's and 90's which allowed his original SORASing to catch up with him in a 'Benjamin Button' sort of way. Paulina could have been born in South America at any time between when Mac slept with Sandy's mom in Nevada up until he came to Bay City (BTW I am psuedo-appalled in retrospect that 'Paulina from the Rain Forrest' was always played by a blond actress). Any way, when Mac first dated Rachel he was a very sexual being. He had an impulsive tryst in the back of his limousine and, when Rachel found out, his rather sophisticated defense was that they weren't exclusive sexual partners at the time. Ada even told Rachel that unless she locked Mac down he would see other women. His eye would often wonder while at the Cory Complex. However, there is an interesting thread between all of Mac's illegitimate children, there were illusions that the mothers were all some how involved in the sex industry. Iris's biological mother was a hooker which is why Mac's wife adopted her, Sandy was an escort (and I think his mother was also a hooker), and Paulina's mother wasn't a hooker but that relationship was never portrayed as romantic. So, even though Mac could date anyone he wanted, he also paid for something extra on the side...

This opened a weird can of worms. John Gibson did indeed play Joe Hawk in 1983, he told Jenny that he was a friend of her late husband Peter but really he was spying on David However, from 1991-1992 OLTL had another character named Joe Hawk, who was a friend of Max and was involved in Serenity Springs. Two Joe Hawks?!?

An executive in December 1976, when Somerset was cancelled, would have had amazing psychic abilities to be able to predict that a low rated six year soap opera would have any worth beyond the tape upon which it was produced. Can you imagine trying to tell a P&G ad exec 42 years ago to save videotape because one day everything is going to be digitally shared across a network of tubes and cables? I would suggest that the same people who approved the story of an old woman dressing as a clown to scare her niece were understandably not great at predicting the future.

Just once I want someone to yell at Madge for ripping them off by dipping their hands in dish soap and calling it a manicure. Also, is that Y&R's Nikki Reed's dance partner Cash coming to visit Jenny? John Gibson, the OG Chippendale's dancer who dated Vanna White and died in a plane crash?

I was looking at old SOD's on Tumblr. 3 weeks before Iris's return there's a promo about intrigue in Bay City and they show Rachel open the door. Then, 2 weeks prior the promo was about someone coming to Bay City ( it seems like they are trying to be gender neutral to fake viewers into thinking it might be Steve ) and they show Rachel opening the door. The week after the reveal SOD had an intro article with Carmen Duncan (to show the power of NBC's PR dept, there is no mention of the accent what so ever). I agree that the tie-in of the reveal and a murder trial was vintage AW. What AW fan can't still hear Mac calling out Rachel's name when he learned that Mitch was Matthew's father during her murder trial? Or Walter Curtain and his reveal of the having the scarf/being the killer who freed Lenore? Courtroom reveals were so juicy because they had to tell the truth in front of the whole town (who take days off to attend a trial without a complaint).

Is there any YT video of Pat Ashley and her evil twin Maggie? I would be eager to see Maggie masquerading around Llandview as Pat.

No, (although nobody ever did the math), she was supposedly conceived before Mac became involved with Rachel and was therefore older than Matthew and Amanda. Her parentage was confirmed in the red swan box mystery that was Rachel's first story after Mac passed.

Imagine if they hadn't retconed Iris's parentage then Paulina could have been Iris's sister (from the same biological parents) rather than Mac's daughter. I've always thought it sullied male characters to have long lost kids pop-up all over the country. So, making Paulina into Iris's unknown sister that Mac was trying to find before his death to give Iris a family would have been kinder to his memory. I know Mac was the kind of guy to boff a gal in his limo, but I don't think he would have left a daughter in the rain forest.

Upon reflection I have one tiny quibble with this scene. Reva came to Springfield with a personal maid (and a truckload of turbans), she also grew up in a home with a staff, yet she seems intimidated by the formality of Joseph the butler. I know Reva was becoming domesticated (with a brief foray into royalty) but, she knew how to utilize household help so her interaction with Joseph seems out of character.