amybrickwallace

Another irony that has cracked me up - Steve grumbling that John Rice owes him a million hours of sleep. Dr. "All Rich" (as Dr. Bellini has so eloquently called him) has led a very charmed life, while his cousin lived on practically no sleep and lots of coffee but still did his job efficiently. Now he is enjoying a well-deserved inheritance of a trip to Europe to have fun, with a certain pretty girl at his side. Apparently, Dr. Steve doesn't like the shoe on the other foot!! LOL

Bill Conti was one of the greatest musicians to score for TV shows, ever. I rank him up there with the likes of Mike Post (though he wrote themes for action/adventure shows and not for primetime soaps, but you get my point).

Yeah, I remember Louise Sorel was on OLTL in 1987, and Susan Marie Snyder had recently left as Laken #2. I just wasn't sure if either LS or Shell Danielson (Laken #3) were there when JW came on. Thanks for clarifying.

Well, Dr. Ed Stark is officially on the staff of Hope Memorial. I look forward to seeing him and Nick work together, and have Martha fuss over him, too. Somehow I think he'll take it more in stride. LOL Ed's talk with Matt in the first episode about the war, about life and the lack of hope he had is still sadly relevant today. It's also eerily prophetic that less than a week after this episode aired, Martin Luther King was killed. I love how Nick confided in Nathan Bunker about Ed's outlook in the second episode. Nathan's response was incredible. Yet again, House Jameson knocked it out of the park. Also in the second episode, watch Gerald Gordon flub a line and James Pritchett helps him out. Nick was supposed to say "are we supposed to spoon feed the guy?" and the line ended up coming out "spoon the guy?". You could tell James Pritchett was starting to crack up when he came to the rescue with "you mean, spoon feed?". Both men laughed - I would say both in and out of character. Yet, it made the scene seem so natural. Dr. Steve, you bad, bad boy!! You owe Carolee three hundred dozen roses for her good deed.

I also wonder how Lemay would have handled Doug Watson/Mac Cory's passing and its aftermath had he still been writing the show in 1989. From reading his book and interviews from over the years, I know he was very fond of Mr. Watson.

For your viewing pleasure, here are plenty of Jo, Stu and Sunny in the spring of 1986:

Yeah, JAN was on the first season of Baywatch (when it aired on NBC and before it became an international phenomenon in first-run syndication) in 1989-90. No matter who was playing Warren, weren't his mother Augusta and sister Laken already off the canvas again by the time he came back?

Wasn't Luna's real name Darlene or something like that? How did she go from a Darlene to a Luna? Was she pregnant IRL while Luna had twins?

Liz Hubbard had a very beautiful blond mane!! I too wonder how the hair department managed it and got it always looking so good. Maybe Nick being a jerk to all the newcomers is like an initiation of some kind. LOL But I had to laugh when he said he hoped that Karen would stay in Europe. No doubt much of the staff (and the audience!) feels the same way!! I too felt bad for Nathan Bunker. Matt and Nick both seemed greatly troubled at the news that he had fallen. It's a testament to Rita Lakin's writing and especially House Jameson's portrayal that Nathan Bunker has transformed from most-hated character to someone so beloved by both the other characters and the audience.

In today's episode, we finally meet Dr. Ed Stark, who already has an adversary (and you'll never guess who it is, LOL). It will be interesting to see how he fits into Hope Memorial. Does anyone know how long he stays on the show? The second episode - oh boy. Steve and Liz could (and should) have gotten it a whole lot worse from Dr. Powers than they did. Actually, Liz probably did when Matt gave her a new assignment - where she will be working in the hospital from now on and most importantly, with whom. I'll bet the person(s) who are already working there will be thrilled!!

L&F a "big hit"? Wasn't it always rock bottom among the daytime dramas? Either way, I'd call it a pretty big overestimation!!

I always thought Scott Jenkins looked like a perfect combination of John Allen Nelson and Jack Wagner. I wonder if at any point they ever tried to get JAN back.

Yup - glad he hasn't left acting completely behind.

He seems to be leading a happy and healthy life away from the show biz arena.

Ralph and Lila Anderson make Bill and Ruth Winters' marriage look like all sunshine, lollipops and rainbows, all the time!! (Before they made up and adopted Danny, that is.)

No matter the RL perception of Brenda Dickson, there's no question she was a dynamo as Jill. I know Jess Walton has played the role now for over a quarter of a century and is probably now the most identifiable Jill, but there's no doubt that Brenda brought lots of gusto into her portrayal of Jill - especially with Jeanne Cooper/Katherine.

Hmmm, we must have just barely missed the temp Liz when Retro TV started airing the reruns of TD.

Yup, the most recent cast crawls have Bill, Ruth, and Danny Winters and (*sob*) Dr. John Rice gone, and the addition of the people Paul Raven mentioned. I don't know what to make of these Anderson people so far. I wonder what Althea and then Matt will do about Lila's serious condition. Finally, Nick Bellini has found a lab assistant with staying power (from what I read, they will be working together for the next several years and become confidantes). Good for Martha for not letting him get to her while still politely standing up for herself. I did have to laugh when he saw the curtains and plants and yelled, "What is this - a botanical garden?" I'm sure the temperature in that clinic was about as cold as it is outside in Ohio right now with that exchange between Maggie and Karen. I love that Maggie isn't even trying to hide her hostility towards Karen anymore. The side eyes are now full (and narrowed) eyes that shoot out laser beams, she speaks in flat monosyllables and lets the occasional catty remark slip through. Althea may be in the market for a new roommate after all - or two. Don't be surprised if a fed up Maggie packs up Greta and shows up at her best friend's doorstep. Totally agreed about Matt. She could lie completely unclad on his office desk and say, "Take me, I'm yours" and he would say, "Karen, of course you can still stay in our house. Maggie was wrong." Too bad Nathan Bunker isn't seeing all this going on. He'd sniff out Karen's motives in less than a second!!

Cool, thanks!!

Scott Jenkins was only on for a handful of episodes in 1987 - and I recall he had several scenes with Nic Coster and Richard Eden. It's hard to tell if he was really that bad, because he was taken off the show so fast and the character vanished until Jack Wagner came on in 1991 (or was that 1992)? I think JAN made the choice to leave the show. I still think it's a shame that the show basically wasted him.

That's interesting - and then he would start on The Doctors a few months later.

Yogurt-throwing incident? That story I haven't heard. Would you please fill me in?

Thanks for posting those tidbits. The more I read and hear about the late James Pritchett, the more I like him. He just seemed like a regular, stand-up family man. As a major fan of my hometown Cleveland Indians, I too relate to the sense of loss whenever baseball season is over. It seems Terry Kiser has come full circle. He was a child actor, and now he runs an acting school in Austin, TX. They have posted on their website a recent photo of him posing with several children/teens enrolled in the classes he teaches. Talk about giving back, huh? Polly Meriweather would be so proud of her "Little Boy Doctor". Yes, Bethel was great. I would love to see if any footage still exists of Ann Williams as Maggie (I'm guessing if there is, probably nobody knows where - or is telling). We can't compare the first two Maggies, but I'm guessing once the Lydia Bruce episodes begin to air, there will be plenty of comparing the last two Maggies.

I heard about that. I should try to find that article sometime - I'd love to read it!!

I say blah. True, SB was on its last legs by the time Rauch/Long came aboard, and Jack Wagner had such success with both GH and his music that it must have been considered a coup to get him. They retconned Warren's paternity and played it like Lionel had known all along that he wasn't Warren's bio dad - which I and many other fans call BS. That never would have flown had John Allen Nelson still have been in the role. He really looked - and sounded - like he could be Nic Coster's son. Even the mannerisms. It was almost eerie. To this day, I don't understand why JAN was so underused on SB. He was good-looking, he had great chemistry with the other Lockridges (including Brick), was charismatic and could actually ACT!!! Same thing with Dane Witherspoon, but then his time on the show (3 months) was microscopic compared to Nelson's (just about two years). But I digress. It really didn't matter who was playing Warren by then because both Marcy Walker and A Martinez left, and left a gaping hole that would never be filled. It was only a matter of time before the ax would fall, and I think the cancellation notice was made public not long after A Martinez's final episode aired in October of 1992.