Dave_01

The great Rita Lakin discusses taking the job as TD's writer:

I hadn't considered that option, but now that you mention it, it wouldn't shock me. That would definitely be worse. I'd settle for a massively edited show over it being skipped.

I'm curious to see how Retro will deal with the 90-minute episode from 1976 that brought Gerald Gordon back to the show for awhile. Would they break it up into 3 half-hour segments or actually air the whole thing in a departure from their usual schedule? I remember when Soapnet was airing reruns of Dallas and got to the 90-minute season ending episode where Bobby "died". They ran an extremely edited version in the usual one-hour slot. If you had never seen the full episode before, you would have been very confused by the choppiness and all the missing scenes. I'd hate for something similar to be done with this special TD episode.

Don't know if this 1992 behind the scenes clip has been posted here before, but I came across it today for the first time. I'd forgotten that ET used to do segments that lasted longer than a minute.

I checked my downloads and VV's first appearance was Monday, October 20, 1969. That's assuming the accuracy of the dates that the person uploading Retro-aired episodes in 2015 used for labeling purposes. If it's not exact, it's probably close. Note: There was no gap between EH's last episode and VV's 1st, as EH had appeared in the Friday 10/17 show. VV's 1st episode includes the voiceover announcing her in the role of Althea.

Forget the final episode; they wouldn't even let Michael Storm attend the show's wrap party. Per Storm in the "Llanview in the Afternoon" book: I was in Italy, on vacation with my wife, and David Coleman -- who did security for the show for many years and knew everything that was going on -- wrote me an email saying that he was sure I already knew, but there was a wrap party coming up for One Life, and gave me the number of the person to call. I didn’t call because I was out of the country, but I sent that person an email letting them know I’d be available to attend, and asked for details. Three or four days later, I received a response starting with “Unfortunately...” ABC had put a limit on the number of people at the party, and they couldn’t include me. So I wrote back to David and let him know what happened, and asked him to tell Erika I wouldn’t be able to be there. Erika and I were buddies from way back to her first day on the show. So then Erika writes back to let me know how shocked she is that I wasn’t invited to the wrap party, and to tell me that she spoke with Frank Valentini, but that because they had already exceeded the number of invitations, there was no room for me. I mean, of all the shitty things. In a way, that was the final rock off my chest. I finally lost my tie. That was a sort of closure for me. Not the one I wanted, but the one I got. You know, none of this is new. There’s no sensitivity in this game. You’re used, and in return you receive adulation. You’re inflated, and then it goes -- and it can go in the most unpredictable way. C’est la vie. It’s not the way I’d run the world, but it’s the way television works. Sounds like just another in a long line of horribly mishandled situations that shouldn't have happened the way they did.

I liked that clip above from October 9, 1990, but the thing that interested me most was watching the end credits and seeing Sam Hall listed among the writers. I haven't seen a lot of episodes from that period and didn't know that the Dark Shadows and OLTL writer spent time at GH.

Actor Fyvush Finkel, who I know best from his work on Picket Fences and Boston Public, died over the weekend at age 93. An obit I read listed OLTL among his credits. His IMDB page doesn't list this, so it may have been a brief bit part long ago. Does anyone have any knowledge or memory of him from the show?

So true.

Potentially bad news... Today on Retro TV's Facebook page, there's a new poll, with this description: "In September, we'll be returning THE DOCTORS to its daytime airings, and we want your input! Would you like to see THE DOCTORS aired in the mornings or early afternoons, and do you want it to continue from its current part, or have you missed many episodes and want to see us "rewind" back to when it changed time slots?" Once you click on the poll, you get these options: Early afternoon and "rewind" back to the point it was moved, Mornings and "rewind" back to the point it was moved, Early afternoon and continue from where it is, or Mornings and continue from its current point" While it's apparently not a complete rewind back to December 1967 episodes, the thought that they're even considering going backwards at all is not very reassuring. I'd hate to see a situation like Ryan's Hope on Soapnet.

Great pictures. Cool that they worked near the Barney Miller set. (I've always liked that show.) Thanks for sharing!

R.I.P., Alan Young. He was best known for starring in Mister Ed, but he also played a villain on GH in the mid-80s. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/alan-young-dead-mister-ed-816846 Young discussed his GH experience in this clip beginning at 25:10:

Last night, I finally got to see the Unsung Hollywood episode for New York Undercover. Great to see all of the core actors interviewed. Of course there was discussion about the downfall of the show - killing off Michael DeLorenzo's character and adding several new characters in a network-dictated attempt to appeal to more white viewers. Well, speaking as a white viewer, that decision backfired with me because I stopped watching the show early in that 4th (and ultimately final) season, as I didn't like the change in characters and new direction. I don't know why the network execs think I would need to see more white characters to keep me watching. When the series has aired in reruns on cable, I've managed to watch a few more off those Season 4 episodes, but I still haven't seen all of them yet. But I've always enjoyed revisiting those first 3 seasons. I wish NYU would get a DVD release, but with all of the music involved I'm sure it would be nightmarish to work out all the rights issues/approvals.

The cable channel FamilyNet started airing Benson reruns a few months ago. It's the first time I've gotten to see the show in years. James and Robert Guillaume worked so well together, and the show is still fun to watch. I liked getting to see James as Dr. Winters in those 1st few weeks of Retro's TD reruns. Those lengthy dialogues between Winters and Althea were great. RIP, James.

I see that Retro has just started airing 1971 episodes. I'm not there yet in my personal viewing, but I'm glad that so far there still seems to be no end in sight.

According to the old article at the link below, Hawkins had trouble learning his lines. (They'd started giving him more to do once it was decided that Frank would live.) He was fired, but then the show couldn't find a replacement. So he ended up staying, working without a contract. Eventually, they found Andrew Robinson, so Hawkins was out. Replacement Actors Find It Difficult To Fill Popular Roles Of Soap Stars

Wow...that video is really...wow. I agree that it's just a mess, an unfortunate situation for everyone involved. (I, too, liked that they included a photo with Nancy.)

Michael (Frank Ryan #1) Hawkins vs. son Christian (D.J. LaSalle) Slater: http://www.tmz.com/2016/02/24/christian-slater-lawsuit-father-defamation-schizophrenia?adid=TMZ_Search_Results

Thanks for the link to the video. It sounds like her experience with TD is one she'd rather forget. Though it's kind of understandable, considering she was told she'd be a head writer when in reality she was to be the only writer. Getting Edelstein as a co-writer the next year must have been an incredible relief for her. Despite the seemingly impossible workload, her solo scripts remained strong, at least based on what Retro showed.

I was reading this new interview with actor Richard Masur, and toward the end there's a section where he discusses guest appearances he made on AMC in 2007 and 2009. He talks briefly about his experience, including working with Susan L. http://www.avclub.com/article/richard-masur-transparent-norman-lear-and-survivin-231228

Yes, it's the same woman - Gloria Cromwell.

Thanks, Doombuggy!

Thanks for posting this episode. I haven't been able to find any episodes or clips from this part of 1983, so this was new to me. I know Labine/Mayer were fired (again) soon after the Greer story ended, and Pat Falken Smith was writing the show before the year ended. So I'm wondering if this episode was part of the beginning of the transitional period. The core characters appearing in this episode still sound right, but we're being introduced to the new younger Joe and there were the references to Max Dubujak. I wish there were more episodes from this period available. (Actually, I wish everything that Soapnet never aired, from the very end of 1981 through the end of the series, was available. Even the periods that aren't considered very good would still be worth watching, and probably better than the best of what the current daytime shows air now.)

That makes sense. Even the Lakin/Edelstein combo has a somewhat different tone than solo Lakin, so I can imagine that solo Edelstein and post-Edelstein will take a little getting used to. (Although, Dark Shadows fan that I am, I'm looking forward to when I reach the point where Virginia Vestoff begins as Althea.) Still, getting to watch this show evolve with the turnover in writers will be an interesting aspect of viewing these reruns, especially since it's all new to me. So I remain interested and will stay with the series through the highs and lows for as long as Retro is willing to keep going.

I'm still viewing episodes where Lakin and Edelstein are both billed as the writers, but I'm curious to know what people who are more caught up think of the start of the post-Lakin/post-Edelstein era. I hope the recent lack of posts isn't an indication that the writing change is causing a growing disinterest. (I rarely post because I'm so behind from the currently aired late-'69 shows.) Also, I was glad to see that Retro is well into December 1969. Minus a few skipped (presumably lost or in poor condition) episodes, they've now aired over 2 years worth of shows and are still going. This is much better than I ever expected when they first started showing the reruns at this time last year. However good or bad (or both) it turns out to be, I look forward to watching the episodes of the 1970s.