applcin

GL's Jordan Clarke and Bryan Buffington come to my mind as being believable as father and son. On the the other hand, DOOL's Steve Johnson and Jack Deveraux, not much of a resemblance there.

Speaking of GL, didn't Jordan Clarke's personal problems alter course for the character of Billy a couple of times? Clint Ritchie's tractor accident and his not being replaced on OLTL led to the Sloan/Viki relationship proceeding without her husband Clint's presence.

And actors' old age/illnesses/deaths. GH de-aged Edward Quartermaine with John Ingle after David Lewis retired, thus opening up different story possibilities, including the revelation of a past affair with Mary Mae Ward. Her portrayer, Rosalind Cash, was diagnosed with cancer while she was on the show, which I think cemented the growing role of Laura as Earth Mother, which, in turn, I believe started with Genie's pregnancy (scrap the potential action adventure stories). The losses of Douglass Watson (AW) and Michael Zaslow (GL) impacted their respective shows...and OLTL even wrote the return of David Renaldi to bring Zas back there after he was ill.

November 10, 1975. The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. 46 years ago today, the freighter sunk in Lake Superior and all 29 men on board perished.

I can't say I do a regular rewatch. I had some that I had saved on tape here and there but some of the ones I particularly enjoyed: - Paul McCartney interview when she told him she had wanted him to marry her but it was okay that it was Linda - Celine Dion, I think it was her first time on Oprah, getting surprised by her parents and siblings and also displaying quite a bit of humor; also Celine Dion when a couple where the husband had cancer (as Rene had been through) were thrilled to have her sing for them (I'm not sure if they were the same episode) - Davy Jones/Peter Noone/Mark Lindsay - A show about songs that were written for/about real women, featuring Dion, Ronnie Milsap, Casey Kasem, the real Girl From Ipanema and more - A show about commercials that included Fabio, the Snapple lady, a pre-Buffy Anthony Head (then known for the Taster's Choice ads), Mikey from Life Cereal, etc. I confess...I used to love the Iyanla and John Gray (Men Are From Mars) episodes. I really enjoyed how the audiences interacted in those. There was another one with makeovers featuring a couple who hadn't cut their hair in years, Tim and Wendy White. Victoria Principal and Iman were on it. This couple who were obviously crazy about each other couldn't keep their hands off each other. It was just so sweet to see how they were with each other...and then I found out several years ago that Tim had died of a heart attack in his 40s about 5 years after the show and was buried in his makeover suit. Oprah did a follow-up on them. Wendy was heartbroken. I think both segments are on youtube,

OLTL bringing back Michael Zaslow after he had been afflicted with ALS. He was in a wheelchair and could only speak by typing on a computer. The risks: would viewers want to see him, or anyone, in that condition on the show? How would it be perceived, how physically well would MZ handle the work, etc.? I think the rewards were: Michael had one final chance to work at something he loved around people he knew; he had friends there who cared for him; it tugged at the emotions of the viewers, especially those like myself who were viewers of either or both OLTL and GL. Of course, OLTL got some positive press as the show that hired him after GL had fired him. Bottom line, I think the decision to have him there was the right one, even if only for the happiness it must have given Michael.

AMC did it with Zarf/Zoe. Again, new character introduced just for the purpose and gone in less than 6 months.

This one may be a mix of taking a risk but not going that far out on a limb: Dawn Rollo on AW as the first HIV+/AIDS character. She was a new character, not related to any major characters (her brother had been MJ's pimp but Chad was also pretty disposable), a straight female. Yes, AW addressed AIDS first and showed that even "nice girls"/straight people could get it. But Dawn was a disposable character that viewers were maybe minimally invested in, if at all. This wasn't Kathleen, MJ or Amanda. This was AW deciding to do an AIDS story and bringing in a new character just for that purpose; she was dead within 6 months of her introduction and even that happened off screen. There really was no long-term impact from her having been on the show.

Saw Ronn Moss (B&B) on an Italian talk show "Verissimo" today (taped 10/30, I believe). I've never watched that soap but he said that he left a decade ago partly because he'd been in a car accident with his wife and the head injury left him having a problem memorizing his lines. He also wanted to concentrate on music. He misses the people from the show but not the grind but, overall, said it was a happy time and he's proud of it.

https://popculture.com/celebrity/news/richard-dick-evans-prolific-tv-actor-dead-at-86/ R.I.P. Richard Evans. Coincidentally, he starred in the same Star Trek episode as Patrick Horgan, who we lost this month as well.

Killing off little BJ Jones on GH and giving her heart to Maxie. She'd been played by Brighton Hertford since she was a baby to about age 7. It was heart-wrenching all around...Tony losing his (and late wife Tania's) only child and making the decision to give her heart to his niece. The effect it had on the Jones clan. I thought that was Brad Maule's finest work.

When she married her OLTL costar, Melissa Gallo changed to Melissa Fumero.

Nana went by Nana Tucker, her given name, while she was on Ryan's Hope. There she played Nancy Feldman, which may be why you're thinking of the name Nancy. Her OLTL character was Georgina Whitman. The name Visitor came from somewhere in her mother's family. I don't know about a relationship with SF, but while on RH, she was living with co-star Richard Muenz (Joe Novak). Tyler Christopher (GH) started out as Tyler Baker.

Aw, I saw him in concert some 20-25 years ago. He brought out his son Beau, who was a little boy then. Jay even cracked a joke about having an "effing stroke" on stage (because he was overweight). But he could still belt it out, especially "Cara Mia." https://www.npr.org/2021/10/24/1048839862/jay-black-lead-singer-of-pop-group-the-americans-dies-at-82

R.I.P. Joanna Cameron, best remembered as the heroine, Isis, on Saturday morning tv in the 1970s. https://comicbook.com/dc/news/joanna-camerona-secrets-isis-dead-at-70/

I mentioned this in "The Doctors" topic but I think it deserves a mention here, too, with the longevity of his career.

As the blind Lou Grant

Also before the deep-seated mistrust of government...not that it hasn't to some degree been earned during these decades but I truly don't think, despite people like Mitch McConnell, that's there's some government plot to commit American genocide (even among political divides) or that Andrew Cuomo put restrictions in place because he was trying to be Il Duce of NYS. Honestly, I don't think I've ever believed that people were smarter than this...or smarter now than in the past, at least not in basic nature. I've been of the opinion that, yes, we've made amazing technological and medical advances but basic human wants and fears that ultimately drive people....nah, that hasn't changed. (And certain people throughout history, both distant and recent, not only recognize but exploit this.) The costumes, props and sets have changed over the centuries but greed, fear of differences, self above others...always there. As nice as Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek vision was and how hopeful it painted things in terms of mankind overcoming its baser instincts, I fear human nature will turn things more dystopian. I do have Facebook but, unlike many, I started it to play some games and find pages of entertainment interest, not to engage with anybody I know IRL. I limit my interaction to sites of personal interest where the administrators usually keep things friendly, on topic, and they ban trolls or people who get rude. I don't normally post in the "heavier" topics on this board but I felt like I needed a place to share what I saw and heard today. I mean, that was one person's reaction but it was among one of the more extreme ones I've seen in someone I know personally.

Today I was witness to an exchange between my 65ish neighbor, who recently returned from her annual 4-month visit to her hometown in Croatia, and her married daughter. The daughter is a teacher here in NYC who is currently in the early part of a year-long maternity leave. There's a mandate here that public school staff must get vaccinated. So the mother began yelling that the vaccine is dangerous, she doesn't want her daughter to get it, etc. Lots of yelling. The daughter's husband left, saying something like "go ahead and be a liberal wussy (substitute a p) and bend over." Shortly after, the neighbor on the other side of me (who is a different brand of crazy but that's a whole other litany of stories), yells a greeting across my yard to them and the mother mentions that they were yelling about the vaccine. Well, he's in the funeral business and he got his vaccine back in December. So she tells him that she believes it's all bs, that "they're trying to kill us all by giving us COVID in the vaccine." She went on to say that her sister and cousin got the vaccine and both got COVID whereas she got neither. He mentioned that his vaccinated mother (who's in her 70s) got COVID (upon which the neighbor thought she had made a point to him) but he said he believed his mother would be dead now without it. They debated a bit more about it, he made a comment to her to then at least build up her immune system and always wear a mask (not exactly advice he totally follows himself but hey, in this case, he tried). Later on, I heard her say that people are so stupid. Meanwhile, yesterday I streamed my mother's church mass for her and there's the neighbor, maskless amid a sea of masked people. As it happened, when I got my first dose back in March, she and her husband saw me at the place. A day or two afterwards, she started a conversation with me about it, where she told me she didn't believe in it but to each his own and her husband was possibly looking into getting the J & J one. Her husband jokingly asked me if I felt like Rambo, to which I replied, "No, but I might turn into a Borg." Meanwhile, the neighbor next to her, who is also in her 60s, talks about having had COVID over a year ago because her doctor found antibodies and he then apparently told her she doesn't need a shot. As it happened, about a week ago she, too, had a conversation with the funeral dude, who told her she should get the shot but she adamantly refuses. She also seems to have some cultural or political bias about it because she comes from Poland, and she has said that she knows what it's like to come from Communist rule and that's what these politicians are trying to do, etc. and that it's all bs. Apparently, her lawyer-daughter and son-in-law told her early on about doctors inflating the numbers. Let's just say I usually try to avoid or cut short these kinds of conversations. Don't want to give it the energy.

I just mentioned this in another topic but I think the 1991 Dark Shadows reboot got doomed by coverage of the Gulf War. As someone who hadn't seen the original show and could only experience this series on its own with no frame of reference, I really enjoyed it. I like the genre anyway. Plus they had a decent cast, with veterans like Roy Thinnes and Jean Simmons and they were using some familiar NBC soap actors of that era, like Michael T. Weiss and Joanna Going. I enjoyed Ben Cross' portrayal as well. I wish, at the very least, that it could have ended with some resolution instead of a cliffhanger. I would've liked to see what transpired between Vicky and Barnabas once she knew what he was and he knew that she knew.

I think there are so many variables and questions, some of which others here (esp. DD) have mentioned, when it comes to the idea of reboots that it's hard for me to blanketly say yay or nay. It would depend largely on which soap, who's the target audience, how/where/when would they be shown, are they trying to replicate the original, continue with the "next generation" or telling new stories with new actors in old roles? The 1991 Dark Shadows reboot was actually my first experience ever with DS, and, I suspect, of quite a few younger people like myself back then who hadn't had access to the original. Here was a reboot of a daily daytime soap turned into a weekly nighttime one. The characters and storylines were recreated, although the stories were vastly streamlined to fit the weekly model. Plus, there was also the need to adapt certain elements from the 60s to the 90s, or ditch them altogether. It had a successful start and I think of the show as a "what might have been" situation as it seemed more that outside circumstances (the Gulf War, preemptions, etc.) killed it rather than lack of interest. I believe it could have been a really good series with multiple seasons. I think another reboot could also work again today if the right elements are there to make it appealing to enough people. I think another "niche" type soap like The Edge of Night could have a chance as well and could be written as a weekly, particularly if they maintain the theme of mystery and film-noir type storylines. At this point, it's been out of sight (save for any interested people who might want to look for it online) for so long that it could be reimagined. With the majority of the mainstream daytime soaps, though, I think they'd have to be so changed, adapted, refocused, etc., that they might only have the show name or some character names in common and not much else...which then begs questions like who are they doing it for and why not just create a new product? The PP reboots of AMC and OLTL failed so miserably, I believe, because a) they desired a demo that wasn't interested in "Grandma's story"; b) they were essentially cut off from that Grandma audience that didn't follow them online or didn't have the tech savvy to do so; and c) whether by actor/character glaring absences, storylines, less censorship and so on, these were not the same shows people had loved. The daytime soaps that are still on, and those that went before them, have that loyal audience that sees them every day, knows when to watch, record, stream, etc. But if one attempts to adapt them to a more modern schedule, put them on cable, show them with far less frequency and maybe even a year or more between seasons, they would die quick deaths, I think. Given how long tv and film have been around, it's pretty hard nowadays to find something that isn't either a remake or a derivative of something else. There's a lot of re-purposing the old things to make them appealing to younger generations. Understandable in one way and kind of sad in another. Something that I appreciated about growing up in the 70s was that, while there were a lot less tv stations, those stations were broader in their content. On one channel you could see modern shows, classic shows (and films), documentaries, music videos (old and new)...we were exposed to a wider variety of content and history because it was there in front of us and there weren't as many options. Nowadays, you have to search harder for a particular type of show or genre amidst the morass, meaning you have to already have either some awareness of it or interest in the genre. Reboots may or may not stand alone on their merits--with people either remaining unaware or unexposed to the original-- or they may spark an interest in what came before. I think most reboots now would fall into the former situation--created mainly for a new audience who would see it as a brand new "world"--and not really for the classic viewer who wants to revisit something familiar.

R.I.P. Eddie Paskey, one of the most familiar faces/supporting players in the original Star Trek as Lt. Leslie.

I was today years old when I found out that this character from ST:TNG's "Who Watches The Watchers" is KLS. 😵 I wasn't (and am not) really familiar with her career so, before watching DS, her name wouldn't have rung any bells with me. Rewatching the episode tonight, I decided to check on the actress' name and now I'm like, whoa, that's Maggie Evans, lol.

I'm at the point now where Nicholas has caused Angelique to become human and die. I'm glad for the end of that story, even if not permanent. I needed a break. Then again, now there's mustache-twirling Nicholas running amok. It's amazing how many characters end up back-burnered or on the periphery as they focus on the story of the moment. Elizabeth, David, Roger, Maggie, Joe, Vicky, JeffPeter. I guess Joan Bennett must have had time off at this point since Liz is institutionalized. I wasn't surprised by Sam Evans' death since I was a little bit spoiler-ed with that one. Talk about peripheral. He had barely anything to do since the initial story of Burke coming to town for revenge. So Nicholas encourages Adam to be a brute, knowing it will alienate Carolyn. Sure, it was a good idea to hide him in a house full of nosey people, lol. I have to kind of chuckle when Adam laments about being ugly...at this point in time, I think Robert Rodan is the handsomest actor on the show...actually, probably the best-looking one I've seen so far, lol. 😆 And I find him somewhat similar to Joel Crothers; in fact, I was having some trouble telling them apart while Adam was skulking around the woods. Stokes has just told Adam he was created.(Funny how many people knew where Adam was except the two responsible for his existence.) And now, Adam wants Barnabas to create him a woman. Cue The Bride of Frankenstein.