Vee

The audio links are incredible. Thank you so, so, so much. I was someone who always wanted to see more of this mysterious, misty past honored - the Woleks, Carla and her family, Tony Lord. I gave up on it when the show was cancelled and left the air, but now, with it off ABC and away from the same institutions, who knows? I do hope someone like Susie Horgan comes in with a longer background in OLTL (or she comes back) to possibly help contribute to that. But I also know Racina is very old school, and a longtime fan. I'm also shamelessly going to lift that 1968 cast photo from the WLS link. I'd love to find a way to make a new banner out of it with the old photo at the top and the PP one at the bottom. BTW, is it definite these episodes are from January 1978? Wiki is claiming Brian died in late April, but it's often wrong.

Then again, I could be wrong about you. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v34K5VUBnAE

I think we judge her now through the lens of her work since then. At the time, IMO, it was like a little girl playing dress-up as "Carly".

It was particularly resonant with the hair because she had dyed her hair to fully become Carly. I don't adore her, but I do like TB. I still prefer Sarah Brown by a country mile, but I thought she did a very solid job, especially later on, even in wretched years like 2003 - she sold the [!@#$%^&*] they were doing with all mob all the time. Even if I hated it, and I did, I liked her as an actress. Romantically I only really dug her with MB (very early on) and then Ted King. I thought she was also very hot with Rick Hearst early on, but they killed that with the panic room. I thought the Zander and Jax pairings didn't make sense for the Carly of that era. With Laura Wright, Carly again became something very different, just as TB's had become very different from Sarah's. I think Sarah could've sold sleeping with Zander, but not TB.

I was told she was approached. I still would've preferred Sarah. Then I heard some nonsense that they asked Tamara to come back as Kate, which would've been so [!@#$%^&*] ridiculous, but after Claudia Zacchara I rule nothing out. Tamara's first scene on GH was barging into Sonny's place, stick-thin, with reddish hair, in a hot pink leather jacket, which was loud even by 2001 standards, just a nightmare to look at. She was a mess and totally the opposite of Sarah Brown. But she ended up making it work, through fan support, MB's support and sheer talent and gumption, and eventually all of that turned against her, except her talent. I do miss her on soaps. I thought her AMC role was a great idea, except for the fact that the endgame there was just to pair her with Thorsten Kaye. ETA: My mistake, it was a silver leather coat. They put her in the hot pink [!@#$%^&*] a few days later; either way, both were shocking messes.

My recollection, and this is when I was a teenager, was that Sarah disagreed vehemently with the story where Carly would dime Sonny out to the FBI. She and JFP fought it out, and she walked. Jill planned to use Tamara to exit the character by death as Sonny moved on to Angel Sorel. The S&C fanbase, which at that time included me and I think a lot of the general audience, as well as MB helped make Tamara Braun. It was a sort of grassroots revolt, unusual at that time, and I think the failure of the Angel story as well as Endgame is what broke Jill and Megan. They were done after that. They had used the same playbook they'd had at OLTL, but you couldn't pull that [!@#$%^&*] at General Hospital at that time, as the flagship. And TB really worked it and made the role work for her, as best she could. But within about two years the show was a whole different kind of disaster, the characters you once loved had become a nightmare to deal with and I don't blame her at all for wanting out with TK. Their pairing was the hottest thing on GH at that time, and so it was destroyed. Jill did try to get Gina Tognoni to come in and do Carly at one point. But I know Jennifer Bransford was her idea. Bransford had played Georgie Phillips on OLTL. That was a mess. That poor woman. She actually did have the rough, raw sort of quality of Sarah Brown, but she was just so out of place on GH, period. I laughed when Kelly Monaco told the story last weekend on 20/20 about Bransford literally battering her with a pool cue during their epic bar brawl and her being like 'what are you doing?'

Yes, very. Or so I heard at the time. The story at the time was there was a screaming match with JFP. TB's Carly was destined to die. I don't know if it was only three weeks though - I got the impression it would be at least a few months to play her "final" story, which I was told was to involve rape by Sorel and slow death. Sonny/Angel was the pairing of JFP/MMT's vision. Then the fans (and Benard) rebelled.

I was so glad they killed Tomas. I was way tired of them letting obvious psychos run loose.

Tamara Braun was originally a temp, but I'm sure that's been mentioned.

I also have to say, I disagree with a number of you on Andrea, etc. I had a feeling going into this that she was done. It was the poetic, tragic ending; she's finally reunited with everyone but she's dead, in the pursuit of her ideals - she got what she wanted for those people, finally, but died in the process. She martyred herself for that. I saw it coming a week or two ago. And I was fine with it. I'm not sure how much farther the TV version of Andrea could have gone; they plumbed her depths and evolution so much in the first three seasons, from rebel to nihilist to contrarian to fighter, to martyr. What would be next? Andrea is a steady rock and hangs around? They have enough of those on the show already, most of them with less airtime and dimension than Andrea got. There are other people who need the time. I think her story was told. I didn't think the Governor's was yet, actually - they'd only begun to get into his real descent. I think they made the right choice. I did read the articles; I also think they were right to reshoot her death. The original scene just sounds sadistic and unnecessary, although she shouldn't've kept [!@#$%^&*] stopping. I am so glad Sonequa Martin-Green is a regular. I really, really like her, almost as much as Danai. And honestly, I think Rick embracing humanity and building a community is a very hopeful ending. I didn't expect it of Kirkman; I hope he doesn't ruin it. I didn't get any suggestion that Karen was for Rick. I am still shipping Rick/Michonne, personally.

I thought that was actually a lovely ending. It reminded me of something Carl and I occasionally have talked about - the old BBC series Survivors, from the '70s, about a man-made biological holocaust which wipes out most of the population, but focuses on the survivors trying to build a community and a new world. Of course, that's also why I liked Season 2 of TWD, so. I thought it was lovely that they took them in, that they weren't all wiped out. I thought it was right. I hope Kirkman and co. don't undo it all out of comic book fetishism. I loved the Governor staggering off into the tall weeds. That's all he is now. Laurie Holden did wonderfully. But Jesus, I couldn't believe Andrea took so long with those pliers, taking fuckin' coffee breaks to chat with Milton. That was the first time, ever, in TWD history honestly, where I'd been like, "you stupid bitch." Oh, and I was with Carl on that kid. That dude was going for it, I could see it in his eyes and his body language. I expected him to blow Carl or all of them away.

I always thought it was a terrible mistake to replace Scott Holroyd, who was perfect as Paul and did some incredible, searing work when his Paul turned on Barbara. But CBS and ATWT were blinded by the idea of a big get in Roger, and basically blatantly turned the character into Paul Manning overnight. Hallucinations, weird affectations, demon daddy issues - it was all Todd, all right away and it just didn't work. It was a complete sea change and ATWT fans called it what it was, which was bullshit. It was, I think, the beginning of the end of the Sheffer/Goutman marquee soap star reinvention process, which had (IMO) gone so well with actors like Cady McClain and Hunt Block. It was a shame, too, because I actually thought Roger (as well as Scott Holroyd) had incredible, unexpected chemistry with Martha Byrne's Rose, and Cady McClain. But when they finally got around to pairing Roger and Cady it was basically a vanilla smoothie, story-wise - like Ryan and Greenlee on AMC, before their time. And neither actor was any good at that kind of stuff; at least, Cady wasn't as Rosanna. It also sacrificed the Craig/Rosanna romance, which I loved and which was never the same again. In the end, though, I think Roger Howarth was just happy to be playing something other than a rapist, and that's why he stayed at ATWT so long. The money was good and he was able to be just another leading man, another contract player without all the sturm und drang of Todd, as after this early stuff his Paul became much more generic and commonplace. His hardcore fans from OLTL cried and called it boring, a waste, but what I don't think they understood is that at ATWT he could be just another part of an ensemble and just have a good time with talented actors. That's why I think he stayed despite all the indignities they put that character through, because it was good for him as a person after the years as polarizing, dark antihero Todd. And that's why I think he came back to ABC a lot more chilled out, happy and willing to play and do good work again. But that's just my totally uninformed take, I don't have a real insight into the man or his mind. That's just how it came off to me.

I love Robert and Anna, but I wasn't really around for anything else back then.

Afraid I'm not gonna be live. Too exhausted from the past several days. I'll catch up in a few hours when I'm more rested.

I think I'll watch live. Somehow the GH marathon (which I still have about 20-something episodes of which to watch - I dismissed everything after 2000) did not break my DVR.

I thought the best scene Rooker had last week was either the stuff in the car with Michonne or him in the cells with Rick before he left. "I don't know why I do the things I do. I'm a damned mystery to me." I've always liked Michael Rooker since he was a jobbing character actor in stuff like Cliffhanger - he's always had that intensity, but also something very frail beneath, I think. I am glad they have let Michonne open up as a character, not a cartoon like she is in the comic book, where she's the Angry Black Woman. She has a lot more facets here.

I don't think they're leaving. I think they were packing to hit Woodbury. Scott Gimple wrote tonight, not Kirkman. I was comparing this script to Kirkman's comic work.

This speech is a lot better than anything Kirkman ever did that I can recall.

I thought it was a silly turn of events, but I'm glad they ended it fast and didn't play it out. And the scenes with Gurira and Rooker were great, so that was fine.

This is Merle's redemption arc. Daryl dies, Merle must atone.

Operation Dumbass continues.

Uh-oh, Scott Wilson just had a poem flashed on the screen. Not Herschel!

Yep, and now that he's said that he is gonna die.

Merle knows the Governor better than any of them. They'd all know he has no intention of honoring his promise, but Merle would be positive. The Governor will kill them all because he can. I don't have nearly as many complaints as most people do about the show - I think it's fairly solid - but this is a lame time-wasting bit of business. The chemistry between Gurira and Rooker is great, though. Yep, Daryl's gonna die.

See, this is silly. I don't have patience for this.