Vee

IIRC (and correct me if I'm wrong) Harding Lemay said in his book that after a couple years he ultimately took on the job of singlehandedly writing every script at AW himself after finding the work of what he rather discourteously called 'the sub-writers' on his staff to be below par. In a series of unnervingly casual and increasingly troubling asides throughout the same book, he also chronicles the subsequent breakdown and psychological collapse of his wife and then his entire family while he is churning out script after script after script five days a week, 12-20 hours a day, 365 days a year, spending every waking moment enmeshed in Another World. Good luck to Josh Griffith!

HAHAHAHA WHAT THE FUUUUUUCK @Darn

These repetitive Valentin/Anna safehouse scenes lately remind me of when Prospect Park's online OLTL very clearly only had Roger Howarth available for like two more days and clumsily shot almost the entire second half of his storyline in a hotel room where Todd Manning and friends would stand around, talk about their plans for the evil baddies (sometimes to himself) and then later come back to the hotel room talking about what they’d done re: said baddies elsewhere offscreen lol. I understand that while I may personally believe Valentin has all the commanding menace and charisma of Pee Wee Herman, Frank Valentini is absolutely smitten with JPS and is working with his recurring schedule but give me a break. Move this along or let Anna burn the place down the next time Valentin takes to the piano.

It's true. And I don't have a problem with sci-fi on soaps in doses, or with craziness or camp. I've defended a lot of Ron's wilder stories on OLTL or GH (like the gay marriage fest on OLTL which was ahead of its time, or the 1968 time travel arc which was fun and above all short). But there has to be roots in character, and in rootable couples and their human motivations before the wilder storyline. That train left the station for Ron with most stories and characters years ago. These days he often just leans on the same bag of tricks, throws up his hands and waits for his longest-running stans to say 'it's just for fun, don't take it so seriously, it's a soap opera'. I say that a lot too! But not when everything is wall-to-wall masks or poorly handled rape or the Devil hopping 3 bodies in a week, or whatever else. That devalues the show and the genre. The key to doing weirder stories on soaps, be it sci-fi or horror or fantasy or whatever, is to ground it in character and stuff the audience already loves, believes and can buy into. DAYS doesn't do that much anymore.

Oh God.

Pretty bonkers that Portia's family leaves before the wedding reception is over. I assume that when more than 3 non-white folks are on for multiple consecutive episodes Frank worries someone in the audience will call 911. The awkward reaction shots of everyone trying to react to Marshall's much-hyped, tinny-sounding barely-there flute playing like he's Will Ferrell in Anchorman made me wish it had turned out that he is in fact a terrible musician after the 40-year wait.

It actually makes sense as an organic character beat that Stella's intense faith and busybody nature would drive her to drop a dime on Portia - I love it. Why, if they want people to buy him as Drew, did they have TV host Cameron Mathison hosting the wedding just like he hosts way too much basic cable?? Laura was not feeling it when he took the mic.

The Beltway dare not call it a trend when Dems win in off-year races.

We've all been wrong before! Let's let it alone.

Oh that's right. I associated him with EPing in my mind, but I'm barely up on Search to begin with.

I was referring to her first '80s exit, but I knew only some of that and not some of the other stuff. It is great to read. I'll have to read up in that thread on what she got up to. I wonder if she did the flood.

I knew they famously did it with Marland and the Dobsons in the early '80s, but I had no idea it was policy. Or that she worked on Search!

LOLLL not mimicking the Hong Chau delivery.

I always do a lot of research and reading through the back thread via searches on a lot of stuff I'm curious about, but I wanted to get a fresh take from anyone as well: What was the reason for Pam Long's exit and return in the mid-late '80s? She brought in Harley and the Coopers when she returned, right? What was the deal with Sonni/Solita saga in her choices vs. the strike for example, and when did it become a division of labor creative situation with Curlee/Demorest, et al at the show? I know Curlee officially became co-HW in either '89 or '90 but I also know she was instrumental in pushing for the returns of Roger and Holly well before that. Any information on the creative choices surrounding this whole era, the transition from the last (like when they had Larkin Malloy on and Josh was gone), or any stories or characters at all is always welcome.

I was under the impression you were saying the grandma clause was entirely an urban myth and rumor. That's not true; Eileen is on video saying she had it written in after watching what happened to Barbara Berjer (among others, like Patricia Bruder's Ellen, etc. - the insanely accelerated life cycle of Irna Phillips soap heroines and their rapidly-aged children in particular is a whole other topic unto itself). By the time she returned in the '80s it was gone from her new contract, yes, but it did exist for some time and it did ensure she did not become a grandmother or matron like those other vital women over 25-30.

On the other hand:

@DRW50

The Dobsons stuff has always been intricate and fascinating to me for many years, but it grows moreso the deeper I go in this binge. I also have too many questions: How much of the Amanda/Lucille, etc. story did they write, and why did they leave? Did P&G just want to shake up creative teams at their two very long-running soaps? Or were Jennifer and Morgan entirely a Marland thing, as I suspect? Or the Spaulding twist with Jennifer? Marland seems to have inherited an embarrassment of riches with Alan/Jackie/Justin/Elizabeth/Mike, etc., Alan/Hope, the Stapleton sisters, etc. But it's telling how much he flushed and changed up/reinvented for his own vision, however brief, as well. I wonder what the process behind all of that was; I only know a little bit about the BTS details. I always found Amanda's gothic storyline fascinating in this period, and I associated the mysterious and beautiful Ritournelle opening card and music with that stuff. Ben was always such a hunk, and even Eve is cute and sweet. They built a lot of sturdy and complex female characters in their run, even if some ran out of usefulness. I just stumbled upon the debuts of both Ross (advocating against laws for martial rape - what an era) and Elvera Roussel's Hope. I wonder why they brought Peggy, the former long-running teen heroine, back to just seemingly hang out at the nurses station.

I'm 10 episodes out from Season 7 atm (and I will be watching the Dallas dream season concurrently, out of curiosity to see the creative team swap at both shows) and it would have to be the Westfork ranch, yes. I'd be very curious to see it in HD, it's gorgeous enough on bootleg TV eps.

A wonderful NYT interview with the cast (archived here).

Seems likely! But I hope it's just Lore lol. They are already talking up a continuation of this 'story' with some other series so I suspect there may be a Titan show with Seven/Raffi, etc.

Oh, that's too bad. I liked her.

I don't think they are right, really. I think a larger audience is there if they write for them and seek them out. Now, in terms of network-bound non-streaming TV survival? Maybe yes, I don't know; I don't tend to believe that personally given how the non-white, non-conservative audience has hung in for decades despite years of mistreatment, but it's possible. I think networks decided in the late '90s/early 2000s at the latest they were most comfortable writing for rural whites and have geared content towards it despite the numbers, which is why you see what happened at Y&R. It could well be red state nuts are the largest bloc left for this provider, but that's not the future for soaps IMO - streaming is and that demands writing for a wider modern audience. And soaps need to start writing for it if they want to get there. I do think Yellowstone is the successor to Dallas in many ways, and I don't mean that disparagingly despite Yellowstone's complex reputation. It's fine. I was a bitch.