Vee

Thank you for posting both of those, I looked it up in the video the other day. It's pretty much as I suspected.

Why did Stitch (a.k.a. Dr. Giant Baby Head) go crazy again?

I think this was posted a year ago. She was mistreated.

Anna was basically non-existent until Sheffer discovered the couple when he came on the show and brought her back as well as restoring the classical, more heroic Tony. He talked a lot about them. I'll always be grateful for that choice because it's stuck despite several attempts to undo it.

It wouldn't surprise me at all. The story in the interviews about JP vetoing the Spice Girls appearing in favor of a corny 'roaring 20s' theme for his episode bc of the obnoxious big band revival trend of the year seems textbook to me. (Though I personally enjoyed The Cardigans, who appeared during that episode)

Pretty sure they did all that bc it was part of the big push at the time to bring Thaao back and make Tony (once again behaving OOC) into the big new villain under Brash and Cwikly. I never understood that, though I was always happy to see Thaao.

I haven't watched that season in many years but I recall Brandon and Valerie's quasi-incestuous attraction to each other being a major throughline for that whole season, even during her fling with Dylan. And her closeness to Brandon was a key part of her rivalry with Kelly. Yet after that one cliffhanger it was never, IIRC, touched again.

I don't fault you for reading it. The thing is, I think most of us have seen Y&R do this dance with new hires dozens of times and squander people and burn them out fast. I think people were counting the days on Burgi in the role even before his COVID mishap and RN is no different. So in the end it really doesn't matter what Newman wants or what the length of his contract is; unless it's revealed to be short-term there's no new news there. He's no more secure than the last guy.

How long is this going to go on before they admit she is in no shape to return? Ah, I see the article answers that.

I'm just saying, that's how the contract cycles have worked since before I was an embryo. Some of the longtime vets have protection from that written into their own contracts, but Newman won't.

The length of his contract doesn't matter. He can be dismissed every 13 weeks like much of the cast. That is soap 101.

Braverman, that was it. And the Life Goes On credential explains why the show changed tonally (not that S7 was very good, but S8 was just dull). Why did I think Jason Priestley was partly involved in that in his new creative role? Or am I nuts? ETA: Oh, I forgot, it's all in the Mollin interview. I first read these pieces years ago, I forget parts of them. I always felt they chickened out on Brandon and Val hooking up at the end of Season 5 - IIRC it picks up some time later in S6 and says they burst out laughing midway through making out and never did anything with it again, after teasing them together for Val's entire first year on the show.

Speaking of Dallas, to this day I don't understand what happened with Victoria Principal and the new show, which seemed to be doing some David Kreizman/GL-style bluffing re: her return up til the end, when it didn't happen after her umpteenth pointed refusal.

Yeah, but I don't think there's a viable alternative at present. If soaps want to survive, in the US at least, it'll have to become about timed drops, preferably daily and probably parceled out within a few months at a time, in seasonal arc storytelling. That still gives you a facsimile of the daily living, universal experience. And I don't know that we'll ever even get that.

I think it was Season 8 where a very different team took over from the old guard? One of the interviews at the site above discusses some of that. I think it was John Eisendrath? Either way the show got worse and worse. I didn't think Hilary Swank was one of those mistakes, though clearly Fox did as they shoved her off the show right before she became a star. I never understood why Kathleen Robertson left but I think it was her decision; she was doing a lot of Gregg Araki stuff at the time. I never forgave the show for her exit, I loved Clare. I'll never get over this show being given a reprieve while MP got canned in much better shape. I think that was down to Spelling protecting Tori. Cress Williams was indeed great on the show, and I kept wondering as a kid if they'd go there with him and Donna or another lead but suspected they wouldn't. He was all over Fox at the time; he recurred on Living Single right to the end. I was shocked when he turned up decades later as the lead of Black Lightning, I hadn't seen him in forever. I don't know if it's discussed in those intvs bc I haven't read them all in awhile but I know there was supposedly some blunder re: Jamie Walters and that's why they chose to vilify him and write him out when it wasn't originally the intent. I def hated Ray by the end.

My first thought!

Anything after Season 6 (which gets pretty sleazy, but has Clare and the great Emma Caulfield as Susan Keats, who should've stayed) is a wash AFAIC. Especially Season 7.

It was part of a massive lawsuit launched when she was hired to play Taylor McBride and then dropped after getting pregnant. They recast with Lisa Rinna and she sued Spelling. I'm sure that was among her allegations and it may well be true.

Larry Mollin discussed part of the Andrea issue here, in one of several very candid BTS interviews by a few 90210 staff on this site. They make it clear Mark Damon Espinoza was an issue.

A riveting dream sequence.

It's getting to be a little Talking Heads.

Yeah, her wardrobe is very strange and I assumed it was some IRL thing.

It's tragic what she's done to herself but her physical issues are only the tip of the iceberg as to why they recast.

The Sun article is typically misleading, since they make no mention except in one caption that Kim Medcalf has played the role on and off since the 2000s when Danniella became unhireable.

Wow. I vaguely remember watching it when I spent time in Australia as a young kid.