Franko

It was promoting the storyline concerning shenanigans during the making of a horror movie in Salem. Normally, this would be a C plot on its own (it involved Carrie and Sarah), but it also somehow tied into the larger picture of Lawrence's arrival.

Personally, I'll take the "It Will Excite You" ads over the "Trying out some new software" ones.

Awful sad that Frank and Doris may or may not have been able to look past their allegedly longstanding and permanent writeoff of Bridget's worth.

The 1982 cast photo. Forty-seven people. I'll bow down to anyone who can name all the actors or characters.

I'm wondering if the preparation for and aftermath of the hour expansion had something to do with the number of less celebrated Dobsons era characters. Perhaps there was a "introduce them and we'll see if they'll end up mattering" approach. Of course, the problem is when you wind up with bloated ensembles, which happened to quite a few shows by the '80s. I'll never forget seeing that MASSIVE 1982 All My Children cast picture.

What a saga this was! Thanks, @JAS0N47! No worries, Khan.

Yeah, that's another problem I have -- just bring back Calliope. If I remember right from her 1992 appearance, she was a New York-based talk show host. Yup, I think this was the consensus we reached, that nobody (maybe not even Deidre) took this seriously, it was all just an example of demonstrating the value of the star.

Well, there was the time she nearly died in an ice storm ... And J.R. had military experience, too.

I've said it before, but I'm still amazed that Gary never conceived any children between Lucy and Bobby & Betsy.

The description of P.T. as similar to Bette Midler in Beaches came from the SOD article describing Manhattan Lives, and ever since I've read it, I've been unable to let it go. I just can't imagine who on the daytime scene would even qualify for such a role, or if they would have cast from outside the actors pool.

There's a rainy day activity just waiting to happen. P.S. Thank you for the tag! I'm always delighted when I remember how much plays and musicals performances were a part of this era of the cable networks. It seems to have died out once they were more into making their own TV movies.

Yes, that's right! And Marlena's Bette Midlereque friend, P.T. Barnum.

Reading about Ada's likely platonic marriage to Charley has me thinking about something she would likely have no use for, a "walker." For those who don't know, I'm talking about a male escort (often but not always gay) who accompanies women to social events. I don't know if soaps have ever acknowledged these types of guys, and I think if they did, it would mostly be strictly heterosexual, with escorting in the non-sexual sense (Stu & Jo), or the guy has an especially good chance of being the lady's next husband (Jackson & Erica, David & Dorian). Discuss.

I'll never stop holding out hope that there was an actual bible written for Manhattan Lives (the proposed Deidre Hall-led, New York-set spinoff to Days of Our Lives, on the chance that there's anyone here who has never heard of it), because it would be a lot of fun to compare and contrast that with how things played out on The City.

I love all of this very much. My only fly in the ointment is concern over Rosemary Prinz's avoidance of long-term commitments. (As long as we're dreaming, maybe she decided she loved working with Larry Haines so much that she was willing to keep going.)

Beatrice Straight actually was playing a villain at the time, sort of the poor man's Jane Wyman, on King's Crossing.

Oh, yes, we can't forget Kim, who was apparently thisclose to being the female lead on Evening Shade. Pasadena, Donna. (Sounds like I'm singing.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasadena_(TV_series)

Adding Robin Strasser to the list. She definitely made the rounds during her 1987-93 absence from OLTL. On the other hand, almost all of those roles were guest shots. I don't know if she did any pilots.

I thought of two ladies who would certainly attract some onlooker audience members if either had played Sydney. In both cases, it would be playing against type (which might not be a bad thing). Farrah Fawcett (she still had a high Q rating in the '90s, didn't she?) and, making her triumphant return to TV and already New York-based ... Mia Farrow. (Hey, go big or go home.)

While Lisanne was only on until late October, the impact of her death dragged on for four more months, followed by Nicky finally learning he's Carly & Lawrence's kid.

If I remember correctly ... Sergio's became original recipe Doug's Place, which was backburned for a while for Doug's Place, the casino era. Doug's Place original then became Blondie's and later, Wings. By the time it was written out, The Penthouse Grille was the new hangout. The Twilight became Shenanigans, then the original Alice's Restaurant. The Tuscany, successor to the Penthouse Grille, became the country Alice's.

Excellent points.

Not to go too far in another direction, but I wonder how much of that had to do with how Lila was being written-played in that era. Very Mary the Good Fairy. Makes you wonder what the kids thought of Kate Rescott or Isabelle Alden.

Oh, if only they had considered this before introducing the SORASed Sami ... I will concede that so much of the drama from Sami's storylines has been because she's Marlena's daughter. Casting ideas? For whatever reason, Phillip Michael Thomas was the first guy who came to mind.

Coming soon: Friday, March 13 -- Bo (now played by Robert Kelker-Kelly) is back on Days of Our Lives. Friday, March 20 -- Will is killed on All My Children.