Franko

Thoughts on 11/14/88-11/18/88: Viki/Leo/Clint/Christine -- When the truth came out, I hope Viki took a moment to give Michael or Leo holy hell for toying with her emotions. I'd love to know how OLTL viewers reacted when just about everything occurring in this part of the storyline turned out not to matter. With that said, I was still moved. What a range of emotions for Viki! More than a little "I hooked up with this guy?", weary horror ("Everything came down to money with my father."; Erika makes a three-course meal out of that line.), barely concealed maternal pride and annoyance then pride again with Christine; the heartbreak of facing her crisis alone (Was Clint Ritchie off for personal reasons, or were the writers wanting to have the field temporarily clear for Roger when it was his turn with Viki?); and having to put up with Leo calling the shots. I'm still laughing at Leo's insistence that Christine will react with fury at finding out she's Viki's long-lost daughter. Run-ins with Ursula aside, Christine doesn't seem like she'd ever get mad at anything. Honestly, the only flaw in what I watched (aside from the fact that it'll mostly get undone) is that Niki and Leo's claimed time as a couple feels generically '60s rather than specific to 1963. I just can't buy Niki Smith as a hippie. Looking like an extra from Hairspray, sure, but not a hippie. And could Renee please stop saying "Viki darling"? Gabrielle/Michael/Max/Frazer/Leo/Megan/Steve/Brenda -- As great as Erika Slezak's performance was this week, I was still most fascinated by Gabrielle. Her deliberately jeopardizing her health by getting exposed to a virus has much different connotations in 2021. To think, Gabrielle, a breakthrough case. And what do we make of her putting her life in Michael's hands, which seems to be a bit of a mutual turn on? That just feels so quintessentially OLTL, a dangerous and kinky pairing. Gabrielle's executing her revenge on the Holdens. I laughed at Megan (wearing too much eye makeup) calling out Gabrielle for bad acting when she fainted in the Holden Tower's restaurant. Max had a good line, too, when he said Michael made Asa look like Mister Rogers. Cord/Tina/Asa/Renee/Ursula/Christine -- This week's episodes helped me realize Asa and Renee were already engaged by the time they invited Cord and Tina to share a wedding. The pre-ceremony stuff is nice, but what's really getting me is how much attention is being paid to the younger couple's second chance. Helping deliver baby Tina was significant, both in the moment (since Cord wasn't around for C.J.'s birth) and in hindsight (since Andrea Evans wasn't playing Tina when Sarah was born). For a long time, this is as good as it gets for Cord and OG Tina. And just so that we're not drowning in sentiment, we have Ursula. Poor Patricia, Tanya and the rest of the campers. Not only are they homeless, but they're having to deal with two total strangers getting into a fight and one (Christine) getting knocked out. Leo warned Christine about photojournalism and Viki warned her about the waterfront ... Sarah/Bo/Roger -- I'm getting the impression that we're already past chemistry testing with these two. In the past, I've shrugged off the pairing (another blonde for Bo?), but I'm liking what I'm seeing so far. Robert S. Woods (who was also great in Bo and Clint's goodbye scene) was charming opposite Jensen Buchanan. It almost makes up for the oddity of Bo acting like he's been a widower for longer than he has been. It'll be interesting to see how Roger reacts to his daughter getting involved with a man older than the "young man" he imagined for her. Mari Lynn/Randy/Wade/Rafe/Casey/Neil -- Fun fact about Randy's extreme combover: apparently Paul Rauch had the exact same hairstyle (it was emulating Michael Douglas in Wall Street). Anyway, Randy's arm is hurt when he's struck by a chandelier that was intended to kill him. A round of applause for Mari Lynn, for quickly putting two and two together: Lolly's death and Randy's near-death are imitating what happened on Fraternity Row and the victims are people who were mad at her.

But it gave Christine so much credibility among the impoverished Peruvians, NYC debutantes and steel town just plain folks ... This makes sense. It also makes the difference between pros like Michael and Gabrielle and penny-ante folks like Leo. Paging Ladies Home Journal! "Can This Relationship Be Saved?"

Thoughts on 11/9/88-11/11/88: Viki/Clint/Leo/Christine/Michael/Rafe/Jon -- The search for Viki's long-lost daughter dominated these three episodes. Even knowing how this will play out, I still got some excitement from watching Leo squirm when being separately harassed by Clint and Michael. I'm assuming that at this point in the show, the idea of Christine being Viki and Leo's daughter was presented as something we wouldn't doubt. On a side note, I got the chills a little at Victor Lord commenting about the sins he committed against Viki. (And how!) As for Christine, while she's not as tedious as legend has it, I also couldn't see her being a mover and a shaker like other OLTL women. I got a good laugh out of Viki observing that Christine is not as tough as she'd have people believe. "Tough" was not a synonym I'd assume for Christine. Gabrielle/Michael/Max/Megan/Steve/Delilah/Rafe -- Here we go! My biggest enjoyment came from watching Gabrielle fight for survival and tick off everyone in her orbit. I was a little surprised to hear Megan call her a bitch, as I thought the word was used only rarely on daytime back then. Anyway, Gabrielle blackmails Michael over his arrangement with Leo so that Michael won't get control of (or was it abandon his investment in?; the point is Gabrielle needs Michael's money) her design house, formerly a partnership with Delilah (who douses Gabrielle with borscht during their failed lunch meeting). For added drama, Gabrielle also wants to take the Holden Towers away from Max (and to a lesser extent, Steve). Fiona Hutchinson is just a lot of fun here, particularly opposite Dennis Parlato. Tina/Cord -- Happy 33rd birthday, Tina, daughter of Dooley & Crystal. Even by TV standards, that felt like an especially short delivery. Watching over the hicks' Arizona diner, Tina & Cord spend the rest of this batch getting closer to reuniting as a couple. I actually already thought they had, so it was a bit of surprise in the Nov. 11 episode when they described themselves as divorced but friendly. Let's face it, Tina & Cord 2.0 was a done deal once they slow danced to "Crazy." Megan/Mari Lyn/Randy/Wade/Neal/Casey -- Who came up with having a show within a show, Schnessel or Rauch? Either way, I guess I better get used to seeing more of the Fraternity Row saga over the next few months. Thank goodness I have Megan to keep up my interest. And even though I don't care much about Mari Lyn and Wade not getting to play house, Doug Wert could get it. We'll see how long I give commentary for. I'm thinking I'll go a week at a time.

Both of her pregnancies were written in. The first one coincided with Lucy being married to Alan. She set out to get pregnant so that she'd forever have a finger in the Quartermaine pie. The problem was that Scott was the actual baby daddy. The baby, "Eddie Jr.", died when Lucy miscarried after Alan found out the truth.

What a treat this is. What an absolute treat. Thanks to that teaser for "Brothers" (a failed pilot co-starring Charles Levin), we can pinpoint the first portion as Wednesday, July 30, 1980, followed by the July 31 episode. The only other thing I have to add is that I think Peter Billingsley is in the first Duncan Hines ad and I think I spotted Deborah Harmon in the split second of the Charmin ad at the very start. (Sorry, that's all I've got, confirming the date and naming commercial folks.) ETA: And Charles Kimbrough in the Joy ad. Ha ... the fictional and real-life husbands of Beth Howland. EETA: Jason Hervey in the Velveeta ad. (The mom at the start looks familiar, too.) And Sela Ward for Night of Olay. ... And I'm 90 percent certain that's Carlin Glynn, "Miss Mona" to Henderson Forsythe's "Sheriff Ed Earl" in the OBC of Best Little Whorehouse, in the Sure ad.

1988. I forgot the exact date, but it was in November.

Friday, May 3, 1985, North and South Carolina: You could watch RYAN'S HOPE at 10 a.m. (after Donahue) on WWAY in Wilmington, which aired Jeopardy! at noon. Or you could see RH at 11:30 (after All-Star Blitz) on WRAL in Raleigh, which apparently dropped Family Feud and aired news at noon. WPDE in Florence aired RH at noon, between Family Feud and LOVING. Everything aired in pattern on the CBS stations in Durham and Florence. WECT, NBC's Wilmington station, aired all four soaps, but didn't air Sale of the Century (for the syndicated Name That Tune) and Super Password (for news). WPTF in Durham nearly aired all of the network lineup, but passed on SANTA BARBARA, airing The Pink Panther and Inspector Gadget instead.

Madison, Wisconsin, end of October 1971: WISC (CBS) aired the "Farm Hour" at noon, followed by the syndicated What's My Line? in place of Love is a Many Splendored Thing. The Guiding Light aired in pattern and As The World Turns aired at 3:30, after Gomer Pyle, USMC reruns and as the lead-in to a local children's show. I wonder how many Madison residents of a certain age became young ATWT fans, not to mention if this move happened in response to Dark Shadows' popularity a few years earlier. WMTV (NBC; "I want my Channel 15!") and WKOW (ABC; if that station didn't have a cow mascot at some point, I don't know what's what) aired everything in pattern.

And perhaps more than a little inspired by the less-remembered patrons and hangers-on at places like Studio 54? Like deja vu all over again, as Yogi would say.

If that's the case, then Warren Burton was reprising more than a little of the story he previously played on AMC as Eddie Dorrance. Of course, you could argue Janice Lynde was also doing a variant of her previous work as Leslie Brooks on Y&R.

I actually just watched an episode from 1988 recently. It was on men who weren't communicating with their wives. I was impressed that aside from some tension between one of the wives and the doctor on the panel (Herb Goldberg, author of The Inner Male: Overcoming Roadblocks to Intimacy), the panel approached the subject from the "We've had problems, but are in recovery" point of view. The studio audience had more pathos. Speaking of that, there was an excessive amount of audience reaction shots, roughly one per minute. I'm kinda fascinated by that period when Oprah was an unmistakable TV star, but hadn't yet solidified her status as queen of the universe. I'll say 1987-93.

I'll go with revisiting Luke and Laura's rape. Interesting idea, awful execution.

Not sure if this counts, but soaps have long had bitchy characters who matured. Looking at you, Lisa _____.

It's weird to think what would have happened if Bell had fired Eric and Peter. Imagine another reboot playing out in the '90s. For that matter, what would have happened to the guys? Suppose both wanted to stay in L.A. and/or soaps. B&B would be out, but surely GH, DOOL and SB would have jumped at either of them.

I thought of a few more women from the AWverse who could have returned to the canvas, albeit with some possible changes: Blaine (weren't they considering bringing back Sandy?), Cecile (who did come back, a year later) and Paige Marshall (with or without a new actor as ex-husband Dennis). It worked. It just took 27 years.

@titan1978's choice of the Y&R reboot is a good one. I'll go with similar and even more extreme -- Dark Shadows going all-in on the supernatural with the introduction of Barnabas. Talk about an answered Hail Mary!

If they wanted a younger woman/character to fit into Iris' role, Nancy McGowan and Pammy Davis were right there ...

Great idea, kalbir! Jackie Zeman, in the '90s Soap Opera Book of Lists, said GH's story about Lucy agreeing to and then backing out of an arrangement to be Bobbie and Jake's surrogate mother was based on the Baby M drama that unfolded in 1986-87. The storyline was on GH in 1987 (a plot point in the bigger Bobbie/Jake/Lucy/Tony drama). In 1988 it happened with Adam and Dana on Dynasty (a plot point in the bigger Sean Rowan vs. the Carringtons and Alexis drama).

*quiet voice and low eyes, as befitting someone late to the party* I'll take Lucas Adams, please.

I had to double check that none of them were wearing a fanny pack.

Ah, thank you @BoldRestless, I figured it had come up before.

I'm sure this has probably been covered, but when I saw the topic come up on the Bold from the beginning thread, my OCD kicked in and I decided to compare newspaper listings. I used the Pittsburgh Post Gazette and cross-referenced with Jason's DAYS site, the AWHP, the French Santa Barbara site and the GH episode summaries. There are some discrepancies, so if anyone can verify information, the floor is yours. First things first, the Iran/Contra hearings were scheduled between 9 a.m.-12 p.m. and 2 p.m. onward on days they were held in July 1987. DAYS and RH/LOV/AMC were apparently never pre-empted. Y&R and B&B were pre-empted for at least three days because of an interesting arrangement that I'll get to in a moment. Week of June 29-July 3: No GH on Tuesday, June 30, because of the Daytime Emmys. No AW and SB on Thursday, July 2, because of Wimbledon. No NBC daytime from 11 a.m. onward on Friday, July 3, because of Wimbledon. Week of July 6-10: Gavel to gavel coverage of Iran/Contra began on Tuesday, July 7. AW and SB are listed as not airing that day, as is GH. I'm not sure about OLTL, ATWT and GL. Between July 8-10, CBS aired Pyramid at 12:30 and The Price Is Right at 1, then went back to the hearings at 2, so none of their soaps at all during that period. AW, SB and GH are listed as off on those days, with OLTL confirmed off beginning on July 9. Week of July 13-17: No soaps at 2 and 3 p.m. through Wednesday. No pre-emptions Thursday. Starting Friday, July 17, the networks staggered their coverage, apparently no so much for soap fans, but because they were losing money. Apparently one network would bear the brunt per day. CBS' day was Friday. Week of July 20-24: ABC day on Monday (GH is confirmed off). NBC day on Tuesday (SB is confirmed off). CBS day on Wednesday (but apparently AW also took the day off, unless Eddie had a typo). ABC day on Thursday (OLTL and GH are confirmed off, but AW is also listed). NBC day on Friday (but GH is also listed). Week of July 27-31: No pre-emptions on Monday. NBC day on Tuesday. CBS day on Wednesday? GH is listed as off on Thursday, but so are AW and SB. AW and SB are also listed as off on Friday.

Have you all seen the episode where Ridge is chilling on a sleeping Caroline's bed in just a pair of red manties? That was a bit of a surprise. It feels like the flesh parade really kicks off beginning on Memorial Day 1987. Might as well hook the young/summertime viewers, I guess. I'm also amused by Ridge/Ronn strictly wearing Speedos or briefs, whereas Thorne/Clayton and Eric/John are in shorts.

Of course. What was the factor behind Kin leaving, anyway? He wanted more money? Wanted to go to New York? Needed a time out from Gloria Monty?

Ah, thank you, @will81.