Franko

Bob Mackie's birthday bash for Brad Maule! I might get the chance to meet Cher or Carol Burnett.

Now that I'm caught up: -- Don't worry, readers, Jon-Michael Reed assures you that Matthew Cowles and Christine Baranski (oddly enough, not identified by their actual names) aren't really white trash! "Billy Clyde and Jewell" join Peter Bergman's wife-to-be, only identified as a non-actress and not Christine Ebersole. -- I know actors are different than the roles they play, but am I the only one who's a little squicked out that Genie Francis was dating John Martinuzzi, who played Laura's "sadistic rapist husband" Stavros? That's doubly so, considering the baggage of Luke & Laura's rape to romance. Oh well, apparently Genie and John had a happy relationship, although I did smirk at the mention that she'd be filming North and South (where she'd reunite with Jonathan Frakes). -- Different Times: 'Veteran dancer Lola Falana storms the 'Capitol'" If that wasn't awkward enough, we have Colleen Zenk and Mark Pinter's "strictly professional" mutual admiration. -- As for Reed, don't worry: A. Martinez certainly won't be sliding out of view as SB enters 1985. And yes, Don Diamont didn't have much trouble finding another soap role. -- Speaking of musicals, oh, how I'd have loved to have been in the audience when the Hayes headlined Oliver! Fun fact: Jed Allan was in the original U.S. production. -- Quite the up and down career path for Christopher Holder. First he's dropped from Y&R, then he's cast in nearing-the-end EDGE, then he's cast on AW, but he sadly won't go the distance with that show. Of course, that's nothing compared to Terri VandenBosch's array of traumas: having a hospitalized fiancé, getting hit by a car, having $100 stole out of her purse while knocked out, getting hospitalized herself and then losing her job on ATWT. -- Interesting blooper from Robin Mattson (or possibly a misunderstanding Reed), who said playing Delia was her first East Coast gig. I guess even she wasn't that impressed by her work as Hope Bauer on GL. In that same column: how can John James and Ted McGinley be alumni of ABC's Talent Development Program if it started in July 1982? By that time, John was on Dynasty and Ted was on Happy Days. -- TIL Peter Fonda (!) was considered for DALLAS. I'm curious if it was for the role of Jack Ewing or somebody else. To be honest, of all the nighttime soaps, I feel like he'd be most at home on KNOTS LANDING. Poor Charlene Tilton, though, being rejected by KL. -- C.C. from Baton Rouge was sorta close. David Hartman never acted opposite Denise Alexander, but they were a couple. I was also amused by J.L. from Greensboro wanting to know if CAPITOL would expand to an hour. Evidently they don't read Reed and don't know he finds the show so dull. -- The hottest controversy of winter 1984-85: Was Jack Wagner fired from GH? Nearly fired? (He doesn't want to talk about it.) And who are these two "Jack-haters" who were bitter at having their popularity exceeded? -- All this and the return of the "What's Dorothy Lyman up to?" questions.

Oy vey, I need to catch up ...

He was her first husband. There was a stipulation in Edward's father's will that the Quartermaine money could only go to legitimate heirs. I would think a good lawyer could find a loophole in that. "Fine, the $20 million from 1930 is off limits. But the $200 million since then is free and clear." I think I'm the only one who likes Lorena, or at least what she could have been. I dunno, I think it's nice that Monica had potential to have a close female in her life. Alas, that went to hell pretty quickly. (Jan. 13, 1983) Edward learns that Beatrice (Jimmy Lee's mother) was never using the money he was sending her every month. Beatrice sent Jimmy Lee (Eric) to stay with cousins in the mid west who actually raised the boy. Seems like the opportunity would have been there circa 1991, when Steve Bond left SANTA BARBARA. Think of the possibilities: (a) a more organic means for the class conflict stuff Gloria Monty wanted to try; (b) having Jimmy Lee and Tracy finally meet, which would have been worth the price of admission; (c) Jimmy Lee's adoptive son, Jonah, who could have slipped into Jason's role, or Jagger's. I could be wrong, but I get the impression Herbert was the true power behind the Qs. Seems like that could have been a good story for Edward. I always felt like Alexandria was a clear substitute for Tracy.

Curlyqgrl's summaries for 1983-84 may help you out, @j swift, but I'll try to answer some of these, too. https://www.angelfire.com/tv/curlyqgrl/gh/eps/gheps1983.htm https://www.angelfire.com/tv/curlyqgrl/gh/eps/gheps1984.html Did Celia first meet Putnam or Andrews? If I read it right, Celia and Putnam were a couple before the switch occurred, when Putnam was a med student. How long before the move to PC did Andrews take over Putnam's identity? 1976. He was apparently left for dead. (January 2, 1984) When Grant's Dr's tell him he was found years ago at the bottom of a cliff, which in turn led to his stay at the sanitarium, he collapses. (January 13, 1984) Grant P has lunch with an old med school student he has not seen in 8 years. Grant P learns how his easily his imposter took his place. He even excelled the real Grant in top honors at med school. He's even more taken aback when informed that Celia even married the imposter. Why did Putman return to PC? Revenge. (December 29, 1983) The strange man in the hospital says his name is “Grant Putnam”. Real Grant reads the newspaper with reports of fake Grant's spy drama and goes crazy, his memories flooding back of what he had lost. Given that Putnam was responsible for his brother's death as a teen, did Andrews know that Putnam was a maniac when he assumed his identity? I'm pretty sure nobody -- nobody alive, that is -- knew Grant Putnam had issues. Why was Andrews allowed to stay in PC after everyone found out he was a spy? Grant Andrews worked hard to redeem himself over the course of late 1983 through 1984. He fought to keep his medical license, put up with menial work (even with Jimmy Lee as his boss) and wasn't fully welcomed back to GH until after Putnam was defeated. Were they both really doctors? Yes Didn't Andrews have another name besides Grant? (Nov. 1, 1983) Almost from birth, Andre Chernin (Putnam) was trained by the DVX to be a mole in the USA. Though he never saw the real Grant Putnam, the phony Grant learned to duplicate his model's every move. Was it plastic surgery or did they both happen to look alike? (July 27, 1983) Celia mentions to Bunny about Grant's plastic surgery. Bunny is intrigued. The Grant he knows had no surgery done. Was Celia related to Alexandra Quartermaine? Celia's dad was Quentin, son of Edward's cousin Herbert. For some reason, I'm thinking Alexandra was another of Herbert's children?

@j swift, I don't know if they were specifically planning for Marley/Vicky so early in the run, but ... JANUARY 24-28, 1983 Donna was mortified when Peter got into a drunken stupor and blurted out that one of the four Love children is illegitimate

Going off the CBS Thursday promo right after the episode, this is sometime during the week of Sept. 21, 1981. https://www.ultimate70s.com/seventies_history/19810924/television ETA: Whoops, looks like I posted at the exact time as beebs did.

Yeah, it's really not good. The only way it maybe would have been salvageable was as a novelty song and/or in character as Tootie.

That's for the clarification re: Kelli. That period before Andrea Evans came back is a blur to me. Oh, how I wish Kim's AMC appearance was on YouTube. In the meantime, here's the song.

Going off the Tune in Tomorrow recaps, the storyline was labored from the get-go. Maggie wants to be a surrogate! Mickey won't let her! He agrees, but isn't sure she'll be able to give the baby up! Maggie's friends with Stuart! Now she's friends with Evan! Either way, she's too close for comfort! Evan's the daddy! Evan wants his baby! Never mind about the couple Maggie was carrying the baby for!* *They apparently weren't that important in the scheme of things. I can't help but think of how surrogate stories would be told later in the decade after the Baby M mess.

It is telling that so many female stars have been defined by their relationships. Which brings me to the Meg Ryan and Russell Crowe affair. I want to say that was my first exposure to unmistakable slut-shaming.

Agreed. I always liked Tony/Brad, who seemed like a solid enough guy with a bad habit of needing neurosurgery and/or getting involved with shady women. But I never thought of him as a heartthrob type.

We'll have to start a new tracker, this time for After-Massacre Improvements. No. 1 was killing off Cassie. Marlena's making an impressive bid for Dumbass of the Fortnight. Did she really think the grass was greener on her side of the fence? Or is she just that pissed at Don? Never mind. Dumbass of the Fortnight clearly goes to Jessica, with Toad a close second. Good God, how many times are they going to rely on this scene device? Okay, I have to admit, this is pretty exciting. And so's this. Personally, I think Jessica's subconsciously figured out the truth and likes daddy more.

That's fair. I guess I hadn't thought of it as an umbrella story. GH did have kind of a Saturday morning serial feel for a while there with the continuing action adventure plots. Dead on re: the never-ending Aztec treasure story. All I know is that by the very end, we could like Sean and Anna. Not to mention the endless chem testing. Tonia going from (good) Grant to Frisco to Tony, who was also nearly paired with Ginny.

The revolving door of actors caught my eye in September '84: -- Loanne Bishop leaving GH, "Christina" Milandro and Robyn Bernard joining the cast and Tony Geary preparing for a guest appearance (reportedly without Genie Francis). Meanwhile, Jane Elliot joins AMC. -- TIL Suzanne Rogers and Lane Davies were once a couple. And, ha, I was right, Suzanne did try for the role of Sheila in A Chorus Line! In lighter news, Arleen Sorkin got promoted. -- More on the Laura Malone story: She's lost her baby weight, but still can't get her role back. No comment from Chris or Nancy (who's returning to AW for an ATM visit). -- SFT, which Michael Corbett will soon leave for good, earned a stay of execution because it's doing better than SB, which is hemorrhaging sub-writers. Ah, well, Marcy Walker's on the way. -- Today I also learned Eileen Davidson was nearly in Red Sonja (!) and got around BITD. Her boyfriends included Christopher Mayer, Nicholas Walker and Billy Vera. I'm now imagining an alternate universe where Eileen gets Brigitte Nielsen's career and does movies like Rocky IV, Cobra and Beverly Hills Cop II. -- Kelly "Mironi," formerly of RH, coming to OLTL as nu-Tina (which, of course, didn't happen). -- Yet again, more dumping on the newbie, with a thumbs down for Rituals. -- Don Stewart, Marsha Clark and Peter Simon out and Kristi Ferrell and Richard Van Vleet (out at AMC) in at GL. -- Jon-Michael Reed apologized for the Harry Dean Stanton mix up, admitting Harry came to mind because of winning a recent award for his acting. -- The news I was waiting for: ABC pushing RH to noon and LOVING to 12:30. Coming soon: EDGE's cancellation. All this, and a reminder not to mix pot and alcohol.

I almost included this is the Harry and Meghan thread, which inspired me: Thirsting after royalty/the Prince Charming fantasy -- My teen-into-young-adult years coincided with the period when Prince William, and later Prince Harry, was presented by pop culture as the world's most eligible bachelor/gold standard for a catch/etc. With all the discussion about sexualizing Britney Spears and/or fitting her into one specific narrative or fantasy, I think we should also acknowledge that it was going on with those two guys in particular.

Welcome back! I should feel sorry for Cassie, but this sounds hilarious. This is another of those times where I wonder what's going on in Alice's inner monologue. I'm sure she's retroactively fed up with Marie and not exactly thrilled with obnoxious Jessica. Seriously. I just cannot get a read on those two. HAAHAHAAAHAA!

A brief tangent: Young Doctors in Love isn't particularly great, but there's a few jokes done pretty well. (Dabney Coleman's on the phone) "Sara. ... Sara, look, you've got to understand. I am supervising 20 interns. I am running the surgery department in one of the largest hospitals in the country and I'm sitting on 12 medical committees. Now, I don't have time to talk to you, or your divorce attorney, is that clear?! Good!"

I mean, William Hickey *was* on AMC as one of Ray Gardner's scumbag associates, so ... (Did Bruce Dern ever do a soap? If he did, it probably would have been a New York show in the '50s or '60s, so we'll never see it.)

Also of note: -- Kim Delaney-Flohe's on her way out at AMC and the press is promoting her goodbye. Sorry, not sorry -- I just about fell over when I learned Jenny's jet ski death was the work of a "special effects wizard." It looked so cheap! -- How 'bout Thaao implying Philece was a hot mess? "(Leann's) a total pro, and knows enough to keep her personal life separate from the work we do at the studio." -- K.K. from Louisiana, asking for a recap of DAYS since 1980, comes off a bit like those YouTube commenters (and occasionally SON posters) seeking any and all episodes of a show. -- What Could Have Been: Suzanne Rogers in the (ill-fated) movie adaptation of A CHORUS LINE. I guess the only roles that she'd maybe be believable as are Sheila or Cassie. -- Lots of folks heading out the door: Suzanne, Wayne Northrup, Robert Newman, Don Stewart ... oh well, we've got Brad Lockerman, Julie Osburn and Gloria DeHaven. -- Coming Soon: The great RH/LOVING timeslot switch. SEARCH now has until early 1985 to get its act together. On the horizon: EDGE coming to an end. -- All this, and Nancy Addison Altman in need of the Ghostbusters.

Is there some sort of rule that states soap columnists must never like a new show from the get-go? I was amused by Jon-Michael Reed's review of early SANTA BARBARA, which took a while to deal with the show itself. Instead, we had a column and a half of reminiscing about early AMC and Y&R. Anyway, as you can guess, J-MR didn't care for most of SB's young cast.

@j swift, I think @Mitch meant to say The Sun Also Sets, the show in Soapdish.

Good points. I did what I didn't want to, fell into the "every step or setback is a game changer!" mentality.

Cue the "Democrats in disarray" bull from the usual suspects ...

Something I've noticed while reading recaps of mid '80s AW: the murder stories tend to drag on a bit. For example, in 1984: David was shot in May but we didn't find out who actually did it until November. The year later, Brittany's cousin Willa died in February and her death was resolved in July.