victorlord75

On 1/31/2018 at 12:46 PM, amybrickwallace said:

Awwww...those are great pics!! According to Sharon DeBord, the cast was even tighter off-camera than on. 😊❤

Sharon's character was a breath of fresh air.  There is no character on soaps today like hers, if you think about it.

16 hours ago, DRW50 said:

 

My mom was a faithful viewer during this period, but she was probably one of the few viewers who was a bit bored by Dr. Hardy re-telling the Christmas Story every year, but oh, how now, what I wouldn't give to be so "bored" again, to see all those actors and characters again, and to hear the "antiquated" musical score again, clearly and in all its glory!  While I fully realize that "GH" had to drop George Wright's music to keep up with the other soaps, I can remember the day the music changed.  It was very jarring to my family.  My sister exclaimed, "It sounds like the background music on Ryan's Hope!"  I don't know the exact date it happened, but to me, I truly think it was a day where part of the soul of "GH" was lost forever. 

On 2/4/2017 at 3:07 PM, titan1978 said:

After reading that who's who on GH I was really sad for people that started watching after the deaths/ write outs of some of the important pre Monty era players on the show.

 

I loved Steve Hardy when I was a kid until he died.  Beradino always sold his material, and could show so much compassion as a doctor and friend in the show.  And he could be tough!  Just a great leading man and head of the hospital.

 

Audrey I was never very fond of, but she had a place and had value and now that the show lacks so much of that history I find I miss her.

 

Jessie was mostly just a talk to when I started viewing, but again she brought her history to the nurses station and I know enough about how important her character was on the show.

 

Lee Baldwin- like Steve, a fantastic leading man that I always felt commanded the stage when he was there, even in has later days.

 

Leslie Webber- She should be running the hospital.  Bringing her back with Guza writing was a loss because she and Alan and Monica could have spent years fighting for the control of the hospital.  Keeping the actual hospital vital and those characters vital.  Imagine if Leslie and Alan had become an item? 

 

While Gloria Monty was a great producer, some boo-boos occurred under her watch.  I think killing off Peter and Diana Taylor was a big mistake, even though the great Valerie Starrett was no longer playing Diana by GM's arrival.

Just finished today's episode, and I don't think anyone will be disappointed...Jane rocked it...

Yes, she did indeed do a great job. Yes, there was alot of psycho-babble in her scenes today, stuff that usually goes over my head, but not this time. I understood what JE as Tracy was saying. That says something!

Depboy - Thanks for sharing. It's great to read the show descriptions from this era which I know so little about. Frustrating too, since I know there's no chance to see any of those episodes.

It's a pity so much of the old GH is lost in the mists of time. While the old GH was not action packed like today's version of the program, one thing that the old version had was a very close relationship between all the characters in one form or another. Perhaps today's version mirrors how disconnected we are from each other in today's society. Regardless, I am hoping that the new version of GH takes a cue from the old, and returns to the closer relationship model between its characters. That can provide a fertile ground for lots of good story, going forward.

Me too. He really brought a lot to the show, his scenes, and the hospital.

Jessie really was a suffering heroine. And from what I have seen and read about the early years, it was a real miss to not pair them. But like life that way too. I remember that GH anniversary special where Ames stated they were the couple that should have been together but never was.

Was it a miss to not pair Steve and Jessie? I'm not so sure. Frank and Doris Hursley had written for Search for Tomorrow for awhile, I'm told, and they would have understood a platonic male/female relationship from writing for Jo and Stu on "Search". I think one of the reasons that Steve and Jessie weren't paired up was because of that perennial soap demon, age. Even by the time "GH" had some longevity under its belt, its leading man and woman were showing signs of aging, and I think that is ultimately why they didn't give Steve and Jessie good story by the late 70s, even though both were phenomenal, gifted actors.

Part of the problem was some of TPTB at ABC, and maybe a few of the younger people at P&G, wanted Edge to have some of the same "on the run" or younger stories that GH had, in order to hold on to some of GH's audience.

The big hole in that way of thinking was many markets didn't air Edge directly after GH at 4:00. I know in our West Michigan market, it was aired at 10:30 on a one-day delay.

Exactly the same time slot it had in Northeastern Pennsylvania during its ABC run. During the late 70s and 80s, it was all about youth, but, to Edge's credit, the older characters who were still left did get air time, like Mike and Nancy Karr.

A friend found the Hart to Hart inspired EON episode with the line about the champagne and the rental car. LOL Here are Sharon Gabet and Larkin Malloy having fun:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_nOP4pPXgs#t=52

Thank you Thank you Thank you for sharing this link. It reminded me of how fun "Edge" was, and how much I miss it, even today. I remember some reporters in the soap press at the time calling Schuyler and Raven "The Nick and Nora Charles of Daytime", while others bestowed that title on Robert and Holly Scorpio from General Hospital. In my view, the title was much more deserved by our "Edge of Night" heroes!

I need to see this story badly.

I remember a goofy scene where Schuyler and Raven were hiding inside a car in the parking deck of the ISIS building, and in a very "Hart to Hart"-like moment, Raven brought out champagne glasses and popped open a bottle of champagne, with the popped cork hitting hard on the ceiling of the car. Raven snickered (along these lines), "Good thing this is a rental car!"

I think it was Lee Sheldon's best story during his time on Edge. It involved so many characters and was riveting at times. There were certain things I didn't like about the arc -- like Miles having sex with Chris Egan a few months after Nicole's murder.

If I recall correctly, Sheldon was planning to bring back Lisa Sloan as a Nicole doppelgänger in 1985.

I never knew that part about Lee Sheldon's plans for the show. The Nicole double would have been a great story, and I'm sorry that those plans never made it past the drawing board. I have to throw in my two cents and say that I don't think the executive producer or the headwriter were the main problems with the show. The main problems were too low a budget for lavish production (though they did a fabulous job with what they had on hand), and the wrong time slot. I think with proper promotion, and the right time slot, the show would have found an audience, because the acting and story were quite good.

I imagine fans at the time couldn't understand the change. I'm sure to a modern viewer, like me or you, it wouldn't be as jarring, because daytime has fallen so far.

Perhaps so. I don't think I'd want to be a writer or producer in daytime today for all the tea in China--besides putting up with network executives who want the numbers only to go up, up, and up, they have to deal with viewers who are not forgiving if they feel that the show that they love isn't being true to itself. I didn't see Henry Slesar's material, but, from what I've read, the basic format and character types on the show didn't change radically. The main change, according to books on the subject was emphasis on the younger performers--a problem that faithful viewers of all soaps have been complaining about for over 30 years now.

I didn't have the pleasure of being a long time viewer of this series like many of the members of this community have. I only knew of Lee Sheldon's writing, and am rather mystified by the harsh criticism leveled against him. Every once in awhile, I will still go on YouTube and view the final episode that I remember seeing at the time on WNEP Channel 16 from 10:30 to 11:00 a.m. (one day delay basis). A poster had pointed out that during the chase sequence in the beginning where Chris is following Alicia, the score music is "Shadow in the City" from Death Wish II--composed by Jimmy Page! I was amazed!