adrnyc

Another question - I just started what I can find of January 1989. Mary's Place has burned down (I have no memory of that from my teenage years - although I know Mary & Vince leave in '89) and Ada seems to be working in a new restaurant and expecting an old flame to come back to town? My impression from today's episode ("Up In Smoke" is how it is labeled on YouTube) is that Ada is running/owner of this new place? Does this ring any bells with anyone?

2 hours ago, DRW50 said:

 

You can find a lot here, albeit in clips.

 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtgQFFpLPDFeyt1b460_ZOQ

Thanks so much for that!!!

12 hours ago, Soapsuds said:

 

Wow. Am watching 1987 right now - and I have no idea who those people are in this promo. And that generic promo guy - oof - super OTT

1 hour ago, Paul Raven said:

We Love Soaps has just posted a summary of the July  17th ep of HIH

1946: On syndicated radio soap opera Hearts in Harmony, Steve Parker and his fiancee Penny took a drive through the countryside around Rossville just a few days before their wedding.  Meanwhile, Jed told Johnny the FBI may be investigating Parker Industries. Hearts in Harmony premiered in 1941, and was sponsored by the Kroger grocery store chain.

Thanks! I actually saw that last year when they posted it - it's what originally caused me to search for HiH. I can't believe I've been listening to it for a year - I listen every morning while I walk the dogs.

6 hours ago, vetsoapfan said:

 

One Man's Family was amazing!

Hmmmm. Alright - I'll have to give that one a go once I finish Hearts In Harmony (or give up on Aunt Mary)

6 hours ago, slick jones said:

I have casts for both the Radio and television  (OMF) versions. It will take some time to track down, but I'll put them both up this week.

Thanks!

OMG - The Snowflake Ball!!!!  I just got to the first episode. I loved loved LOVED this when I was a teenager. I would look forward to it every year (I don't know how many they ended up doing - in my mind, it was a yearly tradition - does anyone remember how many years it continued?) I must say, I'm loving it as an adult as well. Love the black and white theme. Sharlene and Felicia look particularly stunning, imo. It's wonderful seeing a soft side of Iris, paying for Josie's dress and making Josie's entrance to the ball into such a grand occasion. Maybe Iris was just doing it because she knew it would piss off Rachel, but I'd like to think even Iris still believed in young love.

I'm so excited to get to the Donna Swajeski years. Both as a teenager, and as an adult, I have enjoyed '87 and '88. But '89 and Swajeski's tenure was where I became obsessed with Another World. Loved everything about it. I hope I still find it enjoyable now that I'm older. Paulina, and Lucas, and Jenna and Dean, and Lorna, Anne Heche in her prime as Vicky/Marley, Grant, Ryan, FRANKIE!!!!  Oh, I can't wait.

From a medium sized attempt at seeing what exists on YouTube, it looks as pretty much all of '91 and '92 exist? I'm going to try to get though what exists of '89 and '90 by the end of the year so I can watch '91-'92 daily as the years progress. I've doing the same with Ryan's Hope for the past 5 years (I never watched it on original airing or any of the soap net reruns) and it's been working nicely. It's like I have (good) daily soaps again! Thank God for YT.

@slick jones  Thanks for even that little bit! I really enjoy that show.  Another one that people seem to talk about is One Man's Family? Something like that. I might seek that one out as well. Gonna try to give Aunt Mary another month or two.

35 minutes ago, YRBB said:

Just saw this on Facebook

 

 

That's hilarious. LOVE IT!!

I have been listening to a radio soap for almost a year now - Hearts In Harmony - and I absolutely love it. I'm just over half way through the episodes that exist. 

Does anyone know where I can find any info on HIH? I've done an internet search and can't really find anything. I'm fascinated to know more about the serial. When I first started listening, the characters would sing a song at the piano every other episode and then one day I realized it hadn't happened for several weeks - and it never happened again. Why did they change the format? How many years did the show run? Questions, questions, questions.

I've also started listening to Aunt Mary but I don't enjoy it nearly as much. I'm having a very hard time becoming involved in the story. 

Anyway, should anyone have a tip on how to find more info, I'd appreciate the help!

Just watched the lone episode from February 1987 - oh em gee. I found out what Lansing was using to blackmail Dr. Dixon - wow. Ok, that all makes sense. Way to go, Doug M. I also found out that James has kidnapped Paul and Emily - well, at least Paul. Emily didn't seem too concerned in the quick scene we saw her in James' plane.  I'm so glad someone had that one random episode - it explained pretty much everything!

Oh, and Bob and Kim, Action Stars! AGAIN!! (Running to the church) I love it.

8 hours ago, Nothin'ButAttitude said:

 

He's a mighty gay man! I think they may be the gayest promo I've ever seen from ATWT. Loving MC as MK as I do, I am not looking forward to getting to the 90's and seeing a different Mike, not to mention a different Rosanna!!

11 minutes ago, John said:

Alexandra Wilson went from Sage to LOVING as April then to AW as Josie

 

She was almost cast as Kelly on OLTL in 1995 but then OLTL decided to make Kelly a Teen

Thanks for that info! I loved her as Josie when I was in high school but I'm on the fence now that I'm an adult. I'm finding that to be the case A LOT as I re watch AW - teenage characters that I liked as a teenager but now, as an adult, not so much. I think that probably means the teenagers are written really well - teenagers should identify with them, and adults should be driven crazy by their stupid teenage antics! Lily is a good case in point - she's such a whiny crybaby!! But I suppose, if I were a teenager, I would completely understand why she reacts the way she does. And, I think I've said it before, but it's a nice change from the too-clever, pop culture spouting teens we get today.

8 minutes ago, Soaplovers said:

 

Emma had two more love interests in the late 80s and early to mid 90s.  Cal Stricklyn and Ned Simon.

 

That's fantastic! I can't wait to see them play out over the next few years. I love Emma Snyder so.

I'm up to January 23, '87 on my ATWT watch (first viewing) and the actress who plays Josie Frame on AW (I'm also doing a re-watch of that show) just started as a character named Sage (not to be confused with Carjack's daughter later) who seems to be involved with Dusty. I love little surprises like this. It seems as if AW and ATWT shared many of the same actors over the years (as well as actual characters much later).

I must admit that I don't know what's going on with the ruckle and The Falcon and now somehow the Sabrina storyline is tied into that as well? Lansing has just showed up killing people in Oxford and he was also blackmailing Dr. John D and Rick Ryan. Since most of December '86 is missing, I'm not sure if I"m supposed to know what's happening or if the audience is still clueless. It looks as if there is one more ep in January, one ep in February and then jumps to March. Time to pull out the old 40 anniversary book and see if I can put the pieces together. There's such a fine line between figuring out what happened during the gaps and accidentally getting spoiled!

On the plus side, Jessica Griffin has just showed up! I'm looking forward to seeing her early stories. I'm losing interest in the show a bit right now - probably because of the gaps. But nothing seems to be HAPPENING in Jan '87. It feels as if the show is treading water. The Sabrina storyline isn't interesting me much but, again, I missed a lot, and am trying to put pieces of that storyline together when the audience may just not have it all yet. I'm kinda hoping that, after the February jump, the Falcon and Sabrina info will have come out and it'll move on to something else.

Oh, and so sad that John and Emma broke up. I knew it wouldn't last because John never had a change of heart but I was still rooting for them. John would've been a completely different character had Emma been able to soften him up. And does she ever have another love interest? (I didn't start watching until 2000 - at that point, Emma was just the sweet old mother giving out advice on the farm.)

Allright, Ken George Jones is starting to grow on me but I think it's mainly due to Nancy Addison. Jill is so obviously smitten with and charmed by him - I can't seem to help but join her. It's going to be an odd summer for me as I've been dying to see Jill and Frank together for what now? 5 years????

I'm still not into Barry Ryan though. We'll see......

3 hours ago, safe said:

Yeah, that's it for Sarah. Someone who claimed to know Sarah had posted on the SOAPnet forum and said Sarah found out she was being let go when she saw "Siobhan" actresses around the studio there to audition. 

 

Siobhan ( played by Ann Gillespie) returns home in January of 1981 

Thanks for letting me know. At least there's a half a year in between the switch, unlike the Mary's or the Frank's! Perhaps it will give me some time to "grieve". I really loved her Siobhan. And perhaps I'll like others. I didn't mind a couple of the Mary's so much, and Frank has gotten better with each recast so far as I'm concerned. I'm sad I'll never get to see this Siobhan and Jack get something started. 

I just had to go somewhere to write this where someone would appreciate it.  I just finished watching episode 1294 -  OH MY GOD!!  Such a great soap. I was on my feet yelling at the TV "Is this really happening?!" Kim finally gave Frank and Jillian EVERYTHING! I said out loud, to no one but my dog, "That means tomorrow - we're going to see Frank confront Rae...and that means that, holy crap, July is going to be an intense sweeps month for Ryan's Hope!" I actually force myself to only watch one episode a day M-F (unless I'm behind) - it's how I've watched the whole thing and I've never been so tempted to just go ahead and watch another episode.  But that's why I love soaps...the suspense waiting for it.

Kudos to the writers for using this a reason for Jill to have to go to London with KJG alone. I'm warming to him - I certainly find the actor charming. So I guess I can see why Jillian does too. I suspect he's dying or something though.

Also, I'm afraid I may be seeing Sarah Felder's final scenes as Siobhan? She says she needs to get away for awhile and is going to visit Pat. I'm fear she's gonna come back with a new face.

@cassadine1991  Thanks so much for that interview with Colleen! I loved hearing all about what everyone has been up to since the show ended. I'm not through the whole thing yet but I definitely want to see the entire interview. I ran into Colleen at an audition last year and, luckily, her audition was long before mine (I was super early) so I waited until after she was done and leaving and then said something to her. She was the most generous and gracious ATWT actor I've spoken to - we talked for 15 min or so. I try to go see her in everything she does here in the city. Just adore her (and Babs!) And I'm so happy to think about Barbara and Henry still running around Oakdale, dancing up a storm!

2 minutes ago, DramatistDreamer said:

 

I see what you mean but era is different than storylines.  Storylines are very specific while era encompasses a much wider swath of years.

I think many of their post 2001 episodes are already digitized so I don't think they would have to do much work there. I'd also omit '96-'00 (or at least de-prioritize them) for the moment and focus on what preceeded those years in terms of most requested storylines.

 

All good points!  What storylines would people want to see from AW if given an opportunity? Personally, I'd love to see the Who Shot Jake storyline play out and Jason Frame's murder. Both had me enthralled when I was a teenager - I'd love to see if they hold up today. As I've said before, I'm in Nov '88 now in my re-watch. Looking ahead, there doesn't appear to be much of the Frame murder mystery on YouTube. I also loved the John/Sharlene/Taylor saga when I was in college. My friends and I were enthralled - day after day we'd meet at someone's place to watch it. We were seriously screaming at the TV at times - Taylor made us insane. And we LOVED John and Sharlene. 

I also enjoy seeing entire eras so, I'd love to go as far back as they have ('79?) and just watch the damn show as much as possible. There does seem to be early AW (79-81) YouTube but I haven't looked into it to see just how much. Has anyone here catalogued what's available by chance? I'm doing it as much as I can from what I've seen (1987 is easy - there's a playlist) but I started in '87 as that's when I watched as a kid.

1 hour ago, watson71 said:

 

I'm shocked that P&G has not made a deal to air their soaps on a retro channel like Antenna TV, MeTV, or Retro TV.   One of these channels could air a P&G block of soaps and air P&G commercials during the shows.  I would hope that P&G would archive their shows, but it makes you wonder... The Doctors has been airing for a few years on Retro TV and most of the episodes have been well preserved for a show that hasn't been broadcast in 35 years.

I would so love that. I'd watch. I would pay good money to stream them for crying out loud.  I don't have RetroTV but I know that what has aired of The Doctors can be found online. I tried getting into it but it just moved too slow? Also, I'm never into the hospital shows, in general. I think it being centered around hospitals might just turn me off. Anyway....I wonder if the ultimate failure of SoapNet keeps any channel from running older soaps? Or maybe P&G just won't let them. Somebody could always try a non P&G soap - maybe Ryan's Hope since we know so many years of that exist - and test the waters. Did SoapNet stop showing AW because they were losing money on it or because P&G pulled the rights?

As I say, I'm thankful for YouTube. I'm watching RH that way (never saw it on the SoapNet run) and now I'm re-watching both AW and an era of ATWT that I've never seen. It *is* frustrating when there are large gaps of episodes missing though. 

9 minutes ago, DramatistDreamer said:

 

Knowing how P&G and PGP ran their TV production company, I cannot say that it surprises me.  They began to disregard their TV properties in the 90s and beyond.  Instead of seeing their soaps as assets, they regarded them as former "cash cows" that needed to be put out to pasture.

Truly disrespectful.  

I keep hoping that someone at that company would sprout some vision and find a way to 'make good' on the treasure trove of classic soaps in their library but so far, PGP has shown themselves to be lacking vision.

 

I know that at one time Roger Newcomb, site owner of the We Love Soaps blog used to post here and he was involved in assisting with the short-lived Soap Classics effort and he mentioned how much of a challenge it was in finding and digitizing the Master reels of episodes of the surviving episodes (1979 and beyond).  

This would be labor-intensive, for sure, but considering they've already done some episodes and all episodes beyond 2002 are probably already digital-ready, it's not completely impossible.

At the very least, they could stream and/or work with a substation (like Get TV, Decades or RetroTV, even though less people get RetroTV these days) to show some episodes just to test the waters.

 

Even if PGP made a list of the most requested storylines and considered streaming them, that could be possible.  You Tube, Yahoo Screen!, AOL, all have streaming platforms and they could even run ads but PGP hasn't had that type of dedication for the soaps since the 80s when soaps were bringing in buckets of $$ and PGP has long since stopped caring about respecting the loyalty of soap fans.

I so LOVED the Soap Classics and all that Roger and everyone there did to bring as much as they did to us!  I'm surprised that P&G gave them the rights, only to take them away a year later. They clearly have no plans to release all of the material themselves so why not let others do the work? It's clear that they hate their old soap opera properties but why not let the people who enjoy them be able to do so?

I'm sure P&G will never let their show air on a TV station or on the internet anymore. They seem to have just washed their hands clean of the entire thing. 

Making a list of the most requested storylines I don't think would be a help to them. I remember when Soap Classics was looking into streaming episodes online and they asked people what era they wanted to see '79-'85, '85-'90, 2000 and beyond, etc. If I remember correctly, the answers were split evenly. Each era of the show has its fans and they want their era to be streamed. I'm not sure if there is enough of a fan base to make it financially viable?

It's so frustrating to read all that!  P&G wanting out of the soap frustrates me to no end. If they wanted out, why couldn't they just sell the shows so they could continue. Just cause P&G didn't want to make them any more didn't mean that no one should make them!

First, I just watched Nov 2, 1988 - LeMay really could write Mac, Iris, and Rachel. (No surprise.) The end of the episode where Iris gives them both presents and then, having control over them both, takes her Father's arm and says "Shall we go into dinner?" (or something like that) and Rachel reaches slightly for Mac's arm and, seeing Iris is already there, crosses her arms instead. And it freezes - end of episode. There's something so creepy about Carmen Duncan's love for her "daddy"!!

Also, having just read all the Swajeski conversation a few pages back, I just have to say that I loved Swajeski's time of Another World.  It was basically my era of AW as it being my late high school/college years. I'm looking forward to going through as much of the era as exists on YouTube. (I'm also watching ATWT from the 80's that I never saw, and Ryan's Hope, which I never saw. I'm watching 3 daily soaps now - I didn't watch this many at one time when they were on the air!)  I'm assuming that, since I'm on Nov '88 now, the Lemay/Swajeski switch must happen soon.  

I also can't wait to get to Stacy Winthrop. I filmed an episode of a series with Hilary Edison Polk last year and can't wait to re-watch her time on AW.

As for Vicky/Marley - I have never enjoyed EW in the roles.  Granted, I haven't seen a lot of her time from the 80's. AH was obviously my Vicky/Marley. I started watching during the Sin Stalker storyline and she came on the show right after that ended. I also enjoyed JB as well - as both Vicky and Marley. I quit watching the show around the fall of '94-spring of '95 so don't know what the final 6 or so years were like.  Maybe I'll get to them someday......

2 hours ago, Melroser said:

I thought Evan was revealed as Janice's son around the time of the 25th anniversary eps when he was in the boiler room with Gwen and Rachel. 

I can't remember - I haven't gotten that far in my rewatch yet.  I thought someone else said Evan was going to be Janice's son so I grabbed on to that.

1 hour ago, watson71 said:

It was 28 years ago today- June 16, 1989, that Another World aired the funeral of Mac Cory, who was played by Douglass Watson.  Victoria Wyndham, Constance Ford, and the rest of the cast did an outstanding job not only during this episode, but in subsequent episodes following Mac's death.  Is still baffles me that Wyndham and Ford never won an Emmy for their performances- and that Ford wasn't even nominated for her portrayal of Ada.

 

 

 

 

 

I remember so sad when Mac died.  I'd only been watching the show for 2 years at that point but ya gotta love Doug Watson!

Interesting to hear that LeMay was going to make Evan turn out to be Janice's son - that helps make the past few weeks make a little more sense.  I'm glad to know the this will pass quickly - and at least he brought his greatest creation, Iris, back to Bay City. I will always be thankful for that.  And yes, it's true that the long verbose scenes, with people simply re-stating (in great detail) what another character was told the day before, worked better in the 70's (I loved that about the '79 ATWT episodes) but it is very jarring in these '88 episodes.  As for whether or not he would have adapted his writing over time.....I only worked with Pete for a few months on one of his plays here in NYC, but I would say that I found him to be quite unadaptable. To anything.

8 minutes ago, Soaplovers said:

 

All I recall about ATWT was that Marland left a complex bible but that the scans burned through it right away.

Yikes! That doesn't sound good. Well, I shouldn't get to it until 2018 so I've got awhile to dread it.  LOL

Oh my gosh - the writers strike. I forgot that I have to look forward to.  I watched Another World during that time when I was a teenager (and just did a re-watch of what's on YouTube recently - am Oct 88 now) The writers strike was definitely not great material on AW - I'm hoping Marland had enough of a story laid down that ATWT fares better?

2 hours ago, DramatistDreamer said:

@adrnyc I'm glad that that there is finally someone who like me, loves 1986, it was my favorite year!  1986- to spring '87, was such good, tight story construction and most of the actors played their roles so well!

 

As for how Barbara was received, I think she and Lisa had had a falling out quite awhile back due to Barbara's growing association with Lucinda.  None of the episodes involving Barbara outing herself about her part in Tom and Margo's separation and near-divorce is on You Tube so unless those episodes are posted, you won't get to see 'Aunt' Kim's reaction to the whole thing.

 

It was impressive how long Lily's maternity/paternity storyline went on before it was revealed.  Soap writer's today seem to lack that discipline of writers back then. Today, that storyline would've been spoiled withing months of the viewers' discovery that Iva was her mother.  Back then, it lasted at least a year and a half from when the audience found out to when Lily found out.  I think the key was that Marland assumed that viewers were smart enough to figure that information out, so instead of trying to make the secret about who Lily's mother was, the secret became about when would Lily find out, how she would find out and what would the fallout be?

 

So interesting to hear your thoughts on some of these characters.  I know a few are not well liked by some on this board.  

Like, I heard one or two say that they thought Casey was boring.  I always found Casey to be a fairly interesting character and one that is never written by today's soap writers:  Working class backround yet highly intelligent, skilled and outspoken yet socially awkward, at times.  

I especially loved how the character was introduced, in modest doses until he was integrated fully onto the canvas, before driving story.  Again, another thing that today's soapwriters don't seem to know how to do-- introduce new characters without having them 'eat the show', or immediately sticking them into a relationship with a veteran character.

It's fun to hear your perspective on these stories.

Thanks! I'm really enjoying having years of ATWT episodes to watch that are new for me.  Looking forward to '87, it looks as though, after January, the episodes are pretty scattered for the most part until the fall. Hopefully, the episodes are close enough together that I can get most of the story.  At least its doesn't have a giant gap like '86 did.  Not complaining - I'm so grateful for so much being up! I'll write more soon.