Planet Soap

AMC: As mentioned, Kate Collins and Robin Mattson as Janet on All My Children. Apparently Collins' (in a dual role) Janet was supposed to be twins with her original character Natalie. They then recasted the Janet character with Robin Mattson, saying Janet had plastic surgery to look different. Eventually, Natalie was killed off, Mattson left the show, and Collins returned as Janet  in the 2000s, negating the new face thing.

IMO, that exemplifies the downside of  surgically altered face stories. When the original actor returns, writers have to concoct a convoluted story to explain away the new face/og face situation. Case and point, Jason & Drew on GH , or Todd & Victor Jr on OLTL. On the other hand, writers could go the All My Children route, or the Sheila/Phyllis route on B&B/Y&R and not even acknowledge undoing the recast.

OLTL: I grew up with TSJ's Todd, but youtube and the two Todd's storyline made me prefer Rodger Howarth. Howard's Todd was more animated and comical, especially in the late 90s early 2000s with the fake D.I.D. and dead baby lie storylines. St Johns Todd was a bit animated in the beginning, but grew cold and stoic as time went on. Howarth's Todd was abusive but never that way to Starr. TSJ's Todd on the other hand made Starr's life miserable during the Cole years.

Y&R: Michelle Stafford is Phyliss. I humbly couldn't feel Gina Tognoni in that role.  The backlash against Stafford IS warranted IMO. Her performance as of late is way too campy and over-the-top. Her best years were the 90s and about 2000-2002ish. Tognoni did channel Sandra Nelson though, who I though was the best in the role.

On 6/2/2020 at 8:35 PM, Antoyne said:

Oh gosh I don’t know how I managed to forget this one. It started in the 70’s as well right Viki 

Viki & Dorian parallels Katherine & Jill in so many ways. Viki blames Dorian yet Viki killed Victor, Kay blames Jill when though Kay killed Phillip. Victor Lord & Phillip Chancellor both died around '75/'76, etc...

GH: Franco & Liz, I read somehwhere that Sonny and Carly was a result of the writers being unsure what to so with Carly after Michael's paternity reveal.

y&r: Agreed, Sharon with any man but Nick, and Jack with any woman since the mid 90s. I feel like Lauren and Michael were just slapped together.

On 5/14/2019 at 7:10 PM, BetterForgotten said:

There was a point in the 90’s where she just stopped caring about her appearance and started wearing the same awful pantsuit in a different colour week to week. Stephanie was definitely a lot more glam during the first few years of B&B, but Susan obviously grew tired of that...

I noticed this too!!!!! Somewhere between 96-98 Stephanie just gave up. The silver haircut was definitely an upgrade from what I believe was a wig in the early 2000s. Its amazing to see Stephanie's appearance from the late 80s to the early 2000s, just over a decade. The pantsuit she had on in the the episode where Sally gave her a drunken haircut was so big and boxy.

On 8/17/2020 at 8:29 AM, Paul Raven said:

That story was bust from beginning to end.

But it still didn't deserve to be totally forgotten when so many other past stories have been revisited or retconned.

A recast Keemo or his children belong on the canvas to give new life to the Abbotts and add much needed diversity.

Agreed.

23 hours ago, detroitpiston said:

Out of the four shows they are definitely the most boring. I can't believe they came back from the pandemic doing the exact same material that had B&B outpacing them for number 1. If any show should have taken this as an opportunity to reboot the canvas it was them

Amen!!!!

best episodes; Sheila Farmhouse, Paul's centerfold, Kay's facelift, Victor/Diane divorce 1998, Christine's bachelor party, and the 1981 episode for the Lori/Vanessa scenes!  

It was a good run, but its sad living in the past because presetnt daytime sucks! .....Make soaps and broadcast television great again

For that performance Sheila should have made it to the opening credits on Y&R

Classics were a good run, realistically

ll I ask I request are classics on national holidays,

Pie in the sky dreams: classics two days a week in the summer time, during the week between Christmas and New Year's.

I always wondered what would happen if soaps took the SNL approach where a cast only lasts a few years, then a new generation takes over every decade or so.  I do appreciate the style of following the same characters like Marlena, Victor or Bob & Kim for decades. I don't think there's any other genre where I can keep up with the same charachters from 1980 to 1990 to 2020. It makes it feel like their lives are happening in real time.

Eventually writing for the same characters is going to get stale and repeditive after a while. IMO a good approach is to develop a multi-generational cast so the *WELL DEVELOPED* younger folks can take over eventually and they themselves go onto becoming the town establishment. The other good method might be to phase in new families like the Quartermaines were in the 70s, and possibly phase out old families with no storyline to avoid a ballooned cast like current GH.

Much like the attempted Ridge and Bridget pairing, I was wondering what crossed their minds when they even considered Mariah & Nick . Not just from the character perspective but from Joshua knowing  Camryn from when she was like 7.

Not on the same scale but--I've wondered if it's awkward for Don Diamont and Heather Tom play a couple on B&B, being that Heather was a teenager during early 90s Y&R. 

Surprisingly I enjoyed this week's 2004 episode more than the 94 airing. There was so much going on, and I was shocked at Abby blurting out the paternity revelation to Victor.

May 1992!!!!! Yes! We havent seen much of 1995, 92, or 86-89. The John & Jill affair is bound to come up hopefully.

Arguably, lol  because trust me modern GH is no prize. 

Instead of best I should say probably the soap with the most action happening right now....... I haven't been following DAYS so that might be unfair assertion on my part, but B&B is just recycled plots and Y&R's plots are moving like molasses currently.

I see that new episodes return next Monday. This was an overall epic fail on part of ABC. I'm surprised Y&R——the soap that barely mentions past characters and constantly deletes user attempts at posting classic clips——actually dug into their vault, as far back as 1973! B&B had far too many recent episodes, but they did decent as well. Well, GH is arguably the best soap on the air right now so they might as well air new episodes if they won't air classics.

I wish DAYS would have let new episodes air 3 days a week, and classics for the remaining two days to not exhaust their stockpile. 

Why do special reports always seem to happen between 12:30 & 2pm for some reason, compared to other time slots.

4 hours ago, sheilaforever said:

I guess i's alwayssubjective what is interestiong or not. Considering that Y&R has been REALLY digging into the archives we owe hem nothing but gratitude that they mostly refrained from choosing 2010+ episodes which is super cool.

 

That said, I also do not understand why they have not shown a lot of no-brainers (yet?) - e.g. big stars' debut episodes, Who shot Victor?, Jack leaving Victor for dead in the TGVN office, the 90s primetime specials....

Agreed.

Agreed with the person above who suggested doing new episodes 3 or 4 days a week only to stretch it until covid is over. I wish DAYS would do that so could learn more about that show.

I also agree with the person who said they were hoping to see older episodes of GH. I grew up watching both y&r and GH, but the 50th Anniversary Marathon really helped endear me to GH, which is why I'd hope they air classics now. They seemed to be making an attempt in 2018 but apparently not now. 

If this situation occured about 15 years ago when we had 8 plus soaps on the air, I could only imagine the amount of classics that would air if the networks chose to!

On 7/20/2020 at 6:58 AM, Dion said:

 

I'm thinking that a significant turning point was when she discovered Nathan's affair with Keesha. Olivia completely lost it, though at the time her rage was completely reasonable and justified considering the circumstances.

 

It's probably one of Tonya Lee Williams' most memorable performances...

 

 

 

I hope this episode airs in the replays.

Well, it was fun while it lasted, at least some classics managed to air during the hiatus. Being that COVID is rising again in California will B&B be able to continue filming?

2 hours ago, BoldRestless said:

Episode #s from Global:

 

3/26/1973		1
3/27/1973		2
3/28/1984		2,809
3/12/1993		5,070
6/2/2008		8,914
8/14/2015		10,732

Big improvement!! 1973!!!! At least their willing to show 70s episodes so that's a step in the right direction.

Was thinking I haven't seen any of Y&R from 08 in a long time and here it is again. If there's anything I recall from that time it's the Marge 2.0 story. Hopefully the weeks aren't becoming like  B&B where they start off strong with one or two Classics then fall into newer episodes at the end of the week.

Since 90s Lauren hasn't really had any interesting story unless it was tied around Sheila, IMO. Michael Baldwin needed to retain that edge as a nasty lawyer with a villainous streak, he's far too ingrained in the town establishment now. How did Christine even consider getting engaged to Michael???

Lauren with her male equal Brad was interesting. I wonder if pairing her with Victor was ever a consideration. She isn't his type though, wounded and needy.

What a difference from last week. Paul & Christine week was one of the best, episode wise, followed by Baldwin week which was one of the worst. 

This might be morbid but a major character deaths week might be something: Drucilla, Brad, Colleen, Phillip II & III, Rex. (Cassie & John's death are always brought up so that might be repeditive). 

On 7/11/2020 at 12:18 AM, Darn said:

Were Phyllis and Malcolm a thing? In this New Year's ep they're seemingly on a date and they kiss when she enters the restaurant.

Kind of like her and Michael. Not together but VERY friendly. 

Surprised it's Baldwin week and not one airing of the sexual harrassment storyline.

It would be good if the actors would breifly explain the context especially in episodes like the 1980 repeat. I was so lost until I looked up Vanessa & Lori's history and quickly got intrigued.

A Jason angry at Sonny plot would be something to spice up modern GH. Jason has been way boring and too passive since he returned. Furthermore, I don't know if breaking him up with Sam as a solution but that pairing just has absolutely no fire to it anymore.

There should have been at least some solid spicy interaction with Claudia to recapture the Carly 1.0 chemistry. 

On 7/9/2020 at 2:08 PM, Faulkner said:

I agree. One of the limitations of this format is that viewers lack the context and the build-up that can often give emotional scenes like that their power. Still, I’m just reminded of the scene shared here from ages ago when Stephanie learned Brooke was pregnant with Eric’s child, which I saw out of context having not been a B&B viewer at the time, yet SF’s very similar, hyperventilating, eye-bulging reaction hit me right in the gut. Felt much more natural to me. 

The Bridget/Deacon episodes were a huge example of why the format should have been singular focus on one story line for a week or two, rather than disjointed episodes. I loved the moment she doubled over in that scene.

I've been not reading the weekly descriptions to be surprised by which episodes air each day, but seeing the "spoilers" help me to not waste DVR space, especially given next week.

On 7/9/2020 at 12:43 PM, Dylan said:

I hope this is okay to ask here.YR returns to work next week. So i guess we have a month of classics left. For the final weeks what would you like aired 

-Sheila week (1990-93)

*what Michael Baldwin week should have been: (harassing Christine, killing Rebecca, giving his kidney to Danny, anything pre his engagement to Christine basically)

-Kay vs Jill week (pre 1990)

23 hours ago, trainman said:

Most of the repeats have been absolute yawners, as if they have no clue what to show.

They did a better job than B&B and GH (B&B's problem being far too many episodes have been from the 2010s) but there were definitely a few misses such as villains week. Overall as it has been said repetitively, GH, Y&R, & B&B should have aired weeks of a single story line, rather than disjointed episodes.