chrisml

re: Signy Colman I often wonder if Vincent Irizarry had spoken to his former GL colleagues about Colman and that influenced how they received her. As for Beth Ehlers, she would go on to have her own BTS scandal in how she treated JR Martinez. I'll never understand why she felt the need to say those things.

In watching all the Locher interviews, I've noticed that soap actors will latch onto one or two things and forget other aspects. My sense is that Slezak was so annoyed by Gottlieb's statements about wanting to "revolutionize daytime" that she ignores all the good she did for the show.

Completely ridiculous behavior, but it was of course acceptable from the men. Would the same actions be laughed off or accepted if the female actors did the same thing? I don't want to sound like I'm attacking Clint Ritchie, but I do think he bears responsibility for not getting help for his drinking. I also think it's sad that only Gottlieb demanded he get help and that no one else made that a condition of his employment. They let him down. I find the whole thing sad.

Vee, I didn't see you had summarized before I screencapped again. I tried to edit but it wouldn't let me. My feeling is that Ritchie got away with a lot of bad behavior ("could get mean"/chair) that should not have been tolerated. I applaud Gottlieb taking a stand and making him attend AA, but her way of getting back/warning him through the storytelling is another matter.

Here's the chair incident from the book:

I don't think you make a character a homophobe and a potential racist if you plan to keep a character/actor or you want to endear that character to the audience. I think Gottlieb was setting up his departure or using the storylines as a warning to Ritchie. I get why Ritchie would be livid about how Clint was written. It does feel retaliatory and unnecessary. Just come up with another obstacle.

I think Clint Ritchie's backstage behavior was responsible for how the writing went for his character during this time. Gottlieb did not seem to tolerate his drunkenness and his sometimes erratic/dangerous behavior (throwing a chair at Slezak). Ritchie resented Gottlieb until the day he died. He never got over the homophobia storyline which I suspect was intentionally done to facilitate his exit.

@Xanthe Thank you once again for all of the information. I don't think I've ever encountered Ben in any of the episodes I've seen of the show. The actor was cute and charming so of course they got rid of him. I also will never understand the obsession with the character of Jake. I concede Tom Eplin is a good actor, but I would have been perfectly happy to lose the character especially after 1990.

@Xanthe thank you for sending me that episode. Leaving aside the Kathleen of it all, who was Ben? I assume he played little part in t he storylines because I don't remember hearing about him. He seemed attractive enough. AW never seemed to know what to do with handsome men on the show of that age group (Hank Cheyne is a prime example of that). From what little I've seen, I liked Julie Osburn, and I especially enjoyed her interactions with her family (both MJs) and I wish we had gotten more of that on her return. I think that's what I missed. She was pretty much on an island. Why not bring back Cecile for Kathleen's return to tie it back to history? It felt as if Swajeski came up with a "Kathleen is alive!" storyline, but didn't have a plan beyond that. Connecting her to Jake and Carl on her return also did not work for me. I'm up to the points where Dr. Benson will be exiting full time. Poor Dr. Benson. Christine Andreas was such a powerhouse. I wish Swajeski had not gone the predictable "the shrink is the real psycho" storyline because Andreas was that good.

In watching recent 1991 episodes, I was just thinking how much was/will be lost shortly and how it really ruined the show for me: Anna Holbrook, Dack Rambo, Cali Timmins, Allison Hossack, Anne Heche, etc. The Taylor Benson story ended which I really liked because I thought Christine Andreas was fantastic. I would have found a way to keep her on as an antagonist. I also liked Joy Bell as Caroline, but they never did much with her. I don't remember Kathleen's first tenure on AW, but her 1991 return just doesn't work for me because the writers can't decide who Kathleen is and they are writing Cass as an unfeeling idiot. Although, they did bring back Mary, MJ and Vince very briefly and I wanted more of them. I adore(d) those performers.

I found the problem with the Labine era was that the show lost some humour when the Labines came on and it could be dull. They also didn't seem to understand some of the characters. As others have said, it looks fantastic in comparison to the next regime but I just remember boredom being the primary response.

re: Daniel Markel as Sam to be fair, the writing just was not very good. I don't think he ever got a chance because the show never seemed to have a plan for the character. Why bring him back if there's not a long-term story in place? That's always the problem with Swajeski's stories. I'm waiting for the end of the Taylor Benson saga and then I'm going to bail. The writing quality has gone down and I know there are terrible (for me) recasts on the horizon who harm the show for me: Evans, Pinter, Buchanan, Green, etc. I had bailed long before this the first time, but I tried to give the show a chance on a rewatch, but it's rough.The show was really firing on all cylinders, and then in the aftermath of Jake's shooting and Kathleen's return, it collapses.

I think certain stories kept GL viewers' interest post OJ's trial: Annie's machinations and Brett/Marian for example, but I think viewers kept watching out of loyalty until the show slapped them in the face once too often. The same thing happened with Another World.

I may be misremembering, but didn't the writers not want to tell the clone story? IT was foisted on them and it probably explains why it was so inconsistent and why it felt as if they didn't care much about it, but it was the pet project of Rauch and the network.

@Maxim I remember really liking Luna because the character and actress was so different from what we normally get on a soap opera. I haven't revisited her material so I wonder if I would have the same reaction now in 2025. I also remember that I enjoyed Suede (although I thought the name was silly). I can see what you're talking about with a strong woman always having to be rescued. Women on soaps always seem to lose brain cells and physical strength after a certain point. What is that about? Why do soaps hate strong women? The Dorian/Viki scenes remind me just how much I preferred Elaine Princi as Dorian. I didn't see Robin Strasser in her heyday. I only saw her when she returned, and I found her unwatchable quite often.