chrisml

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.

Didn't Constance McCashin indicate that she didn't care for Ted S. during her interview with Kim Lankford? Or maybe it was both of them. 2025 has felt like 5 years so my memory of the interview is quite distant now.

Thanks for the information. I had no idea she had even been on AW. It was nice to see her on AW. Ii've always liked her as an actress.

I had no idea that Laura Bonarrigo Koffman was on AW before her time on AW. She was on AW in 1991 shortly before she started her tenure on OLTL. I don't think her role lasted very long.

I guess my point is they were purposely being disrespectful out of animosity towards Ritchie (which is why I think he never got over that storyline) . And I don't blame Gottlieb if he's throwing a chair at Slezak and acting a drunken fool which they admit he was doing. I can't imagine having to work with someone that volatile and unpredictable no matter how talented. I see your point about the good v. bad homophobe thing. Clint Ritchie was extremely attractive and talented. I don't want to take that away from him. I think the problem is that often bad behaviour was overlooked and sanctioned. I think it's telling that Woods made it clear that Ritchie knew he could go back to drinking once Gottlieb left because he wouldn't face any consequences.

I really don't fault them all that much for the writing with Clint/Viki/Sloan because Clint Ritchie was a nightmare bts the scenes. That's why he had to agree to stop drinking to stay on the show during Gottlieb's tenure. I'm sure the writing just reflected Gottlieb's frustration with him. As for Gottleb's contempt for the genre, I can imagine she might have that attitude if "Eterna," and the cowboy storyline were the big stories she was made aware of before taking over the show. I have seen very little of Rauch's tenure of the show, but from what I've read, it seemed to be taken as campy and over the top--the very stuff you'd see in Soapdish for ex. Soap critics I've read were constantly slamming OLTL's storylines, so I always found it odd they were so up in arms about Gottleb's attitude.

The Gottlieb opening theme is terrible in terms of visuals relating to the show. I loathed it. I did like the visuals over the closing credits. The music itself is gorgeous. I don't remember anyone liking the change at the time. It was another thing they could use to attack Gottlieb.

Ellen Parker even said she was fired to pay for Justin Deas.

I don't understand how the character of Buzz lasted so long. He started off with that terrible accent which he quickly dropped. He took over the show and then became watchable. A while back, I posted Michael Logan's columns at the time where he was calling out how GL was unwatchable and that Deas was one of the reasons why. This was also during the time when JFP was coming up with fires/natural disasters every few months as some new ratings ploy to make things dramatic. He couldn't have been cheap if they had to fire Parker to pay for him, so why keep him on? He wasn't worth all the trouble. His over the top acting might play well in Emmy reels but it doesn't make viewers want to stick around longterm. Writers seemed to like him and his character though so viewers go stuck with him. A shame as I thought he was an albatross.

It was fun. Browne was not brightest tool at time when it came to Password, but the week was fun to watch. It was nice to see the four soap stars play. It would have been interesting to see Felicia and Michael as a couple. They did have a nice rapport there.

In "Cesar Romero: The Joker Is Wild," Samuel Garza Bernstein says Cesar Romero's health was the main factor on his job not lasting longer (although he does indicate most of the guest stars didn't last long either).