chrisml

Watched another batch of episodes. Ann Williams is just sensational. How this woman did not win an Emmy I will not an understand. Her confrontation with Eliot over April's fall was just spectacular. April's pregnancy storyline is a bit eh. I still don't care for Draper. April and Draper just don't it for me. There was a scene between Logan and April where all was forgiven about the custody for Jamie and that was a bit odd. Did Slesar just get tired of that plot point? Seems like they may be setting up a Logan/April/Draper triangle. Cliff now works as an assistant D.A.? Was this always the case? It seemed like he worked for Logan's campaign and then he worked with Deborah and Steve. Nice to see Cliff do more than pester Deborah. Deborah and Owen have no chemistry but the inevitable Deborah/Nola confrontation will be fun. Cliff is still sideline and Steve is still wearing low-cut shirts. Nola and Owen has great confrontation about Deborah. First-rate writing and acting. Paige and Brian are still mooning over each other. I'm enjoying the setup for the film. Miles, Nicole, Geraldine, Steve, and Nancy have been pretty much MIA in these episodes.

Was Angela still on the show at that point? I think I caught some of the show on Lifetime or TNT when they reran the series, and Angela never seemed to be on during the last season. I remember thinking it felt the like the last season was a completely different show and that Wendy Philips was too grounded of an actress (not a criticism) for a nighttime soap. I don't understand the concept because I don't think most people channel hop. I can understand wanting Alfonso's popularity to rub off, but why engender bad feelings by firing Ana Alicia and bringing on Alfonso? Soap execs never learned that lesson. Like Ellen Parker a few years later, I don't think they realized Ana Alicia's popularity.

Does Search for Tomorrow ever list the cast in its end credits? I watched about fifteen videos from 1985 to look at the cast credits at the end and I never saw any except for Mary Stuart's credit. I try not to google cast members if there's a chance I might watch a soap so I don't spoil exits.

I remember the articles and fan letters complaining about Alfonso so I wouldn't be surprised if Alfonso didn't want to talk about her time on the show. She was probably used to being the fan favorite. She got a lot of flack for being the "Ana Alicia replacement" and that hurt her from the beginning. It's odd that CBS would think that hiring Alfonso would lure Days viewers to the show, but they kept doing that to their daytime soaps (as did NBC with ABC actors) and it rarely worked.

Has anyone read Sharon Gabet's memoir? Is it worth reading?

Would that ad even appeal to people who watched Falcon Crest at any point? By that point, did anyone really care about the show? I remember people loathing the last season and especially hating Alfonso's character.

Having seen what Long did with Mason and Julia on SB, I can't see Long ever being able to write a fun/lightweight story for Nola and Quint.

A shame that Santa Barbara lost the Andrades but I wonder what the Dobsons had in mind for them. From what I know of the Joe/Kelly situation, they didn't seem to know what to do with the Perkins. I don't think McConnell in particular gets enough acclaim for what she added to the show. The Dobsons (from what I know of the show) didn't seem to know what to do with Augusta. This was especially true on their second go around but that was also Rauch getting back at her, so who knows?

Thank you for letting me know.

I watched another batch of episodes and I have a sense of dread. I fear they are setting up a murder storyline with one of my favorite characters as the victim. I don't know if that would be considered a spoiler so won't reveal the character. If that's so, i will be extremely disappointed as this person has done Emmy caliber work and would create such a void on the show. If I'm right, I think I know who the suspect will be and I would rather the suspect be murdered. Joel Crothers's Miles has had more of a presence with his wife Nicole and I enjoy both actors. Crothers is just so yummy and charismatic. Don't know who plays Nicole but I like their relationship. Ann Williams has been phenomenal as Margo. Margo is desperate to keep Eliot and make April happy. Williams had a nice scene with Kibbee's Geraldine about Logan and the baby. Eliot has been so slimy and menacing but he's so watchable. April and Draper are still fighting over the baby and something has happened to April to land her in the hospital. I just keep hoping she'll kick Draper out. The man is such a pain. Raven needs to come back and sleep with him. She can liven him up. Ann Flood and Frances Fisher had a wonderfully written scene where Deborah confesses her feelings for Owen. The writing and acting for this scene was first-rate. I want more of Flood. It's good to see Fisher getting more to do. Steve and his low cut shirts have been sidelined lately. The writers are setting up a Deborah/Nola confrontation. Paige and Brian are still pretty much an afterthought. The movie plot is coming along nicely and there was a great episode where Margo had a party for the movie at her penthouse. Still enjoying the show.

I recently watched the premiere of Santa Barbara. I had never seen it. Most of my knowledge of the show is from 1988 onwards. I know of the show before that, but it's from recaps or individual clips/stories (having seen some of the carnation killer stuff). I can see why SB was not well thought of during its first year. The first episode is not that good. The acting is all over the place with only Robin Wright and Lane Davies making much of an impression. Everyone else is either given little to do or just too overeager/overwrought. Ava Lazar is beautiful but awful. I don't know how long she stays, but my word she is bad. Peter Mark Richman tries, but he's very one note as C.C. There's very little of the Dobson wit except for the few seconds with Anderson's Mrs. Lockridge. Interesting how Kelly is set up as the show's main heroine at this point and Eden is given just a brief mention. I will say that Valorie Armstrong is a compelling presence, but I know she doesn't last long based on what I know of the show. A shame as they do set up the show to have different economic backgrounds and they also have the Andrades. That was completely gone by the time I started watching. I don't think the Andrades last long either because I don't remember seeing Rosa or Santana when I started following SB in late 88. Santana comes back briefly at some point (I think to kidnap Brandon) but then disappears and then she reappears when the Dobsons return for round 2 but that's with Wanda De Jesus. Did Rosa return then? I don't remember. This premiere episode would not make me keep watching if I didn't know what was to come. @DemetriKaneI just watch when I feel like watching the soaps. I'm an emotional watcher so sometimes I will watch a batch of episodes and other times I watch one or two a day. As I'm watching Edge of Night and Dark Shadows, I can get two or three a day if I'm disciplined.

Has anyone watched the Texas reunion interview? I haven't gotten to it yet although it'll probably mean more to the people who watched the show at the time.

I hope they give him more to do than just be a prick as you say. I can see how viewers would like him because the actor is so charming despite the character being such an absolute pain. I would agree. And there was also the undercurrent of Raven and Draper sort of flirting with each other. The actors play that attraction and it worked so well in that scene.

Joel Crothers has finally appeared in this batch of episodes. I first saw him this week on Dark Shadows and that must have summoned him on Edge of Night. Miles and Nicole are back in the swing of things although they have not had much to do. I still don't like Draper although April is a bit of a loon at the moment with wanting to adopt Raven and Logan's baby. She also slapped Draper and there was no mention of it later on unless there will be. Ann Williams is such a good actress that I'm on Margo's side even when I should not be. Eliot is such a creep but he's an enjoyable one. Cliff is such a pest to Deborah although I do like the actor. He's actually attractive so I wish they would stop writing him as such an HR nightmare. I know I shouldn't, but I like the scenes with Cliff and Deborah. They have more chemistry than Deborah and Owen. The actor playing Owen is fine, but he does not have anything with Frances Fisher. Fisher is another great presence on the show. The movie has not gotten far yet. Paige and Brian have been absent for a while. Margo has now been drawn into the movie plot and Nola is more concerned with exposing Owen and Deborah. Farley Granger has been MIA but I'm assuming he returns. Logan and Geraldine had a fantastic scene about what to do about the baby. Lois Kibbee is such a treasure. Still enjoying the show.

I took a break from Edge of Night to finally start watching this. I watched the first week's worth of episodes. I started off chronologically even though they released the show originally with the Barnabas era first (don't know when he comes in). I had those discs in the complete coffin collection. I'm watching the complete series on Amazon so I hope Amazon doesn't pull a Knots Landing and yank the series before I finish as I don't have all of the beginning episodes. Thoughts: I appreciate the creepy black and white vibe and how everything is so mysterious even when it's just people walking into rooms. I also like seeing actors I know (Louis Edmonds, Joan Bennett, Mitchell Ryan, Conrad Bain (although he might be a cameo), etc.). It was nice to finally see Joel Crothers as I have yet to see him on Edge of Night. Crothers is quite looking so I wish he'd show up on EON. Mitchell Ryan is also attractive. I like how they set up Devlin's animosity towards the Collins family during this week. We're left to wonder why Roger is so upset. Why is Devlin angry? What happened to Roger's wife? Who wrote to Victoria? Not much has really happened but I'm intrigued. The dialogue is certainly not on the level of EON. It amuses me they leave bloopers in. Bennett in particular struggles with doors. Was this filmed live?

I totally agree and that's why I wish they had played up Mary's connection to Reginald because I think Alexander had more chemistry with Considine. They never explored her backstory and just thought Mary belonged back with her family. I think a better story would be if she rejected Vince and wanted to stay with Reginald. I know we've litigated Reginald's character, but I wish they had played it that way because it would have kept the Loves and the McKinnons connected beyond just Vicky and Jake.

I didn't get that so far so I'll have to keep that in mind if I ever pick back up. I must have chosen bad episodes because what I saw had some really bad Irish accents from supporting/day players. They were hard to get through and I just didn't have the patience to deal with them. I don't think these accents would be allowed to go through today. I assume these accents were ironed out as the show went on--reminded me of Deas's terrible accent on GL that was dropped because it was so bad.

I was just about to compose a post where I mention this period AW reminds me of JFP's time on GL (1993-95) where it just reeked of cynicism and desperation. OR ATWT during Black and Stern. The common denominator is P&G. They allowed this stuff to go on.

I can't speak for all of Ryan's Hope, but I tried to watch it recently, and I found it difficult to get into. The overacting from some of the supporting/bit players was just too much. The show is not as fresh and vibrant as Edge of Night. I have Lisanti's book and wanted to watch some of the show before reading it, but the show is dated compared to other shows (Doctors and EON for ex.) that I found much more watchable and fresh. Perhaps, RH was more of its time than the other two. I don't know why I find RH so hard to watch.

I think too many of Mary's storylines were absolutely depressing. A lot of that though was mitigated by her relationship with Scott, Cheryl, Ada and other characters though. I'm one of the few who preferred Mary with Reginald and wish that they had made Reginald less of a villain and made the Reginald/Mary/Vince triangle more of a battle and less a foregone conclusion. Mary choosing Reginald had much more storyline possibilities. What if what if what if...

Thank you for the info about SFT related to EON. I thought about adding SFT to my watch list, but I don't know if it's the kind of soap for me. I know very little about it except for a few of the actors and that it was on two different networks. I also know based on this board or somewhere else that the two Lizas both died young from cancer. Warms my heart to see so many EON people on SFT because they are such good performers and I wish they had been moved to other shows. Perhaps, they were and I'm just not aware of it.

I don't mind the actor who plays Brian. He's fine. The problem for me is that Paige seems so wishy wishy. She doesn't seem to have much of a personality at this point so I don't see why Brian would be so besotted with her. She just lurches from one trauma to the next. Granted, it's only been a month, but she's not as vibrant as April or even Deborah who has had minimal screen time by this point. I do worry about the influence of GH on the show since I'm in fall of 1979 and characters have conversations and there's not the drive to "youthify" the show. However, I think Marceau (sp?) is gone. He was given a rather tame sendoff. How long was the actor on the show? I hope this is not a sign of things to come. I worry the show is setting up a murder mystery around one of my favorite characters and I will be mightily annoyed. I also noticed in recent Search for Tomorrow episodes uploaded to YT that the actors playing Logan and Eliot showed up. I don't watch the show but they were in the screencaps. When does Larkin Malloy show up or has he already left? Joel Crothers hasn't shown up either unless I've blinked and missed him.

I liked when Felicia was over the top and was more Felicia the writer than Felicia the mother figure. Personal taste as always. For me, Felicia was AW to me. She was one of the few constants on a show that was constantly changing. RIP Denise Alexander. I always liked her on the show despite her storyline never reaching its full potential. The sad thing is I would watch that storyline in a second over so much of what happened on AW from 1986 onwards. Strangely, youtube recommended a AW episode to me last night that involved Mary comforting Scott about Dawn. I really do wish they had found a way to make those two characters work long term.

I was a bit confused with the Paige storyline at first but it's also helped that people on the board have been so kind to fill in gaps for me. It is nice to have a soap to watch again as I have not watched a soap in a very long time. It's also rare to see characters talk to each other without the scenes being cut into every 90 seconds. That's encouraging. So far so good. I am going to miss Raven as she added so much. I hope this doesn't mean that I'll see less of Geraldine as she is another character I'm drawn to. Hope Raven's absence is not a long one.