chrisml

@BroderickThank you for the reply. Such acting that they Sharon Gabet and the actor playing Draper still played their relationship after it's over. I picked up on it even though I had no idea about their history. That's such good acting/continuity. Raven has just moved to London and a custody battle is now brewing for Jamey.

As someone who was watching OLTL at the time, Dano did excellent work, but the writing was weird. Dano even got Emmy nominated for what she did. However, it did feel that the writers did not know what to do with her, but to be fair, it did feel like a lot of that was that the character was a network mandate and the writers were making it up as they were going on. I didn't watch Dano's trek around all the soaps. That kind of thing would have worked better with an ABC performer not someone who had been off OLTL for decades. I can't imagine AW without Felicia Gallant. I really don't want to because she provided so much joy for me when there was so much disappointment on that show. The only time I thought her character didn't work was the John/Felicia storyline but it got Anna Holbrook an Emmy so I can't complain all that much. It's just another example of drama at the expense of character.

I wouldn't want to see Felicia or Quinn or killed off. Felicia kept some of us going during some of the bad patches. P&G were not going to invest in Quinn or a family for her especially not with MDP as headwriter. AW had all the potential and P&G allowed it go by the wayside even before MDP got there. P&G and NBC never cared. Look at the indifferent way the Lawrences were written. P&G and execs knew Quinn had fans. They just didn't care and had pretend amnesia. It's reminiscent of the whole Maureen debacle on GL. There should have been outcry at the idea of Donna being killed off. It was an idiotic idea. The same way with Frankie. JFP should never have been allowed to waste so much money on that ridiculous hospital set and the new opening she lifted from ER. I did like the closing theme so there's that.

I've watched more episodes, but I wanted to make one short comment before I made my longer post. Someone on the show loves dressing men in ways where they have plunging necklines and show lots of chest hair. Not complaining but I think Chief Marceau (sp?) and Logan are the only two who have not shown their chest hair at this point. I have now watched episodes 6077 to 6090. I'm up to September 11, 1979. Nancy and Mike have returned from their vacation. Ann Flood is another wonderful presence. She's only had a few scenes, but I already like her. They're worrying about Draper and his lost job offer in New York. The truth is slowly coming out. I can't say that I'm invested all that much. I still don't care all that much about Draper, but he's no longer bellowing and whining so it's all good. He has had some nice scenes with April and there was an uncomfortable confrontation with Margo. Draper and Logan's scenes are where I like him the best. The two actors play well off each other. Also, Draper and Raven have an interesting thing in scenes. I wonder if they hook up at some point. They always give each other weird looks during scenes. Is this foreshadowing? Hmmm. The Raven of it all. MY word Sharon Gabet is amazing. How did she not win the Emmy? Was this going on during the Judith Light time? Gabet owns every scene. Raven and Eliot's scenes crack me up. Gabet and Lois Kibee are giving masterclass acting scenes in their moments together. I never wanted their confrontations to end. Kibbee's Geraldine has discovered Raven doing something she should not be doing and that confrontation was pitch perfect. The later scene with Logan was shocking. He does something that I've rarely seen on soaps. Such good storytelling and acting. I also liked how April and Draper were drawn into the madness. Paige/Tobias/kidnapping/Steve: This is the one storyline that suffers because I came into the show late. I'm not connecting to it as much although I enjoy it. Steve and his low cut shirt amuse me. Calvin is such a cute and bright presence. I thought they were writing him off, but he's back so apparently not. Marceau seems to be leaving but I hope not. The actor is wonderful. Deborah has come back in the episode I just started so Frances Fisher is here. I will say the actor playing Tobias is excellent. I think he was on another ABC show I watched but I'm not googling. Nola/Owen/Eddie/Brian/Paige: After a week of non-stop Nola, the movie storyline has not started full force yet. It's more about Nola's drinking and Brian and Paige's feelings for each other. Nola is becoming more manipulative as she lies to all of them so they will make the movie. Owen revealed Brian's secret which I accidentally guessed from the first episode, but I actually don't think it's true. Eliot/Margo: Margo had a fantastic scene with April where April confronted her about the real relationship she has with Eliot. Mario admitted the truth. It's so refreshing when characters are intelligent and honest. It makes their mistakes even more heartbreaking. They're not idiots. Eliot is such a fabulous character. He's an absolute slime and yet he's one of the most compelling characters on the show. So nice to be hooked into a soap opera again.

Broderick, thank you for all of the info [I edited for space]. I am so grateful for everyone filling in the blanks for me. I suspected the Nora/Eliot scene was very important and it was setting something up but I didn't know what. Can't wait to see it play out. The two actors had such a great back and forth. I should have made the Paige/Patty Hearst connection. I thought Paige was in love with Brian from the first episode I watched but it seemed as if they were brother and sister. Steve kept being affectionate with her so I assumed he was the love interest. Then she was affectionate with someone else and well..she's a very busy woman. I can't wait to see Frances Fisher show up. (I'm trying to be vague because I don't know what would be a spoiler in this storyline) Now it makes sense why Draper would be upset. I didn't get the whole background of why he didn't go to NY. I'm a sucker for good acting, so I might still side with April and Margo, if the writers don't give Draper more to do besides yelling. He had more chemistry with Logan, but I know that's not happening. Something else I noticed: the show really takes care with even the smallest parts. The acting is superb. Too often, I noticed on older soaps they don't take care with the recurring or day players (Ryan's Hope was so bad with this that I couldn't make it through some episodes). It's only been six episodes, but so far, the casting department was spot on.

I can get through another 10 to 20 episodes. April is such a compelling character. The actress just owns the screen. I think this is also why I'm annoyed by Draper. Margo and April are so fantastic that Draper is a wet blanket (except for one scene which I mention below). Draper was bearable in his scenes with Logan because he was not whining about the house. If he has more scenes with Logan, I can tolerate him. As of now, he's just very one note. Everyone has had more to do. Thank you for explaining about Raven's backstory and her connection to Draper. It clears things up. Logan explained things a bit in the convo with Draper, but there was still some things I was not sure of. Gabet and Kibbee are just sensational. I now see why people adore Sharon Gabet. How did AW squander her talents? SMH. It's the way Draper is written. I'm drawn to Eliot who is a total cheating pig. The writing and the performance are first-rate. Draper is stomping around like a spoiled child and I don't have the benefit of seeing April and Draper's relationship from the beginning so this is my first intro to Draper. He's annoying as can be. ========== There's also an African-American police officer who's struggling to walk again. He's Steve's partner. He took his first steps. I can't tell if they are writing him off or if he's going to say. I hope he stays because the actor is quite charismatic.

Feelings after a week's worth of episodes (and excuse me if I get character names wrong but I'm not googling so as not to spoil anything) Kim Hunter (Nora) is excellent. This is Emmy caliber work. I have no idea if she got nominated, but she would have tapes from this week if she did. She has scenes with Eliot and I'm curious if this is going anywhere because soaps rarely if ever put characters together unless they have a storyline planned for them. I hope so because that was a good scene. I'm still confused about Paige's past storyline with the terrorists. There's a spoiler surprise this week. The spoiler surprise was connected to Nora's scenes and it worked well. I hope to see the spoiler surprise with Nora. Are Paige and her bodyguard supposed to be in a romance? Or did she romance her stepbrother? (I think it's her stepbrother as he is Nora's son, and she's Owen's daughter, right?) April/Draper: Can't say I care all that much about the house issue. The mother gave part of the payment, so what?!? Draper is getting on my nerves with his macho nonsense although the posts here leave me to think he has a right to be upset. I like Margo so much so I don't care. Sharon Gabet had a fun entrance in this week's episodes for me. She comes in and makes out with Eliot. She has a fight with a character named Sara who she then slaps. She comes home to a baby and her mother-in-law. Fantastic scene. I think this is Lois Kibbee based on looks, but I don't know the character's name. Kibbee and Gabet are amazing in this scene. I don't quite get the background (Raven was married before and cheated on Kibbee's son?) and I don't remember the new husband's name. I'm curious where this is going. I'm enjoying EON. My only quibble is that I don't like the show's logo. Looks very cheap.

I thought Sandra Ferguson was charming and quite good as Amanda. I really liked the Sam/Amanda storyline. I think what harmed the storyline is something I mentioned a few pages back. The pacing of the Sam/Amanda/Evan triangle was quite bad and like most of Swajeski's stories, there was no real end game. Poor Olivia. So much potential and then nothing came of it.

I really like the actress who plays Margo. Don't know her name. I'm so hesitant to google anyone because I don't want to know the length they were on the show. I've watched two episodes and I have to say that the show does not feel as dated as other shows. I tried to watch Ryan's Hope a few weeks back and some of the acting was a bit rough. EON is a lot more natural which amuses me considering it's a mystery/thriller show.

Michael Logan is being disingenuous. He knows who's to blame in these situations. Not only does he know how daytime works, but he also wrote about all the BTS shenanigans at the P&G soaps leading up to the Justine story. I will give Victoria Wyndham this: she went all out in the performance. She didn't half ass the performance. Let's also not forget that it was Michael Logan who was publicly calling for the firing of JFP when she on GL but says nothing about that in this interview or in the articles. My guess is that someone at AW didn't like Wyndham and was giving Logan the gossip and he was writing his column with that tea.

Thank you @Broderick. That information was so helpful. I watched the first episode of the "Mansion of the Damned" storyline. I was extremely confused by Margaret Colin's Paige and her relationship to other characters. Your post helps me understand what's happening. The rest of the show was easy to understand and I'm enjoying it. Hunter's Nola is a good character for me since I know Kim Hunter from other work. I must have seen clips of Edge of Night before because I remember seeing April.

It makes sense that she got a degree in directing. I've always said she should have been a director. I think she works better at the technical aspects of the show. I think her problem is the emotion/heart of a show. She always guts the heart of the show she's on and she makes decisions that stop longtime viewers from watching a show. I don't think it's sexism to call that out especially as I've said similar things about Conboy. I've called out Rauch for much worse.

Who is going to say, "I'm headed home to watch The Chew?!?!" One of the most ridiculous names ever. I didn't watch AMC or keep up with it towards the end, but OLTL still had life in it and could have gone on. OLTL 2.0 was entertaining and worked because RC was not involved. A real shame that did not work because I think the show could have gone in good directions.

I've always said that JFP's main problem is that she comes up with some shocking event and she plans around the event but she never thinks much about the emotional fallout for the characters or the fans. That's why so many of her stories don't work and damage her shows. I like your idea about Lando playing the person involved in hitting Maureen. It would have given Peter Simon something to do which is the feeble excuse they gave for killing Maureen off in the first place. Instead, they gave us the dreck they did. And they were so obsessed with recreating the blackout week that they kept putting characters in fires and blizzards. None of which I saw, but going through the Logan columns I noticed: every few weeks, someone at GL would give an interview to Logan saying GL was going to get better because they had a great new storyline (A fire! A blizzard! A fire!) . Insanity.

One of the dumbest situations (Lando) ever. What audience member is going to invest in a storyline with a recast they don't like and a triangle where one character is short-term? It bombed as it should have done. So much of JFP's tenure just reeks of desperation. I don't get how someone could produce SB (which did have flaws but was often brilliant) but make so many terrible mistakes at GL. I still think JFP would have worked better as a director and music supervisor. Her music work at SB was top notch. It just seems that Rea was minimized during JFP's tenure because I can't imagine her okaying so many of these casting choices.

If Betty Rea was the casting director, why was so much of GL during JFP's reign cast by her? Walker, Deas, Crampton, Lando, etc. JFP takes credit for Dusay as well. What is the point of having a casting director, if you don't let her do her job? What happened when Rea left?

@Maximthank you for such a thoughtful reply. I have printed it out so I have it with me as I watch most of the soap clips on the YT app on my TV. I've always wanted to get into Edge of Night, but I didn't no where to start.

Yes please

From the book, "Legendary Locals of Hamtramck, Michigan" in regards to Gail Kobe:

I will never understand how a medium directed at women has so many writers and producers who act as if being a wife or mother is the most horrible thing for a soap character to be. So bizarre to me. It's just not a few producers or headwriters. It's most if not all of them. It's those maternal characters that a lot of us gravitate towards. It's those characters that ground the show and give the shows the heart when so much ridiculousness is going on. It's those characters that new producers overlook when they want to shake things up.

Is there a way to watch the show in any consistent way--a particular story or time? I've never seen a second of the show so I would not know where to start if there are available consistent uploads.

Wasn't there bad blood between Rauch and Kinkead from when she was on AW? I seem to recall reading that but I may wrong.

They had her singing that song after her character died in a car accident?? Insane. No wonder Maeve Kinkead said so much of the storyline was so ghoulish. Why didn't someone step in and say, "This is too morbid and insulting?" I just...

Those comments from Roger and Fletcher.... That has JFP's touch all over it. UGH. Was being a sexist a prerequisite for GL producers from JFP to Conboy? I don't know enough about Wheeler's tenure to put her in the mix but it wouldn't surprise me if she were. Nancy Curlee seems like an intelligent and thoughtful writer in the Locher interviews, but then when I read her comments in the soap columns from 1993 onwards, I think, "Who is this? She's spouting nonsense. She sounds like a used car saleswoman." Interesting JFP listed her favorite GL writers and did not list Curlee but did mention Broderick, Demorest, and Reilly. I know Pamela K. Long's second tenure on GL and then her disastrous work on SB. Have no idea what she did on OLTL. I don't know what I think of her work. Her time at SB was so bad.

JFP has never struck me as someone who likes nostalgia or honors the history of the show she's producing. Very true about how nothing was going to satisfy viewers but they really didn't try. Interesting how GL writers (interviewed on Locher) believed they allowed the town to properly mourn Maureen's death and I thought, "Did you watch the show you wrote?" As Maeve Kinkead said, the story became ghoulish with the organs and everything. There was a mean-spiritedness to it even beyond killing off the character.