chrisml

My comments are nothing new but SB's problem was consistency. An individual episode could be brilliant, and the next one would be an absolute mess. The dialogue was usually the saving grace, but that wasn't always the case especially in the early years. The revolving door of writers and producers meant there was constant whiplash. There was little long-term plotting and most stories just fizzled out. It always felt as if the writers (whichever ones were working at the time) were just making stuff up as they went along. Yet when SB was on a roll, it was fantastic t.v. so it's annoying that someone couldn't step in and maintain that quality for longer than three months at a time.

According to the French Santa Barbara site, Mayer last aired on April 21, 1989. Norris first showed up on March 9.

I'm so out of the loop I thought the younger performer category was still capped at 25. So odd not to have 21 be the cutoff. Why change it?

Maybe I have the timeline wrong, but was 1993 around the time there were a lot of the crazy DOOL stories that got DOOL higher ratings? (Carly buried alive for ex.). I remember AMC especially was trying to mimic those outlandish plots. I can't see Curlee fitting into any of that. It feels in retrospect that the quest to copy those stories really harmed daytime as a whole. I think Curlee would have been a much better fit at OLTL working with Michael Malone during his first tenure.

Has Donna Swajeski ever spoken about her tenure on the show? Not during her tenure, but after she left.

IS Harding Lemay a reliable narrator of what happened during his tenures at AW? I remember a few things he said being disputed by members of this board and the people involved (Jacqueline Courteney to name one). I also don't think AW was in bad shape in early 1988. It had so much potential, and there were storylines that should have been followed through on. I enjoyed Swajeski's tenure up to 1990 but I didn't like how there were also a lack of follow through. Her stories for the most part tended to just fizzle out. Aw had the problem that one character would drive story for months/a year or so and then be written out (Howard's Nicole comes to mind). The Red Swan is another example of a story that went nowhere.

Thank you for all of the information. I watched the show from 1986 on, but I didn't remember a lot of the stories during most of 1988. I now understand why. I could definitely tell while watching it that there was upheaval behind the scenes as there's a lot of chaos on the screen. It's a frustrating experience because there was much good material, but more often than not, it wasn't followed through on. I agree that AW was on fire and I'd even extend it into 1990.

While I'm happy to see them, I'm so bummed about the story quality of the 1988 AW episodes being uploaded because the shift in quality for most of the year is just so disappointing. There was so much potential and then it sort of dissipates shortly before the writer's strike (and thank you for those who pointed that out). Even before that, it felt like the writers were flailing and did not know what to do in early 1988. I still can't get over the number of stories that just fizzled out. Scott and Cheryl are gone which annoys me to no end. The Mary storyline just ended. NuDonna is like another character. They don't seem to know what to do with the character of Jason. Cass is being haunted by Laura Innes (later on ER) and there are all these new characters who just talk and talk and talk.

I wondered why there were no writers listed. It's a shame about the strike because it felt like the show was quite good in 1987 and then 1988 brought about so many storylines that never caught on/were never followed through on: Mary's past and role as therapist, Scott's past, the creepy flirtation with John and Cheryl, Sam's mother, Jason skulking about, etc. I'm not bored, but I'm confused now with the spring/summer AW. I'm actually saddened by the destruction of the McKinnons. I enjoyed the characters and because I know Scott and Cheryl will be gone soon (followed months later by Vince and Mary), it's waiting for the inevitable. It also bothers me that the writers never really told the story of Stuart's Donna's departure story (the photo) and also just gave up on the Mary/Reginald stuff.

Someone uploaded an episode of AW in the middle of a Bill Cullen tribute (don't know why AW is connected to Bill Cullen). The video is here: AW post AW is 2:59:20 into the video. I don't know the year of the episode but it has Christopher Knight and Susan Keith if that narrows it down (my first-hand AW knowledge is 1986 through just before Frankie's death).

I'm not shocked by anything producers or writers say about rape on soaps. The soaps are full of rationales for rapists--icky considering that women were the target demographic. However, I was shocked it came from Calhoun and not Farren Phelps who seemed to thrive on violence against women.

I rewatched some of the 1987 episodes, and I was reminded how much I enjoyed them. I've said it before, but I think 1987 AW was quite good (even if some of the storylines did not not pan out for various reasons). IT had its faults, but it was going in the right direction. I applaud the show for trying to do something with Dawn, but it's the one false note in the scenes because it felt more like a message than an actual storyline. Even now, I resent her screen time. As for changes, I don't know if those ever work when it's done in a drastic way. As a viewer, I loathe when an EP comes in and changes everything. I think a lot of viewers want consistency and comfort. They want to know that when they turn into their show that they are going to get the characters they love. The constant changes drive viewers away. I drifted away from AW in 1988 because of the immense changes because the new EP would inevitable get rid of the characters I cared most about. I came back but that pattern would repeat itself until Frankie's death when I just gave up AW and kept up via soap summaries.

I did not care for the Dawn storyline because it was one of those stories where a new character comes in and interrupts an existing storyline just to make some social issue point. It killed any momentum Scott and Cheryl had together or as separate characters. If I recall, Scott was to turn out to be Donna's child, but it never materalized after Anna Stuart left.

I also enjoyed AW during the 1987 year. The Rex/Cass stuff, the Mary/Reginald story, (although it fizzled out), Cheryl/Scott, etc. I also liked Tracy Kolis and I still remember her departure scene. I wish that the show had been able to follow through with the 1987 stories rather than wrapping a lot of them up and starting again with new characters and stories.

Is there a time on SB where you just lost interest and you were never invested in the show again? For me, it was when Roberta Bizeau was let go. I thought Flame was such a good character and had great potential, and then the backstage stuff just ruined it. I would read summaries and watch the occasional episode after that, but I never returned it as a faithful viewer.

The Julia/Dash rape storyline felt so lazy and offensive. It's as if they didn't know what to do with the two characters so they fell back and the rape trope. Once the rape happened, the storyline really became so unsavory and offensive with Julia kidnapping Dash, Dash holding Julia down again, and then all the rapist as erotic dream fodder when the Dobsons took over. Gibbs and Grahn did have chemistry, and it's a shame that the writers lost interest in the character of Dash and his story. It felt like they just used Dash's story to kill off Constance Marie's character.

I never got the feeling that the Dobsons cared about practicalities like consistency, history, common sense, etc. They just wrote whatever came into their minds in a given day. That's why so much of their second return is brilliant and ridiculous in equal measure. I wonder if they had a different exec producer if their second stint would have been more successful--one who would have stopped them from some of their more ridiculous moments (Augusta's fantasies about rapist Dash for ex.).

I don't think viewers at the time think of these events the way we do because we have history on our side. I don't think many GL fans cared about the SB cancellation so there would be little need to counterprogram against the last days of SB. Would a SB viewer who continued to watch through the Rauch/Long era really stop watching the end of SB to see Maureen die? Was there overlap between SB and GL viewers considering how difficult it would be at the time to watch both shows? The SB viewers certainly did not flock to GL after its cancellation even when Marcy Walker was brought on the show.

The Robert Calhoun tenure was highly underrated. I know this was a thread a while back, but I also feel that JFP gets too much credit for turning around GL when GL was in good shape despite what she has said in interviews. JFP likes stunts. She likes killing off or attacking women on her shows. In her world, women are expendable if it means paying for a male actor. She wanted Justin Deas, and looked for ways to free up money. If Maureen's death lured SB viewers away, it was a bonus. I remember Marcy Walker talking about how she felt JFP used her on GL to keep her (JFP's) job. It wouldn't surprise if the whole point of Maureen's death was to keep her employed by bringing on Justin Deas and it had nothing to do with SB or GH.

Thank you for all the comments about AW and the major mistakes made with the show. On a storytelling note, I think AW had a similar problem to SB from 1987 on. They did not have long-term storylines planned out so that so many storylines just fizzled out (Dawn's HIV, The Red Swan, Mary's return, Cass/Rex, the strangler, MJ's past, Nicole, etc.). I also think a big mistake was getting rid of Petronia Paley and not doing much with Jane Cameron's Nancy. There was so much potential during these years, but it felt as if the writers or execs just didn't care to follow through with anything. They just threw anything at the wall in the hopes it would work. As much as I liked aspects of Swajeski's writing, she was not great at pacing and follow through either. I remember it annoyed me that she would end an episode with a cliffhanger, and then it would take another three episodes to go back and resolve the cliffhanger.

I'm curious. For those with a wider knowledge of AW (my knowledge extends vaguely to the MJ hooker storyline and beyond), what do you think were the major mistakes that were made with AW? I always felt that AW would right itself and then there would be an idiotic mistake that would derail everything.

Is the It's Real Good TV app the same one that used to show the doctors? I remember not being able to use it years ago because it didn't work on my device.

The Suzanne story was a disaster. I felt sorry for all the actors involved. The Suzanne plot gets even more ridiculous as it goes along. I always wondered if this was the Dobsons' way of getting back at A. Martinez for supporting JFP.

I haven't seen it yet but I think it's fun that the writers had Abe take a call from a Cass Winthrop. It was nice call back. I don't understand why some people find it upsetting. As a soap fan, there is a lot to get upset about in the 15 years, but a shout to Cass? I'm glad they did it.

Getting rid of Carrington Garland, Louise Sorel, Roberta Weiss, Frank Runyeon, Roscoe Born and Justin Locke was ridiculous. I think getting rid of Carrington Garland was the beginning of the end for the show. The departure of Martinez cemented it. Marcy Walker's last few months were horribly written. It was a relief in a way to be rid of Eden/Suzanne because the storyline was so horrendous. Garland did have chemistry with everyone, and Davidson did not. The Dobsons and Rauch gutted the show for what? Warren and Katrina? Two characters who added very little although I know some liked Warren. I was annoyed by them especially in how Moncrieff's Cassie was sacrificed to booster Warren and Angela who had no chemistry.