chrisml

P&G and CBS were not going to listen to any producer about Michael Zaslow. They wanted him gone. The best producer in the world could have been on GL at the time and it would not have mattered. As I said weeks ago when this was brought up, if MADD was saying these things in public, you can imagine what she, P&G, CBS and Rauch were saying behind closed doors. And I brought up McKinsey's departure because she made it clear she felt the execs wanted to retaliate against her for leaving so you can imagine how they were handling Zaslow's case.

Thank you for the clarification. It was my mistake in writing GL. I meant to write P&G instead of GL. I was just thinking of all the drama that happened with McKinsey's departure and how P&G and JFP were livid that McKinsey had abided by her contract in getting one over on them.

MADD and everyone thought they could get away with the way they treated Zaslow. It really is unconscionable. From reports, it seems they fired Fiona Hutchison for speaking out. Didn't GL also pull the same thing with Joseph Breen when his HIV status was revealed? Let's not forget they were livid that Beverlee McKinsey abided by her contract and left the show. As she said in her interview with Logan, they wanted to retaliate for her doing that. Nasty group of people.

She did, but her work in 1989/90 was superb and it should have been rewarded. She at least won an Emmy eventually unlike Carmen Duncan who was spectacular during the chief storyline and should have won. Too many Another World performers did not receive the recognition they deserved while lesser performers on other shows got in and/or won.

I've been faithfully rewatching the 1990 episodes, and I had the exact same reaction now that I had then. I'm engrossed by the Sharlene/Grant/Taylor/John stuff. I want Sharlene and Grant to get together. Holbrook and Rambo have so much chemistry but I know how that turns out and it saddens me. Alexandra Wilson's Josie is a pain in the backside. Never liked her and still don't. Christine Andreas was such a find and while I like nutso Taylor, I wish they could have kept Taylor on as a normal character. I did like when she terrorized Sharlene though. Thomas Gibson and Daniel Markel were terrible Sams. For all of his faults, RKK was the right for the role of Sam. They should have just written off the character when he left. Markel is a disaster and he's bringing down Hossack who deserves better. Still can't stand Tom Eplin's Jake. The Jake stuff would be fine if he actually ended up being killed. Since he won't be, I'm even more annoyed he eats up so much time. Carmen Duncan is electric as Iris. My word she takes over every scene she's in. Can't take my eyes off her. Cali Timmins is my Paulina. Anne Heche and Anna Holbrook are carrying this show and they both deserved Emmies for their work. Heche at least got hers.

@DRW50This was a bit ago, but in relation to Cain, Chris Cousins was so charismatic on OLTL that I enjoyed Cain even when I had no idea what his storyline was about. I even liked the upcoming storyline with Susan Diol who I thought was highly underrated on the show. I am also with you about men "manhandling women" or women slapping women. I hate it. I know someone will come in and defend it by saying it happens in real life. That's all well and good, but soaps are notoriously bad at dealing with these sorts of issues that I would rather they not deal with them. They end up making a mockery of domestic violence. @Maxim if I was not so swamped with other projects, I would want to revisit this time on OLTL. I remember it so fondly, and your posts are bringing back so many memories.

@Vee I think we're agreeing on almost everything. We're just quibbling about the degree of the rockiness of her return. I don't think there's a right answer. It definitely caused a ruckus and there was viewer/journalist blowback. The length and force of that blowback is personal I would imagine. For me, it was major because it was a main reason (along with the Toddification of OLTL) that I gave up on OLTL sometimes in 1994/95. If anything, the way Strasser was treated by the network, JFP and subsequent writing regimes made me more sympathetic to her as an actress but I don't know if I ever warmed to her as Dorian.

I think it's a YMMV situation. I think it was enough of a problem that it was written about in the soap magazines and in letters to the editor. I remember Strasser at some point talked about how difficult it was for her as well, but I don't remember where. Might have been on her hotline or on twitter possibly. I always try to look to Logan's columns, soap articles and books to get an idea of what the sentiment was at the time if possible (did this with JFP's GL as that elicits love/hate responses). As you point out, we may make things rosier/worse in our memories. In regards to Strasser, it was amusing that Strasser talked about Rauch using Princi as a weapon in an interview with Logan, but Logan kept silent about his praise for Princi and his criticism of Strasser. RE: Dorian/Carlivati She was not served by her writing or by Frons's intervention. I'm sympathetic to that. I think you're right in your assessment of why she was overacting a lot more. I also think her time dealing with JFP and everything that went down then contributed to that.

Rauch was an a-hole in the way he hired Princi. However, Princi was fantastic. The changeover from Princi to Strasser was indeed very rocky. It did not go over well in the soap press. Logan wrote about it in his column more than once as he praised Princi and thought that Strasser's return was (in his words) "a major disappointment." Like most things (railing against Rauch/calling for JFP to be fired from GL), he would walk back those comments later when he would need an interview. As a viewer, I resented Strasser and the way she came back to the show. I think Strasser's second return (never saw her first tenure) was marked by overacting especially when she first returned. I think it got worse under Carlivati because he encouraged the overacting, but I know a lot of people like that version of Dorian so YMMV.

As someone who watched OLTL during Howarth's initial run, I purposely avoided ATWT because he was cast on the show. I was so appalled that Todd was shoved down the viewers' throats after the gang rape of Marty. I don't think Howarth is talented enough or charismatic enough to get past that. I sure was not going to suffer through more Howarth to watch ATWT. I don't think (like most of us) that these types of hires work unless they are added organically, and it's not them being forced into the fabric of the show to save a producer's job or as a cynical attempt to raise a show's ratings. Too often, they are brought in to replace someone the audience cares about or they are brought in and the audience is expected to care about them because they are a "famous" soap name. FTR, I thought Real Andrews worked on ATWT and he should have been integrated into the show better. He had wonderful chemistry with Zenk.

Tom Eplin wore out his welcome for me long before he got shot so I would have killed him off. I also have never been a fan of the rapist as romantic lead. Both of my 2PM soaps fell victim to that b.s. and ruined the shows for me. I think way too much time and effort was spent on Jake to diminishing results throughout the years. I am probably in the minority in that, but that's ok. As for Cali Timmins, I think the show lost a wonderful performer. I don't think Judi Evans was a good replacement. She would have been a better Nancy.

I was talking specifically about giving Swajeski grace for the Red Swan storyline because of Watson's death.All soaps work with stereotypes or take from films/other soaps. It's how they use those ideas that matters. The Sharlene/Sharly story could be seen as taking from OLTL's Erika/Viki, but I enjoyed the storyline because of the writing and Holbook's Emmy calibre's work. The Derek Dane stuff never went anywhere so that's on Swajeski although other people on the thread point out that also had to do with the actor (whose name escape escapes me being a pain in the ass behind the scenes). Completely agree. That's what it felt like. And that's why I don't completely condemn it because they did have to do a lot of reshuffling to make up for Watson's death. After a certain point, Swajeski needed to stick the landing and she failed. That's on her and there are no excuses. It was also interesting in that Locher interview that Browne mentions Watson had never been required to do an insurance physical because he was so beloved. I agree with this. Too much of Paulina's story relied upon Jake. Timmins was fantastic, and I still would have kept her and fired Eplin. I understand Timmins' unhappiness. I would just like to know the original plan for the character but I suppose we will never know.

I give Swajeski some leeway because losing Watson was such a blow and if the storyline was as big as Mitchell and Browne indicate, it was not the Red Swan we got. The Red Swan story might have been a portion of the story. As I wrote above, my problem with Swajeski was her follow through and that the payoff was simply not there at the end of the Red Swan nonsense. That she had control over and she had time to course correct.

re: the big storyline for Mac. From what Kale Browne and Alice Barrett Mitchell said, Watson was preparing himself for the big storyline so the storyline had not happened yet. This might explain what Timmins was promised versus what came to fruition. I am less critical of the Red Swan storyline because of the circumstances (Watson's death), but they could have come up with something better that had a payoff. That tended to be Swajeski's M.O.: lots of buildup with poor follow through. They lost Watson, RKK, and Rambo in the middle of major storylines, and they never seemed to recover especially in the first two cases. In my opinion, the character of Grant was ruined by Rambo leaving in the third case.

In the Locher Room interview from five years ago that Browne, Coppola, Tucci, Barrett, and Stuart did, ABM and Browne about how they had planned an extensive storyline for Mac's character. It was all plotted out and Douglass Watson went to work out in preparation for this big storyline. He couldn't get through half of the class (as he was a smoker) and he died right then. They had to rewrite the entire storyline at a moment's notice. I'm wondering if this is why Timmins's character was drastically changed. I just know that I think she was fantastic as this Paulina and I'm sorry she was unhappy with the character. She was a true professional because she never let it show.

I've always said that Cali Timmins was unfairly fired from the role of Paulina. I thought she was far superior to Judi Evans. Timmins talks briefly about her time on AW in the Ryan's Hope Oral History book:

I never liked Mark Pinter as Grant. I am watching Dack Rambo as Grant, and he's so much more charismatic and he works better with everyone. The character is so much more fascinating. Pinter just made him a one note villain. I know Rambo for personal reasons and it breaks my heart knowing what happened, but Rambo is just so good as Grant. I also like Christine Andreas as Taylor. I liked her when she was sane, and I liked her when she was crazy Taylor. I wish she had been there longer. As I've written before, Joy Bell was so underrated. Tom Eplin should have been killed off at the end of this storyline. They are setting up for Jake's shooting and I'm ready for him to go, but I know we never get rid of him which is one of the reasons I switched to OLTL at various points because Jake did nothing for me. I'm again reminded of how fantastic Carmen Duncan is and how she is my Iris. The woman is just spectacular.

I'm glad Marland never got another go at GL. His ATWT was highly overrated in my opinion. GL had enough problems post Maureen's death. I don't and didn't always agree with Michael Logan, but he highlighted the problem with GL in that area: JFP. You can change headwriters all the time, but it's the EP who's the problem. That's why he took the step of calling for her to be fired. The Logan columns illustrated the problem. Every new headwriter would be announced by JFP with the same begrudging mea culpa and with the same ridiculous storyline as the way to a new and exciting GL (snowstorm/fire). It was rinse and repeat.

Alice Barrett starts to talk about her time on the Catlins around 12:50 into her interview with Alan Locher. The funny part is that she mentions that she most of her scenes in a stable.

Yes I did. Thank you. I will post something soon about ABM's comments.

I attended a taping of a morning show that Sandra Ferguson and Robert Kelker-Kelly appeared on about a year and a half into their run. I was there when they arrived, and spoke to them for a couple minutes. They were both pleasant and nice to me (I was underage), but it was very obvious that Sandra Ferguson was not a fan of RKK as she always made sure that there were people between them and she was constantly inching away from him. It felt to me that there had been a fight between them before they arrived. Now, I wonder if it was just a constant pattern. As I posted in the OLTL thread, Clint Ritchie threw a chair at Erika Slezak during one of his drunken outbursts. I can't think of any other chairs. I don't think the Bergman/Braeden contretemps involved chairs.

I always liked Alex's rapport with Lillian. Their friendship was enjoyable to watch. It's so interesting to me how often Lillian rescued scenes and Sloan managed to have chemistry with just about everyone. Krista Tesreau is underrated as Mindy. The other actors get all the attention, but I think she was charming and had depth to her portrayal. The first two Mindy actresses were great casting choices. I also enjoyed Dylan. There was a sweetness and vulnerability to him. I don't think every actor has to be en Emmy winning acting genius. Englund had the likability factor going for him. As for Jonathan, I think the character was sleazy, mean-spirited and just unnecessary. I also think Pelphrey overacted. I know David Kreizman fell in love with the character/actor, but I wish he had kept his affections to himself and off the show.

I was going to put a few of her comment in the Catlins thread, but I don't think there is one unless my search was inadequate.