chrisml

OH dead @XantheThe amount of soap misinformation is immense. I'd forgotten that on the Locher Room interview from five year ago, Alicia Coppola, Christine Tucci and Alice Barrett-Mitchell all agreed they had worked with one as*hole on AW. They didn't mention the person or give many clues.

@DRW50 ABM said that she and Stephen Schnetzer did not remain close after she was fired even though they had been close friends while she was on the show. It seemed to upset her. She at least confirmed she was fired pay to for RKK. While she was still irked by that, she didn't go the extra step and comment on what a disaster that was. In her shoes, I probably would have made a snarky comment to that effect. She did have some interesting tidbits about her time on The Catlins show 90% of her scenes were shot on a horse stable set.

The Alice Barrett-Mitchell interview did not reveal too much behind the scenes info on AW. She did reveal she's a bit bitter about being fired to pay for Robert Kelker Kelly's salary especially after the way he left the show.

He was the original and better Grant Harrison.

Count me as someone who thinks Parker's version of the line is better. From what we know of JFP, she has no regard for history so I can't imagine she even considered treating Maureen's death with a reverence for past relationships and connections.

@TEdgeofNightThat story about Tonja Walker makes sense especially with how she behaves today. It's always been my understanding that her contract dispute happened before Gottlieb and that Gottlieb saved her job. I thought that was reported in the press. @VeeYour post unlocked a memory. When the book first came out, someone asked Strasser about the book on twitter and she was upset that she had not been paid to be interviewed. Giles had to explain that this was not a book that would allow for that sort of thing. The Emily Haynes story was so bizarre. It was one of the few missteps in the Gottlieb era. I don't know what they were going for what that story. I thought Strasser was actively bad when she returned and it made it worse that Princi had been so good. As someone who had not seen Strasser as Dorian before, I was extremely annoyed by the switch. Strasser's return was one of the reasons I stopped watching because I really didn't care about the reignited Dorian/Viki feud. I would later go back, but not for a while.

I was also confused by Gottlieb's quotes about the prison scenes. I thought I might have missed something. I'm glad someone was also confused. Having read the entire book, it's amusing to me how often people disagreed about the same events. You really get the feeling that the OLTL set was not the friendliest/closest of sets. Elaine Princi was not mentioned in the book as far as I could tell which I found interesting. They don't even get into Strasser's return to the show or all the problems that came with that return. I can't remember if Strasser ever spoke about the problems on her hotline or on twitter. I also wanted to point out something that I found while looking for something about Elaine Princi. I came across an anecdote tells about Marcia Cross being angry that Erika Slezak got to shoot first for the day.

Robin Strasser comes back to OLTL and viewers did not welcome her return. She and the show were not expecting that. I remember some damage control in the press at the time. It also didn't help that her return storyline was not a great one. For many people, Elaine Princi had become Dorian. It reminds me of Carmen Duncan as Iris on AW. For a lot of viewers like me, Carmen Duncan is our Iris. It's rare when people grow so attached to a replacement. == Some info about Tonja Walker/Gottlieb relationship:

Didn't JFP's GL lose over a million or so viewers by the time she was finally fired? IT was around the time that GL was apparently so bad that Michael Logan (in his column) was calling for her to be fired. I can see why 1986's GL was cancel territory though. Yeesh. That was some bad stuff.

@Speed Racer I have not seen too much of 1994. I was just horrified by what Dusay and the writers were doing with the character. I can only imagine what Kinkead thought about the material but she emerged with her dignity intact. I felt for Dusay because it seemed like she had no idea what she was meant to do in the scene (or perhaps was badly directed). My question: Weren't there people on the show who knew the history of the character? Why didn't someone step in and help with the writing or say this isn't the Alexandra that viewers know and want? It just felt so sloppy and insulting. Perhaps, it didn't matter by that point.

@Speed RacerI was referring to the Alexandra that happened after BM quit. The dialogue was so awful. I posted many weeks back about a confrontation Alex had with Vanessa over Nick and Mindy's engagement party (might have been a wedding attempt don't remember). This is what Alex was reduced to under JFP and the writers at the time. The character deserved better and Dusay deserved better. I don't think JFP understood the character of Alexandra so she lost massive amounts of brain cells during her time as EP. As @DRW50points out, it was all about the framing of the story. Even before McKinsey left, it was Alex obsessing over Nick and Roger. It was this sexist way of telling the story. Alex and Mindy were both acting like desperate women who had nothing else going on in their lives. When Simms left, they couldn't even come up with anything to do with Mindy because JFP and the writers simply saw her as an extension of Nick's storyline. They recast Mindy and what was the story? Eve/Mindy/Nick. Eve became loony over Nick.

Locher uploaded some photos on the posts tab of his youtube page in honor of GL's anniversary. I emailed the linked to my mother as they have both Charles Jay Hammer and Larkin Malloy in them so she'll be happy. It's the small things. I think most of the actresses we've talked about could do anything if the writing were there. However, the writing for Alexandra was terrible. I couldn't get over what they did to Alexandra during JFP's tenure. Of course, that looks like a walk in the park compared to later years. Every time I think I should watch more of post-Maureen's death GL, I watch some of the show and I can't get over how bad a lot of the writing is. Not just the plotting, but the terrible dialogue. I don't know who got it worse: Alexandra or the character of Mindy.

Totally agree with this. I think Donna Mills was able to infuse Abby with humanity whereas Hagman was too busy leaning into the macho b.s. of the eighties. Hagman's JR always had to win and that does not make for compelling triumph. It also doesn't help that we see to many mean like JR Ewing these days and it's not fun to watch them because we know the real-life damage they inflict on others.

Elaine Princi was wonderful and she was done dirty by the show and the switch back to Strasser. I know a lot of fans were not happy by it, and Dorian's storyline (Strasser's return to the show) did not help the situation.

Considering what a disaster Barbara Crampton was as Mindy, I wouldn't want Hickland as Mindy though because JFP and the writers did not seem to know what to do with Mindy once Simms left (from little I've seen). Hickland was emmy worthy on OLTL and she would never have gotten the same material on GL. JFP and her writers destroyed the character. I assume there was no talk of Krista Tesreau coming back? Thanks @P.J.for the info about Alan/Alexandra. This is what happens when you come into a show after a storyline/relationship has been retconned. I thought it was so odd and mean-spirited @DeeVeethat JFP mentioned Penny Fuller by name as someone who couldn't understand daytime's demands. Even if she didn't, why shame her in print?

I would take Hickland in any role (don't remember Hope so can't comment). So underrated and one of the few good things JFP did on OLTL. I wish she had done another soap. She's so talented. I would have turned back into GL if Hickland had joined.

I'd love to have seen Born as Alan, but how would they have retconned Roscoe Born as Marj Dusay's brother since he looks so much younger? The mind boggles. I know NBC forced him on her so the Eden/Cruz/Robert triangle that was so successful was not even her idea. I would imagine Lane Davies might have been more of an option as a FOJ but his character was a disaster when she brought him onto GH and was killed off within a year. Would have been odd to see him playing Dusay's brother since he had played her son on SB. I remember reading in magazines JFP complaining how hard it was to cast Alexandra. Casting was never JFP's strong suit so I can only imagine what she would have done with Alexandra if Alexandra had not been available. JFP made specific mention that Penny Fuller auditioned, but didn't understand the demands of daytime. I could see Ann Flood from Edge of Night playing Alexandra. Anna Stuart from AW even that would not have been possible. Judith McConnell from SB.

Reminds me of 1979's Edge of Night where nearly the entire male cast wears low cut shirts almost down to their navel. I'm not complaining about it per se, but it is rather amusing especially in dramatic moments. Maybe I'm wrong but was the shirtless fad in 1987 the soaps' way of approaching sexuality without having a lot of sex scenes? Didn't someone say that GL became pretty sexless in 1987? Or am I misremembering? It's nice to have eye candy, but I would prefer a plot with my candy so to speak. I know people lost their minds in 2003 when Daniel Crosgrove and Mark Collier (ATWT) showed their backsides. The pearl clutching that went on! Rape was ok. Violence was ok. But a man's ass! One step too far.

Thank you @alwaysAMCfor your wonderful summaries of Kim Zimmer's books. They brought about so much discussion. The Proud Mary clip makes me think of my mother's comment about the OLTL musical episode and how that got her into OLTL for a bit. The "Proud Mary" scene was something fun and different and it rewarded fans for watching. Moments like that do make me want to be loyal to a show, but that's not something that happened on GL very often if at all after a certain point. Those lighter moments don't seem important to EP's or execs, but viewers remember them. I bet my mother remembers the Proud Mary scene. And it's important to have performers like Bolger, Burton and Zimmer who can pull it off. Instead, too many GL producers punished existing viewers at the expense of trying to find the elusive GL viewers who were going to be lured in by endless fires, snowstorms, fires, snowstorms, killing off matriarchs, ghosts, The Amish, rapes, magical paintings, rapes, the mob, gum-chewing hat check girls, baseball fields, slapping daughters, sexy psycho sons in underwear (that one might have worked on me), psycho son, cousin sex, etc.

From what I've seen of Daniel Pilon, he's fine as Alan. I don't know why they didn't just keep him as Alan as an Alan/Roger feud would have been interesting as @P.J.suggests. Plus, Pilon was charismatic so you always want a leading man who can go into some sort of romance/triangle. I don't have the animosity towards Raines that some people do, but that's because I didn't see a lot of him. I also saw some of Dusay's work and thought she was so miscast as Alexaandra that Raines looks better in comparison. 1994's Dusay was terrible from what I've seen (and this is before Alex in the Conboy era--being vague as not to spoil it for those watching it chronologically). I know she was Emmy nominated in 94/95?, but she was completely neutered and devoid of personality. It was shocking how bad it was. I blame JFP and the writers for most of it, but still.

Rauch did not understand class or race. Slezak (one of his biggest supporters) mourned the loss of class and race issues/stories on OLTL when Rauch took over. He was terrible on SB with the issue where the biggest problem facing a couple was a "ghost." I don't know how he was on AW or YR (besides the whole Adam goes temporarily gay storyline). Couple that with his idea that all women should be extremely thin and sexy and it's so ugh.

It's odd to say "mother approved" but the phrase fits in this instance. I had no idea before all of our GL talks that she was so into Fletcher. Or that Fletcher was so popular with mothers as I think think there were a couple other mothers on here that admitted they were Fletcher fans. It was Daniel Pilon my mom remembered. I facebooked her his photo and she said, "That's him! He's the Alan who reminds me of XXXX." @P.J.

She was talking about Daniel Pilon or at least that was my assumption based on the time frame and what I know of her taste in men. As for OLTL, she mentioned their musical episode (Lindsay was in prison) as a one-time stunt that made her tune in to watch with my grandmother (which I didn't know happened). She said she watched for a bit based on just that one episode. She said GL should have done something like that instead of the Marvel thing. Thank you for this. I will let my mother know. I may just tell her he left the show with Alexandra and leave out the Holly bit because if she asks questions I won't be able to explain the Fletcher/Holly stuff in any detail. I'm sure my mother would agree about the buns. She still remembers him quite fondly after all these years.

More GL talk with my mother. My mother stopped watching regularly in the late eighties (she has no idea when) and only watched periodically after that. It was mostly catching fragments as she worked as a nurse in a doctor's office at the point. Alan: "I liked the Alan who was with Alexandra. He was so good. There was the dark-haired man but I don't remember too much although he looked like an ex-boyfriend I liked." (She has no memory of Ron Raines) Explained the Marvel stuff to my mother: "What kind of f*ckery was that?!!? Who wants that kind of crap? Thank God I stopped watching years before." (I edited out a lot of profanity and a side trip to talking about OLTL). Last time she watched GL: "Only had it on as background noise while working. Reva walked through the damn painting and that was it. Never watched again. Too stupid for words." Fletcher: "What happened to Fletcher? Did he end up with Maeve? He was so sexy. My favorite man on GL." (I tell her they killed off Maeve and she was not happy. I also tell her I have no idea what happened to Fletcher and she's even more annoyed.). "They kept Josh but not Fletcher? Figures!"