Historyfan

2 hours ago, Soapsuds said:

Melissa praising the writers and actors she worked with.

 

Melissa keeps in touch with Rachel Miner and love that they keep in touch with Leonard Stabb.

 

Jocelyn trashing Days..lol

 

Oook Kimberley and Vincent ...lol....Kim didn't like him...lol

Weren't they engaged at one point? I know they were involved.

Just in case this hasn't been posted, this user has some videos of classic Nikki episodes that aren't set to private. 

Has this episode been posted yet? Do we know what date this could be?

On 3/3/2019 at 8:31 AM, dc11786 said:

I received another batch and have jumping around from October 1992 and June 1993 so I've just watched Trisha's exit storyline. When I've read about it, I wasn't impressed, but, after seeing the storyline play out, I have to admit there were some really nice moments to all of it. 

 

In what I've seen, Noelle Beck is given little to do in her final months after carrying the show for most of the past two years (except for the times she has been on maternity leave). Seeing her in less heavy material, Beck is quite charming and has a nice rapport with the cast. I can see why Trisha was loved. Taggart does have Trisha resume her art position at the university and plays a B-story where Arthur, Trucker's geeky assistant at the bike shop, has a crush on her, but it isn't anything big. Her last days are a nice tribute to the couple. Trisha and Trucker spend the morning in bed together, they hang out with Shana and learn she is pregnant, they plan a trip to the cabin, and, in general, just seem to be in love. Things only start to become complicated when Trisha finds a picture of Buck Huston, her mysterious houseguest, and her newly returned brother Curtis Alden. Trisha questions Buck indirectly about it, and, when he isn't honest, she makes plans to confront Curtis. She stops at a pay phone to talk to Curtis, who is at the Forest Inn with Dinahlee, only to carjacked. 

 

I wonder how people would react today to what happens in the aftermath of Trisha's death. After the car explodes, a rather big focal point is the picture of Buck and Curtis burning. It's an important point as the picture is only proof of Buck and Curtis' connection, but I'm not sure how people would feel as we are suppose to believe in that moment Trisha has perished. 

 

The funeral is nicely done. It's a true event. There is a big reveal (Dinahlee realizes she has been seeing Curtis Alden) and almost everyone is there (including rarely used players like Armando and Dr. Ron Turner). The choice of song, Amazing Grace, seems to work well for Trucker's trajectory, but it's odd that they don't announce who the singer is, I believe its Roberta Flack. Anyway, looking over the Alden clan its hard to commit to their grief as so many of them have been around for under a year. 

 

During the funeral, they finally reveal that Trisha is alive and she slips off to another town where she is befriended by a kind woman, Margie, who takes her in. They build a nice little side story here with Margie believing Trisha is a battered wife and having a daughter who ran away. When Jeff Hartman arrives freshly released from Dunellyn, Margie tells him about Trucker beating Trisha and you can almost buy what they are doing. Trisha and Jeff dance to Bonnie Raitt's "I Can't Make You Love Me,"  a song "Loving" has used several times, and Trisha asks Jeff if he would need a secretary in Rome. It nicely sets up what should be Trisha's return, in love and happy with Jeff but then remembering Trucker and her son Christopher. I think the story requires a lot of leaps of logic, but if you accept them its kind of a nice exit. 

 

Overall, Millee Taggart and Robert Guza's run seems to be very strong after a year of chaos under Addie Walsh and Haidee Granger. Walsh, by the way, is credited as headwriter until January 1993. The Ava / Leo / Shana triangle is very strong. Under Guza and Taggart, Leo Burnell is more of egotistical, arrogant, and a bit of a chauvinist. Shana and Leo have a combative back and forth, while the push and pull between Shana and Leo brings out the worst in Ava, which is best for the audience. At times, there is too much humor in the storyline. Some of Shana's fantasies aren't my cup of tea and some of Ava's schemes seem like they were rejected by the writers of "I Love Lucy." Overall, it's a really nice story. Shana not wanting to love Leo, Leo torn between what both women offer him, and Ava not willing to let another man walk out of her life. 

 

While Ally's pregnancy may be nothing new, the way Guza and Taggart present the material seems different. In the transition period between Walsh and the new writers, all of the lying and deceit comes out. Ally tells Casey she is pregnant. Casey confronts Cooper, which leads to Hannah learning about the baby. Then Ally goes to visit Hannah only for Hannah to confront Ally. When Cooper arrives, Hannah calls off their engagement, while Casey turns around and says he's going to support Ally despite the hurt.

 

Most of this is strong, but there doesn't seem to be much effort put into giving Hannah much of a perspective. Gayheart was certainly green, as are so many first time soap actors, but more effort needed to be point into Hannah's point of view. In contrast, the other characters have been strengthened. As much as I hate Giff's death, it is clearly an event that defines who Casey is and guides him in nearly everything he does. Hannah arrived in Corinth from a small town very naïve. This should be her defining event, and, in a way, it is. Hannah hangs around the younger set a bit while longer, but then Guza and Taggart isolate her and have her lusting after Jeremy Hunter. The Hannah / Jeremy story is one of the weakest ones. Laura Sisk Wright has completely settled into the role of Ally and she has sort of gone with the tough girl with softer edges who doesn't want to play games anymore. The character has gone through such an evolution in the past year, but Taggart, who I believe introduced the character, seems to have given her the strongest sense of self. Ally's impending motherhood seems to be directly impacted by her parents' divorce. Cooper also has changed. While Ally embraces motherhood, Cooper completely rejects the idea of being a father. He starts drinking a bit, landing himself in jail for a DUI, and then puts on quite a show at Burnell's in the Arabian Nights window display. It is only after Trisha dies and Cooper has a moment of reflection with Clay that Cooper becomes more interested in fatherhood.

 

While it's not revolutionary, the Cooper / Ally / Casey triangle works because all of the characters have stakes and all of them seem to be operating based on their own individual experiences. Also, none of the trio are perfect. Cooper is easily manipulated by people like Clay and Stephanie Brewster and was pretty quick to abandon the baby before the change of heart. Ally is wishy washy at times about whether or not to accept Cooper's role in the baby's life, while Casey tends to be jealous of the connection that Ally and Cooper will always share because of the child. What's nice is the story is all about little moments like Coop showing up at the Lamaze class when Casey is already there as her partner and Ally worrying about how she is going to be able to pay her medical bills.

 

In the long run, Stephanie replaces Hannah, but, initially, she seems to replace Mia, an Alden University student who Cooper is fooling around with for a bit. Mia is first seen Jeremy Hunter's art class before she ends up hooking up with Cooper and is last seen breaking up the fight between Coop and Casey when Casey learns that Coop is the father of Ally's child. Mia has similarly dark features like Stephanie, but Stephanie certainly has more personality. From the moment she's introduced, Stephanie is a troublemaker; Casey catches her stealing a scarf at Burnell's. She is established as a long time Corinth resident, Isabelle has known her family for years, and she has been attending classes at AU with the rest of the younger set. She's a fun addition. 

 

Louie's prostate cancer story is probably the last nice thing done in the final days credited to Walsh. Probably my favorite scene from 1992 is Dinahlee talking to Louie at Pins the night before his surgery. She's worried about him, but he says guys aren't suppose to talk about these things with pretty young ladies. Louie is trying to reassure Dinahlee, but it's Dinahlee who has the best little moment. Dinahlee goes off on a little monologue about how she's never known her father who abandoned her when she was four years old. She talks about how she always imagined what he was like, and, now, she hopes that he would be like Louie. Under Guza and Taggart, Louie's impotence continues and there are some really nice moments between Louie and Kate. Louie avoids Kate when it's time to go to bed, first staying late at the bowling alley and then coming home to do a crossword puzzle. It's such a real conflict that you'd never see play out today with a couple at that age. When Kate is talking to Ava, Kate makes it clear that she and Louie have had an active sex life, which shocks Ava. I can see why it was well liked, and I wish it was featured a bit more. 

 

On the down side, nothing seems to really work about Curtis Alden. Patrick Johnson is given very little direction and struggles to find any depth in Curtis. The writing isn't helping. The show pushes Curtis / Dinahlee hard with the silly "Ronnie / Betty" story, which is mostly ridiculous but does lead to some nice tension for Clay and Ava individually as they realize that Curtis and Dinahlee are in love with the other before they do. The reveal of Dinahlee and Curtis' true identities after Trisha's funeral is a nice climax to the story and the possibility of a Clay / Curtis / Dinahlee triangle is intriguing, but no one has a sense of who Curtis is. It doesn't help that they've also saddled Curtis with some mysterious backstory involving Buck and their time in Kuwait. The show needed to really figure out who Curtis was. I feel like Taggart had similar issues with Curtis during her first stint. The other issue is the father/son dynamic between Clay / Curtis doesn't generate the interest that the Clay / Cooper relationship offers. After Cooper gets in trouble with Steffie for nearly having sex in a window display at Burnells', Clay offers to mentor Cooper in the art of being a calculated, vindictive Alden. Some of it is over the top as anything, but it's an intriguing proposition. 

 

I've only seen a little bit of Tess, and she works as a con artist/grifter type, but I cannot see how she could work long term.

Thanks for the recap of these episodes!

On 3/3/2019 at 8:31 AM, dc11786 said:

I received another batch and have jumping around from October 1992 and June 1993 so I've just watched Trisha's exit storyline. When I've read about it, I wasn't impressed, but, after seeing the storyline play out, I have to admit there were some really nice moments to all of it. 

 

In what I've seen, Noelle Beck is given little to do in her final months after carrying the show for most of the past two years (except for the times she has been on maternity leave). Seeing her in less heavy material, Beck is quite charming and has a nice rapport with the cast. I can see why Trisha was loved. Taggart does have Trisha resume her art position at the university and plays a B-story where Arthur, Trucker's geeky assistant at the bike shop, has a crush on her, but it isn't anything big. Her last days are a nice tribute to the couple. Trisha and Trucker spend the morning in bed together, they hang out with Shana and learn she is pregnant, they plan a trip to the cabin, and, in general, just seem to be in love. Things only start to become complicated when Trisha finds a picture of Buck Huston, her mysterious houseguest, and her newly returned brother Curtis Alden. Trisha questions Buck indirectly about it, and, when he isn't honest, she makes plans to confront Curtis. She stops at a pay phone to talk to Curtis, who is at the Forest Inn with Dinahlee, only to carjacked. 

 

I wonder how people would react today to what happens in the aftermath of Trisha's death. After the car explodes, a rather big focal point is the picture of Buck and Curtis burning. It's an important point as the picture is only proof of Buck and Curtis' connection, but I'm not sure how people would feel as we are suppose to believe in that moment Trisha has perished. 

 

The funeral is nicely done. It's a true event. There is a big reveal (Dinahlee realizes she has been seeing Curtis Alden) and almost everyone is there (including rarely used players like Armando and Dr. Ron Turner). The choice of song, Amazing Grace, seems to work well for Trucker's trajectory, but it's odd that they don't announce who the singer is, I believe its Roberta Flack. Anyway, looking over the Alden clan its hard to commit to their grief as so many of them have been around for under a year. 

 

During the funeral, they finally reveal that Trisha is alive and she slips off to another town where she is befriended by a kind woman, Margie, who takes her in. They build a nice little side story here with Margie believing Trisha is a battered wife and having a daughter who ran away. When Jeff Hartman arrives freshly released from Dunellyn, Margie tells him about Trucker beating Trisha and you can almost buy what they are doing. Trisha and Jeff dance to Bonnie Raitt's "I Can't Make You Love Me,"  a song "Loving" has used several times, and Trisha asks Jeff if he would need a secretary in Rome. It nicely sets up what should be Trisha's return, in love and happy with Jeff but then remembering Trucker and her son Christopher. I think the story requires a lot of leaps of logic, but if you accept them its kind of a nice exit. 

 

Overall, Millee Taggart and Robert Guza's run seems to be very strong after a year of chaos under Addie Walsh and Haidee Granger. Walsh, by the way, is credited as headwriter until January 1993. The Ava / Leo / Shana triangle is very strong. Under Guza and Taggart, Leo Burnell is more of egotistical, arrogant, and a bit of a chauvinist. Shana and Leo have a combative back and forth, while the push and pull between Shana and Leo brings out the worst in Ava, which is best for the audience. At times, there is too much humor in the storyline. Some of Shana's fantasies aren't my cup of tea and some of Ava's schemes seem like they were rejected by the writers of "I Love Lucy." Overall, it's a really nice story. Shana not wanting to love Leo, Leo torn between what both women offer him, and Ava not willing to let another man walk out of her life. 

 

While Ally's pregnancy may be nothing new, the way Guza and Taggart present the material seems different. In the transition period between Walsh and the new writers, all of the lying and deceit comes out. Ally tells Casey she is pregnant. Casey confronts Cooper, which leads to Hannah learning about the baby. Then Ally goes to visit Hannah only for Hannah to confront Ally. When Cooper arrives, Hannah calls off their engagement, while Casey turns around and says he's going to support Ally despite the hurt.

 

Most of this is strong, but there doesn't seem to be much effort put into giving Hannah much of a perspective. Gayheart was certainly green, as are so many first time soap actors, but more effort needed to be point into Hannah's point of view. In contrast, the other characters have been strengthened. As much as I hate Giff's death, it is clearly an event that defines who Casey is and guides him in nearly everything he does. Hannah arrived in Corinth from a small town very naïve. This should be her defining event, and, in a way, it is. Hannah hangs around the younger set a bit while longer, but then Guza and Taggart isolate her and have her lusting after Jeremy Hunter. The Hannah / Jeremy story is one of the weakest ones. Laura Sisk Wright has completely settled into the role of Ally and she has sort of gone with the tough girl with softer edges who doesn't want to play games anymore. The character has gone through such an evolution in the past year, but Taggart, who I believe introduced the character, seems to have given her the strongest sense of self. Ally's impending motherhood seems to be directly impacted by her parents' divorce. Cooper also has changed. While Ally embraces motherhood, Cooper completely rejects the idea of being a father. He starts drinking a bit, landing himself in jail for a DUI, and then puts on quite a show at Burnell's in the Arabian Nights window display. It is only after Trisha dies and Cooper has a moment of reflection with Clay that Cooper becomes more interested in fatherhood.

 

While it's not revolutionary, the Cooper / Ally / Casey triangle works because all of the characters have stakes and all of them seem to be operating based on their own individual experiences. Also, none of the trio are perfect. Cooper is easily manipulated by people like Clay and Stephanie Brewster and was pretty quick to abandon the baby before the change of heart. Ally is wishy washy at times about whether or not to accept Cooper's role in the baby's life, while Casey tends to be jealous of the connection that Ally and Cooper will always share because of the child. What's nice is the story is all about little moments like Coop showing up at the Lamaze class when Casey is already there as her partner and Ally worrying about how she is going to be able to pay her medical bills.

 

In the long run, Stephanie replaces Hannah, but, initially, she seems to replace Mia, an Alden University student who Cooper is fooling around with for a bit. Mia is first seen Jeremy Hunter's art class before she ends up hooking up with Cooper and is last seen breaking up the fight between Coop and Casey when Casey learns that Coop is the father of Ally's child. Mia has similarly dark features like Stephanie, but Stephanie certainly has more personality. From the moment she's introduced, Stephanie is a troublemaker; Casey catches her stealing a scarf at Burnell's. She is established as a long time Corinth resident, Isabelle has known her family for years, and she has been attending classes at AU with the rest of the younger set. She's a fun addition. 

 

Louie's prostate cancer story is probably the last nice thing done in the final days credited to Walsh. Probably my favorite scene from 1992 is Dinahlee talking to Louie at Pins the night before his surgery. She's worried about him, but he says guys aren't suppose to talk about these things with pretty young ladies. Louie is trying to reassure Dinahlee, but it's Dinahlee who has the best little moment. Dinahlee goes off on a little monologue about how she's never known her father who abandoned her when she was four years old. She talks about how she always imagined what he was like, and, now, she hopes that he would be like Louie. Under Guza and Taggart, Louie's impotence continues and there are some really nice moments between Louie and Kate. Louie avoids Kate when it's time to go to bed, first staying late at the bowling alley and then coming home to do a crossword puzzle. It's such a real conflict that you'd never see play out today with a couple at that age. When Kate is talking to Ava, Kate makes it clear that she and Louie have had an active sex life, which shocks Ava. I can see why it was well liked, and I wish it was featured a bit more. 

 

On the down side, nothing seems to really work about Curtis Alden. Patrick Johnson is given very little direction and struggles to find any depth in Curtis. The writing isn't helping. The show pushes Curtis / Dinahlee hard with the silly "Ronnie / Betty" story, which is mostly ridiculous but does lead to some nice tension for Clay and Ava individually as they realize that Curtis and Dinahlee are in love with the other before they do. The reveal of Dinahlee and Curtis' true identities after Trisha's funeral is a nice climax to the story and the possibility of a Clay / Curtis / Dinahlee triangle is intriguing, but no one has a sense of who Curtis is. It doesn't help that they've also saddled Curtis with some mysterious backstory involving Buck and their time in Kuwait. The show needed to really figure out who Curtis was. I feel like Taggart had similar issues with Curtis during her first stint. The other issue is the father/son dynamic between Clay / Curtis doesn't generate the interest that the Clay / Cooper relationship offers. After Cooper gets in trouble with Steffie for nearly having sex in a window display at Burnells', Clay offers to mentor Cooper in the art of being a calculated, vindictive Alden. Some of it is over the top as anything, but it's an intriguing proposition. 

 

I've only seen a little bit of Tess, and she works as a con artist/grifter type, but I cannot see how she could work long term.