Broderick

P&G had a real purge in the very early 1980s. "Edge" dumped longtime police chief Bill Marceau for Derek Mallory circa 1980. "World Turns" saw Nancy & Chris Hughes dumped to recurring about 1981. "Guiding Light" dumped Holly's mother, Roger's father, Steve Jackson, and Sara McIntyre about 1981. The soap press at the time said this was an effort to mimic Y&R, but ironically, at the same time, Y&R was writing very complex storylines for Jeanne Cooper, who was in her early 50s.

Good thing they didn't cast John James as Steven! Seriously, I believe those three roles (Steven, Fallon, and Jeff) were cast extremely well initially. Pamela Sue Martin made Fallon ballsy & aggressive, as well as likeable. No one could do moody & sensitive as well as Al Corley. And John James was great as the rather shallow, superficial all-American boy. Corley's Steven Carrington was such a complex character (to me) that his sexuality seemed almost "secondary" to the other traits that he brought to the role. He came across as well-educated, well-read, introspective, sensitive, kind-hearted, tortured, and confused. I found it believable that he could go from Ted Dinard to Sammy Jo to Claudia. He always struck me as a character who was searching for himself and trying to discover who he really was. I know Al Corley took a certain amount of pride in playing one of nighttime TV's first "gay characters" in a dramatic series, but I wish he'd opened himself more to the fluidity that his characterization was bringing to the role of Steven.

And that was a decision which made Cecil into an inept cartoon character. Supposedly, he was a longtime businessman and savvy about the world. Wouldn't Cecil have long ago drafted a will naming nephew Jeff as his heir & successor at ColbyCo? Sure, if some British lady came along, batted her eyes, and said, "Sessil, I'd love to be your wife for one episode!", Cecil would've probably set aside a marital trust of some type for the new wife. But he obviously wouldn't have made her CEO of his company. lol. In real-life, she wouldn't have even been a minority shareholder, other than through a marital trust that Jeff was trustee of. All of that just looked ridiculous.

To cloudy her motivations even further, it often appeared in her initial episodes that Alexis was "in love" with Blake -- her rivalry with Krystle, her camping out in the studio on the Carrington estate, her painting Blake's portrait. But then she HATED him and married Cecil Colby to "crush" Denver Carrington. The writing was too shallow to reflect a mixture of love and hate. Alexis came across as just a mischievous trouble-maker, which compromised the Blake & Krystle characters into being "all good" so that Alexis could be "all bad". And that's when the show veered into cartoonish antics so those roles could be furthered. Yes, the first season was fairly uneventful, but I found the characters (as presented in the first season) to be somewhat relatable with clear motivations. By the time Alexis came along, everyone's motivations were chunked out the window to create a Cruella de Ville out of Alexis. Joan Collins obviously made the show into a 1980s success, but I believe it came at the expense of the show's integrity.

Miss Stinnette outlived Nadine Scott by 43 years -- that's pretty impressive!

"I was supposed to get 75 cents. The show only sent me 50 cents. Bill and Lee Bell knew how to treat people fairly."

Somehow, Paul will probably turn his appearance on the show into a Twitter rant. I didn't think the episode was anything very spectacular or unique. But I did enjoy the final scene. Nothing too dramatic, rushed, or "climactic", just two folks who've know each other for 40 years chilling in a way they've often done in the past.

I doubt music is as much a part of the curriculum now as it was back then. "Tom Dooley" might've been regional. I was in the middle third of the country.

I agree with the reviewer that "Secrets of Midland Heights" wasn't very entertaining. Aside from Linda Hamilton being beautiful and Lorenzo Lamas being handsome, there really wasn't much to offer an audience. But I have to laugh at the reviewer's rant about the kids singing "Tom Dooley" on a hayride. He says, "I doubt you could find 1 in 100 high school seniors who could identify Tom Dooley, let alone SING it." Where in blazes did this reviewer go to school?? When I was growing up in the 1970s and 1980s, you couldn't find a soul who couldn't sing Tom Dooley. Whenever there was a PTA meeting, school assembly, or operetta at my school, the boys in my class were expected to get on-stage and sing some hokey old standard like that, with little (if any) practice. We had to belt out "This Land is Your Land", "City of New Orleans", "Home on the Range", Marty Robbins' "El Paso", Waylon & Willie's "Luckenbach Texas", and of course "Tom Dooley" at the drop of a hat. The music teacher often wouldn't even provide us with a lyric sheet -- she just assumed that every kid in America knew those songs, and well, most of us did.

The problem with that storyline is that Peter looked to be about 13 years old, and Sue Ellen's HEAD was twice as big as Peter's little head. lol

I've never been able to determine if I "liked" Diana Millay, or if I simply "liked" the character she played on Dark Shadows. There was a uniqueness about her -- her character always seemed to be mentally detached from reality entirely, floating around in some other world, rather than present. And I felt that worked VERY well in the Gothic environment of Dark Shadows.

I'd thought the same (parallel time). They'd pretty much exhausted the phoenix possibilities in actual time, but hadn't even touched the concept yet in parallel time.

They actually WANTED her more often than they got her, I believe. I've heard that the show had scheduled her for yet another appearance as Laura, but the cancellation came before the story was written.

I agree. When you put 6 characters in groups of 2, and d-r-a-a-a-g out their conversations with each other for a whole hour -- Lord, it's dreadful.

I think you're right. In the original 1967 storyline, didn't the old caretaker at Eagle Hill Cemetery explain to us there had been a "Laura Stockbridge" who died by fire in 1767 and a Laura Radcliffe who died by fire in 1867, leading us to realize there would be a Laura Collins who died by fire in 1967? (Or as the old caretaker said, "Diiiiied by fiiiirre!") When they introduced the 1897 storyline and snagged Diana Millay again, they "retconned" the two previous incarnations of Laura into Mrs. Jeremiah Collins and Mrs. Edward Collins.

I'm guessing "budget", and it sure makes for some stale, stagnant episodes I'm sorry to say!

Same here. Even though I watched The Edge of Night most afternoons in the late 1970s and early 1980s -- and therefore I already know how each crime and mystery is resolved -- I enjoy watching the old episodes to catch the clues that I foolishly missed when the episodes originally aired. The style of writing includes many red herrings deliberately thrown in our direction, and many actual CLUES sprinkled into what appear on the surface to be mundane conversations. When I re-watch an episode on You Tube, I always find myself wondering, "How did I MISS that clue in 1981? I sat there and WATCHED this episode!" There's a certain timelessness about it -- probably because of the film noir/cops and robbers format -- that simply doesn't exist in other serialized shows.

That's the way I've always understood it. I believe Laura married into the Collins family three different times. In the 1897 storyline, we learned that Laura had originally married Jeremiah Collins in the 1780s or 1790s. (Jeremiah was supposedly widowed by Laura Murdoch when he ultimately married Josette du Pres.) Barnabas remembered Laura Collins well. Barnabas said that he was a pre-teen (or a teenager) when Jeremiah married her, and Barnabas had a little crush on her. Laura recalled Barnabas as the "sad-eyed little nephew" who followed Jeremiah around the Old House. By 1897, Laura had reappeared (after a 100 year hiatus) and was married to Edward Collins (but was more interested in Quentin Collins). Then in 1967, after another 100 year hiatus, she reappeared yet again and married Roger Collins. So yes, I'd say Roger married his grandmother.

Absolutely heartbreaking news. When he joined Y&R, he was like a bolt of lightning across a sometimes desolate landscape. So much infectious energy and mischief infused into each of his scenes. (And yes, occasionally his energy level seemed almost manic, and now perhaps we can appreciate and understand why.) He was much admired by many longtime fans of the show; we've seen a plethora of Billys, but never anything like Billy Miller! Also appreciated by his colleagues, as evidenced by his phenomenal three Emmy wins in six short years. A tremendously talented man, gone way too soon. As Horatio says, "Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet prince, and flights of Angels sing thee to thy rest."

I wasn't around in the 1960s, but there used to be a club in downtown Monticello (Cincinnati) called the "Club Ho-Hi-Ho" (pronounced similar to "Ohio") where Mike Karr hung out. Is that the one you're remembering?

Oh, I agree. I can't even picture them knowing each other. But there was some complicating factor --- wasn't he a friend of Mark Lambert (Victoria Mallory's husband), and there was something wrong with a car or something, and Mark asked him, "Will you pick up my wife from Television City if you're not doing anything right now"? lol.

Doug Davidson (Paul Williams Y&R) stopped by Television City to pick-up Victoria Mallory from work, landed an under-5 role as Paul in May 1978, got a contract in early 1980, and stayed for about 40 years. Kate Linder [Esther, Y&R] got a non-speaking role as "Maid" in 1982, got a name when her co-star called her "Esther" during a scene, got a contract about 5 years later, and has been around for more than 40 years.

I didn't *intend* to sit down & watch an entire episode of Guiding Light. But that episode was so well put together, it was hard NOT to watch it.

It's about a "three-way tie" on 7/1/1983 for #1 among GH, Y&R, and AMC.

I had done the same thing for Calendar Year 1980 (1/4/1980 - 12/26/1980 - 52 week period), but I was too lazy to do the shares. 1. GH -- 10.4 -- 46 weeks at #1 2. AMC -- 9.4 -- 6 weeks at #1 3. OLTL -- 9.0 -- 0 weeks at #1 4. GL -- 8.1 -- 0 weeks at #1 5. Y&R -- 8.0 -- 0 weeks at #1 6. ATWT -- 7.8 -- 0 weeks at #1