ScottyBman

Ellen really threw the shock into my daytime world when she debuted as Vicky and loved it, but Anne really made it her own. In real life, she may have been a little out there, but she was great in the role of Vicky/Marley. I didn't hate Jensen, and I understood both her desire that playing both characters was alot and that Vicky had grown up and wasn't as scrappy, but Anne had both an edge and an ability to play a woman that was maturing in her 20's to money and position.

I took some time this weekend and watched the Locher Room with JFP. I have to say, I liked her candor. And I get her position. (That just may get me thrown out of here...) She was hired to do a job. Often with a hand of cards that had serious issues. People leaving, budgets, etc. To think that a woman who had a 35 year career in an industry had a secret desire to destroy that industry is ridiculous. She made mistakes, of course, I would love to see anyone who whether in this chat or a general fan, has not made mistakes, missteps, bad judgment calls. While not AW, she said in the interview her directive was to bring Y&R into the 21st century. And I get it. Young and the Restless is neither Young nor Restless today. Middle aged upper income people wandering around looking for problems....it is what it is. So, while we may not agree, I do understand where she was coming from and applaud her for having a vision and being able to execute it, perhaps to the delight or the dismay of the audience.

I can talk Donna Love Hudson all day long. 🙂 But I think the powers that be felt as though they had to make Donna a more sympathetic character that her being a rich Ice Queen/Snob would not keep her in the fabric of Bay City with any genuine connections. While Iris was similar, she was a Cory and thus kept her in the middle of storylines easier. If Donna remained so cold and aloof she would have just been "dismissed" by most of the characters and it would have limited keeping her on the canvas. And I agree that the process started before the recast, the casting of PS made that transition a faster track. As the Love family intrigue started to fade away with the death of Reginald, Peter not being viable, Nicole gone, Marley and Vicky in their own worlds...they worked to push her into the stories with Felicia and the gang and their adventures. While some may argue it was perhaps a misstep, it may have kept the character around.

I loved (pun intended) the creation of the Love house as a cold old money family with deep dark secrets, but it was difficult to keep Reginald in the mix after a while. Donna had money again with Michael. Peter was destroyed as a character once his marriage to Brittany was over. Mary went back to the McKinnons. Nicole...well that character never really was finessed. Vicky and Marley were in their own world making their way and not really Loves, but Hudson's. They would have needed to develop more business angles like perhaps a run for taking over Cory Publishing or creating a company that hired many of the people of Bay City and then had work storylines. It was fun for a while....but burnt itself out and with it the Love mansion....

Yes, making her a caricature of her former self was a disappointment. The schemes to which Cecile came to Bay City in further incarnations were just over to the top. The one when she came back homeless and Felicia took her in showed promise. It would have been great to see her humbled and then rebuild a life start good then revert back to scheming but without the over the top Queen of Tanqueray "...It's Tanquiir mother..." said Vicky to Donna to which Donna replied, "...whatever" And this give me a chance to repaste my favorite scenes with Donna, Vicky and Cecille.

I think that it has been said before that unfortunately soaps tended to chase each other when one had a successful storyline or type of character others would develop similar hoping lighting struck twice. Sometimes it did, but often it did not. AW was already a pale version of itself by the time it ended, just as today's soaps are pale versions of what they once were.

Although for the most part I was done with AW by the time they ended, I was never really that invested in the character of Lila. She was no Vicky or Cecile, although I understand having Lisa Peluso was an attempt I am guessing on bringing new eyes to the show. Another "bi$%h that goes from conniving to a heroine is always a good plot line, but I guess I wasn't invested by this point.

I think it was a Houseboat as well, was the Love yacht where Peter and Cecile's Roaring 20's wedding was held?

100% - Anna Stuart fan and Donna Love fan! Can still remember when she returned at the party in the room of mirrors. I do think that PS made the transition from Ice Queen to Victim/Heroine which is what the writers were doing at that time. I get how hard it is to keep a character involved in storylines and sometimes they go astray. Donna was definately a character who for lack of better term "evolved" with almost every writer regime. Sometmes they were unsure what to do with the character. But anytime Anna/Donna walked into a scene it was magic.

...and it also depends if you genuinely like the person the pranks are fun. Conversely, pranks and antics by someone you already have a predisposition to and it is extra annoying. Sounds like Ms. Bev demanded a sense of professionalism around her, although in his Locker Room interview on You Tube John Bolger mentioned his first scene with her and was quite gracious and funny, so I think it just depends. (I can say in real life some people find me very difficult and demanding and others find me funny, goofy and amusing.) And they are all me.

I can remember watching that episode having no idea it was coming and like....wholly heck! The dark haunting life at the Love Mansion was my favorite storylines of AW by far.

I can still remember watching when they introduced Vicky meeting up with Jake and they start kissing and it was like what?!? Had no idea that was coming. A great soap opera surprise. Does anyone remember if there were any hints or leaks that this was coming? Or what storyline shockers really surprised you?

Donna resonated as Another World was always good with the Upstairs/Downstairs characters and needed that snotty patrician social snob. Nicole as the "party girl model" in the beginning was great, as was the pairing with her working lawyer brother, Peter. However, Peter went from the moral center to a weaker version looking for acceptance from daddy, Nicole changed lives from model to writer/singer/moral center to fashion designer and even Donna went from snob to heroine of a sort. While characters need to evolve, they seemed like they were always chasing a storyline or looking to fit these characters into plot lines by dictating their change. The recasts didn't help the situation. I am huge team Donna in anything and that has been evident in my posts. I guess the good news that through all of this we usually got a good bit of Donna, which is what kept me, at least watching....

100%

One of my favorite scenes in AW history. Donna being snarky and eliteist. "Her legs are too short..." :-)

Anna Stuart!!!! She looks great! All of them look great and I loved that she and Kale have maintained a friendship throughout the years! I also loved how Kale mentioned the 4th Vicky! What a great side note. Alicia Coppola's commentary was also hilarious. The best episode of this web interview series. :-)

I don't think we would have seen the Love's as would there be a need for a third wealthy family and not another patriarch like Reginald. And although they had overlapped them later, I don't know that the need for another society snob like Donna would have been created with Iris still front and center.

Would you not say though that by 1985, the dynamic of soaps were changing in a result to be faster, younger and more focused on wealth, glamour and the high life. Even the way characters were introduced became a bigger event. I am not saying it was right, but I think it was indicative of the times. Over the top, was something soaps embraced. An escape. And conversely, if something wasn't working, it was shut down quickly and the writers/producers moved into something new. For long time viewers, that meant jettisoning off characters who mabe they felt did not fit the "new mold". As someone who was young back then, I was Ok with it. But someone who is older now, I see the charm in maintaining legacy characters. I wanted more of the Loves back in the day, but watching You Tube clips now as a middle aged person, I see the charm of Ada, who back in 85, I hit fast forward on my VHS recording to get to Donna.

Quite a different portrayal than her return in the mid to late 80's.

I gave up. It was unwatchable. But some of them have been better as far as the audio/connection. Did they mention Anna? I would have loved to have seen her.

Didn't Burton then work on GL for a few years later? Another P&G soap, so he could not have been too bad?

I have to admit I fast forward through a lot that is not Donna centric. I didn't hate the McKinnon's but MJ that was hooker turned cop...ouch... Vince was recast about 4 times, I think. And while I enjoyed Reginald Love, mostly because of his dynamic with Donna and Peter, the Mary KcKinnon/Marissa LaSalle stuff was in my eyes pretty bad.

So I have been rewatching the 80's. It is now 1985 and the wheels have fallen off. LeSoleil...what the %$^& is that? The chasing of Egyptian and Indian art in Arizona, Taylor Miller as Sally Frame.... The show is just a mess. They are chasing the 80's formula, but very badly. I am guessing soon the revamping of the show is coming where the focus goes to the Loves, the McKinnons and the Cory's. But for now, we have all this bizarre storylines going on....

Wow that was amazing!

You are 100% correct. The problem with this lies in the fact that if there is not some "redemption" it is more difficult to continue to write these characters into the canvas and still be "realistic". At some point, one wonders why the bitches, for lack of a better term are still included. In real life, we may let someone into our lives that have done us wrong, but at some point it has to give. Their schemes and intentions are more obvious and more difficult to be welcomed and included in the lives of the other characters on the canvas. So one has to knock them down a peg or redeem them to keep them as viable to the interactions of the others. Often times, these types find love as redemption. Sometimes they "leave town" to reposition them for future stories. And too, we do grow. I often say as a middle aged person, I would not want to be judged by the man I was in my 20's and 30's. But to your point, they are the characters that make things happen, bring a little excitement to our normal lives and make the stories more interesting.