Chris 2

How about a Jill/Katherine rivalry week? I found this scene on YouTube and it’s so damned good (it’s from shortly before Brenda Dickson started going over the top).

I also never bought the “Dirty Harry” reason for Robinson’s departure. It’s not that he’s a bad actor (as Hawkins was). It’s just that he was miscast as RH’s younger leading man. He’s more of a character actor. He didn’t have the looks or the right presence to play Frank.

Robinson’s acting was actually better than DHK’s initially. DHK was pretty stiff in his first few months, but then he settled into the role.

Good point about Pierson’s Frank as the only one believable as this driven political animal.

DHK  was an up-and-comer and they managed to keep him for nearly four years, so I think they did OK. In contrast, Kate Mulgrew only stayed for two and a half years, and Catherine Hicks was there for just 18 months.

I didn’t like Geoff Pierson - his Frank seemed a little pompous. I did like John Sanderford a lot, but the show was losing focus by the time he showed up.

Now that is a great cast. Hardly a weak link in the bunch. If they had had Daniel Hugh Kelly at the time, instead of Andrew Robinson, it would have been perfect.

Unfortunately, by the time DHK arrived, it was early 1978, which saw all kinds of other damaging cast changes and recasts.

Interesting observation. Think about all the colleagues you work with. How many are truly beloved? Just a few. Most of them are nice enough. Then there are a few who aren’t liked much at all. My guess is that Mary  Stuart fell somewhere in that middle, like most of us. I do remember her complaining about being marginalized at multiple times over the years.

I remember when Macdonald Carey from DOOL passed away, and there was an outpouring of memories from his colleagues. Even a few years after he passed away, a Christmas episode ended with Alice Horton (Frances Reid) staring out the window, and on the screen, they superimposed the message, “Merry Christmas, Mac. We still miss you!” When Reid died, there wasn’t the same kind of sentiment.

On 5/6/2019 at 10:32 PM, ironlion said:

the good:

y&r: Brenda Epperson as Ashley, Sandra Nelson as Phyliss, Jess Walton as Jill (Brenda Dickson was the best though), Peter Bergman as Jack (debatable), Sharon Case as Sharon, Melody Thomas Scott as Nikki

 

Brenda Epperson was physically right for the role and she was good, but her Ashley didn’t quite have the same steely backbone that Eileen Davidson has.

I had a hard time accepting Peter Bergman for the longest time. He’s good in the role. Terry Lester was better.

I can’t stand Jess Walton as Jill. Her Jill is so miserable and unhappy. Brenda’s Jill, during the 80s, reveled in being the villain. They’re both hams, but at least Brenda was a fun ham.

Also - I noticed the GH almost never recast during Monty’s tenure. I didn’t realize that was a deliberate choice. Once Wes Kennedy took over, regular recasting started. 

Jeff Freilich was a terrible hack who destroyed the show. It got campy, with pointless guest stars and terrible incidental music. The best years were the first three, when Bob McCullough was running the show, and the central theme of the Giobertis vs Angela was still in place. Seasons 4 and 5 were still decent, but on a decline, particularly as CBS started tampering (they ordered the Nazi treasure storyline to end halfway through season 4, and the writers scrambled to fill the rest of the season).  After Earl Hamner left at the end of season 5, I was done.

We used to watch “Family” when I was younger, and it fascinates me to this today, because virtually every character, with the exception of Buddy (Kristy McNichol) was unlikeable.

This episode confuses me for two reasons: I don’t understand why ex-son-in-law Jeff is hanging around the family years after he divorced daughter Nancy (who doesn’t seem to be in this episode). And Kate Lawrence isn’t exactly the type that a young man would have a crush on.

This is heresy, but I never cared much for Sherry’s Liza. She always seemed on the verge of hysteria. I really loved Meg Bennett, who was so beautiful, in the role, and I guess anyone who replaced her was going to be disappointing.

But clearly I’m in the minority, because Sherry is viewed as the definitive Liza.

LOL - was Ken George Jones really a “rock singer”, with those wimpy little ditties?

On 7/24/2019 at 11:46 AM, safe said:

Another relatively new "RH" cast member, Trent Jones ( who plays rock singer Ken George Jones), caught on fast to what makes soap operas tick. 

I’m sure Luke and Holly managed to escape the bad guys by getting on that rollercoaster. Because that’s where I’d go if I were trying to outrun someone.

The cynic in me thinks that the brief recasts for Faith and Delia (Nancy Barrett, Robyn Millan) were deliberate. “Hey, let’s cast somebody so wildly inappropriate or bizarre that the audience will be relieved when someone normal shows up.”  Going by this strategy, they should have gone with Kathleen Tolan as Kate Mulgrew’s immediate successor. Niki Goulet looked good by comparison, but I thought she was still pretty weak.

I still have to laugh at Nancy Barrett showing up as Faith, who had been a socially-maladjusted, emotional basket case just a month or two earlier. Suddenly, Faith is this glamorous, vivacious blonde, and she flounces into her first scene with Jill chirping, “All better now!”

I’ve enjoyed reading this thread over the past few weeks.

I loved RH, but I think its very premise limited its run. It was about a family rather than a locale. How many times could Pat, Siobhan, Frank, etc. get married or divorced. I do think the run was shortened by bad creative decisions, plus moving the show to noon to make room for that awful Loving.

Some other random thoughts:

• I wouldn’t have killed off Mary. Once you start killing off core family members on a show about a family (rather than a locale), it limits you. I would have sent her off screen for a while. And I think Margaret Colin would have made a good recast. I do think they should have stuck with Mary Carney a while longer - I think she could have grown into the role.
• Sarah Felder was so good and unique as Siobhan. They really blew it by letting her go - she could have been the show’s younger leading lady for years. Though - this may be unpopular - I thought Ann Gillespie was decent. Not nearly as good or unique as Felder, but decent. I remember liking Barbara Blackburn a lot, but she didn’t have much time to shine.
• Karen Morris’ Faith was so unlikable. A poster on another board claimed she continued the same type of character that Cathy Hicks played. Not at all! I wouldn’t have objected to her being locked in a sarcophagus during the merit Kara story.
• I haven’t seen much of Geoff Pierson’s Frank, but I didn’t like him. I thought the actor was good, but the character seemed uptight. I liked John Sanderford a lot but the show was in decline by then.
• I liked the 1983 “back-to-basics” promo a few pages back. I thought that it was interesting that they had the same or similar scenes to the show’s intro (Siobhan giving Maeve a plant; the Ryan kids jogging; the soccer ball scene), but on videotape rather than on film (as in the intro). I guess they had two crews shooting those scenes. Strange that they would go to that expense.
• I liked both Ilene and Randall as Delia. But I found it ridiculous that the family would still put up with her after some of the things she did. That said, I hated how mean some of these sanctimonious people were too her. She was a very troubled person. They were like the popular kids picking on the outcast who was desperate to be accepted and took the abuse.
• I never could stand Roger. And for a while, he had the worst haircut on the show.
• They missed the boat by not developing Bucky and Clem more.