Lex S

3 hours ago, Marissa Gallant said:

Yeah! I have something to look forward to on Monday

I think you will enjoy this one! I kept thinking how much fun you would have watching Judith's interview because I know how much you like her performances on SB.

On 10/18/2021 at 7:59 AM, Marissa Gallant said:

I might have a new favorite Mason one liner: To Gina "And what a marvelous family we'd be. Baby bear, Papa Bear, and Mama Barracuda."

But I think my favorite is still: Lily "Was that an earthquake?"

Mason "No, the earth always moves when I walk into a room."

Mine is " How do you rate me on a scale of angel to monster?" (Mason to Mary), but, honestly, as we all know, Mason's musings are some of the best parts of SB

On 10/20/2021 at 6:50 PM, amybrickwallace said:

Judith McConnell was the longest running cast member, joining in October 1984 and staying until the series finale over 8 years later. At show's end, I believe NLG was the second longest running cast member.

I just recently read stats on who was in more episodes, and I believe that A Martinez was in more episodes than anyone else on the show and Lane Davies is in the Top 3 even though he left in 1989. But, yes, I believe lengthwise Judith was the longest running portrayer. 

Few remember that she was the second Dominic actress. Honestly, with those disguises, it is not difficult at all since we didn't know at the time it was supposed to have been Sophia.

Shorty after Kirk Cranston first came to town (as a last ditch effort to explain Jack Lee's sudden DC trip and the real actor's death? By the way, I always wondered why they didn't just recast Jack Lee). Anyway, there were quite a few scenes between Kirk and Julia, especially before Cruz let it slip that Kirk was Jack Lee's son. The scene where Julia poured a drink into Kirk's lap was the same thing she did to the faux-Jack Lee months prior. I enjoyed their conversations but Kirk was clearly after Eden already at that point

14 minutes ago, amybrickwallace said:

I'm thinking somebody like Timothy Dalton.

Timothy Dalton had a huge TV hit in the mid/late 80s playing Mr. Rochester on Jane Eyre miniseries

12 minutes ago, amybrickwallace said:

After SB, NBC went with just DAYS and AW as their daytime dramas. NBC gave SB's hour back to its affiliates. SUN premiered the first week of January 1997, just four years shy of the finale of SB.

Right. I meant that by 1997 NBC was trying to add another soap to its lineup. The death of soaps wasn't evident just yet in that era.  I think the other 2 networks still had 4 soaps each and NBC just 2? 

Upon further research just now, it seems like NBC gave Passions a go-ahead before it even canceled Sunset Beach. , I always thought that the former replaced the latter. Passions premiered in July of 1999, and Sunset Beach wasn't canceled until September.

Oh, yeah, I completely forgot that Another World was still on at that moment

11 minutes ago, amybrickwallace said:

Other than the initials, a SoCal setting and the presence of Margarita Cordova (in a larger and much more interesting role than Rosa Andrade), I didn't see much resemblance. The ties were mainly between a group of friends than in core families.

So I just read that basically NBC was trying to rebuild its daytime, because after Santa Barbara was cancelled that slot was left empty? And basically Sunset Beach was a failure and it got replaced with..  Passions. Wow, can't believe Passions stayed on the air as long as it did. But, I guess, some of it was just so bad, that it was good?

Wow, I just watched a bunch of clips of Sunset Beach and Generations on YouTube. Both short-lived. Did they both at least have logical wrap-ups and better send-offs than SB? It was good to see Linda Jimmy Gibboney on Generations

I only vaguely remember Sunset Beach, but was that show trying to be what SB couldn't by the '90s, also unsuccessfully?

Just now, amybrickwallace said:

Yes, and Tricia Cast became Y&R's gain and SB's loss. She was on Y&R for many years and won an Emmy in the process.

I was just thinking the same. And Melissa Reeves (Jade) went straight to Days?

3 minutes ago, amybrickwallace said:

Not until the end of the show, but I don't think they really took off.

I suppose Christy was an extension to the teen set with ties to Ted, Laken and Jade.  But as soon as Christy was gone, that was it. 

Just now, Marissa Gallant said:

It might be a bit of nostalgia. But, it's also quality. When the show was good, it was GREAT. We have great acting and great drama combined with comedy. It's okay to just have fun with life. And since it's a daytime drama, there is more character development than in a show that only has an hour a week, or 10 episodes a year.

Funny you should say that, because I just started watching season 2 of The Morning Show on Apple. It just seems so loud and overproduced compared to SB. Anytime now when I switch back from current TV to SB, it is like I'm in a different world, or in a different country even. I think it might have something to do with Covid as well. 

It's interesting that the teen set on SB fell apart basically right after they got back from Hollywood - so by 1985. I don't think there were any other attempts to have a group of teenagers on this show, were there?

Also, I was just thinking... Imagine drowning in options - I have absolutely everything - from Netflix to Hulu, from Amazon to Disney, from HBO Max to Peacock. Yet, I choose to rewatch an old soap from 35 years ago on YouTube. Is it just nostalgia or something else?

I have to say I find all the current soaps on the air unwatchable. And I have watched pretty much all of them at various times in the last 10-15 years. 

Once the current generation that watches them is gone, I can't see them staying on the air for much longer. I honestly don't know anybody under 30 who watches any of the current shows no matter how much they try to push the teen or young adult sets. The viewership is just not there, at least on the scale that it would take to keep them on the air.

Did you guys know the viewers (supposedly) got a choice in naming the baby?

https://youtu.be/kbIubOORqrU

Also, how in the world did Marcy and A not hook up IRL??

15 minutes ago, amybrickwallace said:

It also helped that the writing seemed tailored for each of the actresses playing Gina. For example,I can't picture Robin Mattson playing the material Linda Gibboney played as Gina and vice versa. No way could I see Linda's Gina with Keith.

Right? Recasts are pretty much unique to daytime. However, I remember a few recasts on primetime shows. Seinfeld's father was a different actor in season 1 in the very beginning. Also with children, I guess, it's easier. On Mad Men they recast Don Draper's son.

Does anybody know if either Marcy Walker or A Martinez were approached by other soaps or prime time to jump ship at the peak of their popularity and were there real threats to them jumping ship or were they pretty much untouchable as far as SB goes? 

I mean, yes, by 1991 the writing was on the wall that this couple is no longer secure but what about 3-4 years prior to that?

7 hours ago, Marissa Gallant said:

I feel sorry for the costumers on the 4th of July show. They managed to figure out how to get some shoulderpads on Gina's sheer dress. But they probably went bonkers with Sophia's shoulderless dress. Wonder if they tried just placing some pads on her bare shoulders. 

That red and white sundress is classic though

I have to tell you that my transition from Gina 1 to Gina 2 has gone pretty smoothly. By the end of Linda's tenure I started imagining her as Robin, even trying to picture what Robin's gesticulation and general acting would be and many of Linda's scenes. This is sort of a unique experience for me because usually I get caught off guard with an actor or actress changes, but in this case, after so many years of knowing, and rewatching this time around I was prepared much better!

3 hours ago, Soaplovers said:

Julia's 1st episode hinted that she was overweight, had an over bite and was awkward.  So she probably was told by her parents she'd never had amount to anything.

Even though she lost the weight and fixed her overbite...the scars were there.  She focused on her career at the expense of her personal life.

The first 18 months of her time wasn't with Mason...and you saw how she fumbled with men.  

Everyone in the SB fandom is always so focused on Mary that sometimes Julia plays second fiddle even though she interacted with Mason a lot more timewise than Mary.

I mean, yes, the Mary character is a very important one to the SB canvas even though she spent just barely over a year on the show.

Julia seems like she's independent from the get-go, even though she does interact with men a lot more than with women from the beginning with the exception of Augusta for obvious reasons.

I remember just recently having watched when Dylan first appeared on the show, Julia corrected him on her title "It's Miss - with a "z," she points out to him. 

Having followed NLG for all these years, I know she's a very independent career-focused woman - and she plays one on TV. She most likely wanted the writers of the shows she's been on to have that in mind whenever anything was written for her. Does anyone remember any specific interviews where she points that out, perhaps?

On 9/7/2021 at 9:37 AM, Marissa Gallant said:

Aw, she was so under utilized on this show. I'm obsessing over the McKinnons right now to give Lex a chance to catch up with me. 

So, I've been doing one episode a day. 

That's kind of you! I figured, with your new job, you would have slowed down anyway! 

I'm about where Robin Mattson takes over, so still quite a ways away

Also, GH fans over here - how many times did Robin Mattson return as Heather Webber?

Is this article fairly fair? https://dnyuz.com/2021/09/06/for-american-men-u-s-open-hints-at-better-days-ahead/

59 minutes ago, Marissa Gallant said:

I agree with this. The dialogue is so quick and witty through these years. I love how Mary sees right through Mary. And I enjoy the early Mason and Julia scenes where he is upset with Julia because she isn't using her brain.

And how much Cruz loves that Eden is feisty. At one point, Eden takes off and Controlling Kirk is beside himself because he has to know where she is at all times. Cut to scene with Cruz, "I don't know. When Eden needs to think, she just takes off. I loved that about her." 

And Augusta slapped CC. CC doesn't get slapped often. And his reaction of A bit high strung, isn't she?

I know that at times, I seem like I'm complaining because things are occasionally too rushed, but really that's just because I want more.

There could have been great things. Sophia trying to pick up trash while Lionel followed her around trying to give her pearls. Personally, I feel that when Lionel followed her into CCs coma room, she should have smacked him, kicked him out and laid beside CCs moveless body.

I was quite impressed with how they wrote Sophia's being in front of the judge when he suspended her sentence. She seemed genuinely sincere and ready to accept whatever punishment the judge was going to deliver. I don't know how much current law would allow something like this, but I believe she would have probably gone in front of a jury. 

I love that we saw none of that 10 hours a week that Sophia was supposed to be doing community service! I suppose that would not have been great soap material

5 hours ago, Marissa Gallant said:

I will say that the show dovetailed the return of Gina after the boathouse, the end of the Kirk saga and the beginning of Kelly and Gina and the tape PERFECTLY. 

So I was bored the last few days, and I did some soap hopping, meaning, I watched quite a few episodes on YouTube from Edge of Night, General Hospital, As the World Turns, Another World, Y&R - the works - from various periods In the 80s and 90s. I finished off with the last five episodes of the current Sheila arc on B&B.

I'm telling you - nothing comes close to the quality of dialogue on SB from its golden age (late 1985 - late 1988). The amount of gems from this period could fill 10 prime time shows.

4 minutes ago, amybrickwallace said:

Well, at least Kirk's returns were always short-term. He'd stay long enough to rain on Eden and Cruz's parade and that's it.

I know Robert Newman took over from Joseph Bottoms at the very end of Kirk Cranston's intitial stay, but Joseph Bottoms must have really enjoyed the role if he agreed to return in subsequent years three more times! 

I did find him intriguing at the beginning, and I think it was a good way to appease those who would have missed the character of Jack Lee rather than finding a recast for Jack Lee.

So, is Kirk Cranston to SB what Sheila is/was to Y&R/B&B?

I did know the character came back after his initial (longest) stay but I didn't realize he came back once more (after I stopped watching in 1989).  So, he came back a total of 3 times. This must be a SB record for a character return.  I don't actually know what happened to him after his final stay in town, so please don't tell me as I am planning on watching.  But then, again, they keep finding a way for Sheila to be back from the dead so many times, that it wouldn't surprise me that the TPTB would have found a way for him to come back again if the show continued past 1993. We know no one really dies in soaps!

Just now, j swift said:

I meant that Sophia accidentally shot the man she thought was her son, but he was switched at birth by Minx

Ahh, you had me excited there for a few minutes and I thought Marcello is resurrected later to confirm, yet again, that he was indeed the shooter. 

I mean, even with the switch at birth, for what it's worth, Sophia was killing her son cuz that's what he was brought up to be. To be honest, I always had a hard time swallowing the fact Brick was the real Channing.

3 minutes ago, j swift said:

Go to minute 37:00 of the episode and the real killer is revealed

So in what episode do they bring up Marcello again? I thought we never heard from him again, and he was rotting in some jail