Reverend Ruthledge

It always baffled me why new writers were so reluctant to bring back old characters. Then, I read that writers always wanted to introduced new characters because they would be paid future royalties for their own creations. I don't know if it that's true or not but that would explain a lot. Of course, these new creations would often be horrible characters who wouldn't stick around for a long time anyway and just weakened the show and drive away viewers. So, it would have been a bit of a false economy if that was the motivation to create new characters and ignore old characters.

You've captured the very essence of what I think set daytime soap operas apart and made them great. Funny how so few of those involved in soap operas after the pioneers in the industry were gone failed to grasp that concept.

That's pretty much all they did. Be born. Annie left town with them shortly after she gave birth. They did come to Chris and Nancy's 50th anniversary party though. There were two boys and two girls.

Various locations. I get most of my scripts from the University of Wisconsin.

Reading scripts. I WISH it was by watching episodes!

Yeah, everybody's different. I like more realism than fantasy when it comes to soaps but that's just me. Addie Horton, Bill Bauer and Claire Lowell are just a few of the examples of legacy characters whose deaths were respectable and worked. If I thought about it, I would probably think of a lot more. I'm also thinking Lee Randolph although I know I differ with a lot of people on that as well.

I'm only about 90% sure of this but I believe it's not the original Lowell house where Judge and Alice Lowell lived and raised Jim. After Jim died, Claire gets Judge Lowell to move in with her and Ellen (into the house she had with Jim) and sell his house. I'm actually in the part of the story where Claire's trying to convince Judge Lowell to sell his house. Once I get further in the story, I'll probably become 100% sure that the house Claire and Doug lived in was NOT Judge Lowell's house.

For what it's worth, I have a different opinion. And it's not worth much because it's just one person's opinion. LOL. But I don't have a problem with legacy characters dying on soaps because I want my soaps to be as close to real life as possible and, in real life, "legacy people" die. As long as it's written well. That's my only request. I'm even of the very small minority that didn't mind Maureen Bauer being killed off. My objection is that it was all for naught. It was not written well after the initial storyline ended. And that was almost immediately after her death. Ed became a non-entity. The Eve romance went nowhere. The Bauers were diminished. There have been many spouses of core family members who have died but it just created more story (I'm thinking Jennifer Hughes, for example). The Maureen death just seemed kind of pointless in retrospect. But the death of a legacy character can be good story and is true to life. I didn't even have a problem when they killed off two of my favorite legacy characters (Bill Bauer and Claire Lowell). It was good story and they were able to move on from it with more good stories and more good characters. When I refer to Bill Bauer's death, I'm referring to his first death. As much as I loved the character, I wish they would have kept him dead and not bring him back. It really served no purpose to do so and his ultimate death was such an insult to the character and the history of the show. Anyway, I would much rather a legacy character die then fade away like they never existed (which is what happens to so many legacy characters). That seems more offensive to me.

Thank you, FrenchFan.

I've never equated large audience numbers with artistic excellence. In any genre.

I totally agree. I think Monty was one of the worst things that ever happened to daytime.

And did Glory really say there are so many people who want to be raped? I know she was joking but...wow.

The irony of her lamenting that daytime is becoming larger-than-life in front of Glory Monty.

I think this is true of all soaps. I just think they worked better as 30 minute shows or even 15 minute shows although I know you felt 15 minutes was too short and I can see that. I just think 60 minutes 5 days a week is just too much. It created a lot of filler, pointless dialogue and extraneous characters that ultimately diminished the core families (Bauers, Hughes, Hortons, Matthews, etc.)

Thank you. Watching that 1986 episode reminds me how much I loved the show at that time. My favorite time for the show, followed closely by the late 60s.

Wow. That's highly cringey. I'm glad I missed that dialogue when it aired. How long does it take to research the cuisine of a country? That kind of sloppy writing just annoys me.

I just recently mentioned that on this thread, I believe. Maybe it was a different thread. When Michelle was born, she was named Berta Bauer Ramsey. Why "Berta" instead of "Bertha" is a huge mystery. She was called B.B. for short. Every angle of that name was an abomination. Thankfully, the writers seemed to realize their mistake and Claire renamed her Michelle Bauer in less than a year. They thankfully didn't call her B.B. for long.

Maybe he's FINALLY learned that he's the interviewer and not the guest.

Yes, but the majority of her problems were self-inflicted.

For any historians of the show that might be in here that would care about this topic, it appears that the first Bauer BBQ was in 1957. Bill and Bert had just bought a new house (they had been living in the Brandons old house) and so Bert hosted a gathering for the first time at her house. She was excited because she felt it was the first time she could have a 4th of July gathering at her house because now they were in a bigger house. It was called a picnic, not a BBQ. No Bauer burgers. Just fried chicken. Since the cast was small, it wasn't like latter BBQs where the entire town seemed to be there. But it was interesting because Mike is about to turn 16 and Robin is about to turn 13 and they have their first talk together (on screen) where they start to get to know each other better. You can see that it was the genesis of the Mike/Robin romance as well as the genesis of the Bauer BBQ. Robin loves being at the Bauers, is attached to Meta and hates her mother Kathy. So, Robin doesn't want to leave. This probably was the impetus for her falling in love with Mike. I don't think the Bauer 4th of July became an annual tradition after this, but this would have been the FIRST. The Bauers never really did anything special for the day before this year and the day was usually just commemorated by a sermon before the Bauers entered the story. So, for anybody wondering what year the first Bauer BBQ was, I'd say 1957. From what I can tell, however, it didn't become such a big event until 1984.

That's kind of sad. I don't remember it being that big. Did the owners do an add-on?

I don't remember that but I do remember the very strange B.B. Ramsey name. It was even stranger than you recall. Michelle was originally named "Berta Bauer Ramsey". Not even the correct name "Bertha" was used. I never understood that. The naming of that baby was just weird all the way around. I'm glad Claire changed the name to Michelle.

Wow! They only gave him a $12 voucher? I was in an emergency landing on Southwest Airlines one time and they gave me a $100 voucher. I thought THAT was adding insult to injury. This is a lot worse.

I think that's what it is. The shows were more about the artist's vision than about ratings so they felt more pure. I used to think I didn't like Dynasty at all until I watched the first season (which I had missed the first go-round). I was shocked at how good it was and how much I liked it. I never understood why people thought it was boring until Joan Collins entered the show. In my opinion, she just made it campy. Not that I'm against camp. It has its place. However, I thought the first season was thought-provoking and that's what I tend to prefer. What came later was pretty mindless. Same, to a lesser extent with Dallas and Falcon Crest. I will say that Knots Landing never veered into camp as far as I know. I'm not very knowledgable on the latter seasons.