Mitch64

4 hours ago, MarlandFan said:

I loved Lindsay Frost's Betsy.  I wish the actress (and the character) had stayed.

I loved her too..smart but nice....(My neighbor next door had the total hots for Meg Ryan's Betsy but didn't like this one..I said, "But her Betsy was so stupid," and he said, "Yea, that's what made her even hotter, cute and stupid.." So you see you can talk to straight guys about soaps!

Frost's kid played for my team the Chicago White Sox...I saw an interview where he was asked what his mom did on the soap and he said, "I think get kidnapped..." 

They should have had both Betsy and Frankie back. 

32 minutes ago, DramatistDreamer said:

It was great to see that type of consistency in a character, tbh. Even in the 1980s, when I started watching as a child, there’d be these warm holiday gatherings and Ellen would be there and Lisa would enter the kitchen and flounce by and Ellen would shoot such a look at her. Just the memory of these encounters sends me.

I always wanted Michael Shea to return...maybe during the time David had amnesia....he would have course have to have miracle soap plastic surgery but he would be able to push Lisa's ego and horn dog buttons and also get in Ellen's good graces in that he would be providing medical care for the homeless, something that Ellen would volunteer for. Maybe he would take the name of one of David's friends who had died...and of course "Chuckie " would be alive and fall for Betsy (much better then angry Steve..) Somehow the women would end up being threatened by him and held hostage and Ellen would get to slap Lisa when she was hysterical...Lisa, "I wasn't that hysterical," Ellen "I know, but it's a good excuse..that slap was years in the coming!" 

11 hours ago, Franko said:

I don't want to start or continue a prolonged fight, but I will say that while there is nothing wrong with having an all-purpose conversation about soaps, I think that it goes against the years of show-specific conversation that these show-specific threads have had.

Anyway, I watched the Jan. 29, 1980, episode, getting a kick out of Dee & Ian living it up at the Italian disco. And "Rise," of all songs, playing.

My fault as I asked the question about the unabortion and I heard the unfortunate answer! I am glad McTrash got no where near ATWT or we would have the Grandpa Hughes collaborating with Nazis and Judge Lowell running a sweat shop behind the Wade Bookstore and he and Lisa had an affair and James was their son....

I love that "Rise"was playing...Poor Ian will be sorry he was rising later that night!

On 2/25/2024 at 4:57 PM, vetsoapfan said:

Having watched the show my entire life, I was quite partial to the Lowell/Stewart family, and Ellen was its remaining lynchpin. I was furious when TPTB dropped the character without any reason given on-screen (at the time, anyway). I had to admit, however, that with almost all of her family gone, and with Ellen a widow, I was surprised she lasted as long as she did.

The Stewarts weren't my favorites but they were part of the show..I never got the whole Hughes vs. Stewart thing that Sheffer tried to press down our throats...the two families were friends and allies for years, and Susan wasnt even a Stewart anymore! They could indeed have brought Dee back and Annie's kids.

I do like what Wheeler did with GL in the end...characters like Van and Matt and Mindy made sporadic appearances and then Danny and Michelle.  I hate how soaps write someone off the show never to be heard from again as if they have no ties to their old family and friends. Ellen would have been a character like that..during the dumb Emily and Tom affair she should have been there, reigniting her "feud" with Lisa...."Oh, it's funny you call my granddaughter a slut when the word was practically invented for you!" 

17 hours ago, Donna L. Bridges said:

McT not only had the UnAbortion but she had the lesbian be raped, horribly & then later she had the lesbian's baby be stolen & her told her baby had died. And, she created Kendall, whose birth was completely against Agnes's canon for Erica. And, at GL she nearly destroyed one actor's life while telling an appalling story that included the heinous murder of Nadine.

I hear about the unabortion all the time...would love to hear what the whole storyline was played out....I imagine it had to be much like GL and Brandon is Amanda's bio-dad...soemthing that could have happened but was not what we saw on screen...(and no one could tell me that McTrash did not come up with that storyline...it came too close to her being shown the door and reeks of her stink.) But you can't blame her on the actor's intense reaction to playing that story out...it was a typical story with a bit of a twist...but it shouldn't have been played as many days a week as it was and it went on way too long. You think Sheffer was mean and nasty....McTrash had Brent making fun of Nadine as he was carrying her coprse around....this on the heals of JFP killing off Mo made GL the "Lets kill our moms" , soap.

2 minutes ago, Althea Davis said:

The genetic is not that hot in 2024... we live in society and times that far more is being appreciated. And I want to see beautiful MEN of all sizes... not just twinkies with abs. I am not saying anything against this... I am just saying it's boring at this point. A man can be sexy and masculine without a hint of abs. 

Agreeing with you 100 precent..I think that the guys that used to be (and still may be) be on Days and Passions are...really boring looking. But as soon as a guy with no abs is on people start calling them "fat" (going back to the days Marland fired Mulwist as he thought he was too fat!)

On 2/18/2024 at 11:33 PM, Althea Davis said:

Great topic. I myself am tired of seeing same male body types on screen. Where my bears at? I would like to see attractive larger guys. No just abs. Tired of abs.

Any type of body diversity has been with women (larger woman with skinny pretty boy...) but it would be nice to see a reversal of that, or even just two larger. people together (I guess Josh and Reva the later years applies but they had been together for so long.).  I think its just a bit boring to see a generic version of "hot" on the soaps...it would be nice to seem some normal looking people in there (not against having "hot" people there either as its entertainment.) 

Speaking of Reva..it was odd during the Rauch years they had her as the goddess of love no man could resist...even in her heyday of Long she wasn't that...but especially since Kimmer, an attractive woman, was no a 40 something woman who had a 40 something body.  I would have much rather they just addressed the fact and that Josh and occasionally someone else still found her sexy...(God knows Reva would know how to screw...) 

14 hours ago, Khan said:

t's so hard NOT to get my hopes up about Mulcahey/Korte, you know?  Especially when Mulcahey's talent is so legendary, and almost any change in the HW'ing position could be viewed as a positive one at this point. 

Agreed...after GL and ATWT were cancelled I just gave up on soaps (well, not that I had any hopes on the last decade of both but I hung in there out of loyalty and an occasional flash of the old stuff) but I am going to start watching GH just because of Mulcahey...even if I don't like some of his story choices (the Buzz centric GL was annoying) his writing is still intelligent and funny and has heart. Hopefully it will work out, it would be nice to have a "show" again. 

2 minutes ago, Khan said:

To me, GL was still pretty good through most of '93 and '94, but, indeed, the cracks were beginning to show.  By '95, in fact, I thought the show was in real trouble.  So, of course, what does P&G do to fix the situation?  They hire Megan McTavish, lol.

McTavish...."You think your quality and ratings are down now..hold my beer!" and got us near cancellation. Which brings up another ratings question..does one specific actor or character ever impact the ratings. This is when they brought back Reva and the ratings continued to tumble and I could never understand why they thought Reva/Zimmer were such a draw that she would eat the entire show.

12 hours ago, GLATWT88 said:

Pretty sure Beth's last airdate is at the end of the month. From what I gathered on YouTube, this is the week Bridget crashes Dylan and Julie's wedding. 

GL was still very good material wise, about to fall, and this is one time where you could see the ratings linking up with the quality. JFP can't blame O.J.

9 hours ago, MichaelGL said:

Pairing up Vanessa's firery vixen character with the straight laced and by the book Derek Colby would've gained quite the following I imagine. 

The problem was...MK is elegant and beautiful and a good actress but she did not give fiery vixen vibes..she worked best as a stuck up elitist to the manor born woman, and that role was taken by Alex. That is why I wish they had put her in Alex's place when the fired Marj (and tried to have Amanda take Alex place) after she came back from the dead.  Her almost death would give her a new lease on life and not want to sit around sighing with Matt or taking Dinah's [!@#$%^&*]. Instead of wasting her time on that dumb internet chat room romance, I would have her see Spaulding raided by Roger and Amanda and Alan too taken with Annie and Phillip doing whatever he was doing, Spaulding on the verge of bankruptcy or a hostile takeover and she gets pissed...so she starts buying up stock and comes back a hell on wheels. She could have been as Spaulding fighting with Amanda and Annie..etc. 

That clip of Wheeler era Van is actually quite good and addressed some issues with Matt that always simmered in the background. Despite the dumbness of someone using a trust fund (that is why the are in trust) and Van not knowing about it and loosing her money...she was kinda old Van there( I love when she tells Dinah to "Be Quiet"...Kinkaid was great as a stone cold woman with a hidden temper.) Did Kreizman fall asleep in the writers room and someone sneak in?

On 2/11/2024 at 6:06 PM, SamandWillowFan said:

Did Wendy Moniz’s Dinah ever slap anyone? 

She did tell Reva to "Oh just shut UP!" and that counts in my book!

50 minutes ago, TEdgeofNight said:

Script teaser from Douglas Marland’s GL Emmy winning episode submission. This script won the Emmy. 

It's weird that Laibson was Associate Producer during Marland's time but he seemed to know nothing about GL on his exec stint.

On 2/12/2024 at 11:32 PM, Paul Raven said:

ATWT 

Melinda Grey Kim's niece, Frannie's half sister. She drowned in a boating accident in June 1980. Brad was suspected of being responsible for her death. Instead she is in a coma, regains consciousness and clears Brad (or maybe not) Perhaps she has a memory block at first and isn't sure. Anyway, she could hang around or leave town and perhaps return a few years later, giving Kim/the Hughes another character to deal with.

I always thought that was an odd choice as Melinda had ties to everyone...Kim's niece, Babs sister, Bob's stepdaughter, Frances sister., Lisa's employee...and everyone was just kind of."Oh that's too bad...now let's talk about boring Dee and Annie." I know the decision came because the actress was causing trouble in the Zenk/Schultz push and pull to be the star of the show, but just sit all three down and tell them to stop their [!@#$%^&*]! 

Guiding Light, any of the Bauers killed...Bill, Hillary and of course, Maureen. I disliked the Coopers but felt that killing Nadine was unnecessary and mean spirited...now if it was Buzz I would have gone with it!

Maeve Reade should have never been killed off, just have her and Fletcher leave town together....two birds one stone!

Reva-GL wins this.  The only writer who got her was Long (and perhaps Curlee) and she came back as a self-righteous plot point...things happened to her instead of her making things happen as in the past, and she was well past her expiration date of the love goddess no man can resist.  

12 hours ago, dragonflies said:

Yeah I don't have a lot of faith in Korte, I guess this is what she told LW about Carly 

 

 

 

She might have been pandering to LW's ego..as I am sure LW sees herself just like that....(and God help anyone who doesn't agree.) 

I have just started reading "Unscripted" which is about Sumner Redstone and the fight for the business empire...(oh...if only GL writers would have done a bit of simple research on how international conglomerates were run, maybe the constant, "Who runs Spaulding" would have been more interesting, as it was, they ran that place like a family run hardware store...) A player in the early chapters is our own J. No Dot George Pilgrim...he was the first actor to play J Chamberlin and was much reviled for his obnoxious character and acting. The writers must have been basing J on the actor as it turns out he is a scam artist who spent time in jail.  Interesting to see him pop up in this as I haven't thought of him in years.

On 1/29/2024 at 11:01 PM, Paul Raven said:

70's ATWT and disco together is a mind blowing concept.

I think Love of Life had a disco also.

It was always amusing to see the extras bopping along to music that was added in later.

The ATWT disco was hilarious as the scenes I saw had Nancy and Chris on their back porch late afternoon or early evening after he got home from work,(and Nancy was sweeping leaves off of the porch like good old ATWT slice of life normality) while over at the disco things were going on like its 1 a.m. and the whole party was just hitting the height of the evening. Apparently Oakdale liked their early bird disco time!

GL at that time was less clunky at embracing fads.

17 hours ago, Soapsuds said:

 

Thanks..I really love this oddball era of ATWT...the writers were getting back to the Hughes family...but it seemed more GL...goofy, lighthearted, a bit campy...(love Nancy Hughes dealing with Jay Conners street tough hootchie...) but much, much more warm hearted then Marland's sterile ATWT...I love that Ellen seems to think its a kick out of it,  and the scene with Betsy sleeping on her shoulder and her spontaneous telling David she loved him...Penny telling the gossip columnist to wait in line, and then Lucinda's comment "Does your wagging tounge know what time it is..." the follow up episode is a hoot with the kidnapper trying to shut Lisa's "yap" by stuffing a gag in her but even that doesn't work.  The writers were having fun with the characters without making them the butt of the joke.

16 hours ago, Donna L. Bridges said:

Wow, I want to see that. Do you happen to know if it's up or even what it's date was? I know, asking too much. 

No..this is just from memory of watching it. Could be out there somewhere. 

16 hours ago, Donna L. Bridges said:

NO, on topic! You just listed a low point for Cecile!!! 

Here, I'll help. A high point for Cecile was when she abandoned the scam she'd been running by saying that Cass was her daughter Maggie's father & admitted that he was not. 

And, God Bless, the wonderful Nancy Frangione, who unfortunately left us last year. 

No..I liked funny Cecile and being the Queen of whatever she was.  NF and the rest of the actors had great comic timing.  A light hearted fun soap would have been good competition for ATWT which was about to becoming depressed under Marland's full control. 

16 hours ago, Mona Kane Croft said:

Approximately what year was this?  And who was playing Alex at this time?   

95/96...when Nola came back...Marj was playing Alex.  

6 hours ago, Donna L. Bridges said:

Pierpaolo Dongiovanni has corrected me about this. PM had left SB but when the Dobsons returned they asked him to come back & write this stuff so he was back for 2 episodes.

 

Great scene...(and I could care less about SB) makes me wonder if he wrote one of my fave GL Spaulding scenes...Alex is having a dinner party with Roger, Blake Alan Michael, Phillip and Beth and of course it all goes to hell... Beth keeps shyly trying to ask for salt to break the tension and everyone ignores her...it does on for several scenes accusations and threats, insults and lies thrown about until BevAlex just ends it with before storming out of the dining room,  "And would someone PLEASE pass Beth the damn SALT!"  Great time on GL. 

5 hours ago, Donna L. Bridges said:

Yes, Jackee played Lily Mason. And they tried to make a lady out of Tony the Tuna's niece Dee Evans. Agree about the gorilla in the finale!! That night with the truck is the best thing & they really did crash into Tall Boys!!! 

This was around the time they rescued Cecile from some kidnapping, in a house where a masked ball was going on, so Cecile puts a lampshade on her head for a disquise..and she mutters.."of all the things that I have done and have happened to me...this is the LOWEST!" Then a few months later I tuned in and it was a boring straight soap. 

Sorry, off topic.

6 hours ago, Lujack4Ever said:

Yes, that could have worked. That was the approach they took with Hawk and it was much more realistic  having him pop (no pun intended) in from time to time right up to the very end. I remember when they brought Bea back for a little while but they just didn't seem to want to commit to the character.

Yea, it was weird as I felt Long wrote the Reardons better than Marland did..(besides Nola) other writers brought Bea back but then Long got rid of her..so it seems to be all on Long. I think Bea forming a friendship with Hawk would have been fun and then Sarah comes back (I would have made Sarah harder and trasheir then they made her....a "hiya doll" kind of woman.) 

Speaking of Hawk and Nola, during McTavish's time the one of the only time they wrote Nola fun was when she was conspiring to get the Spaulding greenhouse for Van and Matt's wedding. Hawk was suing Alex for some goofy reason and Nola tells Alex if she agrees to let them use the space, she will get Hawk to drop the law suit so she trips Hawk so he dumps something on Alex's expensive coat...so they call it even...goofy little scene but fun use of Hawk and Nola and what could have been if they kept people around to add color and even if they were not in BIG storylines.

18 hours ago, Donna L. Bridges said:

Another World, Felicia Gallant

A high point: 80s friendship with Cass & with Wallingford

A high point: near the end marrying Sergei to keep him from being deported, green card marriage to a very young great-looking Russian dude

A low point: Getting hair extensions for her 40th birthday. I have pictures to prove it. 

The lowest point: Stealing her best friend's husband

A funny low point: Driving a truck, frantically changing gears, going downhill, she & Wally realize that the brakes aren't working, going faster & faster, with Carolyn the gorilla in the back of the truck, so much screaming, crashed into Tall Boys, a Bay City restaurant (Clip on YT.) 

Loved that time on AW, the only time I watched it..Felicia, Cass, Wallingford and the Jackee characters made this weird little oddball family, bouncing off of Cecile..I loved that episode with the truck and the gorilla (thought they shouldn't have brought her back for the finale but...) Felicia was fun and kooky and up for any kind of Lucy caper...then  I watched years later and Felicia was a drunk (and not a fun one) ruined it all..then later she was in a boring romance with a guy that was played for drama not laughs and...where did my Felicia go?

Reva Shayne...high points the Slut of Springfield and married to that old coot H.B....I also liked her without Josh, when she got a job and was trying to make ends meet and was hanging out with Fletcher..Reva at that time was more real, she had friends (sure, most of them guys) family a job, she could do it all, comedy, drama, sexiness, camp, and still be down to earth. Low point..post resurrection and Rauch years, she no longer drove story, things happened to her, she was plot point, and had no purpose besides "Always" ..(her kids, anyone else took a back seat to Always...) she actually came back more to her original incarnation during the Wheeler/Peapack years..(despite the stupid miracle baby when she was well past 50)