Mitch64

On 6/4/2023 at 5:56 PM, DeliaIrisFan said:

Maybe he knew a "fresh" start would be for the best (I don't think he tried to namedrop—let alone revisit—the Willows or anything else from that brief stint in 1979 in his second run?).

Well, the whole Doug Cummings story was a bit of a reference to the Willows...(gothic, dead wife, crazy assistant, Dream's End vs. Willows.) 

While I am glad he came over to ATWT, I would have loved what he could do with GL at the time.  Bea Reardon was still on the canvas but not used, so he could have brought Lisa Brown back as Nola...(though getting past the Quolas would have been hard as she should have come back alone..) and built the Reardon's back up..He would have loved writing for Alex, and maybe brought Mike back to rebuild the Bauers and also he would be on the spot to write Bert's death. He could have reignited Vanessa and woken her up from her "I'm a Lewis," coma and  I do wonder what he would have done with Reva?

20 hours ago, Vee said:

I would not trade the Reva post-partum story or the Josh/Harley stuff for a joint exit. I love what I've seen of those stories.

Of all the triangles Rauch and Co. were into...I can't believe they never revisited Harley and Jarsh. Well, I know its because they have to have two women fighting over one man and one woman is evil, but would have been cool to have a no villain triangle...(and saved us from Gush...) And it would have driven the Java nuts and Pharley nuts crazy!!!

7 hours ago, Khan said:

It probably was, lol.  At the time, as the story was playing out on-screen, I remember justifying Megan McTavish's choice to bring back Reva as a member of an Amish community by saying she had subconsciously recalled when she and Kyle were hiding out years before in another Amish community after his plane had crashed onto the roof of an Amish family's barn.  Megan McTavish probably wasn't thinking about that story at all when she wrote it,

Naah, McTrash was a writer during that original storyline...it was even dumber then Kyle's plane crashing into the Amish barn...Kurt the nicest dullest guy, until Frank Cooper came along, took a spear gun and  forced Kyle and Reva to parachute off the  plane, you see he was married to Roxie while she had a split of Rosie, and he was trying to save her. Reva had her big ass 80s hair and a big fur coat somehow actually crashed into the Amish barn (this was during that Harrison Ford movie being popular so it was a ripoff) and were a-okay. For reasons, Reva and Kyle didn't just go to a phone and call SF to let them know they were okay, so were subjected to scenes of Reva being washed with lemons by Kyle..(Amish don't have showers...) and if you don't think was all McTavish you don't know Megs. So yes, she was referencing that storyline, which no doubt she thought was a high point.

4 hours ago, j swift said:

It seems like Long felt some ownership over the character of Reva, which eventually caused some friction between the two women over discussions of what Reva would or wouldn't do as a character.  Zimmer writes of a lunch with Long and a CBS executive that devolved into a screaming match when discussing Zimmer's desire for some time off to go to LA for pilot season, resulting in the executive wanting to hide under the table.  And in her exit interview with SOD, Long talked about scuttled plans to bring back Reva in a dream for Christmas.

That was the exec producer who went out and puked in the street as the fight was pretty nasty.  Who knows what it was about, but Long wanted Zimmer back for a short "ghost/angel/dream" story of her visiting Marah and Zimmer was up for it. But CBS,which apparently had better taste then years later, said no, so that, and the Jewish storyline being nixed pissed Long off so she left when her contract was up. JFP used that story for the "ghost" return (so she didn't have to bring Zimmer back full time.) 

6 hours ago, AmandainNC28655 said:

This would have been an ideal storyline, capitalized on the characters history together and would have led to some interesting storylines once Reva and Kyle returned to Springfield or didn't return to springfield but she was spotted by HB or another Lewis living abroad.

But that would be hard to explain why Reva stayed away from her kids so long without amnesia and if she did have it, why Kyle didn't clue her in on who she was. They should have just left it that Reva had one bout of amnesia that lasted for years, and if they want to throw in a past life, it was under the original amnesia and she escaped from a danger and hid out in amish town.  When her memories returned it was only her recent memories, and the rest of fuzzy...(and a good explanation why she allowed Alan to talk her into keeping it a secret from her family, all she remembers was something like hitting a man and there was blood..) But I agree, instead of San Crud, have Kyle come back to town, on the arm of his wife Amanda (CC would have made a great Amanda) to take on the Spaulding and Lewises. I can't believe a Prince on an island got out of the concept room.

On 4/16/2023 at 9:01 AM, Liberty City said:

Shame Nancy Curlee did not do more post-her time at Guiding Light. Guess she likely felt she didn't want to do anything more than what she did, and I understand that. Just a shame we never got to see her shine on another soap.

I don't know why P & G didn't snap her up and away from ABC and used her as a consultant. I think she didn't want to grind of being a headwriter...(I love her comment about "Susan Lucci is NEVER going through menopause"..would have loved her to write Reva's menopause.) 

On 4/1/2023 at 8:53 PM, dc11786 said:

That 1994 episode moved nicely. It doesn't seem like the strongest time for the show, but I found it entertaining. The story with Courtney's accident was interesting. I'm assuming that Sean Baxter returned for this. Is that Mark Lewis? And Courtney getting a visit from Bianca was interesting. The writing for Andy was a bit heavy. Could he be any more dense in the name of making the character ambitious? I also was surprised by how much physically Hayley Barr reminds me of Cari Shayne (Karen Wexler, GH). 

I didn't realize that the show had given Alexandra Neil that much to do as Dawn Wheeler. I found her story compelling. I am assuming she and Malcolm didn't have a happy ending since I believe this is before Dawn developed deep feelings for Tom. The fact that the character had her own set was very surprising to me. 

Colleen Zenk Pinter did so much with so little. 

I did like all the action shifting from the hospital to Mona Lisa and back. I also was amazed at just how many characters the show included in the episode. I think this was the norm for the show though wasn't it? The crowd that gathered at the hospital was large enough to carry the episode by itself. 

Ah...Marland trope..ambition is bad and destroys relationships...even though most of the characters are upper middle class to rich and must have some ambition to get there.   

There are a lot of characters here and I can see why successive writers cut down on the amount..only Marland could have juggled all of this and even then, the more and more he got away from the core..(remember Aunt Mary???) 

Mark Lewis...he was so cute here and on GL...too bad his GL character was so boring and tied up Mindy from doing anything more interesting then stamp her feet and pout. 

Love how the MonaLisa suddenly became "peach." Whatever happened to it..did they ever mention it during Gautman.

On 2/25/2023 at 7:12 PM, Joseph said:

Hope Y'All Enjoy It!

I'm so old I remember seeing that in real time..when watching GL and getting high after class was part of a daily routine (ohhh. a much more simple world.)   So the writing for BevAlex wasn't ALWAYS great..as she comes off as a moron here...(as if she wouldn't know Alan even masked up...) Calla..no one gives a [!@#$%^&*] about Jesse...Alan is about to come back...and as if Van would ever been intimidated by boring Calla...though I love Kimmer's hair here (she was a freaking knock out during this time...) and India gloating in the background...The Alan returned story just sucked as there was no Mike, Hope, there was Faux Ed, and Faux Phillip..the only one we cared about who was impacted was Alex..(and maybe Van and Henry.) Would have made much more sense to have brought back Mike earlier and have him with Alex, and Hope with Ross when the reveal came. 

19 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

April 1979 Jon Michael Reed

NEW YORK -Sad news. Ethel Remey portrayed Alma Miller, troublesome Lisa's mother, on "As the World Turns" from 1961 untll last fall when she was temporarily replaced after suffering a stroke. The replacement actress was soon sent on a world cruise. But the show will pay tribute to Ethel, who died in late February, by having a memorial service for "Alma," who apparently died while away.

Did that ever happen?

I don't think so...I know that when Fulton was doing a play in 85 they wrote her off to go visit her mother..and Tom clearly is asking how "Grandma" was doing and it wasn't Nancy. Weird that they just had her Mom just disappear. Did they have Judge Lowell die? 

12 hours ago, mace44 said:

Interesting that Zimmer Vehemently opposed the suicide storyline, as it garnished her an EMMY and IMO allowed her character tremendous growth to independence, really birthing her character as REVA SHAYNE.  Before that storyline, she was always under the shadow of Lewis Men History.  1985-1986 was my Favorite version of Reva.  I loved the Kyle/Reva storyline and loved the Laura series.  I thought Kim Zimmer & Jay Hammer did fantastic work with that storyline. I thought Zimmer & Malloy had great chemistry and he held his ground nicely as a leading man on the show. 

Great info on the Cain stuff too.  I’ve just converted about 30 hours worth of VHS of GL 1985-86 videos that I am starting to post on YouTube under SampsonGirl.  Mostly Kyle/Reva/Fletcher/Maeve storylines but I have a lot of Laura series/Cain storylines still to post.  Trying to finish 1985 before starting a bunch of 1986.  Definitely gonna view with a different lens with this background info.
 

 

While it was not a good time for the show, this was really Reva at her best. She became independent and I actually liked Fletcher for the first and only time here, and love that they didn't do the obvious, but that Reva and Fletcher were buddies. While I don't like Kyle that much (I think Malloy was a very effected actor by then and his Kyle came off as cold and controlling..) I do think he would have been a great character down the line for Reva2.0 with a new actor.  Instead of San Crud, maybe Kyle is married to Amanda, comes to SF just to get in Reva's orbit and then finds our he IS Marah's dad. I would have sent RR's Alan off someplace and have Phillip take over Spaulding and he and Kyle go head to head, etc. 

8 minutes ago, Gray Bunny said:

I loved how back in the 90's, you still could see the different class structures of the town. The wealthy characters (i.e. the Spauldings on GL) would not be shlepping it at Company; instead, they'd dine at Towers or the country club

I LOVED the Lakeland Country Club set and the bar area...you always knew sh*t was going to hit the fan there.  But let's not even think about poor Alex, eating a hot dog in Wheeler's closet made to look like a 7-11.  But on the reverse side Raunchie had EVERYONE act like they were the Spauldings...Lillian wore designer outfits...Beth did..but really, what the hell did she do to get money???Matt was wearing ties and a jacket. He got rid of the Reardon's and put the Coopers into Company to stink up the joint, (not that I missed that diner set) but made them more middle class then blue collar. 

23 hours ago, DramatistDreamer said:

I had always hoped that the show would bring Kim Ulrich, if not as Diana McColl for sporadic appearances the way Brian McColl and Beatrice and Penny Hughes sometimes did, then as a recast for Betsy Stewart Andropolous, especially when they brought back her daughter Dani in the late 1990s.

That would have been difficult as Diana and Betsy were rivals for a while over Steve.  I don't know why Marland totally forgot about Diana...beside the fact that she didn't have a morose bone in her body! Instead of boring, bland Taylor after Tom...they should have brought Diana back for a bit and as he helps her with one of the problems she created for herself, they start to have a real emotional connection...causing Lisa to be really conflicted as she and Diana had grown close after "ole, dead Whit" became "ole, dead Whit." 

Thankfully I wasn't watching the show when. Craig was screwing Danni.. gahhh...it was like GL and having Alan-Michael boinking simpering Marina who he thought was his kid for a bit. 

17 hours ago, dragonflies said:

I loved Lucinda and Diana (I loved her going for a loan in that hat...) and the show at that time. A bit campy but still warm and ATWT...setting the stage for Eileen to return and Nancy and Chris...it was a fun time for the show.

16 hours ago, Vee said:

It felt like 5 years.

I only got interested in GL at that time because of Annie, then the clone and then a bit later because I knew Carlo and Maggie from OLTL (Thom Christopher and Crystal Chappell) had moved there thanks to the soap mags. I was beyond baffled by the San Cristobel story and the endless parade of overly lit pastel suits, big titted blondes, etc. The whole show was just garish and loud.

Frank Grillo turned out to be very talented in films but I didn't understand how he was supposed to be Roger's son or whatever. I remember the rumors about people hearing him and Wendy Moniz banging through the walls.

IMO..I don't know how "talented" he is in films..his relative is a producer at Marvel and he just plays a guido in each film/TV series. He got cast as he was a hot piece of ass...(how he stood out from the thousands of hot pieces out there I don't know) and that was that...totally inappropriate for a Central Illinois farm boy but he would have been really good as a Santos (and I do think he has a certain talent..not just in that role.) And it was Hunt Block who said it in an interview..that he could hear his costars banging in the next dressing room and I don't think it was the Danny actor an whomever his Chele was at that time. I know people hated Block on ATWT..but he I always liked him on both shows.

And I think you summed up Rauch's GL quite well, overly lit, garish with big Tits being thrown around..and I think Rauch would be proud of that!

3 hours ago, MarlandFan said:

I noticed the "recurring" word as well.  She was actually the young "star" of the show at the time.  ATWT's answer to GH's Laura.  I'm guessing that the writer(s) of the obits are young, have limited knowledge of soaps in general, and during their cursory research found some website that used the word "recurring".  And many of these articles lift/borrow/steal entire paragraphs from other articles, so the word "recurring" is being used in many of them.  Journalism is truly dying.

Actually, they brought her on as an Erica Kane clone...and she was kind of fun being bitchy to Suzanne Davidson's Betsy..but they were fighting over boring Eric and Davidson's Betsy seemed way too young to take abuse from a vixen. In the beginning she was going to be a young Lyla (she was a bit of a good time girl in her youth) and older Lyla was worried about her going so far as to make her wear a "slip" to the masked ball, which Cricket took off and Lisa gossiped about Cricket's dancing and it got Lyla pissed.  After a bit Loring's lack off..."skill" put her on the back burner and she got less bitchy as Margo took over the misguided girl work. I remember Bunim keeping her around as she just loved "all that hair" 

RIP for Loring.

On 1/29/2023 at 9:35 AM, Vee said:

I see the Spauldings came on en masse in late '77 and am enjoying looking in on that. I've said this before but I always found Elizabeth Spaulding in particular to be a spooky, ethereal character they should've brought back when Phillip went dark in the 2000s (along with Cindy Pickett as Jackie, who I've always liked whenever I saw her in an old episode).

I still say that Elizabeth, who had her own mental health issues, should have been the one to hide Phillip when he was "dead" and orchestrate the whole storyline from afar to find out who killed her son..in a gothic mansion that only exists in books and soap operas.  Finding out that Harley did not do it but Alan did she would return to SF to bring holy hell down on he and Alex, (who would of course be protecting Alan against her better judgement...)

On 1/29/2023 at 11:33 AM, Vee said:

has probably never seen this and must, it is hilarious and ridiculous. Marj Dusay and many others at their less than best. It is up there with the scene on DAYS where John and Brady fight the entire town while Brady is dressed as Gay Zorro. The capper is still when the maid comes in with the baby and everyone is like "no, no!" As I said when I first saw it all that was left to add was their bringing in some sort of circus animal act.

God..I love this as dumb as it is...(Vanessa is the only one who has the appropriate reaction to the whole thing..it was sooo beneath her.) This is the turning point where I really disliked Marj/Alex...she looks like Heat Miser when she is telling Roger to shut up. Again, it is too bad..Marj could be quite good as a more Midwestern Alex...but she played what was on the page and like the rest of the former SB crew...couldn't resist chewing up a little scenery.  The storyline however was good leading to the Peter custody battle which involved all the vets (and a nice change from spending all out time on 5th Street for the Justin Deas show.) 

On 1/26/2023 at 11:07 AM, Liberty City said:

Had they re-upped verDorn to series regular, I am pretty sure he would have stayed and not considered leaving.

He definitely would have stayed. This was a display of Wheeler's ignorance...Ross was the tentpole of the show with both Bert and Mo gone..he was a soap opera abnormality..having three kids with the one woman, (who has seen that since Nancy and Chris or Tom and Alice) and had connections with everyone not mention plot stirrer Dinah. But they kept Deas and Dicipolous on contract? 

On 1/27/2023 at 9:41 AM, Darn said:

I, however, really liked the Lifesavers opening. The music was more commanding than the show, it set you up for melodrama that never arrived.

I liked the "Lifesavers" opening and thought the show was pretty good at that point, (the anniversary, Joan Collins, Ed coming back) but it all was shitted away with Conwest and their cheap opening to boot. But still, I would have just done what Rauch did, use a snipped of the lighthouse and "hold on to love" and right into the show...we know what show we are watching thanks! 

John Dixon faking his death to frame James Stenbeck...but unfortunately his love obsession, Dee Stewart was put on trial for it.  It was not the shows best era as the Dobson's had stripped the show of its base (Wagner quit, McLaughlin was on recurring and the Hughes were obscured) but it was a good fun plot (if you overlooked the fact that Dee was being charged with no corpse being produced.) Margo and Tom broke off because of it, even as she was preggers with his kid and John revealing himself in court was a great soap moment!  The only problem was that Dee was being played by Vicki Dawson who was a weak recast.

On 1/21/2023 at 10:49 AM, Liberty City said:

Just watching the March 2005 intervention with Dinah... and whew. Gina Tognoni did some amazing work. David Kreizman & Donna M. Swajeski really wrote a good script.

I went back and watched March 2005 and it was quite good..not Curlee/Long good, but good just the same. As usual with GL, all the elements were in place to pull it out of a hole, or at least keep it afloat and entertaining and then an abrupt change of tone dumps it all back.  They had Sebastian and Liv set up to fight at Spaulding, with Josh, Holly, Blake and others getting thrown into the mix (I really can't forget the scene were Sebastian was kind of flirting with Josh and Josh acted like he was kind of liking it..not written in the material but the Sebastian actor played it that way and Newman went along with it) Jonathon was still a little pr*ck and was mixing it up with Dinah, Dinah was all shades of grey, Alan was actually acting manipulative and Harley was not yet dropped into her love goddess perfect woman act and Ehlers wasnt schrieking yet, There were bombs...that actress who played weird china doll Lizzie, the overload of Coopers, the reliance on Prince Eddie past his expiration date and of course Brad Cole front and center and Phillip still "dead." but for what was to come, it was good.

I always wondered what happened to drop all the momentum at this time and at others.

On 1/20/2023 at 1:38 PM, soapfan770 said:

Yes to all of this! Annie’s descent and Dinah’s descent in 1997 were absolutely amazing to watch as two characters who I previously couldn’t stand suddenly became amazing to watch. 

I was okay with all of that...anyone who hated Post Resurrection Reva and her shrieking trash sister I want to buy a few rounds for...but I hate that they made them both NUTS to prop those bores up and not just cool "I'm India Spaulding and yes, I am a bitch but you will never catch me getting my hands dirty..I HIRE that OUT!" bad. 

Everyone says oooh Reva was so great but no, in her second go around they needed Annie to keep them afloat and then a clone and every other stupid storyline. I wish they had moved Annie more into other areas...fighting it out with Alex would have been cool, but especially former friend Vanessa. I would love to have seen Van drop boring Matt and the rose garden to go a few rounds with Alan and Annie. But to do that would leave boring Reva and Jarsh to their own devices.

But my fave line of all time...Dinah..."Oh Reva, just SHUT up!"

On 1/15/2023 at 5:03 PM, victoria foxton said:

I forgot that Reva and Dinah were friends. I don't remember them ever interacting later on. Even with Cassie and Dinah being bitter rivals.  Continuity mistake When Dinah mentioned meeting Reva the summer before. When it was two summers before. When everyone in town was working at HB's summer camp. 

You don't remember the famous line..."Oh Reva..just SHUT UP!" Lol..I immediately liked the annoying Dinah for telling newly self-righteous loud mouth Reva to F off!

Oh that damn summer camp with the lake monster!  I remember them stranding Roxie and Billy on an island (uh, how big IS this lake) to try to chem test them for a storyline which would have been weird but really kind of interesting..taking Roxie to her trashy roots "Come on Big Daddy!!!" and make Van roll her eyes even more!

8 minutes ago, Paul Raven said:

Rita was a Christian and upfront about it, long before it became more mainstream.

I wonder how she felt about all the affairs, illegitimate children etc depicted on the show, especially when the stories became less rigid about punishing misdeeds?

Used properly,and with good writing, Carol could have become a good support character to various characters on the show, offering a different perspective (which they probably would ignore!)

 

They wanted to forget Carol ever existed, and did, when Steve and Betsy became a thing. She was never mentioned in relation to her marriage to him. Would have been interested to see her pop up and warn Betsy, but they would never have done that. Agreed, she should have stuck around on recurring, would be interesting to see a non judgemental character with a Christian background dealing with all the nonsense in Oakdale..much less her former, and much married mother in law Lisa.

On 12/26/2022 at 11:12 AM, DramatistDreamer said:

^I like how they used a festive, joyous occasion to effectively launch a story full of turmoil and drama. People should have guessed that John would not be the stalker because when has he called Kim by the name Kimberly?

Kimberly definitely describes a less intimate relationship, in its formality. I am trying to remember, is that full Christmas Eve episode on YouTube?

I love the off kilter music they use when the focus on the package...this was the high point of Marland's ATWT..the Hughes as the center of it all, great use of history to spring new story...so much character interaction...and bit of campiness. It was all down here into morose stories focusing on the Snyder's quasi incest and a unknown kid popping up every other week...(Duke, what the hell was the point with him???) 

Compare this to Sheffer/Gautman Christmas time in what 2000? The Huhghes, who made a big deal on Christmas since Nancy and Chris, all are two busy to have their "open house" and are split apart for most of the episode, and since they have no house set anymore, they have to have dinner at the Mona Lisa. Sad indeed.

On 12/25/2022 at 4:09 PM, j swift said:

It seems like as Rick aged he took on many of Dr. Darnell's humorous characteristics and wacky sense of style.

Who is playing the nasty nurse gossiping about Ed and Clair?

Unfortunately...MOL thought he was funnier than he was (and I like him.) During Rauch's time they didn't know what to do with Rick..he wasn't this "grand, passionate" character..he was a normal guy which all soaps need. So I think MOL made up for it by trying dumb schtick to get attention.

That nasty nurse was Charlotte (I forget her last name) who ends up being murdered at Cedars..with of course, Ed, Claire Mo and others being suspected. Her sister (unknown to us at the time) was an equally nasty TV reporter who did her in..(why, who knows...)  The problem was Charlotte was right, and GL, which had lost its moral grounding at this time, was making excuses for Ed (who I believe did fall off the wagon at this time, but he was FauxEd so nobody cared.) 

This was the time the played around with Fletcher and Mo..(UGGHH) before Claire became an outright psycho herself overnight. 

9 hours ago, DRW50 said:

 

The show before it started to fall apart...(showing its tears here...Eh...NuEd!) The rehabilitation of Brandon is odd...the storyline was dumb but its too bad they threw the Timberlaines away.  Vicky could have been a great character going against Alex...but again..."let's do another Reva storyline."

19 hours ago, Liberty City said:

The reunion of Josh & Reva on May 1, 1997, is actually so well done. The writing. The pacing. The music. The directing.

Too bad we had to see it over..and over...and over again.

Yea, weird about Gentry's return..("my" Eds were always PS and MH.) but he really had no chemistry with anyone. Say what you will about MOL, but at that time he had great friendly chemistry with everyone..except his own dad. I think the Bauer/Blue fued would have been great, if Jesse had a sister going after Bill or Nola's kid, etc but Jesse was a dud of an actor, and they just got bored of that. They got bored of anything that didn't involve Reva and that is why I really began to not like the character.

13 minutes ago, antmunoz said:

RIP Teri Keane, who was Lila Kelly in 1957 and Lainie Bauer in 1988.  She is best known for her roles on EDGE and OLTL, although she appeared on many soaps. 

Lainie really didn't work and wasted her talent...I wish she was a recast Bea Reardon.

7 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

Don Hastings article from 1977.

In 1978 he would meet Leslie Dennison on set, and later divorce Nan, and marry her.

Nice article....I do love that actors, celeberties and stars are so happy to give interviews about the "love of their life," only to later find another one and do that same interview, over, and over ...so they kind of are like soap opera characters.

Sad the quote about Don McClaughlin and the "smiling furniture" which he was about to become under the Dobsons and then Bunim fired him...until they brought him back and he was too sick to be anything but...I hope those last years made him happy.