China Jones

"Centennial" was excellent and "Captains and the Kings" was pretty good too.

That's what was strange: outdoor scenes in (American) soap operas were rare and generally reserved for location shoots that aired during sweeps. So, watching Alan Spaulding wearing a sweat outfit and playing frisbee with his grandson in the park was bizarre! As for the few indoor scenes I watched, Alan shopping at the 7/Eleven was hilarious. And I had to wonder how Alexandra, probably the oldest character on the show at that point, managed to make her way up that narrow spiral staircase in the Spaulding "mansion."

I was pretty young at the time, but I remember enjoying Rich Man, Poor Man...

I just got through watching several clips of Guiding Light's Peapack era on YouTube and I just realized something: all of the action at that time must have taken place during daylight hours! I never got the sense that nighttime ever fell in Springfield because everyone was outside practically all of the time. Even heiress Lizzie Spaulding got married in a field! I know filming was moved to New Jersey because it's less expensive there. But what I'm realizing now is that there must not have been any money for indoor sets and the cheapest solution was to tape outdoors because filming in a public park in front of a stagnate, algae-filled lake is free. Although I've long heard about how bad GL was in the end, I'm just now viewing it for the first time. I'm sure you guys have talked about this before, but the daytime only thing just hit me. Also, I'd rather have organ music than some of the songs that were played in just about every scene! Sorry for the rant, LOL!

The fact that they mentioned Sugarman's family makes me think the writers did have story ideas for the character, but real-life events derailed those plans.

Do you know if Haines left on his own, or was he let go for the reason I mentioned above? It seems like it was a case of bad timing. I mean, Ada starting a romance with comical undertones at the very time Mac died probably wouldn't have fit.

This made me think of the brief time that Larry Haines appeared on Another World as a character pretty similar to Stu. Stu had been in the restaurant business on SFT, and on AW, Haines played an old boyfriend of Ada's who worked as a chef at Ada's new restaurant. The pair shared some comical moments and seemed to be rekindling their flame shortly before MacKenzie Cory died. I suppose the writers decided, rightfully so, that Ada needed to focus on her daughter and grandchildren, as well as her own grief, rather than a new romance. Were it not for a major event like Mac's death, I think that Ada and Haines' character could have worked as a long-term, down to earth, blue-collar couple who could have served as "grandparents" to the show's younger characters.

Absolutely!!

Oh yes, it was very touching. Remember, Clarice's father Charlie was married to Ada at the time of his death making Clarice the stepsister of Rachel and Nancy. There was a delay in getting Ada's body to the church or wherever the funeral was being held so this gave the three "sisters" an opportunity to reminisce.

Sure, it's all good, LOL! You'll probably enjoy learning about Amy Ames as played by Jada Rowland. I was pretty young when Secret Storm ended, so I barely remember it. But when I started watching The Doctors years later, I recognized the actress who played Carolee Aldrich as being the same actress who played Amy, so she must have left an impression!

Oh, sorry Donna L. Bridges, I misunderstood what you meant. Robin certainly was an "aberration" in terms of her being one of the few soap opera children allowed to age in real time. I've always heard about how Secret Storm's Amy Ames grew up in real time on that show.

Despite being the right age, it seems like Amanda Cory wasn't given enough time to become an ingenue. IIRC, the SORASed Amanda hadn't been back in Bay City very long before she was saddled with a pregnancy, a shotgun wedding and teenaged motherhood. And during her brief time on the show before her marriage, we never got to see Amanda involved in co-ed hijinks and romances with frat boys because she never attended college.

The casting people really struck gold as far as the physical appearance of the two actresses is concerned and I think it could have worked out if Mr. Gibbs was still in the role of Gary. No offense to Mr. Littlefield, but he lacked the charisma and sex appeal of Gibbs. By the way, who left first? I can't remember if Stenovitch shared scenes with Gibbs or was Carlson still there when Gibbs left?

I also agree! Definitely add Robin Scorpio to the list! While having unprotected sex with Stone certainly wasn't a good move, I don't think this qualifies Robin as not a good girl. Rather, I believe Robin's actions exemplify the behavior of an ingenue: it was the naïveté characteristic of an ingenue that caused trusting young Robin to sleep with Stone. It was the mistake made by Robin the teenaged ingenue that allowed her to grow into Robin the bright young medical student who studied in Paris and finally become Robin the adult, a surgeon who saves lives.

High school senior/college freshman Josie was so different from adult Josie that it's easy to forget they were the same person! Young Josie was more of a Keri Russell (Felicity) or Rebecca Gayheart (Beverly Hills, 90210) type. She morphed from this sweet, Miss Teen USA sort to a no- nonsense cop. She wasn't as harsh as Margo Hughes on ATWT, but she was getting there. Adult Josie (Amy Carlson) did have amazing chemistry with Gary (Timothy Gibbs), though!

I made a mistake, it was Brock Peters and not Moses Gunn who played Captain Frank Lewis on Y&R. Sorry!!

Neither I nor my friends were bothered in the least. This was many years ago and as upsetting as it may be for some people in today's modern audiences to accept, the portrayal of interracial relationships on television was frowned upon much more then. (Please, no hate, you have to understand the way it was in order to appreciate how far you've come.) The plot on Y&R involved a character played by Phil Morris (later attorney Jackie Chiles on Seinfeld.) I don't remember if he was a cop or whether he was just working with them as they tried to bust a criminal ring. Morris played "Tyrone" (IKR) who dated, and possibly became engaged to, the crime boss's daughter. Although Tyrone was initially using the young woman in order to gain access to her father, he developed feelings for her. I don't think she was aware of her father's criminal activities and was, understandably, quite hurt in the end as her affection for Tyrone was genuine. I don't recall why Tyrone instead of a White man was chosen to go undercover. What interested us more back then was that Tyrone, who was handsome, had a threatening-looking Mr. T.-like brother, more likely half-brother, called "Jazz." I think Captain Lewis' (Moses Gunn) daughter Amy was tutoring Jazz who couldn't read (again, IKR.)

Thanks, j swift! I was mixing up the two plots that involved Cass. I don't remember the stuff with Jake McKinnon, though.

Thanks, now I remember! It seems like I recall Dee and Nancy McGowan, Rachel's younger sister, interviewing with a stuffy rich lady in their quest to become debutants. Wasn't this around the time Cass had a split personality or a look-a-like?

I was young at the time and not familiar with her earlier work, but I really enjoyed Kim Hunter as Nola on The Edge of Night.

I'm afraid I'm having trouble remembering who Dee was or who played her. I know it's not exactly May-December, but Jamie, who had finished medical school, was too old for Victoria who was 19 tops.

Out of curiousity, are you referring to physicality, performance, or both? For me it would be performance wise. I think Cheatham, when she was styled in a glamorous way, could have played Alexandra Spaulding similar to the way Marj Dusay did. OTH, Cheatham's portrayal of Aunt Charlene on General Hospital was more blue collar/trailer park-ish, right? As you said, maybe she enjoyed playing that type of part at that point in her career.

This is the same man that played Peter Love #1 on Another World, right? Yes, he was attractive! I thought he was doing a fine job there, so I was surprised when he was replaced. Did he leave AW on his own or did he get fired?

I remember someone saying Beverlee McKinsey gave off a "to the manor born" vibe whereas Marj Dusay had more of a "showgirl that married well" vibe and that's why they didn't care for Ms. Dusay as Alex. I get the same "showgirl that married well" vibe from Maree Cheatham, so I understand what you're saying. Do you think that Marj Dusay would have been more suitable as Miss Sally too?

I wasn't a big Guiding Light viewer when Marj Dusay was on as Alexandra Spaulding, but I've recently watched several episodes on YouTube. If Ms. Dusay had left, how would y'all have felt if Maree Cheatham had stepped into the role? I could easily see her going toe-to-toe with Alan and anyone else in Springfield who got in her way! She was also an attractive woman, so I could see plenty of opportunities for romances as well. Can you imagine Maree Cheatham facing off with Michael Zaslow?!! Fire!!!