DeeVee

It seems like they were repeating some older stories. Before, Johnny was fascinated by Chistine while ignoring down to earth Roxy. Now they have Johnny fascinated by Blake while ignoring down to earth Chelsea. And Meredith is like a repeat of Claire. SO similar in personality, she's also a doctor, has some strong parental issues, and ends up having a baby by the wrong man. Alexandra Neil, who played Rose, was another Texas alumni. Maybe they just wanted to throw some work her way. (Throw away is a good way to describe her relationship with Rusty and her storyline). Sure, I'll cut them some slack because that year had so many upheavals: the strike, Bernau's exit, the writers having to fix what the scabs did (ESPECIALLY the Sonni/Will thing), then having to find a way to bring back Roger. It was a pretty big mess.

I just watched these scenes the other day. She also strongly hinted that she and Jackson were involved in some kind of dirty business in Monte Carlo. That's why he couldn't get rid of her. I'm guessing they were setting up something here that never came to fruition. I think this was still during the strike, so it was forgotten or changed.

Thank you for sharing! My God. The woman is still so beautiful. 😭

I just happened to watch this episode while eating lunch today: The flashbacks start about 25 minutes in. What an exposition dump. I noticed there are a lot of them at this point on the show, probably because this is soon after the writers strike ended. Also interesting: it starts with a promo that prominently features Daniel Pilon, which is unusual for a temp replacement. Seems like they may have been accelerating Alan's storylines in preparation for reintroducing Roger. The discussion with Blake wanting to be VP of all departments is a Roger callback, because that was the position he had at Spaulding.

Oh wow. Thank you both! 😊 That could explain why some soaps were doing serial killer stories. I never understood that. It always seemed very unsoap-like. Well, yes and no. The audience is trying to figure storylines out. Characters in a story are living it. I would argue a lot of people IRL wouldn't figure it out so fast because of a phenomenon known as cognitive dissonance. In the old West when some women dressed and lived as men, quite a few were not discovered until they died. And we would look at a picture now and say how could they not tell? But the idea of a woman dressed as a man was so foreign to them that that was enough to convince people they were men. Nowadays it would probably be a lot less likely that people wouldn't question it. But even 30 years ago--especially in a podunk town like SF, where people freaked out about Jackson's earring for three solid years--if someone presented themselves as a woman, they would probably believe it. If you don't expect a man to dress as a woman, you're more likely to accept it when he says he's a woman. Then there is suspension of disbelief, where we wouldn't accept something IRL but will tolerate it in a story. Because it's a story and it's absorbing and compelling. Which, IIRC, is what happened when the story initially aired. It was not without controversy, but was also praised.

When they reveal Blake and Alan are in cahoots, they show flashbacks of Blake coming on to him at a bar and later the two of them in bed. (And, honestly, I could have lived without that because I remember little Christina when she lived next door to Alan. 😂)

That storyline was masterful, not just in the way it was groundbreaking as far as an important social issue, but the way it impacted most of the storylines going on at the time. Roger blackmailing Alan threatened his blossoming relationship with Hope and would have given Mike a way to avenge himself for the ruthless way Alan broke him apart from Elizabeth. It was a huge impact on Ed and Rita's marriage. First, because Ed was angry that Rita kept quiet about her own rape, which could have helped get Roger convicted. Then, when Holly shot Roger and everyone thought he was dead (Alan, of course, was forced into helping him fake his death), Ed guilted Rita into quiting her job so she could take care of Christina. This caused such a strong rift between them that Rita was unable to experience sexual gratification with Ed. She had an affair with a doctor, who also happened to be dating her sister Eve. Rita ended up pregnant, not knowing who the father is. Ross, who thought he would make his career defending Roger, started questioning his ambition. Roger ended up causing the death of Rita's baby. Eventually Rita and Ed reconciled, but broke apart again...because they disagreed about Mike investigating Alan's part in Roger's crimes. Which led to...Alan and Rita having an affair. Seriously, the amount of story that was generated by this one event was stunning (and I'm probably forgetting a few things--oh, yeah, Hillary was Roger's lover the whole time he was married to Holly and she evolved a great deal after she was forced to testify at the trial). Even after Roger was killed, those freakin' affidavits were still in the possession of Diane Ballard, which touched off the Diane murder story, which THEN pulled in the Carrie multiple personalities storyline. The whole thing was finally wrapped up when Alan's complicity was revealed and he briefly went to prison--I think more than a year after Roger "died." Really impressive soap writing. I am never not in awe of it when I think about it.

Most of what we know about Alex and Alan's mother was revealed during the Barbados story: Her name was Penelope Winthrop. Brandon was already involved with Sharina (Victoria's mother). But of course, he couldn't marry her, at least not if he remained in the U.S. So he married Penelope instead, who was a socialite and rich. Sharina's brother was incensed that she and her child were living in SF as Brandon's secret family. In Barbados they were a respectable family and did not experience the kind of prejudice that they encountered in the U.S. But Brandon and Sharina persuaded him to live with his sister and niece so he could pretend he was Sharina's husband and Victoria's father. While pregnant with Alan, Penelope discovered Brandon's affair with Sharina. She threatened them with a gun but killed Sharina's brother instead. She immediately went into labor. While giving birth to Alan, she died. The cottage Tony and Anabelle bought after they got married was the cottage Brandon bought for Sharina. It's where her brother was killed. Anabelle had some psychic abilities and knew someone had died in the cottage. That's how they started investigating what happened and ended up in Barbados, where it was revealed Brandon had faked his death and was living there with Sharina. After all was revealed, Brandon and Sharina died together while looking out on the ocean side by side. There was some stuff about a letter that would have given Victoria part of Spaulding, but she decided she didn't want it. The crazed real estage agent Susan Piper was trying to get the letter back. She almost killed Anabelle and she ended up killing Hillary, and if you expect me to explain why she did it, sorry, I have no idea because this story never made any sense to me. 😂

Check your PMs.

I have a blog devoted mostly to classic films. A few times a year I participate in blogathons (bloggers write and post about a designated film or TV topic over a 3-4 day period). I once participated in one where Collins was the topic. The lady who ran the blogathon has a blog devoted mostly to 1980s television shows. She's particularly a fan of Dynasty. Turns out, Joan had been following her blog for quite some time before the blogathon about her. I thought that was so sweet that she followed a fan blog and seemed flattered to be the topic of one of our blogging events. (In case you're wondering, the film I wrote about was Land of the Pharoahs, one of my fave Sword and Sandal epics).

Mike also did not need an exceptional actor to play the role the way Alan/Roger/Alex did. Let's face it, Don Stewart was not the greatest actor. (He even had trouble remembering his lines). But like you said, he had a formality, a warmth, and was very credible as a crusading attorney. He could be very gentle in scenes with his family and love interests, but do the big trial scenes, too. Raines could have handled the role just fine. There was a big hole left in the show when he exited, not just because it was another Bauer gone, but because it left Ross as the only attorney on the canvas for most of the rest of the life of the show. They had a bunch of cops but only one attorney as a main character. Weird they never addressed that. At the very least, they could have had Alan Michael annoy his father by following in his grandfather's footsteps, instead of the same old fighting over the Spaulding company crap.

I could see him emoting in courtroom scenes. Possibly a recast Mike Bauer?

I strongly suspect that if Bev had still been with the show, it's far less likely he would have been cast, for precisely this reason.

Alex had a daddy complex, but it was a very different one from the one Iris had. I'm just going to say it: Iris was in love with Mac. Freud would have had a field day analyzing Iris. Alex, OTOH, was in an abuser/victim relationship with her father. (So was Alan). I don't mean physical or sexual abuse. He mentally and emotionally abused his children. The fact that she named her child after her abuser shows that she still desperately wanted her father to love her. IIRC, they also touched on that during the Barbados story. Even after he betrays her yet again, she shares positive memories of her relationship with her father with Victoria. Their relationship was mirrored in her relationship with Alan. One minute they loved each other, the next they stabbed each other in the back. I always wished they had built on this even more, but in the end, the replacements for Alan and Alex weren't really up to playing the nuances. But her backstory was really well constructed, IMO, and, yes, she was very, very different from Iris.

I was thinking of him while we were discussing failed soap hunks! GH tried so hard to make him happen, putting him in a romance with saintly Rose. It totally belly-flopped. I guess they thought, "The audience accepted Laura falling for her rapist, they'll accept a professional hitman as hero, too, because he's HOT!" Forgetting that Geary was no one's definition of "hot." While I am in NO WAY justifying the "redeemed rapist" plot, Luke was a well-defined character. He was a reluctant member of the mob who knew they would kill him whether or not he carried out the hit. I believe he was never intended to be a permanent character. It was the audience who made him happen, not the other way around.

I can't believe we're debating the handsomeness/sexiness of Michael Zaslow. 😂 Sure, personal taste comes into it, but he also had so much charisma, which added to his attractiveness, at least to me.

That sounds really scary! So glad you're doing better. And you know why? Because the shows think that's all they have to be. It's like when they get name stars, make a big fuss over them coming on the show, and then forget to create an actual character for them. Marland had actually created a character and a storyline for JWS (no matter what I personally think of it). But mostly these types of soap hunks are switched around a lot, chem tested with everyone, then kind of fade away. Robert Newman was rescued from that fate because Long took him out of the bad boy hunk category and put him into romantic lead instead. And somehow Frank D. managed to hang on through the years. Grant Alexander benefited from Phillip being such an important part of Alan's character (really, the one person he truly loved). So he was key to the Spaulding family, even if he or Alan or both were off the canvas. I guess it's personal taste, but to me there's always been something sexy about Ross/JVD. He was hot with both Maeve and Sherry, not so much with some of his other pairings.

Yes, I do think that is the case. No, I don't think anything untoward ever happened, but Marland did seem to adore him. Yes, I think in any employment situation, people hire who they like, and part of that is can be finding their physical appearance pleasing. Again, not saying it's always conscious or with the intention of anything being acted upon, it's human nature. Me too, but they probably felt she was too young. Jackie at that point was the mother of a 10 year old. I'm pretty sure the actress she's talking about replacing at the nurse's station is Fran Myers, who played Peggy and exited the show around that time.

It was 45 years ago, so yes, could be he said that. But Kelly was significantly older than Morgan, and that was deliberate. There's a whole thing going on over on X right now. Some guy posted pictures of two very buffed actors and said something like, "No one complains about the female gaze in entertainment." There was an avalanche of responses about how that was ALSO for the male gaze. Then women posted the kind of male actors/characters that they go crazy over, some who would not be considered conventionally attractive. (I pointed out Walton Goggins, who became incredibly popular with women while playing a character who has no nose). The same with soaps. No one on the face of the earth could have predicted Tony Geary would become one of the most popular male soap actors of all time. You would think, for instance, someone like Frank on GL would be someone the women would go for, and he rates mostly a "meh" with female viewers. (Perhaps it's different with gay male viewers. Though maybe they don't like him either, LOL). I've liked lots of problematic stuff over the years. I hear ya. 😁

Oh, my gosh. The style of these kinds of articles is so different even 10 or 15 years later. Calling a mother of 4 children a "girl?" "Servant problem?" LOL. Anyway, Milette is amazing (still alive in her 90s!). It's sad that her character kind of petered out. But I think she left because she wanted to? She had a second career as a musician, I believe. I agree. I was so impressed by her during the pregnancy storyline. She played it with so much poignancy without it ever getting sappy, including when she found out about her aunt's death. And she totally looked like a Reardon! She absolutely looked like she could be Nola's niece. I did like Kristen, but that's as far as it went for me. HORRIBLE storyline. Honestly? Today it would be taken as a story about an older man grooming an underage girl. The same with the story he wrote on General Hospital for Scotty and Laura. (Yes, attitudes were very different back then, but even watching these at the time gave me the ick). Marland was very open about this being the reason he wrote the story. He claimed he asked his niece what kind of story she would like to see, and she said a college man falling in love with a girl her age. I would disagree with your assessment of high school age female viewers, that's a stereotype. Not every teen girl liked this kind of thing. In fact, I'm pretty sure GH hammered GL when it came to young demos, and it was OLDER women who adored John Wesley Shipp.

It was a EXCEPTIONALLY well-executed story and we'd be praising it to the skies to this day--if Maureen had not died at the end of it! It would have (forgive the pun) breathed life into three characters who were very underused and boosted the Bauer presence in the story. But some random people who wanted to make a few quick bucks answering questions about a show they don't watch said no. ☹️

Honestly, I'm as puzzled as you are. I watched the show on and off at the time. I do remember their wedding. (Fran Myers was hugely pregnant at the time and carried the world's largest bridal bouquet to hide her tummy). Peggy wasn't just a good character--she was SAINTLY. She had a son, Billy, who she loved. (Roger loved him, too--like you said, he loved kids). On soaps, saintly women loved children and always wanted more. One explanation I can come up with is that she was told not to have more children after Billy. Or, this being written during the mid-70s, feminist issues were brought up on soaps a lot. Possibly, the Dobsons were making the point that even "nice" women didn't always want to have lots of children. Maybe someone else remembers why?

Thank you for posting! I love to read critiques of the show written while it was airing. Not that I agree with everything. Alan Michael and Eleni--a super couple? Never. In fact, I would argue AM was the spoiler for Frank and Eleni, who as a couple didn't exactly set the soap world on fire. The thing that strikes me as most interesting here is that this was likely written not long before GL fired Ellen Parker. (Lillian's cancer storyline is mentioned, which leads to the affair with Ed). If this was a mostly universal opinion among soap critics and the audience at the time, they sure did burn up a lot of good will by killing off Maureen.

Jim Storm 82 Nancy Barrett 82 Kathryn Leigh Scott 82 David Selby 84 Robin Strasser 80

The funny thing is, when Roger married Peggy (after Christina/Blake was born) she insisted he get a vasectomy. Which was one of the reasons he was obsessed with Christina, because he believed she would be his only biological child. Another thing that was retconned. In this case, I can understand why it was changed. First of all, it's extremely possible close to 15 years later it was simply a forgotten detail. Even actors forget details of storylines they've been in. The other reason is secret children and inconvenient pregnancies (especially those caused by the married main villain) create a lot of drama, as happened with Mindy's ill-fated pregnancy by Roger and what was intended by the introduction of Hart. There were various reasons Hart kind of failed as a character (I think one of the actors was badly injured in an accident, is that right?) but you can understand why they would think bringing Roger's secret child into the story would be a win.