Tisy-Lish

That's sort of what I remembered. But today's scenes between Cane and Colin implied that Colin and Jill were still a couple. Did anyone else get that vibe from the dialogue? I suppose they might have reunited off-screen. That has become a staple of Josh Griffith's writing. The video message was ridiculous. Can anyone imagine any viewer younger than 60 sitting through that 30-minute monologue? Y&R has obviously given up on the younger demos. Billy Flynn is arguably the best actor on daytime, but even he could not bring that garbage to life. But his scenes with Tristan Rogers were sincere and believable.

Wow. Parts of today's episode were difficult to watch. I'm a big supporter of realism (or at least believability) on soaps. But today's episode was brutally real. In my 60+ years of watching soap operas, I don't ever remember an actor so close to death, playing a character in the same situation. Tristan was certainly brave and dedicated to his craft. He proved that on today's episode.

Okay. Thank you. I thought that was the letter Victor had given Cane which was from the French countess. At least I think Victor gave Cane a letter about inheriting the property.

Are they now saying that Jill and Colin have been together ever since she left Genoa City? Was that how it played out on the show back then? I don't remember them leaving town together, but perhaps they did and I've just forgotten it. I thought Colin left Genoa City long before Jill did. And wasn't the signature on the letter today "Genevieve"? I'm fairly sure Genevieve was Cane's mother's first name (played by Genie Francis). Why would they use the same first name for the French countess (or whatever she was) who originally owned the property in Nice?

I'm assuming the fascination is mostly because they were quads. The only quads ever born (or even referenced) on daytime. Believe it or not -- when they were born, it was a VERY big deal in the soap press. So I'm not surprised long-term ATWT viewers wished for their return to the canvas. But without Ellen, the return of the quads was not going to happen. They were only cousins to Emily, and no blood-relation at all to Susan. So not much of a connection to the remaining Stewarts -- unless Ellen returned. Plus, adding four siblings of the same age to the show at the same time would have seemed contrived. It simply would not have worked.

Keeping Bruder in the cast would have been nice. Ellen was an original character, and with David dead, a decent head-writer could have written interesting things for Ellen -- especially with Emily and Susan in the mix.

Well, if the quads were of different sexes, then none of them would have likely been identical anyway. I'm no expert on multiple birth biology, but I believe this would be the case.

I remember when the quads were born, but I don't remember much else about them. Were they identical quads? Were they all the same sex? Truthfully, it would have been very very difficult to get "real" identical quads who were all actors, and all "good" actors. And because of the challenge of finding actors, would bringing all four quads back at the same time have even been doable?? It is difficult enough to do twins on soaps, so doing quads would have been even more of a challenge. Maybe not impossible. Any thoughts on how it could have been done??

How many actors played Harry O'Neal? And were they all approximately the same age? My memory is that the final actor in the role was much younger than the others. But I could be wrong. Anyone remember Harry O'Neal?

I don't recall Coster's comment about Hill. But I'll assume it may have been accurate. Still -- Paul Raven's post regarding Geoffrey Lumb paints Lyle Hill as a more compassionate person. Who knows where the truth lies?? Probably somewhere in-between.

So Ruth accepted a proposal from David before she was divorced from Joe? How strange. I thought Ruth and David were both divorced and sexually involved, when he proposed. But fifty-years have passed, and all this is from memory. I could easily be incorrect.

You may be correct. But didn't Joe and Ruth divorce in the mid-70s, when Ruth dated and was briefly engaged to David Thornton? David died, so Ruth and Joe got remarried. Is my memory incorrect about Ruth and David Thornton?

Any idea which soap opera couple had the longest marriage?? I'm really asking about soap marriages on-camera during the show's duration. In other words, taking into consideration broadcast time only. So, Chris/Nancy Hughes and Tom/Alice Horton won't likely make the cut. Again -- I'm asking about broadcast time only. So keep that in mind. Also, divorces and remarriages don't count. So that might rule out couples like Mac/Rachel and Doug/Julie. I'll throw out a suggestion: Tom and Margo Hughes. Their marriage lasted from around 1980 until 2010, with a few separations, but they never divorced. That's thirty years of an on-camera marriage. Have there been any longer marriages, uninterrupted by divorce in the history of daytime?

I think during the show's short run, Lisa was played as the insecure new girl in town with vague intentions. I don't think there were enough episodes to give her the opportunity to show her bitchy side, although I hope she would have when the opportunity arose. And remember Lisa did not even appear in every episode. So there wasn't much time for character development. It would have been fun to see where Lisa was headed, if OPW had aired for a full-season.

This is very interesting. Thank you for posting. The report above gives us at least the official reason for the departure of Geoffrey Lumb as Mitchell Dru. But I've always wondered if the exits of both Dru and Liz Matthews so near the arrival of Harding Lemay as head-writer could have had anything to do with the new head-writer's plans. Lemay's first credited episode of AW was August 31, 1971, while Dru's final episode was May 20, 1971 (according to the AWHP) and Liz's final episode was July 23, 1971. Lemay would have submitted at least some form of storyline projections to TPTB sometime before he wrote his first episode. So perhaps Lemay had expressed some distain for Dru and/or Liz, either verbally or in his storyline bible. And perhaps Lyle Hill thought it would be more respectful to both actors (Lumb and Wickwire) to give them the opportunity to resign and allow Robert Cenedela to write them off before Lemay arrived. This is all nothing more than speculation on my part -- in fact, I'm not actually speculating it is true, really just bringing up the possibility for discussion. And by the way, Paul Rauch replaced Lyle Hill as executive producer in December, 1971.

Did Wesley Addy ever play the role of Jim Matthews? He seems to have played many roles on many soap operas. So his name is familiar to me.

Interesting. So even though the house never belonged to Judge Lowell, it had been Jim Lowell's house. Maybe that explains why some people used to refer to it as the Lowell house.

Thank you for the clarification. Where are you getting this information? By watching episodes, or by reading scripts?

Wasn't the house Claire and Doug Cassen lived in actually Judge Lowell's house? I believe it was the Lowell family house and eventually began to be referred to as the Stewart house.

Dear God in Heaven! Please don't make Vernon Leslie's father. That would be over-kill and completely unnecessary. Worst of all, that would mean nearly all the adult men on BTG are losers. Bill and Ted are cheaters, Andre is a womanizer, Martin keeps secrets from his husband, Tomas will soon be screwing two sisters, Joey is a mobster, Elon is a bad cop, and Doug is a willing cuckold. If Vernon is Leslie's father, that leaves only Jacob as a decent male human being on this show. And that is not a good look!! I love BTG, but please let us have at least a few good and sincere men. Pretty please...

We are in agreement here, except for your inclusion of super-couples. Super-couples on soaps existed long before Monty went to GH. NBC had at least three super-couples in the 1970s -- Alice/Steve, Doug/Julie, and Mac/Rachel. And possibly a couple of more -- Steve/Carolee and Bill/Laura. Also, ABC had Tara/Phil and Cliff/Nina before Monty invaded GH. But aside from that, I agree with you.

There would have been no James Reillly on Days, if not for Monty's work at GH.

Susan Sullivan seems to enjoy discussing her daytime experience in this interview. And she seems rather knowledgeable about the genre. This is at the peak of her primetime success, yet she actually says she prefers the format of the daytime drama. Imagine that!! And a couple of her interactions with Gloria Monty seem a bit bristly (on Monty's part). Susan is joyfully discussing her experience in daytime pre-1975, and Monty retorts by defending her "new" vision for soap opera. Susan doesn't even seem to notice, and goes on talking about how great soap operas "used to be." LOL. I bet Monty was boiling!!

We are in agreement. And regarding MVJ run out on a rail, Hell no!! MVJ is brilliant, strong, and dedicated. She is the closest thing we have to Agnes Nixon or Bill Bell in 2025. At least she loves the genre and uses her talents to support and sustain it. Who else is dong that these days?? In a year or two, I'll be ready for the premiere of MVJ's second soap opera. We should continue to critique BTG. Is it perfect? Of course not. And some of the issues seem so easily correctable. But since the premiere, I have missed only two episodes. So obviously, I am hooked.

It's been my experience that long-term soap opera fans complain the most about the soaps they love the most. It's like "I love this show so much, but I think it could be even better". But we can't type that disclosure on every post. So it's just kind of understood for most of us.