Tisy-Lish

I agree 100% with both you and Mitch64. Soaps have been going further and further off-course since 1981. TPTB just don't have a fundamental understanding of what makes soap fans so loyal. I'd love to be on a writing team with both of you. Maybe we could put together a real soap opera, and show people what its all about...

I agree. She has become ridiculous, and simply not a believable character. She needs to tone it down, or get to jail as quickly as possible. I completely agree. A bit of an Upstairs, Downstairs vibe is really all BTG is missing.

They can't afford to use the hospital set -- that's what I'm guessing. Poor Cole will probably die on Victoria's couch, and never be in the hospital. Jeeze-Louise!!

They are mentioning Aristotle Dumas in nearly every scene now. Good Lord. The poor actors must roll their eyes every time they get a new script.

Plus we are never going to have a Shonda Rhimes, a Dick Wolf, or a Chuck Lorre of daytime -- a single brilliant person who could come in and change the genre -- because Shonda, Dick, or Chuck would only be able to work on one soap opera at a time, not three or four at the same time as they do in primetime. As long as TPTB insist on the 60-minute format, we will never have another super influential individual like Phillips, Nixon, or Bell. They simply would never have time to do more than one soap opera at a time and that would stifle their influence overall. Thanks. So maybe this is happening to some degree in other entertainment genres. I don't keep up with the particular franchises you mentioned, so I was unaware. I appreciate your perspective.

That'a an interesting comparison, and might be a parallel. But i also know too little about sports to really comment on it's accuracy. It might have something to do with a "closed" system, and the consuming nature of producing or writing a daytime drama and coaching. Both in football and daytime, those factors make it hard for new talent to break into the system. And even a very talented coach or daytime writer or executive producer can only do one team (or one show) at a time, limiting that person's impact on the entire system.

Agreed. Is there any other entertainment genre (past or present) where anything similar has occurred time after time? Primetime dramas? Comedy? Westerns? Horror? Sci-Fi? Variety shows? Radio? Why is daytime drama plagued by this idiocy, while other entertainment genres seem to have avoided it??

Yes, it was. A couple of years ago, someone posted the scene from 1981 or '82 in which "Bay City, Illinois" was mentioned for the first time. And I also remember watching the show on NBC in real-time back then, seeing that scene, and asking myself, WTF??!! Bay City is now in Illinois??

And that revolving door has led to the cancellation of so many daytime dramas since the early-1980s. Very sad.

Yes, the locale officially switched to Illinois in the early-1980s. But I was watching daily during the entire Lemay era, and I'm fairly confident Bay City was never referenced as being in Michigan in any of Lemay's scripts. Agreed, Lemay did care about AW's past -- and used the past as subtext for many characters. But it is unfortunate he chose never to mention (or perhaps was unaware of) the Michigan connection. So by not mentioning it, this may be when that connection was lost for TPTB.

Out of curiosity, were you watching in the late 1960s and early 1970s? Michigan was mentioned, on-air, more than once back then. I kept extensive scrapbooks of all my favorite soaps at the time (yes, I had no life, LOL), and I made notes of trivia like this, characters' addresses and telephone numbers, birthdates of babies, etc. Yes I was watching AW during that time, but I was very young. So might have missed the references you mentioned. The late 1960s and early 1970s would have been during the Nixon and Cenedella head-writing eras. Assuming you are correct, I'm quite surprised (and disappointed) Harding Lemay did not continue the Michigan references. Especially since he was raised in a far northern region of a northern state, very very near the Canadian border. And I know he loved writing (either directly or indirectly) about his upbringing in that region. Perhaps no one in the studio ever told Lemay about the Michigan connection. Who knows?? But I'm sure Lemay would have had a field-day playing all those Michigan references, which would have made his AW even more believable and relevant than it already was. Such a missed opportunity!!

But Irna did not put Bay City in Illinois. She left it vague. Bay City wasn't mentioned as being in Illinois until the early-1980s, when Julia Shearer mentioned she was traveling to Bay City, Illinois. Now, I do agree Irna likely wanted most of them to be somewhat close to Chicago and Cincinnati, but Michigan is adjacent to both Illinois and Ohio. And Cincinnati is about 5-hours from both Chicago and Bay City, Michigan. And Bay City is also about 5 hours from Chicago. Not trying to argue, but we all have our wishes. I just would have preferred Bay City be in Michigan for the reasons I mentioned in an earlier post. It didn't happen, so I can't cry about it. LOL.

Even though I can firm a map of Michigan (that included Bay City) was used on the show, I still never heard Michigan referred to in any of the dialogue -- ever. So the map doesn't really make it canon, in my opinion. That map was probably supplied by the prop-guy, and he might not have even told TPTB that he was going to use an identifiable state map. On the other hand, there were hints that it was in Michigan, with references to cold winters, etc. And on Somerset, a nearby city was Lansing. But I don't recall Lansing ever being mentioned on AW, but perhaps it was. I do wish TPTB would have made AW's canonical location in Michigan. First, because many fans already believed it was in Michigan, and because eventually putting all the remaining P&G soap opera cities in Illinois was silly and pointless. Variety is the spice of live, my dears.

Yet another reason some of the characters need servants. Since some of the sets do not include front doors, servants could answer the off-screen door and escort guests into the living room(s).

I remember them showing a map of Michigan during one of Rachel's adventures, and you are probably correct here. But the map may have been used in 1978, when Sven kidnapped Rachel and characters were searching for her. They had no idea Sven had hidden her right there on the Cory estate. So that's just another possible sighting of the infamous map.

Wow, this was some amazing acting and amazing writing. And who came up with the idea that Anita would have memorized the letter? That person deserves an Emmy! I love it when soap operas do very serious storylines. So much in the last 40 years on soaps has been done for laughs or as camp. Its good to see BTG is not afraid to hit the serious notes. We all knew Anita had a secret, but I never expected this kind of tragedy was behind it.

81 and 82 were rather bad, with the infamous invasion of the Kirkland family. But sometime in late 82 or early 83, Claire Labine was rehired as head-writer and immediately put the focus back on the Ryan's. This time Labine's tenure was short, but she did great work. The entire show was compelling again -- especially the Charlotte Greer storyline (one of the best plots of the entire series). But Labine was fired, yet again, and Ryan's Bar was bombed, resulting in most of the action being transferred to Greenberg's Deli, and a focus on younger characters with little connection to the Ryan family. So that is what you are probably seeing from 84.

I remember, for their wedding, TPTB pulled out the old Stewart patio which had not been seen for years (and was not seen again). But during the 1960s, Ellen and David's patio was seen somewhat often during the summer months.

I haven't been watching, so I have a stupid question: How have they been showing John on camera in the hospital? Is his face bandaged or something? And how about his voice? Does the voice sound like Drake? It seems that viewers are accepting the situation, so it must be playing as believable. Am I correct about that?

Leslie has showed up at Ted's hotel room far too many times. It's becoming redundant. Why the hell does he let her in? He should just shut the door in her face. Letting her in makes Ted look like a naive idiot, which is is not. Any normal man would refuse to be alone in the same room with a woman who had done this to his family. I understand the two characters need to interact -- that's what dramatic conflict is all about. But we've endured more than enough of Leslie's visits to Ted's hotel room. The writers need to create other ways for them to interact.

Is it true that, after the transition from CBS to ABC in 1975, Edge of Night had a very short-lived very unliked "new" opening theme? I understand it was rather quickly replaced by the Cortner and Barranco melody that lasted until the show was cancelled. Is this true? And if so, does anyone have audio or video of the short-lived and reviled "new" opening theme song?

It would have been interesting to see Sam Groom back in the role of Russ, when the character returned in 1989 (or even in a later return). David Bailey was acceptable as Russ, but he didn't have much acting range. And if Russ and Rachel ever reunited, I don't think Bailey would have been the best choice, because Rachel's husband sort of becomes AW's leading man. I don't think Bailey would have risen to that challenge. But Groom could have done that wonderfully. I would have also been okay with a complete recast -- hopefully with an actor with a good deal of soap opera experience and someone happy with the role long-term. And to answer a question: I do not believe Russ's return in 1989 was originally meant to be short-term. With the reveal that Josie was his daughter, and with Olivia on the canvas, there was lots for Russ to do. I think Lemay's plan was that Russ return permanently, but Donna Swajeski probably didn't think he was exciting enough and lost interest in Russ.

Does anyone have a favorite adult Russ Matthews? Which actor did you like most? Sam Groom, Robert Hover, or David Bailey?? And why? And if Russ had returned late in AW's run, what actor would you have wanted to portray him? One of the former actors, or someone new??

TPTB are dragging out the Alexander Dumas reveal way to long. We really aren't any closer to knowing who he is than we were months ago when his name was first mentioned, I really don't mind a lengthy soap opera plot, in fact I kind of prefer them. But this is crazy. Give us some hints, give us some red herrings, give us some cryptic evidence. And for God's sake, show us who he is. And it BETTER be good... But knowing this head writer, I doubt the reveal will be anything exciting. Just another outside force coming into town to cause trouble. I hope I'm wrong.

I wonder if Michelle Val Jean even considered this. It seems so obvious to many of us. If they want the Dupree name to continue, Anita and Vernon need at least one male heir. Two would be even better. Do you think Val Jean may have written it this way intentionally for some reason?