vetsoapfan

It's an enigma, considering many posters weren't yet involved in the show during the 1960s, so you would think most of your synopsis threads would engender roughly the same amount of attention from people interested in learning more about history. My only guess is that some comments/replies in your threads (about certain characters or historical milestones) spark ideas and questions in posters about which they want further exploration.

Robin Thomas may have been a decent-enough actor, but Mark Singleton had a "non-essential, extraneous supporting player" vibe about him. He never should have been considered as a romantic partner for a legendary leading lady like Alice. JC had had obvious chemistry with actor Tom Fuccello, when they appeared together on OLTL. He was charming, affable and sexy, and really clicked with Courtney on screen. If AW insisted on keeping Alice and Mark Singleton as a couple, they should cast Fuccello in that role. If AW wanted to resurrect Steve Frame, they should have had Jacquie Courtney on board first. A dynamic David Canary might have shown some sparks with JC, but Linda Borgenson was dull as dishwater, and the entire back-from-the-dead saga for Steve was an unmitigated flop. Since Steve was not a possibility, AW could have had Alice reenter Mac's orbit in some capacity, if only to get under Rachel's skin. Probably the only other option available to them would have been to hire a magnetic leading man for her, and hope for the best.

Oh, that's interesting; what characters would you name from before the time you began watching the show? (He had long since passed away by the time I began following TGL, but I always considered Rev. John Ruthledge to be an essential component of the series, and felt attached to him even though my exposure to episodes featuring him was scant.)

Fingers crossed.

Yes, by that time, TPTB had clued themselves in to the past and finally used it to the show's advantage. I think it was too late to salvage the character of Alice, however, who had been downplayed and sidelined since her return on the 20th anniversary.

Personally, I cringe at the idea of Carlivati being associated with any soap franchise I have ever cared about; I have loathed his low-brow, campy and sophomoric style at every series he has touched. I know SONers who would produce a more literate and erudite soap.

An emotionally unbalanced Robin ran off into the night and got hit by a car. The motorist told everyone that she had thrown herself in front of it. She did not make it.

UGH! "Scarlett" failed because its author sucked big time, not because no research into GWTW had been done. Even extensive research cannot overcome a lack of writing talent. The sequel to my beloved Wuthering Heights, written by one "Anna L'Estrange" in 1977, was a disaster as well, even though she had studied the characters' pasts from the classic novel. At least L. Virginia Browne was...adequate.

I wonder how trepidatious P&G and CBS were at the time, about introducing people of color to TGL. Even in 1976, when DAYS introduced the black Grant family to Salem, they got bombarded with hate mail. I imagine TPTB wanted to introduce Jim and Martha slowly, to have the audience warm up to them. I don't remember either one doing anything other than chatting with the white characters in, say, the hospital cafeteria.

The Averys don't get enough recognition today. They were excellent head writers on The Secret Storm and (particularly) Love is a Many Splendored Thing too.

And L. Virginia Browne, who was writing the show throughout most of 1981, had clearly studied up on the show's history, as evidenced by the references she made in characters' dialogue. You can't start writing for Scarlett O'Hara after her being abandoned at the door by Rhett Butler, if you have no idea what she had been (and what she had been through) during all the years beforehand. You would fail both the character and the audience.

Yep, Tomlin acknowledged in the press that the botching of JC's comeback rested mainly on his shoulders because he had not researched the character enough to understand her history or her significant ties to other characters. Being so incompetence was bad enough in itself, but coming out and admitting it was jaw-droppingly STOOPID. Even Vana Tribbey, when she assumed the role of Alice in 1981, said she had studied a "very long, very complicated 17-year history" of the character, to get her thoroughly familiar with the role. Tomlin's carelessness and incompetence really damaged the show.

Sally was 10 years old in 1975, the year Alice adopted her, so Alice would have been 29-ish. In 1984, a 38-year-old Courtney did not look so young that her being Sally's adopted mother seemed too blatantly ridiculous. Certainly, on-screen age discrepancies between other parent-offspring combinations on soaps have been much more noticeably egregious. Yes, she was wearing what I call a Humphrey-Bogart style private-eye hat, LOL. As time went on, Alice had her short hair flattened down with what looked like Dippity-Do at times. And what was that butch-looking, plaid lumberjack coat they had her wearing at one point? It was as if some PTB were trying to sabotage the actress' return by giving her no story, no purpose on the show, and making her look dreadful.

It was as heinous as the Rick-Webber-the-Cheating-Scumbag-Sociopath on GH. Years of history destroyed.🤮

The purging of the cast in the early 1980s was a major blow to the show and decimated its identity. The revolving door of newbies after that, and the descent into ludicrous camp, made everything worse. Michael Malone's first tenure as headwriter salvaged the series, but alas, the quality was not to last. The Victor-Lord-is-Alive garbage was total crud. UGH.

That's the only half-way plausible explanation I've ever come up with as well. Soaps were known for being set in vague Anytown, USA locations, probably so that viewers from anywhere in the country could easily imagine it to be a home of their own. And I did read an explanation from a P&G spokesperson, back when the article THE was dropped from the title. She said it was done to "modernize" the show and attract younger viewers. Even if I could swallow the rational for the name of the locale being changed, the reason given for editing the title was abjectly stupid. Executives sticking their fingers in the pot to justify their salaries, I suppose.🙄

I imagine Viki will be on most people's lists, since she was such an enduring and popular character, present in Llanview from the first day until the last. Viewers of any era will have seen her. So many soaps nowadays do not know how to keep "semi-negative" characters on the ledge, so to speak; hovering on the brink of true villainy but never crossing that final line into evil territory. These days, characters who are nevertheless depicted as leads (Sonny, Jason and Luke from GH, for example) become kidnappers, drug dealers, rapists and murderers, but are never punished for their crimes as they should be, because their supposed popularity with the audience preludes them from being written out. Todd from OLTL fell into this category. I find it morally reprehensible. Tina was one vixen who did awful things and behaved atrociously, yes, but as you say: much of it was out of abject stupidity or misguided reasoning, rather than outright villainy. That's the way to keep a character interesting, but also allow her to remain a viable presence on the canvas. Irredeemable degenerates like Sonny, Jason, Luke, etc., should never have been allowed to run rampant in society for decades. It's socially irresponsible on the part of the soaps and the networks.

Most daytime soaps in the early 1970s became more torrid than they had been, thanks to the soaring success of Y&R. The Mark/Dorian sex scenes were steamy, but (of course), not overtly explicit. Melinda had grown up wanting to be a concert pianist, but her dreams had been dashed when she had a terrible horse-riding accident and her arm was crippled. This was what originally sent her into a spiral of depression. When she and Dorian came to Llanview, Melinda became infatuated with Mark Toland, whom she met at the hospital. She confided her intense feelings to Dorian, who was having an affair with Mark, herself, but kept that secret from Melinda. When the affair was revealed, Melinda was devastated at Dorian's lies and betrayal, which caused her to snap. She wanted to kill her sister and Mark, but failed and went catatonic. She ended up institutionalized. Whoa, you are making me dredge up ancient memories today!🙃

Most people do become primarily drawn to the characters who were prominent when they started watching. Tina was a demon child when she was first introduced. My palms always itched with the desire to slap her. The show had remarkable luck in recasting Dorian. Nancy Pinkerton, Dixie Carter, Claire Malis, Elaine Princi and Robin Strasser were all commendable, in their own way. I found the switch in Blair's ethnicity to be demeaning, and when they joked about it later on-screen, just stupid. Not a choice I would have allowed.

She had been a major star on Another World, and OLTL scooped her up quickly after she left that show, in hopes of luring viewers over to OLTL. There was a brouhaha at the time, because the network immediately started her off at a salary that was almost twice as high as the other leads. I think we all have those fantasies! Along with daydreaming about coffee klatches with soap characters, I always wanted to hang out with Mary and Rhoda in Mary Richards' gorgeous first apartment on the Mary Tyler Moore Show.

Thank you for responding. I am always curious about the characters whom other viewers fee emotionally attached to the most. Often I agree, and occasionally their choices boggle my mind, LOL. I cared about all the original characters, but just mentioned the ones who meant the most to me. The romance between Jenny Wolek and Timmy Siegal was sweet and memorable. Not to be crass, but actor Tom Berenger as Tim was sex on a stick, LOL. (Kathy Glass echoed the same sentiments.) Kathryn Breech was fine as Karen in the character's shallow, selfish early days, but Judith Light fleshed Karen out into a three-dimensional woman and made the role her own. She may have been the best recast in daytime history.

It's been my experience that most soap aficionados come to view a certain set of characters as the cornerstones of a show; the core group who make the series feel like home to them. Sometimes, but not always, this depends on when viewers first began watching, and who was prominent on screen then. Other times, it is influenced by the historical knowledge of what characters had been there from the beginning and consistently treated as integral to the drama. On OLTL, whom do/did you see as the cornerstone characters; the Llanview denizens who kept you loyally tuning in, and whom you considered important components of the show's identity? To me, it was: Victoria Lord (ultimately Erika Slezak) Joe Riley (Lee Patterson) Larry Wolek (ultimately Michael Storm) Carla Gray (Ellen Holly) Sadie Gray (Lillian Hayman) Anna Wolek Craig (Doris Belak) Vinnie Wolek (Anthony Ponzini) Ed Hall (Al Freeman, Jr) As the years progressed other characters were woven into the canvas, whom I came to see as essential parts of the Llanview community: Wanda Webb Wolek (Marilyn Chris) Dorian Lord (Nancy Pinkerton, later Robin Strasser) Jenny Wolek (mainly Brynn Thayer) Pat Ashley Kendall (Jacquie Courtney) Karen Wolek Wolek (Judith Light) These are the character in whom I was invested the most, and whom I considered important for my continued loyalty to the seies. As more and more of them were foolishly cast aside, my attachment to Llanview dwindled significantly. Who were your personal, essential, cornerstone characters, who kept you loyal to OLTL and tuning in?

Don Scardino as Johnny was the cutest thing on two feet.😍

That's what I figured; it was in a weird, unnamed Twilight Zone at that time. I will never understand the decision/need to alter the show's home-base location. Heck, I still don't get the rational for dropping the article THE from the name of the series.🙄

Oh, yes, the Cullitons are both well known for their work on P&G soaps. IMHO, Carolyn was the better writer of the two. Thanks for the clarification!