vetsoapfan

Correct.

Waaaay back in the 1970s, Janice Lynde was critical about character isolation too. She said that actors complained they never got to work with anyone outside their own bubble. She approached TPTB with ways how her character could interact with Liz Foster, Katherine Chancellor, etc., but was rebuffed. She made it sound like Bill Bell and/or John Conboy basically told her to mind her own business and leave the writing to the writers. UGH. This happens ALL THE TIME. TIIC hire people because they have had past experience, regardless of how ineffective or disastrous that experience was. Look at how many times Charles Pratt and Pissy have been hired to write different shows. It boggles the mind.

When she was angry at someone, Irna would purposely lower her voice to a whisper, so her victim (LOL) had to lean in to hear her. It was Irn'a way of exerting control. Kay Campbell (Grandma Kate) once told a story about an executive who refused to put up with that, and snapped at Phillips, "Irna, don't you DARE lower your voice at me!"

Patricia Pearcy, who originated the role, made me think of Melinda as a character in quiet desperation; a vulnerable woman trying to hold on against an austere, controlling, aggressive elder sister. Jane Badler would be great as Diana on V, but her Melinda was petulant and shallow. Badler tended to play Melinda as if she were always in a bad mood. The character came across as campy because Badler did not have the acting chops to add depth and sensitivity to the role. Sharon Gabet, oy vey. God only knows what TPTB were going for there. The character bore no resemblance to past incarnations, was poorly-written and ill-defined. A mess. Gabet did not stand a chance. How could she play a part that wasn't written with any coherence?

Tom Wiggin even brought a slight spark of life to that drippy Iva.

There are only 16 eps of TGL on youtube, from the summer of 1966? Many are missing. I know of at least 29 from that summer. Many SFTs exist from the same period. There is a CD that is floating around among collectors which contains 90 radio eps of TGL from 1950, and along with those 90, there are many more out there too. I believe many of these are available online. If I find treasure chests of any of this stuff around the web, I'll give you a heads up. Zanereed, the show was brilliant back in 1950, with very good, literate scripts which dealt with adult themes. No wonder the audience was glued to the radio. I'm sure that the audience in 1977 was peeved that Bill had allowed the Bauers to believe he had been dead for a decade, but psychologically, I could see Bill doing it. He saw himself as a failure and was wont to escape into alcohol and affairs when times got tough. This was just another, more extreme case of him running away from a family whom he could not live up to. There could have been YEARS of potential story there. The fact that the careless Pamela K. Long and Gail Kobe killed off a legacy character, one who had originated on radio, was EGREGIOUS. I'm still mad about it.

Good analysis of the Bert/Bill dynamic. How many 1966 episodes are currently available on youtube? And have you listened to all the 1950 radio episodes concerning the death of Meta's son, and her subsequent murder trial? They are really good. When Bill returned in 1977, I was hoping TPTB had brought him back to explore this relationship, but everything just fizzled out. When they brought Bill back AGAIN in the early 1980s, I was really anxious to see Bill reunited with his family and have all the dynamics between him and Bert, him and Ed, etc., explored...but TIIC killed him off as a plot point in an asinine story. New viewers did not care, I'm sure, but I was aghast and infuriated. (Similarly, I was furious when Y&R brought Liz Foster back that last time, just to kill her off as part of a stupid story point.)

I liked them both. On rare occasions, multiple actresses in a role impress me (Gillian Spencer and Erika Slezak as Viki, all the Dorians, TVD and LB as Meredith....)

We never saw Victor's actual death scenes, so no one can say for sure what part Dorian played in his final moments. It's all supposition on everyone's part, including Stuart's. Watching the show religiously at the time, I did suspect that Dorian was at least passively instrumental in his death (letting him die without trying to save him, rather than actively killing him), but we will never know for sure. I DO know that the imposter they brought back decades later and claimed was Victor Lord was NOT him. UGH! Dreadful plot, idiotic retcon!

George Gaynes, the first recast, was a comedown from Robert Mandan. He lacked the charm Mandan had had, and after a while it was clear that Sam Reynolds was no longer a viable long-term romantic partner for our Jo. BTW, I found Gaynes to be rather wooden on GH too.

When Viki was on trial for killing Marco Dane, Claire Malis played Dorian as she went on the witness stand and fought strenuously to defend Viki. I remember thinking that Nancy Pinkerton's version might not have been as convincing in Dorian's defense of her arch enemy, but Malis' performance really worked for me. I adored Meredith Lord, and her love story with Larry Wolek was lovely and memorable. I couldn't believe the show killed her off. Meredith and Larry could have become the next tent-pole couple.

I think story mechanics more than warm romantic chemistry may have been the writers' reason for pairing Leslie and Mike originally. It precipitated so much drama. LA and DS were fine as a couple, don't get me wrong, but it was only after Rodell took over as Leslie that I, personally, felt a genuine warmth and spark between the characters.

Some recasts are just...painful, when the original actors had had such great chemistry with their co-stars.Stuart and Mandan really clicked. IMHO, he was her best leading man.

IMHO, Stewart and Rodell clicked much better on screen and had a natural-looking and affectionate chemistry. I wouldn't say the interaction was noticeably awkward between Adams and Stewart, but with DS, I always felt LA was...acting, and that there was more of a slight aloofness there. I think Leslie might have lasted much longer if Rodell had remained on TGL.

Malis showed the most emotion and vulnerability. Pinkerton's Dorian was the most impenetrable, emotion-wise I thought Princi's Dorian displayed a combination of traits that the other actresses had brought to the role. Her Dorian was determined and tough when need be, but she also struck me as someone who--after years of fighting to attain and maintain power and prestige--was ready to let her hair down to a degree and have some fun in her life.

Yes, Kelly was retconned into existence as Melinda's daughter by an unknown father.

OLTL lucked out with all the actresses chosen to play Dorian. Each one was competent and brought their own flavors to the role. Under Pinkerton, I saw Dorian as buttoned-down, self-possessed, and in firm reign of her limited emotions. She was the sort of woman who would observe those around her and assess how she could best use them to her own advantage. She was intelligent, but shrewd and cunning as well. Malis' Dorian was more emotional. To me, she came across as a woman who had deep feelings but kept them under control out of necessity. She did not want anyone to see her vulnerable areas and use them against her. Being brighter and more capable than many people, their flaws would vex her to the point of annoyance. Strasser played Dorian as someone with a lot of strong feelings too; feelings that would lead her to lash out in anger or pain, a sharp contrast to Pinkerton's Dorian, who would hold back, assess the situation, and carefully plot out every step she wanted to make before she acted. Both these Dorians could be dangerous, but Pinkerton's version was more calculated and Strasser's more impulse. Strasser's Dorian always struck me as someone who could take glee in her own machinations. Dixie Carter, who briefly assumed the role in 1974 while Pinkerton was on maternity leave, was good too. She was already perfecting her "death stare" which would be a memorable aspect of her role on Designing Women.

Yes, Mark runs TEON page, but there was no new content for years, although 2017 saw some much-appreciated growth. It has not been updated for six months. I hope it's not "gone dark" again. The link to the Somerset page has been dead for awhile. Perhaps if Mark runs it too, he has moved the site to anothrr domain, but googling it produces no results.

I was originally thrown off by the reference to the writers' strike in 1966, because that was averted and did not shut down production of the soaps. But it makes perfect sense that the AFTRA drama did. Soaps can scramble around and get temporary substitutes to write scripts or man the technical controls, but they simply cannot replace the actors on-screen. The AW Homepage is a remarkable, valuable resource tool, just like Jason's DAYS Page. I wish we had moire sites like these, for the other vintage soaps. There's one for TEON but its content is very limited. And we used to have pages for Somerset and SFT, but I cannot find them anymore. I wonder if they have been deleted.

Powell was supposedly the grandson of Victor Lord's never-seen, never-mentioned (before 1993) brother, Clayton Powell Lord Sr. Clayton Powell Lord, Jr. would be Viki's first cousin, and then the Powell we saw on the show in 1993, Powell III, would be...what? Viki's paternal first cousin once removed? I don't know. All these family retcons are too complicated and ridiculous for an ancient mind like mine! Suffice to say that Powell III was Victor Lord's brother's grandson. Hope this helps.

I'd love to have some accurate information about the whereabouts of Trish Stewart (Y&R's Chris Brooks from 1973 to 1978).

The 1966 writers' strike was averted. https://www.tvobscurities.com/articles/tvwriters_4/ "...in June 1966, the (Writers') Guild threatened to strike against television producers, ironically asking to return to the residual payment system they had argued against when on strike in 1960. A week later, the strike was averted, a new three-year contract was signed, and the writers got their residuals. Another strike, this one with film producers, was averted in December 1966 [106, 107, 108]. In October 1968, the Guild threatened to strike against the television networks but negotiations led to a new three-year contract in late October [109, 110]. Another strike almost occurred in June 1970 but was averted [111]." When there is a writers' strike, the soaps tend to rely on scab or "financial core" writers. https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/21/arts/television/21soap.html Robert Gerrenger refused to cross the picket line of NABET/ technicians' strike in 1967, and was let go from Dark Shadows that year. DS did not need any waiver from the writers' guild because there was no writers strike at that time. Soaps tend to muddle through when technical crews or writers go on strike. But of course, if actors walk out, that would shut down a show.

Lemay claimed that Dufour was a selfish actor who overacted, to the detriment of Susan Sullivan. The writer seemed to form intense likes or dislikes for various actors, and treat them accordingly.

Tony's parents were Victor Lord and Dorothy Randolph, Eugenia's sister, yes. The show had been building a potential story about Victor's illegitimate son for years, and he made his first appearance in 1975. Gwendolyn Lord Abbott was a different character. She was Victor's sister, but had not mentioned before 1978. Neither had Richard been referenced. She lasted about a year in Llanview and after she left in 1979, was never seen again.

Meredith Lord Wolek was Viki's fragile sister, married to Larry Wolek, who died young. Melinda Cramer was Dorian's neurotic sister who had to be placed in a mental hospital when she became unstable. Edwina Lewis was an aggressive newspaper reporter who married Marco Dane. Katrina Karr was a prostitute friend of Karen Wolek's. Karen and Marco switched Katrina's living baby with Jenny's dead one, launching an engrossing, long-term storyline.