vetsoapfan

Jimmy was introduced and referred to on-camera as the Bergmans' son. He drifted out of sight for a while, and when he came back, he was suddenly their nephew. Then he just disappeared for good. As you say, never to be seen or mentioned again. WTF? Such incompetence on the part of TPTB. The show also dropped all references to Stu and Jo being step-siblings (their widowed parents married each other later in life). I thought this was a mistake, too, since the good friends then became even more closely connected. But at least TIIC didn't suddenly announce one day that Stu was, in fact, Jo's nephew!🙄

Yes, it was common in the 1960s for young women and girls to be portrayed in a limited, two-dimensional way in films and TV. They were not always portrayed as individualistic, nuanced characters, but rather as overexcitable, giddy, and somewhat flaky. It wasn't realistic, but I imagine the audience was used to it. Think of the Beach Blanket movies, Gidget, or sitcom teens like Lucy's daughter Chris from The Lucy Show. Jacquie Courtney started out in this style, but somewhere early on she began to tone down the elastic facial expressions and became more thoughtful and realistic in her portrayal. This, to me, allowed her natural sweetness and vulnerability to shine through. "Less is more," as they say, and less mugging allows for more depth and truth in performances. JC's revised handling of Alice helped her grow into a daytime legend.👏 BTW, to illustrate what I mean about the portrayal of teens from the 1960s in the media, this clip shows what I am trying to say. The kids involved are fun to watch in this one-off film, but such larger-than-life behavior would grate on my nerves on a daily soap where everything and everyone else is more subdued. If Penny Hughes had been like this, she never would have become...PENNY HUGHES. @DRW50, your extensive commentary here was great. It's always a pleasure to read your posts.👍

I don't yet know about the 1966 eps which are available now (yay!), and if any of them were in "my" collection eons ago. There was one memorable episode from my set which stands out in my mind, with Don Knotts having surreal memory flashbacks (it was well done for the time, IMHO). I was happy to share with the community, and I am grateful to see all the material everyone else shares.🙃 Trading digitally over the internet is soooooooo much faster, easier and convenient than it ever was via snail mail.

Yes, Dailey's character (Pamela Stewart) was the one who actually murdered Stephanie, although Nicole was falsely accused and put on trial.

Just to add: Alice Hirson's most memorable role (to me) was as the psychotic Stephanie Martin on The Edge of Night. She stalked and terrorized Nicole Travis, and ended up getting stabbed in the back and murdered. That was a memorable storyline, I must say. Whomever else she played in later years, Hirson was always Stephanie Martin to me, LOL. May she RIP.

Yes, it was me. Many years ago, I had acquired multiple 1966 episodes of SFT and shared them with my soap-trading friends. Transactions were all carried out via snail mail at the time, using Betamax, VHS and (later) DVD-Rs when replicating the material. The kinescopes eventually appeared on Youtube after that site was launched (I had no clue how to upload to the internet, myself, being technologically limited, LOL) and remained up for a long time. I shared the bulk of my collection before 2010 or so, and by now (thanks to folks who are far more adept with technology than I will ever be) many of "my" vids are in wide, on-line circulation.

Well, when it comes to our beloved and unfairly driven-into-the-ground soaps...WE, the staunch fans, direct how the world turns! LOL!

While the mentioning of beloved classic soaps was nice, they clearly did not do actual research. The first error they made was announcing that As the World Turns ran for 72 years. Um, nope, that was The Guiding Light. Also, they were wrong about the creation of the soap genre. The first one was neither TGL nor ATWT. Clara, Lu and Em, and Irna Phillip's Painted Dreams predated them (debuting in 1930). https://www.oldtimeradiodownloads.com/soap-opera/clara-lu-and-em https://www.otrr.org/FILES/Synopsis_txt/P_Series/Painted_Dreams.htm This is as careless as referring to Mary Stuart as Mary Stewart on screen, when the actress died. Yikes!

Thanks for the heads-up, @DRW50. It's always a nostalgic pleasure to see old soap faves from decades ago. I adored Jessie Brewer so much.

I have no memory whatsoever of Rosemary Murphy playing a Kennicott on AMC in 1970. Didn't the kids arrive in 1971-2? Curiously, my mind is telling me that Murphy played Mark Dalton's mother in the later 1970s. Hmmm. Let me think about this a bit.

KMH was a bizarre choice for the role of Emily. The character became an icy mannequin, devoid of warmth and depth. Like with Paul Ryan, Dusty Donovan, Meg Snyder and Craig Montgomery, the core essence of Emily Stewart evaporated upon her being recast. All these faux, "pod" incarnations of once-complex Oakdalians became irrelevant annoyance (IHO). I would say that Jess Walton is technically a finer, more accomplished actress than Brenda Dickson, but she lacks that indefinable "je ne sais quoi" or "it" factor which BD brought to the role, and which ingrained her in viewers' minds.

Yes, TPTB failed miserably with the recasting of Meg too. Thinking of all the recasts as totally different characters was our only option, considering how drastically different the new interpretations of the characters were in the hands of the newbies.

It had been tepid for years beforehand, but to me, ATWT's heart was really gutted under Chris Goutman and Hogan Sheffer. HS' writing became cold, mean-spirited, and emotionally and morally bankrupt. It was clear he neither understood nor cared about the legacy of the show and its characters. The foolish stunt casting was painful to endure. None of the stunt-hired actors matched the quality of their predecessors, and because some/most of the newbies were poorly miscast, beloved characters were gratuitously decimated. Nostril-flaring, hammy Roger Howarth was a disaster compared to charming Scotty Holroyd. The once nuanced and multi-dimensional Craig Montgomery became smarmy and shallow when Scott Bryce was replaced by Hunt Block. Dusty Donovan, once a decent, upright young man with a moral compass, devolved into an unpleasant, grubby schlub when Brian Bloom was replaced by Grayson McCouch. UGH! THAT. WAS. EGREGIOUS.😡

I agree 100% The show had been badly damaged by years of abuse, but there was enough of a familiar core remaining. The right PTB could have salvaged it, if P&G and CBS had given them enough time, patience and support. There was no longer any "will" to save Oakdale, alas, even though there was still a "way." AMC had also been badly decimated for years before its cancellation, but shortly before it was axed, the show's two best head writers (Agnes Nixon and Lorraine Broderick) were allowed to return and clean up the mess. They worked miracles with the garbage they inherited, and Pine Valley was looking up. It felt like Pine Valley once more. AMC would still be with us, had the will had been there among the suits at ABC.

I loved all the long-running shows at one time or another, although TGL is probably my all-time favorite. Many soaps were at their best in the 1970s, so I'm particularly interested in anything you wish to share with us from that decade. Fans appreciate the treats, believe me.👍

The episodes you're uploading are sure to bring a lot of excitement to fans. Thank you for sharing. @EricMontreal22, it is great to see you back posting again. I always enjoyed your commentary, and am pleased that we can all read more of it.👍

ROTF! And it's a pleasure to be one of those five people! Knowing I am not alone in my obsession is a relief!🫢

This is GREAT! Thank you so much for alerting us to this material. Plus, Slesar worked on TEON until 1983, and Somerset was cancelled in 1976, sooo no. HS did not go over to SOM "after" he left TEON. The endless errors we find everywhere are so annoying.

I wanted to like it, I really did...but the show felt shallow, empty and predictable to me, even though I fully acknowledge that it had its moments. I listened to and watched 15-minute soaps and loved them, but I was happy when they expanded to half an hour. Fifteen-minute broadcasts were so short; the 30-minute versions felt just right. I didn't care for the 45-minute OLTL and GH era, and of course, the 90-minute AW experiment was ludicrous. I took for granted the quality of soaps back in the 1960s and '70s. Even today, there are some shows and writers I don't credit enough, like Sam Hall, Gordon Russell and Don Wallace of OLTL. I automatically sing the praises of greats like Phillips, Bell, Nixon, Lemay and Falken Smith, but am trying to remember the other writers who also did excellent work. I know I do not mention TEON's Henry Slesar enough, but he was a real genius who could do it all (mystery, suspense, romance, family conflict, comedy) with aplomb. It's curious to note how daytime TV went from having such an abundance of talented scribes in its halcyon years, to a complete dearth of them today.

All the soap goodness being heaped upon us, thanks to this generous Youtuber, is a dream come true!

OMFG, I am in soap nirvana. Thank you, @Vee. OLTL, AMC, ATWT...all from the 1970s!!! Heck, he even offers Room 222, a sitcom I loved back in the day. This gentleman deserves all the kudos and thanks we can offer him! The SON community is wonderfully generous!

Yes. It had such a warm and peaceful feeling to it. So was Theo Goetz, as the beloved Papa Bauer on TGL. Most of the actors from the early years, whose commentary about the writers I've read, referred to Wallace with high praise. Fans often salute Patrick Mulcahey's dialogue for its wittiness; I cherished Wallace's scripts for their natural warmth and realism. It's curious how Loving never really worked well; never jelled, despite the acknowledged pedigrees of TPTB involved. I could never get into it, no matter how many chances I gave it. Yes, the depth and nuances of performances and direction seemed to fall by the wayside when time consideration and budgetary restraints started to override all other factors. Nowadays, I'm astounded whenever any actor manages to pull off a truly beautiful performance, considering what they are up against. While a few shows managed to do well in the 60-minute format, at least for a while under the right PTB, I think it was ultimately an unwise decision to expand them beyond 30 minutes a day. I wish Beyond The Gates were 30 minutes in length.

Of the four portraits (Eugenia, Pinkerton, Malis and Strasser), I think I'd want the Pinkerton one most (although I'd happily accept any of them). There are so many objects from soap opera sets that I'd kill to have!

If an accent simply isn't working out, I'd prefer the show/actor just to drop it without resorting to twisted, idiotic on-screen explanations. Nobody cared that Kim Zimmer abandoned Reva's original twang early in her run on TGL. Another atrocious accent that never should have been greenlit was poor Jacqueline Courtney's British impression when she played Maggie Ashley on OLTL. I adored JC, but...egads! To be honest, I've always considered MTS to be vastly overrated, although at this point she owns the role of Nikki, and I would not replace her. Yes, she was quite stiff and wooden in the beginning, but she did have a certain "something" which was appealing. When Jacquie Courtney first began on AW, she overacted and had irritatingly exaggerated (to me) facial expressions that made Alice look like a teenybopper from Beach Blanket Bingo. Once she toned that down, she also became quite appealing. And Jaime Lyn Bauer was squeaky and fluttery when she debuted on Y&R, but patience paid off in her case as well. Courtney, Bauer and Thayer all became daytime icons. The Tony/Joe scene was lovely and effective. The best aspect of OLTL in the 1960s and '70s was natural dialogue and believable conversations characters had. Doris Belack once said that writer Don Wallace could write her reams of dialogue to study, and the words would flow effortlessly out of her mouth because Wallace wrote from character. We have not seen that on soaps in decades. She was a gem. The odious Rauch fired so many stalwart, essential actors, but at least Marilyn Chris flew under his radar. When Granger was nominated for a Daytime Emmy, I took it as yet another confirmation that the awards were not based on merit, but rather out of habit and/or name recognition. Both Granger and Uta Hagen (also nominated) stumbled and staggered through their lines, would look around for the teleprompter, and gave tepid (at best) performances. Unfortunately, FG's first replacement was dull as dishwater. I was relieved when the show recast again, because Tony George was the best of the three men who had taken on the role. I loved, loved, loved Joe and Viki's carriage house! It was my favorite home set on OLTL. I would have chosen to live there instead of Llanfair.😝 Pinkerton is the sort of actress who is so good, and who inhabited Dorian so well, it was easy to forget she was even acting. I considered Charita Bauer another performer like this; she never once gave a false note.

Yes, this portrait is of Pinkerton's Dorian. This is Lori March, who played Eugenia in the idiotic "Viki goes to heaven" nonsense. Jordan Charney was a poor recast, but Vinnie #3, Michael Ingram, was worse. After Doris Belack left as Anna Craig, TPTB hired Kathleen Maquire to replace her. Another, baffling and miscast dud. Unpopular opinion here, but when Melody Thomas took over as Nikki, I thought she was a significantly weaker actress than Erica Hope had been. MT's version of the character struck me as far too cartoonish. I liked Patsy Rahn, but in the end, LC developed into a better Monica Bard. Agreed. Light was an astonishingly effective recast. When Brynn Thayer first assumed the role of Jenny, she was painfully stiff and unnatural. I thought she was never going to work out. Lo and behold, she developed into a great actress. After she had been on the show for a while, Gerald Anthony admited that she was now "500% better than when she started." Yes, Jenny married Peter when this actor was on the show. (I answered the question about the accent in a recent post, above.) Endless, rotating PTB ultimately altered and damaged many long-running characters on this (and many other) shows. I don't believe it for a minute, either. It was a repugnant assassination of the Victor Lord character, just like the Rick-Webber-is-a-degenerate crap on GH. UGH!