vetsoapfan

Thanks, @JAS0N47 and @slick jones.

I loved her as Hester Sue Terhune on Little House on the Prairie!

10 hours ago, DRW50 said:

Think this is Geoffrey Scott. Wondering if anyone can ID a few others. 

@jam6242 @vetsoapfan

 

Yes, that's Geoffrey Scott.

None of the other actors ring a bell, however.

Thanks for the link @DRW50

On 5/9/2023 at 11:15 PM, DRW50 said:

I wonder if fans considered Jayne's Nicole to basically be a brand new character. You don't get much on fan opinion (outside of letters to the editor) in soap magazines of that era. (Daily TV Serials from a few years earlier probably would have had a mouthful to say on this subject).

I think it was Rona Barrett's Daytimers which published  a blurb about Jayne, saying that while she was generally liked by the cast, most acknowledged that she should have remained a model and not tried to be an "actress."

She was so awful and miscast as Nicole. How she actually landed the role, I'll never understand. Shades of Wesley Pfenning and Linda Borgenson on AW. YIKES!

4 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

Thanks @vetsoapfan I was hoping you'd know. Always apprecaite it.

My pleasure.

14 hours ago, DRW50 said:

Is this Jennifer Harmon?

 

Yes, it sure is.

On 4/22/2023 at 5:00 PM, Errol said:

In the two years since Giddens joined the show’s writing team, “Days of our Lives” took home the Writers Guild Award for Daytime Drama two years in a row (2022, 2023) and the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series Writing Team in 2022.

My mind is reeling with sarcastic replies.

On 4/21/2023 at 6:36 AM, Vee said:

That's wonderful for him and the show. A huge get. Bill Hayes has some age competition!

I do wonder if they will have Dick's amnesiac character turn out to be a core character - I thought there were several long-lost Hortons from the golden years. A bold move, but I can see why they might not choose to go there with someone who is unlikely to return.

I'm dreaming in Technicolor here, but I'd be delighted if DVD showed up as Tommy Horton, Jr., a character from the show's halcyon years, who has been in total limbo for decades now. Even if the actor is unlikely to recur indefinitely, or return as a guest on DAYS again in the future, what a gift it would be for both DVD fans and OG fans of the series.

Of course, it will never happen.

Great stills, @slick jones!

They bring back memories of my earliests days of watching my beloved GH!

To me, Steve Hardy and Jessie Brewer were daytime royalty!

On 4/1/2023 at 11:01 AM, te. said:

 

IMHO, Lemay's writing weakened as his tenure went on, but when he was at his peak, AW was exhilarating; everything a soap should be.

On 3/28/2023 at 5:37 AM, DRW50 said:

Sorry to hear this, but what a legacy. I'm glad we finally got to see some of her work on The Doctors, which certainly wasn't perfect, but was head and shoulders above anything else I saw on the show afterward - very warm and witty alongside the expected melodrama.

ITA. Rita Lakin has never really been placed alongside the greatest of the greats, like Phillips, Nixon, Bell and other writers of their ilk,  but she was a solid and capable scribe who put out fine work. She was definitely the best writer TD ever had.

1 hour ago, slick jones said:

I figured I'd tag you for her activism.   Her appearances were brief on the show, but her comedy and appearances in non-pornographic gay cinema have always been top notch.

@DRW50, these vintage ATWT links are priceless. Seeing the legacy Hughes and Stewart families together made me verklempt. Thanks for the uploads.

Thanks for the link, @slick jones.

Even though I only watched OLTL daily from 1968 to 1983, and then during the Billy Douglas/AIDS quilt saga, when it was good, I loved the show dearly and have great memories of its golden era. And I'm still interested in its overall history, even the years I was not a regular viewer.

Thanks @slick jones!

36 minutes ago, kalbir said:

@vetsoapfan Thank you for answering. It's too bad so little of the early years of Y&R is out there.

Yep. I'd watch 1973-82 again for sure, even the "less effective" material with Vanessa Prentiss.

36 minutes ago, Broderick said:

Vanessa was more of a plot point than a character.  Bell wanted to "redeem" Lorie to a certain extent -- she'd been pretty awful in her earlier years -- and the best thing he could come up with was a Wicked Mother-in-Law who would manipulate Lorie, making Lorie come across a Hapless Victim for a change.  

I always thought the Vanessa Prentiss role was an utter waste of KT Stevens.  

Suzanne Lynch was another hard-to-take-seriously plot point character. I've always thought she was used to garner sympathy for Katherine, after all Mrs. C's egregious, earlier behavior. 

34 minutes ago, kalbir said:

@Broderick So Bill Bell was trying to evolve Lorie from vixen daughter of the main upper class family to anti-heroine?

Even at her worst, Lorie always had traces of humanity and guilt about her crimes.

I think William J. Bell tried to redeem her the most, and evolve her away from being primarily a bitch, when Lorie fell in love with Mark Henderson. He made her happy for the first time in her life, it seemed, and then Lorie discoved that he was in reality her half-brother (they shared a biological father). Lorie's anguish was gut-wrencing to witness, and I think Bell really turned the tide of sympathy towards her at that point.

8 minutes ago, Paul Raven said:

I've mentioned before that perhaps it would have been better to write Leslie and Brad off (Tom Hallick was going to leave anyway)when Janice departed and allow some breathing time before a recast.

Lorie had her plate full with Vanessa, Lance and later Lucas. Leslie could then return (widowed or divorced) and be an added factor in Prentiss saga. That longer break might have worked in favor of a Leslie recast.

Your take on Vanessa is interesting and I admit at times I just wished everyone would just tell her they'd had enough and stop her in her tracks. I agree she somewhat lacked that nuance in her portrayal that we could feel for her situation a la Kay.

I feel the same way about Phyllis with Michelle Stafford-I've never felt any sympathy or 'love to hate'for that character. 

I agree it would have been a wiser (and more emotionally-satisfying) choice for Brad and Leslie to ride into the sunset togther when the show did not renew Lynde's contract. Fans cry foul when their favorite, beloved couples leave town, but better them depart together and have a happy ending, than the couple breaking up and making the audience endure a recast. When Another World fired George Reinholt in 1975, I would have preferred to see Steve and Alice move to Australia together, than see Steve die and an unfortunate replacement in the role of Alice.

But Y&R was highly invested in the character of Leslie, and AW was so centered on Alice (even with Rachel waiting in the wings to overtake the show) at the time, I'm not surprised that TPTB made the choices they did. I just don't feel those choices were successfil in hindsight.

5 hours ago, kalbir said:

What are your thoughts on these storylines from the early years:

Snapper/Chris relationship with the surrounding storylines of Stuart exposing Snapper's cheating to Chris, Chris's rape, Greg falling for Chris, Stuart disapproving of Snapper and preferring Greg.

Brad falling for Leslie but being pursued by Lorie and the surrounding storyline of Leslie's emotional breakdown.

Leslie/Lorie/Lance/Lucas quadrangle with Vanessa in the background.

I picked these three because they showed Bill Bell elements that we would see in later Y&R storylines and in the early years of B&B.

The Chris/Snapper and Leslie/Brad sagas were brilliant: beautifully conceived, written and acted. The original actors had star appeal and charisma to burn; a certain "je ne sais quoi" and chemistry that can't be forced or manufactured. I was instantly mesmerized. I consider the debut year of Y&R to be the best opening of any soap I have seen in all the decades of my watching daytime TV.

Personally, I felt the Lorie/Lance/Leslie/Lucas business was a step down in effectiveness (not a huge plunge, but just not as riveting). Victoria Mallory was an exquisitively attractive woman, who played the piano beautifully and sang like an angel. She also (to me) came across as poised as self-contained, lacking the depths of insecurity and emotional pain that Leslie had always exibited under Janice Lynde. There did not seem to be the "still waters run deep" quality to Leslie now, so integral elements of the character disappeared. Leslie felt like a different character who did not incite as much protectiveness and sympathy anymore. (Rona Barrett's Daytimers magazine referred to Mallory's take on the character as "colorless," which transferred  the rooting value to Jaime Lyn Bauer's tempermental, complicated and emotional Lorie.)

I believe Mallory would have worked out in a different, newly-created role, but she wasn't right for Leslie. (Think Linda Borgensen in comparion to Jacqueline Courtney on Another World or Marj Dusay in comparion to Beverlee McKinsey on The Guiding Light.) The romantic uncertainties of the four Ls were lopsided because the rooting value (again, to  me) remained hugely in Lorie's favor.

I know there are fans who enjoy campy villainesses like Vivian Alamain and Susan Banks on DAYS, Susan Piper on TGL, Justine on Another World, etc., but I never have. The rest of the characters on Y&R were nuanced and relatable, and portrayed by actors who brought subtle layers to their roles. Vanessa Prentiss was an over-the-top loon played by an actress who took a highly affected, theatrical, "hammy" approach to the role. She did not mesh with the other actor's naturalistic and believable style. Mainly, I found Vanessa to be unrealistic and absurd. I couldn't settle into and believe in any story she was part of.

So with two performers I felt were miscast, the four L/Vanessa stuff never captivated me as much as the earlier Chris/Snapper, Brad/Leslie, and even the intitial Lorie/Lance stories did.

That being said, the four L/Vanessa storylines were MASTERIECES compared to anything we've seen on daytime TV in decades!

I adored the storyline Janice Lynde and Tom Hallick played out during Y&R's early years; it is tied for first place as my all-time favorite Genoa City story. That being said, it's completely erroneous to assert, "We were the first super-couple of daytime...." Brad and Leslie were certainly NOT the first super couple of soaps. In fact, they weren't even the first superr couple of Y&R. Chris Brooks and Snapper Foster were already tangled in a blossoming star-crossed relationship in the very first episiode, before Leslie even meet Brad.

15 hours ago, will81 said:

Naked at Dawn was her first book from 1974 right? Impressive that JLB remembered that one at all. 

I'm betting the party was hectic and Michael just managed to get certain people together and not others for no other reason than it must have been difficult to co-ordinate.

Yes, Naked at Dawn was the first book Lorie had written. She penned In My Sister's Shadow later on, about her contentious relationship with Leslie.

I imagine Fairman might have just jumped on duos or groups of people who were already talking to each other anyway, and asked them for brief interviews. With prior planning, it would have made sense to include Tom Hallick.

3 hours ago, DRW50 said:

Thanks @BoldRestless that was a lot of fun, and very important to have as a tribute to their contributions to Y&R (the closest we'll get, anyway). Wish we could have had some of this in the episodes 

I'm glad they did mention Victoria Mallory.

Given that they mention Brad I wonder if there was any attempt at interviewing Janice or JLB with Tom Hallick, unless there's some bad blood there.

@vetsoapfan you may enjoy this interview if you haven't already seen it.

I had not caught this interview until you pointed it out to me. Thank you so much @DRW50! It was a treat!

I also wish we could have had some interactions like this with their characters on the show.

Acknowledging Victoria Mallory with such respect was sweet.

I found it amusing that Jaime Lyn Bauer mixed up Lorie's book titles Naked at Dawn and In My Sister's Shadow. I instantly caught her error. Die-hard fans can remember even the most obscure details.

I don't believe there's bad blood with JL and Tom Hallick. She's in the classic Y&R Facebook group, and she has often posted very glowing comments about Hallick, their characters' storyline, and working with him.

21 hours ago, soapfan770 said:

Now this is EMBARRASSING. Back in the day sure every soap experienced the occasional end credits goof every now and then….but to have such an egregious error in the opening credits and just let it hit the airwaves without noticing…yeeesh. I’d say somebody needs to be fired for not doing the one job they had to, however my money is on Josh Griffith personally making these credits himself

Nothing could ever be more egregious than the "Mary Stewart" tribute fiasco. UGH!

9 hours ago, kalbir said:

So you weren't a fan of the supercouple era (1983-1990) and Reilly sci-fi years (1993-1997)?

Throughout the decades, I have been a major fan of many supercouples, but only when their their storylines remained grounded in the realm of believability and relative reality. Bill and Laura and Doug and Julie on DAYS, Brad and Leslie and Chris and Snapper on Y&R, Steve and Alice on AW, Laura and Scotty on GH; I could name many pairs. But once the uber villains, spies, mad scientists, ghosts, clones, time travellers and Satan entered the soap equation, I was totally turned off. Supercouples' conflict with a bitter ex lover or baby mama was realistic and compelling; supercouples battling a mad scientist freezing the world or a rapidly-aging clone was too stupid to endure.

After loving DAYS since the beginning, I endured the terrible Ann Marcus period, and even survived my way through Nina Laemmle's debacle, but James Reilly made me finally abandon the show. I could never watch it again after what he did to it. (Yes, I know: to each his own, and there were folks who enjoyed/still enjoy supernatural, sci-fi and low-brow camp elements. That is fine, but I'm just not one of them. I truly believe they destroyed the soaps.)

4 minutes ago, Toups said:

Kudos to DAYS and Ken Corday for always defying the odds.  People who are upset with this renewal can go take a seat somewhere else.  

I don't think folks are upset about soaps' being renewed; I see viewers desperately advocating for better product to warrant the shows' continued existence, and to make soaps worthwhile and enjoyable to watch again.

I'm know I am a curmudgeon about quality, LOL, but to me, the last time DAYS was well written was under Pat Falken Smith in 1982.

I've been more than patient!

Please, Lord, let Ron be replaced, sooner rather than later. Two more years of his material is the stuff nightmares are made of.