vetsoapfan

Soaps used to provide ideal, fantasy-fulfilment families for so many viewers. Daytime TV lost an essential ingredient when the older vets (parents and grandparents) started getting let go and replaced by the hair models and himbos du jour. I could sit and watch Ruth Martin, Alice Horton, Bert Bauer, Nancy Hughes, Mary Matthews, and a host of other moms and grandmas all day. Horny teenagers running around having sex? Yawn. Not so much.

The strong, nostalgic pull of soaps dies hard. I have always hung onto once-beloved series long after they stopped being the shows I used to love. The only two I could not abandon completely were As the World Turns and The Guiding Light, but trudging through their final, decimated years was a chore. I guess, in a way, I am fortunate not to have access to Emmerdale anymore. I can remember it for what it was and not be bitterly disappointed by watching it become what it has become.

I went back for the end days of AW, TEON, OLTL, AMC, RH and TheDOC, even though I had drifted away from them years earlier. The way you described it is perfect: you want to honor former loved ones one last time. Of the shows listed, I was only truly pleased with the final eps of RH. Watching the shows' swans song, I was mainly reminded why I had abandoned them in the first place. Of the three, I've only seen H&A. Its first year was available here a few decades ago, and I enjoyed the series, but our network had only purchased a finite number of eps, and would play the same set ad nauseum. After I had seen all the originally-available material, we never got any more. From what I gather, thhe show has been completely overhauled since the debut. Tom and Pippa, their kids, Morag, Fisher, and almost all of the original players have been written out. I think Alf Stewart is still there, however. The last I saw him, Aaron was in a doomed romance with Jackson, and I liked their story. I had sympathy for them both. (And I can't lie, I thought Aaron was cute. Don't hate me!!!) I have no idea what he's like today. Bwahahahahahahahahahahaha! I can't say I disagree.

The family and community elements of soaps used to one of the genre's principle draws. TIIC everywhere lost the plot and forgot what soaps should be about, decades ago.

Looking back on it, I am surprised I managed to hang on with TGL and ATWT until the bitter end. Not me. I'm tired of murder and violence being such a major component of soaps. All of my friends who once loved the show dropped Corrie long ago. I'll always love the soap genre, and wish I had quality ones to watch and enjoy, but they don't seem to exist anymore.

That was a very enticing promo for AMC.

LOL! I thought Aaron would be tolerable if he married into the Sugden family, took their name, and helped create a new branch of the family tree. I guess you disagree.😉 So the show has not been well produced in 11 years? That's starting to sound like American soaps, with weak PsTB in charge for unnecessarily long stretches of time. If soaps want to keep certain characters at all viable, they should not take them in directions which make them irredeemable. Again, this reminds me of American soaps, which routinely turn their main characters into murderers, rapists, mobsters, and other assorted degenerates. I don't know why I felt an attachment to the first, original farm, but I guess it's like the lighthouse on TGL: I wanted it to be like a cornerstone presence throughout the life of the show. I've felt nostalgic about Emmerdale, and have wanted to be able to see it again, but the more I hear about its modern incarnation, the less I think I would enjoy it.

Of all the recasts, Kathleen Tolan as Mary was the most inexplicable, and painfully wrong for the role. I could never adjust to John Blazo as Pat, but at least he could act. Tolan was loud, coarse, and unbearable. I thought Mary Carney was about as good a recast TPTB were going to get, considering Kate Mulgrew was...well, Kate Mulgrew, the definitive Mary. Firing Carney so quickly was a bone-headed move, and what we got after she left was so, so much worse. Between bellowing NuMary and yelling Jillian, it was a toss-up to decide who was more abrasive. But the loss of the stage-play like quality really brought the show down from its former, exalted level, alas. It lost its special sheen, IMHO, and all the recasts that year didn't help matters. Still, the fact that it had been so good for so long is a blessing.

They made one of the last remaining Sugdens a murderer and trotted him off to jail? What a terrible, short-sighted mistake, to destroy a legacy character like that. UGH! So the Bartons have been sucked into the Dingles' orbit as well. How depressing. At least the fabled Sugden family farm still exists, but it's a shame it's tied in with the Dingles, like everything and everyone else on the show. Was Gavin Blyth the last competent producer this series had?

The last I heard (but was unable to actually watch), Aaron married Robert Sudgen and took the Sugden family name. I was satisfied upon hearing that, mainly because it meant an additional Sugden family member on the show. Whatever happened to Robert? And if Aaron is now calling himself a Dingle, can we at least hope that he will marry this new, incoming Sugden too, and return to using THAT family name? Please, Lord.😖 BTW, are there any Barton family members left on the show, or have they all be assimilated by the Dingles too? I have a feeling there are not many characters from "my time" still living in Emmerdale. Who is running (or owns) the Sugden farm now, or has it been wiped out and forgotten?

Wait, what? Eons ago, when I was able to watch Emmerdale, Aaron was a Livesy. He's a Dingle now??? EEK!

LOL!

To me, the Dingles are as bad as the Shaynes, Winslows and Santoses on TGL. Bleck!

I haven't had access to Emmerdale for many years, but I still think of its golden years fondly, and the idea of a new, blood Sugden being introduced thrills me. Hopefully, TPTB won't screw it up. I be happy to see a strong push to reinvigorate the core family, and maybe have Diane, Andy and Robert return too. Out of morbid curiosity, I just looked up the show's current cast of characters. I was aghast to find such a widespread infection of DINGLES.🤢

Maybe prices were different here in Canada than in the United States, but when I bought my first VCR in the mid-1970s, I had to cough up a whopping $27.99 for one blank videotape. I had to use the same one over and over again, and simply could not afford to buy enough tapes to use for soap-preservation purposes. My first VCR was, I believe, $1,400.00.

Stuart was sarcastic in her book, describing the Jimmy situation. It was clear she thought it was careless and idiotic. There were headwriters who were derogatory about Stuart and her place on the show, and I understand her bitterness towards them, but she was also publicly negative about Ann Marcus' tenure, which I disagreed with, since Marcus did keep Jo involved in the action, and since the ratings rose noticeably under her reign. (I thought SFT and Mary Hartman represented Marcus' best soap work; certainly better than her awful turn on DAYS.)

That was true for a lot of soaps back then. After being seen and acknowledged as the Bergmans' son, Jimmy faded into oblivion for a while, and then when he resurfaced, he was inexplicably referred to as Stu's and Marge's nephew. The cast noted the absurd error, but the new writers left Jimmy as a nephew instead of the Bergmans' child, until he faded into oblivion again. Piss-poor and careless writing: I hate idiocy like that. I'll never get over TGL's painfully stupid revisionist history, making Amanda Alan's sister (which was completely impossible after we had seen her original story play out). ITA. While it felt to me like there were 9,876,543 Patti recasts, Loring was the real Patti to me. She and Stuart were divine on screen together.

SFT was an excellent soap for many, many years. Gems like this remind me of that fact.

Much obliged, @te. Thank you.

I loathe no-life, pointlessly-vindictive hackers who destroy people's hard work and ruin the internet for everyone. My proposed punishment for them would be swift and severe.

It was just so weird, so out-of-character, and made Alice look idiotic. Having Rachel mentor Sally would have been a realistic and effective way to keep the flames of conflict alight. Yes, there were times when Marlowe stumbled his way through scenes, either fumbling his lines or forgetting them all together. When it was extensive and noticeable, it was painful to watch. Little glitches like in this scene were no big deal to me. Issues with dialogue aside, I did find the actor to be warm and generally likeable, although my favorite Jim Matthews was Sheppard Strudwick. I wonder if that was Mulcahey's influence.

After Courtney left, Alice behaved like she was intellectually limited, IMHO. She had already been very wary of Willis, and then to suddenly fall in love with him? Marrying Ray Gordon whom she had not known for very long? Going after her cousin's ex? None of this was in character, and came off as a puppet being pushed around from story point to story point, to fit into absurd plots. I cringed to see Alice showing up at Ada's back door, meeting Rachel in the kitchen, and then sitting down to have soup with her. WTF? These women hated each other. Why would Alice cheerfully agree to eat with her? GMAFB.😑 I was surprised Harney was listed so close to the top of the cast crawl. Victoria Wyndham was then first, of course. I can't recall right now if Harney was the second or the third highest-ranked actress (perhaps Beverly Penberthy was above her), but she should have been further down the list, behind other vets. The negative reaction to Harney, voiced by viewers in fan magazines, was widespread. I'm sure there were members of the audience who accepted her, and for the reasons you specified, but a vocal legion of fans did not. Even Harding Lemay admitted that despite continued focus on the character, Alice never again enjoyed the popularity she had attained with Courtney in the part. Lemay even acknowledged that JC's presence on OLTL may have contributed to that series' steady climb in the ratings. A few months after the cast massacre, the entire story was reported upon, in depth, in the daytime press. Jacquie Courtney wrote an article, herself, explaining her side of the story. Again, readers of the magazines were enraged. This is a lovely scene; the type that soaps used to do so well, but which we rarely see any more. It feels like we were watching a quiet moment play out with real family members. Jacquie Courtney was radiant. Her subtle performance added depth to the scene. And while Hugh Marlowe stumbled a bit with his dialogue, I didn't mind. In real life, most of us get tongue-tied from time to time. What a treat Ariana Muenker's clips are!

Being quite familiar in the realm of soaps, and how these things work out, I could see the plot coming from a mile away. I just knew Rachel would end up having Steve's baby.🙃 The scene in which Jim tells the truth about the baby to Mary is still seared in my memory. Loving, maternal Mary flew into an uncharacteristic rage and shrieked, "I...HATE...HER! I hate her!" We were used to Audra Lindley's Liz screaming at everybody, but not Mary Matthews. It was chilling to see her go berserk (chilling, but understandable) .

Catching up on this thread, I was thinking of posting all of these exact same sentiments, but you did it for me. You've saved me a lot of wear and tear on my typing fingers. All this to say: I agree with everything you wrote in this post.👍

Awww, @slick jones is kind enough to tag me in this post because he is, no doubt, offering up Luca Calvani to me on a silver platter.😝 Gracias, Slick!