vetsoapfan

I've read reports that said it was the network's idea, to attract GH viewers who had been fans of Mattson's Heather Webber. Whoever made the decision, it was a mistake. Mattson was totally wrong for the role of Dee. She was basically playing a foreign, unfamiliar character, not Delia Reid Ryan. Randell Edwards was very good in the part, but in the end, only Ilene Kristen could be the REAL Delia. I thought Mary Carney (Mary #2) was a good actress and may have succeeded in the role had ABC not pulled the plug on her so quickly. Subsequent replacements (Kathleen Tolan and Nicolette Goulet) were terrible choices, particularly the harsh and abrasive Tolan whose Mary felt like a harridan. If Randall Edwards and Mary Carney had stayed in the roles, I would have accepted them as Delia and Mary, but I do believe if the original actors are good, the audience prefers them.

Yes. All soaps fall into the same trap at one time or another: new PTB come in, decide to reinvent the wheel, and sweep away the old to make way for the new. When the changes invariably fail miserably, another set of PTB descends upon the soap do the exact same thing. It's ridiculous, but nobody who actually understands soaps and the audience has worked in the industry for decades.

I found her to be quite colorless and unsubstantial as Mary Ryan on RH and Kathy Phillips on SFT. She was far too green ever to replace strong performers like Kate Mulgrew (especially) and Courtney Simon. Her Meredith didn't do anything for me, either. It's amazing to consider how many irrelevant and disposable characters TGL foisted on viewers in the 1980s. That's what I thought, too. And frankly, I much preferred Maeve's quiet and demure tone to Reva's endless loud-mouth, ham-in-the-can behavior.

I agree that the show harped on Delia's scheming too much and it became redundant after a while, but at least she was an original, core character who was intertwined with most of the show's characters. Kim was an annoying newbie who was suddenly shoved center stage. I couldn't stand the actress, whose head always seemed to be bobbling around. There are characters whom you love to hate (Rachel Davis, Dorian Lord, etc.) and then there are characters whom you simply loathe and want dispatched from the show as of yesterday. For me, Kin was in that category. I was so excited to hear that PFS was coming aboard the show. To me, she was one of the best writers DAYS ever had, and she made miracles happen by replacing Douglas Marland so successfully at GH, but her RH felt alien, cold, cynical and detached. I don't think she understood or cared about this soap and its characters much. Curiously, from the moment she took over TGL, I felt she clicked and just "got it." The character moments she gave to Bert and Hillary, Nola, Henry and Vanessa, Mike and Sara, and other Springfieldians were lovely. God only knows why her stint at RH was so awful. I ended up considering her the worst writer in the show's history. Rosie has always grated on my nerves, TBH, but I did appreciate how she championed her favorite series. Probably, short of divine intervention. But I think it would have lasted longer than it did, had the network not sentenced it to The Timeslot of Death. Feeling nostalgic about the show, I watched a Locher Room reunion with several members of the cast (Ilene Kristen, Malcom Groome, Ash Adams among others). I tend to avoid Alan Locher because he comes across as so incompetent, clueless and unprepared, but to my delight, he barely interrupted the flow in this group chat. All the actors were talkative and interesting, and didn't need Alan's direction. Ilene Kristen was hilarious with some of her errors. The panel was discussing all the actors who had ever played Frank Ryan: Michael Hawkins, Andrew Robinson, Don Scardino (as a temporary stand-in), Geoffrey Pierson, and John Sanderson). Ilene piped in and said that she knew Scardino and he had never been on the show; she was quite sure. Finally, she realized that he may have played Frank during one her breaks away from the series, so that settled that. Later, she "argued" (in a friendly way) about when RH was cancelled. Everyone else correctly said that it was 1989. Ilene, stressing that she was "pretty sure" of her facts, said the show ran into 1990. Ash Adams, who played Johnno Ryan, quipped, "MOM! You're out of your mind!" The respect and affection everyone seemed to have for each other, even after 35 years, was poignant.

Yes, the bitterness over her alleged machinations to save Loving at the expense of RH was interesting, as were the comments about Loving being the worst show on daytime TV and void of acting talent, LOL. True, I thought RH was (overall) better written than Loving, and had many more accomplished actors, but I could understand why ABC would acquiesce to Agnes Nixon. She was, after all...AGNES NIXON, a proven money maker with a long and significant record of success. That being said, I thought RH got the raw end of the deal regarding the time-swapping. Between Loving and RH, Nixon's show was a baffling flop whereas RH had been doing at least moderately well and receiving a lot of critical acclaim and awards. RH deserved to be nurtured and given the best shot to stay on the air. God only knows why, with Nixon and Marland involved, Loving was such a mess, but that's a discussion for another message thread. Other posters have pointed out some of the former RH cast who later moved over to AMC. I will say, that even though some of RH's plots were clunkers, if I compare them to today's four remaining soaps, I'd watch RH again over the pod versions of GH, Y&R, B&B and DAYS in a heartbeat. Even when it was at its worst (Delia and and the Gorilla, The Egyptian Tomb nonsense, the Kirkland Invasion, the annoying youth influx under Pat Falken Smith), there were always at least some moments of quality to be found. Rewatching The Doctors and Ryan's Hope today, it reminds me how good we had it back then.

So true. I remain saddened and perplexed at how many people failed at Ryan's Hope; particularly creative personnel who (to me) had succeeded so well elsewhere. Pat Falken Smith was good at Where the Heart Is, great at DAYS and GH, and even a wonderful surprise during her short stint at TGL. Claire Labine was also a winner on Where the Heart Is and especially Love of Life. To see writers of their talent screw up an intelligent, erudite, thinking-man's soap like RH was mind-numbing. The Prince Albert and ancient Egypt plots were painfully stupid, and PFS' entire tenure at RH felt forced and broken. Destroying Ryan's Bar proved with that one move alone why everyone involved in the approval of the plot should not have had any control over the soap. They didn't understand it or care the show's history. The destruction of the family bar was as egregious as the mob shoot-out in the Bauer kitchen (!!!) on TGL years later. What an audience-alienating and destructive incident. UGH! I agree, the book needed some judicious pruning. I am grateful for all the work which went into it, and I was happy to read the candid stories and anecdotes, but parts of the book could have been trimmed here and there, particularly towards the end. (I did enjoy the potshot Gordon Thompson took at Paul Rauch; I'm glad it was included in the final draft, LOL!) There are so many bone-headed moves for which I will never forgive TIIC at TGL. I was significantly more attached to it than I was to RH, so the decimation of TGL angered me a lot more. At least RH went out with a bang, on a high note.

Many egregious mistakes were made on RH throughout the years. I've just finished reading Tom Lisanti's Oral History of Ryan's Hope book, and it is amazing to read about all the crap that went down behind the scenes. I had always assumed that the most idiotic story and character decisions were foisted on the show by the network, but commentary from those who were there at the time make it clear that even great scribes like Claire Labine and Pat Falken Smith stumbled badly on RH, as well. Not to be contrary, but could anything BE worse than the Amanda Spaulding garbage on TGL?😬

The fact that we didn't see Penny Cunningham or Ellen Stewart when Nancy Hughes passed away, but the focus centered so much on Katie (🤮) cemented my hatred for that character (and Goutman).

It was his best performance!😉 BTW, I am reading the Oral History book by Tom Lisanti, and enjoying it thoroughly. I thought RH was excellent in its early years and in its final one (IMHO, it came to an end much better than most other soaps did), but a lot of its middle era was a mess. Now that I am reading about how incompetent, foolish and combative so many of TPTB were at the time, I am not surprised! The egregious and destructive mistakes heaped on the show by Claire Labine and Pat Falken Smith boggle the mind.

For the time, that was a huge deal. The soaps had not yet started to go overboard with the cartoonish, campy slap fests and lily-pond dunks that came later. Soap mags printed several letter from viewers/readers who said how shocked they were that "good" Alice went after Rachel physically (lunging at her and throwing copper pots).

Maybe I was subconsciously comparing Granger's line deliveries on ATWT to OLTL, where he stumbled and "went up" so often (like Hugh Marlow in the later years on AW). His scenes on ATWT were significantly less marred by his forgetting the dialogue. Another actress who would get confused, mangle up dialogue, and then save herself was Joan Bennet on Dark Shadows. I know performers have often say that memorization is like a muscle, which strengthens over time, but I still marvel at performers' ability to retain pages and pages of dialogue, particularly when they appear on three, four, or five episodes a week. I could not do it, either, which is why I tend to be forgiving of soap actors who stumble. I figure, I know people in real life who stammer and take pauses while speaking, so in a sense, mangled speech is not unbelievable.

I don't recall him fumbling his lines very much on ATWT, either, but it had much more of a problem when he appeared on OLTL.

Wow, 102. We should all be so lucky. May she RIP.

I've long felt that novelist Jonathan Kellerman, who has had a hugely successful series (the Alex Deleware books) would be a good fit for a crime-oriented soap a la The Edge of Night. He's very prolific, writes engaging and compelling stories, and is good at characterization. God knows, soaps need talented new blood. I'd rather see a soap newbie try and fail, than a regurgitated, recycled hack fail for the 10th freaking time.

Oh, I had completely forgotten about him. I wouldn't be opposed to giving him another shot at the GH universe, particularly considering other "writers" who could be foisted on us.

Yes, although I am struggling to come up with any names (besides Nancy Curlee, Kay Alden and Lorraine Broderick) who have had strong success in the past (if not 100%, but overall).

The problem remains: ARE THERE any writers still out there who even have formidable reputations any more? All the greats have either passed away or are retired.

The weaker a show is, overall, the more glaring the weakest links in the cast are. If they don't have the writing and directing to support them, wooden actors flounder out in the open. At least Hensley was surround by some fine actors to prop him up. And at its height, ATWT never had as many dud characters on screen as GH does now.

So do I. Daytime TV is awash with executives who don't seem to understand soaps, and who micro-manage the genre out of sheer ignorance, making the same destructive choices their predecessors have made for four decades. Add the inexplicable habit of recycling "talent" that has failed before at other shows...and we have a recipe for disaster. I'll give credit where credit is due: Bobbie's farewell episodes were handled much better than I thought they would be. Ditto. She may not be Ron Carlivati bad, Chuck Pratt bad, Dena Higley bad, but being "less bad" than notoriously awful writers doesn't mean she's good, either.

He really was. Ideally, I'd like to see him as "lead script writer" at a soap with a strong, capable head writer at the helm. If PM could write two-three scripts a week and edit the others, that would be great. The mob garbage has been overplayed and beaten into the ground for 20+ years, as you say. It's tedious and creatively bankrupt. The criminal element on the show needs to be laid to rest. The GH cast is top-heavy and bogged down with a huge number of irrelevant and/or burned out characters who need to be pruned away, pronto. I've entertained myself more than once by taking cast lists of the various soaps and crossing out the names of all the characters whom I feel could/should be shown the door. ITA, but when I voice this opinion, I'm always told that I'm dreaming in Technicolor, and might as well dream about having Henry Cavill, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Theo James, Tom Ellis and Jamie Dornan as my personal pool boys...because that's about as probable, LOL That's the problem: we speak out and clamor for quality material because we DON'T WANT hordes of more viewers to stop watching.

I'm also having memory flashbacks to the early 1980s, when Pat Falken Smith returned to DAYS with so much fanfare, and also succeeded Douglas Marland on TGL. Back then, I was younger and more trusting that TPTB were not TOTAL imbeciles, LOL, but the swiftness with which PFS disappeared from both those shows indicates that the "suits" have not learned a thing about hanging on to quality writers in the last 40 years. The same dumb decisions and moves are still being made. People keep telling me that soap fans should never criticize or voice displeasure about the status of any daytime drama, because the genre is in such a precarious position that criticism and audience dissatisfaction may encourage the networks to cancel the few remaining shows. Comments should be glowing and positive.🙄 But realistically, the majority of reasonable viewers are not going to passively accept (and, worse, praise) utter tripe because it's better than nothing and it's all we can expect nowadays. If even ONE of the remaining four soaps were well-written or in decent shape, but they are all basically subpar. We have nothing to sing about. A lot may be riding on The Gates to succeed and rejuvenate the dimming genre.

I had a brief glimmer of hope when Kay Alden returned to Y&R, even though she was saddled with Sally Sussman Morina, whom I consider a mediocre writer. I hoped Alden's influence could result in at least some positive changes and help make Y&R...Y&R again. Now history has repeated itself. I was gratified to see Patrick Mulcahey coming aboard GH, even though I wished it had not been alongside Elizabeth Korte. I'd like to see Nancy Curlee take a shot at headwriting duties instead, with Mulcahey writing as many GH scripts as he wants. A Curlee-Mulcahey team would have my full support (with a change in executive producers of course). But once again, failed mediocrity is rewarded with important positions at a dwindling soap, leaving discouraged viewers to see this latest idiotic decision as yet another nail in the coffin of yet another troubled soap. Can I have Curlee, Mulcahey and maybe Lorraine Broderick as a team on The Gates?

Melinda Fee never showed any nuance or subtle shades on either TGL or DAYS, IMHO. I found her a let-down after Victoria Wyndham and Barbara Stranger. I agree. Stewart seemed relaxed in the clip but that interviewer creeped me out.

Of the two principle actresses who played the role (there were a couple of short-term fill-ins, as I recall), Victoria Wyndham was more nuanced and subtle. Melinda Fee struck me as too sledge-hammery.

I lived through the fashions of the 1960s and 1970s, but as bizarre as some of the styles looked in those days, nothing was worse than the hairdos of the 1980s, LOL!