vetsoapfan

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Over aggrandizement and hero worship: yes. This succinctly describes the problem. And it is the worst among commentators who do not have full knowledge of or a complete grasp on the subject at hand. They think that their favorites must be the ultimate end-all, be-all actors, writers, producers, whatever, based on their own, personal hero-worship of these individuals. The devotees of a certain orange-tinged politician come to mind. 🤭 No one actor, no one director, no one producer and no one writer will ever be exclusively responsible for a show becoming popular and surviving. We have all seen soaps survive, and even thrive, after some of their most important/popular team members depart. Harding Lemay did great work (and made some mistakes) at AW, but that does not mean his reporting about the show's history represent the empirical reality. When Lemay took over the reigns of AW, I don't believe it was because the ratings were terrible under the previous scribe's pen. They weren't. So I'll focus on the years on quality that he brought to the series, and forgive his self-aggrandizing myths about raising the show's ratings. By the way, I can't tell you how many youger fans have commented to me over the years, "Jacqueline Courtney was a terrible actress!" I inwardly roll my eyes, but ask anyway, "Why do you say that?" "Because Harding Lemay said so." "Um, okay. What shows of Courtney's did you watch?' "None. I've never seen more than a few minutes of her work on youtube, but I agree with Harding Lemay." "What years of Lemay's work on AW did you see?" "None, but everybody says he was great, so I know he must have been." Cue the need to bite my tongue, LOL.

Lemay's early years were indeed golden. Although he did not seem to understand certain important characters, and changed them in ways that baffled me, there's no question that his work was initially excellent. I personally felt the cracks started to show in 1975, about four years after he took over as head writer, but even at his "weakest" (so to speak), Lemay's work was better than many other scribes who have worked in daytime soaps. Yes, those who actually have a grasp on soap history acknowledge Nixon's invaluable contribution to the series. And the genre as a whole. Unfortunately, not everyone studies or cares about the legends of the past. Over the years (or decades, LOL) fans have said to me that Maurice Bernard has "saved General Hospital," or "Kim Zimmer saved The Guiding Light," "James Reilly saved DAYS," "Paul Rauch and Harding Lemay saved AW," etc. When people say these things, I usually try to bite my tongue, but my honest thought is always: Bernard, Zimmer, Reilly, Rauch, Lemay, etc., did not "save" shows that were in good (or sometimes even BETTER) shape before they even arrived. Was it ABC executive Brian Frons who pushed Agnes Nixon out of her involvement with All My Children because she supposedly "no longer understood" the soap opera medium? UGH.

Actually, it's a myth that Harding Lemay saved AW from either cancellation or even low ratings. The numbers drawn by his predecessor, Robert Cenedella, were basically on a par with Lemay's. (Cenedella-era ratings: 9.5, 9.6. Lemay's initial ratings: 9.1--they went down slightly at first--9.7.) Lemay's ratings hovered at 9.7 for the next few years. After the departure of key actors from the soap in the mid-1970s, however, Lemay's ratings began to slip (down to 8.9 in 1975), and then took a noticeable drop when General Hospital had its resurgence in 1978 (AW fell to 7.5) and finally gave AW some solid competition. The real savior of AW was Agnes Nixon, whose writing saw the show rise to its highest ratings ever (10.5 in 1968); higher than Lemay's in his heyday. In fact, when Lemay finally left as official headwriter in 1979, the show had slid to lower ratings than it had enjoyed way back in 1966.

Thank you so much for tagging me!

It all depends on what kind of content you prefer. Personally, I enjoy more realistic family drama and interpersonal relationsips, so I'd start with the long slew of radio episodes from 1950 which are available on the Internet Archives. Youtube has many TV eps of TGL from 1966 which are also great. The years 1989 to about 1993 are also worth a look. After that, based on my personal anti-camp mindset, I couldn't recommend anything. ITA. I loved TGL from 1950 to about 1983-ish, then found it unwatchable until 1989. From 1989 to 1992 it was great again, but then just...collapsed and never recovered until the show staggered to its ultimate (and long overdue) death.

Awww!☺️😚 You guys are making me verklempt! And I'm already feeling hyper-emotional after hearng about our beloved Kathryn Hays. Thanks, Khan!

This is heartbreaking. I feel like I have "known" her for 50 years. RIP.

That's a sweet thing to say. Thank you. I always feel that I have expressed all my thoughts on vintage soaps eight billion times by now, and that I became...redundant long ago, LOL!

Thank you so much for posting this vintage ep and tagging me!

--The Friendship Lamp from The Guiding Light (the original light which Rev. Ruthledge kept in his window to guide lost souls to hiw door). --The first globe from ATWT --The hourglass from DAYS --The red photo album from AMC --Josette's Music Box from Dark Shadows --All the original show bibles still in existence

My principle quest would have been to re-establish the Bauer family and give it all the support and opportunity possible to become the core, central family it was supposed to be. Hence my desire to see Courtney as Hope. That being said, it was frustrating how TPTB simply discarded Elizabeth so easily, when there was still a great deal of story for her to play, and then left the character's fate totally up in the air. For years, we had no idea where she was; if she was alive or dead. I would have been fine with Courtney in the role of Elizabeth, particularly if TGL cast Reinholt as Alan. This on-screen coupling would have made my loyalties shift from Alan and Hope reconciling, to Alan and Elizabth being paired long term. Maybe Robin Mattson, who had been tepid when she originally portrayed Hope, but who had grown tremendously as an actress since then, could have returned to that part.

This is really embarrassing. It's what happens when there's no viable competition, and when the judges don't watch the submitted material.😑 In no universe is DAYS a well-written show.

This has been my thought for years. Hope springs eternal.

When I read on-line reports that Frank has called Mo "the star of the show," it turns my stomach, truly. If anyone on the canvas today deserves that honor, it should be Genie. True, as things stand right now, at this momednt, Genie Francis and Laura are in a solid place. I know this is a soap and everything can change on a dime without much warning, but...fingers crossed. 😀

That's how and why the original Barnabas Collins story on Dark Shadows worked so well. The overt supernatural and horror aspects were sparce at the beginning, grew slowly, and a lot of what was happening was implied or at least "played small." It was played straight rather than as camp, and the results were genuinely tense and creepy instead of coming across as STOOPID. I'll lend you my taser, LOL. To me, any story that allowed/encouraged DAYS to go full-blown camp and make the show a laughingstock is in my black book. I understand some fans enjoyed and appreciated the Possession, and that's fine, but it is literally the story that truly turned me off DAYS forever.

I truly don't think they even care about anything "tracking" or making sense, as long as they get eyeballs in front of the TV (which...they are failing at, anyway, so whatever!🙄)

The Sonny Saga could have tolerable if it had remained a B story, and ended at its appropriate time, 25 years ago. But the show has just harped on my and retread over the same ground ad nauseum. Enough already, geez! It's like The Reva Saga on TGL: neverending and increasingly ridiculous and annoying. Reva the Ghost. Reva the Amish Amnesiac. Reva the San Cristobelian Queen. Reva the Clone. Reva the Time Traveller. EGADS, make it stop!🤢

TPTB have seemed to honor and cherish certain male actors over their female counterparts for a long time now. I seriously doubt they ever would have dropped John Beradino from his contract, yhet they had no qualms about releasing Emily McLaughlin and Rachel Ames. The show bent over backwards to pamper and appease Tony Geary, but never showed Genie Francis the same respect. And as for your comment that Sonny should not be a lead...YES! A thousand times, THIS. I just fell in love with you, LOL. The show should indeed be about the personnel of the hospital. How it got to center around a greasy, Teflon mobster who never pays for his heinous sins, I will never know.

Knowing that I have watched soaps for several decades, someone asked me recently what I thought were the WORST storylines ever told on daytime TV. I tried to compile a list, but became overwhelmed quite quickly, because there were so many to choose from. The Tale of the Two Romans, The Garden of Eden, Melaswen, Marlena's Possession, Princess Gina...DAYS has had a lot of absolute, painful stinkers

I don't trust the soaps to keep anyone on canvas, no matter how beloved by the fans or important to the shows' fabric they are. They've written out Laura multple times before. Still, I hope you are right about them not letting her go...AGAIN. I agree with you yet again in that Laura should be a wise, talk-to; the tent-pole, heart and center of the show, surrounded by family. Lucky, Lulu and even Lesley (as much as Denise Alexander wishes to appear) should be around her. The show needs a strong core family again; one which is NOT driven by mobsters, killers and general degenerates.

I've hated most of DAYS' story choices for the last 30+ years. I don't think the current writers on any soap opera are capable of telling erudite, thoughtful, well-crafted stories. Nor are they capable of writing three-dimensional, intelligent, believable characters. To be honest, I'd rather the shows come to an end than continue indefinitely in their present, crippled state, although this sentiment always invokes a chorus of protest ("I don't care if the show is a steaming pile of doo-doo. You would just shut up and accept it the way it is, if you were a REEEEEEAL FAN!") Grunt, LOL.

Again, I agree, except that I do not believe the current PTB have the will, interest, talent and ability to write continuing storylines for stable, mature, evolved "older" characters, even though their evolution would be totally understandable and desirable in real life. We've already seen how Laura, Scotty, Bobbie, Monica and so many others have been put out to pasture and/or discarded completely because the show can't or won't write anything for them that is "traditionally exciting." My concern is that with unimaginative producing and writing, the show won't keep up with good, evolved, stable characters long term, and will end up letting them go the way GH phased out beloved vets like Audrey Hardy.

I agree 100% that in real life, a stable, steady, uneventful pairing like Laura and Kevin would not only work, but be a great thing. As I age, myself, I don't look for or expect ROMANTIC FIRE! ENDLESS PASSION! NEVER-ENDING DRAMA! I just want peace and tranquility. But that doesn't work with couples on soaps, alas. I still root for Kevin and Lucy too, but if the show ever gets a good producer and savvy writers again (I know I am dreaming in Technicolor) they could make anything work, even Laura and Scotty. If not, *I* will take him! LOL!

Weak, incompetent writing has done in many a fine pair or would-be storyline, alas. I blame Frank and the writers for most of the show's failures. Genie and Kin could pull it off with the right support from TPTB. I like both of the characters too, just not as a couple. On soaps, when there's no fire, no passion, no spark, boredom sets in and the characters are backburnered or settled into "old-people, tent-pole" status. GF and JL are too charismatic individually for that fate.