vetsoapfan

Robin Mattson grew a lot as an actress after her first stint on TGL, and was popular paying characters with an edge, some bite. If she returned as Hope and the character was no longer the passive, bland good girl Mattson had originally portrayed, Mattson might have been effective in the part. Still, my first choice would have been for Roussel (and Stewart and Hulswit!) to return. I loathed Buzz with every ounce of my being and (personally) would never have wanted to see him involved with the Bauer family in any way. I couldn't stand Reva, either, and kind of figured they deserved each other, LOL.

Corrie also had the memorable name Ena Sharples, which was one of the best soap character names of all time, LOL!

Thanks!

Read what, from 1995 to 2022? Scripts of The Archers?

I'd be thrilled if TPTB managed to bring in more actual blood Sugdens. Having offspring sired by Jack or Joe would be ideal, and not totally outside the realm of possibility.

Are any "offshoots" of the Sugden family even left alive out there, to bring in? (I'm not being sarcastic; I'm genuinely curious because as far as I can tell, the vast majority of the family has been killed off over the decades.) I'll never stop scratching my head over the idiotic and gratuitously destructive decision to kill off the twins. I suppose the writers could weave an elaborate story to reveal that the children had actually survived, and been kidnapped way back when, by someone who was desperate to raise them. I hate this sort of revisionist plot, but the Finding Sabrina saga on ATWT was ultimately successful. And since Joe died off-screen, they could twist that around to bring him and/or some previously-unknown offspring back to town. I'd be willing to forgive creaky revisionist history to expand the family. Are there any Sugdens, whom you can think of, who are SUPPOSED to still be alive and who could be woven into the current version of the show?

Gail Kobe and Pamela Long did not understand TGL, and had no interest in preserving its long, rich legacy. Long's announcing that she worked very hard, when she took over the writing reigns, to "eliminate all the dead wood" from the cast of characters has always made me cringe. (To be fair, if P&G had wanted to, they could have stepped in and put a stop to the mass slaughter.) I firmly believe that those who criticized Roussel's version of Hope had never had to endure the previous actresses' take on the role, LOL. I don't really know much more about Justice. The fan mags at the time didn't reveal much (that I ever saw, anyway) about her departure. I found the other actresses' interpretation of Hope hard to deal with, but mainly because they were all so bland and colorless. Tepid writing of Hope as "the good girl" admittedly had a lot to do with it. I would acknowledge that the actresses were not horrendously bad, per se, just non-descript. That's perhaps why I view Roussel so favorably. I thought she had nice chemistry with Charita Bauer, Don Stewart and Chris Bernau. Meg Bennett was excellent as Liza on SFT!

The Dingles being the alleged new core of Emmerdale is as egregious as when the Shaynes became such a focal point of TGL in the 1980s. Or Sonny, Jason, Roger Howarth, and The Mob taking over and infecting General Hospital. Or the Rappadorks descending upon OLTL.VOMIT!!!🤢💩 I'd be happy to see Andy Sugden return for the anniversary. If we could have Diane, Andy, Victoria, and even Robert gather together, discuss the family history and share flashbacks, that would be a poignant gift for longtime fans. Of course, I'm not holding my breath. Over the years, TPTB have inexplicably slaughtered so many Sugdens, I doubt the clan can ever be rebuilt. How the show dealt with Annie's death shows they don't don't care about the original core family anymore, alas.

As far as I recall, Katherine Justice only played Hope for a few months in 1977. She replaced Robin Mattson. To be honest, I found both Mattson and Justice to be rather bland in the role, as was Tisch Ray, who had played Hope for a bit before Mattson. TGL didn't have luck casting the character effectively until Elvera Roussel took over in 1979. Hope was written as a bland, colorless "baby girl" heroine who was, IMHO, pretty tedious. Thank heavens for Roussel and much improved writing in the early 1980s.

That number of contract characters would never happen on an American soap of only thirty minutes in length. Even the 60-minute ones generally don't have over 60 regular characters. General Hospital (60 min) has a staggering number of characters if you combine both the contract and recurring actors, but that's the exception rather than the rule. If Emmedrdale has a total of 86(!!!) contract and recurring characters, combined, their budget must be huge. With the miniscule budget of US-based soaps, 30-minute shows usually have between 18-22 contract players and then a few recurring ones, used as needed.

I'd say three eps a week would suffice for the UK soaps. I wish the American shows had returned to a 30-minute format a long time ago. It would be strange to have them airing only three days a week, perhaps, but even chopping the running time in half might force them to eliminate all the dead wood from their casts, and maybe allow them to focus on quality over quantity.

Even the classic, original film version of Lost Horizon no longer exists in its entirety. Judy Garland's full-length A Star is Born is gone too. Both films were chopped up after release to shorten their running times, and the excerpts got destroyed. Yes, efforts have been made to restore these classics, but they are still not 100% complete. Poor Colleen Moore must have been devastated upon learning that the films she had donated for preservation had been handled carelessly and ended up destroyed. From what I understand, several of her films still do exist, but a huge number of them have been lost. ARGH! I was pleasantly suprised to discover that the complete run of Little Orphan Annie newspaper strips had been archived. The copies are pretty good too, considering they begin from 1927 prints. I wanted to continue buying the hardcover books, but they became too expensive. I just have accept the fact that I cannot find, get and collect everything I want.

Six? That's insane. No wonder the quality is said to be suffering. At least it's still a 30-minute show!

Thank you so much for taking the time to send me those links, @DRW50. Aren't many episodes of even classic Dr. Who missing, because the BBC was careless/indifferent/stupid and didn't archive them all? I keep reading about the continued hunt for that series' "lost" episodes. I don't even watch the franchise, but the situation infuriates me, LOL. I would have started watching if long ago if all the episodes were intact. I hate missing huge sections/periods of TV shows. It's tragic, too, that so many classic films have been discarded, lost, and/or left to rot and are now lost forever. https://www.messynessychic.com/2013/04/10/the-lost-films-hitchcock-gatsby-and-oscar-winning-movies-that-vanished/ Since finding a treasure trove of newspaper comics (from the 1930s-40s) in my grandmother's house years ago, I've been avid to read vintage strips like Mary Worth, but nothing seems to be available. I know Little Orphan Annie was preserved, because hardcover books have been released, with strips starting from LOA's debut in 1927. I've bought the first six. I wonder if Judge Parker, Apartment 3G, Rex Morgan, and other soap opera newspaper strips have been saved. It's a bummer that The Archers' history is lost, but it doesn't really shock me. Complain as fans are wont to do, we are very lucky that soaps like Dark Shadows and The Doctors have been kept AND made available to us.

How many episodes a week does Emmerdale produce these days?

Do you know from what year a more consistent batch of episodes may be available? There's not a lot out there of TGL from 1937-1949, but A TON of material exists from 1950.

I've never actually listened to The Archers, and know very little about it, but after enjoying a plethora of old-time American soaps on radio, I've been toying with the idea of searching TA out and giving it a try. I wonder how far back available episodes on the internet go. Ideally, I'd like to start from the beginning, but I doubt I'd have much luck hunting down episodes from 1951.

Exactly. Clips only make us salivate for more!

As the matriarch of the decimated Sugden family, I would be happy to see Diane, especially if she was used to introduce significant flashbacks featuring beloved characters. (I know, I know, that's me dreaming in Technicolor. Sigh.) The show seems to love Danny Miller/Aaron, so technically TPTB could create some new storyline fodder for him, but...would it be riveting and worth following? To me, the gold standard for anniversaries will always be the 30th anniversary celebration for As the World Turns. That was beautifully done. I loved the 10th anniversary of Another World too. I also grudgingly gave credit to TGL for putting on a good 70th anniversary episode (when they flashed back to the show's radio era), even though the overall show was painful to watch at that point. Even Search for Tomorrow's 35th anniversary satisfied me. More often than not, however, anniversary eps fall flat. (All My Children's 20th anniversary show was just weird.) I'm at the same point. My patience has run out, and with nothing but incompetent production for certain series in the forseeable future, the end needs to come sooner rather than later.

Well, that doesn't give the audience any confirmation, one way the other. When beloved actors pass away IRL, soaps often leave the fate of their characters vague (Bert--for a year-- on TGL, Jessie on GH, Sally on B&B, etc.) Do viewers prefer to imagine that their favorite characters are "still out there, somewhere"? Or would they rather TPTB acknowledge the actors'/characters' demise? If a performer is too beloved to be replaced, I personally want to see closure for the character and a tribute to the actor, even if that means the character has to be acknowledged as deceased.

Many soaps have completely abandoned their initial identies, and changed their styles, tone and content dramatically. I wonder how many fans of the "original" Home and Away still watch today's incarnation. I'm curious if Pippa would even fit in anymore. It's a shame TPTB didn't really do anything to commemorate Morag after Cornelia Frances passed away. When Alf mentioned her yesterday, did it sound like Morag was dead? In general, I dislike back-from-the-dead stories. Not to make a groan-inducing pun, but this sort of story has been done to death on soaps, with Days of our Lives being the worst offender. But at least Roo's reaction was believable. IRF, anyone would be hurt and furious if their mother had faked her death.

Oh, I do know Marilyn and Roo. I did not think they were around anymore. Of anyone, I'd like to see Pippa return. Well, Morag too, but I believe the actress has passed away IRL. I always found Dodge to be a hunk.

UGH. Fisher was never one of my favorite characters, but who wants to see a grim, hopeless story end like that? No thank you. Are any of Pippa's kids in Summer Bay any more? (Like Emmerdale, I have not had access to H&A in many years, so haven't watched it in a long time.) I think the only character I would know nowadays is Alf Stewart.

That was Kathy Glass, not Jacquie Courtney, who made the remark to Ellen Holly about the ratings. Holly recounts the story in her autobiography. When JC moved to Mississippi, she said she was unnerved and physically intimidated by total strangers rushing up to her on the street, swinging her around, and grabbing her. She acknowledged it made her aggressive and defensive. TBH, I'd lose my patience very quickly upon being mandhandled, too, particularly if I were with my child. I have no idea what Courtney felt about Holly; she never said anything against her publicly as far as I know, but Holly has made her disdain for Courtney, for Slezak, etc., well known over the years. I tend to believe JC's cutting the anniversary cake with JoeStuart was a spur-of-the-moment decision; he called her up to do it with him. I wonder if she would have agreed if she had been approached about it privately beforehand, and had had time to consider "the politics" involved. Yes, Courtney and Stuart were an item for a period of time.

So many other actors would have been great in this part, and made the character interesting/likeable/a success. The one they ended up choosing was just repulsive. I wonder how much the choice was a case of Joseph Stuart wanting to demean Ellen Holly. I'll never forget him asking Jacquie Courtney to take photos with him cutting the cake at the show's 10th Anniversary, when such an honor should have gone to original cast members like Holly and Lillian Hayman. And what was Courtney thinking? The graceful thing would have been to redirect the cake cutting to someone who had been with the series since its inception.