vetsoapfan

It was a travesty. It still makes me mad to think about. TPTB clearly had no respect for the character, the actress, the history of the show or the fans, to dish out those episodes. Epic failure.

With all the garbage TGL foisted on us in 1986, I will always contend that the most egregious was how the show handled the passing and service for the late Bert Bauer.

Yes, I remember watching TEON and AMC on the CBC. Luckily for soap fans, the audio of CBC television was available on radio (in the 1970s, anyway), and if we had to be out of the house, we could listen to those soaps while we were away. One poster on Facebook argues with people endlessly, when anyone writes that Y&R has preserved its archives. He says he worked as an extra or something on the show back in the day, and has inside confirmation that all the tapes from the beginning have been wiped. As for the tons of flashbacks that have been used over the decades, he claims those are just individual scenes which TPTB saved, because they knew they would need to re-air them them 10, 25, 50 years later. This makes no sense, but it's pointless to argue with someone who needs to be right to feel important. As for AMC, TEON, or any other soap, I guess we are never going to know for sure about what has survived, until we see it for ourselves (like in the surprising case of The Doctors).

It wouldn't shock me. "Lost" Dr. Who episodes turned up in a Nigerian TV station years ago. Who would have predicted that? I'm hoping, just not holding my breath

I would have loved to be a fly on the wall, listening in, when Lemay had his training period with Irna Phillips, LOL.

ABC archives starting from 1977 would be great. It's a safe bet that they kept material from at least 1979 onwards, anyway. The famous courtroom scenes from OLTL (Karen Wolek on the witness stand) exist. I remember an ABC researcher once, when talking about finding footage for a GH anniversary special, saying he really had to dig around to find the lovely scene of Laura and Scotty under the Christmas tree, which was probably 1977 or 1978 (I don't remember for sure). In the end, if Nixon said it was 1977, I'd believe that that is when the tapes started being saved. The Doctors should be added to your list too, fortunately. So with DAYS, Y&R, B&B, RsH, DS and TDrs, we are lucky to have almost-complete archives in existence of several soaps. And even with all the others, having tapes from the late 1970s is a treat, even though the genre would soon implode in the 1980s. When preparing to air Ryan's Hope on SoapNet, Claire Labine said they had missing episodes from their collection, and ended up getting copies from Ireland (where the show had also been broadcast). I wonder if any other countries kept archives of soaps they broadcast; archives that P&G in the USA wiped. AW was hugely popular in Canada. I guess we have to continue hoping that more stuff will be brought out by private collectors.

What the heck is this?🤔 https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/news/special-collections/the-edge-of-night%3A-a-drama-in-six-parts--how-cooperative-extension-service-booklets-connect-nc-state-a-soap-opera-and-dc-comics

Fingers crossed. Well, I don't want to give anything away (Bryce's journey is best told by himself), but...there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Anyone who has ever spent time on social media knows it's so true, LOL!

If you like/appreciate the actor, your heart will melt during this interview.

ITA, after the AIDS quilt/Billy Douglas era, the show never again regained or lived up to its past glory.

While Alan Locher as an interviewer generally makes my teeth ache, I thoroughly enjoyed his recent episode with Scott Bryce. Locher (fortunately) let Bryce lead the conversation and do most of the talking. It was a poignant segment, with SB openly discussing his recent health woes (as well as his work on ATWT, of course). He looked surprisingly young and vulnerable, and was a mesmerizing storyteller throughout the session. And as icing on the cake, his description of the late Eileen Fulton was just lovely.

Or because the network "suits" have idiotic ideas about what the audience wants to see, and they eagerly hire you because you have the same dumb ideas.

That's all of them!🙂

ITA, but TPTB don't appear to have any interest in recruiting and training new talent.

To me, Sam Groom was the only "real" Russ. He perfectly delineated and inhabited the role. He somehow managed to play a good, noble man of integrity...who was never boring or one-dimensional. I think of all of them (Ada sure got around, LOL), Gil McGowen had the most personality and spunk. While Steve made some terrible life choices and could exhibit questionable morality during his 1968-75 run, he was the Frame who made the biggest and most important impact on the show. The original Janice was too mousy to interest me much, and while Willis originally had spark, I mainly regarded him as "Steve lite." Uncle Dru was a familiar face and comforting presence, and I liked having him around as a supporting player. I was invested in Mike Bauer as well, but mainly from his time on TGL. Of all the lawyers mentioned, even though some said he was somewhat stodgy, John Randolph was my favorite. (The scene in which he served Alice her divorce papers from Steve was quite memorable.)

Wisner Washam was fabulous at AMC, and I would take him back without a second thought. In an ideal world, he and Lorraine Broderick would make the perfect team to reboot AMC. That being said, WW is 93 years old and more than likely retired and/or not up for the challenges of writing a daily serial. Broderick is 77, but still actively working, and would perhaps consider supervising the show as a story consultant (with veto power!) at least. Another writer I'd like to see heading back to daytime is Nancy Curlee. All the current soaps are weakly written at best. It's unfortunate how few veteran scribes are still alive and potential soap saviors.

But...at least we had that last hurrah to savor. As disappointed I am about how the soaps have been decimated over the last few decades, I'm still grateful for the gems we received from time to time.

I personally have been disappointed in every soap I've seen DePriest write, but I will freely acknowledge that her AMC was better than the dreck foisted on the show by Charles Pratt, Jr. (the worst scribe in the show's history, IMO), Jean Passanante and Megan McTavish. I do think TEON would be a good bet to reboot (DS has been attempted twice), but with the right writers, both AMC and OLTL could have a decent shot at successful reboots too. The problem is, of course, that TIIC never seem to find, nurture and hire potentially-great new writing talent. They keep recycling the same old hacks, with the same poor results. If AMC were to be revived, I'd want Lorraine Broderick at the helm of the show. ABC would insist on Charles Pratt.🤢

As Tishy-Lish indicated, he did soften Aunt Liz. She had once been a domineering, hyper-critical shrew...it was both unnerving and fun to watch. I have audio material from the 1960s, where she (as played by Audra Lindley) just screams and screams at people. Flash forward to Harding Lemay's version of the character in 1974. Rachel storms into Alice's house and tries to evict her, prompting Alice to go berserk. Aunt Liz sits passively on the side of the bed with tears in her eyes, and murmurs weakly, "Rachel, you'd better go." HA! Audra Lindley's Aunt Liz would have torn Rachel a new one and dragged her by the hair down the stairs and right out of that house.

Being one of the ret-con, "fake" Bauers, I never really warmed up to Johnny Bauer, and I found both Chelsea and Fletcher to be tedious. Various factors did keep up my interest, however, like the return of Holly and later Roger. I was glad I saw TGL's last hurrah, which in my mind was the period written by Nancy Curlee and produced by Robert Calhoun. Yes, Robert Gentry was an attractive man, but I found his Ed to be so temperamental and inflammatory, it was hard to find him sympathetic. Johnny Fletcher was like a sweet puppy. It was impossible not to root for him. What did you think of Erik Powell, who replaced Scardino in the role? I was disappointed, as I felt he lacked Scardino's charm and warmth. On the other hand, Mart Hulswit (who replaced Gentry as Ed) won me over immediately and he became by favorite Ed.

I consider it a miracle that several soaps did archive all their episodes, whether the tapes have ever been made available to the public or not. At least we know they exist. It's so frustrating to know, however, that many of the best shows wiped/erased their material up until the late 1970s. AMC was its best (IMO) from 1970 to 1989, as written by Agnes Nixon, Wisner Washam and Lorraine Broderick. Then, with the advent of Margaret DePriest, Megan McTavish and others, the writing deteriorated and so did the show. At least eps from 1979 to 1989 should still be around. Alas, the best of AW (Agnes Nixon's and Harding Lemay's material) is apparently gone forever.

During the 1960s and 1970s, OLTL was very naturalistic and grounded in reality. Then the 1980s came along, and science fiction, camp, and insta-ethnicity changes took over. For me, it was painful to see a once-fine soap self destruct so quickly. Once Gordon Russell left the headwriting team, I knew the results would not be beneficial to Llanview.

THANK YOU! It was painful to watch Marlowe hesitate, stumble over his words, and so clearly struggle to remember his lines. Poor Dwyer was the one who worked with him most often, and she must have borne the brunt of getting them through their scenes. In his book, Lemay blamed Dwyer for supposedly tripping Marlowe up, but that was just not a reasonable assessment, considering that HM had the same issues when he worked with anyone, and even got worse after Dwyer was fired. The writer didn't realize that we already had Aunt Liz to be Liz. We didn't need Mary to be Liz Lite too.

It came across (to me) that Courtney was just the target Lemay rushed to condemn, whether it was justified (and rational) or not. IMHO, JC was top-notch, and her breakdown scenes were quite effective. After she died, even Paul Rauch (!!!) was quoted in the press saying that Jacquie was great and always gave good performances.