vetsoapfan

I grew up listening to radio dramas, so the audio-only component of listening to old soaps does not bother me. Besides, I had seen the episodes when they originally aired, so I could visualize the actors' faces, the sets, etc., anyway. It might very well be a vastly different experience for anyone else.

ITA, although I do realize that we are lucky to get anything at all from those years. You should get your hands on all the audio only CD recordings of AW, which have a huge number of great scenes from the 1960s and early '70s. They are a treasure!

Upon its debut in 1964, AW failed to blossom under Irna Phillips and William J. Bell,. (Surprising at that is, considering the pedigree of those scribes.) James Lipton, who replaced them, was tepid. It wasn't until Agnes Nixon assumed the reigns in 1966 that the soap truly showed its potential and began to soar. In 1975, as the show went to an hour, I felt there was a marked deterioration in the writing, and terrible BTS decisions were made that badly damaged the core of the series. Yep. Agnes Nixon's almost-instant rejuvenating of AW was as impressive as Douglas Marland's miraculous cure for GH's woes when he took over that soap.

I have always maintained that a soap's audience remains loyal primarily because of characters whom they care for; beloved characters are even more important to a soap than its plots. If a soap goes through periods of weak writing, fans are more likely to keep tuning in if they see familiar faces. But if a show guts its cast of the characters whom the audience wants to watch AND the writing is weak as well, viewers will revolt and drift away. Far too many core Emmerdalians have left the series, for one reason or another, and tepid writing combined with the endless Dingle fever which has infected the serial for so long...egads! I'm surprised the show survives at all.

Thanks for the update. As I say, although I no longer have access to episodes of the show, I still miss certain characters.

I have not had access to Emmerdale episodes for a long time now, so I can no longer watch it, but I agree that I'd be much more upset over hearing about Annie's off-screen death than I would be over any ON-SCREEN tragedy that befell the dread Dingle clan. I wish TPTB would resurrect Joe Sudgen (even if via an improbable storyline, I'd still accept his return) and put more emphasis on the core Sudgen family. When was the last time anyone even mentioned Annie?

It's a shame you did not get to see the show from 1966 to 1975. IMHO, AW was at its very best during those years. I mean, Agnes Nixon and Harding Lemay! Need I say more?

I agree about Julie being at her best when she shows some spunk. Of course, even as a matriarchal figure, this will not stop the audience from loving her being feisty. Fans reveled in Lila Quartermaine's ripping into Tracy, Kim Hughes uttering her deadly, "Look, kiddo...," and Bert Bauer putting some irritating miscreant in his place. Part of the joy of having a strong matriarch or patriarch on canvas is watching them say or do what the audience KNOWS needs saying and doing!

GH has no beloved matriarch or patriarch any longer; no Steve and Audrey Hardy or Jessie Brewer or Lee Baldwin to provide warmth, wisdom and stability to the Port Charles community. Denise Alexander would be perfect for this purpose. It's a shame most of today's soaps place no importance on showcasing and preserving these (IMHO) necessary characters. I will never see Victor Newman as a benevolent patriarch on Y&R; it's a shame the show killed off John Abbot and Liz Foster, who could have provided that sort of comforting presence after Jeanne Copper passed away. At least DAYS can use Doug and Julie Williams as Salem's tentpoles.

Hey there, Zanereed, nice to see your post! I totally agree with everything you wrote, as always. I was very grateful that TGL was revisiting the past by bringing back Roger and Holly and reigniting their tormented relationship, but I was also disappointed that we did not have Mart Hulswit in the role of Ed Bauer. Hulswit's Ed was warm and affable; filled with emotion, and capable of exhibiting both great passion and significant fury. His Ed was a force to be reckoned with. While I had adored Peter Simon as Scott Phillips on SFT, he was not a good fit in Springfield. Simon's Ed was morose and often listless. He lack spark and warmth. There was no chemistry or fire between him and Garrett's Holly or Zaslow's Roger. Having Simon in the role did weaken the overall effect of the story, IMHO. I also found it weird that the show brought back Robert Milli as Adam Thorpe, and had him appear at the wedding, but then allowed him to disappear before even seeing or interacting with Zaslow's Roger. I wonder what happened there. Did Milli suddenly get sick, have a scheduling conflict, or what? Considering Adam's and Roger's often-volatile relationship of years gone by, it would have added more depth to the story to have Milli and Zaslow interact.

Touche.

GH was lucky that AW and TGL were also pretty bad during the 1980s.

I'd say that 1984 to 1988 were painful to watch. The entire series was decimated, gutted, and dumbed down. During her second reign, Long was surrounded by people who understood TGL. I'm sure that helped minimize her weaknesses and maximize her strengths. Her first stint at TGL did show heart and some potential, but the massacre of the longtime characters, the insanely stupid sci-fi/supernatural stories, and the unnecessary trashing of history outweighed the good, IMHO. Plus, she inflicted Meva Shayme on us, LOL, for which I have never forgiven her.

Yes, ironically, Stuart seemed fine with Bunim, and yet loathed Ann Marcus, a writer whose work reinvigorated the show.

I later discovered that as I was playing it, the tape was disintegrating, and I ended up with specs of "tape dust" all over the inside of my machine. When I ejected it, the tape continued to "shed" on my fingers. I'm not sure if it will live to see another playback. It was already really static-y. Unfortunately, back then I recorded some material on cheap and generic "store brand" tapes, when I should have stuck to using ONLY higher-quality, brand-name tapes which were wont to last a lot longer. I still have many TDK, Maxell and Sony tapes which have survived surprisingly well for decades. The el-cheapo ones, not so much. I did not mean to be an insensitive "soap tease," LOL!

ITA. It was a remarkable achievement. The beloved actors returning, coupled with great material by writers who BOTHERED TO STUDY AND USE HISTORY, was a huge success. Contrast that to Jacquie Courtney's return to AW as Alice in 1984...night and day. (It still annoys me that writer Gary Tomlin acknowledged he knew very little about the long-running history between Alice and Rachel, which probably contributed to JC's comeback being such a failure. YOU'RE THE WRITER, DO YOUR DAMNED JOB AND LEARN! Pat Falken Smith, Douglas Marland, Claire Labine, and their ilk always made sure to study a show's rich past when they assumed the reigns as headwriters.)

I just found and enjoyed (part of) an ancient AMC episode from 1977, in which a subdued Kitty Shea sings a poignant song for Linc Tyler, and then acknowledges that she knows a secret he has been trying to keep from her: she's dying. Four decades after the fact, it still made me tear up. Soaps need to get back to telling intelligent, believable storylines about multi-dimensional and complex characters who pull at your heartstrings. When a vintage episode from 42 years ago is more riveting than ANYTHING we witness on today's soaps, you know there is a significant problem. I wish I could personally thank Agnes Nixon and Wisner Washam for all the outstanding drama they gave us.

A lot of people did not care for her. In one of Eileen Fulton's later autobiographies, the actress also made her disdain for Bunin known.

Ugh. Mr. Big. The story that fired the first bullet into the once-intelligent, healthy and stable ATWT. I adored Bruder and Ellen Stewart, but the show seemed to be confused about how to handle her properly and consistently; a problem that lasted for many years. With almost no storyline of her own after David left permanently, I'm surprised Ellen lasted as long as she did. I was grateful that Marland continued to have her appear, even as a talk-to with no real storyline importance. And I was furious, but not really surprised, when later PTB just let her fade into oblivion.

RTPP was then higher-rated (and significantly better written) than Somerset, but maybe the network felt Somerset's feeble ratings were "good enough for 4:00 PM." And of course, during the 1970s, P&G was a powerhouse and a force to be reckoned with, so any input they had would have been considered. But that takes insight, an understanding of the soap opera genre and its audience, patience, a lot of work, and intelligence. Not many PTB can boast having any, let alone ALL, of those qualities.

TPTB must have erroneously believed that endlessly ramming Kim Zimmer down the audience's throats was the key to ratings' success...but actually, the last time TGL was respected and GOOD was when she was NOT part of the cast. Daytime's insane and baffling determination to showcase science-fiction crap year after year boggles the mind. It has crippled many once-fine shows. After the "reality bubble" is broken, thanks to clones, devil possession, time travelling, going to heaven on space ships, brain implants, mad scientists freezing the world, etc., the mature, adult audience members never again immerse themselves completely into the shows, and are more likely to drift away. Kids do tend to be attracted to the Saturday-morning-cartoonish material, but they are not a reliable audience; if they are only watching for the latest outrageous gimmick, they too will drift away from the soaps when the writers cannot continue providing them with over-the-top stories to their liking. When has a "gimmick" soap EVER been a verifiable success? As for the folly of allowing overbearing actors any input in their storylines, THAT is a recipe for disaster. Exhibit A: Tony Geary. Those of you who discovered TGL in 1989 and watched it for the next three years were quite fortunate to stumble across the show at that time. It was the soap's last, great hurrah. TGL had been quite dreadful for several years before that, and it fell apart again shortly afterwards, but....ahhh, that brief period was memorable!

And NONE of them enjoyed the higher ratings that RTPP had. Alas. TPTB never fail to live DOWN to my expectations. Their abject lack of understanding about the soap opera medium and its viewers is beyond belief.

Actually, at the time of its cancellation, RTPP was ranked 11th out of 16 soaps. Just counting the shows on NBC, Somerset had weaker ratings than RTPP, so RTPP was not even the lowest-ranked drama on the network. It was not performing that poorly. I think Bolen just wanted HTSAM to benefit from the cushy post-AW timeslot, so she axed it instead of the more logical Somerset..

I was being kind and kept the list short, LOL. UGH. Sooooooooooo many putrid Reva stories. And a harping on campy (i.e. STOOPID) stories ended up getting Passions axed too.

Right. MEB decimated the soaps she "produced," whereas at least Lemay did have one major hit in his earlier AW days. MEB is mainly known for axing beloved veterans and dumbing down the once-great shows she worked on. I'm team Lemay in this battle. The writer may have been arrogant and condescending, and he admittedly derided the soaps, but his writing on AW between 1972 and 1975, in particular, speaks for itself.