vetsoapfan

Yes, back then many daytime actors wore their own clothes. The shows had sponsors supply garments too (Orbach's, Giorgio's), but actors would complain that the clothes were dirty and had not been washed. Throughout 1976, Marlena Evans on Days wore the same purple polyester suit day after day after day, until I wanted to scream. It was hideous! And on GH, we all became well acquainted with Jessie Brewer's iconic blue sweater.

All good choices! Mart Hulswit was so sweet and cuddly when he debuted on TGL as Ed, even when the character was mad at someone. It was a welcome change from the harsher Gentry, whom I found to be good but aloof. I loved Hulswit instantly. Stewart's casting as Mike gave the character a commanding, debonair presence. He was perfect as a square-jawed leading man. Gary Pillar/Carpenter had been good too, but Stewart was even better cast. John Reiily's Dan had wonderful chemistry with Kim. They would sit in the park and talk, and you could literally see their love beginning to blossom. Excellent actors! Damn. Today's bland, tepid, often dumbed-down soaps are so unsatisfying in comparison.

Other posters have made similar comments and I see the point, but to me, Chris really was the principle love of Nancy's life. They had been together over 50 years and had had four children together. Like many older widows after losing a long-time spouse, Nancy probably started "talking" to Chris in her head/heart long before she even met Dan. He certainly meant a lot to Nancy, but I saw Dan and Nancy's love story as more companion-based, while Chris remained her eternal love.

Diana was originally a "good girl," the traditional, long-suffering heroine archetype. Her characterization remained fairly consistent through several writing regimes, but she suddenly and inexplicably changed into a nasty person towards the end of her run on the show. In my mind, I tried to justify it by remembering that she had lost her husband Peter to a heart attack, her first two children to death, and her third child in a custody battle, but the change was jarring and poorly executed. Brooke Bundy was all wrong for the character anyway, so when the character died, it was more of a relief than anything.

Goutman said in the press that the idea of pretaping a scene for Wagner to be used in the finale had come up, but he had nixed it. EVERY longtime viewer, knowing that Nancy had opened the show with "Good morning, dear" would have loved to see her close out the show with a "Good night"...but Goutman was not wont to give viewers what they wanted. I was enraged.

Episode Count 1997-2010: 3444 episodes January 1, 1997-September 17, 2010 1. Michael Park (Jack Snyder) – 2023 2. Maura West (Carly Tenney) – 1955 3. Jon Hensley (Holden Snyder) – 1580 4. Ellen Dolan (Margo Hughes) – 1354 5. Kelley Menighan Hensley (Emily Stewart) – 1413 6. Terri Colombino (Katie Peretti Snyder) – 1383 7. Martha Byrne (Lily Walsh) – 1368 8. Colleen Zenk (Barbara Ryan) – 1293 9. Elizabeth Hubbard (Lucinda Walsh) – 1109 10. Lesli Kay (Molly Conlan) – 1060 11. Benjamin Hendrickson (Hal Munson) – 1049 12. Roger Howarth (Paul Ryan) – 994 13. Scott Holmes (Tom Hughes) – 934 14. Dusty Donovan (Grayson McCouch) – 917 15. Trent Dawson (Henry Coleman) – 821 16. Hunt Block (Craig Montgomery) – 803 17. Peter Parros (Ben Harris) – 729 18. Kathryn Hays (Kim Hughes) – 693 19. Don Hastings (Bob Hughes) – 682 20. Marie Wilson (Meg Snyder) – 636 21. Mark Collier (Mike Kasnoff) – 610 22. Cady McClain (Rosanna Cabot) – 590 23. Jesse Soffer (Will Munson) – 571 24. Larry Bryggman (John Dixon) – 561 25. Marie Masters (Susan Stewart) – 556 26. Eileen Fulton (Lisa) – 530 27. Agim Kaba (Aaron Snyder) – 523 28. Paul Leyden (Simon Frasier) – 520 29. Jennifer Landon (Gwen Munson) – 502 30. Jennifer Ferrin (Jennifer Munson) – 491 31. Martha Byrne (Rose D’Angelo) – 482 * Jessica Dunphy (Alison Stewart) – 482 33. Van Hansis (Luke Snyder)– 431 34. Tamara Tunie (Jessica Griffin) – 418 35. Peyton List (Lucy Montgomery) – 408 36. Annie Parisse (Julia Lindsey) – 405 37. Kathleen Widdoes (Emma Snyder) – 400 38. Anthony Herrera (James Stenbeck) – 375 39. Mick Hazen (Parker Snyder) – 335 40. Austin Peck (Brad Snyder) – 326 41. Kristina Sisco (Abigail Williams) – 315 42. Marnie Schulenburg (Alison Stewart) – 307 * Paul Taylor (Isaac Jenkins) – 307 44. Alexandra Chando (Maddie Coleman) – 306 45. Lauren B. Martin (Camille Bennett) – 304 46. Tom Eplin (Jake McKinnon) – 294 47. Zach Roerig (Casey Hughes) – 292 48. Ewa da Cruz (Vienna Hyatt) – 268 49. Noelle Beck (Lily Walsh) – 266 50. Scott DeFreitas (Andy Dixon) – 261 51. Scott Holroyd (Paul Ryan) – 260 52. Julie Pinson (Janet Ciccone) – 258 53. Napiera Danielle (Bonnie McKechnie) – 246 54. Bailey Chase (Chris Hughes) – 245 55. Nathaniel Marston (Eddie Silva) – 236 56. Kim Onasch (Jennifer Munson) – 231 57. Cassandra Creech (Denise Maynard) – 227 * Daniel Markel (David Stenbeck) – 227 59. Helen Wagner (Nancy Hughes) – 222 60. Jake Silbermann (Noah Mayer) – 220 61. Jon Lindstrom (Craig Montgomery) – 219 62. Paolo Seganti (Damian Grimaldi) – 202 63. Billy Magnussen (Casey Hughes) – 197 64. Elena Goode (Jade Taylor) – 194 65. Craig Lawlor (Adam Munson) – 194 66. Lamman Rucker (Marshall Travers) – 173 67. Todd Rotondi (Bryant Montgomery) – 164 68. Paul Korver (Chris Hughes) – 163 69. Mary Beth Evans (Sierra Esteban) – 162 70. Meredith Hagner (Liberty Ciccone) – 157 71. Jamie Dudney (Georgia Tucker) – 156 72. Keith Coulouris (Reid Hamilton) – 145 73. Sherri Alexander (Samantha Markham) – 140 74. Allie Gorenc (Sage Snyder) – 138 75. Brett Groneman (Will Munson) – 138 76. Anne Sayre (Mitzi Matters) – 136 77. Tom Wiggin (Kirk Anderson) – 133 78. Ashley Marie Greiner (Faith Snyder) – 131 79. Kin Shriner (Keith Morrissey) – 130 80. Jordana Brewster (Nikki Munson) – 118 * Terri Garber (Iris Dumbrowski) – 118 82. Chris Beetem (Jordan Sinclair) – 116 83. Daniel Menake (Johnny Donovan) – 114 84. Nick Kokotakis (Brad Snyder) – 109 85. Scott Bryce (Craig Montgomery) – 108 86. Sarah Brown (Julia Larrabee) – 107 87. Justine Cotsonas (Sofie Duran) – 105 88. Christopher Tavani (Luke Snyder) – 102 89. Cole Kachelhoffer (Parker Munson) – 101 90. Real Andrews (Walker Daniels) – 100 * Dylan Bruce (Chris Hughes) – 100 92. Spencer Grammer (Lucy Montgomery) – 96 93. Michael Woods (Alec Wallace) – 94 94. Jeffrey Meek (Craig Montgomery) – 92 95. Dylan Denton (J.J. Larrabee) – 90 * Stephen Schnetzer (Cass Winthrop) – 90 97. Daniel Manche (J.J. Snyder) – 89 98. Giovani Cimmino (Parker Snyder) – 87 99. Chaunteé Schuler (Bonnie McKechnie) – 82 100. John James (Ric Decker) – 81 101. Jake Weary (Luke Snyder) – 78 102. Cassidy Hinkle (Faith Snyder) – 74 * Joanna Rhineheart (Jessica Griffin) – 74 104. Hunter Garner (Billy Ross) – 72 * Jordan Woolley (Nick Kasnoff) – 72 106. Alyssa Diaz (Celia Ortega) – 71 107. Jeremy Ian Zelig (Luke Snyder) – 69 108. Joanna HartsHorne (Sarah Travers) – 68 109. Bailey Harkins (Johnny Donovan) – 64 * Alexander Walters (Mark Kasnoff) – 64 111. Rebecca Anderson (Hope Dixon) – 60 * Keara Dolan & Eliza Ryan (Faith Snyder) – 60 113. Randolph Mantooth (Hal Munson) – 59 114. Jon Prescott (Mike Kasnoff) – 58 115. Eric Sheffer Stevens (Reid Oliver) – 57 116. Susan Batten (Connor Walsh) – 56 * Carl T. Evans (Nick Scudder) – 56 * Patrick Tovatt (Cal Stricklyn) – 56 119. McKenzie Satterthwaite (Nikki Munson) – 53 120. Ellery Capshaw (Natalie Snyder) – 51 * Monti Sharp (Lew McCloud) – 51 122. Daniel Cosgrove (Chris Hughes) – 50 * Vanessa Ray (Teri Ciccone) – 50 124. A.J. Lamas (Rafe Ortega) – 49 125. Guenia Lemos (Ruby Frank) – 48 * DJ Lockhart (Doc Reese) – 48 * Saundra McClain (Sarah Ruth Bennett) – 48 * Duane McLaughlin (Dallas Griffin) – 48 129. Ernest Waddell (Curtis Harris) – 47 * Virginia Williams (Brandy Taylor) – 47 131. Barbara Garrick (Rita Renfield) – 46 132. Tony Musnate (Joe D’Angelo) – 45 133. Danielle Alonso (Pilar Domingo) – 43 * John Loprieno (Brad Snyder) – 43 * Camryn Rose (Sage Snyder) – 43 136. Joseph Cross (Casey Hughes) – 42 137. Karl Girolamo (Kevin Davis) – 41 * Traci Godfrey (Elaine Schiller) – 41 139. Valentina de Angelis (Faith Snyder) – 40 * Brian Gaskill (B.J. Green) – 40 * Ben Levin (Gabriel Caras) – 40 * Wolé Parks (Dallas Griffin) – 40 * Chris Tardio (Dominic Ramsey) – 40 144. Matt Cavenaugh (Adam Munson) – 39 * Sarah Glendening (Lucy Montgomery) – 39 * Chris Heuisler (Cole Norbeck) – 39 * Jennifer Landon (Cleo Babbitt) – 39 * Aidan Wagner (Cabot Sinclair) – 39 * Sarah Wilson (Liberty Ciccone) – 39 150. Dylan Bluestone (Daniel Hughes) – 38 * Alex Charak (Elwood Hoffman) – 38 152. Justin Weiss (Parker Munson) – 37 153. Kristen Connolly (Josie Anderson) – 36 * Bronson Picket (Diego Santana) – 36 * Chad Tucker (Curtis Harris) – 36 * Lauretta Vaughn (Kit Fowler) – 36 * Davida Williams (Jade Taylor) – 36 158. Roselyn Sanchez (Pilar Domingo) – 35 159. David Allen (Chris Browning) – 34 160. Shawn Christian (Mike Kasnoff) – 33 * Mariah D’Aprile (Hope Dixon) – 33 * Colleen Dion (Dahlia Ventura) – 33 * Ben Jorgenson (Chris Hughes) – 33 164. Benton Greene (Derek Coburn) – 32 * Lea Salonga (Lien Hughes) – 32 166. Daniel Hugh Kelley (Winston Mayer) – 31 * Michael Lowry (Les Sweeney) – 31 * Eric William Morris (Matt O’Connor) – 31 169. Ritchie Coster (Gabriel Frank) – 30 170. Tom Pelphrey (Mick Dante) – 29 171. Lisa Brown (Iva Snyder) – 28 * Evan Alex Cole (Hunter McDermott) – 28 173. Tala Ashe (Ameera Ali Aziz) – 27 * Tom Degnan (Adam Munson) – 27 * Lucas Kelly (Cabot Montgomery) – 27 * Laurence Lau (Brian Wheatley) – 27 177. Jensen Buchanan (Vicky McKinnon) – 26 * Lynn Herring (Audrey Coleman) – 26 179. Wally Kurth (Sam Hutchins) – 25 * Makayla Leigh (Natalie Snyder) – 25 * Valerie Perrine (Dolores Pierce) – 25 182. Lonette McKee (Sarah Ruth Bennett) – 24 * Cruise Russo (Casey Hughes) – 24 * Peter Vack (Casey Hughes) – 24 185. Deirdre Skiles (Dani Andropoulous) – 23 186. Kerr Smith (Ryder Hughes) – 22 187. Brayden Schenck & Declan Schenck (Ethan Snyder) – 21 188. Jared & Lindsey Baskin (Daniel Hughes) – 20 189. Christina Chambers (Molly Conlan) – 19 * Roy Eudon (Brad Snyder) – 19 191. Bryan Abadrabo (Will Munson) – 18 * Colleen Feehan (Sage Snyder) – 18 * Alexandra Herzog (Jennifer Munson) – 18 * Ryan Serhant (Evan Walsh) – 18 * Alan White (Chris Hughes) – 18 196. Kenneth Franklin (Dallas Griffin) – 17 197. Matthew Morrison (Adam Munson) – 16 * Yvonne Perry (Rosanna Cabot) – 16 * Harry Zittel (Adam Munson) – 16 200. Michael Cardelle (Rafe Ortega) – 15 * Christian Siefert (Chris Hughes) – 15 * Sam Stone (Daniel Hughes) – 15 203. Nell Mooney (Spencer McKay)- 14 * Isabella Palmieri (Natalie Snyder) – 14 205. Graham Winton (Caleb Snyder) – 13 206. Alexa Gerasimovich (Natalie Snyder) – 12 207. Amy Princine (Alison Stewart) – 11 208. Ed Fry (Larry McDermott) – 10 * Allyson Rice-Taylor (Connor Walsh) – 10 210. Ian Boyd (Casey Hughes) – 9 211. Kelly Barrett (Maddie Coleman) – 5 * Rosemary Prinz (Penny Hughes) – 5 * Michael Swan (Duncan McKechnie) – 5 214. Patricia Bruder (Ellen Stewart) – 4 * Tyler Hudson (Kevin Davis) – 4 * Emmy Rossum (Abigail Williams) – 4 217. Carmen Duncan (Lisa) – 3 * Gillian Spencer (Jennifer Sullivan) – 3 * Anne Sward (Lyla Peretti) – 3 220. Kevin Csolak (Daniel Hughes) – 2 * John Howard (Paul Ryan) – 2 * Amanda Seyfried (Lucy Montgomery) – 2 223. Steve Bassett (Seth Snyder) – 1 * Sarah Hyland (Alison Stewart) – 1 * Chloe Morris (Bonnie McKechnie) – 1 * Julianne Moore (Frannie Hughes) – 1 According to this compiled list, in the last 12 years of the show, Eileen Fulton ranked 26th in the number of appearances, Kathryn Hays was 18th, Don Hastings was 19th, and poor Helen Wagner was way down at 59th. Among the top 30, there were 10 characters whom I did not want on the show at all, and and almost as many actors whom I felt were badly recast and difficult to watch. NOTE: I am not taking credit for compiling this list. I found it in the SON archive.

I found Katie irritating to begin with, but I really grew to resent her more and more as so much attention was paid to her while many of the beloved vets languished in the background or disappeared. I would say the misuse and poor execution of the character were thanks to the incompetent PTB; Katie, herself was not the entire problem. And I have nothing at all against TC. As you say, there were MANY crimes against nature we had to endure over the last ten years. Hammy Howarth shoved down our throats was gag-inducing. The endless and unnecessary recasting of Craig was baffling and destructive. Unwanted newbies like Janet were a waste of space and air-time. The influx of actors from ABC was obvious and a stupid route to take. The list of death blows to ATWT is endless, and extends past Katie alone. OMG, that is so interesting! After so many years on this board, I had never even known about tfhe archived appearances forum. Thank you for pointing it out.

Yes, so many arrogant "writers" cannot write their way out of wet paper bags, although Harding Lamay was both arrogant and gifted, so there are exceptions. Lee and Renee were introduced in 1979 and 1981, I believed, so Laemmle would not have created them, since she worked on the show in 1980. Leslie James was Laemmle's creation who briefly got involved with Chris Kositchek. Cass ie dated Todd Chandler for a minute or two, as I recall, before the pointless character was dumped. Fee was a dreadful recast in the role of Mary, as wrong for that role as Elaine Princi was as Linda Anderson. Yuck.

Dorothy Malone's hair was...mesmerizing.

In the same interview, he said that Hays, Hastings, and Fulton were the cornerstones of the show. How bizarre that he included Fulton, since his team had ignored and debased the actress and her character for years. Watching Henry feign heterosexuality was as painful as watching Liberace pretending to have the hots for poor Dorothy Malone in Sincerely Yours. Eeeek!

Personally, I was annoyed at the Babs/Henry pairing BECAUSE she had had so many awful stories in the previous years, that I wanted to show to send her off with a bang, not a snicker. Another thing that vexed me was Nancy's death being so much about Katie. Vomit. Goutman claimed she was "America's sweetheart," an idea that made my head spin. LOL, I have been rewriting and fixing soap stories and blunders in my head for decades!

Right. I have told him this many times, but he's in denial. I think it's because he has such a vast amount of material, he does not know what to start transferring first, and therefore he's become paralyzed with indecision. My advice has been: choose the material that you love best, and copy that first. If you love everything equally, then start with the oldest and rarest episodes you've got; material unlikely to have been saved anywhere else. He says that if he just keeps his tapes in storage and does not abuse them by frequent play, they should be okay. Nooooooooooo. But alas, I cannot force him to do anything. I imagine Goutman and Pissy thought a Babs/Henrey pairing would be "cute," but in the end, it was just stupid.

They lost about half the cast when the show became a weekly series, which definitely did not help, added to the newly-horrible writing.

Just being able to see Papa Bauer's funeral episode again was a welcome miracle. I had saved it on audiotape, but went in Nirvana when the full-color, excellent-quality video appeared. We have heard, over the years, about so much vintage material from all areas of entertainment simply rotting away and being discarded by indifferent custodians/employees...it's infuriating. Are there specific actors/characters from TGL whom you really want the chance to see? A soap-trading acquaintance of mine has various vintage episodes on 16-mm film but lacks the facilities to transfer them. Don't 16-mm projectors still exist? He also has soap eps on U-Matic and Beta videotape, which he cannot play or dub to another format, either. I've him that I at least have a working Betamax, and would be happy to convert his ancient Beta tapes to DVD, but he said he was too worried that they would get lost or damaged in the mail. While that is possible, I think it's MORE likely that the tapes will rot into dust if they remain sitting in a box in his basement year after year, decade after decade.

Emhardt's Mac originally appeared to be a one-shot character, someone who was not listed among the contract players in the credits; used briefly and then not again for some time. Perhaps later, when Lemay decided to bring Mac Cory on full-time and was planning story for him, that is when the writer actually developed the character fully and decided to turn him into a potential love interest for Bay City ladies like Aunt Liz. Emhardt might have been cute with her, in an amusing curmudgeon-meets-older-loved-starved-widow sort of way, but when the character arrived in Bay City as a contract player, DW had been cast as the new Mac. NO ONE in the world would have cast Emhardt in the role if Mac had been considered as a romantic pairing for Rachel right from the start. As I recall, Lemay wrote in his book that he only decided to pair Mac and Rachel after after he saw sparks between DW and VW on screen. Robert Cenedella's writing was not great, and his story about housekeeper Caroline Johnson poisoning Pat's soup was just dumb. Jim Matthews was an accountant, not a doctor, but Pat's sister was a nurse and her brother was a doctor, so really...she looked like a bit of an imbecile, suffering severe cramps week after week, and not consulting Alice or Russ about her condition. Irna Phillips certainly knew what she was doing, herself, but it was pointless of her to expect Lemay would follow her personal creative dogma and style. No decent writer can write using the paint-by-number system. As it turned out, Lemay was one of the two best writers AW ever had. He and Agnes Nixon both had more success on the show than even Irna had had. Except...that's his face too. Check out the eyebrows.

Emhardt was a character actor, often cast as greasy villains, and that's how he played Mac Cory. Under Emhardt, Mac was portly and unpleasant, not romantic-lead material at all. Harding Lemay must not have originally intended the character to be a benevolent patriarch and leading man, but once the writer's plans for the character changed, the show needed a warmer, more attractive and appealing actor in the role. Emhardy's Mac would NEVER have worked in a romance with Rachel or Alice. That would be like pairing Elmer Fudd with Sleeping Beauty.

The magazines at the time did not clarify if Miller wanted to leave on her own, but I doubt NC wanted to quit, as he so quickly agreed to continue his role over at AW. OMG, yes that is Dolph Sweet. I had never seen him this slim before. I'm almost tempted to say they used a body double in a few close-up body shots, but they would not have gone to such trouble and expense for a commercial. Good catch.

Thank you! I was tempted to say plane crash, but couldn't trust my hazy memory. Glad for the clarification!

I don't recall, actually, which is weird because it made me happy. I don't think the actor was successful getting much on-screen work, BTW. He seems to do primarily voice-overs.

The casting of Jason Kinkaid was just baffling. I know some posters found Holmes to be stiff or unlikable, but Kinkaid was the single worst Tom ever. He equalled Susan Batten as Connor for sheer awfulness.

I freely admit I was obsessed, LOL. I even maintained scrapbooks of my favorite soaps, with plot synopses, magazine articles, posters, trading cards (for Dark Shadows), etc. It was a great time to be a soap addict. Yes, he died in 1980. I bought a cake and champagne to celebrate, LOL. There are fun-bad characters on soaps whom you love to hate (think Dorian Lord), but there are other characters whom you just despise, and whose presence on your screen repulses you. For me, Jack Scott was one of those characters. Ick, ick, ick. BTW, the "mystery black woman" I am thinking of definitely appeared on OLTL in 1979, because it was the year Ed Hall was shot by Becky Lee's ex-husband. It must have been Petronia Paley.

God yes. Everyone seemed to loathe him. Both the character and the actor just exuded the essence of "smarmy, pompous ass," UGH.

Not very much of a gap, no. Just a few months. But in the interim, Robert's wife Jessica Buchanan and their baby died, which crushed me because Robert and Jessica had been such an important and beloved romantic duo on Somerset, and the touch-and-go delivery of their baby had had my stomach in knots. I was really annoyed that TPTB killed off one of my favorite Somerset characters just to (as Harding Lemay put it) free up Robert for new storyline possibilities.

After Trustman quit as Pat, the show just redid the wedding photos with Penberthy in her place, and had them on display in the Randolph set.

Galman was really sexy, I must say.