EricMontreal22

I think because Y&R is seen as such a classic, traditional soap now, people forget that, according to the soap books and press, when it started some complained it was too youth focused.  Both Schemering and LaGuardia write about the fact that Nixon's soaps, especially AMC, did focus on youth and bring in a youth audience but would routinely balance it out with only one youth related storyline--Y&R in its early days was criticized by some soap fans as having nearly all youth based storylines (of course, hence the title).

"I agree. ABC and NBC seemed to dominate for decades. Y&R kind of got neglected, especially for it's first decade. None of those early actors were ever submitted for awards to my knowledge. Even the covers of soap mags rarely put Y&R on it.  "

I think some of it had to do with maybe the fact that it was on CBS?  CBS in the 70s, while still having a very large audience (with ATWT remaining the top soap in viewers until the late 70s I believe, despite not remaining the top in the most desirable demo) was largely seen as more traditional.  If you read some of the early, then new daytime fan magazines in the very early 70s (I'm talking 71-72, which is where I've seen issues so before Y&R) there does seem to be an undertone of bias against the ABC soaps--at least the Nixon ones, and I wonder if regular CBS fans had little interest in Y&R in the early days when--at least according to the 1970s soap books like LaGuardia's ones (Soap World, etc) was seen as focusing more on the young, on Hollywood style production values, on the beautiful and often "nearly naked!" (which I realize basically meant they started having shirtless men which was still pretty rare on soaps) cast, etc.  LaGuardia mentions (and he was a fan) that it mixed traditional soap elements with more fantasy elements (daydream sequences, musical scenes) that were more reminiscent of the Hummert's radio soaps than tv was used to.  Whatever that means.

Certainly Y&R quickly got good ratings in the 1970s--so I am going out on a limb here, but I wonder if there is some bias.

I've seen very little 1970s Y&R--I remember when the pilot was on youtube, and an episode involving the Brooks' matriarch and breast cancer I think (I wish I had saved them).  It certainly felt sophisticated right from the start.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of the P&G soaps, but recently when I uploaded those two 1970 AMC episodes that used to be on Nixon's site I was also watching some early 1970s ATWT episodes.  While it was solid soap opera, and the very early AMC episodes certainly feel less sophisticated than the show did by what I've seen of the late 70s, still, the difference between 1970 AMC and ATWT is very striking--ATWT with its organ music and writing style feeling far more traditional.  While Bell's style is pretty different from Nixon's, I can imagine that fans of the traditional soaps may have had some resentment to his shows when they started, the way that some of them did towards OLTL and especially, it seems, AMC.  (These shows also balanced characters well by age--unlike many soaps of the past two decades--but keep in mind that there was a feeling, I gather from all fo the soap literature of the 1970s I've read, that they were appealing to a new, previously not heavily tapped audience--by that time even the New York Times had printed articles about how big these soaps were becoming on campuses.)

Just some rambley thoughts...

And one more thing--as mentioned, at least in the 80s and since, it seems like the two soaps that did get featured on the cover, and apparently sell the best, for SOD were DAYS and GH--even when their actual ratings (especially with Days) were not so hot.  So it might just be something about those fanbases.

On 4/23/2016 at 9:57 PM, dc11786 said:

. By the fall, Tess was involved with Clay Alden, for which I could only hope they were planning on creating a quad with Buck and Gwyn. Nixon quickly cleaned house and reset the show to make 1994 a pretty strong year.  

I started watching Loving pretty regularly in... 92 I think when they had the week-long AMC cross over (I wish some of that was online) involving chasing Carter Jones to Corinth (Hannah and Dinah Lee had earlier encountered him while staying in Pine Valley at Myrtle's).  There was some good stuff back then but yes, it was still suffering, as it mostly did, it seems, from too much turn around.

But I have to say, I loved most of Nixon's 1994 (probably her last long stint as HW, excluding her co-HW AMC stuff in 99-2000).  It had a lot of crazy Gothic stuff that Agnes likes to do--like Dante coming on with his "pet" who turned out to be Curtis in a cage, but mostly worked and she did good stuff with Angie.

I asked this in the Video thread--so excuse me for asking it again, but youtube used to have a 1969 episode of OLTL that's long gone.  Did anyone happen to save it?  I believe it had to do with Meredith Lord.

16 hours ago, Jonathan said:

 

Hi friend. 

Hey

Yeah--as my work load/school load this month lessens, I hope to post more.  I'll check out the videos--I have kept fairly up to date with Munecojim's Loving vids.

I've been so busy--I'll have to hunt them down!! For OLTL that would have been shortly after Russell died, right?

Same here, I just can't do it right now, but I will eventually. I know a lot of people felt the same way about Dick Clark. But I agree with the late Roger Ebert that we shouldn't hide away our sick and disabled just because we are uncomfortable. It warms my heart that she is still filled with such light. I'm more surprised that news of her condition didn't make it to the soap press by one way or the other because I refuse to believe that those leeches could keep anything to themselves out of respect.

Apparently none of them bothered to youtube her name since September like I just did, I guess

I agree with your post completely. It took me a couple of days to watch it all the way thorugh, though honestly I'm glad I did.

Beyond stoked for his success post-AMC!! Damon wasn't even supposed to be a major character, but you could tell they switched gears and decided to make him more prominent after the work Fjord put in (he commanded the screen every time). His stories ultimately fell flat but certainly not because of his chops; He was always top notch!

Brick Manrock also has had some major theatre success, though it's too bad his Sweet Bird of Youth with Diane Lane didn't move to Broadway (then again, I think she didn't want to do it that long.)

I completely agree--the character was not exacly conceiv ed well but he was one of the last younger actors on the network version who could really act.

I just stumbled upon this from the past September--apologies if it's been posted. And man, it was a bit hard for me to watch just because I have NEVER seen Agnes seem so frail

One of the main writers on the small writing team is Tanya Saracho who is latina (and I think a lesbian,) and she said in an interview that much of the Hispanic elements in season 1 came from her, but I tend to agree. Queer as Folk (the remake) suffered, as I've stated before, from wanting to represent "every gay--and lesbian," (something they failed quite miserably at, really, since it was such a white show.) And it didn't work. While I know this polarized people, part of the appeal of the series for me was the "indie film" style where agendas didn't seem to be particularly pressed. I'm gonna trust this will continue, but I understand the trepidation people may have to the news. (With the bumps in some of the cast going to regulars, it's not like, even with two more episodes, the show really has a ton of room to flesh out more characters anyway, but they are listed as supporting.)

Apparently at least for this season it is (even with more episodes, there are only so many characters they can feature.) Obviously, I cynically say, they felt the pressure from those who complained the show was not diverse enough (though I'm sure they will still get flack for not having a gay Asian in San Francisco...)

Looking has added a transgender character for its upcoming second season.

The HBO series is expected to return in early 2015, and will feature three new recurring characters, TV Line reports.

Sammie, a female-to-male transgender character, lives at a shelter where Agustín gets a job, following his crisis at the end of last season.

Meanwhile, the new episodes will also introduce viewers to Malik, an African-American employee in the San Francisco mayor’s office, as well as Richie’s new redheaded boyfriend, Brady.

Russell Tovey has been upgraded to a series regular for the new season, alongside fellow recurring stars Lauren Weedma, who plays Doris, and Raul Castillo, who appears as Richie.

Looking received mixed reviews when it debuted in January, and attracted modest ratings, but eventually secured a renewal from HBO for 10-episode second season.

Ha! LOL *very flattered*

Which one was Eric?

Ugh, this sounds just as much of a mess as Coven. But... they cast my fave Hip Rockhard, so I'll have to watch!

http://insidetv.ew.com/2014/09/10/american-horror-story-freak-show-plot/

My feelings exactly

LOL That's one reason I'm glad I don't know too many (successful) film or tv actors... I have a hard enough time sitting through a play when I know the true personality of someone in it...

Yeah, Scott is back. I dunno, contracts seem less restrictive between cable and network shows--it's just time constraints (ie Alisoan Janey and Beau Bridges' on Masters of Sex and their, awful, sitcoms which have meant they've been largely absent this season.)

I'm sorry, but I can't tune into Tyler's sh!t indefinitely just to rag on it. Lord knows I can rag a LOT on it, but I just can't. Too many thots on FB act like they're watching a Masterpiece Theatre when THATHN is on. I'm sure they'll eat this up, too, and feel like they're watching intelligent television.

Ha, this made me go and try to find a file to download it. Alas, nothing is up yet...

Oh man, I'm tempted to download this... *must not fall into the THAHN trap where I actually thought I was watching TV so bad it was good, until I realized it was just bad.*

No. McKay's was around since the 1970s. There's a classic clip of a teenage Erica and Chuck having a burger there where he teases her about having to be the center of the universe. I think it was shown in the 20th anniversary show, but I might be mistaken about that.

The episode it's featured in was one of the ones on the I Love Lucci Marathon I believe (if not, then it was the one shown on Daytime to Remember--there are those five 1970-71 B&W episodes floating around out there and I get them mixed up.)

Billy Kay pops up a lot in regional and off-Broadway theatre--his mom has had quite a bit of success on the stage so maybe that's his focus now. (On the other hand, I doubt Marty West disappearance from screens can be blamed on him doing well in theatre...)

They didn't have to since Opal found his skeleton in the Martin attic years ago.

What's not to believe? I believe the Valley Inn was around since the beginning as well.

At least since the early 1980s when I started watching.

I think the Pine Cone came in the early 80s along with Opal, etc. Of course even back then they made the same distinction that they did in the 70s--that Pine Valley was mostly a nice, well off suburb and if they had drugs or street gangs they would be in Center City (Foxy's where Opal made her daughter work, was there...)

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it was one of the new FMBehr sets...

And have you noticed the conversations? None of these people talk over one another. Someone says something, wait 2 seconds, and then the other takes their turn. It's just awful!

Yes, it's very much like amateur theatre. I know Perry built his reputation on those touring "inspirational" plays that usually contain a lot of audience talk back, etc, so maybe he feels for this too he has to pace the lines so that the audience can shout at the tv