EricMontreal22

Whose writing did people like the most? I remember enjoying much of Margaret DePriest's run.

Does anyone buy that they really were considering keeping AW around for long?

Wonderful photos. Thanks All My Shadows. I actually really appreciated how the Richie stuff was done (I think it started under Brown/Esensten?) For well over a month he was a bartender at Krystal's who honestly I just thought was a bit player--he had a few lines, seemed like a good guy, etc. So I was genuinely surprised when it was revealed that he was a villain stalking Babe, etc--

When I discovered radio episodes of GL on the 90s (I got sent a disc with about a hundred) they were all from this story, starting with the death of Chukie (who was forced by his father to be more masculine leading to his death)--really great stuff. Interesting that the Guiding Light spin-off (and apparently extremely popular) The Right to Happiness was no longer on the same radio network (I believe it was on NBC which is where Guiding Light was until the mid or late 40s).

Is this it?

Annie was dull as a good girl/damsel in distress. The whole reveal with Richie and her turning out to be the nutcase was, I almost hate to admit, a very smart move as was Pratt's writing for her in general (again I hate to admit). As for Cecily. I was introduced to her in her second run so NEVER got the appeal. It didn't help that they paired her with Lawford's Charlie, ick (I just hated his character--I wish no disrespect on the actor, RIP)

Yes, Malone mentioned that in one interview (was it the video that student made?)

I always wonder if they did such a lousy anniversary episode (this was after AMC had already done a classic one for their 20th and then would go all out later for their 25th) because Malone and Gottlieb had already done the great week of flashbacks for Megan's death just a year or two before...

I have no idea if this link will work, but an Italian member of the Loving FB page posted an episode from June 1983--*yes* the very first week of Loving! Unfortunately... it's in Italian. But still fascinating to watch. https://www.facebook.com/christiangilles.collet/videos/1338972776141981/ Thank you! Nice to be back!! The City was actually my intro to JE--and it was love at first sight (I actually had seen the classic episode of her witholding her father's heart medication on GH before, but that was all). I think for some reason she really tied the show together--maybe it's because, as odd as this sounds, she did have a slightly more maternal element (or matriarchal anyway) that Sydney lacked. Early The City was a bit of a mess (understandable really given that they were trying something new--one of the last times ABC seemed reallywilling to invest and experiment in their soaps). The filming style was *too* hectic. The stories were all somewhat short term. The issue storylines didn't work (the racism story, the transgender story which was a first but had the trans character and her boyfriend written out right after the reveal) and the Masquerade mystery, while it had fun elements, was simply a bad idea... It was the Loving Murders but with *zero* stakes since we never cared about any of the victims or even all that much about most of the potential victims. But those final 6-8 months especially once Tracy came on were mostly gold I felt. My ABC had started airing the soap at 11:35 PM I believe by then, and it played particularly well as a late night soap for me--something to watch while I was getting ready for bed (hey, I was 16-17). Which does make me wonder once again about the Gottlieb/Malone/Griffith supernatural soap 13 Bourbon Street which Fox around the same time had wanted as a late night 30 minute soap and Logan couldn't shut up about how wonderful the pilot was (surely that should leak--c'mon) *but I digress*

From my years of being obsessed/fascinated with Loving and talking a bit to various people involved etc, Nixon was actually much more involved early on than many seem to credit her as being--I'm pretty certain of this. The basic set up was done by Nixon and Wakefield -- Marland only really tweaking things, it seems. Nixon was keen on focusing from the start on three social issues--incest, Vietnam PTSD and AIDS. Those were her ideas (or she sure took credit for them, anyway). Patrick Mulcahey, who co-scripted with Marland the pilot to Nixon's story, has also said that that first year at Loving was frustrating. In one interview he says he likes to be able to craft his scripts with little interference, and that Nixon would daily give ENDLESS notes on every script he was responsible for and for that reason he wasn't sorry to move on (not sure exactly when that happened). I get the feeling Marland also felt Nixon should have left him alone more. (Although Marland--as several have said--was very annoyed about the incest story being cut short by ABC, so obviously that story, even if instigated by Nixon, meant a lot to him). Nixon doesn't seem to be credited as HW on any episodes until her mostly wonderful 1993-94 run (her last run on any soap as credited HW--she was co-HW, mostly involved in the Bianca story, on AMC of course from 1999-2001). However, it seems that when Marland left she was the de facto headwriter on Loving for the next couple of years (and pulled back from AMC which suffered a bit)--noticeably those episodes never list a headwriter in their credits for the writing team. (I want to say that Nixon introduced Ava right after Marland left but I think I may have the dates wrong). Thanks for the shout out Vee! I dunno why I haven't wasted, err, spent any of my quarantine days on this forum, but here I am, back (and have just spent hours catching up on this great thread). I loved the reunion--much better than the other ones I have seen, and I'm glad there's talk of doing more. I did repeatedly try to get the host's attention to ask about Agnes/Doug (since they were comfortable gossiying about other behind the scenes figures) and the host WAS about to ask when something interrupted her. Maybe next time? As for Linda Gottlieb, I had heard that she stuck around ABC for a bit as a consultant (maybe she was still on contract after leaving OLTL?) Nice to see confirmation of that. The stories of Joe Stuart were awful but not remotely surprising after all we've heard about his time at OLTL. Of course he was given a stake in Loving (which does make me question Agnes Nixon a bit--and did she think actually asking a young actress to get a nose job for the sake of a story was a good idea? This isn't the same as an actress who already was planning to have a facelift--ie Margo Flax on AMC).

I've said it before but will say it again--the final six months of The City were *great*. It had really come into its own and was the soap I looked forward to the most. I think the writing was already on the wall by then (ABC still didn't own the show and it was apparently very expensive to shoot) but the ratings were actually going up IIRC--unlike the other ABC soaps at the time which were all starting to have issues. VERY slowly, but they were. ABC was into Aussie hunks at the time. Was it around the time Ingo joined GH? AMC also had around 1997 Tanner Jordan, played by another ex Heartbreak High actor Vince Poletto on as Tanner Jordan, Matteo's friend who tries to rape Hayley (a rather disastrous storyline--perhaps the worst in the mostly strong Broderick era).

I realize this is an old post, but I haven't seen a reply. ABC did not own Loving (or The City) strangely. It was owned by the company Agnes set up with her husband Dramatic Creations (always given the copyright credit at the end--and not to be confused with the first company Agnes and her husband set up for AMC and OLTL before ABC bought them--Creative Horizons).

The irony is I've read that ABC actually hired Rauch because they hoped OLTL wouldn't go the GH route and would be a sophisticated drawing room drama--like Rauch's AW was (I think the OLTL official trivia book says as much). But Rauch was uninterested in that and wanted to go all out, doing his attempt at Hollywood blockbusters, etc.

Love reading your thoughts--as it also helps me remember the show at this time.

LOL Showing "classic" episodes during the holidays has been a thing on ABC and CBS anyway since the 90s... LONG before FB.

So was it number one in NYC or just for its time period?

I was one of those people who thought the CowLip QAF was a pale shadow of the UK original (though I admit it could be ok as a trashy gay soap) but... Nothing about this seems like a good idea to me. Wasn't Davies also an exec producer (he later admitted "in name only" for the US series?) I mean writing wise I think the man can do little wrong, but (and I happened to love Cucumber/Banana which he mostly wrote and seemed like a natural QAF continuity)

LOL wow, obscure!

I haven't read these ones but do have some others--I have the three AMC ones from 1980 that covered 1970s storylines by romance novelist Rosemarie Santini: Tara and Philip, The Lovers, and Erica. Apparently these started the trend. Santini isn't a great writer but she's not bad either and they're a fun, quick read that seem to stick closely to the original scripts. (They go for 20 or so bucks even used so I better make sure I still have my copies as I haven't seen them since I moved in the Summer https://www.amazon.com/Agnes-Nixons-Children-Book-Philip/dp/0515048925/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1544916269&sr=1-2 In the mid 80s/late 80s Pioneer Books launched their Soaps and Serials label (they were a romance book publisher too) I have one of their Y&R books and that seemed to be their most successful with 7 or 8 volumes, but they did a LOT of soaps. I have their OLTL one, and I think in the back it advertises ones for GL, etc...

Hrm I actually remember the promos making it look genuinely spooky in a Gothic way. I was very disappointed when I tuned in...

I'm OK with McCormack overall, more or less, but this showed something he is incredibly weak at doing with the whole impersonating Jack physical comedy thing. It was hard to watch.

Thanks

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The feeling is mutual

Good to know what I have to upload.