EricMontreal22

Yes, she is on one of the episodes on Agnes' website--she's a family friend of Joe's (this was before he married Ruth, so very early on, I think in the first month) and stops in as she said her husband had some business or an appointment in Pine Valley. I wonder if it was advertised or anything to try to get OLTL viewers to try out AMC. I didn't know OLTL 's primetime episode only happened due to pre-emptions. I remember it was seen a sa big deal that "poor" OLTL got a primetime special. Pam Long's run at OLTL was not very good IMHO. I think it was on Brandon's Buzz that Long mentioned that she just didn't fit at One Life under JFP. THen we got a muddy period where JFP seemed to be writing stories (she may have already been dictating some stories to Long and later McTavish, going by the style.)

I still don't get, having only seen one episode, how it was their answer to Peyton Place. I mean being in primetime--I get that, but it had the production values of a daytime soap--from what I saw, which Peyton certainly didn't.

Bill Bell had started at Days and left ATWT (as coHW? Actual HW?) around then, right?

And finally we get to hear, at least, Claire Mallis as Dorian!

And, despite the ridiculous and badly done "school shooting" episode last week, and how bad the show is overall--I do have to say as someone who still tends to watch out of some sort of masochism that this episode was perhaps the nadir--simply awful, fromt he bizarre college story, on. I twas like nobody was even half trying, let alone trying. I thought the show--ratings wise had one more year in it, but a bit surprised it was picked up for two.

Thanks for posting those! Wonderful. Well at least this proves that Nixon was still writing late 1973 (some sites have her leaving in 1971)

What were his comments?? It does seem odd, though I know when the show was greenlit and HBO was still having some issues someone high up (not sure if it was the same person) seemed embarassed that they were persuing less "adult" (ie Sopranos) style shows and more fantasy partly due to the surprise success of True Blood. I liked the premier--I understand it's a slow buildup to re-introduce all the characters, and I expect the second and third episodes will be more exciting. I did agree with this guy at NY Mag (who also did a very good review of the first episode) http://www.vulture.com/2013/03/plea-for-more-male-nudity-on-game-of-thrones.html I haven't read the third novel yet--waiting probably for the two seasons of the show that cover it first (plus I have too much I need to read) but some fans--a significant portion have actually said that certain characterizations are more complex or interesting in the TV series. Again--not sure excatly what is meant, but...

I forgot Wisner was still on the writing team in '91. So many of the characters featured here were out just a few months later--like Charlie, Joey, Emily Ann (is she still in an insane asylum?)

I think McTavish was fairly heavily involved throughout 92, myself. Some even have suggested Natalie in the well (late '91) was her idea--but the Will Cortland murder mystery (which I loved) is very McTavish (when she's at her best)--of courseshe tried to replicate a lot of it for the less successful Michael Cambias mystery. You mostly only tend to get stories like that when a writer decides they never want to work in soaps again--otherwise they *usually* are pretty guarded.

WHat's the story on Lois Sloane? I found a listing saying she was part of the original cast--and I know she was played by a black actress... Was she just someone in the hospital or something? The Grants weren't till 71 or 72 I believe.

Ha! First Terrence and first An-Li! I woulda started watching in October or so 1991 (Canadian Thanksgiving holiday to be exact,) and I am pretty sure their replacements were there by then, I don't remember a cast change (the first time I remember the "the role of... will now be played by" announcement--which as a soap novice seemed SOOO weird to me--was soon after I think with Galen the DA and Carter's ex, though I don't even remember having seen Galen before, but she may have just done court scenes before the recast.) Yeah Natalie in the Well was by the time I was watching--so I think that Fall. In hindsight it seems like a lot of pretty major characters were being written out just before I started watching (Skye, Joey, Charlie, I think some of the older ones like Myra? Ellen? Anyway)

I love that apparently a pith helmet is amongst her "good-looks" tricks! (in fact, by that photo it seems like all of them just mean putting on different hats...)

Great post, SayNoToYourSoap. You're right about ABC's patience back then (it may have helped that they were *still* seen as something of the young, upstart network--and they were wise to aim for a younger, different demo for their soaps and not directly take CBS's audience--even if articles from the 70s in soap magazines often seem to show soap fans confused by the different tone of ABC's soaps, it obviously worked.) However, they also seemed to know if they had a dud, fairly quickly--Best of Everything and A World Apart premiered a few months after AMC and were quickly canceled--Best of Everything, I believe, in less than 6months.

Ha, I admit I find it a little bizarre to use something about an actress' physical appearance, like hair colour, to anchor an article about a *radio* actress.

New York, like Loving. And don't forget Angie was on Loving (AMC of course had some major cross over stunts in '91 and '92 as well with Loving to try to spike ratings--it didn't work but that's how I started watching.) I don't think many people "couldn't stand" Loving, and that as part of the problem. Many people were apathetic towards it, or simply didn't watch. The City didn't get many new viewers, that's one reason, another is it still had Loving's crappy time slot, it also was given very little time to grow, and it didn't get good ratings--and was expensive. BTW who is this Fronz you think I am? Like The Fonz? I'm confused. I forgot Janet putting the vets in a truck--wasn't it in quicksand or going off a cliff or something?

Yeah that was a bad spring for AMC relatively speaking--at least soon the Kevin story sparked back up. I remember at the time, just as The City was starting to be very good (or at the least very solid) it was depressing because AMC was in a bit of a rut, and OLTL--I believe just before the Labines came on-- was an utter mess (I wasn't watching GH at the time at all...) So I was actually enjoying The City the best but its cancelation was already announced. (I also remember that all ABC's ratings were slipping *except* The City which was actually, for once, having admittedly tiny climbs each week.)

Sorry guys, when looking for Heartbreak High videos for the Loving/City thread, I stumbled across that (Vince P was a star from HH just like Corey Paige who was hired around the same time for The City.) While Broderick's era in the 90s was a mixed bag (although personally it's nonetheless one of my fave eras,) this story really was IMHO the nadir. Funny, it largely feels like something that would have fit McTavish's sensationalistic late 90s run--it has so many of the Hallmarks... Like bringing on a new character who is instantly disliked and who is written into such a plot driven hole that they have no way to return (to be fair, I guess Tanner perhaps was brought on with a short term goal and they never hoped to redeem him, but...), a he said/she said rape scenario which doesn't even have any intrigue because we know already who's in the wrong, etc. Ripa did have moments where she really raised to the challenge. Yeah they were few (especially in her last few years,) but...

A promo for EVERYONE's fave Lorraine Broderick story! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSBvM5T7HV0

It actually was pretty good--a sorta more "gritty" Degrassi, that aired on a basic cable station here in Canada but since then a friend of mine who grew up with the series in Australia has gone on about what a teen phenomenon it was there. Based on a movie with much of the cast (The Heartbreak Kid) it ran for about 6 or so years, but Corey was only in the first few--Alex Dimitriades, who is probably most famous for jerking off on screen in the (actually very very good) Aussie gay film Head On about the greek immigrant issue in Australia was the first main "lead" with Corey being supporting. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQBcKlORvfE Vince Poletto (Tanner on AMC) came the second year http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOpGjpFAJ6U

LOL I agree, but that started to happen with OLTL as Nixon focused more on AMC (*glares at anyone who brings up the red-headed step child syndrom*) and carried over to Russell's early years. And still, reading those stories of the time, they seem like vintage soap to me.

I think Tracy helped add that jolt, but I actually kinda liked the element you describe. I remember around the time they were just starting to experiment with websoaps which were not great but were sorta done like youw ere eavesdropping on an apartment filled with characters for five mins (I forget the name of the specific websoap I'm referencing...) Watching The City often was like a much better done version of this, and it was fun tunning in for 20 mins (if I taped it) a day and just getting a brief update. Have you watched Heartbreak High?

Yeah he was always a drip. In the final story with him and Ally and Danny and Carla Soleito (why didn't that actress ever go on to more soap greatness??) the story only worked because everyone (yes, including Laura Wright) were strong in their material and Tonyw as kinda believable as the dumb guy. But wow--he was mildly cute, but the one City character (from the last 6 months) who I couldn't stand.

I somehow missed this post, but I think you perfectly defined Loving (at its best), why I find it so appealing but also why it never really stuck or had a full identity (things like time slot aside.) Its worse era for me seems to be some of the late 80s stuff (after Nixon's sting after Marland) under Ellis, etc, with all the corporate stuf fwhere it seems to have most lost its small town community identity. It's really too bad Soapnet never reran the full series--I think particularly to vintage soap fans now it holds a lot of appeal. Some of the problems are just in concept, IMHO--Agnes Nixon and Dan Wakefield apparently first created it with Dan (who wrote the book I always mention All Her Children and had then become friends with Agnes but also who was a very strong novelist with books like Starting Over and Going All The Way, both which he adapted into movies, and the cult 70s teen primetime drama James at 15 which Kevin Williamson says was the inspiration for Dawson's Creek). But he felt overwhelmed and backed down so she then worked with Marland (I suppose from the start she didn't think she had the time to be its headwriter) who obviously helped shape the initial setup himself, despite, it seems, finding it hard to work with her. Still both their concepts seemed to be a "return to basics" (basics being a sort of early 1970s AMC), just at a time when soaps, even AMC, were becoming more glamorous and about big business.

It's too bad they didn't hire a better actor to play transexual Azure C--I think that was part of the reason the story fizzled (though the early social stories they did--like the racial attacks on Angie's clinic--all fizzled, but the actress simply wasn't very good. (And man that OLTL commercial--sigh Joey and the Woman in White at the Lake or whoever... lol)