EricMontreal22

That Charlie was always so unattractive and obnoxious to me (I mean unattractive in general--everything about him lol). I remember friends who had watched longer than me telling me how horrified they were with the recast, as they always found Charlie so "hot". And yeah, Cecily was pretty awful when she came back. I NEVER got the appeal--until I finally saw episodes of her from the 80s where she is, for whatever reason, much more appealing (of course so was Maurice Benard when paired with her as Nico--an actor now I find difficult to take).

I think Storm was a hunk--in an old fashioned guy next door way. But yeah--even going by different eras of male hunkiness, those are not the ones I'd pick from the first decade of OLTL as hunks.

Obviously who Valentini had in mind when he cast the Ford brothers!

I'm not sure--but I always wondered why they never connected her last name to Jack's...

I'm sure the info is here somewhere--but a search won't find it. What exactly is on the German GL 1979 5 disc set? And is there an option to watch it in its original English? Amazon.de has a video preview which even dubbed I admit made me want it--it doesn't help that although I love other soap themes (I have a soft spot for both the first two AMC ones for obvious reasons, and Y&R's is just classic soap IMHO), I think GL had two of the best themes in the 80s-early 90s. http://www.amazon.de/Die-Springfield-Story-Staffel-Guiding/dp/B007RU6JI8/ref=lh_ni_t

And how long past the tenth anniversary and the overhaul that was already happening would they last?

Ha the network actually allowed a promo showing an elderly lady watching their soaps??

I liked Sean and Barbara's return to AMC under McTavish's last run but like most decent things during her last two years or soit seemed to get forgotten and dropped (I don't think either had an onscreen exit).

Of course, I know this is always a problem (ie Ghost Jesse on Loving *and* AMC where Passanante had him follow Tad around for months--and then when she fled to ATWT amidst rumours of her being about to be fired, and the show had no HW for a few months, Ghost Jesse even managed to save Tad from being killed). Ah, OK from that perspective I do see what point you were being made--and I do agree with the later damage, though I can't blame the regime at the time for that (too bad Higley wasn't writing then or else we could have found old 8mm home movies of Vicki/Victor kiddie porn...) Cruel! I did get the link via PM--fantastic to see in such decent quality (I guess since the uploader was a cameraman for the show).

Which man are you refering to? Vicki being molested by her father for a period (I'm sure it lasted some time but I have no idea how long) isn't larger than life, but it is life. And I thought it was well handled within the context of soap opera.

? I suppose Eterna happened at a point where the show had just gotten so outlandish so it's kinda justified. Still, I see it as far more realistic, and dramatically interesting, that this important pillar of the community was a messed up sexual abuser, than that he was building underground cities and having his daughter hypnotized to forget pregnancies, etc...

I'm not refering to anyone in this thread--but it does make me laugh when some complain that they changed Victor's backstory and character too much with the DID story--yet these same people don't seem to take issue with him being this insane rich man who built Eterna, all the stuff that happened there, etc... Although I guess it does make Victor's appearance in Heaven seem odd.

Right, though it was also tied into Victor wishing she had been born a boy, and all the pressures (and in a sense emotional abuse) he foisted on her. I dunno, in this case I think it was more than justified (frankly, as good as the Tina story was to watch, more justified to retcon than retconning it with the Irene Manning stuff). Like Carl and others have said, I don't like what they did with the story after--I mean the DID story was such a triumph IMHO that it should have been the end of Nicki (soaps increasingly seemed to lose the restraingt nto to pull stories like Nicki/Vicki out every few years) and the alters, but I think the actual story was well done enough, dramatic enough, and in a sense important enough (I know someone who was dealing with repressed incestual feelings right around the same time and she said watching it, personally meant the world to me), that it justified the retcon. But then, I woulda just left it there. I can't find this 1980 episode in the video folder here, or on youtube--Link? I still wonder if Carlivati was going somewhere with that--it seems unlike his style to drop something changing history like that and not go with it. But I agree

Great scene!

I agree. I remember when "Zendall" started, I was surprised at how enjoyable I found them (this was when they went into a relationshp for ulterior motives). They played off each other really well. It was when they became this supercouple that I fairly quickly lost interest.

Some of us discussed this in the Prospect Park thread... I'm curious to know the full context of the question and answer. The Brandon's Buzz audio interview with Susan Bedsow Horgan from a year or two ago brings this up specifically, and says they were nervous about making the change to his character so with Griffith and Malone she went and asked for Agnes' approval, and they got it, slightly to her surprise (and I have absolutely zero reason from her interview to think she's making this up). Apparently she also consulted on points about the story, at least at first. (As you say--but just to reiterate). Nixon didn't have much to do with the Irene Manning revelation, I don't think (that was the mid 80s, right--and in the Paley Center interview when someone asks her about the current Vicki/Nicki interview--this was from '87 I believe--she doesn't say much but says she's not currently involved in writing OLTL), but I think your point is valid--and honestly the incest angle, given what people knew by 1994, is not all that far a stretch from the emotional abuse that caused Nicki to emerge back in '68. Giving the benefit of doubt--I'm not sure if that quote really says "but no, I never would have approved of that story". It seems more like an aural interview where she's thinking more on the idea--and wants to make it clear that she didn't suffer sexual abuse from her own father. I guess....

Was this during Malone's run?

Aside from Guiding Light, Right to Happiness is my fave of the radio soaps I've listened to more than 20 episodes of. Though a spin off, I believe Irna passed ver the headwriting reigns to Happiness pretty early on. Of course it was one of the last four remaining radio soaps--I wonder whyt hey never tried it on tv. There's much debate, really about the true first. It depends on what you call a soap, and other semantics but they were all around the same time.

That was before Ivan came back with a robotic arm to mind control Larry, right? (Or am I mixing him up with someone else...) Agreed--it is. I love that he's getting quotes from everyone possible--not just the recent actors, etc--doing a soap history book as an olral history while these people are still around is a great idea.

No, but in the age when soaps were all getting bigger and bigger (richer people, etc) it may have not ben what the market wanted. I believe Ellen Holly's memoirs mentions the Loving thing. Anyway, she saw it as a bad thing (going to such a low rated show).

Right--I guess I meant more of a character, though I've only seen one clip of him but I guess the soldier stuck around for a while--in terms of hauntings... Agnes did want Carla and Saddie to move from OLTL when they were let go, to Loving (so I guess by 1986 or so)--I understand why Hall felt it beneath her, but maybe this was some recognition that the show needed more diversity.

Oh, I agree--especially for an Alden. But he has a charm that comes off well on camera. Yeah--I was gonna ask if it was one of Loving's first black roles.

Ah OK, I've seen her in the earlier clips then. I know(and love) Opal... I mean Egypt mainly from her 90s return. I've heard Agnes was often involved in story at Loving--especially around 88-89 (when people felt AMC was starting to be neglected leading to its overhaul with Behr), and I admit I find it fascinating and oddly appealing how so many of her ideas seemed to be a desire to go back to older AMC--while many would see that as a flaw.

OK, I am blanking... Who's Minnie? Randomly the background music is the Stock/Aitken/Waterman produced version of Don't Make Me Over sung by Sybil--a big UK success, but I don't think it was even released in the US... Odd (though at least they're playing real music, unlike nowadays when they can't afford it). The more clips of Chip as Curtis, the more i like him in the role. Far from brilliant, these clips from when Millee Taggert and Tom King (I believe) were HW are much more appealing than the corporate mess the show seemed to be under Ralph Ellis in the previous regime--not sure who was EP then, since it changed so much--if it was Joseph Stuart or Mary Ellis-Bunim. I always found it odd that after *so* many recasts, the original Curtis returned in the last year (or just before--as Dante's "pet").

Agreed completely. Sometimes when I say I liked Josh people seem to think that means I approve of the anti-abortion. Not at all. But it pissed me off double that they DID do that, and then they barely even scratched the surface of the drama that could have come from it. The only time I remember Erica and Josh really discussing it was as he died--as I said a touching but quick scene (from my memory). I was all for bringing back Jeff, but the casting sucked (as much as I like James in other things), and it was barely played anyway (I don't think he even had an exit), and I barely remember him interacting with Josh either. A lot of that is Megan's fault, certainly I think the anti abortion was entirely her fault--one of her totally crazy ideas Frons loved--but I do believe if it had happened under the regime say ten years earlier, with less network interference and focusing on always driving focus group faves, etc, she would have played it out better.