EricMontreal22

I admit, I liked Josh and had a crush on Colin E--so I'm biased, and I liked the relationship he was starting to have with his sisters, and I admit, liked the dynamic of a Kane *male* member (as much as the '00s were obsessed with the legacy of the Kane women--the legacy seeming to basically be rape by the end...). But I definitely agree with you overall--that was my bigger problem by far. Zack, particularly under Pratt, had been decimated, but then to have Josh leave for months because he had been embezzling from the casino (wha? why?) only to come back to steal more and then be brutally shot and ZAck to demand the heart and not even seem slightly conflicted at any stage even though Kendall loved Josh by that point... I guess that was Zack at his most Sonny--which people feared would happen when Pratt came on. The only good was I remember there being a pretty good death bed scene between Josh and Erica where they finally really expressed their troubled but loving feelings for each other, and a couple of other good Erica moments. But that was it. (I also never get why they didn't do more with Josh and Greenlee--I am not sure if that was under B/E or who--they had one one nighter and a few moments like being trapped in an elevator and I felt they had really great chemistry--Greenlee became much more interesting than she had been for years with Ryan, but it was instantly dropped). I remember some moments--like I said above, but maybe I embelished them in my memory--I should check youtube (but I do remember they seemed too short), but yes--that would work much more and it would be far more interesting to have Erica be conflicted and from her POV than from Zack.

I agree with what Kay Alden (reportedly) said, that at this point there's no reason to retcon Josh, it just would be more trouble and confusing to viewers than it's worth--and he's dead, even by soap standards. I still liked the character a lot by the end, and HATED Pratt's version of Zack going all killer and "SAVE HIS HEART FOR KENDALL" on him--but at that point especially mcTavish was all for over the top ideas, and I'm sure when she pitched the unabortion to Frons that's why he took to it, he seemed to like and encourage her gimmicks.

Ha! I never knew that detail.

Ah, OK I guess Tudor had just returned when I got into the show.

What years did she play Gwynne?

Were ratings slipping and Frons told her to pull out all the gimmicks? Because her first two years, especially in hindsight (or as a viewer coming off of the Sex and the City hour from Rayfield), really had a lot of great stuff--and a lot of great potential that was dropped with suddenly dropped characters, etc. And then it did really start on a lot of dark, weird, Ryan/Zack/Greenlee/Kendall heavy, gimmicky stuff. I think she still managed to have some really good scenes (I know that's not the HWs job--but when some well written and longer scene work exists on a show exists under one headwriter and not another, it does say something), but... And like I said, by midpoint in the satin-slayer story it didn't even seem like she was writing anymore--it was just autopilot.

HAHAHAHA Right

Yeah frankly his destruction started under Rayfield if not even a bit before (it was under Rayfield he would love Maria up and feed her drugs). McTavish at her worse is way too eager to do execs bidding, but I doubt it was her decision. That ELR interview is one I'd never read and just--wow. What an awful situation. Umm I have most initials down but who is TKFP

AH I completely forgot about Di--I liked her. Such a waste. I think I blocked out Fight Club Ryan that was just... odd. I guess it was going for something different in soaps, and I appreciated in a way that they tried to give Ryan depth with his abusive father, but it didn't work. (And then his sister was killed off by Megan's last major story the Satin Slayer--no wonder people found the show a mess and too dark in the second half of her 2000s reign). In this clip I will say at least they made the fight club look semi decent budget wise... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TjqmhQKrxY And I think, overall, I'd agree with you.

Oh I agree they had written him into a hole but the way he ended... blah. And yeah, I didn't know why he wanted to burn down the barn either.

I like it too! But hasn't Lyman retired from acting and onlydirects now?

WHy was she in jail again? Jill is very friendly on Facebook and has been saying consantly for the pat year that if it ever came back online she wants to be a part of it, to keep the faith alive, etc. Usually I just smile and nod to her posts, but I hope I hear something now that it seems to be back (I did suggest that she suggest she run Myrtle's boarding house ) Yes and she actually hid out in Llanview too--I think it was the same story--as a maid or something (oy I should go to bed...) The clips are somewhere. There were no OLTL character cameos though that I know of.

Quote: I actually liked Maureen more than Maria (way less whiny). It was also realistic that she wouldn't just morph back to Maria, but be more of a blend - Maureenia. However, when ELR decided to leave instead of giving the fans a "walk off into the sunset" ending for Edmund and Maria - they killed off the veteran character, let Brooke, sort of, have the last laugh, and then just had Maria move on... all around, not worth it./end quote (grr these quotes) Anyway, and look how they uncermoniously killed him off! I can't remember if he even got out of his wheelchair, but Jonathan killed him in the barn or something, right? Or am I totally off? Because at the time I remember just wondering why Jonathan would even target him... There was a lot of wasted potential there. Bobby Steggert (now a successful Broadway name) was good as Sam living with Brooke, being understandably angry at his mom, and with Lily. I think he just kina disappeared off screen as so many characters around that time did--from waht I remember, but I'd be even more angry if I found out Lily ended up with the killer of my dad...

Yeah my main complaint with the Maureen mess was what it did to Edmund (initially under Rayfield I believe). Locking hi wife up, trying to drug her (or did he?) etc... I forgot abotu Bermuda and those ridiculous terrorists.

I need to pull out that People book again. The photos are damn better than any soap publicity photos taken in a good long time, but I agree the ones that cleverly show some element of the character are better.

I'm sure she says in her long interview she did at that website a year or two back--but this interview implied she was. It does seem like Disney/ABC made major WP and/or HW changes all within 4 weeks on all three major soaps, so... The same site had an interview with Pam Long, mainly about GL but she mentions her 3/4 of a year at GL under JPH. She says she barely remembers it, but admits she didn't think she even decided some of the key stories and while she's very gracious, she says it was that her and JFP creatively had different visions and she felt usually on soaps either you need a stronger EP with the vision and a HW to write it out, or vice versa, but two strong figures doesn't work. With the Labines at OLTL, JFP came in fairly early in their run, and I'm sure that played a big part with them not working out on \OLTL.

Yes Culliton brought him back--he had a few scenes in the hospital, I think they thought he might have been a donar for... Hayley's daughter? I can't remember. He had like one scene with Bianca and was never seen again.

It's really a pretty fascinating interview. I never thought before that with ratings tumbling, Disney made big changes all within one month on every major soap--Behr was fired from AMC, Labine from GH and Malone from One Life (though she admits that after Josh Griffith left she took over as essentially co-headwriter which she now thinks was a big mistake).

I just remember Timmy hallucinating on LSD and seeing a lamp post singing Christmas carols...

This is old, and probably has been posted, but a fascinating audio interview with Susan Bedsow Horgan about her time writing at OLTL as Gottlieb was transforming the show, and later EPing it http://brandonsbuzz.com/brandons-buzz-radio-the-archives/may-17-2011-former-one-life-to-live-showrunner-susan-bedsow-horgan/ I didn't realize they went to Agnes Nixon to get appoval for making Victor a pedophile and that she consulted on the story. And we have Jean Passanante to blame for Patrick's Penny Brown Penny nonsense.

If it was early 1993 wasn't that when McTavish fully took over and Nixon was less involved again? I thought ti happened mid '92, but...

I love that they actually truly focused on her therapy and *showed* it which makes for riveting drama and, yes, still can give some sort of message. Unlike say Connie on GH's very brief hypno sessions, or Jess/Tess' off screen work...

Thanks--I watched pretty faithfully back then (and remember the funeral), but thought I missed something. They taped in the same city--it just seemed dumb that they didn't

Hrmm. Not sure, but there is no doubt that the Linda Dano story didn't work, IMHO. Sure, Myrtle is beloved, but after her appearance on AMC, there was no real reason for AMC viewers to follow her to OLTL. Sky hadn't been on AMC for a while (and the replacement Sky we had gotten before was fairly well liked, I believe--granted she was the first Sky Iknew well), and I don't even remember if Sky made an appearance on AMC leading up to her moving to OLTL--not that I remember. It seemed like when Angie joined Loving and yet should have spent a few weeks at AMC first to actually get viewers interested in following her to a new show (or in many cases, I suspect, even aware that she WAS going to a different show.) And then of course there just was the execution--maybe all those shows was too much to handle, but it made the AMC/OLTL babyswitch in comparison look like the best soap story of all time.

This is an awesome find! Thanks so much Carl. One thing that always strikes me about older articles with photos of soaps, is that the cast was never that attractive. Yes, they *were* attractive, but you don't get that model-perfect (and boring) look that you see on any soap you watch now.