EricMontreal22

I got the feeling she's always been slightly too flirty with him? But this brings up a comment I've had whenever I see Vanessa with these weird men (or was this one we've seen before) who she has role play sex hijinks with... They always just come off as plain bizarre. This guy followed her in the middle of the day to a cafe? The dialogue always seems like they want to push the boundaries too with what they can say but then just comes off as incredibly weird (something about what she did with her foot?) And oh yes, let's go to an underground/backroom casino to try to raise money for our new upstart agency? I hate to say it, and I didn't catch the writers for this episode, but I felt this was another episode like some past ones where the dialogue throughout sounded off and not natural--and too filled with references and metaphors that maybe looked nice on paper but not so much when people say them. (Oh and random--why cast a day actor as a surgeon for a tiny scene and then reveal in the next hospital scene that he can't do it because of a family emergency? Just... kinda weird.)

I'm not a Derek fan at all (and not even all that much of an Ashley fan, but man has she become awful in their relationship--like she's not even trying. But also I admit, I don't think I'd ever live with someone, even someone I was married to (I know they're not married) in a bachelor apartment unless I had to. Even just a one bedroom would make a big difference. I'd probably end up hiding in the bathroom a lot

I think it was largely done because they championed OLTL (even when it didn't deserve it) and saw the shows as up against each other in terms of which would be cancelled, so seemed to think any success AMC had would put OLTL in danger.

I really don't understand Leslie. Cutting off her daughter now leaves her with absolutely nothing and no bargaining chip...

Yeah, they have my sympathies but this only works as high camp. I dunno, have her angrily febreeze her room or SOMETHING (ok that's not much better but...)

I felt so sorry for the actress... What was her motivation? I usually like a good dream/fantasy sequence, but so far am not too impressed with any BTG has had...

I'm copying and pasting the entire post because, while I enjoyed the watch, I agree with every single one of your points (as I posted above I thought the dialogue tried for clever sophistication without sounding realistic throughout, in fact.)

I haven't read it since high school--but it has stuck with me and is a pretty important book (as a kid I did always assumed it was related to the Wells work too )

I love a smart literary reference in my soap dialogue, but I just laughed at that *picks up book* Martin: "Ralph Ellison--The Invisible Man." Smitty: "I see you" They also apparently have copies of The Glory and the Dream (which I haven't read) and Paris in the Terror which I did read parts of in high school actually. But I wanted them to show them putting back on the shelf at least a couple of fun, trashy novels. C'mon! (or maybe at least something gay if they're gonna focus on titles--Baldwin's Giovanni's Room?) And yes, it was me who said there should be more singing and I loved the final montage, but I kinda wish they had just had her singing solo instead of the family all gathered around the piano which... I'm sorry, I don't think in one of the niece's shoes I woulda stuck around for at that time. (And wow--locking Eve out? ) YES Another pointless nitpick--weird barndoor closing end fade.

Yep Edmund and Tad went under cover to infiltrate the... Willow Lake (I think?) old folks community scandal that was exploiting Phoebe, etc. (Which at one point led to Edmund rescuing Brooke from quicksand--common around Pine Valley I guess ) EDIT maybe I'm wrong. I found the quicksand scene But for the story all I can find is Edmund going undercover as the gigolo "preying" on older women, Eduardo (no one would recognize him with that disguise and name ) so the drag must have been.. a different story?

But then he HATES the original Heather Webber (Cher's half sister played her, right?) and we know what happened when Robin would step into the role a year after this. He does seem pretty spot on about actors who show promise otherwise. It's interesting he knocks OLTL early on (though I loved all the recently released episodes from this era we got) but does give a lot of credit to the actress playing Cathy despite earlier complaining about her story. And over all, while quite negative, his various pros and cons on the shows sounds about right with what I know of the shows at this time. This was a July dated issue of the magazine but and I know they date mags a month or two in advance--obviously when he wrote this he didn't know Lovers and Friends was gonna go off the air (in May I think).

That was all true behind the scenes, but didn't affect the show we saw in front of the camera which (particularly in the case of AMC) was much stronger than AMC had been in years. As well as her co-HW Elizabeth Snyder (who I just read passed away at 60 in 2021!)

Found this Best and Worst from the July 1977 Daily TV Serials Magazine that I had posted years back.

Yes she absolutely was involved in that story which seems to have gone nowhere. She didn't start to remove herself from the writing until 1973.

100%

Right--I did think of that, as it was around the same few years. Accents I guess...

I can barely remember who was the person they tested her with for the AMC revival but I *do* remember kinda liking them together (anyone remember better? lol) But yes, I feel the same. It might not help that when I became a regular viewer Tad was presumed dead and she was with Craig... I do remember that my sister's best friend had been an AMC viewer with her mom and dad and that they were very excited that Tad was returning... OK I instantly remembered that. And now once again I'm sad about what coulda been with the reboot.

I think this is a great observation. I do wonder if some of that was down to how Nixon had started writing story and plot outlines. By this point (maybe even by the mid 70s) many have discussed how she *didn't* write detailed story outlines anymore--the focus more was on a mood or theme and ABC simply allowed that because they trusted her at this stage (in her "memoir" I think even Megan McTavish talks about Nixon's writing in this way in the 90s and she basically seems to admit that it worked for Nixon. But if Nixon wasn't in charge of the daily execution of these ideas...) What was with the ABC soaps around that time bringing in Aussie "hunks" from Heartbreak High? Richard (Corey Paige?) Tanner on AMC (Vince Poletto) OK not from Heartbreak High but didn't Ingo Rademacher start on GH around this same time?

*raises hand* Me too.

YES the wild waters is what I most remember too. (I still can't believe they grounded you but still continued to watch AMC and wouldn't let you. Too cruel.)

No kidding. As the soaps dwindle down to barely existing they have seemingly just given up on bothering to look for outside talent.

That's a mix up. When Ted Orsini went off the rails he hunted down Tad and Dixie in the "wilds of Canada" (I think I have the gist of that right. As a young teen I just found it amusing that they had to go to Canada to find wilderness.)

Well technically Janet was a sister, not a twin. We did get the stuff when Natalie and Janet's awful mother would visit--but that was just backstory about their childhood. You're right, there are a lot of gaps there. I always assumed the Hunters were French Canadian but probably just because of LeClerc. I feel you

That IS a good point and fair. I may be giving Nixon too much credit--it wouldn't be the first time--but I think she had so many more ties to ABC than those talents did (especially with AMC--which she was still involved in even if Washam was HW--being still at such a high) that it would have taken a lot more for her to make the move. @dc11786 Those are great points, and yes, the bible is full of great stuff (and the bible was before Marland got involved) that simply didn't make it on screen and it's not easy to guess who made that decision, at least in the majority of the cases.

That's been my impression as well--DePriest's first year doesn't get much talk, but it seems to have built the reputation of Pat FS and *especially* the Labine and Mayer who then went immediately, it seems, to Love of Life. Did DePriest have a soap background before?