Khan

I agree. Even back then, as it was happening, I didn't like what Stephen Black and Henry Stern were writing for ATWT, but at the same time, I didn't think they were so destructive that the show was being damaged irreparably. Especially when I compared it to what JER was doing with DAYS, or Megan McTavish with AMC and GL.

I don't hold what happened at FC under their watch against them, as I think FC had problems even in its' peak years. ICAM!

"Slow" is one thing. You can move slowly and still captivate an audience; just ask Bill Bell! But I thought the Pollocks' writing was tedious, lol.

We're always so quick to blame O.J. for the across-the-board decline in ratings for soaps, but I think if TPTB had not overreacted like they did and just stayed the course, the numbers might've climbed back up.

Because...

IMO, "Murphy Brown" ran for about five seasons too long. Once Gary Dontzig, Steven Peterman and Korby Siamis stepped down as showrunners after S6, the show's writing wasn't nearly as sharp as it had been before.

I thought Lynne Thigpen did some amazing work as AMC's Grace Keefer, who suffered a breakdown and kidnapped Derek and Mimi Frye's baby, Danielle, because she blamed Mimi, a police officer, for the death of her son, Tony, and wanted to raise Danielle to make up for the mistakes she thought she had made with Tony. (Jeff Beldner, Hal Corley and Michelle Patrick wrote some amazing stuff for her as well). As I've said in the past, there wasn't much about AMC after 1992 or so that I really cared for, but I do think their AA cast contingent throughout the '90's - Thigpen, Shari Headley, Tonya Pinkins, Amelia Marshall, even Keith Hamilton Cobb with his arrogant-as-hell ass - was one of TV's strongest. Another candidate: Petronia Paley, who acted the hell out of one of Megan McTavish's most tasteless storylines on GL. (Basically, her character, Vivian's, daughter fell for a man who'd turn out to be her biological father...which Vivian knew all along). Although I remember the performances in that particular story were good and getting a decent amount of airtime, I still thought it was a tremendous come-down from before, when Nancy Curlee and her team wrote such beautiful material for Paley, Amelia Marshall, Monti Sharp, Vince Williams and Nia Long. I've been trying like hell to find and watch that material again on YT, but I can't.

And yet, I'd take even that over JER's DAYS, because the difference between '80's DAYS and JER's DAYS is that '80's DAYS was still well-written, if also a far cry from the decade before.

I agree!

For years, there were rumors that suggested then-EP John Valente had sabotaged ATWT deliberately because he was mad that P&G transferred him from AW. I don't know whether there was any truth to those rumors, but watching that episode again, it does make me wonder. Like, maybe Black & Stern got caught in the crossfire between Valente and P&G; and maybe - just maybe - if they had had a more supportive EP, whose only agenda was to help the show get back on its' feet after Marland's death, they might not have been such total disasters as HW's.

That's putting it mildly, lol. For me, the number-one issue with the Pollocks' work (and not just on this show, but later on DYNASTY as well) is how they reduce characters to one-dimensional "saints" and "sinners." If you are a "saint," you are saintly to the point of being a sap; and if you are a "sinner," there's no rhyme or reason to your villainy; you're evil, simply because that's what the plot demands. Between the simplistic writing and needless repetition - I swear, there were episodes of TD during their time there that were nothing more than flashbacks to previous episodes! - I just couldn't take anymore, and I bailed until I knew their work had concluded on RetroTV. Unfortunately, when I came back, I still found the show annoying to watch, but in different ways, lol.

Whatever happened to Peter Davies anyway? And why did they write him out of the show?

So, No Labels had No Chance.

Unfortunately, Elizabeth Snyder passed away in 2021.

It's not the reboot/revival series we've hoped for - damn that Bill Cosby! - but it'll do.

I agree. To me, the latter seasons of DALLAS are little more than Larry Hagman and Patrick Duffy squaring off against a barrage of pretty, young blondes who can't act and have no real reason for being on the show.

It's so sad to witness GL's fall after starting out so well - creatively, if not in the ratings - at the start of the decade. It really does lend credence to the theory that JFP coasted on Robert Calhoun's vision for the show for much of her reign there.

What makes Bernie Sanders' supporters think he could win a presidential election? Where are their receipts?

Ironically, John Kapelos (a.k.a. Konstantin) speaks Greek fluently.

To me, GL was still pretty good through most of '93 and '94, but, indeed, the cracks were beginning to show. By '95, in fact, I thought the show was in real trouble. So, of course, what does P&G do to fix the situation? They hire Megan McTavish, lol.

It's the same problem I have (or had) with Michael E. Knight on GH: an actor whom I actually enjoy watching, choosing an accent for their character that leaves me feeling absolutely puzzled, lol.

Trust me, he doesn't, lol. (Have you ever seen him in "Sixteen Candles" or "The Breakfast Club"?)

I hated that plot, too, lol. To me, it was confusing and lacked real purpose (other than to show, once again, that Janet was a total nutcase).

Ugh, Badderly, lol.

It's so hard NOT to get my hopes up about Mulcahey/Korte, you know? Especially when Mulcahey's talent is so legendary, and almost any change in the HW'ing position could be viewed as a positive one at this point. That's why I keep saying I'll go along with just about anything that Mulcahey wants or doesn't want to do, up to and including not making any drastic changes to the cast roster, so long as it's written with at least SOME intelligence. It doesn't have to be brilliant; it just has to be better than the generic, uninvolving [!@#$%^&*] that Frank Valentini and his nominal HW's keeps foisting on this show. I mean, when you've got even me wishing for a return to the "glory days" of Robert Guza, Jr....!