Khan

ICAM. To me, MSW never treated its' audience as morons, nor did it ever go chasing after trends. The show was a class act from beginning to end and a true antidote to those who abhorred excessive violence and gore in their entertainment.

In a way, what happened to JFP the first time she worked on Y&R reminds me of what happened to Felicity Huffman's character on "Frasier." You can insult the man, you can insult his loved ones, you can even insult his expertise as a licensed mental health professional. But the minute you insult his choice of hand towels....!

If GL had gone that route with A-M, I would've had him turn up eventually in, of all places, San Rios, lol.

IIRC, removing the wallpaper that always hung over the stairs in the Chancellor mansion foyer and changing the original yellow/cream color scheme to some eye-gouging, blue/gray monstrosity was what got JFP canned. As soon as she was out the door, they wrote a scene where Jill accosted Billy for changing the mansion, dipped a paint brush in some paint that matched the house's original colors and painted a stroke on the wall, as if to say, "THIS is what the mansion should (still) look like!" As a matter of fact, I think it was a soap mag (which someone on SON reposted?) that said, in so many words, "JFP could do whatever she wanted with Y&R, but when she changed the Chancellor mansion, she had to go," lol.

Another choice for Gerald Davis: Michael Higgins, a NYC film and theatre actor, who was in the original B'way cast of "Equus" and who appeared in films like "The Stepford Wives" and "The Conversation," as well as many early TV shows during the '50's and '60's. ("Andy Griffith Show" fans might remember him in Don Knotts' final appearance on the show during the eighth and last season. "Law & Order" fans will remember him as the retired college campus security guard who shot and killed a student during the '60's anti-war movement and then dumped him and his VW van in the river, not knowing that the student was actually working undercover for the police).

Erica always felt threatened by any woman who challenged her ability to entice men sexually: Brooke, Natalie, Barbara, Maria, even Tara and Claudette. I think that's because, in her mind, all she really had to offer was her so-called feminine wiles. Without those, what good was she to the world?

TPTB just don't get it: surprising the audience is not the point, because, if you've done it right, the audience knows "what happens next." The object of the game, therefore, is (say it with me now) to MAKE. THEM. WAIT. That's why the announcers always would invite viewers to "tune in tomorrow" or again, because even if we knew what would happen, we didn't always know when. And you know already how I would reintroduce the now-grown Sly Eckert and pair him with Liz (and that was all before even I knew about "The Bear," lol).

ICAM! Just as I always equate Henry Slesar's writing on EON with classic film noir. Slesar and Bill Bell were the most stylistic HW's ever to work in soaps.

Could I just express one more time how much I love reading your analyses of all things soaps, @dc11786 ? You always bring so much insight that I'm often left feeling breathless. And everything you've written about Bill Eckert is spot-ass-on, too, lol.

A little late to the festivities, but here's wishing everyone a safe and happy 2026!

Same here. I used to get annoyed over the show's dialogue, which I thought lacked humor and sass. However, after years of listening to so much shallow dialogue on all the soaps, including the current Y&R, I've come to regret not appreciating more how Bill Bell and Kay Alden crafted words for their actors that might not have sounded hip, but did illuminate the characters' states of mind.

Hardly anyone would have considered either TCS or MSW to be revolutionary. Yet, in their own ways, they were. MSW presented "women of a certain age" in a positive light - paving the way, IMO, for "The Golden Girls" - and TCS showed an African-American family who was educated, well-to-do, and who respected one another. Looking at the shows from that point of view, it doesn't surprise me at all to know just how quickly they caught on with the audiences and really reset the industry for the rest of the decade.

And breaking this lifelong fan's heart in the process. Pam Long had the right idea, but I think whoever vetoed it would've had a harder time doing so if GL had cast Matt Weiss with someone who was, well, hunkier, lol.

The same thing happened with me and KNOTS LANDING. When I started watching in the late '80's/early '90's, Lynn Marie Latham (remember her?) and Bernard Lechowick were the showrunners, and I thought their "humor-infused style," as wikipedia puts it, was very much the kind of storytelling I wanted to emulate. Then, thanks to TNT, I was able to watch KL from the beginning, and I realized how much more focused on character the show had been before them, especially with Peter Dunne as producer. I still love many episodes from the Lechowicks' era, but for me, their work pales to what came before.

True. AFAIK, Genie Francis has never come across as ungrateful for Laura, even as she was playing other roles that, frankly, were wastes of her time and talent. She's just wanted TPTB to accord her with the same level of respect that they always accorded Geary.

IKR? And I'm supposed to feel sad, because Lucky and Liz still aren't back together? Sure, Jan!

Probably. But those other soaps would have learned the hard way that Luke and Laura didn't capture the public's attention because of Geary.

True - and like I said, if GH had been in better shape when Monty and Geary returned, things might have progressed more smoothly for them and for Bill Eckert (not to mention, the rest of the Eckert clan, which was also DOA, IMO). I wish they had treated Shelley Taylor Morgan the same way. I mean, why did they always dress her like an extra in a New Jack Swing video? Which might explain why GF and TG apparently weren't very close BTS. Because, other than being one-half of a fictitious couple on a daytime soap opera, what could you possibly have in common with someone 14 years your senior (and vice-verse for Geary)?

Yep, lol. True. Guza and his team seemed fond of pissing on the very couple that made GH a juggernaut and changed (for better or for worse) the genre forever. Which was their right, I guess, except, to me, it seemed as if they were shaming their own audience for ever loving Luke and Laura. Now, maybe America was messed up to fall in love with a love story between a rapist and his teenaged victim, but I'm certainly not gonna go out of my way to make them feel bad about it.

You were not cast well in a role that was created expressly for you? Make that make sense for me, Mr. Geary! Now, I'll admit that TG couldn't have returned at a worse time for GH. The show was in freefall; and unfortunately, his new character, like so many other things going on at that time, fell through the proverbial cracks. If GH itself had been more stable, who knows? Maybe there wouldn't have been a need to "kill Bill," as it were, and bring back Luke and Laura. But that's hindsight. The fact is, for whatever reason, Bill Eckert just didn't click with the audience, who wanted TG back as Luke and only Luke. So, either count your blessings (not to mention, your paychecks) and shut up, or tell TPTB to shove off and, I dunno, go back to Utah or whatever. (Ugh. Utah. I don't know about anyone else, but I know that would be more than enough for me to never complain about playing Luke Spencer).

I agree. Of course, understanding Geary's dissatisfaction is difficult when there are so many who would've gladly traded places with him. (Like Abby Ewing says, "Go talk to someone who lays tar all day for minimum wage, and then tell me how difficult your job is for you," lol). Geary used his clout to force TPTB to rewrite Luke's history and temperament as he saw fit - even demanding the right to rewrite his own dialogue, which I would've quit over, had I been in the HW's chair - and there's a part of me that always will resent him for that. But I get it.

I think she was turning or running away from Scott, tripped over something and fell through the glass? That's just my best guess, though. Someone who watched BITD might be able to explain it better. What I'd love to know is why Scott walked away from the doctor in a huff. Did he attempt to see Jennifer in the hospital and was turned away?

DAYS and Y&R used to be kings at the extreme close-up. Yet, once everybody transitioned to HD - which is still a bitch! - it seems like they and every other show stopped doing what I call the "nostril shot."

That would be my #2 choice, with Kay/Jill (Y&R) my #1 and Erica/Brooke (AMC) my #3. As much as I still worship the ground Douglas Marland walked on, even I'm hard-pressed to come up with a rivalry that he wrote that stands up as well as those three.

In a perfect world, that younger rival would've been either Nina or Mac, with Nina getting the edge since Tricia Cast could throw down with the best of 'em.