Khan

I'm sorry, @Vee, but we're just gonna have to agree to disagree on this issue. I still believe that acknowledging the rape as a rape made it impossible for Luke and Laura ever to reunite. Not just because of the terrible messages that it would have sent, but also because how, IMO, it tarnished memories many held of those two for over thirty years. Americans might have been fools to fall in love with a love story between a rapist and his victim, but that's what they did, even if they knew how it all began and just never admitted it to themselves, or cared. Either way, reminding them decades after the fact amounted to shaming in my book; and I'm just not the type to shame millions of people for liking what they liked (in entertainment, not in politics, lol). Well, I know TG and JE enjoyed the heck out of Luke/Tracy, but I sure didn't, lol. Not once did I ever find those two believable as a couple. Close friends and confidantes? Yes. Lovers? No. I've already stated in the past how very much I would love to bring on Justin Deas as a new, mature love interest for Tracy, someone who clearly doesn't value herself enough if she keeps hooking up with losers (Larry, Mitch, Paul, Luke), and who would be beside herself to realize that, at this stage of life, she is finding herself falling for someone who appreciates her and isn't just in it for her money or whatever.

I agree, on both counts.

Once the show acknowledged that Luke had raped Laura, there was no way that they could put them back together. Which is why I was dead set against acknowledging it. I think there was a long-term plan in place for the Cassadines and others, but that plan was ruined primarily by Bob Guza's forced departure from GH to work on SUNSET BEACH. Unfortunately, in the time that he was away, that plan was changed to the point where, even after Guza had returned for round two, GH was never again as on-track as it had been before he left.

Fine with me! You know, that is the best part about the [!@#$%^&*] that is not working today on soaps: you do not have to come up with any grand plan to get rid of it. You just stop showing it or stop referring to it and you never miss a beat.

Joan Collins knows what works for her and she sticks to that. I admire her greatly.

Finn literally could stop appearing on screen today, with no explanation whatsoever, and nothing would be affected. Not even the "romance" with Liz. She (and viewers) could just pretend she had gotten ahold of some bad clams that made her hallucinate him and move on.

Man, if the news of KA's departure/firing can generate 12 pages of board discussion (and counting!), I'd hate to see how many pages we'd run to if someone more integral to B&B were given the heave-ho. Either way, the bandwith's likely to explode at any moment.

For me, "Our House" was nothing special, just something I watched whenever the NFL ran overtime and pre-empted "60 Minutes." Ironically, for someone who fought hard at the beginning to be seen as more than just an "ethnic type," many of Susan Lucci's TV movies and miniseries seemed to trade on her Italian-American looks and background. I mean, she was "Mafia Princess" and "Lady Mobster"! Not to mention, she played Italians with (questionable) Brooklyn accents on "The Bride in Black" and on "Double Edge," a TV movie that did the impossible: drained all the chemistry between her and Robert Urich. Oof! "The Palace Guard"! Not one of Stephen J. Cannell's finer moments! Remember when MW co-starred in a TV movie with Genie Francis, Leigh J. McCloskey and, strangely enough, Victoria Wyndham? IIRC, MW's character was this garden-variety psycho who was obsessed with Francis and McCloskey's characters for some reason; and at one point, she even kills Wyndham's character, who was friends with Genie, to keep her from...I don't remember what. The plot's a bit hazy for me after all this time, but I still remember watching it and thinking, "This is too surreal. Eden Colby/Liza Capwell is chasing after Laura Spencer and the dude who raped her (Eden), and now she's killed Rachel Cory. It's like being on a soap opera acid trip!" She would have fit in much better with that cast, I think, than Marilu Henner.

Watching the FF "Heroes vs. Villains" special, I notice three things: 1. The show's producers tapped Beatrice Straight to play on the "Villains" side, merely because they needed a fifth member there and did not know of anyone else who could fill that slot. (Otherwise, I would hardly label her one scene role on "Network" as villainous, lol.) 2. It must be very early in Joan Collins' run on "Dynasty," before Alexis became the breakout character, because she gets about as much applause from the audience as Leonard Frey, Straight and Norman Fell do. Lucci is the "villain" who gets the biggest round of applause (including shouts and cheers). 3. Did they place Straight between Collins and Lucci for visual reasons, or...? Given that both Joan Collins and Susan Lucci were on hugely popular ABC soaps (one daytime, one primetime), I think it could have been awesome if the network had worked out some sort of arrangement where the two could crossover to each other's shows. It would not have needed to be anything major in terms of storyline, like Erica suddenly taking over ColbyCo or anything, but maybe just a brief cameo, like her showing up at La Mirage and having Fallon introduce her to Blake and Krystle, or Alexis showing up in NYC to ask her "old friend" Mike Roy whether he would like to ghostwrite her memoir. As crazy as this sounds, I think they missed the (love) boat when they had Lucci on but did not have her play someone whom Gopher develops a little crush on. Lucci's character wouldn't have needed to return his affections, though. Just a little peck on his cheek at the end, telling him how she flattered she is and how very special she thinks he is, that's all.

I agree. LK had a worthier sparring partner in scenes w/ CM as Jennifer than she would have had with MR. Jennifer is supposed to be a middle-aged woman who has gone through it multiple times. Yet, I swear, there were/are times when MR still plays her like she did in the '80's, all pouty, adenoidal and weepy-eyed, like your typical teenager who just wants to grab an Orange Julius and crush on boys at the mall. LK's Kate would have wiped the proverbial floor with her Jennifer. Ironically, when news broke that CM would be stepping in, I was not entirely sure whether she could pull it off. For one thing, the track record of former ABCD or P&G actors doing as well on DAYS is...not great. Obviously, Jane Elliot is an exception. (Judi Evans is another. Genie Francis might have been a third, had Diana been a real character). But when I think about the ones who tried and failed, like Robert S. Woods, or Robin Strasser, or even Sarah Joy Brown*....! Working on DAYS and the Bell soaps requires a different skill set for actors, one that is more about image and style than about digging deep and finding nuances or layers, like it traditionally would be on the other shows; and I had witnessed enough of CM's work on Y&R to feel very, very afraid. (I mean, God bless Cady for never being the type to phone in any performance - and, I know, the failure of Kelly as a character can't be laid entirely at her feet, as the writing reeked, too - but great Caesar's ghost, that was such a trainwreck to watch!) I never thought much of Jennifer or of MR beyond Missy's years on the show or Jennifer's connection to the rest of the Hortons. Nevertheless, I knew CM had enormous shoes to fill - certainly, more enormous than the ones she had filled on AMC and ATWT - even if she would be filling them only temporarily. Yet, as I've said before, she managed in a relatively brief period of time to make me care or at least be interested in Jennifer for the very first time in all my years of watching DAYS, to the point where I actually WANT Jennifer to be a permanent fixture on this show - if not at the center of its' canvas, then definitely somewhere near it. Heck, I even would put up with her going another 10,000 rounds with Jack if it meant watching CM and Matthew Ashford play together! MR never made me feel that way. Stephanie Cameron damn sure didn't make me feel that way. But CM did, and does, make me feel that way. (*But, in SJB's case, backstage issues that have followed her throughout her career ultimately were to blame.)

Let's just say nothing is off the table when it comes to Ron Carlivati. But seriously. It's no longer a question of if Bill Hayes retires or dies, but when. I would love to see Doug reunited with his son before we reach that point. Maybe Dougie has followed in his biological father's footsteps, becoming a musician with a checkered past. Maybe he has kids, or even grandkids, who can keep the Williamses "alive" on DAYS long after Bill/Doug isn't.

I still wonder whether KMH would have made for a better Betsy, just as I think Cady McClain (as good as she was as Rosanna) would have been sensational as Frannie.

Since we're dream-casting Horton family members again, why not hire Kin Shriner to play a returning Mike Horton? He might seem like an odd choice, but I think he'd put a different spin on Mike, much like when Justin Deas put a different spin on ATWT's Tom Hughes. IMO, the only Hortons worth bringing back are Mike, Jennifer (full-time, preferably w/ CM back in the role), Hope, Lucas (recast), maybe Bill or Laura if we're going the back-from-the-dead-'cuz-no-one-stays-dead-on-DAYS route, and a reformed Jeremy. The rest - Marie, Jessica, Melissa, Sandy, Steve Olsen, etc. - just feel like a big "So what?" at this point. I'd also like to find someone who could play Douglas LeClair, or whatever Rebecca changed his name to.

If nothing else, having CM play Jennifer full-time would mean having a Jennifer who didn't get her hair and fashion tips from Granny Clampett.

I understand how you feel, @OpportunisticSlut, but I really wouldn't make a federal case out of it.

Truthfully, if Susan Lucci had any chance of building a career outside of AMC and daytime, it was in the '80's, when primetime soaps and Aaron Spelling-produced fluff like "Hotel" were still the going thing in primetime TV. Even a gig on "L.A. Law," which was glossier and soapier than most of Steven Bochco's other shows, wouldn't have been out of the question. But if the goal was to be on, say, "thirtysomething"? Love ya, Looch, but no way, lol.

I think that's due to Ken Corday's personal loyalty to Melissa Reeves more than anything else. MR has been with DAYS off-and-on since the '80's. From Corday's perspective, that probably makes her a "legacy performer" worth retaining. Personally, I get that MR has been a part of DAYS for close to four decades and therefore deserves a measure of respect, but I also think CM managed, in a very brief period of time, to do what MR, frankly, never could, and that's make me actually care about Jennifer Horton Deveraux. Plus, if Emmy awards still meant anything at all, it would be very telling how CM also managed to win an Emmy for her brief stint as Jennifer, whereas MR has been nominated twice for the award and has yet to take one home.

Most surprising, I think, is OLTL having the most wins in the Lead Actress category.

I still remember James McCaffrey from some godawful made-for-TV movie about babies that were switched at birth or something. IIRC, he played the deadbeat biological dad of one of the babies.

I think Lucci knew she'd never land another, front-burner role like Erica. Plus, I think she truly valued the time that AMC gave her to raise her children in her hometown and not be one of those actors who's always away on location or keeping hellish hours on some soundstage. She could be the Face of AMC (and of ABC Daytime) and still have a somewhat normal life. But, yes, any other actress in her position probably would have seized the opportunity to branch out from soaps and try their luck with primetime - in Lucci's case, maybe a half-hour comedy? - or with movies. Meanwhile... As wonderful as it's been to see Judith Light's career blossom from OLTL and "Who's the Boss?" into B'way and roles on shows like "Transparent," I must admit that it would've been nice to see her return to daytime at some point - if not back at OLTL, then maybe another soap, like GL or ATWT. Here's another one I might add to the list: John Wesley Shipp. He started off at GL, moved onto ATWT, followed up with guest spots on OLTL and SANTA BARBARA, went to primetime for "The Flash," "Sisters" and "Dawson's Creek," turned up as Carter Jones on AMC and LOVING for awhile in-between the primetime stuff, then popped up again on daytime many years later as the Ford brothers' slimeball dad on OLTL. (Apparently, the only way you can get JWS to come back to daytime even for a little bit is to let him play someone who's the scum of the earth.)

On the other hand, maybe they're glad to see her go.

So, IOW, she did exactly what she did at SFT: she left at or near the climax of a serial killer plot. I guess she's not the type to stick around and find out whodunit, lol.

I used to think that was because Greg Rikkart was clearly not into women, but I've watched a little bit of him with Peter Porte on DAYS and I don't see chemistry there at all either. I dunno, maybe Rikkart just doesn't have it?

Unless you had to walk ten miles to and from school everyday (in the snow and while barefoot).

Thanks for the article on Frank Salisbury, @Paul Raven. Next to Patrick Mulcahey, he was the best dialogue writer in the business. (Too bad the writer didn't mention his work on THE DOCTORS or THE EDGE OF NIGHT, though.)