Khan

I couldn't have said it better, @DRW50. Here's another favorite of mine from Cynthia Weil's catalog:

What's with the "Jeopardy"-like titles for that promo?

I agree, @j swift. She's like the female Arsenio Hall. I tried watching an episode of her show the other day, and I couldn't. She was going on and on about how meaningful it was to be nominated for the NAACP Image Award, and I was like, "So, winning the Oscar, the Golden Globe, the SAG, the Grammy, the Tony, the Daytime Emmy, the National Board of Review and the BAFTA were small potatoes?"

One of the most fantastic songwriters of all time, IMO. RIP.

I agree. You're basically just wrapping up your predecessor's storylines.

Cameron must not have TOO much cash at his disposal, though, or else he'd be able to afford a razor and buy his own clothes instead of raiding Chance's closet when he isn't looking.

That's interesting, @Paul Raven. Immediately, when I read your post, I thought, "Well, maybe Douglas Marland didn't receive on-air credit, because he was technically still employed at GH," kind of like how Frank Salisbury admitted to writing for GL some time before actually being credited on-screen because he was still writing scripts for GH, too. But I don't know exactly when Marland quit GH, so that theory might not be plausible. (Also, hasn't Bridget Dobson said in the past that P&G had them switch shows, because they found Marland's bible for ATWT unsatisfactory? Of course, I'm presuming Bridget is correct and not misremembering.) I agree with you, @Paul Raven. I think when Marland became available after leaving GH, P&G snapped him up, rather than lose out to another, non-P&G-produced show. P&G's plan was for him to replace the Dobsons at GL, and for the Dobsons to replace Ellis & Hunt at ATWT. However, for contractual or other reasons, the Dobsons were unable to leave GL before the start of the new year. (Perhaps, they needed time to wrap up their stories before leaving; or perhaps, they needed time to watch and create a bible for ATWT before officially taking over). So, P&G gave Marland the ATWT gig with the understanding that it was only temporary and that he would be moved over to GL when the Dobsons were contractually able to move over to ATWT. Thus explains why Marland didn't make any major changes at ATWT during the 13 weeks he was there. Like you said, @Paul Raven, it's a mystery, lol. I'd love to know, though, if any fans here remember what the Willows mystery was like when Ellis & Hunt were still the HW's. I think it was Christopher Schemering who described it as being "limp" before Marland took over the story. I think the issue was that Douglas Marland was too locked into his job at ATWT being a temporary one until Bridget and Jerome Dobson were ready to take over (as I've said above). Under those circumstances, he probably couldn't shake up the show TOO much, in case it interfered with the Dobsons' plans. So, he kind of had to continue on with what Ralph Ellis & Eugenie Hunt had left behind, and maybe tighten up the stories in the meantime. But you are right, @Soaplovers: compared to what soaps give us today, late '79 ATWT is a joy of watch, but in the context of the times, the Willows storyline, in particular, never quite gets off the ground. ETA: Maybe it's because I'm watching those scenes decades after the fact, but it seems silly to me that the show invested so much airtime in someone (Doug Higgins/Bennett Hadley) who clearly has no long-term potential, either as Lisa's romantic interest, or as anything else.

I'm sorry, but I just don't get the joke of Abe seeing women who resemble Kayla and Marlena playing feuding females on TV. Where will it lead to? Will Abe be so addled-brained that when he sees them IRL, he'll freak out? And why am I suddenly uncomfortable with the notion of an older African-American man who suddenly can't distinguish truth from fiction?

Do any ATWT fans know who Douglas Marland's associate writers were during his brief, first HW'ing stint with the show? Did he use Ralph Ellis and Eugenie Hunt's former writers, or did he bring aboard his own?

True, lol!

I agree. Cameron could have blackmailed Grace into setting everything into motion. Of course, with Cameron being Cameron, I doubt Cameron would be the type to allow Grace to live once she had served her purpose for him. He'd probably strangle or stab her and frame Nick for the crime (or he'd frame Sharon, making it seem as if she killed Grace in some bipolar frenzy).

I still say I'm okay now with the camp as long as it's well-written camp.

No, seriously, what was going on in that promo? Is Abe watching a soap opera from the '80's? Because, judging from the way Dee and MBE looked, it played like a sketch from "Barbara Mandrell & the Mandrell Sisters."

That's why I've always felt this opening worked best: You never needed to update it whenever there was a major cast turnover. You just needed to "refresh" it every 10 years or so. Plus, it totally evoked the theme and mood of the show; and in an era where it's all about keeping everything short and sweet, it's easy to shorten the length of it, too. I'll say this much for DAYS: they have been wise to keep their original opening sequence intact, with only minor changes throughout the decades to keep it from looking too stale. Another classic opening that would work just as well today as it did back then (again, just refresh it every few years with new footage of an ambulance driving past the hospital):

What have I just watched?

If these shows are forced to use scab writers in order to keep producing new episodes during the strike, will the scabs have to attend story conferences with the networks? Or are the scabs usually left alone to write what they have to in situations like these?

...

I agree. Each new season of "Revenge" could have featured a whole new cast - or, the same cast, but playing new roles - with the theme of someone seeking retribution for past wrongs running throughout. I also agree with you, @Faulkner, about the increased demands for shocking twists to keep social media users engaged with these shows. I think the practice is unnecessary. Why do you NEED to keep shocking and surprising viewers? Why not just work on building characters who are fascinating and then let the stories spin from them? If you keep relying on shocks and surprises to keep people tuning in, pretty soon, that's all you've got. (See "Revenge," lol.)

Like everything else in life, recovering from addiction is not a sprint, but a marathon. Hopefully, TC will get the help he needs, and he'll get back on that road to recovery again.

In my mind, Keemo isn't dead. The Yakuza are holding him hostage, and that female who turned up for a spell and said her name was "Allie"? She wasn't really Keemo's daughter; she works for the Yakuza.

I agree. I think a big problem with the "high concept era" of network television - which, I'm sad to say, is still with us - is that most of the high concepts that have been greenlit by the networks and streamers were and are not sustainable as ongoing series. Can you produce a series about a group of castaways? Sure, you can. "Gilligan's Island" proves you can. "Gilligan," however, wasn't centered around a mystery or set of mysteries that demanded both a definite end date and payoffs along the way. It was simply about a group of disparate people learning to survive (and survive each other) and hoping in the meantime that they will be rescued. If "Lost" had stuck to that notion and canned all the other stuff - the extended flashbacks and flashforwards, the convoluted mythologies and conspiracy plots...the polar bear - then I think it could have been a much more satisfying show. A different show, perhaps; maybe one that would have had more self-contained episodes and less serialized ones; but also one that wouldn't have left virtually everyone watching feeling like they had wasted their time. Similarly, I think Marc Cherry's notion of using a whodunit on "Desperate Housewives" as a lens through which to examine how all housewives' daily lives are ones marked, in one way or another, by desperation was a fine one. Unless you're able and willing to keep that mystery going for the life of the series, however, then what's the point? What's your intention once the mystery is inevitably solved? Because, once it IS solved, I guarantee that a big chunk of your audience will move on, especially when your resolution to the mystery proves to be a cop-out. (We, as the viewers at home, spent an entire season wondering who killed Mary Alice Young, only to learn that she had killed herself. Gee, thanks, Mr. Cherry, lol.) Unfortunately, the same thing happened to Taraji P. Henson at "Person of Interest." CBS had a hard time accepting her popularity on the show, so they had her killed off. Initially, whenever she was asked about her reasons for her departure, Henson gave the standard line of, "I wanted to concentrate on other things (like movies)." Later, however, she admitted that racism and bigotry were at play. I agree. KNOTS LANDING was SO good at using music to enhance their scenes and move characters forward. In fact, music was almost a key cast member itself, lol. Another show that knew how to use music effectively was, believe it or not, DAYS in the '80's. They took the template that "Miami Vice" had created, with extended sequences that played like music videos, and added raw emotions underneath them, so that you didn't just watch people running around while drawing weapons on each other. To this day, I still say that the worst thing ever to have happened at DAYS was the day they no longer had the budget for music. Without it, the show has been so lifeless.

If only KL was getting its' own channel on PlutoTV.

That's because Sue Ellen Ewing had heard about the earthquake and the winery, and she flew over from Dallas (with a very large straw) to help with the clean-up.

I'm not sure that it was Angelica McDaniel who demanded the reversal, but someone at the network did. Of course, it wasn't a complete reversal. Some of the mansion's original decor returned, but some of it didn't.

Now THERE's a plot twist: Nicole, of all people, gives birth to the new messiah!