Khan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii8rD2SSCHo

I think Eunice should've risen from the grave and slapped Suzi for being such a whiny twit.

Word is Grant [show] plans to go to England to continue his acting studies.

Judging from the quality of his performances, those plans fell through.

I've always loved the photo of Meta, Bert, and Meta's "little white wings," as she called them, lol.

Feel free to disagree, but I think Ann Williams' husband, Dan Welch, was a hunk, lol.

First of all, let me just say that if not for the chance to see Lisa Brown (Nola), Maeve Kinkead (Vanessa) and certainly MG again, GUIDING LIGHT's last few days would've been a farce and a complete waste of time. Right up to the very end, Ellen Wheeler and her team had no clue at all how to run any show, let alone one like GL.

Second, it's a testimony to MG's power and skill as an actor that Holly came out as "whole" and "sound" as she did at the end. Let's face it, this show treated Holly (and MG) shabbily for a very long time; and had another, lesser actor been asked to perform that same material, I've no doubt Holly would've ended up a total loon.

It’s an ending she hopes the fans will find satisfying. I think you will.

And I think I did. (Holly ended up w/ Ed, right?) I mean, given the circumstances - Roger was gone (and it would've been scandalous to have them back together anyway); Ross was, too (and no way would fans have accepted that knowing that he "belonged" with Blake) - having Ed and Holly back together was a nice, fitting touch. It showed how the two had come full circle after all the years and drama, but with the knowledge that they were wiser, saner people than before.

Roger was not by any stretch of the imagination “a good man,” but he was a fascinating, complex one and his love affair with the steel butterfly, Holly, struck an enduringly responsive chord with the viewers.

Here's the difference, I think, between Roger/Holly and GH's Luke/Laura: although the idea of a rape victim reconciling with her attacker is never cool (witness OLTL's "rapemance" between Marty and Todd, er, "Todd"), I, for one, would never have balked right away at the suggestion of Roger and Holly reconciling, b/c the road to that reconciliation was far rockier, far more character-driven, and included more realistic twists than running from the mob and saving the world from a supervillain and his "weather machine."

If this is the future (for soaps), as an actor, it really concerns me. There’s no director, no time, no spontaneity. If this is what has to be done to save the form, I think there’s room for debate about trying to preserve the process, too.

Sad words, but probably true. I don't want to disparage the efforts of those trying to keep the genre alive on the web and elsewhere, but unless and until someone figures out how to make this not just profitable again but effective, character-driven entertainment, part of me wonders whether soaps aren't better off going the way of westerns and live anthology shows of the '50's.

Oh, what absolutely did me in was when Holly fell in love with her abuser, Sebastian (Doug Hutchison). I was asked to do a lot of things over the years I was on the show that I didn’t particularly love, but it was my job to play them. But this was too much. I just couldn’t bend any more; I couldn’t fulfill the terms of that story. [...] It was insulting, insulting that this character (Holly) had come no further, that she was made to regress to that point of degradation. That was the end for me.

Words like "nadir" and "degradation" don't begin to describe that particular story. Sebastian/Holly made the "Nursery Rhyme Stalker" story look downright plausible.

It didn't help to have dull Yvonne Perry and Judson Mills as Rosanna and Hutch either.

Ms. Channel's article might've been a hair too long, but it's probably hard, if not impossible, to refute her opinions about why the show ultimately failed. (I say "probably," b/c I've never seen an episode of SOMERSET, so I can't say whether or not she was astute about it.) From everything I've read about the show, however, it does appear that its biggest problem was a general lack of consistency in its storytelling, as well as an inability to set itself apart from its "mother" show, ANOTHER WORLD. Even when Henry Slesar took over as HW, and stories became more focused on crime and mystery, it seemed like it was playing second fiddle to EDGE OF NIGHT.

Marcia is a bit crazy but it can be passed off as just obsessing over Douglas. It's very clever though because you genuinely don't see any reason to believe Doug is the one who is killing people.

You know what I love and miss most about Marland's writing? Number one, he never insulted viewers' intelligence or their knowledge of history and character. Even when characters such as Lisa and John had long-lost children, he wrote it so that the scenario behind their conception(s) was plausible and that you didn't have to ignore what had occurred already to make it work. And number two, I really cannot think of a kind of story that Marland didn't excel at. He wrote good mysteries, but he also wrote good social-issue stories, good young love stories, good older love stories, good family stories and good stories about corporations, too. The guy was just boss, IMO.

IOW...? SOMERSET stank.

Mady Kaplan, who portrayed Marie Kovac, is Frances Heflin's (Mona, AMC) real-life daughter.

Aside from Steven Weber's dreadful performance, which I think is typical of his level of skill (or lack thereof) as an actor, I've really no qualms with the Kevin/Frannie/Marie story. (Of course, since I believe Doug Marland never told a story that wasn't meticulously crafted beforehand, I'm biased, lol.) I look at it all as groundwork for the bigger tale, which was Frannie's relationship with Doug Cummings. Marland might have had other plans in mind for Kevin, at least, but I don't think so. Any more than I think Marie's primary function was to create a spoiler for Frannie and Kevin that brought up the reason why Frannie dumped him the first time and flunked out of Yale; and why she would hook up with Doug later on after giving Kevin a second chance and then regretting it. None of that would have made any sense with Jay Connors, who'd remained in Oakdale (and thus, on-screen) while Frannie was away at school.

Meanwhile, I'm glad there are clips available of Julianne Moore's work as Frannie aside from the one w/ Kevin that's always used in "Before They Were Famous"/"They Started on Soaps" specials. She was incredible even on ATWT, and it's shameful more people don't know that.

Marland wrote some campy stuff here and there, like with Lillith.

Yet, for some reason, I never minded as much when he wrote it, because I feel like he always rooted everything in character. And even though certain moments could have been OTT, at the same time, everything was played with dramatic import. There weren't any "nudge-nudge, wink-wink" touches that stink up today's OLTL, for example.

Perhaps you're thinking of...

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0781899/

?

Yeah, more characters and stories would have prevented that, lol.

IMO, in order for the 90-minute format to have worked, they would have needed to increase the number of characters, stories, and scenes - which would have made for a fuller, richer canvas, for sure, but it also might be too much for the average viewer to follow. (As it was, it seems like ANOTHER WORLD had a cast of thousands back then.)

Another alternative: break up the 90 minutes into three half-hour shows, all under the banner title ANOTHER WORLD. It would have been like the "Law & Order" franchises, w/ characters passing in and out of the three separate shows as stories dictate. With three separate shows, casts, writing and production staffs, etc., all supervised by one senior/supervising EP to ensure some continuity, no one show would have to bear the strain of producing 90 minutes of drama five days a week. OTOH, if one or two shows were "weaker" than the others, that might affect viewership if fans chose not to tune in for the entire 90 minutes.

I never got the opportunity to write something for Beverlee McKinsey or Michael Zaslow, but I really hope I will for Elizabeth Hubbard 'fore it's too late. She's among the last, remaining intelligent older actresses out there.

I think Beverly Penberthy's reaction was the most honest. Everyone else was chirping about how exciting it would be, but she was more realistic, essentially saying, "This could be really good, or really bad." Which it was, apparently, lol.

I'd never seen these ads. Love the dancing stuff; cheesy, but who cares.

The way Laurence Lau prances around in that first clip, you'd think his Jamie would rather be w/ Jake. ;-)

You know, I would have loved to have seen what happens when Val's biological father re-enters the fray. Who is he? Where did he come from? What has he been up to? How does all that affect his relationships w/ Gary, Lilimae and Val, as well as their relationships with each other?

In keeping with KNOTS' tradition of hiring trained stage actors, too, I might have cast someone like Jason Robards or E.G. Marshall to have played that part.

Did Val ever really have any good stories after the baby saga? Did Olivia have any worth after the drug use/Peter murder stories?

Let's put it this way: they could have, had more creative people been in charge. I loved the Lechowicks' work, but I also believe they are better at plot-driven material than character-driven material.

To me Lillimae was just a weak character and the only reason she worked was Julie Harris and the initial concept of the character. I would have liked her more if she were a grifter who brought out mixed emotions in everyone and played on those emotions. That's basically what she was in her first appearance. When she came back and they tried to make her more sympathetic and treated her as a mother to Val, I had little patience for her.

On the other hand, Carl, if Lilimae had remained a grifter, never repentant for any of her misdeeds, both past and present, I think the audience would've become tired of her much sooner. Of course, Julie Harris is like Beverlee McKinsey: she can play the hell out of anything and keep you glued to the set, no matter what. So who knows?

Lillimae seemed to work best when she had stories about men who seem nice, take advantage of her, and go insane. That worked well with Chip and especially with Joshua. But you can't do that again and again.

Correct.

Part of me wishes David Jacobs had been more open-minded about Joshua's place on the show. For one thing, I think Alec Baldwin would have stayed much longer with it (if only for the opportunity to continue working with Julie Harris, if nothing else) and become an even bigger asset to KNOTS overall. More importantly, even if the writers had played out his arc as planned, that would have set the stage for an electrifying "redemption arc," something the primetime soaps never seemed to want to do. Joshua never would have had to become a total saint, especially w/ the way Baldwin played him; but I feel like he could've been KNOTS' answer to GUIDING LIGHT's Roger Thorpe.

And I don't think Anne recovered until the final season. I didn't like the silly comedy character she turned into. Especially the homeless plot. By that point the character lost all her appeal for me.

I didn't like those stories for Anne either, but I think they were written to compensate for the fact that Michelle Phillips just wasn't as strong as Donna Mills had been in corporate-centric stories.

If it had been up to me, I would have written out Michael [...], Olivia [...], Lillimae [...], and Val [...]. I also would have been very tempted to write Mack out [...] because it would have left the show with less room to stand on with Karen/Mack raising Meg [...] as it took away a ton of potential drama with Greg trying to deal with a child who reminded him of a woman who loved him yet also deeply hurt him [...].

I'm with you on Michael and maybe Mack. But Olivia? Lilimae? Val?

Here's what I would have done:

1) Keep Laura, Lilimae and Val, but let go of Anne, Ben, Cathy, Jill, Paige and other supporting characters. (Especially with Abby and Olivia still around, Anne and Paige are redundant.)

2) Reunite Gary and Val, while simultaneously splitting up Karen and Mack. (Michele Lee was right: KNOTS needed at least one stable married couple on the front burner. And Gary and Val, IMO, had come to a place where reconciliation seemed like the best option, not continued (and forced) separation thanks to psychos like Danny and Jill.) Give the two some time to be support for other characters, and let them (and their fans) enjoy some marital bliss before plunging them again into drama.

3) Have Laura divorce Greg, as well, leading to an acrimonious custody fight for Meg. Mack agrees to represent Laura, thus setting the stage for a possible Mack/Laura relationship, which seriously tests her friendship with Karen and places Val and Gary in the middle. (At the same time, Abby seizes an opportunity to hook up with Greg, which will impact her and Olivia's relationship as well.) If Kevin Dobson and Constance McCashin exude genuine chemistry together, pursue the relationship all the way to marriage. If not, then write out Mack at the appropriate moment.

4) Karen cannot take the pressure of her pending divorce and Mack and Laura's affair and ends up becoming dependent on prescription drugs again. Eventually, Eric, now working at Lotus Point, agrees with Abby that she needs to step away from the business, sending Karen even further on a downward spiral. By this point, either Mack/Laura are working out or not. Either way, Karen's relapse provides a catalyst for her, Mack and Laura to resolve their differences (with Mack leaving town soon thereafter, depending on the success of his and Laura's affair).

5) By the following season, Karen is back on the road to recovery: she's out of rehab and even back in school, pursuing a college degree. (There's also a potential, and potentially messy, new relationship on the horizon with her professor.) And though she's no longer working at Lotus Point, Eric is there to represent her interests; and thanks to Abby's systematically forcing her own nephew out, she and Karen are guaranteed to keep locking horns for some time to come.

I guess Loving ground people down.

The network always had such ridiculous expectations for LOVING. They wanted it to be the next AMC or OLTL, but they never realized that it took time for AMC and OLTL to become the monster hits that they were.

"Like Brandon"? More like "Like Brandon's chest".

Colonel Winston Mayer, as played by Daniel Hugh Kelly, was probably one of AS THE WORLD TURNS' biggest "wasted opportunities" in its final years. Here we had a quintessential, conservative military officer, who could not and would not accept his son's homosexuality - and who, in my mind, was so outraged by it, b/c it touched off similar struggles with his own sexuality beneath the surface - and instead of dealing with all that and maybe telling a real envelope-pushing story (yes, America, there are families where a father and son are both gay), they took their usual cheap and easy way out and turned him into the latest Psycho of the Month.

Laura was a little too "real" for an increasingly one-dimensional set of characters.

Honestly...? I think KNOTS wrote out Laura, not because they were overbudget (I mean, they probably were overbudget, but it wasn't as if she was the only one who could've been cut loose), but because the Lechowicks could not write for Constance McCashin the way they could for others. Like you said, Laura was definitely more complex than Karen, Val, even Abby. She was neither a total bitch, like Abby, nor a total heroine, like Karen and "poor Val"; and the Lechowicks, as writers and producers, were simply too incapable to know how to handle that.

I've always said that as influential as KNOTS was on me as a writer, the show really lost something when they let go of McCashin and Julie Harris (Lilimae). Up to that point, they were often the go-to examples of how KNOTS' cast was a proverbial cut above the other primetime soaps.