Khan

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.

Yeah, I'd love to see Lucinda try and land some defense drafting and engineering contracts via the appropriate departments at WorldWide. Lucinda would argue how it would bring much-needed jobs and money to Oakdale, but Luke would spearhead a campaign to stop it (and maybe fall in love with an employee @ WorldWide in the process).

I swear there was one point on AMC [...] that the music was so loud that it drowned out the dialogue

And that was a bad thing? ;-)

Perhaps this has been asked and answered already, but does anyone here know what happened to Diana Walker, who portrayed Mary? There are a lot of actors from WTHI and LIAMST I've always been curious about, and van der Vlis and Walker are always at the top of the lists.

There's definitely been a noticeable lack of edge on AMC since the NY/LA move. We got bitchy, snarky Annie and we get some shirtlessness every now and then, but not a whole lot. I wonder how much of that has to do with David and Donna. They're P&G people, and those shows were always more conservative than the ABC soaps. GL was probably the least sexy of all soaps (besides Y&R) in its last five to ten years.

And when it tried to be sexier, particularly during the John Conboy/Ellen Weston era, it was either laughable or offensive and laughable.

Maggie DePriest did Anna Stuart's character on ANOTHER WORLD, Donna Love, no favors either.

Is that Stephen Burleigh (ex-Dr. Gary Walton, SEARCH FOR TOMORROW) playing Mike Powers?

He isn't bad. He certainly isn't unattractive, lol. (Then again, I'm biased when it comes to pre-1990's soap actors. I feel even the weakest ones are miles above what passes for "good" in this business today. Plus, I'm more likely to "swoon" over a Stephen Burleigh than I would over, say, a Roger Howarth? But that's just personal taste.) More importantly, he has a nice chemistry with Hillary Bailey Smith, who's playing Kit McCormick. (Their sparring sorta reminds me of ATWT's Tom and Margo, of all things, lol.) I mean, the dialogue or even situation (stuck together in an abandoned/isolated cabin in the middle of a snowdrift) isn't terribly original - perhaps, if the writers had worked a little harder at it, it might've been less cliched. But at least Burleigh and Smith are behaving like adults, and their characters' relationship comes across as a nice sort of counterpoint to Matt and Maggie's.

There are two memories from my early years that I will always hold dear to me. One was Nola Reardon's "Casablanca" fantasy on GUIDING LIGHT. The other was Jenny and Jesse on the run in NYC. And that's something no heartless daytime executive will ever take away.

It all comes down to this: GL's ratings fell after Douglas Marland left, and either CBS or P&G (or both) blamed that on the actors and characters who'd been front-burner during that time rather than the fact that the stories were just too confusing for audiences to follow.

Even after Quint and Nola's stories had begun to get a little...silly, I still loved the duo. Lisa Brown and Michael Tylo's chemistry was just that magical to me. In fact, the only couple who comes close to rivaling them for my affections are AMC's Greg and Jenny. Having said that, though, if GL had chosen to do right by the characters and kill off Quint before they had had the chance to "ruin" either him or Nola...? Well, I won't lie. I would've hated it, probably. But, then again, at least the beauty and purity of their early romance would have remained intact.

It especially frustrates me because I felt like they finally got Barbara and Lucinda again, after a decade or more of misuse, and had incredible newcomers like Reid. It just wasn't time to go.

Screw the ratings and all the other excuses, too. ATWT died, because Les Moonves wanted his wife to have another show on his network. Pure, and simple.

John Wesley Shipp also quit, as he wanted to do a play and they kept telling him he had to make a decision now, and that he was upset about changes to his character.

Well, it did seem odd for the Kelly/Morgan relationship to end that quickly over something as (relatively) small as his jealousy. But I think the real issue here is that Quint & Nola began to take up a lot of the show (the same way Reva and the Lewises would down the road), and others resented that, b/c TPTB treated them like second-class citizens. Plus, with Marland's departure and Pat Falken Smith's arrival, a lot of the stories were suddenly in freefall, and very little of what any character was doing at that moment made sense either to the actor(s) or to the audience.

I don't know. I know many feel only Marland could write for them.

That's because, for the most part, those who came after him didn't have the same feel for Gothic romance that he did. (As usual, though, I think Nancy Curlee would have done right by them, had she been given the opportunity. Next to Marland, she seemed to be the one who "got" GUIDING LIGHT the best.) Once Marland left, Quint and Nola's relationship became more about wild adventure - which was cute, don't get me wrong, but it never had the same enchanting air of mystery that their earlier story did. Also, Quint, an eccentric (and possibly antisocial) archaeologist and explorer, was thrust suddenly into the corporate sphere thanks to a paternity reveal that was entirely unnecessary (Henry Chamberlain could have been like a father to him instead of his actual one - and don't get me started on Quint suddenly became "Sean Ryan"); and Nola just became an all-around kook and businesswoman. (Remember "Nolaerobics"?) These new functions just didn't suit them all that well, IMO.

they were seriously getting married up against a wall, with the four guests standing behind them in a line.

Perhaps, Mallet and Marina were going for a "police lineup" theme?

In spite of the cheapness, I have never understood why the set they started using in 2006 looked so terrible and un-hospital like.

A good set designer knows how to work with any budget, large or small. That set looked so awful, though, it had me wondering if Ellen Wheeler had hired some high school drama club to re-design Cedars just to save a few bucks.

Ross Marler's funeral was an ITL. 'Nuff said. :-(

I think the show hit on a good thing when they had Ben/Val and Abby/Gary and that both characters were strengthened by being apart.

It did ... until they got stuck. As "perfect" as Ben/Val and Abby/Gary were, Ben and Val almost Mack and Karen redundant; and Gary couldn't stay married to Abby, either, and continue putting up w/ her machinations w/o looking like a complete idiot.

For all the talk of the public being too stupid to understand dense plotting, long-term story was what helped you hang on with Knots when the story itself wasn't the best.

Case in point: the Wolfbridge Group. Even David Jacobs has admitted he didn't understand the story. LOL!

The movie stat started it all~! The romance, anger, greed and power. The movie that captivated millions with its mesmerising story and shocking love scenes. More powerful than DALLAS, more incestuous than DYNASTY!

Then the final line is:

The Forbes. The Aldens. Their dynasties will CONSUME you.

The hyped the crap out of that, didn't they?

Two more facts:

1) Cissy Houston supposedly named her daughter, Whitney, after Ms. Blake, who co-created ODAAT w/ her husband, and former "Good Times" writer, Allan Manings.

2) The first ODAAT pilot was actually written by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, who went on to create "Designing Women," among other shows. I don't know whether it was her pilot that had Ann mother to only one daughter, but I know at some point, someone decided Ann needed a second. Hence, Valerie Bertinelli.

I guess I must just be weird because I liked both eras.

Well, in that case, I'm "weird," too, and proud of it, lol.

I won't pretend the years with the Lechowicks were better than the years without, b/c, quite frankly, they weren't. Especially after the departures of Constance McCashin (Laura) and Julie Harris (Lilimae), the wheels really began to come off that wagon. One thing that was always true about KNOTS, however, no matter who was in charge, was that they told stories, and that those stories almost always delivered real payoffs. I might be able to say the same about DALLAS, and even parts of FALCON CREST, but definitely not the other primetime soaps from the Eighties.

Also, maybe it's just me, but I feel like Danny Waleska's story was less about Danny, or even about keeping Gary and Val apart a little bit longer, and more about introducing his ex-wife, Amanda, to the show. Which might have worked, I reckon, if they hadn't casted such a bland actress for that part. (I mean, really, Penny Peyser was the best they could come up with?)

I believe that if she had given the show six more months, the show would have found something interesting for Marcy Walker to do (provided, of course, the writers commit to finding her a storyline). But, you know, I don't blame her for leaving, since she had been basically neglected for so long.

For one thing, Stephanie might have had more love interests (if Susan Seaforth Hayes had accepted the role). Not to knock Susan Flannery in any way, but she's never had any sort of romantic chemistry even with John McCook's Eric.

Wait, Andrew Kavovit was born in 1971? That means he'll be turning forty this year!

I think they planned to kill Nell off at this time all along but the killing of Ed did seem very random, and rushed, and had little followup, so I wonder what happened there.

I know I read somewhere years ago that Ed Coleridge was killed off because the decision had been made not to kill off Frank. So, perhaps, it was a budget issue?

As for Nell, she was killed off, b/c Diana van der Vlis (sp?) suffered from asthma and her health was making it difficult to continue on in the role (although, Claire Labine would bring her back years later, toward the end of RH, as Sherry Rowan).

"Malibu Madam" was Megan McTavish's idea; and "Amanda is Brandon's daughter" was James Harmon Brown and Barbara Esensten's.

Do you think they should have recast Amanda after Kathleen Cullen left, instead of writing her out?

No way. To me, Kathleen Cullen was Amanda. Just as Chris Bernau was Alan, and Beverlee McKinsey was Alexandra. I know GH's Nancy Lee Grahn (Alexis) was thisclose to signing on as Amanda when they did decide to bring the character back, but I don't think even she would have "worked."

When was the Long/Ryder period? Was all that with Roxy the amensiac prostitute or Lujack and Infinity their work or was that Ryder alone?

That's pretty much all Long and Ryder. After Long left for the first time, Ryder was on his own, but only for awhile.