Khan

If I'm not mistaken, that's the trial where Jack admitted on the witness stand he had raped Kayla years before.

IMO, the last "good" EP GUIDING LIGHT had was Robert Calhoun. I realize his successor, JFP, oversaw GL through its' final "golden era" of the early- and mid-'90's. However, it was also during JFP's regime when we saw the departures of Ellen Parker and, most notably, Beverlee McKinsey -- two exits that, IMO, would prove costly in the long run. Moreover, there was an almost unseemly amount of turnover on the writing team under her watch, resulting in instability and weakened ratings. If the latter part of JFP's time had been more stable in the writing department, I believe, we never would have experienced the disaster that was McTavish/Laibson. OTOH, Calhoun was there at a critical time for the show, as Kim Zimmer was on her way out. Although it might be exaggerating to say GL had become "The Reva Show," I WOULD argue that it had become a bit too reliant on KZ (and on Reva) to carry itself. Calhoun changed that dynamic, refocusing and restructuring GL into the most ensemble-driven show it had been since the "Four Musketeers" era. All the major families -- the Bauers, the Lewises and Shaynes, the Spauldings and Chamberlains, and so on -- were kept "alive" in major, ongoing, umbrella stories that played on history and never alienated (or seemed to alienate) this-or-that audience group. More importantly, Calhoun was the one who promoted Nancy Curlee to Co-HW (w/ Pam Long) who, in turn, spearheaded the returns of Michael Zaslow and Maureen Garrett -- probably the smartest moves GL could have made at that point in its run. If anything, I think JFP coasted on Calhoun's successful, but brief, tenure, using elements he had set in place to keep the show going into the mid-'90's. It's only when she began augmenting those elements -- killing off Maureen, allowing Bev McKinsey to slip out the door, introducing several rather polarizing actors and characters (I'm not naming names) -- that she began encountering problems.

Same. That's why I hate to see what has become of her on GH and especially on Twitter. I mean, even her guest spots on "Murder, She Wrote" have been more entertaining than what she's been doing lately on GH.

Reading that perturbs me. To think, we could have had Judith Light on ONE LIFE TO LIVE longer than we did.

Thanks, bl. I'm not kidding or exaggerating when I say Rebhorn was one of the many reasons why I wanted to write for the soaps BITD. I had always hoped of writing something special for him.

True. So very, very true. Bradley Raines (GUIDING LIGHT) and Henry Lange (ATWT) were truly reprehensible individuals; yet, Rebhorn was able to imbue them with enough pain and empathy that you felt for them in spite of their actions. Whenever we talk about the overall quality of acting on soaps these days, James Rebhorn is one performer who comes to mind immediately as I remember what USED to be the going standard. I am going to miss seeing him on TV shows and in movies.

. Rebhorn was one of my favorite actors. "Devastated" doesn't begin to describe how I feel at this moment. I truly don't know what to say, except I pray God is with his loved ones at this moment. ...My God.

WOAH. Really? I mean, I am certainly not arguing with you on ANY of your points, YRBB; and I can't say I blame those fans for feeling as they do. Even if you were a lukewarm fan, as I was, you could tell how network interference, among other factors, was responsible for the gradual shift in the show's overall tone. Still, I've always believed that fans look upon the Jeff Freilich era in particular as both a stabilizing time for the show AND a period of fast-paced, exciting drama that, yes, was different from FC's original concept, but also helped the show stand out from DALLAS, DYNASTY and KNOTS LANDING.

I'd settle for the hospital's board of directors dedicating a new wing in Tom and Alice Horton's memory.

Same.

Funny. And yet, more believable than the last several ret-cons to John Black's history.

At the very least, they could tell us whether Don ever dropped that letter in the mail.

IA, Carl. IA with sungrey as well. I don't doubt Gibboney's story, as related to SOD some years ago, about the "bathing suit incident," but I feel as if MEB was looking for a good excuse to get rid of the girl.

Frankly, cassadine, I don't think so. As I've said upthread, PC was just desperate to gain traction with the viewers. They needed something -- ANY thing -- to get people talking about the show and get them out from under GH's long shadow. Short of a true, visionary EP and HW'ing team, I think PC's cancellation was inevitable.

And even if they did, I doubt it'd be much fun w/ Jennifer and Maggie talking (again) about Daniel to anyone who would listen.

Maybe not so much for TEXAS, since I don't think the show was all that different tone-wise from beginning to end; all that changed, really, was the emphasis away from Iris (after Beverlee McKinsey's departure) to the supporting characters. But SOMERSET? Definitely. Even after Henry Slesar left as HW, it seems (from everything I've read) the show remained more-or-less a crime-driven soap, which was different from ANOTHER WORLD.

To me, PORT CHARLES always struggled to find its own identity away from GH. That's why I think they went in a supernatural direction in the end. It might have damaged the show in the long run, but I guess the objective simply was to beat the old drums and garner a little more attention.

Is that when the show brought in Apollonia (sp?)?

It IS interesting to imagine Shelly Burch on ATWT. I could see her portraying someone who eventually hooks up with James Stenbeck or John Dixon (or both).

Delila truly was one of my faves on that show.

For God's sake, I wish Miss Perry would hire a REAL writing staff w/ qualified and capable people.

Believe it or not, I think it is possible. I mean, there's NOTHING that says whatever remained of the Thirteen (long story) faked Maggie's death as retaliation against Richard.

That probably depends on who you ask. I wasn't as much of a fan of FC as I had been of KNOTS LANDING or even DALLAS. However, I think the consensus among the majority of fans is that FC was consistent until the penultimate season, when then-EP Jeff Freilich was forced out (according to another interview on the fan club site, Lorimar felt the show was getting too expensive) and Melissa Agretti (Ana-Alicia) killed off. After that, it was a pretty rapid slide in quality.

On the official Falcon Crest Fan Club website there is an interview with writer-producer Robert L. McCullough, who reveals how problematic Abby Dalton (Julia) was to the writers. Among other things, she'd call up and complain how she had so little to do in given episodes, even though she read ONLY her scenes and no one else's. I feel like the decision to have her be Carlo Agretti's murderer and then later go off the rails was their way of keeping her on the show at a minimum, thus eliminating the problem. (BTW, allmc, why can't I post on your status updates? Do you know?)

Tyler Perry gets nothing ELSE right, so it doesn't surprise me he knows nothing about criminal procedures either.