Khan

That reminds me of an old TV movie - produced by Paulette Breen, aka Claudette Montgomery #1 - starring Kate Jackson and Rick(y) Schroeder, with Schroeder portraying the young man who claimed to be Jackson's character's son, who had been abducted many years before. The title escapes me at the moment, but I do remember it coming out at the climax that Schroeder's character, in fact, had been abducted by the same people who had abducted Jackson's son; and that her son actually had died while he was still a boy. (I also remember Jackson's character watching what appeared an actual clip from early '80's ATWT on her TV, lol).

And it would drive Tracy absolutely NUTS, lol. ("First, my idiot brother gives her the mansion; now, she's giving it away to the orphans!?"). But Monica throws her (and everyone else) another curveball by asking, via her will, that Tracy be placed in charge of Quartermaine House, thereby making Tracy a sort of Miss Hannigan to all the orphans who would be placed there. And yes, Sasha would remain on board as the staff chef, lol.

I'm with @DRW50: I would've preferred that over the cliffhanger we did get, lol. For years, I thought there were two ways to explain Bobby's absence. One way would've been to reveal that Bobby, along with several other boys, was murdered while at camp (which is where Bobby supposedly went to, and not on some skiing vacay) and that his murder was so shocking for the family that they never talked about it (or him) anymore. The other would've been to say that Bobby struggled so much to adjust to life without his mom, Helen, that Joe thought it would be best for him to live with Helen's relatives in California.

Not to take anything away from Brenda Dickson or even Jess Walton, but Deborah Adair comes across more believably as Julianna McCarthy/Liz Foster's daughter. If she had stayed, I could see her mellowing out eventually - not enough to turn her into Mary Williams, but enough to make her a strong, matriarchal figure nevertheless, like Liz before her.

LOL!! But seriously. It is kind of a shame how they gave Bobby Martin the Chuck Cunningham/Judy Winslow treatment. He could've been a wonderful "older brother" figure to Charlie and Tad.

If I were HW...? Everyone would be stunned to learn Monica made provisions in her will to turn the Q mansion into an orphanage (a sort of shout-out to her own origins).

That's probably because there aren't that many people inside the hospital to worry about it, lol.

He did. IIRC, Joe's first wife was named Helen (?). I laughed when Bootleg Grandma Kate mentioned Bobby out playing basketball with the Boy Scouts. No wonder the Martins forgot his existence; the poor boy was hardly ever home, lol.

Ann: "Linc, may I ask you a blunt question?" Linc: "Yes?" Ann: "Do you think we are absolutely the wrong actors for these roles?" Khan: "YES!" Oh, and that poor lady who was playing Grandma Kate (Kate Harrington?). She was struggling so much in her scene with Ray MacDonnell, it almost was too painful to watch. And that might be the first glimpse I've ever had of THE BEST OF EVERYTHING. Thanks, @All My Shadows, for letting us know about these uploads. Gosh, to have such a nice, clear picture of Susan Lucci in action as Erica so early in AMC's run. The camera absolutely loved that woman right from the start.

Well, I don't know what else to say except this is a huge blow to GH and to the entire industry and my heart goes out to all who've been affected personally by her loss. I definitely agree with @Vee and with others that GH wouldn't have become the powerhouse show that it was throughout the late '70's and '80's without Leslie Charleson. The Lesley/Rick/Monica/Alan storyline was one of daytime's best, and it all had to do with the performances from everyone involved, including Charleson, who had to remain empathetic for the audience as Monica, even as Monica was doing some very ugly things to hold onto Rick. Leslie Charleson was, is and always will be a legend to everyone who cares about the soaps. May she RIP.

I agree! I don't expect every actor on daytime to be as great as Michael Zaslow or Beverlee McKinsey, but I've always believed that if you just put in the work, you'll win me over. I'd rather watch an actor who isn't great but who doesn't phone it in over one who IS great and does.

Exactly. At fifteen minutes per episode - twelve, if you take out commercials - that's 75 minutes total if you decide to watch an entire week at once (although, I wouldn't be averse to producing one, 60-minute "omnibus" episode that grabs all the highlights from that week). To me, that's an easier commitment for potential viewers to make, since we don't always watch shows on our TV screens like we used to. I mean, we could go back to the old days, with people catching up on "their stories" on the smartphones during their lunch breaks, lol. Plus, a daily, fifteen-minute soap opera doesn't require a larger cast or number of sets, so it's probably cheaper to produce, too.

Does anyone know the three dialogue writers that Marland brought with him from GH? I guessed that the "former actress" was Nancy Franklin and the "veteran soaps writer" was Frank Salisbury, but who was the "novelist-playwright"? Robert Dwyer?

Reading that interview with Donna Mills just makes me wish even more that there was more LIAMST floating around. It says a lot that the network trusted two, young, relatively inexperienced actresses like Mills and Leslie Charleson to carry an entire show.

Between Drew's overly enthusiastic demeanor over EVERYthing, and the audience clapping at every half-sentence liked trained dogs, it's hard for me to watch all the way through.

IIRC, she even showed up years later on Y&R in a scene with (I think) Tracey E. Bregman.

There was a history of cancer on both Gary and Val's sides of the family, so I thought it would've been powerful to see what would happen if Betsy or Bobby had been diagnosed with some form of cancer. How would Gary and Val cope with the very real possibility of losing one of their children? Would Gary be tempted to fall off the wagon again? Would Val somehow find the strength to pull herself and Gary through the ordeal?

I mean, they took a storyline about a man who took an embryo from a woman's uterus and raised him as his own and, with one promo, turned it into wacky soap hijinks. It's offensive on so many levels and not at all like what actually played out (although, to be fair, what played out wasn't great soap opera either).

Really?? See, I tuned out of GH at some point, so I don't know everything that went down. So, Ric/Rick Hearst has been on the show at the same time as Nina. Was he with Cynthia Watros' Nina, or with Michelle Stafford's? (And it's weird how I thought to pair Ric and Nina with no idea at all about their prior history, lol). This is when we need to throw up the bat signal to Vanessa Marcil. Brenda easily could sweep back in, toss Natalia out on her bigoted ass and help Sonny through his medical crisis (while still exchanging verbal barbs with Carly).

Half-hour soaps on streaming are fine, but I think 15-minute ones would be even better. I still think Quibi might have survived, had they turned to experienced soap scribes and producers and developed 10-15 minute soaps for their app. IMO, soaps (and sitcoms) are a good way to develop a loyal subscriber base, more so than limited series or even one-hour dramas.

I, too, suspect it might have been a contractual thing. P&G wanted the Dobsons to take over ATWT, and for Marland to take over GL, but the timing wasn't right yet. I'd even venture a guess that Ralph Ellis and Eugenie Hunt stepped down (or was fired) sooner than planned, and because the Dobsons still weren't ready to switch shows, Marland's 13-week stint was a stopgap measure in order to keep ATWT from being without a HW until the Dobsons' arrival.

Words fail me on this one.

If nothing else, I hope BTG proves to be successful enough to inspire CBS (and other networks) to invest in more, new soap operas. Maybe they can't produce them on the same scale as they did 20-30 years ago - maybe we have to go all the way back to small casts and sets that consist of nothing more than doors and windows being hung on darkly painted walls by piano wires - but the genre is too important to our culture to let fade away completely.

For sure, I would kill off Drew. Willow either doesn't remember killing Drew, or she DOES remember and is wracked with guilt about it. Either way, Nina elects to take the rap in order to protect her daughter. She spends some time in jail, where she's reunited with Madeline. I'd need to sit down and figure out how to make it all work, but I'd have Ric serve as Nina's attorney throughout this process, thereby laying the groundwork for an eventual Ric/Nina union. Eventually, the truth would come out, Nina would be released and Willow would be shipped off to prison. Nina would be devastated, of course, but Ric would be there for her, especially after they receive word that Willow was killed after several inmates attacked her.

Ooh, I didn't consider her! That's a strong possibility, too.