Khan

I think Evan Hofer has some potential. He just needs to be in the right situation, with the right people guiding him. He didn't get that w/ Frank Valentini, but then again, neither do most these days at GH. The only ones who seem to rise above the mismanagement and lack of guidance are those who've been there for many years, who know their characters well and who know how to work even with the worst producers and directors on the planet.

I'm always amazed at how many awesome writers - Allan Leicht, Sherry Coben, Liz Coe, Jeffrey Lane, etc. - passed through RH over the years. If nothing else, Claire Labine (and Paul Avila Mayer) had a knack for finding real talent.

On the one hand, I definitely agree with you. But the thing is, I'm not talking about just KL. Across the board, on most of the shows that one or both Lechowicks ran - "Homefront," "Second Chances," "Hotel Malibu," "That's Life," "Wild Card," even Y&R - they had a strange knack for making highly questionable casting decisions. It's as if Lynn and Bernie thought their scenes and dialogue were SO good that they were actor-proof. Conversely, look at someone like Jay Tarses. Production values on his shows (including "Buffalo Bill," "The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd" and others) often were crap, but he knew how to cast the right actor for the right role, and that made his writing all the more brilliant in the process.

If I had a nickel for every time I said as much to Angel and Spike fans.... There was a time when Evan Hofer would have been FORCED to improve as an actor, because, let's be honest: as fantastic as Mark Teschner is, he didn't always hit a home-run casting-wise even BEFORE Frank Valentini entered the building. But Hofer would have had people like Wendy Riche and Shelley Curtis - not to mention, GH's once-elite directing team - working with the s.o.b., getting him to a place where, if he wasn't as good as Jonathan Jackson, he was, at the very least, watchable. But that was then, and this is now; and now we have an EP and directing bunch who simply can't be bothered to work with their [!@#$%^&*] actors, because the only thing that's on their minds is getting everything done and everyone out of the studio before they have to pay the Teamsters overtime.

Yet another, potentially good storyline ruined by the Lechowicks' inability to cast the right actors. In fact, the Lechowicks probably would've had even more success at KL, with far less of their storylines requiring "course correction," but they just couldn't cast for [!@#$%^&*].

Frankly, no. I think NBC is out of the soaps business - and ABC is just waiting for a good time to cancel GH and call it quits on soaps as well - as both networks are convinced 1) the audiences just aren't there anymore and 2) they could pull down similar ratings AND save money by airing yet another hour of infotainment.

I wonder: what if CBS/Lorimar/Filerman & Jacobs had approached Donna Mills with the idea of spinning off Abby onto her own show? Would DM still have chosen to leave both KL and Abby behind?

That's my hunch, too. Otherwise, not only would no one be leaving this show, but Frank would be adding about 20 more actors to the roster as well.

Improvisation is a tricky business. It can go terribly wrong more often than not. And you really need someone there who knows enough about it to keep everyone on track, or else it can become self-indulgent, which a lot of those two episodes was. But I still give David Jacobs props for attempting something different. Even today, I doubt many series would take the risk. IMO, what KL lost when they let Constance McCashin and Julie Harris go was its' groundedness and relatability. Harris and McCashin were the show's last two "natural" actors, as the rest of the cast - including even Kevin Dobson and, to a certain extent, William Devane - had become very stylized in their performances.

TBH, I would've been fine with everyone in Springfield assuming Nadine had left town and only the audience ever knowing the truth.

It's the same where I live, and it has been for much of my life, too. As I've said in the past, the rest of the country is about to learn what it's like to live in Oklahoma, lol.

They likely did. It seems as if that happens whenever any actor from a long-running series exits. Even folks who haven't watched in years or who watched only occasionally will tune in so they can feel like they're part of TV history. (I, myself, tuned in for Mark Harmon's swan song on "NCIS," even though that show bores me to tears).

I have nothing against Jeff Beldner. He wrote some great stuff for AMC and ATWT. But I've never thought that Y&R was the right show for him. DAYS, GH? Maybe. But not Y&R.

No, I'm saying WE are, thinking it's going off the air sooner than it actually is, lol.

Betty Corday and/or Wes Kenney should have had the sense to tell Bill Bell or Pat Falken Smith to ease up on the melodrama. I wasn't alive back then, but from everything I'm reading or re-reading, it sounds like it was TORTURE.

Just as it seemed Reva had developed psychic abilities solely to find out who killed Eva Galli Annabelle's mom Maryanne Caruthers. I mean, I don't THINK that was the intent, but that's how it turned out, lol.

If Kate Mulgrew had concentrated on building a career and "name" for herself in theater post-RH, with the occasional film or TV guest role gig to supplement her income, she might've become another Julie Harris or Colleen Dewhurst. But not only did she choose to concentrate instead on film and TV, she also attached herself to some very questionable projects, such as that "Reno Williams" movie mentioned in the interview. And I understand, too, that actors often have to take on projects that smell from a mile away just to keep their utilities on, but I also believe that if you want to achieve that next level in your career where the right projects come to you and the bad ones stay away, then there comes a point when you've gotta tell Ron Stephenson's people over at "Murder, She Wrote" not to put you up anymore for guest shots, if only so you DON'T end up spending years in thankless parts before lucking upon something like "Voyager" (which certainly wasn't "I, Claudius," or even DS9, but was something with a built-in fan base that finally gave her some name recognition beyond RH). And I say that as someone who LOVES MSW.

"Mrs. Columbo"/"Kate Loves a Mystery" could have been a wonderful prime-time vehicle for Kate Mulgrew (even WITH the bad writing, lol), but Universal really set the show and her up for failure by tying them like they did with "Columbo." Of course, I'm sure people remember her now from "Star Trek: Voyager" more than they do from RH, but I don't think KM should've been too horrified at the thought of people coming up to her and mentioning the show years after she had left. It's not easy to become someone whom viewers welcome into their homes five days a week. Many try, but they don't all succeed. If and when they do, it's not a curse, but a blessing, because you know that, no matter where else you go in your career, you'll have a fan base who will follow you.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Heather Locklear grew so much as an actress once she stopped sounding so nasally, lol.

The problem I had with that twist goes back to something I learned as a kid: psychics don't usually have premonitions of their own deaths. (I mean, I could be wrong, but that's what I was told once, lol). So, when it happened to Nadine, I guess I couldn't suspend disbelief enough to enjoy the irony.

You ain't kiddin', lol! But seriously. I do agree that every series has a natural expiration date. Like @DRW50 said, I think we're mostly just speculating for fun, not seriously suggesting that KL could or should have run longer. On the other hand, there's nothing that says KL couldn't have run longer, had TPTB been wiser and set the show up for future generations. But that would've required the kind of long-range thinking that I don't think primetime shows indulge in, quite frankly. I was good with Anne/Michelle Phillips until whoever decided to make her poor and homeless. That storyline, along with everything Anne did to get off the streets, including hosting that call-in show (!), was a total misfire. Claudia, though, just came across as entirely too arch from the beginning. She didn't have the layers that Abby had; and the longer Claudia stayed, the harder it became, I think, to justify why anyone even still cared about her. I think Ann Marcus did a lot to humanize her and make her as something other than Kate's meddling mom or Greg's Machiavellian sibling, but it might have been a case of "too little, too late." "So much about Greg Sumner revolved around his complicated relationship with Paul Galveston," I said, at the time. "What if Greg had found himself playing out a similarly complicated dynamic with his long-lost son? Only this time, HE's the Paul Galveston in the relationship, and the son is the idealistic, young man, who is determined to build a legacy that will outlive his father's?"

You know "The Talk" is bad when we're rushing that show off the air, lol.

Were those storylines happening at the same time as Mickey's breakdown and Trish's DID battle? Good God, lol! Like I said, it's no wonder why DAYS' ratings fell. That was entirely too much heavy, somber drama at one time. You might get away with Mickey's breakdown (with Tom's stroke as part of the fallout), but you also need some lighter storylines to help viewers decompress.

In the past, I've wondered why KL never introduced a grown son or illegitimate son for Greg - if nothing else than as a(nother) spoiler for Greg and Paige's relationship.

I haven't checked out from politics entirely, but I don't feel the need to follow and/or react to every move that the incoming administration makes either. I just don't see the point.