Khan

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.

I'm definitely looking forward to reading the interviews with Joyce Corrington, Pamela K. Long, John Pasquin, Andrew D. Weyman, the Cullitons, Gary Tomlin, Patrick Mulcahey, Michelle Poteet Lisanti and Jeff Ryder.

ICAM with everything @Vee and @te. have said. KL made a huge mistake in not investing more in their younger characters, especially in Olivia and Paige. God bless Stacy Galina, but there's no way in hell I would've stuck around for a KL with her as the Karen-esque leading heroine of the show, lol. And I'm always up for anything that includes Tom Verica! That man is HOT!

I think it was mentioned some time ago in this thread that one reason why DAYS' ratings dropped in 1978 or so was because there were too many depressing storylines going on at that time. You had Mickey's mental breakdown, you had Trish Clayton's bout with DID (which, IIRC, was something Pat Falken Smith did not want to write, even though it was included in Bill Bell's long-term story plans) and then you had another storyline with similar themes that fans from that period would have to remind me about. To me, it just seems like there was too much heaviness going on, without anything that was comparatively light to counteract it all.

I agree!! As @DRW50 and @Franko have said, TSS was the brand-new soap Douglas Marland was working on at the time of his death (although, it was just in the bible stages, it hadn't been sold to any network or sponsor). Supposedly, it was to be set in a coal mining town in PA. Also, Marland appeared to have learned a few lessons from LOVING, telling SOD that he planned to focus initially on just 6-8 characters, believing that it would do no good to bombard new viewers with characters they don't know and don't care about yet. I wish a copy of that bible was available, because I'd LOVE to read it and see what kind of vision he had had for his last creation.

It's no surprise that ODAAT fell out of the Top 10. By 1982/83, it was hard to tell what the show was about anymore.

I agree!!

Well, it certainly didn't endear him to the AMC cast OR their fans, lol. But seriously. Unless you are Bill Bell or Douglas Marland, you cannot come aboard a long-running show like AMC and basically tell the cast you don't give a [!@#$%^&*] about their characters or their histories - "oh, by the way, gang: you better up your game and fast, 'cuz Jamie Luner's gonna blow you all out of the water!" History was all AMC really had at that point, and you're telling us in so many words that it doesn't matter? Again, you can't really tell people to forget what they know about their characters (or that you have them act out of character on the regular just to keep the folks at home guessing) if you don't have the track record to back up such bullshit - and I'm sorry, but Chuck Pratt did not have that kind of track record. Honestly, I would not be surprised if Susan Lucci told him, "I was here long before you entered the picture, Mr. Pratt, and I will be here long after you leave it."

Granted, I've been a JE fan for as long as I can remember, but I think she was right to fight Wendy Riche on that issue. I can't see Tracy Quartermaine as being anti-choice. If anything, I think she's the type who would understand that a woman desired to terminate her pregnancy for no other reason than she just doesn't want to be pregnant. To this day, however, I've been DYING to know what it was that Gloria Monty (allegedly) said either to JE or about her that made JE leave the first time around and stay gone for much of the '80's. JE has remained very tight-lipped about what went down, but I can tell that whatever it was, it was BIG, lol. You know, that whole situation kinda puzzles me? I don't doubt that JE was supposed to be Stephanie, and that Bill Bell changed his mind about her after landing Susan Flannery. But to go from Susan Seaforth Hayes, to Jane Elliot, to Susan Flannery...? That suggests to me that they really weren't sure in the beginning who or what they envisioned Stephanie Forrester being.

As best as I can piece together, Douglas Marland wanted Jane Elliot to play Samantha. On the one hand, seeing JE spar on-screen with the likes of Elizabeth Hubbard and (maybe) Terry Lester sounds heavenly. On the OTHER hand, I'm not sure how convincing JE would have been as Lucinda's half-sister. But that might be my painful memories of Brooke Alexander clouding the whole issue. (I, myself, would have brought JE on as Carly and Rosanna's mom, Sheila Washburn Cabot.) Actually, I think it was a little of both. JE was joining ATWT, but if TSS had been sold to a network, then she likely would have (left ATWT and) joined that show, too. IIRC, Douglas Marland had it in mind to pair her with Lane Davies (ex-Mason, SaBa) on his show, believing the two would have worked well together.

Which is kind of a shame, because, whenever I think of DALLAS, I think of 1950's melodramas like "Giant," or "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," or "Written on the Wind"; just as I felt DYNASTY should have taken inspiration from movies like "Magnificent Obsession" or "Peyton Place."

I think it was a combination of two things: not keeping up with the times, and not having a showrunner who knew KL. I do believe things improved when Ann Marcus returned, but I also agree that KL would have needed to evolve once more - perhaps, do away with the business storylines and become more like "Sisters" or "thirtysomething" - if it had had any hopes of surviving past 1993.

It's not just you, lol. For sure, I think Suzanne Rogers' real-life health issues played a part in the show's conscious choice to de-emphasize Mickey and Maggie, but I also think TPTB had a hard time figuring out how the two could have fit into the kind of show DAYS had become by the '80's. As we saw, it was really easy to slot Marlena into those action/adventure storylines through her relationships with Roman, Bo, etc. But, as it was with Doug and Julie, I think it was just hard to write those kind of stories for Mickey and Maggie without making them look foolish. It's a good thing, though, that Melissa, Neil, Liz, Marie and (for awhile) Don also were on the canvas, or else Mickey and Maggie would have had literally nothing at all to do.

Does anyone know which role she was expected to play? I know JC leaving Y&R for ATWT would have been HUGE for WT, but for the life of me, I can't imagine how she might have fit on that canvas. I mean, it was weird enough seeing Terry Lester on there after seeing him on Y&R and SaBa (and interacting with Elizabeth Hubbard, Mary Kay Adams and Richard Bekins) - not to mention, the thought that Jane Elliot came very close to joining the show as well before Douglas Marland's death changed everything. What I would have loved to have seen was Y&R's Jill possibly hooking up with B&B's Thorne or Ridge, and Kay warning Stephanie to keep her sons away from that tramp, lol.

I think there were positives to every season of KL (including S13, lol). Seasons 4-6, however, are probably when KL was at its' most consistent, and most consistently entertaining. Later seasons had their moments, too, but their highs never matched those achieved by Peter Dunne and his team. I'm able to overlook it as well. Just as I was able to overlook the whole "Verna Ellers" thing, because, even though it looks like another stall for time on its' surface, it's actually executed quite well, and provides enough focus on Val's psychology to explain why, after everything she had endured, she simply created a whole new identity for herself.

There was a time when DAYS could sucker-punch you with emotional stuff better than any other soap on the air. That scene and montage was a nice reminder of what DAYS used to be. I miss it (and Bill Hayes/Doug) so much.

Unfortunately, I suspect the AMC Christmas movie was DOA about ten minutes after the media had reported on it. Granted, I wasn't looking forward to the movie anymore than I was to that dreadful-sounding Pine Valley-meets-Riverdale reboot, but I think the media needs to back off on reporting anytime someone gets a wild idea to revive this-or-that series. For one thing, less than half of such notions ever make it past the "tentative talks" stage in the entertainment industry. For another, all that the media's reporting is actually doing is just pissing off those who truly care about seeing their favorite shows and characters again, and who are left disappointed when it doesn't come to pass.

I agree. Jacobs and his team were smart not to rush Karen into another relationship, or rush to replace Don Murray as the show's de-facto patriarch. (Contrast their approach with that of "Eight is Enough". On that show, Joan Bradford dies between the first and second seasons (on account of Diana Hyland's real-life passing, which had occurred before the end of S1, IIRC) and Tom spends maybe a half-dozen episodes as a widower before he and Abby, who (IIRC) was introduced in the first or second episode of S2, get hitched. IMO, that was entirely too soon.) LOL!! It made sense for Karen (and Mack) to investigate, though, since they were the show's tentpole couple. It's just unfortunate that that has to happen AFTER Karen's health concerns and surgery are dealt with. In fact, it's probably the only part of that season that I don't like, because her health crisis feels like something the show contrived in order to keep Karen from putting the pieces of Betsy and Bobby's kidnapping together sooner. IOW, it's plot-driven, not character-driven, which I HATE. At the very least, I would have had Karen investigating the kidnappings while still grappling with the after-effects of the shooting from the previous season's cliffhanger. Imagine: Karen knows there's a good chance she'll die from those bullet fragments or whatever, or at least she'll become paralyzed for life. Yet, she keeps ignoring the signs, along with Mack's pleading, because finding Val's babies are much more important to her at that point than even her own health.

ICAM. I've always looked at S3 as a transitional season. Wading through the non-continuing elements can be a chore, but it was necessary in terms of laying the groundwork for what KL would become. The first part of S4 feels like "old" KL to me as well, just with drama that's higher-pitched, thanks to the Gary/Val/Abby triangle. KL as we all know and love it doesn't really begin until the moment Ciji Dunne's lifeless body washes up on the shore. As I've said before, that's the moment when KL as it was "dies" and KL as it is remembered is born.

I agree. David Jacobs wanted KL to be an exploration of how the laid-back, anything-goes lifestyle of the late 1970's had impacted the institution of marriage - a time when the notion of marital fidelity was being questioned and redefined - but I think he learned along the way that what might have made for an interesting made-for-TV movie or miniseries might have been harder to sustain as a weekly series, especially when the attitude that married people could have sexual relationships outside of marriage without consequences guarantees that you'll likely end up with domestic drama minus the drama. Moreover, even with all the taboos being broken, network television remained very conservative, so unless CBS was going to allow Jacobs to explore issues like mate-swapping, for example, in ways that weren't juvenile or exploitative, there's no way KL, or Jacobs' original vision for it, would have lasted beyond a season or two. Network TV wasn't ready in 1979 for a series that was that honest about marriage, nor would it be ready 'til eight years later, when "thirtysomething" premiered on ABC.

The only reason why Beverlee McKinsey's taller than the other women in that commercial is because of her hair.

Wow! Thanks, @te., I had no idea the complete series was available online!

I agree! Michael Filerman and David Jacobs knew KL needed to get soapier if the show was to survive. Yet, throughout S3, they remained skittish, which is why (IMO) the season can come across as a hybrid of anthology series and all-out soap opera. In a way, though, I don't blame them for feeling skittish. They tried to "soap up" KL the previous season, but it was much too soon, and it was done without any clear idea of how to go about it, too.

I, myself, would love to see "All's Fair," a short-lived sitcom, starring Bernadette Peters and Richard Crenna (and a very young Michael Keaton). I'm sure it had its' flaws - most of Lear's stuff outside of "All in the Family" and "Maude" did - but the premise sounds very intriguing to me (basically, a May-December romance between a young liberal and older conservative) and it was written and produced by some very good comedy writers as well.