soapfan770

I was wondering, often looking back at old articles from the early daytime magazines it was seems that Edge of Night was held in low regard in comparison to the other soaps. A recently posted poll from 1970 had EON at the bottom of the list of favorite soaps, and the famous 1976 Time Magazine article on soaps deemed it "old fashioned". It just strikes me as funny because it seems to have a cult following today and is fondly remembered. Was it the predictable Perry Mason formula that caused it be viewed this way back then?

I can't believe they are going to do a story with that girl intern becoming NotMcDreamy Derek's stalker and a "danger" to Meredith. Actually, even though I'm skeptical about this, maybe some good campy, cheesy story could liven up the dead show.

I actually wonder why they didn't fully bring back Maureen from the dead and instead we got left Maureen's ghostly appearances to Michelle and Maureen being Vanessa's guide in Heaven. Given some of the more outlandish plots of the Rauch regime, Maureen being alive and well in 1997 would have been far more plausible than later storylines. Heck they went through the trouble to bring back Robert Gentry as Ed, they could have made it worth their time.

Question: Who was Lana Reardon? Another long lost Reardon child? Who played her, or was she ever actually seen at all? I just remember reading somewhere long, long ago she was supposed to be Maureen's twin sister.

So is Katherine Heigl even on this show anymore? I was taken back by her little 5 second appearance last Thursday because I thought she was done with the show. I heard her last movie bombed though or something.

As crazy as it was and crazy as it may sound looking back I have to admit did thoroughly enjoyed GL in 1998, it was 1999 that was the killer aside from the Jesse/Drew stuff and early San Cristobel. Though I never understood the whole cloning bit, and I never will. Hell they could have gotten the same ratings if a drunk Josh ran into a red-headed Reva doppelganger, instantly fell in love with her image of his "dead" wife as she did with him and then hired her to play Reva. You would have gotten the same great campy scenes and storyline.

It was actually. Tabitha's Thanksgiving dinner party in 2004 was one of Passions' finest post-Timmy moments and included all the over the top soapiness and camp Passions should have been. Tabitha was hosting the dinner and invited everyone just to "accidentally" let it slip that the Wheelers were really Martin and Katherine. Chaos ensured afterward.

Actually that sounds like a smart idea! Given on old WB shows like Dawson's Creek and Charmed had their own continuing book series I wonder why Passions didn't do a dime-novel series as well.

Heh out of habit I guess, much like Y&R. It's a muddled mess and Shonda Rimes is such a hack. I watched an episode of Private Practice, which is desperately clinging to survive seems to be simply using old Grey's scripts right down to the same dialogue. Actually, I'm surprised anyone besides me and a couple friends still watch. The show keeps going down in down in the ratings. A couple seasons ago it was in the top 5 show; the 2/12 episode last week has been the series' lowest-rated so far and it came in at #16. At this rate they're going be out of the top 20 by May.

God this show totally blows right now, the past few episodes have been quite terrible.

Ok I'll say it: desk sex was hot for Fletcher and Holly, but their subsequent relationship was terribly boring. Always love DANfan's posts keeping GL's memory alive!

She did indeed! I was sorely disappointed when LML brought on that B-movie actress who's name escapes me at the moment instead of trying to get CE back. The amazing thing is the music remains timeless and not outdated in any way, much like the rest of 90s Y&R.

Both of these videos contain classic, epic Y&R scores that are favorites of mine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXsv0uLxMu4

Hence my reference of Julia Shearer--Matthews related character played by a young Kyra Sedgwick AND Faith Ford only to meet a violent end. Also I believe they started AW's trend of nabbing high profile actors for roles. Now granted this always occurs at every soap but it seemed more obvious and frequent at AW. In the late 70s AW hired quite a few for Y&R stars with William Grey Espy, Jennifer Leak, and Janice Lynde, in the 80s AW with multiple ABC stars, and in the the 90s especially in 1991 in which saw three major roles recast with three big daytime stars. However the show could never bring in the ratings, showing that star quality alone could not help the show.

Funny you should bring up Lemay and Rauch decimating the Matthews and Frames. I've often heard it argued in the end they destroyed the success they had created.

I have to say this was what I was thinking as well. The thing that bugs me is the constant turnover and inconsistent writing between 1981-1987 and 1995-1999. Characters constantly came and went except a select few ie Rachel, Cass, Felicia etc. Both the Matthews and Frame families were completely to obliterated to the point where there was only a single Matthews related character on the show, Josie. Up and coming characters like Julia Shearer and Sally Frame killed off for no good reason while other vets wasted and forgotten. The had no real sense of identity. No matter what you think, the Swajeski years were a saving grace for the show and at least gave show a small period of stability and good writing. On the other hand, what AW really needed was a Douglas Marland type writer over a long period of time. Alas that why I would also disagree with the opinion I had posted. Aside from the Britney Peterson stuff and Justine junk, AW certainly was never the worst soap on the air during this period (hello Generations!). I also agree with all of your story highlights except for one--The Steve Frame is back from the dead story was a spectacular failure. It failed because two actors from the original Rachel/Steve/Alice triangle were long gone and the fact there wasn't much chemistry nor interest. Yet when AW brought back Courtney in the role of Alice, she was quickly sidelined and then written out not long after. Go figure.

I saw this opinion on another board and was wondering what other people thought of it: I have to say I might agree with some of the premise of this opinion/statement, which I'll explain why later when I have more time to.

re: Harding Lemay's short stint on Search. I recall reading that Millee Taggart said that Lemay had some wonderful ideas for SEARCH. She said he wanted to bring back Mignon Sentell and she would cause problems for Liza and Travis. She said he had some great ideas for Janet, but unfortunately, it didn't pan out. I also read that Mary Ellis Bunim said Lemay was ineffective. After leaving SFT I believe Lemay did a short stint on The Doctors and then mostly disappeared from daytime until 1988.

Yes Tabitha was hosting Thanksgiving dinner at her house and had a giant turkey piñata much like the one "Cassie's butchered body" was in at the Thanksgiving carnival. The piñata appeared to be dripping blood much to everyone's horror. It fell down and red gloop splattered all over the place. What had thought to have been blood turned out to be cranberry sauce!

It's a crying shame that show so diverse and family-oriented Passions went a not so serious route first as some bad campy supernatural tale then later transformed into Sunset Beach 2 only not as entertaining. My favorite story by far remains the relationship between Julian and Eve that first appeared on-screen in 2003. Both Masters and Ross were able to rise above the campy mess for a serious relationship as did the writing. Other favorite highlights of mine include Ivy crashing her car into the wedding, Julian and Timmy's misadventures, and killer guacamole. Oh and the Thanksgiving 2004 episode which was mockery of the previous year's Thanksgiving on Days. Funny that JER would make a mockery out of his own work.

I also believe that P&G was unhappy with the move to the 2:30 slot instead of the historic 12:30 slot they had enjoyed for 30 years. I've heard two stories over the years over SFT's performance in that 2:30 slot--one that SFT failed miserably, the other than SFT saw its ratings rise but P&G was still miffed over losing out on the 12:30 slot. Carl's right, too many style changes too. Look at 1978-1982. We go from the Corringtons who are credited with modernizing the show to Harding Lemay to Gary Tomlin. In four years with other writers in between! Perhaps if SFT had found a stabilizing writer over a long period of time in the 70s like the Dobsons on GL, Slesar on Edge, Lemay on AW etc. I mean by 1982 the characters which Peter Simon, Courtney Sherman and Morgan Fairchild had played had been long forgotten about, even though the Phillips had been pivotal in the mid-70s! I also believe that P&G was unhappy with the move to the 2:30 slot instead of the historic 12:30 slot they had enjoyed for 30 years. I've heard two stories over the years over SFT's performance in that 2:30 slot--one that SFT failed miserably, the other than SFT saw its ratings rise but P&G was still miffed over losing out on the 12:30 slot. Carl's right, too many style changes too. Look at 1978-1982. We go from the Corringtons who are credited with modernizing the show to Harding Lemay to Gary Tomlin. In four years with other writers in between! Perhaps if SFT had found a stabilizing writer over a long period of time in the 70s like the Dobsons on GL, Slesar on Edge, Lemay on AW etc. I mean by 1982 the characters which Peter Simon, Courtney Sherman and Morgan Fairchild had played had been long forgotten about, even though the Phillips had been pivotal in the mid-70s!

Goodness I had completely forgotten about that plot point. Wasn't that around the same time that Alan was hiding in the shadows and pretending to be a Japanese businessman? This would have been in 1994 if I recall right.

LOL I hadn't thought of it being ironic justice. I think Rick and Roxie actually lasted several months but were on the backburner for the most it as Roxie would meet Johnny. I've always wondered why no one ever thought to bring Roxie back in the 90s. It seems a bit odd she's left languishing in a mental clinic after a single emotional breakdown over too much stress and trauma while sister Reva has frequently become unhinged and never got treatment. Of course my favorite love interest for Rick will always be Abby she was on the way to being a new tentpole Bauer woman before writing her out. I also Rick's pairing with Beth in the very early 90s was nice although it was just to fill in the time before Phillip and Beth had their reunion in '91.

Hmm I'd have to agree about Edmund. One of the few good things Ellen Weston did was continuing the redemption of Edmund to great lengths. Yet in an attempt to restore some of Edmund's edge, Kriezman had him go insane and turned into a laughable maniacal villain complete with giant floating heads talking to him. DAM deserved so much better especially for the once redeemed character. Dinah also deserved a heck lot better exit. Sure she is probably living the fun life with Mallet but she goes out as murderess on the run, just like she was when she returned in '04. Not the best thing to go full circle with...

On the flip side SOD did call out the Jeffery cliffhanger in another category. Why GL just didn't leave the character dead I'll never understand, and Jonathan is letting Reva think he's dead. They probably should have shown Jeffery and Edmund killing each other in the 9/17 episode instead of Edmund blowing the kiss goodbye. Pathetic subplot that went nowhere. I hated Jeffery with a passion and I hope he did kick the bucket for real, but it still mildly perturbs me that it wasn't resolved.