soapfan770

I checked and you’re correct it was Thanksgiving 2023. Also had to double check IMDB to make sure there were no 2024 credits listed lol.

LOL. I don’t think he’s been on contract since 2017, but he has always had comings and goings that lasted for weeks and/or months. I think I recall he did double duty in 2020-21 when Chloe was pregnant with their son. Ever since then he’s been more at Days. I know he appeared at TEB’s 40th episode but missed the 50th anniversary altogether. Chapman didn’t appear in 2024 either, although she also returned to Days. Also is Lisa Williams the same Lisa Williams who was ED’s double during the original Susan/Mary Moira/Thomas story on Days as well as the recurring Brady Pub waitress/bartender Lisa from the 90’s and 00’s?

Well way too much Billy for me LOL. Did the character do anything productive in 2024? Screaming Chancellor Park in the dark doesn’t count. @YRfan23 I just noticed Rikaart didn’t appear at all 2024. Obviously I feel very bad for Days fans but if Rikaart doesn’t appear in 2025 that works too lol, especially since Chloe has also finally stopped popping up as well.

@DRW50 I did forget to mention to Loving as well I’m to this day surprised SoapNet never bothered to rerun the series but who knows. As much as I had fondly remembered 1992-94 from what I’ve seen doesn’t hold up as well, but I’m curious about 80’s Loving because so little is available and info is scarce.

Obviously I have to chime in on Y&R @DRW50 @YRfan23 as well 🙂 In addition to that though…. Harding Lemay’s Lovers & Friends and For Richer for Poorer. I know a few FRFP clips have bubbled up over the years but I’ve never seen anything for L&F. No one knows what the opening credits looked like. More 1960’s and 1970’s AW, AtWT, and GL Also anything from those early soaps as well, particularly Brighter Day, Clear Horizon, and From These Roots.

I have to third both @Taoboi and @Antoyne on their thoughts and sentiments. The holiday episodes and really last two weeks have got that momentum back as well as having a lot of heart. I can’t add much more because I pretty much agree with @Taoboi’s sentiments already expressed, especially on how nice and mature those Chance/Summer scenes were. Sure they’re in a difficult moment due to outside forces but still love and understand each other. The New Year’s Eve episode was also great with the nice twist at the end! Also I loved seeing a shocked Phyllis look like a total loser upon seeing Danny return and love on Christine right after mocking his absence to her. Serves her right lol!

Isn’t this where an old 1995 pic of TK was edited into one of Brooke’s memories lol? I’m surprised that Thudley hasn’t gone back and digitally inserted TK’s likeness in all these flashbacks from the 80’s, 90’s, and 00’s.

Actually not a bad episode from 2006 at all. It was good to see JT, Colleen, Katherine, and Brad here as well. AH Victoria feels like a totally different character. Years of bad writing and misunderstanding Victoria really took its toll. MS can still act. Finally that classic score at the end, loved it! Hate that the tainted face cream part though. It started out interesting but got dragged out and became so comical. It’s weird to realize the story began in March 2006 and didn’t get finally resolved until November 2008.

@janea4oldI think they chose it as it one of, if not the first fight between Phyllis and Sharon. It’s was definitely eerie to see some of those names in the writing credits like Jim Houghton. It’s actually nice to see Newman Enterprises look like an actual busy office, when is the last time we actually saw multiple extras in the Newman offices?

@YRfan23 For 30 seconds there I expecting a cliffhanger today of either Remy or Electra going over the railing, landing on the ground below and loosing a shoe in the process 🤣🙈 LOL. We also finally saw the end of Wynot as well with a solo exit appearance. As for losing RJ……well the Lunacy stuff is giving Bill/Sheila vibes all over again wouldn’t surprise me if RJ pops in 2 months in an undisclosed bunker plotting to put Lunacy away for good.

I watched today’s episode and yeah it was another laugh riot: 1. The warp speed of the stalker storyline involving two newbies. 2. Will having a montage of his memories with Electra…haven’t they only been together since October? 3. The PSA talk between Katie, Will, Ivy, Carter, and Hope 4. Lunacy. I predict she probably asked someone to beat her up just to play up $Bill’s sympathy. In fact after we get through the Electra story I predict we are going to get some weird tawdry Bill/Luna/Will triangle. I feel it in my bones already. Well when everything else is boring I suppose Thudley & crew decided at least muster up some energy for these spaced out episodes as the show is off again for the next two days until Thursday. So even if both stories are mess it did provide an adequate cliffhanger, for anyone(if there is anyone)that actually cares at least lol.

Yeah I see that especially since it was 88-89 when we got an insta family with the Grainger’s lol. Thankfully the next new family, the Barber expansion was far more successful. I think Victor’s takeover of Jabot did help re-energize the Abbott dynamic although I’m sorry that Ashley/Brad/Traci was dropped as it would’ve given Traci a whole lot more to do. By 1991 Traci’s role had pretty much been replaced by Nina.

You’re quite welcome! It’s a shame we lost Brenda, although I can’t see her doing either the Kurt or Cole stories, although she would’ve saved them on her end. As I’ve mentioned before the changing demos hurt Ashley a bit there. When Brenda took over Ashley was the #2 leading lady behind Nikki. When Brenda left, Ashley had been pushed down the ladder by Victoria, Nina, Dru, Olivia but still relatively important. By the time Shattuck left, Ashley was probably the least important female character, to the point we cared more about Esther, Lynne, Connie the secretary etc. That Y&R’s worst acting moment I mentioned would’ve come sooner in June 1996 than in October 1997 🤣🤣🤣

Epperson had an extended maternity leave in 1995 which caused the whole storyline to come to an halt, start again, and sputter out. I’m guessing more time with family and perhaps just being over it as the show was devoting more time to the next generation of female characters. TEB had just moved over to B&B as well. From an article 11/11/95: After seven years on The Young and the Restless, Brenda Epperson-Doumani is leaving the role of Ashley Abbott. Her contract expires this fall. A show rep wouldn't comment on whether the part will be recast, but there is speculation that it will be. "I'd been contemplating leaving for a while," Epperson-Doumani says. "I haven't worked that much at all this year." The character of Ashley has been on the back burner ever since she married Blade. Senior executive producer Bill Bell released a statement saying: "We were unable to complete an agreement. Brenda will be missed very much by all of us." There are no details on how Ashley will be written out, but according to a spokesperson for the actress, Doumani "will be on at least through the end of the year." Doumani took over the role of Ashley from Eileen Davidson (now Kristen on Days of Our Lives) in September 1988.

Pretty much. Anyone remember why DD left the show in ‘96? I was actually surprised when he returned in late ‘98 because it felt like at that point the show had long moved past from him and then initially felt like they struggled when they teased him with Grace. Yeah that was one of Kurt’s many “deep dark” secrets behind the dead wife & dead daughter etc that he had been a brilliant doctor which he kept hidden until Hope choked. I remember SOD giving it a thumbs down for the week. (Barring a few performances, I also have never been much of a fan of McCloskey’s work either, although I know it wasn’t his fault Santa Barbara did give him the short end of the stick) Shattuck never became tolerable for me. Her groveling confession to Victor that she is Cole’s other woman in the Jabot Lab was the worst acting I had ever seen on Y&R up to that point. I still remember what life ED breathed into Ashley once she returned, as Ashley was still in the middle of the art forgery story that still befuddles me to this day. Yeah Bell only waited a little over two months to bring on Shattuck after Epperson left. Ashley should’ve been in full rage and ready to take revenge on Mari Jo, but their confrontation scenes came out as so empty as Shattuck didn’t have any spark or edge at all and the show just kept moving forward.

What else is there for Victoria to do at this point? Getting involved with Ashland was such a breath of fresh air unfortunately the show went in some strange opposite direction (of course!). The Nate pairing was interesting but quashed too soon. Cole is the best thing for Victoria right now and for the long term, no reason to kill him off. Otherwise we’ll probably get Victoria involved with newcomer Ivan Abbott Jr. and JG touting as his new new new new “Romeo & Juliet” pairing.

Well said LOL. I did think Linda Dona, who appears in that episode as the dead wife Linda in Kurt’s flashback would’ve made a better Ashley than Shattuck did. If I recall correctly the letter Ashley found contained a written confession from Linda detailing a very sordid affair with the next door neighbor(?) who was also married. Also felt bad that Hope exited paired up with him after a brief and boring triangle.

Thanks so much @FrenchFan!!! Anyone know if Neil and Penny were as popular as Jeff & Penny were just a few years earlier? I know the character of Sylvia was regarded as unsuccessful.

Ratings from the week of 12/15/86-12/21/86. NBC Thursdays and ABC Tuesdays crushing it along with Golden Girls. Meanwhile @kalbir a repeat Murder She Wrote was CBS' highest ranked scripted show for that week 🙂 Nielsen Ratings Top 30 Week of Dec 15-21 1986 UPI 1. The Cosby Show (NBC/Th) 35.1 2. Family Ties (NBC/Th) 33.1 3. Cheers 28.4/43 (NBC/Th) 28.4 4. Night Court (NBC/Th) 27.3 5. Moonlighting (ABC/Tue) 26.1 6. 60 Minutes (CBS/Sun) 24.1 Growing Pains (ABC/Tue) 24.1 8. The Golden Girls (NBC/Sat) 23.5 9. Who's The Boss? (ABC/Tue) 22.8 10. NFL Monday Night Football: Chicago Bears/Detroit Lions (ABC/Mon) 21.9 11. Murder She Wrote (CBS/Sun) 21.5 (Repeat) 12. Dallas (CBS/Fri) 21.2 13. Bob Hope Christmas Special (CBS/Sun) 20.5 Newhart (CBS/Mon) 20.5 15. MOVIE: The Christmas Gift [1986] (CBS/Sun) 20.2 16. Magnum P.I. (CBS/Wed) 19.7 17. Amen (NBC/Sat) 19.5 18. Falcon Crest (CBS/Fri) 19.1 Highway to Heaven (NBC/Wed) 19.1 19. L.A. Law (NBC/Th) 18.8 20. Kate & Allie (CBS/Mon) 18.1 21. The Cavanaughs (CBS/Mon) 17.8 22. Mickey's Christmas Carol [1983] (NBC/Mon) 17 (Repeat) A Year in the Life (NBC/Mon) 17 A Year in the Life (NBC/Wed) 17 25. Knots Landing (CBS/Th) 16.9 26. Dynasty (ABC/Wed) 16.7 27. Head of the Class (ABC/Wed) 15.7 Perfect Strangers (ABC/Wed) 15.7 29. The Equalizer (CBS/Wed) 15.4 30. Hotel (ABC/Wed) 15.3

Obviously Karen Allen wasn’t going to be available to come back, but do think Annie could’ve returns at some point like around Sid’s death and maybe have her live with Abby or something. I felt Annie had more promise and potential than Diana ever did.

It’s not the same chat box that Thudley and Josh Griffith use to write their scripts is it? 🤣🤣🙈🙈 Yeah I remember a while back just for fun I asked ChatGPT to write me episodes of ATWT and GL. The results I got were shockingly bad; Lucinda told Lily she had a daughter via James Stenbeck to on her death bed while Frank & Oliva looked for Emma together. Ugggh.

They may have approved it thinking hey that sounds like a nice throwback story (even though the OG story was bad) but may [!@#$%^&*] hits fan down the road? We’ll have witness what Ron’s March Madness looks like 🤣😂

Only on B&B does one barge into an empty, unlocked dark apartment and venture all the way into the back. I don’t think even D-list horror movie characters are that dumb.

They could have re-aired the 87 ep just so we could see “Take this BEAST off my head!!!!” 🤣 Agree about Shawn. I also forgot that Cramer was Shawn #2, I seem to recall several years ago of a clip surfacing of Shawn #1 and he came off a geek, not one to get obsessed. Back to the present, today’s Chance & Summer scenes were a highlight. Defiantly enjoy seeing a mature conversation between the two of them. So Ian & Jordan will use Phyllis and the discard her? Perfect! Also I’m down for more blood to be spilled if it ends with Billy, Chelsea and Nick dead by the end of this.

There was definitely a substantial rift and collapse in viewership come the fall of 1987 we’ve touched fleetingly like CBS’ hard fall into 3rd place, the collapse of the primetime soaps and Miami Vice becoming the new coldness instead of the new hot hotness. This article I found is fascinating on its investigation of the 1987-88 TV season woes. Where Have All the Viewers Gone? By PEGGY ZIEGLER LOS ANGELES TIMES May 1, 1988 Pity the programmers at ABC, CBS and NBC. They launched one of the most critically acclaimed television seasons in history this year-- and had a hard time scaring up a hit. They developed a whole new genre of programming--the sophisticated half-hour comedy-drama hybrid dubbed the “dramedy”--and were met by viewer confusion. Having a hard time mustering any sympathy for the folks who gave us “Hello, Larry,” “The New Lucy Show” and “Manimal”? Consider this: Even armed with serious, quality-minded shows like NBC’s “A Year in the Life,” CBS’ “Frank’s Place,” and ABC’s “Hooperman,” shows that didn’t pander to the lowest common denominator, the three networks will see the 1987-88 season go down in the history books as one of the lowest-rated television seasons ever. By December, A.C. Nielsen Co. ratings indicate, network prime-time viewership was down 9% from the year before--an average loss of 3.5 millions homes per night (although the networks are challenging these latest figures). In the breach, the networks’ competition continued to grow: Basic cable services’ prime-time viewership was up 35%; pay services, up 25%; and independent TV stations, up 7%. By February, nearly 60%, or 52 million U.S. TV households, had videocassette recorders, up 19% from last year. The statistics are a grim reminder that the future of television is knocking at the networks’ door. This was a season with virtually no new hit shows, with the exception of “The Cosby Show” spin-off, “A Different World,” which rose to No. 2 in the ratings this season with a strong lead-in from “Cosby.” None of the 24 other season newcomers even managed to break into the top 20 shows as measured by Nielsen. Having a hard time mustering any sympathy for the folks who gave us “Hello, Larry,” “The New Lucy Show” and “Manimal”? Consider this: Even armed with serious, quality-minded shows like NBC’s “A Year in the Life,” CBS’ “Frank’s Place,” and ABC’s “Hooperman,” shows that didn’t pander to the lowest common denominator, the three networks will see the 1987-88 season go down in the history books as one of the lowest-rated television seasons ever. By December, A.C. Nielsen Co. ratings indicate, network prime-time viewership was down 9% from the year before--an average loss of 3.5 millions homes per night (although the networks are challenging these latest figures). In the breach, the networks’ competition continued to grow: Basic cable services’ prime-time viewership was up 35%; pay services, up 25%; and independent TV stations, up 7%. By February, nearly 60%, or 52 million U.S. TV households, had videocassette recorders, up 19% from last year. The statistics are a grim reminder that the future of television is knocking at the networks’ door. This was a season with virtually no new hit shows, with the exception of “The Cosby Show” spin-off, “A Different World,” which rose to No. 2 in the ratings this season with a strong lead-in from “Cosby.” None of the 24 other season newcomers even managed to break into the top 20 shows as measured by Nielsen. Highly applauded shows, such as ABC’s daring network satire “Max Headroom” and CBS’ praised detective show “Leg Work,” met their doom quickly. Some midseason replacement shows fared a little better, with ABC’s “Wonder Years” shooting to ninth in the Nielsens in a six-week trial run, and NBC’s “Aaron’s Way” and “In the Heat of the Night” turning in respectable numbers. But the mid-season has its own crop of losers--ABC’s pricey “Supercarrier;” CBS’ failed Tuesday night situation comedies, canceled after only three weeks; NBC’s occasionally scheduled designated hitter “Beverly Hills Buntz.” What’s behind this mean season for the networks? “There’s a viewer apathy out there,” said Warren Littlefield, executive vice president of prime-time programming for NBC. “You do things that are a little different and the audience doesn’t buy it.” Among the hardest sells were the dramedies--”The ‘Slap’ Maxwell Story,” “Hooperman,” “Frank’s Place,” “The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd.” These half-hour shows, which combine comedy and drama and eschew laugh tracks, sent the critics scrambling for superlatives, but viewers have been slow to accept them. CBS’ “Frank’s Place” was put on a temporary hiatus; it ranks 61st for the season. ABC’s “ ‘Slap’ Maxwell” underwent a midseason retooling to take some of the edges off its acerbic hero, but remains in the Nielsen backfield at 54th. “Hooperman” is 34th. “The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd,” which returned to NBC this spring after a successful run last summer, is faring better, ranked 21st. Why have such shows struggled? A leading theory, promulgated by NBC Entertainment president Brandon Tartikoff, is that the odd mix of comedy and pathos in the dramedies confuses viewers, that the shows need to either be funnier or more dramatic to work with the audience. “These shows need to figure out a little bit what their direction is,” echoed Ted Harbert, senior vice president of programming at ABC. “You don’t know after you’ve watched one whether you had a good time or not.” “What people are used to is line, line, punch line,” said Mike Mellon, vice president of research for Disney’s Buena Vista Television, which will syndicate “The Golden Girls.” “These shows are departures. They’re not funny ha-ha. They’re introspective.” But more defined, quality shows also faltered with the viewers this season. NBC’s “A Year in the Life” ranks 62nd in the ratings. CBS’ gritty Vietnam war drama, “Tour of Duty,” is 71st. Researchers blame the malaise in these two types of shows on the very audience for whom they’re designed. Young upscale viewers alone don’t make shows hits, they say. They’re too selective as viewers, and too fickle. “One year, they like ‘Miami Vice,’ the next year they don’t,” Littlefield said. “The problem is they’re the infrequent casual viewer. They know the shows they want to watch and they watch them. They’re not there to see the promos for your other programming,” added ABC’s Harbert. Mellon said the shows disenfranchise the real viewership that drives hit shows: little old ladies, kids and frequent viewers. “The couch potato drives the sample,” he said, referring to the 2,600 homes whose viewership is measured by A.C. Nielsen Co.’s new people meters. David Poltrack, CBS vice president of marketing, offered a classical marketing model to explain the woes of the dramedies. Innovations in any area are first accepted by two groups: innovators and early adapters. These courageous types tend to want to be first with everything; but they only account for about 18% of the population, certainly not enough viewers to create hit numbers for a television series, Poltrack said. Littlefield pointed out that it wasn’t just unusual or high quality dramas that had problems this season. “What happened to ‘The Law and Harry McGraw?’ What happened to ‘Jake and the Fatman?’ ” he said. Both CBS shows were formula hour dramas about private eyes. “Jake,” which marked the return of popular “Cannon” star William Conrad, is rated 59th; “Harry McGraw,” 79th. The other wild card this season was the people-meter technology itself, phased in by Nielsen last year. Each person in a metered home is required to punch buttons to record his or her TV viewing, a refinement on an old passive meter system, which merely recorded which shows were watched. It was an improvement sought by advertisers who want to better track who watches which commercials. In the first thousand homes wired with people meters last spring, viewers appeared to “skew toward” young men. A whole crop of shows were developed to appeal to them, including NBC’s “Private Eye,” (76th in the ratings), CBS’ “Tour of Duty” (71st), and “Wiseguy” (66th). Even “ ‘Slap’ Maxwell,” “Hooperman,” and ABC’s yuppie angst drama “thirtysomething” fall into that category, according to Poltrack. A later addition to the people-meter sample corrected the skew, an industry source said, and left programmers with lopsided schedules designed to appeal to an audience that no longer dominated the sample. Did network programmers get caught trying to beat the people meter? Maybe, said Poltrack. “There may have been that orientation.” Absolutely not, said Harbert. “For us to sit here and play Kreskin and try to decipher where the people meter is going is silly,” he said. But it was the people meters that recorded this year’s dismal numbers, and the programmers aren’t above blaming at least part of this season’s failures on the new devices. Network researchers say that after a while people don’t push the buttons on the people meters that record viewership, that the devices miserably underestimate viewing by children, and that the people-meter results have overstated the networks’ viewership losses this season by as much as 6%. A.C. Nielsen Co. says viewers cooperate with the people meters at about the same rate they cooperated with Nielsen’s previous system, which used the passive meters and diaries kept by viewers to determined ratings. Nielsen also says the new people-meter sample more accurately reflects the makeup of the U.S. television audience than the old sample. “We often shrug our shoulders around here and say, ‘Don’t shoot the messengers,’ ” said Nielsen spokesperson Kathryn Creech. Another theory about the 1987-88 season attributes the failure of this year’s new shows to another phenomenon: People are simply watching less television. Ratings indicate the percentage of homes in the total number of U.S. television homes watching a given program. But what ratings don’t show is the number of homes using television (HUTS, as they’re known in the business). HUT levels were down this season, especially in the crucial fall months, when the new network season was launched. HUT levels in prime time for all U.S. TV homes were down 3% in September, and 4% in November. And while the networks have blamed some of this season’s losses on the cable networks, which did improve their own ratings this season, HUTS declined in cable homes, where viewers have 20 or more channels, and in non-cable homes, where viewers’ choices are limited to off-air network and independent stations, according to research by the highest-rated basic cable network, USA Network. “It may just be that people are watching less television,” said Dave Bender, vice president of research for USA. “It’s harder to get a hit show now because people are viewing less in general,” CBS’ Poltrack agreed. Where does that leave the programmers, now at the tail end of the annual development season, when next year’s shows are picked from a host of pilot projects? All over the map, apparently. CBS has said it plans to return to the basics that made the network No. 1 until it was toppled by NBC three years ago. It’s developing shows for two past CBS stars, Mary Tyler Moore and Dick Van Dyke. Does that mean the networks are preparing to beat a quick retreat to formula programming? The networks look at the success of a formula court show like NBC’s “Matlock” and more innovative, riskier programming doesn’t seem so appealing, CBS’ Poltrack admitted. “You don’t have to do what ‘Frank’s Place’ has to do. You don’t have to start from scratch. If they know the star of the show or what kind of show it is, people are going to be there.” But NBC’s Littlefield said it’s “dangerous to make the conclusions that ‘tried and true’ works.” Though NBC is planning a remake of “The Incredible Hulk” and spinning off a show from “Facts of Life,” Littlefield said the network is banking on personalities, not formulas. It will bring “Taxi” star Judd Hirsch back in a comedy, “Dear John,” and Kate Jackson back in “Baby Boom,” spun off from the Diane Keaton movie. ABC’s Harbert said about 5% to 10% of the shows in development at ABC might be considered experimental, but added, “If we put on seven new hours of TV next year, there may be zero to one hour of experimentation.” “All three of the networks are a little gun-shy about (having another) ‘Frank’s Place’ or ‘Slap Maxwell,’ ” said Harbert. “But that doesn’t mean they won’t stick with what they’ve got.” Or what somebody else has got. After a strong start, a fall-off and a recovery buoyed by a wave of publicity, ABC’s “thirtysomething” is winning its Tuesday night time period, with or without help from new “Moonlighting” episodes. Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick, executive producers of “thirtysomething” are doing a working-class family drama, “Dream Street,” for NBC. “Call it ‘dirtysomething,’ ” Littlefield quipped. And Harbert dubbed Universal Television’s drama, “Men,” an ABC project about a group of young men in Baltimore, “men-something.” But levity isn’t the prevailing mood in the executive suites where next season’s programming decisions are being made. The failure of this year’s crop of new shows “puts a lot of pressure on everybody,” said CBS’ Poltrack. But while NBC’s programming team has a three-year record of success to fall back on, the heat will be on at ABC, where ABC Entertainment president Brandon Stoddard will try to capitalize on the slim lead ABC’s Olympics coverage gave the network this year. At CBS, new programming head Kim LeMasters is in the unenviable position of trying to rescue the once invincible network from third place. And everyone has to figure out how to make network television back into a hits business. The buzzword is appointment television,industry shorthand for the kind of “can’t miss” shows that people make sure they’re home to watch--or they tape. Appointment television translates to hit shows: “Cosby” was appointment TV, so was “Moonlighting” and “L.A. Law.” Appointment television brings more viewers to the set; “The Cosby Show” single-handedly boosted Thursday night HUT levels when it debuted in 1984. People didn’t make many appointments this season. “I think anyone in broadcasting has to look at the job they do and say ‘We’ve got to do better,’ ” said Littlefield. “(This year) we didn’t ignite the public.”