Sapounopera

Douglas Marland after the Corringtons on SEARCH in the late 70s. That show could have used some structure and some new interesting families.

Chuck Pratt on B&B. This would be an improvement from Brad Bell. There was a time when B&B seemed to love 90s primetime soap aesthetics. 

Ron and Frank taking over GL instead of working together on OLTL. They would bring the show back to life after Wheeler's dark, depressing and claustrophobic era.

3 minutes ago, lucaslesann23 said:

It didn't come across mean to me, they, atleast Gabrielle was curious because she hasn't seen the show in years and years, 

Asking on tv whether an older person is still alive, sounds very mean to me. 

Desperate, wannabe housewife mean.

2 minutes ago, lucaslesann23 said:

Gabrielle Union asked if he was still alive and she commented under her breath, "that's what I said." 

It sounds so mean, especially for an old man with health issues. 

14 hours ago, carolineg said:

I wonder if they are dragging this Sasha stuff out because of the actress's pregnancy?  It's gone on far too long and if the show wants to keep Sasha they have to give her something else.

I feel that the show can't get rid of this meaningless character because the actress keeps getting pregnant all the time. 

1 hour ago, lucaslesann23 said:

she was surprised he was still alive. But she said she didn't care about his rant.

Really? That's what she said? Is she auditioning for the Real Housewives?

5 hours ago, kalbir said:

Episodes I'm always on the lookout for are 1979 and 1980 episodes of Roger/Holly storylines as those episodes set in motion so much of what we saw a decade later (I've accepted we'll probably never see any 1976-1978 episodes of Roger/Holly storylines), and Robert Calhoun years (June 1989 to July 1991) as that was the last golden era. Early JFP (July 1991 to August 1992) is still good, but it was coasting off the groundwork laid during the Calhoun years.

I know the early Gail Kobe/Pamela Long years (Spring 1983 to Summer 1984) were popular and that era pretty much set in motion GL's final 25 years, but from what I've seen, it was too much chasing 1980s trends.

I am always looking for episodes from the Dobson, Marland and Calhoun eras. The Long Kobe years ruined it for me and what came after them was much worse. 80s Reva was so tasteless as the show's heroine, though she might have been ok as a Nola Dancy/Delia Ryan type.

JFP's arrogance took so much away from the show and once again, what came after her was much worse. The sad thing is that even by the end, prior to the new "model", GL was such an easy show to fix. 

This Joss thing is getting a little bit too weird. 

2 hours ago, Khan said:

I remember reading that comment, too, @chrisml.  She made it during some interview with one of the soap mags, but I forget which one.  At any rate, I think her comment made it clear that their working relationship had soured by the time she left GL.

Wasn't there a time when JFP was supposed to take over AMC and Marcy Walker said that she knew that once it happened, she would be let go? Or am I making this up? 

I wonder whether they ever toyed with the idea of making JR Digger's son. 

Obsessed with late 70s soap aesthetics.

I need Liza's sunglasses. 

What was that nurse scene all about? Could she be (connected to) Harmony?

3 hours ago, Mitch64 said:

Well, the whole Doug Cummings story was a bit of a reference to the Willows...(gothic, dead wife, crazy assistant, Dream's End vs. Willows.) 

While I am glad he came over to ATWT, I would have loved what he could do with GL at the time.  Bea Reardon was still on the canvas but not used, so he could have brought Lisa Brown back as Nola...(though getting past the Quolas would have been hard as she should have come back alone..) and built the Reardon's back up..He would have loved writing for Alex, and maybe brought Mike back to rebuild the Bauers and also he would be on the spot to write Bert's death. He could have reignited Vanessa and woken her up from her "I'm a Lewis," coma and  I do wonder what he would have done with Reva?

Reva could become a new version of Nola Dancy. 

GL was so bad in 1985, it would be very hard for him to follow any of his rules.  

10 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

Considering that The Colby's never established it's own identity, coming off as Dynasty lite, what do you posters think they should have done with a spin off to overcome those issues?

At the time, with Dynasty riding high,ABC obviously wanted to replicate the mother show's success and thought more of the same was the way to go. But the casting, writing and timeslot didn't help.

Should Jeff have been the character to move over? If not who? Or if it was Jeff should his family have been structured differently?

You guys always have great ideas, so put your talents towards your take on a Dynasty spin off!

The spin off should not be about another rich family like the Carringtons. The original idea about a group of young people working in a hotel sounds more interesting.

Since they couldn't get Pamela Sue, a recast for the new series was a horrible idea. Jeff's new life in California, getting to know a woman who reminds him of Fallon, or falling with a woman who had to compete with his dead wife would be better. 

8 hours ago, lucaslesann23 said:

I wasn't a guiding light watcher. But, on youtube I found some 2003/04 episodes and decided to give it a shot. Than at the end of it... I noticed the fade to black and the EPs name. Was Jon Conboy trying to copy YR? Did GL do this first?  **I know John was on YR for while too, so maybe he just brought it over.

7 hours ago, Khan said:

Y&R did it first; Conboy was just copying.

Conboy had done it on Santa Barbara before Bill Bell.  

Thank you so much @DRW50. Loving was a different show every year. They wasted Susan Keith who was amazing as AW's Cecile in mostly boring storylines. Roya was fire as Ava! 

They wasted Arianne Munker in the stupid Valere story. She would have been great as Hope.

On 3/28/2023 at 3:27 AM, dc11786 said:

I think Brian/Suzi fell apart due to the structural changes made to the younger set over the course of late 1982-1983 when the show shifted from Ralph Ellis and Eugenie Hunt to David Cherrill to Gary Tomlin while the producers went from Fred Bartholemule to Joanna Lee. The change to NBC brought about a slew of younger characters.

Prior to NBC, Brian and Suzi's conflicts had been more internal. Suzi wanted to be a dancer and I believe Brian had done something to jeopardize her dream. As a result, he became involved in boxing which had the potential, I think, to cause him issues as well like if he took another punch it might damage him. Some of this may be off.

Once the NBC episodes rolled around Warren and Kristin Carter were introduced to split up Brian and Suzi. Wendy was given Keith McNeil as a love interest. The Warren-Suzi-Brian-Kristen quad was structured as the A story so that when one angle was highlighted (Warren's gun running threatening his relationship with Suzi) the next would build slowly in the background (Kristen would be hunting down Brian because she "had to tell him something"). Once Brian and Suzi learned the truth about Warren (he was involved in the gun running operation) they returned home together to learn that what Kristen had to tell Brian was that she was pregnant. In the B-plot for the younger crew, Stephanie disapproved of Keith and Wendy's relationship, but there was not a lot of juice being extracted from that story. There was a sort of looming threat to Keith and Wendy's happiness in that Keith's snotty younger sister, Andie, was clearly the child that Jenny Deacon (another NBC addition) was searching for, but that was a slow burn. 

In December 1982, a couple things happen that change the course of the younger set. Ellis and Hunt are ousted after a year of working on the show and David Cherrill is promoted to the headwriter position. Cherrill is the one that goes hard on developing a more NBC soap storytelling aesthetic. The pace became much quicker, the dialogue started to feature more wit, and the story managed to balance the older and younger cast as long as the story was firmly grounded in youth. In the course of three months, Brian marries a "pregnant" Kristen (in December), Keith weds Wendy because of the custody situation with his sister (in January), and Warren and Suzi tie the knot in February. Marrying off all three was detrimental to the story. It put all the characters in the same boat so things had to be blown apart. 

Cherrill also made some critical choices with the character of Brian (who was also recast in December when Pietrogallo leaves and Jay Avacone comes in). Avacone is a solid actor, but he enters playing the wedding and little time is given to the audience to really feel the connection between Suzi and Brian with the new actor in the role. In December, Brian also decides to enter the police academy which allows the rivalry between Warren and Brian to go from romantic to professional; Brian is now law enforcement and knows the connection between Warren and Rusty Sentell's gun running operation. This shift creates some natural tension for Brian and Suzi as now Brian and Warren will be at odds professionally and Suzi wants to support her husband (who she believes has changed). Kristin's secret, that she miscarried before her wedding to Brian, is also a story element that has to be revealed before Brian and Suzi can reunite. I feel Cherrill still intended for Brian and Suzi as endgame. 

In the B-story, Keith's attempts to gain custody have led to Stephanie stepping in to foster Andie in what becomes a comical plot that borrows from the story of "Little Orphan Annie" with Stephanie as Mommy Warbucks to little orphan Andie and her pet mutt. Cherrill adds a social issue to the plot by making Andie a diabetic and having her inability to keep her sugar levels steady an issue when Andie runs off. This story gives Keith and Wendy story to play, but very much in a supporting role. Joanna Lee has arrived just as the Little Orphan Andie plot is picking up some steam. 

The final cuts to Brian and Suzi seem to come in May, 1983, when Gary Tomlin arrives and the show decides that maybe Wendy Wilkins heroine isn't as effective as Wendy Wilkins maneater. The decision to have Wendy pursue Warren Carter, her step-sister/best friend's husband, essentially switches the story structure that was in place. Keith has been dumped, both by Wendy and by the show, while Wendy shifts the Suzi-Warren-Brian story into a Wendy-Warren-Suzi story with Kristen and Brian assuming the B-story roles formerly held by Wendy and Keith. Furthmore, Kristen is given a job as a photographer which gives her agency in the story outside her marriage, while still maintaining domestic troubles with her husband Brian pursuing Warren. There is more drama to mine in Brian's pursuit of Warren while he is married to Kristen rather than him being involved with Suzi. With that said, I don't think the show had completely abandoned the idea at that time. 

In late summer, Cynthia Gibbs makes her plans to exit to appear on "Fame" which means that the story needs to spotlight Wendy and Warren emerge as the main couple because of the change in actors. Gibb's replacement, Elizabeth Swankhammer, was incredibly green and, as a result, Suzi becomes a supporting character in the story. There is a bit of setup with Suzi and Steve Kendall, which may suggest that they decided they were either committing to Brian and Kristen or had simply abandoned Brian and Suzi. Either way, Steve Kendall filling the Cagney McCleary role in Suzi's pregnancy story would have been intriguing given that Steve himself had just discovered the truth about his own paternity. 

By the time Teri Eoff arrives in January, 1984, I think the show has lost so much of who Suzi is that she is more a complication in Wendy and Warren's happiness until Michael Corbett jumps ship at the end of his two year contract. Suzi's pregnancy and Warren's pursuit of her inheritance are complications in his relationship with Wendy. Warren's love for money was always going to be greater than anything else other than possibly having a child of his own, which Suzi was going to give him when Wendy couldn't. Eoff is competent, but Suzi no longer has any dreams of being a social worker and the baby defines her and takes away potential agency in other parts of the canvas. This problem plagues Eoff as Suzi even in her relationship with Cagney. 

Somewhere in the midst, Brian and Kristen get lost. As Lee leaves and Ellen Barrett comes in, Brian's pursuit of Vargas always has the potential to connect Vargas to Warren and the criminal element that Brian is always trying to rid Henderson of. Brian's work keeps him in thick of things with Jo Tourneur, Suzi's niece and a city councilwoman with similar goals as Brian. Brian and Suzi reuniting could still have happened, but Kristen the schemer was now more Kristen the girl trying to escape her past. However, once Warren departs, Kristen and Brian's place on the canvas is neutralized as the show moves into a new round of younger characters with Adair, Alec, Justine, and Chase entering the scene. 

By mid-1984, Suzi has had the baby, she and Cagney and Jonah have become the perfect defacto family, and a series of interlopers are introduced in order to keep the couple front and center  (Justine, Brett Hamilton, III, and Warren). Incidentally, Cagney becomes a cop like his spiritual predecessor Brian, but lacks the sort of big bad that Brian had in Warren to keep Cagney as a character with a significant role across the canvas. Maybe if ambitious Quinn had become involved with the wrong people it could have created a strong ongoing conflict, but that is not the route the show pursued. 

I could be reading posts like that all day long. Thank you so much!

It reminds me of a cheap 90s european soap trying to immitate Dynasty. 

The skyline behind the actors is so outdated. The skyline behind the logo is so modern GH and vintage TEON. So not Y&R with its classy and sophisticated intros.

At this point I'd be happy with title card with the iconic 80s logo.

16 hours ago, Soaplovers said:

I think Bell almost seemed as if he was writing Nikki to be like a Kay...except always at the ranch and drunk sort of like how Kay was in the early years while married to Philip.

Sounds more interesting than today's Nikki who is just a bored and boring Mrs. Victor Newman. 

5 hours ago, Joseph said:

I'm wondering if they might send Phyllis into the Alcoholic route!

It would be more interesting than most stuff Stafford Did since her 2019 return?

I hate the idea of every older female character on soaps becoming an alcoholic at some point.

Was Tom always called "Trip"? I had no idea.

So I guess the new family's daughter will be for RJ. They did tease a new family, didn't they?

On 2/28/2023 at 4:20 AM, Paul Raven said:

Sara came on in 67 so had agood run. By 82, she had been married 4 times. Two of her husbands had tried to kill her . Her true love Joe died of a heart attack and she'd been married off to Adam Thorpe so there wasn't much story left.

It would have been nice to see her as the go to psychologist and talk to  but Millette probably wasn't interested in recurring and neither was GL at the time.

I wanted Sara to end up marrying Mike, connecting her son Tim to the Bauer family. GL could use an older couple like this in the 80s and the 90s.

On 2/27/2023 at 7:23 PM, Tonksadora said:

On #SoapTwitter today Another World Memories tweeted that on 2-27-1989 Joanna Going had her last day as Lisa Grady, a run of two years. 

Well, I was utterly shocked! I would've thought Lisa was a part of the Bay City canvas at lest twice that long! Just goes to show you what your memory can do to you!! I wonder what else I recall WRONG!!! 🫵🫰Now Hear This! Memory is Faulty! Look it up! 

 

 

A character staying two years on Another World in the 80s equals staying 4 to 5 years on another soap Tonks. 

I guess the white people whining has now been replaced by senior citizen contempt. So adorable.