kalbir

You'll love the early 1990s. Spring 1989-Summer 1992 I watched in real time and online.

I never thought of Roger as an anti-hero/romantic leading man. Roger was a villain, but he was also a complex and layered character. Michael Zaslow acting and the writing during the Potter and Calhoun eras is what allowed Roger to be more than just a one-dimensional villain.

@alwaysAMC You've got 10 years left, do you think you can hang on and finish?

Pacific Palisades came along when 90210 and Melrose were tanking and Savannah had ended so perhaps the Aaron Spelling audience wasn't really there anymore.

The first season felt like wealthy Waltons in modern day California wine country. Perhaps Earl Hamner did not want to go Dallas with grapes/James Bond hybrid but for all we know that could have been CBS mandated. Apparently someone at CBS did not like the war crimes storyline and that lead to its abrupt ending, which derailed all the momentum that was built during the course of the series and signs of tanking starting showing. The final five seasons we saw so many changes in direction, going from Dallas with grapes/Miami Vice hybrid (if you can't beat the new hotness might as well join it) to a high octane action-packed thrill ride and then off the rails. There's also the factors of Dallas weakening as a lead in, CBS being in their third place primetime mess era, and budget mode.

1980/81 season was delayed due to actor's strike and 1981/82 season was delayed due to writer's strike.

Maybe Mark Harmon was one of those actors that was embarrassed to be on a soap opera. I consider St. Elsewhere Mark Harmon's breakthrough role and NCIS his career resurgence.

Knots Landing final season overlapped with 90210 high school graduation season and Melrose first season. The following season we saw peak 90210, Melrose take off, and new drama NYPD Blue and those would have made Knots Landing look old school so Knots Landing ending when it did was for the best. I could have done without the final four seasons though as I found them a chore to get through, mainly because Paige practically ate the show. I feel the final four seasons happened because CBS was in their third place primetime mess era for two of them and in the other two CBS really didn't have much success with launching new dramas.

Sasha Calle and Loren Lott went on to bigger and better things.

wrong thread

I once read that the difference between New York soaps and Los Angeles soaps was that the New York soaps were all about the theater and the Los Angeles soaps were all about the looks. When you factor in what we saw onscreen in the 1980s, I don't know how true that is though.

You're welcome @Khan When she talked about how she pitched the story, I'm like "yeah girl, of course you did" and then she goes on about the bad guy being attracted to the perfect woman, I'm like "girl please, you knew full well that's a tale as old as time". Dallas Return to Southfork was in 2004 and Knots Landing Together Again was in 2005 so that seemed like an ideal time for a Falcon Crest cast retrospective. Jane Wyman passed away in 2007 and her health issues are documented so she might not have been well enough to participate in a cast retrospective at that time. From what I've found online, the last time Jane Wyman was photographed in public was in 2001 at her daughter's funeral service.

She talks about that storyline in this interview Susan Sullivan talks playing Maggie Gioberti on FALCON CREST as well as her role on ABC's CASTLE.

It's a question I've been asking for nearly 20 years. I consider John Abbott death in August 2006 the end of Y&R as we knew it.

Lazy writing.

Hart was a retcon too if I'm not mistaken.

Caroline was B&B's original heroine. Joanna Johnson was so natural and real in the role and I'm glad she found success post-B&B as a writer/producer/director.

Yeah the disguise wasn't very good. Action/adventure was the 1980s trend that Y&R got wrong. The police corruption/mob angle didn't work for me.

@Paul Raven Thank you for that Phil Morris article. Whiteface Tyrone would not happen today.

Season 7 goes from tanking to off the rails. The core families shrunk and the supporting characters and guest stars in short arcs didn't really work. Budget mode.

1986 and 1987 were the best years.

Sheri Anderson run November 1986 to July 1987. Pamela Long second run July 1987 to December 1990.

Crimson Lights set is 32 years old, so maybe maintenance expenses are becoming an issue. Every penny counts in budget mode.

Tad Channing was 1986 I believe. There were episodes of that storyline online in the early days of YT, but I think they are long gone.

@soapfan770 Falcon Crest ended with all the storylines wrapped up so to me there really wasn't a need for a reunion movie/miniseries. Falcon Crest also did not get a cast retrospective like Dallas Return to Southfork and Knots Landing Together Again.