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LOL, I remember Father Fit. Nick Kriziakis = gorgeous. I loved the Antonio/Gabi/Ricardo triangle -- especially when Ricardo had his stroke and went evil. Personally I always thought Gobby and Father Fit should have ended up together. Their love scene was smoking! "Bad to da bone. You is Bad to da bone, Virginia!" I don't remember the SuBe tour when I was in England, although I do remember Sarah Buxton showing up to promote B&B's zoom-forward three years. Then again, I wasn't at university back in 97-98, I was working so maybe I just missed all that.

I like those two as well. The actress who plays Addison has amazing star quality. A red-haired Catherine Deneuve, they said in one episode, and they were right! Agenda-pushing story: The teen TV show Roswell started life as a Romeo & Juliet, star-crossed love story with a sci-fi twist. This is what drew many fans to the show initially. Heigl played the sister of the main male lead (who quickly became her boyfriend IRL). She was a supporting character with some good bitchy lines, if I recall correctly (I gave up the show when it started to change). And change it did, according to my source. KH got her new "fiancé" and herself to start pushing for more SL for her character. Of course, she couched it with phrases like "making it an ensemble show" and this brought other supporting actors on her side. So, the focus moved away from the love story and the "Juliet" female lead (who was relegated to more backburner stuff) and towards Heigl's character. Ratings dropped. I believe the show only lasted halfway into a third season and change of networks before being cancelled. It's not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but she treated the young female lead (who was only 18 at the time) not very nicely, edging her out in grand High School clique-style. Oh, and when the show got cancelled, Heigl's boyfriend and her supporting-actor pals from the show were all dropped. I don't think she's ever referred to them or the show. Because, you know, she's a movie actress now. And if this pattern sounds familiar, try replacing "boyfriend" with "TR Knight" and "young female lead" with "Isaiah Washington" in the story above. Obviously, Washington got into major trouble all on his own as a result of his homophobic remarks during a fight with Patrick Dempsey. But there are rumors that she was already gunning for a fall guy in order to pimp her own importance to the show. Which, funnily enough, she is now dissing because of her newly fledgling film career.

The thing that bothered me about Grey's Anatomy when I used to watch was the invasive, self-consciously "quirky" music that was meant to prompt us how to feel and signpost the emotions. And the fact that I don't buy that waif actress as some uber-talented doctor. Or that her chinless, whiney-voiced boyfriend is the hottest man on earth. I loved Dr. Bailey because she was a breath of fresh air, but the whiney puppy-dog intern, I could have done without. And had it from a very reliable source that Katherine Heigl was the biggest agenda-pushing beeyotch in Hollywood, back when she was on some small show called Roswell. So, yeah. Don't really rate the writers on GA, other than the fact that they added a little diversity to my usually white-washed TV screen. His voice is so campy. But I love him anyway. I was in London around the time of SuBe and used to tape the show! There was a GREAT lady continuity announcer, if I recall, who really added to my enjoyment. One time, the show ended with Caitlin and Cole running away from the police on horseback. Cue wideshot of two stuntmen on horseback. Then an extreme closeup of VD and EC obviously jumping up and down on the spot in a terrible attempt at pretending they were on a horse! The poor continuity announcer was laughing so hard, she couldn't get the words of derision out. And I loved her names for characters -- like "Thickardo" -- California's most inept policeman. And Smeg for SuBe's favorite heroine. Spawn of Spelling for Randy!

Nick Kiriazis... raowlllllll. What a sinful waste not seeing his dog collar on my TV screen. Gordon Thomson aka Adam Carrington aka the best recast Mason Capwell can do no wrong. But AJ was horribly underwritten. Except for those moments when he seemed to be crushing on his son, Cole. Dominique Jennings could have easily played Drucilla's evil half-sister, should Y&R have been that way inclined.

I miss the show, too. It would be 11 years old this year, can you believe it? I especially wish Sarah Buxton, Priscilla Garita, Clive Robertson and Sam Behrens were back on Daytime. SB and PG, in particular, would make great female leads.

LOL, I don't know what it was about the actress (or the character) but she just glowed with sweetness! I imagine Arlene was one of those heart-of-gold, hard-working heroines with a possibly dodgy past who would fall in love with the town doctor whose family did not approve of her? In other words, a core heroine for a soap like Love of Life. If that's the case then I love vintage. Quick question: what was Meg's daughter, Cal, like? From reading the SOD synopses, she seemed like an emotionally fragile woman who was constantly battling her over-controlling mother and dealing with traumas of one kind or another.

I'm a fan of balance. I like the romance mixed with the family and intergenerational stuff. Watching the odd clip or two of some of these veteran soaps -- Love of Life, Love is a Many Splendored Thing and 1970s Another World spring to mind -- I am struck by how much purpose there was even in the most mundane scenes. The stories were going somewhere, the scenes showcasing two or three people's relationship meant something. Like in the LoL episode posted on YouTube. Ron Tomme and Birgitta Tolksdorf are in the B story. And yet the scene represents somewhat of a turning point in RT's story. BT, meanwhile, glows. She doesn't really have a story but she delivers like a star! Also, the shows back then seemed to be focused on people's psyches (especially fragile and emotional psyches). Why they were acting the way they were. On tragedy mixed with fleeting happiness (witness Steve and Alice on Another World). That really interests me. I don't find that many soap characters have much psychological depth these days. Which perhaps explains why I go through moments trawling YouTube and other archives looking for clips from cancelled soaps like these.

Gloria Monty introduced some great things to GH -- including suspense and mystery -- and many of her pairings were so chemistry-filled and swoony that I can forgive her a lot. But I agree that her constant frontburnering of popular couples is directly contributing to the demise of the genre we see today.

LOL. I once met some a girl called Eden -- named after the Santa Barbara heroine.

Bill Prentissssssssssssssssssssss. Oooo. I love that last name. And why does that remind me of early Y&R for some reason?

LOL, not to move off-topic from AMC... but does anybody know if they have episodes posted of Where the Heart Is? If not, does anybody have use of a time machine that could transport me to the early 1970s where I could switch over from the Watergate hearings to catch Love of Life, WTHI, Love is a Many Splendored Thing (Donna Mills as a crazy ex-nun? Sign me up!), Search and early Y&R?

LOL, really? I never knew that. And Tudi Wiggins was to LoL in the 1970s what Susan Flannery was/is to B&B. A force of nature. That YouTube episode where she snaps in frustration about Cal "This time she called me a murderess." I don't know how to describe it but she said it so right. I suspect Cal may have been onto something, but Tudi Wiggins's delivery made me believe Meg was the wronged party.

I've read up on the history of Roy Winsor's "Love of Life" (1951-1980) via Wikipedia and ols WoST. The premise of the two sisters -- Vanessa and Meg -- and the people around them really appealed. Especially since one was "the good one" and the other, the scheming manipulator! I am most interested in 1970s LoL, in particular when Paul Avila Mayer and Claire Labine reinvigorated the show. They brought back manipulative Meg (played by the stunningly intense and queen-like Tudi Wiggins) along with her emotionally fragile daughter Cal and son Ben (played by a young Christopher Reeve). I've only ever seen one episode of the show (on YouTube) from this period, but I have fallen in love with its stunning opening credits (featuring roses -- referring to the fictional town of Rosehill, NY, where it was set) and theme tune. And the show seemed imbued with sweetness and tension and suspense and longing. It was only a half-hour program! I also read up some SOD recaps which recreated the atmosphere of the show alongside recounting "what happened." Anyhoo... thoughts, commentary, information. I'd be grateful to hear any of your stories with regards to Love of Life.

^ ITA. Sable Colby was my favorite character. She carried "The Colbys," too. Stephanie Beacham and that pipsqueak Maxwell Caulfield are SO made for soaps. They should be on Primetime. Or B&B!

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, Randy Spelling. He was soooooooooo bad. TGAS (The Great Aaron Spelling -- and that's not me being snarky, he really was the Master) tried to shoehorn poor Randy on a bunch of his teen soaps. I remember him on Malibu Shores having far too much screentime. I think they even tried to suggest that the lovely Charisma Carpenter's character had an unspoken attraction to Pipsqueak's character. Ridic! And then was the Summer o' 90210. While Brenda was in Paris and Kelly & Dylan were having an affair (Team Brenda!), Randy Spelling showed up interacting with Brandon who was a lifeguard at the Country Club. And then he landed SuBe. As Gregory and Olivia's son. Only without the cunning or the looks of either. And don't get me wrong, I actually liked Tori Spelling as Donna on 90210, especially when she got to play comedy. Plus "Donna Martin Graduates" will live in my memory forever. Aaaron Spelling = GENIUS. And whoever mentioned Gabi's trial -- you are so right on. Priscilla Garita was robbed a nomination for her work during that storyline. I got chills when she broke down on the stand. Thereafter, Gabi became my favorite character. Wonder what PG is doing now?

I loved both Santa Barbara and Sunset Beach and, while there were some similarities in terms of Guza having worked on both shows, the SB thing and the fact that they shot on the same NBC studio space, that was where the similarities ended, IMO. I always found both shows different and judged them as such. SuBe had the Spelling imprint all over it!

^^ Do tell.

Hardly! Try the opposite side of the country. LOL, and I was being facetious about hanging out with the Big B. I was but a gleam in my father's eye when Y&R first went on-air.

Oh, OK. I never hung out with the master himself and so never glimpsed the bible. And I've only seen snippets of the early episodes, so...

Also SuBe was an hour-long soap from the get-go with a fairly large cast of characters. Not only that, but it had a number of back-stories when it first started... Ben's Mr. Rochester-esque "dead" wife and the whole mystery there. The legendary Armando Deschanel and his descendants and their impact on a host of characters. Del Douglas. Annie's Poor Little Rich Girl background. I could go on. But I won't! In contrast, Bill Bell was starting up a half-hour, slow-paced soap with far fewer characters and not as much back story.

The mystery to me will always be why SuBe didn't catch on in the US. And why (sorry, Passions fans) they got rid of SuBe *and* AW and kept Passions. I'm thinking timeslots and behind-the-scenes politics played a part. But it is amazing to think that, 10 years later, people are still talking about it, watching it on YouTube and DVDs of its early episodes are being released in Europe. That show had amazing reach.

Awwww, Aaron Spelling. Charlie's Angels, Hart to Hart and Dynasty were like mother's milk to me when I was small. There will never be another producer like him.

Lucky Germans! This show absolutely deserved to still be on air. It had a great sense of humor but was still, fundamentally, a soap. And why is Sarah Buxton not working in Daytime?! She was a breakout star thanks to SuBe and is made for the genre. Interesting. I cannot spot either Ben or Meg in the cover of the DVD. And their story opened (and closed) SuBe's run.

Dynasty was absolutely my favorite Primetime soap ever. And The Colbys, because of Stephanie Beacham. One mini-series I remember (along with Lace -- I remember reading the book with my schoolfriends when I was little. It was full of rude bits!) was Judith Krantz's Princess Daisy. Pretty much most of Judith Krantz's books were made into mini-series, weren't they? Mistral's Daughter... PD... I'll Take Manhattan... Scruples. I think her hubby Exec Produced them all.

Now, that is just SPOOKY. I just posted on this DTS thread about bringing back characters from defunct soaps to existing ones, and I suggested that Annie Douglas, Father Antonio, Gabi (because I love Priscilla Garita), Gregory and Olivia get their asses to Salem. I would LOVE to see this. KR you should send this to Reilly/Corday. You might inspire them. JER said that he *loved* working with Sarah Buxton last time around.