teplin

I picked it back up again during its last six months and I agree with you, rlj -- headwriter Pam Long had transformed it into a completely different show and I found it quite enjoyable.

I understood the logic of introducing Texas characters on AW, but it was mostly annoying to me -- the exception was Kevin Cook's flirtation with Pat Randolph, since it gave Beverly Penberthy something to do. I watched Texas for one reason: Beverlee McKinsey. Unfortunately, the show was not worthy of her talents, and the fact that her character was shoehorned in was all too evident.

Anna Holbrook (Sharlene, AW) has a small role in tonight's season eight premiere of Homeland on Showtime. She looks great.

Something was surely meant to come out of those mentions of the Martins and the introduction of the Martin House. I assume there was some behind-the-scenes reason it all disappeared so quickly.

Variety is reporting that Procter & Gamble wants in to the streaming business, and has contracted with a production company to "launch a long-form scripted series aimed at boosting themes of gender equality, diversity and inclusion." I can think of a format that would be perfect for that. Anyway, if this is successful -- and the production company says "we're planning to do many of these" shows with P&G -- could streaming of the P&G soap library finally be on the horizon? https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/procter-gamble-streaming-video-stone-village-1203483777/

The decision to split Jake & Paulina and saddle her with dull Joe still mystifies me to this day. I can only suspect there was some backstage maneuvering going on -- like, perhaps, Jensen Buchanan demanded a Vicky-Jake pairing in addition to a helicopter?

Which makes Fran's daughter, Mady Kaplan (Bobbie Gerard, EON), Van's niece and Marta's cousin.

Leon Russom (Willis, AW) appeared in the latest episode of Showtime's Shameless, playing a prison inmate. He used to be all over episodic TV, but I hadn't seen him in awhile. I never would have thought he'd be one of the few (only?) AW actors of the '70s era to establish a "mainstream" career -- good for him!

I've long heard that Harding Lemay planned to bring back Pat Matthews when he returned to the show in 1988, and that she would get involved with John Hudson. Sadly, that's one story thread Donna Swajeski didn't pursue.

Interesting -- I think Carmen went "over the top" far more often than Beverlee did. Beverlee was ice and Carmen was fire. I never bought Carmen as Iris, but I did come to like what I saw as a completely different character.

She went to "Dark Shadows" first, then "Going to Extremes." I agree, Swajeski was a mid-level soap writer who was fortunate that AW was blessed during her tenure with a talented, appealing and cohesive cast.

Thomas Ian Griffith and Mary Page Keller (Catlin and Sally, AW) are writing a new CIA drama, The Translator's Daughter, for NBC.

Alla Korot (Jenna, AW) was on last night's episode of Rescue 9-1-1.

Cass & Kathleen are one of my all-time favorite soap couples. I came to like Frankie Frame a lot but I was rooting for Kathleen when she returned. Alas, it was not to be.

Great article. BTW, Slesar's $350,000 salary translates to $2.2 million today -- which seems like a bargain considering his achievements.

Former "All My Children" star and Hallmark Channel host Cameron Mathison has revealed he is battling renal cancer. https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/10/entertainment/cameron-mathison-cancer/index.html

Agreed -- I still think Marlena's best pairing was Don. Though she was pretty much a different character back then, before she was lobotomized by Jim Reilly. I remember this period as being terrible -- and it pretty much was, but I kept watching because of the characters. Doug & Julie, Don & Marlena, Neil & Liz, Marie, Alex, Tom & Alice, Trish, Wesley Eure's Mike, Barbara Stanger's Mary and yes, Josh Taylor's Chris ... I loved 'em all. Thanks so much for posting this, DRW50.

ABC was coming on strong and AW & DAYS were both, quite frankly, in terrible creative shape -- I'm not surprised they experienced such a ratings drop. But I am surprised about Texas beating AW, especially given that Texas was up against GH and GL.

Nothing would surprise me, but I imagine Vicky Wyndham would have walked if that came to pass ... and that, for me at least, would have been the end of the World.

Well, the star power of David Bailey would have ensured a hit! /s IIRC, Beverlee McKinsey had decided to leave AW and TPTB reconfigured their Another World: Houston plans to make the show a starring vehicle for her, keeping her in the P&G family and giving Texas a better promotional platform – McKinsey's Iris was insanely popular. But it was the "love to hate her" quality that clicked with viewers, and that was lost when she was refashioned as a romantic heroine for Texas.

True -- but the few weeks he was actually in charge were pretty great.

It was a great kickoff to the new season. I've long maintained that this show is the closest thing we've got to old-style daytime soaps, before Dallas and Dynasty and the go-go '80s led every show to focus on outrageously wealthy characters and increasingly outlandish plots. Everything that happens in this show seems like it could and would actually happen to these people, and the consequences for them, their family and their community are finely observed. It reminds me of the way Doug Marland built his canvases -- and this season's plot about Nova's book (and the impact it will have on the people she loves) calls to mind Jamie Frame's notorious novel on AW. I also love the way this show looks, from the lighting that beautifully highlights every shade of skin to the artfully composed shots of bucolic Louisiana. My only frustration is that I can't seem to convince anyone else to watch it!

That's quite a list! Hard to quibble with any of it, I'd just sprinkle in a few behind-the-scenes developments, e.g. the hiring, departure and short-lived return of Harding Lemay; the disastrous expansion to 90 minutes; the endlessly revolving door of writers and producers in the last 15-20 years; pressure from NBC to make the show more compatible with DAYS; and Beverlee McKinsey's decision to leave for TEXAS (and not come back in the wake of TEXAS' cancellation).

His work on AW was terrible. I was excited when it was announced the show had hired him because I'd heard such great things about his OLTL work (and I had been impressed with the little I'd seen). Some of his AW story ideas had promise, but man, did they suck on screen. To be fair, I think it was a time of incredible behind-the-scenes turmoil on the show and he was stymied at every turn by suits.

Tika Sumpter (Layla, OLTL) will play the mother of Rainbow Johnson (Tracee Ellis Ross) in an origin-story (and back-door pilot) episode of Black-ish. The current-day version of the role is played by Anna Deveare Smith.