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A young Ray Wise turns up at about 16:10 in the episode above! Lanna Saunders' Marie was a wonderful "talk-to" character.

Thanks. Gretchen apparently made even less of an impact with me than Sandy!

The only person I can't place in that 1982 is the blond woman in the back row, third in from the left, next to Don Frabotta (Dave). Is it Martha Smith (Sandy Horton)? I think she was around then, though I can't remember a single storyline or scene of hers.

Mark Pinter (ex-Grant, AW, among other roles) was on the season premiere of Mad Men, as was Neve Campbell (Party of Five), looking gorgeous.

Such a terrific actress and presence, and such a squandered opportunity for AW. Her stories just never worked, on any level. I wonder what other role she was considering at the time, replacing another actress as a "rotten person" on a non-NBC, California-based show? Something on Y&R, I assume?

I can't find any press mention of it, but Frances Fisher tweeted this morning that James Rebhorn - so memorable as Bradley Raines on GL and Henry Lange on ATWT, as well as countless prime-time and film appearances – has passed away.

I can't find any press mention of it, but Frances Fisher tweeted this morning that James Rebhorn - so memorable as Bradley Raines on GL and Henry Lange on ATWT, as well as countless prime-time and film appearances – has passed away.

I'd be okay with it if they fudged the dates and made Doug & Julie's anniversary the centerpiece of the show's 50th anniversary in 2015 ... as others have suggested, D&J's long history with the show would be a great pretext for bringing characters back.

I'd love it if Hope, Jennifer and Maggie threw an anniversary party for Doug & Julie, but I don't imagine that's gonna happen.

Finally, someone agrees with me! I thought Linda Gibboney was sheer perfection as Gina and I was really bummed that Robin replaced her. Robin was great in the role, of course, especially when teamed with Justin Deas, but I still have fond memories of LG.

I forgot to include Robert Christian's Bob Morgan in the group that came to AW in 1982 -- unforgivable because his character was really the protagonist in that group. I knew the actor had died of AIDS, but I didn't realized his passing came just a month after his last AW scenes aired. http://www.welovesoaps.net/2011/11/robertchristian.html

Oh, and Carl, I don't know how many 1980 episodes you've watched, but you've perfectly pinpointed that era's few strengths and many weaknesses. There were some very good performances from Laura Malone, Beverly Penberthy and Susan Keith, but everything else was just so banal -- even the dynamic Wyndham, Watson and Liotta were stuck in snoozeworthy stories, and their performances showed it. Just an awful, awful time, especially coming so soon after LeMay's brilliance.

AW had some great African-American actors and characters, going all the way back to Micki Grant's Peggy Nolan. Unfortunately, precious few of them were well served by the writers for any length of time. There was a major influx of AA characters in 1982, with powerhouse actors Morgan Freeman (Roy Bingham), then Oscar-nominee Howard Rollins Jr. (Ed Harding) and Michele Shay (Henrietta) joining the already-featured Petronia Paley (Quinn). To the show's credit, these actors and their stories were prominently featured. Unfortunately, the stories were just as dull as the rest of the show at that point -- though Jackee Harry's Lily, debuting in '83, was a force of nature that couldn't be denied. Freeman, Rollins and Shay were gone within two years, Harry lasted a bit longer (and she had become quite popular by the time she left). Paley's Quinn, of course, was murdered. Oh, I almost forgot Joe Morton as Abel and Leo Marsh in there –- another really strong actor whose story just fizzled. The Lawrences, Edwards', Burrells, Marshall Kramer, Chris Madison and more came later, all played by what I thought were vibrant, appealing African-American actors, but none were given the leading story status of the '82 crowd.

Wow, I've never seen that scene with Reuben's mother singing encouragement to him. Was it a dream sequence or what? I liked Reuben a lot, but the writers didn't seem to know what to do with him (or his family).

IIRC, Mike eventually tried to have sex with Trish, some time after Trish & David's baby was born. Mike couldn't perform and afterward he cried on Linda's shoulder -- I can't remember why he went to the apartment of his father's mistress. Mike was doubting his masculinity -- the script danced around his fear that he might be homosexual -- and Linda took him to bed to prove he was a "real man." I can't remember the fallout -- whether Mike developed feelings for Linda, for example, or ran right back to Trish. I don't remember Mike being angry all the time, but he certainly had his moments, especially when he found out Mickey was not his biological father. W

Thanks for the article. As a kid, I loved Wesley Eure and Patty Weaver -- they seemed like the root-for couple to me, I hated that the show moved them both on to other partners. You can certainly tell from the storyline recap that Bill Bell loved to delve into the psychosexual. I had to laugh at the sentence, "Out of their mutual need, Trish and David turned to each other ..." I had a friend who used to joke that every DAYS character in the '70s used the phrase "mutual need" to explain any out-of-wedlock sexual encounter. She also used to say that, for all the audience knew, the entire DAYS cast could have been performing in wheelchairs because all we ever saw was massive closeups of faces. That's not true, of course, but I have to say I've never seen a show before or since that relied so much on screen-filling closeups. But the show was blessed with great beauties – notably Susan Hayes, Patty Weaver, Mary Frann, Deidre Hall, Suzanne Rogers – all of whom were wonderful "face actors."

It was tough to follow in Sherry Mathis' footsteps, but Louann Gideon was a trooper. Very nice tribute at WLS.

What a treat it would be to see Susan Flannery and Denise Alexander for the 50th anniversary! I don't remember Heather North at all. Odds are they'd use Pamela Roylance -- if they were to give a second thought to bringing that character back, though I can't imagine they would. Although it's been 23 years between appearances for Eve Donovan, so never say never!

Nic Robuck (James Ford, OLTL) was on the 12/30 episode of Major Crimes, playing the gay partner of a murder victim. I never thought he'd be seen again after his less-than-stellar soap run, but good for him for keeping at it.

Thanks, Mr. Brightside, I always thought Stephen Schnetzer was a great soap leading men -- adept at both drama and comedy, and exhibiting great chemistry with all the AW ladies mentioned in the article, plus Nancy Frangione. His stints as Marcello on OLTL and Steve Olson on DAYS were pretty unmemorable, but that was a fault of the writing, not the actor.

I was very late to the party with Lauren Koslow -- probably because I liked Deb Adair so much in the role. Lauren played Kate with more camp and I didn't like the extreme places the writers took her over the years. But she finally won me over. I think she's one of the bright spots on the current show.

Molly Burnett (ex-Melanie, DOOL) had a small role in the Dec. 2 episode of Major Crimes on TNT.

Francesca James is embroiled in a legal battle over the will of Julie Harris. "The role of Eve Harrington, (Harris') friends say, was played by Francesca Rubino, a minor soap-opera actress who goes by the stage name Francesca James." http://nypost.com/2013/11/22/battle-of-wills-after-julie-harris-death/

Though I liked him on GL, I'm somewhat surprised that Frank Grillo (ex-Hart) has gone on to enjoy the success he's had. He's just signed to play the lead in "Navy St.," an original DirecTV series. He'll play the owner of a mixed martial arts studio. Apparently, he's an MMAer himself.

Finn's been in three or four "Masters of Sex" episodes now, playing a male prostitute involved with the Beau Bridges character. Bridges plays a closeted gay man in a long and basically sexless marriage. His wife is played by Allison Janney, who has been sensational the last few episodes as the character experiences a sexual awakening with another man. (The other man is played by Teddy Sears, who was Chad Bennett on One Life to Live.)