teplin

What was the reaction to Nancy Frangione's Tara? It's hard for me to think of her as a sweet, motherly heroine when she was so absolutely perfect as selfish, amoral Cecile on AW.

Love the green-screen driving scenes -- reminds me of Saturday Night Live's Toonces the Driving Cat skits.

Nice to see Robin Strasser there. The few times I tuned in to AMC to see her, I thought the character was a dud. But she looks good!

SFK, as I understand it, Vicky Wyndham was instrumental in getting cue cards banned from the AW set ... many years before this October 1988 show.

Earlier in this thread -- at least I think it was in this thread -- I referred to a scene in which Rachel and Sharlene were arguing, and Rachel told Sharlene "I came from nothing!". I finally found the clip. I just loved how they were mining history to set the Corys (the haves) against the Frames (the have-nots). And, of course, I'm a sucker for any sequence in which Vicky Wyndham gets her dander up and flashes those eyes.

The early 80s were just a horrible time for AW, but Bekins always bought it.

Carl, I recall a fair number of bare-chested Doug Watson scenes ... it was always surprising to see, given his, um, maturity.

Thanks for posting that cover of Afternoon TV, Paul Raven. That's the first soap mag I ever bought -- I loved everything about that location shoot.

I've seen the first two 90-minute episodes featuring Olive burning down Alice's house and killing John in the process and they weren't bad, but in a way they felt more like 90-minute specials. I know the St. Croix story was critically acclaimed and got some ratings but I've heard the subsequent Mitch Blake "murder" and Rachel's trial was horribly written and so unwatchable it was one of the reasons so many tuned off AW in droves in 1980.

I wasn't reading any soap magazines back then so I can't confirm that this is true. (Anybody else?) I know that the St. Croix sequence still stands as an AW high point for me. The show definitely felt different after that to me -- the only thing I was interested in was the Mitch Blake murder and trial, and Rachel's subsequent escape. I thought all of that, including Doug Watson's Emmy-winning portrayal of Mac on the witness stand was VERY watchable. But the rest of the show was so blah, I understand why people left in droves.

When they paired Rachel with a "resurrected" Mitch, a union I found completely devoid of logic and chemistry (largely because Wyndham had to carry all the weight in the relationship -- it's not easy acting with a tree stump, attractive though the stump may have been), even I started tuning out more and more.

I swear if DAYS would go back to its early '80s music cues I'd watch for that alone.

Didn't know Kathy Bates was on TD.

Many times in the past, I've seen an actor/actress on screen for what I think is the first time and I'll have a very positive feeling for them -- warm and almost familiar. It's only later that I realize or discover that they had some part on a soap that I've completely forgotten. Kathy Bates is one of these; Lois Smith and Valerie Mahaffey are others. I think Anna Stuart, too -- I loved her immediately on AW, not realizing 'til later I had watched her as Toni Powers on The Doctors. Julia Duffy, Alec Baldwin, Kathleen Turner, Kim Zimmer ... now them I associated immediately with The Doctors when they showed up on Newhart, Knot's Landing, Body Heat and Guiding Light!

Thanks for continuing to post background material on this thread, Carl! My local NBC affiliate didn't carry L&F/R4P, so I've always been curious about them. All I really knew before your postings was that Mac & Rachel made a crossover to one of them, and many of the actors eventually showed up on AW. Now, what do you mean about the actor playing Paco being a nice surprise? Is Chu Chu Malave someone I should know? (I love his name!)

I saw Bekins in something else not so long ago and he looked much better -- though yes, he's got gray hair! He was made up to look near terrible in Limitless. R.I.P, Helen Stenborg. She was a sterling example of some of the stellar theatrical talent AW employed in the '70s. Helga was not a major role, but it was pivotal, and Stenborg's bolstered Sven's villainy.

Just bumping this thread to say Richard Bekins (the definitive Jamie Frame) has a small role in the new Bradley Cooper movie, "Limitless." He doesn't look so good, but that's part of the plot. And his character's wife is played by Patricia Kalember (Loving's Merrill).

Carl, I don't really think it was a matter of Rauch and LeMay preferring "low-key" actors ... Connie Ford, Dorothy Lyman and Vicky Wyndham were hardly shrinking violets. And Beverlee McKinsey was quite vocal in her displeasure over unprepared actors. (Ask Nic Coster.) But with those four, it was all about doing the best work possible. With Reinholt, it was all about his personal demons. I think Courtney was a relatively calm presence, but R&L just didn't "get" her work (to the show's everlasting detriment, I think).

As for the soap mags, I do remember them being much more independent. There were certainly a lot of fluffy profiles, but I have very fond memories of Afternoon TV, in particular -- it would run these very long, very detailed critiques of shows in the late 70s. Soaps got more superficial in the 80s, along with American culture in general, and soap mags followed suit. Soap Opera Weekly made some forays into critical thinking in the 90s – Ken Corday wouldn't even talk to them for awhile, he was so upset over something they printed. But those days are long gone.

AW and DOOL were "my soaps," but I was lucky to see a lot of special GL moments through the years, as I'd often stray from whatever NBC was programming in the 3:00 hour over to CBS. I can remember the first time I saw it -- it was the episode with Roger dressed as a clown chasing Rita through the house of mirrors to "Enough is Enough." I have such fond memories of Nola -- one of my favorite soap characters ever -- as well as Vanessa, Roger & Holly, Chris Bernau's Alan Spaulding, Diane Ballard, Reva, the Reardons, the blackout episodes and of course the divine Beverlee McKinsey as Alex. I think GL was consistently good longer than any other soap in the 30-some years I've been watching.

So sorry to hear about Geraldine Court. I thought she was a striking presence on The Doctors and AW, but the characters didn't do her any favors. She really shone with the writing on GL.

Lois Smith was also great on The Doctors for a couple of years in the 70s. Eleanor, I think her character's name was.

Ah! I do vaguely remember Carla Borelli as Mary -- that's why she seemed so familiar when she turned up on AW as Reena. I saw a little bit of the Phyllis-shoots-Mary storyline, but I still don't remember Karin Wolfe! From what I've heard, Josh Taylor was none too fond of Stanger, either.

I loved Stanger's Mary, her relationship with parents Bob and Phyllis, and her romance with Chris Kositchek (sp?). Fee's Mary was so far removed from Stanger's in appearance and temperament that I just thought of her as a different character altogether. She was totally forgettable, IMO -- although her death at the hands of the Salem Strangler ranks up there as one of my favorite soap episodes ever. I don't remember Karin Wolfe at all.

I never understood why the show didn't ultimately reunite Jake & Paulina. Their chemistry blew Jake & Vicky's out of the water. And boy, is that an ugly dress, Paulina!

Yes, that's Kathy Glass as MJ. I think the writers played to Turner's strengths in making Nola more cold, devious and blatantly sexual than her predecessor in the role, Kathryn Harrold. My memories are fuzzy, but I believe Harrold's Nola was warmer and more "relatable." Turner turned her into a real femme fatale, to great effect. I think Zimmer sort of fused the two portrayals.

I still think prematurely "aging" Doug and Julie – SORASing Hope and relegating Doug to the cliched father role – was the biggest mistake DAYS ever made. Yes, even bigger than that idiotic Melaswen story. They still had a lot of story left in them – SSH was still hella sexy – and DAYS pretty much forcing them out alienated a lot of longtime fans.

Thanks for the Days with the Hayes column. Great fun!

I remember both "Bright Promise" and "How to Survive a Marriage" very, very vaguely ... nothing about the storylines, really, just a fond feeling for certain cast members ... Susan Brown, Dabney Coleman and Tony Geary on BP and Fran Brill, Rosemary Prinz and Jennifer Harmon on HTSM. I'd love to see both shows again.

Yep, that's the scene. I could just watch it over and over and over. I really miss VW and Rachel.

Strasser's Rachel was devious, but Wyndham's Rachel was terrifying. She'd flash those eyes and you knew a quake was coming. I missed that aspect of the character when she softened due to Mac's influence. She still had her moments, though -- there's a great YouTube clip in which she berates Carmen Duncan's Iris for doubting Mac's integrity after his death.

That "Daddy" thing was "pretty sick," edgeofnik -- that was the whole point! (Oh, for the days when characters had complex psychological motivations and shades of grey.) And the ratings really began freefalling after BM left to do Texas. She was a huge draw -- and deservedly so.

I remember fans writing in to soap mags in the year before Connie Ford's death, complaining that Ada rarely appeared anymore. It was assumed to be ageism on the show's part, nobody knew Connie was sick. Such a great character and actress. I was gratified that the show brought back Nancy and Clarice for Ada's funeral -- Clarice was especially surprising, as she was a completely forgotten character. But she was an indispensable part of Ada's history for longtime viewers.

I was always torn about Carl's redemption and romance with Rachel. I really enjoyed the evil Carl and thought Keating was a wonderful (if hammy) actor. The budding Rachel-Carl connection was beautifully written and performed, and anything that gave Vicky Wyndham major screen time was OK in my book. At the same time, I couldn't shake the feeling that the situation was an insult to Mac, and that Rachel really would never have allowed Carl into her life. Wyndham and Keating sold the hell out of it though. I remember the mini-controversy towards the end of the run when Brian Frons pointed to Carl & Rachel's popularity as symptomatic of what was wrong with AW. Ultimately, for me, the only downside of the relationship was Victoria Wyndham's unfortunate choice to adopt a faux-Shakesperean, airy-fairy accent. It drove me nuts!

It's so odd to read that so-and-so has been grouchy lately and someone else is depressed over the breakup over her marriage -- especially as it's just casually mentioned in the article. We haven't seen that kind of reporting in the soap press for a very long time!

Paul Michael Valley spent the decade after leaving AW auditioning for just about every soap role that came down the pike, on both coasts. I'm mystified as to why he never got cast. Maybe it was the "personal demons" quartermainfan alluded to. It's a pity, I thought he was great as Ryan, a classic soap hero.

That storyline with Felicia in the attic was dreadful ... and interminable.

I'm so glad you're enjoying Jake & Paulina, Cat. They are one of my all-time favorite soap couples. It pissed me off that they were thrown over in favor of Jake & Vicky, and Paulina was saddled with dull nice-guy Joe.