Paul Raven

Ha ha. Just re-read it and see what you mean. Let's NOT go there!

It's that time of the year when those Best and Worst Lists appear all over the place and I thought it might be fun for all of us to compile lists from the 5 soaps to compare and contrast. Some suggested categories (taken from old SOD) You can use any of these or add your own. Best/ worst couple Best/worst new character Hottest new pairing Best mystery Best/worst use of history Most entertaining character Most over exposed character Most surprising twist Best wedding ceremony Best/worst breakup Best casting Best enemies Most ruined character Best/worst new/old sets Best/worst costumes Some of mine for starters. I only watch BTG and Y&R regularly so Days, GH and B&B will be up to others. Most over exposed character Y&R Phyllis Shoehorned into just about every story. Most surprising twist BTG Hayley is a villain. She didn't seem to have a viable POV until we found out her true intentions. Best costumes BTG the male characters- Andre, Bill, Vernon etc It's good to see so much attention being paid to men's clothing rather than some of the generic stuff we see on other shows. Best new set Y&R Billy's apartment. Very detailed and tasteful. We haven't seen it in months! Best couple BTG Dani/Andre. Lovers fall in love. It grounded Dani from the constant craziness and gave Andre more depth. Most entertaining character BTG Bill. Love his characterization. Egotist but charming in his own way. Reminds me of early JR Ewing and Terry Lester's Jack Abbott. Timon does a great job in bringing him to life.

Of course, take your time. The amount of time and effort you put in is much appreciated. Such a fantastic resource.

Didn't Holly just come back for a visit and Pam was impressed by Maureen Garrett? Decided to bring her on full time?

No I don't believe she is . You would think that link would be very widely known. When Bill spoke about first working with Irna that connection was never mentioned.

It came across as though he thinks gay guys are so far away from his persona as to be unplayable. Whereas in reality there are plenty of gay guys who present the way Ted (and Maurice) do.

The way that interview went you would think was up there with Denzel rather than a few months on BTG. Was it God's plan he lost that gig?

Broad generalization-probably many exceptions. Bill Bell, Doug Marland etc for starters. Currently Brad Bell wouldn't fall into either of those categories!

It's been a while but some requests before 2025 is over Harris Laskawy Camilla Carr Evalyn Baron

I wonder if Frank was supposed to be a longer term character? Maybe there was some BTS stuff that went on.

Yes Days needed a shake up but the 1980 revamp was too much. None of the new characters had much appeal and only Liz was embraced by the audience, and that was under subsequent writers.

I had to laugh when Hayley said she has a crick neck from having to look up all the time! That height difference is so noticeable. Bill looks like he could put Hayley in his pocket. Is the St Barts trip gonna happen?

Solid episode today with the classic soap format of characters going from place to place Nicole-Anita /Nicole Martin Joey/Randy Joey/Bill And so on. Adding Lynette to the mix is interesting. Was it deliberate? I think so. Looks like she might want a piece of the action. But meeting at Uptown? C'mon! Just put a wall and a booth to suggest a seedy bar, like soaps did in the 60's/70's. Scriptwriters-we get it. Vernita have the most amazing marriage ever. No need to lay it on so thick.

Yes I have to admire that at 84 Eric still wants to work. Although after a lifetime of work I wonder why he still wants to? Maybe just enjoy his remaining years? Oh well there are many like him who seem to define themselves through work,. However, writing Victor as he was 20/30 years ago does not match what we are seeing on-screen. Often it appears as though he and screen partners have no connection, as he pauses and everything seems to halt while delivers his lines.

Monday's show saw the grand launch of Abbott Communications-the company that is going to be a game changer in the media world! And what a launch-a 1950's theme party-WTF?? It consisted of various characters in vaguely 1950's attire, with the reason being that TV was a game changer in the 50's as AC would be today. OK.... God forbid we had the cast dressed to the nines at a glamorous event. The decor consisted of some old TV sets scattered around the Jazz lounge. Sally was fretting that maybe she should have got Pietro the Party Planner but Billy assured her she did a fantastic job. Pietro must be laughing all the way to the bank as he buys a few ballooons and chintzy decorations from the local mini mall and has the likes of the Newmans paying top $$. This launch consisted of a few cast members and a couple of extras. Of course, Phyllis has to be there, vamping around. Sally had a few vague words about content and delivery. No specifics as the whole thing is total Crapola. Although starting a company with no staff and offices is quite an achievement. But wait , the dastardly Victor Newman has an evil plan hatching from his recliner rocker. If Eric Braeden isn't delivering every line from cue cards, he's sure doing a great job of making it seem so. Sally's speech is so meaningless, all gathered would rather look at a message coming through on their finds. Oh no the Abbott family are facing destruction at the hands of Victor. Stay Tuned. Just really sad to see the downfall of this show. But Josh Griffith deliberately writes this big business, big event nonsense that is embarrassing to watch.

Aspen 1993 FOX Soap opera based on activities in Aspen, Colo. From Lorimar Television; Richard Dilello executive producer.

Woman on the Ledge NBC 1993. Deidre Hall, Leslie Charleson and Colleen Zenk were the leads along with Peter Bergman, Josh Taylor, Michael Zaslow, Kale Brown and Ken Kercheval. Someone had the idea of putting a bunch of soap stars together and it worked. It ranked #14 for the week

1975-76 Season Ratings after 2 weeks of the new season Monday 8-9pm ABC Barbary Coast 12.1/21 CBS Rhoda 24.9/42 Phyllis 28.3/46 NBC Invisible Man 16.6/28 9 - 11pm ABC NFL Football 15.0/24 CBS All in the Family 33.6/52 Maude 26.9/45 Medical Center 24.3/41 NBC Movie 19.3/31 Tues 8-9pm ABC Happy Days 17.7/31 Welcome Back Kotter 18.1/30 CBS Good Times 22.6/39 Joe & Sons 17.4/29 NBC Movin On 15.1/25 9-10pm ABC The Rookies 19.2/31 Marcus Welby 18.2/33 CBS Switch 22.2/37 Beacon Hill 14.9/27 NBC Police Story 15.9/26 Joe Forrester 19.6/35 Wed 8-9pm ABC When Things Were Rotten 18.5/33 That's My Mama 15.5/27 CBS Tony Orlando & Dawn 16.6/29 NBC Little House on the Prairie 19.5/34 9-11pm ABC Baretta 19.3/33 Starsky &Hutch 22.4/42 CBS Cannon 18.8/32 Kate McShane 13.8/26 NBC Doctor's Hospital 16.4/28 Petrocelli 14.3/27 Thurs 8-9pm ABC Barney Miller 17.2/30 On The Rocks 19.2/32 CBS The Waltons 22.6/39 NBC The Montefuscos 11.6/21 Fay 12.1/20 9-11pm ABC Streets of San Francisco 20.3/35 Harry O 17.5/32 CBS Movie 18.9/34 NBC Ellery Queen 15.9/27 Medical Story 13.7/25 Fri 8-9pm ABC Mobile One 10.5/19 CBS Big Eddie 9.8/19 MASH 19.2/35 NBC Sanford & Son 24.1/45 Chico & The Man 20.8/37 9-11pm ABC Movie 17.3/32 CBS Hawaii Five O 15.7/29 Barnaby Jones 16.7/32 NBC Rockford Files 19.4/35 Policewoman 17.9/34 Sat 8-9pm ABC Howard Cosell Saturday Night 13.4/25 CBS Jeffersons 18.3/35 Doc 16.1/31 NBC Emergency 19.2/37 9-11pm ABC SWAT 15.6/29 Matt Helm 13.2/25 CBS Mary Tyler Moore 19.5/36 Bob Newhart 19.3/35 Carol Burnett 18.5/35 NBC Movie 17.8/34 Sun 7-8pm ABC Swiss Family Robinson 15.2/29 CBS Three for the Road 9.0/17 NBC Disney 15.6/30 8-9 pm ABC Six Million Dollar Man 26.7/43 CBS Cher 16.4/27 NBC Family Holvak 15.1/25 9-11pm ABC Movie 23.6/40 CBS Kojak 20.1/32 Bronk 13.6/23 NBC Mystery Movie 18.2/30

Those Circus of the Stars specials always did well for CBS, at least for a good number of years. How many seasons did they last? NBC tried to get into the act airing Magic with the Stars in the 81/82 season but it flopped for whatever reason.

The Dobsons arrived at GL in 75 when it was still a half hour and had a small cast to work with. They had a few misfires but it was really the expansion to 60 min in 77 that allowed room for the Spauldings, Lucille/Amanda etc that it really came together. What GL needed to compete was a young love story. The Dobsons young characters like Floyd and Lainie were afterthoughts and not the kind of characters to lead story. Marland saw the need for that and implemented the classic soap triangle a la Laura/Scotty/Bobbie with Morgan/Kelly/Nola. I think it was always in the works that Amanda's mother would show up but Doug probably tweaked that with the arrival of Jennifer/Morgan. And he stated that Lucille was always intended to die so perhaps that was a Dobson thing and Marland wrote his own version. Marland inherited a strong show with a lot of drama to be explored whereas at ATWT when the Dobsons arrived there was a bloated cast of middle aged characters and no strong storyline. They had an uphill battle to focus the show and I think a lot of their choices were misguided.

The best thing for Phyllis to do is leave town! Now that's not gonna happen so they will continue to shoehorn her in. She's been married to Jack and Nick and involved with Billy and thankfully they are not revisiting those relationships but that doesn't leave her with many options. Phyllis is such a repellent character that it's hard to think of her in a romantic relationship.

I don't believe the Dobsons took ATWT to #1. Perhaps they meant it was P&G's #1 show, outrating GL. I wonder how much of the Dobson's bible Marland used? In a way it would be helpful to a writer new to the show to have that template to work from.

Alice In Wonderland Pt 1 aired Monday 8-10 replacing Scarecrow and Mrs King/ Kate& Allie/Newhart. Timeslots where CBS was already strong. So there was ready made audience and little competition from Hardcastle and TV Bloopers. Pt 2 Tues had tougher competition on a night CBS where CBS was weakening so ratings were lower. Seems viewers didn't want to miss their favourites. But it did better than Hometown/ Tuesday movie had been doing. ABC were already struggling. Fall Guy up against Cosby bombed so they quickly replaced it with Shadow Chasers to hopefully provide some sort of a lead in to The Colbys . Well that didn't work at all. Meanwhile the Sat line up Hollywood Beat and Lime Street were instant flops so ABC moved The Fall Guy and Lady Blue from Thurs to fill those slots. CBS had already dropped Sir Crazy Wed @8 in favour of Mary and Foley Square. But those two were already failing. I wonder whether CBS might have dine better putting Charlie & Co at 8pm than having to face Dynasty?

The Oakdale disco could be called The Acorn!

Throwing in a disco seemed to be the go to solution several soaps attempted to be more hip. And they always came off as super clunky as extras gyrated to music that was added later.