Paul Raven

ELIZABETH PERRY Purex Special for Women 'Just A Housewife' Mrs Goodman ABC Daytime 2/26/65

Dynasty was getting a lot of hype -Joan Collins, over the top stories, name guest stars, glamorous sets and costumes and Dallas felt like they had to compete with that to keep on top. But Dallas had never been that type of show and didn't wear those aspects well. Re Lucy. As I posted before Charlene had good snarky chemistry with Larry. She should have married a businessman. Either he was ambitious and using Lucy to further his own agenda or an innocent who got caught up in JR's web. It would have kept her connected to the goings on at Ewing Oil rather than being islanded in stories that had little to do with the rest of the show.

I was watching the Dec 19 1979 episode, so almost at the end of the Dobson's stint. Holly is released from jail and has a farewell scene with Clara, her cellmate. I wonder if the Dobsons might have been planning for Clara to return in 1980, having been released from jail and meeting up with Holly. Maybe a handsome black doctor is on staff at Cedars and they play one of those storylines where Clara feel unworthy of the doctor and so on. On the other hand the early 80's weren't kind to black characters. The Dobsons didn't introduce any on ATWT, nor did Marland on GL. Same with SFT, AW and Texas, so P&G weren't advocating diversity at that point. EON did have Calvin/Starr. ABC was a little better but DOOL had nobody. The Doctors introduced Terri and Calvin in 1980 but they were dropped.

I wouldn't be shedding any tears if Billy, Phyllis and Daniel departed. De emphasise the business stuff. Make Jabot the main business on the show. Claire discovers she's not a Newman and turns to the dark side. They messed up by killing off Cole. He was not the most exciting character but there could have been stuff in his past to interfere with a romance with Victoria. Victoria's romantic options are limited ATM. Bring back Reed. Put Sharon and Nick back together and have them as parents to Faith, Noah who lead stories. Allie returns - a recast if necessary. Move to the next generation!

A casting mistake IMO. It got a lot of press -well Dallas was #1-but I don't think the Peter/Sue Ellen story was well received. A sexier, older actor might have worked. But Linda and Christopher together was all wrong.

Why they cast that twink as Sue Ellen's lover is beyond me. Years later on Desperate Housewives when they did a similar story with Jesse Metcalfe and it worked because it was believable there would be an attraction.

Fri ep was good, they have a nice mix of stories. My continual complaint is the lack of attention played to work/business. Shanice and Ashley spent every scene chatting. At least start the scene with them discussing a patients-throw in some medical jargon to make them seem competent and then segue into the personal stuff. Have the convo interrupted by one or the other having to deal with some issue etc Then we have the Pam/Dani modelling agency which seems to be running itself. Is Pamela doing the bulk of the work? If so have her mention some stuff to Dani. Isaiah is talking about Bannecker but seems to have time to chat in Orpheys and meet Eva, who supposedly is running Ted's office. And so on...

Never liked Jim Storm much on Y&R or B&B. But I see him more as Mike.

And the one season and done series 1980 BAD Cats 1981 Aloha Paradise Strike Force 1982 At Ease !984 Glitter Finder of Lost Loves 1985 Hollywood Beat McGruder and Loud 1986 Life with Lucy 1989 Nightingales NBC Might have missed some. And there were pilots that aired as TV movies like International Airport and Masserati and the Brain, which did not get picked up.

Mmm...Rod Arrants is the same age as Peter Simon-that could work. I'm trying to think of a NY soap actor who could have been a good Mike recast in the 80's. Dan Hamilton? 10 years younger than Dan but could probably play a little older.

Maybe Owen will turn out to be a loser and poor Jan will be distraught, turning to Derek for support and then....

Audra had such potential to be the new schemer with a vulnerable streak. But as stated she's been tossed around, making her way through the usual suspects. The #1 problem with this show is the overload of veterans and the show's insistence on keeping them frontburner. When they bring in a new character/actor with potential they're either written out-Ashland/ Damien given ridiculous back stories-Jordan/Claire not given much to do -Audra/Nate/Holden- but play second fiddle to the vets saddled with past charcters -Cane/Mitch Really I send Adam and Chelsea out of town for starters and there are a couple more characters that need to be rested.

Agatha Christie Seven Dials Netflix All the elements are in place-feisty heroine, gorgeous sets and costumes but the execution for me was off. Lots of running around leading to nothing much. The lead actress didn't work for me-she is a tiny thing and looked like a little girl at times up against others. And we had to have a black character introduced who railed against colonialism. Only 3 episodes, any more would have been way too much. Why Didn't They Ask Evans? was everything this wasn't. Girl Taken Paramount Plus Wasn't really up for another girl abducted, tortured etc but this didn't dwell on that aspect and dealt instead with the affect on the family left behind and the adjustments when the missing girl was found, which made it interesting. The final episode was a let down due to some contrivances and some questions unanswered but overall enjoyable.

I quoted just that part because it summarized what went wrong with many soaps over the years. Alan was a little shady yes, but not to the point where he intentionally caused someone direct harm. Later on soap villains did things that they should have been punished for and it was allowed to slide or they were considered punished because someone wouldn't talk to them for a short time. The moral balance was out of whack.

Hotel was the perfect complement to Dynasty. It had the same soapy appeal, but you didn't have to follow a continuing story and worry about missing an episode. Around 64 NBC piloted Grand Hotel with Barry Sullivan and Chad Everett.I wonder if it intended to follow the same format? Most likely there would have been one story per episode. That was the last season of Aaron Spelling's dominance at ABC. The next crop of shows-The Colbys, Finder of Lost Loves, Hollywood Beat, Glitter etc didn't make the grade.

The Dobsons created the Justin/Sara relationship but then never did much with it. Having Sara marry Dean was a poor choice for the character. I don't know why writers always persist in marrying characters? Sara could have been in a relationship with Dean w/o getting married. it lead nowhere and just gave Sara a poor marital history. They could also have played a renewed Sara/Justin romance as an obstacle to Justin/Jackie remarrying. Re Fran Myers I wonder if she would have been open to occasional appearances? Especially if they decided to SORAS Billy as the new young lead. We need a GL tell all book . Enough actors are still around from that era to spill the tea.

Chancellor Estate is identical to before from what I've seen. They need to get rid of that bulky cheap looking sofa and chair. It makes the tiny set look even more cramped. Something much more elegant is needed. And here's Mariah in the same motel set we've seen over and over. Her storyline would have to rank as the most poorly paced, poorly motivated plots on the show. And from the folks that brought us Dumas, AI and Mitch/Matt that is no small achievement!

JWS had some time off in 83 I think. What happened with Mike and Jennifer? No onscreen chemistry? Geraldine Court was a Marland favorite, so I am surprised that romance was halted. Pure speculation but maybe Don Stewart wasn't happy with the pairing and spoke out. Allen Potter sided with Don. Part of the growing tension b/w Marland and Potter. Agree that Hope and Alan were married too soon and given a dud ceremony. They could have got more out the relationship before a wedding. God knows, Alan had enough baggage to make Hope have some second thoughts before committing.

I just read that Michael J Stark tested for Andy Norris, but lost to Ted LePlat. He got Joe Bradley instead which I believe was recurring at first but Marland liked him and he got a contract. Maybe that's why Andy was written out- Marland liked Stark/Joe better as Springfields next villain. As for Peggy, she was unjustly forgotten. I don't know if Fran Myers didn't want to return, but it would have been nice if she came back to Springfield upon leaning of Roger's death and was allowed to play Peggy's reaction to that. Of course if her son Billy was already in town, living with Bert and involved with Morgan...

Looking at Nov 80 synopses there is mention of Joe Bradley making romantic headway with Holly. The same month she left town. Interesting. Maybe Marland was just using that as a motivation for Holly to leave-she was still hooked on Ed and couldn't deal with the complications of another man taking an interest? Or he was testing the chemistry in case Maureen renewed her contract? How much say would Marland have in such matters? If Allen Potter or P&G/CBS wanted to keep Maureen would Doug have to go along with it, even if not that interested in writing for her? Headwriters have a certain amount of autonomy but there must be many instances where they have to write for actors/characters they are not that invested in.

I always read that Andrew Robinson was not well received because viewers identified him as a villain due to appearances in movies like Dirty Harry and Charley Varrick. Yes, Frank was not supposed to survive that fall down the stairs. But ABC intervened and the show was stuck with an actor originally intended for a few flashback scenes.

So soapy that Ted's original venue was unavailable so all 4 end up at the CC. Kat got around today-Orphy's, her mom's office and Martin's. As usual not much work being done- Martin, Smitty and the kids all at home -what time of the day was it supposed to be? It was only at the police station that they actually at least talked about work. Jacob noticing Marcel's shirt and how expensive it was? Guess the Vanessa and Kial meet up was to give her a POV about him to Nicole? Not Kat's biggest fan bit I can see her side of it as Eva has been pretty nasty at times. And there's no story in them becoming besties. Things are humming along nicely...

I wonder if the retirement of long time producer Lucy Ferri Rittenburg had an impact going forward in that she may have had more respect and knowledge of GL history, having been there for decades. Allen Potter and the Dobsons were new to the show in 75 and the Dobsons showed they weren't overly familiar with the past eg when they were asked if Emmett and Jackie Scott were connected to Peggy and they admitted they didn't know Peggy's maiden name was Scott. Now that's not a sin I guess, but maybe someone like Rittenburg might have pointed that out and they could have changed the name, or connected the new Scott's to Peggy's family or at least referenced it. When Bill came back was there reference to Meta and Trudy discovering their brother was alive? I'm sure viewers of 10 years or more (and cwere a lot of them) would have been hoping for/ expecting a mention.

Really the minute SFT was cancelled GL should have snapped up Mary Stuart to play Meta. For 35 years you followed her tragedies and triumphs as Jo (stills or clips) Now Mary Stuart returns to daytime television as Meta Bauer. (Clip of Meta embracing Ed and Rick) Mary addresses the camera. "Looking forward to seeing you again on Guiding Light. Join me weekdays on CBS"