Paul Raven

Wouldn't he have received scripts at least a week in advance, so would be taping with full knowledge of that reveal? The next scene comment makes it sound as though he was suddenly given the reveal scene on taping day. Could you clarify?

@DRW50I did a search at a certain site and found that issue. Just stated that the cover photo was Larkin Malloy from CBS Guiding Light. Not sure how EQMM chose their covers. Anyway, that issued featured a short story that I have never read by Ursula Curtiss, a favorite suspense writer. So thanks for that.

@DRW50 Fun find-did that cover have anything to do with EON?

Couldn't have hurt. Alex and Iris was supposed to be a sweeping love story but Bert Kramer didn't gel with BM. Of course the decision to try and turn Iris into a heroine was also a fail. Donald May was a popular soap star and maybe as Alex the chemistry with Beverlee would have been better, But Texas had so many issues...

Yes SSH is a soap opera queen. I agree sometimes her delivery is melodramatic but she is from a different era and I enjoy her for that very reason.

The talk of too much 'negativity' brings to mind a well known veteran film critic (can't remember who it was) who lamented that these days if he pointed out any perceived faults in a popular movie eg Barbie/Marvel movie,he would be slammed in the comments as some people think any kind of negativity is unworthy and unwarranted- forgetting that criticism is a judgement of the merits and faults of a particular work. I can only speak for myself, but any faults I point out on BTG are based on my judgement on what I think could be done better or another path that can be taken. I try to balance that with praise also. I think most of us are doing the same.

NBC daytime was in freefall following Lin Bolen's departure in Feb 76l Madeleine David lasted a year as VP before Michael Brockman took over in 77. Lovers and Friends seemed like a sure thing but was a disaster. The decision to take it off the air after 13 weeks and retool branded For Richer For Poorer as a dud from the get go. Days and The Doctors were struggling. The Pollocks departing TD and Bill Bell no longer involved at Days seemed to have an affect. America Alive was a disaster. There was a series of flop gameshows. Whatever they had in development(if anything) was probably dropped when Brockman arrived. AW was their only top rating soap at that time but expanding and trying a spin off only damaged it. Had AW stayed at 3pm that timeslot would have been safe and they could have tried a 30 min show at 2pm or 2.30 adjunct to TD with the option of expanding it if it worked or if TD seemed terminal. Or Days could have moved to 1pm when L&F came along and L&F placed at 2 or 2.30.

@dc11786 thanks. I don't believe that Van actually remarried Matt/Paul. Is that right?

When the character outlines were announced I remember commenting that they had a lot of different occupations in play - police officers, lawyer(s)nurse, real estate agents, politicians, firefighters- and wondering how this would all be played eg interaction and sets required. Now we have seen that those occupations are hardly being depicted-no workplaces for Vanessa,Derek, Naomi ,Martin etc Now maybe long term there are plans in place but I question some of these choices. Having Ashley being a nurse when there is no hospital drama- apart from delivering that baby she just stands around with a clipboard chatting-not even referring to patients or cases. I still think they would have been better off giving Vanessa an office and have Ashley and Shanice work there in that field. The characters could be at the office or in other locations eg Country Club which would be natural and allow more interaction. eg Andre could be looking for an apartment, doing photography for Vanessa. Shanice could be commenting on office goings on eg Vanessa's sex life etc Why is Derek a firefighter? So far he has rescued a cat. Why not a cop? He could then be shown working at the station with Jacob and have a level of involvement with that storyline. And Smitty being a housewife all these years. Again, the journalist angle is so far dormant. Instead, have him working part time as a realtor and the conflict with Martin being that he is ready to go full time. Working for Vanessa would have him interact with way more characters. It really is Soap 101 to have characters working together to allow for interaction and save on sets. In other news, Anita needs more airtime-she should have a stake in all the stories and her point of view being shown. Visiting Hayley to educate her about what to expect in a marriage to Bill. I would like her to became a kind of ally to Hayley. Visiting Bill, warning him not to try anything with Hayley. Visiting Smitty and the kids etc. Keeping track of her children/grandchildren. Bossy but benevolent. A mix of Nancy Hughes, Alice Horton and Stephanie Forrester.

Kim was interested in Reva's Guiding Light. Like many performers she was invested in the show only as to how much airtime she received. Reva time travelling, Reva the princess-whatever as long as she was frontburner and the 'star' of the show. No shade, that's just how it was.

That was bizarre! I would rather they worked it into the plot. Ted comments they can still smell the remnants of last nights meal. Nicole wisecracks "Hand me the Febreeze!" and goes into spray mode. Ted says she even looks sexy doing housework. (Hate that line, but that's the kind of thing he has been saying).

Both versions are true. In the late 60's Matt Corby arrived in Rosehill. He was later revealed to be actually Paul Raven, her first husband who had been presumed dead in the mid 50's. Vanessa was torn but ultimately divorced Bruce (maybe that marriage was no longer legal anyway?) The second quote deals with Vanessa after Paul had 'died' She moved from Barrowsville (the original setting) to NYC. This was in 1958 when the show expanded to 30 min and Jean McBride (Meg) had departed, so the original format was dropped. So Van and Bruce divorced but Matt/Paul died and they remarried in 1972. So you could say they stayed together, even though there was a divorce along the way.

Just to remind us that for all the praise heaped on the Dobson era, they had their duds. Marrying Sara to Dean with no build up-she turned up married after a cruise and having him trying to kill her was a dead end for that character. Why not at least have her marry someone with a couple of kids to intro a new family and give Sara some relevance. As for Peter and Maya, a whole lot of time was spent on new characters no one knew or were interested in. Peter managed to hang around for the length of his contract until Marland dropped him.

Thanks.

Asked? They just pocketed them.

And the costuming has not really improved with the new designer.

The Richardson living room set is too monotone. I know Nicole's style is restrained and elegant but all the furniture -sofa, chairs, barstools, footstools are plain and either cream or beige tones. The cushions are plain, walls and rugs are neutral etc They need some patterns and pops of color to create visual interest. And there are similar bookcases in the Richardson, Dupree and Hamilton homes.

Yes and just a nice nod to the origins of the show and to a time when it was a creative and ratings success.

Have we seen Nicole or Ted interact with ex bro in law Bill? Anita have a one on one with her ex son in law or grandchildren? Martin/Smitty and the twins with any of their relatives? Over a month in and these relationships should have been addressed, even briefly. Rather than wasting time on the documentary that was announced one day and up and running the next... Maybe they should have held back on introducing some characters eg Andre arriving now and getting involved with Dani and Ashley(if we must) That would have allowed for time to focus on those above mentioned relationships and not have asked viewers to try and keep track of so many characters at the beginning. Also, there would be more stuff happening at this time with new arrivals and plots.

Street of Dreams aired as a CBS Friday movie special in Wk 3 of the season. Because of the strike, the networks were filling timeslots with repeats, TV Movies and specials. Dallas/Falcon Crest weren't available so CBS pulled this movie out of it's inventory. Was it a pilot? Anyway it ranked 40th 9.5/17. The opposition was an NBC movie that ranked which was 25th 14.5/26 and ABC Baseball playoffs 27th 12.5/23.

OK that's interesting. But still an inconsistency in that Ordway is still in contract list bit Floyd isn't. Maybe it's a courtesy to longer running actors ?

Maybe Martin was responsible for the death of Andre's parents (Ted's brother and wife?) He could have been with an older lover(closeted gay) and Bill helped cover the whole thing up.

It seems that Camryn Grimes could be recurring also. Odd that they made announcements that Melissa Ordway and Connor Floyd were going recurring but there's secrecy about the others. It all started when Doug Davidson revealed he had been made recurring with no announcement and no change in billing.

At some point will there be a reset like Santa Barbara did with the earthquake, Texas when the Corringtons were dropped and Sunset Beach when they had a week off to retool? We've already had a wedding and a recast so when will see- The first pregnancy? First onscreen divorce? First death? First murder? First new contract player? First original character written out? First new regular set?

Please no fake 'outdoor' sets. I would hope to see them set up a terrace at the Country Club to be used over Summer. Surely there is some way of creating that at the studio. I think for some viewers the initial excitement is wearing off. The pace and attention grabbing scenes have slowed down, we now know all the characters and decided who we do and don't like and the sets have become familiar and maybe repetitive. If you're not a hard core soap viewer the boredom factor might be seeping in. Also, not having a stirrer like Leslie onscreen so far this week is a misfire.