Paul Raven

Go Sean! Ugh at Phyllis #1. No Abby and Bryton on once. Guess he must still be on contract? They let it know Melissa was going recurring but not Bryton, although it seems something is going on. I guess the months ahead will tell us more.

That's exactly what I was getting at. At least if Ashley had had a previous convo with the woman and we found out this was the first pregnancy she'd taken to term or something... Unless Andre is a total p***y hound can't understand what he would see in a dowdy nurse. Sorry Jen/Ashley! Are they really taping 6 eps aweek? Guess the plan is to take a break every few months to make the budget work and give everyone a much needed rest. Wonder if Danni will be on every day this week? Not a fan of Cady's look, what's with the braid?

I'm sure Josh, Ed Scott etc watched BTG and saw location shoots, extras, multiple sets etc and the best they could come up with is 2 characters locked in a room.

With all this discussion on characters and stories I have to remind myself that we are only one week in. There many days/weeks/months ahead for things to develop. Relationships to be explored and characters to have scenes together. eg seeing Smitty at the Dupree house -how does he interact with the family etc? If that twin thing was mentioned, that was poor planning. How much better for the story to gather momentum and then drop a mention that Ted is a twin. Agree about the men's haircuts and Bill/Vanessa's house -way too generic and cheap looking. And the baby in the elevator-not the best choice to interest in a character many are already bored with. Maybe if we had seen that woman before interacting with Ashley and she was given some sort of backstory there might be more of a care factor.

I think the wholesale cast changes were the result of a few factors. The belief that faithful viewers would stick by the show no matter what (usually an older, less desirable demographic). A misguided belief that a bunch of new young characters in more plot driven stories would attract new younger viewers. Well a chunk of long term viewers did stick with GL but I would wager a number gave up when their favorites disappeared one by one. Some new viewers enjoyed the goings on but perhaps weren't as faithful as the old guard. If you enjoyed Tony and Annabelle for example, they were done and dusted in a couple of years. Beth and Phillip, Rick and Mindy, Reva and Josh, Quint and Nola were also split up or moved on. Shorter storylines meant less engagement.

So far in terms of location shooting we have seen The opening sequence when Nicole drove up to the Country Club The car crash sequence Naomi and Chelsea in the park Bill and Naomi in the park Is 'the park' part of the studio lot? Hopefully they will keep up with location shoots sprinkled through each week. Adds some variety and realism.

Roger and Fran met when he played Ken and she played Peggy.

By Mid 85 the transformation of GL under Kobe/Long was complete. The departure of Trish and Katie meant the last of any characters from previous regimes onscreen had been pretty much completed. Only Ed (recast) Ross, Maureen and Vanessa remained as main characters. I don't count Phillip or Rick as they had been children in the past. In two years to have pretty much decimated the cast was no small accomplishment.

Did any independent stations pick up GL or AW in those markets? I have seen that happen elsewhere.

Mixed feelings about the cliffhanger. If it's a fantasy that would leave a sour taste but if not, what will be the fallout? If it's all brushed aside then BTG is already leaning into the trope that has destroyed other soaps of letting criminal/psycho acts be brushed aside. Dani would be arrested and need professional help after pulling a stunt like that.

First glimpse of Diego gave me Derek 2.0 vibes. Nicole and Vanessa all hot and bothered at the sight of him - no. agree.

Bill is a big unit- Hayley gotta look up. From the writing and the actress' performance I am not getting what Bill finds so special about Hayley that he finally ditched his marriage . He told his daughter 'I fell in love' but I'm not feeling it. Hayley's glitter top and sprayed on pants were giving me Y&R fashion vibes. YUCK I agree,having characters baldly declare how incredible someone is, that they see everyday was annoying. And too many factoids dropped in eg Jacob's dad is police chief made the dialogue clunky. Wk 2 awaits.

Did she mean that they had to retape scenes for 17 eps? I can't believe it would be possible to tape 17 shows in a week.

As the 84/75 season progressed the A Team held strong but WTB was growing. eg by April 85 A Team was #16 WTB was #27 and 3s A Crowd was #36 Wk ending May 5 A Team was back to #10 but WTB was up to #16 3s A Crowd was #36 so WTB was on fire. Interestingly when ABC announced their fall line up Diff'rent Strokes scheduled for 8pm Tues He's The Mayor 8.30 WTB Tues 9pm and Growing Pains 9.30 Changing the Tues lineup worked for ABC. In the new season WTB/Pains/Moonlighting beat A Team/Riptide from the get go.

Tuesday was an interesting night from a scheduling point of view ABC dominated for years with the comedy block but let those shows age with no refreshing. The hit shows they introduced in protected slots eg Taxi, Too Close for Comfort and 9 to 5 were moved elsewhere. NBC by design or luck launched the A Team when ABC was fading and NBC immediately had 8pm in the bag. Still#3 they didn't have much else to offer, Bare Essence couldn't capitalize on A Team's ratings and Remington Steele did slightly better. Next season NBC placed Riptide @9 which complemented A Team and sent 3's Company out of the Top 10. ABC could only offer Just Our Luck which flopped @8. It looked like NBC had a stranglehold on Tues, especially when ABC scheduled Paper Dolls. But ABC saw A Team was fading and moved Who's The Boss which boosted the night-then Growing Pains and Moonlighting. A team fell to #30 and Riptide even further. ABC was back, but NBC weren't finished yet ...Matlock and In The Heat of the Night to come...

Already posted.

I think Ron and Jamey's 'love' for soaps comes from watching in the 80's and thinking that soaps are all about shocking twists involving evil twins, split personalities, brainwashing/amnesia and various other done to death stories that can keep things popping rather than well written characters whose motivations and actions keep things moving. Not interested or caring much about how these shows came to be or what kept viewers tuning in. Before Leah Laiman and James Reilly, Bill Bell and Pat Falken Smith wrote Days for years and established those shows and I doubt Ron and Jamey would know much about them.

That's great . Thanks so much.

James Houghton's (Greg Foster)death means the first of the original Brooks/Foster kids is gone. He now joins Robert Clary and Dorothy Green as deceased original cast members. Robert Colbert (Stuart) and Julianna McCarthy (Liz) are still with us at ages 93 and 95 respectively.

Hardly a mention of Dani, Anita and Vernon. Will they be on less or is this deliberately keeping some things back?

That's what made the Ashley/Derek story seem so out of place. Maybe keep that to the second week.The first we see of Ashley is a nurse at Laura's bedside and then in Wk 2 we find out more. Same with the brief 'role play' story with Vanessa. That can be introduced down the line. My main beef ATM is the gay story. First there is no chem b/w the two. Martin's acting is subpar. To have them married with teen kids seems a missed opportunity to explore 2 guys living together but realizing the goals are different. It all seemed a little too hetero for me. And the lack of affection when other characters are cavorting/kissing seemed suspect. Defenders will say it illustrates the gulf b/w them but that might work had Martin rebuffed Smitty or just gave a lifeless kiss.

GL was always a one family show and the Bauers were pretty limited with only Mike and Ed, who by the 80's were aging and had been through several marriages. There were only 2 grandchildren Hope and Rick. Meta and Trudy were long gone and they had no children either. Doyg Marland recognized that and brought in a new family-the Reardons with a number of siblings to provide story for years.But he kept the Bauers present. Wisely, he introduced the Reardons slowly .First Bea and Nola, then Tony and Maureen, with others offsscreen. Maureen married into the Bauers. That was the setup but Kobe/Long were not interested. They basically wanted to create a new show and get their own characters onscreen. Slowly previous characters were dropped and those that remained were used to service the new characters /stories rather than respect their history. The Reardons, set up for years of story,were pretty much gone. Tony/Annabelle were there for one plot based story and then written out, as was Jim. Nola exited. Mike, Hope, Hilary were dumped. It was not a wise move to decimate the foundation of the show for newbies, many of whom were shortlived also. By 85 there was hardly anyone with more than a few years on the show left.

@DRW50 thanks for posting. Don't thjnk a new thread is necessary. OFH had a good cast and an interesting premise but couldn't hold on to Moonlighting's ratings In Wk1 OFH was #51 coming off Moonlighting #22 Remington Steele on NBC was #20. Wk 2 saw OFH fall to #62 while Remington was #30 and CBS movie #35 Moonlighting won its timeslot up against Riptide and the movie but viewers were switching over at 10. ABC quickly swapped OFH with Spencer for Hire ,which had been languishing on Fri night. Moonlighting was #19 and Spenser jumped to #41 way better than what OFH had been doing. Remington dropped to #39 as a result.

That's where I see a Guiding Light radio reboot dealing with an inner urban multi cultural setting to be different enough to command attention.

Already behind. Just finished ep3 which I found a little dull. The scene with Vanessa and Zeke and the 2 men in the car seemed out of place. Vanessa was there as a talk to and I don't think we need to delve into her story as yet. As for the 2 guys WTF? A brief scene b/w 2 new characters-not needed. I liked the outdoor sister scenes, I guess that was outside the studio? Hope they can incorporate more, provides variety. Martin's acting prowess is suspect at this stage. Of the two sisters Naomi was stronger. Dana and Mona were fine but nurse mom is bland. Andre explaining his past to people who know was forced. Maybe had it been an anniversary or a parents birthday etc it would have made the dialogue more natural. Dani's on her umpteenth costume change and evertbody else still in the same duds.