Quent

This started me thinking...what ATWT recast best captured the spirit of their predecessor?

I know there was a memorial for Ben Hendrickson, but I've never heard anything about it. I was curious about who attended, what was said, who spoke, etc. Have there been any written pieces about the memorial?

Walters was so bland he faded into the woodwork. A hunk who was brought in for no other reason than to be a hunk. Maybe that's why they made the Taylor/Batten switch. Could anyone really believe that ART's Connor would be content with this airhead Kasnoff?

Every new writing team wants to create their "legacy family". Sometimes it works (The Snyders) and sometimes it doesn't (The Kasnoffs). The K's had several problems. One, there was no Matriarch or Patriarch figure. Two, it was built around por actors. I guess they were trying to duplicate building the family up from the hunk (Mike/Holden) involved with the heiress (Rosanna/Lily), but lightning didn't strike twice. And Sarah Kasnoff...don't even get me started.

I started watching ATWT at the end of the Margaret Colin era. I remember having a little crush on her, and vowed to stop watching when she left. I HATED HBS at first, but she soon won me over, and became my favorite Margo. The Margo/Tom/Barbara triangle was wonderful, partly because of the Smith/Marx chemistry, but also because Zenk and Smith played their rivalry with delicious venom. When Marx left, the chemistry between Margo and the new Tom (Holmes) was almost non-existant. I know we were supposed to want Margo and Tom back together, but I was rooting for Margo/Hal all the way, because their scenes were just so natural, not like the forced Margo/Tom scenes. When ED took over as Margo, she had more chemistry with Scott, but the T/M glory days had already passed.

P.S. Never cared for Justin Deas' Tom. He epitomised the term "over-rated".

I thought the first year of Lily/Rose was excellent. Martha richly deserved that Emmy for creating two distinct characters, without the old fallback of one being good , the other evil. MB's best work was as Rose pretending to be Lily. Her observations about Lily's life were prriceless. I remember when she met Abigail, thinking to herself..."Wait a minute, I know I'm not old enough to be HER mother". I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of year one of the twins.

The problem was that after everything was sorted out, Rose should have moved on. While Year One gave Martha a chance to play the equally troubling trevails of both ladies, Year Two made Lily drab and uninteresting to contrast with the colorful Rose (Remember how Lily dressed in nothing but brown colors constantly?) Also, pairing her with Paul was a mistake. Scott Holroyd was my favorite Paul Ryan, but he seemed way too young for Rose.

Although the clips above happened WAY before, whenever I see Susan, Emily and Alison together, I think of when poor Mama Stewart learned that her two daughters were a prostitute and a meth-addict porn star. Happy Mothers Day, Susan!

I saw the recent comments about Frank Runyeon. Boy, I hadn't thought about him in years, until I got the recently released DVD. I have mixed feelings on FR. On the one hand, I can see what a ham he was in his prime. "Angry Steve" and "Romantic Steve" chewed scenery like nobody's business. But maybe that's what the show needed at the time. I know the Steve/Betsy/Craig triangle was what first lured me into watching the show. It was a solid two years of an adventure ride , and I loved it at the time.

The Marland Era had many casualties among ATWT vets who were there before Doug arrived, and FR was chief among them. I don't know if this was deliberate planning on the part of Marland, or if he saw that Runyeon and Betsy-replacement Lindsay Frost had no spark, and just decided to cut his losses.

On a side-note, thanks for posting the "Return Of Shannon" clips. Although the follow-up storyline was poor, the initial appearance of Shannon was one of the last times ATWT COMPLETELY surprised me. I was floored when she appeared at that police station . Margaret Reed was the only soap star I ever sent a fa letter to (to which she graciously replied), so I was thrilled to see her back.

juppiter, I have to agree with John. Kiberd was pretty god as a temporary Hal, but Mantooth was just awful. I've like RM in many other roles, but he just made Hal as boring as possible. There was another guy who filled in for BH twice who was very good, but I can't remember his name.

Then again, no one could REALLY replace Ben Hendrickson.

Well for worn-out ATWT phrases , the record had to be held by either "the truth about Adam", when his paternity was hidden, or "the search for Sierra" when she was missing in the wilds of Montega.

Just curious if anyone has seen the reunion DVDs of Dark Shadows. I saw the 30th and 35th reunions, and they're fun to watch. Alexandra Moltke only appeared at one of these get-togethers, and the years haven't really been kind. Lara Parker and Kathryn Leigh Scott, however, seem to have found the fountain of youth. The stories the cast tells are very funny, and everyone seems to agree that Jonathan Frid NEVER could get his lines straight.

I loved that first year of the dual roles, where Martha truly earned her Emmy. Watching Rose play Lily was fun, as Rose tried to digest the details of the Princess' life. I remember her running into Abigail, thinking to herself "Okay, I KNOW I'm not old enough to have a daughter that age!" My favorite scene was when Holden learned the woman he was sleeping with was not Lily. Rose reverted back to her Jersey ways, and a disgusted Holden screamed at her "Is that REALLY what you sound like?"

It's funny how some dual roles can be tremendous (ATWT's Lily/Rose, Frannie/Sabrina, AMC's Adam/Stuart) and some are just dreadful (B&B's Amber/April, AW's Rachel/Justine. ATWT's Gwen/Cleo).

Does anyone know if it's possible to view or purchase the pilot for "Loving"? The pilot was given a prime-time slot, and had guest stars Lloyd Bridges and Geraldine Fitzgerald. I'm most interested in the actor John Shearin , who played Roger. Any info appreciated!

Although no one could fill the shoes of Ben Hendrickson as Hal Munson, I thought one of his replacements was good (James Kiberd) and one was terrible (Randy Mantooth).

So Karl Giralmo tested for the role of Luke before then playing the object of Luke's affections? Wow, I think I would have liked to see that. He would have brought a less stereotypical vibe to the role, and he was a major hunk.

I can definitely see Philip Brown as Clint Buchanan, but no way could he play Ben Warren. By the way, in all those commercials he's currently in, he doesn't seem to have aged one bit.

BERT CONVY as BARNABAS COLLINS? You have to be pulling our legs on that one!

I watched the original series way back. Like many, I ran home from school to catch it. I started watching in the middle of Victoria Winters journey into the past, and I LOVED that story. Barnabas/Josette, Vicky/Peter Bradford, Nathan Forbes conning Millicent, loyal Ben Stokes, and the luminous addition of Angelique who had great screen presence. I was a DS fan from that day forward.

My sister saw the show from the beginning, and she says that pre-Barnabas DS was quite good, but not as over-the-top as post-Barnabas. I know it involves someone named Laura who was a Phoenix. My question to you guys is this: would it be worth looking at those old episodes, or would it be a disappointment?

On a totally unrelated note, I remember a child actress who played a character named Sarah. As I recall it (from 40 years later!) , she was constantly forgetting her lines, almost to the point where it became hysterical. Am I remembering this correctly, or is my mind playing tricks on me?

When I was a little kid, EON was the first soap I ever saw. Even then, I was intrigued by the "mystery" elements of it. I must have watched a much-earlier time than those of you posting, though. When I watched, the stars were Mike Karr and his new wife Nancy. I remember names like Martha Marceau, Cookie Capice, Orrin Hillyer and Adam Drake. The storyline I remember best was the Stephanie Martin murder case, where everyone in town had a motive to kill the psycho Stephanie. Nicole Travis was the prime suspect. It was mystery at its best, and Donald May (Adam) and Maeve McGuire (Nicole) had chemistry in spades!

I loved the first time-travel story, and thought Alexandra Moltke brought a wonderful quality to the role of Vicky. The Tom/Chris Jennings story was great, too. Guess I'm in a minority, but I didn't mind the Adam and Eve story. I absolutely HATED the parallel time tale, though. I know Jonathan Frid was the star of the show, but the most essential character to me was Angelique/Cassandra. Lara Parker stole every scene she was in!