DeliaIrisFan

Awww, I wouldn't say that. I think she played the concept of Faith as she was originally written, but after she had crashed and burnt and then healed and come out of it a stronger person. I guess it was a very '70s idea that a few months of therapy could really repair a person who was that damaged so completely, but it was "hopeful" (no pun intended) and I think where the character came from was always incorporated into her stories. Plus, maybe in part because she reminded me physically of Sandy Dennis, I always thought a little bit of the repressed crazy was still there, somewhat beneath the surface. Also, Faith stayed remarkably down-to-earth and mousy considering they cast an actress who would go on to play Marilyn. I could totally buy that Pat should have gone for Faith and he'd have been very happy, but he got bored - whereas Delia walking around the Ryan household in various states of undress throwing herself at him made him completely horny and her pretending that she couldn't cope without him gratified his male ego. (I'm not saying this was pretty, but it was believable.) CH's Faith was just about the only one of Delia's rivals whom I genuinely felt sorry for (Jill and Mary could be so self-righteous and hypocritical). But not too sorry, because I knew that Faith was together enough that she didn't need Pat or any man, and as heartbroken as she was, she knew that she didn't, as well. Incidentally, I've just started watching this (presumably last) go-round of Ryan's Hope on SoapNet, and I'm really glad that I'm getting to see CH's run as Faith one last time. While I had every intention of tuning back into OLTL and maybe even AMC until the end, and I do feel very sad that those shows are going off the air, the idea that these 35 year-old episodes of RH that I've already seen at least once will never air again on TV after this year actually has had at least more of an immediate impact on me. Incidentally, I can't quite believe that it's been over 10 years since I saw these episodes the first time SN rebroadcast them, but I'm enthralled all over again. Incidentally, thanks for posting these articles. All very interesting - even Michael Hawkins, who was pretty sexy when he wasn't fumbling over his lines.

From what I've seen of this show on YouTube and the old WOST site - especially that horrendous final episode - and everything I've read about the various phases it went through during the revolving door of writers and cast members, I can see how people would have watched this show but never really fell in love with it to the point that it was their favorite show. It seemed like everything it tried to do had already been done - and done better - on another show. The spy/mystery stuff that Slesar tried to do had already been done better on Edge of Night; the soapy young love stuff had been done before on so many other shows, often even with actors instead of models being cast; and sadly even the political stuff was done better on Ryan's Hope, which wasn't even set in DC and had to keep coming up with political scandals to wreck Frank Ryan's latest campaign so he could stay on the show! And then of course the laughable nonsense at the end involving the made-up Middle Eastern monarchy to which the blonde Irish hunk was the long lost heir to the throne, culminating in the show's longtime heroine facing a firing squad, had never quite been done on a soap because it should not have been done. Too bad...this show seems like it had so much potential. The DC setting should have been better used, because the initial concept for the show, with the feud between two political families dating back to the McCarthy hearings - has anyone before or since on a soap ever discussed the McCarthy hearings? - was really groundbreaking. From what I know of John Conboy, it seems like he was the wrong producer to realize a groundbreaking concept, though, because he seemed to prefer style over substance. Why wouldn't they just come right out and say that the McCandlesses were Democrats and the Cleggs were Republicans (McCarthy was a Republican...it seemed pretty obvious) so they could do genuine political stories with depth that actually pushed the envelope? CBS primetime was successful at the time with political shows like Murphy Brown and Designing Women, which featured characters openly and frankly discussing politics every week and the audiences loving them. And why on earth did a show set in DC (OK, I know it was a fictitious Virginia suburb of DC, but close enough) in the '80s not have any black characters? It seems like this show just took the worst cliches of soaps and transplanted them into the DC political setting, and the writing and acting were not consistent enough to compete with other shows that were already doing it better.