Bill Bauer

On 8/19/2021 at 11:20 PM, All My Shadows said:

I toured Southfork last month, and the tour guide very candidly said that Victoria was the only cast member that the long-serving staff there personally could not stand to deal with. Each room of the house is devoted to a main Ewing character, but Pam is the only one missing - tour guide said it was because Victoria would not approve of her image being used in the house. Not sure how true that is, given that there were full cast pictures throughout the estate/museum.

She spoke fondly about everyone else, but she did acknowledge Larry was an alcoholic, and you either surfed those waves with him or you didn't. Patrick and Charlene seem to have been the real favorites over the years. Charlene's daughter was married on the ranch a while back.

I did the tour as well. What struck me most was how tiny the area where they had the Ewing Barbecues was in real life. It seemed like a much bigger area on screen. 

On 11/30/2021 at 7:02 PM, Mitch said:

Wow...slutting around with a married guy..did she even love David or was it just to get the kid..and then killing someone! She sounds worse then Lisa at her height of bitchiness!  Meaning I think I would have liked her. She could have made such an interesting character and she was just a dull frau.  I can't believe during their little annoyance with each other that Ellen didn't bring up that Lisa was a slut and Lisa could say "Well honey, I never MURDERED anyone!" and the Ellen slap her...making Kim and Bob rattle their tea cups! I know, a bit too intense for Marland and polite Oakdale. They should have at least given Ellen a wistfull air or a temper.

The Lisa/Ellen feud went way back to when Ellen was trying to get custody of Dan. Lisa was very against what Ellen was doing and let her know it. It didn't help that Penny and Ellen were best friends and Penny couldn't stand Lisa either in those days. Then, the animosity got a lot deeper when Lisa had an affair with (and a baby by) Ellen's stepfather, Michael Shea. The affair turned Claire into a suicidal lush and pretty much destroyed her. Ellen never forgave Lisa for what she did to her mother. 

On 11/30/2021 at 1:27 PM, Mitch said:

I always thought they wrote poor Ellen as a dud and Bruder could have done much better with the character..especially with her wild past.  Was she preggers and gave the baby up on screen..if she was a widow why give the kid away? Also, how did she get into David's orbit...and how did Frannie die and was she murdered by someone else? I always thought they should bring back a relative of Frannie, maybe a son to date Dee or Annie (instead of the dreaded Porny Brad) or grandson to date Betsy...or have someone become the Stewarts maid and its her granddaughter gaslighting Ellen. So much history there but poor Ellen was always a dud.

Yes, she was pregnant and gave the baby up on screen. She didn't want to give the baby (Dan) up but was pressured to by Judge Lowell because she wasn't married to the father (Tim Cole) at the time. He was married to someone else. So she gave the baby up for adoption. Tim subsequently got a divorce and married Ellen but died soon after from leukemia. It was only after Tim's death that Ellen decided to try and get her baby back. David and Betty had adopted Ellen's baby. That's how she got into David's orbit. She tried to get Dan back from David and Betty. Betty died from pneumonia and then Ellen married David. So, she married her baby's adoptive father. Franny Brennan, the Stewarts housekeeper, threatened to tell Dan that Ellen was his real mom (she was hiding that fact from Dan). So Ellen killed Franny by bashing her over the head with a paperweight. 

14 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

Was just thinking about Ellen Lowell Stewart and the number of people close to her that died.

1. As a young woman, she lost her father Jim suddenly.

2. Then she marries Tim, the father of her child but he dies leaving her a widow.

3. Then Betty Stewart, adoptive mother of her son dies

4. Her best friend Penny's husband Jeff dies in a car crash.

5. David's housekeeper Franny dies and she is accused of murder.

6. Her stepfather Doug dies suddenly.

7. Penny's 2nd husband Neil dies

8, 9, 10.Daughter in law Liz, and stepson Paul both die and a few years later her son Dan passes away

11. She is widowed for the 2nd time when David dies.

probably a few more could be included. Ellen probably had a selection of black outfits at the ready.

You forgot her mother Claire. 

On ATWT, although I preferred Julianne Moore's Frannie over Mary Ellen Stuart's Frannie, Moore looked nothing like her mother played by Gillian Spencer but, in my opinion, Stuart looked just like her (especially when Spencer had blonde hair). However, Kim Onasch definitely looked like she could have been Julianne Moore's niece. Also, the baby who played Adam looked like it could have been Benjamin Hendrickson's real life baby. 

21 hours ago, j swift said:

John Waters on camp (from an interview with The Face - August, 2019)

Does “camp” still mean anything today?
"If you know, if you’re in on it, it can’t be camp. It has to be something innocent that tried to be good, that was so bad, like the movie Boom! (1968). That’s the true meaning of the word."

I think Waters was trying to defend his movies from being labeled as simple "camp" by splitting hairs about the definition of camp. However, few people would argue that John Waters movies aren't campy or that he was was innocent to the fact that he was making something intentionally bad. I'm talking about his early material. 

7 hours ago, j swift said:

I get what you mean because camp should be unintentional

John Waters would disagree with you.

5 hours ago, Mitch said:

And DO NOT f*ck with Nancy Hughes here...bitch would take a few seconds from mixing the cake batter to freeze you to death with that cold stare! I love it and Wagner must have had fun playing it as she always was colder then Charita...

 

I'll have to respectfully disagree there. Charita could play cold better than anybody and she played Bert as very cold for most of the character's run. Way colder than Nancy ever was. 

18 minutes ago, soapfave06 said:

Was anything interesting actually said? 

Not much. Locher just retreaded the same old tired stories about her almost pulling out the pregnancy pillow on live TV, getting hit by the irate fan, having her recite her married names, etc. It honestly was just like all the other interviews you've seen with her in the past. Just with an older Eileen and a befuddled interviewer. Not much tea was spilled. 

22 hours ago, Nicholas Blair said:

Elizabeth would be killed off on the stairs; Susan had left the child barrier open after her visit, and Elizabeth, rushing to rescue her daughter, injured a vital organ and died. 

Liz was trying to save Emily, not Betsy. Betsy was not a toddler then. Emily was. 

Wasn't Hugh Marlow the one who was always flubbing up his lines? He probably blamed it on Dwyer. Sorry, but Hugh Marlow had no room to criticize someone else's acting skills. 

5 hours ago, Frank2803 said:

Any theories why Knots is not on the streaming platforms?

I know the first two seasons were released on DVD after that nothing more 

I have no idea if it's true or not, but I read that it's because of all the songs Ciji/Cathy sang. They didn't want to pay music royalties. There might be some truth to that if they only released the first two seasons. Didn't Ciji first appear in Season 3?

9 hours ago, Frank2803 said:

Actually Knots being the better soap is a popular opinion especially as time has gone on 

Knots not being on any home media or streaming services has really hurt its legacy 

I agree. I don't think it's an unpopular opinion. Maybe if you're just going by ratings at the time. Knots Landing, I believe, has more enduring fans who feel more passionate about it than Dallas does despite the fact that it's not readily available on a modern format. Although I liked Dallas ok, Knots Landing was much more intelligent, complex and interesting. Dallas got extremely repetitive and boring after the first few seasons. 

I just saw No Time to Die. Billy did a great job in it. 

On 10/8/2021 at 11:51 PM, DRW50 said:

This scene really sums up much of what was pushing me  away from GL at this time - shrillness,  unpleasantness, a slew of bad recasts, etc. Thank goodness for Michael  Zaslow  and for Maeve Kinkead and Maureen Garrett bringing some heart to the last minute or so. A world away  from that lousy Billy recast cracking me up as he walks on tables. 

Much as I generally l liked Dylan, there was also something satisfying about the  show remembering that given  his many years of training, Roger could whoop his ass.

Well that was certainly a busy scene, wasn't it? It was like watching an emotional orgy. 

2 hours ago, j swift said:

To be fair, it was entirely within character to be in a relationship with unsavory men who made big promises, but were unappreciative of all of things that Lisa had to offer.  She had guys disappear, she married the mob, and then she believed John Dixon's lies, and finally got caught up with Martin Chedwyn.  So, she was never very good at picking the right kind of guy.

Even though she already had money, Whit brought with him a very nice house, somewhat loyal staff, and a newspaper.  From her time at the bookstore, Lisa displayed a love of reading, and writers.  So, perhaps the thought of a career in print media was appealing?

Yeah, but all those guys had some redeeming qualities except for Martin (but he was pretending to be somebody he wasn't).  I just never saw Whit's redeeming qualities. Every time I saw him, he just seemed like an abusive blowhard and never pretended to be anything different. 

55 minutes ago, AbcNbc247 said:

I'm so glad those episodes of Walter and Lenore's wedding managed to survive being wiped. 

Yes! Especially since AW seems to be one of the least preserved shows. There is basically nothing, even in the museums, pre-1979. I consider the first ten years of AW to be one of the best stretches of soap opera (if not the best) in the history of soap opera and it's all just gone with the wind.  

It does seem odd that Lisa would marry a man who seemingly had no redeeming qualities. She was often swept away in romantic emotionalism but she was always too feisty to allow herself to be dominated by an abusive man and Whit seemed very abusive. The only exception to this would be Michael Shea but Lisa was forced into that marriage. Was Betsy von Furstenberg playing Lisa the entire time she was Whit? I could sort of see the Lisa as she was portrayed by von Furstenberg putting up with Whit's crap. 

11 hours ago, DramatistDreamer said:

86 was a hot summer, for sure, for many characters.

 

I think 1986 was the best year for the show. There was absolutely nothing that was fast-forward material. Followed closely by 1987. That's a limited opinion since I didn't first-hand witness every year and only know the synopses of every year. 

14 hours ago, DramatistDreamer said:

 Prinz was on the show before Din Hastings' arrival, no? It felt wrong not to have Penny Hughes, one have of daytime drama's first big romantic couple not make an appearance to mark the serial's ending.

Yes. Prinz was in the original cast in 1956. Hastings joined in 1960 when Bob was SORASed. There were MANY things that felt wrong about the show towards the end. Forgetting important characters was just one of those things. I mean, I can sort of get that if you have a tight budget you can't bring back a lot of actors. But were Donald and Penny even MENTIONED when their mother died? The only reason Frannie was mentioned toward the end is because Julianne Moore was making an appearance. If she wasn't coming in, they would have kept pretending like she never existed. As I said before, I remember the Frannie/Sabrina Haiti reference so well because I was shocked they even mentioned them after so long. Looking back, I do believe the mention was to sort of remind the audience who they were before Julianne Moore's appearance. ATWT towards the end became this bizarre world of unrecognizable newbies and people who had no connection to their own past. 

14 hours ago, DramatistDreamer said:

 

Betsy was sort of seeing Rod in a quasi-platonic way when Steve finally served her with divorce papers sometime in autumn 87, probably close to the time his dream house in Ruxton Hills went up in flames.

 

It seems like Marland really hated the character of Steve. He broke up his marriage, framed him for murder, burned down his dream house and sentenced him to 25 years in a Greek prison. 

4 hours ago, DramatistDreamer said:

Maybe it's me and my suspicious nature, but sometimes it feels as if some folks have a stake in vigorously protecting the P&G brand, as if it's their job.  What have they actually done to inspire such unflagging loyalty? They couldn't even drop a few seasons worth of classic episodes in decent digital visual quality.

 

Please don't take this the wrong way, I appreciate you taking the time to respond but I have to be honest, I'm not going to sift through that, as it's the era that I despise the most. That would be akin to torture for me. No biggie, I was only mildly curious anyway. Thanks, but no thanks.

LOL. I don't blame you at all! When I get to that time period in my chronological watching, I'm sure I'll skip through everything that doesn't feature the Hughes family. Like I said, if I come across the reference I'll let you know but it might be a while and, like I also said, by that time we'll have forgotten this bit of trivia.  

1 minute ago, DramatistDreamer said:

Wasn't ATWT off the air by September 2010? How would Dr. Bob have mentioned it in a Thanksgiving speech? Can someone fill me in? When would Frannie and Sabrina in Haiti have been mentioned?

Hey DD,

Yeah, I mentioned it was probably a Thanksgiving or Christmas episode because that's when they usually mentioned missing family members. However, since the Haitian earthquake was in January 2010, Julianne Moore returned in April 2010 and the show was off the air in September 2010, I think the Haiti mention was probably sometime in February or March (since ATWT taped in advance). If all the February and March 2010 episodes are up on YouTube, and you have the patience to go through them, you'll probably find the mention in there somewhere. I would just skip to all the Hughes scenes though. I'm sure it was Bob or Kim who mentioned it. Now, I'm not 100% sure of this so please don't get mad at me if you sift through all those episodes and it's not there.  I'm currently going through the entire series but I'm only up to 1999 so it might take me a while to get there. But, when I do, and I hear the reference, I'll let you know. Although by the time I get there both you and I will have forgotten about this I'm sure.  

10 hours ago, Vee said:

Why on Earth do the Wikipedia/SOC entries for Frannie and Sabrina say they went to Haiti together in 2010? I don't recall a single mention of either Haiti or Sabrina in Frannie's very brief appearance at the end of the show and I'm pretty sure someone's just writing fanfic again.

Actually, I strangely remember this happening (my ability to store soap trivia is near savant level). I can't remember the exact year but I remember there had been some big disaster in Haiti in real life that was all over the news. It was either a hurricane or an earthquake or something. At that time, it was very briefly mentioned only once that Frannie and Sabrina had gone to Haiti from Montega to assist in the relief efforts. I think Bob and Kim were talking about it. Probably at Thanksgiving or Christmas when they explain the absence of family members.  It stood out so in my mind because it was so random. Frannie and Sabrina hadn't been mentioned in years. There was only that one mention of it. Maybe two mentions. But that was it. 

Actually, I looked at Haiti's natural disasters and they had a massive earthquake in January 2010 which killed up to 316,000 people so that was probably it since that's huge. I think that was it. They might have mentioned Frannie and Sabrina so randomly because Julianne Moore was planning on coming back that April for her guest appearance. They usually start mentioning an old character if they're planning on coming back. The timeline would be right. 

14 minutes ago, Neil Johnson said:

I can't imagine Mary Matthews and Lenore Curtain in the same universe as this garbage.    My opinion only.     

Others share the same opinion. Me included. But AW post-1980 wasn't even the same show as AW pre-1980. I look at it as two different shows. 

1 hour ago, Mitch said:

Yea, all of the characters previously mentioned plus, some guy who Lisa had taken under her wing..he was an ex con and Doug Cummings killed him. I liked him and he and Fulton had a weird younger man/older woman chemistry. I remember her saying she was pushing for them to get together, and then he was murdered and she was. "They made me wear black and cry and mourn and I never got to sleep with him!"

I believe you're referring to Cal Randolph.