Contessa Donatella

Okay, but that is not definite. What is definite is NOT Victoria Lord or like her & she does have some kind of history that we don't know about with Monica. (I'm kind of rubbing my hands together with glee thinking about this idea of Erica Slezak soon playing a whole new, I hope, challenging role, even if short arc.)

Brenda doppelgangers! Brenda bots! Michael & Willow were definitely carrying on while she was pretending to be with Chase because she thought he might be dying. But, I don't see either karma or irony. Michael & Willow were both clear that they wanted to be with each other & would be as soon as they finished this pity pretending when Chase died.

Why in the world would Van not recognize Holly?

Well, just d'oh. What can I say? I had her filed in my head as a Frame & I was just gloriously wrong.

Gwen is a Frame.

I wanted to be able to choose either Richard Bekins or Stephen Yates. What does a girl have to do around this joint to get a question asked that she actually wants to answer!!! Oh, crap, Cass, of course. Gwen was kinda cool. Did anyone really buy those romances with Ada?

You & EFulton have the situation well in hand. I have been meaning for a few days to make this post. I know that some of you know but maybe not everyone does. In 1999, 2000 & 2001, some of us, AW fans, raised money to get a Central Park Bench. The fan who spearheaded this effort put it this way. To provide a permanent memorial site that could be visited. It took us that long to come up with $5000 & that next year when we got together, which we did in June 2000 & 2001. We held a dedication ceremony. There is a plaque. There are step by step directions. People go & while there, they take a picture & send it to me. But, my friend Barry even made an appt with Lemay. They met at his apartment & he signed some books. Then they walked to a nearby restaurant, ate., more talk, went back & stayed just a little longer. B

I didn't understand the unfairness idea, either. I was hoping Xanthe might expand. I just thought it was pretty much a yes or no thing, either a certain writer created that character or they did not, because presumably someone else already did. Is there a grey area?

"My memories say hello. They ask about you all the time."

And, next I suppose you're going to tell us that Van does stand-up.

Emmy-winning casting director, Mark T. hit another home run!!

Truly, Nola, as a successful romance novelist would have been a dream vehicle for that character!!! And, actually, even if she were struggling, to get established, if she had writer's block, hey, it would all be great story fodder. I think sometimes that our soaps came to be failing from impoverished imaginations. So many characters in tiny, bland boxes & only able to do or not do certain painfully proscribed things & not anything other.

That would have been fabulous. Mitch's AlternaLight continues to grow ... Personally loved Nola, Bridget, sharing of Peter, Van ...

Hmm, agree to disagree. I put Pilon way down below many bars. I understand the critique of Raines, although I personally think he suffers as badly as he does among so many fans because he followed someone who was so dayum good!!! I find the same to be true of Marj. Bernau & Bev, superlatives, beyond the best that one could be, etc. I know I'm biased but to me GL's Best & Brightest were, in no particular order: Bernau, McKinsey, Zaslow, Garrett & Kinkead. (Apropos of nothing in particular.)

If I understand correctly Jean Passanante did so in the midwest & created Janet Ciccone on ATWT as a representation of herself. Wait, this is the reverse of what you asked. She did grow up around ... Oops.

THANKS!!! I'll catch this up.

XANADU is marvelous beyond compare! Or alternately, me, three! That's where I was. Loved Forbes!!!! I love it!!! Alan is only on firm ground when he has some real life reason to KNOW THAT MATERIAL. He'd do so much better if he really did research when he doesn't already have intel on a who or a what!

I believe this represents the Harding "Pete" Lemay Character Creation: Amanda, Sharlene, Josie, Sally, Willis, Sven, Janice, Emma, Iris, Elliot, Dennis, Olive, Brian, Robert, Tracy, Gil, David, Larry, Clarice, Gwen, Louise, Beatrice, Vivienne, Angie, Joey, Rose, Eileen, and Blaine (If you have corrections or additions, lemme have 'em. Thanks.) According to Schemering 1977-1978 AW was 2nd with an 8.6/28 share where ATWT was 1st with an 8.6/31 share. The Lemay years were known for good ratings. 72-73 3rd 9.7/33 73-74 2nd 9.7/32 74-75 2nd 9.7/31 75-76 2nd 8.9/30 76-77 2nd 9.0/29 77-78 2nd 8.6/28 78-79 8th 7.5/25 Mar. 5th '79 1st 90 min. show. March 5th, 1979 was really a remarkable day for soaps. NBC - AW - 1st 90 min. show & death of John Randolph CBS - GL - Roger raped Holly ABC - OLTL - Karen Wolek took the witness stand in a trial. The Wonderful World of TV Soap Operas by Robert LaGuardia. Ballantine Books: New York. ©1974 by Random House, Inc. It took Harding “Pete” Lemay, however, a skilled playwright who thoroughly believed in the heretofore unexplained psychological potential of the daytime serial, to transform Mrs. Nixon’s love-triangle subplot into a balanced story contrasting realistic human behavior and that “other world of fantasy and striving. He found story devices no longer necessary.” For example, Lemay said, “I didn’t feel it was necessary to keep Rachel a black-and-white character. I didn’t see her as a villainess… I saw her instead as a human being who had always had bad breaks and who defeats herself because she is so used to failure. When she lost Steve this last time, I wanted the audience to feel her pain as I felt it. I wanted them to feel her tears. Mr. Lemay, along with his producer, Paul Rauch, should be given an Award for the Greatest Contribution to Daytime Serials, for completely eliminating melodramatic cliche’s in a daytime drama, and for their invaluable demonstration that, what viewers really want is drama based on psychology rather than on escapist melodrama. Under Lemay and Rauch “Another World”, which had previously used many tried-and-true soap opera devices (although fewer than most other shows), got rid of them, employed inward writing, and became one of the top two or three daytime television shows. About the only happy event in “Another World” was the birth of Ada’s daughter, Nancy, named after Ada’s dear friend on her deathbed Nancy Wickwire.

I've always found this quote about Mary Matthews interesting but also perhaps perplexing.

That pic is not bad. Maybe this one from the AW Home Page is slightly better. He did so many roles & then went behind the camera, what a career! And, he never seemed to lose that wonderful smile!

BTW, I never heard, or read, or thought that Dwyer hated Lemay. Maybe it's been said & I missed it. Anyway, this is my very most favorite Mary Matthews/Virginia Dwyer anecdote. I've posted this before, so sorry if it is repetitive to you but we have some new folk, so, ... The Wonderful World of TV Soap Operas by Robert LaGuardia. Ballantine Books: New York. ©1974 by Random House, Inc. “Another World’s” Virginia Dwyer tells an incredible but true story: “I had been playing Mary Matthews for a couple of years. One afternoon I returned home from the studio and began poking around in my clothes closet. Suddenly I reeled from the shock. Every article of clothing in that closet was Mary’s, not mine. Every dress and every coat was exactly her — ultraconservative. I panicked! I scooped all the clothes up in my arms and threw them out! I had forgotten who I was. I had become Mary Matthews.”

I was trying to find out what 2 episodes DAYS won the 1976 Best Writing Emmy for & Jason47 came through for me, fast & in a big way, with what seems to me to be VERY interesting info - and, as always I thank him!! Apparently this year they had a choice to make, an option, they could submit one episode or they could submit themselves for the entire year. First the qualifying period of time ran from March to March, 1975 to 1976. It will be many years before the Academy (NATAS) switches to a calendar year for eligibility. Now, the exact wording of the category at this time. "Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series, for a single episode of a series; or for the entire series." So, I think we should look at all of the nominees: The Edge of Night (series) Henry Slesar The Guiding Light (episode February 3, 1976) Jerome Dobson, Bridget Dobson, Jean Rouverol Days of Our Lives (series) William J. Bell, Kay Lenard, Pat Falken Smith, Bill Rega, Margaret Stewart, Sheri Anderson, Wanda Coleman The Young and the Restless (episode September 5, 1975) William J. Bell, Kay Alden All My Children (series) Agnes Nixon So, GL and Y&R both submitted one specific episode, while EON, DAYS & AMC went all in. Now, we need to talk a bit about the stories that Bell, Sr/PFS explored. First up, the real biggie, the reveal of Mike Horton's true biological paternity! Wesley Eure was playing Mike & as such he was the first young adult Mike, no longer a child. Of course he was SORAS'd but it's difficult to be sure when or by how many years & that complicates the natural question: How long was this secret kept? I've seen 8 years, 12 years & 16 years. I'm confident that it was the longest a 'known by the audience secret' had been kept on DAYS. So, the audience knew all along. Tom & Laura knew all along. Bill knew if not all along, well, pretty close. Kitty found out but Kitty died. Mickey did not know, either that Bill raped Laura or that he himself was sterile. After Mike was injured and needed a blood transfusion, it was revealed that Mickey Horton wasn’t his biological father - Bill Horton was. The fallout was intense: Mickey shot Bill, disowned Mike, and suffered a breakdown. To put it another way, one day all of a sudden Mike learned that his uncle was his dad. Mickey went & got a gun & shot Bill when he learned about the rape. When Mickey had his nervous breakdown, he also vanished. No one in Salem had any idea where he had gone. We the audience learned that he had amnesia, remembered literally nothing, saw 'MH' on his belt buckle & began to call himself Marty Hanson. He also ended up on a nearby farm & became a laborer there for Maggie. Other stories, 1975: Doug & Julie's romance, complicated by Addie becoming a third, although Julie was involved with other men, also. They had a pattern where one would be available but the other would not. Then, they'd switch those positions. Laura Horton became psychologically shaky. Dr. Neil Curtis made his debut in 1974, but by 1975–76, he was becoming a fixture in Salem’s medical and romantic scenes. Melissa, Linda Patterson’s daughter, & Linda herself, were complications for a few people. Bob Anderson, at Anderson Mfg. led to many business moves, power plays, possibly chicanery. He also complicated Julie's romantic life. Just as I would love to see AW's Pete Lemay years over again, I would dearly love to see DAYS Bill Bell Sr. & Pat Falken Smith over again.

Currently on GH I want Marty/Martin (Michael E. Knight) to have the facial hair put back on his face where it belongs! Pronto! I didn't know I needed it until he had it & then it vanished. OY!

I don't think he outright lied, either. He's not perfect, not by a long shot. And, there is no doubt in my mind that at the time he left & then when he was writing this that he was suffering from a classic case of burnout, so we might want to take that into account. I'm not saying he was out of his mind, but he sure wasn't IN his best version of his mind.

I stand corrected. Thanks for the heads up.