Contessa Donatella

And, when Jill FINALLY owned up to being wrong about Mo, in the next breath she said it wasn't her who was responsible for Frankie Frame. She said she could name someone but she wouldn't go there. A month later there she was practically shouting, several times, "Not me, it was the writer!" So much for nobly NOT naming a name.

And Nancy Curlee had a better, also brilliant, idea instead. REF: Locher Room

I thought of her right off the bat. I didn't know she snorts when she laughs. Love that, I do, too. Richard Lewis being gone strangely is like a punch in the stomach.

Really? Amazing. And thanks. Totally news to me.

My opinion of David Canary as a wannabe Steve Frame was so bad. Contrast that with my admiration of him on AMC!

Yes, good point. Any time anyone has any specifics, bring 'em on! They will be appreciated.

Oh, no, groan. Just the thought of it. Now I have a mental picture of the choreography.

DAYS is so unusual with their rotating characters on & off that I have ceased necessarily trying to make sense out of the comings & goings! Sad fact, yes.

And that is something soaps have been doing for so many years now! I think it may have been something that JFP began doing & then pretty much everyone jumped on the bandwagon, sort of a way to make a new character ... not new. But, of course, it usually falls flat on its face.

https://soaphub.com/days-of-our-lives/news-days/comings-goings-jessica-serfaty-temporarily-out-sloan-recast/?

You can count me as one of "those people" who loved this & hated ER/NYPD BLUE!

Don't you think that was because the BTS stuff meant Ari wasn't working for a short period of time?

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13138037/General-Hospital-Haley-Pullos-plea-deal-DUI-crash.html Okay. I saw another picture that was said to have been from her birthday party. Totally different picture. But without a link, or a date. Just a good picture.

Was that Tabi's birthday party?! @Soapsuds Just for you ... from the actress herself ...

Completely agree about this facet of soap opera fandom! Apparently this was the sources of an ongoing feud between Beverlee McKinsey and Nicolas Coster. She had this kind of photographic memory & learned everyone's lines, not just her own. He had trouble with lots of lines. So, they were set up. Feud may be too strong a word. We could just say they didn't like each other. If I recall there were errors about many things, not just OLTL.

I hope I'm not duplicating this. Maloney, M., & Bell, L. P. (2012). The Young and Restless Life 0f William J. Bell. Sourcebooks, Inc. After a decade with Irna, Bill was ready for a new challenge. One arrived when Betty Corday, wife of the late Ted Corday, a former ATWT director & co-creator of Days of Our Lives, contacted Bill about taking over the head writing duties at Days of Our Lives. The NBC serial, which featured the beloved Horton clan, had been struggling in the ratings and was headed for cancellation. ... "It was the moment of truth," recalled Bill, who talked Betty's offer over with Lee before accepting it. ... The fact that Days hadn't found its creative footing yet actually made the opportunity even more attractive. Irna wasn't happy with Bill's choice. At the time, though, she privately thought that he would fail & the show would be canceled & he'd be back. However, what happened was very different & Bill & his mentor lost touch. She also thought that Bill was driven because Lee made more money than he did. Bill never failed to honor the contributions Irna had made to his career. Later saying, "None of us do anything of consequence alone. Like Agnes Nixon, I, too, had that legend of all legends, Irna Phillips, who invested a lot of herself in me." p. 42 Bill, in fact, viewed going to Days in a positive light. He was, after all, leaving Irna's employ to save a show that she, along with Ted Corday, had created. And save it he did. p.59 In 1966 Bill left Irna's employ & went to work for Betty Corday. Bill's history with the Cordays went way back. Ted was a director at ATWT. Betty worked in the Casting Dept. at ATWT. "Ted was a superb director whose unique rapport & sensitivity with actors is legendary," Bill said. "His ability to extract every ounce of drama & emotion from the written word was a writer's dream. Betty, partner to Ted, was an equally dedicated mother, as well as a writer and a producer & a very powerful force in her own right. Each was the ultimate complement to each other. p.60 Betty asked Bill to save her husband's show in 1966. Irna & NBC execs asked Bill why he was risking the sure thing of working at top-rated ATWT to take on ratings-plagued Days, which was about to be canceled. "I knew there was a chance of that happening," Bill said, adding enigmatically, "but what better time to take over a show?" First off, he made casting changes. Hired Susan Flannery. Hired Denise Alexander. Hired Susan Seaforth Hayes. Immediately, Julie's boyfriend David got her best friend Susan pregnant due to a mistaken drunken evening. They all decided David would marry Susan & divorce later after the baby was born. Things were not to go well at all for poor little baby Dickie. David was supposed to be watching him & he fell off the swing & broke his neck. So Susan temporarily lost her mind & killed David. So, now, Julie & Susan are no longer best friends. Lee Philip Bell was Bill's inspiration for the character of Laura! "Not her experiences, but the person, the being," Bill revealed in 1973. "When Bill was in charge of the decision-making in casting, it was assumed that you were a good actress before you got there," Seaforth Hayes recalls. "This wasn't a training ground for neophytes." SSH tells about her audition, a confrontation between Julie Williams and Susan Martin. (Funny, you'd think that would be Julie Olson.) "It was a very trying & emotional scene which involved anger, threats & hysterics. Julie was trying to give Susan a heart attack. Instead, she brought about her own labor pains." At DAYS Bill didn't have the power that Irna had with P&G. He had to submit his stories to NBC. He planned to tell the story of the two brothers, Bill & Mickey, both in love with Laura. NBC said, "No, not doing it." He replied, "Then, I want a signed release from you that you will never use this story on any other show on NBC." Bill's bold bluff worked & he got to do the story! Lin Bolen, the NBC Daytime exec who was portrayed by Faye Dunaway in Network, wanted Bill to do a particular story. He thought it was wrong but he tried it & could not continue. "He told me that he would never do that again," Susan Flannery shared. Bill wrote a key scene where Bill is at a bar playing the song "Laura" on the juke box. This was the theme song from the Gene Tierney movie also named "Laura". In it the words said, "Laura, she's only a dream." Bill was drunk & morose over the marriage between Laura & his brother Mickey. Laura, a doctor, was sleeping in the "on call" room at the hospital. Bill found her there & got her up. Sleepily, she listened as he told her about the song & that she is NOT a dream! Then, it happened. It was left to interpretation whether the sex was consensual. Bill Bell thought that it was. (This directly disputes what we saw happen!) Laura & Mickey were married. She became pregnan

When Varni suggested that if the fans were fans they'd stop being critical, I was somewhere between shocked & offended. And, I really love Amanda Setton but I keep being distracted because if an actress isn't comfortable with physically being romantic, then they shouldn't have a romantic pairing. Not brain surgery.

This is something that some PTB on some shows have expressed, a serious frustration that no matter what they do, they cannot win. Also some fans have thoughtfully inquired if it will be the fans who finally bring about the downfall of the last of soaps.

In the way Michael Maloney tells the story going to an hour is set up as the cause of these things happening, even though it begins in winter 1980 & Bauer tells him she needs a rest etc. in the winter of '82. He talks about the show losing 4 full share points which took him 3 years to regain. He lists having 2 Leslies, 2 Lances, 2 Snappers & 4 Gregs. Maloney, M., & Bell, L. P. (2012). The Young and Restless Life 0f William J. Bell. Sourcebooks, Inc. However, even though the recasts & contract issues seem to conflate two time periods as if they were one big time period, smashed together, it is also clear that her reasons for wanting to leave only had to do with the hour show because working so much had made her so exhausted that she felt she had to have some downtime. I'm sure Bell's attitude about being forced to go to an hour, also colored his thinking of this all as a mess he hated.

But, what about Jamie Lyn Bauer? Is that not when she told him she wasn't planning to sign another contract? Or do I have the time frame wrong for her?

Me either! Yes, it's me, Donna. Today I changed my nick. I was Tonksadora, then myself, now this. Over a matter of years. It was just time for something new. But, truly sorry to confuse. Not my intent! Frankly, it could really be this. However, I will say that today for the first time I briefly liked IAmJohn. In today's exchange with Sonny I really felt like he could be Stone's brother & have a bunch of issues about Stone that he is not great at owning the responsibility for! Flawed & I liked it. I thought today was quite a good episode compared, especially to yesterday's train wreck. I really liked Maxie today & I wish I could remember her exact line to Lois about sticking her dismount. Jane Elliot blew me away with her voice catching every time she spoke about her mother. Acknowledging she will never live up to her, explaining that she misses her & how much & that she was meant to share the dress. Lois read Tracy the riot act & then for good measure dragged her, too. But, then when she was on the spot about not having a Plus One, Lois stepped in & covered for her.

Maloney, M., & Bell, L. P. (2012). The Young and Restless Life 0f William J. Bell. Sourcebooks, Inc. Excerpts from p.38 Irna & Bill co-created Another World. The show bible dated 8-26-63 is 24 pages long. "In a community not too far from Oakdale, a community near the university -- one that is certainly not what we usually think of as suburbia but not completely cosmopolitan either -- live two families," Irna & Bill wrote. "As far as Another World is concerned, we believe that in some way we all create 'another world' for ourselves. If we didn't, facing reality 24 hours a day would be too much. But as for another world for women, we feel that the viewer, who we hope will come to know all the people to whom you've been introduced will recognize in this story that a home and a family should be solidified & not attached." Creating AW also provided valuable lessons. "It was a whole new level of learning," Bill said of starting an original daytime series. Another World, which Rose Cooperman titled & which chronicled the lives of the Matthews family. Bill & Irna left AW & James Lipton came in but then he also left & Agnes Nixon came in. Her Alice/Steve/Rachel triangle put the show on the map. "Aggie did a fabulous job with that show," praised Bill. Maloney, M., & Bell, L. P. (2012). The Young and Restless Life 0f William J. Bell. Sourcebooks, Inc. Michael Maloney's Bill Bell book p. 255 Retirement speech. From the Rainbow Room, 1998. "I have a deep conviction about the state of the serial today, although it does not relate to all of them," Bill stated. But it relates to the need to create stories that an audience can relate to, stories that deal with real people, that have real problems & real relationships, God willing, that can impact positively on the lives of our viewers. Enough said." p.262 "I'm quite clear that Bill believed he owed his success to his partnership with Lee," says Susan Seaforth Hayes. "Who knows where ideas for a writer come from? Those little geniuses that whisper into your ear & make stories & scenes into scripts of gold. Maybe it was because the person sitting beside him was not belittling, but was instead enthusiastic about his every achievement. I would not be a bit surprised if that fountain of work came out of a perfect love. Bill Bell was one human being in a million who had the grace to share his success & say that it came out of his marriage to Lee. How great was that? "She was the most difficult person I ever met who was in this business." - Paul Rauch, Emmy-winning producer of AW, OLTL, GL, SB, Y&R, FR/FP, about Irna Phillips. Michael Maloney Bill Bell book "Rita Marshall, the no-nonsense soap opera producer of fictional Southwest General in the film TOOTSIE was modeled after Gloria Monty, the iconic and iron-willed producer who helmed General Hospital in its heyday." - Michael Maloney Bill Bell book p. 29.

And remember this came at the time when CBS forced him to go to an hour. Each & every person was signed to contracts that specified a half hour. Automatically, on the exact same day, no one had a contract. They'd been on this hot new soap & suddenly they might have thought they'd find a better role or a bigger paycheck. But, you may know this ... Okay, sorry. What I read about is Jamie Lyn Bauer & Lorie. Why he didn't feel he could recast her. etc.

Now, I've read this. It's in the book Lee Bell got Michael Maloney to write "with her". Gonna have to look it up. But, I believe I can satisfy this particular curiosity. Just looked down, 9 people here.