Contessa Donatella

5 hours ago, DramatistDreamer said:

 

I think Byrne was just grateful to be busy, at that point and as Rose, to have a reprieve from the brown outfits she always wore as Lily.  Seriously,  David Canary, Julianne Moore and Anne Heche probably had soap opera actors jones-ing to do double roles in search of Emmy rewards.

LOL, to have a reprieve from the brown outfits she always wore as Lily! Byrne's talked about playing Rose. She talked about losing the back half of the story, too!

5 hours ago, juppiter said:

The Rose retcon worked for me, and I’m not usually a fan of either retcons or making everyone related. But it was a rare instance where I thought it worked. It gave Iva and Lucinda good material too.

 

Of course, Rose quickly wore out her welcome IMO.

I stayed in love with Rose. Loved Scott Holroyd. Hated that they had that great umbrella story planned & scrapped it. Byrne hated it, too.

2 hours ago, Soapsuds said:

I hated Mitzi too. 

Gosh darn it, I hate to disagree with you but I loved Mitzi. That actress did a fine turn & her colleagues really enjoyed her.

5 hours ago, BetterForgotten said:

This thread has made me realize what a deeply confusing, yet fascinating time the early 00’s were. In soaps, in politics, in fashion, in pop culture...

 

When all is said and done, it’s hard to even say how this era will be remembered. The beginning of the end, or is it much more complex than that?

Yeah, we lived through it but already looking back on it, what do we see?

8 hours ago, P.J. said:

And God Bless Tom Casiello for his grateful attitude and shedding some light on HS's kindnesses----but I don't agree with a lot of his assessment of the writing in that period. 

 

His version of Craig Montgomery was an abomination.

Tommy had to write the aftermath of Bryant's death -- and doing so was not pleasant. If I recall correctly, he got satisfied with it & then wished he'd written it differently. Bryant haunted him.

 

Tommy Casiello

 

 

 

7 minutes ago, YurSoakinginit said:

 

The post you're responding to is from 9 years ago, but I'm gonna take a stab in the dark that DRW50 meant Kelly Rutherford - who played Megan on Melrose Place (and Sam on Generations). Buchanan was in re-negotiation in 1994. AW was negotiating right back, holding auditions for her recast and making overtures to people like Karen Witter - who'd just left OLTL as Tina, as well as Grace Phillips - who had replaced Buchanan on OLTL as Sarah two years earlier (ouch). Of course, Anne Heche's name was tossed around, too.

 

Obviously, JB & AW came to an agreement and she was back on-air. Three years later, re-negotiations would happen again, and AW took a big step further by simply temp-recasting Vicky with Cynthia Watros (double-ouch).

 

As for Ellen Wheeler, she actually screen tested the role(s) in 1991, and they chose JB over her. At this time, they just weren't interested in going back to her.

Oh wow, yes, that is an old post. I didn't notice. And, Kelly Rutherford, of course, I know her from GEN and from MP and then I guess later from Gossip Girl, too. Always liked her. Thanks for digging me out of that old hole.

On 6/20/2010 at 4:19 AM, DRW50 said:

Megan Rutherford auditioned to play Vicky/Marley when Jensen Buchanan left AW in 1994.

 

I can't think who Megan Rutherford is and what was Vicky/Marley vacant for? Maternity leave? Ellen Wheeler was  just about perpetually available to return, which is why I ask.

On 4/23/2019 at 1:05 AM, j swift said:

  She is in annual attendance at women in media events and has mentored female directors at CBS.

I cannot stand JFP. Flat out. She fired people at AW over their age. On her first day at AW she proceeded to fire more people than the last EP Charlotte Savitz had! It was as if it was a competition. She murdered Frankie Frame at AW, one of Harding Pete Lemay's creatures, the Frame family. She murdered Mo, Maureen Bauer at GL, Reardon by birth, Bauer by marriage, tentpole character of the upcoming generation, legacy character, Roger's only friend, Michelle's mother by circumstance, ... Yet, I also know that it is a fact that JFP is a woman in power at various soaps who supports & mentors other women. Dang it. She is very annoying. Why couldn't she just be bad to the bone?!

1 hour ago, Soapsuds said:

He and Carolyn got ATWT back to #3 in the ratings during his first year. IMO ATWT was the best soap that year..even better than Y&R and it was must see tv.

I thoroughly enjoyed the spa storyline and I thought it was a very creative way to deal with having three leading ladies all pregnant at the same time. I loved Lily & Rose. I loved his work with Barbara Ryan.

7 hours ago, EllenP said:

The campaigns should be easy to find on Youtube, but here’s a few:

 

Hot Enough for You, 2003

The Look that’s Got You Hooked, 2004

The Drama is Always On, 2005

You Know You Love It, 2008

 

The campaign for 2006 and 2007 escapes me, but the same shots were used for each of those.

 

Some of you may remember that under Wheeler, GL incorporated some of the 2004 promo shots into the 2005-07 opening (one of my faves from the last couple of decades, I wish it had lasted longer).

My favorite PGP promos:

 

I set out here to do a search on & for AW: Anne Heche. Turns out AH is not specific enough. I've seen Anne Heche in just about everything she's done including in PROOF from the 4th row on Broadway. Then, like a doofus I stood across the street too shy to go ask for an autograph!

 

As an AW fan I was lucky in that I got to see all of the Love/Hudsons - Donna even when Anna Stuart went to Hollywood for five years & we were left with Philece Sampler who I did not care for. She just reminded me of the role she had played at DOOL. And, Ellen Wheeler as Marley & Vicky who I loved. And, Anne Heche as Marley & Vicky who I loved. And, Rhonda Llewin who was okay. And, Cynthia Watros who was filling in temporarily. And, then, at long last Jensen Buchanan as Marley & Vicky & then as just Vicky. I really resented Jensen because she was intent on playing the role when she came back from maternity leave but she told them she would only play Vicky & not Marley, too. Then, she only worked part of each week. And, then, she had them transport her by helicopter from the studio to her house and back. While she was at it she tried to get them to make her the star appearing above Victoria Wyndham's name. Meanwhile Ellen Wheeler had been ready to come back in & play both parts for just ages! At the very end of the show she played a Marley who was taller than Vicky! Now, of course, Jensen has really screwed things up by having a serious accident & a DUI, etc.

 

 

 

 

On 7/22/2019 at 6:29 PM, Khan said:

 

I know I'm gonna come across as a prude for saying this, but -- [!@#$%^&*] it -- that [!@#$%^&*] never belonged on a conservative, family-friendly-for-the-most-part show like GL.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkDa52LUCU8

16 minutes ago, Xanthe said:

 

She bridged the gap between Anna Stuart's Donna and Philece Sampler's Donna. She mostly functioned as a sidekick for Michael against Reginald.

Okay. Thanks.

7 minutes ago, beebs said:

According to SoapHub (and, from the looks of it, Tom Casiello's twitter) Hogan Sheffer's died.

https://soaphub.com/young-restless/hogan-sheffer-veteran-soap-head-writer-passes-away-at-61/

 

Ohhhh. Nooooo. RIP Hogan Sheffer.

22 minutes ago, chrisml said:

Thank you for this. I'm glad I remembered correctly. I thought it was Nipplegate that doomed him; quite ironic considering what the new head of CBS (Moonves) was doing behind the scenes. I think Conboy would have been great for GL if he had been paired with a headwriter who honoured the history of the show. During his tenure, you would have individual episodes that were fantastic, but the short-term/long-term stories just didn't work. However, I'd take his tenure over Wheeler's pre-Peapack days.

Nipplegate? What was Nipplegate? I can't imagine how Conboy could have been good for the show and overspent the budget, such as it was. He had no money. But, he spent it anyway. Totally irresponsible. And, I think the writing team did honor the show's history.

2 minutes ago, Xanthe said:

 

Rhonda Lewin was the only Vicky who can be said not to have had much of a chance, IMO. All of the others were popular and lasted for years.

As for Nicole, Kim Morgan Greene was cocaine Nicole who dated Jamie. Lauri Landry was singing Nicole who didn't get much to do. Anne Howard was the last Nicole, the fashion designer who was engaged to Cass and killed Jason Frame. 

 

I have been watching some of the episodes from 1986. Adam is supposed to be a fine upstanding honourable man, and I know I shouldn't expect much from the DePriest era, but I was somewhat shocked by how it was totally fine that he made his work colleague (and really I guess subordinate because she had been demoted to uniform for no good reason) MJ feel uncomfortable about having to sleep in Cecile's hotel room in scanty lingerie on their stakeout. 

No, Rhonda didn't get much to do. I remember Kim Morgan Greene and Anne Howard vividly. But, ya know, I just don't remember Lauri Landry. Who was with her?

 

Adam shouldn't have done that.

8 minutes ago, Xanthe said:

Larry Lau didn't appeal to me as Jamie. He was somehow too self-satisfied.

Ah! I can see how he might somehow come off as smug.

 

I am blank on who had the trouble with Kelsey.

 

And, yes, I just plain forgot about Stephen Yates. Peter Love was a pain. I loved all of the Loves (get it? Loved the Loves, LOL) except Peter.

Someone somewhere mentioned a comprehensive TV soap list. Not so hard to come up with it.

 

This is a list of soap operas currently airing or that formerly aired five days a week.

 

ABC Daytime
Current soap opera
General Hospital (April 1, 1963–present)

 

ABC Former soap operas:
A Flame in the Wind (retitled A Time For Us) (Dec 28, 1964–Dec 16, 1966)
A World Apart (March 10, 1970–June 25, 1971)
All My Children (January 5, 1970–September 23, 2011)
Dark Shadows (June 27, 1966–April 2, 1971)
Loving (June 26, 1983–November 10, 1995)
Never Too Young (September 27, 1965–June 24, 1966)
One Life to Live (July 15, 1968–January 13, 2012)
Port Charles (June 1, 1997–October 3, 2003)
Ryan's Hope (July 7, 1975–January 13, 1989)
The Best of Everything (March 30–September 25, 1970)
The City (November 13, 1995–March 28, 1997)
The Edge of Night (Dec 1, 1975–Dec 28, 1984; previously on CBS Apr 2, 1956–Nov 28, 1975)
The Nurses (September 27, 1965–March 31, 1967)
The Young Marrieds (October 5, 1964–March 25, 1966)

 

NBC Daytime
Current soap opera
Days of Our Lives (November 8, 1965–present)

 

NBC Former soap operas:

Another World (May 5, 1964–June 25, 1999)
Ben Jerrod (April 1–June 28, 1963)
Bright Promise (September 29, 1969–March 31, 1972)
The Doctors (April 1, 1963–December 31, 1982)
First Love (July 5, 1954–December 30, 1955)
From These Roots (June 30, 1958–December 29, 1961)
Generations (March 27, 1989–January 25, 1991)
Golden Windows (July 5, 1954–April 1, 1955)
Hawkins Falls, Population 6200 (April 2, 1951–July 1, 1955)
Hidden Faces (December 30, 1968–June 27, 1969)
How to Survive a Marriage (January 7, 1974–April 18, 1975)
Lovers and Friends (January 3, 1977–September 29, 1978)
Miss Susan (March 12–December 28, 1951)
Moment of Truth (December 28, 1964–November 12, 1965)
Morning Star (September 27, 1965–July 1, 1966)
One Man's Family (March 1, 1954–April 1, 1955)
Our Five Daughters (January 2–September 28, 1962)
Paradise Bay (September 27, 1965–July 1, 1966)
Passions (July 5, 1999–September 7, 2007)
Return to Peyton Place (April 3, 1972–January 4, 1974)
Santa Barbara (July 15, 1984–January 15, 1993)
Search for Tomorrow (Mar 29, 1982–Dec 26, 1986; previously on CBS 1951–1982)
Somerset (March 30, 1970–December 31, 1976)
Sunset Beach (January 6, 1997–December 31, 1999)
Texas (August 4, 1980–December 31, 1982)
These Are My Children (January 31–February 25, 1949)
Three Steps to Heaven (August 5, 1953–December 31, 1954)
Young Doctor Malone (December 29, 1958–March 29, 1963)

 

CBS Daytime
Current soap operas
The Bold and the Beautiful (March 23, 1987–present)
The Young and the Restless (March 26, 1973–present)

 

CBS Former soap operas:

As the World Turns (April 2, 1956–September 17, 2010)
The Brighter Day (January 4, 1954–September 28, 1962)
Capitol (March 29, 1982–March 20, 1987)
The Clear Horizon (July 11, 1960–June 15, 1962)
The Edge of Night (Apr 2, 1956–Nov 28, 1975; later moved to ABC until Dec 28, 1984)
The Egg and I (September 3, 1951–August 1, 1952)
The First Hundred Years (December 4, 1950–June 27, 1952)
Full Circle (June 27, 1960–March 10, 1961)
Guiding Light (June 30, 1952–September 18, 2009)
Love is a Many Splendored Thing (Sep 18, 1967–Mar 23, 1973)
Love of Life (September 24, 1951–February 1, 1980)
Portia Faces Life (1954–55)
The Road of Life (1954–55)
Search for Tomorrow (September 3, 1951–March 26, 1982; later moved to NBC until December 26, 1986)
The Secret Storm (February 1, 1954–February 8, 1974)
Valiant Lady (October 12, 1953–August 16, 1957)
Where the Heart Is (September 8, 1969–March 23, 1973)
Woman with a Past (February 1–July 2, 1954)

 

 

28 minutes ago, Donna B said:

 

https://pierin26santabarbara.blogspot.com/2012/12/my-exclusive-unusual-interview-with.html

 

Largely there's Gordon Thomson, Robin Wright, memories of Paul Rauch, A Martinez, Marcy Walker, Dane Witherspoon, Jane Sibbett, Kimberly McArthur, ...

Currently, Facebook has a SB Reunion folder which includes just a ton of stuff including many interviews. One of the largest is a 6 part interview with Bridget.

 

https://pierin26santabarbara.blogspot.com/2012/12/my-exclusive-unusual-interview-with.html

 

There's lot about the upcoming cruise.

10 minutes ago, EllenP said:

 

Some of you may remember that under Wheeler, GL incorporated some of the 2004 promo shots into the 2005-07 opening (one of my faves from the last couple of decades, I wish it had lasted longer).

I liked those openings.

6 minutes ago, EllenP said:

Correct. I liked the ad campaigns for the first few years of her tenure, but that’s about the only nice thing I could say lol.

Remind me what the ad campaigns were like. She started at the very beginning of her career in advertising.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Not that I think EW is the worst, but here is a Michael Fairman interview with her.

https://michaelfairmantv.com/the-ellen-wheeler-interview-inside-guiding-light/2008/12/24/

5 minutes ago, EllenP said:

These last few posts made me go look at the 2003 and 2004 ratings. Remember, this was also Barbara Bloom’s first year as head of CBS Daytime. All of the CBS shows started to tank in the ratings in fairly short order after her arrival. ATWT and Y&R’s collapses were most alarming. Hemorrhaging 700,000-1,000,000 viewers year-to-year. Weirdly, GL’s demos were not terrible relative to the show’s past performance.

 

Barbara Bloom caused irreparable damage to those shows and other than a few peaks here and there, the shows began their downward descent under her watch.

Barbara Bloom was a part of the abc-ification of CBS, right? Didn't she come over from ABCD? Geeze Louise, thanks so much for that.

1 hour ago, Dan said:

The actors loved them because they were basically full length Emmy reels.

Oh, yeah, true.

 

Quote

 

 

Some of them were decent but they wrecked absolute havoc on the show's pacing because they burned through so much story at once. Reva's cancer story suffered because all the good parts ended after a week. 

Personally, I have long thought that GL was operating at a fast pace during those years, anyway. Weekly, there was one Wednesday special epi. When they went out into the field to build houses, I loved that, but it chewed up time. Although those were webisodes weren't they? Otalia was racing along except for Jess's pregnancy leave. Jammy was racing along. Etc.

I recently read an interview with Patrick Mulcahey. I think maybe more SB stuff is showing up because they're going to do that SB Reunion Cruise. He was interesting & candid & personable. I've always liked him as a writer, anyway. Right off he said that working at SB was a little bit nutsoid. Funny, huh? He was at SB from 1984-1991.

 

These are my Qs with his As.

Q: What's his advice on writing?

I think the best, maybe the only way to start a life as a writer is by writing without any thought of a career.

 

Q: What did you write first?

I didn't start writing plays till I moved to New Orleans (for love) in my early twenties. I fell in with a group of actors just graduated from Lousiana State University who were looking to do plays together.

It was also where I learned to really listen to actors. ... when a good actor is struggling and telling you something is wrong in the material, you the writer must believe him and find it and fix it. Doing that has led to some great breakthroughs for me.

 

Q: What came next?
Still, after a half-dozen or so years of the starving-artist thing, I was ready when the call came asking me, "How would you like to write for Search for Tomorrow ?" "Sure," I said, "What is it ?" I didn't have a television myself.
 
Q: And, next after that? 

After working with Douglas Marland on Guiding Light and then on Loving, which I hated (and where Agnes Nixon was like some psychotic schoolmarm on speed, making copious condescending red-pen "corrections" in the margins of scripts - "You used the same word on page 2 and on page 34 ! Too repetitive !") - after that, I decided I was done with writing for soaps.

 

(Okay, imagine that! Marland is divine but Aggie is a mess. Who knew? Out of all I've ever read or thought even about Agnes Nixon I have never once thought of 'psychotic schoolmarm on speed'!)

 

Q: Then, you got a call from Bridget as they prepared themselves to fo into production with SB, right?

... when the phone rang. The woman on the other end identified herself as Bridget Dobson. Did I want to write for the new show she and her husband had just created called Santa Barbara ? Once again I didn't have a television, and I'd never seen the show. But I knew its name.

 

They were to meet the next day to go over little details like what his salary would be!

 

That night he was walking this nice lady to her stubway stop when someone slowed down their car & leaned out & hollered, "Die, Liza, you bitch!" Turned out she was Marcy Walker, on tap to move to SB. So, there was someone he'd know and someone he'd write for.

 

SB had more comedy than any other show I've been on. 

 

That came from Justin Deas, Lane Davies and Heather Mattson. Everyone else just had to keep up.

 

The Dobsons "were great bosses, good people, loyal friends and good writers."

 

"Bridget and Jerry. They always allowed me story input, though the story was theirs." 

 

... on Santa Barbara, which was another way that show was special. All of us talked.  Actors, directors, designers, writers. Or anyway, I did, and nobody stopped me. It made a world of difference. Partly because, as I said, I had learned how to listen to actors, and they could tell, so they listened to me.

 

"Then once in a while you get an A Martinez, who can do anything, or a Justin Deas or a Marcy Walker or a Robin Wright or a Nancy Grahn or Louise Sorel or Robin Mattson - and then you can't stop thinking of new things you want to see them do."

 

"My sense is that A Martinez, just by virtue of who he is, set a standard of professionalism, patience and mutual respect that everyone tried to live up to..."

 

For some reason I can't name myself, I really want to stop here and say I loved writing for Roscoe Born. I resisted the Robert Barr story; it was shoved down our throats by Jackie Smith, the network exec, for whom I had no respect. But she was right about casting Roscoe.  A wonderful, mysterious actor who works from a very deep, even dark place. Anyone else we threw in with A and Marcy would've faded into insignificance.

You left Santa Barbara in 1991. What were the reasons of your departure ?
Jackie Smith brought in a new executive producer named John Conboy, who might've been a really nice guy - I didn't stick around long enough to find out - but he played like a caricature of The Dumb New Boss. The one who says, "I know how to fix what's wrong around here - let's remodel !" We had one meeting, he told me his plans, I said, "No, thank you, I'm done."

 

(Yikes! John Conboy!)

 

Q: With the recent show cancellations - GL, ATWT, AMC, OLTL, ... ... what are your feelings about the future of the daytime soap-operas media ?

 

That soaps really don't have a future. We needed to change or die, and the only changes we made were for the worse.
I don't know, Brad's still in there pitching anyway. I love that guy.

 

7 minutes ago, Dan said:

Has to be GL. Khan is right. Just checked the Ratings archive for 2003-2004. There was no major hemorrhage of viewers during that time but it came nowhere near the 1997 peaks where I believe the show added like a million viewers and was saved from cancelation. Nowhere near where the ratings had to be for PGP to be satisfied with paying additional budget for Conboy's pet projects. 

Gotcha. I was thinking they must be referring to his tenure at GL. What a nightmare he was for us to have then. And, I still say thank goodness it was only for a single solitary year. As it is, he just might have been what killed us. I always hate to speak ill of the dead but I just detested "ConWest".

On 9/20/2019 at 7:28 PM, AbcNbc247 said:

I've been binge watching for a while, and I have to say that Nic Coster and Louise Sorel had amazing chemistry, some of the best I've ever seen. I love Lionel and Augusta, they were so great together