Contessa Donatella

At least they get one scene per week. It seems that Kristina & Blaze are getting one per month!! But, I also agree that it is frustrating that Sonny & Nina's marriage is effectively in limbo! When does that ever happen on a soap? It's really so odd!

I have you on Ignore but I saw this because it came up in a search. I posted both a link & a screengrab of the actor detailing that this happened. I did NOT tell a lie. Noel lied about me. Khan lied about me. You lie about me. But, me, nope, don't lie. Furthermore I tell no makeup room gossip.

Yes, Dan, exactly so! And, I wanted to add in case anyone is in LA & wants to go read some of Irna's papers. From that same email correspondence ... "All the early production notes for the series are at UCLA, and I had a chance to go through the materials (they are non-circulating materials, so you have to schedule hours in one of their archive libraries, where it is freezing cold, to get access to the materials that can only be read at tables in a specific room. However, they do allow you to put in requests for photocopies, at a fee of course, if you want copies for research purposes. I pretended I was about to write a book on Irna Phillips, so that is why I got access to the materials."

Just an FYI to you. If you'd hit quote & then put this link in it, the post would open up in a sort of box in the post you're making. Pretty nifty.

Thank you for posting this bit of good news!

It was announced that his last air date will be July 11.

Thought so. Grabbed him.

I agree. Well-written scene & both actors were up to it. I'mJohn is growing on me. I'm not even minding the hair, well not as much. I was pleasantly surprised to see Carly & Drewfus disagree! Seems like most of his friends are disagreeing with him about his NinaDetta! Another day, 2 in a row, when neither Willow nor Michael bothered me. Was today Wiley's first day in the opening?

Okay @JAS0N47 has just done an analysis on this rating & blown us out of the water, Definitely it could, probably was, 20 million viewers!

Yes. I don't fully understand either. But along with the Average Audience (the number we are used to using), in the 1980's at least there was also a Total Audience number reported, which was much higher than the average audience. Plus, the numbers you were using to say the ATWT wedding was way lower than 20 million was the 4-episode weekly average (they were preempted once that week, so there was only 4 episodes, not 5). You didn't take into account that the first 3 episodes of that week would have much lower ratings (more normal ratings; or a little higher than normal ratings) and the wedding episode itself would be the 20 million episode. Based on that math I did above, it seems certainly possible that the 5/30/84 episode had either an Average or Total Audience of 20 million. And the same goes for that 30 million number for the GH wedding in 1981. Okay, thanks! It's the correct information that matters. We'll just have to stop being catty about some imagined member of Meg Ryan's team inflating the numbers!

Before I ever knew anything about any BTS at the show I just so fondly remember the Matthews sisters, Pat & the youngest, Alice, and that was JC! I think I was probably a pretty simplistic fan at the time. I remember Strasser as Rachel but I didn't like her. If I'd known them I would have been friends with Pat & Alice but not with Rachel! It was a strong emotional imprint. But I kept watching the show, of course! Agree about their wasting her when they brought her back, for the most part.

Okay, now I am totally turned around. It is at this point where I don't understand the process in computing ratings. But your saying it could have been 20 million?

Speaking of PP/Quinn ...

@carolineg Yes, flashbacks during the Possession "Extended" became amazing. Bill Bell would have tut-tutted about padding so much in a show.

I'm pretty sure that it was with Reilly that a day lasted like 2 weeks. There's nothing classic about being so out of proportion with time. Aristotle would plotz! I don't agree that his writing ever was elevated enough to call it parody.

Okay that I heard it was his choice could also be wrong. Someone was I think being indulgent & made a seat of the pants decision to just slap on some more months! Because it was definitely initially set to finish at Easter & they went much longer & it was not a good idea. It would have been stronger on the original timetable.

Well, I am pretty sure Reilly himself wanted to extend, although he didn't really write more story, he just used a great deal of repetition, almost like they were doing scenes on a loop, if you can imagine that. At GL he was one of 3 co-HWs, and in the Locher Room Nancy Curlee said that when they told her & Stephen that they were going to be this triumvirate with Jimmy, they were immediately suspicious that they were screwing with them because his style of writing & their style of writing were seriously different. So, they decided they would beat them at their own game & the three of them bonded over getting the execs or the network's goats (whoever they was in this story) & beating them at their own game. So, I figure that is a rather sizable factor in his writing at GL being different. Among many other things they wrote the Blackout & they killed Mo, but they were instructed to do so. She also said in that chat what she'd have done with an alive Mo if they'd let her.

Well, March 1979 the 90 minute show began. I'm pretty sure God could have been writing the 90 minute show & the instant the schedule changed, ratings would shift.

This is fabulous, @JAS0N47, thanks as always!!!

YES! Weird. And, of course, cleaned up John didn't look so frightening. The very long hair & the thick beard was too feral a look for as good looking a man as Drake is. Also, from above, agree about Benji. Benji was a good story.

Isn't that when the truth is the most fun?!! 😶🫣🙃🙄🫨🤞 Yes, you're right. On Jan. 10th there would have been no way he'd have seen a script yet. I recall someone suggesting that he was concerned around that time that he didn't have a script yet but that didn't exactly make sense because there was plenty of time before his first tape date. So there was no reason for concern. (Ref: 1-22 date Mulcahey/Korte named.)

Honest, I give! I already said they made it work! 🙃

We all may regret that I am going to say this but here goes ... NBC's intent was for PSSN to be for everyone. The only reason it became a show, mostly, for young people is because that is the only demo that strongly & consistently watched it. James Reilly did not set out to create a soap for children. And, there were "grown-ups" who were fans too, even if they were a niche. Heck, all soap fans are niches! And, to attempt to drag this, kicking & screaming, back on topic, Janet Di Lauro has posted from SoapHub the 7 things she thinks the new writers should do. It just made me think that should be the meme for the weekend. Everyone should name their 7! It would be very interesting to see what items might create a possible consensus?!! To be fair, here's the link https://soaphub.com/general-hospital/news-gh/jason-return-7-key-moves-new-head-writers/