Contessa Donatella

In a YT video I linked to earlier in this thread of classic film influences on the primetime soaps, one of the influences for Falcon Crest was Wall Street for Gregory Harrison storyline in the final season. Photo still from FRESNO

Thank you for that schedule correction! I had a terrible time finding information. I hate that it did so poorly because I really recall it being so dang funny! Since it really did so poorly, though, why do you think they re-broadcast it in '87 and '89?

That was a fight they had when he was with Janice. That was the year he won his 1st Emmy for unknown scenes.

Ken Jordan? This is something I believe to be key to what we think of as the traditional US daytime soap opera & why "character driven" is so important. I say & I hear many people say this about the characters we love & admire in our soaps. Oh, and the ones we love to hate, them, too.

I really think that last month, Kate & Marlena sitting at Kate's table in the pub, gossiping, basically doing show recaps, was a test, on many more days than not.

I laughed out loud!! But, truly, it is more than just GH today. If the BTS drama tales are true, Falcon Crest fired Susan Sullivan to be able to afford to hire him for the next season. Which just goes to show what idiots they were.

If Mr. Sharman in my Soph & Senior Lit classes in high school had done that we would have possibly lost respect for him & we did respect him. Now in college, if Jack Crocker had referred to Cummings as EE, we would have thought he had completely lost his mind. Or if Frances Bolen had said "Will" in Shakespeare class we would've waited for the other shoe to fall because it would have been part of a joke or story she was about to tell. So, agreement. And, about watching a plethora of soaps, here's this old quiz that still exists. I got 22 out of 25. https://www.listchallenges.com/soap-operas?ref=share&fbclid=IwAR3zxyAqIiOP_9eYEJlteCqT1d5HYIHdlFwwlS5zcCocd6ArT48yeMEh3zs

Today is Thursday, Nov. 16, 2023, and it is an important day for soaps because from Sunday, Nov. 16, 1986, to Thursday, Nov. 20, 1986, six one-hour episodes of the parody miniseries FRESNO were broadcast on CBS, two episodes per night for three nights. FRESNO was about a failing raisin plantation & specifically was aimed at FALCON CREST for obvious raisins er, reasons, but also got in some jabs at DALLAS & DYNASTY. Some said it was the funniest show they ever saw. It was re-broadcast in both 1987 & 1989. Its tagline was "Bigger Than Almost Anything!" The blockbuster cast included: Carol Burnett, Dabney Coleman, Gregory Harrison, Teri Garr, Pat Corley, Valerie Mahaffey, Anthony Heald, Jerry van Dyke, Charles Keating, Melanie Chartoff, Michael Richards, Jeffrey Jones, Bill Paxton, Louise Latham, Tom Poston, Henry Darrow, Dakin Matthews & Peter Scolari.

Oh, funny. I began to call Lemay Pete when I learned that only his family called him Harding & he tolerated it from them, but, just. What he preferred was Pete. And, I refer to Marland as Douglas because I learned from a writer that people who respect him call him Douglas, never Doug. And I refer to Constance Ford as Connie because she's my favorite actress of all time even more than Anne Heche. And, I am not implying a single thing with any of my choices of reference. For someone to read implication into it is truly hilarious. Well, Passanante is really hard to spell.

Ehhh…. I’d rather they be miserable then have nothing to do like Ben/Ciara or Stefan/Gabi or even Dimitri/Leo 🤮 Okay, you got me there. Them, grumbling & growling at each other is interesting, at least that! More fascinating than those couples & also better than talking obsessively about tablecloths. Although I do not understand why Maggie takes this Constantin fellow at face value when he sets off everyone else's bullshitometers. And, since Salem is really a small town why hasn't he been seen yet in the company of once-called-Jeanie-in-1991 Theresa Donovan. 1991 also revealed GH's Gladys to be Larry Aalamain's sex kitten Gretchen!

@vetsoapfan Agree. Sandy was definitely a male prostitute. You're not talking about Justine, are you? Who was in the jungle cheating each other - Ian's father, Carl's father & Mac? You're not trying to mix Reg in with them, are you? Which reminds me the ages never made sense to me about those 3. Okay I cannot stay & play. I have to go write about FRESNO.

Perfect point! Yes, she wrote both of those, according to Neil in 2 separate posts here. One was said in her review of Tom Lisanti's new RH bk. BTW, she compared his excellence in soap scholarship with Chris Schemering. The other was said in her next column which was about AW. Alan has immense knowledge about CERTAIN ASPECTS of ATWT & GL. That is point 1. Point 2 Alan is enthusiastic & willing to learn. He's great when some of us send him info. He also has an incredible fan following. He posted in support of my petition for Beverlee McKinsey & we had over 300 new signatures in 24 hours. (If any of you have an interest in posting in support of said petition, just holler. We are at 1,163 signatures.)

Or maybe just to be younger. Last year the incredible, amazing Lynda T. Hirsch made 3 or 4 errors of fact & published one item as news when she had inadvertently picked up something from 4 years before. YIKES. I fear as we age we may be more subject to having to publish OOPS, ... ya think? Of course, I doubt you're looking at old age as I am. Bette Davis, who was a daily watcher of both AW & ATWT, said, "Old age is not for sissies." And, she was completely correct! Might as well go ahead & say the trifecta. Also AW fans - Tallulah Bankhead & Greta Garbo. Val Dufour, said to know everyone, was a friend of Garbo's. It is said that Bankhead would call the studio & actors & make suggestions & she was the impatient type who would've wanted someone to hit Aunt Liz with a big pocketbook, for example. Quite different from people who like to avoid the BTS stories, I love them. I would pick a nit here. Certainly saying "nothing more" diminshes the fact that it is his lived experience. He was there when it was happening. Eyewitness testimony is both revered and detested & both are probably correct. And, while of course there was subjectivity in 8 YRS IN AW, I would suggest that there is also objectivity.

Well, isn't that something. Officially it is said that it was no place in particular until 1982 when they located in Illinois. But, I am no longer surprised since that moment last year when Lance Jackson said, "Why am I the only person who remembers that Kathy on SFT had the first legal abortion?!!" (Brought about from a discussion where Y&R anniversary primetime claimed Ashley had the first abortion and Y&R was the first soap to do social issues storylines. HUH?!! 🙉🙈🙊) Ain't it the truth?!!! It literally took me weeks to correct one thing wrong about Beverlee McKinsey's special billing on Texas on both IMDb & on wikipedia. And, frankly, I was pleased that it actually did come to pass! It is up thread here in a post by Neil about a review of Tom's book. Off the top of my head it was 3 things - 1st soap to be a real location, Mary Ryan 1st journalist, and something else ...

Daily I am going to be continuing to upload full episodes of Classic DAYS in 1991 and in 1992. Rather than post one per day, or the like, I'm just going to let this notice suffice that if you are interested check my YT channel. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=donna+l.+bridges What's up already includes the Jack recast shower scene stunt & the RKK as Bo reveal at Vivian's masked ball & the hilarious BTS of RKK & Rinna in Puerto Rico doing the "From Here to Eternity" beach scene for that primetime special & 2 examples of Deidre as Dexatrim spokesperson & the Australian Santa Barbara, oops, off-topic, scratch that. Well, you get the idea on the clips. The full epis are pretty great.

https://people.com/tyler-christopher-manager-recalls-charmer-fighting-chaos-exclusive-8401551 Tyler's manager, short, interesting though.

I've read the interview now. I was amazed that they spelled Cory wrong. I was fascinated that they had bodyguards when they went to Canada!!! It's funny that she describes her & Victoria having some discord between them, at first, but then becoming very close so much so that they kept in touch for a long while after the show was over. That is just about a one to one echo of VW coming in to be Rachel after Connie had been working with Strasser. They immediately clashed but then became like family they were so close. Thanks for sharing this interview.

Yesterday was so much substance! Today we're talking about tablecloths again. Boy, when our Steve does not like someone, they don't have a chance in hell at changing his mind! Of course he's 100% right, so you can't fault it. Chad & Stephanie just seem so miserable together.

I only know about her problems with RKK & supposedly they have made peace with each other & he would've been her first tenure, so that doesn't work out. When she came back, most of the time she was with the actor who played her daughter (Alicia Leigh Willis) & the actor who played Cameron (Michael Rodrick), plus Victoria & Matt Crane, IOW, family. Sure sounds like the kind of problem that would be with a romantic scene partner, which would mean Rodrick. But, I don't know. OY.

I've never seen Connie/Marlena here. When she comes to my soap group on FB it is as Connie, not Marlena, and it is as a Visitor or Guest, not a Joiner. She posts but she doesn't come often. If she were here, I think she'd use one of her 2 names! Michigan as far as I know is a total non-starter! Never heard it before the other day when Neil posted that she'd said it. I was nonplussed! Had you ever heard it? I cry foul. I have been following your stated wishes. It's not right for you to quote me or criticize me under the circumstances you set. Now I would have PM'd you with this but you made that an impossibility.

I understand that your opinion is based on your analysis of various interviews or podcasts or the like. And, sure, we can stop, but I did want to be clear that I EVEN do understand what was said.

The cast & crew of AW were very savvy, very political, very aware of the warfare between NBC and P&G, very aware that NBC wanted them off the air, very aware that they were under threat of cancellation & as has been noted endlessly there was no way to go do anything once they were there, so they were more of a cohesive unit than some casts & crews were. They pulled together which also meant they closed ranks. I am quite sure they might have seemed - even been - cliquish which wouldn't bode well for being the new kid, at first. And, they also lived & worked with a high degree of stress. Later some other soaps experienced that, too. Nevertheless, they worked hard & played when they could & made it work. But that they lived with that stress is something as fans we might be aware of.

I wonder if he wasn't very much a duck out of water there. Of course it was a thankless position to be in. He wasn't George Reinholt. Those are two people Pete spoke so glowingly about also. I am aware of only one negative about Doug Watson & that is that he was a chain smoker, literally lighting the next one from the last one. But, many actors smoked, even if not that heavily.

In that sense any actor at any time could be unhappy with a given scene, for cause, or not for. I don't believe there was anything unofficial about it. I am sure she was compensated if they used her material. Of course, they might have invited her to do a 3 month thrust on a storyline & NOT USED IT. But, I do not think there was anything shady about it. I didn't take it as a joke. I thought it was, to her given the past years with NBC, an amazing & possibly questionable thing, but she heard it & reported it as she did. I thought it was weird. I thought she did, too.

I have no need to re-read what you said. As it happens, I just asked Dano a question yesterday about Robin Christopher. It was a real question I would love to get an answer on but that probably won't happen. I wouldn't create some artifice to bring up Victoria to her. I can think of many people where Dano might protect them in certain situations. It doesn't make sense to me for the reasons I said that this instance would be Victoria. I join you in loving those people.