Contessa Donatella

On AW when Doug Watson died on May 1st 1989 it necessitated Mac Cory dying & they had to toss out 18 months of story, find a new man for Rachel, let everyone process their grief over the loss of Mac/Doug and someone who shall remain nameless decided that before he died while he was in Maine on business, that he found this artifact that meant something to him ... and he'd had it shipped back home ahead of him. Red sculpture? Red papier mache? Red ugly thing! Seemed like every day was dealing with the mystery of the Red Swan, because every day WAS dealing with it. Got so sick of it! You have anything or anyone like that on a show?

Wow! Do you happen to know if that is well represented on YouTube?

When I was on Datalounge there was a sorta remarkable piece of gossip about Suzanne Rogers. I found it sad. I also found it credible. She was married to Sam Groom & she was incapable of having any sexual contact & they divorced.

I think I still have the videotapes of that week even though I'm not sure I still have a working VCR. And, the number one highlight of that week was having Anna Stuart at last back from Hollywood, followed closely by the number two which was the House Of Mirrors that the big gunshot went off in, and number three Felicia's extensions! Much later Nicole being led away, so very Tennessee Williams-ish, one more Blanche. A real classic. Who wrote that? And why don't I know?!!

This is fabulous! Thnx. And, yes, adorable is just the right word for it.

I have it, too.

Literally just a little footnote, Scott McKinsey was the Director when Stone died. Remember when he could suddenly see Robin!

On AW, Rachel had been saved by the love of a good man, Mac. Before redemption she was a bitch, sometimes a villain, always selfish, never satisfied with what she had & was always looking for the quick way around to get what she wanted rather than, say , working to accomplish a goal. This theme was played out in "The Redemption of Carl & the Romance of Rachel," where Carl was redeemed through the love of a good woman, Rachel. The writers knew, hell, everyone knew, that this was going to be a tough sell. Carl had on multiple occasions done horrible things to Rachel & her family. They made a calculated decision to take this very slow, I believe they planned out 18 months. And, they were going to take a classic path where they literally start not being able to stand one another. In the beginning Carl had found out that Ryan was actually his son. Ryan was a detective & a "Boy Scout" if anyone was & he wouldn't have anything to do with Carl. Rachel was struggling primarily with Cory Publishing. Carl conceived of a plan to get Rachel to be seen with him in public to get some respectability that way. He offered her control of his 10% of voting shares of Cory for one outing. At first she was totally resistant. That was parallel with where the audience was. He was charming & indefatigable. Eventually she gave in. She wanted that vote powerful bad. They wrote it, back & forth, with him at his most charming & her, all over the place. They continued to play all the beats of the stories. They became friendly. They ended up in NY at Christmas time. They did a walk by all the poet's residences in the Village. They began to have a good time with each other. Rachel began a sculpture & it was of Carl's body. Things went on like this until Rachel & Carl fell in love with each other. Then they had a grand romance & faced her family's wrath. Continued till it became happily ever after.

Carmen Duncan RIP 😪 I've been posting about the May 1st anniversary of Doug Watson's death & the repercussions to the show & the writing & 18 months having to be tossed & the Cory Publishing anniversary & what had been planned, etc., etc. on & on & so I came smack-dab up against the thing, the word, the phrase that I could go forever without mentioning it again & and that is ... the Red Swan. I wonder if every show has something like that you just dread all over again if it comes up.

If I understand correctly, no, she wasn't retiring. What she did not want was to work either at Y&R or at DOOL full time, permanent. If I interpret her correctly she means she wants an end date that is satisfactory to her for any contract she would sign. IOW, "for a given period of time" only. 3 months, a month, etc. like that. I saw her reiterate that not long ago & she did not seem to express herself all that killing well.

What I really want is to know exactly what characters Bridget & Jerome created. They did the whole show bible, yep. And, common sense says that they did all of the original cast members. Now, where I lived at the time the NBC affiliate did not show SB either the first year or later, the last year. Infuriating, I know. But, so, I didn't get to watch that. Is the first week up on YouTube? Because I could get at the info that way, by watching & making notes. No, I haven't. I will! Thnx.

MARCI MILLER, up for Best Actress, Abigail Deveraux DiMera, DOOL. Earlier she had thought she was doing the Zoom interview at one time & not the other time & they missed each other & she's so sorry but they laugh about it & go on. She submitted: Abigail confronting Gwen for seducing Chad, in the hotel room. Abigail finding out that Gwen is pregnant. Convo with Billy (Chad) about what she's feeling with regard to Gwen, etc. & the aftermath of 'what have I become'? Some variety. Some tears, but not all crying. Emily (Gwen) is a dream to work with! Marci went into some detail about how she is as a scene partner with facial expression, vocalisms, etc. Yes, this is her third nomination. Well, she told her husband first & then she called her mother. And, she'd had her phone turned off. When she turned it back on, there was just a SLEW of texts from people congratulating her. Her life is just total chaos. (During the Zoom chat, her husband was gone so it was just her & her baby, who was just off-camera & we could hear baby noises throughout the interview and Marci talked to the baby, etc. lots of baby cooing, one real outburst of unhappy crying, she just took it in stride & kept talking to MF while she was trying to distract her little one.) It's a great group of girls to be in, be nominated with, Best Actress. So fun, proud to be a part. Oh, yes, she does do Thrift Stores.

I'll never forget the Emmy Awards where either he won or Gina won, with the cute little guy who played Brandon so much, just dancing excited! Endearing. I have a question. I need to be able to tease out an original cast list. Just those that were there, say, the first week. Anybody have any idea how I could accomplish that? Thnx.

ERIC MARTSOFF, up for Best Actor, Brady Black, DOOL. Brady has to wear glasses now & he had them on & it is of course a very different look for him. He kidded around about getting old & not being able to see & if you could stand not being able to see well & just not wear the darn things. What he submitted was scenes from the breakup of Kristen & Brady. He loved her. She loves him. Yet they can't get it to work. He doesn't want to be loved in the way that she loves him. She is all about crazy things, revenge, big acts, with no regard to their legality, etc. Just no thought for consequences. And, he has a daughter now to think about & wanting to live so that he can be an example to her. Stacy Haiduk plays Kristen now & she is up for Best Actress and they talked and no surprise here, they each submitted the same scenes the other one was. Eric says it tells the story of their relationship end & he's come to think less is more & he kept that in mind while he picked scenes & saw to editing, etc.

I hope I haven't posted this already. NANCY LEE GRAHN, up for Best Actress, Alexis Davis, GH. NLG sent a tweet that makes it sound like her entire reel is Alexis/Kevin therapy scenes from her 25th anniversary episode. She joked that that’s all she had. Now, my own thoughts. I think Ari will probably have submitted the crisis, confrontation & break up with Eric, and then one or more scenes where her life was literally falling apart after the break-up. I have no knowledge & no clue about the woman from Y&R except that it was conflict & confrontation betw her & Adam & Rey. I say this to point out that people have fantastic reels! Marci & LW & CW all have great confrontational stuff. MM & LW may suffer because of no variety & they all wish they had something comedic. Show writers should think about the need for some comedy when they're trying to write for Emmy reel. At least CW has the one different tone scene of "I love yous". And, now I have left NLG off! I have no clue what is on her reel. What she tweeted was that it was all therapy sessions with Kevin & my mind is a blank. I think that Ari & Marci & LW may cancel each other out, which probably will leave Cynthia with her second take home. I hate to make predictions.

CYNTHIA WATROS, up for Best Actress, GH, Nina Reeves. She was walking her dog when Frank called. She, like so many others, had forgotten Nominations were being announced so this data reached her brain like this, OH NO my boss is calling me. What's wrong? Naturally, she was quite pleased that the call was nothing about any trouble. But, she was surprised. She submitted: The first time Nina & Sonny said "I love you." to each other. Jax & Nina when Jax had just learned that Sonny was alive & in Nixon Falls thinking he was this guy named Mike & Nina was acting like he was just Mike & she & Jax had this confrontational convo & she tried to explain what in the heck it was that she thought she was doing. A confrontation with Carly when Nina has learned that Nell was her daughter already & then she learns (somehow) that Carly knew about this stuff & did not tell her. Carly's connection to Nell's death, if so. Etc. Included was one tidbit she just thought of & she dropped a line on Jax & just walked away from him, shutting him down. She's thinking that she wants to wear her Annie/Emmy winning dress! But, she doesn't know whether this body will fit into that dress. She's delighted to be nominated with LW & AZ & others, all Great Ladies. The thing about the Awards night is you can go & have a great time & see people & just have fun as long as you're not worried about whether you're going to win, so that is the way to go, not even thinking about winning. So great to be around everyone from daytime with no egos, whatever is best for the show, etc. However, if she does win, she knows she will cry. She is just a crier. She hopes it won't be bad. Oh, yeah, she's especially glad to be having this in person event since it's been so long because of the pandemic! She is bad at picking reels & gets all the help she can from people who offer or who she asks. When she did the actual scenes, one with Carly & one with Jax, she just knew they would be reel-worthy. She just wishes she had something funny. He asked her where her Annie Emmy is & it turns out it has a broken wing & it's at her mother's house.

WILLIAM LIPTON, up for Best Young Performer, Cameron, GH. A scene about him losing Franco & that would be grief & anger. Talking with someone at the grave of his biological father. He & Nicholas Chavez were zooming with Michael Fairman at the same time, so 3 windows on screen. He & Wm. talked about their scenes together not because they were reels. The big night of Spencer's not approved party at Wyndmere Spencer & Cameron had good confrontation scenes. Being in jail in cells right across from each other was good. The best was when Cam accused him of being Ava's stalker. He's glad people like his scenes with Liz because he has a lot of them. Likes playing with Liz. One of his scenes on his reel was a convo between him & Liz, so son & mother where he has to tell her about the sex tape that someone secretly made of him & Joss on their first time. There's going to be trouble. Marcus got in touch with him & congratulated him. Good friend. NICHOLAS CHAVEZ didn't get to go to his prom, so this, the Emmy Awards, will be his first time to wear a tux & he is excited. WILLIAM LIPTON didn't get to go to his prom either & he has worn a tux once before at a previous Emmy awards. He made a mistake & bought a tux & he'd outgrown it in no time flat! Wm. is working full-time on GH while taking exams, What about working with Avery? Avery is so great & nothing like Esme.

Bwa Ha Ha, yeah, and maybe we could ask her if we ever have to sit and watch Sonny talk to his friend dead Lenny about his feelings about Nina & Nixon Falls!

Oh, I have William Lipton & Cynthia Watros to do too.

AARON D. SPEARS, up for Supporting Actor, B&B, Justin Barber. Submitted: Well, he decided to tell a story with the scenes he used, so: Knocking Thomas out. Why he did what he did. How Bill makes him feel at work. Went into the office with everyone there. Confronts it & admits what he has done. He cried. Bill cried. How he found out. He had forgotten that they were being announced that day & his mother called him & she was all breathless & excited & it alarmed him, till she finally got the words out, etc. Told his wife who called the kids. Called 2 mgrs & an agent! Brad called him from a tropical island. Don Diamont called him, so excited. He said I told you to "Bring It" If you would just "Bring It" for this scene that we would nail it. Been at this for 11 yrs & getting the nomination is great vindication. These interviews with Michael Fairman are over now. I still have to type up 2 nominees - Marci Miller & Eric Martsoff. Everybody be on the look out for any place else that is breaking down these, 2022 Daytime Emmy Nominations!

No, I don't know anyone who cares and isn't that nice? 🥳

There were rumors that Dee is gay long before her friendship with Jane was ever talked about. Even on Datalounge I never heard anything that was substantive. About Dee.

Yeah, I could have seen him make the jump to primetime. Didn't he have that studio contract at one point? Somebody thought he'd be good for those kinds of roles then & he'd have to be better than he was by virtue of several years of experience.

Oh, yeah, me, too, curiosity!

NICHOLAS CHAVEZ, up for Best Younger Performer, GH, Spencer Cassadine. They tell them it's a 15 minute reel & when Nicholas timed what he had put together he had over 15 minutes, so he trimmed, re-edited, and got it down to 10+ min. Like most people he got help from Producers & Actors, etc. Nicholas had a scene the night of the party at Wyndemere when his father Nikolas was in a black robe & scary mask & pretended to stab Spencer to teach him a lesson because he had been Ava's stalker. Spencer was nothing but angry & he retorted, "Don't call me your son." Adding: NICHOLAS CHAVEZ when he first timed out his real it was over 15 min. (The goal is 3 scenes, not over 15 min.) So he re-cut & re-edited & came up with just over 10 min. & was pleased to leave it there. Like everyone he had lots of help with his reel, from producers & from other actors. His new movie came up & its out now, streaming, CRUSHED & he plays a guy he says is gross, slimy & dirty. Nicholas had many scenes to choose from with himself & with his father and also with himself & his stepmother, Ava. He chose a scene on the pier, at the docks, where he confronted his father with his killing of Hayden & of his disappearance by faking his own death. He chose a confrontation between him & his stepmother Ava. He's very excited & said he had never been to a Prom so has never worn a tuxdeo. He is looking forward to the whole experience. When he is tempted to feel sorry for himself because he has so much dialog to learn, he thinks of his compadres, the other Young Adults at GH, some of whom are going to college and appearing on GH full-time!