Mitch

2 hours ago, cassadine1991 said:

Marj Dusay’s facial reactions have me

 

https://youtu.be/ceun40-lkd0

LOL..I love Marj but really, who thought this was nothing but over the top??? I love when she starts shaking her fist at ole Rog!  Imagine what Bev would have done.

47 minutes ago, DramatistDreamer said:

For me, it was definitely a come down.

Who would have been a good recast at that time? I am trying to think of someone similar to Marx..but can't. He brought something to Tom and just a "good guy" soap leading man which is really hard...he played a nice guy who loved his wife who wasn't boring and he still had a bit of an edge to him without being an [!@#$%^&*], and he was sexy without treating women like dirt.  I thought later on that David Andrew McDonald believe or not would be a good Tom..when Eddie briefly and out of character became a nice "boyfriend" guy, DAM played it great...of course Dolan would have had to been recast too but...

On 3/28/2021 at 1:28 AM, Paul Raven said:

I'm interested in your ideas of what Search could have done story wise to entice viewers when the CBS/NBC switch happened?

What special event could drum up some publicity or interest?

Having Travis and Liza in danger again seems a bit ho hum.

 

 

 

 

 

I never knew why they didn't have a murder mystery tee'd up and that would be the CBS cliffhanger...Search had tried to make Travis and Liza into Luke and Laura and the spies thing going on with those scientists at the time was stupid and boring.

On 3/26/2021 at 11:04 PM, DramatistDreamer said:

That scene where Lucinda informs her new butler that she calls all her butlers "Matthew", despite the fact that his name is Steven.

 

Such a good era..the best of Marland before we got mired in Synderville and depression.  I love the dialogue of little things that make it seem real..Annie and Dee coming in for Easter and staying for the party, etc. Poor McClaughlin was really frail and I love how Hays is so gentle with him as she takes him off stage...P & G actaully cared then as opposed to what they would do later with Zaz, etc.  I love the Lisa/Babs issues and how the hell could Marland think that Holmes would make a good Tom after seeing Marx play him?

On 3/21/2021 at 9:45 PM, DramatistDreamer said:

 

True.

I am relieved that TPTB never dumbed down the relationship the way they eventually did to Margo and Jessica. I guess this was partly a function of the lack of interest in writing storylines for the elder set, particularly Lisa, which, otoh, is sad too.

 

It was interesting to see that relationship deteriorate, even before Barbara's deception was revealed, on account of Barbara's growing bond with Lucinda, who Lisa could not stand. The friendship weathered that period of turbulence.

 

I do think that Lisa was an incredibly loyal character, when you think of how protective she was with her stepchildren, as well as Tom. She was also the least judgemental of any of the Oakdale residents of her generation, when you think about how helpful she was to Julie and Carly, even when Emily was a pariah after fleeing town with James, Lisa didn't object to her working at Fashions.

Gautman and Sheffer missed the boat on this one. Even before Marland Lisa was taking in the strays of Oakdale...(Mary in particular living in the mansion, even after accusing Bob of sexually harrasing her..) and of course, Marland used her to introduce characters to other characters, and the audience. I wish they had kept Lisa's step kids around..Fulton was great with them.

2 hours ago, KMan101 said:

 

Thanks again Mitch. The 1995/1996/1997 time period is a bit of a blur to me and unfortunately we lost so much on YouTube.

 

I agree there was no more story for them. I assumed that's why they offed Jenna but then I was reminded Fiona stood up for Zaslow and was likely punished so there ya go. I remember watching her death in 1998 and being pissed about it.

 

It always bugs me when they fire the female co-star but the male co-star in the pairing gets to stay. I never understood their desire to hold onto Buzz and Deas. He was nowhere near the hot property he had been in the 70s and 80s.

Yea..I think Deas is an industry darling but that's about it. I also think he just wanted a steady check so Colin could do what she wanted and he was around for the kids, etc, so he and Dicipolous probably just took the pay cuts and decided to shut his big mouth (off screen.) But okay, you want to get rid of Fiona..just write em both off..(but Rauch and MADD loved to take it out on the characters when they had a thing for the actors...killing Hart and having Dinah do it was a f*ck you to them...same as killing Jenna.)

8 hours ago, KMan101 said:

 

Thanks for clarifying on Wagner, I wasn't entirely sure. So they forced her out, basically.

 

Nola had loads of potential exactly as you said, the 'Lisa' if you will of GL. They could have recast her son and brought on her daughter. Them plus Bridget and random Reardons, you'd be set for her. Bridget and Nola were massive missed opportunities.

 

I didn't mind the idea of Buzz and Nola, I suppose, but what I've seen it doesn't feel like the writing is there and sometimes Brown felt like she was still playing depressed Iva. And Deas is already becoming shouty. So ... no thanks. LOL.

 

They also seemed to abandon it (the less about the horrid amnesia the better) as soon as Fiona came back as Jenna. Of course we then had two years of Buzz shouting and Jenna crying about Jeffrey. 

Nola was supposed to be the spoiler in Jenna and Buzz..Jeffery was gone by then, but Jenna was cooking his baby by that time unknown to Buzz and somehow Nola found out, which was a good twist as that was Nola's iconic trick. I think I could tolerate Nola and Buzz if they started things slow, with them being buddies and having a beer..which would have been different then he and Jenna..maybe she is just friends with both of them and then she finds out Jennas secret and instead of woman against woman, she advices Jenna that it will blow up in her face..Jenna lies, Buzz finds out, then he and Nola get together for a bit. I just did not want Nola to be the sad third party who will be dumped or the bad third scheming either. Rauch/MADD and EB thought every triangle had to have a bad third which was lazy. But then Deas would have to keep his screaming arms flailing to a min.

Actually, I would much rather Buzz and Jenna just got written out happy after Jeffery. There was no more story for them or Buzz..why kill her off?

1 hour ago, DramatistDreamer said:

Nobody mentioned writing for Lisa. I realize not everybody is capable but Lisa was a major character.

I think Lisa would be so easy to write for..though (and Fulton wouldn't have liked this) I would nix the swoony dreaming romantic (so maybe she isnt so easy to write for..)  cause that was just getting pathetic as she got older, but she had connections to everyone (except the Snyders which I liked) she was great on recapping as she traveled around chatting up everyone, she had humor (if done right) took all the young people under her wing, especially if they were a bad girl with a good heart, and as DramatistDreamer said..she liked a good fight.  I never understood why Sheffer couldn't write for her.

I thought the best writing for Lisa was with Taggert and company pre Marland right after Fulton's return..she had a step family she was all over (I wish Ulrich didn't leave at that time...she was prime Lisa project material) she was running her businesses, she was getting kidnapped...acting like Joan Crawford at her husband''s murder trial..Marland made her kind of bland.

I can only imagine how Lisa would deal with Reva...and Fulton and Zimmer with each other!

4 minutes ago, Soapsuds said:

f Long thought she was Marland 2.0 ..why didn't ATWT consider her as Douglas replacement in 93?

 

Marland  ATWT consistently beat Long GL in the ratings by wide margins.

CBS and P & G and Long had parted company and no one involved was interested in going back.  ATWT did indeed beat GL but I always thought that was because it kept its stable core..thanks to Marland..where GL didn't..thanks in part to Long. They both have their good points and weaknesses.

4 hours ago, KMan101 said:

Well, ATWT *did* fire Helen Wagner, right? I'm still shocked they got away with it back then.

They didn't fire her..they offered her a contract she didn't like..one day a week, so she left...a week before the 25th anniversary...(which the show ignored and just had a Kim/Nick wedding, which just makes me think they were trying to replace Nancy and Chris with them...)  Up to that point after Christmas of that year she was rarely seen..was it the Dobsons..or the producer or both. At least they didn't kill her off.

4 hours ago, KMan101 said:

And wasn't Nola also supposed to be paired with Ed and Peter Simon wasn't a fan? (But what did he think of the Eve pairing? LMAO)

I think a Nola/Ed pairing had potential..did Brown and Simon have chemistry? She could light a fire under dour Ed and Ed would ground her. Actually..Nola as new kooky matriarch made a weird kind of sense...McTavish had good ideas but then she would screw them up.  When Brown first came on she was on recurring so there was no story...which is fine..Nola was a character who could have been the Lisa on this show, getting in everyone's biz and connecting everything together.  And no, she and Deas had no chemistry and please don't throw poor Nola under the Buzz buss! Ugh

15 hours ago, titan1978 said:

I think that would have been an interesting pairing from what I have seen.  Her GL is all big emotion and not very tight structurally, while his ATWT is very meticulous and thought out but lacks some of that heat.  At least that is how it looks to a viewer like me, who watched after the fact and in spurts on YouTube.

That's exactly it! Long had that heat and made her characters, even BIG ones like Reva and Roger seem real, but plots would drop for days on end, etc. Marland had the structure and kept the momentum going but his characters seemed more idealized and cold (it would piss me off so much how "polite" Oakdale was..no "good" characters ever said about thing about another "good" character, etc.) and you could tell someone was "writing" them.

Tho as much as Pam and Marland looked like they respected each other I think they would have killed each other while working together!

10 hours ago, Soaplovers said:

Quite frankly Marland may have been a good start writer..but his show were just dull and kind of stuffy. 

 

Long had energy and emotion in her writing.

 

It's why I think they would have worked well with one another..balancing each other out.

Totally agree and you can see that the two really like each other and admire each others work. As I have said before, Doug had the structure, the discipline and the history down, while Pam had heart, sexiness, family and both of them wrote great community stories...(whatever happened to the Lewises in some way effected the rest of the families.) 

Also, I knew Pam was beautiful but wow!!!

1 minute ago, FrenchBug82 said:

I can only speak for myself but I 100% would accept soaps cutting budget in clothes hugely by reusing the same clothes -as real people do - if it allows for better budget for other visually important things like sets that don't look like papier-maché et decent camera work.
British soaps dress almost all their characters in non-descript Old Navy type stuff and it doesnt hurt the show in the slightest. Granted American soaps have a lot more socially-high characters that require better clothing than generally gritty working-class British soaps but I would have Reva doing every scene in that pink suit if it had saved money for a proper stable camera.

Sorry, no it was Kim Hughes I meant. I have no problem for characters reusing clothes like real people but ALL you saw her in was that damn pink suit...lunch at the hotel, dinner at the hotel, all the time. Poor Kimmer, Rauch NEVER knew how to dress her she just was getting bigger (as we all do) and he insisted on those damn pastel biz suits on every charcter...kind of off topic I know..but on topic was when the budget cuts let Zimmer use her own t-shirts etc and it looked totally wrong for aging clothes horse Reva.

5 hours ago, Vee said:

ATWT looked pretty cheap by the end. It didn't get to GL levels but there were a lot of shitty, poorly-lit and recorded remotes in ugly locations - more and more each time I tuned in. The trend was heading towards Wheelertown. I will never forget that nonsense with Dusty and Billy Warlock fighting in like, the parking lot by the dumpster with the tinny noise of a track from the Inception score on repeat in the background. Embarrassing.

ATWT was no where NEAR Wheeler town but then again, that was not her fault...Rauch had been overspending for years and Conboy took it into overdrive.  However, if I had to see Kim wear that same damn pink suit again...(I can't believe the shows couldn 't have made a deal with a clothing store or manufacturer to feature their clothes and then run an ad line at the end...sure "Peapack Dress Barn" sound as good as "Lillie Rubin Salon South-Soutwest" but you gotta do what you gotta do.

6 minutes ago, zanereed said:

I could never figure out why it took so long for the show to acknowledge Bert's passing...?

Kobe gave a bullshit statement that they wanted to keep Bert alive as long as GL was on the air...so Rick could pick up the phone and say, "Grandma, I have a problem." So yea, it was b.s. and then the funeral they gave poor Bert...(and yes, Jesse and Simon had to be on those episodes too to make it even worse!)

18 hours ago, zanereed said:

 

Agreed. 100%. However, I think that Peter Simon leaving the show was a surprise, which is why they had to come up with a recast so quickly. If Simon had stayed on, I'm pretty sure Kobe would have recast Mike. The reason being was that Mike was already being weaved into a semi-front burner storyline via a love triangle with Lillian and Alexandra, the ramifications of which were supposed to have spilled over into the budding Beth/Lujack romance. Allegedly Don Stewart had not been an easy person to work with, going back years on the show. However, his popularity was so high with viewers that it was tolerated. For example, Mike Bauer had not been in any long-term romantic relationship since Leslie Bauer died in 1976! Apparently Stewart was never happy with who he was paired with (with perhaps the exception of Trish Lewis, but Stewart thought Trish was essentially too young for Mike).

 

When Pam Long came on as head writer, she *wanted* to write for Mike, which is why she positioned him in the center of the triangle. I guess Don and Bev didn't get along very well, so once again Stewart was resistant to the storyline. That must have been the last straw for Kobe, so she fired him around August of 1984. Looking back, Mike was on quite a bit over the spring and summer of 1984. I believe his last major appearance was at the Founders Day Celebration? I think the original plan was that Mike would be with Alex when the Dreaming Death/Susan Piper/Brandon Spaulding is alive in Barbados storyline reached its conclusion in late 1984, but those plans were scrapped, along with anything else tied to Lillian/Alexandra/Beth/Lujack.

I heard that Don wanted to always have a younger actress as his romance and thought Bev was too old. Too bad his ego got in the way and it makes sense that Kobe would recast Mike but didn't as she had to recast Ed. Too bad as I always thought Alex/Mike would have been very interesting and have no clue why they didn't recast him later leading up to Berneau coming back. They could have brought both a recast Mike and Hope back for Bert's funeral and had months to set them up with Mike/Alex and Hope/Ross for Alan to return. Instead we got Jesse/Simon, with Alex obsessing over those bores, Calla with Ross, and endless Kyle and boring Maeve!

21 minutes ago, zanereed said:

 

To be fair, Peter Simon definitely left, declining to stay with the show. Meanwhile, Don Stewart was definitely fired by Gail Kobe, and that article is pretty accurate as far as the "why"!  

 

However, it was unfortunate that Stewart never got a final scene or farewell on the show. Mike was simply written out as having taken a job in Washington DC and that was it.

Dumb move to fire Stewart when Simon left...I know Kobe didn't know Charita would pass away but it wasn't fair to Charita to hang it all on her.

2 hours ago, Forever8 said:

Michael Zaslow Tribute On Next Week's Locher Room!!! 

 

Please tune in to The Locher Room on Friday, March 19th at 4 p.m. EST for a very special tribute to one of the most beloved and talented actors to ever hit our daytime television screens, Michael Zaslow. Michael's daughter Marika will join us along with his Guiding Light co-stars Maureen Garrett (Holly Thorpe), Fiona Hutchison (Jenna Bradshaw), Liz Keifer (Blake Thorpe), Kimberley Simms (Mindy Lewis) and Sherry Stringfield (Blake Thorpe)

 

 

 

Very cool!! I can't wait! I heard Fiona got shown the door partly for her vocal support of Zaz.

On 3/10/2021 at 9:10 AM, victoria foxton said:

I like Marsha Clark. But i can't see her as Tina. It's like if Joyce DeWitt played Crissy.

HAHAHAAHA...I can't see Rauch thinking butch Clark was right for ANY role...except maybe a Bo recast!

9 hours ago, DRW50 said:

@Mitch

 

GL May 1986: Hawk Meets Alex (Bev McKinsey): Gil Rogers Memory - YouTube

Ha..love Bev's face as she manipulates Hawk..(I could have sworn she said..."Can you get Mr. Shayne...a STEAK"!)  But why the hell would Alex care about the Sampson girl contest...(on else in the world did!)

1 hour ago, Forever8 said:

What is the "Bite Me" incident? 

Patti was trying to play the fan game that Zimmer and Newman were so adept at.  She started her own website and she got the Suzz fans (as they called themselves and believe it or not there were people into the those two..probably not many but Patti was trying her best to create a Jeva...) going nuts, even sending her kids gifts..it was incredibly inappropriate. Anyway, on a message board people were complaining about Jeva's airtime and the dumb strorylines..(remember, these were the days where Kim and Robert were off for two days in a row they complained about being back burnered..) Patti, trying to cur favor or just thinking she was helping jumped in and started to argue with the posters...(as if Kimmer ever needed ANYONE to fight her battles... and she always knew people bitching were people talking) eventually telling someone to "BITE me,'' which apparently helped to lead to her firing or at least she was out of the good graces of Rauch and Madd and no one stopped Labine from writing her out.

1 hour ago, Forever8 said:

Another Locher Reunion 

 

 

Patti D'Arbanville (Selena Davis) and Tammy Blanchard (Drew Jacobs) 

 

Emmy Award-winning actress Tammy Blanchard and the incredibly talented Patti D'Arbanville will join me live in The Locher Room on Thursday, March 18th at 3 p.m. EST / 12 p.m. PST. Viewers couldn't take their eyes off this talented duo when they played Selena Davis and Drew Jacobs,

 

 

 

 

 

You think she will discuss...the infamous..."Bite me!" incident???

On 3/10/2021 at 9:54 AM, MichaelGL said:

The show looked good, I loved nuBoarding house and Revas super modern home, but the writing was atrocious.

Loved the Boardinghouse kitchen set..that came from JFP who I must say, knew how to do sets.  Too bad they got rid of it and then the Coopers infested the place.  Funny you mention Reva's house, the message boards were going nuts complaining about it. I think its a cool set that I would want to live in, but do agree, it was not Reva-ish. I don't know why they didn't just have someone else move in there..like Holly did with Reva Bend.

15 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

 

I had become pretty sick of the show by mid-summer - I never knew Blake was meant to be A Spaulding. That would have been interesting, given her history with the family. (they ended up saying it was Alan, didn't they?)

 

Yes, I think Meta's return was set up by Laibson and McTavish. IIRC, in one of his last interviews, Laibson had to address rumors that he was going to cast his mother as Meta. That tells you how fed up fans were at this time and also how crazy the early days of soap fans interacting with soap personnel were. 

Yea, like Rick says to Phillips "Oh you thought it was your brother" (which is weird as AM is Rick's cousin and in real life would just use his name..) and Phillip is like, "Oh, yea, that is what Dad wanted me to believe but it was him all along..so what's for dinner?" after months and months of searching for A Spaudling and blaming everyone. Blake would have been great, especially with her BIG secret..but as you said, this was the start of message boards and people figured it out and TPTB freaked like it was some big twist out of nowhere and the fans ruined it. It would have been good as Amanda (hey they totally redid her character so lean into it) hated Blake and could have blackmailed her and then Phillip finds out and causes this big explosion. But it went out with a whimper and then we got..."Amanda is Brandon's daughter" nonsense.

And your right, that summer of GL sucked..Reva in LURVE and screwing that troll Buzz, Roger and Lonatrat...Dinah as the poor put upon heroine..actually outsmarting Roger..Alan wanting to "Destroy 5th Street..bwhahahaha" all because of Reva, the recast AM fading into the woodwork and you could see him struggling with his line, Alex just kind of wringing her hands about Alan and essentially saying "Now boys, don't fight" Ed left, Vanessa having a soap disease and planning her own fake death..(cause that would be much, much more kind to her family) and Chele in love with wooden Zachary, believe it or not an angel.  No wonder McLaiby was kicked to the curb.

21 minutes ago, victoria foxton said:

This is actual a pretty good episode even though this isn't one of favorite era's. Production values really do matter. Since it's a visual medium. GL still looked really good. Recast Eleni was such a non entity. Mary Stuart hit the ground running. Loved how Meta takes over the Bauer home. Abby was a unique character that deserved better. It's hard to believe this was almost 25 yrs ago. Was Megan McHackish still writing the show?  

 

I think this was tail end of McTavish..if she wasn't there it was her outlines.  The "A Spaulding" thing pettered out...McTavish was pissed that the audience figured out it was going to be Blake, which actually had consequences, what with at this time Blake carrying both Ross and Rick's kid and holding that secret...TPTB had to get over springing suprises on us and just write out a good show.  Loved the return of Meta, too bad that Stuart got sick not long after this and had a sporadic run but its to GL's credit that they kept her involved and luckily, avoided what Marland did to Nancy Hughes and just turned her into a sweet grandma without opinions.  Loved her bossing the guys around. And yes, Abby and Rick had good potential to be the nice normal couple in town.  Loved Buzz being a third wheel in Rome hated that they had to kill Sarah off to bring in the dreaded Cassie...(Sarah could have recovered..) Annie in Mom jeans is hilarious and yes, Eleni is a non entity..( Jill Hurst says she was upset when the decision was made to have Frank and Eleni split up but what else were they going to do...)  A lot of potential to fix things here and Rauch and the writers did but they lost their way...too bad.