Mitch

20 hours ago, Faulkner said:

I know a lot of people disagree, but I thought he and Robin Mattson were wonderful together as schemers on Santa Barbara, even with his mugging. (From clips I’ve seen.) But he also had the benefit of better, wittier dialogue and a roguish, devious character on SB. He was also good as an adversary to A Martinez.

I actually like Buzz at first when he was a pain in the ass, stuck out like a sore thumb oddball conman...that was what he was and people called him out...(I remember him working at Lewis and acting like he was on a business call and Van calming walking in and plugged the phone into the phone jack..."This might make your call clearer!"  It was when Buzz was this great romantic lead , with poor Jenna being grabbed constantly (Fiona would call an ape romantic if it ensured her airtime..)that I did not get at all. I also thought Deas worked as a tired older guy who had was a bit jaded but wanted to help other people and Deas was good with the younger even terrible actors...(Jesse Blu,,thats who...) But when budget cuts came and they cut Ed and Ross to make Deas the patriarch...totally wrong choice..

Its too bad that they didnt bring RM back as a jaded Hope ready to battle Alan..though I think RM would walk all over RR.

1 hour ago, DRW50 said:

I have to admit I don't think I would have wanted to see JFP's recast, although I will acknowledge A Martinez would have brought a very unique presence to the role of Rick Bauer.

Hahahaha....

Why did JFP never lure her great love Deas to another soap. I know he didn't want to leave NY but OLTL???

19 hours ago, bboy875 said:

SOD did report that the show was recasting Rick, and his next story would be about his undying love for Beth, coming off them pretending to be together while trying to prove Philip innocent of killing Neil. But then Grant Aleksander quit, so they sent Philip and Beth on their "happy ending," and scrapped plans to recast Rick. Had Aleksander stayed i don't know what would've happened because Pam Long left around the same time and I don't know what Curlee/Demorest/Reilly would've done with them.

I think they were thinking of recasting him during JFP days...but Oleary got a bunch of his fans to write in and say they needed Rick to be play by MOL. JFP was under fire about Maureen and then the Eve actress quit and they killed her off so she played it up to the press "Yes we killed an almost Bauer but we brought back a real Bauer." Too bad they didn't recast at that time.

On 9/4/2020 at 4:05 PM, prefab1 said:

 

James Denton is DILFy goodness, but he was still on Desperate Housewives from 2004-2012. And besides, GL already had too many hunky middle-aged guys who fit that mold and who they didn't know what to do with (e.g. poor Kurt McKinney). If they really had to recast Rick, then Matthew Ashford might have been a good fit for the character. But they could have served MOL better by bringing back Krista Tesreau's Mindy back earlier--they could have been a really cute supporting couple. 

Just throwing out "types". MA never did anything for me  and McKinney...well, he wasn't the strongest actor and the Van/Matt storyline had nowhere to go...as long as the Mattessa's held sway...( Van should have assumed the Alex role battling Alan for control of Spaulding but keeping her moral center, and that would turn off Matt who just wanted her sit at home and sigh all day.) I think Matt and Beth would have been hot, or Matt and Blake (they should have had the one night stand not Blake and Rick..wow..woudlnt the Mattessas and Blossies go nuts) but never at the expense of making Van look like an old crone.

Agreed on bringing KT back, but after Alex/Rog/Mindy it would be hard to go back to KT...a good recast Mindy who looked like she had a past and could go toe to toe with Alex would have been good, but Rick still loves her. 

21 hours ago, vetsoapfan said:

Sadly, O'Leary was not as funny as he might have imagined, and his Rick Bauer became more of an irritant than a viable romantic lead or patriarch. He had very little chemistry with most women he was paired with and his mugging made me impatient. His best chemistry was with GA in their early years together. I would have replaced Rick with Tuc Watkins, who could actually be amusing on-screen AND function as a sexy leading man. (And for the record, I would NEVER have written out Ed and Holly. They eventually became the only remaining links to the "real" TGL of the past. They'd be eliminated over my dead body, LOL.)

Hmmm, while I agree that O'Leary is not as funny as he thought, and apparently the rest of the cast and crew who let him mug it up on camera, but Tuc Watkins??? I never saw him in a role where he did not come across as gay and his humor was more bitchy then actually being funny. No, Rick needed an all American nice guy and if you wanted him sexy (and straight) I would have gone with that guy who played Mike on DH..(Tuc Watkins made me think of that..) James Denton, who always plays the quite parts but comes across as a nice solid guy you can count on...

And I never want to see Rick Bauer in a thong...and they always have to parade Watkins around in one.

29 minutes ago, raffaella said:

I know only Peter SImon Ed; he seemed neurotic almost likes holly and Roger..

Good description, that is why MH was a good contrast..he was a nice guy who would keep you warm and night..and besides the booze problem, was pretty much not neurotic. So that made sense that Holly would gravitate towards that. Did MG and RG have chemistry when he returned?

17 hours ago, vetsoapfan said:

 

Hulswit was an excellent Ed. Replacing him with a morose, listless and reserved Peter Simon was a major mistake. Simon was excellent on SFT and even ATWT, but his interpretation of Ed left a lot to be desired, particularly when you compared him to the warm-but-sometimes-fiery Ed Bauer as played by Hulswit.

 

TPTB claimed they replaced Hulswit because they wanted a younger, sexier Ed, which was absurd. Viewers do not need every actor on the soaps to be a hunk. (That being said, I personally found Mart Hulswit to be adorable.) Indeed, part of the appeal soap patriarchs and matriarchs have is that they look and "feel" like our own parents and grandparents. After Mike and Bert Bauer were gone, Ed became the family patriarch, and I don't believe anyone in the audience would have had trouble with him looking like one.

 

Did anyone reject Bert Bauer for being chubby? Lila Quartermaine for being in a wheelchair? Katherine Chancellor for having a weathered face? On the contrary; viewers adored them all and were fiercely protective of them, regardless of their age and physical appearance. 

 

The audience is not as shallow as TPTB imagines.

 

 

That is why I think its sad what TPTB and O'leary himself turned Rick into..some looser goofball and O'Leary leaned into that playing his..uh. "comedy" and mugging for the cameras.  I actually was okay with O'leary getting chubby and older..(though it looks like he tried something with his face ) while GA and BC alternately looked like they didnt age (or in the BC's case got hotter..) Rick was someone like the rest of us, who got older and ...well fatter...(its why I loved Zimmer not going on a crazy diet...Reva should have had all her good living catch up to her) and was relatable.  They should have tied up Ed and Holly's story..(do a three month arc they get together,,marry leave town and return for big events) and moved Ross to patriarch role and Rick as the town shoulder to cry (okay...town matriarch) who is everyone good natured friend,  and a perfect opportunity to do so as town doctor.  He wouldnt even need a female partner...(I thought MOL had chemistry with KT and the Abby actress and that was it in terms of women.)

Its kind of nice to see "normal" looking people on your soap.

17 hours ago, Neil Johnson said:

f my memory is correct, the Spauldings and Bauers did not live next to each other, but their back yards were adjacent.  Ed commented that the Spauling house was "up the hill" from his house, implying the Spauldings lived in a nicer neighborhood.

Yes, their backyard's were adjacent, that is how Alan and Rita got up to their..canoodling! But it was supposed to be the "smaller" house boring Hope wanted.(sorry but ER's Hope was dull as hell, no man wouldnt choose to get with Rita instead of her..) .but later just became the mansion...as late as JFP the yards connected...(Alex is trying to find out info from dimbulb Lucy at the Bauer BBQ and suggest she could show her the mansion, they just needed to go through those hedges and they would be in her yard.."  During Long's time the Lewises, Chamberlins and Spaudlings all lived on "the Hill."  I am not sure if the Bauers did as the backyards connected...and I can't believe I am writing about the georgraphy of a fictional town.

3 hours ago, Broderick said:

 

That does make pretty good sense, except that Peapack was too small to annex anything at all, except maybe a garden plot

I refuse to believe Peapack was part of "continuity" and as such never happened.

15 hours ago, Bill Bauer said:

 Yeah, there was a lot of revisionist history being written in the latter days. They introduced a character who was supposed to be Rev. Ruthledge's grandson who had the last name Ruthledge who everybody knew of because Reverend Ruthledge was so famous in Springfield. Even though Rev. Ruthledge only had a daughter and even though he was way too young to be Reverend Ruthledge's grandson and even though Reverend Ruthledge didn't live in Springfield. I guess it was nice of them to give a nod to the origins of the show but I don't see the purpose since the only viewers who would even get the reference are soap history geeks who would know that they completely butchered history in the process.

I think it all started with Pam Long's first run..surprising enough..the Eli Simms story had all the patriarchs knowing each other and Brandon in town, and then Alex herself is a revision as Alan mentioned no sister...(though on this count it was worth it and they did mention that they were estranged and had spoken for years so...) then we have the Cabin Mystery and the Founder's Day ball and the Spaulding "always lived in the castle." The show then morphed the house Alan bought next to Ed';s house (to appease the dull Hope who didnt like the mansion) into the mansion property adjoining the Bauers..

Its is forgivable as it makes more sense that the Spaulding were always there so I consider just like other families who are friends with the Bauers, Lewises and Spauldings that you never hear about but have to"exist" in their fictional world. I think they could have just said "I remember when Five Points and Selby Flats were towns on their own  that the Reverend would take care of along with this town, until Springfield annexed them." (despite Selby Flats being in California..right?)

3 hours ago, DRW50 said:

Everyone called her Christina/Chrissy when she was a child. Blake was a name she used as a disguise when she came back as an adult, and she kept it. Everyone called her Blake aside from Roger. I can't remember if Ed may have slipped a few times. 

The only person I know who called her that outside of Roger was oddly enough Joan Collin's Alex, and it was more derisive.  I don't have a problem with two characters of the same name being on a show...if the characters have history and are needed..like John Dixon and John Edlridge (though only to kill him off) But that characters was such a throw away character and I think she was just created because Wheeler had a thing for chipper,  rather vacant cute young girls (not sexually, but casting them) like the Marina actress.

Great clips!!! One thing they got right was that they wrapped up the Lucinda/Lily thing (realistically, you know that it would still continue on and off until Lucinda makes an overally dramatic exit from this life...) got Lucinda and John together..etc. The wrong part was it should have been Martha..we deserved that.

Love the Babs/Lucinda clip. I do like that they let Lucinda grow and mellow but she was still Lucinda and have can light a fire under someone's ass when needed.   I love the John line..."Well what did you think, we still have blood in our veins." If Gautman and the writers would have known that about the vets!

34 minutes ago, victoria foxton said:

 

  

I never thought of Bev as chewing up the scenery...now Marj on the other hand.

32 minutes ago, Efulton said:

You perfectly summarized 1985!!  I loved November 1982 to February 1985.  It is one of my favourite eras of AW's history.  I will say that with all the garbage storylines in 1985 at least the core of the show was intact.  The dismantling Margaret DePriest did from 1986-87 changed the show forever.

Agreed..I loved the AW of 82 up to that time in 85...and never understood why it suddenly..sucked. Now I know.

7 minutes ago, Faulkner said:

Especially without Nadine.

Yes..wrong Cooper killed...(and really GL, could you have quit killing Moms?)

3 hours ago, Neil Johnson said:

 

Brittany was a terribly conceived character.  You can't make a deaf woman the bad-girl.  Or at least it would never have worked in the 1980s.  People just don't want to watch that.  A desperate deaf woman scheming against the ingenue, Sally -- it was so weird, and painful to watch.  It made the audience feel guilty for hating a deaf person.   Probably the most awkward villainess in soap-opera history!  

 

There's nothing wrong with casting a deaf character.  That could have been great.  But in the 1980s, making her a villainess just didn't work.  I'm not even sure it would work in 2020.

 

They should have just cast Gabot as Rachel's sister, Pam.  That would have been wonderful.   And if they wanted a bad-girl to interfere with the Sally/Catlin romance, they should have hired someone younger, and not make the mistake of making the character deaf.   

 

I think a bad deaf girl is kind of cool, as long as they said she just was "bad" and not bitter because of her hearing impairment, but your right, the 80s were a different time.  It was weird watching SG come off such an iconic role to be a lil nobody.  I don't know why GL instead of making the dour and boring Kyle Sampson, have Sky come to town to do biz with Spaulding and fall for Reva, and then Raven comes back to face off. Now that would have made the really boring era of GL memorable.

17 hours ago, Bill Bauer said:

 

Just to let you know you're not alone, I thought the exact same things. 

 

How could anyone in their right mind want to replace the Bauers with the Coopers? 

Good question.. I think JFP thought of the Coopers as her own..though Long created them, and only Buzz was a JFP era creation. But obviously some people loved them...why did they stick around so long? Instead of killing Jenna, why not write Buzz and her out happy, as Buzz had no "storyline" since that then. Why when budget cuts came, they did not think of making the core of the show the family headed by Ross,the longest running cast member and the patriarch of the show, who was married (sorry LK never worked as scheming Blake but as a slightly off center Mom she did) and had three kids who could be SORAS for story? I know Jill Hurst (who I actually respect as a writer) thought of them as her "comfort food," but really, the only thing they had going for them is Harley, as Frank and Buzz just were "there"

Past Harley and her first go around, and her relationship with Frank, I never got the Coopers.

53 minutes ago, Soaplovers said:

I think JFP wanted to update the show..and shed it's past...and used the focus group as an excuse.

JFP desperately wanted to move the focus of the show to the Coopers, headed by her FOJ Deas.  The show replaced the calm, comforting matriarch was a too frentic, annoying patriarch..and the ratings dropped, who woulda thought huh?

And yes, it was mentioned by others who seem to know that Parker was let go to make money in the budget for Deas..another reason I disliked Buzz.

30 minutes ago, Soapsuds said:

It's funny because when I go back and look at both confrontations...I feel little sympathy for Ed and do feel sympathy for Lillian.

I agree..maybe because Simon never could express any emotion besides that pursed lip thing..I really do think they did indeed need to recast Ed when Simon left, as it would almost be a start over for the character..why did they never bring the Ed before him back?

Parker's acceptance was gracious and a kind of FU to JFP, talking about the people writing in for Maureen, that's a hard line to walk. I wonder why no soap ever hired her for something?

12 hours ago, BoldRestless said:

And it wasn't that the focus group didn't like her, it was that no one mentioned in her as part of a couple they want to get together - because she was happily married! Like they can't even see a character as something other than part of a hot pairing. Ugh

This is what killed the soaps and created those weird couple fans like the Jevas, Mattessa's and Manny and why the storylines grew stagnant. Can you imagine back in the day a poll on getting Bert Bauer in a hot romance...(they were going to pair her with H.B. which would have been cool as hell but...) No character could be an individual..I would say Reva, pre death was her own character no matter what romance she was in,, but that wasnt the case post resurrection and ruined her character.

2 hours ago, Faulkner said:

Rachel Miner is incredibly well-spoken. Glad to see her doing ok. It’s a shame that they didn’t allow her to grow up in the role as Kimberly McCullough did on GH. But given what happened to Michelle and GL overall, she dodged a bullet. Can you imagine Miner’s Michelle with Danny?

I didn't have the attachment to Miner and BB others did, but I can see that at that time in the shows history, it was important to keep them..at least until both of them wanted to move on. Especially since the Chelle story could have been handled by another character, like one of Bridget's sisters, named Maureen too comes to town and gets involved with Jesse while Chele and Bill were looking for the recipient of Mo's heart..Chele developes a little sister relationship with Jesse and supports him and her cousin and Ed doesnt like it,etc. Especially with Nola in town to try to take over mothering Chele..and encouraging her to be a free spirit..

On 8/11/2020 at 11:44 AM, Vee said:

Feel like you're all forgetting some other shít on that score.

 

 

God was this bad! It looked like an old Skinemax soft core porn thing..I was expecting to see some tastefull nudity and simulated sex. Was lil' Billy Warlock supposed to be a tough guy? Who did they think would want to watch this crap?

6 hours ago, Brolden said:

I also feel like this would have felt better if it was Tom with Nancy. Despite the fact that Margo had been family for 26 years, she wasn't actually related to Nancy, which made the moment fall flat a little.

I thought it was nice that Nancy considered Margo a much of a Hughes as anyone else, and Margo kept her identity but still considered herself a Hughes. And then there is  problem that Scott Holmes couldnt display any warmth even with Wagner .

15 hours ago, KMan101 said:

 

THIS!

 

I loved early Carly and Jack. But Pissy's ATWT was so repetitive for them it made me wonder how they even cared about each other anymore or why anyone would root for them to get back together. 

 

Exactly the same with Josh and Reva. They yelled. Broke up. Dated others. Circled back around. Zzzzzz.

I think it was more MADD then anyone else..she LOVED her formula, which for her was to create a "super couple" (I hate that..) and break them up, make them up, break them up..etc.  Jeva, Manny, Ross and Blake..(before they got bored with them..) boring as hell.  I wish someone would write about the last days of P&G productions and Televest to show what really was going on. MADD seemed to be running scared all the time so she alternated from throwing crap at the wall to see if it stuck to being afraid to move away from a formula.  But if as others wrote, even at the start of her regime, that she was hired in mind to shut it all down and she had a golden parachute...why was she so afraid?

57 minutes ago, Soapsuds said:

Great list except no Peter Simon. 

I actually think its interesting that its all the women who were involved in this iconic storyline...they should have MG there but I know she was on the other, but the Holly/Chelle relationship, which disappeared when they recast Chelle was really interesting and I think ground breaking in its own right, you have these two wounded people, one who really was a terrible mother, and another who just lost Mother of the Year, and an adult who deals with this kid where she was, without pulling any punches or trying to baby here.

2 hours ago, prefab1 said:

I really liked the Lorelei stuff, but you're right: it needed better dialogue to help make the subtext of Beth's psychological split into text. But then again, I also thought the Beth/Alan relationship was really interesting, in a creepy way. I could totally buy that, due to Beth's early trauma, she would turn to powerful men who would make her feel safe (even men as vile as Alan). 

Aghh.you lost me on the Alan/Beth stuff...I know what you mean and seen the validity of it but..yuckk! I would have liked, if she did have a split, and not a dumb ho like Loreli...that they proceeded with the storyline as it was done at first...AlterBeth marries Alan to get his power and to keep him in the nuthouse...Alan marries Beth to smoke Phillip out but does not realize what he has got himself into until he is trapped. Then both of them play a game against each other, with Alex playing them both....(I just cant deal with Gus being Alans kid and the whole Harley is president of a Multinaitonal Corporation....)

8 hours ago, victoria foxton said:

From empowered sexual abuse survivor to bitchy cold fish. 

LOL..that is PROGRESS!!!  A

Beth's transformation could have been one that was totally believable if they had explained it and given it time.  I could see an abuse survivor (Bradley.Dr. Blackburn,Roy and yes, psychologically Alan) turning inward and cold and perhaps even acting out sexually...but they needed the other characters, especially Phillip, Rick, Lillian and Alex, to comment on this and suggest therapy.  They were kind of going there with Loreli or whatever, but that was just stupid. A cold, calculating split who takes over when Beth feels a threat (for example, when Phillip, her knight, was with Harley..or when Phillip was dead and Gus was trying to take his place as 1st son...) could have been good, if they have to go over the top, but I would rather they explain it as post trauma and then Beth get help...She could have still been more bitchy then Judi Evans saint character but..

23 hours ago, FrenchFan said:

Hey guys. Some of you might remember I did interviews of some past soap actors or behind the scenes members years ago. I was asked by some here to revive it. So I got a contact to interview Veleka Gray, whose career on soaps ran from all the 70s' and the early 80s'.

 

As I am working on my questions, I could collect some of yours to ask her ! For reminder, here are the soaps and roles she was in.

 

Laura Donnelly Eliot                       LIAMST                                September 1970 – January 1972

Susan Pritchett                                 HTSAM                                December 1974 – April 1975

Vicky Paisley                                     SOM                                     May 1975 – December 1976

Mia Mariott                                       LOL                                        January 1977 – February 1980

Lyla Montgomery                           ATWT                                   June 1980 – November 1980

Ruby                                                     YR                                          February 1983

Dr. Sharon Reeves                          YR                                          April 1983 – October 1983

What happened on ATWT..I really liked her as Lyla (sorry, I always thought AS was boring and faded into the word work.) She seemed like a tough survivor and thought that worked well against Hastings and the rest of the Hughes family. It was a weird transitional period for the show as the Dobsons either by their choice or forced to...were phasing out the importance of Chris and Nancy and the tightness of the Hughes family..was that felt behind the scenes?

17 minutes ago, victoria foxton said:

LOL..

14 minutes ago, Soapsuds said:

Surprised he had a bf for 16 years. I'd run after a min The hubby is nothing to write home about. 

Saucer of milk...table 2!!!

Actually, it looked like a nice wedding...I HATE the matching tux thing with the couples dog as the flower girl!!