Mitch

11 hours ago, Faulkner said:

Been seeing a lot of posts like this regarding Murray Bartlett. Really want to watch this show. Glad to see his career really soaring.

 

HA..the show is crap..it is about the same as QAF..Bartlett looks great for his age..actually any age..and good for him for being out and getting work..lol if one of the fraus over at the FB GL page tune in and see Murray's character, uh..tossing a salad!

10 hours ago, FrenchBug82 said:

I don't want to hate on the actress who is not responsible for the awfulness she was playing.
I do wish Alan would actually ask her - he won't - how it feels to be doing your best to give life to a character and entire storyline block that 95% of the fanbase either hates on the merits or resents the mere existence of.
On a human level, it must be rough.

I am sure she only listened to the Manny fans...by that with San Crud so many long time fans with a few brain cells just left...(I must have been missing a few as I stayed...and I am sure because of it, lost more) and the crazy couple queens took over. Though I agree I think SS could have breathed life into Carmen if she had some writing. The few scenes Carmen had with Van were good...except..typical Rauch, totally cartoony (Van pulling a gun???) but you could see where there was actual drama and acting that could come from a confrontation between a Latina upstart and the old guard of SF.

12 hours ago, TVFAN1144 said:

For those mourning the loss of these beloved soaps it looks like the replacements are not doing much better. ATWTs replacement The Talk is last in overall daytime ratings.  The network probably isn’t too concerned since it is cheaper to produce and draws the desired demographics.  Maybe people are tiring of talk shows

The Chew didn’t last after replacing All My Children and that GMA thing doesn’t seem to be doing well    That show that replaced One Life to Live (Revolution?) lasted a few months and the slot was saved by General Hospital 

Let’s Make a Deal seems to be doing ok after Guiding Light   It airs in a different morning time slot in many markets than the soap it replaced 

 

 

 

Yea..the talk shows have to be much cheaper then soaps...one set, a whole bunch of product placements, and studios to pay the show to have the hosts fawn over the stars..and, no crazy fans writing in constantly. 

I do think that soaps are of course living on in other platforms an d that the its interesting that Amazon has jumped on the bandwagon of "serialized stories" with is Vella product. The stories are even called "episodes" and you get the first three free and then you need to pay for the rest. They are written by Indie authors and who knows how good they are, but I think it would be interesting if someone like Nancy Curlee would write a continuation of ATWT and or GL as I do believe there is still an audience for that. P & G tried to do that with GL but it was on Twitter and didn;t work well.

I know the continuing print stories thing has been around since Dickens (and most likely before) but its interesting how Amazon is packaging these to close to being soaps..tho of different types...(love stories, mysteries, humor.)

1 hour ago, TVFAN1144 said:

I don’t think many writers have a grasp of Midwestern small towns.  A multi terminal airport, large hospital, business tycoons with private jets

Yea, I never understand why businesses have to be multinational corporations...why not just the largest corporation in that part of the state? Why the rich families have to be some of the richest in the country and yes, the ridiculous airports...(cause who cares, has their ever been an exciting airport scene on a soap?) why a surgeon has to be "The foremost expert in the country," its just all so dumb...and I grew up watching them!

2 hours ago, MarlandFan said:

I know I'm the minority here, but I did not appreciate Jon Hensley's acting abilities.

Bwhaha...as if JH was ever hired for his acting abilities! He was just lucky that he was hired at the perfect point where his looks intersected with what the show needed..he actually had the body of a farm boy...(muscle but not roided out like Linc...beefy, ) pictured with a face that could only be a soap farm boy and gave off a surly sexual vibe. To the shows credit I can't believe they didn't go with a skinny twink (like Aaron) or a sculpted muscle model...Holden looked like he ate Emma's cooking and drank beer. I did think he was fine as a middle aged dad who sometimes screwed up...again, he looked like a cute suburban dad and he developed a nice way with the younger actors.

And yes, I would love to hear about his problematic personal life..though I read so much on Datalounge about it but of course, take that with a grain of salt!

1 hour ago, Bill Bauer said:

've seen EF recount the story of being slapped in the street by an obviously deranged person with a laugh and a smile. I doubt that anyone who had that happen to them would tell the story with a smile and a chuckle. Nor would they just brush it off and not have the person arrested. 

Agreed..EF was the first soap star to hire a publicist (or so I heard) and she paved the way for the divas to come so I am sure this, and her bodyguard was a ploy...(probably started and the guard paid for by Fulton herself.)

14 hours ago, j swift said:

With all due respect, I would also offer a hubbard squash to anyone who can find a retired cabaret singing, doctor's wife, and great grandmother in the outer suburbs of Chicago (close to the farmland) who was that chic.

Ha! However, I don't think you can find too many our ring suburbs that have  spies, rich scottish muscle men (straight) with transported castles or a beloved flamboyant town busy body running around with feather boas either but...I can see a doctors wife..who also has her own considerable wealth, dressing like that...just not day in and day out...(we never see anyone but the farm folk in jeans..)

I do think the geography of Oakdale is a bit bizarre. I always thought it was a city close to Chicago that yes, in later years would be an outer ring suburb..but not only the Snyder farm but other farms make it seem more Central Illinois then anything else. Its the same as Springfield which could not possibly be in Illinois as it has a lighthouse, so it would have to be Michigan but...

Just now, MichaelGL said:

The rape storyline was penned by the Dobson's correct? 

Yes, and at that time it was criticized as it was a retread of Ed/Holly/Roger. thought watered down...(it was a mistrial...) and besides John, with dull characters.

22 hours ago, John said:

I could be wrong but maybe Maura was offered Cassie in 1997 before returning to ATWT

I think she would have been much betters as Cassie..(LW always looked like a suburban prom queen to me...and West has a more..earthiness to her) and I think she and Zimmer would have a natural "wariness" which would have made it interesting

3 hours ago, lilyredd said:

That rape story with John sounds awful and demonstrates the constant erasing of women’s experience with sexual assault and aggression on daytime tv. How do you not know who you are having sex with- was she drunk or drugged, blind or blindfolded? Wtf? 

Dee was no go getting bright bulb to begin with...she seemed half drugged every day..but she took a sleeping pill....thought it was pervey Brad ( she moaned..Braaadddd..) but it was actually pervey John and did the deed..I think she "woke up" in the middle of it...anyway, it was offensive on all levels.  I think if the Dobsons kind of wanted us to see it as David pressing Dee to charge John, and the Hughes and the rest of the town backing him up as John was a total pariah at that time. But the problem was it made David into a creepy ass to put his daughter through a trial, made everyone else in town look almost as bad, and both Dee and Ellen seemed like passive drippy women being led by their noses by David. So really, resources of the police and the courts were wasted as two influential families indulged in a revenge suit against an old foe.

And John was ran over not shot (that happened later) and blinded. Right after that we had the writers strike and endless scenes in Margos cottage with John...and then Dee visiting to try to get a divorce, then Tom or Brad yelling at John, Brad gazing into the sky when Dee's name was mentioned..Lisa chasing after pervy Brad...James twirling his mustache as a dumb Margo couldn't see what was going on, Ellen worried about a missing David, and a bunch of newbies running around town..it was a horrible summer!

19 hours ago, DramatistDreamer said:

Don't get me wrong @Broderick, I don't believe that the writing intentionally set Lily up to look like a jerk, a spoiled princess yes, but not an intentional jerk. Lily never believed that her intentions were anything but good and she was, at her core a very needy teenager by the time the Snyders entered the canvas. Unless, the character is a complete psychopath or a serial killer, a writer usually finds some empathy for the characters she or he writes. 

I also believe that Marland likely believed Martha a capable enough actress that she could play this type of a character and not totally alienate the viewers. Lily and Holden's popularity as a couple bore out that guess as being correct.

 

If you read Marland's bible for the first six months Lily is very well defined as a spoiled little b*tch..and actually she seemed more fun and more sexual...I think they toned it down to go with Martha's energy and to make her more hesitant about wanting Holden to get it going..so not to scare off that age group of viewers.

15 hours ago, Vee said:

Laura Wright has never played around on job security. She's tough as nails.

I actually admire that in her..but it does come through very clearly in her acting. Now Zimmer never could hide the fact but Reva was supposed to be overbearing at times...Cassie was treated like a virgin saint and she just came off as someone would cut you if crossed. I wish they had played that up when she first came on, and have her be more antagonistic with Reva and everyone else.

No one could have sold the Cassie/Josh/Reva story..LW always played scenes with RN like a sister...but it would have at least had more impact..all of a sudden this wishy washy woman is with Josh and calling herself Cassie...but she was blond and I am sure came cheap.

12 hours ago, Soapsuds said:

I didn't know Jacqueline Schultz was married to Larry Bryggman. I preferred Vicky as Dee as well.

Wow..I thought Vicky was dull as dishwater! But I do agree with the previous poster who says that Dee suddenly became the unattainable goddess of love in Oakdale. Brad was obsessed with her (did they ever explain WHY he married Annie when he would stare off into space at the mere mention of Dee's name??) John was obsessed with her (even offering her the real ring and giving Ariel a fake one when Dee rejected him and he married Ariel...for...reason???) James was obsessed with her and they even chemistry tested she and Tom during a writer's strike.  I liked Jackie but she had horrible writing and just stared into the camera with her mouth open...(apparently Jackie and Colleen were fighting it out to be the STAR of ATWT and the girl who played Bab's sister got caught in the middle and fired..which was too bad..she would have been a good character for Marland.)

15 hours ago, jam6242 said:

He'd probably seen A Summer Place and wouldn't dare mess with Constance, lol.

 

Of if only they had a scene of Ada doing that to Rachel..a.k.a. LadyEyesABugging as they call her on DL!

5 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

I noticed that he tried to imply Lisa Cameron was a bad actress and also tried to make Nancy Wickwire say her job was dull (she handled that well), but he didn't play any of those games with Constance Ford. He was probably afraid she'd come bawl him out. 

I love that Ford is pointing out the artificiality of the scenes and the sets.  No one ever in the history of soaps (or any TV show..) has a TV or radio on unless there is a bulletin about the latest kidnapping or murder in town.  I also love that she does not want to say, "Hang it all"!!! ( I am sure Ford had another phrase they couldn't use...)

14 hours ago, Neil Johnson said:

At what point did Lisa become rich?  Was it after her divorce from John Eldridge, and her return from "Our Private World"?  Or was it when she married Whit McCall?   

It seems up to marrying Whit Lisa was upper middle class (as was almost everyone in Oakdale at the time.) She ran the bookstore and then Fashions, etc.  It was after Whit that she starting collecting businesses "like she used to men" as someone wrote in a soap mag.

13 hours ago, BetterForgotten said:

She's admitted in other interviews to being a consultant for ABC Daytime in the mid-90's (which is why she was probably considered for the GH HW role), but I don't think she was ever officially credited for writing anything on those shows. 

So insane that CBS/PG didn't hire her as a consultant or head writer...God, can imagine if we got her instead of McTavish or E & B?

6 hours ago, Soaplovers said:

Holly became too neurotic, Maureen became a tad too judgmental (and she didn't have Chelsea there to occasionally call her out, nor had as much humor as did under Long).

 

I did love biz smart, sarcastic wry Holly..so different then any other female character on a soap. I was hoping when Fletcher dumped her and took the kid she would return to that...but she became a stalker.. Where did Chelsea go when they wrote her off. I wouldn't have minded a recast Chelsea to come back after Mo since she was embedded with the Bauers already..to try to help Ed out with Chele and Bridget....and maybe get together with Rick. Just NO singing!

8 hours ago, redontop4 said:

NC divulged that she wishes she had kept Maureen alive by having her slip out of Springfield with Roger's help. She made it sound as if it was her choice not to do this, which suggests that she, as co-head writer, had say as to how Maureen was written out after JFP decided to let Ellen Parker go. Imagine if NC had chosen to let Maureen live, albeit off-camera. Would have been much easier to reverse JFP's bad decision down the line.

I think NC (and I may be giving her too much credit but I don't think so) was being generous and in her southern way, not throwing JFP under the bus. I took it that she wished she *could* have written it that way...(but most likely was given the mandate to KILL KILL Mo) I do think that actually doing that would be problematic...as Mo would never leave her kid and friends and family to think she was dead. Roger would look more like a heal if he let Michelle think her mom was dead...(he could care less what Ed thinks) The other way would be that she was in a coma and spirited away by Roger..who say Roger came to the cabin after the Ed confrontation... and Roger in his Roger way, tries to make Mo see that Ed is no good for her and that he can take her and Michelle away from all of this...Mo says something like, "There is nothing I would like better to just disappear right now.." and then with more Roger badgering she then runs out, gets in her car and slides off the road. She is knocked out and Roger, feeling guilty and again in Roger's way, thinks he is honoring her wishes wisks her off somewhere...)

I know E & B had a plan for bringing Parker back with a woman who led a hard life  who got her heart and had plastic surgery to look like her..but I think that ranks up there with the clone.

21 hours ago, Soapsuds said:

Oh I know who Mitch was talking about. I just never saw it as a gay island.

Well, I am sure any island that Island Hunk inhabited would turn instantly gay...(and wouldn't Reva LOVE to have landed on secluded gay resort...cocktails and worshiping queens, she would never want to leave..) but I mean...Gay Island Hunk on his...Island, which he would turn instantly gay. (have no idea if the actor is gay but he came off as such...) I thought he had good friendly chemistry with Dinah and she needed a gay bestie to ring her beads once in a while.

17 hours ago, Soapsuds said:

 

He's a therapist now. I think I need counseling.

Ha..his website says "My expertise lies in working with men transitioning into, or out of, relationships"...oh..I am sure he has helped transition many men out of their old relationships.

He still looks good, but its kind of funny he does indeed look like a soap therapist..."Throw some glasses on him so he looks smart, but find a way to show his chest..."

20 hours ago, Vee said:

 

Yep. IMO the Peapack stories were awful, but Kim showed what she could do with grit, candor and an absence of all the tacky 90s Paul Rauch love goddess shít. Reva was a boozy, heavy older woman who liked sex and didn't care if she was a bit rough. If these were the British soaps she'd be a canonized TV saint on par with Pat or Peggy from Eastenders - she was cast from that mold.

Totally agree and always thought that during the St.Reva the Love Goddess that no one seems to think is past her prime days (Post Resurrection Reva and Zimmer always reminded me of Lucille Ball in her later shows....desperate to stay young and playing 20 years younger then she actually was ..and characters having to call long in the tooth Lucy Carmichael/Carter.."young lady.") that is what her character should morph into.  It was too bad it had to be Peapack that brought us that but I always wanted her to run Company, be behind the bar smoking a ciggie and knocking back a drink kicking people's assess and giving out bad advice.. a tough broad who has seen it all..)  But we got pastel suit Reva who crash landed on kinda gay Island Hunk's island he stopped in his tracks to see "The most beautiful woman on earth" rise out of the water, and the camera showed us Reva wet with nasty hair and mascara running down her face with wet clothes which couldn't hide her age.

27 minutes ago, Liberty City said:

 

Haha, as someone who loves Reva, I welcome it. I vaguely remember watching Guiding Light during this time. My first real memories are Annie on the stand at the trial, her wedding to Alan and her being "pushed" by Reva, as well as the San Cristobel drama (where Reva was in the cave).

Yea...I loved her too, but over familiarity breeds contempt here! Oddly I started liking her again in her Peapack days...Zimmer brought the scenery chewing down (most likely as there was no scenery to chew) and I think a more..uh...full figured Reva, tired, a bit crabbier, and sick of the big hair and shoulder pads made sense.

44 minutes ago, Liberty City said:

 

Again, I am merely going off of what I've seen from January to April 3 in 1997. That's as much as I've re-watched thus far. No telling what the remainder of the year will bring.

Ah..I see!Welcome to the land of missed opportunites..(but more REVA)!

13 minutes ago, Liberty City said:

EXACTLY! I also contribute it to the writing team of Barbara Esenstein & James Harmon Brown, and ultimately the writing team for the 2002 return.

The writing team that dropped the ball (or someone did...) by not following up and Alex disappeared and Marj had no episodes scheduled so she left to go to AMC. I agree, Alex in the attic with Faux Annie was great..different then how Bev would have played it but the it was Alex..."don't f*ck with me boys," Spaulding.  Alex had so much potential to get involved with Alan/Annie (the Annie/Reva thing burned out with even Watros there) Vicky Spaulding, the whole (though it was dumb) Beth/Matt/Vanessa thing (would Alex back up her old friend and sometime sparring partner Van, would she try to shake some sense into newly Bimbo Beth???) Alex could have used Alan's late mid life crises with Annie to take over...(and yes, I would love Marj to say, as she kicks them out of the mansion"And take that crazy blonde slut with you!")

Oh what could have been, but Rauch and E & B seemingly did not know what to do with a strong woman of a certain age.

44 minutes ago, titan1978 said:

I have such a hard time seeing Marj as Alex.  I loved her on AMC.  It’s just hard for me as a viewer to go from BM to what Alex became.

 

Maeve Kincaid really was given the chance to shine during Curlee’s era on the show.  She got to be an accomplished woman with deep relationships.  And sometimes (especially with Billy and Nadine), you would get to see some of that nasty side.  She played calculating well too.

 

There are times that I think that era of GL was almost perfect soap opera, the Calhoun period into JFP’s  The Blackout.

I agree...I think that it WAS perfect..or as perfect as it could be..during that time. Then the wheels came off..fast.

Maeve was one of those performers that none of the soap mags was going to rave on as she did not chew scenery.  Van was declawed when she married Billy under Long and  I have a feeling it was to allow Alex to be the rich sophisticated and at times lethal woman in town. With Bev gone Maeve was the natural replacement especially as she was in a position with feet in both Spaulding and Lewis. I would have loved for her when she came back post resurrection..instead of wanting to have a baby to reenergize her professional life and break away from Lewis Oil, where the boys ruled supreme and gone to Spaulding to take on Alan and Annie and then...secretely while pitting Spaulding vs. Lewis, mange to force a merger where she had majority control. So much better then her sighing away and have Matt going after hoochie woman Beth who called Van "old" At least that would NEVER have happened during JFP.

12 minutes ago, prefab1 said:

This reminds me--I came across this clip from the JFP-era of GL a few days ago, and I thought it was absolutely riveting, even though it deals with fairly minor plot points (e.g. I couldn't care less whether Alex attended Nick and Mindy's wedding). You don't see many scenes like this one on soaps today, because only a few of them bother to write their characters with this degree of complexity; you really get to see a ton of facets of Vanessa's character in this four-minute scene, and Maeve Kincaid plays it for all it's worth. 

 

 

Great scene, and proves that JFP's GL had life after Mo's death...(if only it was Bev and Maeve in those scenes.) Also, it makes me again think why they didn't cast Van in the Alex role later on when they let Marj go. By that time Alex was so tainted with the Nick/Mindy crap and Marj's schreeching...Van was a much needed grey character who could play the game as well as anyone if she had to and could threaten without raising her voice.

And yes, a mundane thing like a wedding reception is tied into the bigger plot (the battle for Spaulding) with reminders of family and community connections.