Thanks @slick jones  I think the first time I saw her was in The First Wives Club where tons of Broadway actors who I didn't know at the time had cameos.

Y&R could have done charcoal portraits ad infinitum. Those opening titles were sleek, elegant, timeless, iconic.

While I understand the desire to try something new, I do not understand how such tackiness gets greenlit. No one on the team said, "Now let's talk about this public access talk show skyline..."?

1 hour ago, victoria foxton said:

This episode contains an early appearance by Judge Barbara "Fitzy" Fitzwater. Predating Marty Saybrooke's rape trial by two years.

On our 8th grade New York trip, we saw Novella Nelson playing a verbally abusive grandmother cussing like a sailor at The Young Playwrights Festival. When she came out for the talkback, my classmates were so taken by how lovely, poised, and smooth-spoken she was. 

Beverlee McKinsey, like Morgan Fairchild over a decade later on her two-year soap, left after the first.

On 3/8/2023 at 3:10 PM, Darn said:

Definitely not. I bet she had some good negotiating power after Genie then Tony left.

Found an article with this quote

That's wildly unlikely. Erica was in at least 200 episodes a year, they weren't paying her 200 million.

Also found this discussion from 25 (!) years ago:

Lucci was probably making 2-3 million by 2000.

The $1.4 million/year figure used to pop up in a lot of articles about Susan Lucci in the '90s.

In that wonderful 1981 interview with Brian Linehan, Beverlee McKinsey says she's the highest salaried actor in daytime... because she insisted on it. Texas was riding on her popularity and created around her without her "consent" per se. She was already working crazy hours on Another World and wanted to quit so she saw to it that she would get all the things soap actors deserved: fewer hours, billing, and more money. She didn't say the amount, but I believe it was Jay Hammer who mentioned in an interview that P&G gave her a million dollar contract.

On 2/18/2023 at 2:19 PM, victoria foxton said:

 Aug. 27, 1985

Two days after my sixth birthday. I was probably watching this with my grandparents while we ate lunch.

From 1991, Susan with Jenny Jones:

@antmunoz Robin has said in at least one interview that she wasn't interested in being a replacement when she was approached to play Cathy. That all changed when they were looking for a new Dorian.

While I follow Robin on Twitter, I tend to fall way behind. Any info on her relocation to Cleveland sometime back?

Finding a suitable replacement is no small feat, but having Mark on fulltime doesn't seem like the best decision to me. It's all good for the interview segments, but the magic of the, "What did you do last night?" opening portion of the show is lost when you have a married couple telling us what they did rather than two unmarried co-hosts hearing the stories for the first time while sharing them with the audience. I guess that's the Regis and Kathy Lee purist in me. I don't watch regularly, sometimes I catch the late night reruns, but Seacrest wasn't as insufferable as I expected him to be. I mostly wondered how many millions is it fair for one man to make with his multiple gigs.

Seems odd to say, "Gone too soon" at 82, but that's precisely how I feel. I really thought she'd live past 100. She looked so good in that interview she did with Piers Morgan, I didn't realize that was nearly eight years ago. My head is flooded with memories right now, can't quite put it all into words. May she rest in peace.

12 minutes ago, BetterForgotten said:

Like the Harpo/Oprah produced The Women of Brewster Place, which was a big ratings hit in 1989 - the second part even outrated the first from what I recall. 

My heart! I watched this when it first aired as a child and many many times since then. I didn't remember it being only two nights, probably because of the loads of commercials when it's reaired on BET. But even moreso, because of the sweeping story itself that plays out over decades. 

Does anyone remember the short-lived series? @DRW50 posted about Ketty Lester yesterday and she had a memorable guest appearance. I've seen some bootleg versions available online, I'd like to revisit it.

17 minutes ago, Tonksadora said:

I was just wondering, ... how many nights was BARE ESSENCE? But, I honestly can't imagine it in today's world. 

Just two nights IIRC, two two-hour installments.

3 hours ago, Antoyne said:

I currently only watch Y&R and DAYS, and I find much more enjoyment on DAYS than Y&R where it feels like very little happens ever. Say what you will, but there’s way more movement and things happening to keep you interested. Episode guarantees are a problem but I’m pretty used to it at this point.

On Paramount+, Y&R starts to play automatically after the latest episode of B&B ends. It bores me, I won't let myself take on the chore of another soap, so for months now, I've been catching one or two minutes of the same episode. DOOL would have to be cancelled for me to consider taking on Y&R or GH.

FreeVee is where I get my daily dose of Judy Justice. I was also thrilled to find the complete series of "my story", Fifteen (aka Hillside) which used to air Sunday afternoons on Nickelodeon. One of its leads is a young Ryan Reynolds. 

Has KB always done that pseudo-intense whisper thing she does?

15 hours ago, Tonksadora said:

Hey, you're very welcome! I thought it was the funniest thing I've seen in days! 

A really cute video and I find it endearing that they don't have Encyclopedia-like knowledge of their characters the way fans do. It reminds me of when the actresses of The Golden Girls would share anecdotes from the show and get lines and details all wrong when we diehard fans can quote them like Gospel.

2 hours ago, victoria foxton said:

 I just find Days to be a chore to watch.

Interesting. I only watch B&B and DOOL, and I find that I look forward to watching DOOL more than B&B. B&B is super easy to watch, the episodes seem to fly by on Paramount+ if I'm even a week behind. I will say that DOOL can feel like a chore if I have multiple episodes to catch up on, but overall, I enjoy watching it more, maybe even for the foolish mess that it is as evidenced in that gif.

On 1/27/2023 at 9:11 AM, Noel said:

I love that jacket on Thomas. It's so cute. Now, let's talk about the plaid blazer suit on Paris. *Woof*

I get so tickled at the "around the office" wear of Paris, Steffy, and formerly Zoe. It totally looks like what little girls imagine high fashion to be, feels like a Disney channel show. I do think Paris, who is always gorgeous, looks even better with the darker hair.

I enjoy Thomas, but I won't make excuses for him. He doesn't deserve to be awarded so quickly, but hey, I guess business is business. Don't you all remember, maybe a year or more ago, how he was majorly crushing on Paris for about a week but then it got dropped? A lot like Paris' crush on Finn, and Carter and Katie's flirtation tha was only resuscitated because Quinn left town.

Zende saying that he and Paris are just friends? Poor dude, better pray for otherwise because characters without a single romantic prospect don't fare too well. I agree with the above poster that the Thomas/Paris/Zende triangle is ready to write itself. I'm just not too sure that it'll be all that interesting.

#Zzzzzzende  

I'm not convinced that $Bill doesn't have something up his sleeve re: Sheila.

I was having lunch with two of my best friends. They exclaimed in unison, "$100!?" when I told them how much I paid for my ticket to the Daytime Emmys. I balk at the notion of paying that much for theatre tickets in 2023, but for whatever reason, that just didn't seem like a lot of money to me as a huge soap fan in 1999.

My equally enthusiastic soap fan friend and I took the Greyhound from Maryland to Manhattan and stayed in the crappiest hotel room I have ever had the misfortune of lying my head. I don't even remember how we found the place. I'm sure the decision was motivated by price and location, but we obviously didn't see pictures because there is no way we would have ever booked the room. The carpet was dingy, there was only one full bed with cheap old linens, and the bathroom was in the hall. The place probably had bedbugs.

We managed to clean up nicely and avoid getting athlete's foot in the hall bathroom. We had an amazing time at the Emmys, meeting several soap stars, and best of all, Susan Lucci won! A true highlight of my life. The next morning, I bought copies of The New York Post and The New York Daily News as she was on the cover of both.

Totally worth the $100 ticket and awful hotel stay.

I'm glad that the show got such great numbers, and yet I cringe wondering if the majority of viewers were as disappointed as I was. I smiled when I saw that the first two episodes would be airing tonight, like an oldschool NBC Saturday night of sitcoms. Two episodes in, and I hadn't laughed once. It was great to see Dan again, and the rest of the cast seems strong, just poorly underserved by the writers. I have no issue taking time to warm up to a show, but for every slow burn, there's the potential to have the grease popping from the jump. Look at The Golden Girls, that pilot was on fire and you knew exactly who each of those ladies were from the very beginning.

Wait a mickey flickin' minute, that was Joe Lando??

Well I do love CBS daytime's history of using stars from the classic primetime lineup. 

Susan Lucci is on TMZ tonight, check your local listings. 

2 hours ago, Darn said:

Was Erica ever consistently referred to as "Mrs. Husband Last Name" during any of her marriages? I notice on soaps that no matter how many times a woman is married she immediately starts being referred to by her latest husband's last name.

I'll bet that she was back during those early marriages to Jeff Martin, Phil Brent, and Tom Cudahy before she got famous.

@dragonflies How sharp were your Finn and Steffy today? They looked great. The show needs to find more opportunities to put Finn in suits.

On 12/27/2022 at 4:11 PM, Soapsuds said:

And enough with the wink wink not funny sitcom references! Yesterday's episode of course with Leo had a one liner about Designing Women and Julia Sugarbaker.

What made it worse was that it was totally inaccurate, there were no shades of Julia whatsoever.

I've only been a faithful DOOL viewer for a few years now, but I was fighting back tears at Mr. Aniston's tribute. The power of soap opera.

I admit it, Alex got a couple of points from me for being selfless with Chad. But I almost immediately took my points back because I feel like this will all be used against Chad in the future to make him look ungrateful and Alex sympathetic.