LegalGirl82

I do remember it being reported (or at least speculated) in SOD at the time that Laura Malone was fired because she wasn't losing her pregnancy weight fast enough for the showrunners. Even though I was no longer watching at the time Judi Evans Luciano was on the show and in a public battle with her pregnancy weight, I was glad the showrunners didn't repeat what had happened to Malone.

Last I read, Malone became a copyright attorney and was working as a vice-president and corporate counsel at Getty Images.

While it's true that Blaine had a lot of story in those years, IMO she never ate the show. I would have liked to see more of Sandy and Blaine post-marriage, even if they rested the characters off screen for a time.

I also liked Kevin Conroy's Jerry Grove the best; and I liked David Bailey's Russ Matthews, especially with VW's Rachel.

I don't remember a whole lot about the Jason/Elsa/Tracy story; I didn't hate it, it was just there. I do remember being sad when Tracy was killed.

That's a great description of Louise, Carl, especially her voice.

I enjoyed Vivien, but I think she was at her best with Beverlee's Iris.

Louise's exit was one of many, many factors over a number of years which ultimately contributed to my walking away from AW. She was a wonderfully unique character, played to perfection by an excellent actress. Like so many of the characters from that time, I can still hear her in my mind.

What was always interesting to me was that Blaine and Cecile had sort of changed places.

I'll never forget the confrontation scene between Mac and Cecile after he found out she had conspired with Alma Rudder to gaslight Blaine. Mac, to that time, had championed Cecile; but when he found out about the gaslighting, he eviscerated Cecile. Fantastic soap, IMO.

To me, the gaslighting story was the culmination of Blaine's redemption arc.

Unfortunately, unlike Rachel before her, who always kept some of her bite, post redemption arc, Blaine pretty much lost hers, and the character was never the same.

How soon into Blaine's run did they make her sympathetic? It seems like it was pretty early to me but I don't know. What did she do right after the breakup with Jamie? Was she given a rape by redemption story? I think she was raped by someone when she was with Sandy, wasn't she? One of those "save my man with sex" things?

I want to say it was about 3-4 years into Laura Malone's run as Blaine that they made her sympathetic, Carl. It wasn't early, at least by today's standards; and it was done gradually, over time, much like Rachel before her.

I wouldn't call what Blaine had a rape by redemption story; although the rape definitely contributed to her redemption arc. She was raped by Jordan Scott, club-owner/pimp/sleazebag. I don't think the rape itself was to "save my man with sex"; rather, months later, when Scott was murdered, it was thought that Blaine murdered Scott to save herself and Sandy. I think the rape occurred when Scott caught Blaine looking for evidence against him in the house they shared.

If there was regret on the part of the showrunners; I'm very glad they didn't try to do a quick redeem on Bradley. I thought he served the show well in the '85 and '89 returns, but didn't feel the need for anything further. The initial wrap-up of the rape story and later his part in Beth's return story in '89 really provided a sufficient and thorough enough end to Beth's rape story, as well as the relationships between Bradley and Beth and Bradley and Lillian. His story was done.

I'm okay with them not bringing him back in the last year of the show, since he died offscreen in '03 and it would have just been a rehash of a story that was done, anyway.

One story I always wanted for Beth, and would have liked to have seen before the show ended, would have been for her to find out more about her biological father.

I thought Bradley was killed off in 1984, I keep forgetting he was still alive.

Bradley went to prison in early '84, after his rape trial, Carl.

In addition to his stint in '89 for Beth's return story, Rebhorn also appeared briefly as Bradley in the Spring of '85, when Lujack went to prison for the murder of Andy Ferris. Bradley by then had become sort of a mentor to the new inmates, who referred to him as "The Professor". Upon coming face to face with "The Professor", Lujack knew who he was, and initially resisted even talking to him. Ultimately, though, Bradley proved to be helpful when Lujack planned his escape from prison during the talent show. Lujack accepted his help begrudgingly. Beth, who aided Lujack in his escape, was unaware of the connection until she literally ran into Bradley as they were making their escape. She understandably freaked out momentarily, nearly derailing the escape.

Re: Nancy~To me it seemed they never figured out what to do with Nancy once they aged her. Also, during those approximately three years in the mid ‘80s, the show was chock-a-block with other young women of varying ages. In that span, we had, at various times:

Marley

Victoria

Cecile

Sally

Nicole Love

Cheryl McKinnon

MJ McKinnon

Kathleen McKinnon

Thomasina Mason/Harding/Todd

Julia Shearer

Stacey Winthrop

Dee Evans

And, ultimately, of course, the SORASd Amanda.

They didn’t seem to want to write much in the romance department for Nancy. Her love interests never really went anywhere. Perry Hutchins died and I think Chris Chapin just left town.

I can’t remember if Jane Cameron left on her own or if she was let go. If she left on her own, I would imagine part of her decision would have had to do with the fact that all these other gals around her were getting stories while she was inevitably left standing on the sidelines. I wonder if they ever considered recasting Nancy.

It’s funny, I’d forgotten that Taylor Miller from AMC took over from Mary Page Keller for the last year of Sally’s life; and you’ve reminded me that in those mid ‘80s AW was trying to grab names from other soaps; i.e., Sharon Gabet, Taylor Miller and Denise Alexander.

For me, Brittany Peterson’s story was a dud right from the start. Nothing against SG; but she just wasn’t convincing as a country girl, even a “tough” one. Plus, she definitely skewed older than Mary Page Keller and Thomas Ian Griffith. Lastly, SG and TIG had no chemistry at all, IMO.

I think the show would have been better served to have SG play a businesswoman. They were going in the right direction pitting her against Frangione’s Cecile in a war for Peter Love, but the character, Brittany, was just wrong.

Lol, you mentioned that Taylor Miller looked nothing like Mary Page Keller; but believe it or not, MPK, with her dark hair, was the anomaly. Sally was always a blonde until MPK. Honestly, though, MPK was my favorite adult Sally; and I didn’t really care for Miller’s Sally.

Back to Sally and Catlin, on the other side, Lewis Arlt (David Thatcher) also skewed older than MPK and TIG, and I couldn’t stand the whole Thatcher arc they saddled Sally with. Again, MPK and LA had zero chemistry; David was a bit of a slug; and, no offense to the child actor who played Kevin, but he (Kevin) was one whiny child.

Personally, I would have liked to have seen a Nancy/Catlin/Sally (MPK version) triangle. Rachel’s little sister v. Alice’s daughter, for the love of a Ewing, could have been good.

Re: The Frames v. The Matthews~Back in the day, I was blissfully unaware of the backstage goings on; and I don’t think it occurred to me at the time the Matthews were being phased out. It’s likely I thought the Matthews were just going through a lull; an ebb and flow kind of thing; and that they would be back. Plus, with Steve having been around, I didn’t necessarily consider the Frames to be newbies. To be perfectly honest, I was tired of Steve, and I always thought Willis was a far more interesting character than his brother.

Having said all that, I understand, for some, the show was never the same, and I respect their opinion. Years later, I felt the same way with the influx of Loves/Hudsons.

I finally read the Lemay book about two years ago. It jogged a lot of fond memories from that era of AW for me.

Oh that's right; for some reason I thought Buzz was the one in the ragdoll outfit.

Now that would have been even more frightening, lol!

You may be right about viewers tuning out after the hipness wore off. My mother was a stalwart NBC viewer, so I started watching AW very young, in the late '60s (I was born the same year as the show) and watched through the '70s and into the mid '80s.

Susan Keith played Cecile when she was still an ingenue and was, IMO, a good fit for Cecile at that stage of her life. Of course, when Nancy Frangione took over, she just popped as Cecile, and the rest is history. But Cecile was never just a cardboard villainess. Her motivations could be understood, even as they couldn't be condoned.

Argh...I had the same problem with the AOL videos from the early '80s. I was trying to get through Blaine's murder trial.

Lol, I didn't know Rick Porter was an exotic dancer! Larry was a salt of the earth character. He and Laura Malone had very good brother/sister chemistry. Larry and Blaine didn't coddle each other, though; and when Blaine was at her worst, Larry would let her have it.

Nice to see some Blaine/Malone appreciation. It's true about the pregnancy weight. Though I had stopped watching by the time Judi Evans was playing Paulina, I liked that the show worked with her and didn't repeat what had happened with Laura.

I think it was felt that they had gone as far as they could with Blaine and Sandy. I would have liked to see them come back eventually, even as recasts. But their departure was during the time of the influx of Loves/Hudsons, which kind of ate the show for long time. Plus they'd already SORAS'd Nancy McGowan; and then Amanda and eventually Matthew for the next generation of Corys.

But, yeah, the writing was on the wall for the Ewings once Blaine left. Larry and Clarice kind of stagnated; and they saddled Catlin and Sally with David Thatcher, that ridiculous Brittany Peterson story and, finally, Sally's death. A shame, too, because Thomas Ian Griffith and Mary Page Keller were a good match.

^^^It was actually Alma in the rag doll costume. She and Cecile set up an outbuilding on the Cory Estate to look like Blaine's childhood home. They locked her in the closet and at one point, Alma had her reach into a bowl of what she told Blaine was spaghetti, but it was actually worms. She really terrorized Blaine. I wish I could see some of it again, too. And it was great watching Cecile realize just how far off her nut Alma was, and then trying in vain to pull the plug. Mac had always championed Cecile; but when he found out that Cecile had been in cahoots with Alma to terrorize Blaine, he went off on her in epic fashion. I can still see Doug Watson's hair flying, lol.

Laura Malone played Blaine through most of the character's run; and you describe her very well. She could hold her own with all of the heavyweights on AW; and I suspect part of that came from having been the only daughter of a family of...I think it was eight brothers. Last I heard, she's a lawyer now. Judy Dewey was her replacement; but by then Blaine was pretty bland.

As to the ratings, I can only tell you that none of my friends watched AW back then. They were all about GH.

Though I had long since stopped daily watching, I did check in every now and then and I do remember seeing Russell Todd's Jamie. LOL at the pursed lips. Did Michael Easton learn that from him?

Alma drove poor Louise off, never to be mentioned again, didn't she?

I'm not sure that she was never mentioned again; but Louise definitely left Bay City because she was frightened by Alma.

I was a Blaine fan; but I remember enjoying the hell out of Alma's torture of her. And Cecile totally underestimated Alma, lol. Franz made one entertaining villainess. Of course, I was glad she eventually met her end.

They younged down Jamie in increments after Bekins left; to the character's detriment, I've always thought. As you say, he regressed. And one of the things that eventually drove me from AW was having Vicky's baby be his. Jamie was long overdue for some real happiness by that time and I so wanted that for him, even if it meant he'd be off the canvas for awhile. I wanted him to go to Europe with Lisa.

And Elizabeth Franz as Hecht's wife Bella. She went on to play notorious Alma Rudder, didn't she?

That's right, Carl; and it would be later in the year '82 that she started as Alma. LOL, in my head, I can still hear the way Alma said Cecile's name ("See-Sul").

Thanks for the link. I'll have to check the clips out. I don't remember that story of the Russian artist off the top of my head, so I'm curious to see if the clips jog my memory. And I'm always happy to see Richard Bekins' Jamie; although at the time of his book, he was insisting on being called "James." I agree with you, he was the best Jamie.