Ryan's Hope: Kimberly

[ANDREA LOATHES REILLY]

This is one soap I watch religiously!

Kim and Delia crack me up, but Kim is so annoying. Love love love Ryan's Hope!

Can wait for Frank and Jill to reunite and for someone to call Faith on her [!@#$%^&*]. She won't take responsibility for getting involved with Frank, a man her sister had, a man who will always love her sister. I like Faith, but her behavior is reprehensible...

Andrea

[ANDREA LOATHES REILLY]

I don't find that Seneca is being an ass. What bugs me about Seneca is that he is completely ignoring that he has to take some responsibility for this debacle. What did he think would happen when he married an 18, especially when the 18 thinks the world owes her. Jill told him that he was not the man for Kim. I do love him, though and John Gabriel is such a cutie. As for Kim, good god! Hell, if I were Rae, I would have left that little demon behind too. She is such a liar and manipulator. Too childlike. But she's fun to watch. The actress still stinks, but the character really amuses me, so I can deal with it. When I see Kim, I think of Teresa LoFitz. A lying manipulative !@#$%^&*] who plays the victim. The difference is, Kim is not written as a heoine. She is clearly a vixen, which is what Teresa should have been written as. Reilly was too busy trying to shill the little stalker tramp as a romantic heroine, and that ruined the character for me at day one!

Randall Edwards is playing a different Delia, but she is rocking it.

Sean, that RH pic of yours rocks! Wish I had it...

Andrea

[Juliajms]

I dislike Seneca quite a bit. If you are in your 50's and marry an 18 year old, you should probably pick up on the fact that there are daddy issues involved. He keeps going on about how he wants a grown woman to be a partner and have children with, we'll maybe he should have thought about that before he robbed the cradle. Kim looks like she could be Seneca's daughter with Rae, especially when they are talking about how to "handle" her.

Faith is getting on my nerves a little bit too. I can see where she feels she was done wrong, but she certainly bares some of the responsibility.

I can't wait until everyone finds out what Joe Novak has done to the reporter. Fenelli is it?

[ANDREA LOATHES REILLY]

Yep, the reporters name is Jack Finelli.

And back to Faith. I totally understand her being hurt, but she, in so many ways, did this to herself. She decided to ignore every warning, and she totally went against the rules of getting a man. You don't date the man who has that kind of passion for another woman, especially your sister. As this progresses, it appears more like one of the reasons Faith got with Frank was to "one up" Jill. She has envied Jill for so long, and I think having Frank love her (Faith) would be something she did better than Jill. I guess we can see how that turned out.

As for Joe, outside of being one of the best recasts in soap history, I can't wait til Siobhan finds out about him. Also can't wait til Marg Helgenberger takes over the role. Ann Gilepsie is almost unbearable!

Andrea

[dc11786]

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The writing strike lasts about six months I believe. So far it's okay, but the new writers write out several great characters (starting with Michael) and all but one never come back. They also happen to be characters I love so I'm not looking forward to that!

Then Claire Labine returns, but is fired in early 1982 which I believe is when the show turns into Kirkland's Hope. I'm actually looking forward to that. BTW, for new viewers, thats when we get a new headwriter who basically writes out the Ryan's and centers the show around the rich Kirkland family.

The only characters written out during the Writer's Strike are Michael Pavel, Rose Pearse Melina, and Matthew Pearse. Matt and Rose were a big loss.

The interesting thing about Kimberly is that I think she ended up being well known. Her storyline climaxed just as the Ice Princess stuff was happening in the summer of 1981 so everyone was watching ABC daytime at the time.

I'm not watching on SoapNet, my college's cable provider doesn't carry SoapNet but I know this period almost by heart. I think that the scabs worked off Labine & Mayer's outlines for a while because they are still credited for story for some time.

The Strike ends the second week of September. In Labine & Mayer's first episode back George Russell calls Seneca Beaulac about consulting on "The Proud & the Passionate" and then everything starts to come together really well. Unfortunately, Frank disappears because his contract ran out when the scabs were writing and the last time Frank is seen he is turning down Rae's offer to represent Kim in the custody case. Frank is really the only terrible casualty of the strike.

Faith on her *&%^($^? WTF? The only mistake Faith has made was laying the blame on Jill, which is a bit irrational, but I'm sorry the scenes between Nancy Addison Altman and Karen Morris Gowdy as rivals are FIERCE. Talk about two ladies who hold their own. And sorry, I'm going to give props to anyone who calls Maeve Ryan on the crud she pulls with Frank. Jesus, when Faith blasts Maeve about praising Frank and his smug attitude, I'm freaking on the edge of my seat. That is must see tv.

Seneca has always been arrogant. I love it with Jill has to tell him about Frank and Faith. Doesn't he even ask if Jill and Frank have shacked up again? I'm sorry. I know people hated Frank & Faith, but I loved that storyline. Frank pulled his same old tricks except this time it wasn't against some evil villainess, it was the beloved Faith Coleridge. I don't think Faith is a $%&$& for telling it like it is. Some of the stuff with Jill seems a bit over the top, but I love how they played on the years of history. I eat up the Faith-Jill rivalry.

Kimberly's stories are fun. I love her pregnancy stunt. Oops I'm pregnant but I want to do a play. Quickie abortion, a fake miscarriage, and yeah I can be in the play. Kim is fun. Kelli Maroney wasn't my favorite actress but Kim filled the role of needy villainess pretty well.

Randall Edwards is a very different Delia. I prefer Ilene Kristen, but Randall Edwards' Dee has some great stuff. I loved the engagement party she through for Barry. She tends to be a bit too whiny, but she is excellent when she tries to blackmail Joe in a few months. I don't think that spoils anything as it really doesn't play out much but those few scenes were really well done and a complete change of pace from Edwards typical shtick. Edwards is a versatile actress, but for whatever reason her Dee remains whiny.

How did Faith do this to herself? Faith fell in love with Frank. She didn't go after him, it happened. Then, when she realized she had feelings for him, she told him she feared that he still loved Jill. Then he popped the question. Then he pushed up the wedding. All the way, Faith admitted she feared Frank still loved Jill. Faith couldn't blame Frank. She loved him. She had no choice but to blame Jill after it all went down. Frank Ryan is a jerk and no one ever calls him on it. I love it when Faith does. It just angers me when they all dismiss Faith as an alcoholic lunatic.

Did anyone see the scene where Bobby tells Frank off over the relationship? And then Roger? I'm sorry. I don't think Faith is in the wrong. Frank screwed up big time as always, but this time it wasn't some third party vixen. He took advantage of the feelings of someone who was trying to put her life back together and he clung to her because he was afraid of being alone or whatever reason he had. Frank jumped from relationship starting with Dee, and then Jill, and then Rae, and then Jill again, and now Faith. Frank has the pattern of being a royal jerk. I cannot understand how you are blaming the victim?

I don't mind Ann Gillespie. I think it was a mistake to bring her in as the free spirited sister. I think she worked better as the determined police woman she becomes in the second half of her run. During the reveal stuff with Joe & Jack, which happens in October, I'm rather impressed with Gillespie performance. I don't like Roscoe Born. He just oozes sleazy, which Joe wasn't when Richard Muenz played him. Honestly, I don't see the reasons for bringing Joe back. The mob drama that dominates most of the mid 1980s cannot be as good as the the stuff in its first six years of the stuff from the end of the show's run.

[applcin]

I thought I was the only one. RM was one of my favorites back in the day, even though I could only watch intermittently because of school. I've loved being able to see his run play out in full now (well, almost all of it, my cable zonked out a couple of times--I missed part of J & S's first date...grrrr). He also made SF's Siobhan enjoyable to me, which she wasn't particularly before that. As for RB, I never cared for him, not even in later roles. That's not to disparage him as an actor, he was just never my cup of tea, as they say.

One thing, though, RM did say that the writers didn't really know what to do with Joe for like 9 months...they didn't know whether to make him good or bad. RB's Joe is more of a defined villain, more of a mobster. RM's Joe was more conflicted. Maybe it was just because of indecisive writers but I think it worked for the character at that time. You could see him constantly in turmoil with himself over his loyalty and love for Tiso vs. his love for Siobhan and his longtime desire, even before Siobhan, to distance himself from "the business." I think he was easier to sympathize with than if he had just been written as a flat out bad guy with no twinges of guilt as opposed to someone trying to please the two radically opposite people he loved the most.

Oh...just wanted to mention...I floved the set of Joe's Sheepshead Bay apartment. Pretty cool.

And might I add, I always thought RM was pretty hot.

[ChrisL]

Does anyone recall when Faith get's involved with Ari and that Egyptian mummy stuff? Or did I miss that in re-airs?

[dc11786]

"Ryan's Hope" is currently running episodes from June/July 1981. Ari arrives in October/November 1981.

[ChrisL]

Thanks for the info, dc11786! Much appreciated.