Ryan's Hope Discussion Thread

[OldSchoolSoapFan]

This is a very interesting article. Although I can't speak for 1982 (since I've never seen any of the episodes from that year), it's funny that this article came out a few short months before ABC fired Labine/Mayer AGAIN!! 1983 was almost like a chameleon year for RH. It began with the Kirklands, rode the wave for most of the year with the Ryans, and then ended with the Dubujaks and Shelbys. I got a chuckle with the reference to GH--former GH writer Pat Falken Smith replaced Labine/Mayer in the fall of 1983. If one watches RH for about three-quarters of 1984, all of the conventional criticism about how RH strayed from its roots in 1982 seems completely moot. RH became even more elegant and opulent under Smith's pen. Ironically, Ilene Kristen (Delia) was backburnered for most of 1983 (apparently due to health reasons), as was John Gabriel (Seneca). Two promising storylines--the romance of Jack and Leigh, and Bill and Siobhan--were deep-sixed by the fall of 1983. Siobhan found herself wanting a back-from-oblivion Joe Novak while leaving dependable Bill Hyde in the dark. Felicity LaFortune, who was so superlative as feisty and witty Leigh Kirkland, was reduced to bickering against the diva-ish histrionics of Jack and then was more or less a recurring character until 1985. As much as I loved RH under Smith's regime, this was one horrible move on the show's part. Ah, c'est la vie.... still, a nice write up of RH circa mid '83. Before I forget--Malcolm Groome probably should've declined returning to RH when Labine/Mayer returned in early '83...after his romance with Amanda fizzled (she left town), so did Pat....backburner city baby! Unless he was there for decoration whenever a hospital scene occured.....

[DRW50]

I know from what's been said that ABC felt the ratings weren't going up fast enough with Labine/Mayer, and that the ratings did initially rise with Falken-Smith. What did you enjoy of her time as writer?

Sometimes I wonder why ABC didn't just cancel RH outright, since they wanted to make it into a mostly brand new show.

[OldSchoolSoapFan]

I strongly doubt ABC wanted to cancel any of its soaps at a time when it was the #1 network in daytime.... In the summer of 1983, they had SIX!! (RH, LOVING, AMC, OLTL, GH, EDGE). Any concrete point in time where ABC did feel that RH was something of a redheaded stepchild probably happened in October 1984, when LOVING was moved into RH's old spot (and RH moved to 12 noon), which of course was done simply to appease Agnes Nixon.

There was not one storyline I disliked under Smith's tutelage. That says a lot. Probably my favorite of all had to be any storyline that involved Max Dubujak (his time in Nice with Jill, Operation Eagle, when Maggie pretended to be his mistress, getting back at Sydney Price). Ah....Max....qu'un bel homme!! Then there were the tongue fights between Maggie and Jill. I strongly suggest watching Freeflyur's RH clips from 1983-84 on You Tube, which will give you an idea of what RH was like at the time. Even the aftermath of the bombing of Ryan's Bar had some pretty intense moments, especially one scene between Maeve and Lazlo Novotny (Joe's cousin). Granted, some storylines came and went, with no real meat to it (Katie #1's dance career, Traci the probation officer, etc.) but the pluses outweigh the minuses!

[DRW50]

Did you enjoy Daniel Pilon? I thought he was kind of bland on GL.

Regarding Pat, sometimes I wonder if they should have always had him as a supporting character - I guess Malcolm Groome would have left even sooner, but he had a lot more personality when he wasn't in the spotlight.

[OldSchoolSoapFan]

I loved Daniel Pilon very much as the suave, debonair Max Dubujak! Clever, smart, cool and collected--and handsome too!! I also loved Gerit Quealy as his daughter, Jacqueline. Her bitchiness was the shiznit--one major plus of having Pat Falken Smith as headwriter at that time was that she knew how to write characters with an axe to grind--verbally!! Back to Daniel--I did see some eps of him on GL. I thought he was very good as Alan Spaulding.

Malcolm Groome didn't really go anywhere on RH post-Amanda K until his character met Melinda Weaver and Concetta D'Angelo. For a while he actually had a storyline, then Malcolm left again in early 1988....

[DRW50]

What did you think of Susan Scannell?

[Khan]

I loved RYAN'S HOPE during that period as well. Granted, thanks to SoapNet, I've had multiple opportunities to watch the show's first 5-6 years and then compare it to the years I remember (1982 onward); and, having done so, I can understand why most would look upon the last 9-or-so years of its life unfavorably. Those who dismiss RH in the '80's, however, do so at their own peril. Some of it was atrocious, but some of it was good, too. And I think the one constant in all that, aside from the core actors, was EP Joe Hardy, a fine director who, IMO, gets a somewhat harsh rep for working with HW's who weren't as brilliant as Claire Labine and Paul Avila Mayer had been.

[DRW50]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=op8elfnLkko&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

[DRW50]

From a late July 1979 Digest.

[Khan]

Unless Delia was at that phase in her life where she had money and wanted to rub it in the Ryans' faces, I don't know whether she would have hesitated showing up at the bar in jeans. Granted, I always recall her wearing the dowdiest of dresses, but I feel as if Delia would've worn whatever the others were wearing in order to fit in with them and be like one of them.

Edited September 2, 2011 by Khan

[DRW50]

By this time Delia was supposed to have money and only wanted to wear the best (although, with budget considerations, she usually just wore simple dresses).

Early on Ilene's Delia occasionally wore jeans, but that ended when her backstory became more about how she always had to be the pretty girl who couldn't be natural and down-to-earth like Mary.

[Paul Raven]

Just discovered that John Gabriel (Seneca) was in the original pilot of Gilligan's Island in the professor role -except he was high school teacher.

[DRW50]

You can see him on the DVD for the first season.

[DRW50]

September 1977 Soaps and Serials

[DRW50]

These articles are both from the July 1976 TV Radio Mirror