Ryan's Hope Discussion Thread

[DRW50]

I agree. I can understand why the uploader who put up the other stuff chose not to include it but I'm always fascinated by strike material.

[danfling]

Martha Greenhouse, who played Mrs. Huber on Ryan's Hope, died on January 5.

[DRW50]

Was she one of the babysitters?

[dc11786]

Mrs. Huber was a resident in Riverside who sought Frank Ryan's help when he was a councilman. She arrived at Ryan home in late November 1975 complaining about how the super had let their building fall into disrepair or something of that nature. I think her husband may have been injured while trying to fix something.

The only reason I remember this was because Martha Greenhouse was in one of the first episodes of "Ryan's Hope" I ever saw. In my area, SoapNET's signal was first transmitted in April 2000 when these episodes were airing. She was on two episodes.

[saynotoursoap]

Emily Hall was Chaz Saybrooke's cousin. Freeflyur at Youtube has a significant amount of 1988 material, though offhand I do not know how much is specifically from the summer. The strike actually began in the spring and ended in the summer. Personally, I loved the last few years of Ryan's Hope. I thought Labine did an amazing job in her final solo stint.

[DRW50]

Thanks for all the info.

I think freeflyur said they weren't putting up any strike material.

[dc11786]

Freeflyur has a wonderful channel, but the episodes go from March 1988, right after the brilliant Emily Hall confession episodes, to November 1988 when the show is in its final days.

I don't think it was a conscious decision on Freeflyur to not include the strike episodes. I believe Freeflyur posted the episodes that the SoapNet board members collected after SoapNet reset "Ryan's Hope" the first time.

[DRW50]

I thought I saw a little message around the time of the original uploads saying he wasn't including any strike material. I might be wrong though.

[DRW50]

Ad around 2:10

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIeYlse-bWQ

Ad at 1:30

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Cx9zPiNXgE

[dc11786]

I've started watching some of Freeflyur's episodes. I started with the August 30, 1985, episode featuring Ryan Fenelli's 18th birthday party. It's such a strange time for the show. It certainly is better than what I've seen of the Pat Falken Smith era, but it is still such an extreme departure from the December 1981 episodes SoapNET ended with.

First off, I don't like the Max / Siobhan pairing. I was never a huge fan of the Siobhan / Joe storyline once Richard Muenz and Sarah Felder left. I tolerated the Ann Gillespie / Roscoe Born stuff in the beginning because the ambivalent writing for Joe was fascinating, but I never saw Joe and Siobhan as end game. I cannot see Siobhan falling in love with a man like Max. It's not the type of story "Ryan's Hope" would have told and, if it didn't, it wouldn't be presented in such a generic manner as it is here.

The Dubujak family is another alien element in this environment. While I thought the crafting of the story involving Antoine Dubujak's will was well done, it was not the kind of plot-driven story "Ryan's Hope' would have told. Even the most extreme plots of the early 1980s were always grounded in strong characterization and relatable human emotion. This material would have played out better in primetime. I was shocked to see Jacqueline was still around especially in scenes with Susan Scannell. How does one cast Scannell as Quealy's mother? I can only assume Taggert / King took over during the early stages of Scannell's story and turned it around. Or was Chessy Blake always intended to be Gabrielle Dubujak?

While it's nice seeing Riverside Hospital, I don't understand why I see Jack and Ryan working there instead of Roger and Pat. I'm sure these gentleman appear there in episodes that aren't online, but it's so odd seeing Jack work as an orderly/ambulance driver. His relationship with Gloria Tasky is a bit underdeveloped as is the character of Gloria. Betty Alley, the actress playing Betty Sherman, looks like Kate Mulgrew. This triangle with Gloria / Jack / Betty bores me though I get a greater sense of character from Sherman than from Gloria Tasky.

I want to like D.J. LaSalle, the high school dropout with the alcoholic mother. There are shades of Jack Fenelli there, but the day-to-day writing isn't there. I hate how much time is given to Betsy, Ryan's candy striper co-worker with designs on D.J. I wouldn't mind her if she wasn't some generic interloper. It sounds like hasn't been home long so I cannot imagine D.J. has been around very long either. He seems to be crashing and burning in the latest episodes I've seen where he shows up drunk at Ryan's dance.

There are some elements I've enjoyed. The relationship between Ryan / Jack is wonderful for this time period, it's a rare combination of strong writing and strong acting. After Ryan's birthday party, she lies to Jack about going to her friend Stacey's when she really intends to go back to D.J.'s to lose her virginity. Anyway, Jack calls to check on Ryan, learns she hasn't been honest, and frantically looks for her. When he finds her, Jack doesn't blow up at Ryan, but has an open and honest conversation with Ryan about growing up and learning to deal with your feelings. Mary would have been proud.

I don't like Maggie's storylines, her involvement with Frank or her lackluster modeling career, but there was a fascinating scene with Roger in one of the episodes. Roger was talking to Maggie like he did Delia and I could see shades of Delia in Maggie. The young woman wanting to cling to happiness and willing to do whatever necessary to do it. Granted, Maggie doesn't seem to have the psychological issues Delia does, but I could see why Timmins outlasted her peer group and how she ended up with Ron Hale's Roger.

The dialogue in the Frank / Jillian story has been rich with emotion and all their nasty baggage. Both Delia and Rae have been mentioned in separate conversations in response to the current predicament. There was a really touching scene between Johnny / Jill where Jill believes Johnny is swaying her in order to help Frank's election, but Johnny reminds her that he cares for her to. I will say I don't think Labine / Mayer always utilized Johnny's softer side tending to leave that to Maeve. It was rather effective. The ultimate issue I have with the whole story is the grief over Jillian representing Max Dubujak. It seems rather mute considering Frank's sister is marrying the man. So while the daily writing is strong, the overall plotting is a bit messy.

The Dakota story should be starting so I'm going to try to see if I can struggle through that.

[DRW50]

Thanks for that writeup. I haven't watched any of those yet and haven't known if watching them is even worth it. Now I'll know more about what to look forward to. I'm glad that the Jill/Frank stuff at least had promise.

I was reading some little Digest writeup on Robin Greer (Sydney - I guess that was one of Max's group?). She said she left the show because her husband was based in California and she was tired of flying back and forth. She said she didn't even know whether Sydney had jumped or been pushed, I think.

[DRW50]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY8AKDghGU0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKqedkBk7bM

[Khan]

Although I think those images superimposed over the aerial shot of Manhattan makes it seem as if NYC is having a city-wide flashback, I like the understated quality of the first promo very much.

[DRW50]

April 1983 Afternoon TV

[Khan]

And here he is today:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001599/