Ryan's Hope Discussion Thread

[Jagger1966]

I was always bummed when SoapNet would start the show over.  I never got to see the end of the Barbara Wilde story and never saw any of the Charlotte Greer story.  There's also a big murder mystery in 1985 that I do remember watching back in the day and would have loved to see again.

[adrnyc]

I think Roger and IK had the better chemistry. I believed them as a couple but couldn't pinpoint why. (They're both so effed up?)

[Soaplovers]

I do agree Roger and IK had better chemistry.. but I thought Delia ending up with Roger was a disappointment because he was just as toxic for her as the Ryan clan was.

 

Oddly, even when the show tried to undo all the progress Delia made when IK wasn't paying her... the replacement refused to make Delia pathetic in her acting choices.  I think the reason the show didn't properly write Delia in 1983 was because IK wasn't convincing running the Crystal Palace or playing anything other then the neurotic nut. 

 

If I were a writer, I would have fired IK earlier then late 1983 because she was unwilling to change and adapt to the changes the character went through during her 3 years away. 

[DRW50]

 

One of the worst decisions the show made was in having Roger become such a sanctimonious prick, blathering away to Delia about her many problems and feeling morally superior to her. He became an awful, unwatchable character. He and his loathsome sister Faith smugging it up about taking all of Delia's money made my blood boil. The self-righteousness of these two, especially after Roger killed a patient through negligence and Faith nearly killed a child through boozing it up, made me sick.

 

Randall Edwards and Ron Hale had no chemistry, but the writing was the big culprit. 

 

Randall Edwards brought something special to Delia, and as you suggested, I do think it went against the lazy writing that the character was often subjected to. We got regression, regression, regression, and of course endless prop duty for the Ryans, Faith, Roger. Even Barry looking down on her - a con artist and a bigamist. Yet Randall (even if all the screeching she did tended to get on my nerves) still gave Delia vulnerability and dignity. 

 

When I tried to watch the scraps of 1983 Delia on Youtube, it just didn't register. Scheming to get Frank yet again. Broken and lost. 

 

If RH had allowed its characters to grow, I wonder if they might have lasted longer.

Edited March 28, 2018 by DRW50

[BetterForgotten]

Random question - was Nancy Addison Altman fired, or did she leave on her own accord in 1988? Jillian was probably my favorite character early on, and I don't think Altman ever got the respect she deserved as an actress. Such a stunning woman in her prime too. 

[amybrickwallace]

There was an article in SOD from late 1987 which said that both Nancy and Cali Timmins (Maggie) had decided to leave the show. Thus, Jill and Maggie headed to Australia (???) to care for their sick mother. Their last episodes aired at the beginning of 1988, and they weren't seen again until they returned for the show's final week a year later.

[BetterForgotten]

Thanks, I can't imagine she had any great material by the end, but had I been watching in real-time back then, I know I would've missed her.

[amybrickwallace]

You're welcome. That article had been on Ryan's Bar Online, but it doesn't appear to be there anymore. If I can find it, I'll post it (or the link) here.

Ah!! I found it. It was from TV Guide, not SOD. Here you go, @BetterForgotten:

 

http://ryansbaronline.tripod.com/addisontvguide87.html

[BetterForgotten]

Thanks for the link. Hmm, didn't know she left to try her hand at Hollywood (she was probably considered "too old" by Hollywood by then, sadly). It couldn't have been for very long though, as she was briefly on AMC later in '89, and later on Loving.

 

 

[amybrickwallace]

True, and she may have missed NYC and preferred living there to LA.

[adrnyc]

 

Their self-righteousness bothers me as well (as well as that of the Ryan clan); however, both of the things you mentioned were accidents - tragic accidents that, in one case, caused the death of someone; however, Delia PURPOSEFULLY TRIED TO RUN SOME DOWN WITH HER CAR!!! (Sorry for shouting)  There is a major difference there. Negligence/booze/calculated, purposeful, attempted murder. Attempted murder! The fact that nothing happens to Delia for that...I just will never be able to get over that and I can't see how other people weren't as outraged by it.

 

I'm absolutely loving Nancy Addison in this show. She's one of my very favorites. Jill, too. I had some issues with her during the KGJ affair but Nancy always finds a way to pull me back on to Jill's side. It's my understanding that she was a very well respected actress here in NYC. Her death was mourned by many in the NYC theater community. She only did one broadway show that I know of, but she must've done Off-Broadway or something because when I bring up her name, she is fondly remembered.

[DRW50]

 

The main reason nothing happened to Delia is because they kept her around to make us root for the "good" characters.

 

The problem was that so many of the "good" characters were so unlikeable that the contrast never worked as well as it should have. Ilene Kristen was once asked (I think) about fan reaction toward Delia, and she said rather than abuse, she mostly had people who felt sorry for her or understood her. I think that is why the character worked as well as she did, even with years and years of poor, regressive, Groundhog Day writing. 

[You're Soaking in it]

 

She took leadership on a lot of advocacy and charitable causes, garnering support from the NY acting community. (Go ahead & just google it for the details.) She was just an extraordinary person all around.

[BetterForgotten]

I definitely miss her and she certainly left us way too soon. 

 

In my head, I always cast her and Carrie Genzel (who played Skye briefly on AMC) as a mother/daughter pair on some imaginary soap. For some reason, Carrie always reminded me of Nancy. 

[DRW50]

 

I often wonder what Jill's fate would have been without Nancy in the role - Jill was such a challenging character, especially early on, but Nancy always gave her so much heart and sweetness along with the iciness and the harder-edged. Her performance when Edmund died and Jill got hooked on pills was superb and deserved more recognition (I can't remember who won the Emmy that year). It may have been too much for voters, I don't know. Nancy also played the romance and vulnerability so well when she had the right screen partners. I've always thought her work in the Ken George Jones saga was phenomenally good. On paper Jill's behavior should have been a narcissistic betrayal like few others, but Nancy sold the conflicts between Frank (safe because they were finally together, but a mess of a relationship) and Ken ("safe" because she knew how it would end, but she also knew it would break her heart and also if it came out would destroy her relationship with Frank) so well, and she had so much chemistry with Trent Jones as well as her usual rock-solid chemistry with Daniel Hugh Kelly. That story was a high point for me in the last few Soapnet years, and she is a big reason why.