Ryan's Hope Discussion Thread

[amybrickwallace]

 

Wow!! Ask and you shall receive!!

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[Khan]

 

Frankly, I'd rather discuss Helen Gallagher's lengthy B'way career.

[gimmetoo]

I'd be interested to hear everyone's favorite Frank Ryan.  They each had their strengths for sure.  For me its a toss up between Geoffrey Pierson and Daniel Hugh Kelly, but I haven't seen much of Michael Hawkins and Andrew Robinson in the role. John Sanderford was perfectly fine, but not quite as interesting as the others. Interestingly, Robinson was the only one to receive an Emmy nom.  

Edited December 6, 2020 by gimmetoo

[John]

Robinson was great. ABC loved playing casting roundabout on RH in the early days especially

[Khan]

TBH, I think John Sanderford was the only Frank who didn't quite "work" for me.  He just seemed a little too "Hollywood casting" for me -- like, if Bill Bell and/or John Conboy were responsible for casting the role.

[applcin]

I haven't seen post-1981 in years so my memories of Pierson and, especially, Sanderford are not too vivid, especially since I was in school and not able to see it every day. I mostly seem to recall Pierson being on the loud, overbearing side. As a kid catching it here and there during its original broadcast, DHK was the first Frank I saw but I couldn't warm up to him because (unpopular opinion coming up) I couldn't stand Rae and I perceived him as her boy-toy. Having had the chance since then to see the prior two Franks, and also being familiar (and probably biased) with Andrew Robinson from both prior and later roles (esp. DS9), I'd have to say he was my favorite. That being said, I mostly enjoyed his Frank's interactions with his family, showing him being a lawyer, etc., than the romantic stuff. I found him very believable and natural as part of the Ryan clan, he played well off of them and his chemistry with Kate felt like real siblings. He also did well with the lawyer lingo and I could totally buy him as one. His confrontations with Seneca were also worth watching, two very strong-minded men. 

Michael Hawkins was handsome enough and looked good with Nancy Addison but it's obvious watching him on the show why he's called "Plank-Frank." The man had serious life problems back then and, apparently, still does. 



 

Edited December 6, 2020 by applcin

[Soaplovers]

I thought Andrew Robinson would have been perfect as Frank had he settled down and wasn't in the tortured romance with Jillian phase.

 

Pierson was a louder Frank...but he also sexier as well.  

 

Sanderford was almost too young to be Frank.  He was calmer and almost too smooth to play Frank.

 

DHK was a good Frank. (My mom said he was her fav Frank).

[Sean]

Of the Ryan children, the show definitely had the most luck recasting Frank - Michael Hawkins was the only real dud. 

 

I thought Andrew Robinson also came across a bit stilted when he first joined the show, but I came to really like him by the time he left for the reasons already mentioned, namely his feeling truly authentic as a brother to Kate Mulgrew and Malcolm Groome.

 

I'm most partial to Daniel Hugh-Kelly, since he was playing the role when I first started watching on SoapNet. He's such a charismatic performer, and I especially liked his chemistry with Nancy Addison. I've been rewatching the show on YouTube the last few months and am currently watching the August 1979 episodes in which Frank and Jill reconcile after becoming stuck in the freight elevator at Riverside Hospital, and DHK really knocks it out of the park in those scenes.

 

I found Geoff Pierson an interesting change as the show really seemed to emphasize aspects of Frank that had always been there but were too often buried beneath the golden-boy exterior. He was definitely louder, quicker to anger, and sometimes even a bit unstable, as was made clear during his big kick-off storyline with Judith Chapman as Charlotte Greer. You could easily see his Frank as a disgraced politician with a tumultuous personal life. It's too bad most of his time on the show was then consumed by the Max/Jill/Frank/Maggie merry-go-round that only diminished Frank and Jill as characters.

 

I'd agree that John Sanderford never had a standout moment or storyline where I was truly wowed by him, but I liked how neatly he fit into the family. Like DHK, he had an easy chemistry with Nancy Addison that came into focus once the triangle with Dakota ended. The scene that stands out in my memory is one in which Jill is bemoaning gaining weight while pregnant with Mary, with Frank trying to assuage her concerns.

 

To your point, Soaplovers, both DHK and JS were nearly 15 years younger than Michael Hawkins, which didn't work quite as neatly when a 36-year-old John Sanderford suddenly became father to a college-aged John Reid with a newborn grandson in tow.

 

[amybrickwallace]

 

I read in an interview from back then that JS was not especially happy about that plot point.

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[Chris 2]

When I started watching RH reruns, I heard that most people considered DHK the quintessential Frank. I watched from the beginning. Michael Hawkins was a limited actor. And Andrew Robinson, while a talented actor, is not the leading man type and was miscast. When DHK first appeared, I was surprised, because he was green and a bit wooden. But he grew into the role and I do agree now that he was the quintessential Frank. Geoff Pierson’s Frank was too harsh and openly arrogant. John Sanderford was the best Frank after DHK, but was a few years too young for the role (Frank suddenly seemed younger than Jill).

[safe]

Liked all the Franks except for Michael Hawkins - and I even got used to him after watching the show over and over multiple times. DHK my favorite. Charming and seemed really made for the good life Rae was offering him (the only Frank born to wear a tuxedo a lot).

Andrew Robinson was the most like the son of working class parents like Johnny and Maeve and a good story teller. I wonder how the Rae story would have played out if he had continued in the role. Only seen parts of the others -- Geoff Pierson seemed the most masculine Frank. John Sanderford--a little more goofy maybe. 

 

Other than Michael Hawkins, the other Franks have all had very long acting careers.

 

I recall that about 10 years ago,  in a blog radio interview,  Helen Gallagher (Maeve) said Geoff Pierson was her favorite Frank. 

 

On the old Soapnet forum - Nancy Addison's husband posted, when he was finishing up his book on Nancy (I guess the book never got published) - had taken questions from the posters and he said Andrew Robinson was the Frank that Nancy enjoyed working with the most.

 

 

[Soapsuds]

I didn't know James was from Texas. He tested for AMC but didn't get the part.

I didn't know James was from Texas. He tested for AMC but didn't get the part.

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[Soapsuds]

So Agnes Nixon was responsible for Ryan's Hope being cancelled.

 

[victoria foxton]

The time switch sealed Ryan's Hope fate. Only started watching it. in the summer of 88. During the Writer's Strike no less. I forgot this was today. 

[j swift]

Time switches are a funny thing.  Y&R switched time slots in LA over a decade ago, (I think they may have later switched back to the original time), but once you fall out of a pattern of watching a soap, it is easy to never get back to it, even if it is on the DVR.