Ryan's Hope Discussion Thread

[Joseph]

I was watching yesterday, realized 2 things 

1. Delia was one big Spoiled Brat totally needy and childish, but her Fantasies were very funny

2. Given the Proper Development I Think Nancy Barrett could be a very good Faith Coleridge, I'm just not sure as I haven't the privilege to seeing much of Faith Catlin

[DeliaIrisFan]

I have no doubt a baby for Mary and Jack named Ryan was in the original RH bible, but to be fair the show was on the air almost two years before Ryan was actually born.  I hear you, killing off Ryan would have added to the depressing factor, for sure, although I have no doubt at the end of the story arc there would have been a new baby named after Ryan. 

Probably Jill's, instead of naming her second child with Frank after Mary—even if she was married to Frank at the time, she could have kept her name and insisted that naming the baby Ryan Coleridge would honor both their families.  Alternatively, it would have been fun/twisted if Delia had another baby while not married to someone in the family and decided to name them Ryan, over everyone's objection.  Perhaps down the line Maeve and/or Mary would have felt an irresistible urge to become a surrogate parent to the poor child and provide a good influence.

 

Yeah, and my recollection is within a month or so after the explosion, most of NAA's material was more about Jill's opioid addiction anyway, which could have been accomplished without Edmond actually dying.  Jill could have successfully rescued Edmond but still hurt her back in the process, and the Ryans could have had all sorts of foreshadowy scenes about how devastating it would be if they lost one of their grandchildren.  And if (other characters actually noticed that) Jill neglected Edmond (only because of the pills, of course!) and then Frank and/or Seneca challenged her for custody....

I feel like someone at the network, probably, got cold feet after Edmond died—I'm sure the ratings were not doing well with all the cast changes around that time—and sent a memo decreeing that nobody could mourn him on-camera anymore.  Which again might have worked out better if Ryan had been killed off to facilitate a respite from the Kate Mulgrew recasts: Jack would have likely hidden his sense of loss behind renewed rage and an attempt to go back to his pre-Ryan/Ryans life.  And like I suggested, Mary could have left town to grieve off-canvas, but leaving the door open for a KM return someday to bring closure.

Edited September 30, 2021 by DeliaIrisFan

[amybrickwallace]

Those are all great ideas. NAA should have won the Emmy for Edmond/the addiction. 

[safe]

Great ideas...Really Great!

Any child of Mary's would have come even later than two years, though. Mary only became pregnant in late 1976  after Kate's real life unplanned pregnancy. Kate wrote in her book that when she told Claire she was pregnant and told her she may have to quit and that was when Kate wrote  it was after that  when Claire came up with this idea of making Mary pregnant, too, to help keep Kate on the show. 

 

Would any future (after 1977)  baby Ryan have belong to Mary & Jack  or Mary & someone else?

 

Also have wondered what Mary and Jack's s/l was going to be before Kate's pregnancy changed the direction. Publications said there was going to be a Jack/Mary/ Alex triangle. While I liked corny Alex, just don't see that him as being a big enough rival for Jack. Even with Jack's claims that Alex was really a wolf in sheep's clothing.

 

I also think, if not for her pregnancy, Kate might have left in July and not stayed on the extra 6 months. Sure she felt indebted to them to stay a little longer for what they did for her, but most likely her ever growing baby bump had put a stop on her pursing other roles there for a while

Edited September 30, 2021 by safe

[Nicholas Blair]

Faith Catlin portrayed the shy and awkward Faith which was apparently the original idea for the character. She wasn't bad and she didn't look like a lot of other young soap actresses (a good thing, IMO), although she wasn't at the level of a Kate Mulgrew. Catherine Hicks, a more polished actress, seemed like the nice girl in your English class you'd feel comfortable asking for a date. I was shocked when Hicks was cast as the young Marilyn Monroe in a TV movie, because she didn't seem at all glamorous. Karen Morris Gowdy was more conventionally pretty, and she developed into a capable performer. I liked all three in different ways. As for Nancy Barrett, I wonder which of her Dark Shadows characters she would have used!

[Joseph]

If she she was going on the same way as Catlin, Sweet Charity Trask would have worked well she was a really shy girl, but I guess she wasn't popular with the audience so they had her possessed by some dead actress and turned into a slut LOL

I also stumbled upon Katherine Justice in her 3 episodes stint but I won't judge such a small stint as good or bad just didn't understood why it happened 

[Chris 2]

I loved Catherine Hicks as Faith. She was more the typical ingenue. Faith Catlin’s Faith was interesting because you really didn’t see those kind of awkward people you actually run into in real life as major soap opera characters. But she was a little tiring, and frankly, I watch TV to get away from those people. Nancy Barrett was simply too old - she was older than NAA - and it was too jarring to have her pop in after Faith Catlin’s completely different portrayal. Her first appearance as Faith was like an alien landing from another planet.

I know Karen Morris played Faith the longest but I never liked her. Her Faith was cold and judgmental. If Catherine Hick’s Faith was the girl from English class you’d like to date, then Karen Morris’ Faith was the aloof girl who would never give you the time of day.

[j swift]

Well, we know it couldn't have been Pat or Frank with their respective partners because then the baby would have been named Ryan Ryan

[amybrickwallace]

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[Joseph]

funny isn't it but sounds so true

[danfling]

I do not think that Delia Reed was spoiled at all.    She would probably wished that someone had spoiled her.

 

Delia was deprived as a youngster.   Her mother died, and, evidently, her widowed father was incapable in her rearing or was more interested in caring for Bob.  Delia migrated to the Ryan family due to the need of belonging.    She would have loved to be Katheleen, Mary, or Siobhan.

[amybrickwallace]

Yes, Delia wanted to be (and stay) a Ryan at all costs. I think Ilene Kristen was more convincing in that desperation than Randall Edwards, probably because she played it originally.

[safe]

LOL!

At the time of Delia's real therapy with Dr. Pagano, after the Ryan family finally distanced themselves from her, Roger asked Bob about Delia and their mother. Bob told him the mother spoiled Delia and would also do things for Delia - he said Maureen mostly spoiled Delia out of guilt.

All Delia usually said was her mother worked hard, was always tired, and looked much older than her age -- from Bob we got more of the story.

Their father was in a mental institution for many years and he passed on before his wife. Bob said, being a boy, he was expected to take care of himself.

 

[amybrickwallace]

Those scenes were so intricate and well-written, not only for Delia but Bob. Two members of the same family, raised in the same environment, who remember what happened totally different. It was great.

[Chris 2]

I think the real issue for Delia is that true character progression would have led her away from her dependency on the Ryans, and ultimately out of the show. So they had to regress her a bit to keep her involved with the main characters,

Agreed that Ilene Kristen’s Delia was a more desperate character. It would have been challenging for another actress to succeed IK with the same type of characterization. So the writers wisely pivoted Dee into the type of character you might have found in a screwball comedy from the 30s. She was still an antagonist but less of a emotionally damaged one. I didn’t see the episodes after IK returned in 1982, so I’m curious if they pivoted back to Dee’s original characterization.