5 hours ago, DRW50 said:

 

It's always amusing to see the differences in quality between the original film shots for the opening and the cheaper video replacements. Who is the leg lift lady? Is that Pru?

 

 

I believe the young lady doing the leg lift is the first Katie Thompson (Cathleen's daughter).  She was briefly played by Lauren O'Bryan before Julia Campbell took over the role.  Pru is the one petting the horse in the intro.

15 minutes ago, Jagger1966 said:

I believe the young lady doing the leg lift is the first Katie Thompson (Cathleen's daughter).  She was briefly played by Lauren O'Bryan before Julia Campbell took over the role.  Pru is the one petting the horse in the intro.

Thank you for being kind and replying. I had forgotten about that character. (wish they'd had Kathleen come back to visit at that point)

Watching the credits again, the differences aren't as strong - the late '80s differences are the starkest.

Edited March 12Mar 12 by DRW50

 

Happy Ryan's Hope Day, everyone.

And on the golden anniversary of Ryan's Hope's debut!

 

Randall Edwards (and Brian Tarantina), with the opening night cast of 1985's Biloxi Blues, plus director Gene Saks and playwright Neil Simon.

 

A partial episode from June 1985 was uploaded - I don't think it's been up before. You get Susan Marie Snyder's brief appearance. In a lengthy set piece where Rick is going undercover in some punk bar, he introduces himself to her. There's a surprising moment where when she says her name is Sam, he is thrown and is about to ask a very personal question before she further explains that it is short for Samantha.

Grant Show is one of those guys who is classically very good looking, but I'm not sure how often I've ever actually felt attracted to him. This episode is an exception. He just looks hot as hell in what they put him in and how they do his hair and face. I can't say I go back to this period of the show very often, but I certainly am glad I watched this one.

 

Despite having never watched Ryan's Hope, I read Tom Lisanti's book recently as I'm fascinated by behind the scenes stories of soap production. A really enjoyable read, which gave a good sense of the show and New York at that time. 

I have to say though, that the vitriol regarding the quality (or lack thereof) of Loving only makes me want to watch that show even more! (It's on my list anyway as I've never seen The Loving Murders).

4 hours ago, Adamski said:

Despite having never watched Ryan's Hope, I read Tom Lisanti's book recently as I'm fascinated by behind the scenes stories of soap production. A really enjoyable read, which gave a good sense of the show and New York at that time. 

I have to say though, that the vitriol regarding the quality (or lack thereof) of Loving only makes me want to watch that show even more! (It's on my list anyway as I've never seen The Loving Murders).

I don't really think Loving is worse than most of what I've seen from RH starting around 1980, although I know the show picks up again around 1987 and has a few spots here and there in between. I think it is easier to ignore RH's mistakes in that final decade if Loving gets the blame.

Edited May 12May 12 by DRW50

I can't speak for all of Ryan's Hope, but I tried to watch it recently, and I found it difficult to get into. The overacting from some of the supporting/bit players was just too much. The show is not as fresh and vibrant as Edge of Night. I have Lisanti's book and wanted to watch some of the show before reading it, but the show is dated compared to other shows (Doctors and EON for ex.) that I found much more watchable and fresh. Perhaps, RH was more of its time than the other two. I don't know why I find RH so hard to watch.

Edited May 12May 12 by chrisml

28 minutes ago, chrisml said:

I can't speak for all of Ryan's Hope, but I tried to watch it recently, and I found it difficult to get into. The overacting from some of the supporting/bit players was just too much. The show is not as fresh and vibrant as Edge of Night. I have Lisanti's book and wanted to watch some of the show before reading it, but the show is dated compared to other shows (Doctors and EON for ex.) that I found much more watchable and fresh. Perhaps, RH was more of its time than the other two. I don't know why I find RH so hard to watch.

I think the first 4-5 years have many strong spots, some beautiful writing, and I didn't find it that hard to watch, but one of the main issues with the show for me - and this just gets worse - is many of the characters we are told to root for I find extremely unlikeable. 

12 hours ago, DRW50 said:

I think the first 4-5 years have many strong spots, some beautiful writing, and I didn't find it that hard to watch, but one of the main issues with the show for me - and this just gets worse - is many of the characters we are told to root for I find extremely unlikeable. 

YES!

While I objectively found the writing on RH (particularly during its first few years and then again in its final days) to be excellent, so many of the principle characters were unpleasant, and totally turned me off. I could never settle down and become emotionally involved with a group of people who grated on my nerves.

21 hours ago, DRW50 said:

I think the first 4-5 years have many strong spots, some beautiful writing, and I didn't find it that hard to watch, but one of the main issues with the show for me - and this just gets worse - is many of the characters we are told to root for I find extremely unlikeable. 

I didn't get that so far so I'll have to keep that in mind if I ever pick back up.  I must have chosen bad episodes because what I saw had some really bad Irish accents from supporting/day players. They were hard to get through and I just didn't have the patience to deal with them. I don't think these accents would be allowed to go through today. I assume these accents were ironed out as the show went on--reminded me of Deas's terrible accent on GL that was dropped because it was so bad.

12 minutes ago, chrisml said:

I didn't get that so far so I'll have to keep that in mind if I ever pick back up.  I must have chosen bad episodes because what I saw had some really bad Irish accents from supporting/day players. They were hard to get through and I just didn't have the patience to deal with them. I don't think these accents would be allowed to go through today. I assume these accents were ironed out as the show went on--reminded me of Deas's terrible accent on GL that was dropped because it was so bad.

Oh you may have been watching the Teresa/Tom storyline...or "Terry the tumor" as she was called.

On 5/12/2025 at 7:18 PM, DRW50 said:

I think the first 4-5 years have many strong spots, some beautiful writing, and I didn't find it that hard to watch, but one of the main issues with the show for me - and this just gets worse - is many of the characters we are told to root for I find extremely unlikeable. 

I was a huge fan of RH the first few years, and I while I can't disagree about unlikeable characters, I still found them interesting. Mainly, I'm thinking of the Frank/Jill/Seneca triangle (with Rae added later). MY GOD, what a group of selfish, controlling, narcissistic a-holes. But I have to say, watching them torch their own lives over and over was pretty fascinating.