Jump to content

Ryan's Hope Discussion Thread


Recommended Posts

  • Members

I didn't care for Frank and Jill together either. When I first saw the show as a kid, Frank was with Rae and I never quite got past seeing DHK's Frank as Rae's boy-toy. When I got to see the earlier years on SoapNet, I really liked how Seneca and Jill started out, except her constant pining for Frank was annoying. As a kid, the main thing I remembered about Jill was that she could be unconventional and bohemian in style while at the same time a professional woman. She was really a mass of contradictions that, in the hands of a less capable or appealing actress, might have made me dislike Jill. She would profess eternal devotion to Frank and sometimes allow herself to be the mistress; other times she would compartmentalize him so she could have another lover. I wish the thing with Seneca had played out differently so that his controlling tendencies didn't become as out of control as they did. They gave Jill these 2 serious relationships besides Frank in the first 6 years--Seneca and Ken, yet conveniently having Jill qualify both from the beginning. It was always "yes, I'll be with you but I still love Frank and these are the terms" (literally with Seneca as she had him sign a marriage contract). Ken was conveniently a dead man walking so she had a built-in out from the beginning. And yet, she started the affair with him when she finally had a free and clear Frank, which apparently freaked her out. I think it would have been interesting to see Ken stick around a little longer, or go into remission and have him put up a fight for Jill. Instead, Jill fighting a murder charge eventually became the road back to Frank.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 2.9k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

  • Members

Jill was just an amazing character to me, and you are right, a lesser actress would not have been able to pull off the stunts and behavior she did. I was so happy things ended with Ken because I could not take him wailing "Jillian" to music! Awful!

The way she and Seneca first came together made me so happy, but then she treated him as a nuisance. That pissed me off, but I was of the mind that Jillian Coolridge could do no wrong, so I was over it. She and Seneca are two characters that I defended no matter what!

The late Nancy Addison Altman will always be one of the most strikingly beautiful women on Daytime ever!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I haven't watched a lot of the last two Franks, but I did think Nancy and DHK had great chemistry together. I could see their love, even if I still had issues with them as a couple. The first two Franks, especially the first, wooden top one, were another story. The initial Frank/Jill story (they'd committed adultery for many years and this was supposed to be beautiful and wonderful) always left a bad taste in my mouth and made me a Delia stan for life.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Yes. Funnily enough, Christian had a recurring role on the show a decade later.

The guy who played him (Michael Hawkins) had a weird history with daytime. He never really had a popular role and I think he changed his name two or three times. He claimed he was under-par at RH because he was on Broadway at the same time, but I don't know.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Thanks John for posting the link! Sorry to those I hadn't sent a PM, just checked back in here ...

The first Frank was so bad. I always preferred Daniel Hugh Kelly's Frank. I'm not sure what I feel of the last Frank. I can't remember his name this second and don't really feel like looking it up, lol.

How many Frank's? 4? 3?

I always felt RH downgraded most of the time when they recast. Sometimes they hit a bright spot (Randall Edwards, Daniel Hugh Kelly, Karen Morris Gowdy) but man, I was often never impressed. Even the Patrick recasts. The second one grew on me the more I rewatched but I always preferred Malcom Groome.

And Nancy Addison Altman is just so terrific.

The cast had some really great actors. Not that I didn't already know that but watching the episodes again after such a long lapse from watching the reruns on SoapNet makes me remember why I really enjoy RH. I'm so glad I saw the first several years and now I can see the last several years.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

5 Franks.

I'm glad you didn't say anything bad about Pat #2 because I would have gone off a little bit if you had.

RH had a ton of bad recasts but the writing was the general failure in many of the cases. Aside from Jack, the show would not let characters grow and change, ever, unless change = being devolved for a plot purpose.

Edited by DRW50
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Frank/Jill/ Seneca

During the early years of the show producer Robert Costello said that the show was about the Ryan family -- so any romantic relationships had to have a connection to the Ryans'. Maybe they could have made it a quadrangle with Mary Ryan/ Jack/ Jill/ Seneca instead of the Frank Ryan/Jill/Seneca triangle.

I was always surprised when I watched the beginning again that Jill was a lonely woman while Mary, Nell, and Faith had plenty of male interest in them. (Mary had Jack, Bob, even a brief interest by Roger, Sam Crowell. Nell had Seneca, Ed, Roger. Faith had Bucky, Pat, Kenneth, and even when Faith was held in the basement, others had dialog about an unseen hospital delivery guy who had a crush on her.)

Jill & Frank

Nancy said that the writers and the audience wouldn’t let them be apart. She sounded fine about this in 1983-- even saying that she felt they owed the audience a big wedding (which the viewers never got, just a small hospital wedding which wasn't legal and an off-screen legal wedding where it was just the two of them). By the final time they reunited Jill and Frank -- Nancy said she was then backburned for over the last year of her run. This was why she decided to leave the show and give Hollywood a shot.

Does anyone know how Nancy felt about Ken George Jones? During the 1976/1977 pregnancy story and keeping the baby's true paternity secret ( who Jill mistakenly believed was the father of her baby)-- this story bothered Nancy so much that she went to the writers to tell them that Jill wouldn't be deceiving Frank or Seneca. I always thought Nancy believed Jill was woman of integrity -- so I wondered how she felt about deceiving Frank during the KGJ affair.

As bad as Michael Hawkins was as Frank, he did have his fans, though. There were letters printed in magazines where people wrote in upset that he was replaced.

Andrew Robinson said one the reasons he finally agreed to take the role of Frank was that, after playing mainly “bad guys” for his career, he wanted to play a “good guy” for a change and he said the writers told him that the audience rooted for Frank.

Edited by safe
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I think Frank as starting out with Michael Hawkins was supposed to be, at least to my perception, a JFK type. The good-looking up and coming politician who basically wanted to do good works for people and could charm them but who also had some personal flaws and a rather questionable set of moral guidelines (I guess we were supposed to feel he was the longsuffering one because he married a needy child-woman). Had the man actually been capable of good acting, who knows how some of the scenes might have played out. I guess I could understand some fans being upset he was replaced. He was the original, he was with the show a couple of years in a very prominent role...and he was the centerpiece of a number of the characters' stories, even when all we saw of him were repeated flashbacks of him falling down the stairs while, in real time, he was in a coma and everybody was acting around him. It seemed, from what Bernie Barrow said, that MH was basically a good guy who was having a hard time getting it together at that point.

Andrew Robinson, a much more capable actor (if not as good looking as MH), I thought was great as Mary's brother. I always preferred him in scenes with Mary because they seemed really like brother and sister (and no great surprise that they've been good friends ever since). In the Ryan family, I thought his Frank fit right in. But in terms of Frank's other relationships and what I thought the above-mentioned "type" was supposed to be like, it felt like a miscast. He seemed more of a character actor than a leading man. At least when DHK came along, they seemed to get the best of what the previous 2 brought to the table--the good looks and the acting chops combined. Even if I didn't particularly like Frank, I do think DHK was the best characterization.

I kind of liked what Ken represented in the sense that there were some character traits he had in common with Jill. He wasn't trying to control her or get her to commit to anything, despite coming on to her rather strongly and persistently. Looking at it years later, there were definitely cheesy aspects to the storyline but maybe it played better in 1980? Or were people so intent on keeping Jill with Frank that KGJ couldn't die soon enough?

Edited by applcin
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

The Frank (1 & 2) and Mary (1) relationship was not what it used to be by the time DHK Frank and Mary 2 & 3 & 4 were around. At that point they started building up the Frank and Jack relationship, so when Frank go over the Fenelli apartment, since Mary was rarely ever home, they stated having Frank talk over his problems with Jack more than Mary.

Edited by safe
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.



  • Recent Posts

    • Haha love a little drunk posting

      Please register in order to view this content

    • I’m up to April 01, 1996. I think I’m starting to understand what many have said.. things are different. I miss the community vibe of Springfield, when you had people working at the hectic newspaper, the choatic diner, the rich were coming in for coffee, or the TV network was abuzz about the latest scandal. Things have become a little more tunneled into their own storylines. Right now, for me anyway, there isn’t a strong desire to see what happens next, ever since the Brent/Marian story ended. It was a darker, more suspenseful storyline that really got me intrigued and waiting to see what happens next, while everything else was just a nice view of midwestern families living their dramatic lives. And I love that too, when the characters and storytelling is strong, but right now, some things are a little stale. In these last 5 weeks, we had two bigger events: Nick and Susan’s wedding:  it was sweet, but I really found it weird they played music over their vows instead of being able to hear them. Then, they leave town immediately after and for good? We really didn’t get a ton of time with them - one minute Susan is in a hospital bed, post-coma, celebrating the new year, and now she’s married and gone. I’m having a hard time with the revolving door of characters since my early ’95 watch. This year we’ve lost so many characters, gained so many characters, and to what end? Henry’s funeral:  this was so sad, considering the real actor passed. I’m curious what other fans thought about the funeral. Granted, when an actor passes, you don’t have much time to plan ahead, so you need to insert it into whatever storylines are happening at the time.  But sadly, this funeral happened when everyone was hating each other. Vanessa was upset with Matt because the Amanda secret came out and he kept it from her. Quint showed up, with his very young affair no less, which made both Nola and J upset. Amanda was there which upset both Blake and Ross. Roger insisted he give a speech which upset everyone. Vanessa was mad at Quint for bringing his young girlfriend, and then Dinah was so upset about her grandfather, which was emotional, but everyone is currently at odds with Dinah. The flashbacks were effective, and the most emotional scene was Vanessa’s breakdown when reading Henry’s letter to her.  Otherwise, it was a pretty hateful funeral, which felt icky. Otherwise, my quick pros and cons currently happening… Pros: Alex and Hawk are great and funny. He gets under her skin and it’s hilarious to watch her react, but she needs him. They were in LA trying to get dirt on Amanda’s former life and Hawk was living it up with young gorgeous women and all the spending money at his disposal.  Generally, the Amanda and her secret storyline is interesting and I really like the actress. Alex vs. Amanda is entertaining. Tina came onto the scene around the time Nadine died, but she’s been given a backstory which is interesting to me now. She’s a prostitute, who means well, and is trying to take care of her daughter, Dahlia. She grew up with Frank, who has a soft spot for her. Marcus, in a new storyline he desperately needed away from Dinah and his dad, has taken a strong liking to Dahlia. She sings well and he plays saxophone well, so their music is endearing. Sadly, Tina got involved in a robbery gone-bad, where they held up a Spaulding board of directors meeting. She flees, but Frank catches her outside and is forced to arrest her, while Cleary (she’s back!) arrests the main bad guy involved and saves the Spaulding family. I’m curious to see where this one goes, but curious, was Tina actually on the show before this or is she a brand new character? Cons: The Dinah/Hart/Roger storyline is pretty stale now. I need something new. Lucy and Alan-Michael are barely on since Brent left, which is sad. You spend an entire year on a storyline that builds their relationship, brings strife and wedges, and now that they’re finally able to be together in love with no obstacles, you never show them? I want to see them happy! Oh and Lucy and Bridget/David haven't had a scene since Marian tried to get 'a room at the boarding house, which is weird because we haven't seen Bridget react to Lucy being alive. I don't even know if Lucy even lives at the boarding house or with AM, but it's sad pretending like Lucy/Bridget/David were never close friends. Reva/Josh, which is hogging airtime, is a serious whiplash. One week Josh loves her, she hates him; the next week, she loves him, he hates her. He’s always lying to Annie, but now he’s marrying her again, the second wedding in 4 months. I’m also very tired of Marah, her angst over everything, and their overwhelming concern over her. As much as I don’t like Buzz, it is funny watching Reva work at the diner, but I’ll never side with Alan so watching him have feelings about Reva/Buzz or Reva/Josh does nothing for me. Finally, the other small B storylines are only on like once a week which isn’t enough:  Gilly/Griffin/Viviane, Michelle/J, Blake/Ross/Rick, Rick/Abby, Holly/Fletcher and the baby. Something that just popped up out of the blue is David Grant leaving Springfield out of nowhere. He professed his love to Bridget, who turned him down, so he decides to leave when Griffin gives him a job opportunity. Sadly, another character written out for many new characters being introduced. Makes me wonder who is making these calls - the producers, the network, the writers, the fans?
    • OH. The AMC/OLTL Crossover with helicopter, down in the woods, 2 very pregnant, both give birth, only one baby lives. We are on the same page!!!
    • Backtracking because BTG has been distracting me from keeping up with GH. Why is Carly always involved with a paternity lie? Lulu is Dante's (wife? if Im correct) so she has the right to tell him about his son. If anything, she's in a better place to reveal paternity drama than Robin was. As for Robin...I'm conflicted about whether it was HER place to tell AJ he was Michael's dad. Being with a man who's pretending to be someone else's baby daddy is wild. Dante was snoring blaming everyone  but Rocco, however he was right about Jason. A convo isn't enough, neither is trying to be your son's friend. Adolescents need a disciplinarian. At least Lulu made Rocco and Danny scrub the house. 
    • May 2025: Stephanie Sloane interviews Kirsten Storms about all of Maxie's romances in the past 20 years: https://www.swooon.com/gallery/general-hospital-maxie-romances-spinelli-johnny-nathan-kirsten-storms/
    • I saw a new BTG promo during Watson tonight (Sunday May 11).   I don't remember what I saw (and I wouldn't say here on the nonspoiler thread anyhow). I know only that it was different from the "next on BTG" preview at the end of Friday's episode. If anyone catches the new promo, please post it on the spoiler thread.
    • I hope GH gives Lesley an on screen memorial I'd love to have Scott, Robert, Holly, Rose Kelly, Mike Webber, Blackie Parish  & Claudia Phillips return for the episodes
    • As requested by @BoldRestless the 1976 story summary of Y&R from the Daytime serial newsletter. I will post it in parts as it is quite detailed.  Pt 1 Set in Midwestern Genoa City, The Young and the  Restless, which premiered four years ago, is the story of the Brooks and Foster families. Jennifer and Stuart Brooks are, on the surface, the perfect couple, blessed with four beautiful daughters, but under the veneer of a first impression lie cracks in the facade. Jennifer had become dissatisfied with her marriage after the birth of her oldest daughter, Leslie, and had left Stuart with the idea of returning to her former fiancé, Dr. Bruce Henderson. After later reconciling with Stuart, Jennifer found she was pregnant with Laurie, and she has lived all these years with the suspicion that Laurie may be Bruce’s daughter. Leslie  has recovered from a nervous breakdown and is now a famous concert pianist, happily married to former Surgeon now newspaperman Brad Elliot.  . Chris Brooks is married to Dr. William (Snapper) Foster, and Peggy, the youngest Brooks daughter, is a college student. Jennifer recently left Stuart a second time, considering again a life with Bruce, but the discovery of a lump in her breast followed by a mastectomy for cancer has again changed her priorities.   Laurie, meanwhile, has been dating Dr. Mark Henderson, Bruce’s son.  Snapper’s mother, Liz Foster, had finally accepted the fact that her husband, Bill, had abandoned their family and had had him declared dead when he suddenly walked back into their lives, suffering from emphysema. Jill, Liz and Bill’s only daughter, was married to Phillip Chancellor, the father of her unborn child, just hours before his death. Phillip obtained a quick Caribbean divorce upon learning of his impending fatherhood and was badly injured when his now-ex-wife, Kay, meeting him at the airport upon his return, lost control of the car when he told her of his plans to marry Jill. After Phillip’s death Kay vowed to void his marriage to Jill and deprive Jill of |his estate. Kay’s son from her first marriage, Brock Reynolds, supports Jill in her claim, but Kay, a former alcoholic, cannot accept the idea of having lost Phillip to her former paid companion. Greg Foster, Jill and Snapper’s brother, is an attorney working for Legal Aid, where Chris is his assistant. Upon learning that her daughter Lauralee has become engaged to Dr. Bruce Henderson’s son Mark,Jennifer Brooks tells Mark she suspects he and.Laurie are half brother and sister. She explains she spent a week with Bruce after a bad fight with her husband, Stuart, when she believed their marriage was over. A blood test confirms her fears—Stuart cannot be Laurie’s father. Keeping what he’s learned to himself,Mark painfully breaks his engagement to Laurie and leaves town. Laurie is shattered by this, unable to understand what went wrong. But soon she begins to put bits and pieces together and confronts hermother, asking what she said to Mark that drove him away. Jennifer finally tells her daughter the truth and stands helplessly as Laurie turns to run to her father for comfort and suddenly realizes he’s not her father—even this her mother has taken from her. Laurie follows Mark to Cleveland and tries to persuade him that they can still be married—they need not have children—only to be hurt again when Mark sadly tells her their love would become dirty and they would wind up hating themselves and each other. Heart broken, Laurie agrees to let him go. Jennifer has recently left Stuart, due to growing frustration in her marriage, and had planned to marry Bruce, but discovery of breast cancer and a subsequent mastectomy caused her to reconsider her plans. When Stuart earnestly pleaded with her to come home to him and their daughters after her recovery, she agreed, but now her guilt over Laurie’s situation has caused her to waver. When Laurie confides the truth to her older sister Leslie, Les makes it clear to her mother that she finds the idea that Jennifer would think of returning to her father contemptible. But Brad Elliot,Leslie’s husband, warns her to hide her feelings or her father will notice and ask for an explanation.Jennifer gives in to Stuart’s wishes, and he welcomes her home as his wife again. Leslie has had two more piano-concert triumphs and basks in the attention of the music world, as well as that of Lance Prentiss, a wealthy industrialist who has been following her career with avid interest. Les invites Lance home to Genoa City, hoping the dynamic, handsome young titan of business can help distract Laurie from her heartbreak. With the birth of Jill Foster’s baby imminent, Kay Chancellor offers Jill one million dollars for the child —fathered by her late husband, Phillip Chancellor. After Phillip’s death Kay had the divorce ruled invalid and voided Jill’s marriage, making her unborn child illegitimate. But now, finally acknowledging Jill’s baby as Phillip’s, Kay tells Jill she can give the child the Chancellor name and social position, as well as the love she had for Phillip. Jill, torn by love for Phillip and his baby and the extreme financial need of her family (Jill’s father is dying of emphysema and needs a warm, dry climate), realizes that Kay can give her child everything he could need, things Jill could never provide, and agrees to Kay’s terms.  Jill’s son, Phillip Chancellor Foster, is born prematurely a few days later. Liz Foster, Jill’s mother, is horrified that Jill would “sell” her son to Kay, and Jill’s father, Bill, is horrified that it is concern for his health that led Jill to this arrangement. He would rather die than give up his grandson. But when Jill, who has avoided seeing her child, has to take physical custody of him in order to deliver him to Kay, she is suddenly unable to give him up.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy