Loving/The City Discussion Thread

[Errol]

Hearing Christine Tudor discuss the "Loving" Murders really helps culminate all the discussion ya'll have had on this storyline. It's like a resolution to the questions we've all had. She's amazing!

 

 

 

 

OMG!!! Bryan Cranston!!!

[DRW50]

 

Seems to be gone now, sadly.

[Forever8]

I wonder what happened?

[DRW50]

 

Looking around it seems like Youtube is having problems. Hopefully it will be back later today.

[Forever8]

It's back up!!!

[dc11786]

Chris Marcantel said he was planning to edit it and clean it up. Given that he runs a production company, I think he probably took it down until they can put the more polished version up. It was really great to see all of the actresses. A nice pop in from Linden Ashby and talks of an all Curtis reunion (that would be amazing). It was really great to hear that this seems like the start of a recurring thing. I honestly expected maybe one or two more (the Men of Loving and maybe one more). I hope that Marcantel is able to get it back up because it was a pretty candid conversation that became pretty centered around Joe Stuart's atrocious behavior and treatment of a large number of young actresses working on the show. 

 

I'm still processing all that these women talked about. I think the woman who's story I found most impactful was Jennifer Ashe, who spoke about what a profound role that playing the father-daughter incest story had on her life. She spoke about how once it became clear what was happening to Lily, a number of young women came up to her and shared their stories with her. She spoke about a neighbor who told her she was happy she had had a son because she was afraid she would look differently at her husband. It was very powerful. Ashe seemed pretty hurt that the story had been curtailed in order to promote a TV movie of the week, and in a very real sense of loss rather than just losing a job.

 

Susan Walters talking about the terrible things that Joe Stuart would say to her (she was only 19 when she started) was particularly painful especially given how self aware of herself she seems to be. I chuckled when she talked about checking her hair while James Kiberd was crawling on the floor preparing to play Mike suffering from PTSD. It was interesting to hear her talk about how she started out as this young model who had never acted before and became a pretty popular character. It wasn't facetious. From what I can tell, Lorna quickly became a pretty layered character. It was she who got a lot of the Erica Kane treatment under Marland (getting pregnant by Tony Perilli and aborting her baby so she could sign a modeling contract with Burnells). I would love to see the scene where Tony and Lorna had sex after Tony left her. Lorna finally thought that she had got Tony back and he callously told her it was just sex and it meant nothing. It's a shame that she wasn't brought back. I know she had a bit of a career, but I really think she would have done well as an older jaded Lorna, a divorcee who comes to town to fight with Tess for control of the ad agency while setting out to seduce Buck.

 

Patty Lotz shared a pretty graphic story about her audition. She revealed that the audition script was very crude and very sexual. I actually think another actress who tried out for Ava has posted her screen test featuring this script. I seem to recall we all mentioned then how racy it was. Her firing was pretty awful; she was too nice. It was interesting to hear her talk about how the character of Ava was originally envisioned, Corinth's answer to Jennifer Beale in "Flashdance."

 

Pamela Bowen shared a rather amusing story about asking James Kiberd to kiss her so that she didn't have to have her first screen kiss during her screentest; she was auditioning for Shana at the time. Her character, Colby, was created for her. I wonder how the story would have played out if Colby hadn't been there. I believe Bowen also implied that Joe Stuart was terrible.

 

Noelle Beck was pretty quiet. She did tell a pretty shocking story about how her hiring initially contingent on a nose job and that they planned on writing it into the story. Gwyn was suppose to find Trisha in her boarding school, realize she didn't look WASPy enough, and get her daughter a nose job. Beck refused the nose job, but still managed to get the job. 

 

Elizabeth Burr talked about Joe Stuart berating her during her audition, which she joked helped her during her run as Noreen because the character cried every day. Burr originally auditioned for Sheree, who was Ava's trashy sister with a southern accent. That character definitely mellowed. 

 

The ladies who escaped Joe's reign of terror were Lauren Marie Taylor and Christine Tudor Newman. Taylor implied that Joe understood her Bronx demeanor and Newman implied she was too old for Joe. Newman gave a great story about telling Joe Stuart off during her audition only to later learn that he was the producer. When she apologized, Stuart said she had responded exactly as Gwyn would have.

 

I'm sure there are more things people will share. Callan White seemed very proud of the work she did during the Mike Donovan VIetnam Wall episodes (which happened right at the start of her run). I was impressed how she stood up to someone about holding someone's baby while drunk claiming Ann would never do that. She wasn't sure who's kid it was, but thought it was Stacey's. I think it might have been Jack and Ava's "baby," but I could be wrong. Jennifer Ashe talked about auditioning for Lorna before being offered Lily.

 

Lauren Marie Taylor said that Linda Gottlieb was involved in the production at the end. She specifically mentioned the teaser material for episodes. There was definitely a Gottlieb influence in those Loving murder promos. Her firing story was a bit cruel too. She figured it out because they approved her vacation, which they never did. Newman talked about being told she was the killer and how she had been asking for a beefy storyline for years. She knew she wasn't going to the city ("they're taking all the kids under 30"). She seemed pretty disappointed that she hadn't gotten any story in those last few years. 

 

I really hope it is put online. I haven't attended any of the other soap reunions, but this seemed much heavier than the other reunions I've heard about.   

[Ken R]

This was a fantastic event—great recap by dc11786.

 

Sure, there were technical issues, but all around it was such an enjoyable and interesting time. There was so much divulged that we as viewers never really knew. Maybe it feels that way because ABC or the soap media never gave Loving this level of attention, but it was a great treat to hear their stories.

 

I've only watched a couple of the other soap reunions (GL), and I couldn't sit through them because they were sort of dull and covered a lot of well-worn ground. Plus they seemed to only answer softball questions with equally bland answers. But that's what you get when it's all organized by a publicist. The Loving reunion was frank, fun, and you could tell they really enjoy seeing other and connecting with fans.

[Forever8]

I'm onto the part with everyone agreeing they need a second episode solely based on EP Joe Stuart. This is my first time hearing about him in frank. 

[BetterForgotten]

Erika Slezak has always been open about her dislike for Joe Stuart, but never gave much detail.

 

He seems similar to Paul Rauch - talented, but deeply troubled and bullish.

[DRW50]

@dc11786 thank you so much for the rundown. To be honest I wonder if that may be why the video seems to be in limbo at the moment - you don't usually name names that clearly.

 

Here is the Ava audition piece.

 

 

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[Vee]

It's back up.

[SFK]

 

That was a hair audition if I ever did see one.

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And all that talk of "bazooms"!?

[John]

It's weird they didnt cast Rhonda here. Given what Patty says was the reason Joe canned her, it seems Rhonda here fit his vision of How he wanted Ava to be

Edited May 16, 2020 by John

[AdelaideCate007]

Vee mentioned Geraldine Page being in the pilot for Loving, but does anyone know how she ended up in the pilot in the first place? I'm sure a job was a job and it did premiere as a TV movie but it's fascinating to me that she was in it.  I don't think she had any history with soaps before that so I'm wondering if there was some connection behind it, especially since she was still getting good parts in films and on Broadway at the time. 

 

Also, I have heaps of 1992 and 1993 I finally got around to converting that I can upload in the next week or so if people are interested in that time frame of the show.

[Soaplovers]

Rhonda seemed to be sexier, laidback and more confident.  She probably would have been canned when Nixon took over...imho.