Loving/The City Discussion Thread

[DRW50]

January 24, 1989 Digest.

[DRW50]

February 25, 1986 Digest recap.

Oh, and I read an interview with Jacquie Courtney around the time of AW's 25th anniversary, and she said that she was really excited about playing Diane, the "nasty" madam on Loving, but just as the story began to get started and she felt settled, it was pulled because ABC was uneasy about the teen prostitute element.

[Paul Raven]

[DRW50]

I love those old photo shoots SPW used to do. That's also one of the few Loving moments that is on Youtube.

Did you get to read any of the stuff I posted, or had you already seen it?

[Sapounopera]

Was Diane Winston supposed to stay longer?

They should have given JC a more prominent part. A Gwyneth or Anne recast perhaps.

[DRW50]

I think she was supposed to stay longer, if she just suddenly vanished with no exit. I'd like to know what the initial long-term story plans for the teen prostitute story were. Was the stuff about the man who was obsessed with April and had murdered his family a quick fill-in story to replace the teen prostitute story?

Perhaps they didn't think they could afford Jacquie in a long-term role, or they may have thought she was too identifiable, but I wish they'd tried. I can see her feuding with Gwyn for years. The interview is kind of sad, because she says that she wanted people to know that her absence from daytime was not by her own choice.

[Sapounopera]

Ned and April were not really connected to the Lovingcanvas and they were not suited for such a storyline. 1987 was a nice era for the show, I enjoyed watching it.

The change from Roya to Lisa bothered me more than I realised at the time. I lost my connection to Ava.

The Clay/Alex mess was basically Roman/John 1.0 right? I never bought that story.

Rick Alden was too dark for no real reason. His storyline with Stacey should be given to Curtis, but Curtis returned as a nice boy all of the sudden. Linden Ashby was the best Curtis.

The show stopped airing here when Trisha was presumed dead and Jeff was holding her in 1989. It was not in the best shape, but it was still a show I wouldn't stop watching. I knew that the people who don't work for the show will always get replaced.

[DRW50]

It seems like they weren't entirely sure where to go with Rick, as he was bad, then OK, then really bad.

Did you see any of the recast Alex (Robert Dubac)?

Thanks for sharing your memories. I think that's most of the Loving stuff of that era I have but when I find more I'll post.

[shadow]

Well Rick was jealous of jack so yeah he was a bad guy, I think they tried to redeem him when they recasted with Brian Fitzpatrick (ex Mutch Beck AMC, besides him being HOT, I dont remember muich of his tenure though

[DRW50]

It's confusing because I think the first Rick left due to not having a story and being put on recurring. Then when they recast he got more story.

I think the idea behind Rick was so juicy, I don't know why they didn't mine story out of this especially since they seemed to always struggle with writing for Curtis.

[Sapounopera]

I have never seen Robert Dubac. I liked RM as Clay, but I was shocked when he became Alex with long hair and different kind of clothes. During that period Lisa Peluso took over as Ava and I lost all interest in them. James Horan didn't make Clay Alden very interesting.

[Paul Raven]

[SFK]

Elizabeth Savage looks like Anita Morris there. That pic of Trisha and whatshisname is epic.

[DRW50]

She also reminds me of a vampy Julianne Morris.

When I was reading about Brian Fitzpatrick, who played Rick Alden for a while before Rick was killed off, they said that he was only thirteen months younger than Elizabeth. Wow. She seemed to handle it fine, but that must be a bit strange to work with.

[juniorz1]

Aww, really? I thought James Horan was very good and his Clay was far more evil and calculating than his replacements were.

I agree with you on Lisa Peluso, though. I couldn't warm up to her at first, until I said something to my grandmother about the "new Ava" not being the same. She told me how much she like Lisa because she played Wendy Wilkins on her all-time favorite soap, 'Search For Tomorrow.' She watched SFT from the beginning so when Lisa joined 'Loving', which she started watching as a replacement for SFT, it was like getting a piece of her old show back.

Whatshisname is Jeff Hartman, played by Richard Steinmetz. The Jeff/Trisha storyline was the awesomeness, as Loving wisely took its time with the pacing of it. The 2 year arch was Bill Bell-esque IMO.

As for Elizabeth Savage, she was just EPIC! Don't get me wrong- I love me some Christine Tudor Newman, but Savage was well beyond your average recast. She took a very complex character and made it her own almost instantaneously. There's another actress that should have landed another daytime role post-Loving. Too bad because she was so gifted and would have brought A LOT to any soap that was lucky enough to have her. IMO, she would have been great over at ATWT.