Gordon Russell HW

[EricMontreal22]

Yeah All Her Children is one of my top soap books ever. It's wonderful. And his novels are good--I'm not surprised James at 15 was great as well. I always wondered if he stopped watching AMC when him and Agnes had whatever falling out over Loving anyway...

[EricMontreal22]

Oh definetly, while not his maybe my "type" the man reeked male sexuality--and he came to soaps (I think he started at AW in '67?) at a time when men on soaps rarely really had that kinda strong masculine sexuality. I've only seen him on maybe 3 eps of AW and that 1975 "birth of Kevin" OLTL ep Daytime to Remember aired which had him and Pat in their early days on the show, but it was enough to see his charisma. Maybe not a great actor, but you can have great on screen personalities who aren't great actors (as soap fans know).

Speaking of Tony--that earliest full OLTL episode floating around online that I can find, from 1969, with Meredith, Vicki's sister finding an amnesiac man she calls Tom... This was a difdferent character right? And we never actually found out who he was? (from reading all the OLTL synopsises I can find it seems they never fully finished his story--just used him as a cog between Meredith and Larry Wolek's love life)

[Vee]

IIRC, a friend told me Tom Edwards may have been amnesiac, but he was definitely hired by Victor to keep Merrie from Larry.

It is clear from the clip of Reinholt on ET years later that he was a) not exactly closeted and a half-decent actor; he is positively flaming in the candid clip of him in real life, but on AW and OLTL he seemed (from what I've seen) to be a very butch, dashing macho lead, a la David Selby on Dark Shadows. I think he actually came out in 2000, but no one was paying attention. He also tried to enlist Robin Strasser to help him get back into daytime.

[EricMontreal22]

Vee thanks for that link! What a great scene! I guess that's when Carla briefly came back after leaving in 1981. Watching that episode, while it's still great, after watching the two early 1980 episodes I watched, there's just no comparison. I can see why people felt the show was starting to slip (again even if in compairson to later eras it was still great)

I know what you mean abotu Dark Shadows. But don't many credit Russell for helping to make Barnabas a deeper character? I know many of his early monologues were credited to him.

And actually Tina came to OLTL in 1978 under Russell! The 1980 episode I watched had a lot with her and her "father" coming to town. Of course it was oundr Peggy O'Shea in 1985 we got the great story to find out how Vicki was her sister, but... But I do agree with you and that's why I'd love them to try to build back up the Woleks starting with larry and his son (Vicki's nephew) Dan...

E

[Vee]

Oh, I know the '70s gave us Tina, but the '80s reinvented Tina as we came to know her.

[EricMontreal22]

The David Selby comparison from what I've seen of George in the 70s is VERY VERY apt--and I admit I do find that kinda actor appealing so get what the fuss was about.

is this ET clip online? I've heard the thing about him living in the streets as well, but also that he was doing a lot of local theatre

[TC]

I figured as much. As to the earlier posted rumour that he was homeless, I heard he was living in someone's garage.

And since this seems to be my day(or evening) for pushing the envelope a little... what was the scandal about him.. basically.. showing a covered woodie in some non-soap magazine?

[EricMontreal22]

Definetly though the seeds were always there.

Gotta echo what Cat said on the other page, I love that there's a forum like this where I can ramble on with my questions and thougths, and read such great opinions from others, about one of my fave subjects--history of soaps. Trust me, I don't have any friends, even those who do watch soaps, who would even spend 30 seconds listening to me blather on, or have any idea what I meant, lol

[Sean]

Yes, I just came across it the other night on YouTube.

[TC]

The sad thing is, I was alive and aware, and watching through most of that period of great soap, but am no historian. I wish I could be of more use. There was an impression, in my dramatic little soul, that what I was watching on AW and OLTL was greatness; EON as well, and AMC and GL of course. In later years I read the LaGuardia book (which seems to be unnecessarily critical of ATWT during that period) and it mostly confirmed my impressions.

Even sadder is the lament that most of those episodes no longer exist. At the time they made such an impression (esp. AW, OLTL, EON - AMC came later for me), I'm sure if they turned up on YOUTUBE, I'd have a flood of memories.

[Faulkner]

That 1983 scene on YouTube almost feels like a Robert Altman movie...so many interesting things happening in the background. And it's like a buffet of great actors - Michael Zaslow, Elizabeth Hubbard, Al Freeman, Jr., Robin Strasser, Phylicia Rashad, Gerald Anthony, Brynn Thayer, Ellen Holly, Nicolas Coster, the list goes on and on...

[Chris B]

Seeing how well produced Peyton Place was, especially considering they filmed three episodes per week, I expected the same from Our Private World. It was created BECAUSE of the success of Peyton Place, so shouldn't it try to emulate that same style? Nope. CBS were cheap bastards and basically put on a staid daytime soap with fake sky backdrops, no location shooting, simple blocking and flubbed lines in primetime. How was that EVER going to work? And it truly wasn't even good for a daytime soap. The characters were dull and it seemed to move incredibly slow for a primetime series.

With Peyton Place it looks seamless like other soaps and attrached some amazing talent. As time goes on I'm amazed at how good some of these actors are. Lee Grant more than deserved the only acting Emmy this show received. It only makes me sad to know that Mia Farrow wasn't recognized for the flawless work she did as Allison tried to maintain her sanity. The story is so simple, but moving to me. Basically, she notices that all of these crazy, soap opera things are happening to her and is going crazy. On most soaps people largely ignore this, continue living in the nut town and these things repeat themselves. Allison (thanks to Frank Sinatra forcing Mia off the show) literally just escapes with her suitcase and never looks back.

Another interesting thing is that the show did a major rape storyline without ever mentioning the word "rape" or "sex" or even showing much of anything. At the most Rita mentioned that the guy forced her to kiss him. The performances and writing was so strong that you just knew what was going on and they didn't need to say much. Current writers could learn a lot from a soap like Peyton Place. Due to being in primetime, it's fast paced, but still very character driven and everything ties together.

[2shane8]

This is the best thread ever! I love reading about these earlier periods from people who watched, or at least know the history.

I too am fascinated with OLTL's history and the ups-and-downs thanks to different writers. I love how Gordon Russell made the show one of the best in daytime, both commercially and artistically. Michael Storm (Larry) said something once in an interview about how they often ranked #1 back then (obviously, for a week or so at a time, since they were never #1 for a season). Then Sam Hall did an ok job, but as people have said, the show changed somewhat and became a bit more adventursome.

The period that really fascinates me, though, is from early 1985 to early 1988. I started watching in February of 1988, and by that time S. Michael Schnessel was the headwriter.

I agree. Because Peggy O'Shea put the show on track again in 1985, and wrote the second coming of Niki/Viki, plus the whole revelation that Tina-Viki were siblings. This is one of the greatest years in the show's history, I think. I know that "Soap Opera Digest" named the show Most Improved that year, which has always made me wonder what kind of lows it had sunk to in 1984. My question, though, is when did Peggy O'Shea give way to S. Michael Schnessel? As much as I think he suffered in comparison, I remember enjoying a lot of his late-80s stuff, like Tina at the altar with Cord AND Max, and the whole Gabrielle/Michael Grande baby switch.

[EricMontreal22]

Yeah. I wonder what happened to her?