On 5/15/2026 at 8:01 PM, Stevel said:

The more I hear about my favourite soap period, the more sour I feel. And the more clearly I see how it all came crashing down.

Everything you say is true.

As for teleprompters, can't say for sure, but there were times when Constance Ford, as Ada, appeared to be reading from one. But I'd forgove her anything.

Acoording to Lemay, Jacquie Courtenay was writing crib notes on her hands. It was either Courtenay, or Virginia Dwyer who played her mother, or both, who were supposedly also leaving crib notes

I've read his book a few times, I have it on an old tablet. Each time there seems to be a lot more between the lines.

Yeah, Kind of funny Lemay was furious with actors who did not memorize their lines yet he had no problem with Connie Ford, Victoria Wyndham, Hugh Marlow fumbling all the time. Not so much Connie but when I watch episodes on YT now, VW seems to be constantly reading from a teleprompter & Marlow seems like he is speaking ad lib almost.

On 5/15/2026 at 8:01 PM, Stevel said:

The more I hear about my favourite soap period, the more sour I feel. And the more clearly I see how it all came crashing down.

Everything you say is true.

As for teleprompters, can't say for sure, but there were times when Constance Ford, as Ada, appeared to be reading from one. But I'd forgove her anything.

Acoording to Lemay, Jacquie Courtenay was writing crib notes on her hands. It was either Courtenay, or Virginia Dwyer who played her mother, or both, who were supposedly also leaving crib notes

I've read his book a few times, I have it on an old tablet. Each time there seems to be a lot more between the lines.

Yeah, Kind of funny Lemay was furious with actors who did not memorize their lines yet he had no problem with Connie Ford, Victoria Wyndham, Hugh Marlow fumbling all the time. Not so much Connie but when I watch episodes on YT now, VW seems to be constantly reading from a teleprompter & Marlow seems like he is speaking ad lib almost.

On 5/15/2026 at 10:14 PM, Tisy-Lish said:

So why was it okay for Connie Ford to look directly at the camera and read the teleprompter episode after episode, but not okay for Jacquie Courtney or Virginia Dwyer to discreetly look down to read crib notes??? I was watching AW every day during the 1970s, and I can tell you -- Connie Ford's dependence on the teleprompter was far more noticeable than any crib notes that Courtney and Dwyer supposedly ever used.

I just said the same thing in another comment. I think Lemay thought any actor who did stage was superior.

From what I've seen, Connie had Ada seldom looking directly at other characters as a way of using teleprompters or cue cards.

With VD and JC being fired and comments made, it seems Rauch and Lemay were down on them because they had only done soaps whereas other cast members had done theater, movies or primetime. And therefore had a(perceived) greater range of experience and technique.

A while ago we were discussing how the Soapnet pop-up captions called MJ "Modesta Josephine" during the 1987 episodes where MJ's past as a prostitute was revealed to Adam causing him to call off their wedding at the last minute. For what it's worth, Modesta Josephine does not appear to have been a continuity error within the show itself -- I came across this episode where Ada receives her invitation to the wedding and clearly reads out MJ's name as "Michael Joseph".

18 minutes ago, Xanthe said:

A while ago we were discussing how the Soapnet pop-up captions called MJ "Modesta Josephine" during the 1987 episodes where MJ's past as a prostitute was revealed to Adam causing him to call off their wedding at the last minute. For what it's worth, Modesta Josephine does not appear to have been a continuity error within the show itself -- I came across this episode where Ada receives her invitation to the wedding and clearly reads out MJ's name as "Michael Joseph".

That rings a bell with me. It might have been addressed at other times - something about her father Vince wanting, or expecting, a boy. She was portrayed as the tomboy sister, cop stereotype. My sisters loved her for that.

1 hour ago, Stevel said:

That rings a bell with me. It might have been addressed at other times - something about her father Vince wanting, or expecting, a boy. She was portrayed as the tomboy sister, cop stereotype. My sisters loved her for that.

I remember when MJ first came on, Larry was dismissive of her and didn't think much of her university education. (I was annoyed with the later prostitution retcon where they decided that MJ had not got her degree and what she had really wanted was to become a professional singer.)

I remembered that Vince called her Mike when he came home to Bay City not long after Katheen had arrived. And in this episode he refers to her as Mike when he explains to Ben that she had called him in West Virginia, and addresses her as "MIchael J McKinnon" when she comes home and finds him in the kitchen.

https://youtu.be/boi-eB70IH8?si=TwZ7GW9lA4i3fHCV&t=328

MJ is glad to see him but Kathleen earlier in the episode is obviously resistant. I don't recall there ever being a big reveal about Kathleen having a problem with Vince but I think there were also some hints about her having had a bad relationship with a man in New York that never went anywhere.

1 hour ago, Xanthe said:

I remember when MJ first came on, Larry was dismissive of her and didn't think much of her university education. (I was annoyed with the later prostitution retcon where they decided that MJ had not got her degree and what she had really wanted was to become a professional singer.)

I remembered that Vince called her Mike when he came home to Bay City not long after Katheen had arrived. And in this episode he refers to her as Mike when he explains to Ben that she had called him in West Virginia, and addresses her as "MIchael J McKinnon" when she comes home and finds him in the kitchen.

https://youtu.be/boi-eB70IH8?si=TwZ7GW9lA4i3fHCV&t=328

MJ is glad to see him but Kathleen earlier in the episode is obviously resistant. I don't recall there ever being a big reveal about Kathleen having a problem with Vince but I think there were also some hints about her having had a bad relationship with a man in New York that never went anywhere.

Which MJ did you prefer? I liked the first one enough but we weren't given much of a chance to get to know her. I barely remember her beyond thi king she resembled the eife on Welcome Back Cotter. But we kinded of bondex with the recast. Upset when she left.

47 minutes ago, Stevel said:

Which MJ did you prefer? I liked the first one enough but we weren't given much of a chance to get to know her. I barely remember her beyond thi king she resembled the eife on Welcome Back Cotter. But we kinded of bondex with the recast. Upset when she left.

I loved Kathleen Layman's MJ. She felt very relatable to me. She was presented as smart but underappreciated. I didn't think that Larry was the right kind of love interest for her and I was ecstatic when she started dating Stephen Yates' Jamie. They were very charming together and much lower-key than typical soap couples.

Kathleen Layman and Julie Osburn were excellently cast as sisters. I loved the fact that they were both intelligent but MJ was more responsible where Kathleen was more likely to take risks and then beat herself up for her failures. But I also liked the writing better in this period and thought that the characterizations were better-handled.

When Sally Spencer took over the role of MJ, Jamie had already left town and Larry had left the police force. The new headwriter made the decision to demote MJ so that she had to wear a uniform because they wanted the character to have a distinct look -- but it had the effect of making her subordinate to her new partner Adam instead of having seniority in the department. I liked Sally Spencer in the role and I was a fan of MJ and Adam together, but I was very frustrated by the way the character was written, especially her relatonship with ex-pimp Chad.

I don't think that Kathleen Layman could have done a much better job with the degrading material MJ was saddled with. And it was maddening to me how all of it seemed to be designed to grind MJ down while trying to raise Chad up.

I was very disappointed when they wrote MJ out so soon after Adam called off the wedding. However I was happy that when they wrote Adam out they at least gave them a happy ending offscreen but that was a very small consolation.

Here is my theory on why the MJ character changed and was degraded.

A lot of time a writer will write to an actor and how they play a character. Layman had a quiet strength and confidence that she infused into the MJ character, and that could have been attributed to her being the eldest daughter that had to take on the motherly role because of 'death' of their mother. I could have bought her MJ possibly being caught up in prostitution, but I think she would have played it differently.

Sally Spencer took over the part of MJ either before, or right, when Depriest took over as headwriter of the show. I watched Spencer's take on MJ in her first episodes where the writing for MJ was decent where MJ still had backbone and toughess... but Spencer had a more passive aura and her voice was a lot less confident and more timid/passive. So the writers eventually adjusted the MJ character to fit with what Spencer bought to the role.

Another example would be the character of Cecile when Cecile #1 left suddenly and was replaced by Nancy F. Cecile # 1 had started out nice and eventually became more crafty and cunning... but had this nice exterior that made it easy for people to assume she was on the up and up. When Nancy F first took over as Cecile, the character was still low key and not a comically character in her first episodes as the character. You also saw a few times where she would try to be nice/warm as she was manipulating someone.. and Nancy F couldn't pull it off. The writers eventually started adjusting how Cecile was written based on what Nancy F was infusing into the character.

It's why I think the show eventually slotted Cecile in 1983 as the third wheel with Peter Love and Cass Winthrop in 1983 because she fit in with them after Jennifer Runyon left the role of Sally and the replacements (the short lived one and Mary Paige Keller) didn't have a good rapport/chemistry with Cass/Peter like Jennifer Runyon did.

Same thing happened with Lorna Devon in the 90s once Alicia Coppola vacated the role. The cold, intense Lorna that wore black and leather eventually morphed into a corporate ice princess once Robin Christopher took over... same as what happened to Amanda when Sandra F vacated the role and was replaced by the more stoic and serious Christine Tucci.

On 5/19/2026 at 6:49 PM, Soaplovers said:

Spencer had a more passive aura and her voice was a lot less confident and more timid/passive. So the writers eventually adjusted the MJ character to fit with what Spencer bought to the role.

There is definitely a feedback loop in all cases from the writer to the performer. IMO Kathleen Layman frequently used a very soft voice and could often appear intimidated so that is not the differentiating factor for me. I thought she was wonderful and enjoyed her portrayal of the character. But for me it was not a difference in Sally Spencer's affect that weakened the character.

I would find it easier to believe that it was the actor's performance that inspired dePriest to write in the weakness if she hadn't done similar things to other characters. For example Donna Love had been the head of her family until Reginald came back and terrorized and drugged her until she was institutionalized. We saw all of that with Anna Stuart still in the role and when Philece Sampler took it over she was essentially subordinate to Michael and helpless to deal with John or Reginald or Peter.

I don't know what Felicia's storyline would have been if they had not killed off Zane. It's possible that Lisa would have turned out to be her daughter, or the red herring substitute daughter like Jenna before Lorna. I won't claim that they managed to weaken Felicia, really, but I always scratch my head at how juvenile her and Mitch's behaviour seemed to be when they were apparently falling in love. There was a whole bit before Dr Glaser was revealed to be the Sin Stalker where Felicia and Mitch were constantly squabbling about how probably Alan Glaser was the kind of man that Felicia should be with and refusing to admit to each other that they were in love. I don't think that was a good use of Mitch and I'm not sure whether Felicia's flamboyance brought out the best in him.

I'm not sure I can think of a character where I thought dePriest's take was more interesting or enjoyable than under other writers.