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[Khan]

Why was Liza wearing those eyeglasses in both scenes?  Was she on a press junket in Cannes?

John Cunningham and Millee Taggart shared such a nice, easy chemistry even in that brief scene.  No wonder fans were upset when Wade was killed off.  I could easily see him and Janet becoming an older "anchor couple" as the show aged.

[Paul Raven]

Liza was a model at this point and on her way to a fashion shoot was in an accident that injured her eye. She was estranged from Steve at this point as he was pursuing his music and they were moving in different directions. She didn't want him to leave his tour and care for her so she moved back in with Janet and Wade.

I think John Cunningham wanted to leave, which I can understand as his character wasn't doing much. So they whipped up a kidnapping/murder plot that came out of nowhere and Wade was history. That left Janet floundering although Millee hung around till 82.

[Khan]

If John Cunningham had wanted to leave, then the writers certainly could have handled that situation differently.  They could have had Wade die from some terminal illness, or they could have had him and Janet simply move out of Henderson (although, Millee Taggart was probably wanting to stay).  Killing him off in such a brutal fashion was probably the worst way to go for the audience, lol.

[dc11786]

After their initial romance, I don't think Wade and Janet had much story as a couple. Wasn't most it reactionary to Janet's children? @saynotoursoap posted a bit about why Wade's murder was ineffective. I don't think it revived Janet as a character in the way it could have, but that was mostly due to the choice in her love interests. I think there was grander possibilities with Ted Adamson and Janet especially in the canvas that the Corringtons were creating which had an emphasis on how the community reacted to events. Having wealthy widow Janet Collins marrying industrialist Ted Adamson could have created business conflicts that could have rippled across the canvas. 

Janet had just played the terminally ill husband in the early 1970s with Dr. Dan Walton. I think a second illness would have been overkill. With that said, the approach to the murder was definitely wrong. Wade could have been recast or written out in a story with some ramifications for the canvas. 

[Paul Raven]

Dan was killed off in Feb 72 and then Wade and Janet married in 73. They didn't have major story until the arrival of Clay that culminated in Janet being arrested for his murder in 75. Wade was used as a pychiatrist and he and Janet were involved in Liza and Gary's stories otherwise.

Maybe Wade could have died suddenly rather than the murder story. The only other story that seemed to be used was an affair and that had been employed with John and Eunice, and Wade and Janet weren't the kind of characters to cheat. Maybe Wade could have had a child turn up but that story didn't get used much in the 70's.

As I said previously there was so much death throughout the 70's with Jo losing Sam and then Tony, Doud dying and then Eunice, Clay and Wade etc

I think the turnover in writers was a factor also.

[Sapounopera]

Obsessed with late 70s soap aesthetics.

I need Liza's sunglasses. 

[Matt Powers]

Watching the episode when they introduced the recast Adair.  Yikes! Why does she have Sally Field’s Gidget hairstyle? Was that style popular in 1985? I think she is as green as Page Hannah was!

[dc11786]

Susan Carey Lamm is Adair #2. She had appeared on "Another Life" in its final year. I think Lamm comes across as very cold even when she doesn't intend to. Adair is definitely suppose to be more mature when Lamm assumes the role. There is a fairly strong scene between her and Justine where they are watching an old movie and they share their views on love and romance. Adair never really gets off the ground from what I recall. Part of the issue is timing. Both Barrett and Glynn leave in March, which is the same month Quinn arrives. To me, Quinn is the most intersting McCleary. With a still indevelopment characterization, and a romantic lead (Alec) out the door, Adair was destined for failure. 

By the time Tomlin arrives, I remember Adair's coldness being channeled into her position at the Herald and it being rather effective. The even flirted with a pairing with Ryder, but that never went beyond a chemistry test, but the story potential was clear. Ryder was with TR, Adair was with Chase, and Ryder was working at the paper. They had earlier flirted with pairing Ryder with his guidance counselor at the tale end of Avila Mayer and Braxton, but again, that's an aborted story.  

I think Lamm is most effective as Chase's girl Friday during the San Marcos story in October, 1985, but it is a suppoting role at best. 

[Matt Powers]

Jeanne Glynn sure had her hand on the pulse of 1985 teenagers—-Polka Dancing!

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TR and Ryder spent a good part of an ep polka dancing in a bar—breakdancing maybe, but polka dancing teenagers…SMH

The writers didn’t do the character of Chase any favors. Saddling him in a triangle with two of the shows most boring characters (Adair/Alec). I enjoyed Chase/Wendy relationship-the show should’ve written those two as a couple with Warren as a spoiler. Also, did the writers just forget Steve and Michael Kendall altogether? There was a scene where Alec was discussing Becca’s disappearance and how it was hard on the the two of us (meaning him and Chase). I guess Steve and Michael weren’t too fond of their sister 

[Matt Powers]

So far Avila-Meyer/Braxton’s era is a miss for me. Very dark (Sailor’s “interest” in TR ), Characters change radically (Hogan returns an a**hole, Sunny becomes needy, Suzi suddenly has “premonitions”..aargh). Quinn is a bright spot and has chemistry with Wendy. Does this pairing last?  Not too sure about this Sarah Whiting character, seems a bit too good to be true. I am glad Justine and Alec were sent out of town, as they were not my favorites

[dc11786]

I never know what to think about Avila Mayer and Braxton's take on Sailor. It is definitely creepy. The initial concept presented by Jeanne Glynn intrigued me, but I block out that there is definitely an uncomfortable tension in the scenes between TR and Sailor once Glynn is gone. I remember briefly thinking there were moments where they were laying the groundwork for Sailor to be Ryder's father, but I think that was just a conclusion I drew that may not have had much in story support. 

I like Hogan returning disillusioned by his experience in Hollywood, but I find him blowing off Sunny the way he did to be obnoxious. I do like Hogan / Liza as an arc, but not as an end game couple. Sunny's clinginess is a turn off, but Sunny has never been well utilized other than the original Hogan romance during the NBC years. 

Quinn and Wendy last as long as Braxton and Mayer do. I like what happens with Wendy, Quinn, and Sarah, but Michelle Joyce is very green. At times, I like the idea of stories more than the execution. There are some nice set of scenes involving the characters, but the overall story may be weaker than I remember. I dovetails into a rivalry between Chase and Quinn, which also had potential. Then, the writing staff changes. Tomlin sets up Quinn in a new direction and Lisa Peluso jumps ship not long after, but not before a storyline involving Stephanie I don't think you'll enjoy too much. 

The Suzi/Cagney premonition stuff isn't my favorite either. I do like the more character based stuff later on with Kate and Suzi, but it's not the kind of gripping tale one would expect for a NBC style supercouple like Suzi and Cagney. 

[Matt Powers]

@dc11786- Interesting theory on the Sailor/Ryder connection. That could’ve been a better story than what played out. It is clear that Avila-Meyer/Braxton were either not comfortable with and/or not interesting in Glynne’s vision for Sailor’s story. The character was disposed of so quickly without any real impact on the canvas-save for TR, who acted as if she known him for many years, not a few months.

The Chase/Wendy/Quinn story is strange to me, as Wendy and Chase were quite friendly and all of the sudden she is undermining Chase at every turn in order for Quinn to get ahead. I think the writers had no clue what to do with Wendy after Warren and just through story at the wall and hoped something would stick. When that didn’t work, they wrote off the character with little fanfare (Poof-she’s gone- dead/alive—choose your adventure

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).

 

I agree that Hogan/Liza should have been an arc, not endgame. Perhaps a situation where Hogan helped Liza at TI and she leans on him and develops feelings,etc. The way they just threw them together made no sense at all.

What did you think of Joe Lambie as Lloyd? He was like early 40’s when he was on SFT and the charcter has sons in their 30’s?!!! His take is also gruffer than Haskell’s—not seeing any of the charm Peter brought to  the role.

I like John Loprieno as Danny Walton #3, much better than Cain Devore. Too bad his stay is brief as he is dispatched back to San Fran soon after the flood.

 

[dc11786]

@Matt Powers I think it was Erwin Nicholson who sealed Sailor's fate. Nicholson arrived right around the time Sailor did in March, 1985. I think Nicholson came in knowing that Sherry Mathis was considering leaving and felt that the possibility of a juicy storyline would have kept her. Glynn seemed to be heading in the direction of Sailor / Liza / Lloyd with Lloyd and Liza co-parenting T.R. which would eventually lead to conflict and a non-romantic pairing that might have required co-habitation or a relationship down the road. In the long game, Lloyd and Liza as the long game until you could bring Travis back made sense. Introducing a Travis-lite in the form of Sailor would have to do for the moment. I don't know why Avila Mayer and Braxton went the predatory route with Sailor / TR, but they always seemed to be trying things that were different. Some worked, some didn't. 

I think Jeanne Glynn had a very clear plan for Wendy. I don't think the custody battle for Jonah would have ended as quickly as it did. I think the Wendy-Sunny rivalry would have also played into some other aspect of the canvas and I wouldn't have been surprised if Glynn had paired Wendy and a recast Alec in some sort of messy shape with Chase, Adair, and Justine all intertangled with Quinn. Wendy was often rudderless other than the brief period where she emerged as Wendy the husband stealer. Lisa Peluso is amazing but she had so many bad storylines. Similar to Marcia McCabe. 

I know people don't like how Tomlin has a tendency to not give characters clear exits. It is smart move when you consider how few people who watch actually followed things like the magazines. Characters fading into the background made things seem less chaotic. It is just a terrible way to end one's story. Adair and Chase meet the same fate as Wendy during the same time period. 

I think Hogan and Liza should have been at low places together. TI should have been in a financial crisis when they wrote out Kentucky Bluebird and with him the government project to build the prototype should have also died. Liza should have defaulted on the government loans and been in bad financial shape leading Lloyd to sweep in and buy a chunk of TI (which he does later anyway under more calculated circumstances). This would have pissed off Martin, who should have returned to Henderson in a recurring capacity at the least. Hogan and Liza bond over their mutual grief while Lloyd and Sunny (who should have been nominated for a journalism award) would have been having the time of their professional lives. 

There are a lot of less interesting recasts in the NBC run. Lambie is serviceable as a version of Lloyd who was already so watered down. Given Louan Gideon and Jacqueline Schultz hiring later in the year, this just seemed to be the trend. Haskell was more charismatic and sexier (in my opinion) as Lloyd. I don't blame Haskell for leaving though. Lloyd was a supporting character at that point and as C.J. Field on "Rituals" he was a major player. 

Danny, TR, and Ryder are a decent teen set. It's a shame they didn't develop them further. 

 

[FrenchFan]

Recently found three old scripts from February 1970. Here what happened in these three episodes.

Writers : Robert Newman, David Lesan & Doris Frankel

#4797 – Friday, February 13th 1970

At the Bergmans’, Marge told Junior she couldn’t spend the evening with him as Jo was coming with Patti and Len, who were newlyweds for the evening. When Stu came home, Marge told him she was worried about Junior. Stu questioned his son who wondered where he came from. They realized some kids at school teased him. Marge gave him a hug.

After dinner, Marge told Len, Patti and Jo that they had fun with Junior who wanted to know where he was from geographically and Stu and Marge first thought he was thinking about how babies were coming. They had a good laugh. Len turned the conversation to pollution and how mankind could disappear in a few years. Jo called Sam in Africa from the Bergmans’. When Len took the phone, he told Sam that Andrea was doing much better. She had forgotten the past but she knew Len was her son. Jo hoped she would soon marry Sam and be as happy as Len and Patti were.

At the pizza place, Lauri told Scott it was probably interesting for him to work with his father. Lauri was okay with her job at the admission office because the pay was good. Lauri assured she hadn’t dated since she and Scott stopped seeing each other. While Lauri was about to leave because of the babysitter with Eric, Bill and Grace arrived. Bill and Scott talked a bit about Vietnam before Scott left. Bill asked Grace if she had thought about his proposal. She was evasive and thought they had changed a lot since the time they used to be together. Bill was ready to wait. Meanwhile, Scott brought Lauri back at her place. He kissed her before she entered her apartment.

#4802 – Friday, February 20th 1970

Scott and Lauri arrived at the Justice of Peace to get married. Fran and Emmaline, two women working there, helped Lauri with her dress and bouquet, and served as witnesses for the wedding. The Judge of Peace performed the ceremony and pronounced them Mr. And Mrs. Scott Phillips. He advised them to spend time at a motel down the road. They could say they had been sent by him. At the motel, Scott and Lauri were uneasy to learn the motel room was $30 for the night but when the cleark learned they had been sent by Judge Freddie, he offered them the bridal suite for the same price.

At the Harper house, both Ellie and Ida were awake at night. Ellie wondered why Scott hadn’t come home yet. They thought he might be dating some new girl since he broke up with Lauri or they were afraid he could have had an accident.

In their suite, Scott and Lauri were offered champaign and Scott noticed they had one thing like in Doug and Eunice’s wedding. Scott wondered at a moment if they made the right decision but Lauri assured him they did.

#4807 – Friday, February 27th 1970

Scott, Lauri and Eric were staying at Mrs. Leshinsky’s, Lauri’s mother. Eric had a bad dream and wanted his mommy. Mrs. Leshinsky calmed him down. Scott assured Eric he would stay with his mother and him from then. Scott assured his mother-in-law he used to give Lauri a bad time but was ready to change that. Lauri woke up and didn’t like her mother’s involvement too much.

The following morning, the bathroom schedule was an issue at Mrs. Leshinksy’s. Lauri was very stressed about the schedule and Scott had an exam. Lauri was afraid Scott would be worried about his new life but he kissed her and assured her it was all okay.

At her place, Grace received a phone call from Bill. He asked if Grace reconsidered his marriage proposal but she said she wished she could. As she hung up, her cousin Harriet – who thought Grace and Bill had tied the knot - appeared and thought Grace should tell people she was married to Bill even if Bill had just left town. Grace visited Dr. Rogers and told him she married Lt. Bill Frazier a few days ago. Bob was really happy for Grace. She added Bill had to leave for Vietnam. Later, at the Nurses’ station, Bob told Patti and Len that Grace married to her old flame who came back in her life. Back at her place, Grace wondered if she would be able to keep up the charade about her being married. She hesitated to join Bill in San Francisco before he left for Vietnam and marry him for real but she knew she didn’t love him and couldn’t do that to him. She felt very miserable.

[Paul Raven]

Those are amazing .Thank you so much. Hope you have more.

In just 3 episodes we learn the date of Scott and Lauri's wedding,mention of a memory loss for Andrea, details of Grace /Bill/Bob- all stuff unknown before!