3 hours ago, Mitch said:

Oh lord..Morgan...the prototype for Lily...EVERYONE is town was concerned about this petulant annoying girl. I gotta say..I thought the actress was a bit..uh...sexless..which to me made it look like overly muscled speedo boy was confused about his sexuality but maybe that is hindsight for me with JWS. But I was in the minority as those two were popular.

 

Douglas Marland's version of Laura Baldwin on General Hospital fit the same mold: the petulant, self-involved teen with whom everyone in town concerned themselves. While I felt Vigard had a certain something, I never really understood why Kelly (or Tim) were so obsessed with Morgan. Romantic and sexual attraction don't always make sense, however, so I just went with the flow and accepted the fact that both young men found her to be both romantically and physically appealing. Truth be told, I always thought Nola would be better in bed, LOL. 

 

3 hours ago, Mitch said:

Alright now you crossed the line with dissing Poser : ) To be fair, she was really a totally different character at that time..and unlike say, Marj. who was not really playing the Alex we knew...I never liked the previous actress or how the character was written...(I can't get those damn dolls and her little girl clothes out of my mine...go Lucille GO!!) I do agree she was good as what the charcter was at that time...a pale girl who grew up in an attic and had no voice of her own, but I would have written her off too at that point to bring her back a few years later as stronger and more sophisticated and able to play at the table with Alan and Alex.  I do agree that Poser's Amanda, as much as I loved her was ridiculous in connection to what came before..I would have just had her been another character to be another thorn in Alex's side.

 

Okay, to be fair: my main problem with Poser as Amanda was that the character was completely and totally changed from when KC played the role, and I was one who adored Cullen's version. Similarly, I loathed Grayson McCough's grubby Dusty Donovan, Roger Howarth's hammy Paul Stenbeck, and Hunt Block's smarmy Craig Montgomery because the characters were so bastardized when those actors assumed the parts. Poser probably would have been fine as another, new character. But she was not MY Amanda, and I found her (and Dusay as Alex, BTW) untenable.

 

3 hours ago, Mitch said:

 

That suffered from Marland starting it and the various writers not know what the hell he was going for. Plus, I am sorry, but I find Pinter skeevy no matter what he plays..really Colleen..really???

 

ITA.

3 hours ago, DRW50 said:

 

Yes, that is the main complaint I would have about Vigard's casting in that if you think about it too long, the pairing with Kelly is very questionable - I can't even remember if she was 18 when they first had sex (I know this was seen as no big deal at the time, but still...). I think the story would have worked more as a mistake on Kelly's part, with Morgan getting her heart broken and ending up together with Tim, or a new boy around her age. 

 

(with that said, I know the Morgan/Kelly/Nola story was very popular and Morgan and Kelly had a lot of fans - and I do think their wedding is lovely) 

 

I also liked Toby Poser as Amanda, I just thought they did her very dirty with the writing, especially the jabs at her hair. 

 

Kelly becoming sexually involved with Morgan when she was so young bothered me when it aired. Of course many teenagers have sexual and romantic fantasies about older adults, but it was Kelly's responsibility to hold off until it was more appropriate for them to become physically involved. I can't remember if she was still under 18 when they first did the deed, either, but I remember having a moral problem with her age. Wasn't Kelly around 7-8 years older than Morgan?

 

 

9 hours ago, vetsoapfan said:

 

I thought the change had taken place in about November of 1982, but...closing credits don't lie, LOL. Thanks for the info.

 

Reports at the time indicated that Gail Kobe wanted Cullen to drastically cut her hair, and the actress refused, which is why she was let go. It was a terrible mistake, however. Pamela Long was actually writing for Amanda (unlike some of the other longer-term characters), and there was still a lot more story fodder for the character.

 

Jennifer Cooke was also known for her role in the science fiction series V. She showed a bit more personality in both Friday the 13th part VI and V than she ever did on TGL.

 

 

Seems like Kobe was more the problem in 1983/4.

 

Watching 1983 and early 1984, Long had a fairly well balanced canvas.  She wrote quite a bit for Amanda, Hope, and Hilary before Kobe's vindictive side resulted in all 3 being fired.

 

Long had a good idea on how to write, she just needed a strong EP (which she got with Calhoun in her 2nd stint).

Lawd! Alan Locher is having a virtual with Jill Farren Phelps... 

 

Alan Locher will welcome Jill Farren Phelps to his YouTube show, The Locher Room on Wednesday, June 23 at 3 p.m. ET. Phelps has been the EP at ANOTHER WORLD, GH, GUIDING LIGHT, ONE LIFE TO LIVE, SANTA BARBARA AND Y&R and has won 11 Daytime Emmys for her works on soaps. 

 

 

Jill Farren Phelps Virtual Interview - Soap Opera Digest

15 minutes ago, Forever8 said:

Lawd! Alan Locher is having a virtual with Jill Farren Phelps... 

 

Alan Locher will welcome Jill Farren Phelps to his YouTube show, The Locher Room on Wednesday, June 23 at 3 p.m. ET. Phelps has been the EP at ANOTHER WORLD, GH, GUIDING LIGHT, ONE LIFE TO LIVE, SANTA BARBARA AND Y&R and has won 11 Daytime Emmys for her works on soaps. 

 

 

Jill Farren Phelps Virtual Interview - Soap Opera Digest

LOL you hit all the shows where she’s darkened the doorsteps.

 

He hasn’t done Patrick Mulcahey yet, has he? He would be up for it, but AL gets a bit pearl-clutchy when people are a bit too frank for his PR-honed sensibilities.

6 hours ago, Soaplovers said:

 

Seems like Kobe was more the problem in 1983/4.

 

Watching 1983 and early 1984, Long had a fairly well balanced canvas.  She wrote quite a bit for Amanda, Hope, and Hilary before Kobe's vindictive side resulted in all 3 being fired.

 

Long had a good idea on how to write, she just needed a strong EP (which she got with Calhoun in her 2nd stint).

 

I think during her first stint, Long was a mixed bag. Her ignorance of history led to various problems, as did her sci-fi-ish fantasy stories. To her credit, much later she admitted that on soaps, when it came to fantasy or reality-based material, it was "better to get real." On the other hand, Long wrote for certain characters and delineated their relationships well. She needed guidance and a solid editor more than anything, IMHO, and Gail Kobe did not fit the bill. Long's stint under Calhoun was significantly better.

 

Mimi Torchin of Soap Opera Weekly had an interview with Kobe once, in which Torchin said the characters were the prime draw and most important force on soaps. Kobe disagreed and said characters were secondary to plot. That's the sort of attitude which crippled the soap opera medium. Gutting 2/3 of the cast and going heavy on dumb plot mechanics is what crippled TGL in the 1980s. 

Edited June 15, 20214 yr by vetsoapfan

6 minutes ago, vetsoapfan said:

Mimi Torchin of Soap Opera Weekly had an interview with Kobe once, in which Torchin said the characters were the prime draw and most important force on soaps. Kobe disagreed and said characters were secondary to plot. That's the sort of attitude which crippled the soap opera medium. Gutting 2/3 of the cast and going heavy on dumb plot mechanics is what crippled TGL in the 1980s. 

 

Sorry, but anyone who believes plot sells soaps is not thinking straight. There is a way to do a story, and have it be character-developing... but you lose your cast and you lose your characters, then you lose your audience.

5 minutes ago, Liberty City said:

 

Sorry, but anyone who believes plot sells soaps is not thinking straight. There is a way to do a story, and have it be character-developing... but you lose your cast and you lose your characters, then you lose your audience.

 

Yep, and that's what happened to many soaps, once clueless and incompetent PTB started axing veteran actors/characters and going the stupid science-fiction/fantasy route. After a brief "novelty period," the mainstream audience defected in droves.

2 minutes ago, vetsoapfan said:

 

Yep, and that's what happened to many soaps, once clueless and incompetent PTB started axing veteran actors/characters and going the stupid science-fiction/fantasy route. After a brief "novelty period," the mainstream audience defected in droves.

 

I'm all for creating a balance; if you want to tell a story that is purely plot-dictated, ensure there is a way for characters to be developed within the storyline. And there is a way to do it... but TPTB seem to be incapable of successfully doing that.

It's today SONers

 

 

 

Carolyn looks great!

 

 

Carolyn and Robert Newman dated...hmmmm

On 6/15/2021 at 3:13 AM, vetsoapfan said:

 

I thought the change had taken place in about November of 1982, but...closing credits don't lie, LOL. Thanks for the info.

 

 

Definitely not. Kobe was still Executive Producer of Texas in November 1982. If I recall correctly, NBC announced the cancellations of Texas and The Doctors in early November 1982. The personnel change at GL that occurred in November was the replacement of Pat Falken Smith by L. Virginia Browne and Gene Palumbo.

24 minutes ago, robbwolff said:

 

Definitely not. Kobe was still Executive Producer of Texas in November 1982. If I recall correctly, NBC announced the cancellations of Texas and The Doctors in early November 1982. The personnel change at GL that occurred in November was the replacement of Pat Falken Smith by L. Virginia Browne and Gene Palumbo.

 

Oh, of course. I should have remembered about Kobe and Texas. D'OH, me! I must have been mixing up the timing of the producer switch with the change in writers, which infuriated me at the time. If only PFS had helmed TGL during the entire decade!

 

Gracias for the memory jolt. 

2 hours ago, vetsoapfan said:

 

Oh, of course. I should have remembered about Kobe and Texas. D'OH, me! I must have been mixing up the timing of the producer switch with the change in writers, which infuriated me at the time. If only PFS had helmed TGL during the entire decade!

 

Gracias for the memory jolt. 

I have so few memories of the PFS period. It was so quick. I know that PFS took over as head writer of Ryan's Hope in late 1983. Was she also creating Scruples when she was head writing RH?