16 minutes ago, P.J. said:

!!! That AMC opening is what I grew up on and what I still think today is the best soap opera opening of all time 😜

Yep, that's Nadine. Long story short, Billy fell off the wagon when Reva "died". Billy had ended things with Nadine, and gotten engaged to Van, but Nadine would sleep with him, knowing he was drinking. When Josh left (to look for Reva, who might've been alive), HB and Josh put Vanessa in charge of Lewis Oil. (Billy had made poor business decisions and nearly bankrupted the company.) This pissed Billy off, and he took Nadine to Vegas to gamble. He won some money and married her while he was drunk. It took him two years to shake that bloodsucking tramp loose.

re: the character pics over the long ending credits, I can't think of another show that did them. But I only watched the CBS soaps. Y*R had the sketches opening for a long while, but ATWT never had characters in the opening until nearly 2000, IIRC.

LOL at the bolded! 😂 I remember your hatred for Nadine because of this Billy/Van stuff. I need to go watch that full episode, but thanks for the background on how he landed himself there in that bed. I can't wait to see all that at one point... really makes me want to go back and see if Vanessa acknowledged Nadine's death... I can't remember off top of my head, and I'm thinking Billy wasn't even back by then, but when he did return, can't remember if he had a throwaway line about it or not.

That's so late for ATWT considering most of the other soaps had characters in the intros throughout the 90s. I do think the spinning globe for ATWT was so iconic/marketable, that maybe they were hesitant... similar to the iconic DAYS hourglass.

45 minutes ago, P.J. said:

OMG---THANKS!! I've never seen the actual fight (I think part of the episode may have been preempted that day). that landed Reva that black eye. Josh's face is hilarious.

Ohhh was that Reva? I watched the promo (thanks @DRW50 !) and was like wait, did a man just punch a woman??? Even awful to do today, of course, but especially unheard of back then. I'm glad to know it wasn't purposeful.

35 minutes ago, alwaysAMC said:

LOL at the bolded! 😂 I remember your hatred for Nadine because of this Billy/Van stuff. I need to go watch that full episode, but thanks for the background on how he landed himself there in that bed. I can't wait to see all that at one point... really makes me want to go back and see if Vanessa acknowledged Nadine's death... I can't remember off top of my head, and I'm thinking Billy wasn't even back by then, but when he did return, can't remember if he had a throwaway line about it or not.

That's so late for ATWT considering most of the other soaps had characters in the intros throughout the 90s. I do think the spinning globe for ATWT was so iconic/marketable, that maybe they were hesitant... similar to the iconic DAYS hourglass.

Ohhh was that Reva? I watched the promo (thanks @DRW50 !) and was like wait, did a man just punch a woman??? Even awful to do today, of course, but especially unheard of back then. I'm glad to know it wasn't purposeful.

I loathe that woman, but she had better writing than ****, and at least had some semblance of a life outside of Billy. I guess I'm really a sucker for the ex's that can't stay out of each other's lives, because ATWT's Jack and Carly are cut from the same cloth.

I don't think anyone outside of the Coopers really acknowledged Nadine's death. They find her body at the beginning of '96, right? Billy doesn't return until the end of '96. They really should've kept Vanessa and Nadine in each other's orbits after the fallout, but Guiding Light really didn't do longstanding rivalries. And I think they were trying to rehab Nadine after the divorce, and wanted the audience to forgive her a bit.

ATWT had some version of the globe for YEARS. Then I think they went to the "Seasons" opening after Marland's death. Which is a beautiful opening, don't get me wrong. They never abandoned the globe, per se. It was just incorporated differently.

Yes, that's Reva, and the kid Billy's fighting with is their son Dylan (this is before they knew him.) It's some of Morgan Englund's first scenes on the show. Late June of '89.

Edited Saturday at 03:09 AM3 days by P.J.

1 hour ago, DRW50 said:

Sam didn't look like any of the actors who played her biological relatives, other than John Bolger. At a push, Cindy Pickett.

I recall there was a TV Guide article about the process of casting for soaps, and they used Sam's casting as a case study. Interestingly, Long was not for Suzy Cote. There was a blond actress in the running that she preferred. (Unfortunately, I can't remember her name). So she was overruled. I think she liked the other actress for more reasons than her physical appearance, but it is interesting that they didn't stop to think about family resemblence.

When they cast Amanda's mother Jennifer and sister Morgan, the three of them looked like they could really be related--they all had the same freckles! And definitely when they cast Grant and Carl as Phillip and Alan Michael, they both looked like their biological families. Rick I think was meant to look like his mother Leslie. And the Reardons...every single one of them looked like they belonged in that family. (Except for Sean, he was an outlier, LOL. But his son and daughter looked like Reardons).

Or course, appearance shouldn't be the primary reason they cast someone, but it is nice when people in the same family look related.

Edited Saturday at 03:10 AM3 days by DeeVee

Guiding Light promo (1996)

4 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

Guiding Light promo (1996)

That's one...unique promo. Alan looks like John Houseman.

3 hours ago, P.J. said:

I don't think anyone outside of the Coopers really acknowledged Nadine's death. They find her body at the beginning of '96, right? Billy doesn't return until the end of '96. They really should've kept Vanessa and Nadine in each other's orbits after the fallout, but Guiding Light really didn't do longstanding rivalries. And I think they were trying to rehab Nadine after the divorce, and wanted the audience to forgive her a bit.

Yep, just checked my notes and Nadine's body was found Jan/Feb of 1996 and Billy came back in Sept 1996. Gosh, I wish I kept more detailed notes in 1995-early 1996. It wasn't until late '96 that I kept really detailed notes.

I too wish GL had longstanding rivalries... I have noticed that characters/families tend to stay in their orbits unless there is a bigger umbrella storyline, but those are few and far between, and usually there isn't a ton of long-term payoff when those characters intermingle. Or, when the characters are recast and/or come back a few years later, they don't tend to revisit their history with certain characters and it's instead serving the current moment and storyline. I still enjoy GL though haha.

2 hours ago, DRW50 said:

Guiding Light promo (1996)

Oh wow, I've never seen this and that's LOL to me that this storyline got such attention. It was AWFUL and clearly it didn't resonate with viewers because that was Griffin's last major storyline. And to think it wasn't Alan at all, it was Griffin who orchestrated his own assassination attempt... and then he later becomes the prestigious judge of Springfield (with no storyline) haha.

I've always been so interested in seeing more of these GL promos. The GL episodes I watch usually retained the Y&R/B&B/ATWT promos (which the majority were Y&R which tells you who was CBS's golden child in the 90s)... but obviously they wouldn't show the GL promos while GL aired, so I always wondered what the GL promos looked like or what storylines or actors they highlighted.

Oh, I'm watching the Soapy episode with GH casting director Mark Teschner and Rebecca Budig (host) mentions she left GL on her own accord (which answers one question I had, because she soon after got her iconic gig at AMC and I always wondered if it was her choice to leave GL or they just wanted to replace her with the popular Reva clone actress :P )... anyway, so she left on her own accord, and she said it was such a weird exit, which was Rauch's doing, and she said Rauch was "interesting" (LOL)... but she hated that she hit 'some dude' in the head one episode and then the recast hit him on the head again in the next episode. Just interesting to hear that.

She also remembered that Laura Wright was on GL with her back in the day. I love that actors remember their times on all the soaps.

Edited Saturday at 06:39 AM3 days by alwaysAMC

9 hours ago, alwaysAMC said:

Yep, just checked my notes and Nadine's body was found Jan/Feb of 1996 and Billy came back in Sept 1996. Gosh, I wish I kept more detailed notes in 1995-early 1996. It wasn't until late '96 that I kept really detailed notes.

I too wish GL had longstanding rivalries... I have noticed that characters/families tend to stay in their orbits unless there is a bigger umbrella storyline, but those are few and far between, and usually there isn't a ton of long-term payoff when those characters intermingle. Or, when the characters are recast and/or come back a few years later, they don't tend to revisit their history with certain characters and it's instead serving the current moment and storyline. I still enjoy GL though haha.

Oh wow, I've never seen this and that's LOL to me that this storyline got such attention. It was AWFUL and clearly it didn't resonate with viewers because that was Griffin's last major storyline. And to think it wasn't Alan at all, it was Griffin who orchestrated his own assassination attempt... and then he later becomes the prestigious judge of Springfield (with no storyline) haha.

I've always been so interested in seeing more of these GL promos. The GL episodes I watch usually retained the Y&R/B&B/ATWT promos (which the majority were Y&R which tells you who was CBS's golden child in the 90s)... but obviously they wouldn't show the GL promos while GL aired, so I always wondered what the GL promos looked like or what storylines or actors they highlighted.

Part of the problem re: rivalries is the cast turnover. The other is that characters change so radically that it's hard to work their past into the current day. Why Long/Curlee didn't really play on the Roger/Ed animosity is beyond me. Other than they really needed Roger's return to work. And it would've been awkward trying to sell Roger's "reformation" if they'd kept bringing up Holly and Rita and Roger raping two women Ed cared about very deeply.

I watched part of a '79ish episode, where Mart Hulswit's Ed tells Mike he could've killed Roger, and means it. There's just no way for Peter Simon to sell that kind of conviction as Ed. (at least IMO).

Yes, GL promos would've aired during Y&R or ATWT. But my recollection is that GL rarely got promos, and it had to be a really hot story for it to have aired during Y&R. (At least from the late '90's onward. The promo at 11:18-20am during Y&R was usually ATWT or B&B)

WCBS 10am GL Promo, 1995

Amish Reva Promo

1994 Billy Lewis Trial Promo

1993 Ed, Holly and Eve Promo

Sad to think some of the longest-running rivalries in GL history were with the Coopers and the Spauldings.

31 minutes ago, P.J. said:

Yes, GL promos would've aired during Y&R or ATWT. But my recollection is that GL rarely got promos, and it had to be a really hot story for it to have aired during Y&R. (At least from the late '90's onward. The promo at 11:18-20am during Y&R was usually ATWT or B&B)

That's so sad for GL, I hate to hear it. And they picked the Griffin assassination story to feature, what a lousy choice LOL. I'd love to know what other stories they featured. I'm guessing they were mostly Reva-based.

@alwaysAMC

1993 Lucy intro Promo

1995 Phillip return promo

1996- 5 short character promos

1993 Lead-up to Roger's shooting promo

18 minutes ago, P.J. said:

Part of the problem re: rivalries is the cast turnover. The other is that characters change so radically that it's hard to work their past into the current day. Why Long/Curlee didn't really play on the Roger/Ed animosity is beyond me. Other than they really needed Roger's return to work. And it would've been awkward trying to sell Roger's "reformation" if they'd kept bringing up Holly and Rita and Roger raping two women Ed cared about very deeply.

I watched part of a '79ish episode, where Mart Hulswit's Ed tells Mike he could've killed Roger, and means it. There's just no way for Peter Simon to sell that kind of conviction as Ed. (at least IMO).

This had to be deliberate because Long was actually VERY good at using history in her stories. As you said, it becomes awkward because then it reminds the audience that Roger was a serial rapist, not someone who raped Holly because he "loved her so much," or whatever. There was total rewrite of history, both to keep Roger a viable leading man, and to keep up their "star-crossed" lovers schtick with Roger and Holly.

Also, by making the choice to write out Alan the first years of Roger's return, all the nuances of their rivalry from years before were pretty much gone once Alan was brought back. He should have been there for the time Roger was married to Alex. Back in the day, Roger was the major threat to both his personal/family life and his business.

Even the way they wrote Alan out--having him chase Roger with a gun--was completely out of character and went against their history. He had the perfect opportunity to kill Roger when he "faked" his death. But Alan never went that far, and he certainly wouldn't dirty his own hands. To him, money was the way to solve problems, not violence. By the time he returned, Roger was in no way a threat to Alan. He had reason to hate his @ss, sure, but no reason to kill him. HOLLY had more reason to shoot him.

1992 Nadine baby scam promo

1991 Roger's enemies promo

1986 Return of Alan promo

1986 James returns on ATWT and Josh returns on GL promo

17 minutes ago, Spoon said:

WCBS 10am GL Promo, 1995

Amish Reva Promo

1994 Billy Lewis Trial Promo

1993 Ed, Holly and Eve Promo

THANK YOU!

So when I was watching 1995, the tapes must have been from the NYC area, because I had seen that first promo a TON. It was more about GL moving to 10am (which seems so early), so they played it for like a month or so during GL's run so the audience knew what to expect.

LOL at the Reva Amish one, I assumed they had to do a promo over Reva's return for sure.

I really love the 'Turn on the light' campaign, so those last two were amazing, thanks for sharing again. I think the other CBS soaps had a similar theme during that era with the lightening, which I really loved.