6 hours ago, chrisml said:

Speaking of 1986, YT recommended me some 1986 episodes revolving around Kyle/Reva/Maeve/Fletcher/Cain. What struck me most about the episodes is Zimmer seems at a loss. This does not feel like Reva at all. Was Kyle always such an a-hole? Why was the pairing so popular? He's so unlikeable, and Malloy's theatrical acting does not help matters. Jay Hammer is extremely charming as Fletcher--did they ever try Reva and Fletcher? The real star of these episodes is Leslie Denniston. When she tells Kyle she wants a divorce, it's a fantastic scene and Denniston is putting in some great work while the stuff around her is just weird and off-putting. 

Actually this is where I liked Reva the most. She is not the center of the universe, she is working, she is interacting with her family and friends. I also liked Fletch the most here...Fletch and Reva's friendship is great...back at a time that Reva had guy pals who weren't in thrall to her (even though Zimmer is sex on a stick during this time..) They even have a scene where Reva thinks there might be a thing between the two of them, and Fletch is oblivious.

LD comes into her own when confronting Kyle for the dick he is, after she bores us for some time.  After the Fletch/Maeve wedding both should have been written off, Fletch is just there from then on.

I always thought Malloy came off as unlikeable past his first year on Edge. I never understood the Reva/Kyle thing but they were popular. Kyle's intro is weird..talking to pics, blackmailing Roxie for sex, flirting with Mindy his own niece that fell in love with him and shot him of all things...(sorry, Mindy would don't be able to hit the broad side of a barn) he was just sleazy as hell. They finally started writing him that way at the end. Poor Van, stuck with the Ya-HOO Lewis and a mother in law ex whore and a creepy bro in laws. 

6 hours ago, chrisml said:

Speaking of 1986, YT recommended me some 1986 episodes revolving around Kyle/Reva/Maeve/Fletcher/Cain. What struck me most about the episodes is Zimmer seems at a loss. This does not feel like Reva at all. Was Kyle always such an a-hole? Why was the pairing so popular? He's so unlikeable, and Malloy's theatrical acting does not help matters. Jay Hammer is extremely charming as Fletcher--did they ever try Reva and Fletcher? The real star of these episodes is Leslie Denniston. When she tells Kyle she wants a divorce, it's a fantastic scene and Denniston is putting in some great work while the stuff around her is just weird and off-putting. 

1. Yes, Kyle was always an a-hole. When he was first introduced he had some kind of past with Roxy. I don't remember exactly what she did to him, but it incensed him so much would sexually humiliate her as revenge. (And yet Roxy ended up being the biggest supporter of Reva and Kyle's romance. Go figure.)

2. I can't for the life of me figure out why they were popular. But there definitely was a faction of the audience that loved them. There's a YT channel devoted to them, but none devoted to Reva and Alan, or Reva and Buzz, or Reva and Jeffrey, or any of her other non-Josh pairings.

Obviously, after Robert Newman made his first exit, they needed a romantic lead for Reva, so they got Larkin, who had been very popular on EON. Also, I would assume they brought him on to fill the gap left by Alan's absence after Bernau left the first time. They needed a super-rich a-hole to be in conflict with the Lewises.

They went to a lot of trouble to weave him into the canvas, creating that whole "Is he or is he not a Lewis" story." So probably they planned to keep him long-term.

But then two things happened: Bernau returned and a few months later Newman returned. Suddenly, the reasons the character was created didn't exist anymore. 

I think the canvas could have supported two rich, powerful male leads. And they could have had a Josh/Reva/Kyle triangle. The fact that they eventually created a Josh/Reva/Alan triangle shows that was a feasible way to go.

Maybe it was a matter of money (all three actors were probably not cheap). Or Larkin may not have liked suddenly not being the show's major romantic lead. It's almost hilarious how fast Reva ditched Kyle's ass when Josh came back.

The Fletcher thing: I don't know if they were chem testing them necessarily. Reva has a history on the show of being good friends with male characters she doesn't get involved with romantically. If men don't fall for her they like being buddies with her. Because, you know, she's Reva (and, let's face it, it's a way to get her into more scenes).

 

Edited June 10Jun 10 by DeeVee

2 hours ago, DeeVee said:

Or Larkin may not have liked suddenly not being the show's major romantic lead. It's almost hilarious how fast Reva ditched Kyle's ass when Josh came back.

On a Locher Room they had the Rusty actor (who I thought was cheesy as hell, the 80s was a weird time) say that when he came on Malloy came up to him and said, "Im the romantic lead, don't try pissing on my leg" and Zimmer and the Roxie actress kind of rolled their eyes and said, "Oh, yea, that was Larkin" so it seemed he was a kinda dick in real life.

 

2 hours ago, DeeVee said:

Reva has a history on the show of being good friends with male characters she doesn't get involved with romantically. If men don't fall for her they like being buddies with her. Because, you know, she's Reva (and, let's face it, it's a way to get her into more scenes).

Ha...I actually think Reva is the kind of woman that guys like to be friends with..she is fun, you know she likes to drink and eat and not talk about calories or weight gain, and she can keep her mouth shut about what happens with the wives and girlfriends aren't around.  She is totally high maintenance when in a relationship, but hanging out she would be fine (kind of a Shirley MacLaine with the Rat Pack...total screwball but the guys like to hang with her.) They dropped that during Rauch where she became the goddess of love, even though those days were behind her, (as her behind got bigger.) 

34 minutes ago, Mitch64 said:

On a Locher Room they had the Rusty actor (who I thought was cheesy as hell, the 80s was a weird time) say that when he came on Malloy came up to him and said, "Im the romantic lead, don't try pissing on my leg" and Zimmer and the Roxie actress kind of rolled their eyes and said, "Oh, yea, that was Larkin" so it seemed he was a kinda dick in real life.

Hahaha, he must have soiled himself when Newman came back.

Vincent Irizarry told a similar story about an actor he wouldn't name, but it couldn't have been about Malloy. He was talking about his first few months as Lujack, before Kyle arrived in SF.

Lots of tender egos on soap sets, it seems! 

Edited June 10Jun 10 by DeeVee

I was gone this past weekend, so I'm behind on reading Kim's book, but here are highlights and my thoughts on the next two chapters:

Chapter 3 - all about her move to NYC and going on auditions. She mentioned her engagement to AC, where she essentially asked him to marry her.  Then, her wedding to AC, where the wedding guests went skinny dipping during the reception at the hotel pool. I’m very much sensing a pattern here with Kim and Reva both haha. When I read this, I basically hear Reva in the writing. Every other sentence ends with an exclamation point, which says a lot to me haha. The rest of the chapter is about her four years on The Doctors, how she met Alec Baldwin on the show and how they’re still friends today (well as of 2011). She talked about how during this time on soaps, in the 70s/80s, many actors used cue cards. The cost of messing up lines and having to re-edit scenes was costly (~$1500/instance), so there was a ton of pressure not to screw up, which she felt. She said The Doctors’ ratings were never that great while she was on and they ended up getting cancelled 3 months after she left. She left because she just had a baby (which they wrote into her storyline), and her husband AC had a small role towards the end, where the two of them fell in love and went off canvas together. She ends with a short story from her time on her first film Body Heat. Ironically this movie also had Kathleen Turner, who is the actress Kim replaced on The Doctors in their role as Nola. She ends by saying she had more people recognize her from that film than her entire 4 years on The Doctors (yikes).

Chapter 4 - Kim has her baby, moves back to LA and enjoys being a mom on Venice Beach. OLTL calls her back for a 3-year contract for the role of Echo, so she packs up her family and moves back to NYC where she becomes a working mom and AC is a Mr. Mom at home. She loved working with Clint Ritchie, who she says was an out of place cowboy in Manhattan that loved to party hard. Good drama here: even though she was signed for 3 years, they are on 13-week cycles and could be dropped at the end of each cycle. Well, she found out from the secretary that she was pretty much done after her first 13-week cycle. She finally was able to meet with the EP who gave her the news. After 3 months and relocating her family, she was being dropped from OLTL. Kim says the EP told her even though Echo was wildly popular with fans, she was no longer needed in storyline. Apparently Kim’s popularity had ruffled feathers with one of the leading actresses on the show, who was dating an ABC executive and thus why Kim got fired. She didn’t say who the lady was, so I’m dying to know!

From there, as her final OLTL episodes were airing, she got a call from GL to audition for Reva. She wasn’t interested in going back to a soap opera after her experience with OLTL, but she gave it a shot since she really needed a job. She fell in love with the casting director and then the writing team, especially Pam Long. Kim wasn’t Pam’s first choice for Reva, she was hoping for a red-headed, firecracker Southern Belle, but Kim ultimately got the part. She said her first audition with Jordan Clarke (Billy) went so well and he apparently rooted for her to get the part. Her second audition was with Robert Newman (Josh) and she thought it went well, but Robert was much harder to read and kept his cards close to his chest. She said she could normally break through anyone’s walls, but she couldn’t with Robert in the beginning. She couldn’t tell if he wanted her as Reva or not, even though she felt he was so handsome and sweet and they worked well together in the audition. A few days later, she got the part. Now, does Kim have this OLTL leading lady to thank for getting her ‘iconic’ role as Reva?

38 minutes ago, alwaysAMC said:

Apparently Kim’s popularity had ruffled feathers with one of the leading actresses on the show, who was dating an ABC executive and thus why Kim got fired. She didn’t say who the lady was, so I’m dying to know!

Juicy!

The biggest female star on OLTL was Erika Slezak, but she was married. MAYBE Robin Strasser? She was also married, but she and her husband divorced around that time. Anyone have any other guesses?

18 minutes ago, DeeVee said:

Juicy!

The biggest female star on OLTL was Erika Slezak, but she was married. MAYBE Robin Strasser? She was also married, but she and her husband divorced around that time. Anyone have any other guesses?

Haha right??    

I assumed it wasn't Erika nor Robin, as she was complimentary of them both in the chapter. She referred to Erika as "the wonderful Erika Slezak" and Robin as "the unbelievably talented Robin Strasser".  So, it's gotta be another leading lady at the time. Hmm...

And in reference to the situation she said "As the old saying goes, "It's not who you know; it's who you blow!"  LOL. She definitely was burned on the way out.

Edited June 10Jun 10 by alwaysAMC

Thanks @alwaysAMC

Kim was on OLTL for closer to six months, not three, but I suppose it's easier to remember as three. 

I know there were claims of Jacquie Courtney's closeness to a producer, but I doubt she had any involvement here as she was written out around the same time Kim was on the show. 

I don't remember the Echo story being all that well-received from the bits I've read over the years, but that was not a time the show was pleasing most of its viewers.

14 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

Thanks @alwaysAMC

Kim was on OLTL for closer to six months, not three, but I suppose it's easier to remember as three. 

I know there were claims of Jacquie Courtney's closeness to a producer, but I doubt she had any involvement here as she was written out around the same time Kim was on the show. 

I don't remember the Echo story being all that well-received from the bits I've read over the years, but that was not a time the show was pleasing most of its viewers.

This is what AI just told me (haven't audited the response), but gosh I hope it wasn't Judith Light!

"In 1983, "One Life to Live" featured several leading ladies.Notable actresses included Phylicia Ayers-Allen as Courtney Wright, Jane Badler as Melinda Cramer, Judith Light as Karen Wolek, and Ellen Holly as Carla Gray. Janice Lynde also joined the cast in 1983 as Laurel Chapin, a character who would later be a central figure in the show."

 

5 minutes ago, alwaysAMC said:

This is what AI just told me (haven't audited the response), but gosh I hope it wasn't Judith Light!

"In 1983, "One Life to Live" featured several leading ladies.Notable actresses included Phylicia Ayers-Allen as Courtney Wright, Jane Badler as Melinda Cramer, Judith Light as Karen Wolek, and Ellen Holly as Carla Gray. Janice Lynde also joined the cast in 1983 as Laurel Chapin, a character who would later be a central figure in the show."

Judith Light had already left the show by the time Kim arrived. Janice Lynde did not join the show until after Kim was gone. I don't think those other ladies would have had any sway either.

19 minutes ago, alwaysAMC said:

This is what AI just told me (haven't audited the response), but gosh I hope it wasn't Judith Light!

No, it couldn't have been her. She left early 1983 (with an actor who would become her husband, and still is, as far as I know).

Other names from the era would be Shelly Burch (Delilah), Brynn Thayer (Jenny), and Andrea Evans (Tina). But I doubt any of these were powerful enough to push the eject button on another actress. 

10 minutes ago, DeeVee said:

No, it couldn't have been her. She left early 1983 (with an actor who would become her husband, and still is, as far as I know).

Other names from the era would be Shelly Burch (Delilah), Brynn Thayer (Jenny), and Andrea Evans (Tina). But I doubt any of these were powerful enough to push the eject button on another actress. 

Andrea Evans was not on the show at this time. 

A part of me does wonder if this type of story is just thrown in for juicy gossip and didn't really happen.

2 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

A part of me does wonder if this type of story is just thrown in for juicy gossip and didn't really happen.

Yeah, I'm thinking that, too. It certainly would be one way to deflect from the embarrassment of being fired early in your contract.

 

39 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

A part of me does wonder if this type of story is just thrown in for juicy gossip and didn't really happen.

Given Kim's penchant for drama, her love of drinking wine, being more of a guy's girl, and coming across as a bit of a narcissist, I could see this being a memory mistake, an assumption, or hearsay or rumor someone told her without any backing.  I can't see her out and out lying on purpose, so part of me thinks there was smoke somewhere, whether true or false, and she believed some mistake, if incorrect or misremembered.

3 minutes ago, alwaysAMC said:

Given Kim's penchant for drama, her love of drinking wine, being more of a guy's girl, and coming across as a bit of a narcissist, I could see this being a memory mistake, an assumption, or hearsay or rumor someone told her without any backing.  I can't see her out and out lying on purpose, so part of me thinks there was smoke somewhere, whether true or false, and she believed some mistake, if incorrect or misremembered.

As long as no names were directly mentioned, it's a bit of a harmless lie, but you are right that she could have just heard something, or someone said that to her at the time rather than just saying the story wasn't popular and she was being written out. Or it could have been true, of course.

Edited June 10Jun 10 by DRW50