3 minutes ago, P.J. said:

I don't think it's anything specific about Anna I dislike. It's just that Maeve had established these layers in Vanessa, where Anna played it a little looser than Maeve would have, if that makes any sense. 

Sophia Landon Geier was never a temp Vanessa. She did sub in for Anna Stuart I recall someone saying. Sonia Stuart subbed in for Maeve in the '90's, and just has no presence whatsoever.

How unfortunate, speaking about  Miz Stuart. 

53 minutes ago, P.J. said:

Wait----WHAT? MO NEVER ADOPTED MICHELLE?

I watched an episode recently where she mentions she was in the same situation as as Fletch was in with Ben after Maeve died because she never adopted Michelle. 

14 minutes ago, DeeVee said:

I watched an episode recently where she mentions she was in the same situation as as Fletch was in with Ben after Maeve died because she never adopted Michelle. 

I. am. shook. I guess I had just assumed that with Claire gone forever, at some point, Mo adopted her.

40 minutes ago, Contessa Donatella said:

How unfortunate, speaking about  Miz Stuart. 

Well, IIRC, they must not have given Anna much background on Vanessa, cause she said she didn't know how to play her until she saw the clothes. If I had seen and liked her in something else, it would probably wouldn't bother me.

On 7/28/2025 at 10:10 AM, MLH said:

I was looking up about the 1970s and I didn't know the Spaulding family weren't even created until 1977!  So Roger Thorpe was around since 1971 and the show in the 1998 acted like his character wasn't a vital part of the show!  I read that his romance with Holly was hugely popular (remember that he started in 1971).  However, Michael Zaslow would request to leave every now and again.  

I wish I could find at least articles with summaries of the storyline in 1971. 

I wish any of that period of Roger was available as I think Roger's romance with Peggy was what was popular with viewers. He and Holly didn't seem to ever be a romantic couple until a brief period the early '90s.

I can't remember if Michael left during the period he made You Light Up My Life. 

10 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

I can't remember if Michael left during the period he made You Light Up My Life. 

O.M.G. I forgot about that!

Yes, I'm old enough to remember how popular that movie was when it came out. But it was theme song that surpassed it in popularity. (It was on the radio ALL THE TIME). In spite of its box office success, the movie was a critical flop, which would explain why the movie's stars (including MZ) did not get a career boost out of it.

Just now, DeeVee said:

O.M.G. I forgot about that!

Yes, I'm old enough to remember how popular that movie was when it came out. But it was theme song that surpassed it in popularity. (It was on the radio ALL THE TIME). In spite of its box office success, the movie was a critical flop, which would explain why the movie's stars (including MZ) did not get a career boost out of it.

The movie is awful and that's leaving aside all the ickiness with the director of the film. The actors try, but my word the script is atrocious. Talk about a song selling a film. Reminds me of the soundtrack to XANADU selling that film (when the music numbers stop in that film, the film grinds to a deadly halt).

4 minutes ago, chrisml said:

The movie is awful and that's leaving aside all the ickiness with the director of the film. The actors try, but my word the script is atrocious. Talk about a song selling a film. Reminds me of the soundtrack to XANADU selling that film (when the music numbers stop in that film, the film grinds to a deadly halt).

LOL, I never said You Light Up My Life was a good movie.

BTW, I don't know if this has been mentioned yet, but Michael did theater, including musical theater. I saw a show he did in 1980 called Onward Victoria. It was about Victoria Woodhull, a suffragette who was the first woman to run for president in the US. Michael played the male lead. Jill Eikenberry played Woodhull.

What I remember most about it is Michael's tremendous stage presence.

Even though the show closed opening night (I saw one of the preview performances), Eikenberry and other surviving cast members did a concert performance of the score a few years ago. So I guess it has a kind of cult following.

54 minutes ago, DeeVee said:

O.M.G. I forgot about that!

Yes, I'm old enough to remember how popular that movie was when it came out. But it was theme song that surpassed it in popularity. (It was on the radio ALL THE TIME). In spite of its box office success, the movie was a critical flop, which would explain why the movie's stars (including MZ) did not get a career boost out of it.

I never knew of the film until I saw some old cable promos on Youtube as I guess HBO must have run it for a while. A shame that Michael didn't get more. He deserved better roles. I think in the early '80s he plays a seedy Falcon Crest photographer trying to exploit one of the dullest characters ever on TV (Vicki Gioberti).

On 7/28/2025 at 2:16 PM, DeeVee said:

Andy came back to SF in 1980 or 1981, I think? He was introduced just before Trish Lewis, who followed him to SF because she was his estranged wife.

Andy had the appearance of a golden boy, charming, handsome, affable. He got close to Alan by proposing writing a biography about him.

In reality he was a creep in every possible way. He abused Trish, did the same to Katie, who he dated for a while, and was blackmailing half of SF, it seems, including Alan. I think he broke into Sarah's office to get dirt on people. When Alan and Hope separated, he ingratiated himself with her, possibly hoping he could marry her after she got a divorce settlement from Alan.

He was eventually caught and sent to prison. His reign of villainy was fairly short. I think they were hoping to make him into a Roger-like villain, but he never really clicked.

I think I said all this before, but from what I've seen, Ted LePlat was miscast - he lacked the charisma the part needed. It also seems somewhat fast-paced, how fast he moved into controlling and beating Katie and going on a blackmail spree. 

I'm reminded of when Marland had another version of this type of character on ATWT with Tad Channing, where I feel once again they miscast the part when they brought in Larry Pine. At least that was meant to be short-term, but I get the sense Andy was meant to be more, things just went wrong.

44 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

I never knew of the film until I saw some old cable promos on Youtube as I guess HBO must have run it for a while. A shame that Michael didn't get more. He deserved better roles. I think in the early '80s he plays a seedy Falcon Crest photographer trying to exploit one of the dullest characters ever on TV (Vicki Gioberti).

After MZ original GL run, his primetime roles were guest star on The Love Boat and Falcon Crest, and short-lived ABC primetime soap King's Crossing. Then it was back to daytime w/ One Life to Live and return to GL.

Edited July 30Jul 30 by kalbir

Andy was a character that had 2 short runs, under the Dobsons and then Marland.

It was good Marland gave the character another go, even if it didn't pan out.

9 hours ago, kalbir said:

Keeping it real here, I never checked for any of the GL males. Maybe that's because I watched in real time when I was in middle school and high school.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around MZ being checked for. I like MZ as an actor but I never gave his looks any thought, plus I never thought of Roger as any type of anti-hero/romantic leading man.

Did you have any non-TGL celebrity crushes when you were in high school? That's old enough to check out attractive people on-screen, even if no Springfield hotties grabbed your attention. Throughout the decades, I found many soap performers appealing. I started noticing them when I was, like...12. (Don't judge me, LOL!)🫢

8 hours ago, DRW50 said:

I wish any of that period of Roger was available as I think Roger's romance with Peggy was what was popular with viewers. He and Holly didn't seem to ever be a romantic couple until a brief period the early '90s.

I can't remember if Michael left during the period he made You Light Up My Life. 

Maureen didn't show up until 1976. That's where I get confused. Did they age up Christina?

That's why it should have been Bill to return and not create Hart out of thin air. I guess there were too many guys named Bill though.

In 1977, he did You Light Up My Life. He was begged by Guiding Light to come back to play Roger. That Roger was going to be killed off in a spectacular way.

I read up and he went back to Cali 1981. He almost got a major role on Falcon Crest as Richard Channing. He ended up playing in one episode where he played a villain, of course! I agree that the main actress there was horrible. On Spenser for Hire, he played a dad to a teen girl mixed in drugs/porn and that was cool to see him not be the bad guy for once! LOL

IMO, Michael stood out in You Light Up My Life. He played a smooth talker really well. I think they got the wrong actress for the lead. The plot was blah to me as well. The director also wrote it and it basically says that Michael's character did what the director was accused of. The casting couch.  

He also played a Jennifer Connley's dad in 7 Seconds In Heaven.

 

Edited July 30Jul 30 by MLH

3 hours ago, vetsoapfan said:

Did you have any non-TGL celebrity crushes when you were in high school? That's old enough to check out attractive people on-screen, even if no Springfield hotties grabbed your attention. Throughout the decades, I found many soap performers appealing. I started noticing them when I was, like...12. (Don't judge me, LOL!)🫢

Same!  No judgment here, I think that's normal haha.