All: Least talked about eras

[Paul Raven]

Y&R-I would say 80-83.

When the Abbott sisters arrived and John returned etc. Before that,with the expansion to 60 min and Steve Williams,Peggy Brooks, April's twin,Robert and Angela Laurence etc things were hit and miss.

GL post Marland and pre Kobe/Long. Again a bit of a mess. Reading an old SOD,Geraldine Court(Jennifer)stated upon being fired,that backstage things were in turmoil.

[DRW50]

That's true. All I know of that time is that Grant Aleksander came in and that they created Company.

[SFK]

Did any of you guys have older relatives who watched soaps that you never got into, you just have random peripheral memories from when they had the show on? Grant A. is that for me with GL and my grandmother. That was always the show still on when I got home from elementary school and asked her if I could turn the channel to cartoons. It was probably ten years before I actually sat down and watched GL and had a name for that guy. Same with Kim on ATWT, the lady with the short brown hair.

[DRW50]

Yes. For a long time I didn't really know about anyone on ABC soaps other than just seeing it in someone else's living room. Someone once sent me a tape of a show on PBS and at the end of the tape was OLTL from 1990 or so and I had no idea who anyone was for years. All I remembered was the ugly living room that woman in the wheelchair was in.

[SFK]

Ha! The Llanfair library was looking like a couch exploded. That's always so much fun, finding old random porn episodes on a tape. I found one of my brother's and his girlfriend's that had the end of a OLTL ep with Gabrielle and Dominique and Scooty getting married on GH with the old ambulance opening, capped off with an Oprah with her original synth piano/pan flute opening.

[DRW50]

Yeah, I love finding old shows on tapes. A lot I wish I'd kept instead of taping over again but of course you don't get that at the time, as you really don't process at the time that you might want to keep these soap episodes forever. By the time I started to realize that, soaps were getting to a point where I did not want to watch most of them ever again...I did keep a few though.

It would be fun to just get to go through a ton of blank tapes and see what is on them, old TV shows, commercials.

I think that's what I'll miss most about VCRs, as much as I appreciate the DVR and how it saves time, there's some nostalgia now where you think of the days when you would just say "I'm not going to sit here and program this" and just tape an entire channel for 6-8 hours.

The worst part of that Llanfair living room was the wallpaper.

Beyond Viki, I remember Alex, I didn't know who she was at the time but she had big hair and an ugly pantssuit.

[Sindacco]

Wrong.

Days 1965-1981

[JackPeyton]

I agree.

The only thing you ever hear out of that era is Julie/Doug and Marlena. If you look into it you get a little mickey/maggie, laura/bill.

[DRW50]

You hear some about Susan too.

[Soaplovers]

DAYS circa 1989-1992

AW circa 1981-1986,1992-1995

ATWT circa 1997-2000

AMC circa 1986-1992

GL circa 1987-1991

Y&R 1996-2000

[ghfan89]

You do hear some about the Bill Bell period, but alot of the time from when he left to the early 80's w/ the introduction of the Dimeras isn't really talked about much at all.

[juniorz1]

Sorry, I wasn't able to get on here when this thread was hot, but wanted to weigh in on a couple of things.

I disagree that Sloane's 92-95 run on AW is not talked about. The Jake/Paulina and Ryan/Vicky pairings EXPLODED at that time (as much as I hated both recast actresses, but I digress). The show, for the first time in its history, was consistently #1 on the DaytimeTV Readers' Poll, aired its only primetime special & did very well on the SOD Awards. To me, not talked about means during those periods the show was largely ignored, not that we don't discuss those times here on SON or any other board for that matter. It wasn't the creative renaissance the show experienced under Swajeski, it wasn't by any means my favorite period of the show, but there were legions of fans out there who disagreed & would have posted all over the internet if it was around back then.

I also disagree that DAYS in the 70s isn't talked about. There was the Mickey/Maggie amnesia storyline, a large chunk of the Mike Horton paternity/Bill raping Laura storyline, the tail end of the Susan/Julie rivalry, Julie's being burned & Laura's descent into madness, Marlena's introduction, the Marlena/Samantha storyline, and I believe Brenda Benet's start as Lee Dumonde. Not to mention they made the cover of TIME Magazine!!!! DAYS was #1 for a period in the 70s and the only show that rivaled it at the time was AW. Just because many of the current DAYS fans have only watched JER-present & became interested in the 80s period that he drew upon shouldn't lessen the impact 70s DAYS had. As a fan from the 82-present, I've always been interested in that period in the 70s & certainly don't overlook it.

To me, the DAYS period that isn't talked about is 89-92. Roberta Leighton, re-cast Melissa paired with Emilio, Eve/Nick then Nick & April, Robin's (disappointing) return, the awful Stacy Greason as Isabella, Shannon Sturges & Michael Easton as Tanner & Molly (Tanner was Robert Mailhouse's Brian Scofield's brother, not J Eddie Peck's (gag) Hawk), Faith (Mindy Clarke, daughter of THE John Clarke & of The OC fame) & her terrible evangelist father Saul, Rick Hearst as Scotty Banning, Julie's poorly plotted return & May/December romance with Dr. Chip, the death of Harper Deveraux at Steve & Kayla's 2nd wedding & Steve discovering his dead body with the line (to Abe) "Who's this, Harper Deveraux?", Gabrielle Pascal (Karen Moncrief, a much missed soap supporting actress) and her flirtation with Shane, Anne Howard's (awful) Kimberly, Cal/Kimberly, Joseph Bottoms as NuCal (replacing original Cal, OLTL's Wortham Krimmer), Neil/Gillian (of ISA fame), followed by twin sister Grace. Am I the only one who remembers this AWFUL crap? I only bring it all up because, as many of us in this thread have stated, nobody ever talks about it. The only bright spot I can think of is Jack & Jennifer's sheerly zany, hilarious, Wild West wedding, complete with Alice Horton clobbering some gangsters over the head with a chair (youtube clip please?)

And, finally, yes, the least-ever talked about soap, Loving. It was my Grandmother's comfort food after SFT's cancellation. She was of the old school housewife- pray, cook breakfast, housework all morning, fix her lunch, only in time for her 12:30 half hour soap, then back to housework at 1 leading into cooking dinner & watching kids in the afternoon. Eric is absolutely right- Loving was the one soap when I was in elementary & middle school that I wasn't afraid of admitting that I watched- if only because nobody knew what the hell it was. I didn't get to watch much from 92 on, since it didn't air in St Louis until it had already become The City, but I LOVED it 86-92. What I recall fondly:

-Ann Alden, a soap goddess who was gone all too soon

-The relationship between Roya Megnot's Ava & Nada Rowland's Kate Rescott. Having not been an AMC viewer at that time, I never realized how similar it was to early Erica & Mona. I LOVED Rowland & Megnott as mother/daughter. As much as I love Lisa Peluso & loved her Ava, that relationship was not the same with her in the role.

-Perry Stephens' dashing Jack Forbes (Christopher who?) & his RED-HOT affair with Britt Helfer's Lily (the original Brooke Logan). I hated Stacey (Lauren Marie Taylor) and rooted for Jack/Lily all the way. I still remember them getting ready to do it in his office as mother Ann prepared to open the door, hands on the doorknob- CLIFFHANGER! And them making love as she was helping Jack remodel/build the house he lived in with Stacey. Good times!

-Christine Tudor's Gwyneth was a force to be reckoned with. I remember thinking when she called husband Clay "Clayton", it sounded like butter coming out of Tudor's mouth. But, much as I loved Tudor, enter short-time recast fiery redhead Elizabeth Savage as Gwyn. Never have I so quickly warmed to a recast of an actress of the caliber of Tudor as I did to Savage. She was a different Gwyn, but I loved her just the same.

-Alexandra Wilson as April, the same basic character she ended up playing on AW (Josie)

- Luke Perry was the HOTNESS in 87 on Loving as Ned. I remember him having hot makeout sessions with a slutty blonde. That sexy voice, that James Dean look- Ned Bates > Dylan McKay IMO

-Randy Mantooth WAS Clay Alden for 2 years until POOF! Some writers decide he's an imposter named Alex Masters, which was kind of hilarious & ironic, since Ava really only went after him as a means to social climbing & his money. ENTER James Horan as Clay, and our heroic cad is suddenly this oddly creepy guy. He's still well-suited for Gwyn, but Ava he desires, though even his money & power can't keep her mind off Alex, who she's actually fallen in love with at that point. Really, that's when Lisa Peluso really came into her own in the part & it was clear that Megnot wouldn't have worked as well in the storyline.

-Last, but certainly not least in my book: Noelle Beck's Trisha, my FAVE Loving character, and her first love, Steve Sowolski. I remember being so sad when he was shot & killed- was it at their wedding I believe? Either way it was tragic & I loved them. Enter Richard Steinmetz's Jeff and....this is an area that Loving excelled at that most soaps didn't, even then....you actually believed he was going to be the true new love interest for her. And it was disappointing, because it seemed that he was a putz & that was unintentional. I truly thought Trisha & Jeff were going to be the new 'it' couple that Steve & Trisha were before them & I just couldn't get behind it, even though she was my fave. ENTER Robert Tyler's Trucker. Masculine, mysterious, brooding, almost artistic-seeming, and a face & body that could have been sculpted by DaVinci himself. And I was hooked. Gwyneth's approval of Jeff & disapproval of Trucker, Jeff marrying Trisha & slowly poisoning her, kidnapping her- WOW! Thinking back, that was some GREAT stuff- it was like Loving took things in the direction you as a viewer thought you would take it but they never would. And it was CLEARLY planned all along. Masterful. I cannot say enough about how great, and frustrating, that storyline was.

Thanks for this thread- I LOVED reading everyone's comments & being able to take a trip down my own memory lane.

[juniorz1]

Forgot to mention that Augusta Dabney was and IS the ONLY Isabelle Alden. I never cared for Celeste Holm's interpretation- she was too strong for the part. Dabney had a certain kindness & sweetness that was lost in Holm's interpretation. Dabney's Isabelle reminded me of the grandmother I watched with so Holm was unacceptable to me, even if she was Wesley Addy's (Cabot Alden) real life wife. I remember a bit of Patricia Barry, but as I said, clamored & hoped for Dabney's eventual return (she did).

[SFK]

Great memories juniorz, you make my mother's *other* story, Loving, sound so special. That doesn't happen often enough.

[DRW50]

Wow, I'm sure it took a long time to type all that out but I'm glad you did. I can see so much of what you are describing. It sounds great. I wish I could see LOVING from that period. I know some of that era of DAYS is online, I just never get around to watching...by the time I do it will probably be gone.

I really think there is a place on daytime for a half hour soap which is tight knit and doesn't try to be too trashy.

What bothered you with Robin's return?