I thought I'd open since it's been a week. It still doesn't seem real.

1 hour ago, Reverend Ruthledge said:

Then, I read that writers always wanted to introduced new characters because they would be paid future royalties for their own creations. I don't know if it that's true or not but that would explain a lot.

it’s not. 

8 minutes ago, wonderwoman1951 said:

it’s not. 

Ok. Thanks for clarifying that. I didn't whole-heartedly believe that when I read it. It's good not to believe something false. 

21 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

The quads wouldn't have all had to be introduced at the same time. Maybe one by one over  several months. Or 2 at first and then the others later.

This is also how I always imagined the quads being reintroduced to the show. I always liked how the Snyder family was fully established early on, then introduced one at a time. Caleb and Ellie were mentioned long before they were introduced. 

One of the quads could have been brought in and because unlike the Snyders, these characters had a history on the show, we would know that there were 3 other siblings, maybe they'd even be mentioned from time to time, and when the first one had been woven into the canvas, a second could follow.

As we had missed seeing them grow up, they could even introduce two of the quads separately from each other, have them interact with different sets of characters and leave it as a surprise that they were related (granted, this would only work if at least one of them went by a different name, but it's not like that never happened on the show).

I think the most important reason why people are interested in the Quads is because it would have been a way to revive the Stewart family, which had sadly gotten lost over the years. I'm one of the bigger 2000s defenders for the show, having also started watching around 2000, but I often wish Emily, Alison and Susan hadn't been so isolated.

On 8/23/2025 at 11:52 PM, Soapsuds said:

@Mitch64

Ah, yes, Dylan Bruce as Chris Hughes. What a handsome stud.😍

LOL..not denying that but he is waaayyy too porny to be a Hughes...(but again, I love Colliers Mike, and they had him posing shirtless with jackhammers and in showers..so I pick and choose..Collier on screen never gave that vibe.)

Mentioning the Stewart quads..they could have come and lived with Bob and Kim since Kim was part of the family, and presumably kept up with Annie...one or two of them living with Kim and occasional visits from Ellen would make sense...and maybe we could have the Hughes set back...(and not show so much of that damn Snyder kitchen!) 

7 hours ago, Mitch64 said:

and maybe we could have the Hughes set back...

Oh, that would have been wonderful.  And how strange it was for Bob and Kim not to have a home set for the final nine-years of the show.  I remember when TPTB reluctantly brought back Scott DeFretis during the Andy/Denise storyline (wasn't this around 2001?) -- the entire plot took place in the Hughes kitchen, because the living room/foyer set had been struck almost a year earlier.  

Aside from the original Mona Lisa set and the Yacht Club pool set, the Hughes living room/foyer was probably the biggest set in the studio.  Even bigger than Lucinda's house, which was supposedly a mansion. And the Hughes set had become so iconic, there was really no acceptable way to "shrink" it when the budget got tight -- because the viewers would have noticed immediately and would have rebelled. So TPTB just scrapped it, and moved most of the Hughes "important moments" to Tom and Margo's house, or to Memorial Hospital.  Unfortunate, because it minimized Bob and Kim, and we then saw them mostly at work.    

Edited August 30Aug 30 by Tisy-Lish

13 hours ago, Tisy-Lish said:

Aside from the original Mona Lisa set and the Yacht Club pool set, the Hughes living room/foyer was probably the biggest set in the studio.  Even bigger than Lucinda's house, which was supposedly a mansion. And the Hughes set had become so iconic, there was really no acceptable way to "shrink" it when the budget got tight -- because the viewers would have noticed immediately and would have rebelled. So TPTB just scrapped it, and moved most of the Hughes "important moments" to Tom and Margo's house, or to Memorial Hospital.  Unfortunate, because it minimized Bob and Kim, and we then saw them mostly at work.  

I think it was a choice that involved even more than the budget...they just didn't want to center the show on the Hughes anymore. Even the Bauers kept their whole set, including the living room, up to Wheeler.  The Hughes set should have been kept and hell, they could have made it a permanent set and used it almost daily....and had everyone come in and check in and gossip and fight, etc like in the Marland years... I know it was goofy that people just came in and out but we as viewers loved it and accepted it as a ATWT thing.  

I do like that Bob and Kim were shown as professionals who contributed into their 60s, and not marginalized as a homebound grandpa and grandma, but they needed that set. 

2 hours ago, Mitch64 said:

I think it was a choice that involved even more than the budget...they just didn't want to center the show on the Hughes anymore. Even the Bauers kept their whole set, including the living room, up to Wheeler.  The Hughes set should have been kept and hell, they could have made it a permanent set and used it almost daily....and had everyone come in and check in and gossip and fight, etc like in the Marland years... I know it was goofy that people just came in and out but we as viewers loved it and accepted it as a ATWT thing.  

I do like that Bob and Kim were shown as professionals who contributed into their 60s, and not marginalized as a homebound grandpa and grandma, but they needed that set. 

I think it was Scott Bryce who said that Oakdale Memorial must have had the best coffee in town because everybody would just hang out there in the cafeteria all the time whether or not they worked there or knew somebody there who was a patient. 

On 8/29/2025 at 12:23 PM, Mitch64 said:

LOL..not denying that but he is waaayyy too porny to be a Hughes...(but again, I love Colliers Mike, and they had him posing shirtless with jackhammers and in showers..so I pick and choose..Collier on screen never gave that vibe.)

 

Mark Collier another handsome stud.😂😍

A new (I think) 1993 episode was uploaded. 

@Soapsuds

 

15 hours ago, DRW50 said:

A new (I think) 1993 episode was uploaded. 

@Soapsuds

 

Thanks @DRW50!!

 

On 8/31/2025 at 8:07 AM, DRW50 said:

A new (I think) 1993 episode was uploaded. 

@Soapsuds

 

Thank you!

On 8/26/2025 at 11:15 AM, Reverend Ruthledge said:

It always baffled me why new writers were so reluctant to bring back old characters. Then, I read that writers always wanted to introduced new characters because they would be paid future royalties for their own creations. I don't know if it that's true or not but that would explain a lot. Of course, these new creations would often be horrible characters who wouldn't stick around for a long time anyway and just weakened the show and drive away viewers. So, it would have been a bit of a false economy if that was the motivation to create new characters and ignore old characters. 

On 8/26/2025 at 12:54 PM, wonderwoman1951 said:

it’s not. 

the former head writer of One Life To Live, Sam Hall, sued ABC for stopping royalty checks when OLTL moved over to Prospect Park

According to the complaint, ABC made a deal in 1984 with Wildercliff, Ltd. for Hall’s writing services. The agreement is said to have entitled Hall to a weekly royalty “as long as the One Life to Live series is broadcast.”

A copy of the agreement was included as an exhibit in the lawsuit. The royalty payment was $1,000 per week, and it’s not spelled out whether “broadcast” is restricted to network television. Hall says he got those weekly royalties until Jan. 13, 2012, when the series ended on ABC.

“Each week during which such exhibitions by each authorized entity occurred Hall was entitled to be paid the weekly royalties,” says the complaint. “Despite due demand, Hall has not been paid any of the weekly royalties to which he is entitled for the exhibition of the series by Prospect Park Productions, iTunes, Hulu and OWN, which total in excess of $50,000.”

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/one-life-live-writer-sues-669645/

42 minutes ago, TheyStartedOnSoaps said:

On 8/26/2025 at 11:15 AM, Reverend Ruthledge said:

It always baffled me why new writers were so reluctant to bring back old characters. Then, I read that writers always wanted to introduced new characters because they would be paid future royalties for their own creations. I don't know if it that's true or not but that would explain a lot. Of course, these new creations would often be horrible characters who wouldn't stick around for a long time anyway and just weakened the show and drive away viewers. So, it would have been a bit of a false economy if that was the motivation to create new characters and ignore old characters. 

On 8/26/2025 at 12:54 PM, wonderwoman1951 said:

it’s not. 

the former head writer of One Life To Live, Sam Hall, sued ABC for stopping royalty checks when OLTL moved over to Prospect Park

According to the complaint, ABC made a deal in 1984 with Wildercliff, Ltd. for Hall’s writing services. The agreement is said to have entitled Hall to a weekly royalty “as long as the One Life to Live series is broadcast.”

A copy of the agreement was included as an exhibit in the lawsuit. The royalty payment was $1,000 per week, and it’s not spelled out whether “broadcast” is restricted to network television. Hall says he got those weekly royalties until Jan. 13, 2012, when the series ended on ABC.

“Each week during which such exhibitions by each authorized entity occurred Hall was entitled to be paid the weekly royalties,” says the complaint. “Despite due demand, Hall has not been paid any of the weekly royalties to which he is entitled for the exhibition of the series by Prospect Park Productions, iTunes, Hulu and OWN, which total in excess of $50,000.”

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/one-life-live-writer-sues-669645/

I was responding to the original question regarding head writers wanting to introduce new characters “because they would be paid future royalties for their own creations. I don't know if it that's true or not but that would explain a lot.“

a couple of HWs told me that was not the case. it’s been a couple of years since i last spoke with him, but tom phillips, irna’s son, told me was still receiving royalties because she co-created days…

as for sam hall, why abc would have agreed to such an arrangement. 

28 minutes ago, wonderwoman1951 said:

as for sam hall, why abc would have agreed to such an arrangement. 

I suspect because Sam Hall created the Buchanan family - who dominated the show until the end.

54 minutes ago, TheyStartedOnSoaps said:

1 hour ago, wonderwoman1951 said:

as for sam hall, why abc would have agreed to such an arrangement. 

I suspect because Sam Hall created the Buchanan family - who dominated the show until the end.

perhaps. i just can’t recall any head writer getting the same deal. i mean is jill farren phelps getting royalties because she created the coopers on gl?

i expect there’s more to the sam hall/abc deal.