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

 

Is it just me, or does anyone else think ATWT always laid it on a little too thick whenever it came to Steve and Betsy?  It's like even they weren't sure Steve and Betsy had "it," lol.

And Jason Kincaid wasn't the worst actor in the world, nor was he the worst actor to portray Tom Hughes (although, that brief scene with Margo/HBS probably isn't enough to judge).  But I think I do see why he didn't last long.  Justin Deas' counterculture Tom as the product of Bob and Lisa was enough of a stretch, but Kincaid comes across even quirkier than Deas!  If I had my druthers, he would've played Hal instead - sorry, but I never warmed to Benjamin Hendrickson completely - since he does appear to share some chemistry with HBS.

Edited Tuesday at 06:21 AM2 days by Khan

17 minutes ago, Khan said:

Is it just me, or does anyone else think ATWT always laid it on a little too thick whenever it came to Steve and Betsy?  It's like even they weren't sure Steve and Betsy had "it," lol.

And Jason Kincaid wasn't the worst actor in the world, nor was he the worst actor to portray Tom Hughes (although, that brief scene with Margo/HBS probably isn't enough to judge).  But I think I do see why he didn't last long.  Justin Deas' counterculture Tom as the product of Bob and Lisa was enough of a stretch, but Kincaid comes across even quirkier than Deas!  If I had my druthers, he would've played Hal instead - sorry, but I never warmed to Benjamin Hendrickson completely - since he does appear to share some chemistry with HBS.

I agree. Steve and Betsy were very telling and not showing. Meg Ryan and Michael Runyeon did seem to have some chemistry, but Lindsay Frost was colder and the attempts to style her adjacent to Meg Ryan made her look butch. Calhoun and Doug Marland, even if they didn't ever have Betsy as an A-character, were smart to let Frost grow out her hair, change her wardrobe from whatever had been thrown out at by coke-addled Square Pegs personnel, and play a Betsy who stood up for herself.

I agree about Kincaid. I like him more here than in the other glimpse I've seen of him, but he's not as much of a leading man as Deas or Marx (Marx maybe being one of the best recasts ever on a soap - at least as Tom). He's more along the lines of a husband for Cagney & Lacey. 

I did enjoy the little moment where HBS put her head on his chest, realized she was getting a face full of chest hair, and closed his robe. 

I really do enjoy getting more of Margo before they started making the character a misery.

I can see why you didn't mention Maggie's baby woes. I started to space out even while watching. I swear that takes up 70% of material I've seen from this era. Where is Ivan Kipling and his memory-erasing technology when we need it...

So much couple focus at this point.

@Soapsuds Thanks so much for posting this. I appreciate getting another new glimpse at our Oakdale friends. 

Edited Tuesday at 06:34 AM2 days by DRW50

37 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

I did enjoy the little moment where HBS put her head on his chest, realized she was getting a face full of chest hair, and closed his robe. 

Poor HBS.  To have to put up with Stephen Burleigh, who stuck his knee between her legs while rehearsing a love scene on THE DOCTORS, then told the director that's what he did with his wife; Kincaid, who had more hair on his chest and upper lip than Koko the Gorilla; Kale Browne, who taped his lines all over the OLTL studio floor, because he couldn't ever be bothered to [!@#$%^&*] memorize them; and Robert S. Woods, who apparently thought it was still 1979 and that he was still smolderingly sexy, so why should Bo Buchanan be stuck being in a happy marriage with Nora?  After all that, no wonder she jumped at the chance to play a lesbian on VENICE, lol.

Edited Tuesday at 07:05 AM2 days by Khan

41 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

I can see why you didn't mention Maggie's baby woes. I started to space out even while watching.

No offense to the actors involved, but dear God in heaven: I don't know HOW viewers managed to get through that storyline with Maggie, Frank, Cal and baby Jill without running into oncoming traffic.  Then, to make matters worse, they dragged poor Diana into the mess!  I don't care WHO gets that damn baby!  Just wrap it up and move ON already!

Edited Tuesday at 07:11 AM2 days by Khan

16 minutes ago, Khan said:

Poor HBS.  To have to put up with Stephen Burleigh, who stuck his knee between her legs while rehearsing a love scene on THE DOCTORS, then told the director that's what he did with his wife; Kincaid, who had more hair on his chest and upper lip than Koko the Gorilla; Kale Browne, who taped his lines all over the OLTL studio floor, because he couldn't ever be bothered to [!@#$%^&*] memorize them; and Robert S. Woods, who apparently thought it was still 1979 and that he was still smolderingly sexy, so why should Bo Buchanan be stuck being in a happy marriage with Nora?  After all that, no wonder she jumped at the chance to play a lesbian on VENICE, lol.

Geez, I hadn't heard that Doctors story. HBS really did go through it. 

In fairness, Hillary and Bob Woods were thick as thieves again at least by the end of OLTL. But both she and I believe Mark Derwin not so subtly dissed Kale Browne in the oral history, lol.

7 hours ago, DRW50 said:

Geez, I hadn't heard that Doctors story. HBS really did go through it. 

HBS loves Gregg Marx, and often tells the story about how difficult it was filming bed scenes with Marx, while she was six month pregnant. At the time the show chose to hide her pregancy, but HBS was big. She used to joke that it was three in that bed (her, Marx and her stomach) and since Marx didn't much experience with pregnant women, he didn't know how to coordinate his body over hers to hide her stomach. Which HBS found hilarious everytime they had to do a bed scene. 

On 11/18/2025 at 1:05 AM, Khan said:

No offense to the actors involved, but dear God in heaven: I don't know HOW viewers managed to get through that storyline with Maggie, Frank, Cal and baby Jill without running into oncoming traffic.  Then, to make matters worse, they dragged poor Diana into the mess!  I don't care WHO gets that damn baby! 

Lol...it was dull as hell. Maggie was a great character, an unapologetically smart and ambitious woman who wasnt evil...(even when representing John Dixon or James) and they gave her baby fever! And yes, throwing poor Diana in there, what a waste of two good female characters. But I did like the Cal actor, and apparently Fulton did too, she did an interview at that time where she commented that after he was killed (by Doug Cummings) they had her wear black and cry and she was like "Well why don't I get to screw him first!"

Edited 2 hours ago2 hr by Mitch64

1 hour ago, Mitch64 said:

Maggie was a great character, an unapologetically smart and ambitious woman who wasnt evil [...] and they gave her baby fever!

True. But, you know, even if I were to look past the "baby fever" angle, the whole story just...lays there for some reason. There's no real suspense to grab you; no urgency or desperation (although, the actors are doing their very best); no real stakes. In a way, it's like the precursor to the unfortunate "baby Cabot saga" that seemed to eat the show alive during the Sheffer and/or Passanante era.