3 hours ago, MarlandFan said:

In her interview with Alan Locher a few years ago, Alison Rice shared that when Parker Posey was offered the movie, Posey asked ATWT if she could be allowed to take time to film it. TPTB said no and Alison remembers Posey saying, "Well this is a great opportunity and I'm not giving it up" and she abruptly left ATWT.

Posey IIRC offered a different version in an interview some years ago. She said the movie came up, she had a conflict with the show and when she went to them to talk about it they asked if they could write her out ahead of her contract due to the summer months coming up or some such period, therefore it all worked out. Still, tomato/toma-toe.

Edited March 27Mar 27 by Vee

19 hours ago, Mona Kane Croft said:

I do think it was the same set at least.  I recently watched an episode that someone posted which featured Don and Joyce.  And the house they were living in looked identical to the house Lyla and Casey later shared.  And if (as you said) that was the same set Lyla lived in when she first came to town, then it makes me wonder how much time passed between Don's departure from the show and Lyla's arrival. I suppose it is possible it was not only the same set, but even supposed to be the same house. Who knows??   No big deal, but I do find set transitions interesting.  

Don was still around when Lyla was introduced in the spring/summer..they never showed "Donald" as they called him anywhere but the Hughes law office and then they wrote him out in the fall, so it probably was the Don/Joyce set...(they should have had recently returned from the dead Joyce walk into Lyla's house..."Who are you, this is MY house.")

Speaking of, Lyla was originally introd with Velka Gray(?) playing her. At that time they had Lyla (in flashbacks) as a former social climber who turned respectfull but became a bit prudy (always on Cricket, who was following in her footsteps.) Velka played Lyla as more of a hard ass who was covering up as a respectable nurse, and apologies to the Lyla fans here, I liked her interpretation better then Sword's washed out version. I know Hastings didnt like Velka (I wonder if it was an age thing) but when they replaced her with younger, cuter actress, it was weird. I like the dynamic of Lyla and Cricket, the new good time "bad girl" but the recast, and Loring's lack of acting skills, ended that, and they brought Margo in as the new wild one.

What exactly was the issue with Don Hastings and Veleka Gray?

1 hour ago, Mitch64 said:

Don was still around when Lyla was introduced in the spring/summer..they never showed "Donald" as they called him anywhere but the Hughes law office and then they wrote him out in the fall, so it probably was the Don/Joyce set...(they should have had recently returned from the dead Joyce walk into Lyla's house..."Who are you, this is MY house.")

Speaking of, Lyla was originally introd with Velka Gray(?) playing her. At that time they had Lyla (in flashbacks) as a former social climber who turned respectfull but became a bit prudy (always on Cricket, who was following in her footsteps.) Velka played Lyla as more of a hard ass who was covering up as a respectable nurse, and apologies to the Lyla fans here, I liked her interpretation better then Sword's washed out version. I know Hastings didnt like Velka (I wonder if it was an age thing) but when they replaced her with younger, cuter actress, it was weird. I like the dynamic of Lyla and Cricket, the new good time "bad girl" but the recast, and Loring's lack of acting skills, ended that, and they brought Margo in as the new wild one.

Was Veleka older than Anne Sward?  I'd assume they're about the same age. Hmm.  

3 hours ago, Vee said:

What exactly was the issue with Don Hastings and Veleka Gray?

According to Velekka Gray, Don Hastings wanted his wife, Leslie Denniston, to portray Lyla, even though Denniston had appeared already on the show as Karen Parker.

3 minutes ago, Khan said:

According to Velekka Gray, Don Hastings wanted his wife, Leslie Denniston, to portray Lyla, even though Denniston had appeared already on the show as Karen Parker.

Yeeesh.....Lyla would have been a total snooze.

 

1 hour ago, Khan said:

According to Velekka Gray, Don Hastings wanted his wife, Leslie Denniston, to portray Lyla, even though Denniston had appeared already on the show as Karen Parker.

When did Don Hastings and Leslie Denniston get together?  Were either of them married when their relationship began?  Isn't she nearly young enough to be his daughter?   Might be none of my bidness, but I'm asking anyway...

Edited March 27Mar 27 by Mona Kane Croft

24 minutes ago, Mona Kane Croft said:

When did Don Hastings and Leslie Denniston get together?  Were either of them married when their relationship began?  Isn't she nearly young enough to be his daughter?   Might be none of my bidness, but I'm asking anyway...

She's 16 years younger.

She was not married. I know he was married up to the mid '70s because of magazine interviews but I am not sure if he still was when he met Leslie. They met when she joined ATWT. Hard to believe a child was born from that incredibly dull storyline.

8 hours ago, Vee said:

Posey IIRC offered a different version in an interview some years ago. She said the movie came up, she had a conflict with the show and when she went to them to talk about it they asked if they could write her out ahead of her contract due to the summer months coming up or some such period, therefore it all worked out. Still, tomato/toma-toe.

Thanks to you and @MarlandFan for the info about Parker. I'm glad the experience at least didn't leave her bitter about her time in Oakdale. 

In another world I'd love to see her heading up a new soap - probably some show in the vein of Where the Heart Is.

6 hours ago, Mona Kane Croft said:

Was Veleka older than Anne Sward?  I'd assume they're about the same age. Hmm.  

You're right...they are about the same age. I think Velka seems an older and Sward is a cute skinny woman so seems younger? They hardly ever mentioned that she and Bob were engaged (and why did they end that, it would have been more dramatic if Bob's current step-daughter was fooling around with his other step daughter's husband not to mention finding out his current wife had a kid with the town pain in the but ... ..the Dobsons seemed to skip most dramatic events during that first run) except for John snarking at Lyla during Bob and Kim's wedding. 

Edited March 28Mar 28 by Mitch64

5 hours ago, Mitch64 said:

You're right...they are about the same age. I think Velka seems an older and Sward is a cute skinny woman so seems younger? They hardly ever mentioned that she and Bob were engaged (and why did they end that, it would have been more dramatic if Bob's current step-daughter was fooling around with his other step daughter's husband not to mention finding out his current wife had a kid with the town pain in the but ... ..the Dobsons seemed to skip most dramatic events during that first run) except for John snarking at Lyla during Bob and Kim's wedding. 

Did they end the relationship for Miranda? 

Imagine creating a story about an international drug lord that is so tedious.

I wonder if Chris even got a reaction. 

If Miranda had been a hit with viewers, then we might have gotten to a point in the mid '80s where Miranda was involved in Miami Vice type stories (maybe she could have followed Alice Horton in passing out drugged donuts).

Edited March 28Mar 28 by DRW50

8 hours ago, DRW50 said:

Did they end the relationship for Miranda? 

Imagine creating a story about an international drug lord that is so tedious.

I wonder if Chris even got a reaction. 

If Miranda had been a hit with viewers, then we might have gotten to a point in the mid '80s where Miranda was involved in Miami Vice type stories (maybe she could have followed Alice Horton in passing out drugged donuts).

I think new writers were responsible for getting rid of tedious Miranda and moving him on toward Kim. I can't believe the Dobsons had widowed Kim around with Bob in an unpopular pairing and they didn't move them toward each other then.

Poor Don McLaughlin was pushed into recurring, but they did have one little scene where Bob asks him to let Miranda live with he and Nancy, and refuses but later relents. Imagine if Wagner was still on and the reaction Nancy would give. They missed out on every piece of drama of having the law abiding Hughes elders deal with a drug dealer daughter in law ("And we thought having a slut like Lisa was bad!") but the Dobsons just skipped over that to have another scene of Betsy being indecisive and Meg Ryan acting like she was an epileptic.. You could tell the Dobsons could care less about the show and were just doing what they wanted  to do until they got a pick  up for SB.

Edited March 28Mar 28 by Mitch64

Thanks @Mitch64 . I'm surprised we even got that much.

I meant to say Nancy, not Miranda, drugging people, although I guess Miranda would have done her share.

I wonder how may episodes Don got once he went recurring?

Did he even manage one a month?

The writers didn't seem to be too interested in giving Chris scenes, even when he could have been included.

When Nancy came back in 85 was she on contract? I imagine Helen Wagner would have insisted.

But did Don go contract? I think not as he seemed to be quite ill in scenes from that time?

Does anyone know if he was seen much in scenes outside of Nancy's initial return and the wedding/anniversary episodes?

Edited March 29Mar 29 by Paul Raven

18 minutes ago, Paul Raven said:

I wonder how may episodes Don got once he went recurring?

Did he even manage one a month?

The writers didn't seem to be too interested in giving Chris scenes, even when he could have been included.

When Nancy came back in 85 was she on contract? I imagine Helen Wagner would have insisted.

But did Don go contract? I think not as he seemed to be quite ill in scenes from that time?

Does anyone know if he was seen much in scenes outside of Nancy's initial return and the wedding/anniversary episodes?

There is one episode from 1981 or 1982 (?) where he's with Tom in the law office. I got the sense that was the main place he would have been, but I can't say.

10 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

When Nancy came back in 85 was she on contract? I imagine Helen Wagner would have insisted.

I remember reading in two separate interviews in the late-80s or early-90s, Helen Wagner stated that she never had a contract.  I found that hard to believe, but that's what she said.  I'm still not sure I believe.  But she did say it.