On 4/8/2025 at 9:05 PM, DRW50 said:

You said this very well. When Lester left, he said he was proud to have played out Marland's last great storyline. That was a classy statement but...was it a great storyline? I think so much of it rested on being a Lester showcase that just wasn't especially compelling, as well as a story that suffered from the miscasting of Emily (KMH was at best of times a competent actress who had a very spotty history of chemistry with her leading men...she also lacked the depth Emily should have had).

There was also nothing left once the story was over. Did any viewers care if he stayed with Emily? I don't even know what all he did after that. I think he rode a motorcycle and was friendly with Julie and a few others.

I adored Neal. That was the first time I had ever seen Mary Kay Adams. She put her all into the role. She clicked with everyone. On paper, that's great, because it should mean we're devastated to lose her, but that doesn't work as well when the aftermath just isn't worth the loss.

They overcasted the role. Adams was too vibrant. 

I think they should have cast someone like Marcia McCabe - a good actress, likeable, worked well with everyone, believable as a relative to Lucinda, but not so charming that she was going to leave a huge hole. She did well enough in a similar type of short run on OLTL in the late '80s.

I think to Boomers like my late mom, she would have though the Royce story was a great Marland story.  She was bummed about Neal being murdered though since that meant that the character couldn't come and go like Adams other character India.

If I recall, Royce realized in his integrated persona didn't really love Emily in the way that she deserved to be loved.  There were scenes of him having dreams where he was with Emily and she turned into Julie so he did the right thing by not marrying Emily... but I think choosing to do it at the altar was in bad form.

The Royce leaving Emily at the altar story, to me, altered the Emily character and how KMH approaching playing the character.  Before that event happened, she played Emily as more level headed, guarded, and more of a grey character.  After that event happened, the show and actress really delved into her neurotic tendencies.. and the character never returned to how she was written pre-Royce.

After the marriage altar event, he spent the last few months of his stint flirting with Julie a few times, getting to know his twin, a brief situation where Royce/Samantha felt something when hugging, and then was tested some with Shannon before he left the show.

37 minutes ago, Soaplovers said:

I think to Boomers like my late mom, she would have though the Royce story was a great Marland story.  She was bummed about Neal being murdered though since that meant that the character couldn't come and go like Adams other character India.

If I recall, Royce realized in his integrated persona didn't really love Emily in the way that she deserved to be loved.  There were scenes of him having dreams where he was with Emily and she turned into Julie so he did the right thing by not marrying Emily... but I think choosing to do it at the altar was in bad form.

The Royce leaving Emily at the altar story, to me, altered the Emily character and how KMH approaching playing the character.  Before that event happened, she played Emily as more level headed, guarded, and more of a grey character.  After that event happened, the show and actress really delved into her neurotic tendencies.. and the character never returned to how she was written pre-Royce.

After the marriage altar event, he spent the last few months of his stint flirting with Julie a few times, getting to know his twin, a brief situation where Royce/Samantha felt something when hugging, and then was tested some with Shannon before he left the show.

This fan totally loved this story & Terry Lester as Royce is my favorite of his 3 roles. He was sublime. Of course, I like everyone else had seen my share of DID stories yet him on the witness stand elevated the drama, IMO. I can & do watch it over, occasionally. 

 

 

1 hour ago, Soaplovers said:

I think to Boomers like my late mom, she would have though the Royce story was a great Marland story.  She was bummed about Neal being murdered though since that meant that the character couldn't come and go like Adams other character India.

If I recall, Royce realized in his integrated persona didn't really love Emily in the way that she deserved to be loved.  There were scenes of him having dreams where he was with Emily and she turned into Julie so he did the right thing by not marrying Emily... but I think choosing to do it at the altar was in bad form.

The Royce leaving Emily at the altar story, to me, altered the Emily character and how KMH approaching playing the character.  Before that event happened, she played Emily as more level headed, guarded, and more of a grey character.  After that event happened, the show and actress really delved into her neurotic tendencies.. and the character never returned to how she was written pre-Royce.

After the marriage altar event, he spent the last few months of his stint flirting with Julie a few times, getting to know his twin, a brief situation where Royce/Samantha felt something when hugging, and then was tested some with Shannon before he left the show.

You're right that the altar dumping was a catalyst for so much of the worst of what would become with Emily. IIRC she blamed Susan for Royce dumping her, which led to even more whining and playing into KMH's worst. They should have recast Emily at that point.

I'm sure many did appreciate the story - I think at that time the whole execution of the show was falling flat for me. 

I do remember some of his interaction with Shannon (and Julie I saw in a recent episode). I had no memory of anything with Sam possibly being romantic (or is that not how it was framed). Maybe a vague memory of him talking about a therapy session on the subject. I do remember them being friendly as part of setting up her arrival in Oakdale.

1 hour ago, dragonflies said:

SJB answering ATWT question

 

 

The whole tweet since they seem to not be embedding again

 

ugh...do you know how much heat "crazy CarJackers" took for "chasing" SJB off the show? 

I know it's so not the point but....RME.

5 minutes ago, P.J. said:

ugh...do you know how much heat "crazy CarJackers" took for "chasing" SJB off the show? 

I know it's so not the point but....RME.

SJB's been very interesting the last few days & fun. She liked two of my posts. One was an explanation of GH's Casey the alien & the other was this: 

You make an excellent point! What I still want is you & Tamara as sisters on some show. I think the idea is brilliant, don't you?

On 4/12/2025 at 3:35 PM, DRW50 said:

You're right that the altar dumping was a catalyst for so much of the worst of what would become with Emily. IIRC she blamed Susan for Royce dumping her, which led to even more whining and playing into KMH's worst. They should have recast Emily at that point.

I do remember some of his interaction with Shannon (and Julie I saw in a recent episode). I had no memory of anything with Sam possibly being romantic (or is that not how it was framed). Maybe a vague memory of him talking about a therapy session on the subject. I do remember them being friendly as part of setting up her arrival in Oakdale.

There was one or two scenes where Samantha and Royce embraced.. and there was a moment where they felt uncomfortable because they enjoyed the embraced too much.  And I remember the therapist said to both of them that it was normal for such a thing to happen because neither were raised together.

I think that was to set up the later story where Samantha was a con artist, and I wonder if she was originally supposed to be a con artist and that was changed.. or if that whole arc was a red herring to provide conflict for Lucinda.

 

The only other time where Emily, as played by KMH, was written decently was during Culliton's brief stint as head writer when she was dating the teacher Jef.  She was written as trying to be a good person, but her past baggage was so massive that she ended up driving him away because of her ability to be her own worst enemy.

After that story, the character didn't really get consistent writing nor layers.

2 hours ago, Soaplovers said:

The only other time where Emily, as played by KMH, was written decently was during Culliton's brief stint as head writer when she was dating the teacher Jef.  She was written as trying to be a good person, but her past baggage was so massive that she ended up driving him away because of her ability to be her own worst enemy.

After that story, the character didn't really get consistent writing nor layers.

For some reason, I remember watching a scene between Emily and Jef with my mother and my mother saying out loud to the TV, "You better run, Jef". LOL.

Martha Bryne’s husband was sentenced to 18 months in prison. 

21 minutes ago, lilyredd said:

Martha Bryne’s husband was sentenced to 18 months in prison. 

Oh Lord, that's gonna put her on a rampage!  He got off lucky with 18 months, if you ask me -- which nobody did.  Wasn't he spying for the Chinese government, or something like that??? She still thinks he's innocent, of course.  But I will admit, I would be reluctant to believe my husband guilty of such a thing.  So I do have some empathy for her.   

Edited April 17Apr 17 by Tisy-Lish

11 minutes ago, lilyredd said:

Martha Bryne’s husband was sentenced to 18 months in prison. 

That's a shame. 

17 minutes ago, Tisy-Lish said:

Oh Lord, that's gonna put her on a rampage!  He got off lucky with 18 months, if you ask me -- which nobody did.  Wasn't he spying for the Chinese government, or something like that??? She still thinks he's innocent, of course.  But I will admit, I would be reluctant to believe my husband guilty of such a thing.  So I do have some empathy for her.   

Definitely. A husband and father are going away. I empathize. 

Unfortunately, she supports a man who would gladly put many of us in camps, so my empathy is always underscored by a reminder that she does not share the same empathy for us.

8 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

Definitely. A husband and father are going away. I empathize. 

Unfortunately, she supports a man who would gladly put many of us in camps, so my empathy is always underscored by a reminder that she does not share the same empathy for us.

Well, washed-up soap stars often go right-wing.  And washed-up rock stars often go Country. I've never really understood that.  I'm a washed-up business woman, but I haven't changed my politics nor my taste in music.   

7 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

Definitely. A husband and father are going away. I empathize. 

Unfortunately, she supports a man who would gladly put many of us in camps, so my empathy is always underscored by a reminder that she does not share the same empathy for us.

I'm not aware of the history of Byrne's politics over her lifetime, but given her support for gay people and her general kindness towards everyone in every interview I've ever seen from her, I always assumed she was a Democrat.  However, maybe she has come to share her husband's political views?  Or perhaps she supported Trump in the hopes that he would come to their rescue?  But her husband was arrested during Trump's first term. And now is going to prison during his second.  So that strategy has not worked.  Trump is not her savior.

28 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

That's a shame. 

I feel for her kids, but not her. Her politics are awful and she would celebrate anyone else going to prison for crimes her husband was convicted of. 

A lot of so-called "allies" can say they support  gays and lesbians, but it's usually all talk as they vote for candidates who strip away rights from people they claim to support and love. They then engage in mental gymnastics to explain why. 

To make this show related, ATWT at least went further with gay characters than AW or GL so I give the show credit for that. AW never bothered. I don't know if GL did in its later years. 

Edited April 17Apr 17 by chrisml