Members Quent Posted January 17, 2019 Members Share Posted January 17, 2019 Since the subject of Tom and Margo has been brought up, is there any consensus about who the best actor/actress for each character was? I started watching ATWT when Margaret Colin was on, and swore I'd never watch again when she left. I hated HBS when she started, but she ended up being my favorite Margo. As for Tom, I know Justin Deas is the Emmy-winner, but I think Gregg Marx made Tom his own in his short stint. Scott was nice, but boring. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DRW50 Posted January 17, 2019 Members Share Posted January 17, 2019 I grew up watching Ellen Dolan and Scott Holmes so I am probably always going to have a soft spot for them, but the fun and spark they had was mostly gone by about 1996. They just got more and more shouty and hard to watch. Having seen more of the other actors I'd say Gregg Marx and HBS were the best Tom and Margo, although Margaret Colin was also great. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Faulkner Posted January 17, 2019 Members Share Posted January 17, 2019 My mom loved her some HBS as Margo. She almost dumped ATWT (her favorite) to watch OLTL with me when she saw HBS was playing Nora. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mitch Posted January 17, 2019 Members Share Posted January 17, 2019 I was thinking the storyline should have taken place when the ladies were in their 40s. However, it would not be a "romance" storyline..I would have a very magnetic guy to play plastic surgery Shea..and both women would be..as they say "drawn" to him. He would give both what they wanted to see....Elle a nice doctor/family man like David (he would concoct a fake family that died..)and who was working to help the poor. For Lisa it would be this big, larger then life guy who would feed her attention and ego...and he would take Chuck (still under another name) under his wing and Lisa would see this great father figure (from Hell) and kind of come to closure over Chuckies death and what might have been..(all in her head.) Lisa would not be jealous but not quite sure why she feels interested in him and the boy and why of course, he would be interested in"Poor old Ellen!" Ellen would have more screen time with Undercover Shea and Lisa would have more screen time with undercover Chuckie..both filling a new not really romantic. Best Tom and Margo..yes, HBS and Marx. Marx acted like a Hughes and HBS was strong and driven without the sharpness of Collins Margo. The T & M recasts were glum and flat to me. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DramatistDreamer Posted January 17, 2019 Members Share Posted January 17, 2019 I absolutely agree with this! Even seeing their work decades later, it still holds up. Their chemistry had range-- they could portray angst and longing when they needed to, smoldering sensual chemistry when their scenes called for it, anger, devastation, all of it. And even when they were being dense (e.g. the Barbara fake seduction leading to near divorce), both actors played their beats with intelligence-- they really sold it. I also happen to think that Greg Marx and Julianne Moore had great natural chemistry as siblings and with Marx's auburn hair and Moore's coppery locks, they genuinely looked as though they could be brother and sister. The more I watch classic Guiding Light, the more convinced I am that Ellen Dolan's best role by far was as Maureen Bauer. I could never fully get used to her as Margo Hughes. Scott Holmes had some truly sweet scenes with HBS' Margo but they honestly pale in comparison to the intense heat she had with Marx's Tom. Also, this. Scott Holmes'Tom seemed to be the prototype of the 'sensitive' type of man that became so popular in the 1980s. Ordinarily, I don't have a problem with it but there seemed to be a distinct lack of "sizzle" which was very noticeable to me. It was like something had gone missing from the character after Greg Marxx departed the role. I only caught the tail end of Margaret Colin's run but I appreciated the fact that her face was so utterly expressive that she could convey a lot with just an expression. Her chemistry with Deas was obvious but sometime Deas seemed to venture into the hammy. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mitch Posted January 17, 2019 Members Share Posted January 17, 2019 Sometimes????HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DramatistDreamer Posted January 17, 2019 Members Share Posted January 17, 2019 Okay, okay...tryin' to be diplomatic here. Please register in order to view this content 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DRW50 Posted January 18, 2019 Members Share Posted January 18, 2019 I think the best aspect of Colin's work was her chemistry with Larry Bryggman. You really believed she was John Dixon's daughter - it felt less and less real as the years passed. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DramatistDreamer Posted January 18, 2019 Members Share Posted January 18, 2019 (edited) I was going to mention that too. Very true that Colin and Bryggman had genuine chemistry. As for the concept that their father/daughter chemistry felt less and less real as the years went by, I do think the writing going forward helped to contribute to that element as "John" seemed to become more and more antagonistic and toward "Tom" and in return, Margo became more defensive toward John. I remember, in particular that hospital scene after Margo had just had her miscarriage and John was badgering her over her refusal to answer questions and discuss James Stenbeck's return and Margo exploded on him. It seemed as though, by the 90s, relationships were pretty frayed and by the '00s, it was as if people were complete strangers. It was painful to see Lyla with her daughters and Margo and Craig who had always been close (from Colin to HBS and Bryce) were downright antagonistic. And John was on and off but the chemistry between he and Margo seemed off by then too...were they even sharing scenes by his final story arc on the show? Edited January 18, 2019 by DramatistDreamer 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DRW50 Posted January 18, 2019 Members Share Posted January 18, 2019 I'm sure they must have but I don't remember anything. I was mostly surprised that they remembered how close he was to Dusty. Goutman must have been on vacation that week. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members P.J. Posted January 18, 2019 Members Share Posted January 18, 2019 I don't care why they remembered the Dusty/John connection, all I care about is that John freed Jack from that Horror forever, and gave CarJack their HEA. If John and Margo had any kind of moments during LB's return, they were probably group scenes centered on Chris' surgery. Or bleepin' Katie...because....well, Katie. RME 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members P.J. Posted January 19, 2019 Members Share Posted January 19, 2019 Re : Tom and Margo--I don't know....they all have their time and place. The problem I have with HBS and Holmes is that they both grew stale in the role over time. (I mean by '88, I was begging Barbara to slap the crap out of HBS' sanctimonious face. And Holmes could've been replaced anytime before the turn of the century...) I actually like Dolan the best. Marx as Tom probably had a better range and just "fit" who Tom was as a character the most (if that makes sense). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DramatistDreamer Posted January 19, 2019 Members Share Posted January 19, 2019 (edited) To me, it would've been good if people wanted Barbara to have a moment to slap Margo. It sure beats a bore of a character who is boring and perfect. I don't think that level-headedness or rationality were ever supposed to be Margo's known traits. I mean, when she first came to town, wasn't Margo something of a slut anyway? Nothing against Dolan but her Margo struck me as being far away from the complicated mess that Colin and HBS portrayed in their characterizations. Again, perhaps the writing had more to do with it. Margo was supposed to be a messy character. Good at what she did professionally (which, tbh, were any of the cops really that great at actually solving crimes on soaps?) but messy in her personal life. Probably my all-time favorite portrayal of a TV policewoman detective had to be DCI Jane Tennison (Helen Mirren) from the Prime Suspect series. DCI Tennison was meticulous and brilliant (not to mention brash-- she had to be, considering the hostility she faced as the only woman of her rank) but incredibly sloppy in her personal life. The qualities that made her such a brilliant detective are the very qualities that threatened to destroy her ability to make her life as a functional human being. I found this compelling. There were times when, the writing was really good, Margo's characterization came close (not quite ever achieved) this level of chaos and personally, that was when I found the character most compelling. Yes, there were times I wanted to slap Margo too but she was never more interesting in those moments. e.g. it was incredibly messy for her to parade her affair with Hal at the police station (I always felt for Roy, who was left to try to mask his discomfort and confusion with the situation and do some actual police business) but that was damn good soap! And as sorry as I felt for Tom and Margo's miscarriage (particularly the 2nd time around), her dedication to her job to investigate the castle (and to saving Barbara) put ended up putting her personal life into peril and ending her late-stage pregnancy. That story was top-notch and it didn't place Margo as a victim, it actually gave her the agency and the onus in her and Tom's tragic outcome. By the way, I never found it cute that Tom and Margo tricked all those people to the park to their wedding but it was one of the most memorable, one of the most enjoyable soap weddings I'd ever watched (I saw it again last year and enjoyed it thoroughly). If I were poor Lyla, (whose hair likely narrowly missed falling out completely from an over-processed perm) I would have gathered Margo's neck but that was true to the character at her most whimsical. Margo had many aspects to her character. I think she was always meant to be as infuriating and obstinate and she was dedicated and loving. And yes, Margo was always messy. People mature but they really don't change that much at their core. When you lose that, you lose what makes the character who they are. Okay, now I feel like I'm teaching one of my dramatic writing courses, lol. Edited January 19, 2019 by DramatistDreamer 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Khan Posted January 19, 2019 Members Share Posted January 19, 2019 So, no love for David Cherrill, Peter Galman or Tom Tammi, then? Please register in order to view this content For me, the ideal Tom and Margo were Colin and Deas, with Marx and HBS being a very close second. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Soapsuds Posted January 19, 2019 Members Share Posted January 19, 2019 My favorite Tom and Margo were Gregg Marx and HBS. Followed by Scott Holmes and HBS. I liked Colin as Margo but not with her husband Deas....as Tom. Scott Holmes and Ellen Dolan were blah. I never cared for ED as Margo. She was miscast as Margo. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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