3 hours ago, Khan said:

Oh, you are so not kidding, @DramatistDreamer, lol!  That scene had to be the lowest moment I've ever experienced in all my years of watching ATWT.  Lower than anything Stephen Black and Henry Stern could've done and did during their brief tenure as HW's for the show.

Now now don’t be too harsh as that scene did lead to Barbara becoming the official spokesperson for Tyson’s Chicken that year 🤣🤣🤣

1 hour ago, DRW50 said:

I remember Cal's part, for sure, although I don't remember why she and Cal split (maybe Lucinda?). I'm surprised they never gave Emma more of a long-term partner in order to clash with her macho sons...by the time she was paired with Ned Simon, the family was too spread out and weakened to care.

While I appreciate the show trying to give Emma romances, I never much paid attention to them as while I liked Emma as good “talk to” supporting motherly & aunty character, she just lacked the fiery spark other working class matriarchs like AW’s Ada, GL’s Bea, and Y&R’s Liz and Mary had. Emma was too mousy.

1 hour ago, soapfan770 said:

While I appreciate the show trying to give Emma romances, I never much paid attention to them as while I liked Emma as good “talk to” supporting motherly & aunty character, she just lacked the fiery spark other working class matriarchs like AW’s Ada, GL’s Bea, and Y&R’s Liz and Mary had. Emma was too mousy.

I do wonder if she had more of that fire as Rose Perrini on AW. 

The moments when we got to see the coldness in Emma (usually with Iva) were compelling. I wish we'd gotten more exploration of this side of her.

9 hours ago, Khan said:

Oh, you are so not kidding, @DramatistDreamer, lol!  That scene had to be the lowest moment I've ever experienced in all my years of watching ATWT.  Lower than anything Stephen Black and Henry Stern could've done and did during their brief tenure as HW's for the show.

 

6 hours ago, soapfan770 said:

Now now don’t be too harsh as that scene did lead to Barbara becoming the official spokesperson for Tyson’s Chicken that year 🤣🤣🤣

Barbara in the bullring in Spain was iconic.
Barbara doing her best Groucho Marx impression, then jumping out of the courtroom window (were there ever windows in courtrooms?) was a definite nadir (one of many in that time period) for the series.

7 hours ago, P.J. said:

@DRW50  I don't really recall. I can't recall Lucinda and Cal ever having a thing. John broke Emma's heart when he showed up married to Lucinda. 

To me, it feels like there was a flirtation and a couple of dinners at the Mona Lisa, sort of a mixing of business with pleasure kind of thing for a brief period. He also wined and dined Susan Stewart (with Emily in tow, urging her mother not to flop this romantic opportunity, especially to pine away for John Dixon). It seemed like tptb were shopping Cal around to the unattached or semi-unattached over 50s ladies in Oakdale at one time.

15 hours ago, DRW50 said:

I do wonder if she had more of that fire as Rose Perrini on AW. 

The moments when we got to see the coldness in Emma (usually with Iva) were compelling. I wish we'd gotten more exploration of this side of her.

Now that I think about it---she went from being Maeve Kincaid's mother on AW to Lisa Brown's mother on ATWT..

Someone posted a clip between Emma and Iva, which must have been right after she came home in 85, where she's asking Iva why she came home. And I think there was a point after Iva started therapy where she finally asked why she had been sent to her aunt and uncle's in Kansas, where Josh ended up raping her. That could've been explored more, but somehow the Snyder boys always got the focus. Iva was just expected to deal with her **it on her own.

Emma started off cold and harsh when she debuted on ATWT, and for some reason, Marland and co decided to soften her and make her warm and flighty person.  I think it kind of undercut any potential the character could have had long term after Marland passed away.

Cal/Lucinda had a fling after he/Emma broke up.  I think he was starting to date Lyla, who wasn't ready for a long term relationship right after Casey's death so he and Lucinda had a fling.  Then I think he decided he really liked Lyla and broke up with Lucinda.

Thanks @Soapsuds . I imagine the flashback episode is around, but I have little memory of these (just a bit of the B&W scenes). I appreciate how Marland was trying new things toward the end of his run, even if this story ultimately wasn't what it could have been. 

The idea of Liz playing her teenage self is a bit much, although Susan Lucci did a year later and this seemed to be accepted. 

Years later Liz was interviewed about her stories and basically said she didn't like the writing for the mother character, as she thought it was very cheap and obvious.

This may have been the last time the show took her up on her story ideas, sadly. She had some good ones later on (like Lucinda going back to school).

@DRW50 You're welcome!

Thank you for the recent video adds of ATWT. I'm enjoying them but have nothing to add to the great responses to them.

Just watched a documentary on Valerie Perrine. I didn't really know much about her career outside of Superman. She's had health issues the last ten years or so. It's sad.

But, why did no one tell me she was dating Jay Sebring, and was supposed to be with him the night of the Tate-LoBianco murders? DAMN. Someone called in that night, and she ended up having to go into work.

 

Thanks @Soapsuds The full version of this on Youtube has very bad audio so I'm glad this one is a bit better.

3 hours ago, P.J. said:

But, why did no one tell me she was dating Jay Sebring, and was supposed to be with him the night of the Tate-LoBianco murders? DAMN. Someone called in that night, and she ended up having to go into work.

In fairness, everyone and their nephew in the business has claimed they were 'supposed to be there that night.'

Elizabeth Hubbard was and is one of my all-time favorite actors, but it's hard to take some of her opinions seriously when she professed that Althea Davis was her favorite (soap) character to play.  She thought Douglas Marland's conception for Gloria Walters was "cheap" and "obvious"?  Well, that's peanuts compared to how Eileen and Robert Mason Pollock wrote for Thea on THE DOCTORS

Bless La Hubbard, but yes she seems to have been hypercritical of everything she ever played. It's been noted more than once.

I think Althea proved Hubbard could act and play a character unlike herself... while I viewed Lucinda as an extension of Hubbard.. especially as time went on.