Thank you for those clips and also to @DRW50 for tagging me!

I feel like I can't comment with any confidence on the stories/characters of the Paley Center clip because I know so little about that era, but it was a fascinating watch, getting to see GS as Viki, seeing Victor, and imagining whatever would have been going on storyline-wise. Got a little chill when the nurse was speaking for some reason I can't really pinpoint.

I do have a question about the Paley Center -- do we know how many episodes they actually have in their archives? And the clips we get are just from people who manage to get clips on their phone when watching? And this is probably a naive question, but what would be the reason the Paley Center wouldn't be able to, say, put the episodes on their website for fans to view? Is it a rights thing or that they just don't think it needs to be a priority?

And does anyone know at what point ABC started keeping episodes instead of (what I'm assuming they did which was) recording over/destroying old episodes?

That news segment was also a cool watch, especially as they said Harry Carson was a soap fan, so that must have been a dream come true for him.

That's another era that I'm not familiar with, but I did recognize Rae!

I also found this picture on the NFL website:

I have some other things I want to reply to, but I want to post this now to see if I did the picture properly.

An Alcoa Premiere with Barbara Luna. Just to warn - the episode is not about Robert and Barbara being in the bath.

Hour of the Bath--Robert Fuller, Barbara Luna, 1962 TV - YouTube

Thanks @sunvsbanner I hadn't seen that photo.

I always associate Linda with her shorter cuts but the length here looks good too.

Edited 4 hours ago4 hr by DRW50

On 4/10/2026 at 9:28 PM, Vee said:

I will give Ron Carlivati credit. Whatever Malone may have intended with Heart of a Lord before Roger Howarth left (by his own admission) as soon as humanly possible, RC managed to give it some sort of weight many years later. He tied in Victor's signet ring (which Todd took from "Victor" and became mysteriously fixated on in 2003 before Howarth's exit) and made it part of the conspiracy plotline in 2011 with the Two Todds, which also tied back to '03 - the ring had microfilm in it or something connected to Irene's spy organization. I appreciated that small touch in an otherwise very silly retcon story.

As much as I appreciated that that story did follow through with making RH's Todd the real deal (there was no coming back from TSJ's version of the character after raping Marty yet again and trying to steal Starr's kid and probably a bunch of other things I've managed to block out), I couldn't stand the CIA stuff. As you said, it was silly. I didn't even remember the signet ring part, actually.

Speaking of RH, I have a vague memory of listening to a podcast, maybe during COVID, where RH talked about departing. My memory on it is fuzzy, but maybe you or someone remembers and can confirm -- I think I remember him actually saying that someone at OLTL passed him a note warning him that Malone was going to pair Todd and Marty and that RH needed to leave as soon as he could, which was how he ended up going to ATWT. I can't remember which podcast this might have been -- I was listening to tons of podcasts around that time -- or if I have the details right, but that has always stayed with me because I hadn't heard that part, that someone had warned him. In my memory, he didn't actually say who it was that warned him. Now I'm wondering if I made it up. But I also have a memory tied to that of Malone admitting, either on that same podcast or maybe on another one, that he really was going to pair Todd and Marty, and that shocked me, because I'd always been convinced that he never would have gone there.

On 4/10/2026 at 9:28 PM, Vee said:

I was ecstatic when Malone was rehired in late '02. I could not have been more excited, or more disappointed with the results. But looking back now, especially revisiting the early '90s, it's not hard for me personally to believe it's the same writer. The same gothic trappings, the same literary influences and stylistic elements, the same obsessions, the same love for fantasy episodes and old Hollywood interludes, the same tropes or archetypes (holy man, party girl) are all very evident in both runs. It's just that both the budget and the larger quality control of the scripts, storylines and in a number of key cases acting is way, way below the bar. Brian Frons' ABC micromanaging the show and what stories got told with who couldn't have helped either, and in fact actively hindered the show in a number of instances we know of. But Malone made his own bed as well. He also was reusing messy stuff he'd attempted at Another World, and possibly also his unsold 13 Bourbon Street pilot for Fox primetime (which we all still want to see).

Those are good points about the gothic aspect, style elements, and similar tropes. I guess it's the execution that bothers me so much, which would have been some factors outside of his control but also in his control.

I've read about the 13 Bourbon Street pilot. Wasn't Tuc Watkins supposed to star? Was anyone else going to be in it?

On 4/10/2026 at 9:28 PM, Vee said:

Still, as bad as it got Malone II was an undeniably creative, very volatile time. You had literally no idea what you were going to see from day to day, be it brilliant (rare), terrible or just plain ugly. And some character vignettes (like Kevin and Jen Rappaport bellying up to the same bar to trade war stories about Joey who they both screwed over, with Kevin flat-out telling Jen she was just a substitute for Kelly in Joey's life) were of a type we never got to see on the show again. Some reinventions or new ideas worked, many didn't. Some stories and concepts had good bones and terrible execution but there was always a lot of passion, however misguided. That was the story of that period, and it was succeeded by probably the darkest era in the show's history for me (Dena Higley, who I think added the weird 'Cristian is not Cristian no wait he is' twist - she came in in very late '04).

Oh, I was hooked during Malone II, even if I didn't like all the stories.

I couldn't remember which writer did the Cristian twist but it doesn't surprise me that it would have been Higley.

On 4/10/2026 at 9:28 PM, Vee said:

As for Max and Gabrielle in 2001, what I was told is one of the actors explicitly (and quietly) asked to end it due to the howlingly bad reception from both the audience and the soap press. It's been so long that I can probably just say it but you might as well take a guess. I don't know if that's true but I couldn't blame anyone if so. I know Malone allegedly wanted to revisit them while re-pairing Bo and Nora, but neither got off the ground. Exterminating the Holdens was a Frons directive.

Wow. Well, my first guess was FH because all I've ever heard about JDP backstage is that he was noisy when he didn't like something, but maybe by 2001 he had mellowed/maybe due to his friendship (I'm going to assume they were friends) with FH, he wouldn't have wanted to be very on the record about no longer wanting them to work together?

I'll go with that guess. Also because I think I remember he liked Max and Roxy, and IIRC that was where he went next.

On 4/14/2026 at 6:37 PM, CrazySexyQ said:

Thanks for the post and tag. The Viki/Dorian/Victor story is one of the first stories I got into when I started watching. I really bought Erika Slezak as so many different alters and just hated Victor. He wasn't on the canvas, but look what he did to prim-and-proper Viki. Tori was my favorite alter. She was so chill and laid back. I lost it when Todd said she was acting like "white trash."

Tori is also my favorite alter. She's the most fun to watch.

On 4/15/2026 at 9:28 AM, slick jones said:

Trying to identify what year this One Life to Live scene is from Starts at 2:03. Any help is appreciated.

October 10, 2005. They think it's Margaret, I believe. I couldn't bring myself to do more than just click around the episode on Youtube.

2 hours ago, DRW50 said:

Thanks @sunvsbanner I hadn't seen that photo.

I always associate Linda with her shorter cuts but the length here looks good too.

You're welcome! She looks good.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by sunvsbanner

24 minutes ago, sunvsbanner said:

Speaking of RH, I have a vague memory of listening to a podcast, maybe during COVID, where RH talked about departing. My memory on it is fuzzy, but maybe you or someone remembers and can confirm -- I think I remember him actually saying that someone at OLTL passed him a note warning him that Malone was going to pair Todd and Marty and that RH needed to leave as soon as he could, which was how he ended up going to ATWT. I can't remember which podcast this might have been -- I was listening to tons of podcasts around that time -- or if I have the details right, but that has always stayed with me because I hadn't heard that part, that someone had warned him. In my memory, he didn't actually say who it was that warned him. Now I'm wondering if I made it up. But I also have a memory tied to that of Malone admitting, either on that same podcast or maybe on another one, that he really was going to pair Todd and Marty, and that shocked me, because I'd always been convinced that he never would have gone there.

I've read about the 13 Bourbon Street pilot. Wasn't Tuc Watkins supposed to star? Was anyone else going to be in it?

Yes, we discussed that podcast here once or twice. But IIRC what Howarth said was that he was perennially unhappy in the job in those years due to the nature of the character which was wearing on his mental health, and someone passed him a note with the number of ATWT's EP or casting director or something; nothing about Malone specifically.

He did want out very, very quickly after Malone returned. It could have been old beef re: the Todd/Marty dynamic in the '90s and their issues over story. Though Malone always maintained he would not have actually put them together romantically their dynamic was extremely iffy in '95, and I think both Howarth and Susan Haskell have said they got the impression or were told flat-out that Malone wanted to pair them up. So that could've been the drama there in '03. But another rumor that came out in the 2000s was that Malone had actually pitched the 'Rashomon'-esque 'was it rape?' story with TSJ's Todd and Blair for RH's instead as soon as he returned to the show. That version of the story claimed Howarth balked at that pitch and immediately fled to CBS. The story was later done at the end of '03 with TSJ and it didn't go well.

Roger Howarth did return to ABC in 2011 much more zen about the character and willing to work by his own admission in the press, and I did appreciate that. He worked hard despite messy story from then on, and he worked hard in a series of bad roles at GH even when I didn't think his skill set was doing well. That's more than I can say for Trevor St. John, who's a talented guy who started out strong but was always volatile onscreen, and seemed contemptuous of everything a lot of the time after his first two years.

I will say I have never heard anything about JDP or Fiona Hutchison having issues with each other personally. AFAIK they always worked well together and were/are on good terms. The issue one of them had was with the 2001 story and the audience/press response to it. It tanked and at least one of them wanted out, and quietly made it happen. The quiet part was presumably done not to offend the costar, and as a result I sat on that story from a friend for about 20 years.

I can't remember offhand the many names attached to the Bourbon Street pilot. I don't remember hearing Tuc. I think Henry Simmons from AW among others were in the mix. @DRW50 or @EricMontreal22 might recall. It was a who's who of soap people.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by Vee

5 minutes ago, Vee said:

I can't remember offhand the many names attached to the Bourbon Street pilot. I don't remember hearing Tuc. I think Henry Simmons from AW among others were in the mix. @DRW50 or @EricMontreal22 might recall. It was a who's who of soap people.

On IMDB, the names listed are Nicole Forester, Philippe Hartmann, Mia Matthew, Michael Park, Simmons, Gerrold Vincent, Brendan Wentworth, PaSean Wilson.

Malone, presumably, would bring Simmons and Wilson to AW when he briefly joined the show as headwriter.

I'd forgotten about Michael Park and Nicole Forester(!). What a small world.

Someday that pilot (along with the '68 Paley Center episode) is gonna leak.