4 hours ago, soapfave06 said:

Also, wasn’t JER behind the Laurelton story?

4 hours ago, Franko said:

I've heard that about JER and Laurelton, and I can certainly believe it. We're about the enter the portion with lots of attention for "Purity Water." Gee, what's in a name?

If Laurelton wasn't his story, it certainly bears many of his quirks, including the repetitive dialogue and story beats and the heroine at the center of the tale whose past includes being shamed out of town by its' close-minded citizens for being a whore. (JER is a good example of how and why religion screws with some people's heads, lol).

12 hours ago, Khan said:

If Laurelton wasn't his story, it certainly bears many of his quirks

The Lucy Coe reveal is another thing that stands out as something he would do to me.

Edited Monday at 02:20 PM5 days by titan1978

These episodes see the intro of Dawn Merrick as Samantha Welles, who soon becomes the Amy Vining of the police station. She wasn't a gossip like Amy; she was just always there in the background of the police stuff, without a story or much meaningful dialogue. You wonder why they kept her on for so long, despite doing absolutely nothing with her. I think I remember seeing her into 1990.

12 hours ago, Jdee43 said:

These episodes see the intro of Dawn Merrick as Samantha Welles, who soon becomes the Amy Vining of the police station. She wasn't a gossip like Amy; she was just always there in the background of the police stuff, without a story or much meaningful dialogue. You wonder why they kept her on for so long, despite doing absolutely nothing with her. I think I remember seeing her into 1990.

Back then every setting had those kind of recognizable supporting players. The Q’s had Stella, the hospital had Amy, Kelly’s had Ruby, Robin had Filomena etc. Built in talk to’s. And also the PCPD was such a huge focus they needed recurring cops for Robert, Anna and Frisco to boss around.

Sam Welles appears in 1990. She is in charge of the Policemen's Carnival, which was the site of Wendy Masters' murder. This was in June / July, 1990. I don't think she appeared much (if at all) earlier in the year. In the call, Frisco leads a squad of young recruits during the hospital hostage crisis and a young Remi, a young blond woman, was introduced. Remi essentially replaces Sam on the canvas before she is dumped in 1992 (I think) when Bill Levinson trims down on the minor recurring characters from the 1990-1992 period that Wendy Riche had kept around.

On Santa Barbara, Monty's return was have preceded, by only a few months, the return of the Dobsons to the show. A live feed of those meetings would have outrated most of whatever would have been created for the show.

44 years ago today (give or take a few hours), Laura vanishes.

GENERAL HOSPITAL - JANUARY 15 1982 FULL ABC W/ ORIGINAL COMMERCIALS

Who is the woman with Tiffany. She looks familiar to me.

Oh right it's Nita Talbot. Forgot she was already mentioned.

Edited Thursday at 02:56 AM2 days by DRW50

Thanks for this.

I've always enjoyed Nita Talbot in everything I've seen her in. She was one of the primetime actors that Gloria Monty would bring in from time to time for short term stints. Watching old episodes, I found another cameo was David Doyle and Martha Scott, in late 1985-1986; I had no idea!

17 hours ago, DRW50 said:

44 years ago today (give or take a few hours), Laura vanishes.

GENERAL HOSPITAL - JANUARY 15 1982 FULL ABC W/ ORIGINAL COMMERCIALS

Who is the woman with Tiffany. She looks familiar to me.

Oh right it's Nita Talbot. Forgot she was already mentioned.

I have been watching a lot of the original Frank Smith story into the early part of the Ice Princess. Laura is feisty, competitive with Luke to prove herself and to establish an independent life, and they are very much in love even if they spend time apart. But when returns after this disappearance, she is pretty much haunted and frightened and even when she sees her family and friends again Laura isn’t the same. It’s kind of sad when you watch them close together. It’s understandable with the story being told, just sad to see her victimized and losing so much spirit.

The Decline and Fall of the Monty Empire

Week Three (Jan. 13-17, 1986)

Jennifer: "... Theresa and I are from a small town. I don't think there's even one psychiatrist in Laurelton. We solve our problems with tender loving care."

Buzz: "Yes, I'm from a small town too, Mrs. Talbot. And I have found that tender loving care does not help deep-rooted psychological problems."

Jennifer: "Oh. Well, your town must be different from ours."

Laurelton, the mystery stuff: I wish I was having more fun watching Anna match wits against Sheriff Broder. At least with Monica vs. Alan and Edward, there's longstanding relationships and obvious respect to make sure the conflict mean something. On a positive note, I did get my wish when Bobbie and Jake talked about how unnerving it was that everyone in Laurelton seemed to know who they were and what they were looking for. Alas, this was talked about rather than shown. I'm also getting really annoyed by the trip from Laurelton-Port Charles (a plane ride) being able to be covered in near-consecutive scenes. I get that they want to keep the action moving, but they shouldn't have had Laurelton in another state.

Laurelton, the relationship stuff: Patrick's got kind of a bargain basement Steven Carrington quality right now, minus the homosexuality. He spends most of Friday's episode upset about being an outsider from the people of Laurelton, whether it's his off-screen parents or Lottie the hostess. At least Patrika Darbo (Sally, a Port Charles barmaid) didn't dislike him. On another '80s primetime soaps note, Jennifer's got a more pronounced Temu Angela Channing air to her. As for Terry & Kevin, it's hard to like her when she's being such a ninny. Back to Patrick: because he inherited 280 shares of the Purity Water corporation and most of Earl Moody's money, and there's a window of time where he could have killed Neil Johnson, he's now the prime suspect in the Laurelton and Brownstone killings.

Bobbie & Jake: I didn't know that Jake apparently doesn't know about Bobbie's past. I assumed that came up, even in passing, when she was charged with Brock's murder. Jackie Zeman and Sam Behrens win my acting crown for the week with their beautiful scene on Monday. "Nothing is holding me back from loving you. A lot is holding me back from getting any closer to you."

Sean vs. the Quartermaines: I'm appreciating that Sean's being as direct as possible with Monica. This week he reminds her that it's possible that everybody minus A.J. and Jason could end up wiped out. Sean really is a perfect lover. He clearly values consent.

Jimmy Lee & Celia: Who wears short shorts? Jimmy Lee wears short shorts! If my theory about Steve Bond having a three-year contract and a one-year extension is right, then this might have been the time that the extension was getting worked out. Jimmy Lee's off to Brazil to work for Dimitri Cassadine while Celia has to stay home. Savor that hookup with Jimmy Lee, Celia. It will end up being your last.

Frisco & Sam: I wonder if there were viewers in 1986 who thought that Frisco would actually cheat on Felicia. Tony & Tania certainly believe it's a matter of time. To her credit, Sam's not giving off any take me now vibes. I hope that Sam's eventual victory over the PCPD's climbing rope will pay off during some storyline.

The Webbers and Barringtons: Bobbie and Ginny being so friendly to one another made me think about how much Ginny matured over the last two years. It's interesting that Bobbie could be close with someone who tried framing her for murder a year ago. I guess Bobbie's friendship with Rick carried a lot of the weight initially. I wonder if Bobbie and Lucy could have eventually been friends if Lucy stayed married to Tony. Anyway, Ginny's the suffering madonna in this batch, watching with Rick as Mike goes out to eat with Derek & Lorena and later being accused of promiscuity by her son. This earns Mike a well-deserved slap (sorry, but it was) from Rick.

Other thoughts:

-- Why is Terry's face still on bottles of Purity Water? She was crowned Miss Purity in 1983. Did they stop giving out the title after Terry defiled the crown? This might get answered soon, but I want to complain about it right now.

-- GH's episode structure is also annoying me. The Quartermaines' story pops in about a third of a way into Monday's episode. There's an almost random Bryan & Claudia scene near the end of Thursday's episode. It's like, map out your episodes a little more cleanly, people.

-- For the record, Bryan & Claudia are fighting because their girls are apparently going through the terrible twos, he wants her to be a homemaker, and she wants him to share her responsibilities. Claudia actually calls Bryan a male chauvinist pig, which always makes me think of the '70s Freaky Friday.

Clip.Cafe

Watch 'Male chauvinist pig! Why did you call Daddy a male...

Watch the clip 'Male chauvinist pig! Why did you call Daddy a male chauvinist pig? Because he is one! But...' from the movie Freaky Friday on Clip.Cafe. Annabel (as Mrs. Andrews): Male chauvinist pig!

-- It's nice to see Lila with a little bit of bite as Alan, et. al try to keep her in the dark about their scheming. The show has it both ways, though, when Lila says she's seen far too much to want to see more. "Lila, my darling." "Edward, my charlatan."

-- Different Times: Tony suggests the Brownstone get an intercom so that its residents can be quickly notified in a crisis.

-- Hey, It's 1986!: The kids at Mike's school apparently have a three-day week. They get Monday off for Martin Luther King Jr. Day (first observed in '86), then Tuesday off for a teacher in-service day.

-- I've yet to see Jessie. Steve popped up two weeks ago when Bobbie got the okay to go to Laurelton, and Audrey's around on Tuesday to give the student nurses their assignments. Dan Rooney's also MIA. Because she's Mike's boss and landlady, Ruby's around for much of the week.

-- Knowing what we know now, Burt's mask slips on Wednesday: "... It was a sorry day when the department decided to allow women on the force." He may claim Anna is different, as she "fights like a man and her training with the WSB makes her unique," but oink, oink, Burt.