Did you get to listen to the interview with Claire Labine and Kate Mulgrew?

Oh, I'm not disagreeing - I think she was at her best on GH and RH and she left a real legacy. I'm just saying that I do think those who feel ratings fell due to depressing material may have a point. I wasn't watching at the time so I can't really say for sure. I just remember reading SOD at that time (around the time I first started) and they mentioned ratings falling by almost an entire point in late 1994, even though this was during the Puerto Rican remote which seemed to be well received by fans.

Oh, I do remember reading something about that as well, now that you mention it. It was during the week of Thanksgiving, I believe. It was a one-time occurrence, for whatever reason, and it rebounded completely the following week and stayed strong until the other shows started dropping. The longterm drop was sometime later - almost a year later as far as ranking - and again I think the circumstances of Labine's final months were not representative of her tenure overall. Again, her heart was only in one story that was inherently sad, and changes were afoot at ABC that would only get worse in the decades to come.

The interview was fascinating. I can't wait to hear the subsequent installments, when they'll presumably talk more in-depth about her work, but she sounds like a fascinating person even from her more personal recollections.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRkD2VLP3o0

That promo with Emily was very sad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cr48TijeOF4&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

Doug Marland's Original plans for Luke and Laura:

An excerpt from a 1982 interview in the St. Petersburg Times:

"I never would have had Luke rape Laura. My idea for that story was to have Luke worship Laura from afar. I planned for him to get into deeper and deeper trouble with the syndicate and try and try to get away from them. His reason to escape the mob: his love of Laura and his desire for her. And in the end, no matter what Luke had done for Laura---all the money he had given her, all the trouble he had gotten into [on] her behalf---she never would have loved him.

I adored the character of Laura, but she was vain. Vanity was a big part of Laura's personality. Luke and Laura never would have gotten together in my storyline. I had other things in mind for Luke."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qw4N4FDWM8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBcbswiEVig&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEbZGkds8nE&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

wait Carl, are you saying 2002 and Tamara Braun era crap drabfest GH is "classic"?

The drab four drove me away from GH for a time, they were just that dull.

I don't think anything on the show has been classic since about 1995 or so, I just post a lot of different stuff about the shows in these threads, for those who may have enjoyed these periods.

Ad at about 8 minutes into this. I never knew they killed off Dan Rooney. Why? I mostly remember him for trying to marry Jessie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPH9D3EqqUQ&feature=autoplay&list=UL_VIfOJQHrYo&lf=mfu_in_order&playnext=1

Dan wasn't killed. That was a really cool scene though. Dan had found the proof that Luke's oil wells were fishy and he had to be silenced before he told Luke.

http://youtu.be/NKjy_OrnhS0

It is one of the earliest scenes I remember from watching GH. Soaps just can't or won't be so melodramatic these days. It's corny but it is fun.

Good Lord, have you all seen this? Sorry if already posted elsewhere on SON: