I love long consecutive-episode DVD sets. For me that's what soaps are all about; the story and suspense building in small increments every day! If new German DVD sets are released in the future, please post here. Everything they and SC release for GL, I'll buy!

Roger,

I don't know if you can answer this or not, but is this new set and the "Bob & Kim" set sort of a "test" by SC to see how well consecutive episodes sell (i.e. - similar to the recent "Springfield Story" German DVD set)? I placed my order hoping this is the case. If nothing else, it's more Mike Bauer, regardless! This is a bold move, because it's an older storyline (pre-Lewis, pre-Shayne, etc.), but still a great one. I might even purchase a second set for Christmas presents. Thanks, Roger, for helping to get this released.

Although, I still hope for a Roger and Holly set in the future...!

We worked on these two sets back in July and the feedback at that point had been fans wanted to see consecutive episodes. I don't know what kind of feedback SC has gotten since the releases but all I've seen is positive so hopefully that's what they're hearing too.

Well, if they want to also try it with GL beginning in November of 1979, I'm all for it (I still haven't purchased the German DVD set, yet).

One last question Roger - did anything need to be edited out of these 10 episodes because of music rights issues? Just curious.

One last question Roger - did anything need to be edited out of these 10 episodes because of music rights issues? Just curious.

I'm not sure. A fan mentioned something to me a while back about remembering a song at the trial but I didn't notice when I first watched and then when I watched them all back later they had already been edited. Nothing comes to mind like an "Enough is Enough" Hall of Mirrors moment or "Almost Paradise" on the beach or the Musketeers prom. And definitely no one sang. The one thing about a trial is you are less likely to have those problems. Plus, I thought it would work well with a 10 consecutive episode format.

Thanks!

My Jennifer DVD arrived on Friday and I was so hooked that I've already watched the entire disc. And I say that as someone who, having discovered Doug Marland's work completely posthumously via YouTube, etc. has always wondered if I would have been able to watch one of his shows on a daily basis.

I know it's sacrilege, but the dialogue is not my favorite when I watch his episodes of ATWT or GL, and I think I might overdose on all of the secret parentage stories, etc. But obviously Marland's stories were masterfully plotted and he laid the groundwork for decades' worth of material, and seeing this many consecutive episodes in succession, I can absolutely see the appeal. The way that everything led up to that courtroom scene, and all the key players ended up being there…I was on the edge of my seat, even though I essentially knew what happened.

I wonder what the long-term plans were for Jennifer, had Marland stayed longer at GL. There was something so relatable about her, as melodramatic as her story was, and she seemed to have the makings of an old-school longtime soap opera heroine (I wasn't surprised to read on IMDB that Geraldine Court had originated the role of another memorable character named Jennifer - on ATWT). There was something about her that actually reminded me a lot of Ellen Parker's Maureen…would Jennifer have gotten together with Mike and become the Bert daughter-in-law/protege had Marland lasted until CB passed away, I wonder?

Other random observations/questions:

That looked like a nice bit part for Mady Kaplan, the actress who went on to play Marie Kovac on ATWT, one of Douglas Cummings's victims (and, according to IMDB, the real life daughter of AMC's Fran Heflin), as Jennifer's cellmate. Was she a FOD, or was it just a coincidence back then when there were half a dozen or so NY-based soaps (sob)…I thought she was already on ATWT when Marland took over, and he wrote her off…?

What was Derek Colby's story about? His scenes with Lanie Marler were really boring. For the first episode or two, I thought this was the same character Mark Pinter later played (because he was involved in managing Amanda's finances, plus I remember it being a generic-sounding name).

Speaking of Mark Pinter, what was with the cover art for the DVD case? I could swear that's MP standing next to Jennifer, but his character wasn't on the show yet… And was that Marsha Clark's Hillary between Bert and Kelly? They were a C-story at best in these episodes, and Kelly and Morgan were the much more recognizable couple, I would think…plus Kelly's main connection to the trial was that Jennifer was Morgan's mother. So why not Kelly and Morgan, if anything? Most importantly, where was Amanda?

Did Mr. Stafford survive his surgery? I would think so, since killing him off before Jennifer/Jane Marie got to reunite with him - on top of having Amanda miscarry before Jennifer could publicly acknowledge the baby as her grandchild - would have been a bit excessive. But I found myself genuinely moved when Jennifer was reunited with her brother after her ordeal in court, and introduced him to Morgan. I was sorry I didn't get to see Jennifer reconcile with her father.

I always wonder how on earth Harding Lemay ended up coming to GL as a staff writer under Marland at this time? With all due respect to both writers, I just can't imagine them working well together in that way, at that stage in both of their soap careers… Obviously this goes to show that I've watched too many soap operas, but the only explanation I could think of every time I saw the credits on this disc was that he was finalizing his tell-all book about AW (which came out later that year, no?) and took the GL job to gain access to P&G's headquarters for some kind of last-minute undercover research.

Derek was Ross' protege back when soaps truly had supporting characters. Harley Venton went on to a long stage and prime time guest star career. Derek had a nice relationship with Hillary that she ultimately ruined by mooning over Kelly Nelson.

The DVD cover makes NO sense. I would've preferred head shots of Jennifer, Mike, Ross and Amanda.

Jennifer was a strong addition to GL. She dated Mike but Morgan's dislike for Mike ruined that. Her surprise marriage to Mark was a shocker. But the end of the BUZARRE Mark mystery really spelled the end of her character. Writing out Morgan, Amanda, and Mike shortly thereafter didn't help. But the Lewises were about to take over the show.

Chet Stafford--I remember at the time that only my mother guessed that he was Eve's stalker. Chet was obsessed with Amanda's happiness and Ben and Eve's reconciliation threatened that.

Pinter wasn't supposed to be on the cover. He didn't start until later that year. I guess that was just a mistake someone made along the way doing the art. There weren't really any good shots of Geraldine Court that was available to them apparently, other than this one. Nothing from back then is high-res or good quality. I haven't really seen many great shots of Geraldine Court from this time. Screen caps on the DVD cover aren't an option so they have to use the best of the photos they have the rights to.

***

Was watching some '79 episodes today, I think the ones that are on the German DVD. Ed's green screen jogging with three really horrible fake backgrounds is something I don't remember them doing at all. Peapack was a masterpiece compared to that. But the stories were so engaging I guess we didn't care about that as much back then.

Edited October 19, 201213 yr by RogerNewcomb

Back in 1979 it is possible people were even watching on a black and white television so something like a bad green screen would be less noticeable.

I'm glad you gave clarification on the cover, as I thought it was confusing based on who is on the DVD.

Roger you should see Tom Desmond's jogging on Ryan's Hope. Hilarious. Someone there apparently felt ashamed because jogging scenes after that were done on location.

Katie Parker, RN, AKA The Message Center. I'd almost forgotten how everyone told Katie and Hillary ALL their business...where they were going...who they were meeting...LOVE IT! (I also love how Cedars was apparently a one-floor hospital despite that elevator. Everyone worked on the same floor. Where were they going? A basement cafeteria? LOL)

It's absolutely fascinating to see the early versions of Ross and Vanessa, before they both became pillars of Springfield society.

Was it this Jennifer Richards trial and the fallout that started Ross on the road to the Ross most of us are more familiar with? I know this had to be before he married Carrie, because Jackie is still alive and married to Justin, but seeing Ross so disconcerted over Amanda's collapse and miscarriage and admitting to Evie (who became a brunette sometime between 1979 and 1981, would have thought it was a recast if I didn't know her voice immediately) that the truth wasn't what he'd been after while trying the case. I wanted to reach through the screen and hug him and say, "Don't worry, Ross, you became a better person!"

I got an email from Soap Classics saying to order the DVDs we want ASAP because they're going out of business or something. I think the only things I need to order at the Bob and Kim DVD and the Jennifer Richards one. Such a shame they never released anything for AW, SFT or Edge while they had this going. I would've loved anything from those shows.

ROGER!!! What's going on?

Roger can anything be done!!!

ROGER!!! What's going on?

I don't know. This is news to me. We haven't worked on much since the summer. There was one DVD in the pipeline finished a few months ago that has never been released that I was expecting to come out this month.

It may be totally unrelated but music issues have been a bear. The past several months have been spent looking at that on the discs already released, even though a lot of time was spent looking at them before they were released. I was at the office a couple of weeks ago and episodes were still being encoded for potential streaming so I'm not sure how the license suddenly is over. The end date is something you would have known all along, right? I'll see what I can find out.

It takes A LOT of work on their part to encode the tapes and edit them including scrubbing music (most of which before late '90s can't be scrubbed AND can't be used). Then you make the DVDs, take orders, deal with customer service issues, ship stuff out. It's a pretty small operation that has a lot of other business going on. I don't know their biz model at all but always hoped the ROI was worth it for them.

They are great people and have always had the best of intentions wanting to bring this stuff to soap fans so will be sad if ATWT/GL go back into storage like the other four available P&G soaps.