News & Gossip from the mid-1980s per The Soaps of Yesterday

[Paul Raven]

Julia's daughter is a character that could have easily been used. Meg Bennett seems open to brief returns. She could have ushered Jamie in and visited from time to time.

Victor always remained on good terms with Julia so could have mentored her daughter. When Jamie got involved with Billy Victor would have intervened not wanting her near the Abbotts etc.

[Chris 2]

I remember all of GH’s action adventure plots at the same time lasted six months each. The Prometheus Disc, the Treasure of Malkuth, the Oil Scam. And get me started on the Aztec Treasure, which dragged on for nearly a year. I don’t even think they planned that one out in advance - it just went on and on and morphed strangely.

[j swift]

Reading the plot highlights of 1984 -  Lorena Sharpe (Monica's insta-cousin), her spa, the murder of Jimmy Lee's mother, the whiny little orphan Mike and his constantly crying mother Ginny, not to mention the two Grants who were differentiated only by the amount of mousse in their hair, - all make the Aztec Treasure seem worthy of a Pulitzer Prize.

Edited March 9, 2021 by j swift

[Xanthe]

 

Sally of that era was very Cory-adjacent. She worked for Mac and had a warm sisterly relationship with Jamie. I think she may have specifically talked about considering Mac and Rachel as second parents after Steve's death around Mac and Rachel's remarriage. And didn't Sally bring Kevin to the Cory stables for riding lessons from Catlin? I know Ada hid him somewhere on the Cory estate when he was missing/presumed dead/on the lam around this time. 

[Franko]

That's fair. I guess I hadn't thought of it as an umbrella story.

 

GH did have kind of a Saturday morning serial feel for a while there with the continuing action adventure plots. Dead on re: the never-ending Aztec treasure story. All I know is that by the very end, we could like Sean and Anna.

 

Not to mention the endless chem testing. Tonia going from (good) Grant to Frisco to Tony, who was also nearly paired with Ginny.

[j swift]

I thought it was humorous in the summaries when Frisco randomly decides to set Tania free, just as Felicia was introduced.

 

From the on screen writing to the off screen publicity they really tried to make Brad Maule into hunk.  From his intro (was he screwing his mother's inattentive nurse, or was Frisco doing the deed?) to those stories about romancing his fiance in Europe, there was a constant PR campaign to make us want to like him. Unfortunately, the actor just never gave off a hunky vibe.

 

Although no PR campaign was a forceful as this ad for the new Teen Disco in town.  They have free hot dogs and soft drinks!

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Edited March 9, 2021 by j swift

[Franko]

Agreed. I always liked Tony/Brad, who seemed like a solid enough guy with a bad habit of needing neurosurgery and/or getting involved with shady women. But I never thought of him as a heartthrob type.

[j swift]

I had no idea Don Stewart and Peter Simon left GL within weeks of each other in 1984

 

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But it is a toss up which was less respectful

 

Mike's final mention in the recaps

 

Or the poor grammar and misspelling of the title of the article announcing their departure

 

 

Edited March 9, 2021 by j swift

[Chris 2]

LOL. That spa thing was really boring. To paraphrase Edward Q at the time: I’m not interested in watching women run, beaten, and tortured into shape.

 

GH had a penchant for introducing dull, uncharismatic characters at the time: Tony, Ginny, Tanya, Lorena, etc. Tony eventually worked out, at least.

 

I hated Mike. He made Anne Logan’s son Jeremy seem like one of the best child characters in comparison. “Doc Rick” and “Mom Lesley.” Ugh. I really didn’t like any of the Webbers at that time, with Rick doing his best Gary Cooper imitation, and Lesley always bordering on hysteria. Too bad all three of them weren’t in Lesley’s car. Or at least have them selected for some secret WSB mission and sent out of town along with Ginny Blake and the spa crowd.

 

I have to admit that I thought it was really clever how they introduced the evil Grant just as the faux Grant’s previous story was wrapping up. And they had planted the seeds for it very early on. That’s how you hook people. The execution was kinda meh, though.

Edited March 9, 2021 by Chris 2

[SFK]

 

Kelli Maroney did indeed play Tina for a short stint. Not sure if any footage is still on YouTube.

 

When the hell was Kim Fields on AMC singing about Michael Jackson?? Are they confusing something with the FOL episode where Tootie loses her shıt over Jermaine?

[Franko]

That's for the clarification re: Kelli. That period before Andrea Evans came back is a blur to me.

 

Oh, how I wish Kim's AMC appearance was on YouTube. In the meantime, here's the song.

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[John]

Kelli was Tina 1984 (Not sure what month she began)-November 1984

Marsha Clark Nov 1984-Jan/Feb 1985

Andrea returned in Feb 1985

Edited March 10, 2021 by John

[j swift]

The recasting of Tina was an odd journey, considering a few months earlier it was reported that they originally hired Kristen Vigard to play Tina, and then decided to make her Joy O'Neil.

Edited March 10, 2021 by j swift

[John]

KV filled in as Tina in 1981 so Im shocked she didnt get it either

at 1: 30

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[SFK]

 

This is sublimely awful.

 

I've seen Kim's album cover where she's grinning her brace face off, not sure that I knew about this one. Thanks for sharing! The songwriters over at Jem wrote circles around this dreck.