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

[Soaplovers]

I think when Long came back in mid 1987..she got to work moving Maureen into the role left void by Bert's death.

 

And abby seemed poised to fill that role in the late 90s...where even Reva went to her for advice...but alas not to be. 

[will81]

Hi all

 

Just a quick update. I have had a busy and intense week at university, so didn't have much time to update the blog. Will be adding Nov 84 - Jan 85 tonight though.

 

 

[KMan101]

 

It wouldn't surprise me at all if they catered to the male lead and got rid of the "girl who causes trouble". How many times have we heard that? I still fume about Ellen Holly's OLTL dismissal.

 

And even in recent years, I'd argue Sarah Joy Brown received that treatment. All the women Phelps drove off GH ...

 

We have lost so many great actresses for mediocre male co-stars.

 

It's such a good movie and always read closer as accurate than fiction, lol, but it blurred the lines really nicely and made it funny.

Edited March 20, 2021 by KMan101

[KMan101]

 

As someone who is currently binging some classic 80s GH on youtube, 1984 seems like a steep decline from 1980-1983.

 

I about died seeing how blunt they were about Don Stewart leaving. It's spot on. They were clearly on the quest for "hot and young" and I'm assuming they thought they could kill two birds with one stone by snagging Richard Van Vleet as Ed (making Ed more of a mix of Mike and Ed).

 

On the other hand though, wasn't Stewart all pissy about being paired with ladies of his own age instead of younger? But still, I believe they probably pushed him out.

 

Makes me really scratch my head why they dumped Tom O'Rourke as Justin (was it to push "hot new Jim Reardon"?). 

Edited March 20, 2021 by KMan101

[j swift]

There's been two comments about the language in the Don Stewart firing article. But, how about that awful headline? "bower loses a leaf"  - now that's an editor that should have been fired.  Is correct grammar and a basic knowledge of the subject being edited too much to ask for?

Edited March 20, 2021 by j swift

[KMan101]

 

So bad lol

[victoria foxton]

!984 was rough. Lesley's and Blackie's exits were horrible. Holly going undercover to expose a shady dance school was so BAD. On the plus side Frisco, Tonia ,Tony Felicia and Sean were introduced. 

Edited March 20, 2021 by victoria foxton

[j swift]

There are two things I enjoy about this Tumblr; the headlines and the gossip

 

The headlines this time were mostly puns about the cancellation of Edge of Night

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None of them were very inspired, nor were the stories, P&G wanted to keep producing the show but ABC affiliates wanted the time back to expand local news programming.   It was the lowest rated soap of the time, meaning that only 3 million people watched and it got less than a 10% share of the audience, which needless to say any soap would kill for in 2021.

 

On the gossip front; they dated

and they dated

and Robin Leach (who was dated Jackie Zeeman) really got around

 

Meanwhile the juiciest gossip was once again about actors being fired.  Bryan Cranston and John O'Hearly were fired from Loving.  Jason Kinkaid was too old to play Tom Hughes on ATWT, Dane Witherspoon was too stoic to play Joe on SB, and Joanne Pflug was too Christian to play Taylor on Rituals.  But, the jaw dropping story was that Patty Davis (first daughter of Ronald Reagan) was only on Rituals for two episodes!

 

 

 

 

Edited March 20, 2021 by j swift

[robbwolff]

 

Did they actually say Kincaid was too old to play Tom? If so, that's absurd. He was younger than his predecessors C. David Colson, Justin Deas, and Tom Tammi.

[j swift]

The world of soap headlines can be cruel (perhaps this was part of Ms. Fulton's infamous, but fictional, grandmother clause?)

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Also, can we give a hand to the ultimate “settle a bet” question  of the week - no, TL from Baldwin Park, Brian Patrick Clarke is not married to lesbian comedian Lily Tomlin, and Susan Lucci's mother is not Phyllis DIller.

 

Edited March 20, 2021 by j swift

[titan1978]

In hindsight, it seems to be the kind of sea change that happened in 1981.  They lost Peter, Diana, Jeff, and eventually Laura early in 1982.  And Robert created his own set of storylines with his WSB background, ushering a new type of storyline in.  Same with 1984- especially losing Lesley.  In less than a year the whole show dynamic had shifted again, paving the way for Anna who becomes the dominant female lead for almost a decade.

[Chris 2]

1984 also introduced Cousin Lorena and her boring-ass spa.

[j swift]

We've moved quickly from the end of 1984 to the beginning of 1985

 

First on the docket, we get confirmation of the Tina casting shenanigans at OLTL

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I find it amusing that she dyed her hair and now I really want to see those scenes

 

Meanwhile, weeks after this odd party

 

We got this news

Of course, spoiler alert, Maule survives at least two attempts to kill off Tony before he finally bit the big one on GH

 

And then there were 13...

 

Edited March 21, 2021 by j swift

[KMan101]

 

That's very true. It does sound rough. But for sure that year introduced us to so many fan favorites. I'll be curious when I watch some of the storylines what I think. 

 

I just spent time watching 1986 and the Duke/Ramsey stuff. Some of it's just edits but still fun.

 

It's funny watching episodes from like 1980 and Susan is like a background character (she's not but not featured in what I was watching, just making a point) with Mitch and Frank Smith and then by 1983 she's knee deep in it and murdered. LOL. I have to say the show was so incredibly engaging in 1980-1983.

 

I'm aware of everything but sometimes you don't know little details or interactions and it's fun to take the time to watch stuff I've only seen bits of.

 

In hindsight, I wonder if they were a little too quick to kill off some of the characters they did but I'll be damned if it wasn't engaging and they didn't affect the canvas. I mean, Susan Moore's damn son is still running around today. Granted her pinky is more interesting than he is ... and my God this is why I love soaps, Lesley and Monica, 40 years later, are STILL salty with each other, yet at the end of the day have each other's backs.

Edited March 21, 2021 by KMan101

[Franko]

Oy vey, I need to catch up ...