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

[kalbir]

Hahaha. We all know EB loves dropping F-bombs when he rants to the soap press.

 

[will81]

Hey so glad you created this thread @j swift I have gone back to school this week. So it may be a bit slow while I readjust, but will be getting July up in the next few hours.

[Franko]

Highlights of July 1984 include:

-- The aftermath of the clusterfcuk that was the '84 Daytime Emmys. In light of reports that Judi Evans also received the cold shoulder from her costars for winning one so soon, I felt oogy reading Jon-Michael Reed questioning her win.

-- Christopher Rich and Nancy Frangione preparing to depart AW. I dunno, I don't think it would have been so bad had Sandy transitioned into more of a tentpole character. It might even have eased some of the upheaval in the wake of Douglass Watson's death.

-- Eileen Fulton's back! J-MR gives a little shade to her stage endeavors: "She popped up, hither and yon, in just about any vehicle that gave her star billing. But she never forgot to remind the press and the public that she was the original Lisa on 'World Turns.'"

-- Jimmy McNichol Update: He's now staying on GH until at least the end of 1984.

-- Kim Fields showing up to sing about Michael Jackson on AMC and Jermaine Jackson and Whitney Houston on ATWT.

-- Something I didn't know: Scrabble was an immediate hit. I guess it helped having Wheel of Fortune as a lead-in and not being in the 12 p.m. death slot.

-- Once again, it's time to ask the "exciting" question, Is Dorothy Lyman Coming Back to AMC? (Yet again, no.)

-- All this, and Dame Judith Anderson clutching her pearls in defense of the soaps.

[John]

Nancy left AW in Nov 1984 

Chris stayed until March 1985

[Xanthe]

Cecile was missing for basically all of August, September, October 1984 until Cass found her in Majorca in November to wrap up the storyline.

[John]

Oh Ok

Did Chris sign on a short deal that extended him til March of 85?

[amybrickwallace]

 

Nice to know some things never change, right?

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[SoapDope]

That slam about the child actress playing Nola's daughter is sad and hilarious at the same time. It reminds me of how people to this day still make fun of child actor Eric Farlow who played Christopher Ewing on Dallas. They still get on youtube to shred him and refer to him as "Ugly Baby Christopher".

[Franko]

Something I've noticed while reading recaps of mid '80s AW: the murder stories tend to drag on a bit. For example, in 1984: David was shot in May but we didn't find out who actually did it until November. The year later, Brittany's cousin Willa died in February and her death was resolved in July.

[amybrickwallace]

 

Thank goodness social media wasn't around then.

[j swift]

July 1984's entries were like deja vu all over again.

 

I have always maintained that Q&A's in the soap press are fake.  However 37 years after someone confused soaps with Hemingway in this question

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Our own @Mitch said this in the Soap You Couldn't Get Into thread

Sunset Beach..its just played like a parody..kind of like "The Sun Also Rises," instead of a real soap. The actors were plastic, not sexy!

 

I researched and found that the Carol Burnett Show soap parody was called "As the Stomach Turns" and the SCTV parody was titled "The Days of the Week", so I am unsure of the source of this confusion.

 

 

And maybe JMR was so snippy about Eileen Fulton's return in this article:

 Because two weeks earlier he published this comment

 

Finally is it possible that a young Ron Carlavatti was posing as PL from Toluca Lake when he wrote this question to Lynda Hirsch?

Edited March 3, 2021 by j swift

[Franko]

@j swift, I think @Mitch meant to say The Sun Also Sets, the show in Soapdish.

[Mitch]

You are correct!!! And it involved a beach setting and a dumb shirtless hunk...big hair OTT BUT it looked more entertaining..."He doesn't have a HEAD!"

 

 

I really don't think Fulton was hurting but I doubt she had vaults of jewels!!!But agreed, she was the last of the Hollywood Diva acting ladies..

[titan1978]

“He’s got no lips, no vocal chords!  What do you want me to do?”

”They froze the head!”

”WHAT?!?”

 

One of my favorite scenes!

 

[j swift]

That tracks. But what about the crazy kismet of someone referencing the same title 37 years ago, it’s a remarkable coincidence.