Comic relief characters like Eileen Davidson’s Susan and Sister Mary Moira, Jack Deveraux, Vivian and Ivan, Bonnie Kiriakis, Dr. Rolf and Bart, and Andrea Hall’s Hattie.

On 7/9/2023 at 2:56 PM, robbwolff said:

I also recall Tess from that board. She never revealed her identity but I believe she used the handle Christine before she started using Tess. I think she talked about working with Claire Labine in the 1970s behind the scenes at RH. A number of people who posted on Danfling’s board were skeptical of her as time went by as her later posts were riddled with factual inaccuracies. Some of those folks had been members of WoST and had been misled by someone who claimed to be GL writer Todd Strasser and they started questioning Tess’ legitimacy. I never interacted with her but enjoyed reading her posts. She said she was working on her memoir but then stopped posting.

 

On 7/9/2023 at 10:16 AM, dc11786 said:

This was mentioned years ago on a soap opera board (run by @danfling) The poster (who went by the handle Tess, but I believe her name was actually Chrissy or Christine) that mentioned the mother/daughter combo on "The Brighter Day" had an extensive collection of soap opera material both video and script. They would post pretty vivid recounts of material they had recently watched. She has briefly worked in the soap opera industry in the 1980s as I specifically remember Tess speaking about working on "Another Life."

Tess stated that Agnes Nixon was hired to work on "The Brighter Day" just before it had been cancelled and had proposed a mother/daughter duo where the mother was a beautician and the daughter was a social climber. 

Tess disappeared from the boards probably a decade or more ago, which is a shame because she was a wealth of knowledge. I suspect the wiki entry is from a fan who recalled what Tess had shared rather than Tess herself.

 

Oh goodness this is way off topic a year and half late but after just learning about da fling’s passing I actually asked whatever happened to poster Tess. Didn’t do too much digging to get an answer lol. Thank you both for sharing your memories I’m glad that I’m not the only one to remember her. It was a quirky board for sure but it was fun. 
 

On 7/10/2023 at 12:21 PM, robbwolff said:

I sincerely hope Tess/Christine is OK. I recall she had health problems and was waiting for a kidney transplant. As for Todd Strasser (aka Sean-Paul), that was some messed up nonsense. The person claiming to be Todd was supposedly great friends with Pam Long and arranged for her to participate in an online chat via WoST. However, folks were able to determine that Pam and Sean-Paul were using the same IP address. Sean-Paul had a lot of claims about the plans for SFT had it continued, including Carla Borelli assuming the role of Liza Sentell. After he was banned from WoST, I stayed in contact with him for a while via email. He claimed to be head writing OLTL during the 2007-08 writers strike and to be dating Jeff Branson. All communications from him stopped when I told him I was going into NYC to see a staged reading of a play called "The Short Bus" featuring Branson. By the by, let me say how much I love your posts on here! I really appreciate all the information you share!!

LOL I still have Brian’s private email giving some juicy details about that when I inquired about why the boards were closed.  I remember being shocked and laughing out loud when the real Strasser surfaced for a New York Times interview around the time of GL’s cancellation to share some GL memories and found out he was a successful children’s novelist. I wonder whatever happened to the imposter. There was a troll here a few years back that eerily reminded me of Sean-Paul especially when they stirred up big drama, but I don’t know if it was him. 

Christmas is the time I miss WOST the most for sure though. Thanks again for the laughs and memories have a good Holiday!

On 6/26/2023 at 1:53 PM, Franko said:

You need at least one self-identified outsider. They don't have to be from the wrong side of the tracks, but by design, intent or circumstance, they should feel out of sync if not isolated from others in their circle.

As someone said early Carly on ATWT, add to that early Carly on GH, Roger on GL.

On 6/26/2023 at 6:11 PM, Faulkner said:

 

I wonder how much the Sopranos-era push for more “antiheroes” played in that, but you could see the shift on soaps in the ‘90s. Obviously, soaps have turned rapists into heroes since time immemorial (Luke Spencer being most notable) and dark, troubled characters saved by a woman’s love are a romance-novel staple, but the feeling that good=boring and/or hypocritical, the pursuit of shock value, the valorization of Todd Manning not only after he raped Marty but terrorized Luna and Nora, etc. really shifted the landscape until Guza and co. just said “Fück it. Let’s put our thumbs on the scale and make killers heroes and more traditional characters the villains” and Sheffer professed the need to “give men their dicks back” to critical applause and Emmy wins.

 

Do you feel like any soap has done that well recently? Sally could have been that on Y&R. B&B used her for a quick, empty nod to history that CH managed to transcend.

On Y&R, Audra is in that mold. Imani could have been as well. Does GH have one these days? B&B with Brooke apparently having aged out of those types of stories?

YES! I think since the Sopranos accelerated the shift away from clear good vs evil dynamics and more situational morality, gray area type characters. Today, we have less good superman stops the evil villain and more Tony who kills people trying to be a good dad. 

The sad part is, we have shows now glorifying evil doers rather than holding up a mirror to them. I question wether the evil glorification is inadvertent or deliberate.

Every soap needs a grand dame. Kay Chancellor, Lucinda Walsh, Iris Wheeler, Felicia Gallant, Stephanie Forrester. A strong, sometimes combative, dignified, larger than life, older woman.

I think you can easily look at the Curlee era of Guiding Light and pull out the archetypes that are needed for the bare bones.

The home base type couple- Ed and Maureen, and keep them as complex as the two of them were, not just boring talk to’s and Ed still a doctor.

Schemer- Sherry Stringfield’s Blake was many things. Lonely, backstabbing, volatile, funny, ambitious and talented in business.

Anti-hero/villain- Roger Thorpe, and keep him early 90’s style. Ambitious, dangerous, and smart about not getting caught. But not crossing so far over the line that he burns out.

The media crew- Gilly with a more modern media company to fit the times, but still needed for cross commentary on other stories.

Blue collar company like Lewis- construction works for the most story angles because they can be used everywhere. I think two brothers running an inherited company that love/hate each other works very well here.

Dreamer, but also a little quirky- Bridget, and you need a classic ingenue for her to go against and an attractive dimwit they both want until they learn they can do better.

Alexandra Spaulding- Beverlee version, surrounded by the next generation of her tycoon family. The Alan-Michael archetype would be bisexual, and has no hang ups about this. Redo his triangle with Eleni (immigration marriages would seem like a hot button story right now) but it is all men.

Social climber Nadine and her kids, the Frank type is gay and deeply closeted.

Crossing over with GH, I think you also need a Kelly’s type place and Ruby type running it. 

 

Maybe I just need to go rewatch early 90’s GL.

Edited December 30, 2024Dec 30 by titan1978