I can see the logic in the criticism when it came to ABC shows. AMC, OLTL, and Ryan’s Hope all had deeper characters that were fully explored. The GH folks suffered a lot of romantic woes and tragedy in the earlier days, but whenever I see older scenes or read recaps they just are not as rich or complex compared to Nixon’s early characters, or Lemay’s erudite and sophisticated Another World. Even the Dobsons dug deeper at Guiding Light, and they were foundational at GH from scripts to later Head Writers.
I think the characters/casts could have done it well though, especially with Steve, Jessie, Lee Baldwin, and Phil Brewer. I will be honest and say I always found Rachel Ames kind of mannered and not quite as strong as the others.
Early Y&R suffers from that pretty people more than talented actors criticism. But Bell’s DAYS was full of very talented actors who could have played anything.
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titan1978 ·