Monty and her team really did nail most casting, and allowing the actors freedom and to become tightknit. You can see the throughline in stuff from slightly later this year, when new additions like Blackie and the Templetons join Robert, Ruby, etc. in seeing Luke off on his wilderness jaunt where he will meet Holly, or in stuff from '83 or '84 and later with Anna becoming a part of the town, Bobbie, Tony, Frisco and Felicia and so on. I don't care about Laura Templeton at all but I do buy the easy rapport between most of the characters or at least actors in the mix because the town, the community and the relationships always feel so lived-in in the original Monty era. (Including, as you say, the Webbers' rising and possibly homicidal exasperation with Amy - whose inability to get off the phone and stop gabbing to a reporter contributed to Laura's abduction in January - which also cracks me up.) They also really played the deep emotion and feeling in the relationships, particularly among Ruby and Luke and Bobbie, over the years. Norma Connelly was so amazing. I'm not sure if she ever got a confrontation scene with Sarah Brown's Carly, or Helena; if she did I'd love to see it.
That's what struck me about the LNL wedding episodes as well, finally rewatching them in full again with more knowledge and experience with their stories in '79, '80 and '81. It's a massive splashout, Monty is on some Baz Luhrmann shít, but it works not only because of the sumptuous production value but because you have gotten to so deeply know and care about all these people. Even the smallest characters from Beecher's Corners or the Lutzes have some history with Luke and Laura. In those Monty years they serviced every little piece.
By
Vee ·
