Julianne Moore Only Movie Star To Be PROUD She Started On Soaps

I never saw that soap but I do recall hearing that she played twins on it. interestingly, Another World, which aired at the same time as ATWT also had female twin characters.

Julianne Moore won an Emmy during her soap stint (seriously!) back when the Daytime Emmys were as big as the Primetime Emmys. That's probably why she has fond memories.

I have a friend who worked on a movie with her a couple of years ago. Said she is one of the sweetest, down-to-earth people you could ever meet.

Marcia Cross has spoken highly of working on "One Life to Live". She was on the "Tonight Show" and shared some stories about Lois Kibbee and all the witty things that her TV grandma had said. She had been on "The Edge of Night" with Lois before hand, so they most likely had hit it off then. Lois was a mentor to young actors, a few of whom went onto bigger things.

Good.

Most people had small potatoes jobs when they were starting out. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.

Soaps are extremely hard to do especially now. You’re expecting to learn 60 pages of dialogue for a single day shoot. It’s insane.

She used to not mention it.

Nathan Fillion always spoke about his time on OLTL

Meg Ryan was an ATWT alum as well, but she never talked about it in interviews, when her movie career got hot. I guess it embarrassed her or she thought she was above it.

I hated her movie where the two lesbians had sex with a man.

How anti-gay.

Julianne's stories on ATWT were mostly silly, but you really believed the close relationship she had with her on screen parents.

Her best stories were the two parents finding her look alike in Italy and when she was stalked by John Wesley Shipp, then blamed for his murder.

She even reprised her role for the show's finale.

James Franco did General Hospital at the height of his career! He received an Oscar nomination and hosted the Oscars in the midst of his stint.

Seriously Julianne Moore

Allison Janney looked back on her experience with fondness. She even praised Fiona Hutchinson for helping her act for the camera.

Of course. It's the smart thing to do.

I will talk about it.

Ride a cocked horse to Banbury Cross to see a fine lady upon a white horse Rings on her fingers and bells on her toes, she will have music wherever she goes!

I ***love*** you, R18.

She was on at the same time with fellow future Oscar winner Marisa Tomei. Marisa left before Julianne.

Steven Weber played one of her boyfriends.

James Earl Jones, Allison Janney, Kevin Bacon, Nia Long, Taye Diggs, Rudy Dee, Melina Kanakaredes, Michelle Forbes, Brittany Snow, Matt Bomer, to name a few, have spoken fondly about working on Guiding Light.

Kim Zimmer is a c***

r22 Is she? LOL

[quote]Another World, which aired at the same time as ATWT also had female twin characters.

Anne Heche as Vicky and Marley Love Hudson.

Tony Geary hated it when the actors who would find real success later on would refer to their time on daytime dramas as a training ground

Rue McClanahan and Ann Wedgeworth both looked down on their soap opera careers in interviews.

Several GL alums did say it was a great training ground due to the demand it put on the actors. It was meant as a compliment.

Could somebody please explain the history of "seriously" and Julianne Moore? Seriously! There are some of us who truly don't know but have just been taking it for granted.

Again, seriously please explain. Thank you.

John Stamos posing with GH actors.

Who was the chick who won an Emmy for play a young Judy Garland? She was on GL and always spoke highly of her time on the show. She seemed to have a very bright future but what happened? Everyone was predicting Oscars and Emmys and all sorts of awards. I think she may have been nominated for a Tony?

R30 Tammy Blanchard? Last I heard, she had been cast in the upcoming Fred Rogers biopic starring Tom Hanks.

R30 Tammy Blanchard, her last role was as Cora in The Iceman Cometh on Bradway with Denzel Washington.

[quote]Tony Geary hated it when the actors who would find real success later on would refer to their time on daytime dramas as a training ground

Why? Is it because they used the soaps as a way to improve their craft and move on while he's been stuck there on and off for forty years?

Nathan Fillion was encouraged to leave One Life to Live by his costar who played his uncle. He told Nathan he was so good that he needed to get out of soaps before he got stuck there; and that if it didn't work out he could always come back. It worked out for Nathan and he still returned on occasion.

r31 YES! Oh good. I'd heard such great things about her. She was great on GL. She seemed destined for greatness but I've heard nothing.

Judith Light often talks fondly of her time on OLTL.

Soaps? Wow. Even G never sunk that low.

Wasn't Bette Davis such a fan of GL she wrote letters weekly to the cast?

Bette hated Secret Storm. She turned it on once, saw an old co-worker, then kicked in her television set.

r38 We weren't talking SS but GL. She adored it.

R38 doesn't get the joke.

Julianne Moore, seriously.

About 15 years ago, one night someone went through virtually every thread on DL and wrote "Julianne Moore, seriously." It didn't matter if the thread had anything to do with Julianne Moore or with movies or Hollywood. The person wrote "Julianne Moore, seriously" in political threads, in home decor threads, in medical threads, in career threads, in porn threads. Everywhere.

No one knew exactly what to think at first, so it sort of became a joke. Then it gradually evolved into a meme.

R41 So basically, a sociopathic poster was rewarded by having his dumb joke immortalized on DL? Sounds about right, (I guess).

Thank you for filling me in. I guess I now have sufficient. (just learned that one!)

At one time, soap audiences were large, and loyal. An eternally devoted fanbase to take along as you reach for higher career aspirations isn't a bad thing. Julianne Moore should be proud of her soap career.

Not twins, half sisters, one an all American girl, the other raised in London and very reserved and cold. Some viewers honestly didn’t know if was the same actress.

[quote]So basically, a sociopathic poster was rewarded by having his dumb joke immortalized on DL? Sounds about right, (I guess).

Not the first time its happened on DL. Certainly won't be the last either.

She gives me the shits, always has, desperate ginga cunt

R13 And we’re still stuck with his shitty character.

Julianne Moore seriously

Ray Liotta also speaks fondly of his time on “Another World”.

Meryl would not talk smack about soaps. Her sister-in-law was on Guiding Light for years.

And Moore didn't return for the finale of As the World Turns. She came back a few months earlier for a one-day event.

Here's a day JM played both characters.

Anne Heche has spoken fondly about her time on a soap.

Julianne seems to have had bad teeth back then. But she was bloody brilliant anyway.

Anne won an Emmy too. Like Julianne it was in the younger actress category which should be retired at this point. Even the golden globes had the sense to retire the superfluous most promising actor actress categories, but this was after the Pia Zadora debacle.

Yes. Fillion has always been proud of his time on OLTL. He returned for a cameo during Asa's funeral in 2007. I think he even showed up at a big OLTL fan event recently.

Julianne returned when she heard the show was going off the air which was a generous thing for her to do. Meg Ryan couldn't be bothered..

Julianne appeared on the 1 April 2010 episode, which was one day before the 54th anniversary.

When Julianne was on "As the World Turns", they had one of the most gripping stories ever with John Wesley Shipp as the sweet Douglas Cummings whose late wife had died under mysterious circumstances, and as his story unfolded, it appeared that he had killed her in a jealous rage. He was obsessed with Kim who had been kind to him while singing at a cabaret years before and he looked on her as a mother figure whom he secretly wanted as a lover. The storyline also involved a fascinating gothic character named Marsha Talbot (Guilia Pagano) who was a karate expert and may have been the one who killed Douglas's wife. The writing was absolutely terrific, but when they tried a variation of the story again with Rex Smith's character (married to a "recast" Frannie), it flopped big time. This story reminded me of the Keith Whitney "Edge of Night" story from years before that was psychologically brilliant although only some audio clips are available. The "Edge" website documents it in detail.

Allison Janney was hysterical as the maid on "Guiding Light" who actually continued to work for Alexandra Spaulding after Roger and Jenna were forced out of the mansion. Alexandra found her and the blonde ditz maid stealing when she was moving back in and rather than call the police, offered them a job. Unfortunately, the character was phased out when Alan was brought back, but I love watching Janney drool over Rick Heart's Alan Michael and his thick black hair. I've seen Janney in several Broadway plays in quite different roles ("A View From the Bridge", "Nine to Five", "Six Degrees of Separation"), and really enjoy how versatile she is. She was one of the few good things about the Travolta "Hairspray".

I've aged a bit since my soap opera days. Voice hasn't changed, though.

R41, Thanks for the info on how to become a legendary DL meme!

Seriously!

GapPlayListGuy, r59, aren't you already a DL meme? I mean, people now reference you in threads having nothing to do with the Gap or with music or with the 1990s.

Seriously.

r57 The Keith Whitney saga was one of the most riveting ever on a soap. Edge of Night was on fire in 1970-71. I was a kid of about 9. Walked into the kitchen one afternoon after watching AW (on NBC) and Edge of Night (on CBS) was playing on that TV. As I fixed a snack, I became enthralled as Geraldine talked to Keith about all his crimes and how they were them covering up. Meanwhile Laurie Ann Karr was deeply in love with Jonah Lockwood (Keith), who looked as crazy as Charles Manson.

Alas, none of the footage survives, but here's a quick promo that lets you see what Bruce Martin looked like playing Keith/Jonah.

Tammy Blanchard was a great example of an actor being helped by a show and finding her niche.

When she first came on as Drew Jacobs, the character was a total nothingburger. She was part of a wave of young characters that came on - Taye Diggs was her boss or something, a record producer. She was just sort of Third Vapid Young Pretty Girl From The Left.

And you could tell she was incredibly green. She likely learned how to work in front of a camera, where to stay in what light, etc.

About six months in you could just see her blossom in the role. You could see the technical confidence, which allowed her enough security to focus on the performance and the nuances and let her light shine, so to speak, and she just kicked ass. One of those performers you really wanted to see more of, if they weren't on screen.

The show noticed and eventually connected her character to a birth mother and father she hadn't known (and who, of course, were on the show). I have little memory of the specific storylines, but I can tell you it used to happen every few years where you'd really get a gem of an actor like this in the pipeline, and it definitely happened for her. She especially had wonderful chemistry with the actress who played her mother, Patti D'Arbanville.

When she went on to kick total and complete ass in the Judy bio I was SO not surprised.

Yes, R60, but I want to really up my game.

Ooh, I just thought of what to post in a Shawn Mendes thread!

Julianne was generous enough to do this.....it wasn't for pay, I'm sure it was scale or for free, so this was to honor her castmates and particularly the actors who played Bob and Kim.

I still get a little misty eyed when I see this, almost 10 years later.

It's hard to gain back much sentiment when the show had been gutted like that.

Why shouldn't she be? Since when have Americans become such snobs? So, now doing a soap as an actor is akin to working shifts in fast food joints or a factory job? Or even waitressing in hospitality?

What's this fuckery?!

I was an ABC soaps fan as a kid and read the soap mags (Mary!) and remember The Douglas Cummings Mystery being lauded across the board. It was named Best Storyline of the Year by SOD.

It's very good experience.

I'll keep the role warm for you while you're away.

Soap opera actors were a lot better back in the day (1970s and 1980s). By the end of the 80s, they started hiring beautiful but not very talented actors far too much. Pretty soon the veterans were carrying the laboring oar when emotional scenes were made. Moore was on ATWT when soap acting was still good.

It is really nice to see her be so grateful for her opportunity and early break on soaps. I also remember her fondly as Valerie Bertinelli's best friend on I'll Take Manhattan, a 1987 TV miniseries based on the book of the same name (author was Judith Krantz). She really stood out in such a small role.

Note also DL fave Billy Magnussen in r64's clip.

It's very hard to be a good actor on a soap these days or even since the early 2000s. They have no preparation time anymore and the writing is god awful.

R71 OMG, I didn't notice him! I was too focused on what Julianne was saying/doing.

R72 The writing for soaps has been taken over by fan girls who could barely write an essay. The blonde actresses with the black roots and way too much black eye-liner are horrible. In the 1970's, the New York soaps at least had writers who felt they were writing a Broadway play every day and brought quality to their work. Even the actors who worked off cue cards brought something unique to their characters. Every soap had a wise old owl who dispensed advice and coffee, told the truth, and then hugged the person they were basically telling to wake up and smell that coffee. The soaps need more Myrtle Fairgate's, more Ada Hobson's, more Aunt Ruby's. Now the advisers to the young characters are former femme fatales like Monica Quartermain and Bobbie Spencer and Julie Williams. Even when she is on, Jill Abbott falls into that category too. Towards the end of their runs, Erica Kane and Lisa Mitchell were doing the same thing, that is when Lisa was actually shown.

Not to mention with Altman out at GH, there is not one woman EP or HW on any of the four shows. That's ridiculous.

They don't have any wise female stages on The Bold and the Beautiful. Except now Brooke has become just a talk to character which must be galling to Katherine Kelly Lang. She used to be everything on this show.

Moore was VERY generous to return.

GL didn't even bother, I don't think, to ask. James Rebhorn, the awesome character actor, returned to ATWT as well. I know his character died off screen on GL but he could have come back and reconnected with Beth. Something. He so would have and GL had time. I don't think they even thought to ask. Did ATWT ask?

GL could have brought back sooooo many stars who cut their teeth on the show to come back and give thanks. It being the iconic longest running show in history, I think many would have. They didn't even need to be the character they played. Kevin Bacon could have just run into someone on the street (drunk, that would have been funny). Also, former soap actors who played iconic roles could have come back even if someone else was playing their role. Judi Evans could have come back, run into Philip or if Nick would have returned, she could have been his new girlfriend tying in both Beth and Lujack. Sherry Stringfield could have come back as just a person in the diner or something.

R67 I always wondered, how did people determine which network soaps to watch? I only watched the NBC soaps in the 80s (Days Of Our Lives, Another World, Santa Barbara), and only occasionally watched an episode or two of the other network soaps. The ones I could definitely NOT get into though were the CBS soaps. I don't know why. So yeah, I wonder what made people watch which soaps from which network.

Most people just started watching what their mothers watched. Other soaps might have caught your attention because of an actor or plotline. But if you grew up watching family soaps, the workplace soaps or the action-adventure soaps or the glamour soaps probably never interested you.

My mother (nor my older sisters) watched soap operas, so I got the habit all on my own during summer vacations, watching mainly the CBS P&G soaps -- As the World Turns and Guiding Light, though I never had the patience for the glacial Young and the Restless. Sometimes, if the storylines on ATWT or GL were boring, I'd switch over to Another World and Santa Barbara.

I tuned into "Guiding Light" in early 1982 because I had liked Jane Elliott on "General Hospital", and alternated daily between the two shows (often switching to the other network to see what was going on, as the breaks weren't often at the same time), and lost interest after she left. Kim Zimmer and Beverlee McKinsey brought me back as a viewer, and I was absolutely addicted during the Susan Piper/Reardon cottage story which ended up in Barbados. The only show that seemed to be free of competition was "The Edge of Night" (on at 4:00 in L.A. after "GH") and at half an hour was very easy to get through.

Storylines that were boring consistently turned me off from certain shows, and after Lesley was killed on "GH", I lost interest in the show and didn't care for the new characters other than maybe Ginny Blake. Sometimes the actors got my interest even if the shows themselves weren't always great ("Capitol"), and I always gave the new shows a week to get a gist of what they were about. I regret not watching more of "Loving" during the early years because I later got to see Bryan Cranston on Broadway, but I found "Santa Barbara" to be a hoot. Ironically, I didn't get into "Ryan's Hope" during its run, but when SoapNet re-ran it, I loved it. Now that I can copy the shows to disc and watch a lot of what I missed when I have the time, I've come to appreciate that era (late 1970's, 1980's) a lot more.

I don't think I ever saw an episode of Ryan's Hope, but I do remember thinking Yasmine Bleeth was really pretty. I always thought she was like a cross between Paula Abdul and Carmen Electra. I do recall watching Generations in the late 80s/early 90s. I think Kelly Rutherford started out on that show, and then she went on to do other stuff (Melrose Place, I think). I also watched several episodes of Bold And The Beautiful in 1988/1989. Some of the men on there at the time were so hot!

R77 GL had no budget, either. The people that came back at the end did it for scale or for free. They asked a lot more people but most wanted way more than the show could afford.

People like Maureen Garrett and Lisa Brown came back because they loved what the show did for them in their lives. The tiny little gesture Lisa makes at around 3:02 of this.......MARY!

That Lisa Brown moment killed me!

R84 I was the MARY!est MARY! that ever MARY!ed the day it played live. I ugly cried for a few minutes after.

Maybe because we'd missed the good old days for so long - it was so sad for most of the later years, and that was a nod to those better days.

[quote]Kim Zimmer and Beverlee McKinsey brought me back as a viewer, and I was absolutely addicted during the Susan Piper/Reardon cottage story which ended up in Barbados.

R81, I loved that era, too!

PLUS the Summer of 1984 was the infamous SLUT OF SPRINGFIELD extravaganza!

OMG, this Susan Piper clip!!!! Tony! Claire's mullet! INDIA!!!!!! INDIA!!!!!!!!!

And you know it was something she came up with herself. Even though that looked nothing like the "real" Company...even though most of the audience had no idea about her character's connection to Company...that moment was a reward for us long-term fans.

R83 I would think CBS could pick up the tab and throw in a few extra dollars for the final weeks of the longest running show in history. Shameful.

R87 and R88 agree with you both.

ATWT was notified of its cancellation on Dec. 1, 2009. It filmed the final scenes in late July/early August 2010.

With nine months to plan. NINE MONTHS! You'd think they'd come up with a better farewell for a 54 year old show

In olden days, some shows got only a few weeks notice of cancellation. Texas and Edge of Night each got six weeks notice -- notice given in mid November, final shows aired at end of December in 1982 and 1984, respectively. Yet the writers managed to wrap up storylines and came up with loving sendoffs for their shows.

R90 Chris Goutman ruined that show.

GL may have looked like a cable public access show but I loved where it landed at the end. I was much more muted about ATWT. They had a few touching moments, but Katie, Janet and Carly's vaginas ate the show almost whole.

I'd never seen the show, but that clip of Moore playing two very different roles in the same scene is rather surprising. Such different auras around each character. I've always liked Julianne, but now, I really think she might be brilliant.

Chris Hughes was the worst part of the final months of ATWT.

It was a horrible recast and he ate the show worse than Carly's insta-"alcoholism" which was only created to get Maura West off the show on her final pregnancy.

AMC was always my favorite soap, but ATWT was a very close second during the era Julianne Moore was on. So many great storylines.

I liked GL a lot when I was a kid, but kind of tuned out when it became all about Reva.

[quote]Helen Wagner, who never got to say "Goodnight, dear."

R90 I honestly think that was part of the problem, when they were told that the show was ending, I imagine that they had planned on Helen Wagner getting to close out the show, but sadly she died before the end. What made me so upset about the last show, was that even though I hadn't watched for several years by that point, I couldn't believe that Lisa didn't get a large role in the last episode.

R78 I started watching as my family did. I say family, because my family was lower middle/working class so the men worked shifts and watched soaps. It was years before I realized that people thought of soaps as women's shows. We watched Y&R on CBS, then turned to ABC at 1:00, though we would flip back and forth until Y&R ended. Later, I would do the same for B&B, then I got into ATWT for a few years when I had gotten mad at OLTL, and the same thing happened with GL, when I hated the emphasis on Sonny at GH.. But mainly I spent years flipping back and forth between ABC and CBS. The only soap we ever watched in my lifetime on NBC was Sunset Beach, and that was because it was on at noon, so we would watch the first half of it before Y&R.

I'm amazed GL and GH were able to duke it out for so long going head to head esp during GH's heyday. GL held close in the ratings and clawed to a brief #1 by 84.

GL lost so much momentum from 85 to 88 and just when it was hitting on all cylinders from 89-92, they lost all their great HW's, for the most part, and lost all their stars at pivotal moments in the plot like Bev as Alex, Sherry Stringfield as Blake, Simms as Mindy all in a very short amount of time. Devastating and it never recovered.

Goutman was such a petty cunt that he didn't let Martha Byrne come back for the end.

Beth ehlers? Was she invited?

r98 No one wanted her dark energy there.

Julianne Moore, seriously, looms like Belinda Carlisle in OP's pic.

Looks, shit.

Jeanne Cooper (Katherine Chancellor in Y&R) went in the opposite direction: from films to soaps. She said soaps were harder to do as an actor.

r95 ATWT's cancellation was announced in early Dec 2009. Helen Wagner died in May 2010. Final episodes were taped in late June 2010, aired in Sept 2010

Knowing the show was being cancelled and knowing Helen was 91 years old and in poor health, I'd have taped her farewell scenes far in advance.

Yes, it would have been a bit awkward to ask Helen to tape those scenes months in advance. Maybe even a bit morbid to do so. But I suspect Helen would have wanted to have the last word on the show, to say "Goodnight, dear." She would have gotten over the awkward and morbid bit and would have happily taped the final scenes in Jan. 2010.

Leonardo DiCaprio was on Santa Barabara for a bit. I wonder if he ever mentions it?

[quote] I'd never seen the show, but that clip of Moore playing two very different roles in the same scene is rather surprising. Such different auras around each character. I've always liked Julianne, but now, I really think she might be brilliant.

She did create two distinct characters, but I have to be honest, as much as I loved the performances, she really never nailed the English accent. (And apparently can't do it well in any of her films, either.)

"Guiding Light" utilized everybody a great deal the last week of the show, and "As the World Turns" should have followed suit, at least with Lisa. "Guiding Light" will always be remembered for allowing the often villainous Alan Spaulding to die a hero, so while Ron Raines wasn't on the last few episodes (his character died that Tuesday or Wednesday), the show did a good job in using Marj Dusay, Grant Aleksander and Beth Chamberlain every episode that week. Lillian (Tina Sloan) even got a happy ending which was nice, and Alexandra (Marj) got to go off with Fletcher, a bit sudden I realize, as they hadn't exactly broken up amicably (and that was in 1994!), but I figured that they must have kept in touch off-screen and maybe visited while Marj was on long extended breaks on the show (not her choice) after her brief marriage to Cyrus Foley.

"As the World Turns" could have had Lisa reunite with ex-husband Grant Coleman, and there could have been visits by characters like Ellen Stewart and her daughters, granddaughter Betsy, and Lyla Montgomery, to name a few. But Eileen Fulton deserved more. To do nothing but throw shade at Lucinda and John was just degrading.

There were rumors that Eileen had some memory issues and they could only give her short scenes at a time.

GL did redeem itself a lot in the last 6 months. And the ending was satisfying. There were genuinely poignant moments that reflected back to the past and pointed to the future.

I still wish they would have been given a big budget for the last few weeks so they could have brought back some huge former stars, both HW and soap, for nice surprises.

Kelly Ripa doesn't hide her soap roots, but she tends to poke fun of it. Is she the most financially successful former soap actor?

Did Reva comeback the last week of GL? I know that Kim Zimmer has always been proud of being on Soaps despite being in such hit films as Body Heat (which really could've been her Sharon Stone/Basic Instinct star making moment as she asked Kasdan if she could flash minge in a scene and he was considering it, but finally thought it might be too much). She was also in the critically acclaimed tv biopic Keeping Secrets and stole the show from its star and writer, Suzanne Somers, portraying Suzanne's drunk sister Maureen. I won't even go into her terrific performance as a battered woman on the critically acclaimed Designing Women. Still, Kim has never shied away from her Soap roots.

Reva was on the show - she didn't "come back the last week of GL." She returned in 1996 and never left again except for vacations.

The five years later scene at the end showed Reva and Josh together, raising Reva & Richard's son.

R110 was making a joke.

r111 It was one year later.

Not to defend anyone in charge of those P&G soaps in the end, but let's face it, they were likely getting next to nothing. P&G wanted those shows gone and didn't care.

r114 Perhaps some shaming could have helped. Esp for GL, their crown jewel, the longest running show in history. The show is iconic and literally historic. It made them billions. They owed at least a few weeks of big bucks and it is shameful they didn't. Shameful. And they should have been shamed. Maybe if someone from GL would have fucked Les Moonves they'd have gotten their money?????

Robin Wright has said good things about her time on Santa Barbara. She talks how hard it was and how much she learned doing it.

I seem to recall Leo talking about SB without any shade. Brad Pitt has talked about his soap start.

But......

r117 What is the story about Joan doing this? From the little I've heard, it was batshit insane. Next level. And she was blitz out of her mind for most of it, right?

R117 I can't believe that there isn't a video/film recording of this somewhere. I would have thought someone, either at the network, the ad agency, or one of the affiliates, would have said elderly Joan "Fucking" Crawford is playing a teenager on a soap opera, we must preserve this for posterity. We have found random other recordings, but why not this? We can experience Don Knotts soap appearance on Search For Tomorrow, but not Joan Crawford's on The Secret Strom, it is a travesty.

Joanie wasn't exactly playing a teenager. She was 62 playing a role of a woman who was late 20s early 30s on screen - I think Christina was 28.

Still ludicrous but a little less of a gap than suggested above.

R120 Sorry I wasn't around, so I didn't know how old the character was. I looked it up on wikipedia and the character , was supposed to be 24 while Joan was around 64.

I loved Julianne's return -- she seemed genuinely happy to have been there. Class, in a profession where it's so desperately needed.

Julianne is so cool. She understands the soap put her on the map.

Taye Diggs play Sugar Hill and never talks about it.

r124 He did on some show a few years ago. He laughed and said his character was a record producer. He didn't diss it at all.

Were Brittany Snow and Hayden Panettiere on GL at the same time? I think at least one of them was on when Tammy Blanchard was on as well. Was Tammy a big deal here at DL when she played a young Judy?

R115, apparently Kim Zimmer offered to sleep with Moonves, but he took a pass...

R114 I've never understood why P&G were so desperate for them end? They had to still be making them money. For one thing unlike the other soaps, they were still airing in multiple countries. ATWT was the most popular daytime show in the Netherlands. These foreign airing were almost pure profit.

GL was huge in Italy for sure.

They wanted to make a higher profit with talk shows and game shows. They really should have made them both 30 mins and blocked them together.

R128 That would be CBS's reason, but not P&G's, they don't produce talk shows or game shows.

I stumbled on an old episode of AMC the other day. It was early 2000s. There was a teen storyline for a while that was pretty bad and I didn't think any of them would really go beyond daytime, but it included: Micheal B. Jordan (CREED, BLACK PANTHER), Amanda Seyfried (MAMMA MIA), Alexandra Daddario (TRUE DETECTIVE, SAN ANDREAS) and in the episode I watched, the "worst" JR Chandler, Andrew Ridings who is now a super hot hunk and plays (played?) the "straight" roommate on THE OTHER TWO.

I think Jordan kind of blows off his soap past. He was a scrawny thing then, but he was good. And for a while, Erica Kane's stepson!

[quote] I think Jordan kind of blows off his soap past. He was a scrawny thing then, but he was good. And for a while, Erica Kane's stepson!

Jordan has bad things to say about AMC but not because it was a soap.....more that it was a terrible role and hit every "we don't know how to write for a black character so let's do this dumb shit" branch on the tree on the way down.

And sad that it was AMC, which did much better in Agnes Nixon's day and had the great Angie and Jessie. But Reggie was a stereotype and he had a few white savior types. I can see why he bolted as soon as he could.

GL had no budget at the end. Actors were changing in port a pottys and eating at McDonalds for lunch.

r132 Not me, I was guzzling gallons of Tulsa moonshine and all the dick in Springfield!

It's sad to hear that about Michael B Jordan say those things. Walt Willey was a real mentor to him, did he mention that?

I agree that while ATWT looked MUCH better than GL at the end, it's ending was a huge letdown. Scenes I would have used to end the show: Lily (Noelle) walks out the door, Holden calls her back, but Martha is the one who returns. Katie reunites with true love Simon, NOT Chris Hughes. Emma Snyder has a heart attack, causing all her children to return to her bedside (but she recovers!). The camera shifts to someone drinking wine on a tropical island...it's James, vowing he'll be back to Oakdale one day. And there's one last party at the Mona Lisa, with old favorites like Shannon, Ellen, Duncan, Mike Kasnoff, Joyce, Grant, Jessica, maybe even a released from jail Steve Andropolous all toasting Oakdale. The only thing Goutman did right...the ONLY thing...was bringing back John Dixon.

BTW, Julianne was the definitive Frannie, but I did like her successor Mary Ellen Stuart. Does anyone remember the scene where she thinks Rex Smith is going to kill her in that ski lift? Great scene!

Which soap started doing the obvious product placement? I remember someone posting a clip of it ten years ago or so.

R136, that was Days. I vividly remember a Midol scene.

R137 GH has tried it a few times, usually around the Nurse's Ball.

R135 Noelle Beck offered to leave so Martha Byrne could come back for the end, but they were pissed at Martha (who wanted come back) and they wouldn't let it happen.

NO, Martha herself said that she declined because it was Noelle's role and she would not usurp her like that, despite the kind offer.

R140 According to this article, Martha said she was interested, but wasn't asked to return by the show.

I the character of Marah was horribly written no matter who played her. She was the daughter of Reba and yet she was as bland and boring as watching paint dry.

Thanks for every post. This thread is like candy. I have been a soap fan since the early 70s. This thread was a great escape, just like the soaps we have all loved watching for years.

R143 Glad you're enjoying! We also talk over at the "Midwestern Towns" thread about some of the older shows, like ATWT, GL, AW and others.

Watch out folks, Phoebe wants to warble.....

Hats off to Ruthie. She could act on TV and film AND she sampled some of the finest cock there ever was or will be.

ATWT was my grandmother's show but it was the Douglas Cummings story that made me become a loyal fan. And this was despite the fact that I couldn't understand how they could possibly have recast Frannie with a redhead (the prior actress had been a blonde) with porcelain skin that looked completely frail to me. But by the time the Douglas Cummings story was over, Julianne had totally won me over and I've been a fan for life ever since.

I loved Douglas Marland's writing because he understood the importance of family and history on soaps, and creating story from that history and based on relationships. When there were weddings, funerals, anniversaries, former characters would return for a few episodes, played by the prior actor - it really felt like 'real life' in that way.

Lily, Dusty, Holden, Iva, Craig, Sierra, Frannie, Kim, Bob, Susan, Emily, Paul - the list goes on and on of strong, well defined characters that populated ATWT during those years.

Rich bich Emily had to become a prostitute just because she was bored and lonely.

R147 I started watching at the same time!

R137, within the last two weeks Days had another Midol scene, Marlena said she needed some because it was 'her time of the month'.

R136 If you're talking ten years ago or more you probably mean ATWT.

They went whole hog on it and a lot of it was the character of Margo, who suddenly needed a certain kind of hair color and Pringles (both P&G brands).

[quote] Marlena said she needed some because it was 'her time of the month'.

Bitch is 71 years old....she is not HAVING a time of the month anymore!

I dropped out of ATWT for awhile in 1993 after the real Caleb overdosed as well as when Andy Dixon's chubby girlfriend ate a donut the size of a spare tire.

R152 At her age, if she starts bleeding down there, she either needs to see a doctor, or a priest, maybe the devil is possessing her again.

Marlena has been 50 something for about 25 years now.

IMO, OLTL was the only canceled soap that still had "life" in it. GL, ATWT and AMC all felt like they were dragging.

Holden was so pompous.

R156 GL's style change could have worked but they really should have brought someone over from one of the British soaps, who had experience shooting a soap outdoors, which could have breathed life into it. However, the way they did it was just a sad ending to such a legendary series.

I completely agree that OLTL was the only one that wasn't running on fumes at the end, in fact it kept getting better and better over the last several months.

I think GL, at the VERY end, started clicking. When Philip came back things started getting pretty decent. The camera footage improved and they weren't so heavy handed with the background music over dialogue. In fact, as r158 said, it really could have revitalized the show if they actually found someone who could shoot outdoor footage correctly. They had plenty of time to fix what wasn't working but I think CBS was ready to pull the plug for years. GL didn't seem to get much support. It didn't help that the soap industry was dying and stagnant. Seeing how awful the state of soaps are now, things would not have gotten better for GL unless they struck gold with a great HW out of the blue. So it was probably for the best for GL and ATWT, two legendary series, to go when they did.

They got Grant back and had Jill Lorie Hurst as HW, which she should have been years before, but by then the damage had been done.

It was weird too because they announced Grant's return in like Sept. 2008 but he didn't show up until spring 2009. He'd only been back on air for about 6 weeks when the cancellation was announced.

In order for GL to succeed they needed to ensure that Reva was frontburner all the time!

That's what they thought, R161, but it wasn't necessarily true.

Sammy Davis Jr publicly oved soaps.