Christmas at Company

Mac and Rachel are having me over for Christmas dinner. I do enjoy going there so much. Amanda and Matthew do love their Aunt Liz.

Do eavesdrop for us, Liz! I need to know what's happening over there!

I love spending Christmas with the Corys or the Hughes. On those days, the dysfunction gets swept under the rug (and at the Cory's, underneath the blue sofa). And then there's always Santa in Springfield.

Thanks to whoever started this new and lovely thread.

Thanks for the new thread!

I have always wanted to spend a time at Company. It looked so cozy, lots of drama and eye candy.

I was reading another thread about GL in its last true heyday during 88-93. It truly was like a rocket ship getting higher and higher, hotter and hotter then exploded when so many stars and writers left all at once, bad recasts and poorly developed new characters. If it could have sustained the magic, it would have upended YR for #1 eventually.

The Spaulding family circa 1983.

Some of the AW cast at Christmas, circa 1972.

R5, that was Christmas 1982. Hope Bauer Spaulding and Amanda Spaulding left Springfield in 1983.

The retcon they did to Amanda was criminal.

And she looked...uhhh...like an Israeli.

I mean, Toby Poser was very interesting and could have done any number of roles on that show well. I though she would have made a very good Blake recast had she arrived a few years earlier.

But she wasn't Amanda, who was at least 10-15 years older, if not more. And then whatever they did to fuck up that story was, well, a big mess.

Cullen is 66, Poser 50. So yeah, big difference.

I shared this on the Y&R page about the current sad state of Y&R - which just feels so bland, limp and without direction these days, but it applies to all the shows, sadly.

My comment:

Most of these shows lost their way in the early 2000s and never really found a balance again. No matter what the tone of the show is/was, there has to be some movement. It helps the audience to engage when they have a character who has a very clear purpose and drive.

Every show used to have a few of those characters that could or would drive things: the villain or villainess who would strike the balance between total evil and redeeming values. The young woman who wanted success, a family, money, all the things she'd been denied as a kid, and would stop at nothing to get them. The good character who would occasionally do something morally questionable to protect a child or someone s/he loved.

Now, good vs evil means nothing, because antiheroes like Sonny Corinthos or yes, Adam Newman are the ones with rooting value. DAYS has a storyline trying to redeem a serial killer. I respect the contributions of Braeden, Thomas Scott and Bergman, but there is absolutely no fresh take that can be done on the Victor/Jack or Newman/Abbott rivalry, and most of the offspring of both are so limp and undefined we don't give two shits about what's happening to them.

There is just NOTHING there and NOTHING going on. We really don't know what defines most of the characters, and the narrative playing out has no direction - the powers that be are SO afraid of committing to a direction, of relying on an actor that may leave, of trying something new or bold or exciting, that they keep it as generic as possible.

Spoilers may have done some damage to the car, but what's ultimately killed these shows is that they just can't be made in a financially sustainable way any longer. The more they cut, the smaller it shrinks, and the more that has to be cut, and it goes on and on until nothing is left (see under: Guiding Light, The)

I've tuned into YR a few times and FUCK is it boring and horrible. The characters/dialogue/acting were sad. None of the current soaps deserve to be on air. They are fucking terrible.

Aunt Dorian is no fan of LeMay.

Please no one ever take away her Twitter!

I'm amused at the exchange w/Strasser.

The man asking her about Jacquie Courtney and LeMay has a pretty vivid Twitter profile. LOL

I think the shows started losing their way in the 1990s.

It all started going to shit when Douglas Marland died in March, 1993. Then there was OJ. Then CBS brought on the destroyer cunts from ABC.

Somewhere in there, Mimi Torchin got to act out her rage at never having been hired as a writer, either at AMC or GL, using the power of her rag to destroy that which she purported to love. I gave up on soaps in 2000 when she spoiled the JFP/Megan McTavish version of OLTL, a story that had nothing going for it but plot.

I watched AW until the Dean and Jenna era, ATWT until they brought on Zoe Kasnoff and her friend, and then show-destroyer Carly Tenney, and moved to OLTL at some point during the Michael Malone period. I went back to ATWT for "Lisa sues John over Eduardo's death," one of the best Oakdale stories ever told, and eventually went back to OLTL. Very occasionally, I'd try to watch Y&R, but because of their ridiculously mannered dialog, I could never take it for more than a week.

I gave up on Easter weekend, 2000. Mimi had spoiled the "Will Rappaport escapes going to Statesville Prison" story in 128-point type, and the Elian Gonzalez story was going on opposite. It had actual suspense, something Mimi couldn't destroy, and I ended up never going back to Llanview.

I read about LML @Y&R. I'd loved Homefront and liked Knots Landing, so I was in. She completely cured the language situation, and I loved watching the Genoa City stories. For the first time ever, I didn't feel like a nincompoop for watching such low entertainment.

And I gave soaps up again until Luke Grimaldi came out. A disappointment of a storyline, that one.

Then I discovered this place in 2013. A whole bunch of queens who were (a) great fans of Ada, Rachel, Lucinda, Emma, and Philip's pendulous dong, and (b) still alive. Unfortunately, the shows had already died. But it's still fun remembering them with you guys. I don't know why Muriel hates us the way she does. The soap conversations are among the best we have. Cat conversations are the best feature of Datalounge, but soaps aren't far behind.

A Merry Christmas to each and every one of you who celebrates it (or Chanukah, if you're of the Hanen-Gannon-Buchanan-Rappaport persuasion). See you at Kiddo Kim's.

R1, there always seemed to be a tape involving the Spauldings. Diane Ballard had tapes of Moreno and Alan; India had Phililp's blackmail tape with Andy Ferris on it; Alex had Alan on tape over something...

R17's post reminded me of a soap blog that discussed a little of the business aspects of GL and ATWT in their final years

there were two posts, one here

and then

I just saw on Twitter that Judi Evans' son died on Friday. No info yet on the cause.

R21 That is terrible!

I can never find the episode that was Judi's last day on GL where Beth was kidnapped and Phillip shot. YT has the day before and the day after but not the day.

R21 Oh no....that is awful.

So sad.

How terrible. Wasn't her real-life pregnancy with him worked into her storyline on AW?

R25 I believe so.

Yes, it was and Judi not shedding the weight instantly was written in, too.

She's an amazing actress and such a great, nice person; she must be in agony right now. My heart breaks for her.

I saw Judi outside an event about 20 years ago. She was as nice as she could be even when I told her she'd always be Beth to me. When I asked to take her picture her only request Iwas I not show her cig since she was trying to quit and didnt want anyone to think she thought it was ok to smoke.

R29

Why would you think she'd be pressed by you saying she'd always be Beth to you? I would think any actor would be flattered by someone being that moved by their characterization..

R29 And Beth was an iconic character. I think Judi had such a rotten time on GL she had very bad memories and probably associated Beth with those. She has said VERY little about the character over the years- the character that won her an Emmy, GL's first for acting. Beth was part of two iconic supercouples within a years span. Her storyline was partly responsible for GL getting #1 briefly in 84.

What did she say when you said she would always be Beth to you?

She said something about watching her on whatever show she was doing then...probably Another World as Paulina.

R31 Plus she acted opposite James Rebhorn on GL! She was very big on promoting her current soap and being nice but moving the subject on about her former characters.

I just feel so bad for her.

are we murieled, or are things just kinda quiet

Not murieled yet, r34.

I saw a fabulous photo last night of Dano & Slezak at a recent Xmas party. I can't find it or I'd bring it over.

Both look fab and Linda was wearing a Santa hat. Lord, how I miss seeing those 2 on my screen.

Let’s settle in and watch GL from 30 years ago today.

Beth is back, Blake is freaking out with Alan-Michael, Harley and Dylan are hanging out. Good times.

The divine Elizabeth Hubbard's birthday is Sunday, when she turns 86 (!) years old.

Martha Byrne's 50th birthday is the following day.

Lee Lawson, aka Bea Reardon, was very funny as the daughter of Bea Arthur's old friend (Rosemary Murphy) on an episode of "Maude". This was years after "Love of Life" as Vanessa Dale Sterling's (aka Sarah Shayne) stepdaughter, and a few years before she played Wanda on "One Life to Live".

^^^^

OMG! I had no idea.

Lee looked great on Maude.

She was definitely prematurely aged when she took on the GL role. I don't know if she just started to look older, or if they made her up that way.

She was only about a decade older than her onscreen children. (Lawson was born in 1941 and Greg Beecroft, Ellen Dolan and Lisa Brown were all born between 1953-55)

I'm on my second glass of wine and just wanted to wish all the Marvelous Midwestern folks a happy holiday.....especially Aunt Liz, the DeFreitas fan, and even BNSD (who hasn't been here in ages.)

And a ho-ho-ho to you, ORD. And Aunt Liz. And BNSD. And LittleMissSeattle. God knows, I could not forget Julie Wendall, any more than I could Kiddo Kim or Original Mike Kasnoff.

Happy Holidays and Eavesdroppings to All.

R42

Anna Stuart was such a beautiful woman.

Seasons Greetings to everyone as well.

I do so enjoy the company here. Thank you all for being so dear to me.

If I overhear any good gossip during the holidays, you'll all be the first to know.

Potential gift for the a Bay City-phile.

And there's this (also available as a mug, apparently):

Lee Lawson looks just like Natasha Lyonne in R39

Happy Holidays to all my P&G pals! I gift you with a new podcast interview with Susan Marie Snyder, aka Julie Wen-DALL, aka Little Miss Seattle. Highlights: Michael David Morrison was a "challenging individual"! Jason Biggs was a "fun kid"! Lauren Hill was a "superstar" even then! Making out with real-life hubby Peter Boynton in front of the camera was "weird"! And everyone loved The Mama!

Woo-hoo! Susan likes Linda Ronstadt (her favorite is Pat Benatar, though).

Anyone remember Kurt Mckinney of GH (Ned) and GL (Matt) fame? He's been picked up for a straight-to-stream version of Gabriele's Inferno, being filmed in Syracuse. Piqued my interest so I looked him up and I'm wondering where his top lip went.

Aging (not to mention sun damage) can be cruel.

He was so damn pretty on GH and then on GL.

[quote]Aging (not to mention sun damage) can be cruel.

How recent is your photo, r51? Cause he looks damn fine in that photo.

He's 57 in real life.

^^^

I agree. He looks good to me.

Twitter joins in the Liz/Martha wishes.

^ Awwww...Happy Birthdays, Liz and Martha (should this happen to pop up in your google).

R44 Anna Stuart still is a beautiful woman. She's obviously very happy with husband James Cromwell. I'm hoping that when Retro TV starts interviewing cast members of "The Doctors", they get to chat with her. I'm also hoping the same with Elizabeth Hubbard & Jada Rowland. They are airing episodes now from the spring of 1979, and while it is a mixed bag, there are some really good scenes for the veteran characters: Maggie, Matt (a character I find rather off putting with his borish nature at times), Carolee, Steve & Mona. And of course, Kathleen Turner as Nola, having changed the character from the determined young woman that Kathryn Harrold played to the vixen that she becomes under Kim Zimmer.

I love the bit of gray that Anna has. I wish that one of the remaining soaps would reach out to her, even if for a short term part since she is an East Coast girl and all the soaps are in L.A.

R57

I'm so happy that Anna found happiness too. She spent so many years in that LTR to an abusive asshole who in the end stole all her savings.

R58 I wonder if that was during "The Doctors". Her character, Toni Ferra Powers, went through the same thing with husband Mike. There have been several soap actors who went through similar drama to what their character was going through. She had some major health issues too which is why she didn't work between "GH" and "GL" (1978-1981) and they came back when she returned to "AW". I was always a huge fan of hers because she's very unique as a personality and as an actress. I recall her saying in an interview that she grew up in a well to do family like Donna, but never had Donna's snobbish attitude (which later we realized was something Donna hid behind to avoid being hurt) and admittedly preferred the "bad boys" over the wealthy preppy types.

I saw her listed on Daytime TV's magazine of "runners up" a few times (or honorable mention) of favorite daytime actresses during her time on "The Doctors", but she never made their top 10 until she joined "Another World". It's amazing that she is still very popular in soap history threads, even more when the shows were on. I'm hoping that Retro TV re-airs "AW" at some point, starting with episodes from the late 70's/early 80's, long before the SoapNet re-runs.

I think Anna's bad relationship happened during AW, but I could be wrong.

It happened before and during AW. His name was Jesse Doran and he was a total asshole. I met him a few times via my friend Geraldine Court. Anna Banana was in love with him and gave him way too many chances.

R61 I took this screenshot of Geraldine Court during her last days on "The Doctors" as Dr. Ann Larimer Aldrich who arranged for Carolee (here played by the beautiful Jada Rowland) to be placed in a mental institution so she could marry Steve. Steve's mother, Mona (Meg Mundy) was aghast by Ann's actions as Ann was probably the only woman Mona ever liked and she felt very betrayed. Geraldine was mesmerizing in this part as she faced her downfall.

That scene - Ann's downfall - used to be on YouTube.

I just did a search on Anna's relationships. After her LTR with Jesse Doran she was in a LTR with a man name David City. They were together 14 years before he passed away.

She had met James many years ago but it wasn't until the wife of Charles Keating set them up that it turned to romance. James was a longtime friend of Charles. They married at the Keating's home.

So was Jesse or David the one that cheated her out of money?

[quote]I'm hoping that Retro TV re-airs "AW" at some point, starting with episodes from the late 70's/early 80's, long before the SoapNet re-runs.

Wouldn't it be great! Let's pray for a Christmas miracle that P&G is willing to lease those episodes out. Along with Guiding Light! And As the World Turns! And Edge of Night!

Then, let's also pray for a miracle that my cable company starts carrying the Retro channel!

While I would LOVE to rewatch episodes of AW and Edge again, the episodes I MOST want to get access to are the Guiding Light ones.

As I wrote on a previous thread, I started watching GL in April 1982, after NBC moved Texas from the 3 p.m. time slot to 11 a.m. My understanding is that the P&G archive goes back to 1979. So, that's three years worth of GL I could catch up on, which would include the end of the Dobson's run in 1979 and the entirety of Marland's run from 1980-82.

The Dobson's Guiding LIght was sooooo good. Marland's too. Really the golden age.

The writing, acting. Everything was hitting on all cylinders.

Just look at all the extras they had back then...

Thanks for posting that video r68. Until watching it, I didn't realize that someone else played Hillary Bauer before Marsha Clark. But there she is in the video. Linda McCullough playing the part. She aparently played the part from May 1977 to Feb 1978, then Marsha took over as Hillary.

Interesting that the video r68 posted from 1977 runs 41:48. That's without any commercials.

42 minutes in 1977! I'm very surprised at that number. I figured it would be at 45 minutes, if not 46 or 47.

Here, 42 years later, hour shows are down to a 36-37 minute runtime.

And still they can't make money, even with 8 extra minutes of commercials.

Well, that's not true. Apparently even at the end both GL and ATWT were still making a profit. CBS just wasn't happy that it was a smaller profit.

Are there rumors about Retro TV airing one of the other shows after The Doctors completes its run? I would love to see Another World from when Harding Lemay started writing it; I didn’t start watching AW until the late 80s and read so much about that era.

R72 The problem is that P&G shows are mostly erased prior to 1979, with a few episodes or segments here and there.

More of AW appears to exist or has been collected but not sure if they could go from a certain date and play every episode.

Thanks, r73. That's very depressing. Still, AW or GL or ATWT in the 80s would be totally welcome.

What was the date of the very first episode of Marland's ATWT? I did not see the show until the summer of 1988, and was not a regular watcher until sometime in 1989, when Lily's cottage burned down and she had to go to the famous plastic surgery convent in Switzerland. Heather Rattray is my imprint Lily, in fact.

R65

Jesse Doran was her abusive boyfriend. He also stole her retirement savings.

What service providers do you guys have that carry Retro TV. I have DirecTV and I don't have it.

[quote]What was the date of the very first episode of Marland's ATWT?

Wikipedia indicates that he started in Nov 1985.

However, the list linked below from Soap Opera Network indicates he started in Sept 1985.

It's possible both are correct -- he could have started writing for ATWT in Sept 1985 and his first scripts aired in Nov 1985.

r78 Thank you, darling.

Jesse Doran was known as Bob, for some reason. Total loser. Absolute failure as an actor.

Anna Banana definitely had snobbish tendencies, to contradict a post above. I asked a friend of mine if it would be OK to invite Geri to a party at his place. She brought Anna, who made it obvious she wasn’t crazy about the food. The host, who was drunk by now caught her rolling her eyes. He threw Geri and Anna out, yelling as they descended the building stairs “I don’t need some poor man’s Susan Lucci making faces at my spread!” He had a tendency to be overly dramatic.

[quote]Anna Banana definitely had snobbish tendencies

"That's Ming, Courtney. M-I-N-G."

"Pizza, Jake? Really?"

R68 & R69: I wish that episode featured Laryssa Lauret who played Hilary's mother, Simone. She had just completed a lengthy run (on and off for nearly a decade) on "The Doctors" playing Dr. Karen Werner, a very cold and neurotic woman who trapped Dr. Steve Aldrich (the late David Bailey) in a loveless marriage when he impregnated her. Steve and Carolee (before and after the whole Anne Larimer incident) raised Karen's son, Erich. As rigid and cold Karen was (and often bluntly cruel to those she worked with), there was something fascinating about Laryssa.

R80 Your post is very funny, but Susan Lucci is definitely a poor man's Anna Stuart! The only thing Susan has over Anna is camp quotient, but I'm sure Anna (as Donna or Vanessa or Toni or Gina or Mary) wouldn't be caught dead screaming at a bear in the middle of nowhere. (Granted, Mary Smythe would just start throwing those horrible big beads at it that they forced her to wear....)

Any idea of how Susan Lucci & Anna Stuart got along? Anna has said that her closest friends on the "AMC" set were the crew. It seems at first that they never intended to make Mary the latest of Erica's rivals, and when they did, the story just made Mary look like a fool to give Erica all the sympathy. For a while too, it looked like Mary and Palmer were going to get together which would have been great even though he was her father's age. I would have loved Vanessa to show back up alive and terrorize Mary, even though Marj Dusay had gone back to "Guiding Light" by that point. (Marj and Anna are way up on my list of favorite daytime divas; Susan is there too, but at a much lower spot.....)

[quote]Susan Lucci is definitely a poor man's Anna Stuart!

Erica (as well as Tina on OLTL) was the reason I thought soap opera was beneath me until I watched Another World for the first time in 1988.

Anna is divine! I hope she and James are having a marvelous Christmas.

Susan Lucci cannot act and it is a damn joke she was nominated so many times.

Judi Evans made a brief Tweet to say thanks for all the support since her son's death.

Still just....I cannot imagine how sad and painful.

"Dateline Genoa City: Traci Abbott's Christmas Cookbook" has just been Murieled. The most recent post was an hour ago.

This thread could be next.

R88 Very nice people have been starting new threads when the others are paywalled.

A new YR thread is here

I feel energy.....

SHEER energy!

33 years ago today - the final Search for Tomorrow episode.....

Thanks for posting that r92

[quote]—Joanne Tate Vincente Tourneur

What was Joanne's full name? How many marriages did she have?

The ending of SFT alway makes me teary.

Tomorrow it will be 35 years.....

Look who shows up around the 5 second mark...

35 Years since Edge went off the air!!!

I watched that final episode live. Was so sad. But it was also a very fitting final episode. They did the cast and the audience right by that.

But my head is exploding thinking that 1984 was 35 years ago! That's just so hard for me to even comprehend. 35 years!

Even more difficult to wrap my head around, because I only acknowledge being 29 years old.

R97 Jerry ver Dorn!

(not who one thinks off when one thinks of The Wiz!)

R98 Aunt Liz, we are truly two peas in a pod.

I thought about making a very similar post. My mind just does NOT recognize that 30+ years have gone by since EON and SFT. That 20 years have gone by since the end of AW.

Where did the time go?

ORD dear, we are definitely cut from the same cloth.

I now celebrate the anniversary of my 29th birthday. Luckily, I did not celebrate my original 29th birthday in the 1980s (just barely). But so many significant events that shaped my life happened in the 1980s.

And Tuesday will mark the 37th anniversary of the final episode of Texas. That was so significant in my life because I adored that show (well, the final 18 months of it, the first 12 months was rough going) . More importantly, Texas was the first soap I ever watched that was cancelled.

Texas had a wonderful send off. A final week of wrapping storylines up where everyone got closure of some type -- happy endings for most, but closure for every character, even the minor ones. I felt like I had a proper goodbye with characters that I had come to love.

So, the Texas finale set the standard by which I measure all other final episodes of soaps. And unfortunately, I've seen far, far too many final episodes in my 29 (+) years.

In my opinion, the Edge of Night finale was equally good. And the GL finale was satisfying too. But all the others since then, not quite so much. The ATWT finale would be the absolute worst of the bunch.

I unfortunately missed Texas (our local NBC affiliate carried it at some godforsaken hour not in the afternoon). But I know Pam Long's style of writing and have heard some of the things she did at the end. Filled with heart, as much of her GL run was.

GL's ending wasn't perfect, but they made at least some nods to history. Far better than the slim pickings of ATWT at the end.

I wish AW had more time to say goodbye, but the scenes with Victoria Wyndham and those photos will have to do.

[quote] The ATWT finale would be the absolute worst of the bunch.

But compared to the Capitol ending it was genius.

[quote]I wish AW had more time to say goodbye, but the scenes with Victoria Wyndham and those photos will have to do.

The interesting thing is that the cancellation of both Texas and Edge of Night was that they were announced in November, about 5-6 weeks before the final episdoes aired. Thus, the writers had about 7-14 days to write a decent finale to wrap up everything. But in fairness, cancellation was looming for Edge and Texas for several years, so the writers likely already had some contingency plans for how to wrap up the show quickly.

In those days, shows taped 2 weeks in advance, sometimes 3 weeks in advance so they could have a Christmas break. So, the final week of episodes were probably taped about 3 weeks after the cancellation was announced.

And both shows had major stars out on maternity leave when the cancellation was announced -- Pam Long (Ashley) on Texas and Sharon Gabet (Raven) on Edge. Both Pam and Sharon came back early from maternity leave to tape finale episodes. (And yes, Pam Long was an actress on Texas who became a writer).

I say all that because the AW writers had almost 6 weeks notice to wrap up the series -- cancellation announced in mid April, final episode aired late June, but taped in late May/early June. Shows generally get a script 1-2 weeks before taping.

Likewise, GL's cancellation was announced on April 1, 2009 and the final episode aired on Sept 18, 2009, but taped in late July 2009.

Meanwhile, the ATWT cancellation was announced in Dec 2009, but the finale didn't air until Sept. 17, 2010. Ten months! And with that amount of time, we still got the crappiest of all soap finales.

I am not ashamed to say that whatever day of the last week or so that Nola came in to Company, looked around and, as an aside before leaving the room, blew a kiss to the memory of Company.....I lost it. I don't even remember the next few scenes because I was bawling.

[quote]But compared to the Capitol ending it was genius.

Well, Jon Conboy was pissed at CBS for pulling the plug when Capitol was canned in favor of B&B. Capitol still was getting good ratings and nonetheless got canned! So, I understand him being pissed. But you put personal feelings aside for the greater good, which is the audience. You give the audience some closure. The fact Conboy was not willing to do that and instead ended everything on a cliffhanger speaks volumes about his level of emotional maturity and his regard for the audience.

John Conboy was mad that Grant A told him no. He had to make do with putting Grant's character in a Speedo every day.

If Grant wasn't giving up the gold for Chris B he sure wasn't going to do it for John's ass, either.

Me too, r105. And I was told by one of the writers at the soap mags that Lisa Brown came up with that.

r105 But it's scenes exactly like Nola blowing a kiss goodbye to Company that are so important for the audience to have. That's how we get closure.

Don't feel bad about crying at that scene. I did too. No need to MARY yourself. Know you're in good company here in the Midwestern towns.

PS Even now, I still cry watching the final episode of Edge of Night. And I've watched in probably a dozen times in the 35 years since it was cancelled. Also cry rewatching the Texas finale.

Nola's goodbye kiss to Company is right up there with the catch in Stu's throat when he asks what Jo is searching for on the last SFT.

The only thing I really disliked about the GL ending, other than the fact that Jeffrey O'Neill shouldn't have been part of any of it, was that Josh/Reva were the final scene.

I liked them both well enough, but the final scene should have been a small group of the long timers, toasting.

It wasn't *bad* but I wish it had been a little different. But still, it was light years better than ATWT.

Is there an OLTL thread?

R112

AW's Cass & Felicia together again.

R114

Oh, my heart!!!

We need Anna Banana in there too.

I'm here to wish all of you a very Merry Holiday season and a purrfectly marvelous New Year.

Oh, Cecile.

Always showing up at the wrong time!

R118 Cecile always shows up at the wrong time, even when she appeared on "The Nanny".

Anybody have a clip of Nola saying goodbye to Company?

R120

Around 3:00

It's a blink and you'd miss it moment, but us oldtimers knew what it meant.

R121 That would be a blink with a yawn as well...Not a yawn as in "tired", but as in lengthy blink. Nola does that very slowly and it is very moving. It makes up for her wacky behavior when Buzz had amnesia and Nola tried to make him think that they were together. It's a kiss to Bea, Maureen, Tony, Jim, Annabelle and all the other Reardons, a nice memory and quite sweet.

I love her line at the beginning, which I hadn't remembered.

"It looked better when we owned it!"

Yes, it did, gurl!

Hmmm R121, James was a Pretty Young Thang in that clip ...

Yes, R124, agreed.

Zack Conroy was really good casting as James.

"You're not going to believe it, Mother, the way you talk about her."

"Did she die?"

Any news on what happened to Judi Evans' son?

My mother told me GL was the hardest to see go. She really felt, of all the shows, seeing GL go was heartbreaking for many reasons. The two most important ones were- it was the iconic longest running and she knew if they would pull the plug on that, others would fall quickly and she was right.

CBS or P&G should have spent a good penny on the final week of GL. They should have brought back some of its biggest stars, characters and actually used a film quality camera! It deserved all of that and more.

They made the shows so horrible after Douglas Marland died, that's when they died for me. Someone upthread commented that Another World had been cancelled so suddenly, and my reaction was, are you kidding? The show had been dying for years when they put it out of our misery. I gave up on these shows in the mid-'90s, when Orlena was poisoning Lily, Justine was walling Vicky behind brick in the Cory cellar, and I had already given up on Guiding Light sometime in 1993 IIRC.

I watched World Turns again for two stories: Lisa sues John, and gay Luke. The former was one of the best stories they ever told, the latter one of the worst. It could have been good, but they wouldn't let it.

What was it people were mailing to Telvest to protest the de-gaying of Nuke?

^^^^

I don't care how far GL & AW had fallen by the time they were cancelled their loss was still devastating for me. Springfield & its characters were like the warm & loving community I wished I'd been born into. On the other hand Bay City was the upscale town I wished I'd have been raised because Mac Cory was the loving & devoted father who always accepted his kids no matter what.

Ueah, yeah... MATY!

AW, ATWT and GL were very special for what they were, but literally every creative force (aside from the actors) decided to try to make them more like ABC soaps or like any and everything else except for what they were.

Which is why they all eventually died, because they chased away almost everyone who loved the shows and couldn't attract enough of the insipid twats who would watch shit like "James Stenbeck is now a ghost in a young man's body" or "Let's watch Jeffrey O'Neill, the most uninteresting person ever on screen, pick his nose."

That blogger needs to write a book about how all common sense at P & G Productions died with Douglas Marland and Maureen Bauer.

which one, R132?

It does all seem to have gone to shit right around then

[quote] CBS or P&G should have spent a good penny on the final week of GL

That’s exactly how much they spent on it. And I actually applied to be a PA since they were advertising them on craigslist, and I’m glad I didn’t get the job or I would’ve been out of work in a year! This would’ve required me to move to New York City. And to live in New York City would’ve required me to commute to Peapack.

At 22:20 in the 12/30/19 episode of The Young & the Restless, Nikki says to the poor young mother who just abandoned her baby in the Newman stable, "this must seem like another world." And all I could think was "If only." But in today's impoverished soap universe, the Newmans have become a not unreasonable substitute for the Corys. WTF!?!

Well, they are sort of like the Cory’s. Victoria is very much like Amanda was. I wish that Amanda had been SORAS’d to a 15 year old like Victoria was and not to an 18 year old debutante, though.

R136

(Clutches pearls)...................The Newmans are not fit to lick the Corys boots.

The final two episodes of Texas. Aired 37 years ago on Dec 30 and Dec 31, 1982.

The final episode begins at 43:45.

As I revealed a few weeks ago, Jonny has returned to SON to terrorize the regulars. He has enlisted the help of Donna B, an escaped mental patient/nuthouse resident. The Soap Network posters will not be able to sleep a wink with these two on the loose. The drama over at SON is just gripping. I am on the edge of my seat wondering what Jonny and Donna will do next!

Donna B liked spoilers.

Donna is married to the former GL editor for Soap Digest

What is her name?

melissa

Aunt Liz, we'll have to think of another fun title soon.

One assumes this thread will go beyond the gates soon.

The last several P&G threads were paywalled after 2 weeks. This one has lasted 3 weeks so far.

Perhaps we can meet at Tops for drinks after a day of shopping at Fashions.

It is still not paywalled. Thanks to those of you who take care of this detail.

Felicia has promised us a daytime diva duke-out movie marathon, starting with Ada's secret past as an actress, giving the slug to the future grand dame known as Katharine Chancellor.

^ "Whadda you use for a heart, a sewer pump?"

^ "Whadda you use for a heart, a sewer pump?"

"Where should we go for dinner?"

"How about the Mona Lisa?"

"Perfect! Why didn't I think of that?"

I wonder how the various soap characters of the legendary ladies would get along if they ran into each other.

Dr. Althea Davis ends up treating Lucinda Walsh for a serious medical order.

Toni Ferra Powers once did lab work on Donna Love.

Tracy Quartermaine ran into Cynthia Preston in Europe, and while briefly institutionalized, was roommates with Carrie Todd Marler.

Myrna Clegg was arrested for her resemblance to drug lord Vanessa Bennett Cortlandt, not quite as dead as Pine Valley thinks....

Etc, etc, etc.....

I've had an idea for a short-run series for years. The premise would be that a group of people are invited to visit an island, but they are not sure why they're there.

The "people" would be played by actors who were coupled in other shows. For example, Lisa Brown and Michael Tylo would be one of the groups "meeting" for the first time.

It was my creative brain trying to think of a way for them to sorta kinda play their old characters (or similar ones with similar chemistry) without them actually being their old characters and having to deal with rights for that and etc.

r150, you can always order in from The Pampered Palate.

According to Fairman Martin West has passed away. He played Phil Brewer on GH and Don Hughes on ATWT.

I always forget Muscle Mary Fairman still has a blog!

There was just something about the Proctor and Gamble soaps that I preferred. They weren't even all filmed in the same studio but I loved almost all of them that were still on when I was younger.

[quote]There was just something about the Proctor and Gamble soaps that I preferred.

Not enough, though, that you watched until the very end of the end credits, where you'd have seen "Procter" spelled correctly every day.

I've made that mistake many a time. Thus why I prefer the P&G abbreviation!

Just saw David Forsyth's FB.

He's still a handsome guy but he's now in his 70s and is looking a bit Hal Holbrook-ish these days.

The writing was on the wall when none of the P&G soaps ever converted to high definition while all the ones that remained after they left the air did.

[quote] I always forget Muscle Mary Fairman still has a blog!

She’s waiting for her disco diva career to take off.

R159

I'll have to look at Forsyth's page. I looked at Dano's IG and she has so many cute things. Pics of her at a Xmas party with Schnetzer and Slezak.

Also a video of her at a CT.steakhouse and she was surprised for her birthday by John Bolger and the actor who played Zane.

Also a recent pic of Dano and John Aprea from this Xmas.

Linda and Judy Light!

I have to admit when I first saw that photo of Linda w/Slezak I thought Linda had allowed her hair to turn grey. Upon further review I realized it was the brim of a Santa hat. LOL.

I know a girl online who manages a few soap star FB fan pages and such. She speaks to all the stars of whom she manages their accounts. When GL was cancelled, it sent a cold chill down everybody's spine. Of all the shows, GL was THE show. It was a record setting show for being on the air and was seen as the Grand Dame. Almost untouchable despite constant rumors of it being cancelled. They knew once they pulled the plug on the iconic GL, at least 3 other shows would follow and they did. She told me many of the stars were shedding tears due to not only GL being cancelled but the prospect that more were now for sure on the way.

Looking at ratings, there is no reason to have GH or DOOL on air now much less several years ago.

I remember one of the writers at a TV news site made fun of one of the soap bloggers for saying GL's cancellation was a domino effect.

It proved to be true - within a very short period of time.

In a recent SOD article they got reactions from soap actors about the passing of Lisa Da Cossete.

Robin Mattson said she was her best friend and had been since their Santa Barbara days. She told a story about how there was a lascivious actor that all the women tried to avoid. For example- no woman would be alone with him in the elevator.

Robin finally went to Da Cosette after the actor kept saying sexual things about her body. She said Da Costte fired him the next day.

Any guesses on who this could be?

r166 I watched Santa Barbara, but nobody is coming to mind for your lascivious actor.

IMDB says Lisa Hesser de Cazotte was a producer on Santa Barbara from 1991-1993, so the actor in question would have been on sometime during the show's final two years.

Perhaps if you post the info on the Santa Barbara thread, linked below, you might get some people there to figure it out.

This article is about AMC but mentions a lot about P&G soaps. The author has a book coming out in March. May be of interest to the fine readers and citizens of our marvelous Midwestern towns.

r168 Thanks for posting the info about upcoming book. Unfortunately, that article had several factual mistakes (including repeatedly saying Erica Kane's 1973 abortion happened in 1971) . That suggests the book will have even more factual errors. Always disturbing when authors (especially an academician like this one) can't be bothered to fact check their material.

This thread has apparently been Murieled, so here's a new one.