WHET Sonni Carrera?

Gracias, Solita.

Frank Grillo & Wendy Moniz Divorce

In this "life imitates art" here are a few of the Dinah / Hart break-up scene on Guiding Light during the Dinah/Hart/Cassie triangle - as their real-life portrayers ( Frank Grillo and Wendy Moniz) announce they are divorcing after almost 20 years together

I do imagine what Sonni went on to be. It was strongly hinted her Solita persona was not entirely gone in her last brilliant scene.

R1 shhhh.....it's our secret!

I was so grateful that Andy Cohen asked me, Scoche Marin, to interview for ABC’s The Story of Soaps ahead of my debut as the new Katherine Chancellor on Y&R.

Tons of Frank and Wendy stuff in the Frank Grillo thread. What I want to know is WHY NOW? She's basically immune to him being an asshole, so what could he have done that pushed her to divorce?

I wasn't able to post in Emma's thread any longer, as it has been Murieled, but I just loved this post:

[quote]That bitch Ava Jerome has my china.—Emma Snyder

Someone please refresh my memory. How did Alexandra get involved with the Sonni/Solita mystery? She accompanied Sonni to so many places in the course of unraveling the mystery. Why was that?

Liz, I usually remember GL plots but a lot of that was during the writers' strike and it got confusing.

But I do know they became friends before the Sonni/Solita business (a shared dislike of Reva, for one) and there's a glorious scene of Sonni seeking Alexandra's forgiveness after the whole Solita business.

Yes they became friends due to the mutual Reva hate. Sonni confided in Alexandra all the time.

When Sonni and Roger were together and trying to solve the mystery of whether Beth was still alive (a great use of all characters btw), did Sonni break up with Roger because they did find out Beth was alive and Roger wanted to help cover it up causing Sonni to question whether being with Roger was good for her? Did Sonni actually think about covering up the fact Beth was alive?

Today at the grocery store where I work, a woman came in wearing a "Loving" tee shirt. I asked her if her shirt was from the soap opera and she said indeed it was and that she starred on the show for 12 years. This famous soap star also stated that she was doing a virtual cast reunion. I, of course know all of this, I tell her that I never watched Loving, that my shows were GL and AW but that my grandmother watched Ryan's Hope and possibly Loving. This actress then told me that she was also on RH. So we continued talking; I learned that she and her grandmother watched AW and that is when she knew she wanted to star on a soap. So when she was cast on RH she called her grandmother and asked her to watch, to which her grandmother replied, no, that's not not my channel! Classic! So today I met Lauren Marie Taylor. Who knew?

Cassie Physically Assaults Dinah on Guiding Light

Cassie demonstrates how mentally unstable she is when she

Physically Assaults Dinah

After Dinah discovers her own Fiancee and Cassie in a hotel room together.

Dinah is the aggrieved party, and she is the one who gets beaten up by Cassie (who is trying to steal Dinah's own fiancee?)

I wish both would have pushed each other off a cliff. Couldn't stand that era of GL, hated the Cassie/Hart/Dinah triangle.

R13 you will be happy to know that Frank Grillo and Laura Wright have gone on the record stating their unhappiness with the Cassie/Hart/Dinah triangle.

They didn't like the storyline either - I suspect Wendy Moniz didn't like it either, but she has never gone on the record stating what she thought of TPTB breaking up Hart & Dinah, whom the audience liked.

While the Hart/Cassie pairing sucked, Frank was happy to be out of the Hart/Dinah story since he'd up til then spent over a year being her personal wrangler on the set. While they were together in real life, he wanted a chance to show his acting chops free of the appendage known as Wendy Moniz. She had a harder time with it than he did, and was prone to fits of rage and jealousy on set.

From a fan perspective, it made no sense since DIRT were one of the more believable couples on the show, especially when you compare that to Hart/Cassie. Even physically it was a joke.

Lord help us, Frank and Wendy were exhaustively discussed in the thread with his name, I hope we don't do a deep dive on yet more about them. They are not THAT interesting.

You're right R16, DL should stick with things you like and find interesting. Go ahead and give us a list so we can stay on topic.

Ok here’s a new question.

Richard Culliton was the headwriter for AW, ATWT and GL at different periods. He seems to have received praise for his work on all 3. So why did he stay for a relatively brief time at each show-he didn’t last more than a year or so at any of these shows.

Episode of Love of Life from 1975. Whoever was directing or producing was obviously gay because there’s a nice lingering shot of Christopher Reeve’s ass. This guy’s channel is great, he constantly posts daytime and primetime stuff, the most recent was the pilot of Paper Dolls

R17 Not at all.

But we really dug deep in that other thread. Not sure what else could be said.

Mr. Jackson is fantastic. Here's his Secret Storm.

Go to his channel, and he's done quite a few of the old themes: EON, GL, ATWT, SFT.

I really hate to hear about Marnie Schulenberg's stage 4 breast cancer. And her with a tiny newborn infant. Fuck!

R22 Really sad. And she just did the Locher Room spot last month with the other (now thiritysomething) youngins from ATWT

Her description of the genesis-diagnosis of it on IG sounds like something that could be covered in soap opera PSA. .. I've never heard of it before.

Thank u for that Love of Life bit. Brian Farrell was so cute (and gay) as David Hart. What ever happened to hiim?

Who in the GL, ATWT and AW casts do you think had the SMALLEST dicks?

R25 GL- Kim Zimmer

the fuck kinda question is that?

R3, that last scene was brilliant.

The clerk says to Sonni: "Smoking or non?" and the look on her face says it all.

Such a well-written last scene; Josh and Sonni knew they couldn't really kiss goodbye in front of scene stealing Ashley Peldon/Marah.

All the angst and longing was heartwrenching till the end.

They really used to know how to write people off. Now? Not so much.

R25 AW - Brent Collins?

here's the last episode; Dear GOD, what a great show.

Mindy comes to see Sonni off, then, later, Josh shows up with Marah.

The flashbacks were awesome; Forbes' Sonni had the BEST theme song of any character on a soap.

META!

Just terrific, R30! Thanks!

R30 Such a great episode. Pam's writing was all over that. Those were her characters- Beth, Sonni, Phillip, Mindy, Lillian, Rick.

Blake was such a CUNT! in those days.

R33 Blake was friggin' awesome in those days. She had a lot of vulnerability. I think she stopped Roger from trying to kill Beth for her. It is hard to believe Sherry was only in the role for a few months during that episode. She really learned quickly and made Blake such an interesting character.

The Locher Room episode with the Shaynes (plus Michael O'Leary and Krista Tesreau) is tomorrow.

Apparently, Audrey Peters may have died last year. Not a surprise (she was in her 90s) but Digest never reported it and it's uncertain where she was (the only info is that the Television Academy site lists a date of death for her).

I’ll never forget Sherry as Blake saying “Nothin’ says lovin’ like a Spaulding in the oven.” Was it when she droppped her pregnancy bomb on Beth?

Haha R36, someone just quoted that very line to me in the last few days.

actually, Roger blasted Blake for when SHE danced around asking Roger to take out Beth.

Here's a scene where Blake tells Alex she's pregnant. Great scene and Bev really lets Sherry shine.

Was Beverlee a smoker? Her voice feels smoker's voice

you mean, it SOUNDS like a smoker's voice.

Ahh yes it was Blake who came very close to pushing Roger to try to kill Beth. Roger wouldn't even consider it. Blake and AM were fire with Sherry and either CTEvans but esp Rick Hearst in the role.

I said this before and I'll say it again

Casting director Betty Rea saw Sherry at a SUNY Purchase showcase and was blown away. She went straight to the producers and said you had to hire this girl, If you don't have a role, create one. She is that good. ( the producer was Robert Calhoun who had hired Julianne Moore when he was EP at ATWT)

Years later when Sherry was a big star on ER, she returned the favor by presenting the lifetime achievement award to Betty Rea at Soap Opera Digest Awards - Thanks Betty for giving her that first job, when she had NO experience

Marisa Tomei (she had won the Oscar by then and was another Betty Rea discovery) also paid tribute to Betty, but via video.

R42 Yes we sadly have no video of that tribute.

Steven Weber declined to partake, I heard

[quote] Steven Weber declined to partake, I heard

Because Betty Rea DID NOT cast him.

R39 In Zimmer's book, she mentions McKinsey's "husky, sultry voice" and says she figured it came from many years of smoking.

R45 Nor would she!

Betty was mostly GL but she did help at ATWT from time to time.

Betty Area did double duty and worked on ATWT in the early 80s, before Marland and Calhoun showed up. She discovered Meg Ryan and Marisa Tomei, as well great daytime talents like Brian Bloom and Scott Bryce.

I meant Betty REA

One of Betty Rea last casting discoveries was Wendy Moniz

So blame Betty for Moniz being on Guiding Light!

Did Betty discover Cynthia Watros?

Wendy was a find. She was great as Dinah.

[quote] Did Betty discover Cynthia Watros?

She actually cast Watros in an under-five part YEARS before she came on as Annie

Cynthia played a waitress involved with Matt - see below

I guess she hired Jo Beth Williams, Kevin Bacon, Victor Garber, Francis Fisher, Michelle Forbes, Nia Long, Paige Turco, Ian Zeiring, James Rebhorn. Anybody else? There were tons of stars in and out of GL in the 80s and 90s. I guess she left before Hayden P, Tammy Blanchard, Brittany Snow?

She also cast Ron Raines in the re-cast of Alan Spaulding

And Marj. And Ann Hamilton after Kim Simms. So she had flaws.

Small correction about Cynthia Watros--her debut was indeed as a day player with a yet-unnamed Matt, but it was during the summer of 1994 (June/July). She then debuted as Annie in January 1995 when Josh broke his leg in the Fifth Street Fire and she takes care of him in the hospital, thus beginning their connection.

How many times did soaps do that thing where someone was hired for a bit part and then given a more substantial role later?

Cynthia Watros/Annie.

Joie Lenz was a teenage Clone Reva before she became Michelle.

Betty Rea cast a then unknown Bradley Whitford (West Wing) as a day player

R59 And he shared a scene with Forbes.

I remember seeing Forbes in Kalifornia with Pitt, Ducovny and Lewis and thinking, yep, she did have it after all.

Betty Rea cast Angela Bassett as a nurse!

Betty Rea cast Thomas Calabro (Melrose Place) as a punk #1

Betty Rea also cast Allison Janney (Ginger the maid), Calista Flockhart (Marah's babysitter) Bai Ling (!) as a English translator who translates for Elani (see below)

R61 I never knew that. That is a find. Thank you!

R63 Duh, I knew Janney ( I loved Ginger) but had no idea about Ling. Nice finds.

last but not least, Betty Rea cast Billie Elish father (Patrick O'Connell) as Beth new love-interest

She thought his pony-tail added something to part

And of course Melina Karakaredes! LOL

R65 When Beth showed back up in SF with that I thought she not only lost her memory and voice but also her taste in men.

In the previous thread, I asked why Alex teamed up with Sonni. Someone replied it was their mutual dislike/hatred of Reva.

Please refresh my memory. Why did Alex dislike/hate Reva? Was it just that Reva was loud and flashy and always tried to command all the attention in the room? Or was there something specific that Reva did to Alex?

R45, actually, she did.

Weber appeared on GL as some Spinelli-esque computer hacker named "Thurman."

This was from 1988 after Kevin had been killed off by Marsha Talbot in 1986.

[quote]How many times did soaps do that thing where someone was hired for a bit part and then given a more substantial role later?

Danny Markel first played a psycho fan of Josie's on AW before they hired him in the full-time role of Sam Fowler.

R53, interesting; Zimmer also played a role on GL as one of Roger Thorpe's secretaries pre-Reva.

R69 And when Paige Turco was on the show.

Damn, how many future stars were on GL during the late 80s and 90s? So far you all are digging up large numbers I never knew about. The late 90s/early to mid 00s saw an explosion of contract future stars.

Speaking of La Bev's voice, what is the famous description Logan used?

A mixture of something with cyanide?

Bev seemed to age rather quickly from '84 to '92. She looked much older than her age. She did have an old lady's voice, too.

Isn't Meg Ryan snooty and won't talk about As The World Turns?

R75 Not sure but Matt Bomer, Kevin Bacon, Allison Janney talk about GL when it is brought up. Nia Long loved talking about GL to some interviewer who brought it up. I think Hayden Panenttiere and Brittany Snow enjoy talking about their GL days.

Betty didn't have an absolute say, of course. I imagine the producers listened to her often, but in the case of, say, Ann Hamilton, someone overrode her. OR she was giving them what they were asking for - a mature Mindy - and the audience didn't like it.

[quote] Wendy was a find. She was great as Dinah.

She was very good in her first year or so, and certainly, physically, looked the most like a child of Jerry and Maeve would actually look. I think she relied too much on tics and histrionics later on, but she was very good at establishing who Dinah should have been when originally on the canvas in the 80s, but never was: the hurt, lost little girl.

The actors who are too good to talk about their soap days (like Frank Grillo) need to get a clue. Everybody starts somewhere, and despite being a ridiculed medium, it's one of the hardest places to get your start. After doing a soap with 15-hour days of page after page of dialogue, blocking, waiting, etc. you can do anything.

Let’s be honest... being on a soap is not for everybody. Long hours, often bad writing, memorizing lots of dialogue, psycho fans, toxic co-stars. It’s not all just people being snobbish when they don’t remember their soap days fondly.

Personally I think it's funny that some people won't even mention their soap days, and others make a semi-professional career out of still talking about them. I can't think of a single event, book, gathering, cruise, now zoom, and so on that Kim Zimmer hasn't been a part of.

[quote] Matt Bomer, Kevin Bacon, Allison Janney talk about GL

All three talk about GL when asked - they don't look down on the experience at all

In fact Allison Janney talks about her role on GL with gratitude, as it beats waiting tables anyday - do a soap 2 or 3 days a week instead of waiting tables? Who wouldn't want that! It gave her the money to do theater.

Solita would make a great drag name!

R82 Yes it would! Or porn name.

R81 I really wish they would have used Allison more. She was great comic relief. Ginger was hysterical with Donna. Then one day they were gone. Any clips of Allison talking about GL? I saw one on some show and the clip they showed was horrible quality wise. It was blurry.

This channel has just uploaded videos of ATWT from the early 1980s which have great video/sound quality. Here’s Barbara and the bull!

R84 that channel is actually taking episodes that have already been on YouTube for awhile and downloading them and re-uploading them on his channel

So those high quality ATWT episodes have been online for awhile

btw the Shayne Family reunion is on Youtube right now LIVE

damn it, I always get the timing wrong because of time zones.

I will watch it once it's done, like to start from the beginning

Poor Kristi Ferrell - So many fans were so anxious to see her again and she has fallen in the same fate as Anna Holbrook

The connection is so lousy and we can barely hear her, and nothing she is saying is making sense.

Oh no! That is a bummer.

Actually Kristi Ferrell connection improves towards the end, she sticks it out and hangs in there. So not all is lost

R83 Various soaps used to have wonderful comic relief servants, but they are all gone now, except for Esther on Y&R, and she isn't really a maid any longer.

R79 good points

you left off toxic fans and psycho co-stars

R91

My favorite will always be AW's Vivian.

R93, when Iris came back to AW circa 1987 Vivian is still working for the Corys.

She says to Iris: you still owe me a week's pay.

Vivian interacting with Carmen's Iris allowed us to accept her as Iris.

Yes, bringing Vivian back certainly helped longtime viewers accept Carmen Duncan as Iris. That was quite smart on the part of the producers. Vivian was always so entertaining.

Incidentally, Gretchen Oehler who played Vivian had been off the show for a few years but they brought her back in 1988 when Duncan started playing Iris.

Nice.

This was all Harding, I take it.

I loved the Rachel v. Sharlene scenes.

I wish Harding had stuck around and rejuvenated the Matthews clan.

Imagine if they'd been able to find another man whom Alice and Rachel could have sparred over.

Over on ATWT, when Kim learned Bob had slept with Susan she said: She's been waiting for years to get even with me over Dan and by God she found a way!

You can't buy history like that on soaps; you have to invest.

[quote] Imagine if they'd been able to find another man whom Alice and Rachel could have sparred over.

It is possible they could reactivate the Alice/Mac romance (played by another actress at the time). When Jacqui came back she was asked about Alice being involved with Mac (played at the time by another actress) - Jacqui said she thought it was "incestuous" and didn't approve of that

She had a similar problem with another storyline having her fall for her brother-in-law and balked at that story, which led to her being fired.

AW needed a strong older male character (NOT CARL) after Mac’s death. Someone for Rachel and Iris to fight over.

[quote] This was all Harding, I take it.

Agreed. I doubt any producer had that kind of wisdom.

R78, any actor who wont talk about their soap past is insecure and fears deep down they don't have any real talent.

i think Grillo got in those Capt. America movies b/c a brother or cousin (same last name) is a producer.

He's got one character in him; an angry guy from brooklyn.

I met him a few times when he was on GL and he was kind of a dick.

I used to think Bryan Cranston was a bit of a jerk, because he can come across snarky in interviews. But the fact that he is so open about and shows a fondness for his time on soaps, even taking part in the recent "The Story of Soaps" special, makes me like him more.

R101, I work as an ent. journalist in LA.

I can tell you that Cranston has not only always talked about his soap past, but that he's a genuinely good guy.

A really good guy.

Any snark you see is just his humor.

R102 I suspected that the snarkiness was probably either his attempt to entertain or as a defense mechanism. Glad to know he is a nice guy!

Nancy Lee Grahn has done some quarantine interviews via Zoom. She did an outstanding interview a couple weeks ago with Tony Geary.

Tomorrow she's doing a Zoom with Kim Zimmer & Jane Elliott.

Booze + those 3 should be a fantastic experience.

r104

what an odd combo.

Is there a link for these Nancy Lee Grahn Zoom interviews?

apparently THE scene with Reva, India and Maeve was mentioned in the Locher Room chat yesterday

I never saw this before.

am in tears.

[quote] I can tell you that Cranston has not only always talked about his soap past, but that he's a genuinely good guy. A really good guy.

If you read Byran Cranston book he devotes a HUGE part of the book about his time on Loving - he says out of everything he has done (Breaking bad, Macolm, Emmy & Tony awards) all of that doesn't compare to his time on Loving. That was the singular most important work he has ever done. This is Bryan Cranston writing this!

He is still good friends to this day with James Kiberd (ex-Trevor All My Children) and John O'Hurley (Seinfeld) whom he met on the show.

R109 did he say "important"???

Maybe influential? I mean he's done bigger work. But I could see him saying his time on Loving had the strongest influence...?

R110 he puts "Loving" heads and shoulders over everything he has done to this day

Those are his words

R106

Nancy has a channel called Soaps in Quarantine

I just watched r108’s clip. Beverlee’s Alex was vulnerable and motivated by the pain of her losses. That’s what made her compelling and why you rooted for her even when she was doing something terrible.

Marj’s Alex came across as a generic rich bitch in contrast.

I liked Marj, too, but Beverlee - as both Alex and Iris - always showed the vulnerability and aching hurt behind her resting bitch face.

Tom and Margo/original Mo are on the Locher Room tomorrow.

"Well, anyway, perhaps, you didn't heart Joseph. I am not receiving tonight which means 'please leave.'"

LOVE THIS!!

Also...here's a great exchange between them over Sonni. Alex is trying to help her and Reva is slowly letting things inevitably unfold so that Sonni gets hers.

"Funny. I was just about to say the same thing to you."

"Beats being old and slow."

* hear Joseph

the brilliance of the 1989 Alex and pregnant Reva visit is that their relationship is different at the end compared to when it began.

All that history; Lujack, Beth (unnamed, which was interesting), Reva's marrying all the different Lewis men....

Friends tell me I hate change. But this is the example I always use. I hated that Doug Marland left GL, but that led to scenes like this and the Pam Long era.

I don't hate change. I hate bad change.

As I have said many many times here before:

Some long time GL fans think Pam Long is the REASON for the change; CBS wanted GL to be GH, and it was only the strength of Pam Long pushing back re the Bauers that we had as many left as we did.

If "TPTB" had their way the Bauers would have been wiped out. (That sentiment never really went away: see under Bauer, Maureen, date of death 1993)

R104, I loved that Tony Geary interview, too. And it may have been the first venue where he announced he’s just been made an EU citizen. He now has a dual passport. Looking forward to Nancy, Kim and Jane tomorrow.

Kim said yesterday she didn’t remember the scene with Reva/India in the ladies room at the Blue Orchid. Maybe she was just being diplomatic about Mary Kay Adams? I loved Michael O’Leary’s story about James Goodwin refusing to sing a song Pam Long wrote-he called it a piece of crap-and soon afterward Johnny Bauer not only ended up with terminal cancer, he was impotent, too.

Km

The comments from the Shayne Family Reunion seem to suggest that Kristi Ferrell was possibly high or drunk........sad but several posters seemed to believe it was more than just technical difficulties.

I honestly couldn't watch after the first few minutes.

I don't think Zimmer was being diplomatic. She didn't spar often with India; she did more with Vanessa, Sonni, Annie, et. al.

She referenced the showdowns that MK and Beverlee.

I don' t think there's bad blood.

I heard the scene (aka THE SCENE) has been sent to Zimmer.

Yeah, I imagine she can't remember every scene she ever did! We love it but even I forgot about it over the years until it surfaced on YT.

Well, Ferrell said she never married or had kids. I think she’s probably had an alcohol/substance abuse issues for a very long time. Going by yesterday’s reunion she wasn’t a fan of Larkin Malloy’s. I thought it was interesting that Michael O’Leary stepped away around when Krista Tesreau mentioned Judi Evans.

I wonder if the backstage Judi issues were about Mikey. She and Grant talked when he visited the set a few years back (and when Vincent was there - the three of them took a photo) so they seem to have been on good terms.

BTW, looks like Judi's condition is worse....she has blood clots.

[quote] I thought it was interesting that Michael O’Leary stepped away around when Krista Tesreau mentioned Judi Evans.

And the chances of a "Four Musketeers" reunion seems less and less chances of happening

R125, I thought it was supposed to be a good thing that they caught a blood clot when Judi was being examined for her collapsed lung following the horseback riding accident

R127 they did say it's good they caught it, but she has to undergo some serious surgery.

Duncan and his wee lass.

(Filed under: it's a shame a man so hot is such a right wing pigfucker.)

it's a shame that Audrey Peters died almost a year ago and we never heard about it.....

O’Leary’s impressions of Terrell Anthony and Jordan Clarke were pretty funny. He said that Krista and Kristi were two of the nicest girls he ever worked with on GL. Interesting. He also said the chick who played the “deaf Amish virgin” was a wild woman off set.

Folks this is how you win an Emmy.

R121 I felt the same way. It was painful to watch.

Oh, Lord, R129! Margaret is a VERY outspoken liberal. Should be... interesting, no?

R134 They were a couple years ago (off screen as well as on) so hopefully they still get along.

Then again, it might be more fun if they didn't! LOL

I always knew that the show found Mary Kay Adams when she auditioned for the role of Beth's cousin India Raines. But I was surprised to hear that Kristi Ferrell was discovered at that same time when she also auditioned for India Raines.

Ferrell said she and Mary Kay did so well, they decided to create two characters out of the one. Thus we got India Von Halkien and Roxie Shayne, neither of whom were related to Beth.

And then a year later, they brought in Beth's cousin Jessie Matthews (played by Rebecca Stabb) and her mother Calla (played by Lisby Larson) .

R128

The latest on Judi is that the surgery has had to be postponed due to her not being stable. It's really frightening because that thing could break loose and kill her .

So did the video with Kristi get better? I gave up at the beginning, but if it's watchable later on I may try again.

The woman on the left in OP's photo-wasn't she on some episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation. She played a Maqui fighter or something.

The new Locher Room annoucement:

Melissa Hayden, Mark Derwin, Kimberly Simms, Morgan Englund and Jocelyn whatsersnatch that played Mallet's sister.

Mark Derwin So sexy.

I find both the Mallets - Mark and Rob Bogue - really sexy

R138, no, the Kristi thing never got any better. She logged in and out a few times but it never improved. Big disappointment. And she was always too far away from the camera.

[quote] I loved Michael O’Leary’s story about James Goodwin refusing to sing a song Pam Long wrote-he called it a piece of crap-and soon afterward Johnny Bauer not only ended up with terminal cancer, he was impotent, too.

Poor guy - first he plays a guy who can't get it up, then he gets a role as a guy with a small dick on "Sex and the City". No wonder his career went straight down the shitter...

Johnny Bauer was the cure for insomnia. Poor Kassie - stuck in boring land until OLTL tapped into what she could do.

Johnny Bauer had a potato face.

I'm watching Ellen Dolan and Scott Holmes on The Locher Room right now. Alan Locher asked Scott to talk about the Broadway musicals he was in, and Scott was listing them off really fast, like, "Well, Evita was my favorite, and then I worked on one with Chita Rivera and Liza Minnelli, and then I did--"

Locher: "Wait, wait, wait!" LOL... "Talk about Liza!"

So, Ellen leans into the camera, puts her elbow on the table and her chin on her fist, and says with a knowing smile, "YES, SCOTT-- TELL US ABOUT LIZA." Well, it's obvious that Ellen has already heard PLENTY.

Hillary B. Smith (Margo #2) tells the story where she dropped by the ATWT set to visit Ben Henderickson and Ellen Dolan (Margo #3) walked up to her with a smile, handed her the script and said "You play it"

Hillary said "Noooo, it is your part now:

who was Margo in a scene with when Ellen said that to HBS?

Tom, I bet.

Supposedly Scott, Ellen and Ben were very close friends.

Gregg Marx was a tough act to follow -- and Scott Holmes proved Marxx was actually an impossible one to follow.

Holmes played Tom more pompous than Don Stewart played Mike Bauer.

When it was clear that Henry Lange had pulled the trigger on himself and framed Caleb for his killing, Tom decided to let the law decide ...everyone was giving him props for not going for the win. PLEASE!

And there's no way Tom should have prosecuted Barbara for James' murder given; all Jessica would have to do is go to the judge and say the defendant dumped the d.a. at the altar to marry the decedent.

PLEASE!

In the reunion, Ellen seemed a lot like Margo, but Scott did NOT seem a lot like Tom. It confirmed my suspicions that "Uptight Tom" was more a product of the writing and direction than of Holmes himself. No, I don't think Holmes could have played Marx's "Romantic Tom," but I do think he could have played Justin Deas' "Shambolic Tom." A return to writing the character as a well-meaning but semi-dysfunctional victim of divorce and war would have been more of a challenge for Holmes and more satisfying for viewers.

And OMG, when Scott was talking about Benjamin Hendrickson's impersonation of Helen Wagner's walk... "the hand waving behind the back"... Can't you just see it?

Scott and Ellen made it clear, without mentioning him, that Goutman totally fucked up ATWT’s last months.

Oh shit, I need to watch that one!

Tony & Emmy winner Kristin Chenoweth plays a maid on As The World Turns

Has this thread been paywalled? It turned to crickets right quick.

It may be that it's been, shall we say, an eventful weekend.

Can someone let us know if they can still post?

Really digging into Scott and Ellen's show - this is really one of the best ones, up there with Bob and Kim's.

Scott's brother apparently died of AIDS years back.....very sad.

I should say, good episode but Scott's gum chewing was bugging the fuck out of me

Yeah, that was disrespectful.

[quote]Can someone let us know if they can still post?

This thread, and every other thread, was Primetimed since the death of Larry Kramer. It is not Paywalled, however, @ 5:40 PM eastern, 6/2/20.

Tomorrow is the Cooper Reunion

The Shayne family reunion was good except Kristie Farrell's audio issues. She talked.......a bit special. She never married or had kids. She was funny and she called Kim Zimmer out for being a BITCH to her for her entire first year. Kim was shocked! Yeah, she did not like Larkin.

Why did someone say Michael O'Leary left the room (implying on purpose) when Krista Tesreau was giving the updates on Judi Evans. I don't see them having much of an issue. He said something like "It's terrible" and I believe he is the one who said her son also died before walking away to do something.

When Judi gets well they could have a 4 Muskateers Reunion with the originals. Though I will say this- Beth and Mindy never seemed to be friends during Judi's time except around the time Mindy married Kurt. It was more Beth Chamberlin and Kimberely Simms' Beth and Mindy who were really close.

It could be that Mikey was sad and didn't want to show it on camera, but I dunno.

I am Team Alan Locher but someone really needs to tell him not to ask every person about their first day. Especially when he has had some people on more than once.

I mean, he could even ask them about their auditions. Apparently the guy that played Derek Colby and Bryan Cranston were both up for Tom when Scott was cast. Fans are interested in hearing all those little details.

I understand Alan probably wants to keep it nice and easy and not get into a situation where anyone is shitting on costars or getting too ugly about the people that ran the show(s) but he can strike a bit of a balance.

Shall we suggest questions to him?

I'd have love it if Bryan Cranston was cast as Tom

Holmes played it so pompous.

Alan should ask for verifcatia of sizemeat.

Especially for Grant's pendulous dong....

I'd like to see one with Grant, Krista, Mary Kay Adams, Sherry Stringfield, Beth Chamberlin, Beth Ehlers, and Crystal Chappell.

They can skip Ehlers though.

I don't know that Sherry would do it, though it would be awesome if she would (or was a "special guest").

I would love Mary Kay Adams to appear but I understand that she has sort of walked very much away from show business, so that might be a challenge.

and, uh......

Grant and Crystal will never be in the same chat together - and probably never again in the same room together!

R169, yet I've seen the 'like' each other's posts on social media.

is there really bad blood between them? they worked together again in the final episodes?

why did they even fire Phillip in 2004 or 05? Big fan favorite. Solid actor.

It was like they were asking folks to not watch the show.

Huh.

*they like...

"Holmes played it so pompous."

He had a very Shatnerian delivery that he would slip into when playing Tom, which was fine when Tom was in the courtroom, but when he was not, it was like: "And if HAL... and his lovely wife, BARBARA... don't like the WAY... we choose to raise our SON..."

But the writing sure didn't help, because after Holmes took over the role, Tom was pretty much always written as a self-righteous a-hole (though even Tom paled in the self-righteous a-hole department when compared to Jack and Late Holden).

r169

what happened between those 2?

If they are getting along now, it must be a more recent development.

A few of the folks I know who worked on set said things between them just went sour at one point, and that Crystal had Ellen Wheeler's ear on some of that conflict. John Conboy had been in Grant's corner.

The stories that came out when Grant was let go suggested he might be a bit difficult, but every one of his female co-stars on the show came out in print to support him....except one. Guess who?

Oh, and Miss Where Is Your Source, it was in an issue of Digest, I promise, right after GA's 2004 dismissal. I don't have issue number or ISBN, I am sorry to say, but I can say with full confidence that all those women (except one) were featured in an article or news piece.

GA was a respected actor who got along with his costars. Something must've been alleged that made them fire him. I find it highly suspect since his closest costars who played Beth and Rick among others supported him.

This post was put up on the old rec.arts.tv.cbs board on 09/10/04.

Langford (who some of you may remember from his soap opera column at the old AfterElton.com website) paraphrased what had been reported in SOW at the time.

Yes, R177, that is definitely part of the story. The Harley disguise thing was so lame that he definitely would have seen through it. (As he states, they changed it so Philip had an eye infection to explain why he didn't, and Harley's disguise wasn't as much of a "fat suit".)

But Weekly came out with a news item that looked more like what Anthony Langford is saying. Soon after, Digest had a piece with several of his female co stars, to refute the point that it wad the show's actresses in his story that forced the issue.

Ehlers, Chamberlin, Liz Keifer and I believe, one or two others came to his defense, but CC did not.

To be sure, Grant was being vocal about bad changes at GL that we ALL saw. I don't think he was ever an asshole for assholism's sake. He had, as I said earlier, Conboy's ear - they'd worked together at Capitol and he saw Conboy as a strong producer like Rauch. But Wheeler clearly did not see eye to eye with him. And CC and Wheeler seem to have been pal-sy through her entire run (it was Wheeler who OK'd the Otalia story).

PS: I suspected then, as I still do now, that Grant was not acting up any more or less than, say, Zimmer, and that the intention was never to have Grant off canvas as long as they did.

P&G and/or CBS and Wheeler probably thought they could "spank" a highly paid actor who was misbehaving and then get him to return at a lower salary. That didn't happen as they planned - you can tell by the weird ending where Alan said Phillip was alive but none of it was ever shown on camera!

Grant probably did take an enormous cut to return at the end, but he did that because he wanted to resolve things with his character, and because he liked Jill Lorie Hurst and stipulated that she would guide the Phillip's return story. And the budget was SO tight by then they had to fire poor John Driscoll just to get GA back.

So Digest didn't report CC coming to G's defense.

Isn't SOD a big supporter of Hope Brady's?

Connect those dots.

R172, boy, that's a great post. I recall Scott PUNCHING all those WORDS and it DROVE me CRAZY especially when MOM didn't TELL us she HAD a secret son named SCOTT.

Whatever did or didn't happen between GA and CC, they put it in the past in order to do this scene.

And it doesn't look like they had employ green screen a la Julianna M. and Archie on The Good Wife.

and this scene, too.

I've been watching some of the episodes from '03 on Youtube. The stories are an abomination but man did the show look good. Conboy really stepped up the production value and it showed.

r182

like they had money for a green screen lol

Yes, CC and GA were able to put things aside for a few scenes at the end. That was almost 5 years later, of course. And they may well be on decent terms now. (Someone upthread said they were commenting on or liking each other's social media posts?)

CC has that long feuding history with Skeletor Alfonso at DAYS, true. And allegedly she loathed being at OLTL. Don't have as many details on any of those, though.

Gah, seeing Ron Raines always makes me miss Chris Bernau.

[quote] And allegedly she loathed being at OLTL.

I loathed her being there as well. Not the actress but her character. I hated the entire Carpenter family except for Rev. Andrew.

That whole clown thing was just shit.

But she loved the people there and made lifelong friends, especially HBS. But HBS has been known to be a shit stirrer so......hmm.

It was a Cooper love-in on Alan’s show. John Driscoll seems like such a nice man-he’s going to be a father for the first time and will be deployed as an army officer soon afterward. Loved Justin Deas’ story of how Marj said to him, when he told her he never watched his scenes when they aired, “How do you expect to IMPROVE?”

Does anyone have a link to the current Y&R thread? I accidentally deleted it from my watch list and now I can't find it.

Alan’s great but he sucks at follow up questions. Justin Deas told a story about British actress Samantha Eggar showing up at ATWT and was seemingly unaware the 20 pages she had to learn were all being done that day, not over a number of days, like in a film or in primetime. There’s nothing about her on ATWT online so I suspect they immediately had to replace her. Why the fuck didn’t Alan ask Deas what character she was playing? According to Wiki and IMDb the only daytime credit she had was a “brief” appearance as Anna Devane’s mother on AMC.

I liked this actress. RIP Mary Pat Gleason.

[quote] CC has that long feuding history with Skeletor Alfonso at DAYS

Why not bring up her screaming match with Dee Dee Halls in the make-up room?

[quote] According to Wiki and IMDb the only daytime credit she had was a “brief” appearance as Anna Devane’s mother on AMC.

she was also cast on Santa Barbara as Pamela Capwell but got cold feet about the number of pages she had to memorize and fled before shooting a single scene. She was replaced by Shirley Anne Field. before her being replaced by Marj Dusay

Five seconds into the Cooper thing and I was in tears!

[quote] Why not bring up her screaming match with Dee Dee Halls in the make-up room?

Kristian's, or Crystal's?

OAKDALE is trending on Twitter right now!

sadly it's a CA city and protest related

OMG - Beth Ehlers has two kids that are 18 and 21.

That seems impossible.

R198 I wonder how Lisa would respond if people looted the Mona Lisa or the Lakeview Hotel?

I want to think Eggar was supposed to play Suz Becker, a friend of Lisa’s. Betsy Palmer ended up playing the role.

R200 she would yell and shake her finger.

"Did that rascal Johnny D send you all?"

R197 Crystal

[quote] Why not bring up her screaming match with Dee Dee Halls in the make-up room?

Dee Dee Halls actually went to the producers and had a meeting listing all of her grievances with the Bo/Carly storyline, including her own problems with Crystal Chappel

Only one could stay and Crystal got the heave-ho out the door,

R191 This thread was still being used last week for Y&R. I'm not aware of any new one.

R205 Thank you!

I heard a rising ingenue went up to a show diva and asked WHY do you hate me?

and the diva shrugged: "I don't hate you. I just think you're on the show too much."

R207 That could have been said dozens of times on dozens of shows.

Dee Dee knows because she WAS Eve Harrington w/Susie Hayes.

This thread is about ME!

I admit it got a little convoluted, compounded by the writers' strike.

The Sonni who came to Springfield truly was Sonni. She thought she was her twin Solita, but Sonni had let Solita take the rap for something she had done as children and then Solita killed herself.

For a long time, we were led to believe (I think) that the real Sonni had died after falling off the bridge. But she hadn't.

I thought it ingenious to pair Forbes with Zaslow after Josh and Reva reunited. She had his number and once he realized she was a step ahead of him, he set her up to take a fall. So, Sonni left town. What a tragic soul. This sounds odd, but I hope she found happiness.

I have to say I really enjoyed the Cooper family chat on The Locher Room. Beth Ehlers seems like a genuine person and there seems to be great affection all around. I was never a big fan of how they took over the show but it was nice to see how much they liked and respected each other.

r212

I always loved the Coopers and didn't mind Buzz(most of the time) but aren't there lots of stories about Beth being a bitch

From what I understand, Beth Ehlers is for the most part well liked, and was fine in her earlier run, but the bitch came out after she and Rob Bogue were slated to get together and then Rob got cold feet about leaving his wife at the last minute. And then she just became a big sourpuss, as described in Zimmer's book.

Weirdly, she fell for both men who played Mallet.

I went as Solita one Halloween.

Aunt Liz, darling, are you still with us?

Are our Bay City denizens still here? Just checking in to see if you're all comfortable.

Vivien, get them some tea and stop talking to the plants!

I wonder if Ehlers goes after married men in her new job in NJ government.

[quote] I have to say I really enjoyed the Cooper family chat on The Locher Room.

A Cooper family reunion is incomplete without Jean Carol aka Nadine Cooper Lewis!

I saw Beth E be a major bitch to a waitress once

It was awful

They talked about her, R218. They said nice things. I never cared for her in the role. She was too LA, blonde hair and big teeth. I think they could have found someone better who could have gone toe to toe with Justin Deas. If Zimmer wasn’t already Reva she would have made a great Nadine.

I didn't watch the whole thing but what was the other role that Fiona mentioned that was a 3 yr contract?

She didn’t name the character. I thought it was cute that she had a choice of testing for one contract role or starting right away in the then non contract role of Jenna, the cat burglar. And she chose the one who wouldn’t have to cry. Although I think Jenna ended up crying a fair amount.

r222

that's where I stopped... any idea what role she was talking about?

We've been Murieled, darlings, so here's a new thread.

[quote] . I thought it was cute that she had a choice of testing for one contract role or starting right away in the then non contract role of Jenna, the cat burglar.

The contract part was Eve Guthrie which was cast with Hilary Edson

Eve auditioned at GL circa 1983 probably for Beth or Mindy.

She wasn't cast, but they hired her to do day player or extra work at the prom.

She's beautiful; you can see her in the background.

I mean Hillary Edson who played Eve auditioned for either Beth or Mindy.

Here she is in the prom episode at 7:52.

I don't get why they killed off Eve; she had long term potential.