Fun in the Sun: More marvelous Midwestern moments

Continued from old thread (please fill that one up before posting here)

[quote] Alan keeps wandering down to the nude beach. He must be bored down there, since it's only a bunch of guys.

I haven't been this confused since I overheard Henry Chamberlain talking about "poppers."

Fun in the sun? St Croix? You've got to be kidding.

Chris Bernau was very handsome in those days.

That Brunette is especially beautiful.

I thought this was interesting-this is from Fred Silverman’s interview for the Television Academy Archive (I think it is from the late 90s/early 00s).

He talks about his tenure as head of CBS Daytime in the 60s, specifically about the schedule changes made to several P&G soaps; the expansion of GL and SFT to 30 minutes; and the creation of Love is a Many Splendored Thing and working with Irna, which was developed when P&G refused to expand ATWT to an hour in the 60s.

I wonder what took them so long to expand GL and SFT. Both were in the top 3 forever, with GL being #1 for two years. Not sure about SFT, but they both deserved to be expanded along with ATWT to 30 mins.

R7, are you old enough to remember 15 minute shows?

I'm 66 and have some pre-school memories of (T)GL. I wonder if they were 15 minutes. A few years later I remember Search for Tomorrow as a cue to head back to school after lunch. By then it was 30 minutes. And that show in the mid -late '60s was immensely popular.

I remember when the actress who played Marge, Stu's wife, died. We regret the passing of... Our whole house went silent.

I came to love Search's new theme music. I especially love the pipe organ version.

In hindsight, none of the shows should have been expanded to an hour. When you watch old soaps on YouTube, those 30 minute shows really moved and got a lot of stuff done. The first couple of years after soaps started expanding to an hour, were awful.

I will always wonder why they never put GL and ATWT to 30 minutes before canceling them to try to see if ratings improved.

r10 SAME

It doesn’t cost double to produce a 60 minute show vs 30. Some costs like studio space are the same amount.

But, a 60 minute show does generate double the revenue vs 30.

If the economics of keeping a show going at 60 minutes aren’t viable, then 30 minutes will be even less viable. Half the ad revenue…

Then why wouldn’t they have expanded bold and beautiful to 60 minutes since for the last 15/20 years it’s been pretty highly rated especially in the young demo.

International distribution contracts

I get what R12 is saying but there's also the fact that we're now in a streaming era and people want shorter bites. I think somehow having more viewers for a shorter episode could outweigh what the old framework was for production costs.

R13 Bell-Phillip owns B&B, and Bill Bell hated the hour-long format, saying the half-hour was the perfect production model for soaps. He would not go along with that production change for B&B. He resisted taking Y&R to an hour for as long as he could, but co-owner Columbia Pictures (now Sony) wanted to do what the network was pressing for and forced him to. They apparently even gave him some kind of ultimatum, that if he didn't want to write an hour-long Y&R, they'd find someone else who would. By the time Bell retired (got ill) soaps were already starting to lose viewers, so any kind of expansion after that point was becoming something of a non-issue, and Bradley Bell would see the wisdom in his father's direction, and go along with keeping things as they are. Plus, in B&B's case, the show's foreign market works better with the half-hour format as well.

It would have been good to have an ATWT/GL hour

Agnes Nixon was similarly resistant to expanding AMC to an hour.

In June 1975, just five months after AW expanded to an hour, ABC persuaded her to do a week's worth of hourlong AMC episodes, just prior to the debut of Ryan's Hope. At that point AMC was airing at 1 p.m., but Ryan's Hope took the 1 p.m. time slot upon its debut and AMC moved to 12:30 p.m. So, they had week of the hourlong AMC airing from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. to subtlety prep views for the new time slot.

AMC went back to 30 minutes with Ryan's Hope's debut. But that week of 60 minute episodes also convinced ABC the hour was the way to go. Also show Agnes she could do the hourlong episodes.

ABC kept pressuring Agnes that it wanted the AMC to be an hour. ABC was sold on the hourlong format.

If I recall correctly from the Ryan's Hope book, there was also some talk of expanding Ryan's Hope to an hour.

Agnes finally relented and AMC went to 60 minutes in April 1977 while Ryan's Hope stayed at 30 minutes.

ABC

R18, weren’t AMC and OLTL 45 minutes for a bit before they expanded to 60?

I think that was OLTL and GH

GH and OLTL expanded to 45 minutes each in July 1976, They then both expanded to 60 minutes in January 1978.

AMC was never 45 minutes in length.

Thanks, R21!

The All-New As the World Turns/ Guiding Light Hour!

Featuring Eileen Fulton … Lisa.

It’s THE Guiding Light.

Wiliiam Fichtner talks a bit about his time on ATWT, it starts at around 19:10…

Not just for radio!

"Marlena Delacroix" and her husband have posted a GoFundMe, apparently they were victims of some kind of scam?

That made me sad. The long time president of Erika Slezak's fan club/website even donated--

Will Marlena delacroix donate? Where is Mimi Torchin’s donation? She can afford it.

So who was the real soap culprit?

Steve Burton and another of his MLM ponzi schemes?

While they don't say this outright, from what's written at the GoFundMe page, I might guess that they may have been (stupidly) conned by some person(s) promising to clone Connie's beloved (dead) beagle. There have apparently been fraudsters out there who say they can clone your dog or cat for $50K.

Mostly its medical expenses- I believe them. I may donate

I really liked her column in Weekly, it was very good.

Poor Marlena. She was never a pretty girl. And seriously, she can’t afford $3.5 K in medical bills??? Something’s wrong here. Scam!

That stupid bitch Cuntessa is yammering on and on about Jake raping Marley on AW again. Posters loathe the Cuntessa who makes up shit and insists her made up lies are facts. Dumb bitch.

There's a new group on Facebook called Remembering As the World Turns that has a GREAT subscribers area for only about one buck a month. Tons of complete episodes from the Eighties without commercials! I'm in heaven.

From what I can gather, the episodes were collected by a guy who recently died.

R35, look for the silver lining. The rebuttal posts are quite engaging.

Eileen Fulton is dead to me.

Oh my goodness!!!

Super sad face. RIP to the great Fulton.

People talk about her as the original soap bad girl. She's the first in my memory and several others that followed seemed to be minor variations of her. An archetype for the genre.

My favorite Lisa scene ever at 4;42. Lisa on the rampage after learning of Bob's affair with Susan!

I remember an article with Eileen in which she said the audience hated Lisa, not because she was fucking the shoe salesman behind Dr. Bob's back, but because she was lying to Nancy about doing housework. I always found that funny.

Eileen was the first soap actor to hire her own publicist, and the only one to ever have a primetime spinoff. She didn’t enough credit in her later years for what she did for daytime. Lucci and Dierdre Hall owe her.

Lucci in particular. Lisa was the first to chafe at the confining parts of marriage and the first to be frustrated with the expectations of her role.

There would be no Rachel Davis or Erica Kane without Lisa.

And was she the first to demand a granny clause in her contract? Asking for a friend.

The Grandma Clause was so smart. More actors should have negotiated similar clauses and possibly no SORAS clauses.

R47 Seriously. I think on DAYS Hope is now a great grandmother and Julie is a great great grandmother or something like that. All SORAS related I think.

I blame that damn Johnny Dixon!

R48

I don’t think Hope is a great grandmother yet

Eileen told Soap Opera Digest that a lot of fans blamed Eileen and the grandmother clause for Margo’s miscarriage in the 80s, and she received hate mail as a result. But she didn’t have the clause in her contract by then.

I read up on the character of Whit McColl and it sounds like he was kind of a dick. What did Lisa see in him?

R51, she no longer had the clause in her contract, you mean. She definitely had it back when Tom’s wife Carol couldn’t have children, hence the snappy nickname Sterile Carol.

Holy shit! It looks like we've found the infamous Grant Aleksander's boner episode of GL. The fun starts at two hours and six minutes.

JFC what a freakin' god he is.

I can't say much for his choice in Speedo, but he looks great in it. Not an ounce if fat on him; muscle and lean.

And that hair! Sydney Penny, I think, said he looked like a lion when they were on AMC; she was right.

He and Kassie have some nice chemistry.

Great find!. Grant wears a Speedo nicely, although he could have worn a more better looking one. Thanks for posting that.

However, this scene is from August 1987. It's not the infamous scene we've talked about on the P&G threads for years.

The infamous boner scene where Phillip gets an erection while watching Mindy doing yoga aired in August 1983. In that scene Phillip is sitting on a sofa in the background watching Mindy in the foreground. Grant realizes he has an erection ant that it can be seen by the camera. He pulls his leg up and then leans forward to hide the hard on.

A clip from that infamous scene was including in the opening credits, although you can't see the erection. Its at the 23 second mark in the video below.

I love that shot in the opening of Mike and Ed sitting beside Bert and simultaneously giving her a kiss on the cheek.

R56 is right. That isn't THE boner episode. The boner episode was one of Krista Tesreau's earliest scenes, I think. You can CLEARLY see bulge and it isn't small or subtle at all!

But fuck, that episode at R54 is a find. Grant definitely was a god among men. (I mean, not that he's dust and dirt now, but....)

Would someone from Phillip's background have worn that kind of swimsuit in the 80s?

Not sure if this has been posted before, but it may interest my fellow Monticello fans.

[quote]Would someone from Phillip's background have worn that kind of swimsuit in the 80s?

Not sure what you mean by "background." Are you referring to Phillip's being upper class? Or Phillip being straight?

Ronn Moss was running around in a Speedo on B&B at the same time as Grant was doing it in this scene. Plenty of other soap characters were seen int Speedos on their shows in the 1980s.

Speedos were very fashionable in the 1980s. Very common for upper class men to wear them at the beach and at the pool. Both gay and straight men wore them without any hesitation.

However, once board shorts came into fashion as swimwear, Ronn Moss and others quickly switched to them. IT was after that when Speedos became more associated with gay men.

The one thing I will say is that Speedo that Grant is wearing in that scene is not especially flattering or good looking, as r55 notes. Although his bulge is very nice in them.

I have no problem with Phillip wearing a speedo, but that pattern and color was not flattering.

Ridge's speedos were black or navy blue.

I can't help but think that Phillip didn't have his share of admirers when he was at Lincoln prep

Imagine being his twinkish roommate on a Friday night after Alan canceled plans for Phillip to come home that weekend.

R62 It was exquisite! And it hurt.

[quote]Not sure what you mean by "background." Are you referring to Phillip's being upper class?

This was the 80s. Phillip was from an old-money family and spent most of his time in a boarding school off camera. I just question whether that would have been his choice of swimwear. No biggie. The producers wanted to showcase a hot guy, they did, and it clearly worked. Win win.

We also can't forget the day Ridge Forrester wore red manties on Caroline's bed.

I grew up fairly wealthy in dc suburbs. Yes speedos were worn by the affluent at coke fueled parties.

That opening at r56 reminds of how cool.I thought it was with old Henry waving at the balloon.

A few days late but Eileen's obit finally made the NYT.

Has Christopher Goutman released a statement about Eileen’s death?

Why did Goutman dislike Eileen? I know she would complain about not having a storyline, but she did that in the 80s to Marland, too.

R68, thanks; it says it's in the print version tomorrow. I'll buy one for my scrapbook. (seriously).

End of an era. We were lucky to have Eileen and ATWT for as long as we did.

I'd forgotten about The Willows storyline.

It's included in these "Top" 7 stories of Lisa's.

Goutman claimed that EF kept plugging up the studio toilet. He was sick of paying plumbers to come in and undo the damage so he kept her home to plug up her own toilet.

Who knew Rosie and Linda Dano were old friends…

Everyone loves Linda.

On the Locher Room's FB page today - Scott Bryce is on next week:

[quote] In this special Interview, Scott will look back at his remarkable journey as an actor—and share, for the first time, his personal health story. Last October, Scott was diagnosed with Stage 3 stomach and esophageal cancer. Thankfully, it was caught just in time. He’ll talk about the moment that changed everything, the fight that followed, and the gratitude he feels today.

Oh no! Mary “Stewart” died from stomach cancer. I hope Scott’s alright.

Can they really cure stomach cancer now?

Does Scott Bryce talk much about his father?

Cliff Nelson for those who celebrate.

Viewership data is not readily available for peacock the same it is for broadcast tv.

Peee cock!

Where is Christopher Goutman’s statement about Eileen Fulton’s passing??? Surely he can come up with something to say.

Fuck Christopher Goutman, what about Susan Dey?

Time to let go off the 50 year old “jokes” r84

Fuck off, R85. This is DL where there are certain traditions. Susan Dey is one of them.

Hilarious every time. You’ll die off soon enough.

Gregg Marx at last week's opening of the Hollywood Museum's exhibit on The Marx Brothers. He just turned 70 in April. (The woman is Groucho's granddaughter, Jade Marx.)

Tom and Margo were only sexy when HBS and Gregg were in the roles.

Gregg looks great.

I wanted him inside me quite deeply in the 80s. I would have gladly been the center of a JWS/Gregg sandwich.

Memorable bare chest

Why did Marx leave the role of Tom? It’s not like he did much of anything else after.

R92 good question. He really didn't do much.

Maybe HBS drove him crazy.

We've discussed this several times before.

Gregg did not like living in New York. He was from California. That's where his family was. He wanted to go back home.

So, his contract expired. He returned to California. Show said they would give him 9 months to think it over and then wanted Tom back on the canvas.

Nine months later, show contacted him. Gregg said he was happy in California and not interested in returning to New York. So, show recast the part with Scott Holmes as Tom.

Was he fed up with the grind pf daytime? I am surprised DAYS didn’t offer him his old job back.

That might have been the only time period I taped DAYS.

[quote]Was he fed up with the grind pf daytime? I am surprised DAYS didn’t offer him his old job back.

By 1987, David Banning's mother Julie had been written out of Day following a contract dispute with Bill and Susan Seaforth Hayes.

Likewise, his step father's daughter, Hope, had also been written out, Bo and Hope sailing off to great adventures off camera.

So, there were not any immediate family connections on the canvas in 1987. But there were obviously extended family connections in the form of his great grandparents Tom and Alice Horton and his one time best friend, cousin Mike Horton (being played by Michael T. Weiss at that point).

Mmmmm, Greg Marxx and Michael T. Weiss. I would have love to have seen that action.

Gregg said in an interview somewhere several decades after his ATWT run that he wasn't comfortable playing a heartthrob and having to hide in the closet. Said he wished there was so way he could have been out to his fans, but that wasn't a reality for soaps in the 1980s.

Apparently he was so closeted, even his ATWT co-workers didn't know it. HBS has made comments about Gregg only coming out to her after he left the show.

However, I suspect his fellow gay co-stars like Ben Hendrickson and JWS likely knew.

Gregg and JWS... my mind goes places

R99, hasn't Weiss made similar comments about coming out? Or maybe I'm confusing the two. Imagine those two in a real life relationship. Gay royalty would have been crowned.

Maybe that's why he went back to California...

R100 Other parts of me go places, too......

Throw Grant Aleksander in there and it's a real party!

Grant played gay in a very brief scene in this movie...

Harvey Fierstein posted a picture with John Bolger on his FB page.

When did Fierstein join La Congrégation Nôtre-Dame?

Mother Superior?

Johnnie Bolger makes me moist - down there.

Happy Heavenly birthday to DL fave - Geraldine Court! She is missed.

I just realized that almost all of Genie Francis’ love interests on daytime were rumored to be gay or gay-Tony Geary; Kin Shriner; Michael T Weiss; Jean LeClerc…..

Anna Banana Stuart was bosom buddies with Geri Court. I wonder if they did the carpet munching? Anna is in a lavendar marriage.

Who's the porny looking blonde with the horse teeth in this episode?

r108

When were Genie and Michael T Weiss a thing? on DOOL? I thought Diana was only with Roman on DOOL

When Genie first came to DAYS, they paired her character Diana with Mike Horton, their characters went to college together. They scrapped that quickly and paired Diana with John.

During her 18 months on Y&R, Genie played opposite four guys. There was Genevieve's estranged husband, Colin Atkiknson (Tristan Rogers); the duo hated each other so there was nothing romantic about their interaction. There was also Tucker McCall (Stephen Nichols). He was the guy her character had a history with when they were both teenagers. They also paired her with Aunt Jack (Peter Bergman) and Victor Newman (Eric Braeden). I don;'t recall any of them really clicking. I think Francis was one of the first to be let go after Maria Bell was canned and Jill Faren Phelps and Josh Griffith came in as EP/HW in 2012.

Lenore Kasdorf was indeed beautiful. When she was on “Santa Barbara”, NBC had a big ad campaign promoting stars who were on it from other shows. But I watched SB for a while and she was completely underused on it.

Lenore’s SB character was derailed by the backstage drama between the Dobsons, NBC and Anne Howard Bailey. As was Pamela-there was a lot of back and forth over the casting of that character.

Was Lenore invited back ever to GL? I am surprised Marland didn’t create a role for her on ATWT. Or did she just not want to live in New York again.

Genie Francis was also paired with Stephen nichols who has somehow “never managed to find the right lady”either. Same for Peter Bergman although I realize he’s married to a woman; still some gay rumors persist.

Still, Jon lindstrom, Eric Bergman, and drake hogestyn dont fit the mold.

I’m not entirely sure thats a large percentage given the make up of daytime actors in the 90s as a whole.

r116

wikipedia says that SM has been married to a woman since 1984

I completely forgot about Genie’s unremarkable time at Y&R, and her removal by the Ayatollah Farren Phelps.

SM somehow equals Stephen Nicholls?

Let’s just say I live in West Hollywood and can’t be swayed on that one.

Is Genie ever really happy about anything? It seems like she’s always bitching about something.

Hunger will do that.

Okay, back to P&G topics.

Was the Scott Bryce Locher Room thing on already?

R122, I think it is on Thursday.

R115, Lenore Kasdorf said GL did ask her back to wrap up Rita’s story but her agent declined without ever mentioning it to her. She said she would’ve liked to have done it, as she loved the character. She also said it was would’ve been difficult to swing as she would’ve had to move back to NY, figure out schooling for her daughter, etc.

She also said that the experience on SB was ultimately disappointing — the original story had Caroline in a romance with a boxer and the actor playing the boxer wasn’t strong (I’m paraphrasing) and she was shocked to be playing a mother to a daughter who was a grown woman.

[quote]Genie Francis was also paired with Stephen nichols who has somehow “never managed to find the right lady”either.

His heart belongs to Dr. Stinkface.

Marx had/has a big career in voice overs. He won the DT Emmy for playing Tom in 1987.

He singled out Hillary in his speech, thanking her.

Marx has also done the cabaret circuit. Apparently he was quite the fixture in Palm Springs.

When ABC fired Kale Brown from OLTL following JFP's jump to GH as EP, the network was looking to recast the role of Sam Rappaport.

HBS, who was then in a romantic triangle with Bo and Sam, suggested the network contact Gregg Marx about playing Sam, saying they always had good chemistry.

No idea if ABC did contact Gregg, but ultimately Larry Lau was cast as NuSam.

My dogs name is Groucho.

To go from Gregg Marx to....Scott Holmes. Quite a leap.

Greg Marx to… my dog Groucho.

[quote]Greg Marx

His name is spelled Gregg. Two Gs at the end.

R110 Are you talking about the blonde who enters the scene at the 6 minute mark whom other characters then address as "Mary"?

That's Kelly Wood who played "Mary Ellison" later becoming "Mary Hughes" (Don's wife).

GGroucho

Coincidentally I’ve seen nlg at lunch and she stopped to pet my dog.

R133 was she ATWT's version of Clarice from AW?

Marx told Soap Opera Update he got a message on his answering machine: "Thomas Christopher Hughes, you simply MUST come to New York and play with me...."

He passed but said he was tempted.

R133 Yes, thanks for filling in the blanks.

Morgan Englund's daughter (and thus Cloris Leachman's granddaughter) is apparently a big dance music celebrity......I had no idea.

R127 That would more correctly be, "IS a fixture in Palm Springs."

He's considered a local there now. Last year he participated in the fundraising event for the Revolution Stage Company in Palm Springs called "Our Name Is Barbara." This was billed as a concert where local singers in the Palm Springs area came together to raise money for the non-profit, live entertainment venue. (It's my understanding that he shares a home in nearby Indian Wells with a local realtor.)

Photo from the event:

R139 he looks great there.

A nepo baby! No way! What are the odds?

Scott Bryce's Locher Room was last night - have not watched yet but apparently it was very raw and a very surprising visitor stopped by (someone who has been off the grid for a while).....off to watch now.

The Cuntessa is in trouble again. She’s posting private info about a former AW actress allegedly in hospice care. It’s none of her damn business. She exposed Drake Hogestyn’s palliative care also. I’m surprised she wasn’t holding Eileen Fulton’s hand at the end.

R142, was it Meg Ryan? lol.

Marlena de la Croix isn’t all there anymore. The beagle scam is a bit much. And her GoFundMe isn’t succeeding. I thought the soap community would hit her goal in no time, but a SPW writer told me she’s not well-liked.

I posted on one her recent columns to kindly correct two mistakes she made.

1) Nancy Grahn did not win two prior Emmys as Lead Actress for SB. She won for Supporting for SB and GH. Marlena edited her post from SB to GH but left Lead Actress in.

2) Lisa Grimaldi was married 8 times, not 6. She edited this also.

She then deleted my post.

I mean, sure, edit it, but say THANK YOU.

r145 I've been a Marlena de La Croix fan since her days at Soap Weekly. But I agree, she isn't all there any more. And she hasn't been for over a decade.

I used to send notes correcting mistakes in her column routinely. Sometimes she corrected the mistake. Sometime she ignored the note and left the mistake in. As a result, I just quite writing her with corrections.

My biggest pet peeve is the fact she has twice abandoned her column for over a year and then returned without explanation or apology for her absence. That's not the way you get a maintain a loyal following.

Sorry the GoFundMe isn't getting much traction. But not really surprised either.

Finn Carter surprised Scott Bryce on The Locher Room.

Scott’s found God and he’s a big supporter of MAGA Byrne.

Then I'll pass

My ex Michael Swan is a huge MAGGOT.

R146 agree, she's actually a terrible writer with poor grammar.

I don't know if it can be said Scott "found God" but he is grateful that he survived. He didn't come off as holy roller ish to me, more oh shit I survived all this, thank you God.

One of MAGA Byrne’s former costars and besties posted about 9/11 on Insta recently.

MAGA came for her on Insta with the fire of a thousand suns, saying Bestie knew not of what she spoke, because only MAGA lost or had loved ones injured that day.

Bestie had lost someone that day, and MAGA knew this.

Bestie finally responded, but said MAGA could’ve called or PM’d her. She’s been to Bestie’s house many times in two decades.

Bestie says MAGA waited until Liz Hubbard died to come out as her true self. Liz’s son repeatedly “likes” MAGA’s post. It’s weird.

Suffice to say, they’re no longer friends.

The Locher Room with Nancy St Alban gets good after 30 minutes.

She loathes Ellen Wheeler for firing her right after she had a baby and bought a house. Said Ellen called her at home during her new baby fog and asked if she’d be ok if Michelle went to California. Poor Nancy thought she was going on remote. Said she’d love to run into Ellen today and let her have it, as she tried to go with grace at the time.

She told Alan that when she was in high school school, she tested for Josie on AW. She said the actress who got the part did lots of things afterwards, but she couldn’t recall her name. Alan, of course, has no idea who that is or who played her, but comes up with Amy Carlson.

Given Nancy’s age, it was obviously Alexandra Wilson, who did do a lot of prime time after AW.

She looks great for 55!

My favorite Josie was Amy Carlson but she turned into a typecast for Staten Island trash.

I never got over how Josie became a hooker just like her mama.

R152, why the secrecy if this person posted publicly? Just tell us who it is.

“Bestie” is a friend of mine also, although I do not know Martha.

All posts have been deleted. She just wants to leave it in the (recent) past.

Out of respect for her privacy, I won’t name her.

Bestie said "fiddle dee dee....."

The 1991 Dark Shadows is now on Prime, I guess.

Featuring Joanna Going (former AW actress) and yes, Ellen Wheeler.

Michael T Weiss (ex-DAYS), Roy Thinnes (OLTL), Barbara Blackburn (RH) too.

Marlena DeLaC was losing it a decade ago on SON when she became a member. I suspect dementia. One could remind her about old articles she'd written and she would be dumbfounded. As often happens the memories of old times come back more readily than the recent ones. If she ever needs my financial contributions for her care I will gladly contribute

Sorry to those who are in another struggle about disclosing Beverly Pemberthy's status. Pemberthy was always a class act. Loved her as Pat. She was a fixture of my AW when I started watching, as John's long suffering wife who finally said enough was enough. She was the decent character who drew me in. I didn't know she was a recast.

I don't like knowing that her privacy has been invaded but I would gladly send her gifts to make her life better. .

Beverly P's gay nephew should weigh in here again.

Im not the nephew but I’m 178 pounds.

Nancy St. Alban was lucky to have played Michelle for so long. After the wonderfully complex and edgy Joy Lenz they brought in someone who was only suitable for commercials. No edge whatsover.

Lisa Grady was THE ingenue on Another World for 18 months, then Jamie impregnated Vicky and she was gone shortly thereafter, never to be seem or heard from again.

R165 I thought it was Going’s choice to leave. Wasn’t that around the time she started to do movies?

It was , r166-it was odd to me how the character went from being constantly front burner, to back burner, to never heard from again.

Shouldn’t psychic Lisa have seen that coming? JAMIE, YOU IN DANGER!

R164 Exactly. This was a time GL had a ton of hot young future stars on. Matt Bomer was one. Then they hire the dud Nancy after Joy?

During the interview with Scott Bryce, Alan asked Finn Carter if she would do her own interview with him and she said YES. What a wild one that could be!

Nancy was a dud but at least she didn’t join a cult!

Michelle Forbes talks briefly about her time on GL starting at 20:00. She essentially says it was a good training ground.

Michelle was a great addition to HOMICIDE. I thought she knocked it out of the park on THE KILLING. And her guest-spot as Jo’s mom on GREY’S ANATOMY a few years back was raw, real acting on a show where acting is often on autopilot.

Ding dong the witch is banned! Cuntessadumbassatellall finally got the boot from SON! Everyone is cheering. That cunt drove everyone nuts. Buh bye bitch.

what was the final straw r174?

She revealed that a former AW actor was in hospice care, just like she broke the news about Drake Hogestyn.

R175 The dumb bitch did herself in by continuing to post nonsense, going off topic and posting personal medical information about soap actors. We was warned many times to knock it off but the dumb cunt didn’t learn from past mistakes and was permanently banned, to the delight of everyone there.

I'm just amazed that it took nearly six years to finally ban her.

I’ve actually met her. I was a manager in an upscale department store in Atlanta. She applied for a store credit card and was declined. She went batshit crazy on one of my associates, so I had to step in. I immediately recognized her (from her photos on, of all places, LinkedIn); the purple hair helped, and we had her name on the credit app. She angrily left the store. I’m sorry to say she was not in good physical or mental health.

[quote] to the delight of everyone there.

One in particular. Lol

I promise, we'll get back on topic, but you have to understand: this shit had been going on for nearly six years. We're entitled to a little schadenfreude.

CREDIT CARDS ARE NOT FREE MONEY.

I guess the Contessa didn’t know that.

She is indeed batshit crazy. Linda Dano, the nicest person in the world, blocked her on social media because Donna claws and claws at you persistently and won’t leave you alone if you show her one ounce of attention.

Is that story about the AW bench true?

Batshit crazy Donna kept bragging about how she lead the fight to save AW (it was cancelled) and how she lead the fundraising to get a memorial bench in Central Park. She also constantly posted the exact location of said bench. At least 3 of her haters brought their dogs to the bench and let their dogs shit on the AW bench. Donna went crazy over it. She had a meltdown.

For an AW expert she sure didn't know Gwen Parrish

They better not shit on MY bench or I’ll snap my dishrag in their cunts!

When I’m with you, you take me away …to another bench…

You made me laugh r188

Someone should check on Linda Dano. She might’ve heard the news, jumped for joy, and broken a hip.

Midwestern Town Question: Did Veleka Gray play a character named April on ATWT before she played Lyla? I’ve got an old soap annual from 1980 that says she did, but perhaps they got her character’s name wrong? I’m guessing that’s the case. And why was Veleka out after 13 weeks?

I thought I heard Veleka Gray didn’t get along with Don Hastings? She was a lot more age appropriate for Lyla than Sward.

She was only like 7 years older than Margaret Colin and Scott Bryce.

Generally not a Hinsey fan but I think she has a point here about summer storylines - she mentions the Bauer BBQ:

The Scott Bryce Locher Room was excellent and for the same reasons the Hubbard one was excellent - Scott B had control of the floor, so to speak (he had a LOT to say) and Locher wisely just stayed out of the way and kept questions to a minimum.

Hinsey wonders what was UP with Speedos on soaps.

She’d understand if I wore one.

R195, do you have a link to that?

A friend told me that Steve Bond was told to stop wearing Speedos on GH as they were revealing too much.

Did the earthquake correspond to Donna being banned at SON?

What earthquake?

Do you mean the sound and tremors caused by her falling off the AW Bench two days ago?

I could hear and feel it all the way upstate.

The remaining soaps are boring, pretty bad, and I’m a little shocked they maintain ratings. Every time I’ve tried to tune in nothing captures my attention.

Yeah but who was MAGA Martha’s bestie? I wanna know!

Me too, R201.

One last thought on the Donna situation: it's quite clear that she's an un-person to SON leadership. They haven't deleted her posts, but any and all commentary about her (particularly on the Another World thread, which she treated as a personal playground) is being struck.

Very well, moving forward. Just wanted to state that (since it's clear that at least a couple SON folks visit here).

I swear, I am not trying to be a prisspot hall monitor, but now that everyone's had their say and enjoyed a nice serving of schadenfreude, I implore other posters to cease the mention of that woman by name (or anyone else from SON, for that matter).

Some of you may be more recent DL posters and haven't ever seen issues play out here, but in past years, soap threads were entirely banned (as in, closed moments after they were started) because other boards and/or other people were mentioned by name - especially if posters from other sites "brigaded" us here and swarmed the threads.

I'm not suggesting this because I'm clutching my pearls over the topic, and I am not defending anyone - I don't know who you're talking about well, but I have seen her on social media and she always did strike me as being a few fries short of a Happy Meal - but we would all like to continue these discussions here, so cool it, please and thank you.

What happened to Melina Kanakaredes? Her career was red hot then she quit CSI and her career has been sparse since. Was she difficult? Did she pull a Sherry Stringfield and want a normal life?

You got it, R204.

Agreed r204. But it wasn't her that caused the soap threads, indeed the whole soap subforum, to be banned. That was caused by an invasion of crazed straight soap frauen who had issues with gay soap gossip.

I remember reminding one of them that this was a gay site and was told "not for long!" That's one example.

The woman in question had many issues but she was never homophobic.

Melina did recurring on THE RESIDENT about 7 years ago. She obviously took a step back, probably by choice since she quit CSI, and now has lost momentum. 15 years is a long time. She’s 58, but she’d be great on a CHICAGO or a L&O.

Melina, like Sherry S, was everywhere and then nowhere.

I always thought Elvera Roussel was so pretty, and simply loved her name.

She put on weight and with that hair Miss Piggy was an easy nickname

Melina was so cute on GL

I loved that era of GL, when Bridget and Eleni were both a breath of fresh air.

Melina was gorgeous. I think something happened at CSI and she pissed off some powerful people. It reminds me that Tammy Blanchard was also red hot winning a Primetime Emmy, being nominated for Tonys then her career just slowly withered. She’s so talented. Those GL women who get famous seem to fuck it up. I did she Brittany Snow in a Netflix series and boy is she not shy about sexuality! She also played a porn star in the hit horror movie X a few years ago.

Tammy was brilliant but also apparently a bit cuckoo.

R214 You're right, Brittany Snow and Hayden Whatsersnatch also had issues along the way. Poor Hayden really went off the deep end, apparently. Including that massive mountain of muscle she was formerly married to and had a kid with.

I was sure Tammy was destined for greatness especiall after playing Judy Garland.

I think Melina's show PROVIDENCE still airs on one of those repeat stations.

R216 I have seen Providence on one of those mesothelioma stations!

[quote] mesothelioma stations!

That's it! I think it also shows Murder She Wrote and In The Heat of the Night.

I agree about Tammy. I thought she’d be huge. But an Emmy and two Tony noms ain’t nothin’. She did a Ryan Murphy series last year so maybe she can join his ensemble for future projects.

Her career is like a B-list Amy Adams, who was an Oscar nominee in big movies every year. Now she’s at that “age” that Hollywood doesn’t like and she’s in dreck that goes straight to Netflix.

R217 is that what meTV is short for? Mesothelioma?

There's quite a few of them r220 all showing the same commercials and all the old ladies love them.

When my cousin died and we had to move my auntie (she won't admit her real age but close to 100) to an assisted living apartment she hated the cable it provided and wanted "her channels" back. So I stripped some coaxel and stuck it in her window. Now she gets all the old shows on those mesothelioma channels again.

It would be a great medium for old soaps. Her place has wifi included so every once in a while I put the FIRESTICK in her TV and we watch old episodes of soaps of YouTube.

Not me! This GL girl didn’t lose it.

Brittany Snow had issues?

Hayden! Damn those famous GL girls really burned hot then flamed out.

Janney was great on GL but nothing she did there made me think she could do the great work she did on West Wing or as a movie actress.

R224 I did. She was hysterical. It’s insane GL didn’t do more with her.

Brittany Snow was just in the raunchy The Hunting Wives on Netflix. She was so good and looks 21.

No, r207, the woman in question is not homophobic. She is, in fact, a very out lesbian.

Man, I thought Tammy Blanchard would be huge, too. Yes, she’s kooky that’s why I thought she’d be huge in addition to being insanely talented. She had “it”. I wonder why her theater work dried up?

Allison Janney could get the EGOT.

I would have guessed that Beth Ehlers would become a big star.

And Lisa Brown, for sure.

Beth Ehlers? I don’t think so.

Texas debuted 45 years ago today -- August 4, 1980.

Just started reading this thread today, and it’s funny that Tammy Blanchard and her career is being discussed here. I heard her “Suddenly Seymour” on Sirius the other day and was wondering why she didn’t become a big star. I didn’t even recognize her on that recent show where she played Aaron Hernandez’s mother, but she was good.

Tammy is phenomenal. It’s a shame she didn’t become huge. She had all the ingredients. You’d think the critical acclaim she received for playing Judy Garland winning an Emmy and her Tony noms would have catapulted her to superstardom.

Melina definitely pissed someone off in contract negotiations.

Hayden Panettiere, wowzer, had a major public meltdown. The rumors were off the charts.

Brittany Snow is doing fine. She gets steady work.

Allison Janney has cemented her status as an A list great actress.

Sherry Stringfield- we’ve discussed. Ruined a red hot career multiple times.

The girl who played Marah who also had a big theater career likewise started red hot then faded.

Nia Long- Roger Ebert was so big on her he said he was certain she would win an OSCAR! She started pretty hot then faded. She’s playing MJ’s mother in some movie coming up so maybe Ebert will get his prediction come to pass.

Joy Lenz- had a huge hit TV show, seemed destined for more, then faded.

Michelle Forbes has seen steady work, but as we saw with her Emmy nominated turn in the Killing and her popular character on True Blood, she was capable of more.

There are others I am forgetting but it does seem the GL gals who make it big, and they’ve had some huge stars, fade out unexpectedly.

Fun fact: Allison Janney and Tammy Blanchard both won Emmys in 2001.

Angela Basset was on GL. She’s doing quite well. Though likewise she was on fire, her career cooled, then had a late in life resurgence.

The one who really could have been a bigger star is, of course, Kim Zimmer.

But to accomplish that, she needed to leave soaps after THE DOCTORS and be a starving artist until landing a few more movies.

Did ATWT have the most actresses who REALLY became movie stars after they left? Meg, Marisa, Julianne, Parker…

Didn’t Betty Rea cast those four, when she was doing double duty on ATWT and GL in the 80s?

R237 I think so, yes.

So much of the good part of soaps from the 70s to 90s was due to writers/producers/casting agents having a direct pipeline to amazing stage talent on and off Broadway.

Hayden was driven insane by Jonathan Jackson because she wouldn’t join his cult, and I’m just the dame to prove it!!!

Who was Angela Bassett on GL? I remember her from SFT. I got that talented bitch right outta there. Olympia Dukakis and Sheryl Lee Ralph too!

I read Joy Lenz's book....well, more just sort of flipped through it (she only mentions GL briefly) but she's another one that had a rise to fame and then fell like a rock. And that cult stuff.....whew.

I think Vince Liebhart was the casting director at ATWT by the time Parker Posey started on the show.

He was, r242, but if I remember correctly-Parker and Sherri Stringfield were college roommates, and Parker had a GL audition before ATWT-I thought I read that somewhere. She was wrong for the GL role, but perfect for the role of Hal Munson’s Kentucky born niece.

If Angela Bassett, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Olympia Dukakis, plus Morgan Fairchild, Susan Sarandon, Jill Clayburgh, Lee Grant, Connie Ford, Don Knotts, Joel Higgins, Irene Cara, Robby Benson, Kathleen Beller, Ken Kercheval, et al, all came from SEARCH, it might have produced the largest number of “stars” in various genres (film, tv, music) of any soap.

I take credit for getting rid of all of them. You’re welcome.

According to Parker’s book, ATWT graciously released her early so she could do a film. That started it all for her.

I think GL and ATWT had the most stars. On YouTube Spauldingfield did a collage of actors who were on GL. It's A LOT. It shows Angela Bassett was a nurse who interacted with Lillian a lot. Mira Sorvino was on briefly.

Calista Flockhart played a nanny for Josh.

I can't remember whether he was with Harley, Annie or Tangie but it was somewhere between Reva Stint I and Reva Stint II if I remember right.

Somebody pull out James Earl Jones, Billy Dee Williams and Ruby Dee!

R248 Get these black bitches out of my face!

Did someone say Mary Stuart??!?!?!?!????

P&G show killer is back.

RIP Y&R…

Ken Corday has dome a lot of stupid things at Days of our Lives, but the one smart thing he has done is keep JFP away from Salem.

Kale Browne as NuPaul?

Y&R thread is here, folks:

Well, it looks like ATWT also had actresses who burned hot then flamed out- Meg, Marisa, and Parker all burned hot then faded out. Only Julianne stayed hot. Damn P&G had a curse on the females who made it big.

R248 AND Cicely Tyson! All replaced each other on GL. They weren’t even mentioned in the Spauldingfield YouTube video of huge GL stars. Either were Jobeth Willams or Christopher Walken.

Every actress over 40 is scared to death. And that’s most of them!

Audra and Sally just became leading ladies!

Marisa and Parker have had comebacks. Meg couldn’t because of…y’know.

Other ATWT stars who got big (to differing degrees) include Steven Weber, Billy Magnussen, Jennifer Landon, Jesse Soffer, Vanessa Rey, Annie Parisse, Jennifer Ferrin, Richard Thomas, Margaret Colin.

Julianne is the Queen, though.

As for SFT, don’t forget Jane Krakowski, always working and often nominated.

Jesse Soffer started on GL with Brittany Snow and played Tammy Blanchard’s little brother. Steven Weber also appeared on GL. Parker was only just in White Lotus. She didn’t have much for a long time. Marisa should have been much bigger.

R244 mentioning her has me wondering -is Kathleen Beller the only surviving Liza? Louan Gideon, Sherry Mathis, Denise Nickerson and Meg Bennett are all gone.

Meg actually started on GL. Did you know that? She was a part of the teen scene. She was cut and went to ATWT.

Jobeth Williams was another GL casualty! Burned white hot then..

Jobeth should’ve gotten an Oscar nod for Poltergeist

I think it’s a P&G thing since it didn’t just happen to GL actresses who hit it big. 🤣

This is fun.

JoBeth and Tammy starred together in Sybil. Small world.

Kathleen Beller and possibly Hope Busby are the last living Lizas.

Has the old witch Donna Bridges visited her precious Another World bench lately? It’s in rough shape. Dog shit piling up on it daily.

Going was cast as Victoria Winters in the prime time Dark Shadows.

They merged the characters of Vicky and Maggie Evans, really beefing up Vicky's part (or perhaps more accurately demphasizing Maggie's).

A series on Hula or Netflix or Prime on the life of Irna Phillips could be interesting. She was something else! I’d call it Guiding Light because that was her first and she was the GL for soaps. I’d definitely cast an actress from one of her signature soaps.

And yes, Kim Zimmer should have had a big career. She’s the best crier ever and she’s funny. She could have been a good character actress. Such a waste. She’s better than half of Hollywood.

R247 Calista Flockhart played Marah’s loyal babysitter. Marah disappeared when Calista was babysitting and they thought Sonni kidnapped her.

R267 Oh, so even earlier than I thought. Thanks!

Got around to watching Finn Carter on The Locher Room. She looked…uhhh…really rough. Anyway one interesting morsel from that was the finalists who screentested for Sierra were her, Elizabeth Dennehy, Marissa Chibas and Julianne Moore. I never knew Moore had initially tested for Sierra. Wow.

I guess once casting saw Julianne they probably earmarked her for Frannie.

Had no idea Elizabeth Dennehy was auditioning for P&G shows so much earlier than when she landed Blake at GL. She did a good solid job as Blake.....I wonder if turning Blake into "Chrissy" was a retcon after Dennehy started/was cast? She certainly looked nothing like Maureen Garrett or Michael Zaslow.

Finn didn’t have much of a career, but she’ll always have TREMORS. Does she do the autograph convention circuit?

She does the lot lizard circuit.

Poor Finn never had a chance with Liz Hubbard.