9047 replies to this topic

[Scrumtrelescent]

Bob Reid dated Alicia Nieves (Ana Alicia) for a while, but she wasn't around all that long (1977-78). I don't even remember how she was written out, she may have just dropped out of sight, like a number of other minor RH characters.

Bob also managed Delia's Crystal Palace, so he was somewhat involved in all the Joe Novak/organized crime shenanigans (though, for a former cop he really was pretty clueless about what was going on around him). But I was surprised to learn from Earl Hindman's obituary that he had been on RH for the entire run.

[VolWing]

This has always bugged me about Delia, with both Ilene Kristen and Randall Edwards. Why does Delia wear those flimsy little summer dresses even in the winter? Here it is Thanksgiving on the current episodes and she's running around in that little short-sleeved blue dress. The Ryans don't live in Florida, so her dresses have never made sense to me.

[TheCustomOfLife]

Ryan's Hope Bloopers: Because it's fun to hear half the cast yell "Fuck!" when they flub their lines.

[TheCustomOfLife]

I don't watch Ryan's Hope much, so who was that first woman in the sequence who went apeshit and yelled "FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!" after she missed the line? Is that Jillian?

[blixie2]

Yes that was Jill, damn she was taking herself wicked serious in that flub.

Can I just say Bucky brings the HoYay like nobody's business with Pat. He's like the only man impervious to Delia.

[The Last Dodo]

Damn, I still love this show.

I'm liking Pat/Faith/Delia a lot better than Frank/Jill/Delia. What's interesting about it is that both Faith and Delia at one point were neurotic and possessive of Pat, but Faith grew and changed, whereas Delia, if anything, has devolved, so it's interesting to see that contrast. Plus, I like all three characters pretty much equally, which wasn't the case with F/J/D.

And I still really appreciate how much things like reactions and things like that matter. When something happens, you still want to see how everyone else is going to react to it. And people's reactions are themselves good drama--like the other day, when Johnny bellowed at Jack to get an annulment, I actually gasped, and it's been ages since I've done that with a soap.

Jack/Mary is really getting painful to watch, what with all the hurt and anger and intensity...but that's not a bad thing necessarily. Still, I'll be glad when they get through it.

I also liked that they brought back Nick Szabo for a day and tied up what happened with him and Reenie, because that ended so abruptly.

Edited by The Last Dodo, Feb 2, 2004 @ 10:54 AM.

[jodela-he-hoo]

I just started watching again in December, and I have a few questions. Who is the kid Maeve and Johnny are twirling in the opening credits? (Little John?) I used to watch RH with my mother probably from the beginning up until 84ish, I loved Siobhan. I remember up until Ryan/Yasmine Bleeth and Grant Show were on. I remember some weird homeless southern girl (Pru?) showing up.

Watching now, I find it sometimes incredibly cheesy, the montages of Mary and Jack falling in love and Jill/Seneca at the beach. The production value is cringe worthy, I love all the scenes in the kitchen where there is a little tiny bag of sugar on shelf and it's supposed to be a restaurant kitchen. I remember many of the storylines, however, I never realized how much of a pompous tool Jack Fenelli was, I hope he gets over it soon. I just want to smack him.

Is SoapNet going to run through the entire show or rewind again after 1980something? I'd like to see what I never stuck around for back in the day.

thanks, for answering, The Last DodoI feel silly being so excited to watch a show that's so old, and I read those yearly summaries you posted upthread and now I'm mad that I spoiled myself for something I've already seen!

Edited by jodela-he-hoo, Feb 10, 2004 @ 5:22 PM.

[The Last Dodo]

Who is the kid Maeve and Johnny are twirling in the opening credits? (Little John?)

Yeah. Before the recasts of Faith and Frank there was another opening with more shots of other cast members and there was one of Delia feeding him.

Watching now, I find it sometimes incredibly cheesy, the montages of Mary and Jack falling in love and Jill/Seneca at the beach.

Oh yeah. Those things drag on for like 5 minutes and the Jill/Seneca ones are just stills, fer chrissakes!!! And the uberdramatic music at the end of every scene cracked me up when I first started watching, but now I've gotten so used to it that I don't even really notice.

Is SoapNet going to run through the entire show or rewind again after 1980something? I'd like to see what I never stuck around for back in the day.

I get the impression this time they're going to keep going. It seemed like the reason they started over was because when they first started, hardly any households had the channel, and they got a lot of requests to go back to the beginning.

[jodela-he-hoo]

More questions, sorry. The Ryan kids are (eldest to youngest and I'm questionable on that) Kathleen (who was really only intermittent?), Frank, Patrick (hotty), Mary and Siobhan (although has she actually been a character up until now? she doesn't really appear for a while yet, yes?)

Also, I never knew that Mary died. I read the summary of the final episode, I presume that's years in the future but how and when? I feel silly putting that in spoiler tags but for anyone who hasn't seen, it's new.

They are playing 2 episodes a day so that means we're going at double speed, right? so it was just christmas and then it'll be christmas again in June/July? Cool, I want to catch up fast. We could be at the end of 1978 by the end of this year.

I was reading on imdb.com about who played what and the kid playing Little John stayed little john from 1975-1985 which is odd because Ryan Fenelli isn't even born yet and by 1985 she was already Yasmine Bleeth. I was only watching during the summers and on school holidays by that point and it seems like at christmas, Ryan was in some kind of costume, like a ballerina or princess, I seem to remember wings, and by the summer she was an adult!

I'm so sorry this is getting too long, a few years ago I saw Jillian/NAA on Rosie O'Donnell and she looked fantastic. It must have been only shortly before she died but she was bubbly and excited, Rosie was a huge fan, and she said one of the guys (Jack Fenelli or Patrick Ryan, had kind of become a monk or something?) Am I insane? She was giving updates but of course at the time I had nothing to reference so it just went by me.

Edited by jodela-he-hoo, Feb 11, 2004 @ 11:16 AM.

[The Last Dodo]

Frank is older than Kathleen; otherwise that's the correct order. I think when the show started originally Mary was supposed to be the youngest, because they referred to Siobhan teaching in Oregon, but then that was switched to Siobhan just being in college. Maybe she was a TA one semester.

Siobhan doesn't come on until early 1978. I'm kind of dreading 1978 coming up, actually, because Kate Mulgrew leaves at the beginning of the year and Malcolm Groome leaves midyear and I'm really not looking forward to either one leaving, but especially not Kate Mulgrew.

Mary dies at the end of 1979; she stumbles upon Joe's uncle's mob connections while reporting and is killed as a result. By that time they'd recast the role 3 times and none worked. But I've only read about that; I've never actually seen it.

OK, talking about cheesy--that ending the other day when the voices in Frank's head were shouting, "Lies, LIES, LIES!!!!"? Straight out of an Ed Wood film. MAN, that was bad.

Edited by The Last Dodo, Feb 11, 2004 @ 12:26 PM.

[jodela-he-hoo]

The Last Dodo, I think you're my new best friend! I can't believe that was only 1979! I must have blocked it out and yes, Kate Mulgrew was always the definitive Mary for me, everything she's ever done I always say, "oh, look, it's Mary Ryan" although weirdly, I was shocked to learn that Marg Helgenberger was the 3rd or so Siobhan, she's the definitive for me. Frank was probably Daniel Hugh Kelly, although I vaguely recall Geoff Pierson, the current Frank bugs me. Him out stumbling and the voices in his head was laugh out loud funny.

I was also shocked to learn that Jack Fenelli stayed for the entire run of the show. I didn't realize how old he was. He would have been about 45 at the time, he's got some Law and Order episodes listed and I would kill to see him in a rerun. Hell, I want to see Jack happy and smiling just once before I die. He's really bugging the crap out of me.

[TheCustomOfLife]

I loved these recent episodes where Delia wants to get an abortion and Maeve is forced to collect her. So much so, in fact, that I'm considering getting up at 3AM each morning just to push record, then go back to sleep!

[StellStell]

It will take a few months, but Jack will be smiling and not at Mary. When Ryan's Hope was airing the last time on SoapNet, I gave up during 1978's episodes because I couldn't take seeing Pat, Delia and Mary being played by other people.

Nancy Addison-Altman (Jill) was talking about Malcom Grooome leaving acting and going into eastern religion.

[jodela-he-hoo]

I will be sad when the current Pat leaves. He was a totally new discovery for me. I didn't remember him at all and he's pretty (and quite possibly the only guy on the show who isn't bugging me).

Thanks, StellStell for confirming my Jill story. It was entirely within the realm of possibility that I had lost my mind completely. I knew Malcolm Groome didn't have too much on his resume, I'm very intrigued by his eastern religion thing.

[The Last Dodo]

loved these recent episodes where Delia wants to get an abortion and Maeve is forced to collect her. So much so, in fact, that I'm considering getting up at 3AM each morning just to push record, then go back to sleep!

They were great. And they left off at such a point that Friday was a real cliffhanger...I was like, "Dammit, I want to see what Maeve says to Pat!"

Sort-of related thing....I went to this speed dating thing for gay men Saturday night where the first part is going around the room and having one minute to introduce yourself. Other people brought up TV shows they were into like Survivor and Trading Spaces, so for the hell of it when it was my turn, I deadpanned, "I watch and have written about both of those shows, but I'm probably the only one in the room who's addicted to Ryan's Hope reruns. Delia's causing all kinds of problems for Faith and Pat and it's just a mess." It got a laugh and sure enough, I had guys making a beeline for me during the mingling part being all, "So, are they up to the part where Delia's gone out on the ledge yet?" Hee!

Edited by The Last Dodo, Feb 16, 2004 @ 12:53 PM.

[TheCustomOfLife]

I read the updates on SoapNet, and it said that Delia really didn't want the abortion, and the distress she exhibited in the doctor's office was fake. What the hell was wrong with her?

[The Last Dodo]

I read the updates on SoapNet, and it said that Delia really didn't want the abortion, and the distress she exhibited in the doctor's office was fake. What the hell was wrong with her?

It's all emotional manipulation to get Pat to marry her.

[TheCustomOfLife]

But isn't he going to be married to Faith? Oh, damn. I really do need to watch this show.

[The Last Dodo]

Hmmmm...as briefly as possible, Delia and her brother grew up around the corner from the Ryans in an extremely dysfunctional household, so Delia has always wanted to be part of the Ryan family because it makes her feel safe and secure. She and Pat dated in high school but he broke up with her because he didn't want to get married, so she started seeing his brother Frank and they got married. When their marriage fell apart years later, the final straw being when Frank caught Delia having an affair with Roger Coleridge, Pat was the only one of the Ryans who really stood up for Delia, pointing out that it was hypocritical for them to be upset with her when Frank had been having an affair with Jill Coleridge for years first (which it was; at that point I was squarely on Delia's side in all of it). Delia switched her attention from staying married to Frank to marrying Pat, and started using all sorts of emotional manipulation to land him, culminating in running away with Roger Coleridge at the peak of her monthly cycle so that Pat would save her and then she'd seduce him, which is what happened and she got pregnant as planned. When they got back from Boston (where it happened), the family priest advised Pat to stay away from Delia, and he also began seeing how she had manipulated him. He started spending more time with Faith; they had dated last year, but he broke up with her when she became neurotically clingy; however, lots of therapy and 2 recasts later, Faith had grown emotionally to the point where they were now equals, and they fell in love and planned to be married. Delia, however, was pregnant by Pat and planned to use it to get him to marry her instead. When he balked, she ran to have the abortion, but again, was using it as a tactic to manipulate things to get her way. When Delia is in a corner, she falls back on acting helpless and using manipulation and guilt trips, although sometimes I'm not even entirely sure she's conscious of it. Hope that helps!

I'd never heard of it before, but I Googled it and the Leboyer method is indeed a real childbirth technique that came onto the scene with a book about it in 1975, so they obviously did their research.

Also, I'm glad that they now have Ilene Kristen doing the bumper telling us we're watching Ryan's Hope. Before it was Linda Dano and I was always like, "What the hell business is it of yours?" Natalia Livingston, however, needs to shut the hell up. I don't even watch General Hospital but that ending voiceover promo that always plays over the second episode is enough to tell me she'd grate on my last nerve.

[TheCustomOfLife]

I saw one episode last year and I really hated the Faith from when she was blind. I really like Catherine Hicks in this role. It's ironic, though, because I can't hate her more as Annie Camden.

[OverTheRainbow]

I have started taking my lunch from 1-2 so that I can go home and watch RH. My mom watched it when I was little and I watched it even after she went back to work. As I am now scarred by watching GH on a regular basis, it's like a breath of fresh air to watch RH and see non-sucky daytime television. Even though I know what's going to happen.

[jodela-he-hoo]

Oooh! Pat's attempted swing at Da was funny. Not convincing at all.

Was every woman on the show always pregnant? I'm with Jack, ready for the prenancies to be over.

Did Bucky/Justin Deas ever have a storyline? Forget the Ryan's, I'd be all over the guy with $30 million. He seems like a nice guy, I know he had a secret thing for Faith but they don't seem to do anything with him.

[The Last Dodo]

Still loving this show.

It's interesting: in the Frank/Jill/Delia triangle I was pretty much on Delia's side and thought the others were being a bunch of self-righteous hypocrites, but with Pat/Faith/Delia I find myself siding with Faith. I think it's partly that I just like the character better than Frank and Jill, and partly that not only has she not done anything wrong in all this, but like I've said before, she's pulled herself together after one of the worst years you could possibly imagine and definitely is due for some happiness. I thought the Faith/Delia confrontations were excellent and quite frankly, Delia had it coming.

I wonder who or what is finally going to shake some sense into Jack? It's all the more frustrating because to some extent you can kind of understand why he's doing this, but that just makes you want to throttle him all the more.

Finally, if I'm feeling like I can offer classes in the Leboyer technique at this point, it might just be a wee bit of overkill.

[TheCustomOfLife]

I missed Friday/Saturday morning's episodes. What happened with Bob's plan to buy Delia an apartment to keep her away from the Ryans?

[blixie2]

Delia refused when Frank tossed in his two cents about the situation, and ran off to Pat to play the "coming clean" card. She admitted she's manipulative and awful and yada yada yada. Hee and I'll be damned if I wasn't almost buying it, Pat of course did whole hog. He looked all hot with the bed hair and the happy trail too.

I also find myself sympathizing with Faith in this triangle where I was totally on Delia's side during Delia/Frank/Jill. I know she's terrified of being out from under the Ryan roof but sheesh, Pat is the only one she likes and gets along with really who also treats her with any kind of kindness or respect. I don't get why Roger isn't a really attractive alternative at this point what with his money and adoration and frustration with the Ryan's. Maybe it's a little to do with spite towards Frank/Mary, that they look down on her and yet they can't get her out of their lives, but oy.

[VolWing]

I don't get why Roger isn't a really attractive alternative at this point

The one constant with Delia, at least during the years I watched (thru sometime in the mid-80s), was that she was obsessed with the Ryans and wanted to be one of them, so it didn't really matter how they treated her. If I were a Ryan, I would have kicked her to the curb long ago. That passive-agressive business with Johnny on Friday got on my last nerve. As far as the Delia/Frank/Jillian traingle is concerned, I really couldn't muster sympathy for any of them, although I do think the Ryans' treatment of Delia was pretty hypocritical considering Frank's behavior.

Edited by VolWing, Feb 22, 2004 @ 6:59 PM.

[Dana Girl]

He started spending more time with Faith; they had dated last year, but he broke up with her when she became neurotically clingy; however, lots of therapy and 2 recasts later, Faith had grown emotionally to the point where they were now equals

That amused me so much. Mostly because Catherine Hicks just comes off as this perfectly together, intelligent WASPY girl whereas first Faith came off as two years away from joining a cult. And yes, I agree completely about Pat/Delia/Frank. Delia, even after the affair, was the one wronged in the original storyline, but here she is morphing into a manipulative bitch.

RH is just so good right now. But why does everyone want Frank? I want Jill to wake up and smell the Seneca!

[TheCustomOfLife]

Mostly because Catherine Hicks just comes off as this perfectly together, intelligent WASPY girl whereas first Faith came off as two years away from joining a cult.

I only saw First Faith in one episode, but my God, you are so right. How odd is it that Catherine Hicks comes off as "the good one" compared to anyone?

[The Last Dodo]

I liked the first Faith, at least at first, because I thought she did a really good job of playing an introverted socially awkward wallflower, which is what Faith was at the time, and I really liked her together with Bucky...it was kind of this whole "geeks in love" vibe. But I didn't really like her with Pat, and then by the time she went insane after the whole Kenneth thing (which I found really contrived and "soapy" compared to the rest of the storylines) and took to hiding in closets shrieking, "DADDY!!! DADDY!"...oy.

Catherine Hicks is my favorite Faith so far...she just has a very natural, genuine quality to her.

But why does everyone want Frank? I want Jill to wake up and smell the Seneca!

Hee! I know what you mean. But at least it's more understandable with Andrew Robinson than Michael Hawkins.

Edited by The Last Dodo, Feb 22, 2004 @ 7:54 PM.

[MissT]

I'm loving the show right now, but I think I will scream if one more person accuses Delia of "getting herself pregnant." With the exception of Maeve and Johnny, everyone is acting as if Delia is 100% to blame for this problem baby and poor Pat is just an innocent victim. Yes, Delia is manipulative, etc., etc., but she didn't rape Pat and he is a big boy who should be capable of making his own decisions and dealing with the consequences.

I was a kid at the time so I wasn't so aware of such things, but was it routine for soaps to be so misogynist in the 70's? With all the Ryan boys it seems to be acceptable for them to have sex with whomever they like and it's always the woman's fault and problem when things go badly. Even in the Jack/Mary storyline I don't get how Jack could get married, have sex without using birth control, then claim that he was duped when his wife gets pregnant. Was/is that really an acceptable reason for a Catholic annulment? I also find it interesting that the women who are supposed to be independent career women (Mary, Faith, Jill) are complete doormats in their romantic relationships. Then again, come to think of it, many of the same attitudes are prevalent in soaps (and other genres) today.