DRW50

Thanks for sharing all the results with us @Skylover . I've still been watching, at a slow pace, but never seem to share my thoughts here. I am glad Felix made the list as he was one of the best parts of the revival for me. I'm saddened, but not surprised, that Andrew isn't on here. I think he would have been if not for the affair story. Interesting that Elle isn't on here as I thought Pippa Black was well-received. Maybe people just didn't like the recast. I'm glad Aaron, the MVP of the revival for me, did so well. Poor Mel. They did her dirty. The writing for her, Toadie and Sonya is some of the best on the list. I'm glad Amy and Lance popped up on here. Amy got a raw deal with the revival. I love that two Maxes tied. Stephen Lovatt is currently doing wonderful work on Shortland Street. I'm a little surprised Max Ramsay got on the list, but he did have a decent turn this year as a supporting character. Paul is one of those characters I think I would have enjoyed more if I'd started watching 10-20 years sooner than I did. Majella did her best as Krista but to be honest I hated most of the writing for her in her final year on the show. Annalise is another I need to check out more of - her return was almost like an anti-return, seemingly just there to tell us you can't go back. Glad lovely Hendrix still did well. This list reminds me that I wish they'd brought Clive back in the revival, even briefly. He deserved a better exit. The results show just what a good addition the Varga-Murphys were to the street. You wonder what may have been.

I so often see fans asking for her to go Natasha on him. There are many reasons it won't happen, especially that characters being more assertive would mean less time filling up 5 days a week, but I do wish they would. You aren't wrong about Scout, or many of these kids. At least the current traumas give them story for the future and give them some reason to be there (unlike, say, Maxie's kids, who are presumably doing fine with her being in a months-long coma or one of their fathers returning from the dead), but you still aren't going to get story payoff for a long time, if ever. Kids shooting adults is very overused on soaps and none have ever worked as well for me as Lizzie doing this on GL because Hayden Panetteire was a great little actress. I agree with you that Willow would be a more interesting choice. I just hope if it's Scout they play the beats that should be played and could write themselves about the generational patterns and pain in that family.

As Alexis is made so powerless in the ongoing Victorian-era traumas of her grandchildren, I appreciate how much NLG still does to play the pain and other buried emotions of the character. That bit where Scout told her she couldn't understand what it was like to lose a mother so suddenly the way she and Danny did, you were reminded without a word just how much Alexis understands this. GH keeping so many characters for longer than necessary and giving them too many children actually pays off in moments like these. There are stories which could be told about Alexis having to see Scout play out her life all over again. If Scout did shoot Drew, I wish we could get some of that reflection, although I know that's not very likely. It's also very surreal to see Danny and Cody having pep talks in the Q mansion and Danny talking about how he has been happy there after losing his mother. A year or so back I watched that Q Thanksgiving where Sam and Jason arrived in their matching leather jackets and Jason was so repulsed at them (due to Sam's rape) he almost immediately walked out. Now here we are.

I don't even know if he would go there, although it's such an insane visual I'd be morbidly curious.

Yes. Thanks again. It's not the same as writers putting together actual stories, of course, I was just interested in seeing how far they can go with lesser known characters and material.

Victor and Ashley were married. Adam was gaslighting a pregnant Ashley (while also faking blindness and jabbing needles in his eyes, IIRC). She passed out at the ranch, had a miscarriage, and Adam, who wanted her to think she was still pregnant, disposed of the fetus. MAB, Hogan Sheffer (the writer at the time) or Michael Muhney was asked how Adam got rid of the fetus and the response was that Adam threw the fetus into the fireplace.

I think they just don't care. It takes time and effort to write romances and those at the show now don't seem comfortable with the concept.

I think most of them have already been around or are up in other forms, although I hope that any new episodes do go up.

That (or LML) was the time where I fully accepted that Y&R would probably never seem like itself again. Bill Bell liked a dark story at times, but he never would have thrown a fetus into a fireplace.

The end says 1975.

I took it as her arranging a relationship between him and someone else, maybe a young lady she wanted out of the way. (like Clarice)

I think he still would have had a hard time getting over due to Tony (and to a lesser degree Genie as she was gone for most of the '00s) and nostalgia. Unfortunately, as shown (in my opinion) in both of JJ's returns, nostalgia is just that and provides little benefit to present day.

Thanks @watson71 !

That would be a great idea. I could see Lucy fitting into the Sumner era - light material, one-liners. And probably sleeping with Greg... That's what they should have done. I did not watch the last years of ER but from what I've read they brought back many of the former cast for the final season. If they couldn't afford them I'm sure a few people could have been cut for budget (was there any reason for Claudia to be there in the final season?).

The show did a good job maturing Bridget without seeming forced. I remember the moment where Maureen berated her for bringing danger into their home, as they stood in the kitchen (what a contrast to a decade later when a mob shootout in the kitchen was no big deal). A great moment from Ellen Parker. Of course, JFP would likely tell you she put that in and no one gave a damn about Maureen until her.

I think Greg did show some talent in those moments when he was on DAYS, even if he wasn't as good as Jackson was in his first few years as Lucky. Greg just never had a chance.

@NothinButAttitude Thanks. That is fascinating. I would love seeing Iris in that type of story, especially as she was likely one of the few in Bay City who had ever even known someone who was out. The ending is fitting for the time yet probably more progressive than a soap at the time was going to give. And similar to Lemay the focus is ultimately on the parents.

It's tough for me to choose between bad stories on a higher budget and nonexistent stories on a lower budget, but if some enjoyed that time more I'm glad for them.

I did appreciate Erika hustling, but similar to Barbara Mandrell, you always wonder how they felt about those scripts. This one in particular makes me glad Erika stopped doing these before Baby Got Back took off:

I would agree there. AMC's isn't that bad. OLTL is just generic, and GH could inspire a serial killer. (maybe that's how we got Franco)

Thanks @dragonflies Most of that was just telling us what we already know, but the Rocco spoiler at the end is interesting.

I would do that too. (and to be honest I prefer the ambulance opening to FotH, although I do understand how much care was put into that opening). Sometimes I forget about just how wretched everything about the mid/late '00s opening was - it is so damn cheap looking, and has the blaring horn music, the seizure-inducing strobe lighting, the shots of Geary trying to look badass (oh he's walking away while all the men [no girls allowed!] stay seated). The early '10s visuals are better, but it looks like a failed European soap. The late '10 visuals and song seem like something from a CW show. The current opening reminds me of an opening ATWT might have done in its last years, only worse.

Thanks @Maxim . Lindsay's story is one I know almost nothing about so I was surprised and happy to read from your summary (and watch the great clip) that she and Dorian do meet. Lindsay would be an interesting character to follow as she clearly thinks she is superior to Dorian, likely viewing her as a muckraker. Anna Holbrook always played a heroine on AW but she is believably showing a much colder side here. I'm sorry we're likely near the end. I love the banner too. I wonder if the Tina and Cord name moment was meant to be the inverse of this infamous Tina moment (it's at around 15 minutes). Sorry if you've already seen this tape. If not, it's a fun way to get caught up on OLTL through the '80s. It's where I first saw a lot of OLTL content, along with A Daytime to Remember. Erika Slezak does her best lady of the manor/prune-selling as hostess. One Life to Live - Daytime's Greatest Weddings (1993)

You may have a point. The Karen story was insane and they did carry it on for a few episodes. The Claudia story I'm less sure on because they seemed to try to backtrack almost immediately, taking her from a cold bitch to a suicidal victim.

I've always had very mixed feelings about Linda. She is often a construct things happen to rather than a character in her own right. The relationship with Mick was incredibly toxic. The alcoholism story was a mistake, and the revival a year or two ago was a disaster. Yet Kellie Bright always tries, and the character has a large fanbase, so I can see why they are torn (there are many characters this is the case for - Denise, for instance, often gets scraps, aside from the Six story). I am just sorry they chose such a bad route after Mick "died," in the drinking and in bringing in a camp gorgon mother who barely even seems to tolerate her daughter at times. If Sharon was around, I'd say recast Michelle and bring back Michelle's son Mark. For the time being, I might wait, but I'd be tempted. I think if they had brought Chrissie back for a longer period and made some flashbacks of her hatred for Zoe festering again, the story could have worked, but that isn't what we got. As it is, you're right, they were clearly just trying everything for another big EE Christmas, but those days are gone. Time to accept it and move on.