DRW50

I think a few of them are strong (Casablanca and Now Voyager), but there was no need to include them in the special. The short clip of Nola during the Kelly reveal was extremely powerful in its own right. Looking back, I know many didn't care for the special, especially the part where various actors from other soaps would say silly lines, but for me, who still knew so little about GL at the time, I learned and there were many moments I appreciated. And all these years later I'm still not sure I've ever seen the episode where Bert gave Gentry's Ed the speech show up (or was it one of those summer 66 episodes?), so that was an important historical document. I remember reading that TV Guide article at the time about the Fifth Street Fire. I don't think it ever lived up to the hype in the article, especially all the major destruction it was meant to cause or how it was going to revamp the show. I am reminded of just how close GL was to cancelation, even closer than many seem to know now. Just flat out said, repeatedly, in those articles. The Brent/Marian story really was what kept the show on the air, with the ratings boost. The show did not have any of those moments by the end of 1996, when the rumors crept up again. By that point the decision must have rested solely on the Bells not wanting to expand to an hour (which was very wise). The more I read of some of Logan's articles the more I'm reminded why I found him tiresome...trying to slam Patsy Pease as some kind of hypocrite or downplaying her sexual abuse because she wore a Playboy Bunny outfit on a magazine cover is disgusting. Thanks @chrisml Oh that's right. Shows how into that story I was. Thanks. Wasn't that meant to be a Children's Hour story (one-sided and about gossip, I suppose) rather than a romance?

Those are great ideas. They really did not do much of anything with fallout for Ed. I have a feeling it's because JFP thought he was right to cheat so why punish him. Gracie returning for Nola and Nola having a purpose beyond being sour would have been a nice balm.

She will also have a bit of interaction with Hawk (when Hawk first showed up in the mid/late '80s they were almost married, believe it or not), and Alex, although that friendship is one that feels a little contrived. I'm glad you have enjoyed Hawk so far. A ridiculous role, in many ways, but Gil Rogers always played him brilliantly. A shame they never brought Sarah, his wife, back at this point. My favorite thing about Hawk was that he always called Reva, "Sister." Thanks. I thought he may have been tied to Bridget, but I thought I may have been getting mixed up because IIRC Melissa Hayden played a character on GH with a similar name. Sadly, McTavish runs Bridget through the gutter. Speaking of Tina Sloan - sorry if this was already mentioned and I just forgot - I had no idea she'd written a series of novels, including one just last year. Books - Tina Sloan

Brian is one of those characters where the previous actor (and I know he wasn't the first either) embodied the character enough to where without him the character just seems like a stranger. (and didn't he magically become a singer, as also happened when this guy played Sam Fowler on AW?) Melody Anderson is OK, I remember her doing good work in a short stint on St. Elsewhere, but you can't replace Kate Collins. They seem to be trying to style her like old Natalie with the hair, a bit in the clothes...it works if you are not in closeup. In closeup she reminds me of Christopher Norris. I think I dislike Dixie's hairdo here more than her short cuts. It's much too...mall-ish.

@slick jones Thank you (and victoria foxton) for finding the info about the reporter. I think this Sherrie is Shelley Rogers, who played her off and on from 86-94.

Good for her - moments like that can be traumatizing. @janea4old Thanks for the episode details. And yes, that's my general choice with Luke and Laura too.

Thanks. That makes sense about Maggie. There's so much you could do with the lost generations of Loving. ABC should have had a fic like P&G did for a few years (even if that was a mess). Thanks for looking about the news guy. Was Clay trying to drug Trucker? I couldn't tell what he was doing.

Another April 1993 episode. I see the channel put up a July 1993 episode four months ago.

He did have decent chemistry with Emme Rylan. I thought he had decent chemistry with Beth Chamberlin and Crystal Chappell too (although I wasn't really watching then); I just wish the character hadn't felt so generic.

Watching that October 1989 episode posted above... I just saw on the Loving blog that this Sherrie appearance wasn't listed. I'm glad there was at least one more appearance between her 1987 and 1994 appearances. @dc11786 you may enjoy this one too as Ava and Sherrie have a real argument over the horrible way Ava treated Sherrie when she was trying to get a baby. I'm glad they remembered even though several years (and writing regimes) had passed and the same Ava wasn't even in the role. I like how Sherrie is styled like Kate here. She does not have Kate's warmth, but then she wouldn't with Ava given their history. I wish they'd focused a little more on Ava mentioning that she too knows what it's like to lose a baby, but that small moment was where Lisa Peluso most tapped into the poignancy of the exchange. I wish they had brought Sherrie back when Carly was around, as she might have been a middle ground - Carly was so incredibly depressing it was more difficult to invest in the Carly/Ava dynamic than it should have been. Glad to see a little more of Jolie, who remains such a sad, twisted character. Trisha seems brain dead in following her out to that van, although at least she did not get into the van with her. Todd and Curtis being there made me hope some more of this episode might have been in the clips the actors put up a decade ago, but no dice. This was very close to the end for Todd. I am trying to remember if the other hunks with Todd and Trucker were established characters or just extras. Was that Dale up there with them? I just realized through the blog that Albers was the second longest Curtis. I do think he was a decent fit for the part, even if they never did anything of worth with him (a running theme with Curtis, sadly). Is that a real reporter with Egypt? @slick jones There may be a new name or a few updates in this one for your lists.

They were never on the level of Phil and Tara as they were younger and their going out on a date was presented more as kids growing up than a building block for the future. Unfortunately, once they recast Michelle (with an actress who looked too old and was just cold and dreary), they ruined what could have been. Bryan Buffinton stayed a few more years but looked out of place with a Michelle who looked twice his age and barely shared scenes with him. He was then recast twice, neither time all that great. I don't think Bryan was that great an actor either (most child actors aren't as they age), but still, I wish they'd kept him on over who we got. If Joie Lenz had stayed in the part, or if they had found a proper recast for Bill, they could have had potential. As it was, when the show tried Michelle/Bill in 2002, it fell flat, two dull actors with no chemistry. Ed and Lillian had a hookup in the car during a blackout, as she was upset over having breast cancer. JFP loved to have characters [!@#$%^&*] in cars during times of stress - she redid this whole story on AW a few years later, the only difference being that no one died (except some viewers). I have always wondered if the show planned to pair them off if not for extreme backlash. It's amazing that Lillian even stayed on as she had no real place in storyline for almost 5 years, until her daughter Beth returned. I heard a rumor once that Tina Sloan stayed so long because she was very wealthy and never asked for much money. I can believe it. I don't even remember Skunk. Carroll was mostly just a placeholder for Nadine anyway.

Chavez is not doing anything others haven't done, but he will still probably have more passionate fans from GH than he will elsewhere - it feels like the Murphy buzz is already fading for him (not helped by so much of it being wrapped up in titillation over incestuous elements than praise for his work). If Duell did leave for career reasons, he should have left a decade ago. He's not going to be able to shake the show and he's aged out of some of the roles he could have played.

There was a little - he had to cope with being a single parent to Michelle, she began leaning on Holly, which caused problems for Holly due to Holly being drawn back to Roger, etc. But not near enough fallout, because ultimately Maureen and Ed were not huge characters on the canvas. I don't even know if GL got much story out of Bert losing Bill, and that was when Bert was at the center of the show. These stories rarely pay off as much as they should.

Thanks. I hope they won't just go with another actor because he was on Y&R or B&B. I want someone new.

That's one of my issues as well, although that is not Garrett's fault - so much damage was done to the canvas by trying to recreate a character who even by that point had run out of storyline. I haven't seen him in recent years, so maybe he would fit the part. I just hope the writing is worthwhile, as we are seeing with Lulu that a great casting choice still can't overcome limited scripts. What do you think of him?

I don't remember Garrett being very hard either. I mostly remember a lot of tics. That played well at the time, I guess, but I don't think it would now.

I'm happy for all the crew and all in the cast who work hard, as well as being happy for a soap to still be on the air. I don't really have any connection to B&B and haven't in a very long time - probably the last was when Darlene Conley died - but I'm happy for those left who do. Most of all I am just glad that CBS is still committed to their soaps after a long period where I wasn't sure how true that was going to remain.

I think the same line was used when Frankie was killed on AW by JFP a few years later. It just doesn't work unless the character is hugely connected to the show. And even then, soaps often move on with the many "loves of my life" characters have. I agree that writing Ed out for a while and showing Maureen cope, as a single working mother, would have been more compelling.

I am sorry for Robert (I guess he won't ever be asked to temp for the part again...), but I do get why they might want a completely clean slate. This is a hugely important role to recast, as he's so integral to the future of the two sides of GH that take up much of their airtime. I hope they get it right. They've gotten more right lately in casting than wrong, with a few exceptions. I hope they may be willing to hire someone brand new to daytime, even to primetime, rather than hoping a name from another show will be enough. With that said, I agree Billy Flynn could have been good.

So much of Robin's initial return as Dorian feels off. I do wonder how much bad blood backstage was a factor. Nothing improves for about a year. Saddling Robin with the Blair recast (which also took about a year to settle in) did not help. I think Princi's Dorian fit the "Cramer women" motif a bit more than Robin, although Robin did give some very touching performances with Addie over the years, especially when Addie was "cured." I can't believe Pamela Payton-Wright has been gone almost 5 years now.

You said this very well. When Lester left, he said he was proud to have played out Marland's last great storyline. That was a classy statement but...was it a great storyline? I think so much of it rested on being a Lester showcase that just wasn't especially compelling, as well as a story that suffered from the miscasting of Emily (KMH was at best of times a competent actress who had a very spotty history of chemistry with her leading men...she also lacked the depth Emily should have had). There was also nothing left once the story was over. Did any viewers care if he stayed with Emily? I don't even know what all he did after that. I think he rode a motorcycle and was friendly with Julie and a few others. I adored Neal. That was the first time I had ever seen Mary Kay Adams. She put her all into the role. She clicked with everyone. On paper, that's great, because it should mean we're devastated to lose her, but that doesn't work as well when the aftermath just isn't worth the loss. They overcasted the role. Adams was too vibrant. I think they should have cast someone like Marcia McCabe - a good actress, likeable, worked well with everyone, believable as a relative to Lucinda, but not so charming that she was going to leave a huge hole. She did well enough in a similar type of short run on OLTL in the late '80s.

Thanks @chrisml . As @Contessa Donatella said, that just is not true about a lot of fans being upset with Philece Sampler (RIP) being replaced by Anna Stuart. I wonder if this is another case of Logan sticking up for his friends (or going after actors he wasn't fond of). That quote about Maureen is a lot of BS. Essentially admitting they only killed Maureen so Ed could have story. The biggest problem with this idea is that by 1993, Ed - and the Bauers in general - had become isolated, had been isolated for nearly a decade. This just furthered his isolation, and they had to work even harder to come up with story for him. That's how we got Ed/Eve, which I think I liked more than most fans did. Killing off an important character for the sake of a few strong scenes - and that was literally all we got here - is always a mistake. This is also another reminder of how brutally male-dominated JFP's run at GL was. Thanks. You can tell Long and Kobe had no real use for Nola/Quint, separately or together, by the way they wrote out all of their satellite characters in such a quick space of time. It just makes them lingering on for another year and a half even worse.

I think it's because they have the balance just right between Erica's sincerity and her drive and her camp - we are still seeing her grow, still seeing her as the little girl finding the big world. The show being brave enough to keep her out of Pine Valley for years was also important for the character. And Susan Lucci just had such a spark, before the inevitable ossification/"legend" status that tends to stunt character and actor.