DRW50

Between Gwen and Cat, the show often seems to side with those who cause lots of cruelty to Jack and Jennifer. I am half-surprised that the show hasn't brought Peter Blake back for more of the same. I don't really know if there is a purpose for them in Salem now, but I do feel a sense of stability and rightness when Melissa Reeves is back in the role of Jennifer and back in the Horton house, in spite of...well, a lot of offcamera stuff we all know perfectly well.

I remember seeing him briefly when Rick went to confront her about her blackmailing him. (I briefly forgot that Rick's sleeping with Claire at this time was a retcon - or her lying that she slept with him, whatever that story was). I wonder if he interacted with Kurt given that Mark Lewis later took his ATWT role. I tried to watch some of the full episode and it was all so alien and uninvolving. Roxy having a meltdown on that construction site for Mindy and Kurt's house that never gets built. Ed with Ross and Vanessa dealing with custody issues. Even Ross and Vanessa seemed flat, with Vanessa seeming oddly meek.

I can't speak for Sonni, but I thought Annie came off as neurotic from very early on. That's just how Cynthia Watros plays her parts, and the writing went along. I don't think Claire was mentally ill - they claimed she had a brain tumor, didn't they? I am never sure just why they made the effort given that she was leaving anyway.

They weren't in town, but Fletcher worked at the paper (and we saw anniversary Journal headlines for the 50th, although I don't remember if Roger was one of them), and I'd think Alex would have at least heard of him due to the damage he did to Spaulding only a few years before her return to the fold. I know I have to remember it's not real life, of course.

There probably would have been a good chance they knew of him, especially with his ties to Spaulding and his being involved in so much scandal (meaning there would be plenty of photos and articles around they both would have seen), but I agree the mask was silly, clearly just a TV moment.

When the announcement was first made, I did wonder if other plans were in the works. I guess we can always keep hoping, especially as the show has a small core cast.

RIP Wayne Lewis. (he sings near the end of the episode) https://deadline.com/2025/06/wayne-lewis-dead-atlantic-starr-founder-singer-1236426870/

Thanks again @Paul Raven Monica was completely without redeeming qualities at this point. I always found the whole Monica = Carly narrative regressive, as I don't think shows comparing characters so heavily is ever a great idea, but she's actually worse than Carly was. Was it the Pollocks who had Leslie have a miscarriage? Giving her a child, especially by rape, was not a good idea, but a part of me wishes they'd committed to it just to see what story it might have had in later years.

Not to go too off topic but if you ever want to see more of his Search run just look for SFT Summer of 1966 on Youtube.

The most we ever saw was on the "Roger years" tape.

I had totally forgotten that Courtney story. I see Burton was already phoning it in by that point.

Jordana Brewster is making a new movie. https://deadline.com/2025/06/rob-riggle-jordana-brewster-the-pirate-king-1236426287/ Kelly Rutherford posing for a magazine cover with her son. Kelly Rutherford Photographed with Model Son Hermés, 18, Years After Custody Battle

Maybe she's gone back to her music department days?

Still not sure how they got Wiley. Sounds like a YA character. Daisy mostly reminds me of an awful character on Y&R. Still, I can see Sasha liking it as there is or was some fashion figure called Daisy.

Kelly should sing this at the next Nurses' Ball: I suppose it was just a matter of time, as she chose to leave, rather than being let go, but it does make you wonder with Easton (I think Howarth is probably done). I wonder how far the plans went for Jason/Sasha. If they ever did, it was a lazy, bad idea. Britt probably is a last chance saloon for Steve.

Everything with Elon and Trump is a stunt. If people, and the sycophantic press, are talking about their "feud," they are not talking about Republican plans to gut Medicare, Medicaid, and the ACA.

I can't fully remember, but I don't think they tried to get Beth Chamberlin back. I think Laibson/McTavish likely saw Beth as old news and wanted to move Philip on; either that or have her return only when Philip was closely tied to a new woman. Thanks as always for these recaps. I think I had stopped watching around this time and mostly kept up by reading in the soap magazines. Bridget's degradation was horrible to watch, as the character had grown so much over the years and was clearly regressed just to be a foil for a "hot" couple viewers had zero investment in.

KMH's Emily was a harbinger for the lack of dignity many characters would face in the last decade of ATWT. On paper, many of the stories given to Melanie Smith's Emily could have been extremely sleazy, but she was treated with respect and understanding in the writing. By 1996 the show went from often not knowing how to write for KMH's Emily to giving her outright reprehensible material. There were breaks from this treatment, but not enough, with even those breaks often being poorly written or just used to make her look even worse (like her grotesque rape story turning into her using her rape to destroy Margo's marriage). By the last years I don't even know what the hell they were doing. Wasn't there some kind of mother-daughter whoring story with Emily and Alison? Wasn't Emily getting beaten up by johns? Whenever I think of how they wrote for KMH's Emily I'm reminded of Pauline Kael's quote about Ann-Margaret's '60s movie persona - calling her "dirty" and saying the people who made the movies "knew what men wanted to do to her." Even as much as ATWT started hiring softcore actors in the mid/late '90s, the Emily treatment was on a whole other level. I have never known what audience they thought they were going to be attracting.

With proper writing I think that could make sense - Lucky's happiest years were in Canada and on the run, not in Port Charles. But the show has never done well at explaining why Lucky is the way he is (among other reasons it's because having an abusive father and a mother who suppressed herself to survive living with her rapist does not make for a well-adjusted son).

https://deadline.com/2025/06/khadiyah-kd-lewis-dead-love-and-hip-hop-atlanta-star-1236425096/

Nina does seem very aimless. I'm not sure what is left for her, unless they want to pair her with Sonny again (which seems unlikely). Maybe she kills Drew and frames someone else.