DRW50

I think the stories were successful, which probably helped Rauch want her back a year or so later, but I don't know how popular Andrea herself was in the part. She was very different from her predecessor, who was well-liked by fans and by Bell. From some of his script notes, he didn't seem to be much of a fan of Andrea's work in the part, IIRC.

@Vee As always, enjoy the mini-reviews. I guess Malone's plans for Joey to be gay never even got any hints on air. There were a lot of stories with McKenna that always seemed to be hinted at rather than created, all the way to the end of his run. I don't think the show ever fully got Max after his original run. When JDP returns Max seems very desperate, his pairing with Lee Ann seedy (although they probably never intended that as anything beyond wrapping up what Walker had started), and the fling with Blair is not centered on him the way Max's old relationships were. He could be a sexist pig under Rauch, but you tended to see all sides of him. He wasn't that way after his return and I imagine that slowly ate at JDP, although I think from the Max/Blair stuff up to about early 1994 he's in a decent place. Any time I see your comparisons between Todd and Jason I'm reminded of what a better character Jason was and what a better actor Mark was, although I know Roger had more charisma and sex appeal.

Thanks @safe . That's how it goes on soaps but I didn't realize just how many disparities there were about their mother and her age. That Now, Voyager memory says a lot about the Coleridge relationships, on several levels. Early on the idea was that Jill never felt at home with the Coleridges due to the mother, but she was still close to Roger, Ed, Faith. Later they retconned this as Faith always resenting Jill, saying she ruined their happy family life, that Jill was a "thing" who invaded their home. I really loathed Faith by that point.

BBC America briefly repeated some of mid/late 2006 and early 2007 (that's where I first saw the show). I don't think it has ever been repeated otherwise. Jo Hallows was producer of the show from early days until about a year before Kirkwood took over. She had steadily made the show more glam and more melodramatic (she did the first serial killer story) but it was always more down to earth until Kirkwood. I don't get the impression the McQueens have been popular with viewers in a long time. 2005 does seem to be when all the soaps started becoming what they are now, sadly.

Not sure where this should go but it's a new interview with Vernee Watson about her career.

I never knew that. Sadly, it makes sense. Sure, let's have Kelly and Michael flop again like they did on GH when the show tried to re-pair them.

He can go join ICE with Dean Cain...

I was about to ask if they will hire Michael Easton soon. I know some will be popping bottles. It's also becoming ATWT in its last decade, only even more hollowed out. The foundation of Y&R wasn't meant to rest on whether or not they can reduce the number of extras and sets enough to hire more former daytime names. Will the characters be living in Peapack-style repurposed supply rooms to pave the way for the Robin Christopher takeover? I don't even know if I'd consider Howarth an FOJ. Either way, it makes me nostalgic for the days where we could have laughed about whether Kale Browne would be the new Stuart Brooks. Now we're all just older and sadder...as is Y&R..

They can bring Trevor Donovan as Paul if he is not too busy making movies for the hatemonger version of Hallmark.

Thanks. I had forgotten he's 60. He's aged so well. I don't know how Carl Evans looks these days but overall the Alan Michaels were very genetically blessed or just knew how to have smart skincare and diet regimes.

Thanks @Vee for the detailed and nuanced recap. I've seen those fantasy scenes and enjoyed them - I don't think Malone ever got Tina (I know I've said this about 50000000 times) so I think he felt more at ease with her in that setting. I still don't understand how Cord went from singing operettas with Sheila to being the husband from hell to Tina.

Their reunion felt unearned as the story that should have been very powerful for Alfie (prostate cancer) was barely oncamera, and due to Jessie Wallace dealing with various issues, the story that was meant to be seismic for her (Tommy physically abusing her) was blatantly truncated, with Tommy living with Sharon's pointless (although I have grown to like him a little more over time) and perpetually brooding brother Zack offcamera for months as some kind of guardian/mentor. Jessie still does what she can - in a recent episode she flinched when Tommy was mad at her - but that was a whole lost period. I never wanted a story where Kat was abused by yet another man in her life, especially her son, so I'm not too sorry.

Thank you @TheyStartedOnSoaps . I believe Kirsten had temped for Andrea Evans so that likely informed their decision. Given how short her stint at OLTL was they probably made the right choice not to have her as Tina. I wonder if that is actually the reason they didn't have her as Tina. @Maxim Thanks as always. A very powerful clip. It's upsetting how absolutely nothing has changed since that time - other than maybe getting worse. Reba was a big ABC Daytime fan, which is why she ended up hosting A Daytime to Remember in 1997. You aren't wrong about Luna. That character was a mess in many ways, and that won't be changing. I do give Susan Batten a great deal of credit for her work.

A classy statement from Billy.

Exactly. It's something where we can wonder what might have been. The above characters were mostly dull and forgettable so I have nothing to say about them.

I don't think it would have mattered. Frannie and Sabrina went from lookalikes to looking different.

I tend to agree. This was a great way to bring in an old name with new ties. That doesn't mean it would work, of course, but in a world where ATWT had been a stronger show in that last decade, it could have worked. This also isn't a case where we could say fans had unrealistic expectations, because this is the show that brought back Dani, who had not been seen or mentioned in almost 15 years, just so she could call Craig "Daddy" and have sex with him. Not to mention the choice to bring back Dusty as a brand new character, with the bare minimum focus on his ties to Lily. I would have taken the Stewart quads over that waste of time.

We saw various tributes from many in the cast, as well as Valentini. I imagine there will be a goodbye to Scorpio as well. The only difference is Y&R put out a video with Jess Walton. While I respect Jess for being willing to do that, I can't criticize GH if they didn't want to make any cast do the same.

Earlier I had a dream that Nancy Addison was a family friend, and I got to tell her how great she was as Jill, but she did not want to talk about Ryan's Hope...

We Love Soaps TV has reuploaded a number of old interviews. Here's one from 2010 with the Cramer women. A "lost" episode with Shenell Edmonds.

Thanks again @safe We Love Soaps TV is reuploading a bunch of old interviews. Here's one with Christopher Durham from 2010. @Maxim You might enjoy this too as I think you liked his bit on OLTL.

https://archive.org/details/passions-21-08-02-99-woc

RIP Jerry Adler, who was a stage manager on the show for a number of years. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/jerry-adler-dead-sopranos-good-wife-rescue-me-1236351995/

I guess she really wasn't getting any work post SBTB to audition for GH. To think if she'd had the part she wouldn't have done Showgirls...