DRW50

I have not seen most of the Kirkland period before Labine returned, but her repeatedly trying to go back to factory settings with characters like Delia or Pat/Faith do hold the show back for me. At least she didn't in her last return.

I liked AJ/Keesha too (both AJs). Probably more than the show did. Keesha did get an oncamera exit. A very brief one. In early 1998 she told AJ or Justus she was moving to, I think, DC.

Friends or lovers often don't quite click onscreen, but maybe they could have. I am glad she got Loving though.

There's no such thing as a good Ryan Murphy show. I am mostly curious as to whether that throuple story was ever going to go anywhere and network pressures killed it. That was the only time I heard people talk about the show.

The failing was the framing of the story. The story was no longer about Alexandra being hurt and lashing out - it was about Nick, and two women degrading themselves for Nick, a sanctimonious, cold figure. Krista didn't join OLTL until 1994. She made her return to soaps in a crazy lady part in Santa Barbara's last months. I think Mindy had shifted to a '90s GL believably enough. The show failed Mindy for the reason JFP failed so many characters and actors - she just wasn't very good at writing for women, and she wasn't very good at casting either. Reva is a more complicated story, but I think the Reva of the mid/late '80s could have fit in. The much more generic heroine Reva we got for a lot of her second run was what felt off. I think that Krista had already modulated her performance as Mindy by her last few years in the role. Mindy had lost a husband and had emotional scars. With proper material she could have kept on, as it was always Krista's easy chemistry with her screen partners at GL that helped her. With that said, I do agree with those who feel she never could have played the Mindy/Roger affair. Still, she would have been fine to return in the '90s, as she fit right back in during her '00s cameos. But the show was a wasteland for women in many parts of the '90s so I'm not sure who could have fit as Mindy. I like Cat Hickland as a performer and she definitely could have played up the melodrama...I know she also played a heroine (two heroines) on Capitol. The only thing I fear is how they would have handled the Southern accent, and I also can't see her working well with Vincent. I wish they had just kept Mindy off canvas at that time. The mistakes made with her really left a mark - most of all what left a mark was how clear it was the show didn't give a damn about her, well before Barbara Crampton quit. Something else that I think hurt Mindy during that Crampton period was the absence of Jordan Clarke. Clarke's Billy was the core of the Lewis family.

For a few months. The day the strike ended was the day the big Nola/Kelly confrontation was filmed. Marland was on the line giving them the dialogue.

One of my main issues with Dallas is JR not enduring - I just find him unpleasant and smug to watch and suffocating to the canvas. I don't feel that with Abby at this time. She doesn't get the lighter moments as much around this point but I think it makes sense for where she is in her life. We do get those moments later on, but the downside is they are just that - moments, and by her last few seasons, increasingly self-aware (as Knots, like many older shows, became much too self-aware), just salvaged by Donna's performances.

Thanks. Are her episodes around?

@Vee Those are great ideas. Sad to say I keep forgetting Jake even got to interact with Jason this time around. I'd love to see Keesha back, especially to break away from how segregated the current dynamics are.

They likely felt they had few, if any reasons to take him back, as Jason Morgan was much more important to viewers than Jason Quartermaine had been, and Guza had already been working to deemphasize Monica and Alan (and anything with the Quartermaines beyond the foil of the "good" mobsters). By the time they reached a point where it would have been logical to take Jason back, all the story impact was gone. I do think, as I think @Vee mentioned, there could be a good exit story in Jason getting his memory back now that it is much too late and being full of deep shame and regret, which would lead him to cut ties with Carly and Sonny and leave Port Charles.

Thanks @Paul Raven What an odd photo to use.

Ric/Ava are good as schemers and knowing who each other really are. I do think they'd be served well with a quad of people who serve them other uses - Cody presumably isn't happening as Josh Kelly is now off contract, but I think Ava being drawn to him because he's free in a way Ric isn't (due to Molly and his love for Liz) could have been interesting. Ric will always want Liz, but I don't think she would ever want him again - I assume she is going to cut him off for a while once the truth is out. I hope not entirely as there's a lot of interesting layers in their relationship. And otherwise, I don't know what Liz is going to be doing. If they'd been willing to try something different, I would have had Marco as bi and torn between Liz and Lucas.

Thanks @Paul Raven Glad someone tried to document more of that appearance.

Storm had been on B&B after Y&R but was not on any soap by this point. Gabriel hadn't been on Loving since 1987. I think Storm would have been an excellent choice.

Wasn't he only ever recurring on there? I could still see him auditioning for Alan or expressing interest.

Looking at the They Almost Became thread, I see a post of mine from years ago which mentioned a Soap Opera Update item on two actors who were interested in playing Alan before Raines was cast - Jed Allan and Joe Gallison.

I thought many of the scenes in the GL episode still spoke of him even if we only saw the funeral once, but I may be wrong. I do think it can be overkill with soap funerals now but part of that is because so many older actors are dying and many of the fans need to have to let them go. I thought they did a decent job with Bobbie's funeral on GH. They did a nice job with Chris too, IIRC, even if we didn't see the funeral. I do remember a few other stories popping in that I didn't care about (like Holden/Lily or Tad Channing being a pervert) but they did at least bring most of the Hughes family back (aside from Edith and John, who were wiped from existence along with Maggie Crawford).

That's disappointing. Papa Bauer's episode is more focused on him, even if we get some other stories like Ed/Janet. I suppose this is another sign of ATWT trying to shift to the future rather than honoring the past.

He was on AMC from around 82-84. He was obsessed with Jenny Gardner and accidentally killed her via a jet ski while he was trying to kill her husband Greg.

Do you remember any of the story changes around then? I was still watching in 1993 but my interest was fading...when they wrote out Lyla and Iva, that was a big issue for me, especially Holden taking Aaron even though I didn't believe he had any love for his son. By 1994 I think it was just the Janice story that was capturing my interest. I do think the party was going to be over even if Marland had lived - there was no way the scale of his ATWT could have been sustained. I just wish we could have seen how he would have scaled down the show, that is if he hadn't quit, either due to his own soap, or because of the changes coming to P&G.

@Maxim Great stuff again. Yes, that was the clip. A version of it was on OLTL's wedding tape, I believe. A real highlight for Pat Elliott. The dig about Blair not being of the best stock was a favorite of mine, as it was the epitome of classy shade. They allowed Renee to have dignity in a messy situation. Being moved away from the Bo pairing was a real boon to Cassie. I can see why Elaine's Dorian would be in the country club circuit, but at her heart that's never who Dorian would want to be. I always wished they'd done more with the Jason/Dorian pairing.

Male nudity is the breaking point for a lot of people. The same reason why any time an actor had full frontal nudity in a film it was treated as a scandal and endless attention was paid, acting like there was an epidemic. Even if Nipplegate hadn't happened I think that trend would have stopped soon.

I do wonder what would have happened if Frank/Eleni hadn't clicked. Sometimes I think they would have gotten more story out of having her in a real romance with Alan-Michael but given the state of the Spauldings by that time, maybe not. Pre and post-Eleni, Frank seemed to be at a loss and lucky to be there. I think Frank's basic likeability and easy connection with those closest to him (as Buzz and Harley were meant to be bigger characters than he was) helped him out. And being the main cop on the show. I liked the Frank/Blake FWB relationship as it was another example of how fluid and intelligent relationships were on the show in those years. And Frank and Sherry had very good chemistry. Saundra had her moments as Carmen (I remember some strong scenes with Danny or with Maria), but she mostly just did what was on the page. I do think she was a good fit for Carmen. I don't think Ron ever was. I just don't think he had the right charisma and I don't think he could believably play Alan's darker side. I'm sure he had charisma onstage, but there was just something missing. It didn't help that they could not write any of the complex relationships with women they wrote for Chris' Alan, but when Alan did have romantic relationships with women, he felt too generic to find potential layers. I think he seemed most comfortable when he got to play Grandpa Alan with HP's Lizzie. I was joking about what Abby said to Claire @alwaysAMC although I wish she'd said that... Thank you for the last chapters of Kim's book, and all your summaries. And thanks for the Reva and Philip clip. I wish they'd done more with them in later years, although she really suited John Bolger more than Grant (Grant was too uptight). They did have a few scenes. I suppose the friendship mostly ended after Philip betrayed her in his plan against Alan (and Reva was mostly taken out of Alan's sphere). I had forgotten that it ends with Alex doing a handshake with Philip and cutting a rug with Warren. A rarity for Bev's Alex to be quite that light...but then you remember she really wasn't that old and given her old groupies days she probably loved that song back when it first came out. She had to lost most of that side after Lujack died (and the character seemed to age further).

I do wonder what the full plans would have been. Would he have been paired with Holly? Would Cara have had his child? I agree that the commitments were big issues...it has only been in the last few months that Susan and Karl haven't felt like part-time characters for me, and Holly never really recovered from their absence. I'm not sure how planned Wendy's break was, but the exit trashed the character and they have somehow trashed her even more since her return. The Rodwells were one of my favorite parts of the revival but now I don't feel anything and kind of hope Andrew and Wendy split up for good.

I agree the feel is closer to a UK soap (or a very budget version. I have watched some of the finale again recently and there are any number of moments I enjoy, but the muzak is not among them. If people can fix and change episodes so much now I wish they could do that here. I don't care about AI upscaling an episode from 1960 - I just want to stop hearing that I-won-a-contest-because-everyone-else-dropped-out music. Grant aged extremely well, as did Robert Newman, among others. Not sure whether you want the answers or would rather be surprised so I'll put them in spoilers: