DRW50

This is an episode which used to be on Youtube. I looked and looked and didn't see it at present (if I missed it, my apologies). My copy did not have a date, although I am guessing someone here probably knew it. I didn't feel like going through all the posts so luckily the great Loving blog helped due to their listing the date as sometime in October. Recap: October [date unknown], 1987 – Loving (1983-1995)

I'm trying to remember who the last popular new character (or recast) on Y&R was.

If Chad was still in the thick of story, I could see it. As of now they might feel the character is fine to go.

He would fit more as Billy, yes.

This is indeed a surprise. I guess this means Abigail will stay dead. I wonder if Chad will leave with Annalyne McCord (sorry if that is misspelled), or if he will leave to go find Abigail on some tip, like when Josh Lewis left GL in 1990. Billy was one of the best younger actors on DAYS. He's going to be a loss for them. I doubt he will get anything of value at Y&R these days. I just hope he isn't as miscast and dead inside as the likes of Jason Thompson.

That's a great idea - seeing Benjamin as Silas again would have been fascinating. Geez I had totally forgotten Pilgrim was tied to that mess.

"Men you can't resist." Well, Karen resisted one of them...

Sadly, no one. Jackie Zeman had such a special spark about her, even as the last 20-25 years of the character didn't know how to use her. So hard to replace. Sometimes I wonder if the grueling and confusing taping schedule makes that spark very difficult for younger actors to have, compared to some of the '80s or the '90s.

I think they used to - not so much since the '90s. I do think Alexa brings some of that back.

I'm so glad Heather gets to exercise all her creative pursuits. I just wish it was with a character I gave a damn about and on a show I wanted to watch.

She's very cold and judgmental, which is similar to many Spencers. She just doesn't have the warmth Bobbie had.

Thanks. I'd watched the first clip but not the second. And they even have a recap of the scenes from the wedding and tell us about what happened to the actors. Nice to see them treating GL, and its fans, with some respect.

Thanks @Franko. Looks like the first 7 minutes are "new." Then we start getting material that is up on freeflyur's channel as 7-27-84. Is this the full episode? Wasn't expecting to hear such a horribly depressing backstory from this Pru character (I had never heard of her) ...and of course as is often the case on soaps, especially from this period, she is written as if she just got out of Song of the South or Lil Abner. And I see Rick has a horribly depressing, melodramatic backstory too. Grant Show eventually became an OK actor, but he was never suited to handle this type of material. Who is the audience for all this trauma? It's always nice to see Cali Timmons, even if her whole episode amounts to flashbacks and wandering around a room. I've never bothered to watch Robin Mattson's Delia because, frankly, I have no real interest in the show by this point, but she's not bad at all. Beyond people probably just not caring about seeing Robin as Delia after years of seeing her as Heather Webber, I wonder if people had no use for these same old stories for Delia - even when they brought Ilene Kristen back in 1982, they didn't work. Only when they allowed for some changes in Delia in Ilene's last return did things click into place. The scenes with Dave waiting on Maggie are so oddly filmed, more suited to a PBS project than a soap. I kept wondering if he was going to get stabbed. And the music...honestly the music in general is on overdrive in this episode. I can't imagine how people who watched back in the day felt. The whole thing is very hollowed out. There isn't even a Ryan in sight, aside from Pat, briefly. It's always amusing to see the differences in quality between the original film shots for the opening and the cheaper video replacements. Who is the leg lift lady? Is that Pru?

It's funny to think that the Simon and Simon relationship actually did cause a little bit of a scandal in the soap magazines at the time, as they were both married to other people.

I have a feeling they were just looking for a reason to get rid of Hope anyway. It's telling that other than Charita, every Bauer actor was heading for the exit doors at the same time. They really must have thought they could just rebuild around Charita. The only interesting thing about George Pilgrim was his TV Guide exit interview where he talked about what a big star he was going to be. Ethan Erickson was perfectly alright, but they just never cared. I think they sort of started a relationship with Drew, but then he was written out. I can't remember if the actor wanted to leave. I agree that a rivalry between Stacey and Michelle would have been more interesting. And maybe have her initially stay in Springfield as Kelly Louise. She is hiding out, but as soon as Nola hears that name, she knows.

It wouldn't be a first for GH (weren't Celia and Jimmy Lee cousins...and didn't they almost pair Bobbie and Bill Eckert?), but it would just be another sign of the show trying to erase Jake from the canvas (again).

I don't think that part is homophobic, but having this backstory to make us feel sorry for Sloan, especially when they knew they were never going to have a gay character on the show in any prominent role (yes there was Billy, but he mostly just had one story and not much else) is offputting to me, as the recent variation with Eva la Rue on GH was. Heathers was already parodying that type of writing choice several years earlier.

That certainly is the reason they avoided having Joey as gay, but when you think of how little of note they ended up doing with Joey anyway, I wish they'd tried. What I found distasteful about that story was inventing a dead gay son to make us feel sorry for Sloan. If they want to talk about homophobia in writing, that type of choice isn't far off.

That's a very expensive bowling shirt.

I was more surprised when they supposedly almost brought Stacey back (via May or Mae or whatever).

I remember seeing him in some of the classicGL clips. It seems he was entirely comic relief before Marland. Probably where he should have stayed.

That does look like Tom.

Thanks @MissPalmer. That channel often begs for subscribers. Normally I am not fond of that, but they upload OLTL content that you can't find anywhere else, so if you aren't subscribed, I'd say go for it.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c93n9dn1eyxo An article about a petition to save the show.