DRW50

Lewis Arlt was initially cast as AW's Ted Bancroft in 1983. The show then changed their mind and cast him as David Thatcher, with Luke Reilly being cast as Ted.

I think the way it was done is what upset people most, but beyond that, I think they could have come up with a story, mostly because Roger had been a progressively weaker character for some time - first with the years spent pining for Holly, then that hideous Lonatrat story where he got ECT and was the foil for Dinah and Hart. I think having a story where Roger was sick and Holly rushed to help him would have made some sense, and this would have driven Fletcher away, especially if Holly wasn't spending enough time with Meg. Then Roger could have gone to a facility, offcamera, once Zaslow couldn't continue in the role. I don't envy P&G or CBS for the situation, I just think they handled it in the worst possible way.

I thought the nursery rhyme stalker story was fun, high camp (not sure if it was supposed to be but who cares). I mostly just thought it was too soon to bring back Annie. The most interesting part of the story for me was the part they dropped, with Frank and Eleni and "Teri."

I could buy that she would want to believe Tito, even though she should have known better. Kim Rhodes played a mother on Suite Life of Zack and Cody for a few years.

A number of high profile Republicans, including Romney surrogates (I think) have said this. I doubt Romney will lose. Too much money and he's still seen as the inevitable nominee, which will always get a lot of votes.

The show spent a long time trying to make people love Amber, even killing off her cousin in a story which seemed to be done solely to show what a noble person Amber was. The problem was they ran out of story ideas for her, and that's been the case for a long, long time now. Pierce was in love with Taylor, yes. Paul Williams - it was mostly implied, but still very obvious. The Janet Jackson stuff hit the Amber/Thomas story and may have also affected the story where Eric was supposed to get involved with teenage Caitlin.

Did Heather Tom's exit affect their story plans or did they know she was gone?

Kavitovit's last appearances were in December 1992. Paul stayed away until John Howard played the role in 1996. Then Scott Holyroyd came in in 2001.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qz2IFP8VXfY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-2_XQqI3Qg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNW_nk5kryo&feature=channel

I think that was JFP who brought in Marj. Or the Dobsons. Apparently Judith just made less and less frequent appearances and was last seen in 1987 or 1988. Janis came in in 1991.

Thanks. I think I'd tuned out by then.

Aside from the fraud story with Victor what were the other stories in 2003?

That story wouldn't happen today - B&B even stopped a story with Amber and underage Thomas because of the Janet Jackson nipple backlash. There was some speculation, more like rumor, that the hypnosis story was some type of a pitch from Hunter Tylo, as, around these years, she had spoken about cult-like behaviors which badly affected her and her family (several different instances of this), and that this may have also been a view she or someone had of psychiatry. I also wonder if, beyond anything with Hunter Tylo, that some on the show may have had a negative view of psychiatry, given their religious beliefs. Either way, the story was dropped very quickly, and I think they either realized it was too hot to handle, or that it was just unworkable. The show really wanted people to love Amber so Stephanie was a big part of that. Today Stephanie is mostly just a gorgon until it's time for a health crisis. Lazy. The guy with the glasses was the assistant of Pierce (the psychiatrist/hypnotist). It was implied that he was in love with Pierce and would do anything, including hypnotize Taylor without Pierce knowing. He made some sexually suggestive comments to Ridge which raised some eyebrows at the time. Paul Williams got a lot of praise for his performance.

1998 was probably the last year I really enjoyed Y&R, and the last completely solid-to-good year of any soap.

I never understood why they killed Travis off - by the time they did, they'd already made Bianca about 16 or 17, so it's not like they needed him to be dead for her to live with Erica. There was a lot of drama in him still being alive.

Ann Coulter is predicting Jeb Bush will enter the race. She must have heard something if she's speaking up. She supports Romney. She's not a Jeb fan, as you can tell by her comments. http://www.politico.com/blogs/politico-live/2012/02/coulter-predicts-jeb-bush-hopes-to-enter-race-115558.html

I'm very surprised to see George Will being so disdainful of Republicans and their plans. I love the calling out of high gas prices when you drive a gas guzzler.

Donna just can't stay away from Marley's husbands! I wasn't expecting that twist. So does Vicky still have all of Reginald's money?

Nice to hear them talking about Ada.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7dlUHtxhjg

I wonder if they were sort of trying to draw some parallels between Eric and Jack - tall, handsome, emotionally distant, both a big part of Erica's life at the same time. What type of relationship with Mona and Eric have when he came back? I have only seen them (I'm only a few clips in) sitting on opposite sides of Erica at the Tad/Dixie wedding. You make a lot of good points about Erica and what she lost - it seems like the show spent a lot of time building up to this and trying to make people understand Erica's point of view, instead of just saying she was a bad mother. Do you think it was a good story choice to have Bianca taken away, and free Erica up for more stories, or do you think they should have had Erica raise her?

Marley and Reginald rarely spent time together so I wonder how they will interact now. He was very close to Vicky but Vicky was very different then. Steroids is certainly a pertinent issue, it's good that you're using Sharlene and John to address that story.