DRW50

That's a neat way to acknowledge an actor being back. It's always hard for me to imagine anyone else as Vanessa, although clearly anyone named Stuart had a good shot. @John Thanks. I forgot how many temps there were around then on OLTL. I don't want to watch again but wasn't Gretel also going around with a cane or something around then?

I remember some talk of a potential Maureen return - I think she would have played a different role, in that story I read in one of the soap magazines.

I suppose we can add Natalia Livingston as Taylor on DAYS. That seemed to get a disastrous fan response, and she was out fast. I had forgotten until now that Tamara Braun also played her. Clearly fans were happy to move on from that given she's been playing a whole other character off and on for years. What a mess. I do remember her having some fan support, helped by the longstanding antipathy many fans feel for the Sonny/Carly/Jason setup as well as it being the only other daytime role Sarah had that captured her intensity.

Thanks. Didn't know that.

She wasn't the last soap person to feel so confident in Logan's hands that they said how they really felt. The same happened a few years later with FMB (to be clear FMB did not say anything along these lines - she just panned the state of ABC Daytime). You could also see that onscreen as suddenly Holly and Roger were getting very clear scenes to rebuild their relationship and humanize Roger somewhat after he had been dragged through the mud under McTavish/Laibson. I remember one in an elevator and another over the phone. By the time Parlato came in that had mostly changed. They were still doing Roger/Holly but even then I think someone must have sensed it wasn't going to be the same.

I'd forgotten that too. Someone must be out there pitching a Northern Exposure reboot with the harem.

That sounds like a fun diversion.

I know it's too easy for me to just blame MADD, especially with Rauch's history, but she decided to make herself the face in one of the most heinous ways possible, so it's hard for me to separate. I agree they both had a hand, especially heartless Moonves.

I don't think we'll be getting Spencer until Trina is gone. I am glad they haven't had Dante immediately go back to only focusing on Lulu. I hope that remains the case for a while. Lulu, like all the Spencers, would probably be better off alone anyway. The groundwork has been laid so many times for Sonny to leave the mob. It's not as if Valentini loves the mob the way Guza-era GH did, but I guess it's too easy a crutch to stop using. Kristina being a mobster would probably be the best use of Kate Mansi's interpretation of the role, although it's hard to believe she wouldn't just start ordering hits on Ava or anyone else who annoys her.

@j swift As you had asked for original airings that are longer than the Soapnet versions - this seems to be one. Eddie put up the Soapnet version today but this original airing from Canada has more at the start. (this is the 22nd, not the 21st) @Maxim I think you already watched all this period, so this is another from the era.

I'd definitely put most of the blame on her.

Oh that's right. I forgot she even had story after the breakup. I remember finding Salem somewhat annoying on AW, but have no memory of her GH work. Reassigned to Alaska? Guza must have wanted to pay homage to the alternate To Live and Die in LA ending.

That happened when Rauch just started and when they had an interim team (Victor Miller, Michael Conforti, Nancy Williams Watt).

Finola is such a charismatic presence and was very different to other women on the canvas at the time, which must have helped. GH had a lot of strong women until JFP's arrival, but that mid '80s period is something of a lull - it seems like you either have ingenues or women who are being blackmailed and abused. Anna was such a strong female character that I'm not surprised they have never known what to do with her in recent years. I just wish they would move on from the Valentin codependency, no matter what following they have online. @carolineg Thanks for the refresher about Sonny's women at the time. I suppose Claire was just a backup if Vanessa didn't return. I feel bad for the actress, but at least she wasn't fired in the makeup chair like Matt Borleighni.

I thought they worked well together too, when given the chance. Sonny had some dire pairings in those years, like that lady lawyer - does that count as a pairing? Does Claudia count as a pairing? And the one that did have some support (Sonny/Kate) seemed to be disliked by the show. Which led to Sonny/Olivia - does that count as a pairing (what was onscreen)? I think what helps Robert/Anna is they had some good scenes over a period of decades, even if they weren't involved at the time. Robert/Holly mostly have the first run (which I need to see more of) and a lot of mess afterward. I know some appreciated the scenes they had together right before Robert "died," even if those now apparently were meant to have led to them hooking up and having a baby offcamera while Holly had her Holly robot from her closet take over for her in Port Charles for the next year.

@TheyStartedOnSoaps Thank you for letting us know. I'm sorry to hear about his passing, and my thoughts go to Sydney and their loved ones.

Jax/Carly is one of those pairings that got such hostility from the show I was never sure how much fan support ever broke through or how sustained it was. The soap press was happy to play along. I still remember their chiding fans who were upset when Carly laughed at her husband being raped. Robert/Anna is probably one of the more controversial supercouple pairings I can remember - as many fans who love them seem to dislike them together.

@SoapDope That's a wonderful find! I sometimes go through that channel but had never seen any soap content, beyond a brief Emmerdale Farm commercial. It's so unnerving seeing Robin as Hope for some reason. I'm very used to seeing her as villains or troubled women. I can't say I'm impressed by any of it either. I suppose I could credit her for trying to make San Cristobel more dynamic via civil war and higher stakes (Reva being blinded and Cassie losing her baby), and roping in Beth as Edmund's partner, but I just found most of the story uninvolving and repulsive (mainly Cassie losing her baby, especially as she was fairly far into her pregnancy). The show also would not commit to Beth actually being a bad person, so part of it was about "saving" her from Edmund, which I did not care about. DAM in general was much more appealing to me than what they often tried to do with Edmund, which is probably one of the reasons he stayed around off and on for a decade. I think San Cristobel stayed on as long as it did in part because it was entirely Rauch's creation and as shown on OLTL he enjoyed going to far-off made-up lands (with occasional location shoots), and in part because P&G/CBS/GL were likely tapping into a princess fantasy and a magical kingdom fantasy. I actually liked the Richard/Cassie pairing, and even I had had enough of San Cristobel by this point. (and of course the racial dynamics of the place, where the only time you saw black characters was as extras yet this colonialism and classism was never mentioned aside from moments like Cassie selling her crown to help the people, make me cringe). Claire Labine was a wonderful writer, but I don't connect with most of her OLTL or GL runs. I found both extremely alienating, to be honest. Admittedly neither show was in good health before she arrived, so she had no Wendy Riche to be an effective partner. I agree that there was probably no one, although I liked some of what Jill Lorie Hurst did in GL's last year. I would also say Lorraine Broderick, possibly - I didn't love her ATWT work but she had history with GL and did manage some strong moments at her soaps even with clear network and producer interference. I remember that - they should have just left Beth... I assume it was dropping ratings that finally ended San Cristobel. Either that or Bradley Cole announcing his exit (or had he only left because they ended SC?).

@soapfan770 Thank you. Here's the AV Club interview. https://www.avclub.com/conchata-ferrell-on-two-and-a-half-men-and-her-crusty-1798274363

I sometimes wonder if part of the R/K popularity was Duke/Anna fans who didn't want R/A to get back together but also didn't like Holly, although from the bits I've seen of Katherine she does seem genuinely nice, which can go a long way (a number of characters who are meant to be nice often don't seem that way due to actor portrayal or writing or both - maybe most blatant with GH and Anne, who was vocally hated by a number of fans even years after her exit). (speaking of Anne, I did not realize until now that she and Noah reconciled offscreen in 2014, when whatever happened to make Rick Springfield stop appearing on the show) It must be tough for Holly or Robert/Holly fans - multiple regimes just failing the character. I suppose given Emma's health and the lack of respect for Holly in the writing it's just a miracle to get her back onscreen at all.

This cracks me up.

Cathy's story did feel somewhat unfinished - maybe they were seeing if Lisa wanted to return. I think one of the reasons the Cathy/Ben story feels so cheap is because it's the type of story you often hear of other Knots actors vetoing those empty cheating plots. Clearly neither of them had the power (if they objected to the story). It also reminds me of how hollow Cathy was as a character. Everything with Jean Hackney did feel suited to Falcon Crest, although it provided one of my favorite Knots scenes (Ben putting Lilimae in a headlock).

That makes sense. So Mulcahey was probably screwed by JPS' very generous schedule with the show.

That story was so confused to me because I felt like she came across as foolish as Sonny in many ways. I wonder what Mulcahey's original plans would have been. I assume he was already iced out by the time we got to the dumbest parts (her outing Blaze).