DRW50

The time would have been when Buchanan left in 1994.

At that time, Ashley was not involved with Victor anyway. I have a feeling whoever was playing Ashley in 1999 would have been fired to make way for Eileen's return. Simms would have done a better job than Shattuck, but Bell by that time didn't have much interest in Ashley.

He's not a character you necessarily need in a very trim cast, but in a cast that is already so bloated you do wonder why he isn't there. I agree that he could be a good alternative in that age range to a group of men who are all very played out. And even though I have no use for Joss, it might add another dimension to her story if he is around. He could give her some corporate job and she might end up paired with some long lost Q (who is probably also a spy or whatever).

I wonder if JFP was trying for A Martinez yet again. You'd think AW would have just cast someone who was willing to play both Vicky and Marley...

You're right that the altar dumping was a catalyst for so much of the worst of what would become with Emily. IIRC she blamed Susan for Royce dumping her, which led to even more whining and playing into KMH's worst. They should have recast Emily at that point. I'm sure many did appreciate the story - I think at that time the whole execution of the show was falling flat for me. I do remember some of his interaction with Shannon (and Julie I saw in a recent episode). I had no memory of anything with Sam possibly being romantic (or is that not how it was framed). Maybe a vague memory of him talking about a therapy session on the subject. I do remember them being friendly as part of setting up her arrival in Oakdale.

She couldn't have. They did a good job of writing for a Mindy who was not necessarily more mature but who had grown out of the princess mode. Kimberley was more like a woman. Indeed. Just awful. He also always sounded like he'd just eaten a peanut butter sandwich right before he went oncamera. The only time I liked him was his initial stories with Francesca and Mindy. Unsurprisingly, those barely involved JFP.

I know all about Lisa and her life. I just thought the recipe name was funny. I wish these conversations didn't have to always be so intense.

Thanks. Why does that Peluso recipe sound oddly dirty... I love the Vicky Wyndham article, in part because looking up a photo of her husband and her does give real hoebag vibes (although he did save her when a weirdo fan started hitting her), and in part because several years later she would blast Logan to hell for panning her work as Justine.

I don't remember anything about him being abusive or raping her, but I do remember one flashback. It starts around 20 minutes. Sorry for the low volume. Hopefully someone here who saw the 1978 scenes may know how similar they are.

I agree that he was toned down...and admittedly there were periods later on where we could see him turning away a good thing because of Revamania and the damage this caused (everything with Annie in 96/97). I do think the Sonni story was a good window into Josh's obsessive, unpleasant nature as he only married her to get away from Reva, and then everything he did became about Reva when he returned to Springfield. It wasn't hard to see why Sonni went around the bend.

Thanks @chrisml I'd be fascinated to know if Deena stuck with OLTL through the years of noble rapist #1 and noble rapist #2 and finally noble rapist #3, Ford. I also wonder how she felt about Brad Vernon... Malone judging people for not wanting to see Todd's (totally unearned) "redemption" is a great example of the attitude that drove many soap fans away, never to return. Logan having the editorial freedom to get to have an entire column on such a controversial subject, and to have a column which goes against decades of soap precedent, is an example of voices the soap press would soon lose. Can you imagine anything like this ever happening even by the '00s? (not to mention the ass-kissing Daytime Confidential/"Soap Opera Spirit Awards" era). Angel Square never quite worked in terms of the double life/return of grit (partly because of the overall decay of ABC Daytime and partly because Horgan just wasn't a strong enough producer), but I did respect the idea and I'm glad it stayed around to the end of the show.

I haven't watched Sonni/Josh that closely but anything I have seen is Sonni pining and being paranoid and being manipulated while Josh worries over Reva. I didn't really see a lot between Cynthia and Robert, although they barely had a chance before Kim returned. I do think Josh was a self-righteous ass, but many regimes tried to paint him as having to put up with Reva and her antics. Long was the one I think could admit in the writing that they were as bad as each other.

I think all of this made sense with Josh's obsessive nature, which most writers who weren't Pam Long never seemed to tap into. Beth Ehlers and Robert Newman had good chemistry, which helped (other than Kim he wouldn't really have chemistry with another woman until Crystal Chappell). I never saw Harley that way, although she wasn't in the dynamic long before Newman left. I wonder how Curlee felt about Mallet/Harley. To me THAT was the pairing which changed Harley, draining her of all life and saddling her with a dull, sanctimonious [!@#$%^&*]. For the most part Harley never regained what had made her special (not helped by the Philip pairing, someone else who tended to drain life out of his partners). I couldn't remember if they still mentioned Susan and Nick at the end. Thanks. Usually, any gay man on a soap with AIDS was a short-term character and we often just saw them through the eyes of our heroine. GL had a friend in Lucy's support group (I can't remember his name, but I liked him). GH had Jon Hanley, Lucy Coe's dresser. We never saw any of their suffering (Lucy did have a moving reaction after Hanley passed away in real life). The closest was AMC, which in early 1995, when Julia Santos was becoming a nurse, had some very hard scenes to watch where Julia helped a young man who was dying of AIDS, and they were more honest in showing him in agony and in tears, saying he did not want to die, etc. Thank you to everyone who answered my questions about the blizzard and Fiona, and Mary Ellen Stuart. Sadly it was taken down.

It's pathetic. He really does want to collect Beanie Babies of soap alum just because he can, and generally it's alum I never needed to see again. And even those I am happy to see again are stuck in worthless parts most of the time. The biggest "success" on that front of late is probably Van Hansis, and he could be dumped at any time.

I was never a huge supporter, but during the periods of time I tried to sit through Y&R in those years (mainly the late '00s), I didn't think he was that bad. However, the alleged pushback he and/or his fans had to Cane being paired with Beth Maitland left a very bad taste in my mouth. He was very lucky to still have a job at that time and should have been happy with what he was given. I've been a fan of Beth's from the first time I began watching Y&R and the whole idea that he was somehow meant to be above her just because of the usual overinvested banner-flying antics turned my stomach.

Thanks so much for the details. I can see why Gottlieb would be drawn to the use of the flashbacks, and Robin's many talents. I do feel bad for Elaine. Do you know if Robin ever spoke about auditioning for Dark Shadows?

The story itself was terrible, which didn't help. And I don't know if the characters, especially Nora, ever fully recovered. I know there were supposedly some plans to reunite Viki/Clint which didn't happen, maybe due to the backstage issues with RItchie, but I got the feeling the main reason they killed Sloan was for Viki to be completely broken and set up the DID story, not to reunite her with Clint.

And that role was originally meant to go to Jennifer Grey, per the show's Wiki, until test audiences complained about the age difference. HBS was only three years older, but I guess she was not eternally Baby to them. Hillary later blamed the sitcom for why viewers had such a visceral reaction to the breakup of Bo and Nora, as they were given a lot of light material through that whole Something Wilder run that most couples on soaps weren't given. Thanks for the articles @chrisml I've always loved that photo of Clint Ritchie. I remember the hate the character of Clint received from some fans, how he was meant to hold Viki back, etc. All I can say is I hope they enjoyed all the wonderful material Viki got without him.

I would not say LeClerc and Peluso had great chemistry...but the main issue is she had wonderful chemistry with Randolph Mantooth and viewers seemed to want them together more than the show itself did. There are multiple times over the history of the show where they try to move the characters on, and I don't think viewers ever accepted it. I don't even think most of them ever accepted Alex/Jocelyn. I didn't. I don't think LeClerc was the right choice for a dual role. I wonder if he told them he would leave if he didn't get something interesting to do (which he had not as Jeremy in a long time).

Is that the same part Mary Ellen Stuart would briefly play?

They could...and the way things are going, I imagine they can again. I'd totally forgotten about this. It's not a bad idea, although there's no real value without having his grandfather Mike on the canvas to react. Yes, her OLTL exit seemed very high-profile. IIRC it was said ABC made an example of her.

Lovely of Michele to have a cake and everything. This clearly means so much to her.

I liked Alan-Michael. It always made him seem a bit immature and like he had a foot in two worlds, which is something the show never did enough with. Keeping Kelly Louise would have been dumb because she was named that partly down to Nola being fixated on Kelly. I wonder if Marland was still upset he never got to pair them properly.

This seems random. I wondered if they were bringing him back to kill him off, but apparently not. I stopped watching by most of his run but kept up at times. I had forgotten all that mess with Taylor. Maybe he can take her with him and she can return played by Kristen Alderson.

Thanks. They really did seem to give up on Jenna after she and Buzz reunited. So her activism for Zaslow may have been the reason. Jenna was never much of a character, but Fiona had a natural spark which left as soon as she was paired with Buzz. I know Fiona enjoyed working with him, and I'm glad, but much as I grew to tolerate them, there was something, anything else to do with her. Maybe have her get involved with Matt, in a money scheme if not romantically, to cause some tension with Vanessa. Thanks. Curlee must have been the writer interested in Alan-Michael and Blake as I can't remember if they ever interact much after she goes.