DRW50

They cross for a year or so. They interact during Reva's post-partum story as Roger takes nude photos of her while she's having an episode and attempts to use the photos for blackmail. They are both on the canvas in 95-97 but I don't remember them interacting seriously. I also found that period with Harley and Mallet annoying. I never liked that pairing. I thought he drained all the personality out of her and was an ass.

There were a few other scenes in recent months which were worse, apparently - one in Julie's bookstore where Deirdre avoided looking at Suzanne the whole time.

He did. That's where most of his romance with Tess took place. I don't know how believable it ever was as she put Stacey through hell, but they did have good chemistry.

The Jessica moment was also treated very seriously - Soap at its best knew how to balance comedy and drama. I don't think you are wrong about tidy endings - on Neighbours, which concluded (again - like GL the show was canceled and revived multiple times) a woman found out a month before the show ended that her husband was cheating with her daughter's friend, and they were strongly hinting at a reunion in the finale. I didn't mind the happy endings on GL as much because I thought most of them were believable. Vanessa and Billy had never split up because of lack of love - he shot someone and went to prison. Josh and Reva had split up and reunited again and again. So had Beth and Philip. Rick and Mindy were more of a stretch, but more on Mindy's side as the show seemingly never had her progress any as a person in her 15 years away from regular Springfield living. But as an ending I thought it was cute, even if they barely got any airtime. Krista and Michael always had good chemistry. If Kim Simms had been Mindy I would have had more of an issue.

This is a "thing" now with various male celebrities - I guess in hand with that looksmaxxing trend of young men smashing their jaws with hammers. I haven't seen Jordi, but I know there's a lot of speculation about several comedians (John Mulaney, Kumail Nanjiani, etc.). JFP would repeat this plot not once, but twice, on AW and OLTL, with young female cops breaking all the rules and also banging their superiors. She was never one to avoid putting her fantasies onscreen. She did not do this at GH - maybe because for most of her run she was working with dominant headwriters who saw cops as evil.

Thanks @janea4old @Paul Raven It does tell you about the tension backstage that they didn't even bother to keep Sarah to the length of her contract - this means Kendall could have been around for Erica's pill addiction story.

Too much focus on McMurphy's life (that dreary French doctor...), just too much focus on McMurphy, period, and I felt like they went overboard in reminding us of how terrible Vietnam was when we already knew that. There was a whole episode about some young soldier who was paralyzed and I just remember a lot of Robert Picardo screaming and I felt like someone had gotten their student film script sent through. The fourth season is better, the story with KC is very moving, but again, so many repeated beats with McMurphy and her love life and all of her angst, literally every man in the cast being in love with her aside from Boonie (they must have run out of time). I also thought they did Frankie dirty. To me the two-parter where she went back home to see her dying father was a perfect conclusion.

@Franko Thanks so much for your newest recap. I look forward to these, and I appreciate how you structure them instead of just straight up summaries - in cases like this with the Laurelton story I know that would be a chore for you to put together. The Laurelton scenes sound alternately dreary and unhinged. Did DL know about what Terry went through in Laurelton? Was that ever mentioned? Given that we're just out of Valentine's Day, day I liked the focus on various couples. I agree that something is wrong when Steve only returns to prop a couple who only last for a year and he has no real connection with. Bobbie and Jake had such an unhappy end and were yet another soap couple tarnished by constant baby stories, so I am appreciating their happier days here.

Finale aside, few shows have made me think they should not go past two seasons more than China Beach.

True. I always forget he was on GH that far into the decade.

I never thought of them as casual either. I wish she'd had some. I guess the idea was meant to be she was always looking for the love of her life. Philip and Reva having a fling during Bolger's run would have been interesting, as India would have hired a hitman. Josh and Reva reuniting didn't surprise me as they always got back together, although Jeffrey returning and Reva being torn might have been a "soapier" ending. I might have had a house fall on Jeffrey as he showed up though...

Trish also had Salvage 1, which only lasted a season.

The four episodes of ABC's short-lived 1996 sitcom Common Law.

Thanks. If you want to add a Number 96 thread, I'd appreciate it and leave comments once I start watching more regularly. I am hoping they will add episodes a little more quickly on their site, although I still have plenty I haven't watched so that is silly on my part. I watched the bridging episode and I was startled at just how blunt they were able to get with the racist comments in their story with a black character (who I guess didn't stay around long - I hope more of those episodes show up someday...I'd love to know whether those clips mean the episodes survived). I have also watched some of the "last year of Number 96" special - the frankness shocked me (Nazi flags, male and female frontal nudity). The ratings still were flat, so I guess the public was just done with that type of show, as The Box ended around the same time. I watched the Chances pilot last night - when I watch more I'll leave some comments. Thank you again.

Thanks @vetsoapfan The casting people for late '70s Y&R seemed to have a very different "type" (Lynne Topping also has some of those facial features). I prefer the casting of the early years. Bond reminds me a bit of Kate Jackson here. Maybe Charlie's Angels should have hired her instead of Shelley Hack.

Loving promo, 1984

I think you are right. IIRC, we always knew how controlling and off Henry Lange was, but the story becomes more blatant during 1990. Regarding Matt - I really couldn't stand him at the time. I try to be more understanding now because Vanessa ultimately got the ending I wanted for her and I think he was at heart just a stud who probably should have never been in the rich life (which the show finally acknowledged years later), but I do enjoy your commentary about him. I think the peak of my dislike was the several times they teased his relationship with Dinah, although reading these recaps is kind of pissing me off years later more than it did at the time (by this point I think I was mentally on autopilot with GL).

On paper, Reva should have been a character who had casual hookups, especially given her lifelong issues about men and how men treated her. I wonder if this would have been the case if she hadn't blown up so quickly and if Long hadn't so strongly felt a connection with her.

Thanks for the reminder. They should have had them both go all the way and then explored the fallout. The writing tended to instead make both women look hysterical.

Thanks @SoapDope78 all that was available of this was about 15 minutes. @DramatistDreamer @Vee @MarlandFan Another Marland-era episode is available in full.

Those Chad scenes are genuinely very moving. You can see how genuine the emotions are.

Thanks @janea4old I appreciate the time you take watching and documenting these shows and interviews, complete with timestamps.

I can see it not being what he expected, but I guess the money and job security helps. I wonder if some is just Y&R's backstage atmosphere, which is so legendarily loving and warm, as Jason Thompson, another high-profile poaching, also seems completely miserable onscreen.