DRW50

That's because it was put out on DVD about 12-13 years ago as part a Jennifer trial set.

I'd agree with this. Stephen A Smith is a big name by cameo standards of recent times. I'm surprised he even makes the appearances.

Thanks. A shame they wasted a Doug recast (who never really had a full chance to be established even under Cranston) on this. I wonder if they talked a lot about her being so intimate with his brother.

You're probably right, but then he had some bad blood with GL too so I guess anywhere might have been dicey. I would have appreciated seeing what he did at AW, if he'd had better luck than Malone did when he tried to headwrite. I guess we would just have to put ourselves in a world where executives still let writers have some freedom.

I hadn't seen this before. Not sure who the man with Shana is.

I know in McTavish's book she admitted that story was a mistake, although she blamed the casting in part. I noticed she said nothing about the Kit story, which was to me much worse. I don't have a hard time believing the voodoo story was forced by the network. The same goes for Janet planning to have Brooke's face.

The year of the soap...

I always forget it was the network rather than the other way around. Maybe this is Frank's revenge.

In the long run it may have been worth it to just appease Frank and keep stringing along the way they did with Julian for ages, but I can see why Mulcahey would find the character past any expiration date.

I think ATWT and AMC were probably the two soaps that had the most mainstream mentions over the years (although with ATWT it was further in the past than AMC). AMC did keep name recognition to the end, which is why I wish the TV movie deal was going through. OLTL is still in a place where you could bring the show back, maybe have Erika and Robin (if they are willing) in some capacity, but OLTL was always treated as the unwanted stepchild by ABC. I'd take GL back, gladly, but I am not expecting it. Edge of Night is just a very cool soap name, and you could easily bring back the show's format for a new era, with a few small ties to the past if you want. That's why I'd bring the show back...just make sure it's with a strong mystery writer, even if no one can replace Henry Slesar.

I don't think Mulcahey could have pried JPS out of Frank's grasp. I do think Ava was on the chopping block though. The whole "I have no money" story feels very thrown together even by the show's standards.

Thanks. That seems like a parody name...or someone who would have conspired with Angela Channing for about 3 weeks in 1986.

That would have made sense. I could have seen him with Luna too. A shame he didn't even get an exit.

I think he went in on Kim partly because when he arrived, she was one of the only characters involved in a strong storyline and partly because Kim always put in the work, even when the stories weren't good. He did tame the roughness of the character too much (Reva never should have been an island queen), but Kim sold every moment. I remember Tangie coming in with Josh, and they had the stolen money story (I didn't remember her taking off her clothes in a fountain), but it did feel like they gave up after that. One of the problems is how much of Tangie's existence was down to confusing backstory. I know that's true for many characters, but you need to center them. Reva came in and was nothing but backstory for the Lewises, but they centered her (for better or worse). Tangie was often just on the side, shoehorned into the lives of others. I remember all kinds of monologues with Roger and Tangie about her parents and I remember being confused as to whether they were going to say he was her biological father. Nothing ever happened. Beyond some well-acted scenes, I am not sure if she had any impact on Roger or his storylines in those two years. Did she have any impact on any characters? I can't remember if Alan-Michael or Alan even cared after their relationships ended. Was his monologue the same episode where Josh rescued some kids and Vanessa and Matt had their big romantic moment running into each other's arms? I didn't care for that whole set piece but at least they did put a number of their cast in the midst of drama. Amazing to learn even that was out of JFP's control.

I don't know if you've ever seen Carrington Garland on Santa Barbara, but IIRC she auditioned, and she would have been a good fit. I have a feeling Barbara was only cast because she was well-received on Y&R. I know I had some good will for her for that reason. Unfortunately, she was not a good fit...but even if Kim Simms had stayed, it was clear JFP had no use for Mindy. Nice to see someone knew in here. I remember Michael O'Leary or Grant Aleksander "joking" about some homoerotic scenes in this era. I could easily see Alex having some kind of complicated emotional attachment to another woman in that timeframe, similar to Katherine on Y&R before that story was aborted. Marland's soap world was going, going, gone by the late '90s, but I could see him going back to GL instead of the Labines. Or OLTL. Very classy. She was too much of a potential star to stay long - at least she did have some strong moments in 1992 and 1993.

Nice to see that sneering anti-soap attitude remains...even with CNN's ratings in the toilet, the elitism dies last. That could make sense. I wonder if she's ever spoken about her reasons for leaving. I am trying to remember if they built Debbie up before Tess left. Sad to say, Debbie was nowhere near as interesting.

Is Patricia Mauceri still acting?

I'm sure they are to a point, but I think if there were real concerns, ABC would have made more changes instead of half-heartedly trying a bit last year before continuing to let Frank wait out the clock. CBS clearly cares to some point as they were willing to create a brand-new soap, but if they do the caring seems somewhat one-sided.

I never thought there'd be a big competition between GH and BtG and I still don't. They will each have their own audiences (and GH has made it clear they know most of their audience is not interested in diversity). They will both be lucky to stay on the air another few years with the state of TV. I was reading about yet another late night show (After Midnight) ending, and they are just giving the time back to affiliates. It reminds me how close to the end we are for pretty much all of network TV.

Michele Lee really goes hogwild in the first promo.

Thanks. So he should appear on Eddie's YT page soon.

Just Rosanna was a hoot. I had also forgotten they used that very loud hair metal music cue with Carly. I do remember the fiddle cue they use right as they're about to kiss. The idea of looking for more reasons to prove how wicked Carly was feels like something Lisa would have been doing in the '00s.

I don't think I could ever get past that either, even if the show pretends it never happen (or doesn't even remember the scene). With Jason not as involved in the mob, Jason/Liz could be a more natural pairing these days, but the show's lack of interest in Jake tells you how little interest the show has in the relationship. They still see Jason as a "star" character while Liz is lucky to be there. The three of them have ascended to some absurdly high plane where almost nothing can register for them - viable stories, love interests, nothing. This is the end result of writing that is too slanted in your favor (and I don't count characters who pay lip service to being anti-Sonny - that's an old shell game going back 30 years).