DRW50

The show is blessed with a strong cast, overall, which is probably another reason just reverting to the Obrecht Power Hour feels like leadership that has no real motivation or ideas. I don't say a lot of positive about Mulcahey's return but I do appreciate that he had ideas and wanted to make them work until it was clear they weren't going to let him.

They seemed to be friendly with each other and it didn't seem fake, although they are actresses. Still, that was a long time ago. Watching this reminded me how much I miss seeing Hillary on a soap. She had some funny moments, like at the end when they were all clearly sad and she was analyzing each of their Zoom backgrounds. This led to a moment that made me laugh where, IIRC, Don made sure to tell everyone that was his bedroom, not a medical bed. @DramatistDreamer That was a beautiful summary. Poor Gregg kept going in and out, but he did share one story - he didn't really have a lot of history with Eileen compared to the others but he said he first saw her before he joined the show because he went to a cabaret performance in West Hollywood or somewhere that was billed as having a soap star, and it was Eileen. If anyone wants an update on Scott Holmes, I think Ellen said he and his wife are divorced and he leads tours in Charleston. And he works out a lot. (I remember an SOD article back in the mid '90s where he talked about becoming physically fit because his son called him fat or something along those lines). One person in the chat talked about how their grandmother never forgave Lisa for letting a good man like Bob go. I always love those types of viewer stories. Watching this made me nostalgic for Oakdale all over again. I don't think I can ever let ATWT or GL go. I'll always wish we could see some version today, although I know it will never be. I can't remember all the reasons but I think one was the change in producers. Calhoun had arranged hours for her as a new mother that I don't think Caso was going to keep. She had been thisclose to leaving the show in 1988 until they'd made that arrangement.

I don't think either of them is a huge drag on the show. I think they both, especially Cynthia, do yeoman's work. I mostly just think of writing them out in a world where the show is shuffled around top to bottom like the early '90s. I think there would be a lot of struggles in knowing where to take characters like Laura or Anna even without them, but I do agree with those who believe the show has so many viable women in that age range they don't really know what to do with them.

Part was the typical failing of the era - chasing one OTT story after another, "adventure," trying to find the hot new thing. Actor departures were also a big factor, as already mentioned above. The churn meant that so many stories that were started by Long and Kobe were invalidated. Philip/Beth were popular with viewers, then they were split for Beth/Lujack as Grant Aleksander left the show. Vincent Irizarry then left after only a few years, and Judi Evans six months later. The show could have had Mindy and Rick as a stable couple to contrast all this turnover, but instead they were split up for no real reason, for pairings that were never as popular. And that meant there was just nothing left of that whole Four Musketeers period for viewers to hang onto. Then you have the Billy/Vanessa love story, where within a year or so of them getting together the qualities that drew them together were turned into her having to be the little woman, raising a baby and popping pills. The pairings were a constant tilt-o-whirl. Josh is Reva's soulmate...but she marries HB. Josh is gone, and her new soulmate is insta-Lewis Kyle. She's pregnant, Vanessa runs her over, she tries to kill herself, then she is teased with a guy named Cain who turns out to be a psycho. Claire is in love with Fletcher, who was in love with Hilary and then here...but wait, Claire is knocked up by Ed, so Fletcher is now in love with Maeve. Trish and Ross are sort of together, but after a long time spent teasing, she's written out, so he can get together with Calla, whose great story is about her VD shame, while her daughter is the new Beth, falling in love with Simon, who is the new Lujack, sort of paired with India, but sort of not, just as she was sort of paired with Philip, but sort of not. Someone else can put all this out there much better than I can, but the storylines and relationships almost feel designed to be threadbare and impossible to invest in, maybe due to all the actor turnover.

There's a few years of hell and angst they could tell with the pair (and I guess some lighter moments for balance).

That would work. Maybe she wins Michael over but is actually planning to bilk him and run off with the kids, or something along those lines.

Cynthia's great but this does feel like a natural endpoint for Nina. Once the NotNathan or whatever this is story is over I'd have her realize life is too short, disown Willow, and leave for a new journey.

And the thing is, it didn't even damage GL a decade later - it had gutted the show by 1985, while Kobe was still producer.

I didn't really get much out of his turn with Ava as it all felt very confused and relied too much on idiot plotting (and I never want to see another switching meds storyline), but I did enjoy her "breakup" scenes with Nina. I love Maura West but I wish they'd just done what I'm pretty sure he wanted to do and killed Ava off.

I'd be glad to see Krista on soaps again so this probably is what would happen. I've seen Van Hansis put in that category too, by some fans. I don't think it's entirely true, but I do appreciate that he works very hard and brings a lot of drama to every moment.

We are truly in surreal times when I hear Don Hastings joke about Pete Hegseth.

I see that Farah Fath is a poker champ now, but we can't lose hope.

@Vee @carolineg Clearly what you are saying is you want an Angel comeback and Sonny/Angel supercouple for a new era.

He's 91, so I have to keep in mind, but I was going in preparing for something like Helen Gallagher's appearance. Either way, I'm glad he's doing OK for now.

I get what you're saying, but the specific deaths she spoke about were written in ways that do seem spiteful (and Cady McClain may have implied as much). Bringing this back to GL, McTavish also said she did this to Nadine. Anyway, I will stop now as this wasn't even my post to reply to in the first place so I shouldn't be talking all over the place.

@YTG Thanks for finding all this info.

Amazed at how good Don Hastings still looks and sounds at his age.

Just this year Megan McTavish's memoir, where she talked about how much she enjoyed killing off a character due to her dislike of the actor, was a topic of discussion on here. It may not be common, but it does happen.

Demi Lovato's Ex-Fiancé Max Ehrich Arrested for Allegedly Attacking His Mom

This was already posted elsewhere, I think, but not here. GH's Rory Gibson said he tested for Vaughn before he was cast as Michael.

https://deadline.com/2025/10/david-del-rio-fired-matlock-sexual-assault-billy-martinez-1236574763/

https://deadline.com/2025/10/david-del-rio-fired-matlock-sexual-assault-billy-martinez-1236574763/

Thanks for reminding us.

I don't know if they saw the Bauers as a family they had to erase or if there were a lot of factors coming together to decimate the family. They may have had issues with Marsha Clark. They may have had issues with Don Stewart. They assumed Charita would be there for a long time to come. Then there was them supposedly firing Elvera Roussel to show that no one was safe...which was just stupid for many reasons, among them that they got rid of most of the cast anyway, so wouldn't firing all of them already tell them they knew they weren't safe? Would they feel threatened while in the unemployment line? With that said, I think they may have also felt that similar to what they did with the Hughes on ATWT around the same period, that newer, younger viewers didn't want to see the old guard. They wanted hot half-naked bodies in glamorous locations.

Thanks.