Watched those 1991 clips (pleasantly surprised to get more of 1991) and the show is pretty solid in this period, although I can why there were changes on the way. A lot of the stories feel disconnected from each other, and the Paul/Ava/Carly stuff is so constantly hyperemotional it's very draining to watch - must have been tough on the actors.
Ally's makeup is so severe in some of these...glad they toned it down later on. Still not sure why they couldn't have kept Matt around as part of their teen scene, especially as it would have given Kate something of a grandson figure and given her another character to have story with, along with giving the boarding house more presence (I liked her comment that the boarding house used to be known as the "Rescott Hilton"). I suppose he wasn't as Hollywood glam as the teens coming in (unless the actor wanted to go).
Christine Tudor is made to look very severe in this episode (I guess it's not long since her return), but I did like one of her lines to Dinah Lee - "I'm getting older by the minute." Seeing early Dinah Lee scheming makes you wonder what might have been.
The first episode in the August 1991 twofer is chock-a-block with nothing but gorgeous guys (and Christopher Cass...who is alright). With the handcuffs on Rio, the unnecessary but repeated ass shots of the con in the cop uniform, and the unnecessary but repeated shots of ripped Robert Tyler's bare chest (now there's something we need to see in HD), all you have to do is wave the ladies away and you are ready for gay porn. Tyler was one of the most absolutely perfect men ever on daytime - even if he was pretty wooden early on, I'm still not sure how a bigger soap didn't snap him up after ATWT wrote him out.
Most of the time when I see Rocky she's being petulant or dull, or both, so it's nice to see a few fun moments like that camping scene before she left.