DRW50

You're right - not many along those lines. There were some but the stories would usually lend into the melodramas (like Lillian's breast cancer or Beth's abuse). One of the few I remember was that clunky piracy story from late 2000 that presumably was put on them by the government.

If I were new to this period of GL I would recommend trying to stick it out to the end of B&E's run - summer 2000 or whenever it is, just for completion's sake. I will acknowledge they were running on fumes. @Mitch64 I'd forgotten they didn't have a Bauer barbecue one year. For shame.

William Russ (AW, Y&R) and Bonnie Bartlett (Love of Life), along with various other Boy Meets World cast members, showed up on DWTS to support Danielle Fishel.

Not sure why the GH Youtube channel uploaded a deleted scene for the first time in four years, but deleted scenes always interest me so you may feel the same way. It's Brook Lynn and Chase (I can already see you walking away), before Monica's funeral.

Sorry to hear about her passing. So many talented people came from Love of Life. Someone should tell Hollywood Reporter Love Is was not on the air in the '80s.

Thanks so much @slick jones

I've never seen a soap that has actually told the story. EastEnders and Emmerdale had children born into the show with Down's and they have both been on their shows, off and on, for 15-20 years, but they are rarely seen. Neighbours brought in a young woman with Down's soon before their show ended in 2022. In real life she is a friend of Guy Pearce's so they cast her as his daughter. When the show was revived in 2023 (it's ending again in a few months), they brought her back, and she pops up every once in a while for some light comedy or background moments, not much else. I just don't think this is a story soaps want to tackle, especially not in such an exploitive time for the genre. They will tell "issue-based storylines," but that tends to be giving 10 different characters cancer or diabetes or infertility or depression. It would probably take a soap on public television, and that era of public television is long gone. On paper, this could have been a strong story for Holly, especially when you add in Holly's career, regrets over keeping a baby she hadn't planned, her history of depression (it was implied in 1992 at least, IIRC), but I don't think it was ever going to happen. The best I can say is the show didn't kill Meg off for awards and misery.

She gets into the Colbys around 35 minutes.

I'd certainly enjoy reading it. There were a few times I wanted to write one myself, just never did it.

I think it was Showtime but I still count those as movies.

Not sure if this counts as horror - probably not - but you can see a lot more of Katherine Kelly Lang than you may have expected in Subliminal Seduction. Ian Ziering is also in it.

Brain Damage - Rick Hearst (GL, DAYS, Y&R, GH)

I don't think anyone liked his exit, or the story in general. Fletcher hadn't really felt like himself for several years before he left (I say that as maybe the only Fletcher fan on here) and as you said, his exit should have had more immediate consequences than it did. I know what you meant about the Beth and Carl story but at the time I thought it at least laid some type of groundwork for Beth's behavior and I thought there was a certain menace in Carl. At this point most of my view of the show was background junk food. I think if I'd had to stop and think about stuff like the clone story I would have stopped watching.

Thanks. I guess that's the good and the bad of burning through stories so quickly. I can't see Carrington or Robin going near him. (nothing against Mayer himself - the character just seems like a sleaze)

I didn't even know that. As if I couldn't hate the character more. Reminds me of when EastEnders brought in some kind of fun-loving fireman viewers were meant to love because he'd bullied Ian Beale, the town snidely, when they were in school. As soon as the fireman came on the show, he flushed Ian's head down the toilet. When watching the Quola clips on Youtube years back, I wondered if I hit the moment where Marland's material ended because Tony suddenly started to treat Nola with some love and care, even as he still had issues with her. I know Nola was a headache even when reformed, but so much of the time in the Marland material I've seen Tony is just so unpleasant to her. This also seems to be when they go from being suspicious of Quint to seeing him as a member of the family.

There did always seem to be a bit of Norma Desmond with Sophia. Didn't she already have a relationship with a younger man who tried to kill her (TJ or whoever with the awful mullet), or am I mixing stories up? I do think seeing how she'd move forward after she and CC reconciled for the 50th time could have been interesting. (I imagine ten more breakups, but something else, please)

The reason I could enjoy it with Derek, or at least tolerate it, is because he had more of a humor. I do see the sanctimony though. I'm not surprised they didn't realize he would have any fans, considering the men they were pushing at P&G at this time, like pornstache Brad on ATWT...

When you add in that Ed was so stressed over their relationship that he regenerated, she really was going through it.

Oh yes...Tony was even worse. How any woman could ever choose him over Derek - honestly, I think I would have preferred finding Steven Jackson, wherever he was by that time, for a quiet evening over dealing with Tony.

I was surprised when I realized that shot in the disco credits of Josh eyeing up a woman and her sexy legs was Nola. I agree that more could have been done to delay Quint and Nola. At least with Kelly and Morgan it was presumably meant to be a cautionary tale of marrying too quickly, but the intense dullness of the recast took away the message. I wish I could see more of what you've all described when Morgan finally dumps his ass.

It's not where I'd see them going either, but the show was very plot-led at that time and so were the romantic pairings. If I could believe Vanessa having to humiliate herself for the deadly dull Mark, I could probably believe her having something with Josh.