DRW50

@YTG Thanks for finding these movies I'd never heard of and letting us know the plot details.

I think various producers saw Martin as uninteresting and that Stacey always needed to be with other men or on her own. That's one of the reasons I felt nothing when they had all the mourning and suddenly acted like they gave a damn about Martin. I also struggled to accept James Bye as Martin, even though he was an appealing performer, because they rewrote a number of key character traits of Martin, like claiming he was closer to Michelle than Mark (he barely saw Michelle after the age of 10) and claiming that he went around for decades lying that Mark hadn't died of AIDS because he was ashamed.

Thanks @Paul Raven I still wonder just what happened as she seemed to go fairly quickly from Somerset. She probably should have stayed at The Doctors, although that part was clearly winding down.

I put a lot of that material on John Yorke, or whoever else was in charge (there were claims he was barely involved, and Mark Catley did a lot of the work). That whole period of time put me off because it was clear the show wanted to yank the Slaters back to the early '00s without understanding anything about how they worked back then. The writing was seeped in misandry with every man in the Slater dynamic presented as a cheater, an abuser, an idiot, even - most shameful of all - writing that had Charlie as knowing about Kat's rape before they backtracked. They clearly wanted to strip Kat to nothing and rebuild her, which provided some strong work for Jessie, but was not properly put together. Then she was left in a horrible place after Kate Oates came in...sleeping with Kush and fighting Stacey for custody of their son (which Kat would never do). I don't think Stacey has ever recovered from her night with Max. Nothing they've done with her since has worked. The degradation and regression also made it easier for cheap stories like her sleeping with Jack.

I need to go back and see more of his early run. By the time he returned in the late '90s he bored the hell out of me. I mainly remember him smelling a flower 500 times and obsessing over Felicia.

As someone who loved Caroline and never had much use for Taylor, the whole thing left me very annoyed. It was clear the show had zero plans for her beyond bringing her back. By the end she was having "hot" scenes with B-player Connor.

That's one of the most insane story choices of all time. I think Y&R did this at the end of the decade where Devon learned that dull Eva (whatever her name was) was not his biological aunt after all so he decided to get some ass. This is even worse as at one time Ridge thought Bridget was his daughter. If you make it to 2004, I will be curious to see if there are any hints onscreen to the story that was rumored to have been dumped because of Janet Jackson's nipple (a Caitlin/Eric relationship). Thanks for the OG photo. I like Susan's jacket. @Soapysoap Thank you for the lovely photos of Susan.

Thanks @Liberty City I've never been as much of a Liz fan as just someone who respects Becky Herbst's staying power, but it does suck that they mention what feels the whole cast and she only gets a blurb tied to the story of others. (well, no mention of Lucas either - not a shock) I wonder who the returning face is for Laura. (please don't let it be Heather)

I feel like this is just an unfortunate reality of the show's behind the scenes content now, although I am basing that on how some so adored Clenshaw and would talk about how hot he was when he appeared in videos. I'd rather go back to the days of not seeing producers. I remember seeing way, way too much of DTC and Santer in the late '00s.

The thug Zoe got tied up with also has the same name as a Redwater character, although that may just be a coincidence.

I wonder if they don't have her back for that long so we're getting everything quickly. I get the temptation of pairing up two big returns (even if Max isn't on the same level), but there's always a risk of tying everything together in too neat a bow. I say that even though I've enjoyed the interconnection in Wadey's run thus far. Jessie when she gets the chance is the most soulful and visceral performer on the canvas. She can always do a lot with a little. I hope the show will remember that. I'm curious as to whether all of this is going to finally address the Redwater-shaped elephant in the room.

I meant in the tweet.

Interesting that they don't mention his years on GH... I think I liked him more on Supernatural anyway.

I can respect that. I don't think it helped that the Callahan marriage was dying at this point, but it did ruin the whole selling point. I liked her with Aiden, but after everything with that actor we later heard I don't have the same view.

Great find. Did he ever talk about his time on the show?

They weren't wrong about how revealing those were.

It was very unpleasant to watch, like all of JFP's tenure. I remember a lot of complaints about Robert's return story. And Anna was reduced to having flings with Noah the rock god (I never enjoy "rock" stories on GH).

That was the only time I liked her, maybe because it played into what a cold actress Eva is.

She briefly had a relationship with Jay Pickett (RIP), didn't she, or did that not happen?

That got a ton of attention at the time, speculation, and confusion. As you said, very sudden, on top of Macy being written so differently in that stint.

That would have been interesting. Anything to keep Ross on the show and properly use him. I'd forgotten about that moment with India, but everything about the story with Vanessa and Beth and Matt was horrible, completely spite-based. As if Vanessa would consider plastic surgery just to keep a man. Not surprised about Rauch's alleged misogyny and nastiness either. MKA aged well, whatever he says. I'm glad she at least came back a time or two after he was gone.

I don't like it either. I don't really get it. But I guess there are worse things to complain about with these networks.

Thom Bierdz as Philip, one of the most bewildering returns in soap history, even if it was nice to see him. When was he last mentioned?

That was a heartbreaker, especially what was done with Nola.