Dion

Yeah, I think most of us would agree that Scott and Liz becoming family was the best thing to come out of Liz and Franco.

I know right. I feel a lot of Imran's potential that was evident back in 2019 was basically squandered.

I have heard that

Apparently it's going to be a month long celebration

And 40 years later they still passing that ugly rock around lol

Not surprised that 2000 is ranked as the lowest, although the blurb gets it a little wrong here as both the 14 characters exiting and the hospital becoming public happened in 2001 (I think the clinic becoming a public hospital is often conflated with the clinic shifting premises after the liquefaction of the old clinic which did happen in 2000). Not surprised 2007 is ranked the highest, that set off a ratings renaissance that lasted for about 5 - 6 years. I thought 1994 was better than 95 or 96 so surprised to see them ranked so highly

Not this time around I don't think, but there were a couple of complaints during Te Rongopai's first stint on the show back in 2018 https://thespinoff.co.nz/tv/24-05-2022/rude-well-show-you-rude-30-years-of-shortland-street-viewer-complaints (scroll down)

Yeah, particularly since the Maori Health Authority is actually a real thing due to become live on July 1 and Te Rongopai seems to embody all the fears and negative stereotypes about it.

Hayden was pregnant when she left in 2017 and brought her daughter back with her in her 2019 stint.

Happy 30th anniversary Shortland Street! https://www.instagram.com/tv/Cd-QMiDhUnB/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/128741914/shortland-street-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-from-the-last-30-years https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/shortland-street-turns-30-30-things-you-didnt-know-about-the-show/QLTTN4Y2Q3O45ZHZQE5MWZ7BFM/

I think mostly post Twist of Fate in December 96 up until Guza returned in late 97. Much of that was Culliton's writing and then he got replaced by some others before Guza returned. And I think Riche stretched herself too thinly with setting up Port Charles. During that period Miranda fizzled out as a character and was quickly jettisoned; The Spencer/Cassadine feud lost all momentum as GF went on maternity leave; Stefan and Bobbie were split up in favour of Stefan and Katherine; KMC was at college which affected Jason's storyline; Sonny and Brenda went on the run from the Tin Man; Kevin and Lucy were spun off to Port Charles; Ned had nothing to do post Lois except chat to Alexis and deal with Q squabbles; Felicia and Tom fizzled out, as did Mac and Katherine so they were both left adrift for a while before it was decided to pair them up again; and Maxie had a mysterious doll. There were a few highlights too like AJ and Carly's ONS but the resulting Michael storyline didn't fully take off until Carly named Jason as the father.

Cheers! This has actually made me realise that I mixed up a bit of Rachel Blake's story with Princess Gina's story in my earlier post. So to clarify: The 1996 explanation was that Stefano had brainwashed John because Rachel had told him about the Blakes, 1999 was that Stefano had gotten to Forrest very early and turned him into his Pawn and Forrest/John was never a priest. It was literally during. John found Carrie and Lawrence in bed together about to do the deed and in the ensuing confrontation John pulled a gun on Lawrence and Lawrence was like "You wouldn't kill your own brother!"

Yeah that's the current explanation but I think AbcNbc247 is asking how they explained it in the 90s? During the Princess Gina storyline I think they just said that after Philomena faked his death in the pool and John ended up a priest, Princess Gina would confess her sins (the art thefts and forgeries with Stefano) to him and they also became lovers. Stefano was so incensed that he took John away and brainwashed him to become Roman. And Gina was so heartbroken that she eventually had a mental breakdown necessitating Stefano to use Hope to take her place.

Maybe they needed something to use up some of Kristina's episode guarantee.

The only thing I can remember is Helena poisoning Lucas during Endgame in order to get Tony to do her bidding. Tony's arc during the Carly/Michael story just goes to show that while deconstruction was a good idea in theory, and drove a lot of story for years, without the required reconstruction it ultimately failed and left the show in a much darker place.

I think it was the September 1973 summary where they had Lesley and Augusta discussing their mutual past (Augusta had been having an affair with Lesley's husband Bruce at the time Lesley and Bruce's child died; Bruce killed himself) so I think it is likely that a bit more was revealed during those months. However later writers focused more on the affair with Gordon Gray and the resulting child from that (Laura, obviously) and Lesley's past with Bruce seems to have been pretty much forgotten (perhaps because it was a strike storyline?).

Apparently it is Sullivan according to https://general-hospital.fandom.com/wiki/Lesley_Webber_(Denise_Alexander) (As always with these Wikis, take with a grain of salt) Would have likely to have been revealed during either the original Florence storyline or in the lead up to Laura's arrival.

She played the second Shabnam Masood on EastEnders

We've talked about Lesley's mysterious backstory before - i.e. her first marriage and loss of her second child. The latest summary from 1973 found by @will81 threw up this little gem about Lesley's past: On 4/25/2022 at 2:36 AM, FrenchFan said: Dr. Williams kept remembering and hearing a voice telling her that crib deaths were completely unpredictable and it wasn't her fault. This seems to confirm that Lesley's second child died of crib death. So this is what I know about Lesley's backstory: Sometime after her affair with Gordon Gray (and believing that their daughter had died at birth when in reality Laura had been switched with the Vining's deceased child), Lesley married a fellow doctor named Bruce Williams and had a child with him. Bruce cheated on Lesley with Nurse Augusta McLeod (Augusta is more well known for her affair with Peter Taylor and murder of Phil Brewer). Bruce and Lesley's child died (of crib death it seems) and Bruce killed himself.

Thanks @will81 and @FrenchFan Getting closer to learning a bit more about Lesley's first marriage and their child. This summary seems to confirm that the child died of crib death.

I think that was one of the strongest episodes of 1997

Yeah Neil sold Blondies to Nick who renamed it Wings. I can't remember exactly how Julie became Nick's business partner - I think it may have been possibly something to do with Doug and Julie still owning the land Wings stood on and were thus Nick's landlords, so Julie was able to insert herself into the business upon her return to Salem, but I could be totally imagining that and be mistaken lol.

That's when the Torres family set off a bomb at some party (I forget what it was for, but it was at Wings). I've always found it interesting how it actually set up story for much of the next year or so. Since the hospital was short staffed Chip was forced to operate on Julie who'd been severely injured. Unfortunately a waiter from the party died while Chip was preoccupied with Julie. The waiter of course was Dean Lombard and his death lead to the Lombards filing suit against the hospital. This of course would eventually lead to Roger running over Kimberly (triggering her DID storyline) and Stella trapping Marlena in the Pit. The lawyer representing the Lombards was Lisanne Gardner, who would eventually get murdered by Nicky. This was also when Shane became paralyzed.

I see what you did there 😜