Dion

32 minutes ago, Vee said:

Rakhee Thakrar rumors are swirling again re: the Fourteenth Doctor under RTD. I know @DRW50knows her from one of the UK soaps - I can't recall which one.

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:

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

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.

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.

2 hours ago, victoria foxton said:

 

  

I think that was one of the strongest episodes of 1997

1 hour ago, AbcNbc247 said:

Was Wings originally Blondie's (which was originally Doug's Place). I know Neil sold the club at some point after he and Liz divorced, but did he sell it to Nick the Pimp who renamed it Wings?

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.

51 minutes ago, carolineg said:

Can you remind what the bomb explosion was?  For the life of me I can't remember, but I am sure I have seen it 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.

9 minutes ago, Taoboi said:

I've said it before and I've said it again...I've been LOVING all of these flashbacks during Diane's return.

I see what you did there

I can't believe it never occurred to me that if not for Elizabeth Taylor the Luke and Laura wedding might not have happened at all.

I knew she was instrumental in bringing the wedding forward but - as Tristan pointed out - if she hadn't issued that ultimatum then it is likely that Genie would have quit before the originally planned wedding in the summer of '82 was able to play out.

And it probably turned out for the best storyline wise too. It would have been stretching it a bit too far to have Laura go back to being torn between Scotty and Luke after literally saving the world with Luke (I know, I know that in itself was probably stretching it a bit too far!).

EDIT: Decided this post is better placed in Classic Gh thread. Can delete if needed.

It occurred to me yesterday that Sam has now been on the show longer than Lucky

1 hour ago, AMCOLTLLover said:

Ugh the Ice Princess. U could do a drinking game whenever they name that. Since Alexandria got introduced in November 1980 it gave LnL a new story and brought in Robert. Which I thought was a great move! But since January 81 until February 20th (where I am at now) nothing happened. They are dragging that story out for so damn long with such repetitive dialogue that it became stalling and boring. Only things happened were Slick being involved as Luke’s sidekick and still looking for the Ice Princess.

Don't know if you would have seen it yet but

1 hour ago, AMCOLTLLover said:

Poor Joe! Ever since the murder of his dad got wrapped up they backburned him so hard! There is this little thing going on with Bobbie and them kissing a few times and going out here and there and Joe being there for Luke but otherwise nothing. Such a waste of a great character 

7 minutes ago, victoria foxton said:

 

   

IIRC Bobbie was searching the GH archives (this of course being the early days of the internet so GH hadn't digitized them yet) for information pertaining to Lesley's "death". Bobbie had actually seen Lesley's body back in '84 so Lesley turning out to be alive sparked off her suspicions about Stefan. Stefan had the archives set on fire to cover his tracks but was unaware that Bobbie was already there investigating.

10 hours ago, will81 said:

Yeah I don't think John was aware of his own feelings, but it seems JER was setting up that John and Kristen were not 'meant to be' and his beloved Doc knew him. I agree it was not until Aremid that John started to realise it, somewhat.

10 hours ago, carolineg said:

I don't think JER ever left his vision of John/Marlena even if I suspect the network and other PTB wanted John/Kristen more when ED first arrived, but JER was never going to truly let that happen.  Aremid is where John/Marlena stuff becomes really clear, but I think the true turning point is when the devil starts using Marlena to actively seduce John.  You truly get the idea that's the endgame couple

Yeah having looked back at some of the clips it does seem clear to me now that while JER had John and Kristen playing out all the classic supercouple tropes (As an example, Kristen's marriage to Tony is somewhat reminiscent of Kayla's marriage to Jack), there was always something a little off about them. There was a lack of earnest faith between John and Kristen that John and Marlena had.

8 hours ago, carolineg said:

If I am going to go even further into all this-why did Stefano even make John faux Ro?  What was his point?  Especially after he kidnapped Marlena as well?  Was there an end goal he was looking for like John to turn on all the Brady's at some point?  Or was it just for like shits and giggles?  Have they ever even tried to explain it?  

So many retcons over the years lol. 1991 made it something to do with Mayan codices, while 2008 made it all about the feud started after Stefano's father and Colleen Brady had an affiar.

I also think 1991 tried to explain Marlena's kidnapping as Stefano fearing that Marlena was somehow on the verge of figuring out that John wasn't Roman after all so he faked her death in the plane crash. How that fits into Orpheus I don't know.

1 hour ago, carolineg said:

Yes, but the coffin was empty and Stefano kidnapped Forrest/John as a child, but I am not sure why.  I still don't know if we ever found out if the real Forrest Alamain died in that pool.  Probably?

John actually is the real Forrest, it's just that he was adopted by the Alamains rather than being their biological child. Who they adopted him from keeps changing though lol.

I think currently we are meant to believe that John's father Yo Ling, formerly Timothy Robicheaux, who escaped to China during the Korean War formed some sort of communist alliance with Petrov, found out John had been adopted by the Alamains and reclaimed him so the Alamains (or maybe just Philomena) let him take John and faked his death in the pool. And John was brainwashed at some private school before Petrov betrayed Yo Ling and took John to Stefano.

3 hours ago, Vee said:

I mean, I think I definitely hear its opening in the opening of FOTH and I'm glad I'm not the only one. But YMMV.

This is what David Koz's Wikipedia page says: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Koz

Quote

Koz released his second album, Lucky Man, in 1993. During production of the album in 1992, Koz was approached by the producers of ABC's General Hospital to perform on the show after his track entitled "Emily", from his Dave Koz album, was used as part of the show's soundtrack that year. After his GH appearance, executive producer Wendy Riche commissioned Koz to write a new theme song for the soap. Koz took elements from the show's existing theme song, Jack Urbont's "Autumn Breeze", and merged the chorus notes into a brand new smooth jazz composition titled "Faces of the Heart". The new theme music made its debut on General Hospital's 30th anniversary show, which aired April 1, 1993, and remained as the show's title track until August 27, 2004. "Faces of the Heart" ended up as the third track on Koz's Lucky Man album.

Unfortunately there is no source cited for this paragraph but it all sounds pretty plausible to me.

After catching a rerun of an early episode of Sister Wives, Ridge finally comes to the realization that Polygamy would solve his never ending dilemma over whether to choose Taylor or Brooke. Brooke and Taylor are initially reluctant to go along with this but after thinking about it they decide that Ridge's idea is sensible. To make the arrangement work, Ridge will be legally married to one of women for a year and then divorce and marry the other and so on and so forth.

The arrangement is initially a success but after sometime Brooke begins to wonder why she can't also have a second husband. She decides to bring Deacon into the marriage. Ridge is apoplectic about this but eventually goes along with it. Taylor also decides to get a second husband.

Eventually more and more characters decide Polyamory is the way to solve their various love dilemmas and several sets of polyamorous relationships form across the canvas. Everyone lives happily ever after at the Forrester mansion. 

11 minutes ago, carolineg said:

Isn't it Gabe that convinces John to be a priest?  Wasn't pre-possessed Marlena pro John being a priest as well?.  I remember her and Kristen saying it was his 'calling'.  Which, no it's not, if he doesn't remember it.   Instead of Tanya I guess John was off screen knocking Tori up.  

I'm not sure. I'm a bit murky on this period of 94...Like I only know Tanya from the clips and I tend to watch them at random lol.

54 minutes ago, Gray Bunny said:

Good grief, you learn something new every day. Now I wanna see all of the early 90's just to fill in the many obvious blanks (I didn't begin until 1995). I randomly saw an episode from 1994 on YouTube a few weeks back and was surprised to see Jocelyn Seagrave on the show, flirting it up with John Black. Did she only last a hot minute? 

Yeah I think she only appeared in a short arc as Tanya Hampstead. Kristen ended her affair with John after learning he had been a priest and was adamant she wanted to make her marriage to Tony work. John was in denial about the whole priesthood thing and started dating Tanya for a short while but couldn't go through with sleeping with her and they parted on amicable terms after John admitted he was in love with a married woman. Then something happened (I'm not sure what) that made John want to be a priest for a while lol.

35 minutes ago, carolineg said:

It's so funny you mentioned that because my description of the character may be a little off, but I completely forget about her and see her in edits and always think why did JS have such a tiny role?  Was it supposed to be more?  Did she book other work at the time?  Is she objectively a little young for Drake/John? Lol such a random character.

My guess would be that she likely would have just moved from New York to California post GL and took on the role for some quick cash, not intending to stay long term.

5 minutes ago, carolineg said:

Yes.  It was always so random. Marlena got mugged and knocked in the head and just forgot who she was?   Was it Wendy's introduction? It seems weirdly out of place for Marlena's character and that time frame. Marlena already had a ton of story going on.  Wendy kept saying she knew Marlena wasn't homeless, so why didn't she do more to help lol.  Wendy is actually an interesting character.  It might be the fact LV left abruptly, but she had a lot of story possibility and her and Jonah just disappeared one day without resolving any of it lol.

Anyhow, I don't really think there is any suspense in Marlena thinking about abortion.  That would never had happened.  Her lies to John about the conception date always make me laugh.  Was she just hoping John couldn't count and it would all work out for her in 9 months?  I could see saying the conception date was later than it was, but not earlier.  That seems like a hard lie to get out of.  It's an actual a period where Marlena is a bit unlikable, which is interesting.  She's deceiving Roman, deceiving John, pretty passive aggressively ending the affair, but still keeping John around, and just letting her 15 year old daughter keep her secret.  I don't think we are supposed to think Marlena is unlikable, but she kind of sucks at this point.

I think Wendy's first appearance was just prior to that - IIRC She went in labor and Jonah delivered her son Benjy. Wendy ran off - eventually meeting Marlena, while Jonah and Austin were left to look after Benjy.

You make an interesting point about Marlena's behaviour during this period and you are absolutely correct. That said, I do dearly love the hot springs saga where Marlena actively manipulates John into joining her in the springs by staying underwater for a tad too long and making it appear that she was in trouble (all the while Rebecca and Roman are fast asleep none the wiser lol) and then confesses her manipulation going into graphic detail about how she knew John would see her as she knew he would go to the window for air after making love to Rebecca because he would always get so hot after sex lol!

Funnily enough Mardevil would pull a similar stunt two years later by having it appear that Marlena was drowning at the Horton Cabin.

  Thought I'd bring the Billie discussion over here from the March thread as it really is quite interesting.

51 minutes ago, Gray Bunny said:

Ah, thanks for the writeup! Appreciate it

No worries @Gray Bunny

As you would have seen from my write up you were actually on the right track regarding a Faux Bo doppelganger, it's just that it happened a year after RKK took over.

17 hours ago, carolineg said:

Thank you for filling in the blanks!  I go off memory a lot and am wrong often lol.  Literally, none of this rings a bell for me, but I do remember Taylor and thinking the character was going to be more important than she was.  

The show seemed to hang on to Carly/Bo longer than necessary and it seemed everyone was tired of it. 

I remember Marlena getting mugged going to the abortion clinic and Wendy.  Random lol. 

Marlena's brief bout with amnesia and homelessness with Wendy always struck me as a little weird considering how quickly it played out. Usually her perils go on for months and months and months lol.

I guess it was a dramatic way of revealing the pregnancy to the rest of the family and thus prevent her from having a secret abortion as she had planned but I'm sure she'd already decided to keep Belle just before getting mugged.

2 hours ago, carolineg said:

Billie appeared as a drug addict and was in Carrie/Austin's story.  There was a lot of hand wringing over Billie's addiction and Austin had to box to pay off her debts or something.  I know John/Marlena helped Billie out as well, which was an issue with Roman.  I am sure I am missing some details, but Billie was introduced as Carrie's peer basically.  The show didn't move her over to Bo until Curtis Reed's death.

Probably should be in the classic Days thread but I wanted to reply to this

Billie was placed in Bo's orbit much earlier than Curtis' death. Cash - who I think was Billie's dealer - was harassing Billie and Bo defended her. Then Lawrence blackmailed Taylor into helping him set up Bo with a Bo lookalike named Mitch (lol) and Mitch beat up Cash, who named Bo as his attacker. Billie helped Bo through that situation. This was around the same time that Marlena and John were having hot springs shenanigans and then pregnant Marlena had that brief bout of amnesia where she looked after by Wendy who at that time was being played by Lark Voorhies. Anyway Taylor ended up dead (not sure what happened to Mitch in the end).

Shortly afterward Vivian's schemes to frame Carly for a series of killings at the hospital kicked off which eventually resulted in Carly being buried alive. And Billie pretty much swooped in the minute the funeral was over to comfort Bo. Then Billie discovered that Curtis was alive and was the shooter that had shot Rebecca (aiming for Kristen I think?). Curtis then went off to LA but Bo figured out that the shooter had gone to LA so Billie went off to LA in an attempt to warn Curtis before Bo got to him. And so Bo and Billie ended up having an LA adventure whilst Carly had now been dug up but had amnesia and thought she still loved Lawrence. Eventually Bo found out Carly was alive but she left with Lawrence. And then a couple of weeks after that Curtis was murdered.

33 minutes ago, carolineg said:

I like Kevin/Laura.  It's def not fire, hot passion, but it seems right for 2 people that have been through it with crazy love interests.  I guess both characters might deserve more, but it feels like a natural evolution of the 2 characters.  

7 minutes ago, carolineg said:

Yeah, it probably doesn't work for a soap, but Kevin/Laura make sense to me.  It really seems like a real life couple that were just tired of the drama and found a nice, easing coupling.  I still stan for Kevin/Lucy, but I don't find Kevin/Laura bad.  I just think Scotty/Laura puts Scott in a Jax like corner where they know their love interest loves someone else more.  Kevin doesn't have the Luke baggage Scott has.  

I like them too and I tend to agree with everything you've said. And the best part about them is that they just let each other be. That may be a bit boring but its nice to have a couple who isn't all up in each other's business all the time.

9 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

Weeks later she finds that Grant Chambers died in a hit and run. Poor Brooke wonders about the odds of two exes dying in such short order.

Grant died of cancer shortly after marrying Macy though, so perhaps Connor or even James would be a better fit for this part of the story (which I do think is a fantastic idea)

21 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

After 62 years,ITV have moved Corrie from 7.30 start and six half hour episodes to 3 Ihr eps beginning at 8pm.

Obviously that will change how the episodes are structured.

I hope so. Sometimes the cliffhangers at the end of the first half hour can feel a bit contrived.

Some potentially very minor spoilers but I think they've aired now in the UK anyway.

8 hours ago, carolineg said:

So how would John being a priest the entire time fall into this?  Putative because of good faith?  It's all so silly to even try to reconcile lol.  At some point the Catholic Church should have just been like John/Marlena/Roman just marry whoever you want, but please not at our church

I assume so. I forgot to factor in John's preisthood so that does make me wonder about Brady though as IIRC he was actually born during the ceremony and thus was technically illegitimate at birth. Brady would be made legitimate by his parent's marriage provided and there was no diriment impediment that prevented John and Isabella from being married at Brady's conception or birth or at some immediate time afterward. But of course there was an unknown diriment impediment since John was a priest and Isabella was long dead when that impediment was removed. However, since the church appears to favour legitimation then I guess any reasonable ruling would be that John and Isabella's marriage after Brady's birth would have still made Brady legitimate as the diriment impediment was unknown.