Franky

Personally, I love KMH, but I feel that for as long as she was in the role, Emily was such a secondary or tertiary character. Especially in the last decade or so.

LOL. The author of that article really likes John Dixon, I guess. I find it hard to believe that anyone enjoyed the Lucinda/James pairing, but I have to agree about the sets. ATWT always had some of the best sets in daytime, IMHO.

About that '94 article you posted, Carl, I didn't know they ever had a blonde Evan. I always thought he had dark hair. And they had a mall set? On ATWT? I really want to see that.

Yup. Jade's papa, Derek, saved her from her psycho ex-boyfriend. Other than that, I can't remember much. I think he mistook Lily for Rose, establishing that he and Rose were a couple back in Atlantic City. I also remember something like Derek lending Jade money, which got Jade (ridiculously) upset because he wanted to be an insta-daddy. Bonnie helped them mend fences and...poof. They all disappeared. I don't remember Jade and Derek being given exits.

The thing about the story that really bothered me was, not only was it so short, but they gave it one episode every two weeks. It was impossible for me to remember what was going on.

Didn't the Stewart sisters make an appearance under Marland's pen? I think I remember seeing them at the Hugheses' house for some holiday or get-together on YouTube, and I'm pretty sure it was from early Marland...

Love the picture with Lisa and the cake! God knows, she's so skinny there, she should have two pieces!

Speaking of supermodels making careers in small, Midwestern Oakdale, was there ever a specific reason given for why Lucinda hung around? I think I read that she originally came to town because of her husband, Whit McColl. I'm just wondering why she chose to stay for so long.

How soon after Doug Cumming's murder mustery did Tad Channing show up? Marland loved him some "whodunnit," but none ever seemed to live up to Doug Cummings. (This is coming from someone who only knows pre-Passanante ATWT thanks to YouTube).

Didn't Emma sell the farm early last year (2008)? There was that whole thing with Paul and Mike and the development of the land, and Ethan in the hole. I think that all that Emma owns anymore is the house.

What I really appreciated about Bob (and Don Hastings) was the humor he brought, and continues to bring when he's given screen time. He's so genuinely funny. It made the Hugheses seem like a real family. There's some like Bob in every family, isn't there?

I agree that there seems to be a pretty sharp break between the 70s and 80s. That was around the time that the show was losing it's #1 spot, and the Dobsons were brought in to contemporize, if I'm not mistaken. Retrospectively, I think it would be interesting to have seen what would have happened to characters like Carol Demming and Jay Stalings if they had stayed with the show. I don't really fault the Dobsons for writing them out, though. They brought their own lasting characters to the show. Margo, Lyla, James, Betsy, and Steve--they were all Dobson creations, were't they?

I never realized how many romantic interests Bob had aside from Lisa and Kim. I find it kind of surprising, since he was never a very hunky guy. Maybe that's just the bias of a 2000's soap fan. Still, I don't think someone like Don Hastings would ever even be hired by a soap today--certainly not as a core character/romantic lead.

Lyla and Bob were once engaged? I never knew that! Do you happen to know around when this was?