Brolden

Thanks, BoldRestless! I have updated the 1986 list accordingly.

Hi all,

Sorry for my breakdown last month. I have since been indirectly in touch with the person behind the channel that was targeted, and know a bit more about what happened. I am now convinced my list had nothing to do with it. 

As such, I have restored all references to the channel on my list. Even if it is now defunct, its dates still help us piece together the full episode list.

With so many channels popping up, pumping out content and being taken down again, it is getting a bit daunting trying to keep track of any new info for the list, so please feel free to notify me of anything I'm missing out on.

Meanwhile I have been spending time dabbling around the old RATS board, as well as looking through historical newspapers, in preparation for bigger updates for the early 90s years (although that will likely still take some time)

Thanks again for all of your efforts to help out!

6 hours ago, P.J. said:

I seem to recall ED saying that by this time, HW would tire easily and  could struggle with her lines. I just saw it was one of those "quiet" moments we can have around the holidays, remembering the past and those who aren't there.

Well, I liked having Helen on, and the photo was honestly a nice touch. It's the whole... having two actors on in an otherwise clearly very empty house pretending there was a big family celebration.

I also feel like this would have felt better if it was Tom with Nancy. Despite the fact that Margo had been family for 26 years, she wasn't actually related to Nancy, which made the moment fall flat a little.

I see both sides of the above discussion... As someone who originally only watched from 2000 onwards and who only saw the earlier stuff after, it's sometimes difficult to hear people pointing out the shows's flaws in the last ten years so much. Then again, I will be happy to admit that the episodes I've seen from 1979-1980, as well as the Marland era, are much better than the final ten years. And even in what I consider "my era" with the show, I can honestly say it went off the rails. I just don't necessarily agree on the when and how of it.

My take is that the show was terrible in the post-Marland mid-90's, with all of its soft porn sequences. It got an upswing in the late 90s with the return of Carly and Holden and the introduction of Jack, Molly, Camille, David, etc. I think the show soared with early Sheffer, which I might be a bit prejudiced on, because that's when I started watching. Having seen Scott Bryce, I concede that Hunt Block was no Craig, but at the time I though he was awesome. Let me also point out here that every single person who has commented on this board who hadn't seen SB, loved HB. What I mean to say is that while I get that long-time viewers had an issue with him, and perhaps it was a sign of carelessness about the show's history (which I DO take as a very serious offense in this genre), it did NOT make the show unwatchable. I get that Block's acting style isn't for everyone, but there were tons of worse actors on the show. Anyway, I digress. In 2002-2003 the show waned a bit (which I think is normal after a high), although I agree with Passenante's opinion that Rose's death was some good stuff. In 2004 the show did become quite terrible, with the Doc Reese storyline sticking out as one of the worst (at the same time, Jack's amnesia storyline was awesome). As a result, in early 2005, the show wasn't in a good place, but by the summer, the show was in a major upswing, which is why I think JP's early work wasn't that bad. Yes, it was another baby switch, only a few years after the last one, but it was a huge umbrella storyline that involved nearly all of Oakdale. I thought the majority of 2006 was really good, save the Nick Kasnoff stuff. I know the Slasher wasn't for everyone (I enjoyed it), but again, I don't think it made the show unwatchable. I think 2005-2006 also had a really strong cast, which helped to keep it watchable.

2007 is, in my opinion, when it all went downhill. I think that year still had some strong storylines, but mixed in with a lot of lesser ones, and the writing just didn't feel inspired. It is also, I realize in hindsight, when so many of the longterm sets started disappearing or shrinking and the weird shakycam started being used. Budget cuts starting to be felt. 2008 and 2009 were the absolute worst (more on that later). In 2010, perhaps as a result of the cancellation, the show ticked up bit. Yes, I think with this much time to prepare the show could have done a lot better in its final months, but 2010 was watchable, which 2008 and 2009 definitely weren't (and I say that as someone who has continued to watch through all of that).

Sorry, this is getting a bit longer than I meant, and obviously this is just my opinion. But the reason I brought all this up is because I wanted to respond to the recent claim that 2005 was terrible and late 2009 was awesome (I'm paraphrasing). I am not sure who said it, and it doesn't really matter, because it is not my intention to attack anyone, only to discuss our personal opinions. I have recently, for hobby research purposes started reading episode transcripts backwards (I know, don't ask), starting with the finale and I have just made my way to Thanksgiving 2009. A few points:

- I know Janet has a really bad rep in the ATWT community, and I agree that more airtime in the final years should have been given to more pivotal characters (or even bringing back absentee ones). Having said that, I really liked Janet, even more so in reading these transcripts now than I did at the time. As a character, she made more sense to me than Jon Lindstrom's version of Craig, who also took up much airtime, flip-flopping between Carly and Rosanna. I agree with what was said above that Jack & Carly (and Holden & Lily, for that matter), would have benefitted from a real out-of-each-other's-orbit breakup a la Bob & Kim, with both characters involved in other pairings, and I think Janet had the potential to be that pairing for Jack. What I appreciate most about Janet is the way the character was kept and repurposed as a love interest for Dusty, as opposed to the many one-storyline characters who came and left in those years. Again, I agree the show became bit Ciccone-heavy in those final years, but I think Janet is overly criticized.

- I just made my way through the Mick Dante storyline that started in 2009 and was seemingly quickly discarded following the show's cancellation. I didn't like the storyline much at the time (it didn't help that I'm no RH-fan), but even less so now (I'm pretty sure this would have to be in the top 5 worst storylines on the show). I agree this show wasn't suited for the more science-fiction type storylines, but I actually enjoyed the spa storyline in '01/'02. The reason I enjoyed that storyline was not so much for the Dr. Weston stuff, but for seeing MW, KMH and MB together, as well as the people in Oakdale trying to figure out what happened (again, I really enjoy storylines that affect most people on the canvas). Although the Dr. Weston stuff was admittedly whacky, I think they explained it enough for it to make sense if you were willing to suspend you disbelief. The Mick Dante storyline, perhaps because it was scrapped so quickly, never made sense. Was he supposed to be a de-aged James Stenbeck, who had successfully used that serum? Or was he brainwashed into thinking he was James? I always thought it was the latter, but Barbara had some of his DNA tested as match for James. There were so many plot holes I can't even properly explain the storyline. Another thing that bugged me is that when Barbara found out he was James, the man she had feared for decades, she was immediately willing to help him make up for his mistakes with their son. The whole thing made NO sense. 

- OK, finally to the reason why I decided to finally write this post. Thanksgiving 2009. There was a huge Thanksgiving celebration at the Snyder farm, which I'm sure some people who didn't like the Snyders weren't happy with, but I didn't mind that. There was also a Hughes celebration, at Tom & Margo's, because that had been the go-to set for Hughes celebrations ever since Bob & Kim's kitchen became WOAK. So at the start of the episode Margo is at Katie's, convincing her to come and talking about all the preparations she has to make for dinner (which, isn't she supposed to be a terrible cook? but okay...). Elsewhere Craig and Rosanna prepare to tell Margo about their engagement. Post commercial break, Katie and Margo are at T&M's when Craig and Rosanna come in. Katie and Margo are not as enthusiastic as Craig had hoped, and Margo warns them that if they plan the "rest of the family" over Thanksgiving dinner, maybe they shouldn't, because they might not respond well. At that point, (on reading) I started wondering... Wait, what rest of the family? When I think of Thanksgiving dinner over at T&M's, I envision Bob, Kim, Nancy, Lisa. None of them are related to Craig. But I guess she meant Tom & Casey. Anyway... Katie goes outside and talks to Nancy about talking to their ex-husbands, while Craig & Rosanna leave. Katie later decides to go to the Snyder Farm, so Jacob can spend some time with Brad's family. At this point, we've only seen Margo, Katie, Craig, Rosanna, Johnny and Nancy at T&M's. Now all of this would still have been at least somewhat acceptable without the final scene. As Holden gives a toast at the Snyder Farm, a montage of different scenes is shown. As part of this montage, we see Nancy sitting on the couch at the Hughes', with clearly nobody next to her, as Margo walks up from the kitchen behind her and sits with her. Nancy grabs a picture of herself, Chris, Bob and Kim, as Margo says somehing along the lines of "that's a nice one". I can't help but wonder how ED and HW must have felt filming those scenes, and I feel especially bad knowing it was one of HW's final episodes (Thank god she got to be part of the episodes surrounding Bob & Kim's anniversary after that). I get that budget cuts were heavy at that point, but this was just ridiculous. I would have probably rather not seen a Hughes celebration at all than seeing this half-assed attempt at one (although I am glad we got to see Helen).

Anyway, REALLY long post short: I just can't agree that the show was good in late '09. It was one of the worst times for the show. Although I will admit I liked the Never Surrender tour, and the cameos from some former characters

This may be old news... but I don't remember hearing about it at the time.

I just watched a 2016 Robert DeNiro movie called The Comedian. He plays a former sitcom star, who's trying to break loose from his sitcom character and have a career in stand-up comedy. Anyway, towards the end of the movie he attends a "classic TV convention" and while he's at a table for meet-and-greets, guess who's at the table right next to him? "Soap Opera vixen" Colleen Zenk!

She has no lines and is only in about two quick shots, but it was pretty nice to see regardless. The movie wasn't all that great, though, in my opinion.

I've never seen this before, but Yvonne Perry reminds me of Cady McClain with some of her mannerisms here. 

I haven't been bothered by Alan that much, and honestly wasn't bothered much in this one. The William Fichtner/Martha Byrne one was a different story. I though Alan was typing while William was talking, which I later read wasn't typing, but static. However, Alan was very clearly not listening, which clearly disturbed WF and MB both. I think William deserved much better. Overall, though, I remain mostly thankful for Alan organizing these at all.

I just watched this episode (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVwS_vhr1HE) and I have a few questions. I've never seen an episode between the Hughes wedding and Holden jumping out of the hayloft, so I'm trying to find my bearing in this era.

- Who is the girl with Lily and Shannon? Seems to be a friend of Lily's?
 

- Towards the end of the episode, the aforemenioned girl danced with a friend of Dusty's? I think I heard Robbie, but the audio is not great.

- Who were the two guys causing trouble at the party? I know Harrison Blake and Hank MacPherson were both involved in the Dusty/Lily storyline at this time, but not sure if either of those guys is either of those characters?

- The guy on the plane next to Marcy... is he just a random extra? Or does he have a more significant role? I think he says his name in the beginning, but I can't make it out.

Some other comments:

- The jungle sounds, telling us that we're in Montega, are... a bit much

- I can't be the only one who thinks that Ross Kettle looks like the 80s version of Zach Roerig? 

14 hours ago, DramatistDreamer said:

Also, I know for sure there were quite a few episodes on @BillBauer's channel that I had seen nowhere else on YouTube (or Daily Motion either)

I had made a complete list in the Full Episode List thread, that I have since taken offline, and will leave there until I have confirmation that the trouble between these channels didn't start since those updates. There were 21, by my count.

@FrenchFan count me in as a devoted follower of this thread, even if I don't post much. Yes, please to 1976!

20 hours ago, BillBauer said:

I'm truly sorry that in order to keep one person from accessing my videos I had to make them all private. I really regret that because I know how much joy it was bringing fans. I hope you enjoyed them while you could and hopefully downloaded your favorites. According to this person, I stole all of my videos so you should be able to find them all on youtube anyway. Or you could go to his channel where he is using some of my ATWT videos. I'm glad you enjoyed my channel. There's always that one person that has to ruin it for everybody. 

Wait... Am I to understand that we have a "fan" to thank for all of this? Ugh! Shouldn't we all try to unite to preserve as much of the show's history as we possibly can? If it were me, I'd be glad they were being reposted. 

@BillBauer  I had no idea it was you behind the channel. Does private mean that the videos are still accessible to select people with a link? If so, what do I need to do to become one of those people?

If you are unable to share the videos, could you post a list of episodes in your possession, that I can use for the Full Episode List? (If you haven't already, check out my recent posts in that thread about "a certain channel"). I'm glad I know what's going on now. Can I ask, was this troll bothering you before Monday, or did it start this week? 

3 hours ago, Neil Johnson said:

What happened to everyone else's ATWT posts between June 15 and today?   Nearly a month of posts have disappeared.   

You're confusing the Full Episode List with the regular ATWT thread

Let me clear up what happened in the above posts, in case you missed it.

After a few months that have been very busy for me, in which I have had little time to devote to this pet project, I finally found myself with more time on my hands this week. In my absence, a number of new channels have sprung up that have started posting episodes that I had not encountered yet. It all happened so fast that I barely had time to keep up. 

Over the past two days, I have systematically gone through the uploads of one such channel (which shall now remain nameless). I decided to focus on episodes that were completely new to YT, which I had listed in the posts above, that I just deleted. I was excited to find there were indeed several new uploads, which were of great use to me for my list (in addition to just being wonderful for the soap community in general, obviously). 

Up until a few hours ago, new episodes were posted on the channel I'm referring to. Then, out of nowhere, videos started disappearing from the channel, and now there are barely any left. I know this is not an uncommon practice and it has happened countless times before. And yet, I can't help but feel that my actions have had something to do with it. 

I always meant my full episode list as a fan guide, to help myself and others find what's out there and piece together the history of the show. However, if someone has ill intentions, the list provides a handy guide to systematically take down all episodes on YT. I felt relatively safe, because P&G seems to have zero interest in soaps at this point. But with the timing of it all, I can't help but feel that someone associated with P&G is lurking on these boards. That is why I have decided to delete the above posts and remove all entries to the channel in question from my list.

If the person responsible for the channel in question is on these boards, I am enormously thankful for their efforts and I sincerely hope my actions have not affected them. I want them to know that should they find a workaround that allows them to upload the episodes under a different name, I will no longer copy their channel name into my list. 

Having said that, I am re-thinking the approach to my list in general. It is very possible that I will start taking out all references to channels. I know some people use this list for their own viewing habits, so please feel free to copy what's online now and save it somewhere.

I am very sorry that this is what it might come to. I, like most of you, am a fan of seeing classic episodes pop up on YT, and I can't for the life of me understand why a company that refuses to monetize its show and never shows an ounce of interest in it, is so averse to seeing episodes pop up online.

I have decided, with great sadness, to delete this post.

I have decided, with great sadness, to delete this post.

I have decided, with great sadness, to delete this post.

I have decided, with great sadness, to delete this post.

I have decided, with great sadness, to delete this post.

2 hours ago, juppiter said:

there would be a nickname decoder post once every few months. I remember Juicy = Lucinda. Can’t remember any others at the moment. 

Yes, I've seen them and I'm storing them along with the recaps.

14 hours ago, juppiter said:

 

Can you please tell me how you're navigating it? I would love to re-read some things. I don't know why Google bought a usenet archive and then made it so freaking difficult to use.

I have the exact same problem. I started with the 'smaller' one before CBS got separated off, which only has 1989-1994. What I do, is I make sure I have a lot of time if I want to get to it, then I use 'ATWT' as a search term, and spend about half an hour scrolling all the way down to the end, so I can spend about an hour or so working my way upwards. If I accidentally mis-click, I have to start all over again. It's a ridiculous pain in the ****, and it will be much more difficult when I get to the 'larger' CBS version.

I'm also not crazy about the nickname thing going on, which make the recaps impossible to read as well. Still, it's the only way I know of to read episode recaps from the early 90s, as well as authentic audience responses. 

My focus is currently on retrieving these recaps and storing them on my pc. I'm planning on 'translating' these recaps (using regular character names) at a later point. I also hope to use them to help identify episodes and complement the full episode list I created. But it's a lot of work.

If you or anyone else finds a better way to navigate this site, I'd love to hear it. 

Actually, I've been working my way through the RATS group, tracking ATWT posts (which were authentic audience responses). As I've made my way through 1990-1992, there was a very clear consensus that Heather wasn't well-liked in the role and I came upon many posts of people hoping Martha would be back (long before Heather left). Granted, that's just a portion of the total audience, and I didn't get to MB's actual return yet, but I get the general impression MB was liked in the role. 

On 7/2/2020 at 9:22 PM, Soapsuds said:

Considering how Martha and Colleen didn't get along it's a shame the rivarly didn't continue a la Barbara vs Margo

I think this is the first I've heard of Martha and Colleen not getting along. Didn't Martha mention she was happy she got to branch out as Rose and work with Colleen amongst others?

Maybe a year ago or so, I asked about the correct order of the Snyder spawn. If you've been following the Soap Opera Digest 1991 thread, you may have spotted this, from the July 9, 1991 edition of SOD:

Seth Snyder - 37

Iva Snyder - 35

Caleb Snyder - 27

Ellie Snyder - 26

Holden Snyder - 24

Meg Snyder - 22

Some of the other families have less specific ages listed, so I assume this info came straight from Doug Marland's bible.

I only had Caleb and Ellie mixed up, and they're only a year apart. Caleb always came off as younger than Ellie in the '88/'89 episodes I've seen.

I did believe Seth to be older than Iva, but that always confused me as well, as I thought Harvey and Emma couldn't have any children? I guess they had Seth first, then thought they couldn't have more children and adopted Iva, only to find out 8 (!) years later they were ready to have more.

Does anyone know how old Iva was when she had Lily? 

I know we probably shouldn't take these numbers too seriously, as they always end up being problematic in some way or other, but I still thought it was fun to see some verification of the right order, at least. 

Snyder ages! I've been wondering about the correct order forever!

Just a quick message from me to let everyone who has been sending me info in this thread or the regular ATWT thread, that I DO read them and WILL process them. I've just been very busy lately, but I hope to have some free time coming up soon.

There have been a lot of new uploads to YT recently, though many of them seem to be reposts, so I'll have to sift through them to see what's what.

Please know that I'm not ignoring your tips and please keep sending them!

I think I need to go recover from seeing Eileen Fulton wearing jeans. 

For the last few months, I've been reading SoapCentral recaps from when they become available (late 1996) onwards. I've made it through 1997 and 1998, and am now about to start 1999. These are the gap years in between the end of the Scrapbook and when I started watching in 2000. I knew the rough outline of what happened, but missed out on a lot of the details. I know the era isn't very popular, and I certainly agree it was messy, but I personally think it's better than what I've seen (and read) from 1995/1996. I always felt that these years laid some of the foundation for the upswing the show experienced in 2000. Anyway, I figured I'd share some thoughts...

Big Events

Although clearly done for sweeps purposes, I was impressed with the show's two big events. The church fire, in particular, seems very well done. I was on the edge of my seat just reading the episode. I especially like how it reinforced a sense of community by bringing many characters together, and how it played into several different storylines, from Barbara losing the baby and Carly seducing Hal to Ben's dealings with Teague and Holden being blamed. I also appreciate that there were real stakes, with both Kim and Barbara in comas for days and Johnny and Pamela dying. I also love how it led into the return of Jennifer for Kathryn Hays' 25th anniversary. The sinking of the Valetta seemed less meticulously planned out, but it was still nice to have all of Oakdale together throught the tragedy. I wonder how these events were received at the time, because big disasters do admittedly feel out of place in Oakdale.

Carly and Molly

I always believed the re-introduction of Carly and the reveal of Molly as her cousin to be the catalyst for the show getting better again. Both ladies had a spunky attitude, which always seemed a relief to me, following the endless soft porn sequences of the mid-90s. I was surprised by how annoying Molly was written. She was one of my favorite characters when I started watching, but reading through these years, I can imagine she wasn't at all well-liked in the beginning. The character just seems so shallow and empty. Kudos to Lesli Kay and whichever writer is responsible for turning Molly from that into one of the show's leading ladies. I can imagine viewers were also sick of Carly's trust-fund-baby storyline, although I suspect they got away with it because Maura is just so damn good. Another thing that surprised me... I always thought Carly and Molly were like two peas in a pod. But from what I'm reading in these recaps, Carly never seemed very interested in what Molly was going through. It seems like their relationship was rather one way.

Tom, Margo & Emily

It seems like they transplanted Molly's annoying personality from the Lily/Holden/Molly storyline to Emily for the Margo/Tom/Emily storyline. I can fully imagine that Scott Holmes never felt like Tom would have cheated on Margo with Emily, as he said in the Locher Room. Having said that, it's so nice to see Tom and Margo on the frontburner, and the storyline is heaps better than the mess with Doc Reese years later. The marriage had been rocky stemming from Margo being institutionalized, as well as the tension Eddie had created. I know Alec Wallace enters the picture in 1999, so I'm curious to see how that plays out. Sometimes it's interesting to read these things with hindsight. There was an episode were Casey went missing at the mall, while he was really talking to Emily. Flash forward exactly ten years, and they would be married (although that is a criticism of the 2008 writers, not the 1998 ones). I know Emily had a long road of being a not-always-sympathetic character, but it kind of amazes me based on this how likable she was with Hal only a few years later.

Lisa, John, Barbara, Hal

The John/Barbara marriage has always been a strange one to me, so it was wonderful to get some context there. I actually kind of liked them in these recaps. I liked how they bonded while trying to save Lisa from Martin Chedwyn (it was also nice to read the tail-end of that story, conceited as it was, as I had never found much info on that before). The unraveling of that marriage as they couldn't deal with Johnny's death together is heartbreaking. It's a shame how bitter that marriage ended, as if it never happened (John even re-used his ring with Carly). Given how they got together, it's ironic how Lisa and John were on the road back together as she helped him deal with the end of his marriage to Barbara. It seemed believable to me that all these years after John publicly humiliated Lisa, they would give it another shot. I remember seeing Carly trying to keep Lisa away while she married John on that island (you know, the one where EVERYONE in Oakdale spent Thanksgiving), but I was confused about the timeline, as I knew Lisa and John were together in 95/96. You know I love Carly, but it's a shame that her marrying John caused both John and Lisa to be backburnered permanently (well, John had that story about Hope's custody for a bit).

Holden and Lily

I loved Holden's return in '97 and the reunion with Lily. Am I correct in saying that when he and Lucinda were locked away together by Diego, this is the first time Lucinda actually accepted Holden as the right man for Lily? That is kind of a big deal. I liked the introductions of Molly and Jack, and the reveal about Abigail (much as it does rewrite history). But boy did that story get tedious soon. First the triangle with Molly, then the fear of David and the secret that Holden had killed David. I'm especially getting sick of Julia's fears about David. From the bits and pieces I've seen, I did enjoy the baby switch storyline in '99, so I'm hoping it gets better soon. Interesting how Lily instinctively knew Hope was not her baby when she first saw her after the kidnapping. Perhaps my biggest issue with this era is Lucinda marrying James. I know not many people liked the reveal that David was her son (except he wasn't), but I thought that was well done. But given how she despised James still in '97, in addition to all of their earlier history, it makes absolutely no sense that she would suddenly go and marry him. Am I missing a crucial bit of info in these recaps? Was James blackmailing her? It's really no wonder that Elizabeth Hubbard chose to leave in '99.

Kirk/Sam/Georgia and character exits

As I said, I think this era laid the foundation for the show's upswing in '00. Part of that is the delivery of some speedy exits. When the recaps pick up in late '96, the show is almost unrecognizable. That god the unholy trinity of Sarah Kasnoff, Zoe Crane and T. Jones was quickly written out. The same goes for Diego and Pilar. I still liked Mike, but his storyline was pretty much up. The exits of Mark and Connor in '97 were very much needed, as were, in my opinion, the exits of Kirk and Sam. Theirs has always been brought up as one of the most WTF exits, and I now see it was, but for completely different reasons than I thought. I thought people didn't want to see them go. But throughout all of '98 (and much of '97) they were just around with very little to do. Tom Wiggin is a very capable actor, and I think I liked Brooke Alexander, but Sherri Alexander always seemed right up there with Susan Batten as one of the show's most terrible recasts to me. Having said that, their actual exit, where they literally vanished all of a sudden, did seem somewhat WTF. They had been discussing fleeing Oakdale to hide their part in sinking the Valetta, but the recap seemed to hint heavily at their disappearance not being of their design. One of the most WTF decisions (second only to the Lucinda/James marriage) made by the writing team is making Georgia Sam's daughter. The "big reveal" as the Valetta was sinking was followed by Kirk and Sam's exit. What was the point? Why not make Georgia related to someone else? Or here's a thought... unrelated to anyone in Oakdale?

Stray thoughts

• Much as I liked the use of John and Lisa at this time, it's a shame Bob and Kim were backburnered. I really liked the mundane nature of the storyline about Kim's pacemaker in '97, as she got frustrated listening to the mechanical ticking, but there wasn't much after that. There was a very weird ministoryline where John temporarily took over the hospital, and Kim temporarily took in Molly, but both of those felt strange. The Hughes family deserved more.
• From the recaps, I really liked Susan & Cal. It seems like that relationship never ended, it simply stopped being written. A shame, if you ask me. I feel like if better decisions had been made in this era, the vets could have remained much more prominent.
• The character of Brad seems so odd to me in this era. I always thought it was due to the recasts in '99, but having finished '98, I know Nick Kokotakis has only about 1 month left, and I still don't feel like I have a grip on the character, not even his version of it. I do appreciate the storyline involving Dolores and the death of Jack and Brad's father
• I had to laugh when in a recent recap, Julia reminisced about being friendly in the past with another girl named Julia. I can't help but imagine a young Julia Lindsay and a young Julia Larrabee being friends in an alternate universe. 
• I feel like there was a lot of chemistry testing going on at this time. I constantly feel like they are putting characters together, and then they're not. I mean, Brad and Molly were sort of seeing each other for a bit, while Molly was already seeing Andy and still hung up on David and Brad was being positioned with Camille and came out of a weird fling with Lucinda. While Andy and Molly were starting, he was also still with Nikki, who was very clearly infatuated with Jack. In '97, it seemed they were getting ready to put Emily with either Andy or Jack. I get the need to test the chemistry, but this made the show seem very unfocused at times.
• Speaking of Andy and Molly, I really like them together. I thought I did, from the bits and pieces I've seen from '99, so I'm glad to find I was right. I loved Molly and Jake in the early 2000's, but Andy is a close second among Molly's suitors.
• I am probably forgetting a number of thoughts that I had while reading the recaps and wanted to share, so I might add more later.