soapfave06

I have officially seen Blair and Max’s intro and was not expecting the over the top stare from across the room, split screen and dance but I have to say I enjoyed it (not sure if others thought it was cheesy) and I felt immediate chemistry, finally after that gross pairing with Lee Ann. Was I the only one thinking Cain Rogan’s return and unraveling would have been theatrical? I was expecting more hijinks or drama especially with more than just Tina involved. I will say for the first time though I was really enjoying Cain (I did enjoy his alter egos though) and Christopher Cousins is dashing. Oh!! I’m on January 3rd and I have finally seen the infamous Dr. Jonas everyone has been referring to. In the same episode, we see Blair coming out of her shell and twisting a front page interview with a future Governor candidate, I will give them credit for keeping Blair interesting and waiting for her darker side to unravel.

I am so excited to see Blair’s ongoing arc and especially the Cramer family coming apart especially following the manufactured drama with Cassie through the fall.

With Alan in prison for those four years, would 1989-90 have been a good time to try and bring Amanda back for Spaulding? The actress had appeared for a visit in 1987 I believe, so maybe she would have been willing?

I am close to the end of 1991 and things are back on the upswing. I agree Cord’s death came out of nowhere, they must not have thought JL would be leaving and I see now that they pivoted quickly from Cord’s death to the focus of Megan’s illness. Unfortunately, Megan ended up passing out and woke up completely back to her normal self with a 2.5 second apology scene to Viki for her meltdown. Jessica Tuck is really giving some of the best performances of 1991 (I’ve primarily only watched September-December but this year doesn’t give much) and certainly her entire time on the show. I will admit I almost thought Ruby Bright came back 😂 Megan and Andrew have something special-so many calm conversations about life that I become entranced by and the way he looks at her so lovingly but unable to have her, I can feel the torment in his heart. I don’t care for Megan and Jake, and of course she was never staying past her contract but I wonder what the two would have been like. Probably best to love each other deeply but never together. Major 1992 plots are being set up: Blair and Cassie had a great late night talk at The Banner which led Blair to meet Asa, see his power and become quickly thirsty + Addie spooking Cassie when she visits Blair; Max and Luna with Serenity Springs; Lee Ann pregnant; Cain Rogan back. Troy (who is so effing dull my god) and Sheila are treated like less than background characters. Sheila had the blip of the racist play and a less than supporting role in the Jane Ebert plot, a brief newspaper drama as a source against LH for Viki at The Banner and has barely been around since. JB’s Jason continues to steal the show. I have no opinion of Jason and Dorian overall but his hurt over getting Lee Ann the necklace and her mistakenly believing Max got it out of love and his later confrontation with Dorian on Llantano Mountain, looking down at Llanview the way people look down on him, whew his acting was phenomenal. Question: was Jason ever popular in viewer feedback or magazines at the time? He feels so quintessentially 90s I could have seen him on the show through the end of the decade (I know he got usurped by Todd but I would rather not waste my time focusing on that) PS-OLTL just oozes wasted potential sometimes. The 70s erased for the Buchanans with no longterm characters lasting; most of the 80s characters being temporary; then longterm there is Carla, the Jason’s and Sheila’s of the 90s and the Layla’s and Fish’s of the 00s.

Best scenes of maybe the entire year (that I’ve seen) just might be Megan learning she is sick after Andrew takes her to the hospital and Larry assumes Viki has already told Megan. Jessica Tuck killed it as Megan went in on Larry then broke down in Andrew’s arms. I really, really loved Max with Megan and Gabrielle but I don’t like anyone with Max, save Blair since I’ve seen some of 1992. I was just liking Lee Ann when she went back to him and now here we are with these cringe scenes of Max and Luna bonding. Doesn’t feel like Luna at all, especially knowing Lee Ann is with him. Nice to see some balance to the drama with Cain Rogan sneaking about in a jam. Now up to December 19th, holy cow! Megan should have been a troublemaking hot mess and they completely wasted her through 1991, her getting drunk and hitting the town, spanking Herb, dancing with (and unknowingly taunting) Andrew and running off with Cain to Atlantic City, that confrontation with Viki and then dancing around the crowd post meltdown before collapsing in tears has been an astonishing performance. I haven’t tracked how many episodes this has gone on for but I would happily take more of this, and more conflict between Viki and Megan before we get to those hospital bedside weeks. Back to Megan being a mess-what a wild ride 1989-1991 could have been if Viki and Megan didn’t make up in 2.5 seconds and she became a heroine.

I have made it to December 12th. I can’t explain why, but I am simply not connecting to the material surrounding Cord’s presumed death. Perhaps because Tina and Cord essentially ended when AE (my #1) left and were no longer leads at this point. Viki comforting Clint while preparing to tell Megan she needs a kidney is great; JB is fantastic as Jason, taking offense to Dorian trying to school him on how to dress and eat. Andrew as the voice of reason is also great, he is a great addition. My ears have reached exhaustion hearing LB’s Cassie saying Sarah, I can’t take it once more and while I am trying, I am not getting attached to nuSarah, not even in scenes with Megan. To be honest, Sarah returning with Cord dying and all the contrived Bo/Cassie drama is much too much and would easily be balanced with, I’m sorry I am saying it again, the use of the community in it’s entirety: giving Larry, Sheila, Wanda, etc. more to do. It feels like the same characters every episode and I am looking forward to seeing more of Blair and Sheila and the additions of Hank, Rachel and Marty in the next year. I will avoid commenting on Max vs Asa again but wow, pairing that with the family gathered at the Lord library for news of Cord’s death was a lot. It’s still worth it to see the transition period so I am going to try to move through it.

Was Robinson popular at the time on GH? Or was it more Lesley, Monica and Alan that brought him into a good impression?

I’ve dipped in and out of all the soaps and never caught on to RR Alan but he was great IMO on the OLTL 2013 revival, which really shows his miscast, I found this even worse when I finally got to see the fascinating late 70s-early 80s GL (my absolute favorite era of any soap outside of OLTL) With OG Alex and Alan being gone, they would have been better off moving on from the Spauldings.

I didn’t comment on the last few episodes I watched so I might just dive back in today! Enjoy your reading!

Thanks for sharing, I’ve never seen! Kind of insane Viki had affairs that nearly ruined her marriage so close together. In hindsight, I wish Roger and Sloan shared a similar backstory (as one character instead of two) I can’t judge the chemistry of Sloan and Viki, but man Roger and Viki had no chemistry. This is random but they also failed in casting Prince Raymond-no chemistry with Megan. I equally love realism and fantasy in my soaps and the Mendorra tale could have been something if they just had chemistry. I am very curious in the casting I initiatives at this time.

Also, does the show go through a zillion characters between 1980 and 1982? I’m reading this thread which led me to the book and my mind is blown at how many characters are popping in and out and then so many seem to just flatline.

I love that idea for Sara, and there seemed to be a lot of international intrigue hitting Springfield so it could have been tied to many characters. Would Ross and Peggy have been longterm?

Thanks, I was trying to pinpoint the ages of Morgan, Kelly, Nola, Katie, Hillary, TJ, etc.

Wow and Fran Myers was a vet and very young still at the time! A shame!

This isn’t my soap but the discussion has been of an era I am fascinated by, and Mike’s love life is confusing. Sara, Elizabeth, Jennifer, Alex, so on. Nothing consistent. Elizabeth and Jennifer I imagine have the most story opportunity?

I’ve been checking consistently for Maxim’s updates as well 😆

Thanks! With all that said, were their romantic options for Peggy and Sara (outside of Mike) had they stayed on for Billy and TJ?

Just a few questions as I read through this thread - was there a need for Kelly Nelson with TJ Werner and Andy Norris already tied to core characters? Couldn’t JWS just have played the flawed TJ? I also didn’t realize Kelly was around until 1984, was he just hanging around Springfield for the last two years? Someone also mentioned Peggy’s son could have became the young teen lead in the early-80s, was he old enough? As for Holly-what career wise could she have done? Maybe it would have been nice for Holly and Ed to platonically reconnect while Holly becomes a career woman?

Can someone better explain what led into the Sean and Monica affair? It just seems almost out of left field, but the Quartermaines business gets murky for me following the Susan Moore drama. Also, wasn’t JER behind the Laurelton story?

It was wild to see Roger Gordon pop back up to visit Sarah, Megan and Viki, particularly in this transition period and with a mustache! That is a big what could have been-had they cast a better leading man to tempt Viki in the Megan era, although Maxim has me excited to see Sloan now.

I am now at the beginning of December 1991 and I have to admit, I did not love the interrupted wedding as much as I thought I would. First, the Dorian/Cassie drama felt so contrived (maybe from the episode restoration editing) to include Dorian attending the wedding and I am not sure why, but it bugged me with everyone being rude to her. Cassie was just completely played as pathetic. Of course I have to adjust to this Sarah, as a big fan of the 80s Gordon sisters dynamics. The editing of the actual show felt odd too, extremely odd choices (unless it is just me) even Alex locking Cassie in the room with her would have been better had we heard the lock clicking, the camera angles of Sarah turning, zooming in on Bo. However, Alex demanding Cassie sit, converse, be respectful and then punching her was fantastic. Again though, no one heard this door slamming, crying, yelling, nothing? It could have upped the stakes quite a bit. Cassie later bursting into Megan’s uninvited to talk to Sarah-at this point she is driving me mad. I don’t hate the actress, it’s the writing. The Max and Asa trial is a snooze fest for me but Blair and the aftermath of Cord being shot is back in play so I do have that to enjoy. I miss the dynamics of Jason, Wanda and LeeAnn at the diner and it would be great to see more of Sheila (although Troy is a snooze) to balance out this other drama and rather small cast (alongside the recasts)

I am not sure they maintain this longterm, I barely remember any Viki and Marty scenes in the 2000s and always thought of Larry as closer to Viki in the mid-90s I have seen. That scene is really great and shows Marty’s reluctance, also never knew Kiki was an addict on that!

Still enjoying your recaps and I hope to be back to 1991 soon! Reading this, Maxim or anyone else, would you say they set Marty up to be heavily involved with Viki from the ties to lupus and Megan or not? Sometimes it seems they played up to it, other times not. Reading these recaps really makes me wish Marty had been further involved with raising hell for both Viki and Dorian.

I am actually shocked at how much more interesting that was than the BS they provide on “business” stories.

Thank you, I hope you had a very Merry Christmas as well!