carolineg

I don't remember Jane and Amanda being close in season 7 but it's been awhile for me too. But Jane in S7 was all over the place with Michael then with Kyle it was weird. The worst thing about Season 5 is Alison and Jake moving out of the building and them being completely isolated and backburned. And they worked so hard to make Alison/Jake a big thing and true love only to break them up in the end. Poor Alison is probably still drunk in a bar in Atlanta somewhere lol. Were they really a 'gang' though? Some of them were friends, but others never were like Alison/Sydney. The friendships were mostly forgotten to make way for all the bed hopping. I mean, how close can woman be when they have all slept with Jake lol?

I thought they were all basically friends in the first season. Even Alison/Jake had some scenes were she helped him get his GED which was I guess foreshadowing their future relationship. Sandy was always sorta the odd woman out. No one seemed to like her much. I can't even recall her and Billy ever having much interaction. The problem with the first season is everyone is boring. It's a good little show, but there is no soapy action until Amanda/Kimberly show up. Sydney is okay, but she definitely doesn't hit her stride until season 2.

I agree. I actually think the show lost its focus when they moved away from Billy/Alison. That to me was the heart of the show and I am still mad they never got a HEA even off screen.

There was a tease of Mike/Marlena, but he was only getting close to her because DiMera was blackmailing him and Mike found out the penthouse security code for him I think. It actually might have been fun if Mardevil seduced him. Does anyone feel like they could imagine PM's Austin falling for all things Sami or eventually pairing up with her? That seems very specific to AP's Austin.

RC definitely looked okay with the younger crowd. Even if at the very least he should have been in the Bo/Hope/Billie crowd. But I think they really had no idea what to do with Mike and he had enough chemistry with CC to make it work. It is gross to think he was married before Carrie was even born most likely. How did Carrie and Mike end? I know she left him, but did her and RC ever have scenes again? Ugh it's gets worse when you think about the fact Sonny gave a sex talk to AT's Emily and Juan. And he knew her when she was legitimately a child. A not in a vague way. Emily was always in Sonny's circle via Jason and Brenda.

Yeah that was what I was trying to say about Roman/RoJohn although the character of Roman changed a lot under DH. I just couldn't imagine gruff WN and Isabella at all. Diana, I could maybe see him with, but not Isabella. Then we could go into the two complete opposite Diana's we saw with GF and JC. Two totally different characters in every single way. I don't think Carrie would have worked with any Mike except RC for obvious reasons. Did they even acknowledge there was an age difference even with RC? I don't think so. I think MTW and RC are pretty close in age though. That goes into another creepy pairing with someone who grew up on screen. AT's Emily with Sonny on GH. NL's Emily was skeevy enough, but AT would have been a whole other level.

DOOL Can not see ED playing Kristen like this whining, simpering victim she is now or playing out tru luv forever with Brady even though they did have good chemistry WN's Roman with Isabella (I know John wasn't Roman but I could never imagine any incarnation of Roman going for someone like her) GH MW's Kate doing any of that looney DID stuff KSu did

I can't imagine SJB's Carly married to Jax. TB's Carly yes, but not SJB's. I can't remember if SJB's Carly and Jax ever really interacted though.

And Kristen lol. I mean, by 1986 I am sure it's all water under the bridge, but it is funny. I would never choose somebody who willingly helped break up my 1st marriage to sing at my 2nd (3rd) husband's wedding ceremony. But Tamara Price did and we got Lani out of it (that's sarcasm there) so it all ends well. Ridgecrest is a really good story. I wish it was still on you tube.

I am sure someone can answer this but how did Liz go from stealing Marlena's husband to being asked to sing at Marlena/RoJohn's wedding? I know Doc's forgiving but that seems like they were practically bff 6 years later.

From what I have seen of DJ's death (not much mostly the actual death and a little of the aftermath), it was very well acted. Deidre has her same hysterics, but it actually fit the moment. We don't get Don's feelings, but we don't get much of Marlena's feelings either. She seems to have moved on by this point or completely closed herself off about it. She doesn't even talk to her bff Kellam about it that much. I guess I forgot about Liz's attraction to Don because of all the stuff with Neil. Don't Liz and Don make an actually go of things (sorry to spoil future recaps lol)? The breakup of Don/Marlena is kind of the nail in coffin for Don. He really gets no viable love interest after that (I am not counting Maggie). While Marlena moves on to Roman and the popularity leaves Don out of the picture, as I sort of assume the end game was to have Don/Marlena reunite? Before Roman/Marlena took off? No idea about Sunny Chandler. Google gives you a bunch of articles about Sonny/Will when you try to look her up and she doesn't have a soap wiki or soapcentral bio so I guess we may never know.

I feel like this 1979-80 stuff with Don and Marlena is mostly weird and dumb. Stuff happens (DJ dying, Don blaming Marlena, Don's affair) and then for months it seems like Don/Marlena don't do a whole a lot except hang out with Kellam and argue here and there. And Liz and Don seem to come out of nowhere. And it does seem odd Marlena has no friends to confide in even though we know her friends exist on the canvas. I know it's hard to tell from recaps, but this whole Kellam stuff seems awful. Not looking forward to the rape, especially since the show really doesn't use that history much anymore. I can understand why she hated it. For a character so popular, Marlena is not doing much of anything even though major things are happening to her. Again, it's hard to tell from recaps, but Don just cheated on her why does she want him at her birthday party so badly lol?

It was obvious Guza's dream was to have his new favorite toy (Dante) be tied to his old favorite toy (Brenda) and there was no stopping it. I wonder if Jax was ever considered or if Ingo was just always on his way out. The most dramatic thing to do was to make it Jax's child because it directly effected Carly, Jax, and Sonny while Dante/Brenda would effect Lulu and Sonny for all of 5 minutes before they realized no one did anything wrong except keep a lame secret for too long. I am sure JFP or Frons or whoever did not want to give into Vanessa's demands and assumed she would just re-sign. Perhaps they did offer her all the money just not the time off. Without trying to sound sexist or blaming her at all because I love her, I do wonder about the timing of her return. Maybe it was an offer she couldn't refuse, but I wonder had she waited a year when her son was 1 or 2 would it have all worked out better? I am sure GH would have waited for her. Oh well, VM wouldn't have booked Vegas and I am sure she makes money still off that as they are doing an all episode marathon on the E! channel right now as we speak lol. After reading MB's autobiography (don't judge me it was quarantine), him and Steve come off as bullies. I don't think they are bad people, but some of their admitted remarks and 'jokes' to female co-stars are awful. They made TB cry and Mb was like it was fine we apologized..... You know, when SBu left the first time, I missed him for a minute, but I wouldn't have ever begged to have him back from the show's perspective. The show had moved on fine from him after he left and he truly wasn't necessary. Sonny and Carly had their thing going on, Robin was gone, the Q's had stuff to do without him.

I have no idea why SBu was against Carson so much. I know it is rumored he and Sarah Brown didn't get along and I remember he was very attached to KMc/Robin and that pairing, but by the time TB came around I am not sure the issue. Robin was gone and Carly was a new actress (who I guess MB and SBu were mean to as breezily stated in MB's autobiography🙄). I still thought TB and SBu had okay chemistry. I can understand being against a pairing but the Jarly relationship was so important it really shouldn't have been dropped in a romantic sense, because in a way that's the whole backbone of the CaSason relationship and why he does everything she asks ever. Vanessa for sure vetoed Dante and the baby and the baby in general. I get her point 100%, but it definitely made the story even worse than it was to have the baby have no impact on anyone really. At least make it Jax's kid. As a Brenda fan I am happy she vetoed it, but as a fan of soap operas, making it Dante's was the way to go, especially since neither really did anything wrong since Dante/Brenda had no idea the other existed. I believe Vanessa asked for more money on top of a lighter schedule in 2003 and was denied. To be fair, VM/Brenda was on all but 2 shows in her 6 month stint and her child was not even a year old. I am also assuming she had some interest from primetime because her GH stint ended up so high profile. I wonder if her demands were too crazy or JFP just said no way to be a jerk because in the press at the time everyone thought she would extend her contract and then seemed shocked when she didn't. Guza even had the story written lol. Well, I guess it worked out well for KeMo.

What's funny is Labine created these monsters. I know she didn't create either but she gave Sonny/MB an actual likeable character and Jason/SB his accident. Both actors/characters weren't much before her. They could have easily gotten rid of SB (not Jason, but recast) and MB before that. Neither were terribly popular. By the 2000's the show was catering to the whims and needs of these actors (TG, SB, MB) and listening to their thoughts on stories to the detriment of the show nearly 100% of the time. I can't think of a female actress that got the same treatment. Maybe Vanessa? I am not sure why an actor has that power. TG, MB, SB have all left at different times and the show survived. I think Sonny's absence in the current show would leave a much larger hole than Jason's. I think the show may be in better shape now if they cut their losses with both of them 15 years ago. But who knows? It's not like any soap is in good shape these days.

I think the idea of Jason's accident was really good. I really liked nuJason for a few years, but I thought the point of it all was that he'd get his memories back eventually. Not just become a new person basically. I can't believe the show never really went there and now it's clearly too late. I personally would take Sonny over Jason I think. Well, me in the 90's would 100%. But fair point. He really hasn't done much since 1998 but re-populate the town. If there ever was a perfect ending to a character it was Sonny leaving Brenda at the altar. Realizing the life he choose was costing him his great love, but, alas, here we are.

I think you are right about Alice knowing her. And Marlena was for sure her Dr. back then (or at least that was the backstory). Marlena knew about Curtis and the kids and I think about Lucas's actual paternity. I think LK herself said in SOD that she was playing a re-imagined Kate Winograd, but has contradicted herself in other articles, so who really knows. We will probably never know.

My assumption is that originally Kate Roberts had nothing to do with Bill or Kate Winograd when she was introduced. And someone or JER himself, read some history about Days a just decided it was close enough to go with for Lucas's paternity. And for all that history used the reveal turned out to be pretty lame with Bill barely on the canvas.

The two Kate's are not the same person, but I think the show sort of merged some of Kate Winograds backstory onto Kate Roberts. I think it's where the Bill/Kate Roberts backstory comes from. It was just changed and amped up by JER.

I would also assume it's a misprint. Or maybe just a one off mention of a brother. I have never seen or heard any evidence that Marlena had another sibling besides Sam. I assume Marlena was fairly popular from the get-go, so it's weird the show didn't give her more family and basically only gave her Sam because DH had a real life twin, who probably should never had been killed off, even if it was great story at the time. It was short-sighted for sure. Sam could have been years of drama, but you needed Andrea Hall and maybe she wasn't wanting to act long term. Also, again, not super relevant, but I always could clearly tell the difference between Deidre/Andrea. They clearly aren't identical twins (plastic surgery jokes aside) so it's funny the show made them so.

That would be nice. I always wanted JA/Don to come back in the mid 90's when Roman left to woo Marlena while John was with Kristen and help Mickey out with some cases but I am not sure if Don is even part of Marlena's current canon. We sometimes here about DJ's death, but never about her past with Don. Also Marlena had a brother in the 70's? Amazing fact.. Marlena is one of those characters that really had no ties or family (she should be included in that thread) until she married Roman. She had Sam, her dayplayer parents, and a cousin Trista, but they could have made more of her family over the years. But I guess it doesn't matter because she's now related to practically everyone in the cast in some way.

That is definitely what SR said after the whole leaving the show thing. I am not sure if she was covering up health problems or she was fired and lied, but that's been the story she has basically had since she came back.

She definitely appeared on PC a few times in the early days. But it's not like Skye-who played the character on all ABC soaps. She, to me, was a GH character doing guest appearances on AMC/PC. Although I would say Night Shift was her own vehicle so that's a toughie. It's not hard to find one and done actors, because there are a lot, but it's hard to find iconic one soap actors. Has Becky Herbst ever appeared on another soap?

Mine too. For obvious reasons lol. But do we count nighttime soaps because that would count her out? How about Ali Sweeney or Kim McCullough?

I think Stefano was strongly hinted at and I thought he was at the time. I don't remember the spoilers about it or if it was changed but Craig being Chloe's father didn't really make sense with the previous things Nancy had said about Chloe's father. I was under the impression the father was evil/forced her in the beginning but then the story gradually changed. It's been so long, but I remember being like "what? Craig was the dad the whole time?" It didn't make a lot of sense.