KMan101

Wow! How on earth did I never know that. Makes so much sense.

Awesome! Thank you for that tidbit!

FINALLY! Yay! LOL

Yep. I've never gotten over it. Just awful and unnecessary. And remember the outcry was so fierce that they brought him back as a ghost to haunt Tracy? Lord .... Lord. Too much Natalia Livingston.

Yay! This is so exciting. EDIT: Other soap folks take notice: WE WILL PAY. I signed up immediately. Find a way to get your soap libraries online and streaming. It's great! This is exactly what all of us have wanted for the soaps for so long. I'm so glad Retro is doing this. 2.99 is indeed very reasonable and with a large selection of episodes and special features/interviews, etc. it makes it very worth it. They also give a yearly option of 30.99.

The promos are nice. That's about all I got. Agreed it was a mistake to kill off Pat, Peggy and Pauline. But I can somewhat understand it in all three cases. However, it's kinda dirty to do that to Pat when the actress is practically begging you not to, if you will. Pauline was offed like she was nothing, that one irks me the most.

Yes it is refreshing how women had goals and dreams aside from wanting a man. They could *gasp* have both. Ciara Brady comes to mind instantly. Heaven forbid we want her to have goals and ambitions. I notice most of the young couple stans just don't get how soaps work. It's only about catering to them and their couple. Anywho ... I love the '94 opening theme but it doesn't do a great job showing the cast. I liked the budget friendly '04 (02?) version.

Thank you. All of this, Carl. All of it. They all had potential but ... you know ...

They do. So many are laughably unable to be critical when it's deserved. But we all know how Ron is on Twitter. He's actually improved a bit but ... lol

I thought it might be her for some reason. She's been on a lot, no? Lots going on. Usually a death knell.

Definitely seemed like a mistake to dump him. But "out with the old" ... And then they recast in 1990/1991 and the guy felt like he should have been a Mike recast instead, lol

All of this would have been possible. I think we're past that point, for the general audience, but who knows? I'd write it in a heartbeat, so they'd want nothing to do with me, lol. I'd be bringing back Hortons left and right. Roman could have been viable but JER had a ... unique ... way of looking at his canvas. He explains it. I'd love to find those articles, probably buried in here. I think it's short sighted. He's not a character driven writer, yet he gives the characters motivations. He's always been fascinating to me, honestly. And I think frustrating because he can structure a story, he learned from some of the best. But he's so outlandish (especially circa 2002-2007) and it's annoying because it always felt like he "had it in him" to do better than he did. A *real* writer who cared about the fabric of the show and the characters would have written exactly that: Roman and Marlena find out, painfully, that "you can't always go back again". It really pisses me off we couldn't correct course in 2004/2005 when Wayne was back. But ... Reilly. And Corday's hard-on for Josh Taylor. I agree with you, just have them both re-assume the roles as if nothing happened. It's DAYS. We accept people donating organs and coming back from the dead so ....

My God I hope this is true! lol I want this to happen so very badly (as do all of us!). I'd subscribe in a heartbeat if this became a reality. Yeah, they'd definitely put the soaps on Hulu

Yep, it would be so much better this way! I hated seeing them throw Roman under the bus when they didn't have to. But JER was single minded at times and didn't see a 'place' for Roman on his canvas. I disagreed with it then. Of course he then used Roman as angst in 1997 and Wayne was on Port Charles. I'm also furious Wayne finally returned and it was for that Alex North bullshit.

Same. I love her for that and she's talented so that helps

We'd never be lucky and it would be Phil.

Peter Simon was the only Ed I knew when I started watching, but having since seen Mart in the role, holy cow what a big difference. Hulswit was fantastic and totally believable as Charita Bauer's/Bert's on-screen son. Simon can be too dour. He can also give great performances but you can also see on-screen when he's dead in the eyes and checked out ...

Not sure on GMA 3 (LOL). I haven't kept up much, maybe I'll start looking around. Can't be great if they've gone through three versions in what two years? I miss Sara on The View. I'd rather Meghan be leaving over Abby but Abby really didn't add anything at all. Meghan just wanted her bestie to be there to defend her. They shoulda stuck with Jed, but she's off doing good things so ... My viewing this season has been down a lot. Meghan is just such a turn off. I don't think they'll ever dump her unless it gets truly bad so she'll have to leave on her own. I mean the girl gets The View trending. Not for good reasons, but still ... but how long can they play this game?

Bye!

So awesome they're doing this. Thanks for keeping us updated! I'd love to see Retro expand their soaps with at least Edge of Night and Another World but The Doctors finally being rerun is amazing itself so I'm grateful to them for that.

A fling where she ends up pregnant would have worked better, under better writing, of course.

Makes a lot of sense. When written correctly, she was a suitable replacement, IMO. Her and Ron Raines seemed to do what was on the page. They were suitable and worked at times but a lot of times they didn't. Obviously no one can replace McKinsey or Bernau, but I think the replacements weren't awful and could have worked better with better writing and direction. Often Marj's Alex was reduced to shrieking harpy and Ron just bellowed a lot, but he could do better than that. I was also left feeling a little dirty after the town kinda turned on Bev's Alex during the Roger/Mindy reveal, it felt like they were reducing the character's power and presence and then afterwards with Marj's Alex, she was treated like a pest and annoyance. I can see why Bev ran for the hills. The age insults were awful. Maeve had to be insulted. And then you had the writers having Matt basically rip Vanessa a new one anytime she dared to do anything but be a housewife. It was sooooo insulting. I never liked Matt/Vanessa. I didn't mind the idea of a late in life 'miracle' baby for Vanessa. Under Curlee imagine how great it could have been? But with crap writers, was her baby really even necessary? Not really. I always thought 'Mattessa' was basically Phelps living out her fantasies through Maeve's Vanessa (after all, Phelps had a habit of doing that, and didn't Maeve get the Phelps haircut under her?)

Definitely agree that Vanessa felt more like herself in her return under Wheeler. I do think Wheeler "meant well" but just ultimately sucked as a producer. I will always be low key mad we didn't get more time under Hurst. I think she got the show. I feel like Maeve was ready for a break by the time Rauch came around, like it was said, she was already on recurring and he asked her back. But I do think the writers took out their resentment on the characters. However, Vanessa never quite worked as the dutiful housewife and stay at home mother, that's not her character. They also torpedoed Phillip/Harley. And agreed on their respective "stan bases". Marj could have worked had she been more restrained, IMO. They crazy bug eyes Alexandra doesn't work.

All of this! Vanessa would have 100% grown tired of Matt. That's exactly the direction it should have gone, but somehow they were painted as soulmates and I never bought it. Rauch/MADD were trash. I also love your idea for Ed/Holly/Billy. Claire wrote for Deas on Ryan's Hope so I always expected her to write for Buzz. But I agree, Deas must have known enough people because ... yikes. I resent Buzz for so many reasons, lol Me too. OLTL wasted her, but then again, with Ron and Frank there, they had about 1000 castmembers so ... LOL I'd say DAYS too, but it would be a letdown and they'd waste her like they wasted everyone else they've brought on from another soap in recent years. Y&R would be a good fit (about 10 years ago and prior) but I could also have seen her on B&B.

It really was a shame. I was very disappointed at the time to see her exit. I don't blame Ecklund for leaving though but selfishly wish she hadn't, but then she'd just probably disappear or be written terribly, or killed off for shock value. AMC should have picked her up but by 2001/2002 they were already a shell of it's former self and weren't interested in telling the types of stories they once did so she probably wouldn't have "fit".