BetterForgotten

I think MKA only agreed to do the role if it was short-term. I don't think the show was as tightly executed under Caso as it was under Calhoun. No one ever gave Calhoun enough credit, and it was clear Caso was riding on Marland's coattails when he was suddenly faced with difficult task of guiding the show post-Marland. For some reason, if they had Calhoun, I don't think this period may have been as rocky...

Yes, Robert Calhoun freshened up ATWT's look when he came on. Funny thing though, I think Laurence Caso later brought it back to grabsville...

Aw, Kristi is the drunk aunt at a family reunion that no one wants to sit next to.

WTF? lol

I do think Mary Ellis-Bunim was very misguided in trying to revamp the show and what she thought was wrong and what wasn't. There was indeed a constant change in writers before Marland, which couldn't have helped. Though, I do know ATWT was seen as a quickly decaying soap in the late 70's/early 80's when ABC rose to prominence. There was a lot of pressure to make the show something it wasn't previously.

As kooky and unbalanced as they were sometimes, I don't think you can ever say the work of Bridget and Jermone Dobson was ever boring, lol.

AW was never quite able to get out of the ratings basement in its last 20 years or so, and I have to guess it was a hell of a lot more expensive to produce than say Loving. I also don’t know that P&G treated the show with the same respect and attention they gave ATWT and GL (which was misguided at times, but they definitely had a more sound relationship with CBS than NBC).

It was McTavish, who was actually also responsible for bringing Cady back as well...

How lovely to see the clip of Bill Bell and Agnes Nixon presenting those special achievement awards to Charita Bauer (posthumously), Larry Haines, and Mary Stuart.

Very frank comment from Susan Lee - they were almost canceled again in 1993. I guess it was a miracle NBC kept it on until 1999.

I always hated that end credits music - even for the 80’s, it was dated and corny as hell.

I believe Ms. Marshall left during Michael Laibson's short but troubled time as EP. Gilly was used pretty consistently under JFP, but that may be more Curlee/Demorest than her.

GL never got any credit for how well integrated and well written the Grants/Speaks were in the early 90’s. Sure, it was a relatively brief moment in time, but no one ever gave them the same credit that was always bestowed upon ABC and Y&R when it came to integration of black characters.

Those interviewers were terrible, but Amelia is a class act.

Bridget and her mother had a complicated relationship, and she was happy to leave GH when Doris died. She considered her time writing for GH as a "jail sentence" - at least per this interview with a Santa Barbara fansite. This is the portion she talks about GL. http://pierin26santabarbara.blogspot.com/2012/12/my-exclusive-interview-with-bridget.html

It was a beautiful and fitting finale. My only gripe is I wished they had aired the full end credits on its final episode instead of the abbreviated end credits. I feel that way about all finales, just list everyone who worked on the show one last time...

Bell was definitely ailing by the time that story hit the screen. In fact, Bell died less than 10 months after Devon debuted on the show. Jack Smith was firmly in control as both HW and EP at this point.

I don't think I've seen this posted before.

In the beginning of 1994, he was listed as Co-HW with Nancy Curlee and Stephen Demorest during their final months with the show (he had been in their staff since 1992). After they left in March of that year, he was listed as the sole HW for a few episodes, and then as part of another HW-ing team with a few others. He left GL by the end of that year. He described his HW-ing experience there as miserable, especially after Curlee/Demorest left.

He did at GL, but it didn’t work out too well (mostly due to corporate interference).

That last year was horrendous when they hired actors that were popular on other soaps to somehow reinvent the show. Talk about a desperate disaster waiting to happen. To be fair, she didn’t have a very good stint on OLTL either...

No.

The 'feud' was very weak during that second stint and extremely petulant. Also, I hated Vanessa/Matt and hated that they had Vanessa acting like a love-sick 16 year old schoolgirl during this time. Ugh.

Did Nola ever forgive Ed for Maureen's demise? I remember some scenes where she had to go to the emergency room, but threw a fit when she realized Ed was going to be her doctor, but I can't remember her ever getting over it.

On This Day In Billboard History: Madonna Brought the Transcendence of 'Vogue' to No. 1