j swift

@victoria foxtonThank you, it is rare to get such an exact answer to a question. I appreciate the effort. It is fascinating to hear that Tony still owned the Weber house while Lucy and her brood lived there. Does neither the Port Charles PD nor WSB pay enough for Anna & Robert to buy a place (and is that why Bert Ramsey turned to crime)? Or do they rent so that they can get out of town at a moment's notice? BTW that scene also told me why Robert and Anna were never meant to be. He is penthouses and cantilevered stairs and she is shabby chic. Although Anna's sudden desire to burn dinners is as perplexing as the purple Egyptian decor that she used to for the Weber house (maybe that was Robert's stuff that she had to work into the design?). I appreciated how dressed up they both were, including hairdos and jewelry, when meeting for lunch at Ruby's (where the chopped salad seems ill-advised). Also did Amy Vining get bupkiss? I know she wasn't Lesley's biological daughter, but she lived in the house for years. Robyn's no-name friend gets more airtime than Amy.

I thought Mac got the Webber house in his marriage to Felicia because she lived there with baby Georgie and Maxie (who got BJ's heart and her house), her fiance Colton Shore, and his mother Charlene, who moved there with her niece Lucy Coe, who got the house in her divorce settlement, (negotiated by Scotty) from Dr. Tony Jones, who bought the house to raise BJ (RIP) with Tania (RIP) from his colleague Dr. Rick Webber, who inherited it when he was widowed by Leslie? I'm guessing there are multiple levels that we never see where they all slept, and I think we haven't seen the kitchen since Aunt Charlene cooked there. But, my question is when and why did Robert and Anna live there? Also, did you ever notice that between Sean's penthouse, the Quartermaine Mansion, and the Webber house, GH sets often did not include a kitchen?

The history of where people live in Port Charles (or any soap town) has always interested me. Especially when new producers come in and characters just show up living in a new house. I was reading Today in Soaps over on WeLoveSoaps.com and this tidbit came up which totally confused me. 1991: On General Hospital, Robert told Anna Devane (Finola Hughes) that he got the penthouse next door to Sean Donely's for them to live in. I recall Robert living in that gorgeous house with Holly and the cantilevered staircase when Anna arrived in the late 80s. The Scorpio's bought it to convince immigration authorities that they were not in a "green card" marriage in order to avoid the scandal that Holly was pregnant with Luke's baby. Then, by 1990, Anna and Robin lived in a cottage when she was the Co-Captain of Police and they were visited by Casey the alien. I think that the progression was that Luke got ready in the penthouse the day he married Laura, which was the first time that I noticed the set existed, (but, I thought they moved to the Haunted Star after their wedding)? Then, Sean Donnelly moved in and installed the secret computer room by the front door (a dumb place for a secret room), and then Sonny bought it. Sonny sold it when he started to have too many children (and baby's mothers) to fit. My next recollection was the penthouse next door to Sean's was where Anna tied Robert to the pillar before that got remarried. Robert and Anna moved in next door and eventually, Jason took over their penthouse. However, I was recently watching a clip where Robert and Anna lived in the Weber House which was garishly redecorated and I was confused by the timeline of when they moved there? Also, I think it's a shame that it was referred to as the Webber House when Leslie bought it (with Cameron?) and lived it in originally. She should have dumped Rick's last name as soon as he humiliated her with Monica. But I guess that was the legacy of those unchivalrous Webber brothers. And it may have become too confusing for future writers to have Laura Vining be the daughter of Lesley Williams, so everyone became a Weber to simplify things.

When Michael O'Leary left the role of Rick Bauer in the early '90 SOD ran articles in two successive issues that the role would be recast. Of course, he wasn't and as a result, Rick missed Phillip and Beth's second wedding. However, I've been wondering if there was any info on who had been offered the part or if any new characters at the time were supposed to be the Rick-recast.

Re-watching ep 200-300 as they are being re-posted online. Noticing the oddness of the pacing this time. Warren finally gets with Maggie the Cop. They flirt and kiss in the morning and he leaves. While still in lingerie, the nurse wheels her comatose husband in from where ever he was the night before. She feels conflicted, the next episode she calls it off with Warren and leaves tow to help her husband recuperate, This story was on the heels of Ted's teacher who he kissed and then she had to go recuperate out of town. Big build-ups, small pay-offs, and then they leave town forever.

My recollection is slightly different. Nadine's murder was shocking because it raised the stakes in Brent's plot to where it felt like any character could be at risk. Most soap serial killers only kill off superfluous characters, so when someone that close to Lucy died it had a great deal of impact. Although, your point is well taken that Mo's family got better written, (and performed), grieving scenes. The exception is that most of her family of origin wasn't around to watch grieve by the time she left this mortal coil. Also, I vaguely recall that SOW did not have spoilers that the actress was leaving, which contributed to the surprise. However, I think that the SOW editors did not approve of either the violence or the loss of the character.

Isn't funny that the commercial implies that Holly and Luke are trying to escape on a rollercoaster?

I considered whether or not to call out the sexism in my original post, but then I remembered that Ken Corday gets a lot of the same criticism at DAYS. I would add that one of the flaws in her storytelling were the exposition dumps required by characters to explain the plot to the audience. I recall when Phillip came back to Genoa City, he spent days explaining to Nina et all where he had been and why. I enjoy an emotional monologue, but those scenes seemed written to answer the viewer's concerns rather than the other characters. Didn't she also undo Jill as Kaye's daughter and made her a Fenmore? I always felt the dive into Jill's parentage seemed unnecessary. It only seemed to annoy the audience that had been introduced to Jill with her family intact. Which begs to the tangential question - Why wasn't Jill more interested in nail-care at Jabot after her training as a manicurist?

@BillBauer I agree that not all Bauers were good guys. Upon reflection, I don't even think Rick was very virtuous. He had multiple affairs, he cheated in med school with Claire, and he practiced while under the influence with Annie. It is a flaw in my writing/posting style that I always wind up comparing characters which causes more a focus on the comparison as opposed to the original comment. @Mitch I never noticed how much I didn't enjoy Peter Simon's characterization until I watched Springfielder's YT profiles. He was so stiff and stuffy, and not at all sexy.

The beginning of her tenure seemed so focused on correcting historical Y&R plotholes that I've always wondered how much of the criticism should be attributed to her co-writer Hogan Sheffield who tended to more grandiose storylines. I also think she was oddly the subject of a lot of negative fan projections because of her last name. I always recall the detail that Brad Bell's first storyline proposal at Y&R was Lauren's stalker culminating in her being buried alive. Although Y&R had previous women-in-peril stories, that one seemed tonally different at the time. So, perhaps it was not that unexpected that newer generations would want to stretch the genre based on other fictional interests with the expected reactive pushback from fans who had grown used to another type/pace of story.

RHONY - I know we will see some poor behavior from Luann this week, given the preview, however, I don't get Bethanny's beef with her? Bethanny keeps misinterpreting Lu's social niceties as personal attacks. It seems natural that when a friend is leaving a room you express that you wish they would stay, even when you don't mean it. When people say, "sad to you go", does Bethanny expect that they will literally cry upon her departure? I don't think Luann is questioning her parenting, in fact, it is such a superficial comment that I'm certain she forgot that she said it. I feel comically terrible for Luann that every time she enters a room she expects applause but she only gets heckled.

I associated Maureen's death with the eradication of the Reardons. I know they are not as historic, but I think it is a shame that the Reardons didn't survive as a family. I was just watching Kassie DePaiva's Chelsea Reardon, arguably the least revered Reardon girl, and she was so charming (you can hear her trying to suppress her southern accent in all the early scenes). Tony, Jim and all of the sisters were adventurous and romantic. I adore the idea of a boarding house as a soap setting. Especially with new nurses and doctors at Cedars. Along with Matt and Bridget Reardon, they were one of those families that could have produced endless cousins and nephews. We all know that if the internet was around at the time, every jumbo and their sister would be screaming about how this new family overtook the show. But isn't that the course for every new family on a soap? Personally, I think that every writer should get a crack at a new family, some stick and some don't, like the Norris family. They owned an airline, one would think that there would be a stray cousin. Otherwise, Holly's inheritance must have been huge. I know she bought WSPR, but how did she wind up in that tiny apartment at the end? Also, I forget if Ken got anything in Stanley's will, or if he wound up with Janet, or if they had any kids because I never liked Janet. I guess the Bauers were all "good guys" and that is the characteristic feature of the family? I would also hazard to guess that the Coopers made them redundant (because it is forbidden by the soap gods to have more than one lower-middle-class family at a time). Also, who names one kid Harley Davidson and the other one Frank? However, I thought the Reardons were more worthy of regret upon their demise as a unit, so I decided to bring them up again.

Good Prediction, although with a twist Has there ever been a young lovey female character with as tragic a love life as Whitney? She's been sold into prostitution, married a guy with an anxiety disorder, then she kissed his father. Poor Whitney had yet to find a true love in the E20.

Not to further a tangent, but twin underwear models were a trend in the '90s; The Carlson Twins, The Brewer Twins, etc...

Which begs the question - When did Cass become a lawyer? He came to town working for a rival publisher and trying to sign Felicia Gallant away from Cory Publishing. Then he helped run Nicole's fashion business and a coffeehouse. However, when was he first established as a lawyer, and what was his first case?

I was just reading Roger's wiki bio and I thought the same thing about his choice to masquerade as Adam Malik, given that his father was one of only two people in attendance for two of his weddings. It is always good to hear when writers try to tie up loose ends like those mentioned. I am a sucker for any scene when a vet character sits down with a newbie to discuss the history of the town. It's an excellent point, however, Meta had ties to Rick and Ed, I don't think they could have brought back the long lost child of Dr Sarah McIntyre in 1996 and expect most of the audience to remember her. The erratic quality of young Holly (Maureen Garrett's not the other one) was really captivating to watch. Her despair at being a housewife and her difficulties controlling her sexual desires were such 1970's stories. Today's young female characters want to have a baby as soon as they are married, and nobody ever plays with the ambivalence. That was a much more sophisticated time of storytelling, when writers appreciated that the audience could understand and relate to a character with more than one motivation It was also remarkably sexier. Not only was there more skin being shown than we see today, but also everyone was talking about sex and the quality and quantity of sex they were having. I don't think I've heard DAYS Hope and Jennifer discuss the quality of their orgasms, despite a plethora of ads about erectile dysfunction and vaginal mesh that play between the shows every hour.

A few months ago we discussed the origins of Blake and how she may not have been originally slated to be Christina Thorpe. It made me wonder if there was ever a concern that people might not remember Roger? He left more than a decade before Blake arrived. Holly was not around to provide exposition on his past. There were few opportunities for flashbacks to the character, given the recastings of other characters. And he wasn't like Alan where his namesake Spaulding Industries continued even if he was off-screen. There has to be some threshold of time when writers figure that the audience will remember a past character and those that could not be resurrected because too much time had passed.

As much as I don't enjoy old full episodes, for some reason, I got pulled into watching ep 198-200 today. It is the introduction of Julia, right after Augusta is blinded in the tunnel collapse. The first thing that struck me was the forgotten character of Jackie Parks, Ted's teacher at Lyman Academy and Amy's friend from childhood. Jackie had an inappropriate relationship with Ted when she became his confidant during his break up with Laken. In ep198, they are asleep in Mason's apartment after talking all night. Jackie has a flashback to being told that her husband died in the Navy (oddly the flashback took place in the Lockridge living room). Ted consoles her and against Mason's wishes drives her home in ep 199. Then, like all other non-essential SB characters, she disappeared. It is odd enough that Mason has no interactions with Julia when she first hits town, but it is especially odd to have so much focus on this character, in her final two episodes, only to be totally forgotten a week later. Eden and Cruz want to have sex but everyone keeps bothering them about the Channing murder investigation so they put up a sign on the front door to go away. They're not shown but Warren, Maggie, and Santana all comment on the sign, which was funny. Santana #2 (Margaret Micheals) and Gina #1 (Linda Gibboney) are remarkably alike. They both play their roles with constant tension and neuroticism. It is a shame that neither had a talk-to who could calm them and help them focus, They are both a hair trigger away from nuts and it is some big 80s hair. Warren and Lionel were the most charismatic father-son duo in daytime. Their wardrobe is so chic compared to CC, who always looks dressed for yachting, and Mason, whose suits did not fit well. They both do this hand gesture across their face when being coy with women. I will never understand why Sophia didn't pursue anything with Lionel, except for that time when their makeout tape got erased by Santa Clause, but that's Santa Barbara...

Happy Spring

Was it dubbed or subtitled? Did they start with the return of Cass from his honeymoon to Kathleen, as they did on Soapnet?

Marilee Stone, member of the oil cartel, CEO of Hurst Oil, was always one of my favorite side characters. It was always a fun episode when Marilee showed up. She was a great shoulder padded cougar with Casey Denault, and an interesting foe for Cliff. She is how I wish Lucy had grown up, classy, bi-atchy, and a little snobby.

Do you think it is possible that she'll go back to radio (Sirius)?

I adore these clip packages and storyline summaries that Springfielder has put together. I find entire episodes too slow and often difficult to track. Also, the lighting and sound quality of old episodes tend to exhaust me. However, content like this that is curated, smart, and funny really makes me appreciate all that YT provides. For example, a decade ago, we were listening to tiny audio clips WOST, and now someone has edited together the complete set of openings, for almost every show, in historical order. It is a great time for vintage soap lovers, and I am truly grateful for the creativity of these edits. I know it is old thinking to wonder how they can be monetized, and that might not be the only motivation, but it is remarkable what fans have been able to achieve.

RHOP - I still don't get where Candace's mother is getting the money? Isn't she a therapist? How is she so rich that Candace is planning her life around an inheritance (especially next to Katie who has actual familial wealth)? RHOBH - I want more details on Camille's relationship with her new stepsons who don't like her. Did David's kids go to the wedding? Also, we know the husbands aren't paid (which is why they're all allowed to shill their companies), but are friends like Camille and NYC's Barbara paid commensurate to a first year housewife or were they paid per episode? Prior to their season's photoshoot, did they know they weren't carrying an apple or a diamond? When and how do you think they find out their non-wife status?

My thoughts exactly when I was watching the video I was no longer a regular GL watcher by the time Mel debuted, but I thought the actress was absolutely charming. However, the doctor into lawyer thing, SORASing her kid, and placing her in Harley's orbit seemed like such odd dramatic choices. Also, it was amusing that there was dialogue that referenced Mel and Rick's age difference, then they SORASed their kid and made him even older (which would make Blake's twins middle-aged). I guess her one redeeming factor as a character is that she ended up with Cyrus.