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Agreed that Melinda's going too far on her first case as an adoption attorney.

However, I thought the dialogue about giving away her firstborn provided some additional insight into her motives.

Also, she provides plausible deniability for Sloan when this all blows up.

Is the “smoking gun” EJ's note that he wrote on the envelope with the DNA results? Does anyone recall where it is?  I know Sloan replaced the results, but the detail about him writing on the envelope seemed purposeful.  

9 hours ago, te. said:

I want a Don and Marlena reunion now with a surprise pregnancy! Never Say Never!

Keep hope alive (literally and figuratively)

I remember enjoying the Linda versus Paige rivalry as a highlight of the post-Abby era.

It's very All About Eve for Paige to have finally gotten rid of Abby, only to have a younger vixen become a threat.  And I thought their mutual connection to the Mackenzie family was a clever bit of writing.

Her exit was sudden and shocking.  Especially as it wasn't the season cliffhanger.

Here's a link to the podcast I think @Vee is referencing (worth a listen)

Podcast:  https://slate.com/podcasts/decoder-ring/2021/06/one-life-to-live-todd-manning

and the transcript : https://slate.com/transcripts/aVpLcjE1dXdHVmRQdmV1aVFlOXZFWGJ6aEN5eGxXeE9DNERYN05oWWZMaz0=

Roger Howarth is one of the last of his kind in one way.

He's the last quirky looking male romantic lead that we've seen.  Everyone else looks so bland and conventional next to him.

 

As I said about the murder on DAYS, soaps have to incorporate technology that has become ubiquitous in modern life.  It is silly that Víctor doesn't have Ring cameras on the ranch.  Adam should use Apple tags, and Kyle should have smart home resources.  It could be cinematic to see web footage of Niki getting in her car before the kidnapping. 

At least they had Clair texting, because the amount of time soap characters spend talking on the phone is remarkable.

I get that PIs are a soap staple, but is that a viable career in 2023, or is it like being a telephone operator?

I mean, can't characters just Google each other for background information, and use web cams to follow each other?

Perhaps he could start a web security business, to stop viruses and online threats?  That seems a bit more modern.

7 minutes ago, SFK said:

Was Dee Evans named after you-know-who or was that just a coincidence?

Of course, you are referencing Dee from What's Happening (jk)

5 hours ago, Xanthe said:

Both the impulse to rapidly age characters who are too young and the pull to keep characters who would otherwise be too old within a generational age bracket have the same root cause -- perception of romantic viability. I tend to think of the phenomenon as a whole as time elasticity, because it expands and contracts unpredictably but it tends to keep the generations in place more or less.

Along with romantic viability, I think another interesting correlate with female characters of a certain age is what I like to call the Lichtenstein Dilemma, based on his famous print

This occurs when certain character are serial romantics, but never procreate. For example, Felicia, whom in order to stay relevant in a multigenerational story, gets surrogate kids and long-lost daughters.  There are male versions as well (e.g. Carl). But soap writers have to jump through hoops to tell how a woman could have never spoken about having kids, and how those kids happened to move to the same town later in life.

BTW - it is still one of my favorite soapy things when characters have lived through a trauma like their loved one being kidnapped and impersonated, and later they are shocked and amazed when it happens again.  I'm tickled when a change in writers means that a character has learned nothing from the past few years.

IRL if someone you knew returned to town in a bad wig, I hope you'd think, "oh, that's the same thing that happened to my Uncle Shlomo's wife two years ago..."

3 minutes ago, Xanthe said:

Did Amanda have two?

And don't forget Hadley Prescott (or do, it is for the best if we all try to forget that story )

I mean she wasn't another personality, but as we discussed the other day, there was some dialogue when the boundaries were getting blurred

@China Jones Spilt-personalities, doppelgängers, and identical twins were a dime a dozen in Bay City.

Cass, Vicky, Rachel, Jordan, Amanda, and Sharlene each had one.

@janea4old I respect your take on the Ava story.  I feel like a story where a character is fearful about not being believed as a victim of sexual assault, written by the wife of an executive accused of sexual misconduct, is beyond poor taste.

Ava did not want to do Gil's bidding.  And it was explicit that he assaulted her.

However, I think the deliberate ambiguity of Ava shooting Gil behind a closed door implies that women will exaggerate threats, or use them to their advantage, in order to further their agenda.  Which is the only logical interpretation for that scene, when we consider that it was written by a woman whose husband was being investigated for inappropriate behavior in their workplace.

11 minutes ago, China Jones said:

Wasn't this around the time Cass had a split personality or a look-a-like?

So, there are three things that you may be conflating

The reason Cass had to tutor Dee to become a debutante was because he owed money to Tony the Tony.  In order to hide from Tony, Cass dressed in drag as Krystal Lake.

Then, years later, Rex Alingham, a Cass look alike, took over his life for awhile in Bay City while Cass was kidnapped.

Then, years after that, Jake owed money to a gambling ring, and he went in drag as Bunny Eberhardt.  And when Jake had a brain injury and got amnesia, he went by the alias Bunny

It is a bit ironic that Michael's treats to Nina would have wound up costing him money if Carly had accepted his loan offer.

Ned's instincts are correct not to trust him with the Australia deal, because only a twerp like Michael could wind up with a deficit in a blackmail scheme.

34 minutes ago, Xanthe said:

Any other acknowledged May-December romances I am not thinking of?

My first thought was Sergei and Felicia

1 hour ago, Paul Raven said:

The Don/Marlena fans may have been very vocal (lots of mail/phone calls) and Rabin recalls that reaction...which quickly subsided.

That's my point, as we see from the 1980s ratings thread, the ratings were subject to multiple variables. So, the only other source of data they had to gauge popularity were phone calls or letters to assume the audience response.  However, much like Twitter/X or other social media today, the most vocal fans are not always indicative of the consensus.

Although it is amusing that apparently fans allowed Don to move on lots of other ladies. 

Given fan loyalties, I wonder if there are still people out there wishing Marlena had never found love again?  Because, unfortunately, a Don and Marlena reunion is impossible.

Good to know my honor as the world's worst GH prognosticator is intact

No fair answering - who cares?

But, this changed who is #1 suspect

5 hours ago, AbcNbc247 said:

Too bad about the custody case though.

I guess they didn't want to re-use the set from Brady's custody hearing, or the judge

5 hours ago, AbcNbc247 said:

I would have liked to seen Xander and Sarah fight for Victoria, at least for a little while.

Did I miss it or did Sarah get her job back at University Hospital without any discussion?  I mean, she did leave them high and dry before.

I thought of another one.

With the advent of smaller and more mobile cameras, there would be opening shots where it was framed as if the viewer was a voyeur.  I recall a shot from Capitol when the camera begins behind a pillar and then reveals two characters plotting in the living room. 

Or this love scenes on Y&R shot through the rails of Lauren's bed as if we are peeking at them making out.

They really took advantage of the ability to use different angles, in a way that we don't see today with robotic cameras.

Between Iris's marriages and Mac's breakups, there were many times when Mac would join her for breakfast prior to going to the office.  A scene like that was described in the novelization Haunted by the Past, when Mac is chastising Iris about Clarice (see below). So, I would assume that the scene in question could have occurred after one of her many fights with either husband.

My main image of Iris during the 1970s was that she was frequently costumed in a marabou-trimmed peignoir or a house coat, because Iris rarely got dressed before noon. However, upon review of the images, Iris's robes were usually buttoned up to the throat, so Mac couldn't have remarked on her need to cover up.  Not that I am questioning the validity of anyone's memory, I just do not recall the dialogue that was mentioned.

The red one may be an evening gown, not a peignoir, but to be fair, they all looked alike

But, @Mona Kane Croft I can't watch this scene and not think of your insinuation  I mean, it's a little cringe to see iris kiss Mac on the lips.

1 hour ago, Paul Raven said:

One of the show’s hottest love stories was between Diedre Hall and Wayne Northrop, but Northrup left last year. Rabin said the audience refused to accept him. “Wayne was her second love on the show,” he said, “and it was a real struggle to get the audience to believe she could fall in love with a second guy.

That's an ironic quote, because the audience eventually believed that she could fall in love with a third guy.  And many current fans would be forgiven if they forgot the first one.

It's kind of funny to think that prior to the internet, the production's access to the audience response was so limited.

@Soapsuds Any time I see the print ad, I hear the thrilling voice of ABC reading it in my head.  Is this Ernie Anderson?