Vee

Demonic that he is still there for Christmas.

A side note: The switch-up that made Vanessa go full Guza Crime Moll happened so fast onscreen but I swear Lauren Bugliogi has killed it. I think she's even elevated Jon Lindstrom, who at times seems uncomfortable with this kind of role in his older age, but who has real chemistry with LB and can still give good glowering and some menace (depending on the day and material). Joey will not last forever but they need to move Vanessa into a more central role on the show fast. It frankly makes me wish they'd stayed with the original Vanessa/Dani friendship in the very first episodes, but I'm also among the few on here who is also fine with Cady's kooky BFF/talk-to role. OTOH, maybe Vanessa's friendship with saintly Nicole is what will keep her humanized.

I am sure a white heroine is partially a network thing, but I doubt the network denoted that she be so unbelievably boring. Dani has her lovers and haters, but that's largely by design. She drives engagement and is very watchable to me, even when they sometimes have her circle the same tired behaviors. Karla is eating this role IMO, there's no comparison with her vs. JJ.

A random sidenote: It's interesting to flash-forward to August '94 for Jason Webb's exit early in that month, and his very tender exit scenes with Robin's Dorian as he announces he's closing Wanda's Place (a fixture in the earlier '90s) down. Robin was very good with him, at least as good as Princi; I'd forgotten that, as I hadn't revisited a lot of this summer '94 period with the silly virus story and Susan Gibney's evil hospital administrator since it first aired I was a kid. I do wish they'd done a bit more of Robin paired with Mark Brettschneider. In a lot of ways I increasingly feel Jason was this team's first draft of what Todd Manning became, albeit a much more benevolent character at core. Once Todd was ascendant Jason was sadly an also-ran. It is nice to see everyone throw him a Goodbye Jason party.

It was never called The Revival when it first aired. That must be a streaming thing.

"I am not one of your conquests, Gaius Cordius! You will never be able to possess me!" I've finally reached the 'Luna and Tina explore Cord and Tina's past lives' episodes (starting with 10/8/91). Hoo boy. Clint Ritchie and Bob Woods deserve hazard pay for having to dress up as Roman centurions in helmets and togas serving General Cord. John Loprieno playing an effete Roman and making a wild meal of it proves just how versatile he always was - anyone who remembers his guest turn as a time-traveling war criminal on Star Trek: Voyager (the two-parter "Year of Hell") knows he could play so much more than folksy hunk Cord. I wish the show had done better by him, though they did try to lean into much darker, thornier stuff with him when he came back in '93. I wonder what would've really happened if he'd stayed on to do more with Mia Korf's Blair, but I'll get to that. Loprieno was quoted from this period by someone on here as saying he figured it'd be the same old cycle with Cord, Tina and yet another interloper and that's why he left, but with this new regime I'm not so sure. (Especially since they may have intended for Cord and KDP's Blair to be endgame in '94, before Todd became a thing.) Malone II had even more OTT special episodes and fantasy interludes like these, but the budget crunch and tonal whiplash in the early 2000s made them far more cringe than a lot of these ones I remember from the early '90s. This Tina stuff is silly but harmless so far. I was not expecting Joe Lando to have even more block-taped stuff in this period, as he gets several segments being detained and imprisoned by cartoonish Middle Eastern baddies (with turbans and everything) at an international airport after working security for a shady Japanese businessman. He's on for at least several days and gets pawed by a kinky German dominatrix torturer (named "Ilsa"!!) with a riding crop. Hey, why not?

Yeah. I'm lost.

They've been explicit at the level of the Prospect Park soaps or further for some time now. I about lost it when Andre had this monologue to Dani a few months ago about (and I quote) 'being over you, under you, tasting you...' In the CBS daytime hour, no less!

Doug has always been marked for death. I still think LB/Vanessa is carrying a lot of her material very well. Jon Lindstrom I go back and forth on by the day or minute tbh

There is no universe in which Shemar Moore is joining this show on contract, lol. If they're talking about a contract hire it's someone like Ted King, Blakemore, etc. All strong, hot and (particularly with King) popular daytime vets. Which would be fine with me.

He's about 1000 times more interesting than Jason.

Who cares.

What really sticks with me as I catch up (while also watching some current stuff) is how the Articulettes story - clearly very personal to MVJ - built more and more and got richer because of the time they took with Anita and the women. That juxtaposed with simple, kind stuff like Vernon telling Naomi stories about friends in the movement with medical issues, etc. really show how organic and goodhearted the show is. I can take issue with execution, with some of the writing staff or actors or pacing, but it has some very strong bones. I even eventually got over the fact that neither of the other bandmates was a daytime name like Debbi Morgan, Valarie Pettiford, etc. which I think might've been a real boon, because the two women in the roles have been quite good. I do think they can and should introduce relatives for Tracy and Sharon (or Barbara) and build on the story in future in a thornier way, but it has been heartfelt, classically soapy stuff.

When Y&R told people to get on the Cane Train, they were not using a euphemism.

She has never given a shít about that boy since she lost both Nikolas and Patrick over the entire terrorist scam that led to her carrying the embryo.

Sure, who wouldn't visit a millionaire on a stationary train?

"Ain't Love Easy," I believe. Embarrassing! It was the October 6th '91 episode.

The cast and crew are predominantly Black and I don't think either Jon or Cady are on contract - I think the only white cast who are are Vanessa, Ashley and Derek, who are almost all (IMO) B-tier characters. So I personally would not find it to be some sort of omen of whitewashing if they added someone like Ted King.

I do think if we're thinking beyond just Black males it's entirely possible it could be Ted King, who has a friendship with MVJ. And I could be for that tbh. Especially with Daphnee Duplaix/Nicole.

Which amazes me tbh but which I find so hilarious.

Sean Blakemore would do it for me, but I'm not even sure MVJ was still at GH when he turned up.

There are plenty of hot males of color tossed aside by daytime to choose from out there, but I can think of very few that are enough of a well known name to hype up a ton of their audience.

Short of Shemar, who is not joining this show in a contract role, I am at a loss on this one.

Didn't they say Tracy and Sharon had no real solo careers without Anita once the group split? That's the impression I got from the exposition a few months ago, due to Dante Green's machinations and whisper campaign against them. Still, I am glad if they are getting their moment in the sun even if I agree a tour is implausible if they had no prior solo attempts.

Are they gonna tour with Hologram Anita, like Tupac at Coachella?