Vee

Season 5 was interesting in hindsight because it was when they declared they were going to retool the show to make it 'more grounded' again, less insane like the heights (or depths) of Season 4. They introduced Taylor and Kyle, Sam, etc. and unfortunately phased out Kimberly, which I still think was a dire mistake. And the problems didn't end there. They forced the interminable Jake/Alison pairing no one liked and kept it going all year before finally ending it with both actors being simultaneously dismissed. They backburnered Sydney. Yet I did like some of the experimentation at the time. The Amanda/Peter/Taylor/Kyle story worked. Kyle and Syd worked. Even Craig worked at first, kind of. By the end of the season they had gone full-on back to crazy town, with Taylor dressing up like Peter's dead wife and the rage epilepsy madness. That was the end of Taylor being seen as any kind of remotely grounded character - although the embarrassing phone sex interludes with Peter earlier on ("I lust you") didn't help, either. I enjoyed Lisa Rinna as a more comic character in Season 6, and missed her when she left, but Taylor lost something when the storylines went nuts. It was a terrible mistake to get rid of Marcia and Laura Leighton, and it was foolish not to write Billy out with Alison. Season 6 is easily the worst in the series. It's just awful. I think Season 7 actually restored a lot of the show's glory - particularly when it turned Lexi into a queen bitch - and I think it was much better than 90210 at the time when it went off. I even liked the revival series. It had its dog plots and couples, as did the original show, but I thought a great deal of it worked, and I thought Katie Cassidy was a star. I was amazed it wasn't renewed, as it was way better than the 90210 revival, with key roles for Amanda and Michael. The only mistake was killing Syd a second time.

I like how this is still a thread, seeing as Romney personally ended his campaign yesterday morning.

Carla and Viki! Wow.

It's easy to poke at a few corners of the Internet and think something is the accepted gospel. There's always going to be vocal fans online who dislike this character or that one. But if Blair wasn't popular with the audience they wouldn't have kept her on for 20 years and kept her in the spotlight, much less put her on GH. She's become a part of the firmament.

I don't remember the exact quote, but it shouldn't be hard to google. I do remember she called it "the daytime equivalent of Ishtar" and not her finest hour.

Hahahahaha, I remember that classic line from the above episode! "You know, I would say a word to the wise except you are so stupid." I quoted it on TWOP at the time. So long ago yet it seems like yesterday. As much as I did truly enjoy Tuc/David under Carlivati, this reminds me of how they used him better back then despite the show being a completely bonkers mess. There was far more of a balance between comedy and drama for David, he was used as an actively functional character in the Cramer family in ongoing stories, as Dorian's equal and consort, the de facto patriarch of the family alongside her. Granted, only so much could be done after Higley cost them his contract status a few years later. I see the episode also features the ongoing reign of Antonio, Prince of the Streets, Malone's favorite character. Back then he was as despised as John later became. And Lisa Lo Cicero in the thankless role of Sonia during the Santi story, which she later hilariously dissed in a GH interview.

Rachel Miner is co-starring in an buzzed-about indie, Replicas, a thriller in the vein of Funny Games or The Strangers which I had the opportunity of seeing recently. She's pretty impressive in it playing a madwoman. I hope it leads to more substantial credits for her, but more than anything all I could think about was how much I wish she'd gotten to play the adult Michelle Bauer. ...OTOH, looking at her IMDB profile, including an extended run on Supernatural and work on stuff like Sons of Anarchy, it seems she's not doing too bad at all.

For a few weeks after the Mitch/barn debacle it seemed like they were going to stick with it and try to make Blonde Natalie happen. Man, that was weird.

I've heard BTS stories as to why Clint and Carlotta didn't go anywhere. I did like it. I also liked Hank and Carlotta. I wish one of those had gone the distance. I was kind of into the Andrew/Tea flirtation. But he was too good for her on so many levels. I did like Kevin and Cassie, but it was the recast and Jill that ruined it. She was gunning for Laura and she had an agenda re: the Cramers and most of all, Tim Gibbs, who LB allegedly despised in the role. Speaking of the Labine era, I always wanted Eli Traeger to show up as an adult. I thought that would've been an interesting character to play with in the youth set.

Andrew was such a decent, steadfastly courageous man. I was always pleased at how he quietly, kindly officiated at many, many of Todd and Blair's weddings. I wish he could do it again. To his credit I don't believe he ever went near Victor or his various ceremonies again after the rapemance. Too few writers knew how to write for Andrew, and I only fully appreciated the character's depth when I grew up. I loved when they had Joey follow in his footsteps. I'll always believe Joey is just going back to the church. They never explicitly spoke about that last time he was on the show with Tom Degnan in the role, and even when he was at St. James in 2003-2004 he did keep photography as a sideline. I also like to believe Andrew and Cassie have gotten back together - Laura Bonarrigo was allegedly bored with the pairing and was a huge Kevin/Cassie booster, and I can understand why. But that went tits up under JFP and with all she's been through and the show off the air, I'd just like to believe she's happy again with a good man who adored her.

Yes, that was Malone, from summer/fall 2004. It was an ill-fated attempt to do a story not really seen since the 90s, where Blair and Todd work together to shake up the town, etc. That particular version of the plotline was just a very stupid idea. I remember them making "wolf noises" on the phone to scare Asa. Asa explains it to Kevin, who picks it up after they've disconnected. Asa's reply: "It must have hung up." Then he spent a few weeks literally standing in a ditch in the ground until Rex and Shannon McBain walked by. This was how Malone II constructed plot breakdowns, I guess. Trevor St. John then spent the next three or four years citing this storyline as an example of why Todd and Blair were horrible. It vaguely amused me the following year when Asa stepped in at the last moment of the Margaret storyline to pick up where she left off and abduct Blair himself as revenge for this stupidity. IIRC she was held in a mental hospital out of town, and she called him up. I desperately wanted him to say, "I'm sorry, Blair, the wolf must have hung up!", laugh maniacally and put the phone down.

IIRC, judging by the Margaret stuff and the jail scenes, this was Higley. Late, late, late 2004, around the end of the year, when they canned Malone and she came in. Her grand ideas for the future included frontburnering Tari Signor and her horrific voice as Margaret for months on end, and in short order (as per the jail scenes) she had Viki get Dorian fired from Llanview Hospital, where I'd loved her as Chief of Staff in 2003-2004. Right after this Margaret abducts Victor, tortures him for months and then rapes him to create Sam. Then around New Year's Eve, IIRC, we had our first glimpse of Tess, acting cold in the back seat of a limo. I believe we didn't see her again for a proper introduction for several months after that one cameo - it was actually a very brief tease, with no explanation at the time. Legend has it Dena got the job by giving Frons a one-sentence pitch: "Jessica has a split personality." And the hurting was born.

If Robin Christopher had tried to play Cassie Carpenter on OLTL she would never have made it onto the JFP welfare program that lasted her a good 12 years or so. Laura Koffman was beloved and JFP was a complete idiot, but she dodged her own bullet on that point.

I thought Susan Haskell was a decent choice for the Lily recast that shouldn't have happened. Noelle Beck is a good actress but seemed utterly uncomfortable and plasticine in the role, too prim and distanced. It was like Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

God, Tracy Melchior was so [!@#$%^&*] terrible. It was like they'd let any [!@#$%^&*] in the door because Gina said no. Kelly could be a lot of things, but Melchior was inept at exhibiting all of them. Completely unrecognizable as the character.

Wasn't Viki only mayor for like five minutes before getting shot, though? I was under the impression it was used as a plot point. I agree it could've had legs (uh, bad choice of words).

That Tina fantasy is hysterical, and so much of it is due to Andrea's guileless performance.

I remember Grace Atherton.

Sarah did go for Riley - after missing out on Cousin Joey (ugh), she saw what was right in front of her and fell for her bandmate. That's when I knew they were dumping poor Shanelle Workman - the character was backburnered with Riley, then just a recurring dayplayer, and exited during the MBK arc. Then they beefed up Jay Wilkison's role and paired Riley with Jen. I liked JW a lot, especially when they all but had Nora adopt him as her son and Matthew's big brother. I wish he'd hung around; he was great. But then I also thought Shanelle Workman got a raw deal.

I know they wanted Marilyn Chris to appear before the end and asked for her to come back as Wanda, but apparently she's been off doing films.

Viki poses as Jean Randolph to break Bess and end the standoff for Hope/Chloe in 2009. As foolhardy as I thought this overall story was from start to finish, and as much as I hated Jessica's DID and thought "Bess" was a cartoon, I can't deny the great power of these scenes, especially the kabuki-esque reenactment of Jessica's miscarriage at the end. The scene with Viki removing Bess's glasses and slowly drawing Jessica out was spellbinding. I think this is some of Bree Williamson's very best work on the show - and I am not a big fan of her work. As distasteful as I found this whole thing, I thought this was all incredibly well-done. Last one:

I think they planned it a looong way back. I think Robin has said something about it being floated to her in 1993 when she returned. I think they had the germ of it starting with Sloan Carpenter and his expose on Victor in '92, though, and bringing back the entire case of who killed him and the commonly-held public belief that Dorian was responsible. That story went on for years and years, through the AIDS/Billy Douglas arc, the romance with Viki and Sloan, Dorian and Joey, Sloan's death (apparently always planned), and finally this. It was an absolutely masterful slow burn of years passing. No one does that today. As a child who really started watching in '93, I was particularly awed that this was a story that had been going on for almost 20 years - Dorian had never been nailed for killing Viki's father, and they were finally hashing it out and I could be a part of it. That's the kind of engagement only the daytime drama could offer people.

I remember this episode very well. I was still pretty much a child when it aired, and when Dorian told Viki the truth I was absolutely floored and horrified. I knew some of the vague facts about Victor and the history of the show by then, and I suspected whatever was really going on had to be something very bad, but I had no idea what Dorian was going to say to Viki. And when Viki turned on her and hurled her down the stairs, I was terrified. At that time, I had no idea Viki had ever had a mental illness - she was the center of the show, the heroine, and reminded me, and always has, of my mother. To see her lose it and turn into a rabid dog was nightmare fuel for me as a kid. But I loved it. Roger and Kassie were also so young here. "Come on, it'll be fun." When was the last time any of us can remember Todd and Blair working together or just being together like that? They finally seemed to get some (mature) peace back this past year. I hope it sticks on GH.

Yeah, that May '80 ep is still up on YT. I liked Carla throwing shade on Ed and Karen living in the same building. In the episodes I've seen from that era, Judith Light and Al Freeman always had an interesting vibe.

I don't think it's fair to say they never wrote anything you connected to - I remember you being pretty into Kish and Sky, among others. They're certainly not without their massive flaws and mistakes, but they did do a number of stories I care about, I'm enjoying most of the end and it does feel like OLTL to me, however battered and bruised over the last 12-something years.