Vee

Nope.

That's because the story is an afterschool special from 1983. Tabyana is perfectly capable of carrying when given something half-decent. The Kai C-story isn't it.

That's what Lulu has done since she was first SORASed into Julie Berman. They were BFF for a long time. They made Berman's Lulu into Carly's Mini-Me and it hurt the character.

People need to stop falling for cheap lip service about story, characters and follow-through when the show regularly does the same thing it has for many years.

It was never going to actually exist. It was just a dumb talking point for a nonexistent storyline. And it was a stupid idea story-wise, as it gave Kristina nothing to do on canvas.

Exactly. It may change soon and I hope it does, but as it stands she's been coddled by the show for months as much as Sonny and Alexis.

Darn and I have had this discussion and I mostly agree with him. I also think it's complicated because of how the show has handled Kristina for years. I think Mansi is capable but like so many talents on this show (including Jonathan Jackson and hopefully less so Alexa Havins next) is often wasted by the storytelling, scripts and pacing. For months when KM first came on she was near invisible or seemed like it, saddled to a boring background timewaster story with the surrogacy and a mediocre dayplayer for a love interest. I wasn't the only one wondering why she was hired to do nothing. Then (unlike Darn, we had this discussion, quiet you!) I actually thought she came into her own very strong during the Patrick Mulcahey months in the spring and began actively carrying a meandering show where she was the heroine starting to square off in a reasonably intelligent and forthright way against Natalia, Joss and the manipulative Ava in Sonny's home, only to (once again) have her own illusions about her father crushed at the Chase wedding. It was when PM had clearly left the building that the worm turned and she became just unbearable for me re: the baby, the miscarriage etc. and that's continued. If they want to move her into a more overt spoiled villain or schemer direction now that's valid and viable, I believe Mansi can play it and I think she deserves better from the show. But you have to have enough viewers still willing to follow her there after what she's already done and how the show and the wrtiing have seemingly coddled her as much as her mother and father, where it has clearly not seen her as the bad guy or someone to root against. That approach to how the show treats her has to change in order for the shift to work enough for the audience, which is something already stated above by my friend in fairness. I'm open to it, but I have little faith in this creative team. I don't blame Mansi, who I think is far more ready for primetime than Lexi Ainsworth. I would've been fine with Lexi staying but Kristina had been a C or D-character for years and that wasn't changing anytime soon. Could it have? Maybe. Could Lexi have handled it? Not sure. We're here now.

Wasn't he there two years later after Monty was ousted? Still, it's not too long.

Yes, from The Mod Squad as you said (and Peggy Lipton from that was having a comeback at the time on Twin Peaks, shout-out @DRW50 while Clarence Williams had also stayed active in TV and film). I'm a little surprised no one ever brought him back from the dead or another relative to create drama for Brenda or even today. It's doable. And yeah, the Jagger flashbacks just crack me up.

Weren't they originally angling for Harlan Barrett to be a major new male lead and power broker long term? The early casting notices seemed to suggest that. I saw the Jagger family flashbacks. ASJ and a bunch of little kids howling away at people. Pure comedy.

90210's own Hilary Swank is joining the third season of Yellowjackets.

One of my biggest pet peeves about it. Carlo would've razed the earth.

No one is making Kin behave or do his hair like that.

It's time for Mansi to take a few months off.

I know those basics but I was hoping for more granular detail, which we sometimes get in here from more knowledgeable posters than myself. I was surprised to see Ashford's Tom ask about Mary Mae upon returning to town. I don't remember the prior Tom being on when I started watching in late '93 at all, but my memories of that time are very spotty.

Kin has looked like that and behaved like that onscreen for the better part of 25 years. It's his vibe. I have very limited tolerance for it these days. I fell out when Luke called Scott "Laura's Eraserhead fiance" in 2013 bc that's exactly what his hair looked like.

Does anyone know the details or time when Tom and Simone were written out in '96/'97? I assume they never referenced at any point them getting back together.

How classy to nod to Linda Thorson - I'd forgotten that relationship.

The great Thom Christopher is gone. Surreal to see this as I am enjoying him again. Immortal.

Oh goddamnit. I am tired of this. What to say? Thom is another one of the greats. I was just watching him again as I explored the fall transition at OLTL in 1991. He could do just about anything with verve, style, menace or yes, comedy. He's also immortalized not just in soaps but in his several appearances in classic MST3K episodes over the course of 30+ years. I was pleased when he turned up there again for the first time since the '90s in a favored episode of the new Netflix seasons. I always wanted one more good Carlo Hesser story on OLTL to finish him off, something with Fiona Hutchison that was more distinguished than the silly caper they left him with. But Carlo never really dies.

Scott tried to woo Tracy again early this year as part of a dumb plot with Lucy (pre-Mulcahey, IIRC). She wasn't going for it. I don't need more Scott than we already have in the last few years, frankly.

I feel like this show can handle itself without a lot of backseat driving online before it's ever aired.

They've brought back everyone else. It wouldn't shock me.

Remarkable how BLQ shows up down at the stables in what @Darn accurately describes as Scrooge McDuck pajamas. Ready to dive into that big pile of gold! You know Chase was in that bed last week sweating like “for the baby’s sake I hope these robes aren’t super absorbent 😓” These folks remain real casual all the time about eating right next to piles of horse dung. But if this was Y&R the horses would be kept in a) the ranch drawing room and b) drawn by the crew's children. Deeply annoyed the Gio thing appears to be legit - fInally they'd hired a cute young dude who isn’t needlessly related to everyone or giving attractive, viable younger adults under 50 more adult children that age them unnecessarily. Psych! Whether he turns out to be Dante or Cody's (something Darn posited, and I could see it) it is a huge mistake. I actually had thought Dante and BLQ was a solid screwball/straight man pairing at some point but thanks to this, no way. They're all gonna come off even more middle-aged. Chase looks practically young enough to be Gio's fraternal twin if you shave the beard. Why do Anna and popstar Skye Riley in Smile 2 have the same extra-ass jungle wallpaper? Sonny’s old island hoes are looking at it like ‘a bit much’. I think Anna even got this prefurbished from Sasha IIRC. Frank was like fûck it, not changing a thing! Anna's ready to take Jason on safari in the other room, crying all the way. I have said this a million times, but once more: Anna spent half the Cold War taking down the worst kind of people. She has killed God knows how many terrorists yet she comes back on this show in 2012 with Finola clearly worried she isn’t showing enough range and suddenly it’s tears over capping Carlos Rivera, tears over Sonny, Jason, Billy Joel, now this Maniac Mansion mutant child he's created with Lulu's eggs. Ron Carlivati got her right the first time in 2012 in those great scenes with RM’s Heather in the interrogation box where Heather was trying to do a deal to give up where Robin was and Anna very calmly said there’s no deal, I’ve spent my career closing people out, talk or die. And Heather did it too! That's the character. I love Anna but I hate that this goes on and has become such a part of the latter-day characterization. IMO Finola too often plays against harder material (as she did often this year under Mulcahey re: Sonny, constantly getting choked up over her dilemma with this mobster) to prove she's got more range than being an '80s superwoman, but she has absolutely nothing to prove at this stage of her career. She's one of the greats, and she still does a lot of great work on the show - she just doesn't always do it in the right place. This will never get changed about Anna again but it still drives me nuts practically everyday.

There wasn't one! But that's soaps for you. I would give anything to have Charlotte erased, I'm with you.