Vee

Michael Malone had nothing to do with pairing them, it was before he arrived. She was a Rauch hire and the pairing (and I believe, Loon Lake) was his people.

I'll have a look.

Me too. I don't know what book you mean, I'm afraid - there's been so many DS books I haven't gotten since the '90s, when I owned them all.

I think she got moved into a very straight-arrow, big sister role with Andrew which worked for the character, but which also ultimately bored the actress. And a lot of Andrew and Cassie's stories I find boring to watch! But I always liked Cassie, she was part of the firmament to me as a kid, same as Andrew. I think that's what the audience objected to most when she was fired, losing her calm, intelligent, graceful presence. (Allegedly they were somehow not actually the original plan for either character but were paired due to fan feedback on them together, while the initial plan for Andrew post-Megan - pairing him with loud, big-haired lady cop Maggie Vega - fell apart due to their inability to secure their casting choice, Saundra Santiago. There's an image.) I know there were rumors of friction with Laura and Bob Krimmer in later years and that she pushed heavily for the pairing with Kevin Stapleton, which did work for her. (She and Krimmer seem very friendly in recent years) I do think she had way too many saintly, agony aunt stories before then. And when they put her with KS they did a lot of photoshoots with her clearly trying to emphasize sex appeal for LB again, and she was stunning. But she wasn't a Friend of Jill, and Tim Gibbs was JFP's priority. The show tended to treat Andrew and Cassie as a pair any time they appeared near the end of the network run, including their final appearances. I like to think they just got back together.

Yes, when this came up a few weeks ago I noted that I do know some Ava Haddad diehards, which I attribute to the classic Mitch storyline from the '80s. But I've never heard anyone complain about Laura until now. Most people seemed to despise Gagnier. I've seen many of her episodes but I personally don't think she's that bad. I blame the story with Jon Russell.

I should add I think PB is very good in the role, including as the scheming Jack. It's different than Lester but when the writing is there he nails it.

I don't buy that PB vetoed it. It's very clear he disliked the story, which he's entitled to, but not because he's a bigot, though I think he's definitely been insensitive or tactless more than once re: that story as well as about Victoria Rowell. But the claim that he's vetoed it seems to be of a piece with the old rumor about him supposedly ordering the Cliff and Angie pairing ended on AMC, and I looked into that and feel pretty confident based on his own quotes that that's not true, just the opposite. I don't think Bergman would raise hell or threaten to quit if they brought back Keemo or Keemo's kids today. I do think his vocal ranting about it over the years has dissuaded a show and network which has been disinterested as is.

Actually it's more that she just came off too young for Bo approaching middle age. You're entitled to your opinion, but you're also the only person I know who has ever claimed recently that LB was a bad recast, despite being in the role for the better part of a decade and being fired by JFP while pregnant amidst viewer outcry.

Some random musings: Out of utter boredom today I began watching some of the many, many spring-summer 1991 episodes of OLTL on YT - late-stage Rauch. (Naturally, the eps many of us crave to see again beyond very early September '91, right as and Malone took over either then or IIRC late August, are to my knowledge not on YT with nearly as much order and detail, just a lot of clips here and there - I am dying to see Andrew and Blair's introductions.) I've watched some of this period here and there before but it is truly bizarre to see Alex being treated as a friend by Viki, Renee, Asa, etc. and her confiding in them. Of course by this time she is already scheming to try to get Bo into bed through a variety of schemes (like faking a stalker and sending teen ward Lisa Porter off to school, I think for cramping her style), and Laura Bonarrigo's wonderful Cassie debuts in April. I believe Tonja came on in November of '90, so I wonder how long (or if) Alex was considered as a legit love interest for Bo before they decided to turn her psycho. It was Gottlieb/Malone who saved her job. The Bo/Cassie pairing remains so bizarre to me - I know they supposedly had them reference it when she was a Banner reporter trying to pump him for info in the Labine era or something, but I personally never heard it mentioned onscreen since I started watching, and I watched (with breaks) for around 20 years from '93 on. They are cute together in banter but always just seem like friends. Also interesting: They seem to be teasing reuniting Larry Wolek and Brenda McGillis in this period in the spring or summer after a blow-up over Michael Grande, her romance with Dan or whatever. I guess that didn't quite happen. I remember seeing Brenda as late as Luna's introductory episode, though I can't recall if she had any lines. I don't know if she got an exit. This is also the time when they had the story where the bullet fragments in Clint’s head are supposedly gonna kill him in a few months according to his specialist (Olivia Birkelund!). The show was tired at this point but Phil Carey gives an incredible performance with Clint Ritchie doing a monologue about when he and Olympia brought Clint home from the hospital. You can tell it was too real for Carey because those Buchanan actors were all close, I’ve never seen him that emotionally vulnerable. An interesting beat with Bo confiding in the Nicholas Walker Max, who seems to have just lost Gabrielle (but is already sniffing around Lee Ann, a creepy pairing I never understood in either incarnation and I can't recall how quickly Malone and co. ditched it - I seem to recall it lasting at least til 1992 though she was also being pursued by Kevin). Bo admits he is not in love with Alex as well as not over Sarah and that's why he can't get involved with her (days before Cassie bumps into him at the airport, of course), and they talk about how love means trust. Bo earnestly asks Max if he really could never trust Gabrielle - and after a beat they both laugh. Cynical, perhaps, but I thought it rang true.

She's doing Steven Soderbergh stuff, among other things. She won't be back.

I seem to recall the pilot being on YT. It was beautifully shot but very messy. I can't remember if I watched it all or if it's still there.

That was me and Cat Hickland was in fact my choice. It was because I dreamed it up in early 2003, when OLTL looked ready to dispose of both actors (who had chemistry). The thing about Lois is I think it's almost irrelevant to bring her back now with Olivia in place. I love Lisa Lo Cicero to this day despite some of Olivia's dumber stories, she has chemistry with Wally, it's cemented. The main problem is that Lois and Olivia are virtually the same character - they even know each other and come from the same neighborhood. This was touched on briefly by Ron Carlivati when he first paired Ned and Olivia up, but it wasn't really discussed beyond that. And I like Olivia still, I'm fine with having her there, but it's a glaring issue. The truth is that Lisa should've gotten the Lois recast in the 2000s. I joked not long ago that I wouldn't blink if Olivia left one day, ran off with Johnny Zacchara (they were hot together) and came back as Lois a week later, but it's probably true. This show has done dumber casting in recent years.

Eddie Alderson on OLTL was terrible for years, playing Matthew Buchanan as what I called "the Ralph Wiggum of Llanview". He was very literally only hired, according to multiple castmembers, because he was always on set with his big sister and they loved the kid and wanted him on the show too. It showed. Marginal improvement happened (much later) but any emotional scene for Matthew didn't really play, including the death of his first dad Sam Rappaport. I remember watching Hillary B. Smith try to get blood from a stone with the little guy and just cringing. He had rapport with the actors playing his parents over time, but beyond banter you could not expect him to do any work with weight. Then suddenly, around 2009 Eddie woke up one day just in time for his big A-storyline (Matthew gets paralyzed, his parents reunite) and decided he could, in fact, act! It was inexplicable to me and happened very quickly. And within months he was simply the best young actor on the show, period, and stayed that way until the last day on-air. So of course Frank Valentini backburnered him and gave his love interest to the plastic hunk because young Eddie didn't have an 8-pack.

They had money for that then.

Why did I think Agnes was involved with the Ted Orsini thing? Was she? I know she supposedly had input on adding evil Robert Gardner to the Angie/Jesse story, played by the great David Rasche. But that little connection went nowhere other than "Gardner=bad".

That wasn't even Tony! It was Andre! Tony had been stranded on that island since the '80s IIRC. As for this, woof. Shades of Ron's Teen Jessica story on OLTL except even more random - why Renee, why Tony? What does that have to do with Sarah?

They were absolutely fired and released to do other work. Frances Reid said it in public and Matt Ashford went to OLTL for an extended stint. It was forcibly rewritten because of fan and possibly network backlash. It was never a Reilly "master plan".

Until this year the last time I saw Cassandra Creech on daytime was a bit part as a seductive assassin on GH in the 2000s. I remember thinking she was still amazing and being baffled why that show, any show had not snapped her up - I thought she was great on ATWT despite bad material. I'd put her on GH as, say, Simone Hardy opposite her son Tom the doctor any time. Or Keesha Ward, who knows!

Allegedly, Guza was always pissed about the original casting of Jerry Jacks in the '90s and felt Wendy Riche and ABC had molded the character into a romantic lead for Bobbie which was supposedly the opposite of his hard-edged vision of the character. When Sebastian Roche took off in the unexpected role of Mr. Craig he saw the chance to reconceive Jerry. I didn't mind the idea of seizing on a talented actor, or reworking Jerry a bit. But the endless attempts to overtly name-check Casino Royale and Daniel Craig in the ensuing storyline that kept Roche on the show, a blockbuster that had just come out and that Guza was clearly gagging to emulate, were embarrassing for a soap opera. And I was never, ever going to root for a character that gut-shot Alan Quartermaine and watched him die. They wanted to have it both ways with Jerry from then on - make him a lead on the show and keep him a dark edgelord - and it never worked. They never were able to make him viable long-term.

My ex still talks about the Steve/Audrey sequence. I haven't been able to watch the whole thing. I believe Matt Ashford talked about how they'd wanted Beradino to be more involved in his storyline when he came to the show as Tom, but he was apparently physically unable.

I didn't care about Nina's mystery child when Stafford first started in the role. I don't now. It's not remotely relevant to the show's future. I still can't tell Willow and Sasha apart. I have no idea who Harmony is. GH!

A sequence that went on forever! That was really uncomfortable to watch. I don't think the Mitch/Natalie scene was Malone/Griffith, but it could've been as they were ghostwriting a lot around January 2003.

I've said it before, I'll say it again (and again): I would bring Gina Tognoni onto GH in the previously-cursed role of Dr. Sarah Webber. She'd come with a ready-made family (a la the British soaps), a scheming husband and a secret. I'd pair her with Drew the WSB agent. It would play!

That's okay, no one listens to it.

The entire finale of the Loving Murders is definitely up there. It holds up today. A scene I will never forget, but haven't seen since it aired, was in late 2002/early 2003 on OLTL, where Mitch Laurence has basically coerced Natalie into going to bed with him to save Cristian's life. Melissa Archer is shaking and sobbing violently as she tries to undress while Mitch harangues her to get into bed and do the deed. Natalie is rescued before they can have sex, but it was incredibly unpleasant to watch.