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Jerry was never this enthusiastic and chill. He always had a much darker edge because he came back to this show literally murdering Alan Quartermaine, which meant they could never make him work the way Guza wanted. Sidwell just wants his jewels (arr me jewels!), some nice couture and some houseboys on Fire Island.

I can promise I shall also be getting back to November '91 shortly to further confuse anyone else following this thread. Happy holidays, all.

I did like Rota on 24, where he also had a comic role. I just had an impossible time taking him seriously as some major villain on this show (and still do), so I am glad they have begun letting him just go wild with it. Sidwell is obviously below some other villain and I will be glad when he and this story are gone, but I have at least begun to enjoy his casual hijinks.

As tedious as I find this whole plotline this exchange last week killed me. As bored and unimpressed as I have been with Sidwell the jewel dude as some Big Bad I do at least enjoy that they are suddenly leaning into Carlo Rota's breezy, trollish energy re: this entire story. Sidwell seems to greet everything with a jolly smile and I did love his Jason impression, and that kind of mirthful energy is very unique for any story like this on GH in the last 20 years. He could take or leave the whole thing lol.

I will say I was impressed and touched by Donnell's longtime fandom re: the show, and his enthusiasm and gratitude even now. I just wish any of it showed up onscreen, where he has been phoning it in since at least 2018 lol. I also thought he came in in early 2015 vs. the end of the year, my mistake. When did he meet Tony? During that little cameo for Tracy's original exit? Tony retired before his first airdate. There is a superficial similarity to Luke in that Curtis originally was a semi-sketchy mover and shaker with his own club. But Curtis has always been a very threadbare character much like Jordan. He coasted by on DT's initial charisma and chemistry with people like Budig and Michelle Stafford, then he rapidly dissolved. I actually don't mind Curtis the scheming CEO sometimes opposite Drew or Michael, but I would still cut him (and Jordan) tomorrow. He's often just clearly bored and his story goes nowhere interesting.

Yes. It all got gif'ed and it's still hilarious. But here's some of it timestamped (in two different embeds). Featuring BTG's Daphnee Duplaix!

She'd been gone a few years by that point, apparently? I forgot when she initially faded out, I thought around 2002-2003.

I went down a rabbit hole tonight and was shocked to discover Dara Jensen (Vanita Harbour) recurred as late as 2005. I certainly don't remember when she last appeared prior, but she apparently turned up briefly having gone into family law, to help represent Alexis re: custody for Kristina against Sonny. Wild. I wasn't watching much in early '05 - the rubberneck value as the entire show fell apart that year came a couple months later.

I think AM was on AMC as Belinda by then.

The version of the story I remember is they did indeed do that until Maria turned out to be a disaster herself, and then the Bells spoke up again lol. I may be wrong though.

Dr. Nicole has always said weird shít lol. That's just one more thing that's always needed a tune-up since the beginning. I don't think Hayley is any more or less outrageous than Leslie, the only difference is Hayley's plans are totally lethal and have a built-in shelf life.

Wasn't Lauralee one of the Bells who tried to bring the hammer down on MAB's run? Or the Lathams, or both?

Yeah, their stories weren't always the greatest (except at Loving) but B&E always stood up for the Black canvas. Their brief AMC run had maybe 5-7 Black contract players, not all of them related lol. I vaguely remember finding Vicky Spaulding stiff as hell myself. I always wanted to bring the character back with a good recast. Terrell Tilford has always been comical. I tried to support him as Rachel's love interest at OLTL in 2009 but he became best known for a memeable moment at the hospital - 'a brain is not a foot!'

Paige seems very polarizing but I get the sense people either loved her (and her with Greg) or hated her. I am very curious to get to that era and judge for myself. I know Devane critiqued the relationship in an interview a few years ago and said he found it juvenile or something.

I think the day to day writing is superior now vs. February, actually. Though it's still got plenty of room for improvement.

Never mind - misread about Barcroft.

It was so long ago, but what I remember is that a lot of fans never got over JER's shabby treatment of Matt Ashford (which continued for decades, lol) and kept demanding him back in the '90s. But at some point Mark Valley was so hot that enough people came around lol. I was not around for J&J's heyday but I was never really interested in Jack without MA either. He just had it. I still don't think he's gotten a really fair shake since after being killed like half a dozen times, but I may be alone in that. Steve Wilder OTOH, forget it.

I think it was just a combination of 1) A lot of experimenting, first with chemistry tests or tone (the past lives romp) and with other less successful things (the sort of novella-esque Eber domestic violence story, which I think likely only runs about a month total). Gottlieb has said she would bring in new people early on and only then decide who they could be with or where they would go. I think that's evident with Jason Webb in particular, as well as possibly Luna (who has a few dates with Jon Russell) though they certainly jump right on introducing a Luna and Max angle quickly, as you'll see. But I think at one point Blair and Max were endgame, and that is a topic for down the road. The other key factor I think was 2) The focus on a lot of new, ambitious objectives: Bedding in Luna, introducing Blair and Andrew, setting up the beginnings of Megan's fate or maybe chem-testing her with several men in case they could convince JT to stay - I don't know when it was finalized, but they had been hinting at Megan being ill as early as late August, at Hunter Guthrie and Andy Harrison's wedding as Gottlieb wrote those two out. Slowly unveiling Cain, which still isn't finished. Getting ready to write out Cord, as John Loprieno must've given his notice well before now yet they are still toying with him and Blair. And of course there was bringing back James DePaiva's Max to massive fanfare (and by most contemporary accounts around August of '91, they actually had not initially planned to bring Max back until someone hit on the idea of reaching out to JDP). I just think they tried a lot very quickly, and a lot of it worked in October due to an excellent dialogue staff, actors and a fresh production team and style. Next comes Gottlieb burning down Llanfair to remodel it, which I said not long ago I felt was beautifully shot with unique, daring camerawork. The lovely scenes afterward, in the wrecked drawing room, got Erika an Emmy IIRC.

October is a whirlwind, as it adds Blair and then wraps with Max's big return which I actually really liked, OTT reintro and all. Early November lags a bit because they have the Eber domestic abuse saga that is fortunately wrapping up quick, but Blair's introduction is amazing for me too. I think I know what they're doing with Cain's background and Asa's secret, and it's kind of crazy how many times the show did this both before and long after this (including the fact that it may be a xerox of Max's own past).

She was, but I think the same.

Maybe the three key Margo Hugheses on ATWT? There was a fourth like Bransford who didn't go over well, but the others were very distinctive and to my understanding popular. Vicky Hudson on AW might be the same, though I have never cared much for Jensen Buchanan lol.

Natalia does seem to have carved out a wonderful life for herself. She was never my Emily but she did work hard in difficult times and she's still beautiful.

'It's a pity about Paul and that jet engine.' No, I find it a shame how it's been handled too.

I told you that stuff was hilarious! I love Megan sort of drolly handling the situation like the Ghostbusters trying to handle the possessed Rick Moranis. IIRC Viki sees the real Heinrich Kaiser in the paper and then confronts Cain. I loved that scene too. If you do need help figuring out the airdates let us know. They don't get cleared up again in many spaces online til November. A lot happens in those last 2 weeks of October lol

Teen Adriana arrived in town in the summer of 2003 for an insta-pairing with the (terrible, allegedly messy BTS) River Carpenter recast and sporting a thick accent. Both Dorian and the Vegas did not like them together for various reasons - I think Adriana was a convent girl and River was a 'rebel' - and the Vegas had her whisked off to another convent or boarding school by fall. Fumero arrived in January of '04 when River ran off to find her and bust her out of the school, which is where the recast first appeared. At that time Dorian and the returned David were desperate to secure Aunt Betsy Cramer's (Lois Smith!) inheritance in a silly subplot. They did so by presenting Adriana as Dorian's new long-lost daughter, a Cramer heir Betsy could approve of. This also accomplished the task of Dorian being able to keep River and Adriana apart. Almost immediately the show took note of Fumero and Strasser's chemistry together as well as the very positive audience response to their new relationship, and decided Dorian's 'hoax' would turn out to actually be true. This also led to the Santi umbrella story, but oh well.