Vee

Doing DID with Liz would be so tired and crass at this point, especially with Jeff or whoever. She's been demeaned in so many ways already. I am glad she has a mystery and a bit of story, but I just can't deal with the venerated memory of Franco. And Finn is a nice enough man for her as a placeholder for something more serious like Lucky, but not much else.

For some reason, I was under the impression L&L and Lucky were basically on the run from Frank Smith, globetrotting and running cons or capers for many years til coming home in '93. I knew they had the Triple L in Canada but I thought that was one of many stopovers. Looking at stuff recently it seems as though Smith only renewed his focus on them in '93. Am I wrong, or what's the nuance?

To be clear Robin seems to like Laura a lot as well. I'm very surprised she prefers Gagnier of all of them, who I didn't despise but who had a lot of bimbo storylines, but Robin has always been wacky. What is odd is Robin also said she didn't know Ellen Holly well (yes I searched 'holly' for Robin's Twitter), but I think EH said the opposite in her book. Fog of war, I suppose. I am curious how the Rob Coronal redux story with Gagnier ended in - 1987? 88? Last I saw on YT, though I haven't watched everything in that period, Rob was literally scheming to kill Herb (I think it was Herb? Bo? Asa?) or something. I didn't know Rob was an actual villain.

Why are we thinking Jake? Not that I'd be against it, as I think Hudson West is one of the best young actors on the show and they never delved deeply enough into the kid's time on Cassadine Island or what might have been done to his head besides that Chimera thing. I just was under the impression he only appeared once in a full moon, presumably bc HW has outside work and they won't lock him in. (They really should have done a Theresa Carter/David Hamilton suburban crime/coverup mystery to kill Franco at the hands of Liz's boys, but that's another story.)

I did not know that. Holly Gagnier, really? Okay, Robin. I did find her saying "no comment" on Ava Haddad, lol.

I think RM is too iconic in the role now. (I also want to stress I'm not 100% sure it's true she's ill.) If it came to that there's definitely people you can recast with. But right now it just feels like it would be tacky. Reminds me of how (allegedly, but less so) Frons vetoed bringing Mattson back to AMC as Janet in the 2000s and made them opt for Kate Collins bc he blamed RM for her return stint on GH in 2004 being lacking. I thought Kate did a great job with often bad material, but it was a shift.

I've heard she has a specific illness, but as I don't know if that's confirmed I'm not going to speak on it.

In fairness, Ron did not create the Jessica DID story on OLTL, Dena Higley did. But yes, they both did very dumb things with DID. If it's true Robin Mattson is seriously ill I can understand why she's not available, but it's a shame.

I think Robin wanted the audience to sympathize with Cassie and build support for Cram by making Dorian the heavy in the storyline, which TPTB objected to. I agree it's not the greatest idea. She looks worse in her final episodes (on YT, and quite downbeat IMO) but in fairness, at that point she is a fugitive on the run with the equally rough-looking and physically injured Steve Piermont.

I think both sets of interests are more intertwined than the former Bernie wing would like to pretend they are - where they prefer to focus on economics because actually talking about social issues and/or Russia makes the white guys often at the center of the movement uncomfortable - but I am generally with marceline on these things.

I'm still waiting for Knots Landing. If I try to pick that show up on Dailymotion or whatever I'll never be able to keep track.

Again, I don't see a point in recasting Lois with Olivia around, and LLC was the perfect Lois recast (and is basically playing her onscreen). I wouldn't blink if she came back as Lois after Olivia ran off with Johnny Zacchara, but otherwise as is I just don't see a point. I do think Kristian would've had a ball playing a recurring part as a mob queen on Guza's GH - the dialogue she could've been given! - but today, eh.

I would agree with that. Progressivism online is very stratified, but unfortunately its banner is often upheld by the loudest and dumbest among us.

Thread:

Okay. Ride for Boatman's chops if you want to. I don't care, it's Tuesday.

Maxie should never have had one child, let alone three. And Kirsten needs a long break.

I recalled that Cusi Cram's Cassie had come up recently here, and had been watching a lot of the 81-82 episodes featuring her lately. Re: the rumors about her firing, I wondered if Robin Strasser had voiced her thoughts online as she is known to do. Sure enough:

Allegedly, this is in part because baby stories are one of the few the networks will now easily greenlight for soaps. So lazy.

Exactly - the Sheffer years, right? Johnny who I believe is named "John Roman DiMera." Christ, she named her son for John! Given that, I don't even blame Sami wholly for it at this point. I blame the writers for going back to the well when the characters had finally begun to move on. You can still have Sami clash with John and Marlena without pretending the love is not there.

It has absolutely always shaped her, even in the years when I could swear she had made peace with John. This is something AMC did well with Kendall and Erica around the same time, making them finally come to terms and become close; ironically, IIRC, it was done by Megan McTavish as one of her first acts when she returned to that show, just before raping Bianca (ugh). That bond remained between mother and daughter until the end of AMC, that's evolution.* *(I suspect that if Pine Valley ever actually takes off on ABC primetime, they will absolutely reset Kendall and Erica to feuding family assuming SMG retook the role to maximize the drama. There are ways that is plausible to do for both characters, of course, but I still find it a bit cliche.)

I could swear it happened in the Sheffer years, or post-Salem Stalker, and stood for a while. They would still blow up on occasion but they understood each other. Then I think someone made it come crashing down. And yes, Sami's obsession with this given John raised her has driven me nuts for close to 30 years.

I was under the impression Sami put it all behind her and John years ago in the 2000s and embraced him - finally. Then someone must've brought it raging back, maybe Ron.

As I said to @Darn, scheming corporate scion Billy Abbott having a podcast is a perfect example of the creatives at Y&R being so comfortable and easygoing that all they want to do is listen to Jason Thompson - a talented, miscast actor who's not that talented - read the phone book, as the old saying goes. And to think audiences would consider 'Billy does wellness podcasting' a compelling storyline is an example of needing to get out of LA, and the social and mental security and comfort zone that the money a job at that show must offer.