Vee

I'm not exactly some Days scholar these days, but I was watching back then and I don't think it was. IIRC the Bo/Hope attack was Reilly's first salvo upon his return. It was there to kick off the Salem Stalker saga. They hyped it up in the mags that way too.

Vanessa has been talking about that for a long time. As I mentioned the other day, she had some great scenes a few months ago with Nicole bitterly talking about being the lonely suburban wife at home who now felt empowered. She couched it as being about the affair, but this was at the same time she had just gone all in with Joey and his criminal dealings and told him she wanted a piece. It's the same arc we've seen Guza women do before.

It's the most well-developed of most of the storylines tbh lol. More of the core characters should be woven in. I still credit Guza for how Vanessa has developed.

Nathan returned as he lived: Inanimate.

BTG has a slew of first year issues, but I'm good with it over Y&R, B&B and DAYS lol. Don't see any reason to apologize for it.

It was sudden given the story. I thought that damn baby and the Scorpio connection had re-cemented her, and I think that was the intention of both initially. But frankly I think Kelly Thiebaud's rehiring was sudden too lol. I think they realized Steve had nothing going and pivoted.

I was just talking about this with @DRW50. Rumors abounded at the time, and I suspect they were true, that Frons hated Andrea's return, found her too old and insisted her stint be either curtailed, kept with the youth set or both. It was definitely not OLTL's intention to write her out in November of the same year, I know that much. It was a mess, but there was some good stuff in there (particularly her roll in the hay and intimate talk with Christopher Cousins' Cain - who she never worked with in the '90s! - shortly before her exit). Her final stint in 2011 was much better. I do think Andrea could've modulated for the Malone era - Witter (who was great) was basically doing a very good, nuanced riff on her anyway. The great Mitch Ryan (of Dark Shadows and virtually half the TV and films of the mid-late 20th century) was Frank in the '90s. I agree he was great. I could never take the original Frank seriously because of his buffoonish roles in various movies.

Big if true, but we'd need a lot more information.

Not the billiards!

I think they canned her and gave her the option of calling it her choice (similar to what has lurked around about JJ). They had money to free up and had already saved her at least once or twice in the last year. But who knows. I don't think it's all Steve's fault that the Quartermaines were decimated for 20 years. There were many factors. But I also don't think he did much to push against it, and he could've. Steve was the one lobbying for Kimberly McCullough's return in 2005 when the show was at a new low, and he was right to do it. Her return slowly refocused the show on the hospital and doctor characters in a way that has lasted and only grown stronger over the next two decades. He could've been a bit more open to nuance re: Jason's memories and many other things. Either way, I'm just glad he's been showing up for them in the last year.

I assume they'll run more flashbacks during Monica's memorial episode(s). They thankfully didn't spare much expense with Bobbie's. Speaking of the namesake, it is crazy to me that Britt is whining about staying at Bobbie's and claiming she has no place else to go. Really, Britt? Nina offered you her lux penthouse and all the money you need free of charge and you refused to stay there because of Liesl's badgering. Let's be real. Her fixation on Carly also honestly pales in comparison to the feuds with Liz, Sam and Robin. Compared to them she barely knows Carly.

He had Dorian imply that he was, yes. And had her claim again that she did it. But she didn't explain any of that retcon, it was a very brief bit. I was glad they basically said he was a fake (and changed Victor's date of death back to the '70s in the Lord mausoleum) even if they gave zero explanation of any of it. I don't believe Dorian actually killed Victor though. The Viki reveal in '95 was too perfect IMO. It felt like something they did just to do a favor to Robin Strasser, who always has maintained Dorian did it. Ron did something like this again at GH in 2013, during the 50th anniversary but even more faint: The ghost of Rick Webber showed up and Tracy hectored him about the whole attic mystery debacle, and Rick grumbled 'that is not what happened' but didn't elaborate. I feel like if you're going to go in for these retcons go all the way, don't just hem and haw.

Wild that they have Jason in the preview telling Michael one of his biggest regrets is keeping him from the Quartermaines. I think he's voiced that sentiment before but it's been a while, I can't remember the details. I know he openly told Carly they screwed up with their choice for Michael around the time of the Claudia mess. I vaguely remember him 'apologizing' to A.J. on his 'deathbed' or something in the 2000s, but that was cold comfort at the time.

That's certainly an interesting place to start.

Thanks for the @. I really don't know enough about Capitol or Beck to comment. I've seen a couple docs on the Friday films but I don't recall if she's ever mentioned these circumstances - it would not surprise me though. Most of those actors do the horror convention circuit and have many stories. I'll check my copy of the book version of Crystal Lake Memories and see if there is anything.

I knew something about some bit part but I didn't know it was some multi-year recurring character. I have no idea what the character was about. The guy playing Suede tried hard, bless him, but I always suspected it was a case of daytime trying to put a flamboyantly gay dude over as a heartthrob. Maybe my gaydar's off, who knows!

Like, why doesn't he have a club? Something.

I'm not sure Anita and Peaches ever met. It's possible.

I like Andre's crazy outfits tbh. They just make me laugh. I wouldn't want it to change at this point. It's just weird to see him rocking these fits and then he just... shows up to mope over Ashley some more. He should be doing wilder stuff on canvas. A place Joey has frequented!

I don't think they have been forgotten. They just fulfilled their function. Regina and June reconciled, Regina discovered the kids were alive and facilitated that reunion. Done. Peaches also technically filled her role in story but I still would love to see much more of her, preferably played by an actress over 50 as opposed to a 30 year old wearing a granny wig from a high school play. There is a rich background there with Peaches and Leslie that they just sped through, presumably because they feared their new TikTok audience would stop watching if they didn't get to the point (Leslie's inheritance).

We don't need to spoiler tag 30+ year old stories AFAIC. I'm not going to and I don't expect anyone to do it for me just because I am exploring '91/'92, which is shortly before I began watching. I know plenty of broad strokes.

I suspect the Joey/Vanessa saga is one of the clearest signs of Guza's influence on the show. That's a feature for me, not a bug because Golden Corral casino aside I actually think it's been pretty well-written and performed. LB has killed it every step of the way and Vanessa explaining herself to Nicole a few months ago, talking about how this affair (and the rest of the power broker relationship Nicole doesn't know about) has empowered her beyond being the lonely suburban wife she was, really rang strong and true for me. I also think Joey works as a kind of underworld nexus on the show. But I still think it will end with Vanessa taking his empire for herself. I just hope BTG doesn't dispense with this whole route for Vanessa when Guza's name is off the show. She desperately needs to be woven deeper into the main show though, as do most of the white characters who aren't Smitty tbh. It's just that Vanessa, Smitty (and to a lesser extent) Joey (or even Pamela) are the only ones I care about.

I wonder if she still has the Monopoly money!

No, not at all. But it was still a massive disaster of a story, reviled then and now.

Reminds me of this tidbit from awhile ago, but it's a topic for the classic thread at this point. I know caroline and I batted it around a bit.