Vee

Wasn't Viki only mayor for like five minutes before getting shot, though? I was under the impression it was used as a plot point. I agree it could've had legs (uh, bad choice of words).

That Tina fantasy is hysterical, and so much of it is due to Andrea's guileless performance.

I remember Grace Atherton.

Sarah did go for Riley - after missing out on Cousin Joey (ugh), she saw what was right in front of her and fell for her bandmate. That's when I knew they were dumping poor Shanelle Workman - the character was backburnered with Riley, then just a recurring dayplayer, and exited during the MBK arc. Then they beefed up Jay Wilkison's role and paired Riley with Jen.

I liked JW a lot, especially when they all but had Nora adopt him as her son and Matthew's big brother. I wish he'd hung around; he was great. But then I also thought Shanelle Workman got a raw deal.

I know they wanted Marilyn Chris to appear before the end and asked for her to come back as Wanda, but apparently she's been off doing films.

Viki poses as Jean Randolph to break Bess and end the standoff for Hope/Chloe in 2009. As foolhardy as I thought this overall story was from start to finish, and as much as I hated Jessica's DID and thought "Bess" was a cartoon, I can't deny the great power of these scenes, especially the kabuki-esque reenactment of Jessica's miscarriage at the end. The scene with Viki removing Bess's glasses and slowly drawing Jessica out was spellbinding. I think this is some of Bree Williamson's very best work on the show - and I am not a big fan of her work. As distasteful as I found this whole thing, I thought this was all incredibly well-done.

Last one:

I think they planned it a looong way back. I think Robin has said something about it being floated to her in 1993 when she returned. I think they had the germ of it starting with Sloan Carpenter and his expose on Victor in '92, though, and bringing back the entire case of who killed him and the commonly-held public belief that Dorian was responsible. That story went on for years and years, through the AIDS/Billy Douglas arc, the romance with Viki and Sloan, Dorian and Joey, Sloan's death (apparently always planned), and finally this. It was an absolutely masterful slow burn of years passing. No one does that today.

As a child who really started watching in '93, I was particularly awed that this was a story that had been going on for almost 20 years - Dorian had never been nailed for killing Viki's father, and they were finally hashing it out and I could be a part of it. That's the kind of engagement only the daytime drama could offer people.

I remember this episode very well. I was still pretty much a child when it aired, and when Dorian told Viki the truth I was absolutely floored and horrified. I knew some of the vague facts about Victor and the history of the show by then, and I suspected whatever was really going on had to be something very bad, but I had no idea what Dorian was going to say to Viki. And when Viki turned on her and hurled her down the stairs, I was terrified. At that time, I had no idea Viki had ever had a mental illness - she was the center of the show, the heroine, and reminded me, and always has, of my mother. To see her lose it and turn into a rabid dog was nightmare fuel for me as a kid. But I loved it.

Roger and Kassie were also so young here. "Come on, it'll be fun." When was the last time any of us can remember Todd and Blair working together or just being together like that? They finally seemed to get some (mature) peace back this past year. I hope it sticks on GH.

Yeah, that May '80 ep is still up on YT. I liked Carla throwing shade on Ed and Karen living in the same building. In the episodes I've seen from that era, Judith Light and Al Freeman always had an interesting vibe.

I don't think it's fair to say they never wrote anything you connected to - I remember you being pretty into Kish and Sky, among others. They're certainly not without their massive flaws and mistakes, but they did do a number of stories I care about, I'm enjoying most of the end and it does feel like OLTL to me, however battered and bruised over the last 12-something years.

I had a short-term Gabrielle resurrection storyline in mind once to end her character and Max's, as well as close off the Carlo Hesser plotline. It's some years old. I can't remember if I ever went over it on here. It basically involved Max coming back to town ostensibly to see his friends and show off his two teenaged kids. His return would, in fact, coincide with that of Carlo, as well as Antonio who was still on his trail. Max and much of Llanview would be victimized and terrorized by Carlo for several weeks, until Hesser went missing. He would once again be assumed dead.

After several weeks of investigation by the LPD, the audience would discover Max and R.J. Gannon have Carlo, in chains in a warehouse down near the docks, but they are not alone - Gabrielle is with them, running the show.

It would then be revealed that in 2004, when Gabrielle was assaulted by the Music Box Killer on New Year's Eve, she clung to life even after the paramedics pronounced her dead and awoke in the ambulance. She was, however, spirited away by the EMT team, which was actually part of a federal task force which had come to town weeks before, shadowing Gabrielle and preparing to take her into custody as a material witness in their case against Carlo and his criminal organization. They had not been able to get to her before she was attacked by the MBK, but now that she was believed "dead" by all of Llanview, they took it upon themselves to let the world believe that, and whisk her overseas to an undisclosed location, where she would be held in custody against her will until such time as international intelligence agencies could work together to bring Carlo in, and then use Gabrielle and others like her as witnesses in the case against him. As we know, however, in the intervening years, no one was able to bring Carlo in for long, and people like Antonio (who would be working with the agents who detained Gabrielle, but would have no idea she is alive) are still on his trail today.

Gabrielle managed to get a message out to Max in Argentina, who helped effect her escape from the authorities. Hardened and bitter by her time in "protective custody," Gabrielle and Max then began to plan their vengeance on Hesser while outwitting the fuzz. Gabrielle and Max mean to make Carlo pay for the loved ones they and so many others have lost; Gabrielle in particular blames Carlo for her incarceration in the 90s, which lost her many years with Al, her late son. To her, it's as though Carlo took him, too. Max's entire happy return to Llanview with Frankie and Leslie was, in fact, a con to disguise his plans to ambush Carlo.

After a sufficient amount of torture and taunting, Gabrielle, Max, and R.J. plan to auction Carlo off to the "sea of sharks" - other underworld figures, Carlo's enemies. Whoever is the highest bidder gets to have Carlo lock, stock, and barrel, to murder him as they please. The auction begins, but meanwhile, the LPD begins to unravel Max's secret. Antonio, Brody and Bo tangle with a (recast) Charlotte Hesser, who is revealed to have Talia, also alive and well, imprisoned. (In 2009, fed up with Talia's willful ways, Carlo had plotted to have his beloved youngest daughter abducted and replaced with a double, a mole on the police force. Talia was switched out for the double, and it was the double who was murdered by Powell Lord at Victor's condo.) Charlotte, still bad news and still loyal to Carlo, is eager to find her father. Meanwhile, it's revealed that one of the top bidders in Max and Gabrielle's underworld auction is being represented by a suave, enigmatic attorney: Daniel Wolek.

It was quite a dark, thorny affair, I guess, sort of GH-esque, but I wanted a more somber treatment of Carlo for the final story. It would've ended with Gabrielle killing(?) Carlo in the midst of a final shootout between the crooks and the cops - he would've gone up with a massive explosion while crowing to Gabrielle that nothing can kill him or bring back what he has taken away. Max and Gabrielle would've then fled the country to Argentina, with Bo looking the other way, while Antonio and Talia would reunite, leave Llanview with Jamie and live happily ever after. Frankie, Leslie, and the new Dan Wolek would've been left behind on the canvas for new stories. So yeah, the last Carlo Hesser story.

Oh, I had an idea with Marco Dane once, before Anthony died. Long story.

God, I wish Tony Call had agreed to return as Herb Callison, just once. I've always enjoyed the stuff I've seen with him and Dorian, there used to be quite a lot of them on YT. But my understanding is Call has repeatedly said no to return offers.

I would've used him, and I would've loved to see both Wolek sisters again, since the show and Brynn Thayer have both said they only voluntarily killed off Jenny to see to it that the David Renaldi story in '98 focused in on Zaslow and ALS; they were always very open to bringing her back from beneath that avalanche. I'd have Karen and Jenny pop up at the opposite ends of some mystery and intrigue; maybe Blair could consult Cassie and widow Jenny, who has David's old covert intelligence contacts, which could help with this Victor/Todd mess.

Oh, I'd forgotten it was P&G. Yeah, they would never have allowed that.

Slesar was the Echo DiSavoy storyline. It was his character, and indeed everything about her and that old story screams Edge of Night.

I've said this before, but when the show started focusing in on murder mystery after murder mystery in the 2000s I would have loved to have seen a few EON people cameo as their old characters to assist the LPD from Monticello, just once. EON was, after all, an ABC soap. It was so relentlessly fun I am amazed it has never been revived.

I thought the Corringtons came in later and did the whole mob mess with the Coronals - Alex Crown (Roy Thinnes), Rob, Laurel Chapin/Coronal (briefly to be Mrs. Larry Wolek), etc. And then the whole tied-in story with Nicholas Coster(?) as that one mobster - Anthony Makkana? - and the "black quad" with Ed, Carla, Phylicia Rashad and Roger Hill from The Warriors. Delilah started working at Makkana's club and neither Bo nor Carla (who dated Hill's character, quarterback Alec Lowndes, who took a gig there) were happy. A decent amount of that whole weird period is on YT. I believe it culminated in one of the mobsters drowning Samantha Vernon, but I can't recall if that twist came in before or after Rauch came in and (wisely at the time) cleared the decks.

IIRC from my reading of the old OLTL tome, Georgina Whitman was played by both Nana Visitor and Ilene Kristen. If you can imagine Ilene playing a nuclear physicist who helped create an atomic race car. I wonder why they've never done an in-joke regarding it. Have Ilene show up one day in labcoat and glasses or something as Dr. Whitman, in town for a conference, and everyone mistakes her for Roxy.

What irks me is the photo mentions Dorian and Carla story but there's absolutely no mention of the story in the article itself.

It hasn't hit me yet.

I accepted the cancellation because I'd heard it was coming. Then I accepted the continuation. Then I accepted the second cancellation. Because I think eventually these brand names will return in some format, albeit very different. But no, it has not quite hit me emotionally that there's no more after next Friday. I understand it intellectually, but I'm not sure if I've totally internalized it or what.

I thought R.J. and Tea were hot as hell, and I was pissed when she walked out on him for Todd. It proved me that she simply did not want to be treated well by a good man. R.J. was absolutely shattered by her departure, and went back to crime as a result.

RC and FV did not want AE to leave at all, so I knew it had to happen eventually.

I knew she'd be back.

In honor of Stuart's happy return. I hope this hasn't been posted yet. It's just adorable and it has Jennifer Bassey to boot, along with a very game little boy playing AJ.

She's going to be a star, America!

HBS did gush heavily about both TT and Laurence Lau, and I thought LL did a fine job as Sam and had good chemistry with her but the story just was never going to work. She did also, however, say in late 2002 that Nora had been decimated by the affair with Sam and was very candid in saying how none of her stories had worked since and that the storyline was conceived simply to give Kale Browne a tie to the show.

I was on the edge of my seat during February sweeps 2000, when Nora learned what Lindsay had done to Bo's fertility results in 1998, and crashed their wedding. At that time we all thought this meant Bo and Nora would reunite and it was very good storytelling. You could not miss a day. I still remember Sam - who had known of Lindsay's role for months and kept quiet - trying to physically bar Nora from leaving the house to crash the wedding. I've never wanted to kill him more.

Troy and Lindsay happened for real after OLTL finally seemed to realize everyone hated Troy/Nora. GT rehired Ty Treadway after the Colin murder mystery because he was sure everyone wanted to "finally" see HBS and TT paired for real, but the truth is they didn't have enough chemistry and Ty, while a wonderful guy, was simply not a very good actor. The subsequent romance was awful and embarrassing, and it was compounded by the plotline of Troy [!@#$%^&*] Lindsay and stringing her along to put her behind bars, which highlighted their scorching chemistry and put viewers on Lindsay's side, even though I was happy to see her finally pay for her crimes against Nora.

When they went back to Troy and Lindsay having a hot affair behind Nora's back in late 2002/early '03, the S&M-esque scenes began. Their most memorable, of course, being on Griffith and Malone's first full day back in February '03 - when she screams at Troy to "take what you came for!" and shortly thereafter, Nora walks in on them together in a very explicit-seeming series of jump cuts with Troy's pants around his ankles, where it looks for all the world like he is [!@#$%^&*] Lindsay either from behind or in hindquarters heretofore unknown. I'm still surprised that made it on the air.