Franko

I need to re-read my copy; there may have been a hint about J.R. possibly being Digger's son. Wow, I completely forgot about Vera. And that Maureen loved getting it on with J.R. (which clearly doesn't jibe with how Joan van Ark played Valene).

Raintree took some interesting liberties in that book. For example, Lucy being the product of a rape between J.R. and "Maureen." And Sue Ellen being at least a decade younger (she's Miss Texas '75, not '67). It also goes into more detail about why J.R. and Julie's relationship exists; he comes to her for the kind of sex he wouldn't dare expect/ask from Sue Ellen.

So many possibilities with that scenario, which could have happened at any time throughout Season 7. It could be one of the Empire Valley people, letting Gary know that they mean business. Or either Joshua before his death or a crazy fan after his death. Or an unbalanced Cathy or Lilimae. Or even save it for the end of the season and have Bobby and Betsy, not Karen, be held by Phil Harbert. After that, though, Bobby and Betsy would never be allowed to be kidnapped again. Wouldn't want to overdo it.

I'm not especially well-versed in the later seasons, but was Vanessa Beaumont the show's one and only attempt at trying to give J.R. someone who loved him with almost no strings attached?

Take away the money, and you've got a guy with massive daddy issues whose interest in you peters out after the conquest. Be still my heart -- not!

Agreed. Feels like that could have worked as part of Bliss' characterization.

I can't blame Dynasty for trying its luck at capitalizing on Diana-mania (It's not like Dallas, for instance, could.) but the execution just wasn't there.

Posh voice showdown, anyone?

They really needed to have a better sense of which circles characters existed in. Not to keep picking on Diahann Carroll, but Dominique's a great example of this. Is she a household name or isn't she? Or, a little later, that Lady Ashley knew Amanda back in London. Who know Hugh and Rosalind Bedford were so connected?

Book Club, the daytime edition.

Mickey Horton's life as Marty Hansen, DAYS. I initially also wrote down Trisha as Crystal, LOVING, but in that case, it was done as Noelle Beck left.

I think it was mostly to mess with her head. J.R. ended up profiting from the whole thing by buying Val's publisher. If Knots wasn't in "I don't know her" mode about Dallas in 1989, then having Sue Ellen produce an adaptation of Capricon Crude would have made slightly more sense.

Damn. This one hurts.

I'm not sure if she would have wanted to do a nighttime soap, and maybe she'd look too similar opposite Jane Wyman, but the first woman who came to mind was Maureen O'Hara.

Much appreciated, @DRW50.

This is calling to mind the legend of Julie Goodyear deliberately trying to find the tackiest but in character clothing possible for Bet Lynch. Can you imagine that note being pinned up on the AW bulletin board? "SATURDAY -- Trip to Target. Bring $50. Carpool if you can. XOXO, the Costume Department."

I don't know if it's canon, but over the years, I've read that the Quartermaines originally hailed from Southampton, New York. Supposedly that was where Herbert and kin remained. Looking back, I think that ELQ never quite mattered on the scale of, say, Ewing Oil, was because it took a long(er) time for it to ever feel vulnerable/in flux. I wouldn't trade Alan and Monica as doctors, but watching them spar with Edward over some business McGuffin or another, I'm caring about the character actions rather than why they're fighting. (Which has its pluses.) Who knows how things might have gone had non-doctor Tracy stayed in 1980? Or on the flip side, if Edward had been in medicine rather than business.

I'm a proponent of democratic fanservice, so I wish somehow, someone would have had a sexy/silly hallucination of either Johnny or Rafe (or either could have seen himself reflected in something). A minor point, but one I like making.

I wasn't keeping score, but who ate the most biscuits? Seems like Rafe polished off an order by himself.

Dynasty reruns were part of FX's first programming. Thank you all for the discussion about the syndication trends. Fascinating stuff.

I don't know if it was successful, but yes, the nightime soaps did enter the syndication market. I've heard that in some cases, episodes were split into two, which just sounds horrible.

I'm not sure how long the daytime promos were meant to run, but the primetime ones are for stuff that aired Sunday, July 29-Thursday, Aug. 2, 1979.

Jake sleeping with Lucy seems to be plot-driven rather than character-motivated, but luckily, it did kind of pay off. Most significantly, it and Lucy's short-lived pregnancy continued the Bobbie-Lucy rivalry. Lucy being entangled with Bobbie & Jake (and later, recent widower Tony) also gave her a reason to hang around when she could have easily faded away, like so many '80s GH characters did after their initial stories or two. And I suppose having Bobbie & Jake barely get a moment of peace after finally being married followed the precedent set and continued by other GH newlyweds. Scott's involvement didn't help matters, but really, life went to hell for Bobbie and Jake not too long after they got married. At least when she was with Tony, they had a second chance (1991-94).

Loss of federal funding, loss of maintenance of infrastructure, impacted interstate commerce ... the consequences far outweight anything that would be "gained" in service to moronic posturing. That said, I think we're going to see red states become even more red. I live in North Dakota, where all but 16 of the 141 state legislators are Republicans. We have an especially low population, and regions like my own are creating campaigns to lure people to move here. I want to believe it's innocent, at least on the local level, but if you told me that someone, somewhere also figured there's an unspoken "Deplorables Welcome!" attitude, I'd believe you.

Yeah, it brained Mary Duvall. I'm not so sure I want it anymore.