Franko

I'm convinced there was someone in the music department, or a production assistant, who decided, "You know what? I'm just going to let this happen." @Mitch64, did you happen to be watching the episode when it first aired?

Okay, someone on staff knew exactly what they were doing when they approved the song for Kirk's scene.

Doug Davidson and Barbara Crampton cover Honolulu's Aloha Parade for the first six-and-a-half minutes of this. Bonus: Jackee at the end, when it seemed like her soap days were long behind her.

Seems like he was a fun fellow.

Eric Preven, who worked his way up at SB as a producer, has died. He was 62. https://deadline.com/2025/11/eric-preven-dead-reba-santa-barbara-producer-1236614660/ He's at 4:33 here.

This is one of my favorite early Krystle scenes. I appreciate that it took a lot out of her, but I liked that Krystle put Joseph in his place. "You've been very cooperative, Joseph. You're a good worker. I believe I'll speak with Mr. Carrington about increasing your salary." Translation: Yeah, that's right, you creep. Remember who signs the damn checks.

Early Krystle is the best, when she's trying to come to terms with her strange new world. When she and Blake are cooing at each other non-stop and the servants love her as if she was a daughter, it's just not interesting. I was actually trying to find one of Alexis' scenes with Mrs. Gunnerston. In one of them, it's implied she might have slept with Mr. G. In the other, Alexis reveals she paid for Gunnerson's son's hospitalization (done as an attempt to get Hilda to spy on Krystle).

"Mrs. Gunnerson's several relatives eat well at my expense."

Next year marks 40 years for Lynn Herring, and 35 years each for John J. York, Wally Kurth and that lovable bastard, Steve Burton. It might be asking too much, but I kinda hope GH would give them all anniversary episodes. For Wally's, I'd love to see one epic showdown between Tracy and Ned, where they finally have it out and we can finally move forward from the empty and pointless mean ol' Tracy stuff.

I'm glad you got a kick out of the Krasker essay. He did the entire series, and also has some excellent ones about sitcoms. Ah, the perils of binge watching. At the rate I'm going, I might finally be caught up and ready to do one episode per week in time with the 40th anniversary of the 1986 episodes. I might end up appreciating every nuance of Paige's introduction.

Up to "Vulnerable": I am beyond ready for Val to scream her guts out at Joshua and kick his sanctimonious ass out on the street. I know this won't happen (although thank you, lord, for the small favor of Ben knocking Joshua's lights out), and I know I should be applauding KL for playing every emotional beat of the storyline, but it's just so damn unpleasant and offputting that I'm ready to fast-forward. It can be said; Joshua is my Diana. (With all due respect to Alec Baldwin as an actor.) My theory on Nurse Wilson was that she distributed meds without a prescription to needy neighbors, and that's what Ackerman had on her. The dialogue makes it seem like Wilson was involved in the arrangement Ackerman had with Easton and (at least) one more person, Cavanaugh the adoption guy. I initially assumed the Easton-Ackerman operation was as bare bones as possible, but I guess they would need someone to facilitate the adoptions rather than finding couples themselves.

If we're including the primetime soaps in the worst retcons conversation, Tommy Krasker makes a strong argument against Anne (and by extension, Paige).

Please say that Tony and/or Shelley did a high kick at one point in the movie.

AMC: The un-abortion.

"Ackerman!" -- Karen tapped into a side of herself we haven't seen since Chip was in the hospital. Seems like once Karen uses that tone, some guy's gonna end up dead soon.

Yes, that was the compromise to keep the show going after it was clear that the audience didn't like the episodes where Angela was only there to introduce a guest detective's story.

Total missed opportunity not to have Donna Mills' first post-KL role be a guest spot on DW as the Helen Van Patterson-Patton.

I'll keep an open mind. So far, I'm mostly liking what I see. I'm getting a kick out of Ruth being an unapologetic Abby and Greg shipper. I know that's going to tie into the Easton papers that Galveston obtained. Maybe I was seeing things, but I swear they just briefly teased the idea of an Abby-Joshua hookup, during Donna and Alec's first scenes. By the time Joshua was working at Pacific World Cable, that idea seemed to be a no-go.

I understand that. The hopscotching got on my nerves so much that I decided just to outright buy seasons so that I wouldn't have to wait for a return. And speaking of Joshua ... I'm at the point where I'm ready for him to fall off the damn roof already (and I've still got at least a dozen episodes to go). All of that makes sense, yes. Thank you for filling in those extra blanks. Earlier in the thread, we talked about how these mid-'80s seasons have a '70s paranoia thriller vibe to them without necessarily homaging a specific movie. I thought of that when we got to the failed whistleblower Galveston Industries secretary, whose plight is slightly reminiscent of Silkwood.

I've been re-reading your posts as I make my way through the seasons. I hope you'll consider bringing them back for late Season 7 and/or the start of Season 8. I can't remember where you left off). Easton's an odd duck. It is bizarre that he really, really wanted to prove his worth to Abby. Maybe I'm imagining it, or over-inflating what was on screen, but some of Easton's scenes with Abby did have a little bit of that subtle flirting vibe that she had with Jim Westmont (and Gary at the way, way start of their story). Yet another unanswered question: Did Easton and Ackerman know one another before the caper? How on earth did their paths cross?

Okay, I think I've worked this out. Let's see if my explanation makes sense. I'll try to keep conjecture to a minimum and stick to facts. Abby confided in Scott Easton about the inconvenience of Val carrying Gary's babies. Easton decided to take the babies out of the picture. We never got Easton's complete motive for doing this, but the way I see it was that he wanted to go above and beyond for Abby and prove himself essential to her operations. I don't believe he intended to blackmail Abby or try forcing her to have sex with him, but it's possible that either could have happened had Easton lived and he found himself out of favor with her. The caper was a two-man affair beween Easton and Dr. Ackerman. Ackerman's motive was making enough money to pay off his gambling debts. I haven't yet finished Season Six, but I assume Ackerman would have been paid by both Easton and Harry Fisher. In "A Piece of the Pie," Val's normal doctor says that she and a colleague were called away to "not much of a conference," allowing Ackerman to be there for the delivery. It's possible that the non-conspirator doctors were lured away to something as simple as a glorified trade show, or whatever the medical equivalent would be. Either way, they were out of commission. Prior to his death, Easton had been intensely involved in negotiations with Galveston Industries. If I remember right, by the end, they got as far as Paul Galveston himself. We know that Easton was killed aboard the GI plane. The unanswered question is whether it was because he knew or found out too much about Empire Valley (like the murdered GI secretaries), because Paul especially disliked underlings who don't know their place (indicated with his feelings about Abby's detective, the one who was trying to force her into having sex with him), or both (as in the case of the one doomed secretary-turned-whistleblower who was trying to protect the people of Westfall). Paul did not know about the babies caper until he found out about it in Easton's papers. There was, indeed, literally a scene where Paul discovered this information. Prior to his death, Paul had located the Fishers. Some of his final scenes indicate that Paul would have eventually notified Gary as to where the babies were. TL, DR: Scott Easton MASSIVELY overstepped. If he had done his homework with Abby, he'd realize that separating a mother from her children wouldn't impress her. If he had done his homework with Paul, he'd learn to walk especially carefully. ETA: Nurse Wilson was an innocent victim, initially intimidated into silence by Dr. Ackerman.

One more thing ... I'm up to "A Piece of the Pie." Fare thee well, establishing shot of the LAX Marriott. You served your purpose well, introducing many Greg and/or Laura scenes for nearly two years. I wonder if I'll feel so verklempt when I stop seeing Lotus Point from a helicopter. And I know I will when they stop running the view of Seaview Circle from that one tree.

Yes, of course. And all those lady news anchors (and the husband or two) killed by Jeff.

We might have to do a poll of the most unfortunate tertiary victims in a widescale Knots story. Choices include: the old lady Chip beat up back when he was Tony Fenice Mr. and Mrs. Marcus, who lost their home for Lotus Point the survivors of those murdered Galveston Industries secretaries (special attention to the childless widower) all those poisoned people in Westphall the guy who lost his liver transplant to Greg at the 11th hour and his soon-to-be grieving widow

I've said it many times: that era of NBC Daytime helped me realize it wasn't a phase.