Franko

Not to mention that she went to jail for shooting her now-ex-husband's then-wife. Johnny Carson had a lot to work with! The writing was on the wall, according to the Tune in Tomorrow recaps. Liz and Neil's relationship was eroding during her last two years. She had the affair with Carlo, followed by the tension over Noel having juvenile diabetes (and Liz not wanting to conceive another child out of fear it would be diabetic, too), Tod's return, Savannah Wilder and the drug storyline, Liz getting shot and losing her singing voice, Tod falling off the wagon and dying, Savannah trying to seduce Neil and finally Liz picking her career over her family. Oddly enough, Savannah left in the same week that Liz did. I guess they figured they could keep Neil around for hospital scenes, plus he did have that sweet, slow-burning almost a love story with Jo Johnson for a few years (after they killed off his immediate new love, Grace).

Liz left to begin her new life as a movie actress. Before we scoff at the idea, remember that 1986's top box office draws included No. 5, Bette Midler (who turned 41 that year). Neil received the divorce papers in spring 1987.

I vaguely remember the Carol Burnett special and wish I had caught the 1995 episodes. I think Khan spoke highly of them, that it was treated like an EVENT. I think it was the first time we saw the Martin house set since the tornado episodes.

Yeah, I feel like AW's 25th in '89 was the first acknowleged anniversary and flashbacks celebration. AMC apparently did a special 20th anniversary episode with the remaining original cast members. And DOOL celebrated its 25th around the time of the earthquake at the Alamains' home country. I don't remember DOOL doing anything big for the 30th, but the 35th also was full of flashbacks.

I'm fond of GH's 30th anniversary episode from 1993, the one that introduced "Faces of the Heart" and had the special teaser and tag with John Bernadino. I'm now convinced that John's dignified walk through the darkened soundstage was meant as a retort to Paul Rauch stamping out his cigar on the floor in Santa Barbara's last moments.

The gal on the left looks like a Martha Stewart caricature.

Thirty years ago today ...

Yes, of course!

There's a lot of overlapping. You almost have to go year-by-year. 1993, for example, had Marlena, but also Carly, Billie and Kristen.

I KNEW I was missing somebody.

I feel confident in saying that GH's first It Girl is Emily McLaughlin. She would be followed by Denise Alexander, Genie Francis, Emma Samms, Finola Hughes (with Kristina Wagner as the girl-in-waiting), Vanessa Marcil, Sarah Joy Brown and Laura Wright. As for Days, and of course, subject to opinion, it's Maree Cheatham, Susan Seaforth Hayes (with Denise Alexander as the girl-in-waiting), Deidre Hall, Kristian Alfonso, Mary Beth Evans (with Patsy Pease as the girl-in-waiting), Melissa Reeves, Deidre again (sometimes alongside Eileen Davidson), Allison Sweeney, Arianne Zucker for a while there and I dunno, Victoria Konefal? Linsey Godfrey? Deidre yet again for nostalgia's sake?

One last song. This one goes out to the Beltway "experts":

Let's have a song, shall we?

Nice idea. 1. Monica & Rick, 1979-80 2. Alan & Lucy, 1989-91 (If only because Alan & Monica actually divorced.) 3. Alan & Susan, 1981-83 4. Monica & Ned, 1988 (with fallout in 1990 and 1996) 5. Sean & Monica, 1985-86 6. Monica & Pierce, 1996 7. Alan's not-exactly affairs: A tie among Gaby the nurse in '85, Charity in '86, Rhonda in '93, Bobbie in '95, Tammy in '98 and the perennial, Amy. 8. Monica's flirtations: A tie between Buzz in '85 and Rick in '02 (and I think she dated a doctor while divorced, too) 9. Monica & Philippe, 1982 Honorable mention: Monica & David (for the fallout that occurred in 1989 and 1992); Monica and Gail's first husband doesn't count because I don't think it affected her relationship with Alan.

Of the biggies, just Ned. He and Monica hooked up before he came to town in fall '88, with Alan finally finding out in summer '90. I didn't know that about Amy during the addiction storyline. If I remember correctly, Amy had a crush on Alan back in '79-'80, when they teamed up to outsmart Tracy regarding A.J.'s parentage. I guess they figured Susan would be a better character as Alan's mistress rather than Amy.

Rewatching scenes from Alan and Lucy's marriage has me realizing two things: (a) even though Alan and Monica weren't physical, they acted a lot like a guy and his mistress; had Lucy not slept with Scott, she would near-totally be justified in demanding Alan respect their marriage vows and (b) the dynamic between Scott and Lucy is awfully reminiscent of Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd on Moonlighting (which was already a year off the air, but my point stands; lots of trolling the prissy girl).

I'd love to know more about the ownership of WVLE. From what I recall of the 1988 and onward episodes, Max had a sizable amount of stock/ownership (having bought it from Dorian?), but when he was on his way out, Asa made a play for that. Bo owned the station at the end of 1988, but by fall 1989, it was Asa's. "We'll go on to a more important topic: me."

Based on the summaries, Bill and Holly were indeed a big deal. A slowburning one. Their first genuine date wasn't until Sept. 29, 1992 and their first time having sex wasn't until Nov. 5. And not until after they each had an AIDS test. I'm not exactly sure why, other than to remind people about the importance of safe sex. The bottom began to fall out for the couple in May 1993, when it was confirmed that Victoria was alive. Throughout 1993, Bill's relationships with Sly and Jenny were eroding and after Holly and Victoria left (again, in the course of one week at the end of July), the character was on borrowed time. Bill left town for a month, then came back for his last two-and-half-months (September-November '93). Oh, sorry, forgot to make a point -- I think they were still fairly invested in Bill up until spring '93.

Just about everybody switched partners that year.

I think Mac and Holly did unofficially date, and the show did make an effort to test John J. York and Emma Samms' chemistry. But what I'd like to know was if Tristan Rogers' departure aborted any plans to do Mac/Holly/Robert, or if there were plans for either Dominique/Mac/Holly/Robert or Mac/Holly/Robert/Anna. The first eight months of Emma's return in 1992 were essentially like this: mid-January-end of February: Continuing the Robert, Anna and Faison story. end of February-early April: Robert, Mac ... or Bill?; Wrapping up the Robert, Anna and Faison story. April-September: the Paloma/Simon Romero story, with Mac being eased out for Bill. Also, Bill lost not one, but two leading ladies in a one-week span in July '93: Holly on Friday the 23rd and Victoria (Teri Garber's character) on July 30.

A few pivotal dates in 1992. As always, thank you curlyqgrl: Tuesday, Feb. 25 -- Robert leaves to search for Anna. Thursday, Feb. 27 -- Mac moves in with Holly and Robin. Monday, March 9 -- Holly receives divorce papers from Robert. Friday, March 20 -- Bill flirts with Holly at the Outback, which she now manages. Friday, March 27-Friday, April 3 -- Robert and Anna are considered dead, receive a memorial; Bill and Holly have a moment on the docks on Wednesday, April 1. Monday, April 6 -- "Mac and Bill discuss how they would like to leave PC if it weren't for their responsibilities. Bill wants in on The Outback if Mac is willing. Dominique (by now firmly part of the Deception storyline) is disappointed that Mac did not come to her if he wanted a partner in his club. Bill tells Holly he hopes she will stay on as The Outback's manager." Thursday, April 9 -- "Sean offers Mac a job as an undercover cop but he must attend the academy. Holly sets Dominique straight about her and Mac. Mac agrees to take on Bill as a partner in The Outback. Dominique tells Mac that she is tired of him shutting her out of his life." From there, Holly entered into the Paloma/Simon Romero story with Bill and Mac and eventually just Bill. Bill and Holly finally kissed on Aug. 7 and officially became a couple on Sept. 11 ("Bill tells Holly that he feels alone without her."). Meanwhile, Mac and Dominique officially broke up on May 4 and Felicia returned on May 22. So yeah, there was a lot of transition and chem testing going on, but if you hung around through summer, things had mostly worked out.

You have a lot of this right, except Alan's motivation for hurting Monica. He had already gotten revenge on the affair with Sean (which, to be fair, came after Alan fooled around with a nurse during a weak moment). No, Alan was mad at Monica due to jealousy over her closeness with Ned (Alan would learn that they actually slept together during his marriage to Lucy) and being hurt that she kept secret that Dawn was her daughter. The funny thing about Alan and Lucy is that I don't think he was ever happy about being married to her. Mostly because he rightly assumed that he was always a means to an end for Lucy, who kept deluding herself about how she felt for Scott. This one, unfortunately, is wrong. Alan and Rhonda occurred in 1993. Alan's pill addiction occurred in 1998. The stories never intertwined. I will give GH credit for the idea of a non-physical but still intimate affair. And I'll give you credit for picking up on the classism aspect.

I wonder if that wordplay came from Peter Dunne, who apparently was responsible to Ciji's successor being "C.G." Thanks for the extra info, @Broderick

I apologize if this has been posted, but I'm always up for a backstage glimpse during that era when soaps ruled the world. I can't quite make out the date at about five minutes in, but I think it says "Thursday, Oct. 21, 1982."

Bobbie played a TV reporter, which seems like it could have been a natural recurring character, but was overall sporadic.