Franko

Sally's Agent: "Do you want to make more money? Sure, we all do! So go out for these projects offered to you."

Thanks, @slick jones. I've always wondered what the B in "Ms. B. Haven" stands for.

Somewhere in the multiverse, there's a timeline where Ryan played Eric.

Hart would insist the secretaries come to work on The Day After. I did a double take when we got to Peter Evans, convinced he was either Peter Scolari or Dack Rambo with an assumed name. If the Season 3 opening caught on, would they have updated the jokes under everyone's credit?

When it came to The Cosby Show, you actually merged the two Wilma Bern actresses. Eileen Heckart and Elaine Stritch both happened to have done the sitcom, and both acted opposite Keshia Knight Pulliam. Eileen played Rudy's friend, who wasn't taking her medication. Elaine played Rudy's teacher.

It's really astounding just how dull this stretch is. Dull and repetitive. We've got Laurelton taking up most of the oxygen, and then we've got the slow burn of Sean and the Qs and the extra slow burn of Frisco & Felicia. Martha Scott's grown on me. I came around to Jennifer once it turned out that she genuinely did love Terry. Right before Martha joined GH, she reprised her Dallas role as Sue Ellen's mother. The actual discovery of Jennifer's corpse is a bit silly: Frisco and Sam are preparing to hide in a culvert located near the airport. Sam's worried about snakes, so Frisco goes in first. Offscreen, he discovers a body, then still offscreen, he discovers it's Jennifer. Part of me wonders if they dared to ask Martha about playing the body. I haven't yet watched next week's episodes, but I'll bet a cookie that David Doyle will play Ted's scenes like he loved Jennifer but never got to tell her.

Week 12, Part II -- Conclusion Sean: "Felicia, you know, business is just like life, only a little more intense. You want to learn the corporate (gamesmanship), don't you? Are you a gambler?" Sean Swindles the Quartermaines: The rollercoaster's still ascending, and now Felicia's involved. Edward and Alan want to buy her supposed stock in Donely-Cassadine. On Thursday, Alan makes his final offer: 20 times the market value of Felicia's stock. "Father, forgive me." I'm just glad Felicia's doing something other than being jealous over Sam. Meanwhile, Sean and Monica aren't particularly discreet. They spend St. Patrick's Day seeing Port Charles' (offscreen) parade and then sharing drinks at an Irish pub ... while being seated one table over from Tony and Tania. Later in the week, at that same pub, Monica tells Sean that she doesn't "want to give up everything I have just this easily." Prior to that, Monica tells Sean that she wants him. I really, really like how Leslie Charleson delivered that part of the line, as an intense whisper. Frisco and Felicia: Frisco finds Jennifer's body while he and Sam are participating in an overnight trip to demonstrate the PCPD cadets' survival skills. I don't doubt the legitimacy of what they're doing, but at this point, I just want Frisco and Sam to be full-fledged cops already and for us to finally move past Felicia's jealousy. Sean deserves all the money he'll get just for giving Felicia something else to do with herself. For the record, Felicia trusts Frisco, and even though he wakes up (fully-clothed) next to Sam, he still murmurs Felicia's name. Mike's Paternity: Derek's the odd man out twice this week. He's not sharing a residence with Mike, and he has to watch Rick and Ginny share a loving hug at the studio. And after Derek gave Ginny the sensible advice to not appear so desperate for Mike's love. Back to the Webber parents ... Wednesday's episode includes the two having date night at home while Mike sees a basketball game. Rick and Ginny reflect how in their case, love came after marriage. Buzz: "It's kind of tough sharing my only godddaughter with two other guys." Anna: "Well, Robin doesn't have any favorites. You know that. Each and every one of you are very special to her. And you're special to me." Buzz: "As one of Robin's godfathers?" Anna, after a pause: "Yes." Buzz: "I wonder, do you ever think of me as anything more than that?" Relationship Roundup: Anna and Buzz: For crying out loud, Buzz ... say "I love you" already! Actually, it's already too late for this couple that never was. When Sean and Monica visit the pub on Monday, he asks about "Duke." We're still several weeks away from Ian Buchanan's arrival, but the winds are changing. Dan and Ruby: They make a date to see the St. Patrick's Day parade. Okay, so Ruby turned down Dan's marriage proposal a few years earlier -- I hope she didn't completely shut the door to romance, if not companionship. If this was a modern storyline, it would be pretty clear the two are friends with benefits. Bryan and Claudia: She and Lorena catch him at Kelly's with Debbie. And then none of them are seen again for the rest of the week. For all we know, Claudia went home and hacked Bryan to bits. Seriously, GH, even if you're not going to go the distance with this D story, at least have the decency not to drag it out. Tony and Tania: The married Jones spend their St. Patrick's Day tossing popcorn and catching it in their mouths at the pub. Gosh, I hope Tania's not yet pregnant.

The Decline and Fall of the Monty Empire Week 12 (March 17-21, 1986) -- Part I Ginny: "The top story this hour: Laurelton, South Carolina, resident Jennifer Talbot, (who) has been a frequent visitor to Port Charles, has been reported missing. ... Currently, a 13-state search is underway for the woman ..." Laurelton: Luckily for GH's writers and producers, there were no preemptions this week. Terry awakens Monday to realize Jennifer's gone -- Martha Scott makes no live apparances this week -- and Frisco ends Friday's episode having found Jennifer's corpse. The problem is, once you realize that the body reveal is meant to provide a big moment, it's easy to be annoyed at all the time in between. Characters in Port Charles and Laurelton gradually deduce what the audience has known almost all along. Jennifer never made it back to Laurelton. Kevin appears to have an alibi, but Patrick, who says he drove Jennifer to the airport, doesn't. As I mentioned before, flying was different in the '80s. It's not that far-fetched to assume that the airport didn't have surveilance cameras to reveal whether or not Jennifer actually came inside. Speaking of 1986 vs. 2026, Ginny and Derek agreeing that updates on Jennifer should be allowed to interrupt programming. That stands out in light of the fact that NBC broke into the Olympics with news about Nancy Guthrie. I know it's not apples to apples, and Terry's not a national TV personality, but the insight into news values caught my attention. I guess it comes down to Port Charles being as big or as small of a city as GH needs it to be. Kevin and Terry's sexual problem comes up once this week, in Monday's episode. The couple apparently complete the act, but Terry doesn't get any pleasure, and Kevin knows she faked it. I wonder if and when Terry had a genuine orgasm. Maybe it will be next year with Dusty? Tuesday's episode includes a belated mention of D.L., plus Terry's mother. Terry says her mom was always too unhappy to really give her any attention. Terry's the only one who mentions D.L., meaning he's only referred to as "Daddy." As she tells Bobbie & Jake, D.L. never felt he fit in with Terry's family, meaning the only one there for her was Jennifer. Halfway through the week, Ted and Sheriff Broder decide that they've got to work with Anna, who'd been waiting to hear from Jennifer. While it's nice to see Anna and the sheriff finally on the same side -- and let's hear it for Burt, who makes it clear how disgusted he is with how Broder's been treating Anna -- the bumpkin spoils things on Friday by being too overzealous in questioning Patrick. For that matter, I understand Patrick's at his wits end over yet again being unfairly accused, but at this point, it's as tedious to watch as the latest rounds of Terry being near-catatonic with worry or Felicia being jealous of Sam. Thursday's episode concludes with Anna getting the word that the Brownstone-Laurelton case will be officially reopened only if they find Jennifer's body. You would think this would help the pace of Friday's episode, but I don't think it did. Friday is notable for tension between Bobbie and Patrick ... and yet he kept living in the Brownstone for another two years. I know they've got the hospital and Terry as reasons to rebuild their friendship, and in retrospect, they're both leading the way in the efforts to look out for Terry, but c'mon, Pat, maybe it would have been better to eventually put some space between you and your suspicious landlady. Side note: While I mostly agree with this 1986 SOD review about how unfortunate it is that Tony and Tania's time was devoted to "(babysitting) the brownstone bunch," there was a nice synchronicity with Tania joining Bobbie for her latest questioning with Anna and Sheriff Broder, then Tony doing the same with Patrick. Also, seemingly out of the blue, Guy Mack has a nice moment when Patrick is unexpectedly touched by the memory of Jennifer genuinely thanking him for the ride to the airport. Not long after, Frisco finds Jennifer's body.

Thanks for the tag, @DRW50 . These mixtape uploads are always fascinating.

While we're on the subject, the Princess Greta storyline belongs to a time that feels farther away in the past than it actually is ... those rebuilding years for the British Royal Family, when Diana's death was a recent memory, William was being presented as the international dream guy, and Andrew & Fergie were seen as quirky eccentrics* rather than the scum of the earth. *Quirky, greedy eccentrics. Sorry, just going down memory lane.

Tying these two together, and paging @JAS0N47 -- Were all those guest stars supposed to be royalty from various countries other than Greta's, or were they the nobility and/or non-reigning royals of Greta's country?

David James Carroll: "My eyes are up here." Franko: "And my eyes are down there."

This, 100% this. It's one reason why I had to take a break from watching Season Eight. I just got sick of watching Ben get destroyed as a character for no good reason.

Three items from "Survival of the Fittest:" Val continues the trend of cul-de-sac ladies having watched SNL when she starts an impression of Billy Crystal's Fernando that's interrupted by a tense Ben. Val and Jill's first significant scene together is when Val and Karen find out about Jill and Gary's engagement. The show tries to have it both ways with Jean, with her reminding Val that if it's not her, it would be someone else from her organization menacing the Gibsons and Lilimae, and later, Jean appearing to be upset when she assumes Ben did go through with killing Greg. I wish I didn't already know we'll be denied the catharsis of a 100% defeated conclusion that most of KL's outright baddies got. Latham & Lechowick thought they were so clever ... why didn't they have Jean's leopard print headscarf take her out like Isadora Duncan?

Oof, in that case, they really should have cast a different actor.

Talking about Antonio Sabato Jr. on the classic GH thread led me to discover two things: A, he has a son with Virginia Madsen, and B, Virginia's only two weeks older than Heather Locklear. I initially questioned the age gap between Antonio and Heather (11 years), and that Jack would have apparently been roughly 18 when he and Amanda were married, but if the May-August relationship was plausible for real life ...

For whatever reason, people in the '90s really kept trying to make ASJ happen.

Another retro news item. A year later, Sandra got her soap job.

Turns out you're correct. Michael was the direct successor to Marky Mark, in 1994, and then Antonio took the reins in 1996. What threw me is that when Antonio was announced, he was described as the "first celebrity model since 1992." True enough, since Antonio and Mark were famous before their model gigs, while Michael became famous from his. @carolineg On an unrelated note, here's a tangent from my notes for this week's episodes in 1986. It turns out that Laurelton is in South Carolina and you actually can't get there from Port Charles with a direct flight. Jennifer was planning to take the shuttle from PC to New York (specifically LaGuardia) and then down to Laurelton. This renews my annoyance at how earlier in the year, the Laurelton-PC journey seemed to be able to be completed in near-consecutive scenes. Then again, it was 1986 and flying was much different then.

Great find, @slick jones ! If you needed a date, it's 1973 -- Seesaw opened and closed that year. Nicolas was the standby for at least John Gavin, who was the male lead after Ken Howard left.

Yeah, I guess the writers were like, "Well, we can't make them models ..." (Even though I don't think B&B had male model characters around this time.) I think you have the correct progressions, yes. Marky Mark to Antonio Sabato Jr. to Michael Bergin.

I don't think the boxing story was meant to reference any recent movies. There was 1992's Gladiator, starring Cuba Gooding Jr. and James Marshall, but that wasn't a hit. I suspect that GH's story was playing a little bit of follow the leader with DOOL's then-recent boxing story involving Austin. This might be more appropriate for the DOOL history thread, but I want to know if early Austin took some inspiration from Mark Wahlberg. Boxing's featured in the "Good Vibrations" video, Austin's introduction has him stripping in public, Austin boxed as "Boston Austin" ... it's probably a coincidence, but maybe it isn't. And to tie it back to GH, ASJ followed Mark as Calvin Klein's lead male model.

Thank you for that perspective, Errol. I had forgotten that Jennifer Hudson's show is a Warner Bros. production.

Ah, thank you. I missed that.

Assuming nothing new gets added -- P!nk has been rumored as Kelly Clarkson's replacement -- here's what we've got for the fall: Live with Kelly and Mark Tamron Hall The View The Jennifer Hudson Show The Drew Barrymore Show