Franko

If it had been a year later, he could have been up for A.J. or the Ned recast.

Much appreciated, Toups! By the way, gang, I found an episode guide for the early years: http://passionsepisodeguide.tripod.com/id8.html Rereading some summaries reminded me of another quirk I wasn't fond of: the "it was all a dream" fakeout. I disliked it for a couple reasons. A, it felt like cheating for a dream to be going on in real time alongside the rest of the episode. For example, in one early episode Sheridan's supposedly having a moment with Luis while at the same time, there's Gwen/Ethan/Theresa drama at the Lobster Shack. Gwen stops by the cottage ... and wakes Sheridan up. B, it was commonly (always?) used to tease advancement for a couple.

It'd be interesting to find out exactly how many days were depicted during PASSIONS' run. I swear there was a time where one night seemed to last a month's worth of episodes.

Yup. He hung around late into the final season, leaving with just a handful of episodes left.

One of my favorite memories (although I suspect I'm exaggerating it) was when Pilar overheard Ivy and Rebecca talking trash about Theresa, declared "You bitches!" and got into a mini cat fight with them both. So, we have Pilar (maid), Grace (innkeeper), Eve (doctor) and Beth (barista). Tabitha wouldn't have to work for a living, but maybe it would have been interesting in the early years, to keep up appearances, if she had some sort of seemingly altruistic job like volunteering. It would be a good way of keeping tabs on residents.

This, very much this! Very few of the women worked. I'm not 100 percent sure, but I think Grace ran a bed and breakfast at the start of the show, and Beth (pre-insanity) was either a barista or manager of the coffeehouse. Everyone else was a generic socialite or a teenager.

Without a doubt. Something that jumps out at me from Hidden Passions and the two-part tie-in article that ran in TV Guide: despite generations worth of turmoil, Luis & Sheridan would inevitably be drawn to each other. I know Joan Bennett once filmed a fan video in character as Elizabeth, saying Victoria Winters was the long lost Collins child. Maybe that could be a gimmick for a Passions fan event/virtual reunion -- the long-awaited reunion of Luis & Sheridan (or their future selves).

Poor Joann/Joanne. I'm interested in seeing how this storyline is described. (I recall one soap book saying she not only grief-ate not only a (macaroni) casserole, but a sheet cake.) Also, I was surprised to discover Kay Heberle was only 25. Maybe it's because her storyline involved Katherine, but I was picturing an older woman.

I am smirking at the idea of Rauch ending up having been a producer on all three 2 p.m. EST soaps.

Sounds like Christine's doing her best "Bill Murray in Caddyshack" impression. It's even funnier when you consider she had won the Tony a few months earlier.

Reading summaries from later in 1993, I see that Cass mentioned his estranged mother. It was the lead-in to Morgan's introduction, but I feel slightly cheated we didn't get an appearance from Claudia Winthrop. I compiled some names, but I'm sure I'm missing plenty. Who would you choose? Mary Stuart Audrey Peters Tudi Wiggins Lori March Rosemary Prinz Ann Flood Lois Kibbee Bethel Leslie Doris Belack Alice Hirson Helen Gallagher Diana Van der Vlis Millette Alexander

Was the cover of "Every Breath You Take" from an episode of Solid Gold? I think I'm hearing Marilyn McCoo. (Around this time, there was a Tom and Margo scene where she's watching TV. The audio was from a Lily Tomlin album.)

Well, smell him!

1. My God, you're brilliant! 2. and 4. Think of the possibilities if Ridge was written as having absolutely no boundaries when it came to sex?

Is Ann Williams at the start of this commercial?

The actresses who played Kay tend to blur together for me. Taylor Gina Deanna Heidi I remember Kay spending much of the first year enviously watching Miguel and Charity. It seemed like every month Tabitha had a new way to attempt killing Charity (usually involving fire), so early Kay was just mostly there for the teen angst stuff. She'd tell her problems to Simone, fight with Jessica and dodge Reese's affections.

Slowly but surely, the Seattle pieces are falling together. I think that'll be my new goal, determining when Search stopped airing in that market. Slight tangent: I think it was foolish in the long run to slot sitcom reruns in the half-hour after Guiding Light. I can understand why CBS didn't move Match Game from 3:30 to 3, since it supposedly helped by having a big after school audience, but would Tattletales have suffered moving from 4 to 3? Were the ratings that good for the All in the Family/M*A*S*H/One Day at a Time reruns? I dunno, I just feel like interrupting the soaps-games lineup with reruns ended up isolating the games (and eventually Love of Life).

Darn it, I'm now wishing Lypsynka would have shown up at The Outback. Don't forget Bill and Julia becoming ELQ shareholders.

Currently just the scrapbooks for AMC, GH and GL and the trivia book for OLTL. It might be time for some Goodwill hunting.

Gee, I don't remember that storyline in the YouTube uploads. "There have been strange things going on at Liberty House. Jo calls a tenants' meeting to discuss the underwear thefts. In addition, the elevators keep conking out and the laundry room is flooded. Much to everyone's amazement, it turns out that Craig and the apartment complex children are responsible! To get attention, Craig has led the tots on a spree of vandalism. Naturally, they'll have to be punished." Who on earth's Craig? Some disturbed maintenance man? (Nope, just looked it up. Sunny's nephew.)

I'm glad the story had a (belated) happy ending.

By 1978, Welcome Back, Kotter was a nightmare. People, 11/6/78 By then Kotter had become less a set than a civil war. The cast Softball team had long since hung up its gloves and, more significantly, the feud spread to the Sweathogs, who, willingly or not, are lining up in rival camps. John (“Barbarino”) Travolta and Lawrence-Hilton (“Boom Boom”) Jacobs remain pretty much above the battle. Still close to both, Travolta goes to movies occasionally with Gabe and dines weekly with Strassman; Jacobs continues to hang out with Kaplan but no longer meets Strassman after-hours. Robert (“Epstein”) Hegyes is on the Kaplan side, but he’s stopped seeing him socially (and is also less tight with Travolta these days). Marcia’s main ally, Ron (“Horshack”) Palillo, barely talks to Gabe and sees none of the others outside work. The one vestigial source of Kotter cast unity is that virtually nobody can stand executive producer James Komack.

We can't forget Princess. Erika's physical performance is really impressive here.

The cancellation was officially announced November 4, 1986, so they had about a month and a half to wrap things up, assuming there was about two weeks between taping and air dates.

If memory serves, cast members who got out of line at ATWT had to answer to three individuals. First Don (who I think was described as more of the good cop), Kathryn and if it just wasn't improving, Helen.