alwaysAMC

Not that I've read yet. I'm at the midway point of the book, so if she does eventually talk about her Emmy noms/losses, I'll jot it down and post. Haha yep, he went over to AMC as did Susan Pratt! They were married (Travis and Barbara Montgomery). It's so funny to me because I've been reading y'alls posts and found it amazing both of them were on GL together just before they came over to AMC. Haha

More chapter summaries from Kim's book: Chapter 8 - talks about leaving GL in 1990 after a 7-year run. It was her decision because she wanted to spend more time with family, after just having her son, and her husband got a good gig back in LA. GL execs were understanding and told her she could come back whenever she wanted. She was surprised the fans accepted her decision, but made it clear they didn’t want a recast because Kim was Reva. She admits she hoped trying to recast Reva would turn out to be a terrible failure and was happy to never have to find out. Once settled in LA, she got offered a role on Santa Barbara by Pam Long and Paul Rauch (“my all-time favorite EP”). Paul was old-school soap opera and loved to travel the globe and do location shoots, have beautiful sets, lighting, etc. Kim says she was brought into SB to help with declining ratings, was paired with A, who Marcy Walker had previously been with in a super couple role. At the same time Marcy Walker went to GL to be Josh’s new love interest, and she admits the fans didn’t accept either in their new roles and the “switcheroo” didn’t work. She was at SB for 8 months and it got cancelled, which didn’t impact her as much but it clearly was devastating for others who now had to look for new jobs. Their 5 years in CA (90-95) were hell - they dealt with mudslides, brush fires, OJ Simpson trial, Rodney King riots, Northridge earthquake… she was ready to get back to NYC and GL. She proactively called GL and asked if they could find a way to resurrect Reva, and they were very happy and said yes. She then mentions Reva comes back as an Amish woman named Rebecca. She never mentions her actual return of being a ghost for months and how they switched that part time role to full-time, ugh! Chapter 9 - talks about how important and fun the hair and makeup rooms were. This is where you got the daily gossip, and she makes a job about blowjobs (previous chapter she talks about playing butt darts with quarters coming out of your butt, so you know what kind of fun Kim likes to have haha). Kim would get bored with her hair, so every 6 months they would change up the cut and color. Her hairstylist would get calls from around the country asking for the ‘Reva cut’ (ok, Kim). She said soap actors had to get permission to change up their looks/hairstyles, and Paul Rauch was infamously known to hate actors changing up their looks because fans expect to see them a certain way. He didn’t like ponytails on women because they should always be feminine, beautiful and done-up. The wardrobe budget in the 80s was endless and they wore very expensive jewelry and clothing. When she returned in the 90s, the budget was slashed in half. She said Peapack was so awful in the beginning and barely got better when they finally brought in a production house. She said it was worse than a high school film project. They had to use public restrooms to do wardrobe changes, and after she ran into a fan butt-naked in the restroom who told her it was a pleasure to see her, she said she was finished and demanded change. Even after the production house was brought in, the men/women still had to share restrooms and the boys were always stinky. She said one actor would always stop at the local gas station on his way in to make a ‘deposit’ so he wouldn’t have to go during the day at the production house. She then talks about how the last studio around 2004 was share with BET and she met many famous people in the elevators, one being Stevie Wonder. His wife pointed out it was Reva Shayne and Stevie said his wife was her biggest fan. Chapter 10 - about how Reva died three times on GL and came back from the dead each time. She recaps each one in detail, and since I haven’t seen all of these play out yet on GL, I can’t comment on how factual they are haha. EXCEPT - she definitely gets her 1995 return completely wrong. She says Reva’s body was found by Cuban fisherman who took her to San Cristobel where they left her. The ruler of the island, Prince Richard, found Reva who had amnesia. She then married the prince and became Princess Catherine of San Cristobel. Now I haven’t seen the San Cristobel storyline, so maybe they retconned it? But her return in 1995 was having amnesia and being an Amish farmer in Goshen, totally different story and explanation as to how she got to Goshen and survived the Florida Keys bridge accident. The second death where Annie kills the pilot and parachutes out the plane, leaving Reva on the plane alone which crashes… I can’t believe this story LOL - oh Annie, you go off the deep end! Kim does say that Watros is ‘wonderful’. She said fans hated the human cloning storyline, but she didn’t hate it because it creatively intrigued her and stimulated her as an actress. She also got a bump in salary during that time for playing two characters (interesting!).She explains the whole story in detail (which wow, I need to go watch that crazy mess), but she said the network and P&G execs actually came to Rauch and told them they needed to do that story. Usually, GL isn’t known for outlandish stories like that (which Rauch was used to at OLTL - Vicki goes to heaven/Clint goes back in time and Eterna). However, the network got tired of the story and told the writers to give her an aging drink so the clone will die and they can get out of this. Kim said she always believed a story like that should have been on DAYS or OLTL, but not GL because GL was a show about family and social interaction. That story was exhausting and required her to memorize 70 pages of dialogue a day, film every scene twice; the other actors who had scenes with both Reva and Dolly hated it because they had to film everything twice and then wait around for Kim to change clothes and makeup. She said she fights hard to keep the integrity of Reva’s character, so if the writers do things she doesn’t like, she speaks up. She said she really didn’t think Reva would ever try to commit suicide because she’s too selfish, but ironically she won the Emmy for the aftermath of her suicide attempt, so she learned to concede sometimes (although later in the chapter she said she was nominated - so did she win or only get nominated? haha). Her third death in 2006, when Reva had breast cancer, was written while Kim was having contract negotiations behind the scenes. They weren’t sure they would come to an agreement, so they wrote Reva dying in a hospital bed, just in case. Suddenly they came to an agreement and Reva woke up in bed the next week and walked out the hospital alive.

That's exactly what it was - her suicide attempt (per her book and the chapter I just read today ) - I'll post those summaries here soon.

Oh I think Matt is really handsome, or at least was back in 95-96. I'm glad to hear he and Vanessa are still around at the time (although Matt isn't popular with everyone here ). That's what I enjoyed too, meeting new characters and all the storylines that advance with a great pace that never makes you bored. That's one of the big problems I have with current soaps, they're just basic/boring storylines that get dragged out for months.

Hmm - do you remember more about it? It vaguely sounds familiar, but I can't pinpoint it. I skimmed through the 2011 episodes I could find on YT and nothing popped up. The closest I found was Erica/Jack having a drink, and Erica is in a red dress, and Brooke comes back to town and interrupts and Erica/Brooke have one final sparring session before I think the finale.

You're the best - thank you!

Ohh I'm just noticing that you add this information - how useful - thank you!!! Is there an easy way to navigate to 1995/1996/1997 for GL? Is there a central list or page numbers for each year?

Wow a sex scene with two ladies! Good to see it. Joey/Vanessa were really strong today. The actress playing Vanessa is much better when she's harder/serious/flirty/threatening.

Good point on the HIPAA stuff, I didn't think about that. Maybe wait until after they're no longer a patient then, at least haha.

I do think Chelsea was super inappropriate to gawk at her in the hospital vs. actually care about her dad. But, I'm not mad about Madison being interested in Chelsea afterwards. I think it's fine to be interested in a patient's family member if everyone is an adult and it's consensual. It helps that the actress is really strong and likable (Madison). I'm here for more!

So Ashley/Derek couldn't live together successfully, and now he's proposing? I'm confused.

I guess this is the casino/cop week. I like to see Vanessa with a backbone and digging into Joey.

LOL totally agree.

Haha exactly! It was so out of left field and made no sense considering the entire year has been about building up 5th Street. It was so dumb. I'm surprised an EP didn't step in to fix it, but maybe this was McTavish's way of going out since those were her last credited episodes. She was going out with a middle finger up. And good question on the Cooper's living arrangements haha. In Nov 1996, we finally get a new set, which is Buzz's bedroom. But where do Frank, Eleni and the kids live? They've been sorely underused since honestly nuEleni started in March 1995. She pops in once in a blue moon to serve coffee, and Frank is just your general cop of the day now, when there is a need. I want to see more of them soon.

Yep they've been chem testing Phillip and Annie for a long time (random bump-ins all over town). I actually really got invested in their relationship during her detox week at the cabin. I don't know where it'll go, but I wouldn't mind a Phillip/Annie pairing. Interesting about Blake intending to be the A. Spaulding. The fans/soap mags figured it out and she switched it? Blake had so much going on elsewhere between throwing Roger under the bus in his storyline, having these twins with the secret over the daddies, etc. That really would have put her in every storyline going on at the time. Here is the Oct 14 episode with Buzz threatening to blow up the diner when he was mad at Reva (starts 12:40 mark, then after they make up, at 33:50 they remember the bomb was still going and stopped it with 2 seconds left 🙄). And then Oct 17 - he storms into the Spaulding Mansion at 1:20 mark and threatens to blow them up.

Haha I think the same. Kim actually wrote about this in her book, she said daytime was so popular and made the networks so much money. The money daytime pulled in was enough to pay for their primetime shows back then. Eventually, that changed once the internet/spoilers, working moms, etc came through. The ad revenue just dwindled.

I'm so glad you posted your thoughts! I feel the exact same way as you. I started watching AMC as a kid in '90-91 and then watched OLTL/GH/DAYS here and there during the summers when I was out of school. I then watched ATWT in the mid-2000s. I had seen clips of GL, but never watched it in full. Out of the blue this March, I decided to start watching GL for the Brent/Marion storyline, beginning Feb 1995, and I'm now up to Nov 1996. I had the exact same thoughts as you - big budgets, great sets, tons of characters/storylines, better storytelling and cliffhangers than anything you see today. It really felt nostalgic and I'm really enjoying watching GL. I was hooked from the beginning. Keep up your thoughts! Annie is a character that came in late 1994, so I've seen her journey throughout 95-96 and she's great. Same with Dinah - she came in Feb 1995 and has been such a dynamic force. She's the daughter of Vanessa and Ross. If you ever have any questions, we've got some great posters here with the answers. It'll be awhile before I get to 1999, but can't wait!

I'm glad you're enjoying them! I'll keep at it I wish I had access to the soap mags back in the day. I'd love to read what they wrote about these storylines I'm watching and whether they were praised or panned. I know a lot of '96 was panned, but curious what they actually wrote about them and then what gems they found throughout. Yep, Bill and Matt have had a rough time together since Vanessa left. Lots of fighting, he moves to the boarding house and gets into fights at school. He's definitely not dealing well with her loss and the related anger.

Agreed. Let's start over, remove Brit and bring back Kenya and let's get the new season started ASAP. Agree 100%. Julia, as sweet as she can be, is being manipulated by Alexia and Marysol and it's not authentic. She's doing it to secure her mojito (bc Alexia/Marysol are telling her this) and it's not working. I'm at the point where Julia's time is up and she should go.

I just did the same with GL back in March of this year. I started with February 1995 and I got hooked! I'm now in November 1996. Come join the GL tribute thread and tell us your thoughts!

This is great, thanks for posting! I still remember watching this live as a teen and thinking how great this was for the time.

Oh yes she did haha... she signed a 3-year contract with OLTL, but was dropped after her first 13-week stint (more juicy details here)... was very unsure about joining another soap opera at the time, but her agent pushed and she then fell in love with the idea and was lucky to get the Reva role after much competition.

LOL I need to play this game with my mom and grandma.

Haha I do tend to be a completist, so we'll see, although it'll take forever I'm sure. I actually just watched that clip you posted and I was about to post, asking what happens next! LOL It was a bit cheesy for sure, but curious what happens with Claire after he throws her over 😂

I wish I could contribute to the 80s talk! Maybe one day I’m up to November 4, 1996. Oh wow, on October 8th and 9th we got a few scenes of Vanessa in bed talking to a doctor, not being able to move! However, it sounds like she’s getting special treatments from this doctor. I thought we lost Maeve for a long time, so it was a nice surprise to see her face for a bit. Bill is having a hard time living at the house, with everything reminding him of his mother. So, he moves to the boarding house and gets incorporated further in the teen/20s set. He’s getting into fights though and having a hard time coping with all the change. Company got upgraded! And honestly, it looks cheap and the same haha. The whole opening night was random and chaotic: Roger rigged the chandelier to come down on Bridget (why?), but she escaped from getting hurt thanks to Matt, and the party continues; then Matt gets into a very long, karate knife fight with some random guy in the middle of the dance floor that goes nowhere; Reva shows up alone ready to party and randomly spends most of an episode meeting, dancing and hanging out with J (so random); Rick and Abby almost have their first kiss but he stops it; and a bunch of extras are dancing out of sync to very muted music the entire night, which is very cringe to watch. Quint is courting Nola again in hopes of getting back together. This is happening very slowly, like one episode every other week on average. Bridget’s obsession over Hart is so cringe, I wish they gave her something else to do. I also find it cringe they have two different courtships happening between 20-something men and high school girls (Marcus/Dahlia; Zachary/Michelle). Buzz is walking around town with bombs and threatening to blow things up. I think they think this is funny, but it’s not since it’s real. He stopped the bomb two seconds before he, Reva and the diner blew up, and then he goes to Spaulding Mansion and threatens to blow everyone up, like it’s a funny joke. Weird. Ok, October 16 was the last episode where McTavish is credited. October 17th was the start of Annie’s intervention. Which, btw, was SO good. Everyone did a great job, but Watros really was amazing in those scenes. O’Leary stood out as well. Reva had NO business being there though. Nobody should have allowed her to be there considering she’s the trigger for Annie’s addiction. She was also a b!tch to her during it all. And a distraught Annie tells Rick about one of Blake’s baby being his - good reveal to Rick! Then Annie detoxing at the cabin with Phillip - great scenes there too! I really like the friendship they have together and Phillip’s support during the whole thing. Watros again was amazing and in particular I enjoyed the direction and camera angles, especially as she’s sobbing outside in Phillip’s arms and again in the shower, fully clothed. So Alan was A. Spaulding - shocker *yawns*. I’m just glad that’s over now, which I guess the new writers were happy to end too now that McTavish is gone. Same with the 5th Street stuff, seems like they just quickly finished that. Now I’m excited to see what the new bigger storylines are to come… Oh, Halloween night had some great cliffhangers! Dinah gets trapped in silo rain bin, not knowing that Roger set it up to trap her. It starts to storm and rain is collecting, while she’s screaming out for Peter, who is all alone with Roger now. Bridget/Hart get a flat tire and are now helpless and unable to get back to the farm. Annie/Phillip return home from the detox cabin and walk in on Reva/Josh dancing with the kids cheering them on. And finally, Blake is alone at the cabin and starts to go into labor as the storm rolls through, while Dr. Margaret tells Ross and Rick that one of the babies isn’t getting enough nutrients and may be in trouble. Rick, now knowing he’s one of the fathers, gets worried but can’t talk to Ross about it, who still thinks he’s the father of both. I can’t wait to see what happens next!