alwaysAMC

Selfishly, I'm on vacation next week and wouldn't have been able to watch BTG anyway, so I'm not mad But otherwise, I'd be annoyed too.

I felt the same way! It humanized her, which is needed from time to time.

Happy to finally see Leslie again today.

That's immediately what I noticed too, along with BTG going from .25 to .16, Wed to Thurs, which is opposite. Did the BTG audience go outside the house on Thurs while the GH audience stayed in? I'd be curious to see the streaming results for those two days on Paramount and Hulu.

A Martin/Smitty kiss - finally!

Lisa Vanderpump shoutout! Hahaha... Good to see Anita back, that was much faster than I expected.

Ah man, bummer to hear the lack of diversity in 1999. In 1995, we had a strong Black family (the Grants) that were featured, and then the Williams father/son duo that came in late 1995, but McTavish totally destroyed ALL those characters with a gross storyline. We lost Sid and David Grant first. Then lost Gilly. And once Griffin's assassination storyline ended, he and Vivian haven't been seen in several months, so I'm assuming they're on their way out too. Marcus and Dahlia are only on like once a week, if that. I've noticed as of early 1997, the diversity is lacking pretty bad too. The only other person I can think of right now is Eleni, who is Greek, but this new actress has slowly lost her Greek accent over the last 20 months...

LOL! Co-sign all of this

This makes me sad... haha.

Thanks, @P.J.! Very helpful. That's interesting that Vanessa knows her baby is Buzz's. I'm curious to see where this goes and if Vanessa plays any part in this when she ultimately returns later in '97. Thanks That's interesting. I noticed right away that she was listed in the ending credits on her first episode back, but I'm curious to see how long it takes before she ends up in the opening (because you know how obsessed I get with those things haha). I got the sense that Rauch was like, ok, Reva has been back for 20 months now, why are we killing the Jeva fans. Within 2-3 weeks of Rauch being EP, Reva/Josh finally got physical, Annie became crazier than ever + Josh clearly is ready to dump her, Reva called it off with Buzz, and Alan is nowhere near their orbits now. He moved quickly on his vision, it seems. Those Cross Creek scenes were SO good - well-acted and even better directing/camera work.

I’m up to January 2, 1997! Ok, things are really getting good and I can already tell a huge difference with the new writers and EP. We’re back to good soap opera! They also stopped doing the freeze at the end of each episode, which I kind of miss. Dec 12 - Zachary visits Vanessa again, and sadly the experimental treatment isn’t working for her. Then, Hart and Dinah decide to vacation at Lake Lucerne in Switzerland, which, of course, happens to be where Vanessa is. Good ol’ soap opera trope. LOL and now a nearly blind Vanessa is being told by a nun of a loving couple on a hotel balcony overlooking the lake (Hart/Dinah) and how she loves to see young people still have romance in their lives. Meanwhile, Dinah/Hart talk about the beautiful convent they can see from their balcony and make out a lovely woman in a wheelchair with a nun (Vanessa). Dinah/Hart want to get away from all their friends that showed up (thanks to Roger, who is now there), so they escape to the convent to have dinner and walk right by a blind Vanessa, but don’t see each other. Then Roger shows up and talks to the nun and Vanessa hears his voice and realizes he’s there. This is getting so good! Holly guessed the truth about Blake’s twins and their fathers, and Blake finally broke down and told her. Reva and Josh both end up at Cross Creek and sleep separately, but the next morning, there was palpable tension and they wanted to give into each other badly. Josh almost joined her in the shower but stopped, and then finally he confessed his love for her and they kiss. I’ve gotta say, I felt something there during these scenes with these two, they’ve got something. Meanwhile, Annie is convinced they’re getting together so she got Buzz to drive them up to Cross Creek to catch them. The Dec 16 episode is very hot, I have to admit. The direction and camerawork was strong and they did some different things, with Annie/Buzz in the car, then Annie walking up to the cabin while shirtless Josh and Reva are in bed making out and about to have sex. Sadly (I can’t believe I’m saying this), Annie interrupted Josh/Reva from fully having sex. I wanted them to in that moment haha. This is the first time where I’m not really rooting for Annie and Josh, probably because it’s so clear that Josh is now over Annie since her intervention. Reva hides while Josh/Annie talk and overhears Annie tell Josh she’s pregnant before he’s able to tell her he wants a divorce. Later, back in town, Annie announces to everyone at Christmas that she’s pregnant LOL. Now Buzz gets a letter from Jenna and she says she’s been thinking of him lately and wants to visit Springfield. He calls her and acknowledges Henry and Vanessa’s deaths, which makes her sad. They show a flashback of Buzz/Jenna, so I’m assuming they were in a relationship at some point. I don’t know anything about Jenna, but this is perfect timing since it seems like Reva/Buzz won’t be together much longer haha. I hope I like Jenna - what’s her backstory - related to anyone on the scene right now? Oh and she shows up on the Christmas episode with her son Henry, flying back to Springfield. Her first stop is to Company where she talks to Michelle and Matt, reminiscing about Vanessa. What is her connection to Vanessa? It seemed like they didn’t trust each other at first, but then they grew to love each other and have a strong friendship. Curious their backstory here… Then we get to Christmas and everyone is invited to a surprise party and the host happens to be Billy! Great to see him back. He’s out of prison, on a furlough for good behavior, and will live in a halfway house for a bit. LOL at the banjo playing in the background of his scenes. Great flashbacks here with Bill/HB and Josh/HB. Oh Reva - she sees Billy and runs up, pinches his butt and says “Billy Lewis, I’d recognize that backside anywhere” and laughs with glee haha. Tylo is back as Quint now for the party. And wow, a Nick and Susan return on 12/27 and 12/30! What a nice surprise. They came to convince Alex to leave with them and get away from Alan and his Spaulding hell. Then, Roger and Amanda announced they’re getting married haha. Another year down! Moving onto 1997…

Yeah, it was cute. They also had a psychic come onto Wave and predict Hayley was pregnant with Enzo, just like it happened in real life on Regis.

Not full on drag, but I totally forgot that Edmund, Adrian, Ryan and Jack all did wedding gown drag during Mateo's bachelor party on AMC. Here is the clip:

Oh you're right! Gosh, I forgot about Wave. That was tied to WRCW and they even threw a surprise bridal shower for Hayley on air one episode. That's what ultimately took Hayley/Mateo out of Pine Valley when they left. The show went syndicate and they moved to LA. You have such a great memory. I don't know how you remember all these details across all the soaps you watched over the decades. I'm impressed

Even more excited! Thanks for posting.

That's how I'm feeling now too, after seeing that flashback. How do you just let something weird like that go without pushing for more information...

Well this is great - I'm excited! I love Budig. I'm glad it'll discuss more than just what's currently on-air.

Thanks for sharing, @DRW50 I wish they had too! My memory is fuzzy, I can't quite remember much after Laurel was shot and killed on live TV. I can't remember if Hayley took over or if they took Tad/Liza out of WRCW and it just went away. Or if Erica's talk show sort of stole the thunder and it got phased out. I'll have to go back and look. Haha I saw this! I love to see it. She usually promotes his stuff on instagram, so I'm happy that they're still close to this day.

Instead of trying to convince y'all that Susan Lucci deserved all those noms (I know, I'm biased ), I'll just leave you with more chapter summaries from Kim's book: Chapter 17 - mentions that her mom’s health took a turn for the worse a week after GL’s cancellation notice. Kim’s sister said they were moving her to hospice care and likely won’t live by tomorrow. Kim rushed to Michigan to be with her, but her connecting flight got cancelled and there were no other options that night. Thankfully she got the first flight out the next morning and made it to her mom before she passed away that night. Her mom was GL’s and Reva’s biggest fan and would always give Kim her opinion on storylines, hairstyles, etc. She never wanted to know from Kim what was happening - no spoilers for her - because she wanted to watch it unfold daily and be surprised. They recorded episodes on VHS, which Kim now has and at the time of her book, thought about getting them transferred to DVD so she could cherish them. Kim said one of her biggest regrets is not spending a lot of time with her parents later in life, because she was working daily and any little free time she had, she spent it with her husband and kids. But, she feels good knowing that her parents got to watch her every day on TV as a consolation. She then spends way too much time on her menopause journey haha. From periods, to hot flashes, to gaining uncontrollable weight. She said Nutrisystem reached out to do a deal, but they wanted to tie it into Reva’s character losing weight, and Kim said absolutely not. There will never be a ‘Reva is fat’ storyline, so she declined it. But looking back, she said she should have taken the deal. By the time her last Daytime Emmys show came, she was 40 pounds overweight and a few months away from being without a job, so she realized potential future employers would be looking at her, so she wanted to wearing something slimming. She chose a black dress with white fluffy flowers around the bosom, but looking back, she ended up looking like Shamu. She was upset that they only gave GL a 3-minute tribute at the awards show. “After 72 years and countless Emmys won, all they could give was 3 minutes?” Then, the show was running long so they had to cut the segment even shorter, and Betty White, who presented them, took up the first 2.5 minutes on her own. Then a shortened video clip aired and then the entire cast got to wave for 30 seconds before they cut to commercial. The original plan was a longer video and then each cast member would bow as they panned slowly through the cast. She said the entire experience was weird. She said Sesame Street was also honored that night, for being on-air for 30 years, and they got a full 11 minutes. The whole night was bittersweet. She then talks about the last day filming GL and how every single cast and crew member got called out by name, they hired a bus to take everyone around so they all could watch each final scene be filmed. Every producer, director and cast member got to produce, direct and act one final scene. And she’ll always be grateful the last word uttered on GL was “Always”, with Reva/Josh together in scene. Chapter 18 - she said she assumed she could easily get work after GL, with regional stage, primetime movies or pilots, but found it much harder than she thought. The younger actors on the show got quick and easy offers at other soaps (Cosgrove, Rylan, Tognoni). She then goes into her DUI - she paid a large fee in lieu of community service, required 38 hours of DUI class, required 32 AA meetings, and 6 months driving suspension with probation for 3 years after that. She learned she’s not an alcoholic, but she used alcohol to self-medicate and numb her anger during her last few years on GL, and it helped her learn a valuable lesson that actions have consequences. She said growing up, her parents rarely drank, only socially, and she never remembers them being over-served. Kim said her parents let her have a sip of wine/beer when she was 11 and she first got drunk in high school at a kegger. She was more of a party girl than an alcoholic as an adult. But her heaviest drinking was during her last 5 years on GL. The night before the 2009 Emmys, Soap Opera Digest held a party for all East and West coast soaps, and Kim got so drunk, she fell on the floor and couldn’t get up and Crystal Chappell (GL) and Hillary B. Smith (OLTL) had to pick her up and protect her so no one would take photos. Another night, Crystal Chappell’s baby shower, she got so drunk again but had an early 7am call time, so she only got 4 hours of sleep and insisted she drive herself to work because she knew that drive like that back of her hand. She thought she saw someone getting into her lane and she overcorrected and swerved across 4 lanes of rush hour traffic and smashed into a median. She said she saw her life flash before her eyes in that moment. Ultimately she learned from these mistakes that she will never drink and drive again, and no one ever should either. She feels lucky she didn’t hurt herself or others. She still enjoys her wine though with dinner.

I agree - I really enjoyed Nicole doing that and it was emotional seeing Eva's response to her honesty.

LOL - she's a little more calm (and sober) today, so it's not as wild, but it's there Hahaha - agreed!

Pamela looks good. I like her high pony and bangs. Good to see Cady today.

Damn, Kenneth threatening Martin's kids and talking about how cute Samantha is getting - yikes! This guy is a villain.

Ohh they stopped the news just in time! Glad we're not missing anything today. And Leslie is back, whoop!

FOMO = Fear of Missing Out What is their new address? I'll look it up.