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Yes! Marj has always been fabulous with a taste for the finer things in life. I recall her getting along well with Crystal Hunt when she was on the show as Lizzie.

Thanks @Limenade! I agree. Hope they are enjoying retirement. They are certainly not forgotten.

I mentioned something similar in the GL thread, but I find myself wondering how the older stars are doing and what they look like now... People like Kathryn Hays, Eileen Fulton, Don Hastings, and Marie Masters.

Even though her Alex cannot compare to Bev’s, I do find myself wondering how Marj Dusay is and what she is up to.

It was unfortunate that Flannery’s character wasn’t more gracefully woven into the GC fabric. Other MAB highlights for me: the introduction of Avery and Deacon and Nikki’s relationship. I also loved Emme Rylan’s Abby. Melissa Ordway is one of the worst recasts from the past decade.

An episode from 1997 and an episode from 2004. I wish there was more 2002, 2003, and 2004 floating around (and especially in high definition!).

no

It was probably his EmmyTV interview or whatever it is called now. He may have denied being a melodramatist. Subtext is prob your friend

This show needs the presence of VR’s Dru!!

Thanks for clarifying. I didn’t know that interview existed! I stand corrected about Jess.

you guys are right. Jill’s backstory did get convoluted. Jill as a Fenmore never made sense to me, but JW and TEB have an entertaining on-screen dynamic. I’m just speculating here, but I wonder if MAB’s team felt like they need to secure Jess Walton’s and Jill’s place on the canvas. The year before the Jill Fenmore story, JW went through a contentious and highly-publicized contract dispute with Sony. At the time, other than her longstanding relationship with Kay, Jill had sort of become an odd woman out on the canvas. Sure, her son Billy is an Abbott. Phillip’s resurrection also failed in that same year. Again, this is just speculation. The 2009-10 period was an odd one for the Jill character. I, too, was a fan of the Nina/Ronan story. I wish that TPTB had made more of an effort to keep Jeff Branson. Today’s canvas would benefit from the Ronan character’s presence. I did not hate the Meggie character. I thought it was interesting how MAB tied her to Murphy. I know that I’m in the minority here, but I also loved Genie Francis’s Genevieve when she was first introduced. I thought she was deliciously campy. I loved the set they created for her too. It was only during Francis’s last year that I thought the character had run her course. She became too needy.

If I remember correctly, MAB and Co. created Sarah Smythe when they couldn’t get Kimberlin Brown back to reprise Sheila. I think that KB had been involved in an accident. KB’s availability was also a factor in LML’s creation of Pheila. Sheila’s involvement in stories in 2005 and after never made sense to me. Y&R basically ignored developments from B&B without explanation. What happened to Mary Warwick aka Erica Lovejoy? Where was Diana Marone? I can’t totally lay blame for any of this on MAB... she was dealing with convoluted stuff inherited from Jack Smith, Kay Alden, and Lynn Latham. The Cane stuff was bizarre. I don’t think that MAB wanted Cane (or Caleb) around. Behind the scenes network and Sony politics forced the show to rehire DG. MAB only became invested in Cane when she could hire Genie Francis as his mother.

Totally agree. It was also strange to rarely hear from Sheffer during his years at Y&R under MAB. Either Bell or the other co-HW Scott Hamner or co-EP Paul Rauch generally spoke for the show. The criticism of Bell was oddly personalized in retrospect. Much different than Brad Bell. I suspect some sexism at play here. Maria also attempted to position herself as Bill Bell’s heir apparent. Again, in retrospect, I wonder if this was a PR move on part of the Bell family to solidify power. Except for the very end of her run (even then basically only the Victor and Sharon stuff), I always found things to enjoy about MAB’s Y&R. I watched much more regularly under MAB than any of JFP (except for Fall 2013 and then Fall 2014 through Winter 2015).

MAB’s best stories were the Kay/Marge redux, the end of Victor/Sabrina, and everything Phyllis. Her tenure gets a bad rap because of the double dopplegangers, fireplace fetus, and the Diane fiasco.

yeah if by “awesome” you mean appealing to the lowest common denominator. PC was terrific during the HW stint of Karen Harris, Jonathan Estrin, and Barbara Bloom in 2000. It had a real chance at success then, the year before those awful telenovelas.

true that! Chris was a consistently entertaining character.

I am glad that he is still getting work. It is a shame that he was on a show as bad as Port Charles and that he hates soaps because of it.

You are so correct! I thought the same thing when the second twin was cast!

Thanks for this detailed explanation! Makes much more sense to me now

Kay Alden has never minced words about how traumatic that early 1980s transition was. I can only imagine the pressure of going to an hour plus having to reboot the cast at the same time. This was also the period in which Bell brought on Jack Smith and Sally Sussman right? Other 1970s writers like Elizabeth Harrower left around then too.

Spauldingfield just posted a character profile of Mel Boudreau on YouTube. I remember how promising the Boudreau family seemed at first. I wish they had linked Felicia to Vivian Grant. Anywho, I was reminded of how Mel went from doctor to attorney within the course of a few weeks during the Rauch to Conboy transition. Forget the big decisions like Maureen’s death and the clone that made viewers flee... details like Mel’s ridiculous career transition (and the XXXL sorasing of Leah Bauer) and the Caruthers story that made no sense left me with zero trust in this show.

And even that one shrank significantly around 2008 (and probably gradually even before then). During that time, ATWT went to permanent standing sets. To accommodate that, sets either disappeared (Lily’s real mansion, the Stewart home) or became visibly smaller (Carjack’s house, Oakdale Memorial, the police station, Al’s, Fashions, the Lakeview, Tom and Margo’s house, Metro).

It is interesting to me that the opening sequence very rarely got updated with cast changes until the late 1980s. There were several different iterations and styles of charcoal and pencil sketch openings, but rarely were new faces added unless the whole thing was redone. I guess what I’m saying is that I should not complain about the current opening not being updated when it took several years for Jeanne Cooper to even be added!

Penny made that statement in 1998 at Nancy’s party set on the Valetta, which sank around August. Ellen was present. The episodes in whole or part are definitely on YouTube. This was also.when Kirk and Sam disappeared. Penny did return in 2000 for a Christmas dinner at the Mona Lisa. Bob, Kim, Lisa, Nancy, and Chris were present. This may have been the final or one of the final times we saw the Mona Lisa set. Bob and Kim’s home was still intact gor several more years and used frequently during Allison/Chris’s storylines and many times that Bob/Kim were shown in general. It was also used as a set when Colleen Zenk did commercials for Tyson Chicken as Barbara. We would see the kitchen until around late 2005. After that, elements of Bob and Kim’s kitchen became part of Katie’s WOAK set. We would not see Bob and Kim’s living room after 1999, I believe. Even then, its angles had shifted and it had been rearranged, sliced down to a couch in front of a window with a simple foyer (no step or staircase).