prefab1

I really liked the Lorelei stuff, but you're right: it needed better dialogue to help make the subtext of Beth's psychological split into text. But then again, I also thought the Beth/Alan relationship was really interesting, in a creepy way. I could totally buy that, due to Beth's early trauma, she would turn to powerful men who would make her feel safe (even men as vile as Alan).

I live in Armenia, and the people here certainly do think of themselves as "white" (and would be shocked to hear that some people might view them otherwise).

I think it depends on what you consider "stunt casting." For instance, when One Life to Live poached George Reinholt and Jacqueline Courtney in 1975, that was a kind of stunt casting. And, speaking of another GL character that didn't quite work, Jane Elliot's Carrie might be viewed as stunt casting, given that she'd just played a very popular character on the #1 soap (and GL's timeslot competitor).

I don't know Rowell personally, but from her many social media media posts, I get the sense that she's both a tireless campaigner for social justice who's done important work calling out institutional racism in the soap industry AND a relentless egomaniac. I mean, her posts contain more "I"s than a Roman arithmetic textbook. I think that's probably true of a lot of the divas we enjoy watching at a safe distance. If we had to regularly interact with them closely in person, it would be exhausting, because the diva would suck up all the oxygen in the room, leaving none for us.

How funny! I'd never heard that. I wonder if the show was thinking about bringing Mike back (as they did for so many of the characters who came back for the reunion, like Phillip and Harley). They definitely did seem to be reinvesting in the Bauer family around that time, giving Rick and Abby a lot of story, as well as Rebecca Budig's Michelle, then bringing on Mary Stuart as the long-absent Meta and bringing back Robert Gentry, who'd last played Ed about 30 years earlier.

Long-time lurker, first-time poster here. I just wanted to point out that GL actually did bring Mike (and Don Stewart) back very briefly in 1997, for the 60th anniversary. You can see him around the middle of this clip, interacting with Rick, Meta, Ross, and Blake: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBLINo71kLA