Spoon

with GL it was ridiculous, you'd have folks traveling back and forth from the island like it was the diner. Per the Island people, i think Olivia and Edmund assimilated the best. Especially once Alex returned and Edmund was basically her new warren/hawk or buzz type-task person. Michelle married to the mob would've been the perfect opportunity to bring in Uncle Mike from DC to crackdown on racketeering, but alas we GL fans couldn't have nice things. Worse than the mob and the island people was Jeffrey. As they said in mean girls, the producers tried to "make fetch happen." He was shoved down the audiences' throats so hard, it should've been criminal. Rumor was that they considered making him a Bauer, which I would've welcomed because if were stuck with him at least give us some lip service towards series lineage. Personally, he should've been Alan/Rita's son if anything. Makes you wonder where the show would've gone if the Dinah/Hart actors were convinced to stay or if the Teri/Annie character wasn't such a flop.

@DeeVee only Carmen and maybe the grandma were really bad. Danny wanted to get out, Tony was a little more gray but his brother, Father Ray was generally portrayed positively. They gave up quickly on Pilar, which GL did a lot around that time. Here's a question, who did more damage to the DNA of GL- the mob or the Island people?

I do remember them talking Dinah up for a while. I'm glad they chose Wendy, I don't know about Sydney's AMC work but I think she had an unimpressive stint on B&B.

Re: rivalries. Rauch era really pushed Carmen v Michelle. Too bad Sandra Santiago went to the "Ron Raines" school of "whiplash curling." Couldn't stand her, the execution was poor. The Alex/Mindy feud was one of the show's better feuds, even despite the recastings.

@alwaysAMC if you do go back, we'll fill you in on any loose threads for. IIRC, the first half of 1999 is really good. We actually get another location shoot during the Summer of '99, so try to stick around that long if you can.

I can't imagine this mob stuff with budig's Michelle. The last Michelle was one of the clandestine actors the show ever had. They actually hired a new Michelle in 2009 but scrapped her before filming because the show was canned. Also, Martha Madison (belle, days) was planned to be a recast Marah and that was also scrapped. She auditioned for the role years before, but lost out to Lindsey McKeon.

@AlwaysAMC just wait until the island people take over in the summer. Oooo-boy.

@alwaysAMC I'm surprised Sean is still around in Dec. It seemed like tptb lost interest in him rather quickly.

@alwaysAMC Jenna's dad was an inventor and Spauldings cheated her father out of the patent rights. Henry knew this and lied that he was Jenna's father (as a cover) which is what caused conflict but eventually a sisterly bond. Roger married her and with the fortune that her dad was cheated out of- she (and Roger who was using her) had control of Spaulding. There was a document that Brandon's old secretary, Bess had and it was inserted into a teddy bear that was being sought after.

@alwaysAMC It was on this day in 1997 that Vince Williams (Hamp) passed.

Re: Mindy. I would've brought back Krista once she became available from OLTL as Tina. Speaking of Tina, Karen Witter (judging by her OLTL work, acting style and physical appearance) would've fit the role like a glove. There was a Santa Barbara actress named Carrington Garland who lost out the Mindy role to Barbara Crampton. I don't know who else was considered for the role at the time. @alwaysAMC yes, that's when Phillip returned. Beth's young boyfriend Coop (Buzz and Jenna's son) died in a car crash while trying to stop the wedding, Phillip reported it on the way to the church.

@alwaysAMC Fiona would definitely know about Rauch being overbearing- she also worked for him at One Life to Live.

Yes, they acknowledged Mary Stuart's passing but they unfortunately spelled her name "Mary Stewart" Mary Stuart Tribute Charita Bauer Tribute Christopher Bernau Tribute

Kobe is the one who thought everyone was interchangeable as long as the had Bert as the constant-- then Charita Bauer passed. Then in 1986 we get the ridiculousness of Bert's passing being honored by mainly characters that didn't work with her- as the turnover in the year between her passing and on-air observance. Kobe didn't want to acknowledge Bert's passing on-screen (exactly like Sally Spectra forever living off-screen on b&b), but they received viewer outcry to write it in.

@P.J. yes, the carruthers plot. Taggart/Culliton were turning things around, then ConJob came in and ruined things. Holly was getting close to Ed again, trying to get him to open up about his time in Africa, Ben and Marina really clicked together, Blake returned to Spaulding and it seemed like Josh and Holly were planning a takeover of Spaulding, Bill and Michelle hooked up and best of all Prince Richard was dead. ConJob would do this thing that I hated where they would revolve plots around dayplayers that no one cares about. Also, the ridiculous rewrite where reva/Richard's son was stalking reva. Marah said she felt a bond with them-- it was later revealed to be Alex for some forgettable reason. The only planned story they kept was the one about Gus's paternity and no doubt that they altered the details of that one.

Come to think of it, I think Kreizman did a similar plot during his brief stint afterwards at ATWT, before going to AMC. Tom Pelphrey (Johnathan, gl) played a man who was brainwashed into thinking that he was James Stenbeck and was obsessed with Barbara.

A name that @alwaysAMC is all too familiar with: David Kreizman. It was also near the start of Ellen Wheeler's run as EP. They tried to get PS back as Ed, but he wisely got out of there after being wasted by ConJob and his contract was done earlier that year.

It always seemed somewhat fishy that GL was operating on all cylinders and occasionally beating GH in 1984 for them to only dismantle it all in 1985 and for the show never see such (ratings) heights again. They thought having Reva was enough so they killed off lujack, wrote out all of Maureen's siblings and brought in an influx of dud characters.

@P.J. where you watching when they killed Roger offscreen in 2004 and the resulting Sebastian storyline? Having Roger's son become obsessed with Holly and holding her captive in Santo Domingo until she fell in love with him. Kinda sick. MG pretty much was gone after that story. At the time they planned a romance with her and Olivia, that plot later was reworked with Natalia instead.

Wanted to add that GH was not only getting competition with a strong GL, but they had newcomer Santa Barbara to contend with in Fall of 84- hence the stunting with Luke and Laura.

@alwaysAMC To get a sense in how popular Beth and Lujack were at their peak, GL beat GH in the timeslot a couple of times around August 1984. GH got Luke and Laura to return for a story arc in the fall of '84 as a counter-move: an adventure story in Mexico. "Almost Paradise" was their love theme, and their classic "supercouple" love sequence was them riding horses on the beach. GL 1984, Almost Paradise

@alwaysAMC Re: Jenna. I loved the big umbrella plot in 1992/93 where Roger used Jenna to take over Spaulding and booted them out of the company. I still remember the "evil" music they played at their wedding 😆. Roger had a female henchman at the time and the big climax involved a teddy bear being tossed around and Lucy catching it.

Alex and Beth became close because of Alex's son LuJack. Upthread, ppl posted that Jenna was let go. Speculation that it was because she spoke out about BTS stuff. Theories on where they are going with Ben?

@DeeVee I meant from where AlwaysAMC is at in 1999, I didn't make that clear. The one with LuJack was replayed in that 90s Christmas clip show.

Corny 1991 CBS holiday promo 1983 promo featuring "Nick" I think "Nick" shows up again at either Christmas 1999 or 2000, def around 2004 under Wheeler/Kreizman.