Spoon

@alwaysAMC you were probably happy to see Alex return, of course this recurring stint was cut short by her going to AMC. As an AMC fan, how do you feel about Dusay's performance on GL vs AMC? Her character on AMC (Vanessa?) was an out-and-out villain, correct? Was it deja vu seeing her play VI's mom on GL also? IIRC, Alex's return was in tandem with her former step-daughter India's return. Any thoughts on Mary Kay Adams/India? She was a memorable GL character from the Mid '80s and had return stints in '90, '99 and a guest appearance in 2002.

Until Jeff comes home to her. lol

AW was always too quick to write out characters. I was watching Majorca episodes, and they went out of their way to make Emily look somewhat sympathetic- she did what she did for the children. Also in late 1986 Catlin, Peter and Brittany are front burner for weeks only for them all to be written out, I know Catlin and Brittany were contract related but they should've kept Peter- especially in depression intended on them driving so much of the plot of her AW.

I really liked her first year and loved the concept of centering around three core families, but it kinda tanks after Cass, Kathleen and Peter are written out and Donna, Nicole and Vince being recast. Plus all that buildup with Catlin and Brittany for them to be immediately written out. I would've kept Duke Stroud as Vince, if Robert Horgan had better chemistry with Denise Alexander- they should've brought him in before the Marissa/Mary reveal.

Which crazed fanbase was the most toxic? Mattesa? Rassie? Manny?

Jamey was an interesting podcaster, he should've stuck with that. I could listen to him rave about Linda Dano every week.

@alwaysAMC I totally forgot about that day-player that Ross hooked up with, it didn't last long. I think years later I retconned it in my head that that was doris wolfe. I'm guessing that was just a stop-gap until January when a familiar woman enters the Ross-Blake-Ben picture. Overall, January 1999 is a pretty good month coming up for you.

I thought they referred to Danny as Denny in his earliest appearances, i remember discussion on WoST back in the day. Also, they phase out Towers with Millineum which later becomes more of a dance club called Infierno. Towers starts being used again around 2004-ish. @alwaysAMC Amy Carlson played Josie on Another World, a character in which JFP turned into a Harley clone during her tenure. Blonde, core family daughter who becomes a cop.

Trivia: John P Navin was in the very first scene on Cheers. He was the boy with the fake ID, trying to purchase beer.

What I liked about Bloss is that I liked how they grew to be the stable couple- the closest to an Ed and Mo in their prime. Especially after the Tori story when their extra-marital exploits were in the past. I wanted them to SORAS the three kids, along with Dinah and with Phillip's family as Ross's extended family would really be solid core family material. With that said, I was rooting against Bloss in 1999 as I really liked the Ross/India pairing-- but that just turned out to be a waste of MKA.

Sundays. Without cable or great uhf reception, I always hated how all three channels had movies sundays. IMO, MSW was too strong of a lead-in to waste on a movie. At least Fox started a Sunday sitcom block, albeit cruder than the ol' cbs block.

DS being originally scheduled for Tues at 8, explains why it was a decision between renewing Three's A Crowd or picking up DS. I would've renewed 3AC and paired it up with Suzanne Sommers/ John Davidson starrer "Goodbye, Charlie." I guess GC was close to being picked up before ABC passed. The pilot is up on YT and I enjoyed it. Def better than She's the Sherrif.

Nice that "The Land of Wishes, Hopes and Dreams" was being referenced to. That carousel set was definitely... a choice.

Just listing every single recast isn't the point of the thread, its ones that were accepted by the general audience. Definitely temp recasts would not fall under that category. Some of those listed were absolutely NOT accepted, ie: Shari Shattuck.

I found Beth Chamberlain's Beth pale in comparison to BE's Beth. BC fared much better in her 2nd stint when she played tbe role as a trouble-making vixen. Bethany Joy Lenz was instantly accepted as Michelle. Quickly pivoting her to a brand new love interest was a smart calculation. Gina Tognoni was good on Y&R, but she didn'tfeel like Phyllis. MS always played Phyllis as sultry- using sex appeal to get her way, GT's Phyllis did not. On Days, Billy Flynn as Chad and Marci Miller as Abigail.

@alwaysAMC of course Marcus is gone, David's back to fill GL's "black guy" spot. Like Lucy filling in for the time when Harley was off canvas.

Wrong forum

People complain about a sameness of the soaps, soaps, as opposed to having their own identity and feel. Days made its own identity in the 90s with the absurd stuff. Its not everyone's cup of tea but it gave people who found shows like AMC or ATWT dull, an alternative. Just like how Edge and its crime plots were an alternative in its day. Personally, I agree that Days can be cringe at times-- I stopped watching until "The Writer" left, but with the right balance it could work. Days doesn't have to be AMC and shouldn't, it should have its own identity.

@alwaysAMC I didn't realize Lisa Brown wBroin the credits that late. All I remember is when I came back from my 3-month hiatus, I was hoping to see more Nola. At least when Nola returned, she admitted a line about being with Quint again. She returned with Bridget and Dylan. It was nice that Bridget and Dylan found each other again. They also name drop Peter as being a Medical student. Still a shame we never got to see an adult Peter. You mentioned that when characters leave on GL, time freezes like they're in stasis until they return. Best example was Harley's daughter Susan who left town as 13/14 and came back to town 5-6 years later as still a teenager! Still infuriating, when they could've aged up any number of children. Admittedly, GL's 90s ratio was like 9-1 boys over girls.

@alwaysAMC yeah, Nola is done. She'll come to Billy/Vanessa's final wedding during the final week of shows (Monday, Fletcher appears on Thursday).

@VeeThey could've at least used a less obvious user name, than a GH-based one.

I hated Ben, but I grew to like him as Craig on ATWT, despite him basically playing the same slimy character. He had better chemistry with his female co-stars on ATWT.

A regular feature interviewing actors/writers of the past or profiling them. A daily, this day in soap history feature that can be more detailed than the outdated welovesoaps articles, or like SOD used to do in the back of every issue. BTW, I love the idea of a soap podcast, I used to listen to another one but stopped after the "funny" one left to pursue a career in soaps.

@alwaysAMC Holly's brother, Ken Norris was played by Roger Newman who was later on GL's writing staff in the 1990s. He was part of the team that won the Best Writing EMMY in 1993. He was married to fellow actor/soap writer Fran Myers.

November 8, 1983 Eli Simms plants a bomb while all the town's main families are together. Ross arrives and chucks it out the window in time. We're about two weeks away from Reva at this point.