Spoon

This. There was something lacking in the early 90s, I could never place my finger on it but you hit the nail on the head. The exodus of numerous 80s mainstays between 1989 and 1991 really signalled the end of an era.

Isn't Devil Marlena giving better advice than Non-Devil Marlena? Honesty is always the best policy after all. Julie is so annoying tho, I wish she'd go away.

The first half of the Clone Saga with Joie Lenz as Cleva were fun but turned into just another evil doppelganger plot. Yawn. Personally I found Maureen bland, they needed an older lady as matriarch like a Meta or Trudy or heck even Grandma Santos. So many times TPTB are afraid to kill important characters so its a rare event when it happens. Y/R Bringing back Phillip Chancellor III from the dead. Convoluted plot and they did nothing with him. Also making Jill/Katherine mother/daughter had some payoff but was so contrived, the Jill/Lauren retcon was just random with even less payoff.

..and that was flushed down the toilet with Ben War...I mean Hunt Block in the role. I'm all for redeeming characters but his villainous past is just supposed to be forgiven, even Luke Spencer was haunted by his misdeeds. Ben would've worked better as a "grey" character who is haunted by his evil deeds and is on a quest for redemption, but these Salemites just forgave him overnight. 😆

The Deimos character had potential. They were too short-sighted to off him so quickly. Especially with all the Kiriakis drama and John Anniston isn't going to be around forever, his health hasn't seemed great for awhile now.

Paul wasn't very interesting as a good guy. RH gave Paul the edge that the son of Barbara and James should have. The previous two Pauls weren't on very long, RH outlasted both of their runs. I might've appreciated "boring good guy" Paul better if I grew up with ATWT but I didn't pick up the show until 1990.

Dana Delaney showed great promise on Love of Life shortly before it was cancelled. Too bad the show didn't last a couple years more.

I didn't know the BTS stuff until the late 90s with the Internet. I assumed AM would've had another fling with Harley if she was still around thus AM and Lucy. Gilly and Hamp were a good couple but I could see Gilly with Hamp's best friend (fake)Billy or with Alan right after he returned. Maybe a Gilly/AM/Alan triangle leading to AM and Lucy. RH had some strong material with the Lucy/Brent storyline.

ITA, they had super-couple chemistry. The 3rd AM not so much, but he was serviceable I guess. Also, I enjoyed Nola's presence during the Mid-90s. So much, I could tolerate her chasing Buzz since I never really liked Jenna.

ITA, about Cass and Kathleen with Felicia, the Hudsons and Loves. 85-87. That whole era was both fun and good drama. GL. Quint and Nola adventuring, spoiled brat Vanessa, The Eli Simms saga, The four Musketeers, early Josh and Reva. Basically Doug Marland thru the first Pam Long era. ATWT. Barbara's descent into madness with the boat explosion and reuniting with James, Hunt Block breathing new life into Craig. Katie, Simon and Henry gave me heavy Cass, Kathleen, Felicia, Wallingford vibes for sure. Was also a fan of Jake/Molly.

ATWT: I didn't mind Noelle Beck as Lilly. I would've rather they just write the character off as the character was getting stale at that point. If they weren't going to use Eileen Fulton then they should've had the guts to writer her off like Ellen Stewart. Goutman tried to have it both ways. Lisa was such an afterthought in the finale and the lead-up to it. What was so bad about RVF? Legit question as I was young, he seems fine in the few clips on YT, he seemed better at displaying emotion than Peter Simon. He had better chemistry with Ellen Dolan than Peter Simon. I would give PS the edge just because he was on screen with Charita Bauer and Don Stewart. Leads me to another UO.. I liked Ellen Dolan as Maureen as I could connect her mentally to the first bunch of Reardons. Similar to Peter Simon's Ed and the gone Bauers. A reminder of the past I suppose.

That's how I feel about Peter Simon, he was my first Ed. When I started reading forums people would rave about "70s Ed" Mart Hulswit, later saw clips with him, Mike and Roger and I could see the warmth and energy that PS's Ed lacked by comparison.

That leads me to another unpopular opinion...Richard van Fleet wasn't a bad Ed at all. He shared more qualities with Mart Hulswit than Peter Simon ever did. RVF running around Beiruit especially gave me MH vibes. Rick could've easily have had a kid with Abby as she left town right after their split. I hated Ashley but at least making her a Bauer would give her a point as opposed to local rando with no strong ties to canvas.

It would've worked better of it wasn't just a setup for a "whodunnit." The lead up was gold, the year plus aftermath with many developments happening off-screen was just a big no. Like them revealing Phillip was still alive OFFSCREEN! If the character is not going to be onscreen, let them remain dead until an onscreen Friday cliffhanger moment! I enjoyed the Cassie/Edmund pairing and seeing Edmund evolve into a more layered character. They should've gone full steam ahead with the Leah Bauer SOARSing. Was it ridiculous? Yes, but so was Harley's daughter being a teenager TWICE! TPTB toyed with the idea of making Jeffrey Ed's son. They should've went for it. You would've had Ava as an instant Bauer plus a Bauer/Reva off-spring. Jeffrey was being rammed down our throats anyway, he might as well be a Bauer. Especially since Michael O'Leary was clearly no longer capable of driving story long-term.

😆 Right, why start then.

Yeah, but Reid was intended to be the "spoiler" from the start. The audience felt differently, but c'mon why would TPTB start to listen to the fans during the final months. They just didn't care and stuck with their plan regardless, like the endless Juicy Janet propping. IMO, they should've wrote out Lilly instead of recasting. The role was already being wasted, without MB there was no point in the character. Would've generated better story if the character was written off, at least for six months, preferably a year or more.

Roger Howarth was a breath of fresh air as Paul on ATWT. The guy he replaced was so wooden in the role. I feel every soap needs a good share of "scenery chewers" to keep things vibrant and lively. Not too many at once, but a balance. I also think RH's Paul fit better as Barbara's son as she was written in a far campier, over-the-top style ever since Hogan Sheffer came on. Much like Tom Pelphery was perfect as Kim Zimmer's son on GL as they had similar OTT acting styles and it made sense on screen.

Likely, she was known to audition for the role as did Emily O'Brien (later Gwen).

B&B: Brooke, of course. GL: Reva, natch! ATWT: Carly, I suppose.

People used to go on years without interacting on Y&R. Seemed to be part of the show's nature back then.

The Guiding Light Marcia McCabe - Trish Lewis Forrest Compton - Mike Bauer Kim Ulrich - Hope Bauer Spaulding John Reilly - Ed Bauer or Sean Reardon (Bridget and Matt's dad) Matt Ashford - Rick Bauer Nina Aversen - Amanda Spaulding Cady McClain - Stacy Chamberlain Bailey Chase - AJ Chamberlain Dylan Bruce - Peter Reardon

TPTB at Y&R hated her, saw her as too "difficult."

Saw a promo where Days moves to 1 in Pittsburgh to make room for Judge Judy reruns. Hopefully people will eventually realize they're all repeats now. Days has been at 3 here since the mid-90s. We've always been a Y&R household but that show's so dull I don't think they really follow it anymore

The last Noah (RA) was extremely bland, of course a lot of that you can chalk up to the writing.

Reportedly MG resented Jackee for stealing the spotlight, similarly to the Linda Lavin/Polly Holliday situation. Hopefully these two have put away any grudges or resentments past them by now like Cindy Williams/Penny Marshall or Suzanne Sommers/Joyce deWitt eventually did after many years.