Spoon

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.

John Considine was a pretty strong actor who should've returned to the show at some point and keep the Love family prominent. Reggie meddling in his family's affairs is classic soap and writes itself.

Carolyn Culliton and Millee Taggart really understood the essence or feel of GL. The show improved notably during their short stint and it was really the last time GL felt like GL.

My favorite AW couple will always be Cass and Kathleen. Ues, young me crushed on Kathleen but it was a good blend of humor, drama and adventure. The dynamic between All the them, Felicia, Cecile and Wallingford were a hoot. Reginald Love gets overlooked as a villain, he should've been their Victor Newman/Alan Spaulding type villain. Their was more mileage to get out of him, especially with his family on canvas.

I recall it was P&G who didn't like SFT at 2:30, CBS was content with SFT's performance at 2:30. P&G would rather have SFT die at 12:30 on NBC than be a solid player on CBS at 2:30. Anyway if SFT did stay on CBS it would've eventually been cancelled for B&B anyway.

June 9, 1994 A new upload by Michael Pannoni showed up in my subscriptions just now. Looks like a good one.

AW was never a success at 2:00 ET. Its a wonder that NBC never replaced it in the 80s with something flashier like Scruples or a daytime Flamingo Road revival. NBC was red-hot in primetime from 1984 on, but couldn't get things going soap-wise until the resurgence of Days during the 90s.

During the early 80s General Hospital aired at 10:30am on WTAE Pittsburgh in the morning, after AM Pittsburgh. I was young and my mom would watch GH in the morning and CBS in the afternoon. Of course As The World Turns didn't air on KDKA for decades until the Summer of 1990. All the local cable systems also carried either WKBN Youngstown or WTRF Wheeling any way. Capitol aired at 1:30, later B&B briefly aired at 2:30. Days has been at 3pm on WPXI ever since the show's peak in the mid-90s. Former sister station WTOV Stubenville and WJAC Johnstown used to air the show at 3 as well but no longer do so.

On GL wasn't their once a plot point about old coins? I'm thinking it involved Michelle and Sebastian and would've been around 2004 or so. Lots of dropped plot points in late 2002 and early 2003. Blake going back to Spaulding, Josh going into a business partnership (leading to a Spaulding takeover?) with Holly. Ed's time in Africa. Plus the already discussed original Jonathan storyline which was changed to make Alex the one stalking Reva and had a "connection" with Marah that made no damn sense with the storyline change. For years headwriters B&E were building to Gus being Selena's son with Danny Santos's dad (was his name miguel?). Also it was strongly suggested online that Danny's brother Mick was going to be revealed alive. Prior to casting Joie Lenz as a recast Michelle, they considered bringing her on as Reva's niece via Roxie Shayne and Johnny Bauer. They were so thrilled with her work as the clone and were determined to fit her into the canvas someway. For the Summer of '99 on Another World it was mentioned that Jake was going to clash with a new character that was going to introduce a new Hispanic family to Bay City. Also a third Sinclair brother was going to be introduced. Probably a teen to be paired with Paulina's newfound daughter Remy or Amanda's daughter Allie Fowler. Plus a new opening sequence was planned for late Summer/Fall. AW was cancelled, Goutman moved over to ATWT and they got the new title sequence instead. Also Paul Rauch planned a much needed new opening sequence for Santa Barbara in '93 if they weren't cancelled instead.

RH was my favorite Paul Ryan on ATWT. He brought life and energy to the character, his best pairing was with Emily. Scott Holroyd(?) was dull as dishwater in the role.