Spoon

In a 1997 SOD article, Ehlers mentions that she was asked to return several times, but was surprised she wasn't asked to return for her "mother's" funeral. This was when she returned for the 60th Anniversary event. They were a really popular pairing for a few years ago. As an older viewer, it seemed strange seeing Beth as the odd one out, but 1998 Beth was a totally different character. She was written as a manipulative, vixen.

DS was at GL at the wrong time. The writers would go crazy with May-December type romances later on.

Speaking of danfling, let's debate/discuss serial vs. soap opera. Anyone agree that soap operas are a NYC thing and the rest are serials? The NYC serials always had a unique feel to them. The acting was different, the look and feel was less slick. Plus you had all of the theater people on the East Coast shows bringing a generally higher quality of acting. Soaps are serials but not all serials are soaps. Especially since most all non-procedural dramas are serialized these days, would we call all of them soap operas?

I never liked him either, even as Adrian on Y&R.

Remember the random date Josh had with Lucy? That was an interesting Chem test.

Absolutely not. Josh briefly had a budding relationship with AuPair Harley. He couldn't move on from Reva, left town in '91 after "seeing" Reva in a WSPR travel video of Italy. IIRC, Him and the kids along with Hawk and sarah relocated to Italy and off the show.

They should bring on Jack too, especially since RJ was a bust.

KKL always had better chemistry with JW and DD, but they insist on Ridge/Brooke endgame regardless.

Names can always be changed. 😆 Remember when Michelle's original name was Berta, named after grandma Bert. Danny Santos was named Denny during his first few weeks. Zack Spaulding was originally named after Alan, this was after Alan had a heart attack. Nola's daughter Anastasia was originally named Kelly when se was trying to pass her off as Kelly Nelson's daughter.

I never saw a side-by-side comparison, as I've only seen pics of JFP a couple of times. I wonder if there is an actual resemblance between the two or everyone just hated JFP so much that they WANTED to see a connection. I know how brash soap fans can be against people and decisions they disagree with.

All good ideas, I had similar fan fiction ideas at the time. So many missed opportunities. It was so frustrating being a GL fan as TPTB didn't appreciate it's longtime viewers. There was no reason not to recast Ed, after Peter Simon left again in 2004. An aged Peter Reardon should've come to town in the final years.

I would've brought on more siblings for Bridget and Matt. One time they showed Bridget and Matt visiting home with a bunch of nameless kid siblings. Also, I would've tied more new characters into established families. Dr. Noah or even Michael the clone doc could've been Reardons- since we know that clan is big there would've been opportunities. I thought "Marian" also resembled Ellen Parker/Maureen a little bit too. I hated those "Inside the Light" episodes that Wheeler introduced. That's prob when I started distancing myself from the show. They disrupted the flow of the week, and if it focused on characters I don't care about- then forget it. Y&R likes those special character episodes- ugh.

Rauch, or Raunch as we called him then did way more harm than good. The focus shifted further away from the legacy families and more onto a revolving door of aimless random. Island Sean? Sam the cowboy? Dr. Noah?

That was speculation at the time but I think it was wishful thinking. I liked May a lot, but saw no.on-air evidence of a connection. GL had a string of newbies with no family ties at that time. The Reardons and Vanessa were all gone by that point. Speaking of wishful thinking, I so wanted Mike Bauer to ride back to town, taking out the mob in a blaze of glory.

Lots of men marrying the younger daughters of their enemies (Ross, Roger). Even the Peter Reardon custody storyline was dominated by Roger's POV

In a time before YT, I was so excited to see Nola return to the show. Quint/Nola were among my earliest soap memories, watching alongside mom. Such a mishandled opportunity with her return. We do get some solid scenes between Nola and Roger in 1996 for our AlwaysAMC to look forward to if they keep watching.

Despite that Nancy St Alban was such a drip as Michelle, I was so excited to see them finally hook up and was devastated when TPTB caved in to the MANNYacs. It all worked out eventually because Cosgrove's Bill had much better chemistry with Lizzie later on.

It still ticks me off that they never SORAS'd Anastasia "Stacey" Chamberlain and they totally dropped the ball on Anthony James- not calling him J. Stacey's bio father was Floyd Parker, did we know what his prison sentence was? It was murder, so probably a decent length.

Quint is Vanessa's half brother, Henry's son and Dinah and little Bill's uncle. Quint is why Vanessa and Nola were enemies back in the day. I think being a Daddy's girl she was jealous that Henry adored Nola and treated her like another daughter. Sean Reardon never appeared on screen until the year that you're watching and that's it for him. The Reardons also had another sister mentioned that never came on-screen.

Why do we call that character Silk Press Sheila? Is that a board nickname and why. I only watched some of last week. Thanks from a longtime lurker.

Paul Holtoyd was so stiff and wooden, no passion. The best soap acting is passionate, over-the-top and often scenery chewing.

If I wanted to watch a bunch of randos, I'd watch a primetime show. One of the two main appeals of soaps for me is the familial connections and the generational legacy. That type of long term storytelling takes decades and can't be replicated by primetime.

Y&R Michael Lauren Chloe Kevin Devon Tessa Mariah

I think it's natural for a show's true base to want to see the original (or close to it) core family thrive. Felt that way about the Bauers on GL, advocated for them until the bitter end. I would've settled for Jeffrey to be a Bauer if it meant an increased focus.

There was practically no redeeming value for the Conboy/Weston era. Yes, the lighting improved but the show didn't look like itself. I could go on about the era's faults but we all know them.