Mitch64

Well...it's not really a defense since Wheeler gave us all of those characters..hanging out with the Super Dooper Coopers. And no Aubrey...(I loved her Marina, I have no idea why they didn't make her a new Nola..chasing after a correctly cast Shane....giving Reva hell.....Kimmer would have another costar to hate..this one WAY younger!

Agreed, I think Blake became a woman who learned from her mistakes and grew up. I too wanted them to be the core couple after the Tori thing, as a matter of fact, around Wheeler after Simon left I wanted them to move into the Bauer house..( I would have Blake say that this is the closet thing she knew as a home )SORAS the kids, and bring Sam back..Dinah would have a very contentious relationship with her, as she would be jealous of Ross and Sam's relationship, and Blake and Dinah would have that tension (ya, know cause she killed his brother) it would be a core family that had some fissures leading to good drama. But now, Wheeler and company though the Coopers should be the core.

I think she was especially galled that once again, the story isn't about Reva, it's about Annie as it was during Watros time. Reva becomes a plot point and had no internal life or sparks things on he rown as she did pre resurrection. Reva is a plot point, and that really must have p*ssed Kimmer off. But she and RN have no one to blame but themselves as they insisted on being on almost everyday and when it was time for them to move on to being the B story for a bit. I have no doubt San Crud was meant to make her happy..two men chasing after Reva...and a whole set of new characters created just for her. But then Rassie hit and Kimmer was back with Jarsh. I love the Signy mentions the scene with Marj..they are both great there, and Marj finally gets a scene that works for her Alex (harder, louder then BevAlex...) Again, this woudl have worked better if Signy was just some nut sent to cause havoc for Annie..cause Signy does make a good "nut" as she says.

Where did Drew get the money for it?When you build a set that big, it costs a lot of money, not just to create it but putting it up and taking it down each time it is used...so they need to show all the characters using it. Which is why is was stupid to have all the young character talk about it being "Their" place...hold on to your hat, cause they are going to have Thanksgiving there! But its going to disappear as fast as ti came. I wanted Nola to build a club or just take over the Towers Club, and to it very Artdeco like an MGM musical...the wait staff dressed in retro clothes along with Nola. A running joke would be Nola forcing people to watch a song and dance performance "I'll only go if it past the time Nola sings!"

The infamous "SIT DOWN, Josh" that even RN made fun of in a Locher Room! The show is officially going off the rails when it could have gotten back on after the clone. Thanks for the synopsis...I forgot about that damn coin, which, spoiler alert, goes nowhere...(such sloppy writing from now on in..) And yes, how did Annie change her voice, her height, and actually lug a dead boy out of the morgue....(guess what...it doesn't matter cause it's really all stupid.) I do love the Millennium set.

LOL! Yes, and Jay could have turned the tables on him by walking by, doing the "ole switcheroo" and Brad would be doing the walk of shame the next morning by limping out of the manager's office!

Ha...and actually medium sized Central Illinois towns (which is what Oakdale had to be..a few hours from Chicago, with farm land surrounding it) did have "discos" ours was "Macon County Light Company" lol..so I can see one being there, but yes, just mentioned, or a special set for a sweeps event when someone is invariably shot. But yea, I can't believe they didn't have Lisa open one, but maybe I am imaging the entrepreneur of the year she became later with Melinda coming every night and Jay as her manger, no doubt doing drug deals and giving blow jobs in the parking lot. I can see sleazy Brad squishes around the place for sure. And for the special sweeps episodes, Joyce holding Lisa hostage...with Donna Sumer's "The Hostage" playing over and over.."Nancy "Oh dear, I told Lisa opening that dance hall would be nothing but trouble!"

That would have been interesting. I think they would have liked writing for a more community based show then a core family centric show like ATWT (which is why I never understood why Long failed at Search and went against type and created a new core family for the show..) and enjoyed writing the platonic matriarch patriarch couple of Jo and Stu. I remember how boring Alan was redeemed. But Marland pusses out all his males like Ross, who married the unsexy "Carrie Todd" and was running around in matching jogging suits and drinking veggie shakes.. Interesting the history of Amanda, I just remember her as Marland's sad wimpy victim...so their was a basis for Poser's "mean girl" Amanda from the Dobson era.

I know the Dobsons didn't want to take over ATWT, and in one way I can see that..if I wasn't writing one of the PG shows I would hate to take over an ABC show, or Days or the Bell shows. But ATWT was so close to GL and who wouldn't want a crack at what had become an American institution and Irna's baby? I think instead of using their projections for GL they just (unsuccessfully) copied their past storylines on GL...Brad/Dee/John from Ed/Holly/Roger (which is a shame as there was some real drama in having Dee in love with John, with his history with Dan/Kim.) and James/Babs from Alan/Hope..again, though James was a one note villain, who had any charm it came from AH. I think the real way to for the Dobsons would have been AW..which had always been a bit of a more psycho/sexual storyline then Apple Pie/core family ATWT. I do agree that the pressure was on them to make ATWT more ABC like, and since they had no real love for ATWT, they just did it and collected a paycheck while creating SB.

Haha..the only disco on earth that is a HOT spot at 5:30 p.m.

Yea, the Dobs did NOT move ATWT to the 1 spot. MAYBE it won its timeslot a couple of times. Compared to GL, their ATWT was a cartoon mess..more plot than nuanced characters like GL (Mr. Big anyone?) Bridget is a character who seemed to really live in her own head, and sees reality that way. I would love what she had to say about obscuring the Hughes family, especially Nancy and Chris. It's just interesting that they wrote the Bauers so well with Bert being the center of things. I would think they would like more conflicted matriarch like Nancy, who did not have the "good nature, discussing a spine of steel" that Charita played but was colder and more outwardly controlling. Also she wrote Mike and Ed so well, and on ATWT she had two brothers with Bob being the galant one and Don being the more conflicted one. It woudl hav been interesting if they leaned into Nancy being controlling and her adult children pulling away from her a bit so she softens ( or as Marland retro wrote..give her menopause (was she too old for that). Love to hear the backstage movements going on at the that time.

I can see why they moved them over to ATWT, but something was off...they just didn't work and even their second run, which was better and created Tom and Margo and Steve and Betsy was not as sophisticated as GL and they totally blew up the Hughes family. I would love to read an interview with them with their take on that time.

Would he would appreciate it if I wrote to him that in his Apollo day...also when he played the headhunting native on Gilligan's Island...I kid you not.. he was a real piece of a**!!! : ) He worked continuously..and he must have been pretty gay friendly as he played a bisexual biker in a bad movie (with a hilariously cliched campy sidekick) and in on weird Italian movie where he played a guy who continuously broke in on this guy and basically raped him..and by the third time the guy was loving it!! And this was what passed as and Italian sex comedy! It was too bad the Dobson's wrote Nick so badly..he was a chauvinistic ass who was always angry. He and Hayes had good chemistry and they were popular, but as soon as they got married they got the Nancy and Chris treatment and were rarely seen.

Wagner said he started to fail as soon as they put him on recurring, and then silently just fired him. I mean really Bunim, how much could he have cost to just keep the patriarch on? "Chris, what IS that thumping sound coming from across town? Now it seems to me that is against the Oakdale Noise Ordinance, which as you recall, was put into effect when our Lisa was ...uh, entertaining her MANY gentleman callers after 10 p.m.?"

Well that and the disco crowd was going hot and heavy like a coke fueled night at 4 a.m. at Studio 54, while across town at Nancy and Chris its early evening and dinner time. I do love that they tried to "be hip" and still keep Nancy and Chris.

Oh I agree that Miner had a whiny voice, (and I know people get mad at dissing a child actor but I could not stand the toothy Maura who was so cutesy pie MY teeth hurt during her scenes. ) and I can see both sides...I know that she would have not have been able to carry a romantic storyline, so I can see why they recast, but she was the actress there during the Maureen death so I can see an audience being boned with the actress. I just dont think Budig was the correct recast, she was way too blond and cheerleader and the writing did not help (ie. SlutChelle...the girl was into screwing her cousin before Jammy ever came along..granted not bio cousin...) Her Chele was a typical suburban princess. I think Lenz hit the mark as a Chelle bioparented by the edgy Ed and Claire, but raised by Maureen. But as you say, by the time Lenz came along they cemented her in the mob, she had no dad on canvas, MS was sick so Meta wasnt around much.

I was surprised the actress looked so good here...agreed, during the start of the Dobson era she is a complete bore (they kept having her have accidents...from falling down the stairs to being hit by a car, and going into a coma! Payback for what she did to the audience? I can see why the Dobsons swept so many characters away...everyone acted middle aged, even when they weren't. But sidelining Nancy and Chris was screwed up. I never knew why Bridget who had a weird realationship with her parents, never leaned into Nancy ruling with an iron fist. I do have to say Springfield always seemed more of a fun to place to hang out then Oakdale!

Love the Nancy and Chris scene...seems so natural..."Watch your hands, " as she gives him the cup. She seems so much more relaxed with Chris then she ever seemed even with Marland turning her into a more typical grandma. Who is the guy coming on to Mary and letting her know "Everyone turns him on..." wow, Oakdale has a swinger!

What a waste of a Reardon...they had references for years about Sean borrowing money from Ed and Mo...but they could have made him a cop who had money trouble...and cast him better then that sleevy looking guy they got who looked no way like the siblings they had previously cast. If only you were head writing...I love the idea of NotLana being a flower child that got involved with Alan and secrelty had the REAL Spaulding male heir before Phillip (letting some air out Phillips ego.) I would want a flashback of NotLana smoking a joing on the Boardinghouse porch!)

I was very surprised when I went away for college so many people in the dorm were into ATWT and GL, and the CBS lounge (back in the day of three networks different floors of the Student Center had different lounges tuned to a particular network) was always full (I remember a football player would yell out at the screen "Jame F*CKING Stenbeck..Barbara girl you in trouble NOW" and when Brown first appeared on ATWT, "Nola Reardon's in town!" ..if only it was Nola and not depressing Iva.) It was the original SON as everyone would make fun of the show at time but still come back for more.)

I see Lacy as a prototype for Bridget..essentially giving Ed and Mo a teen daughter without having to age up Chelle. The idea was good the execution on the writing and character were lacking. MH and Bridget were a step up in "trouble making teen that Ed and Mo have to foster." Speaking of that era...(I put everything in between Long's two tenures in its own era despite the parade of writers...) I watched some clips of Simon and Jessie and they were both charming actors in their own way, its the characters they were saddled with and the writing... how could Alex ever think that bland Simon with the Canadian accent could be the spawn of Satan (Brandon.) and RS was stuck as a spineless Beth clone. The Kurt actor is also charming and I have to agree with my younger self, cute as hell, but again, stuck in a dead end character with no connections to anyone on the canvas. My biggest surprise was an Ed and Mo scene with PS and EP which must have been right after he returned. They are on the Boardinghouse porch swing, talking about how they first fell in love there and Bea and Simon is flirty and "nice" and has great chemistry with Parker and they make a nice "normal" tentpole couple. I can see why they would cast him as Ed. Why during the Long and then JFP tenure did they turn Ed into a sour [!@#$%^&*]?

I think both he and the Annabelle actress decided to leave on their own, as did Jim, who took time to film a pilot or something and it got picked up. Brown left as she wasnt being written for and there go the Reardons....tho Mo and Bea were still there and they had three other siblings who hadnt shown up so one could be a cop.

Agreed, I can see a Reardon being a cop but not a Shayne. Also the actor did not really help. Why I am sure a lot of people saw him as a hunk...(I thought he was cheesy as hell) Reva's brother needed more then tight jeans and poofy hair. They could have cast someone else and made Rusty more like Reva when she first came on the show..a social climbing gold digger. He should have resented the Lewis men for having it all , f*cking up constantly, but having a cushion of money. Instead he had his head up H.B's ass all the time. To spice Kurt/Mindy up I would have had Rusty after Mindy to get her money and to sully the Lewis princess. Mindy would have grown bored with Kurt, managing the bar and living at the Boardinghouse, even without being the "Sampson Girl" and Rusty would have been right there to egg that on.

The only reason I can see is that they would think maybe his mom would make an appearance...but even that was old hat after GH. He was such a nothing burger and had no chemistry with ANYONE. That whole era had nothing burgers..Kurt, Simon, Johnny and Rusty...(and if your related to Reva and can't get a story you are BORING!) Frankie D just missed that by having Ehlers cast as his sister and the first Eleni actress lighting a fire under him.

Pam Long said it was a misfire, but she excuses that she was "young" in her writing career, when she already had been at Texas and GL for over 2 years. They could have just had his body never recovered by the dumb explosion and had the same scenes from Alex and Beth. Alex had it out for Billy and Kyle after that but it all went to nowhere (would have been interesting with Van in the middle but she was too busy being , as one critic said, "Alice Kramden to Billy's Ralph." ) and Beth flirted with that stupid Jackson Freement (I mean really where was that going..another character with no connections to any of the families.)We as soap viewers have seen that before and would know he was alive. It's interesting about Jeff Ryder. Curlee said that the bad material was because of other factors (Kobe?) and Zimmer and her husband on the Locher Room credited him along with Long (and Jay Hammer of all people) with the great writing in creating Reva???/