Mitch64

I remember that Marah it was Lindsay McCeon who people called "porn Marah" I actually liked her (realizing her limits as an actress) as she seemed more introverted and just generally annoyed by Reva ( I hated when they wanted that heavier girl to act like Reva Jr.) It was Taggert who let Marah jump down Reva's throat when she was in prison, and Marah got to say "Once again, your not around so someone else has to take care of your responsibilities.") Reva would have had much better more realistic drama if it centered on her screwed up kids and her futile efforts to be the kind of mom the wanted (but then Kimmer wouldn't be the center of the story so she would much rather be cloned, or travel through paintings.) That scene between Van and Blake would have been GREAT! "Oh NO she DIDN"T!" Van should have always been at Spaulding...( I would have Spaulding take over Lewis and never mention it again and we never see that ugly Lewis Oil office.)

In the Locher Room when they mentioned him Krista Ferrell (who had no f*cks to give, called Kimmer out for being mean to her at first) goes..."Oh..Larkin Malloy," and made a face and Zimmer laughed apprently in agreement that he could be a pain. This was in response to Terrell whatshiface saying that when he came on Malloy came up to him and said, "Don't even THINK about pissing on my leg as I am the leading man," or something. Kyle was just a skeevy character, the bastard kid of a prostitute who black mailed Roxie into sleeping with him and led his niece on before she kneshe was his niece. Malloy always seemed unhappy and his stylized acting didnt really work on GL. But lots of peole think he and Kimmer had chemistry.

I never got how Reva and Josh's kids acted like they were a Brady. Reva gone for so long and their parents split up constantly and Josh marrying the psycho plot line of the month..much less that Shayne would have considered Annie his mom and what happened... But Rauchie saw Reva as a soccer Mom who every man had to worship so I had use for the Lewis family post resurrection. I don't remember Van and Blake..but I would have LOVED for Blake to have slept with Matt instead of with Rick, and then having his bun in the oven....open the door to Van and Ross who should have been the matriarch/partriarch of the town.

So true... I could see Reva walking around in her slightly outlandish clothes (never got how Rauch dressed her like a boring soccer mom) and hats and butting into her kids lives...I can't believe they never did a social climbing daughter in law vs. Reva. I liked Sally vs. Vanessa and of course they couldn't do much with that as it was Reva, Reva, Reva...but I thought Sally would be intimidated and jealous of Van, and Van would look down on Sally, while trying to act like she doesn't. Other fueds: Nola vs. Van (others have mentioned but I love them stuck together as family, and that they both love Henry..) not out right feeding in their later years, but always ready to bug the crap out of the other one.. Lisa vs. Ellen This is a subtle feud, that was always low key. Lisa slept with Ellens' step daddy and broke up her Mom's marriage which led her back to the bottle. Writers forgot it, but Marland always had Ellen and Lisa sniping at each other like real people who don't like each other ("Lisa, I never COULD read your handwriting") India and any other woman but boring Maeve..."Good afternoon, Blaine!" and "Oh Mindy, you always have had such an *interesting* shade of blonde!")

She did return for Phillip's funeral when Liv was with Bill, they got into a tussle of some sort and she called Liv a "bitch" which was fun. Krista sold it as an older Mindy who could be fierce....but yes, she could not have done the Roger story and going up against BevAlex...she could not have held her own and Alex would have looked even more of a monster. I did like Krista and MOL's nice friendly chemistry, they did seem like a nice normal suburban couple, no fiery chemistry but it wasn't needed, they should have brought her back for him years before. Josh before RN left the first time was obsessive and their relationship was almost as toxic as Roger and Holly, and they were hot. The whole point of the fountain is that Josh just sees Reva as a sex toy, something to be won, and Reva is tired of it, (though she can't let go either.) When he came back Josh was indeed a typical clueless soap guy and Long started writing them as "always" unironically..which made them boring. Actually, Reva post all the Lewis men wanting to f*ck her and strangle her became a bit more boring...but nothing like Post Resurrection. I hate how they painted Annie as crazy and EVIL when Jeva drove her over the edge...Long would have called that out, but we were stuck with super couple Jeva, the righteous, I thought Derwin was sex on a stick but get the Mallet annoyance. I did think he and Simms had chemistry more than he and Ehlers....but Simms had chemistry with everyone.

I can understand people like MG etc who voiced their opinion at work, and didnt make a lot of waves publicly as that is their job on the line (especially for the vet actors, older, working in a dying industry) and we see how vindictive they were. I can even understand Kimmer not coming out in the press and knocking Raunch and the MADD cow...but a line or two about supporting Michael and what is happening is terrible, etc. She had more power then anyone on the show (stupidly they thought she was their cash cow) and she didn't hesitate to go behind the scenes and whisper into the soap press ears things about behind the scenes actions to keep her in their good graces...(most notorious is talking about Marj being fired and how she was so upset and worried as "how was she going to get a job at that age" )but nothing about Zaz?

I am not sure, I just remember an interview..most likely Soap Opera Digest when I was waiting in line at Jewel. Totally, there is no way I would have Alan involved with Reva again, besides using her as a pawn, and the old Reva who went off the bridge, would be using him right back to land on her feet..instead of...what we got..Alan obsessed with Reva and tearing down the wretched 5th Street, and Reva crying over Marah wanting Annie "Mommy" and marrying Scuzz Ha..yes, all of a sudden this straight shooter has NOTHING to say? She is busy pimping out her latest story but can't yack about that? I always wanted to like Zimmer but that made me really see her in a new light.

I think people did..it was just cut short with RN leaving. I liked them as a short term thing for him getting over Reva...(why or why can't soap characters simply date or have a short term relationship without it immediatley going to marriage or fans call them a "supercouple") The problem was, as Curlee said, Harley was busy hobbling around in Reva's high heels, and it flirted with her becoming Reva Jr. (which Wheeler/Kreizman totally remade her into...EVERY man was in love with her..etc.) I also liked how they flirted with Jenna/Josh before Fiona left the first time.

I will always love Fiona for that...while bigger stars...( I think we know who I mean) knew what side their bread was buttered on and kept their usual big trap shut so they could continue to gobble up screen time.

Lisa and Melissa look so much alike that I wish they had brought Lee Lawson back even for a one shot, as they look like a real family. Frankie D is the only actor to thank McTavish, this dumb cop thing kept him on screen for years when better actors were written off. I can see Frank as a cop, but when they made him detective and poor Frankie tried to put off an authoritarian vibe..I just can't. I remember one scene where Alex opens a door, Frank is there, and she just slams it in his face. That's how it was back in the day...if you watched ATWT after Margo's rape they spent months talking about if or if not Margo was going to be "HIV positive" It was a possible death sentance and that is why this storyline was very controversial... I didn't think so as it used a soap convention (switched test results) to get some points across.

I LOVE this..but I love Spaulding history and their dark secrets which always get screwed up by bad writers (Amanda is Brandon's kid...Alan is an opera queen, whose bad daddy doesn't like that, so he has an affair with some never mentioned woman with no ties to the canvas and she pumps out Gush and becomes a nun, and Alex knows all about this..blah,blah..) To tie it in to my story, I would continue with NotLana (totally agree a Reardon would not be named that unless Bea was a big Lana Turner fan..) be the owner of the farm NotAmish Reva ends up on, and Alan comes a sniffing around after her (again, I would have a private eye find her for Alan and he is intent on using her for his advantage over Josh and again, just for [!@#$%^&*] and giggles and he knows it will bug the crap out of Alex to have Reva back...) Alan somehow has an accident and Amnesia Reva brings him to the house and NotLana is "Oh crap.." when she sees him. At the same time I would have brought back Bea (even if I had to recast her) to come ring Nola's beads as she is causing havoc all over town with Van and Matt and Ed (again, finding out that he is basically responsible for her sister dying..) I loved the idea of Mary Stuart as Meta, but Meta was stuck in the Bauer kitchen when they were already obscured...Bea would bring a comforting matriarch back who, situated in the BH and Company would provide the whole town to come in and cry over their coffee or beer to her.

I never saw the resemblance either. I was actually surprised during the Locher show that JFP looked very attractive and seemed very pleasant...(and I realize she was b.s. through half of it.) Yes, that was the main cause..Fiona vocally supported Zaz and went to the events for him including the OLTL events. Also, she got bored when they turned her into a soccer mom by once again sacrificing a good female character on the altar of Buzz Cooper. Now which came first, who knows, did Rauch retaliate by putting her in the back of scenes "Blowing up balloons for the Bauer BBQ" as Fiona put it. I have no idea why they just did not write both Buzz and her out then, other then to get that weird soap writer producer thrill of taking out what you think of the actor on the character...(okay, well I admit I would give Buzz an hilariously long death so that Deas could chew his last pieces of scenery..."gahhh, ha..." are waving, spit flying..."Im going...going..Im not gone yet..bahh, gahhh!" and then he would float to heaven and Nadine and Jenna would be there look at him and say..."Uh, not so much.")

We never saw Tony and Annabelles kids, or even knew how many there were...there must have been a lot as Bea just moved there and never came back. I would also have recast Sean Reardon with a more uh, conventionally attractive guy..(maybe that guy who played John on AW) and made his less of a sleaze and a cheap knock off of Buzz. I also think Michael the Clone doc could have easily been Jim Reardon, well known medical experimenter. I would have brought back the missing Reardon sibling, which some people call Lana for some reason..(maybe that was said on screen?) They could have had Lana be the mother of Abby (non Amish) who is hiding out from her abusive exhusband. So she buys a farm in Indiana and puts them both up as a fortress kind of thing, but since she is a Reardon, she takes in all of the worlds lost strays, especially women fleeing domestic abuse. Along comes amnesia Reva (I would totally have written a different back story of her missing years then the crappy schlock fairy kingdom) who she finds wandering around covered in blood ( she was hitchhiking with her radar back to Josh's peen, but is attacked and she fights her way out and Lana finds her dazed...) which she takes in. "Lana" would have the heart of Mo, but be tougher and more savy and maybe an ex-alcholic herself, which is why she has not communicated to her family since Mo's funeral. She would eventually get with Ed, but it would be a long road to that, as she would cut him if he cheated!

Well as JFP said, the whole fire story was to give Deas a one man show...(he was supposed to be the only actor on for one episode...that would attract ratings..people tuning into to see a sloppy middle aged loud mouth chewing the scenery and crying about his past..) I loved Nola but hated her fantasies too. I hate very special episodes geared to win Emmys but bringing the stories to a hault.

The show needed some comedic lightness, what with Brent concking Nadine on her head, rape, stalking, no matriarch..Josh being downright nasty to Reva when she returns, etc. McTavish did do good stand alone comedic scenes, Marj and Hawk (as dumb as having Alex using Hawk to spy on people, Marj and Gil were great at comedy..though it did get a bit AMC'ish) and a short one with Marj, Hawk and Nola when Nola was trying to get the use of the Spaulding Greehouse for Mattesa's wedding, and she tricks Alex into it..(by tripping Hawk into dumping something on Alex so he woudl have to drop his lawsuit against her..."Your work quick honey, I will say that" We just needed more of that...more Nola and less Iva Snyder.

I think Parker even said," After all those cups of coffee, your writing me out NOW?" i.e. just when there is something interesting to do...(and JFP well knew this.) I think that having Mo leave Ed, move in and take over the BH and take in Bridget when she is preggers...maybe she wouldn't know who the father is and either not hide Bridget of actually do so for a bit, and then adopt Peter herself so Bridget can have a life but always be close to Peter. Ed has to suffer everyone knowing and actually telling him this time he is sh*t, even Ross and Rick ("Grandma would be so angry right now" ) and then he does all he can to try to get back with her.. and adopts Peter himself then not knowing its Roger's grandson. The the custody can be between Ed, Mo vs. Roger..with Mo seeing Roger's side also, but know he can't raise a kid. Anyway, I would have Mo stand up and take her life and then Ed can see, as Curlee said, "What its like when friends dont stop byw with a caserole.") I still wish they had Nola find out about Ed and Lilian and for her to go on a rampage against both...leading Ed to finally show the audience his guilt over Mo's death, but not before we got Nola to berate him and hopefully slap the crap out of Lillian, hopefully in the middle of the Bauer kitchen. Speaking of, I would have brought Nola back as a best selling writer of "romantic adventures" which of course, would all star a plucky girl from the wrong side of the tracks, (maybe she would come back to write a book on Mo, doing some digging finds out about Ed the horn dog) with Gracie Middleton being her assistant... Gracie would once again be Ethel to Nola's Lucy, going undercover as a maid for the Spauldings to snoop on them for new material.

Ha..I never thought of that!!! I wonder if McTrash had a thing out for Brown and Tylo on how horrible she wrote them. From her book outline, she is obviously someone who never forgets a slight and likes to use her writing for revenge. God, I wish she had wrote a cameo for herself, to see her squeeze into those tight pleather pants at that age!

Well, remember, she is screwing Tony too, a funny scene has Bea walking in while Van is doing her "fur coat but naked underneath thing" (and really Van ,what if you got caught in a car accident...) I never understood why Nola of all people didnt bring that up when she was nudging Van in 95. Van was so much more fun then she was when she became town Matron. While I don't think Reva orginal recipe fundamentally changed GL on her own, Long's obsession with her nullified both Van (for her vixen role) and Nola (for the fun loving live wire) and that didn't need to happen( Van had the added issue of BevAlex coming in and becoming the business aristocratic ice queen.) Nola and Van I can see as Frenemies...the first to call the other out but hell to pay if anyone else messes with the other, but I never saw Van giving Reva the time of day, despite what they wrote. I wish they had Van reexamine her life after her dumb disease goes into remission and return to some of her old ways, kicking Matt our to the street, and loosing the matron hair and clothes, rejoining Spaulding and kicking Alan's butt. The disco...Josh was a "woman killer" when he first came on, Nola was preggers but went with Gracie to the SF disco despite that and Josh was coming on to her. She has a funny line when some guy she is not into comes on to her..."Im pregnant" and her runs away!

Bev and CB's Alan had an incestuous vibe, but it was more gothic , these two powerful people raised by an abusive father cut off from other people their age growing up. Marj's was more annoying and pathetic...like she actaully wanted to get it on with RR's Alan..it WAS weird. I think Borne would have been a good Kyle recast, or the man who met Reva when she had amnesia (a Richard replacement but there woudl be no stupid island royalty..it would be more gothic.)

Parker wasnt in on the budget discussions (I have no doubt she wasnt, but as with every work place, people talk and know things...) but you were? I agree that the Coopers were Greek by name only, because of FD. It was like Marland making the Reardon's Irish but they were protestant...(Long thankfully changed that.) I think that Long made her blue collar family Greek in answer to the Irish Readons of which the blueprint of siblings she stole (Frank-Tony-Harley-Nola.) In typical soap fashion they were as generic ethnic the toss in of Baklava, the Parathon picture in that ugly ass diner set, and Melina's..not great Greek accent

It was pretty much confirmed in the Locher room episode on Mo's death, when Parker said, "I think Jill had to free up money for Justin,". The focus group we know was just an excuse for JfP to dump Parker to bring in her beloved scenery chewer..(of course viewers who didn't even watch GL thought her character was boring, there was no context...) I do love whomever came up with the idea up thread of having Buzz PTS come back and shoot Lucy in the head (would it matter, the bullet would pass through air) That is one hell of a dark way to go!!! I just thought that they should have used Jenna to write Buzz off..they reunite they fight Jefferey then they leave town happy. Simple.

I would have LOVED that storyline. Unlike other's here, I really like HB (can understand their aversion to his Craig.) But he does give that Ivy League Privileged aura that GA gives, which might be good or bad (my conception of the heir would be a guy brought up in poverty, that really, really WANTS everything the Spauldings can give him..and finds Phillip a fool...he would be hungry and ruthless in ways the Spaudlings could never understand in that they had their wealth and power at all times..) A recast Alex would have been great, especially since at this time Marj was off so there was room for a new actress..(I always thought Lara Parker would be great..she gives off the elegance but will cut you vibe) but I don't know if you could recast Alan and Alex at the same time. I never understood the Vickie story dropping..I know GL had its head up Reva's ass the whole time, but they needed to develop other stories characters and Vickie would be the one, but they cast such bland actresses and the character should be playing everyone against each other as the insider/ousider.

I always wanted Nola to buy it and turn it into an Art Deco 1930s/40s film fantasy club thing...I loved the Towers and CC bar set. Love Hamp and love Gilly (so sorry for what incestuous crap McTrash is about to throw her way..) was this one of his last appearances...( I know he is at the misquide Holly/Fletch wedding.) Loved GL's music montage and this particular version of the theme...classy, sexy, a bit morose, a bit cheerful, all GL. Lord, they ruined it with Mattessa...why did they put that Mom hair on MK when they were putting her with him? What was with them having people screw while the BBBQ takes place, they had Rick and Abby once and here.." Ed, sorry I'm late, here is the potato salad..oh, uh Van when you done going down on Matt could you tell me if there is another bowl to put it in""

I like that idea....she is the toast or Europe and Phillip could be angry at her for not ever contacting her but the reason was, she was afraid of her craziness coming back and she feels quilt over abandoning him. They could have played on the old Alexis returning plot in publicity (which is fine thought it would play differently) It would have given Joan more meat then just unnerving Alan (which was fun as hell just the same) and they could have followed some of the same points including the ex wives club (instead of her taking over I would have her get a major investment in Spaulding and seat on the board to bedevil Alan. I just think Alex without Bev, just doesn't work so leave her off camera. My old rugby team mates (GL would play at the clubhouse do to me watching it once in a while ) thought she was "Hot as f*ck" and had no interest in Reva!

And Elizabeth..whatever happened to her..did they ever say she died? I always wish she came back, more confident and ready to take on Alan (she had money of her own, right?) I would have loved Collins as Elizabeth, but her hyper confident self would make it a stretch. Speaking of stretches, I wish they had left wiggle room for the real Spaulding heir to be alive....(some cockamany storyline where a crazed nurse took him and brought him back and then raised him as her own...and of course ole Rog would have found him)and comes back. He would be Alan on steroids and then watch Phillip squirm...(I love GA/Phillip but he ALWAYS was so entitled, even crying about that entitlement. )