Mitch64

Well, Claire did rig Rick's test results, but it was to flunk. They actually managed to get his correct results back after they were thrown into Cedar's furnace...I think? Everyone knew Claire changed them and Rick passed so that rewrite never made sense. I agree. Pratt always seems "edgy" on screen (and her Locker Room interview prooved that it came from her personality.) I liked Claire causeing trouble and love Meta ringing her beads. Its just too bad that Abby left and they kinda just forgot Claire existed.

Claire was always tightly wound, I think what Long was going to do is to throw the three into this impossible situation with no bad guys, Mo, knowing how to take care of kids from growing up but unable to conceive and Claire, who didnt know how to take care of kids and was totally focused on her career, gets knocked up. Ryder took Claire off the deep end as a convenient way to make story for characters he wasnt interested in (though Pratt blames McTavish) with little effort. It was later explained to be a brain tumor (though why was she a bitch again when she returned?) \ Claire did sleep with Rick, she was his first!

Thanks! I do have to say that I do love a good murder mystery, kidnapping and evil twins....I just wouldn't do them everyday! And I do love a good town slut and troublemaker!

Very true...but TPTB all were desperate to get into prime time or films and couldn't, so they looked down on their own industry and tried to infuse themes that just didn't work in soaps. I would have thought after 9/11 the shows would have gone out of their way to provide that warmth and comfort that the audience wanted, and to bring old viewers back. Budget cuts? Just bring back kitchen sets, both ATWT and GL got rid of those besides one each..(the Snyders and the Bauers) You don't need super fancy sets if you have the writing.

I know they were popular, but once they tamed Van's shrew, I thought Billy just brought Van down. Since they had just Nola and Billy sitting around in 97, an interesting thing would be if they had developed a friendship that turned into something else while Van was "dead". Maybe Billy lives at the Boardinghouse (to work on repaing his relationship with Bill) and works at Company instead of the stupid diner. Nola and Bridget give him a job there and Nola and Billy (who had originally been a bit antagonistic) slowly build up a relationship and then Van returns. A returned new lease on life Van would return to her "high hat ways" and take on the Spaulding's for control of the company with Billy helping her behind the scenes. I know that Jordan was on sporadically because of his issues and them not know if they could trust him not to fall of the wagon, but they could have done it slow..and give Van and Nola a new reason to get in each others hair (I love a good Van/Nola tussle.)

That's on Kimmer. As someone posted above...she was offered roles in pilots but she would be part of an ensemble or supporting. She didn't want that so she came back to GL. I don't know what she thought would happen..someone offering her "Here's Kimmer!" or The "Zimmer Comedy Powerhouse Hour" variety show..but her housefrau fans did not have the same pull in HW as they did on the soaps. Forbes and Watros knew that you had to take small parts to get noticed ands start a career in primetime. I know she was in consideration for the wife in Evening Shade, but when you go up against Marilou Henner, the soap diva looses. I could see her frustrated in a role like that, where she has to be the understanding wife with a bit of sass, but she could have made it work, if it wasnt for her huge ego. I think it would have been an issue haveing all the powerhouse comedy actors surrounding...(lets face it..Alice Ghostly woudl have wiped the floor with her...) but it would have been a good launching padd.

I can't imagine it was a shock to any of the actors, especially one so industry savy as Zimmer. However, it must have been like all of us, watching a loved one fading away and knowing it was going to happen but still being shocked when it does. Wheeler is to blame for waiting so long for that Hail Mary pass to be thrown. Its funny but this was the time that the writing seem to be getting better so someone fixed that, but why didnt it happen sooner? Again, at least the GL I saw go off the air, despite looking like it was filmed in my backyard, was the GL I knew with the right characters coming back and the right things happening. Unlike ATWT.....

A funny scene, Roger and Sonni go out to eat, at that place that had a colonial theme (I love when soaps have very specific places to eat..I hated the diners on GL, ATWT and AW) and this is just after Rog came back and Sonni hit the headlines and the waitress scremes.."Oh, Roger Thorpe, and YOUR...please dont' hurt me..." and they are all like, "Hey, were just hungry!" (most soaps now have someone go on a murder spree and the rest of the cast and extras look like they havent heard about it."

Maeve Kincaid said in interviews that she misses slapping Jordan Clarke's face..something along the lines "He knew how to take a slap!" Or voodoo dolls..LOL!

To be honest...I don't think it is her physical appearance that gives her a toothy look..I think its her "Hello everyone...I'm a child STAR!!!! Aint I precious" and that smile she has plastered on her face during...every scene....I really think its more the directors fault...(I didnt notice any toothy smiles when she came back as an adult for that one day...) But it also could be the writing...any LOWHAD scenes should have been off limits to diabetic viewers. I think it really goes to show how lucky we were to have RM and BB as kid actors...they really went against that whole "Cutie pie" child actor thing and seemed real. What was with PG and the stupid island fetish they had? Though seeing Zimmer and Wyndham one upping each other would have been great.

But by Dinah and Hart...Hart especially looked as if he could not tie his own shoes! Ed, Holly, Alan, Alex Henry and Vanessa among others were not able to put Roger down....Dinah???

spoiler alert AMC... Ha..this is one of those storylines, much like the Salem Stalker...and whatever Alex was supposed to be holding over Alan's head that Henry knew about...what was the original intention of the through line..who is Mary Bauer and why does Meta know Zach (I know what Zach is supposed to be but was he human before...is Chele a reincarnation of Mary? )Eventually was he supposed to become human? Why is he so dull if he who is supposed to be...but it does make sense on why he is so sexless. Of course, what the hell was the burial ground storyline of Qualo..it was like they were trying to reenact the 80s with that temple storyline Marland gave them...would have been more interesting to have Stacy come back with "return from the dead" Silas Crocker in disguise as an older lover. McTavish is at loose threads here and you can tell she just does not give a damn anymore. A great idea is hidden in the whole Roger/Dinah/Hart mess....Roger having a midlife crisis and breakdown would have been good...being confronted with all of his misdeeds, the two rapes, and also his murders (the show always likes to forget that he pushed a woman down the stairs and had to have killed people in the CIA.) Maybe something he does accidentally causes Holly to miscarry, and then he does something again accidnetly to hurt Hart so he thinks he killed him.

Very true...and that was the heart of what the character was and excelled at..everyone goes on about the Slut of Springfield scene, but damn, did the writing and acting come together when Reva confronted Pharoh about her early molestation by him. THAT is the stuff that worked...not being the Queen of a dumb island.

Kimmer had her fans (and she is a very good actress...) but most of them were "fanatics" like Brad Cole fans..she could take a crap in the middle of the Peapack Park Gazebo and Fran from Iowa would be posting how she "Knocked it out of the ballpark this time." It also didn't help that most of the show post Rauch was geered toward giving Kimmer story, no matter how dumb it was, so the rest of the vets sat around. Its sad..as Kimmer is a good actress and Reva..Real Post Death Reva is a good character, but taken in small doses in an ensemble..and her fans could never stand (nor could Kim)unless she is front and center. Both she and Deas were so much better subtle actors as support (Reva was actually tolerable and rootable again when she was supporting others stories.) LOL..Kimmer would still find a way to chew the scenery..can it be a weird, Dreaming Death type plague that hits Buzz too?

The writers had the perfect way to explain some really inconsistent writing with Beth, by saying she had a few splits. I think her background of abuse by her stepfather, etc would have had been a good way to intro a very cold, bitch that they wrote Beth as sometimes...(and BC actually played well.) Loreli could have been her fun, sexually free side, etc. But they just write her as jumping on Eddie, planning coups, knowing people are in dungeons, and then SHE is the victim...and then they bring Loreli on and no one in town recongnizes her as Beth????/ This is why you could not invest in a Reva or Josh pairing outside of Jeva..you know the Jeva fraud would throw a fit if they weren't back together in six months. I didn't think Noah was bad..except can't Reva be alone for five minutes (her best time IMO was when Kyle broke up with her to marry that bore, and she had to get a job, friends, etc. Plus, of course he had to be tied to San Crud, and a super rich doc who of course was actually a super spy (which Dobies could play neither...) I would like a storyline where Noahs "TWU WUVs."comes back and Josh is with Liv, and again Reva (come on, we could all see that..) had to contend with being the Annie cast aside. And the whole point was for her sight to come back so she could see Liv stuffing stolen money in a bag...even Zimmer thought that was stupid.

Wow..what was going on in GH during this time..beating our both ATWT and AW?

Well, I am glad someone was!!!! : )

Well, VI was leaving, and while Long admits that killing him was stupid...I do agree with letting him go with a big bang...body missing. They spent a lot of time and money on Infinity, (which I think might have gotten a bit of a better reputation had it not been the harbinger of a total tonal change with the Bauers and Reardon's decimated and its all Reva and the Lewis and the weird people hanging out around Kyle) so they needed it to end dramatically. They could have done so much more with having Alex go after Kyle and Billy, but that ends and she starts moping over weird and boring Simon. With Kurt..what were you going to do.. cute but boring and perfect and with ties to no one (they had a nice little thing where Bea took him under her wing when everyone left but then she did too..) If they had the balls they would have had Rick and Mindy jump in the sack ( I know, Mindy should have learned birth control by then) I would have had it be Mindy who knows about Rick's drug use and she tries to help him...(not that nobody who came and went) of course, Kurt and Roxie misunderstand..that on top of her bad Sampson Girl thing leaves him to leave her temporarily, and in grand soap tradition, Rick and Mindy console each other (again, I would write it that they always really did, and Mindy rushed into things with Kurt) and she gets knocked up, and loving Rick but also Kurt she chooses to believe it is Kurts (which I could see Princess Mindy doing "My life is perfect and I will it that way, this is Kurts kid")But, she had the dumb model thing, then she burned down the house he was building, she tried to get prefers and he dies (but also Kobe was the one who built him up, then she was gone when he was let go.) Ross believe it or not is one of the last of the "old guard" characters, beside Ed (who is now FauxEd) and Maureen, and Henry and Van (who is ties to being the Lewis family mope.) JVD has made jokes that they didn't write him out as they simply forgot that he was there! Reva doesn't even call her mother when she comes back! I never saw the use of Sarah but they could have reunited them and sent her and Hawk out of town together. Hell, I don't like the Shaynes but she should have mentioned Roxie and Rusty. The weird thing is that Dylan had a ton of story and was very important to the Van/Bridget baby custody story. By the time Reva comes back Dylan had only been gone a year so its not like people wouldn't know him..( I liked him and Bridget together...) So he comes back in 97 and acts like it's no big deal Reva is alive so they must have talked off camera. But Reva was too busy squacking about that annoying toothy Marah and blank Shayne to talk about anything else. It's not quite as weird as Van, who obsessed over Peter, comes back to SF and never mentions him...i.e. "I saw Peter this weekend and he so barely remembers me but he is happy with Bridget and Dylan...")

I love how farmboy Hart became a Guido with a thick New York accent. You could tell they never knew or cared what to do with Hart post MH, he was just a hunk of steroids to take off their shirt and have girls fight over him, but I never understood what Bridget, Dinah or Cassie saw in him..(besides the proverbial roll in the hay, now there is a 20 on the dresser get out.) The move from Hilliard to Grillo was really quick and I would like to know the story...was Moniz not liking him? For more on our good old George Pilgrim, read "Unscripted" where he makes a cameo appearance as Sumner Redstone's much younger mistresses side piece. When you read about him you could imagine that Pilgrim was writing his own dialogue as obnoxious J. There is NO way he was a product of Nola and Quint.

I forgot about the Charlotte Wheaton saga....wasnt her real killer that Alicia television woman..it really was a big "who cares" as it involved people we didn't know (I do wish Charlotte would have lived to just be an annoying pain in the ass to everyone as a recurring character...)It didn't help that it was Faux Ed and as you say, VanFleet makes PS look like a live wire! Didn't Fletcher and Mo have a radio show at that time WTF was Long thinking during this time? I saw another clip of Maeve and she is yet again laying in bed as she is preggers..I swear LD must have had it written in her contract that she was to remain off her feet for all of her roles..(wasn't she in a wheel chair on ATWT?)

Blake was a character that was introd right before or during the strike. When Long came back she asked who Blake was talking to on the phone and the producers were like "We don't know!" It was Curlee who pushed to make that character Chrissy...when they were in talks with Zaz to replace Pilon as Alan, (dummies) . I like the idea of another Reardon but yea, Chelsea? I grew to like her but she just seemed to be a kid that Bea fostered instead of a Reardon. Remember when they had a big scene of the Ed and Maureen talking about the "wildest" Reardon coming home, and Rick says, "Nola's coming back" and Maureen says, "Oh no, Chelsea's MUCH wilder then even Nola!" Okay..riiggghhht. I know they mentioned her "jumping in a fountain in Rome," and since they also had boring Tangie do that, this was apparently the wildest thing the writers could dream up (or they watched the "the Birds" too many times.)

I remember this being in the soap press at the time, they were going to be focused on rebuilding the Bauers, Reardons and Spauldings..and we saw they kind of just created a new Reardon (Chelsea when Nola was always supposed to be the youngest) a new Bauer with an offshoot of the main family,(Johnny) so I am sure they were going to do the same with Alan. New writers may have changed all that..(Long later brought back Amanda for the Christmas episodes...leading into Alex/Phillip dethroning Alan.) I thought Poser should play an different character then Amanda...maybe an adopted daughter. We know Alan had a woman who he lived with in San Rios, they could have had her die and to pay her back for saving his life he adopts her daughter and trains her in all the ways to be a Spaulding. He pays a debt and he has a secret weapon to unleash on the family when he needed to so he keeps in his back pocket.

Interesting..this is more then likely why I found Reva 2.0 boring and annoying..she had everything she wanted...now what else is there but some outside evil person or clones? It also might have been one of the reasons McTavish had Quint have an affair..it made Nola loose her Prince. But unfortunately they didn't do anything with it but made Nola a sad sack whiner. I wish they had her write a book..of course, some tell all which would make everyone pissed at her, especially Van. Long was desperate to sideline Van into the Lewis hole. They had Van working at Spaulding again in 85 around the time Alan came back. I would love to have had Henry and Van tired of Alex dragging some nobody blond guy and trying to install him as a Spaulding, and fight to get their part of the company back. They could have used Ross to help them and of course, Billy would be p*ssed off that Van wasn't sitting at home and her old sharpness comes out.

She could have easily tied them into the Cottage Mystery...(they could have easily explained going on adventures with Bea, babysitting) The house that Tony and Annabelle lived in could have been the coachhouse of the property that Qualo and Henry live in, or at the very least Nola would have been totally in on ghosts and secrets of her brother's house. But they kind of just sat around for months. The clip of Van and Billy's impromptu wedding shows how sidelined Nola and Quint became...Nola isn't even around butting in on them getting married, its all Reva (though it is a more interesting Reva where Mindy and her or going at it and insulting each other..THAT Reva was fun.) I loved it when those two would go at it. Somehow they could have resurrected that antogonistic relationship and not have Billy worshing at the throne of Reva. When they brought JC back on recurring they should have had him at least warn Annie about Jeva pulling her down..."Darlin' I love my brother, but when he has ole Reva in his sites he will drop any woman to try to win her back...and then he will get bored with her...she's like booze is to me and you...he hates it but he needs it..get out while you can!"

I thought it was weird, as it would be more relatable for young viewers to see college students..or maybe they think young people have a fantasy of being "adults" but not really? Mindy could have had her dumb model storyline while still being in college, Beth could have been there, Rick in med school (though I realize a whole med school thing would take too long) but Bolger's Phillip didn't look like he has been in college in ten years, unless he was the humpy professor everyone was in love with.