Mitch64

I think the Alex/Sonni scene was during the writers's strike...so who knows what they intended. But as Pam Long said, Bev said the dialogue as is, "Right down to the typos!" Yes,she wanted it to be just Deas..but the net made her include other characters (I remember there was a party at Company when the fire broke out so that must have been the writers attempt to get characters there. And it was when Matt/Van were "outed,") The funny thing is, this is epsiode is what made me REALLY hate Buzz and blanche everytime I saw Dea flapping his arms as he rushed into a scene.) I am sure they did..I didn't HATE Crampton, and actually think she was better right before they wrote her out..she is one of the only actresses Oleary had THAT kind of chemistry with, and she saw Ed pull the plug on Eve,(whcih was dropped with the new writers...) I could see that story were Mindy wrestled with her big mouth and finally had it dragged out at a hearing. I agree that Rauch turned Reva into Viki on OLTL, and took everything intereseting out of her, and left us with the most annoying parts of her (her big mouth and her past while she walked around like her [!@#$%^&*] didnt stink.)

I think all the ATWT sets in the late 70s, early 80s looked like that...it may have been a recycled set but I dont think it was supposed to be the same house Don had...interesting that they used the original set that Lyla lived in when she first came to town, I wonder if the ghost of Lisa Lorings bad acting haunted the set?

That was long writing as if SB was GL...(I remember one critic called it "Grafting a horse head on a zebra") and yes, crafted a whole family around "Jodie" a high spirited gal with a hulking ex-husband with a spoiled daughter (hmm where have I seen that before) Long even copied Nolaaerobics with GinaJeans! Yea had to be. Long was so talented and Kat a great character but she got pushed aside for air time for JFP's new fave...Lucy Cooper at that time!

Yea, I never got this as there WERE big stories planned for Walker...she returned with Josh, she was supposed to be "wild" (she jumped in the Trevi fountain naked, don't you know..first of all the ripped of "The Birds" and I cant believe GL would do another fountain routine with one of Josh's screws..) Sarah didn't like her, she was Roger's "step daughter, " the made a BIG deal of her being on GL, it was just that the character didn't work out and for some reason, Walker didn't fit. So they break her and Jarsh up and try to have her in a triangle with AM and eveyone's fave middle aged perve Alan, (which incited MarjAlex weird incest vibe she gave with RR...) and THAT didnt work out. Funny thing in the Locker Room interview JFP said the Buzz episode was supposed to just feature Deas and his monoloque and CBS said, "Uh, no." thank God, it was painful enough to see Deas unfettered and them whoring for an Emmy with him. What was the thing with 5th Street anyway, Buzz ran as far as he could from it and then he was the "King of 5th Street".. All actors are insecure, and Kimmer knew how the game was played, and she played it for all it was worth, but its more TPTB's fault that they let her and they believed Jeva was THE couple to build the show around (even Long's GL wasnt as lopsided as Rauch's GL was.) Rauch was a ageist pig so I can never understand why he went so in for Reva...but that had to play into Kim's issues also.

I wish Deas well also..but agree with you. Not only was Buzz not needed he sucked airtime from others who were there before him doing similar things..we had Ed as a fallible dad, we have Ross as the "good" dad..Roger/Alan have many more formidable enemies then Buzz, Frank was the Cooper "man" trying to keep his family together (Frank got more and more useless with Buzz there...) We have JFP to thank for making the show "Guiding Buzz" and the soap press and others who proclaimed him daytime's Pacino so we were stuck with him..(I like what Marcy Walker said about his acting parapharising "It can be self-indulgent at times!") I can see Alan finally sick of loosing women, becoming like his father and just using them, but we never saw that with RR's Alan. He acts like he is in LOVE with Annie, and ends up being her dupe, standing around holding her purse while she concocts another evil scheme against Java (yawn..) Alan should have been the one ecouraging Annie's dark side, so he could weaponize her against Jeva with the end result of occupying Josh so that Alan can take over Lewis..(and for shits and giggles cause Jeva 2.0 are so freaking annoying...) But we don't get that, he is butt hurt over the middle aged temptress Reva (okay...) dumping him and then he is over his heels for Annie. Not Alan at all..he should have been using them all for his benefit...(especially with Alex out of the way to stay his hand ..) I can't even think about him and Beth...RR/Alan looked like an old perve with her...yucckkk!

Oh the good old days...Phillip in his rugby shirt, Mr. Tony Reardon, and Reva flouncing around in a fur coat. I always liked that apt he and Rick lived in (I think even when they were supposed to be in college..) there is no way the rest of the residents did not think those two were the gay couple..brick accent wall and cozy fireplace and all. Did India say to Warren, "Shut up you FREAK!" (and I love how easy for skinny middle aged Warren pushes strapping 21 year old Phillip aside. I never thought Pilon was that bad as Alan..I thought he was better than Raines..but maybe it was the writing.

Especially in this scene, where Alex is being really nasty to Mindy. I think its funny that someone thinks this is really good, as everyone is starting to act OTT constantly (Mindy FREAKING out and throwing something...and that music!) This must be near the start of Marj's run...she has not QUITE gotten into her bad habits (popping eyes and YELLING) as they are still writing with Bev in mind (and the blondish hair they gave her. The Alex/Mindy thing had already reach its expiration point by this time, and with two recasts in the roles, there just was no connection with the audience...they should have just moved on

Ha!!!!! Yes, that was Dolan's Mo..short lived storyline, but you could tell they were testing pairing them to counter Ed/Claire but they didnt go with it. As Kyle Sampson, who only has eyes for Van...pissing Ms. Reva off !!! Well, every garbage can has a lid so its all a matter of taste...if short, sloppy, loud, chewing gum while kissing is you thing....: ) I don't see how anyone can say he understood women..he always controlled them and the women he had became shells, Jenna in particular...(I wont even go into Nola obsessing over him...) I did like when he was first on the show as "Rex Mancini" before he was the end all and be all, and still a scum, and he was working for Lewis and having a phone convo like he was in a big business deal and Van walked over and said, "This might work better" and plugged the phone in!

My hatred of Fletcher and my annoyance with Hammer's acting is second only to Dea's Buzz...and yes, Zimmer and even Deas on occasion could get away with chewing the scenery, Hammer could not. (not to mention if I read one more interview where he mentioned Fletcher's cute buns!) But he truly wasn't always like that earlier in his run..he and Zimmer actually had a nice fun friend chemistry together and he and Claire were good. They threw Fletcher at all our divas and none of it worked. Bev, Marj, Maeve, Maureen...I actually think he might have been good with Parker's Maureen when she had a crush on him (really Mo????)

The funniest thing Marland ever wrote (unintentionally ) was someone throwing pregnant Dana off a balcony or something, and characters were having a conversation in front of a window and there goes Dana flying by....and she was okay?!?!?

If ever there was a time for a serial killer to strike Springfield that was it....I think Kyle is so weird, control freak and pervy( I can't get over him forcing Roxie to a screw and his early fascination with prostitutes..) that I would have made him the secret serial killer framing Cane Harris for his crimes, as he slowly poisons boring Maeve to get rid of her. Anway, its funny, Long, when asked about how the fans still hate what she did with the Bauers, (after telling them they need to get over it) said that even if she wanted to get rid of them, she couldnt' with Jeff Ryder who knew and loved so much of GL history...(it never showed.) Blake is really Curlee's creation...Long did not know anything about Roger and Holly and Curlee had to pressure her into going along (as someone said above they asked Zaz to play Alan and he turned them down...) To Long's credit they brought Holly back for Christmas, after the Blake reveal and she tried to kill herself, and Long saw MG (with her hair up to look older no less) and was "That woman is SEXY" so wrote her back in. I'm in the minority, but I never thought SS' Blake was that great...I mean, she was funny in a campy bitch role (but she always looked to me that she could go, as my grandmother would say, "Bear hunting with a switch") but I never thought she was raised by Ed. LK's Blake was more vulnerable and screwed up and seemed more to incorporate being raised fairly normal until the [!@#$%^&*] hit the fan (she always came off as a decent person who kept screwing up her life as opposed to purposely selfish and mean. )

I think you hit it there. Long made Springfield seems like a community and a fun place to live..I wanted to hang out at Company, hit the Reardon kitchen, snoop with Nola, go to the Country Club and watch the crap hit the fan. The Three M's graduated high school when I did and I wanted to go to "Springfield U" with them, I wanted Bert Bauer as the cool older lady you talked to, I never wanted to live in Marland's Oakdale..I mean, I don't care that its Lily's birthday, I dont want to hang out in that drab Snyder kitchen with people acting like they were teleported in from a 1930s farm movie...I dont want to go into therapy, and I really dont want to talk about "honesty being the most important thing in a relationship" so really I wouldnt fit in!!! I think that is why GL in Fall of 85 seems so odd, suddenly SF is not fun anymore..Kyle Sampson is flaring his nostrils and blackmailing Roxie to have sex with him, but he is supposed to be a romantic hero, everyone is running around in fur coats like its Dynasty, Ed morphed over night into Faux Ed, Bert is gone (cant be helped) Bea is gone and the rest of the Reardons to be replaced by Hawk and the Shaynes...Alex is obsessing over a guy with weird blond hair. I think Ed wasnt BIG enough in drama like Alan etc. However, Ed would be the person besides Holly, to know which buttons to push. I would have had Ed renew his relationship with Blake and for her to consider him her "dad" again or start to, before Roger came back.

I LURVED Bridget...a more contemporary (for that time) Nola..I loved her fake teenage sarcastic nature (to cover up her insecurities) I love her intro and how she bugs uptight Ed (my fave Ed lines: "Your niece just rolled a trucker and you want her to watch Michelle" and "Go upstairs and put something else on, you look like you dance in a cage" I loved her annoyance at Chelle (and Minor's Chelle is pretty annoying, in a real kid way as opposed to a child actor way as that toothy girl was was Marah) and her eventual softening to her, her friendship with Kat (I love when they break into Gilly's apartment decorated in frills and they turn to each other "HATE IT!" her friendship and loyalty with David, her schemes and her softening and her relationship with Dylan (it actually made sense that this hot sensitive guy would like what other people would consider not conventionally attractive.) I HATED how McTavish had her revert to a more cartoonish version of her debut self and chase after Hart...at first it made sense he was the father of her kid but then they recast with Jersey Boy Grillo and she used her kid to try to trap him and she looked pathetic (they even had her considering plastic surgery in a scene where you could tell Zaz was playing against the script where he made Roger actually have concern for Bridget even as he was using her) and then she just said she was moving back to live with Dylan, dumped Company and disappeared without a good bye to anyone (no doubt Rauch thought she was, as he called woman "a dog" so who cares...) These are what I would consider my fave times also. I know people knock her but I felt Long's first run up to Fall of 85 is better then Marland's (though she never got Nola) it was fun and exciting and warm and sexy and funny (Warm, Sexy, and Funny were never Marland's qualities) and the Curlee era was must see TV..the characters (most of them) were funny and smart and complicated.

Don't forget that Bridget was locked in the Lewis attic while pregnant (how no one in the house could hear a pregnant girl walking around above them and I would think using the toilet.) while Nadine ran around with a pillow (and how Billy never saw his wife naked or partially undressed during that time...all I can say is, Nadine sure as hell must have suck a golf ball through a garden hose...) This had to come from Reilly's head, it was stupid and plot orientated and required everyone to be stupid. Bridget was locked in the attic when her Aunt Maureen died who Bridget really loved.

Laura is his mother, and I think she was an agent with Roger? Anyway, she is dead (I can't believe they never "un deaded" her.) Vanessa is Peter's adopted mother and will be his step aunt in due time, so Matt is his uncle and his stepdad. So Dinah ends up being Peter's sister with hopes to be his step mom also. Bridget and Dinah are actually cousins by marriage as Bridget's aunt is married to Dinah's uncle (though that connection is never brought up during the McLaiby reign of terror) The whole Bauer/Reardon/Chamberline/Lewis families are interconnected ( I would throw in Marler too as Ed raised Blake though that is hardly ever mentioned, plus Ross is Dinah's mom) so they make a really good, , messy, weird, multi-generational core family, but later writers threw it all away to focus on Reva and Josh and the Spaulding and the Coopers (UGGGHHHH!)

Darryl was so boring the only redeeming quality would be if he was a murderous villain. I like Marland's idea that he is a true sociopath, but we never saw that play out, he was always polite (I guess in Marlandland even psycho sociopath's have manners) and nice. It would have been interesting if Margo instead of calling him "Dreamy Darryl" or whatever she kept repeating cause she knew him in high school, was a bit wary of him, as he was "popular" in hs and she was in a fringe group and she saw how he used girls back then (I always thought Margo would not be "popular" girl as she would be loud and pushy and stick up for the geeks, etc...maybe I am thinking more of Collin's Margo.) The only way for this mystery to work is if it wasnt a mystery and we the audience see that Daryl is a freak and are just biding our time to see who is next. I wonder if Leslie Dennison ever got sick of playing an invalid on PG soaps (it seems most of her time as Maeve was spent in bed while preggers with Ben.)Come to think of it, this storyline would have worked on GL with Kyle killing boring Maeve to keep the kid and have Reva...Reva gets together with Kyle again to get married, Fletcher is suspicious, and Josh could have come it to save her from getting her loud mouth silence..FOREVER..mwhahaha... Larkin Mally gave out serious psycho vibes as Kyle so it could work.

The only lighthouse's in Illinois are in Chicago and the Northern Burbs. It makes sense that Springfield was in Michigan on Lake Michigan, which would also make it close to Goshen...(not that anyone wants to relive that story..) I don't get why they just didn't say where it was...when they did say Oakdale was in Illinois. I think it goes to laziness of the soap writers and producers..along with their writing of corporations inner workings...( I get it has to be sensational and entertaining but some semblance of reality would be great..not the constant back of forth of the Spauldings ruling the corporation with no backlash from the board, stock holders or investors..and Harley becoming CEO) and the East Coast bias of the midwest (Lipton I am looking at you) that they cant even look up what weather patterns are like or like Guatman and others, thinking kitchen scenes are old fashioned and everyone eats out.. Roger has a son Hart, who knocked up Bridget Reardon, who is Ed Bauer's niece by marriage...(the Reardons are a working class family who run a boardinghouse and bar...) She and Vanessa share custody of Peter, much to Roger's dismay as, as wiley as Bridget is, Van has known Roger for years and she knows his every move. Matt is Bridget's sister (and dull as hell if you ask me..) Hart is gone from town and he and Roger have an acrimonious relationship...(as Roger has with EVERYONE...) The house is Van's and Josh moved in when he recently returned from "Europe" looking for Reva. The explanation is that they didnt have to create a new set for Josh (and wait until you see the ugly annoying set they give him later..) and it makes GL sense... Van and Josh treat each other like brother and sister, and he has kids as does Van so they formed a family unit.

I would have to disagree here. Brent was not trans..he was at most...a cross dresser for a specific purpose. I think a better writer would have emphasised how this misogynistic rapist, who obviously hates women, is running around as one..and choose to dress as an unattractive woman (I never knew what JFP looked like then, I was just struck that everyone in Springfield took a dummie pill and didnt notice this was a man..besides Rick, and was astounded that there was someone unattractive running around ..Alex said something, but they were writing her as being boorish and rude instead of noticing something was up.) The storyline also got backlash for Brent changing Lucy's HIV test to positive, which I didn't get at that time..shows have been doing that for pregnancies for years, but I guess it was 1995 when real people were getting real results and it was a death sentance at that time. This I feel was more disgusting then Brent/Marion...the incest angle, which McTrash seemed to love, and having a civil rights leader shot themselves to frame a white man. I have no idea why they didnt pair Gilly with Nick. Look I hate Buzz, and believe he should have been a victim of Brent...(cue the longest and loudest death scene in history...) but I would not have written it as a joke to get back at an actor I find intolerable. She has a thing for dead bodies laying around doesnt she? McKinsey was up for GL EP but MADD in her continued stupidity...chose Wheeler. I am sure we would have had JVD to the end if he was there..(and a better show.)

I get the Brent storyline...the ratings had dropped so bad and the canvas was fractured as it became "Guiding Buzz" and they felt they had to beat a drum loudly as a columnist said..but how easy would it be to write for Amanda returning home after all these years, and realizing her father invited her back as weapon against Alex and AM and her choosing her own way (and instead of chasing Ross, they could have naturally been drawn back together working on something) and Nola wanting to fill her sister's shoes by trying to Mother Chele, Bridget and even Dinah (they could have written that Dinah spent time with Nola in Europe and that Nola encourgaged her "change of character") then Nola finds out about Ed and Lillian and the [!@#$%^&*] hits the fan! It wouldn't be hard.

Agreed. JFP blew up the whole writing team that was in place before..so we just had Anderson and whomever...and Liabson seemed at a loss and didn't understand GL..which was odd as he worked on ATWT when Marland was there. I remember him being at a fan event and taking some people aside and asking them for input (he might have been yanking their cranks or he might have seen the axe hovering...) I wonder what it could have been like if someone with talent was their to reign her in..Brent/Marion was creative..she brought back Nola (and dropped the ball) she brought back Amanda (and dropped the ball) Odd thing is, I would have loved to know what the hell she was doing with Zachary the angel...Was he reincarnated...would he become human with his great love of MancrazedChelle? I didn't care about watching it, I just would love to see what she planned.

I always thought MG's Holly was a hell of a lot sexier then Kimmer's post resurrection Reva..MG was one of the only women to created sparks with RR's Alan in one single scene and of course, they didn't follow up on it. Its too bad..if they had pursued the Roger ALS storyline, and brought a suitable Ed back, the two of them could have been dealing with Roger and once his storyline is finished for the characters and the audience, the two of them could have gotten together. Holly as the sexy sarcastic matriarch of the show after all that has gone on.."Please Blake, even Bert would have been left speachless with your behavior."

Which is weird, as she wrote for GL years ago..granted it was mostly under Ryder, but she was there acting when the show was solid. Lord, Maeve/Fletcher was dull as hell (well, poor Maeve was ) It was JFP/Anderson who put them together, and I think it was JFP, but definitely Anderson who married them off. Saddling Holly with a socially relevant storyline with dull Fletcher (and Hammer walking all over MG's lines) was the final stab and really, Holly never recovered from it. I still think the first Brent victim should have been Fletcher, with Roger being framed by Brent. You could have still had Lucy in it but not the centerpiece and have an increasingly whacked out Holly going after Roger...they should always have been in each other's orbits..just not "together" Brent could have been a great new villain but JFP wanted to sell the Lucy character so she tried to get the audiences sympathy for her with the rape. I know Rauch took all the credit for crazy Annie, but Megan laid the groundwork with her starting the lies (covering up her marriage to Rick) and her odd hyperness around the kids, along with the addiction issues. It was clear they were heading that way, but may have allowed the character to not quite go into full cartoon psycho mode so Jeva looked saintly.

I would LOVE to hear what Megan thought of Kimmer. If she got pissed that poor little Jean Carol went public asking for story, what the hell did she think of Zimmer constantly bitching to the press she wasn't on enough and getting her band of house fraus to write in DEMANDING more Reva. Not to mention she disses poor MG for getting older (and she says less popular, well, it could be the albatross called Fletcher they wrote her with) when Kimmer, as attractive as she is, was not the hot young thing that jumped in the fountain ten years before... It's so telling that the Brent/Marion storyline was one of her faves of all her storylines and she couldn't wait to see it onscreen (as it was so dark.) I do say that the storyline was really good (despite the fact the Lucy was the center of it but what were you going to do with the actress or the character..) and you can tell that everything else on GL was an afterthought for her..even Reva's return was second string and sloppily done..and after Brent was caught, the show lost all energy and McTavish was spinning her wheels after she shot her load. She did have respect for the Brent actor as she did not dish the whole story of his breakdown as she was outing people right and left. I think her material started in July or August of 95. I know Laibson announced Kimmer's return when they were filming the Bauer BBQ so McTavish was onsite at that time. Whatever happened to Douglas Anderson, who you know JFP picked so she could walk over him.

I didn't read that part? Carol went to SOD to ask Megan for a storyline (in all fairness, Nadine's tenure was over, but I wouldnt have killed her, and been happy about it...?)

Ha..I never go over there..now I must!!!! I have always suspected someone here posting over in the Marvelous Midwestern Threads.