Mitch64

Warren Andrews was one of those Kobe/Long characters (like Jackson Fremont) who stuck around forever but never provided much of a purpose. I know he was supposed to be Alex's henchman and listen to her schemes to get rid of India, etc, but he should have been recurring and free up contract money for someone else. I love soap coincidences...it just is one of those things that make soaps, soaps. Also every mystery writer on earth make liberal use of coincidences and other soap elements like eavesdropping just as someone drops a truth bomb...even Christie did. It's all part of the genre.

I think that Marland said in an interview that Lisa made sense as he wanted to point out that the most unlikeliest of people can have racist feelings (or as we would put it today, racial bias) and he wanted to show that. It would have been more interesting if Nancy had felt that way, and it would have mattered as she was the "matriarch" of Oakdale...but as someone upthread wrote..they had defanged her so much she had no pep left and had morphed into an untouchable icon. I am sure Wagner would love to play it as she had commented many times on Nancy's controlling ways. I like the interview above and how Tunie mentions her past and the Helen Wagner picture. The set up for the show looks interesting and traditional, a matriarch with an iron fist watching out for her family (part Nancy Hughes, part Alexandra Spaulding) and two different daughters..though they do make the "wild" daughter seem too "Real Housewives" cartoony, but we shall see.

I am from Central Illinois, where presumably Oakdale and Springfield (fictional) existed (the farms, etc)..and there are actually Southern accents there..it wasn't until I moved to Chicago and people kept commenting on my accent...that I noticed it..( I won't go into the Southside Chicago accent that I was accosted with..I would always say, ..."I have an accent???" ) I think the issue is..that the Reva and the Lewis' have a "stage" accent..like they were doing regional Tennessee Williams, that is very cartoonish..(again, they had poor Larry Gates say "Ya-HEWWW" before he entered every scene..and they dressed him like Boss Hogg..) H.B. and Billy, I can see having more of an accent..with Josh and Trish having less..but it was nice that they let it go past Kobe and they all talked in a more "normal" way..(Josh and Billy using "Darling"..but I think Gates got it best..with a slight twinge.) Exactley..it was down rent Wheeler..who even without the budget had a down rent vision for the show...(who the hell wants to see a convenience store set??) The set was lazy (we don't have the finish the walls and save 130 bucks..and say it reflects their unfinished relatinship, but lets hang pictures up which no one in their right mind would do..) and the backyard was just an atrocity. I still think that Wheeler and the network thought the only people were watching were trailer trash..and I think by that time... I think that worked for upper crust Alex..who was raised in the midwest...though I it didn't work for Bernua who always sounded like he came from an East Coast Boarding School. I do think the one thing that RR and Marj had going is that they did "seem" more Midwestern.

I don't know why it matters so much...Gush and the whole weird Cooper family were living in a under construction house with kids running around and supposed backyard full of junk...all choices from Wheeler which as usual was weird and offputting.

I don't know, whatever the hell the house Gush and for some reason, all the Coopers seemed to live (did they forget that a Boardinghouse was attached to Company...probably) All I remember is Reva standing in the doorway of Cross Creek yelling out, "Hey there Barbara Jean...oh Bubba, you all coot, hiya" to apparently people who were driving, walking by? None of the other SF characters besides Lewises attended so I thought it was boring, no intrigues no bombs going off in the wedding cake, just Jeva, which on their own didnt do it for me.

Ha...and Wheeler tried to convince us this was to reflect on the "unfinished" aspect of Gus and Harley's relationship...(and they were trying to sell us on them being a supercouple.) Someone upthread mentioned the junk in the backyard, that was Harley's house....I kept thinking DCFS was going to come and take those kids...I was watching the show one night and my partner asked what the hell I was watching, I told him, and he said, "Looks like a bunch of white trash hillbillies running around." I could not argue.

Yes...the only time I liked Reva post resurrection was Peapack, despite thrusting her on a character I loathed. I do wonder if Zimmer looks back on that as not only a chance to bring an earthy character down to earth, but a chance for her to connect to her old energy and imagination without the artificial propping of the Rauch era on. Her and Phillip's scene when she is putting the crib together is gold...they both put across history and Reva comes off as being strong with him, greeting her old friend, and a bit of a flirt (and how she pulled off a middle age flirt who is pregnant and not wearing any make up, without making it gross or ridiculous is anyone's guess.) I can even see why Josh would go for the messier, let's face it..fatter Reva more then the overly made up middle aged bore she was during the Rauch era and beyond. And I would have loved to Reva and Nola as endgame matriarchs of SF...not sweet old ladies but full older women with their own eccentricities and living life while taking care of their people (as someone upthread put better then I did.)

Perfectly said. I know people don't like the change (and there were too many) but Long had all the families in play, the Spauldings with their dysfunction, the Lewis with their rowdiness and crassness as contrast to...everyone else, the Bauers the center of it all and their Reardon's brining the blue collar warmth even as they argued as a big family does. New characters like Reva and Alex and India, etc. Then it all fell apart and it became a show about people in shoulder pads and big hair and a show that was kind of eccentric, all over the place, and warm, became a cold show, and a copy of...some other show.

She had a "zest for life!" So Liv being overly sexual I could see her just going wherever the wind blew. I think some people just read more into this romance as it was one of the few featured on soaps (never got why people liked the ATWT gayling storyline.) and it actually had a beginning middle and end...and despite it being gay, it was pretty old fashioned soap, with longing and road blocks that came from within the character and not an outside force, and believe me I thought Natalia was dull as dirt. I gotta say tho. Liv and Phillip were hot as hell. Funny that the actors didn't really like each other that much.

I can't imagine that VW put up with any of JFP's crap. JFP's worst nightmare was women like VW and KZ who knew their own worth and were not going to let her walk over them.

I know what you are saying, but if my work told me...yea...we will call you when we need you and just pay you for those days, I would look elsewhere too. It shows you are not valued...especially when they keep Cole around playing that misogynitic tw@t he was playing. It also show poor planning. They did that to Marj during Rauch, and just when the FauxAnnie was starting to get interesting because Alex was ready to take her on, they didn't write for her so she said...yea later, and moved to AMC. Though Beth Chambelin worked more on recurring then she seemed to on contract so... Jessica was raped? I never liked her much but this long term character who was a black woman of power..they had someone rape her and NO ONE thought..uh, let's not do this?

Absolutely agree on this! Such a stupid move..let's get rid of the patriarch while we are on our last leg...(but let's keep Brad Cole....) I love that Wheeler and the writer went over Otalia scenes word for word,,,,if only they had done it for ALL of their scenes

I think It was with Henderon Forsythe ..I thought they knew but kept going as that is what they did...a wall falls down and you keep going its live. But maybe not.. No one in American wanted to hear Nancy say, "I have given it a great deal of thought..." again!

Love that opening (Liz does play it well and makes it fun..without being too jokey or silly) and wish they would have kept something like that every once in a while..Lisa "Oh honey, come sit down with me and let's see what ole Lucy and Johnny D are up to now...maybe we can have a nice gossip too?" Nancy, " Hello dears, come have a cup of coffee with me and see what mess I will need to fix next!"

The last week shows what they could have done with the format, if they put some money it with good cameras and nice sets, lighting and wardrobe (and writing of course.) I actually like the more "naturalized" way the actors had and you can tell that the vets were at the WTH stage and improvising a lot, I can' t believe the writers would write Nola's little put down of the Coopers or her ignoring Lillian totally, and of course the good bye kiss...also the Van/Nola interaction was on point and I would think due to the actors and not any direction given to them ..plus, who woulda thought we would get Ed/Alan interactions, and finally, Lillian's scene at Mo's grave (I wonder what poor schmuck that was whose grave they borrowed..it looks like their last name was Bauer ..) Great job shaking that bad mojo GL...too late in the last week

Your right. Anderson wrote the ghost Reva (only because JFP was forced to bring Kimmer on and she didn't want it permanent) E & B were the clone ..though it was forced on them and Rauch (in a rare moment of good taste) by Wendy Fishman (?) apparently, and in the Locher room writers chat Taggert said to Brown "Oh, you created the clone right"" and he was kind of annoyed "I wrote for the clone...it wasnt our choice or creation" and Gold was the paintings, which started out as a story in reincarnation (oh my God, Jeva were torturing people through the centuries with their constant break up, makes ups and marraiges) then it somehow morphed into traveling through paintings..( I always wonder if Long watched what they did to her character and what she thought...) Yea, McTavish was mean spirited..."Have some more diner food, Deenie!"

She had the hots for Blake? I don't remember that! The only thing I didn't like about it was the dumb thing about Blake being held in the lighthouse (who hasnt been?) and when she escapes, she doesnt call the cops, even to protect her own kids...she goes to do her hair..and we were supposed to think it was "Oh, that WACKY Blake!"

She's great...she just gives no f*cks and says whatever is on her mind. She tells a story about her time on AW, where they shared a studio with Bill Cosby, and Bill constantly trying to perve on her and the other actresses, which, while sad, is funny too (cause they were all, "Uh, no...YUK!")

LOL..she is like someone's cool, weird aunt, that you would smoke pot with ("Just don't tell Mark's mom...she will freak out and that is not my vibe!") and have to look at her "art."

I loved it as well...NBC screwed up by having it on a Friday night, but it was NBC's big demo winner despite the total audience, the expense of the show was too much. I do think it might have had no where to go as it burned so much story in its first half season, it should have been a miniseries. I wonder where you can stream it as it does kind of "end" (Vicki back in the present, safe but knowing Barnabas's secret.) And of course it had our own Ellen Wheeler in her most demanding role, as poor Phyllis, waking up just to face a fate that most GL fans would like to send her to! (kidding..I wish no harm on anyone!)

Sorry, my fault...getting the two confused as I was typing! Sonni is the "good" girl (to her father, to her family to everyone as she goes to Mass an is quiet/and in the alters she is good..) Solita is the "bad" girl (to everyone as she is adventurous and bucks authority/ and "evil" in the alters.) And yes, we were led to believe Sonni may still be fighting the Solita personality, when she is getting on the plane to leave SF they ask her is she wants "smoking, or non smoking" and you can see Sonni confused thinking about it...(Solita smoked of course!) I am glad no one ever revisted Sonni/Solita...Rauch would have made a cartoon mess of it! That is the rumor...I do think it interesting that Malloy would choose a party with his castmates to "break up" with someone, what, are you in high school? Malloy always, post the first few years of Edge, to be one of those Irish guys who are complicated, especially if you get some booze into them. But again, Sharon Rose Gabbot says he was not gay, but she, while being very open and friendly on FB with Edge fans, seems a bit eccentric.

I respect your opinion...I actually didn't HATE some of the Rauch/MADD era...and contrary to everyone on here...I LOVED Holly the stalker..she looked sexy as hell and for once during that era she wasn't sitting around getting yelled at by Fletcher, listening to Blake or just in the background...But I think one of my favorite scenes of that time sums up the era..it was during the clone, and Alan calls Holly to tell her that there was clone running around town..Holly, deep in her stalker period is drunk (she pulls a bottle from her desk) and dismisses him with a funny line I can't remember (maybe it was "Alan, I haven't had enough drinks to believe that,") It was funny, and the actors delivered it, but it was so dumb and cartoony...Alan would have gotten himself and Spaulding in a [!@#$%^&*] load of trouble, and Holly doesn't even think that this captain of industry might be going nuts so she should investigate? Alan is portrayed as in ineffectual blow hard as usual, etc. Some of the stuff during that time is really entertaining (especially after what comes later) and there are hints that its still GL...(whenever the vets are on, holidays, etc) but its like its GL Lite. Or more accurately, its like GL was suddenly on ABC...everthing was too bright and broad it just wasn't a CBS/PG soap anymore (IMO) LOL..I never got that..Sonni/Solita are sisters in a small very Catholic Venezuelan village. Sonni is a live wire rebellious girls but not evil, though her repressive dad says so and so do their conservative neighbors...Sonni was the good girl, who sneaks out to have sex with a guy about to take his priestly vows, is caught and thought to be Sonni. Sonni takes the rap for her sister, is paraded through the town and whipped, all the while being called slut, and she then kills herself, where Sonni finds her in a closet...goes nuts and assumes her "personality" through the lens of her father (sly, wicked, sexually promiscuous and just bad.) She marries Josh, falls off a cliff, they think she's dead, she wakes up and thinks she is Solita, who, along with no longer a priest cause he is evil and creepy as hell, Will (and who she has an S/M relationship with) comes back to con Josh that she is actually Sonni. I mean it's PERFECTLY clear ( to a weirdo like me who grew up on this soap nonsense!)

Larkin and Marcia were..."dating"....with an agenda. And this could have been so good...have Van back at Spaulding with her stuck in the middle..while begining to tire of Billy's borish behavior and the whole Lewis clan (Ryder wrote them all so annoying..practically everytime H.B would enter a room he would go "YEW-HA"! But yes, Pam left and it just went to Alex being conned by that dumb Simon guy. I think the writers strike may have actually helped that it went off the rails and Pam had to fix it so she went with the split..maybe? Say what you want about Long, I have never seen a show course correct a storyline as fast as she did when the strike ended and it was totally not a storyline that yo would expect from her. That storyline would never air after the dumbed down 90s...way too complicated for people to follow and even the "good" people Jeva, were not perfect. Compare that to the cartoon of Annie vs. Reva. I know Forbes says she joined a soap and thought she would stand around with big hair and shoulder pads and she was thrown into this psychosexual gothic storyline and was not expecting it. And who could resist Reva/Sonni having a catfight on Christmas Eve in a convent? He would be my idea recast for Kyle..I could imagine the chemistry he and Zimmer would have had...and just get rid of RR's Alan.

Had to be Louie.

Yes, he was supposed to be a replacement for both Josh and Alan..but it was weird, after his initial intro as a threat to the Lewises, all he did was lust after Reva, obsess over Maeve and...flare his nostrils as he threatened Hawk of all people..(I mean Jessie could have threatened Hawk and he would have been intimidated...) He was never really thrown into the Spaulding mix, as he would have been interesting fighting Alex and also Phillip. But that whole time they wasted everyone, Reva was with Cain, Alex was obsessed with Simon (dumbly obsessed) Phillip was writing his 1920s book and it was so boring and bad, Rick was addicted to pills, Faux Ed and Mo were fighting with Claire around and around, Van was wafting from being a housefrau to be a "working girl" and taking Billy's crap, Beth was working on that dumb Sampson girl campaign and I guess Liz Taylors kid was supposed to be a new romance, and Mindy was married to cute, but boring Kurt, too soon and being the Sampson Girl. I think Kyle and Cain's storyline really suffered from Long leaving..Jeff Ryder was terrible, and at the time Kobe was trying to make GL Dynasty the Daytime Edition. When CB came back and they got RN, there was no use for Kyle (and Malloy may have worn out his welcome..the GL set seemed pretty, not putting up with egos at that time. ) Kyle had a couple of confrontation with Josh, calling him the Lewis runt, and then just disappeared. His fate after that was up in the air, his new offscreen wife and baby were killed in a plane crash so that was why Reva was worried about Marah being his kid. I never knew why during Reva 2.0 they didnt bring him back. It would have been much more interesting then Prince Dickie. But, he should have been the one to find Reva and bring her back to SF and have confrontations with Josh and the Alan's storyline with Annie could have been Kyle just the same...and RR' Alan could have been written off. Sonni/Solita is the best..gothic, twisted, kinky, Reva was Real Reva, and it involved all the cast practically and was the intro to Roger's return. A golden time.