Mitch64

I found Granger more believable when he was playing Earl as a flamboyant uncle to Shannon (to hide his stupid Interpol career) The only reason Early existed is because Fulton was bitching about a love interest..(why do I like Lisa best when she is on her own and just happily meddling in everyone's business..) and the producer wanted to give his lover a job. The Interpol thing was stupid from the get go.but I could have bought it better if Earl was a closet queen who marries Lisa for her money (and he genuinely likes to spend time with an eccentric diva...) She finds out, drama ensues, kicks him to the curb..then remembers that they had a great time ("I should have known when my husband was bitchier than me!") and they become friends..and introduces her to a new man...I would say Ambrose (annoying Lucy to no end) and it would be a nice change from soaps/TVs insistence that all gay men finding love are hot young guys in their 20s.

I agree on this...I think Quola as they were called were one of the first crazy fan bases! I think saddling Nola with two kids was wrong at the start, but they could have saved it by having her constantly pushing the kids on Bea, and she would be the one pushing Annabelle into the investigation of the Cottage and then it was Quint who gets blown up and not Hillary. They had the chance to save it when she returned, I would have had it that Quint was missing during a dig and Nola comes back a rich widow. I get why Rauch wrote Quint off but they should have given them an ending (Quint wants to go back to his digs, Nola wants to stay in the states and have her own life for a change) and of course, not make Nola a depressed sap.

Long actually did write the Reardons better then Marland, under her pen the Reardon's were specifically said to be Catholic (under Marland they went to a minister..which made no sense..) and they had a warm, feisty dynamic that Long writes so well...(Beth tells Lillian when she is estranged from her over Bradley that the Reardon's are the kind of family she would like to be in..."I mean, they argue and fight all the time but its not like at our house..angry and mean..." I also remember when Roxie was taken off to the nut house, Chelsea is astounded that the Shaynes aren't together that night, she mentions her family would be and Mindy agrees her family would too, and Rusty and Phillip look like the thought hadn't crossed their minds.) that is why it is weird that she did write them off one by one and never made an attempt to rebuild them ( when she came back Lawson was back as Bea on recurring, and then she just disappeared...) Maybe she gave the Lewis' family that warm boisterousness and saw no need for another family like that?

That would have been good and you know Kimmer would have loved it. It was always weird...she washes up on San Crud (from the Keyes??) and has amnesia, then gets a bump on the head and has amnesia again but somehow is able to function enough to get to Goshen....why was Reva constantly wiping out her memory?

Wow, I'm suprised Lisa is there...didn't they always have Lisa ragging on Carly? W

I think she didn't like the couple (I am there with her on that one) but the fanbase of fraus was so vocal, and they thought they would get a ratings bump and they went through with it, but I think that would have been the perfect time to reveal his himbo past and to split them up...(actually I would have had Matt and Blake be the ones to screw opening up a Van/Ross repairing, who should have been out tentpoles..and would have no doubt a tasteful wedding. )

I always felt they should have killed off Alan YEARS before.. I would have had Annie's last rampage..real CW version..be that Alan gets shot by accident...(kind of like they did with Dinah/Hart) or better..Annie IS married to Alan, Alex comes back to keep watch, Alan begins to see the light and Annie slowly poisons' Alan, to manipulate him into signing things over , goes to far and kills him and that sets the manhunt final days of Annie is SF.) Alan was boring and doing the same crap over and over and it was time to Phillip/Amanda/AM to duke it out over Spaulding. Seeing Phillip who railed against his father for years, be put in the position of making tough choices would have been more interesting then mooning over Harley or Beth. It was a great era.

Reva from her first appearance had guy platonic friends....that hair dresser she worked with (gay coded) played by the guy who was icky Brad on ATWT, but fun here, before he disappeared...Phillip, Fletcher (the only time I liked Fletch was when he was palling around with Reva)Johnny. They dumped all that when Rauch had to make Reva/Kimmer the middle aged sex goddess all men were spell bound iwth. I was in college when they broke them up and remember then being annoyed and loosing interest that they took them out of college and relatable kinds of things, to having Phillip at Spaulding seeming about 40 now, Mindy a model, Beth..whatever she was..Rick in "Accelerated Med School," I can't believe they threw all that away. I said this before but my Poly-Sci professor looked like Ross. Me and the girl who lived a couple floors above me would RUN to class and try to get in the front row..I knew why I was doing it but one day she said..."Doesn't he look just like Ross Marler!!!" Yea, now get out of the front center seat cause I'm trying to go all Blake on him!

Ha..I never thought of Jeva being perpetual teenagers...and your right! Maybe that's why a certain segment of the audience (who I would term brain dead but..)was gaga over them the second time around, and why TPTB kept pushing them over other vets..they act like the silly younger characters they wrote for while also saying they used "older" characters. I will say Taggert tried to change that dynamic by having them grow up a bit during the Richard gets the plug pulled storyline. Reva told Josh the truth and he stood by her. I know they got rid of that new found growth during the cancer storyline (Reva hiding the truth and Josh jumping on a new woman to hurt her...) but it was nice while it lasted and I think Zimmer and Newman played it well.

Actually, its Megan McTavish fault for writing that godawful mess...where everyone ended up with diarrhea and nauseous, which is what the audience felt watching her mess of a show.

He didn't care about their opinions...but he sure would like to take the air out of his old enemies Alan and Ed! I hate when they try to paint both Roger and Holly and Jeva as "Twu Wuv" ...true passion that is going to blow up and hurt the people around them...yes. I also hated that they had Amanda, who seemed amoral to the core, pine over him. It would have been much better if these two people were using each other for their own ends, and they both know the other would betray them in a second and it turns them on.

I like it, but they would need Roger to have a final f*ck you to Springfield...and they would need someone to come in and fill out some of Zaz material when he wasn't well or if he passed suddenly. That would be a mysterious guy doing Rog's errands (kind of like Seb only better) maybe being an activist shareholder at Spaulding, inciting a revolt over all the shady Spaulding crap going on over the years. Only, Roger would say it was his son, but the guy would believe he was really Alan's kid with Roger, getting revenge on his father, but it would end up being Ed's kid..therefore Rog gets the last laugh on his two enemies. Very true!!! I was watching some of those scenes..after Rauch is there Matt trades his jeans in for a jacket and tie, which makes no sense, and he sits around with Josh drinking coffee and bitching about Annie..like two old hens. I think Sloan is having a splendid life period. She is rich, she still looks great, she was doing a job she liked for fun, she is writing books (how well I don't know..) I think it's nice as it looks like she and Beth C are still close.

Hey...don't get me wrong... I LOVE Holly and MG but TPTB at the end didn't and she disappeared for long periods of time..I would have always had her present, even if she was not on contract. I HATED her with Fletch...and as I wrote before, he would have been Brent/Marion's victim, NOT Nadine...(I would have just had her leave town..) Brent pins the evidence on Roger, Alex and Alan bribe the D.A. to prosecute on flimsy evidence...everyone else in town feels he did it except Blake..putting a wall between she and Ross, Holly at first things he did it and is out for blood, etc. I would have had the story veer from Lucy being at the center to Brent turning his attention to Roger and Holly, who together, but separately are trying to find out the truth..maybe he kidnaps Lucy, while setting a trap for Roger and Holly. After that she would be freed up to get with Ed again, who actually makes his peace that Roger will always be in the back of her mind. That would have given MG things to do when Zaz gets sick...(and how interesting to have Holly married to Ed but secretly caring for Roger..) Anyway, I did love the Stalker Storyline...Holly was smart, acerbic and sexy running around in her leather...the one thing to ruin it was Reva saving the day.

Frankie D is the luckiest "non actor" on earth, though I am convinced at the very end he was paying THEM to keep him on. I did read somewhere that he and Sloane were very cheap to keep around...Sloan as she has a rich husband and just liked doing it and Frank as well, what other show would hire after he quickly aged out of hunk status? I do think that Lilian was needed as a nurse and Frank was fine as supporting post Melina but just that. I think MOL post Abby was the same, keep him around as the town doctor but no need to create a love story for him. It's too bad as I do think that Rick and Abby had it in them to be the tent pole couple but after she left...he was adrift. I think shows do need these supporting actors...in addition to the above, Buzz could work in support (Deas was actually good with the young inexperience actors) doling out coffee (but yes, I would have just wrote he and Jenna off happy if instead of killing him) at the diner, Nola or Bridget tending bar at Company ( I still think Nola as the eccentric but supportive land lady like Mrs. Madrigal, Brown was also good with the young actors...) Doris was good as the disreputable DA but again, only when needed, (no need to give her a daughter or a story) I would even throw Holly in there, as the ironic no nonsense media queen,) those kinds of characters make a show seem more real and familiar and its nice to get a break from the hyper drama affecting everyone else in town.

As I said, this is a great time for GL...even with Cheesy Rusty on view...(how much money to pay for extras in the cop station...it was a bit overkill.) How much did the GL cast ruing the ozone layer with their hair spray...Frank and Rusty alone) It's weird to see Frank kiss Mindy, nice that they didn't waste her on him for long. Java had chemistry back then, not the forced chem of the Rauch years...nice that back then you did not have to be a steroid or sculptured guy to take off your shirt, and Jeva as usual are the worst parents on earth...they don't seemed to be concerned where Marah is. The only thing missing is some energy in the direction...(though I love this version of Alex/Alan having each other's numbers..much preferable then Marj/RR where she acted like she wanted to make out with him.)

I don't know if this is true...FD was brought in by one of the endless sets of writers during that time to play "Todd Bauer" Johnny Bauer's brother. Long came back and of course did not want to expand the Bauer family (in this case she is right, who needs a Faux Bauer..but as usual with Long, she is a bit convoluted as she brought in Johnny's parents put them on contract, popped them into the Boarding House and did nothing with them) and cast him as Frank Cooper, so the timelines don't really match (as Long created Sonni/Will.) I can't imagine Betty Rea, even considering Frankie D for such an intense role unless Will was originally planned just to be a dumb nice guy with feathered hair and that was it.

L OL....seeing those two on the cover was obviously a ploy to get some sales from the fraus who watch that crappy show and WUV that couple, and I feel nauseous when I see one, much less two together.

Didn't she go on to ATWT...a soap Lemay always seemed to have an axe to grind with.

I think she could have...just by shifting the focus to Ross and his family, and building the show around them, and NOT Jeva and their crap...would have worked wonders. Rick could stay as the town doctor support, Ed could return for appearances to keep a legacy connection, but focusing the core on a family character actor and good writing could do the trick.

Agreed..I remember really liking his first year or two and agreeing that he brought new life to the show, but then it went all straight to the dumper and I lost interest...( I have no idea why, when GL was even worse, I stuck through it...) This had a higher energy but grounded. Nice seeing the Hughes kitchen again (why they got rid of it I will never know, the Bauer kitchen stayed with only a few Bauers on hand...) and nice story for Nancy and I really liked this Chris Hughes..he was cute, his chemistry with Wagner was great..(of course he would be a Grandma's boy) I don't know why they got rid of him..I thought he was the best Chris (yea, I know not the greatest actor but he had charm and seemed like a Hughes...)

I did like the Calhoun era..though I do have to say there were some good things to say about both JFP and ....I know ...Rauch (I can't believe I am saying it myself.) I blame their excesses on not having P&G reign them in....(who in the upper admin thought it would be a good idea to kill the matriarch and to hand the show over to a new character played by a hambone who had no one to reign HIM in?? Who thought a dumb island of blond people would work?)

Just a few weeks after Long was back after the strike and the show is cooking. This is one of my fave periods of GL...I never really thought how beautiful Chelsea was and she has some spunk...why did I think she was boring back in the day? Sonni/Solita is just starting to get really good, I love Alex's line, "I'll join a classics book club" Mo is finally getting something to do other the serve coffee (even if it is to crush on Fletcher) and boy, Phillip is being a real pr*ck, not to mention his best friend's wife has got his baby in the oven. Rick and Meredith never made any sense...they had no chemistry. Everyone looks so young and why did we not understand that those 80s sweaters look horrible on everyone.

LOL!!! The image SCREAMS "soap diva" !!!!

Agreed...the writers had Dinah spill a whole lot of exposition and history disquised as a rant, and Gina did great with it. If you were new you caught up that Blake is Roger's daughter and Roger is shady, that Blake stole Ross from her own mother, that Dinah's mom is married to a younger man, Vanessa and Ross had a relationship and produced Dinah, who she gave up for adoption without telling Ross, Van has a new "start over" daughter....that was a whole lot of history to get across without loosing the energy of the scene. Oh, and I agree with Dinah, Cassie is an annoying biotch but disagree with her, steroid Hart was not worth either of their time.

Love this hyper dramatic courtroom scene..though the thunder was too much. Lisa in full Joan Crawford 1940 mode..gasps from the courtroom, Dorothy should have gotten an award for killing Whit the Wig....