Mitch64

I agree that an affair was stupid. They originally brought back Nola to pair with Ed, but sourpuss Simon put up a stink and said that they are two different. That is why they had her making a bit of trouble when she found about Lillian. But a better idea would have been that Nola comes back to town as she is tired of expeditions and basically living Quint's life. Maybe she missed out on hearing about Mo's death as they were in someplace cut off from communication. Nola finds out she missed the funeral and blames Quint (I would even maybe have it Nola had the affair to punish Quint and Quint later tells Henry he was the reason the marriage ended to protect Nola) and moves back to SF for a bit to "save the family" and try to mother Michelle and she winds up getting in everyone's hair. But her discovery of the Ed/Lillian thing could have led to an earlier version of the Ed/Lil discussion at Mo's grave the last week of the show...with Ed finally taking responsibility for it too. While I did not like Fletch I thought he and Nola might be good, a crusading journalist that Nola is constantly trying to "help" with his stories and ends up getting kidnapped most of the time. I do think Brown gave off an eccentric earth mother vibe so it would be interesting to see her drawn to the baby, knowing what it was like to be different and everyone thinking your weird..and yes, much better then her and Buzz! LOL..but we would not have had Rusty saying her name as only the cheesy guy like him could ..."ROOOOzzzzzzzzzeeeee!" Didn't Rusty date the infamous Rae Rooney too or was that Rick?

I can't even remember that "romance" they just threw every diva at Fletcher and it never worked...I think he was like Frankie D, he must have had blackmail pics of execs at P & G to stay on the show for that long. They should have never recast Alex and let Van go back to her more controllling ways as rich matriarch of SF.

I also thought it was that BevAlex was not a "business woman" but more of a business manipulator and picking people who can run things for her (first Ross, etc, ) and that is why she drifted towards Roger, who was more cut throat because of his hunger and she could blame him for being the bad guy. Then things went south with the Towers project and that was the beginning of the end. They made Marj when she first came on more biz like, until she just became Alan's busy body sister..which was not Alex.

I got what you meant...(and I loved that hat pin scene...Van was so much fun and then she married Billy and was a bore...I just watched Nola's return in 95 and she and Van going at it, and it must have seemed like Nola was a crazy bitch to talk to St. Van that way but it made perfect sense as she left just as Van was transitioning to bore) That was the only thing that made sense about ED being Margo, I think both previous Margos were kind of "guy friend" types. Which reminds me why I missed about Post Resurrection Reva...original Reva had a lot of guy friends...(Fletcher, Phillip, Rick, Johnny) and was great with them...it made sense that Reva would feel easier with guys..the weirdos thing is when they tried to make it that she and Holly (who also wasn't big on women friends) were friends.

Original recipe Alex was motivated by an almost feminist idea of power. She had a horrible father who (while heaping more mental and physical abuse) favored a weaker brother , just because he was male. Alex was smart enough to get out, while choosing a sub par partner to run with, while her weaker brother chose to stay to somehow get his father's approval. The original story had Alan helping Brandon hide Lujack and that is where her anger came from...she always protected her brother, but he in the end betrayed her. That was the dynamic which haunted their relationship..she loved her brother but could not trust him, or really any man, who represented her subjection. Alex was always going to try to trust Alan, and he was always going to fail her. That is why I agree with Bev, that Alex would never have trusted Roger, but it could have worked but they skipped a few beats...(accepting that a man who was actually as abused by a patriarchal father..and retro written that he knew Brandon and Henry who didn't accept him..she finally trusts a man who was an equal..even though he wasn't and destined to betray her like every other man) and fed into Alex/Nick...(yet again a blood relative who would turn his back on her) and again Alex always admired loyalty above all else, so being betrayed by Mindy, retro written as growing up in Alex house, doubled with then going with her own son, really made sense for the first two years, but after that it made Alex look like a nut (and bored the audience.) MarjAlex..is anyone's guess what she wanted..besides hating Mindy and having an almost incestous relationship with Nick. Her Alex favored Alan over AM, which would have never happened, (as much as AM failed, he was always TeamAlex) and she really almost had a weird fascination with Alan which was less Gothic then Bev/Alex and more..weird.. Under JFP and Curlee and Bev leaving, Alex became a plot point, a shriveled up older woman desperate for love and power..taking all the complexities out of Alex. Well, Van during that time was the rich bitch antogonist...( a great Nola wedding scene, they are getting ready in the church basement and there is a volley ball net, and Van or course turning her nose up at it all, eventually comes around to the group and in her bridesmaid dress, punts the volleyball over the net) and after that Van became a sniveling wife and the Reardon's were broken up and Mo was more concerned with her husband's ridiculouss trauma baby. So Van was a villain then vanilla. Agreed, but damn, if Long's first years were great..she wrote the Bauer/Spaulding/Reardons great, and individual scenes and characters were top notch...she just lacked a exec who knew the show and her her in.

First there was Harley and then Nadine as a Nola stand in (though Frank was a less sexy and definitely less smart Tony stand in...) I think that is why I always disliked the Coopers..they were all rip offs. And yes, I think JC really did make Nadine more sympathetic than the writing did..never my favorite character but consigning her to pine for Buzz in that ugly diner was punishment enough! I always wondered what an Ed/Nadine short term pairing would be..especially when Nola found out that she manipulated Bridget into the attic.

Actually the writer Hurst said they were trying to figure out a way to take advantage of BC and KMK's chemistry (I don't remember it) but she admitted they didn't really do it as well as they should have (I like her, she is very open about story slips..unlike other writers who will defend to the death their work.) I to think the comments on Van's age were from Rauch grinding his axe..which is funny, the rest of the cast had to comment on Reva's beauty in scenes and Zimmer is attractive (and was a complete knock out when first on the show) she looked rougher then MK. I do wish they had written it as Van getting her groove back in the biz world, and doing long hours and loving it...but much of it is in avoidance to dealing with the fact that the bloom is off the rose with boytoy and she is bored with him. That leads Matt to help Beth on a project (I would have her rehab a rape counseling facility to give her something to do then hang around the Spaulding liquor cart, humping the couch and chasing after anyone in pants) and they develop a bond and attraction, with no bad guys, no ageism, no Beth being a petty b*thc.. Matt creeping after Dinah during Wheeler's time was creepy..."Matt, do you have a job, a family, anything but chasing after your, gotta admit, sex on a stick step daughter." Where she uttered a classic line..a character talking about Liza's producing her work on a show called something like "Guiding Light".....where Liza says, "Not my best work..let's move on" ! LOL That's a good idea...they originally were going to cast a blonde "model" type for Amanda, and I can see that after spending time in Cali she goes blonde and high fashion...seeing an icy Amanda like early Bev/Alex would be cool. Thou I will always love sex pot campy vixen Toby Poser's Amanda, even if it made no sense!

I don't know if they had to..Zimmer and Newman would bitch if they had two days off in a row off..and Zimmer had her little group that could stir up to write in. I think the difference is that both actors were smart enough to know that being together meant being pushed into listening to other's problems and then being scenery. They also wanted to work with other actors and knew that again, Jeva will come around again...and again...and again.... I remember that it was a love scene and they were on a couch and the crazies were pissed they didn't get a bed! While the stories weren't great...they did have the couple on a lot with the baby thing, Van at work, dealing with Dinah...and the Beth thing,,,which I have to say, did have potential if it was written more sensitively and if Beth was not another spoiler ready to drop her panties for any guy she could get.

Oh I really liked that Van vs. Vickie thing, but then they brought back Marj and dropped that, only to drop Marj in a few months. I always thought Van was the natural successor to Bev/Alex and Marj should never have been cast..Van figthing her old lover Alan for Spaulding would have been good..with a well cast Alan not RR. And yes, anything is better then Van spouting poetry in pajama pants...lol! I also agree on Frank being more believable than Matt....Frankie D is a terrible actor but in his early years he did have charm and he was always believable as a not so smart, nice guy who wanted to do good for his family..while Matt never connected to Bridget or Nola, and he should have seen Ed as another father figure but every time he calls him "Uncle Ed" its weird. I think the actor is pretty but really, not engaging. Did Paul Rauch hate the Mattessa fans??For once I agree with him, if only he held the same disregard for Java fans, etc. Well, I gotta say I always found Derwin sexy (not a great actor but...) and still find him that way..there is just something naturally masculine about him ..so I can see older women like a pairing with Slezak...though again, it makes no sense.

Nola having anything to do with Buzz is just nasty....I can see them as sparring partners/friends, with Nola bringing Buzzard down to earth and vice versa, but sad sack Nola stalking him? And yes, I thought the Nola fantasy got old when Long was writing them and they should have gone away, with Nola being an adult woman. I never bought Matt as a Reardon..for such a long running character, he was totally underwritten, what did he want in life besides Vanessa..he never seemed especially close or have chemistry with Bridget, Nola or Ed...he just was this fantasy figure for older women watching? The worst part is that Van became a sighing sap with him..they looked like they were going to light a fire under her when she went back to work at Spaulding, and Matt was panting after Beth, but this was Rauch so the older woman had to be pathetic instead of Van just icing Beth to death.

I don't remember the fantasy laden story..but I thought it would have been fun to bring Nola colorful and eccentric, rather than the lump of drab she was. They could have used her to bring back the new Michele (she picks her up on her school trip and takes her around to see all the Reardon relatives ) to explain Chile's new personality...(well the casting would have had to been better) so Ed is pissed off at her and Van ...(she was heavy into her holier then thou bore period with Matt) and it would have been fun to make mention of have her past "Well remember when you were dating Matt's uncle...no not Ed, I meant Tony..though could dating been what you called it???" And to have a past with Dinah "Oh that summer I spent with Aunt Nola and Uncle Quint in Marrakash gave me a new look.I was a bit drab before but not after Nola took me to that great lounge...and..what's the matter mother, you look like you have gas?" Her confronting Ed about Mo could have also finally put that storyline to bed with Ed admitting guilt (or something other then fish lips.) Maybe Nola could be writing romance adventure books and decides to hang out in SF for while...(I could see her staying at the BH and being the wacky landlady with money.) etc. Anything but a sad victim of Quint screwing around.

I remember that time when the internet was just coming into its own and at the old GL dicussion list someone found Laiby's home number and posted it...which was a step too far. ("Sure, stranger who somehow got my phone number I would love to talk to you about what a sh@t job I am doing!") But actually Laiby was so in over his head, he actually was asking fans for suggestions. I don't get it, he worked under Marland and ATWT during its golden period, why was he so lost? HE brought back Brown as her iconic character but had the character written like she was Iva Snyder (Nola mopping around the boarding house because her husband cheater on her....she would go snatch that b*tch bald and kicked Quint in his nuts...) Maybe it was more McTavish but that was an era that really could have turned GL around.

He was good on Edge...at first.....but then he did fall into the Shatner acting syndrome (LOL) I couldn't stand Kyle and Malloy's nostril flaring acting but they were somehow popular. The only thing I could think of is that they were trying to fill in the CB Alan void with a kind of Gothic type guy. The trouble was that he came on at a time of radical change, he was tied to the Lewis and Reva and no one else, and his intro was stupid and creepy (not in a good way) with talking to pictures and the worst part...Mindy thinking she was in love with him, only to rejected and then out of characte shooting him. After his first year on Edge I found Malloy to just come off so unlikeable . Tho I do think he really nailed the crazy Doctor with the aging serum on ATWT!

I know you and others like Otalia( Olive and Holly would have been hotter..Natalia was a bore) but "world's great and engaging love stories"??? If only they would have focused as much on the rest of the show and characters. Come on...you didn't agree with putting the actor with the most longevity who was the defacto patriarch of the show on recurring, then having Rick and Phillip unwittingly kill him? All for non stop Jami, Gush, Coopers and freaking Jeffery all over the place?

Thanks...I think this time is a very interesting time for ATWT...setting the table for Marland. I would love to hear more about Lemay and why he didn't stay and work with Marland. I think he has more of an edge to him, and as I mentioned, you could see him keeping Nancy true to her domineering character and edging Lisa back to manipulating things.

Gotta be right after the anniversary a Bob and Kim's wedding. Wagner wasn't on contract yet and Frannie was still pining over Kevin and not back from school. April 85? I LOVE meddlesome stern Nancy! This is before Marland wussed her out and had to be when Lemay is consulting as he loves him some meddling matriarchs. I can see her softing as the years go by and they wanted Kim to be the one dispensing love in one hand and "kiddo" with the other, but I wish she hadn't become quite so bland a grandma. Wagner seems to enjoy this and is a better fit for it as she was never as warm as Charita Bauer. Added fun, this is when Lisa still had a thing for Bob, so she subtly tries to drive a wedge between Kim and Nancy and tells Kim to make kindney pie to get in with Nancy when she knows full well she hates it. Love bitchy Lisa but that didn't last long either when Marland comes and does tend to bland everyone out.

Oyyy..what did Watros do to her face???? Between her and CM;s face, (well and his pecs) there was so much plastic to keep a recycling factory going for 50 years! Agree with the rest besides Harley, the shrew years, Buzz any minute he was on screen, Jonathon after he started taking hints from Zimmer on relying on "little tricks" to get you by (his was his annoying laugh) and when Kreizman started blowing him in his writing, and Otalia and Jami...but to each their own!

No, I was clearly talking about the Reva/Zimmer situation and how she had the show under a barrel...all because they let her. LW just annoys me so whomever wants to yank on her all the good...(I think you posted a clip or pic of her and that Cameron Mathieson guy and they both looked like an aging Barbie and Ken doll set...okay, CM annoys me even more, he looks like his is made of weird plastic. )

And it makes no sense..TPTB especially in these cost conscious times should be able to let an actor go if they demand too much. GL let Kimmer's ego and Rauch's stupidity make Reva the "star" so she could write her own check. They should have done as ATWT did in the late 70s..slowly reemphasize Reva (like they did Lisa) so she is not the center of the universe. Lisa was always important (well until the time of the Gautman) and in the mix, but not the star. Anyone who wants to dis LW either on GL or GH is good with me!

You may be referring to the Rauch years where he blazed lights at the actors, had the women in pastel pantsuits and loved the women being blond...that always made the show look so washed out and "fake" but the critics raved about it..saying he made GL looks like a Reinassaince painting..lol!

A really good interview and Caso is on top of his game with his memory of things. I don't agree with Caso that the depressing stories of Margo's rape and the incest thing and the pulling the plug was stuff women could "relate to," but it was good drama if a bit much all at once. Interesting that Ann Sward suggested the Casey plug thing and wonder how she felt about Dolan getting it instead. Caso seems to be a rare person in that business, he was savvy, knew how to run the business to make money, but still invested in quality and support of the actors, writers, staff AND respected the audience! Why he wasn't chosen to take over instead of the MADD cow. Is she still alive? An interview with her would be.....interesting!

Parker seems to have confirmed that in the Locker Room one on Mo's death..."I think they needed money to pay for Justin" and was not throwing any shade on Deas...(must be an actor's life) Total agree Mo initiating divorce, moving back into the boarding house...having to reluctantly take sides with Bridget against Van when the truth came out about Peter...(would be great scenes between MK and EP.and pave the way for a reunion with Ed when he too supports Bridget.) I do think a romance between her and Roger would have been too much...I always thought it made sense, Mo had so many brothers that she was used to taking care of bad boys, would have an affinity to both Ed and Roger. And then Claire returns to light a match on the whole thing (I think during Ed and Holly's affair Mo mentions she never legally adopted Chelle, which made no sense as Chele always called her Mom..) it would finally give Fletcher a reason for existence to have them question Cheles paternity. Much better then Buzz screaming at the top of his lungs but we could have had both..they could have freed up money by getting rid of Nick whose story was long stale..

There is much worse acting but since he is ALWAYS being propped as THE actor of daytime, my good old friend Justin Deas on GL...both in finding out Nadine is dead and her body rotting away in the lake all winter (that's McTavish, you sick old bag) and when Reva finally dumps him and ends their dumb marriage (again, thanks McTavish.) His reactions are nothing close to what a normal person would do, when he should be dealing with shock and sadness that this woman who somehow stood by him for so long was killed and no one knew it, or simmering anger at Reva for once again, dragging an innocent bystander into Java hell...he simply YELLS and flaps his arms and moves all over the set, leaving his acting partner standing there dumbfounded...poor Frankie D is as usual lost when there is something more then "Hiya Pop" to say, Zimmer fairs better as she is an old vet of the scenery chewing upstaging Deas made his first few years of GL all ab out, but even she looks a little...lost ("Wow..RN knows his place to stand there and let me do it all, this guy doesn't")

As a kid I caught some of GL during school breaks and then in high school got caught up in Nola and her shenanigans and watched it ever since. I love the Dobson's more sophisticated characters and Marland's time...(more Nola and gang than anything else..) and really loved the first few years of Long/Kobe. The Bauers were the center of it all still, Reardon's provided warm working class action, Spaulding's were the rich and troubled families, the Lewis brought eccentric zest to the town (LOVED H.B. and Mindy) and Reva was great...earthy, sexy, full of heart and still could cause trouble..Zimmer was on fire then. The changes didn't bother me so much but even then it all fell apart, it was unnecessary to write out Hope and Mike, kill Hillary (all could have been recast if the actors were problems) recast Ed, obscure the Reardon's make Van a boring housefrau (which she never really recovered from) and make the show all about Reva and the Lewis family. The changes could have worked with the backbone of the Bauers and Reardon's in place to offset the OTT of Reva and the Lewises. The show never recovered from there. Sadly, in 1985 the show could have used Bert's death as a turning point and bring back Mike and Hope (especially since Alan was lurking in the background) bring back Aunt Meta or at least Bea Reardon to provide a matriarch (but no, we get Sarah Shayne cause of course...Reva...) The show bumped along until Curlee really took over a lot of the writing. Had a few great years, and then all went to crap again (and I dumbly watched to the end..cause I loved this goofy show and saw the potential.)

On GL..who is "A. Spaulding" who framed Phillip. It was supposed to be so smart with everyone in the Spaulding family's name starting with A (besides Phillip) and it might have been good if it lasted a few weeks, but it went on for months..and everyone was rewritten to act as if they did not want Phillip back in town (Alex loved Phillip, Alan of course thought he was the golden boy, and AM and he were getting along when Phillip left town...the only person that would have a motive would be Amanda who conceivably could have an issue of being the oldest but overshadowed by Phillip) but the audience figured out that it was actually Blake...(get it "a" Spaulding..) which, since she was already suffering another bad plot twist (having twins by two fathers) could have been interesting to see Phillip get revenge on the mother of both his uncles and best friends kids. But McTavish got p*ssed that people figured out and made the villain....Alan...which again could have been a turning point in their relationship, but soon Phillip was calling Alan "dad" and acting like everything was hunky dory. Okay, Brandon is really Amanda's father was right up there.