CMS

I hadn't seen this, thanks for sharing. If I recall correctly Lane Davies said in interviews that he enjoyed doing sitcoms because it was a lot of money for relatively little effort. After watching these two episodes I can't help but think that his talent was really wasted. I liked sitcoms like Will and Grace, Seinfeld and Friends, but there was a lot of short-lived stuff on that had neither a good premise, nor good writing.

I absolutely agree that kissing Ava shouldn't be a chore, but I was glad when he was out. His CC and Ava's Santana were a really creepy couple. Maybe it was, because she only slept with him to find out about Brandon, so there was no real emotional involvement, but I was really glad when it was over. She's such a beautiful woman and he was the least attractive CC in my book.

Wasn't Lane still traveling around the world with Todd McKee during this period? I doubt whether they even had preliminary talks with him, let alone serious negotiations.

With the worst last scene imaginable... F... you, Paul Rauch!!!!

Totally agree with you about Julie Ronnie as the best Laken. The teen story lines were quite dull, but there was a sweetness about Ted and Laken at the time that I really liked. Recasting characters makes sense, but if you change them completely, why not just bring in a new character? Speaking of recasting - with some characters I have no problem with recasts, e. g. the two Ginas. Very different actresses, but both brought so much to the table that I really enjoy both eras. With CC I can't stand Peter Mark Richman and Paul Burke, but both Charles Bateman and Jed Allen are fantastic and I enjoy their scenes, although they differ in their approach to the role. Bateman's CC had a cruel streak, especially towards Mason and also Sophia for a while. Jed Allen was larger than life, but had more warmth. From a looks perspective I also thought that Jed Allen looked more similar to Lane Davies, so this whole concept of CC and Mason constantly at each other's throat because they were so similar worked very well.

When I watched SB in the 90s Lane Davies's Mason was my main reason. I love the character and his portrayal is perfection. That being said - I never saw the first months, so when I found episodes on Youtube I finally watched the show from the beginning. There were quite a few scenes when Mason was downright creepy, especially with Santana and Veronica. I'm glad that they quickly added more layers to the character and that Lane Davies used every morsel to give the character depth. I'm jumping a lot between episodes and years at the moment and I can understand why Lane Davies got bored eventually. There are still great moments in his last year, but a lot of fillers as well.