1974mdp

I think I read an interview with Judith M once where she said she knew they weren't fooling anyone, and the make-up process was horrible to endure. But, then, I guess they get some props for trying to do something different and making Sophia's return from the dead a big surprise.

I just recently started rewatching the first months of the show and hadn't seen any of these episodes since I was a kid. While a lot of the show is rough around the edges these first few months(the silly teen story, Sophia not at all convincingly dressing as a man, the Perkins parents, actors not working out as CC, etc.) the spark that made some characters so unique and interesting with the writing and their portrayers is already there. Mason's sharp-tongued dialogue, Lionel and Augusta's marriage, and Cruz are already standouts in the first couple of months. I'm so looking forward to Julia's introduction.

I mean Zende is right...RJ is getting all the breaks because Ridge is his dad. All of the other Forrester children and grandchildren not directly from Ridge get the short end of the stick on the show and just in getting storylines. I still say killing off Allie years back was a boneheaded, shortsighted move.

I wonder if that was the "Capwell dinner" episodes where Mason brought Pamela, and the shows delved into the characters' histories. I remember loving those episodes when they aired.

I think a great example of this was killing off the character of Mary.

I remember reading somewhere that post-SB NBC considered them for AW. I would have loved to see what they would have done with that show. Even though the Capwells dominated through the years, I always preferred the quirkiness of the Lockridges. I thought they were fascinating. Lionel, Augusta, Minx, and even, once she went all nutty, Cassie, were some of my faves during the show's run. As a gay teen coming out in the early 90's, Michael Malone's period on OLTL meant so much to me with the Billy Douglas story.

LOL....omg! You are so right. Abby is so far removed from the Newman camp that I didn't even wonder why she wasn't there for any of those family scenes. When was the last time she actually interacted with any of the Newmans?

I swear this show is about as subtle as a whack upside the head with a frying pan. We can already guess who Luna actually is. It's not that I'm opposed to the story, but it could have been set up in a way that would be more of a surprise.

It seemed like such a pointless character as was bringing Ava back IMO.

With her 11 episodes on Y&R and 5 on B&B last year, this is the most episodes Kate Lindner has done in YEARS!

LOL!!! It's so true.

ITA. I think it would have been interesting if Eric had had a memory lapse and still thought Sheila was his wife. So many great flashbacks could have been used. With Paris appearing in all of 11 episodes last year, is she really still on contract? If so, I wonder why???

I feel like ever since the writer's strike ended and BB came back, the show has gone back to that one storyline dominates everything formula which I am so not a fan of. I feel like the show missed a beat with Sheila and Eric's illness, too.

On Y&R, put a ban on using these words in a script: 1. merger 2. takeover 3. CEO 4. COO

ITA! She could really stir things up on the show!

One thing watching this classic episode did was making me pissed off all over again about the boneheaded move it was to kill off Colleen. But, yeah, striking difference in the sets, number of extras, etc. Nikki was giving me 1960s "Valley of the Dolls" - vibes in that hair and outfit.

Agreed! They had great chemistry.

I think the Mike, Roark Critchlow, would work in the story!

I was always curious about this. Was in a write-in campaign?

I think you're correct! Obviously, reading up on the show's history, other Corys had been introduced along the way: Iris, some random nephews of Mac's that didn't seem to last long, Adam (who I sort of remember), and Sandy. But, I can see where some would think the Corys weren't a core family in the traditional sense. For years, it may have just been Mac and Rachel (and Jamie) for the most part...and by connection, Ada. And, it appears for a few years there they were mostly backburnered. This era of the show smartly decided to really put the focus on them with Mac and Rachel as the matriarch and patriarch and with Jamie, Amanda, and Matthew as their children. Of course, Iris and Dennis also return to town. It's so sad about DW passing. Even as a kid watching the show, it was so sad when he died. The show kind of struggled for a bit there trying to figure out what the heart of the show would be now, and we never got to see the full story with Mac and Iris play out. I started getting heavily invested in the show as a young teen around this time. I thought all of the history was fascinating. Despite the mess-up on backstory about the farm, Matt and Josie were a great use of history to start a new generation on the show. There were some wonderful clips on YouTube of Rachel and Sharlene in conflict over the pairing AND the fact that Rachel had killed Janice. It set the show up with the "has and the has nots" which is something that I think is desperately missing on the current versions of Y&R and B&B, where everyone is already rich and successful. As a writer, you miss all sorts of potential conflict when you don't have those characters clawing their way up. I was kind of disappointed that they sort of dropped the Josie connection to the Matthews in the 90s and changed her last name back to Watts. Even though it was just her from the family in town at that point, it still would have been a nice nod to the show's history. I can see where they moved Rachel to matriarch during this time, and for a bit there, she even got a bit of her "bitchiness" back if you watch the clips on YouTube with her and Sharlene and also with Donna. I wonder if that was Lemay influence who wanted to give her an edge again. I did find reading his book fascinating just to get her perspective on things. Since I was too young to watch the show in the 70s, I was curious if some others thought that Rachel was prematurely aged too quickly with the rapid aging of Jamie in the 70s. He would have been shown as being in his 20s by the time Matthew was even born. VW must have only been in her early 40s during the mid-80s.

B&B has a long history of suddenly dropping actors AND stories, but this one is just mystifying. She was the best thing to come on that show in YEARS. I don't know if they thought they had no one to pair her with, but for God's sake, they could have introduced a new character for a change. The show needs some new blood in the cast desperately! We definitely didn't need Brooke/Ridge/Taylor for the 101st time.

So sad. He was a fave when I watched OLTL.

So glad they singled out the WAY OVERUSED business plotlines. I'm SO TIRED of hearing about mergers, takeovers, CEOs, COOs, and people changing jobs. I could care less about any of these stories. The show needs to get out of the boardroom and back into the bedroom, so to speak. I mean, how many people are on the edge of their seat about who's going to work next at Chancellor-Winters, Newman, Jabot, etc etc? Anybody??? I agree about Tucker. In general, I like the character and the actor. I thought he had great chemistry with ED, but he's not well-defined. What does he really want and why??? I've loved the Claire/Eve story, too. I just wish they would have dragged it out for a few more story beats before revealing the truth. I would have liked Aunt Jordan to come to town first and watch her wiggle her way into GC society, and THEN turn everyone's lives upside down. Imagine if she had first befriended Nikki first, gained her trust, and THEN got her to fall off the wagon. It would have given CZ more to work with versus being a one-note villian.

I'm liking seeing Zende more, and the actor is beautiful. IF the show were smart, they'd have him leave Forrester and start his own scrappy fashion company, such as Spectra was in the past. I think a problem on the show right now is that mostly everybody is either rich or super successful. You need characters that are trying to claw their way up for contrast.

The Bible quoting came out of nowhere...and Brooke reading the passage from Stephanie's personal Bible...LOL