DeeVee

The funny thing is, when Roger married Peggy (after Christina/Blake was born) she insisted he get a vasectomy. Which was one of the reasons he was obsessed with Christina, because he believed she would be his only biological child. Another thing that was retconned. In this case, I can understand why it was changed. First of all, it's extremely possible close to 15 years later it was simply a forgotten detail. Even actors forget details of storylines they've been in. The other reason is secret children and inconvenient pregnancies (especially those caused by the married main villain) create a lot of drama, as happened with Mindy's ill-fated pregnancy by Roger and what was intended by the introduction of Hart. There were various reasons Hart kind of failed as a character (I think one of the actors was badly injured in an accident, is that right?) but you can understand why they would think bringing Roger's secret child into the story would be a win.

Isn't Sean Reardon (Matt and Bridget's father) a Vietnam vet? She'd be fighting against the war because her brother(s) would have to go, while Richie Rich Alan gets endless deferments because his war profiteer father arranges them for him. OR, back in the day she initiated Alan in the joys of getting stoned. Alan being a stoner for a while in his youth would be hilarious. Which would have made Brandon even more furious. She wouldn't just be an inappropriate match for Alan, he would see her as his enemy. I noticed that, too. Remember, a good chunk of 1988 was written by scab writers. I will give them credit for doing a couple of things right. For instance, Chelsea not falling for Phillip's BS and refusing to be his doormat anymore. If she had been written more like that early on, I would have liked the character a whole lot more. It made me sad to realize that Bernau's exit was written by scabs. It was actually a very good idea for an exit storyline (Phillip doing to him what he did to Brandon) but it was not executed very well.

Oh, my God. Some people need to get a life. Thanks for the info. The haters are why I've hesitated to start a YT channel. (Not necessarily soap opera-related haters, just haters, period).

She was underage. Whether it was Alan or Brandon, it was still statutory rape. I guess they figured after 16-17 years people wouldn't remember or didn't see the original Amanda paternity reveal, but HOW would Brandon have been so sure he was her father, if Jennifer had sex aound the same time with both of them? (Writing that sentence gave me the ick). Again, I'm not clear on why she would be entitled to half. He had a will that was done in Barbados, right? Soap writers don't seem to realize millionaires can leave their money to a home for stray cats if they want. The will can be contested, sure, but the birth certificate proves he knew she was his daughter. If he wanted to keep her out of his will, that was his choice, just like he kept Alan out of his first will. No, not really the same, because Jennifer came from a good family (apparently, Brandon did not object to Alan's engagement to her sister, so they must have been O.K. to him, socially). Alan and NotLana didn't necessarily have to meet in Springfield. If they DIDN'T know each other in SF, it would be easy to slip their relationship in between Jennifer and his marriage to Elizabeth. They could have met in Chicago, while he was working for Henry. (A "Hey, you're from Springfield, right? This is my friend who's also from Springfield." kind of meeting). If you roll back to the time that this would have happened (late 60s?) she could have been a kind of hippie girl, a free spirit, not only objectionable because she's working class, but also having the wrong politics and lifestyle. Which could easily tie in to her ending up on a farm years into the future. My mom had a cousin who lived in a commune. Some of her friends from that time live on a farm in Vermont to this day. Maybe she knew about Alan's situation with Jennifer and was afraid the same would happen to her, so she hid her own kid to keep Brandon from taking him. I remember Mattson on GL as Hope! She was pretty booked up during the 90s, not sure if she would have been available to return. I love MKA as India, but they never really defined her character and didn't know what to do with her unless she was blackmailing men into marrying her.

I wonder if an AI program flagged the account, because the account is clearly (to human eyes, anyway) not any of those things. Once again, thanks for the update! I hope Jim Muneco is also trying to get his account back.

This is what I mean. The reveal had no lasting impact on the story or characters. They "forgot" the 1984 resurrection of Brandon in 1987, because Christmas 1987 Amanda visited and gave her proxy to Phillip, so she still had her large block of Spaulding stock. At least that had an impact on the story for quite some time. Like I said, if you're going to rewrite history, do it for a purpose, not a short-term shock.

Thanks for the summation. I've never seen the reveal about Amanda’s "true parentage," and it's even dumber than I thought. Entitled to half of Brandon's fortune? Amanda ALREADY inherited most of his fortune when he "died" the first time! And what was the point of having this revealed to everyone so quickly? If you're going to rewrite history, the secret should be stretched out for drama--for months, even years--and have some real impact on the characters and overall story. Just to write out Dusay? Seems like that's the only reason for this. So bad.

Yes, I heard that, too. She's like Upper East Side NYC rich, like Charlotte on Sex and the City. But apparently she doesn't just sit back and live off her riches. Along with acting, she's also a writer who has published a bunch of books. Lady likes to keep busy!

Yes, you are correct. However, this was retconned later on. There was a scene in an episode recently uploaded where Henry mentioned that Vanessa and Ross grew up in Springfield. When Ross dated Calla, they mentioned they were high school sweethearts. The Barbados storyline revealed that Alan was born in Springfield on Founder's Day. I mean, it kind of makes sense why they did this. With the reduced Bauer family and the invasion from Tulsa, for a while the Reardons were almost the only native Springfield core family.

Frank mentioned in a Locher Room interview that he and Melina were good friends before she was cast. Their families were close, I think he said. Might explain a little why they vibed on screen. Sherry had chemistry with everyone.

Oh, come on, it would be easy. The guy rarely kept his pants zipped, LOL. Since he's a Spaulding and she's a Reardon, they both grew up in Springfield. Different parts of Springfield, but wouldn't be the first time a rich boy and poor girl got together. They might have even crossed paths while growing up because of their fathers being connected through that yearly fishing trip. He's not the only one whose long-term employment on the show is a mystery. Still can't understand how Ron Raines lasted 15 years. I'm sure he's a lovely person but he was a snore as Alan. And don't get me wrong, I love Tina Sloan, but of all the characters on the show, Lillian is the last I would have picked to stay over 2 decades.

He may have said he liked writing women, but unless she was his creation he was enthused about (like Nola and Carrie) they weren't that interesting. He wrote almost all the women as neurotic messes who needed therapy. Seriously, almost EVERY woman on the show became Sarah's patient. (Including Nola and Carrie.) Long created Alex, not Marland.

Whatever the reason (and that certainly could have been one, they could be really mean to actresses who gained weight), she was not liked by Kobe. She was pretty ruthless in getting rid of her. By the time Wilmore took over, she had been off the canvas for quite a while. I think most viewers liked her while she was on the show, but they never gave Hope much of an identity beyond Alan's wife/Mike's daughter. So this is a case where a recast wouldn't have upset people that much. They were free to bring her back as more mature, more savvy, and not vulnerable to Alan anymore. Tons of story possibilities. She could have even taken her father's place as his nemesis, with Alan Michael caught in the middle. You know I love your rewrite for the Goshen story and think bringing in the last Reardon sibling to be an old flame of Alan's would have been great. And her big secret is one of her kids is his. And if he was older than Phillip, he would be old enough...to be Hope's love interest. That would have been delightfully messy. Well, yes. She could have taken Elise the non-maid's place in his life. THAT I would have believed!

Reva? GL's perpetual love goddess? NEVER! 😂

LOL, the reasons I became a regular GL viewer (I watched on and off from 1976) was a combo of the Roger/Holly story and the island story. I like Elvera. The problem, IMO, is the way they wrote the character. Once involved with Alan, she had virtually no existence outside of him. I think she actually would have fared batter if the Dobsons had remained on GL. Marland was not the greatest at writing women in general, especially if he did not create the character. I've said it before: I believe the Dobsons had a much darker trajectory planned for Alan and Hope, with Hope becoming disillusioned and growing into a stronger person. You see that kind of character arc in the stories they wrote for Barbara and Margo when they went to ATWT. Marland decided to make then one of his central romantic couples, which necessitated Hope forgiving Alan for a lot of lying and cheating. So she came off as very passive and weak. Not going to disagree with you on that one! 😂 No way would I believe Alan would fall for Reva. They needed a spoiler for Reva and Josh. I'm convinced that Kyle was originally intended to have that role. Larkin Malloy was gone. Maybe they couldn't settle on a recast, or it was a money thing (Newman and Bernau coming back must have been a bit pricey). Or maybe they just thought Alan and Kyle were too similar and didn't want both on the canvas anymore. That's a bummer. But really appreciate you taking the trouble of asking.

This is a soap opera technique that was once extremely common. Listening to the character's thoughts went out of fashion. Gloria Monty, who produced General Hospital, revolutionized how soaps were directed. This wasn't the only thing she dropped. Used to be scenes would end with a lingering shot on a close-up of the face of one of the characters. When Kin Shriner moved from GH to Texas he complained because they still used that technique. It took a while for other soaps to change their directing techniques, but most eventually did because they were chasing GH's success. In some ways the chages were good. They made soaps seem more dynamic. In others, you kind of lost the intimacy of the scenes. One thing that used to drive me CRAZY about soap direction was when two actors would have a conversation while both were facing the camera, with one talking into the back of the other. It was so you could see both actors' faces during the scene, but it always looked silly and awkward to me. Definitely was not sorry when they stopped doing that for the most part.

This is in reference to Kate Mulgrew's pregnancy back when she was first on Ryan's Hope. She was an unwed mother and she gave the baby up for adoption. She covers this part of her life in her memoir. The show tried to keep it a secret. The soap magazines didn't report it but someone who worked on the show leaked the story to gossip columnist Rona Barrett and she revealed it on Good Morning America. Yes, it's not a bad thing that they kept this quiet (or at least tried to), and same with actors who didn't want to come out, etc. I was just making the point that soap magazines kept these kinds of things secret, while other news outlets didn't. But I think soap magazines did this for the shows/networks to avoid negative publicity, not out of consideration for the individual actors.

I've been watching old soap episodes from the 1980s on YT lately, and the difference is almost breathtaking. Many, many more sets, SO many more extras and small speaking parts in each episode. Big party scenes with elaborate clothes almost once a month. The sets today are much better looking, there just isn't as much variety. Yeah, why are Naomi and Jacob always in their bedroom? (Aside from the usual reason 😆).

You know, I thought of that, too, but I'm chalking that up to pure arrogance on her part. I'm assuming she thought fans would agree with her.

This is the part I've having trouble with. As loathsome as Kenny is, this wasn't self-defense. It was a hit, and murder is murder. These are supposed to be the good guys, right? I SUPPOSE there will be a twist? I'm usually pretty good at figuring out mysteries, but this one...I don't know.

I love the cover, too! Oh, what might have been, if TPTB had had the sense to take advantage of their chemistry. Instead, they were adversarial "friends"/co-conspirators. I think that is the best way to describe their relationship. My last words about the Zaslow situation (for now): Logan is a soap opera magazine writer. I don't mean it as a put down, but let's face it: his bread and butter depended on having access to the soaps, which could have been taken away at any time if the network/sponsor didn't like his reporting. It is an absolute FACT that soap opera magazines hid things happening BTS of soap operas if they were detrimental to the shows/networks. It's why soap magazines didn't out gay actors, for instance, and why it was rare that they reported actors having affairs, outside maybe a blind item. It's somewhat different now, but that's because these things have become less stigmatized. Definitely, the rise of social media changed a lot of things because it became easier for backstage stories to circulate among fans. I'll bet they knew about Maeve Kinkead's accusations against Rauch. Was it reported at the time? Not to my recollection. (How different from the incident at Y&R a few years ago, where the actors themselves talked about it on SM before the story officially broke). They went along with covering up the real reason Chris Bernau exited GL. They kept quiet about Kate Mulgrew being pregnant and putting her child up for adoption while she was on Ryan's Hope. It wasn't the soap magazines that broke the story. It was Rona Barrett, a gossip columnist whose livelihood did not depend on access to soap operas. Even after she did that, the soap magazines still didn't report it. So I am taking Logan's summation of events with a grain of salt. I don't think that's at all unreasonable. Excellent point and quite likely the case.

The cruelty here is insane. From what I understand of soap contracts, most are for a 2 -3 year term, where the actor can't leave until the end of that term, unless they negotiate an early release. BUT, the show always has the option to let the actor go, usually at the end of every 13 weeks of their contract. MADD said they had him take a 13 week leave while paying him a "small stipend." So why not let him go at the end of it? Unless his contract terms were unusual, they were perfectly free to let him go. I'm thinking even the "small stipend" thing had to be a violation of his contract. Maybe someone knows how these contracts work better than I do, but if they don't use you, my understanding is they are still obligated to pay you for whatever minimum amount of episodes you are guaranteed each week. Whatever the case, this is SO bad. Absolutely vile treatment.

I heard a few years ago he was working on a documentary about living with HIV/AIDS, but the website for the project no longer exists. Got to give her credit for that. Apparently, "friend of..." really means you're a friend of Jill's.

WOW. So they basically treated him almost the same as they did Bernau! The difference is, Zaslow didn't stay quiet about it. I'm putting a double curse on Dwyer-Dobbin. Saying her heart went out to him didn't make what she said any less loathsome. Also infuriating is this quote appeared, not in a soap magazine, but in TV Guide. Most people didn't read soap magazines, but almost everyone had TV Guide back then. 😡 I am trying really hard to remember if ABC and NBC ever treated actors who became ill this way. Maybe I'm totally wrong, but it seems like it was only CBS.

Possibly you're mixing up what happened when Chris Bernau left with Zaslow's departure. What you say here is extremely close to the story the show put out when Bernau left--that he had (an unnamed) health issue, that he was leaving the show temporarily, that he would return as soon as it was resolved. They stuck to that story for a long time after he left, even though they likely knew he had AIDS and was never going to return. Zaslow, once he had a diagnosis, was very vocal about it, while Bernau was not (understandably, because of the stigma surrounding AIDS back then).