Speed Racer

And Kevin McClatchey (Vinnie) would have made an excellent AM recast, post Rick Hearst. I could see McClatchey going head-to-head with Grant Aleksander. (McClatchey also could have been a decent Nick Spaulding, had Irizarry left the show before the character did. But, I'd prefer him as AM).

I suspected you'd like that second week of July 1993! (And I encourage everyone here who is already familiar to go back and rewatch that week. Crammed with good material, nearly non-stop. Not only Roger/Holly and Ed/Michelle, but Gilly/Hamp/Roger as well). Monto Sharp is outstanding in those diner scenes. Just the look on his face! And poor Stavros. I really liked Stavros. GL won for the Emmy for Best Writing of 1993. When you see what you just saw, GL95, it's no wonder. Not sure why some people here admonish 1993 (resentful over the loss of Maureen, perhaps)? Things start to slide late in the year, but not until then.

Eve was re-employed at Cedars, but mainly in an administrative role, with light duty - ie, "consultative" responsibilities as an MD. Ed learned of Blake/Ross' financial predicament, and asked Eve to hire Blake on in a quasi-admin role. She did so. Blake gave Eve endless grief because she wanted Ed and Eve apart. Eve got tired of Blake's crap and fired her. Timeframe? I don't remember. 1994. Thanks for the info re: Ross and money. I now remember Ross telling Alex to take a hike!

I do remember Vanessa and Ross enlisting Holly's help in trying to stop Dinah from marrying Roger. A wonderful scene between Holly and Dinah about Roger ensued. Noting that, your idea about having Holly approach Vanessa re: Dinah/Ross/Blake is smart. Re: Crampton. Her spin as Mindy was unfortunate. She simply wasn't Mindy - and the beating of the dead Mindy/Nick horse sure didn't help. However, Crampton was a good actress. Her best showing as Mindy I thought came when she learned Nick and Alex were ready to sacrifice Lewis Oil to keep Spaulding solvent. Crampton's acting in a particular episode- November 21 1994 - I thought was worthy of an Emmy nod. Excellent work, there. The last 10 minutes or so. It's in the Vault.

Agree re: Blake being a crisis manager...a position often taken on by public relations executives in the real world. A perfect role for a yet-to-be tested, newly reformed/domiciled Blake. There was maybe a six-month period in either 1994 or 95 when Ross and Blake were lacking money, which I always found odd since both were capable of pulling in cash. Did Ross lose lawyer business/contracts in the wake of Roger/Jenna's takeover of Spaulding? Was that it?

Van/Holly anything would have been interesting. There's an undefined obliqueness (for lack of a better descriptor) between those two that I find fascinating. Story? If not a Ross/Holly/Van triangle, then have Roger blackmail Holly of all people, with her ticket out of the mess being the destruction of Vanessa's career. Via WSPR, naturally.

Quite likely, I would think. Swap Sonni for Alex, make some changes, and presto!

July 1993 is a solid month. I just did a rewatch of the second week of July....some very respectable and fairly thorough character development at that time between Roger/Holly and Ed/Michelle. No, I'm not going to give you any details. Aside from those four, something rather significant happens.

Yes, AM was cursed on both sides. At least the Julie story (which I knew nothing about until just now) could very well help explain Hope's absence and her alcoholism, Alan aside. That would've been a solid story to tell in 1986/1987, right before AM returns to town. A drunk Hope should've really laid into her father for what he did...and because throughout her growing years, she never had her mother! Yet here's the ever noble, self-righteous, legal eagle Mike Bauer. AM's grandma committed suicide? That's some news, right there. Yet another why, that If AM and Amanda were in Springfield simultaneously for any real length of time, a very strong camaraderie between them would've been a must. As a joint defense mechanism in some ways.

Mike and Roger have a brief, fictitious interaction, not long before Santo Domingo. Mike enters the room.... Roger: "Ah, Mr. Sanctimony himself! Rapist Mike Bauer!" Mike: "Unlike you, Roger, I wasn't married to Julie when I raped her. Besides, Hope was conceived out of love. Retroactively, sure, but love just the same. I grew to love Julie." Roger: "Oh, I see. Because you didn't violate the holy sacrament of marriage, you are morally superior. But guess what, I loved Holly before I raped her. And after. There was no "retroactive" about it. And guess what? Holly didn't commit suicide. No matter what has happened between Holly and I, our love for daughter Chrissie remains." Pretty wild scenario, but more accurate that what we ever saw onscreen.

Oh- I would have loved to see Ross go after Mike on legal charges (for fraud committed off-screen in 1985?), and have Ross prevail. Another missed opportunity!

So, the ever condescending, the ever sanctimonious Mike Bauer was a rapist, eh? Figures. That he received Springfield's Man of the Year award circa 1980-ish is thus a remarkable feat. I can only imagine what long-term GL viewers must have thought of that award at the time! That Bert's two sons were a rapist and a drunk, respectively, more than explains Bert's rather humble, grateful persona that I saw when I started watching in the late 1970s. Her daughter-in-law commits suicide? Wow. Were Julie's parents/siblings ever part of the story? I don't remember Julie's fate ever coming up in Bauer conversation from the late 1970s onward. Heck, there was no serious friction between Mike and Hope ever. Disagreements over Alan, sure, but none over Hope's mother? Several people here have stated that they would have liked to see Mike and Hope return during the late 1980s - JULIE and the repercussions of her story is THE story that should have been told/revisited. Where the h@ll does Mike get off chastising anyone over their behavior, considering his own? The gall. I couldn't stand Mike before. Now, it's worse. He and Reva should have been dumped into an active volcano. Oh - Reverend - thanks for the write-up! LOL.

Julie Bauer? Hope's mother? I second that. Yeah, Reverend - who's Julie Bauer? Relations? Her personality? Key story? Etc. I have the same question re: Ellis Smith and Rose Kransky. Thanks in advance for the info.

Nah....Reva should have been the center of a murder mystery. Who Murdered Reva? The thought of such a tale makes me want to spot the carpet! The suspects could have been many: (1) Josh. (2). Marah. (3). Shayne. (4a - 4z). Anyone and everyone else. Maybe everybody did it! The sentence for the guilty party/ies? 40 hours of community service.

Oh, yeah - Bridget and Dollface are great together. I remember when AlwaysAMC discounted Rachel Miner's Michelle as morose and uninteresting. I'm willing to bet that that opinion will change.

GL95 - The Peter custody battle is on slow-burner until about October/November of 1993. It's a good story throughout and peaks in early 1994 (Curlee's last story). The baby/tot who portrayed Peter is phenomenal. Seems to know he's on stage and very rarely interrupts the scene. I always was pretty enamored with that little kid. So were the actors! You see him a fair amount from 1993-1995. Three notable stories coming your way in Summer 1993: MacCauley West (an ill-conceived misfire), Cliff House (good) and Kat/David (also good). There's an actor you'll be introduced to soon (Kevin McClatchey) whom I liked. Too bad he wasn't a three-year contract signing.

I'm sorry to hear that. I hear about the "old" old times, but cannot participate. The only radio show I was able to listen to in real time (because I was alive then) was the CBS Mystery Theater that used to air during the 1970s. My brother and I would listen to those often. I read about GLs more distant past, but that's all I can do. Disappointing. I occasionally see your comments and those of a few others here about how many people don't seem interested in GL's more distant past...it's tough to be when there's no first-hand memory and there's very little out there. Frustrating for you probably...melancholic for me. Carry on, Reverend. And thank you.

Hey - are those old radio programs available somewhere? I wouldn't mind giving those a try. Thanks.

AlwaysAMC: In response to your question, I've assigned a standard grade to each year I watched: 1978 - B 1979-1981 - A. The best year was 1980. 1982 - C 1983- B 1984-1988 - D. 1987 and 1988 are both an "F" if not for Michelle Forbes. Would have loved it if Forbes had signed on for another three years into 1992. 1989 - C (a big improvement from 1988, but a not good first half of the year). Steady improvement from August through December. 1990-1992 - A minus. Very disappointing that The Vault is so skimpy re: 1990-1991. You'd love it, Always, especially March 1990 through July 1992. Intricate. Purposeful. Strident, confident new opening as of Jan 1991. Great dialog and acting. Umbrella stories that intertwine. Communal, broad landscape. A few dud storylines here and there (Daniel St John) but not many. Even the non-eventful days could be fascinating, which I loved. 1993 - B A decent year though August (B+), slips some from September onward (C+). 1994 - C 1995 - B 1996 - D 1997-1998 - C (would both be a "D" if not for Watros) 1999 - F. Insultingly bad. Atrocious. Screeching fanbase idiocy.

GL95 said: "The web of lies Nadine is living with may rival just about any web of lies anyone has had at this point. For someone as flaky as she is, it's fairly amazing what she is capable of pulling off." PJ said: "Objectively, Nadine's insecurities aren't unfounded, but she always just goes that step too far." soaplovers said: "It really is a shame that Nadine becomes isolated in the 2nd half of 1993 aside from an occasional interaction with Holly at the diner where Holly listened to Nadine talk about Buzz/Jenna while Nadine gave her two cents to Holly about Eve." Maybe 3-4 months ago, a poster by the moniker of MLN thought that having Nadine employed as a realtor would have been ideal. I agreed. All the bases discussed here (above) are easily accommodated if Nadine is a realtor. Nadine essentially is an innocent and is fairly naive. Nadine as realtor allows her to legitimately flit from storyline to storyline, getting the goods on people via both heresay and real, eyewitness experience. Does one believe what Nadine says, or is it folly to not believe her? (And that itself would be a great internal battle for Nadine to face. Lying/crying wolf/telling the truth/keeping one's mouth shut - which is it, Nadine?) Further, Nadine as realtor affords GL writers room to stir the pot.

"but it's insulting on levels that Vanessa has to continually prove herself. Meanwhile, all a Spaulding needs is the name." It certainly is, and it's how the world works. Phillip had no acumen either - he was a writer (and Beth a painter). In any event, not having the family name likely would cause problems for Vanessa in decision making and execution. Without having anything to do with acumen or intelligence. Rather than say, "I'm just going to do this", Vanessa might ask herself, "Would a Spaulding do this?" The board may ask the same questions. The pitfalls of working for a family-owned company. It's a card that Guiding Light could have played and played well.

Lillian would have plenty to do in a secondary role in the Springfield the two of us have carved out. Imagine Lillian's role in a scenario where AM and Maureen work for Roger, where Amanda has married Ed, where Lillian tries to console/control/advise a drunk Phillip, who is now a real threat to out-of-town Beth and Lizzie. Lillian appeals to Rick, who is hesitant to help. Rick and Phillip's friendship is on the rocks. Lillian is on her own (though her past dealings with ex-hubby Bradley certainly had instilled considerable wisdom). Does Lillian press charges against Phillip? Maybe Amanda and Lillian become co-heads of the Spaulding Foundation at Cedars. That would piss off Maureen. It would also provide Roger an opportunity to screw up Ed. Meanwhile, Lillian's co-worker and friend Eve self-commits to an asylum, and Lillian tries to help her there. Ultimately, her efforts are for naught as Eve later commits suicide.

Devious is great for a soap! Like this especially: "Even better, have Roger or AM plant bait for Nick to run with and have Nick blow things up without doing enough research because his arrogance wins out." Love that set-up. Love that it's Nick who unwittingly blows things up. That's really rather fantastic. Upon her return, perhaps Momma Alex is no longer so keen to call Nick her son. That said, Nick doesn't have the chops to run a lemonade stand. Besides, having Roger run behemoth Spaulding into the ground would take a year or two. Companies can run on nothing more than inertia for a year or two easily. I could see Roger rather appreciating that, as it gives him time to destroy not only the company, but run the Spaulding name into the ground.

Whoaaaa....an idea here. Re-introduce Bradley Raines (Rebhorn) as Rogers' co-conspirator in bringing down Spaulding Enterprises. That would be aces. Then, of course, you have Bradley turning on Roger, in a pseudo replay of Alan/Roger from the late 1970s/early 80s. Have Roger be the one defending turf. Maybe have Bradley make a play for Holly.