JaneDigby

I remember drifting away from the show circa 1986 and watching it again I can see why. I never got the LuJack/Beth pairing and the decision to split up the 4 musketeers made no sense. India was an interesting character but her storylines were usually nonsense. I liked her with Simon. Why someone thought pairing Simon with Jessie was a good idea ... no clue. I still have no idea what the whole Billy triest to kill Kyle story was all about. What did work for me was Kyle & Reva. If only to hear Reva say she didn't want to bag another Lewis man. That alone made it art. Then you had the whole swoony romantic thing going on, Reva being less of a boor and actually trying to be a decent person, I bought that she genuinely wanted to do right by HB. Good soapy stuff. I remember watching the day she jumped off the bridge - and I remember being really upset she dropped her engagement ring. I don't know why they dropped Kyle to bring back Josh and put us through the endless lather, rinse, repeat of Josh & Reva. Come to think of it, the whole Princess Catherine story was a Kyle vs the Lewises retread. I'm surprised at how well some of this has held up.

Does "Psychic" count as a job? Having Marah grow up to be a spoiled vixen who out-Reva'd Meva would have entertained me. They did that for short while and then it was Tonymania and did I hallucinate it or did Marah sex up Jeffrey? Vanessa and Matt never did a ton for me. Didn't hate them just didn't care. I'm craving some backstage GL gossip. Who was the biggest raging egomaniac? Is it true Grant Aleksander hated all his leading ladies? Dish!

Was it McLabby who created Pharley? I freely admit that while I once loved Harley and always enjoyed Phillip I didn't take to them at the time. Now, rewatching old episodes I hate them with the first of a thousand suns. What a smug, judgmental self-enchanted pair. I could have moved on from Beth & Phillip but writing her as a total neurotic mess while Phillip was sane and strong and poor widdle Harley has to suffer. I can't. Reva and Josh should have either stayed together or been split up for good circa 1999. Instead every few years Josh had to marry some woman, let Reva make her insane with jealousy while claiming their was nothing to be jealous about and then dump her (righteously, natch) for Reva. Lather, rinse, repeat. It made both characters loathsome to me.

I'm currently re-watching early RH on YT and it's so damn good it feels like the viewing equivalent of a good workout. "Here, sweetie, you're looking a little wan, have some Ryan's Hope to add pep to your step." The Frank/Jill/Seneca and Delia/Pat/Faith stories feel like real stories driven by the characters, not exercises in geometry. Such great writing, such a strong cast. Amazing.

I was very annoyed, too. It was just BS. It cut Kevin and Joey off from tons of story possibilities, for one thing. For another, it was an example of one of my most hated soap tropes: random reassignment of children. Then there's the whole denigration of the role of step-parents. I hate it whenever soaps did it but I really hated this one. Speaking of things I hated - there are a bunch of new OLTL promos up on YT from 1992 and they've reminded me how much I loathed Luna. The show pushed Max & Luna so shamelessly it semi-hilarious. You WILL love this couple. They ARE you're favorite. Luna "crossing over to the other side" to save Max was OLTL at its worst for me.

I did an RH rewatch last summer and it was amazing to see how well the early stories hold up. Ilene Kristen as Delia is nothing short of awe-inspiring. The whole Jill/Frank/Delia storyline is fascinating to watch because it has very little to do with Delia's love for Frank, she'd have married a bar stool if it would make her a Ryan. Seneca was a great character in that he was written, from day one, as an overbearing ego-driven man without being written as a villain. The writing showed his POV every time. Jill was and still is a unique character - a woman whose life wasn't defined by love, who wasn't turning herself inside out to get married. Frank didn't become a 3-dimensional character for me until Andrew Robinson took over the role, then he became a believable family golden-boy with real flaws. I never wanted Jill with Seneca but I loved watching their story play out. (I didn't want her to follow Frank around forever either.) Delia/Patrick/Faith was one of the very best stories for me. So much depth to the characters, so many great scenes. The only downside was Tom Desmond. I liked the actor and the character started out OK but the stories written for him were such dreck. Theresa, Terry the tumor, etc. Roger Coleridge is one of my all time favorite soap characters. Ron Hale was brilliant. Loved Bob Ryan and it's such a shame the show never really wrote for him. I hated Kim. Even as a middle school kid watching the first run I couldn't believe the show was trying to sell a lousy actress as the show's answer to Laura Webber and, worse insult, a talented actress. Pairing her with Seneca was Squick City but it made a twisted sort of sense based on the characters.

Hi all. Long time lurker and occasional poster here. I've been making up for the lack of decent soap on tv by scouring for for classic soap videos and lately I've been on a GL binge. Some of it is amazingly good, some is shockingly bad and some is so creakily obvious. On the obvious front, Philip and Harley probably seemed like a good idea on paper. I remember when Grant Aleksander returned in 96 and it looked like they were going to pair him with Annie. I was glad to be spared another Rick/Philip pass-around. Trying to get the Philip and Harley working without resolving his relationship with Beth was a dumb move. Looking at the episodes now it is painfully obvious the writers were trying to turn Harley into the shows marquee heroine by making her "perfect" and her relationship with Philip oh-so fated. Then they turned to that old standby of "trash the ex the audience won't let go of" because, you know, that always works. Two scenes I just watched epitomize this mess for me. The first is Annie's wedding to Alan and Harley tells a total stranger who has just said that Beth looks great, "Yes, and now that she's on new medicine she doesn't drool anymore." This was someone's idea of entertainment? Having Harley making nasty remarks about the mental health issues someone they audience watched have a nervous breakdown after her stepfather violently raped her? In another episode Frank tells Harley to think of herself for once in her life. Laugh out loud material, there. I can't believe this couple ate the show for two years. The San Cristobel stuff is train-wreck compelling. I hope they all drank between scenes because no one should have been forced to say that crap sober. Laura Wright had some great scenes telling Reva where to get off but then I always did enjoy someone reading Reva for filth. Other than that, the Stripper Pole Princess story was nuts.