EricMontreal22

Right, I thought there would be no way Carla would come back for one episode...

OK I'm confused. Carla made an appearance on OLTL in 2000??? This is from Wikipedia under Carla Gray: In September 1985, Carla accepted a job in Arizona similar to what she was doing in Llanview. She left with her mother Sadie and moved to Arizona. Soon after Ed and their son Josh, left town and moved to Arizona to be with them. Sadie died off-screen in the 1990s - but Carla, Ed and Josh came back to Llanview after Ed and Carla's grandson (Josh's son), Jared Hall (Herve Clermont) came to town and fell in love with Rachel Gannon in 2000. Now I do remember Ed coming for Jared's trial and quickly disappearing as Jared did, but not Carla...

I really appreciate you continuing to post these 1996 episodes--as I always forget to check and would miss them otherwise.

Yes, I'm excited she's joined the show. I'm starting to have a hard time waiting till April for this. (but for some reason the video won't play here, on ent weekly's link or the HBO website--must be a Canada thing, boo.)

Ashley turning on Emily was way too rushed IMHO. Up until last week she never seemed to even be slightly annoyed with Emiuly--even when she was mean to Tyler on their group date, and then suddenly she pretty much hates her?

Numbered for 20 years? I do get your point though.

Ha! I forgot she came seeking Brooke's help. I got the feeling that as soon as she appeared they knew it was an exit for good, after two recasts of Pierce. Incidentally there was a funny bit in the essay in Worlds Without End that mentions polls done towards gay male viewers about soaps (and AMC in specific which they claim had the highest gay male viewership--this was 1996/7), and they said people on the show were surprised that more women found Chris Bruno as Michael one of the hottest actors on the show than gay men--who generally picked the first Pierce as their favorite.

I loved that bit where she fell actually. To be fair, Brooke had a house before, the one on Phoebe's property, and they hadn't shown the legit Tyler set for AGES (was it even shown in the 90s?)--but I do believe RW probably did at least partially need that wheelchair, as you say, though perhaps it was for insurane reasons. Certainly James Mitchell was very frail his last appearances and always sitting down, but not in a wheelchair (same with Eileen Herlie although she seemed remarkably strong until her very final moments).

Right and there's definitely hinted a lesbian Single White Female vibe with "Amanda" for Emily... That was one thing in the episode I wasn't totally sold on--Jack has been shown as such an upstanding guy--would he really suddenly be into slathering sunscreen on a random, nameless, woman? I mean--it's not completely unbelieveable but...

Right which brought us back to the wonderful (eye oll) character of his ex girlfriend from there whose name I've forgotten...

Yes, they did play that angle of Jason up--which I thought was realistic, if you're going to show someone who was so homophobic (of course it also--I thought--tied into his alcohol problem, seeing Dixie as some sort of saviour, etc).

No, it didn't--but I suppose if it was leading up toi a Janet as Brooke story, as weird as that would have been, it does make some story sense. I do agree with your ealier comments on Jason who I think was a strong character--I think he did make a few prison appearances later on with Kevin's story, but not much. I still can't get over how constant some of the music cues were during this era--it's almost like they're playing synth instrumentsl of full out songs under many of the scenes (but yes the Tad/Liza scene was hot). Do you remember why Noah and Julia even flew to Jamaica--besides leading to a location shoot and the Days-lite voodoo stuff? i know it was after he was convicted, etc, but did Noah have ties to Jamaica?

Don't think it was Vietnam but a later war was it? But that's neither here nor there... I kinda did like them together,but I have no earthly reason why--in hindsight I don't (and really Pierce had problems, no matter who played him, as soon as they cut him off from Jane/Janet I think).

Great episodes--one question, why is Janet acting as a lawyer cross examining witnesses in her defence? I really can't remember...

Oh, that's kinda disappointing, but I guess it is still network tv (I almost wonder if they were equally afraid of backlash from gay groups about a predatory gay character).

I just read that--I wonder if that means Wiki got their dates wong as Jan 84, according to them, was when Sam Hall and Peggy O'Shea came back after the brief period of the Corringtons (which Wiki says came AFTER Sam Hall with Henry Slesar...) But yeah that area of OLTL fascinates me, when Jean Arley was producer and the show seemed to be at a bit of a loss, though it did decent ratings wise.

I was disappointed by the kiss too, but a part of me thinks MAYBE it was somewhat justified with the belief that they wanted to leave audiences 9who I guess would have to be clueless) guessing if they did go for a kiss or not--only tohave the revelation later on with the camera shot. "The hair, music, lighting, sets, overall production is flawless. With each episode I'm in awe with the many rooms in the Grayson home. (That foyer is amazing, and the room where the dinner for the Grayson wedding anniversary took place was beautiful.)" yes, even the use of extensive CGI for the hamptons sets (ent Weekly covered some of this recently and it surprised me) is well done-except that awful CGI falling shot. Having director Philip Noyce (who has directed brilliant films like Dead Calm to ridiculous ones like Sliver but *always* has a great visual sense of style and atmosphere) as exec producer and the director of the first few episodes certainly helps I think.

Yes I do agree about the smugness. And it didn't help pitting her up against Janet/Jane who, while she was planning and doing some awful things when she returned as RM, already had the audeince's sympathy on her side.

I liked Edmund/Brooke and Edmund/Maria 9the very first time only), so was kinda torn. You're right Carl that Laura did have some good moments--I liked her best when she was at the cabin, etc--not as much when she was at school with that group. I've said it before, but the one thing that really dates that era of AMC for me is the constant synthy music. It's interesting, with AMC (and maybe soaps to some extent in general? not sure), up until the late 80s they mainly used brief music cues to bridge scenes, etc, with the exception of some very dramatic scenes. Behr more and more seemed to have more constant music (which might have been a trend at the time, certainly OLTL did the same), and while at the time i liked it (or at least I didn't notice it), now when looking back, I really do. The music in the final decade was more sparse though not as sparse as in the early days. The Taylor/noah/julia stuff was forced--this was also what led to the Jamaica/voodoo story (which did bring back an interesting character--i can't even remember her name--who they then had no idea what to do with and she disappeared), so maybe it was a combo of writing for a popular couple and also the, I assume, mandate to try for a few more DAYS/Reilly style stories. It didn't help that nobody seemed to really take to that Taylor particularly. I never much liked Laurel but while I like to mock her now, at the time she didn't really bother me. She seemed like one of those soap characters who never should have much storyline but was a resonably realistic type person int he community--if that makes sense. At the time I did still find her murder powerful, but more due to the story and the interesting dynamics around it than because I was sad to see her go (probably a good example of a soap using the murder of a major character in a good way--it led to tons of story, and was a character that really was ready to go). Chris Bruno was never really a very good actor as you say, especially in dramatic stuff (he worked best as Gloria's friend who never said much or in a couple of his classroom scenes)--as I've said his boyfriend played by Daniel McDonald was much better at acting and seeming comfortable in the gay role and I would have made him the more prominent one Everything WRCW was great. That's a good way of doing story based around a workplace where it actually seems like people are 9shock) working, while the drama unfolds. Compare it to the TV station on ATWT the last few years or especially Fusion and it's mindboggling how artifical and inept they seem. I still really love this era, warts and al--it's great to see so many episodes get put up (though it throws me a bit since the poster isn't putting them up in order lol)

They did really waste him for a long time at the end--and what Rayfield did to his character (only to later have McTavish kill him off) was horrid. Ha I just found a copy of that VHS used for a dollar.

He really was--and for whatever reason had an "acting" style that (while by no means the worst male actor, even by a long shot, the soap has had--though I'd never call him a great actor either) simply did not mesh with the feel of AMC whatsoever, at least to me.

I used to have one of the print ads saved... Hrm

Was Scalia a primetime name? I never ever liked him on the show--and found the actor off putting. I did like Caulfield, even if his Pierce was on the cheesy side but in that case I'm not sure who was to blame--the character probably just shoul dhave been dropped. I knew Nadar had been on Dynasty--didn't know Callahan had a primetime history--was any big deal made of them being hired? I was oblivious to stuff liek that back then--since I was 11 and a brand new watcher (i think the then mysterious Dimitri joined in Summer/Fall 91 when I started watching--and I loved the original Edmund story and all the side stories it led to).

Now if only we can get some of that freaking "Destinyon the Danube" story online...

WOW. I have wondered how old he's meant to be--he hangs out (or tries to) with the younger set of characters (20somethings?) but if Amanda's dad was willing to invest in him some years back, while I get he made his fortune very young, would he have been THAT young?