Khan

I would say (with great reluctance) JFP. Whether or not she coasted on Robert Calhoun's accomplishments, or she owed her success more to Nancy Curlee and Stephen Demorest's writing than to her own skills as an EP, I think it would be hard to deny that it was the last time that GL would be successful at the Emmys, in the ratings or with the critics. As for the others... Ellen Wheeler was in over her head, producing (with no experience) a show that was beyond help, or hope. Just about any other producer would have known better how to handle the transition to Peapack. John Conboy and Paul Rauch were old-school producers, but neither had a vision for GL that was consistent with its' core themes. Michael Laibson probably would have been more successful as EP. However, P&G was interfering too much by that point. Also, he had to work with a HW who possessed both a dark vision of humanity and a huge axe to grind with the show she had worked on previously. Joe Willmore was another old-school producer like Conboy and Rauch, but he did not have any vision for GL, let alone one that was wrong for the show. And Gail Kobe might have pulled GL out of its' post-Douglas Marland funk, but she also decimated much of its' core by 1985/1986, causing the ratings to flatten and to stay flat for the rest of the decade, and making her probably the most destructive EP that GL would ever employ, with Wheeler a close second.

AW's milestone episodes always were so underwhelming to me. That one was no different.

Thank you, @dc11786, for clarifying that for me. I knew I must have mixed up things somehow, lol. Regardless of how I had conflated them in my memory, though, those promos were just weird to me. If not for the fact that LOL was long gone and that tapes of past episodes are scarce on the Internet, I would have been intrigued enough to tune in and watch the show "live" just to see what the heck was going on, lol. One other question: in another promo, or maybe in the same promo(s) as mentioned before, there is a shot of two people, a man and a woman, laughing and carrying on while showering together. Who are they? I mean, whoever they are, they certainly were/are having a great time, lol.

For those who are interested, here is some of Ms. Uggams' work on AMC. Uggams portrayed Rose Keefer, who was Belinda (Amelia Marshall) and Noah's (Keith Hamilton Cobb) mother. Years before, for reasons I cannot remember, she had left her kids for her sister-in-law, Grace (Lynne Thigpen), to raise. Now, Rose was back in Pine Valley, but trouble had followed her in the form of her criminal husband. Belinda, Noah and his wife, Julia (Sydney Penny), were all caught in the line of fire, forcing Noah, Julia and Rose to enter the Witness Protection Program. I know I do not say much about mid- and late-'90's AMC, but I think Lorraine Broderick and her team - and Jeff Beldner, Hal Corley, Frederick Johnson and Michelle Patrick, in particular - should be commended for this material, because they did such a beautiful job writing for this group of characters.

Question for longtime LOL fans: what was the deal with the Asian hitwoman? In one of the very few LOL-related promos that I have viewed on YT, there was/is an Asian hitwoman who apparently has been contracted to kill one of the men in Rosehill. Who was her target, and did she succeed?

I agree. John Conboy never understood that GL was not Y&R or CAPITOL. It did not need more gloss; it needed better stories.

The Affordable Care Act appears to be following the same arc as many "entitlements" that our country once balked at but now cannot fathom doing without. If I were a Democrat running for office, I would hammer home that fact along with reproductive rights and the inextricable links between them and the ACA.

Does anyone else remember when GL devoted an ENTIRE. EPISODE. To cast members building homes for Habitats for Humanity?

No, I don't. There was speculation, though? I think it would have been odd to see "Dr. Alan Quartermaine" now playing "Dr. Ed Bauer," to say the least. Plus, given SD's health at the time, I am not sure he would have been up to relocating to NYC and playing any role on any soap full-time. I agree. There came a point in GL's final year or two when it was obvious they no longer had a long-term plan for anything and instead were making up stuff based on which part of Peapack they were filming in that day.

This makes me laugh for some reason. Did Jean Holloway think she still was writing THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS?

Yes, they do. As a matter of fact, a distant cousin of mine was released so he could attend my maternal grandfather's funeral, wearing handcuffs and being escorted the entire time.

Yes.

Wendy Riche does not need to return to soaps. She has more than earned her retirement.

I agree. Peapack was an embarrassment for everyone concerned. Nevertheless, a lot of people were depending on its' success in order to maintain their livelihoods. In the end, you can't fault anyone responsible for trying to do whatever they could to keep GL going and keep everyone employed. They just needed more competent leaders at the helm. Gil Gerard would have made for a better Clint Buchanan recast on OLTL. I, myself, would have reached out to Mart Hulswit to see whether he were interested in returning to the show. He might not have been a hunk, but I think Ed was past being a romantic lead anyway. Plus, having him there with Maureen Garrett as Holly might have made the Sebastian storyline less absurd.

My wish for GH in 2024 is the same wish I have had for GH for the past several years: that 70-80% of the current cast is wiped out in a hurricane that unleashes a new strain of Lassa Fever that occurs while a serial killer is simultaneously threatening the citizens of Port Charles.

Ah, the strange, sad case of one Bambi Brewster, lol. I do not know much about the character or her storyline - all that I know, I have gleaned from reading about her on message boards - but she might be a classic, textbook example of a minor/supporting character who becomes a lead literally overnight. In fact, I once joked that the show should have been renamed LOVE OF BAMBI.

I said the same thing as the storyline was playing out. If GA was not interested in returning, I said, then recast Phillip, so there would be a point to the "Who Killed Phillip?" storyline. I also said he even could return using a different name, like Scott Marler ("Scott," for Jackie; "Marler," for Justin), to illustrate how repentant he felt about the way he had treated all his loved ones before he was "killed" and that he wanted to clean the proverbial slate. Not an ideal situation, mind you, but at least there would have been a purpose to "killing" him off.

Even better: introduce a new, male character who is not interested in going to bed with her. Not because he is gay or transgender, or because he is impotent or a eunuch, or because he is merely related to her, but because he is just not that into her. Then, make her lose her mind in trying to seduce him anyway - even though she is supposed to be happy again with Ridge - because, as she realizes later in court-ordered therapy, she needs to have every man who comes in contact with her be totally in love with her in order to have any self-worth. Almost forgot... DAYS: Someone at the studio "accidentally" spills a vat filled with celery tonic on all the episodes they have taped ahead, forcing DAYS to return to a production schedule that allows for actual adjustment of characters and storylines that are failing.

Being a fan of Frank Salisbury's, I definitely approve adding him to the writing staff, lol. The thing is, Ann Marcus tended to use her own stable of writers at each show she worked on: Jerry Adelman, Rocci Chatfield, Raymond Goldstone (her brother), Ken Hartman/Daniel Gregory Browne, Laura Olsher, Joyce Perry, etc. (Notably, she kept Elizabeth Harrower on the staff when she took over HW'ing duties at DAYS, but probably lived to regret it when Harrower subsequently maneuvered her out of the job and off the show). So I don't know whether she would have been receptive to having associate writers foisted on her, for lack of a better word. Rick Edelstein, Jane Avery and A.J. Russell are all solid choices, @dc11786. Especially Edelstein (who is mentioned in Barbra Streisand's autobiography, by the way, as is her former acting teacher, Allan Miller (ex-Dave Siegel, OLTL; et al)). He and Rita Lakin (another hypothetical replacement for Ann Marcus) were the only two writers whose work on THE DOCTORS I could tolerate. As for EP, what if CBSD had been able to snag Jorn Winther to replace Cathy Abbi before he began work at AMC?

Pairing Michael Dempsey's A-M with Mandy Bruno's Marina was so wrong when you consider that Eleni believed for awhile that A-M was Marina's biological father. I agree.

Literally anything would have been better than his being the Unabortion.

I agree 100%, @Paul Raven! TC could have featured descendants from one of NYC's oldest and wealthiest families, along with a brash billionaire (...yes, like whatshisname...) who represents "new money" that the other family looks down their noses at. And then there also could have been an ethnic, blue-collar family - with ties both to law enforcement, like the Reagans on "Blue Bloods," and to organized crime in the city - who, along with the other family, becomes involved in various ways with the LOVING transplants at the Greene Street building. TC could have had a traditional set-up for a soap, just with a twist on its' execution that would have made it feel fresh and different at the same time.

I apologize, @dc11786, it was meant to be a joke. (But, hey, if you like the idea, who am I steer you wrong, lol?)

I agree on both counts.

LOL!!