Khan

I'm actually surprised Ron Carlivati hasn't had Megan brainwash Abe into becoming Stepin Fetchit.

I agree, @carolineg. For sure, if HMK is unable or unwilling to commit to the show on an indefinite or permanent basis, or if the show is unable or unwilling to commit to her portraying Molly for the foreseeable future, then they need to "rest" the story until they find a more permanent replacement. However, if either HMK or whoever succeeds her doesn't pan out, then I would definitely consider scrapping the story and writing the character out, because multiple recasts in order to make a story work NEVER works, lol. I don't think I would feel as bad, if only because I think the show went about setting up for this story in the wrong way - and that was before HP's arrest. Again, if the show couldn't or wouldn't tell this story with Lexi, then why tell it now with her replacement, if at all?

It isn't that I regard HP so highly and want to see her continue with this storyline, @carolineg. If anything, I think GH should have recast Molly and Kristina years ago, lol. However, HP had portrayed Molly for YEARS before her arrest. For better or for worse, GH viewers are familiar with her, just as they had become familiar with Lexi Ainsworth as Kristina. I realize the timing isn't great, but I think to place Haley's AND Lexi's replacements front-and-center in a potentially timely storyline right as they're joining the show would be a mistake, simply because viewers need time to get to know BOTH recasts before investing themselves emotionally in such a heavy storyline featuring them. Getting accustomed to seeing Kate Mansi as Kristina right as the story was kicking into gear was obstacle enough, but getting accustomed to her AND to a nuMolly? At the very least, like you've suggested, @carolineg, the show should pump the proverbial brakes and let the story progress slowly until they're sure the audience is invested enough in the new actors. I agree, @Liberty City, and I think it was a mistake to do that, too. Again, not because I'm a Lexi fan (I'm not), but because her long association with the show necessitated telling the story with her as Kristina. If the show didn't believe she could play that storyline effectively, then they should have either scrapped it at the idea stage, or recast (which they have done) and waited at least 6 months to a year before writing it with Kate in the part.

Yes, he's a full ten years younger than Ingo, but I think "When Calls the Heart"'s Daniel Lissing might make for a good Jax recast.

Now it can be told: it wasn't David who went through that shredder; it was Chase, whom David had murdered some time before, but kept his body on ice, "just in case," lol.

Phil Brewer was the sort of person who wanted to have his cake and eat it, too, lol. On one level, I think, Phil enjoyed the hold he held over Jessie's emotions. He knew that, no matter how many times he strayed, or how many times Jessie vowed not to take him back, there was a part of her that would always need him. But, on another level, I think the fact that Jessie was several years older than Phil played a part in his refusal to let her go as well. Perhaps, on some subconscious level, Phil looked at Jessie as some sort of mother figure, which he confused with something else. Did we ever learn anything about Phil's background - his childhood, his relationships with his parents (if he had any), etc.?

Chris Licht out as CNN CEO; three people to serve as his interim predecessors: https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/chris-licht-cnn-tumultuous-reign-130044199.html

For some reason, whenever I see the title LOVERS AND FRIENDS, I hear this duet playing in my head:

I agree, @Darn. If I were in Frank Valentini's position, I definitely would consider shelving the story, if not axing it altogether. It's gonna be a tough story to sell with two of the characters involved in it being recast.

...

If John Cunningham had wanted to leave, then the writers certainly could have handled that situation differently. They could have had Wade die from some terminal illness, or they could have had him and Janet simply move out of Henderson (although, Millee Taggart was probably wanting to stay). Killing him off in such a brutal fashion was probably the worst way to go for the audience, lol.

If not for the fact that that show was a Harding Lemay/Paul Rauch creation, I'm sure NBC would have cut it loose long before they actually did.

I've wondered that myself, @MichaelGL. Of course, GH's renaissance impacted the rest of ABCD's lineup, with all the shows experiencing ratings boosts; but it also seems that characters like Karen Wolek and Marco Dane played a major part in OLTL's surge in particular. Yet, as far as I can tell, the network didn't make any major changes behind-the-scenes to precipitate this turnaround. Gordon Russell, Sam Hall and their writing staff remained intact throughout the '70's. Any other show in OLTL's position might have experienced multiple turnovers, both on-screen and off. At any rate, I'm sure ABCD used OLTL's ratings during the mid-to-late '70's to justify phasing out many characters who had been with the show since the beginning.

IIRC, @Darn, Reva's life was in danger - probably from Edmund and his goons? - so she left Jonathan with Marissa and her husband and then escaped from the island. At some point, she suffered some kind of injury and turned up in Goshen with no memory of her lives in San Cristobel OR in Springfield either. (And yes, @Darn and @Vee, I agree that it was all so very stupid, lol.) It probably was, lol. At the time, as the story was playing out on-screen, I remember justifying Megan McTavish's choice to bring back Reva as a member of an Amish community by saying she had subconsciously recalled when she and Kyle were hiding out years before in another Amish community after his plane had crashed onto the roof of an Amish family's barn. Megan McTavish probably wasn't thinking about that story at all when she wrote it, but that was the only way I could explain why Reva turned up alive where she did.

Why was Liza wearing those eyeglasses in both scenes? Was she on a press junket in Cannes? John Cunningham and Millee Taggart shared such a nice, easy chemistry even in that brief scene. No wonder fans were upset when Wade was killed off. I could easily see him and Janet becoming an older "anchor couple" as the show aged.

I agree with all these points, @Vee.

This is how that storyline SHOULD end:

One ill-fated game of "Don't Drop the Soap" in the prison showers can really traumatize a man.

I smell a sexual harassment allegation or several coming.

I agree, lol! I'm just sorry that Chuck Todd will leave behind a show that he has helped tarnish with his utter refusal to speak truth to power when the viewers and the nation needed it.

The main thing that I remember about the period immediately before Claire Labine's start was the many "resets" to Bill Eckert's character. Whenever one characterization wouldn't work, the show would come up with another in the hopes that Bill would somehow take off.

I never understood why Cliff hated J.R. so much other than his daddy told him and his sister that J.R. and Bobby's daddy took his woman and screwed him out of a fortune when they were wildcatters. Unless I missed something, I felt like Cliff and J.R.'s feud needed to be more personal than that.

I agree. I wonder, too, what their original intentions for the story were (that is, if they had any intentions at the outset). Did they intend for Joseph Adkins to kidnap Bobbie and take her on the run or something?

Wow, even ChatGPT wants to create a backstory for James and Lucinda out of thin air, lol.

Frankly, @GLATWT88, I don't think J.R. cared, because there was no way to exploit it financially. The only things that mattered to J.R. Ewing were Ewing Oil and John Ross. Everything else was inconsequential. Now, if John Ross had come out of the closet, that would've been another matter, because his homosexuality would have threatened J.R.'s ability to pass onto the family legacy someday to his grandchildren.