Khan

Frankly, I'm more interested in seeing Deacon and Ridge hook up. (Come on, Bradley! 'RiDe' 4 Evah!)

That's true, @Vee. I hadn't looked at it that way. On the other hand, it wasn't as if Bobby's return brought DALLAS back to the top of the ratings, or to the top three or top five. If anything, I think his return - or, more appropriately, the enormous liberties with realism taken to make his return possible - might have hastened the show's (unfortunate, but inevitable) decline.

Part of that was during LML's run, I think, when she hit upon the notion of Nikki doing something other than sitting all day at the Newman ranch and waiting for Victor to come home.

Victoria Principal's exit had to be one of the stupidest ever. Pam had enough time to apply the brakes or swerve to avoid hitting the side of that tanker. But what does she do? What women always do in these situations on TV and in the movies: she screams, she takes her hands off the wheel and then she covers her eyes. I agree. I also agree that Lorimar should have told Patrick Duffy and Larry Hagman that Duffy returning to the show as Bobby was impossible. Obviously, they were concerned about the ratings, but as @kalbir and @Paul Raven have pointed out in this thread and elsewhere, ratings for all the primetime soaps were declining due to changing tastes.

Weren't we imagining several years ago how Jasmine Guy would have made a great addition to DAYS? I think we were like, "Oooh, she'd be SUCH a great villainess (maybe as another, long-lost DiMera)!"

Wow, was it THAT long ago? I remember so well when I and others on this board were campaigning for "Chill" to happen. (Some campaigned for it harder than others, lol.)

Is Kyle Lowder in the new "Barbie" movie? If he isn't, then he should be, lol.

Unfortunately, Y&R doesn't believe in the "slow burn" anymore, lol.

I don't think that take is controversial at all, @kalbir. As a matter of fact, it makes PERFECT sense to me. David Jacobs was very competitive whenever it came to ratings. If his show couldn't win any awards, he must've figured, then it could beat the competition on the other networks. That could be true. On the other hand, judging from the Lechowicks' other shows, I tend to think they were lousy at casting for their own characters, lol. I agree.

Those were just two of several returns that I had in mind for the "alternate" fourteenth season. KL knew going in that season 14 would be last, so why not mark the show's passing with return visits from former cast members? Of course, getting Constance McCashin to return was still out of the question, but for example, you could've had Don Murray return as Sid's "ghost" to counsel Karen during a crisis point in her and Mack's marriage. Or Julie Harris could've returned for Val's funeral (and seen that Kate has feelings for Gary). Or Lisa Hartman could've returned (with the excuse that Cathy was passing through California while on her latest tour) and helped Gary see he had to move on from Val. Or - and this is just me being Ron Carlivati - Alec Baldwin could've returned in the last episode as a prospective buyer for one of the houses in the cul-de-sac. KL's budget and episode order might have been slashed for the last season, but I would rather they had spent the money on getting some ex-cast members to return for an episode apiece than on more airtime for characters like Nick Schillace and Vanessa Hunt. One other thing I would have done in season 14: for sure, I would have had Treadwell's men kill off that walking stereotype Nick; Anne would have left town with Richard; and on her flight to wherever she was going, Claudia meets a man who looks a lot like Mark LaMura.

I agree. It didn't work for me either, @DRW50. First of all, the circumstances that brought Anne and "Benita Appleman," as I call him, together reeked. Anne is broke and homeless? I don't think so, lol. Second, I think Stuart Pankin was too boorish-acting as Benny. Why would Anne - even an Anne who was penniless - want anything at all to do with someone like him? Someone needed to tell Pankin to pull back a bit.

I agree. At the very least, the show should have tried finding a new love interest for Frank and mother figure for Julie after an appropriate period of mourning had passed (and no, Halle Berry was not it, lol). Unfortunately, I don't think anyone at the show was committed anymore to writing for Larry Riley or for Kent Masters-King. If Riley hadn't have died of AIDS, he probably would've been written out anyway. I like your suggestion of casting Amanda with Ana-Alicia instead of with Penny Peyser, @SoapDope. Even if the writing had not changed, at least Ana-Alicia would have been more interesting to watch - and she would have been more Ted Shackelford/Gary's type, too.

I've never thought about that, @DRW50, but that is an excellent point! I wish Doug Sheehan had returned in the final season when Gary was searching for Val in Florida. Ben and Gary could have crossed paths; Ben could have learned that Val was in trouble; and he and Gary could have teamed up to rescue her, burying the hatchet in the process. I also wish John Pleshette had returned when Mack was arrested for Mary Robeson's murder and needed an attorney. It might sound strange, but I think he and Michelle Phillips could have made an interesting pair, too.

It's really great to see Linden Ashby again.

He didn't sleep with Amanda. The plan WAS for Gary and Pat to hook up, but TPTB put the old kibosh on it. (Gee, I wonder why, lol?). They also planned for Gary and Anne to have an affair, but Michelle Phillips put an end to THAT, saying that Anne couldn't just go from man to man like that. (Um, Michelle, did you know the character you were portraying, lol?)

They're going to wipe "Tidal Energy" and Jean Hackney from the masters?

Back to the 1970 summaries: Henry/Sharon and Howie/Jane are almost interchangeable to me. Meg is [!@#$%^&*] nuts. Audrey couldn't go through with the wedding because she was suffering from vertigo? Where were she and Tom planning to marry? On top of the Sears Tower in Chicago? I repeat: Meg is [!@#$%^&*] nuts.

Exactly. JFP's biggest success as a producer was at GL. Yet, even there, for about half of her regime, she coasted on what her predecessor, Robert Calhoun, had set up for her. Once those pieces were gone, it all turned to crap rather quickly.

I wonder if Josh Griffith is going for a "Cape Fear" type of storyline where Cameron, fresh out of prison, pretends to be someone else so he can get close to and seduce Faith.

Maybe, but to tell you the truth, @Franko, I didn't think Jill had much of a "life" on the show beyond her relationship with Gary. If she hadn't have gone insane and tried to kill Val, she probably would have just left town like Paula Vertosick.

Frankly, @Darn, I've seen three actors portray A.J. Quartermaine over the years, and I don't think any of them were "right." I've already said why I thought Billy Warlock was wrong for the part. Sean Kanan nailed the "rich and spoiled" part of A.J.'s personality, but I didn't find him to be particularly empathetic. (He could be an [!@#$%^&*], but at least be an [!@#$%^&*] who doesn't make me want to punch out my TV screen everyday, lol). And Gerald Hopkins, who proceeded Kanan, was...okay. He looked like someone whose parents would look like Leslie Charleson and Stuart Damon. But I also remember him as being so, so green, lol. I say bring back Nikki Langton and see what could happen there!

I've always felt sorry for Billy Warlock. I think he's a good actor - much better, in fact, than some people will give him credit for. DAYS, however, never knew what to do with him once he'd aged out of the "teen love" stuff with Melissa Reeves. And as for GH - well, I thought it was clear from the beginning that somebody at the show or at the network didn't want him there, at least not as A.J. I'm glad to know I wasn't wrong in my suspicions, lol. However, I can see the GH situation from both points of view. On the one hand, BW was right: he was, in his opinion, and in mine, completely wrong for A.J. Quartermaine. For one thing, he was too short. (I'm sorry, but he just was). For another, A.J. was always written as the chip-on-his-shoulder type; the rich, pampered kid who grew up under the weighty shadows of a turbulent backstory, a dysfunctional family and a persistent belief that his father's bastard son by his one-time mistress was the true "golden boy" of the clan and not him. IMO, BW is too quirky-looking to portray that kind of character. (It's interesting how often BW compares himself to Michael J. Fox, because that's sort of who he reminds me of. Him, and Kin Shriner). GH and ABCD would have been much better off bringing BW on the show as a Ned recast (I've never been a Wally Kurth fan) or as a new character instead. On the OTHER hand, just because Barbara Bloom forced BW on Wendy Riche and Bob Guza, that was no excuse for them basically to [!@#$%^&*] on A.J. in the writing, turning someone who was as dark and complicated as his physician father into Port Charles' answer to Charlie Brown. While BW was still on GH, it really got to the point where it was almost laughable the way Sonny, Jason and others would treat A.J. as their personal punching bag. It's like you wanted Thelma Evans from "Good Times" to possess A.J. for just a few moments and say, "Does it look like I have 'Everlast' written across my face!?" Often, I'll wonder if BW would've had an easier time on soaps had he stuck with the East Coast shows. There, you had shows that knew what to do with an actor who didn't possess conventional, good looks. (BW is attractive, in a boyish sort of way, but he's no Drake Hogestyn, lol). On the West Coast shows, unless you're a Kin Shriner or a Nancy Lee Grahn, they really don't know what to do with someone who isn't a total hunk or babe (and I say that as someone who is a huge fan of Kin Shriner's and Nancy Lee Grahn's, lol).

Probably - and they would've set it to "Can't Smile Without You," by Barry Manilow.

I agree, @DRW50. CUT TO: "I, Taylor Anne Swift, take you, Matthew Timothy Healy, to be my partner through life."

I wouldn't be surprised if that was in their plan; however, I think it's common knowledge that the Lechowicks would often change direction because their stories didn't work as they had originally planned.