Khan

IDK why - because I know now that's not exactly what happened - but this was always my impression(s) of Julia's periodic returns when I was growing up and watching this show on Friday nights (and later, reruns on Lifetime): Julia: Hello, everyone! I'm back! Everyone: Oh, Julia, it's so great to see -- Julia: Okay, I'm going back to the convent! Take care, everyone!

I really enjoyed AMC's 20th Anniversary Special (1990). The premise was so simple: just a gathering of AMC's longest-serving cast members on the show's oldest set, reminiscing about good times and bad.

That IS sad to hear, @SFK. IMO, nobody dressed the characters on AMC (especially Erica!) better than Ms. Luiken.

This is true.

I remember when I watched that sequence with Dr. Ackerman for the first time that I thought, "There's no way they could have EVER topped that!" Turns out, I was right.

I would count it more as a sequel since "Trapper John" took place after "M*A*S*H" and the character was played by a different actor. Just as I would count the new "Perry Mason" series on HBO as a prequel to the Raymond Burr series since it's supposed to take place in the years BEFORE he became an attorney.

I think it was a mistake for Suzanne Somers to try and rebound from "Three's Company" with another sitcom. If I were her, I would have tried instead to find a gig on a one-hour series with some lightly comedic elements, like "Crazy Like a Fox" or "Scarecrow and Mrs. King." Was this when Sheila told Harry [slow-mo]"they wanna take the babies!"[/slow-mo]?

Agree!

Agree, on all counts.

I realize that times have changed, that budgets have shrunk and that producers and writers are working under more pressure from the networks than ever before. But, even under those circumstances, I still believe the remaining four soaps are capable of giving us better than what they're actually giving. To quote @Vee, they're just settling for "peppy" and "cheap," and that's it.

I don't think it was Bruce S. Barry who left the notes. I think it was longtime senior producer Robert Kochman. Barry's departure/firing could not have happened at a worse time, though. He was GL's best director by far.

Correction: Irizarry got his start playing Brandon "Lujack" Luvonaczek on GL, not Nick McHenry.

"She's the Sheriff" was a reworking of an earlier pilot, called "Cass Malloy," starring Caroline McWilliams (ex-Janet, GL). Wow, what was going on on "Little House" for it to land at No. 2 that week?

That's what I'm saying! And I guess all that would be bad for the folks who believe good soap opera to be hot, shirtless men with lisps spouting catty, innuendo-laced dialogue non-stop.

Or... Ridge learns he and Deacon were switched at birth, making Deacon, and not Ridge, Stephanie and Eric's Massimo's son.

How I look after watching yet another one of Ron Carlivati's storylines.

By the way, I'm not suggesting '80's DAYS was anything like '70's DAYS, because '70's DAYS, or what I have seen and read of it, is so much better. There, you had a psychological depth to stories that even the stories on '80's DAYS lacked for the most part. But I'd take even '80's DAYS over everything that has followed.

I think he would have had a character like Leo, but I don't think he'd be as garish, for lack of a better word. Again, he would have made us understand what made someone like Leo tick. For example, I could see his Leo coming from a poor background - the product of a dysfunctional family, with an abusive father who kicked him out of the house when he was still a teenager after learning his son was a "f****t." And I could see it being revealed that Leo was then "groomed" by an older escort/gigolo/con artist, with the strong implication that the two had had a sexual relationship. Would all that have helped us LIKE Leo better? Maybe, maybe not. But at least we would've been able to empathize with the feelings of pain and isolation that have motivated him his entire life. That, after all, is what you're supposed to do as a writer: make us understand and relate to a character, if not totally want to be his BFF. Moreover, Marland would have taken great pains to show us the more sympathetic and compassionate sides of Leo's nature by gradually introducing siblings for him: brothers and sisters whom he still cared about and wished to protect, despite not having had any contact with the family in years. Leo could continue to be a bastard to everybody in Salem; however, his relationships with his family would have been his Achilles heel. He would have had layers to him that had nothing at all to do with his ridiculous suits.

And the thing is, it's going nowhere. There's no point in this shaggiest of shaggy dog stories. It's just the devil leaping from one person to another with no clear agenda. Either get to the [!@#$%^&*] point, Carlivati, or END IT!!

That's because '80's DAYS had heart and emotional depth to its' storylines. They - the writers, the producers, the directors, the whole production team - believed in the power of romance.

Oh, GAWD. Will that story NEVER. END?

What else IS there? God knows the writing ain't worth talkin' about!

Exactly. Marland would have at least helped us understand why Leo is the way he is. He wouldn't have been just an irritating plot device in bad suits.

That's what I thought. Thanks much, @SFK! Even back then, when the HG story broke, and everybody (myself included) was cracking jokes about "Jesus on a comet" and the tennis shoes, I felt Applewhite wasn't a sociopath like David Koresh or Jim Jones, but a man whose inner, personal demons had conquered him and caused him to lose his way. I truly felt sorry for him and his followers, who seemed like "nice" people who just didn't know how to fit in with the rest of society. Maybe that isn't the full and true story, but at least those were my impressions at the time. I still feel that way. Tying it back into KL, I feel like Joshua would have been the perfect vehicle to tell a story about religious cults - how they begin, how they grow, and how they eventually end. Of course, that kind of story was likely beyond even the scope of a weekly, one-hour show like KNOTS.

LOL!! But seriously. If this were still the '80's, you know they'd have Liz up onstage at Blondie's, singing her heart out (as usual) to something like "Crazy," by Kenny Rogers, while both Craig and Leo sit in the audience, exchanging long, meaningful glances at each other. And I'd be so ready to punch out my TV screen, too. Oh, if Jamey is writing this garbage, then Cleo's love theme would be something from Sylvester.