Khan

It's like what @Vee (and Kimberly) said upthread: it's not what you think - it's worse.

"Soaps' Real-Life Friends Tell All"

Fair enough, lol.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: whoever's in charge of naming new characters these days on GH needs to be horse-whipped.

Right. Earl Hamner's original vision for FC (or "The Vintage Years," as it was called back then) was more in line with his previous series, "The Waltons," with some added, Gothic touches. Random thought: I think the team was NUTS to let Marcia Cross (ex-Victoria Broyard) go after such a brief run. David Jacobs, or Ann Marcus, or SOMEone should have figured out a way to keep her.

"Exclusive: WHY GH KILLED OFF PETER" Because, if they didn't, the viewers were gonna bomb the studio.

OT, but... I think FC had the makings of a good show - and certainly, you can never go TOO wrong with Jane Wyman, Ana-Alicia, David Selby and Susan Sullivan in the cast - but I think it struggled in trying to be that combination of DALLAS grit and DYNASTY glamour.

You know what? I wouldn't care. I'd much rather revisit the Strangler than the Possession.

It did, but do you really hear people talking about "L.A. Law" the way they did KNOTS?

KNOTS had always been able to adapt; that time, however, they had in place a team that, IMO, couldn't write for [!@#$%^&*]; leaving the show so crippled that they had no choice BUT to go back to basics with someone who probably hadn't even seen the show since S4. Same. Granted, I was never a big FC fan, but I can't make heads-or-tails out of those Freilich-produced seasons. Was he attempting to turn FC into a crime show?

It's simple. For years, KNOTS had been in direct competition with Steven Bochco's shows - first, "Hill Street Blues"; then, "L.A. Law." Romano had worked on both shows, so David Jacobs figured hiring him could lure more of that type of viewer to KNOTS. But...three thoughts: 1. God bless DJ, but he always had a massive inferiority complex about his shows (probably because, he once worked on "Family"). DALLAS and KNOTS were more popular than Bochco's shows and others, but they never achieved the Emmy wins or prestige within the industry that he clearly wanted. 2. If DJ really wanted to hire someone from Bochco's camp to be KNOTS's new showrunner, he should've hired someone who hadn't worked on HSB's last two, Bochco-less seasons, which most agree were lacking. 3. I, myself, would have hired someone from "St. Elsewhere," like Tom Fontana, or John Masius & John Tinker, or Charles H. Eglee & Channing Gibson. "St. Elsewhere" also had a lot of cache within the industry, but it was a much soapier show than anything Bochco produced. It's very rare for a writer or producer to return to a series once he/she has left. It happens, of course, but not often. And when they do return, it's not guaranteed that magic will happen twice. Which makes Ann Marcus' return even more remarkable, I think. For all her faults as a writer, she was able to resurrect a long-running series after a, what, ten-year absence? It wasn't enough to save the show from cancellation - that was gonna happen no matter what - but at least she helped KNOTS go out with some dignity.

I'm confused. Were Taibbi and that Ames dude pro-Russia/pro-Putin?

Well, it'll do nothing to end SCOTUS's current conservative majority, but at least another door has been knocked down for WOC.

Now THERE's a plot that DAYS, even one being head-written by Ron Carlivati, could have revisited in some fashion. Watching that clip again... I realize Renee is not having an easy time of it right now, but does she have to SCREAM LIKE THAT!?!?!? Oh, Linsey, if you're reading this, please don't feel compelled to do everything like Philece would've.

You'll notice, though, that in the examples that @titan1978 gave, the characters involved (Y&R's Nick and Victoria, GH's AJ) were away at boarding school and not living at home. I think that's the key: if it happened during those SORAS'ed years when a character is (said to have been) out of town, then you might have leeway. But, if the show in question is operating under the assumption that that character has spent his/her entire childhood IN town, being raised by his/her parents or guardians, then it gets sticky. One good (or bad, depending on how you look at it) example would be GL's Ben Reade, who was revealed to have been molested while attending school outside Springfield. Unfortunately, the revelation came during the climax of the Garden of Eden storyline, as a means of explaining why Ben would have murdered all those prostitutes. Now, if GL had been committed to telling a RESPONSIBLE story about the long-term effects that being molested could have on someone like Ben Reade WITHOUT the nasty serial killer angle, then I probably wouldn't have objected (or objected as strongly), because, in that case, it's established that the molestation had occurred during a period when Ben was away from SF. But, if you'd told me it had happened while he was still IN SF, featured regularly, or that (God forbid) Fletcher was the one who molested him...? Well, now you've got a problem, lol.

To think there was a time when Dee Hall would let her hair look like that. As long as we're going through with this "Sarenee" crap, it'd be nice if Ron Carlivati were to remember that Marlena and Renee were friends.

Well, they're throwing him a special "coming out" party, so...all of the above?

because Craig's not through secretly hating himself.

If we're still talking about when Dame Joan Collins was briefly Alexandra, then I like @SFK's suggestion of Diahann Carroll. Even if it was just for a few episodes, the thought of "Alexis" and "Dominique" reunited is too irresistible for words. On the other hand, if we're talking about the original (Barbados) storyline, then I would have gone for someone like Nichelle Nichols or Gail Fisher.

IKR? Leave it to Ron Carlivati, though, to have a potential Nancy/Leo fight end with a "Lip Sync for Your Life" challenge.

I actually wish it was ANYONE instead of you-know-who. But, Craig's just out of the closet, so I guess he's entitled to make some mistakes. Still, that's a pretty big mistake to make. Any chance it's someone else wearing a Leo mask? (Wait, what sane person would want to wear a Leo mask?)

Two words that will live in infamy.

It's Paul, but he thinks he's David Martin. For some reason, I picture Patrika Darbo and Greg Rikkart singing "Does He Love You."

Speak for yourself! (I'm kidding.) Honestly, I can't see how. But, we're probably more knowledgeable about Ron Carlivati than Kevin or Patrika were.

If they had simply given her a character to play. Not a bunch of plot points to tick off people's sheets, but an actual, three-dimensional character. Who WAS Dianne Kirkwood (beyond being a talk show producer, irritant to Karen and stalking suspect)? Where did she come from? How did she get to where she was? Did she have any family, close friends, mortal enemies? What made her vulnerable (if she WAS vulnerable)? What secrets did she keep? What did she want out of life? What was stopping her from achieving her goals? WHO WAS SHE?? Earl and Judy Trent were clearly designed (some might say, ripped off from "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?") to create conflict for Gary and Val; yet, I feel like I learned more about those two than I ever did about Dianne! I remember Lynn Marie Latham telling (I think) Lisa Rinna and Ty Treadway on "Soap Talk" that she always worked from story projections, but I think that was bogus. I don't think her OR her husband ever thought far ahead. And if they DID need Jeff, they could've done a lot better casting him. (Chris Lemmon? Are you [!@#$%^&*] kidding me?) That's another issue that I have with the Lechowicks - not just on KL, but on all their shows, including when LML worked on Y&R. The way they cast many of their roles were for the absolute birds.