Khan

I could be mistaken, but I think it was he (and Donna Swajeski) who also hit upon the oh-so-brilliant idea of giving Erica Kane an evil lookalike (or someone who had plastic surgery to make herself look like Erica, I can't be bothered to remember which anymore). Now, y'all KNOW that Erica Kane is my spirit diva, but even I know that giving La Lucci a dual role is rushing in where angels fear to tread.

Imagine, for instance, if Dr. Jackson had been the one to set Rick straight about his dependency on prescription drugs to get himself through medical school. Kicking the habit out of respect for Bert's legacy is nice, but a little TOO sappy, even for heart-on-its'-sleeve GL. And no doubt, Steve would've had a few, choice words for Claire, too, over how she was making a mockery of their profession by blackmailing his grandson.

My needle drop to anyone who thinks David Kreizman should be given another HW'ing gig:

To me, the biggest loss would have to have been Stefan Schnabel/Stephen Jackson. IMO, there wasn't much for either Adam or Barbara to do once Roger, Holly and Christina/Blake all were off the canvas, but the Bauers were still around, even if Leslie had long since died. Plus, little Freddie would be SORASed into Rick in a couple years; if nothing else, Stephen, like Bert, would've provided a good talk-to for their grandson.

See, that's why I think you never should give a character on a soap a terminal disease (such as ALS) unless you are confident that that character wouldn't have much of a life on your show if they were healthy. Number one, watching and waiting for someone to die does not make for compelling viewing; number two, once they die, there's little incentive for new(-ish) viewers to keep watching; and number three, you ruin any potential, new storylines for that character before they have the chance to take off, which is exactly what GH did to Gregory/Tracy. I'll be honest: I've loved NLG since SaBa, and nothing - not even her damn X account - will change that. But I'm at a point where I'm stumped over what to do with her or Alexis. Maybe it's because Alexis, IMO, has been damaged by years of horrendous story decisions, including being saddled with too many kids (and all daughters at that), a drinking problem and a romance with deVry's very fey Julian; or maybe it's because there are times when NLG's day-to-day performances betray an actress who herself has been betrayed by said bad decisions and is now disinterested in the subpar material, exhausted from the grind of having to make it all palatable with no help from above, or both. I don't know - but I know this: it doesn't matter who you pair Alexis with anymore, because, short of a frigging miracle, no one is gonna work.

I'm not sure whether he was doing that, given how much he wrote for the older characters on his other shows (GH, LOVING, ATWT, even THE DOCTORS). Say what you will about him, but I do think Marland valued having a multi-generational cast to write for, with characters whom the audience had a deep appreciation for. I think bringing back Gentry as Ed in '82 would've been fine, although Ed probably wouldn't have married Ellen Dolan's Maureen if he had returned.

Same here, lol!

IA! If Willow really did stab Drew, then Drew is well on his way to becoming the Peter Campbell of Port Charles. (IYKYK)

To me, the whole story just feels like a rehash of Cameron's return from the dead.

I've said this before, I think, but if I had had my druthers, Marcy Walker would've joined GL as Emily Mason Norris, Ken's daughter, Holly's niece and Blake's cousin; and although I would've been tempted to put her in a triangle with Phillip and Rick, I think she would've ended up marrying the latter and becoming, in essence, the newest Bauer family matriarch.

IMO, it was Candace Earley (Donna) who made him appealing on AMC. I'm with @Reverend Ruthledge : nothing against Mart Hulswit or even Peter Simon, but based on what I know about Ed, as well as having watched Robert Gentry on other shows throughout the years, I think Gentry was the most appropriate actor for that role. Even during his all-too-brief return in the Rauch era, I thought he did a better job embodying Ed, despite not being featured much or given much to do.

The girl IS begging for a Mary Duvall exit, lol.

He'll be fine after he pushes an elderly woman down some stairs in her wheelchair and feeds a blind man some dog food after telling him it's beef stew.

Anytime I hear Faison is back in any form, that's my cue to "exit, stage left."

You're probably right, lol! And, in a way, that's part of my issue with how Drew's evolution has been handled. I'm not entirely clear on how he (and we) have gotten to this point. Was it one event, or a conflagration of events, or what? Alls I knows is, something's wrong when Yosemite Sam has more depth to him than Drew Cain does, lol. There are only four Oscars I acknowledge: Oscar Madison, Oscar Mayer, Oscar, the Academy Award; and Oscar the Grouch. All other Oscars do not exist in my world.

I think I've said this before, but as impactful as that storyline was on GL, it also feels too convoluted, for lack of a better word, and probably explains why Douglas Marland simply never addressed it during his time with the show. (Remember, he felt the same way about Peter and Diana Taylor conveniently being adoptive parents to Jeff and Heather Webber's baby on GH).

I wish I could care more about this show right now. I really do. It's more grounded than anything that Ron Carlivati devised, yet it also feels so "holding pattern" to me, as if they're just setting up stuff for the next HW to work with.

Let me say, however, that what I would do is figure out some way to put Drew and Jason in a love triangle with a female character who they both spark with. It could be Willow, it could be Britt, it could be someone entirely new, but I think it'd be classic soap opera, if it were done right.

ICAM! You know, I'm not even sure how or why Drew changed. To me, it's like he was so traumatized from going to prison for insider training - which was ridiculous to me, because, after all he'd been through, THAT was traumatizing? - that he just said, "[!@#$%^&*] all y'all!," and now here we are.

Whenever I think of Bob Hastings, I think of his work on "McHale's Navy" and "All in the Family."

No, I definitely agree with everything you're saying. There's nothing WRONG with Drew's evolution. If anything, it's helped to define him as something other than a retcon twin (er, "twin"). I just think the show needs to provide more shading to his character, or else Drew's gonna wind up in the dustbin with Peter August and Dodge- er, Cyrus.

That, as they say, is the $64 question. Frankly, I don't think they can. Or, if they can, they're afraid it'll be too complex for their audience. I agree!

Because, all Drew is at this point is Snidely Whiplash with a six-pack. That's okay in the short-term, but the longer he goes on without any redeeming qualities or psychological layers, the less interesting he becomes even as an antagonist. To paraphrase the late Hank Williams Sr., he's gotta change or I'm gonna leave.* (*Well, not really, lol).

ICAM.

That's okay. I totally believed that her name was Candy Love. Like I said, this is the same show that had a character named Bambi, lol.