Khan

Good question! I've always assumed all three Bell siblings, along with maybe their mom, installed MAB as a way of maintaining some control over Y&R after Lynn Marie Latham turned out to be such a disaster.

He wasn't wrong, lol. It's one thing for Greg to resist pursuing a relationship with Paige for any number of reasons (the age difference, his devotion to Laura, his inability to be emotionally present for anyone) but there comes a point when Paige and Greg start to look like Sam and Diane without the physical comedy.

I've said in the past that Lauralee Bell has a better understanding of what makes soaps work than even her brother, Bradley, does; and I still believe that to be true.

I'm glad Kelly Ripa is willing to admit how awful she was when she began on AMC. (Let me tell you: I still get shivers whenever I think about the first time I saw her as Hayley, in all her Jersey Goth glory, lol).

Ironically, Paige doesn't bother me as much as she does others here. Was she ever among my favorite characters? No; and while I'm sure someone BTS loved her on-again/off-again relationship with Greg, I felt it made them both look foolish and juvenile. (Oh, how I wish Constance McCashin would've returned, if only as Laura's ghost, so she could slap Greg upside the head and ask him WTF was he doing with her, lol). But I'm never annoyed with Paige (or with NS) to the point of wishing she'd just disappear. If anything, I'd take more of her over Felicity Waterman or even Stacy Galina any day, lol.

I agree.

Was Hillary B. Smith quickly accepted by ATWT fans when she succeeded Margaret Colin as Margo? Or was there backlash?

IIRC, Jean Smart was supposed to return to DW from time to time. For whatever reason, though, that never happened. (Of course, that could've been just the "party line" to placate viewers who'd be upset by the loss of one-half of the show's original cast). I think Betty White said it best in her Emmy acceptance speech: she, Bea Arthur, Estelle Getty and Rue McClanahan (or "McCallahan," as Howie Mandel still pronounces it) were a matching set, you couldn't split 'em up. Even if they had replaced Bea/Dorothy with another actress with similar energy, it would not have been the same as having those four ladies sitting around in that kitchen, discussing their romantic and other dilemmas over a cheesecake.

Frankly, I doubt that that was just a coincidence.

When you compare S9 to the five or six seasons that came before, I would agree. There's a sense of purpose in the storytelling that those previous years woefully lacked. On the other hand, as good as S9 was overall, I still feel it falls short, due to budget cuts and the toll that years of bad or non-existent storytelling have taken on the characters. But I definitely agree with you about Matthew and Lindsay Blaisdel. Once again, as I've said in the past, it really comes down to the casting of those two roles. If they had hired better actors, I feel like that component would've lasted much longer on the show and maintained the "rich vs. poor" element (with Krystle caught in the middle) that DYNASTY was built upon.

It was bad enough that the entire storyline hinged on no one suspecting what Joel, Rita or Sammy Jo were up to. To make matters worse, though, it dragged on much too long, and it had no long-term ramifications on the show whatsoever. At the very least, they could have had Blake wrestle with the knowledge that Rita was more exciting in bed than Krystle, lol.

Sounds like somebody missed that Very Special "Golden Girls". ;)

Then things get REALLY interesting when the people of Walnut Grove learn Mr. Edwards has also been seeing Hester Sue!

My bad! I got the characters' names mixed up. Still, it's a pretty wild image to have inside one's head. ("Tonight, on a very special LHOTP," lol.)

Yet, when they DO attempt to tell a story, it's something so incredibly stupid - like that Krystle/Rita bullshit - that you hate they even bothered, lol.

I feel like there's a point in DYNASTY's run when the Shapiros and their team don't even BOTHER with storytelling anymore. Instead, just characters saunter into rooms, spout arch dialogue to each other and then saunter back out.

Didn't some sketch comedy show once do a mashup of "Eddie's Father" and "Hulk"? Something like "The Courtship of the Incredible Hulk"?

Just the thought of "Etta Plum" gettin' horizontal with "Mr. Edwards"....! But you never know! I mean, I never thought I'd see Tamara Tunie back on a soap full-time either. Yet, there she is, vamping it up with the other Articulettes on BTG.

TBH, @bongobong , I've never had a subscription to Starz, so I can't say whether "Survivor's Remorse" was any good. I just know Tichina Arnold was on it and that it ran for, I think, four seasons? IMO, Jean Smart's departure was a much bigger blow to the show than Delta Burke's. You could have spun off Delta/Suzanne or just wrote her out altogether, as they did, and the show would've been fine. JS/Charlene, however, was DW's real heart and the glue that held the rest of that cast together. (Just as it was Betty White, IMO, who provided the heart and soul to "The Golden Girls"). Without her, it was left up to Meshach/Anthony to keep Dixie/Julia and Annie/Mary Jo from spinning out of control, which was a mighty big task, to say the least, lol. I'd say "Hacks" has been JS's first, really successful series since leaving DW back in '91, though. She's had a ton of great roles in between - and not just in TV either, but also in theater and film - but as far as TV goes, it seems like she has a better track record as a guest or recurring actor on established series ("Frasier," "24," "Fargo," etc.) and limited series ("Watchmen" and "Mare of Easttown").

I wonder which actress they hired. Whenever I think about Althea Chandler, I always picture someone like Millette Alexander.

It seems like a ton of crazy [!@#$%^&*] went down BTS on that set, lol!

Don't forget her role on "Survivor's Remorse." I'd consider that a success as well. For years, I've been wishing for someone to cast her and her frequent co-star, Tisha Campbell, in a series or series of TV movies about a pair of amateur sleuths. It'd be so crazy (and yet so fun) to watch, lol.

Same here, lol. It would be so difficult to explain how Skye is really Adam's daughter after all, but if GH could explain how Gio is Dante and BLQ's kid, then I guess anything's possible. THANK YOU!!!!!

Stop it, children, you're both pretty.

"Carol & Company" had a really novel premise, but I could see why Carol herself elected to end it. Essentially, they were doing a new pilot every week, which must have been one hell of a grind. Perhaps, if it were done now, when doing 12-13 episodes per season is more the norm, it'd be more sustainable. I really wanted to like the "Carol Burnett Show" revival, but comedy had changed so much by that time, and it just seemed like she couldn't keep up.