Khan

To think: without him (and Francis Crick), there'd be no endless WTD? DNA test segments on "Maury."

My issue with this storyline - aside from the fact that it's yet one more back-from-the-dead plot on this damn show - is that it's being told at the wrong time, with the wrong actor (you mean there was no way you could get Rick Hearst or even Eddie Cibrian to return?) and with the wrong Nick/Sharon offspring. And I'll leave it at that.

Frankly, the only Quartermaine who would've used Ronnie (or any long-lost relative of Monica's) in a scheme to steal the mansion WOULD have been Tracy. So, IN A WAY, it made sense for her to fight to get it back in the family's control, since it was an outsider (Martin) who had engineered the whole, cockamamie plot. (If anything, I think Tracy would've been kicking herself, saying, "Why didn't I think of that?") But, my God, the story still felt like such a waste of time, ES' future Emmy nomination notwithstanding. And who on earth thought it'd be cute for someone to have daughters named "Monica" and "Veronica"?

I agree. IIRC, even some "pro-life" advocates were horrified by that storyline.

I love Bill Bell to the moon and back, but between the Asian/Asian-American female cult leader and the African-American attorney posing as a White man in order to infiltrate the mob...all I can say is, none of that [!@#$%^&*] would fly today ATALL, lol.

If only she had used said tone on Coblentz, lol.

The truest measurement of ES' almost supernatural talent is how she managed to make even THAT dog of a story palatable. God bless her, and I hope she'll grace us with her presence again soon.

I agree. I think I felt the same way when we suddenly lost the rest of the cast of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" in a very short span of time.

As the saying goes, "With great power comes great responsibility." Tracy has managed to outlive everyone and become Quartermaine family matriarch. I'd love to see a storyline where she questions whether she's truly up to the challenge, instead of watching everyone else in the family play another round of Let's Dump on Grandma Tracy (Even Though She's Actually Right).

Couldn't have said it any better. Rest in piss, Mr. Cheney.

Ironically, her dad once played Kevin Hathaway on DAYS.

In a way, GL was like KNOTS LANDING: it lasted as long as it did, because CBS (or P&G) kept forgetting to cancel it, lol.

Frankly, I think anyone would've been a better choice for Earl Trent than (Not That) Paul Rudd, lol. But I think I would've gone another way and casted John Rubinstein. At least he wasn't a total drip, lol.

As always, I don't presume to speak for all GL fans...but yes, I do feel the show limped along for the last 15 or so years. It rallied somewhat when James Harmon Brown and Barbara Esensten returned as HW's. Even then, however, I felt the quality of the writing was not on par with its' many golden ages (the Dobsons, Marland, Pam Long, Curlee/Demorest/Broderick/Reilly). As I always say, ATWT's cancellation was the real tragedy, because I felt that show still had SOME life left in it. GL's cancellation, on the other hand, was the definition of a mercy killing.

As @kalbir has pointed out in the past, MSW, along with "60 Minutes," kept CBS afloat during some VERY rough years in the late '80's and early '90's. The network and Universal were willing to do just about anything to keep the show on the air, including allowing AL to assume the reins as EP, bring several members of her family aboard as producers and director and reduce her own work schedule to (I think) 1-2 days per shooting week. As a result, later episodes often include more scenes without AL/Jessica; and when she IS on-screen, she's often shot in close-up (and reading from cue cards). It's another reason why the last episode to be taped, "Mrs. Parker's Revenge," feels so out of the ordinary (aside from the story being about biological warfare): it's the first time in several seasons that an MSW appears to be taped at least partially on-location (even if it's a stretch to assume Jessica Fletcher's in Atlanta, lol). The camera actually moves with Lansbury as she winds her way through a hotel lobby, instead of there being one static close-up of her after another.

Yep, right on the Universal Studios lot, lol. By the time Angela Lansbury assumes full control, MSW is pretty much studio- and backlot-bound. There are also more close-ups and two-person shots to cover the fact that Angela herself was available to shoot her scenes only certain days during the week.

I can sorta believe Rauch being against the clone story. Even at its' wackiest (and that's including the time-travel [!@#$%^&*] - which, as I understand, got seriously derailed by the WGA strike and did not air as originally written), Rauch's OLTL still had at least one foot in reality.

Of all the cockamamie businesses I have watched on the soaps over the years, Second Chances has to be among the most cockamamie.

I mean, I get that Chris McKenna probably doesn't want to commit to soaps again full-time, but...yeesh...this is the second time (Y&R being the first) that a soap has snagged him for a role (or in this case, a recast) that amounts to a huge-ass waste of time.

It's precisely what @Vee had predicted when the announcement was made that The Real Joey Buchanan would be the new Brennan: that he was just there to run out the character's clock and send him packing (presumably, with a bullet or three in his back).

I especially love the last shot with Donna Mills and Jane Elliot. A match made in soaps fan heaven, lol. It's really a shame how the (SAG?) strike cut short JE's run on the show - although, TBF, she probably wouldn't have lasted much longer anyway. Paul Rudd - no, not THAT Paul Rudd - was such a bad choice to play Earl, and I'm still struggling all these years later to understand why Gary would have had an affair with Judy other than 1) she was there and 2) they weren't ready to pull the pin on Gary/Abby just yet. In a perfect world, however, Judy would have returned in S3 or 4 - this time, as Val's editor on "Capricorn Crude." (She would've been divorced from Earl by that point, but had used his connections in the publishing industry to land herself her cushy, new gig). Just imagine the conflicts that would've come out of Val trying to put aside her residual hurt feelings over Gary and Judy's affair in order to finish her book, all while she, Judy and Lilimae get wise to Gary's latest affair with Abby.

The start of a new, sleeker, more budget-conscious era for MSW, with Dame Angela (along with her family) firmly in charge. Although Cabot Cove and its' denizens remain a recurring favorite, the humor and folksiness of the first 7-8 seasons is gone, as MSW becomes more sophisticated, more continental, more ready for the '90's.

S&TC is pretty much what David Jacobs wanted originally for KL: a weekly exploration of sexual mores in the modern world; only Jacobs wanted to view it all through the lens of four married couples rather than through four single women.

To me, KL faced the same dilemma with Michael (and with PP) that they faced with Sid/Don Murray: what do you do with a terribly nice person who has no edge and is a sucker for every bottled blonde who bats their eyes his way?