Khan

He looks like he should be on tour with David Crosby and Graham Nash.

Chances are, they won't be fighting over the same man.

Well, someone must have read that article, because, boy, didn't Abe and Lexie get some story down the road!

I'm sorry, who is she again?

I DEFINITELY agree about Tom, danfling. He had his personal demons -- alcoholism, his daughter's death, the failure of his marriages -- but he was also the kind of upstanding tent pole character that soaps just don't have anymore.

I still lament the fact that Chuck and Donna, along with so many other long-standing characters, were not around for AMC's last years. Bad writing or no, having the "old guard" onscreen, even on a recurring and irregular basis, would have been a comfort to me and a way to get through some very horrid stories.

Well, it isn't everyday you see "Charles Pratt, Jr." and "underrated" in the same sentence.

Jonelle Allen was so good as Doreen. It's shameful no other soap has snapped her up to play a similar role.

"What the -- ? Doug Marland was so not the first gay man to work at ATWT! "Oh, wait, they meant.... Nevermind." But seriously, I felt this was a good article exploring the background of Hank's story and how it had evolved from its original intentions. It's interesting to note how far daytime has come from those days...even if most of us agree they still have some ways to go. Thanks, Carl!

Yep.

As...crooked as they were, even they were more suitable for Palmer than Opal.

Had Sharon Gabet been given a better (or at least better defined) character to play, I suspect she would have been a HUGE asset to AW. I also agree that killing off Sally was a mistake in the long run. MBK might have been popular with fans, but as the casting for ATWT's Margo (and other roles) proved, viewers can warm up to a recast or replacement if he/she is strong enough.

Oh, good. I wasn't sure whether I had made up that stuff. Thanks, Carl. I don't blame Mitchell for hating the Opal/Palmer marriage. I'm sure the idea sounded cute when Megan McTavish first pitched it at a story conference. But...it just never made sense...no matter WHO was playing Opal. If Palmer HAD to be married again -- and now, I'm not particularly sure whether he had to be -- then maybe Marian Colby might have been more appropriate. But I'm saying that as someone who was lukewarm on the Stuart/Marian relationship.

Didn't someone on this thread talk about how much James Mitchell hated Palmer working with Opal at the Cluck Cluck or did I imagine it?

I am fascinated by the idea or possibility of Frances Fisher as a Siobhan recast.

Especially compared to Lynn Marie Latham and MAB. And if anything, Kay-is-Jill's-mom should have intensified their feud, not douse it and turn their relationship into something illogical and lame.

And I absolutely agree with both of you.

IMO, you cannot lose what you never had. Kay could have begged and pleaded with Phillip all she wanted, but Phillip would have stayed and helped her fight for their marriage if, and only if, he had believed theirs was a marriage WORTH saving. Now, perhaps Jill's presence might have helped Phillip finally realize all the love had been drained from his and Kay's union. Again, though, if Phillip had still been in love with Kay even a little bit, no amount of dewy-eyed-ness coming from Jill would have tempted him to stray. His marriage would have been too valuable to him to risk it on some manicurist from the wrong side of the tracks. Furthermore, even if Jill hadn't been in the picture, I guarantee someone or something else would have caused Phillip to leave Kay. I loved Kay Chancellor with all my heart, but she was always so blind to that very simple truth. I guess that's what made her so fabulously complex, though.

"Phillip would be alive today...if it wasn't for Jill." I'm sorry, Miss Chancellor, but who was behind the wheel again? I thought so. Still love ya, though, girl!

IIRC, I read that story on one of the other message boards -- danfling's, maybe? But I'm not sure.

Yeah, I thought so, too. Either this was happening during the post-Mulgrew period of revolving Mary's, and they were looking to replace either Carney or Tolan with Braxton...or the story is a complete fabrication.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water....

Take this with a huge grain of salt, but I read somewhere that Claire Labine and Paul Avila Mayer really wanted Stephanie Braxton to be the next Mary Ryan (that is, after ABC had talked them out of killing her off with Mulgrew still in the role -- which had been their original plan). Braxton was slated to leave her role as Tara on AMC; however, because Agnes Nixon had heard about Labine and Mayer's plans, she allegedly reversed course and kept Braxton a little longer on her show, thereby forcing Labine and Mayer to hire someone else. Again, though, take the rumor for what it is. Kathleen Tolan: good playwright, lousy actress.

To me, the problem lay with the casting of NF, who seemed "nice" enough, but who also could be bland and forgettable. Cassie was just too important to the show at that point to be recast with someone whose prior claim to fame was an appearance in an Olive Garden commercial.

The preservation of vintage TV shows, specials and movies has been piss-poor compared to that of classic films.