Khan

I think what destroyed ANOTHER WORLD was a lack of permanence. Harding Lemay's assessment of character over melodrama was spot-on; however, what he and Paul Rauch failed to grasp was that there are certain things about any soap (characters, families,and so forth) that viewers consider sacrosanct. As Nancy Curlee once said, whenever things get too tough for either character or audience member to bear, you hope that you could run up the back porch steps and find someone like Nancy Hughes or Bert Bauer waiting in the kitchen with a fresh batch of cookies. You don't want to think they're actually breathing their last on someone's patio on Good Friday.

I'm talking about the one from People where she is looking into the handheld mirror.

You know what I think hurt Kate Collins on AMC more than anything? Candice Earley's departure. As captivating as KC's beauty was, there also was the sense that she was ... frigid ... emotionally. Natalie's friendship with Donna, though, seemed to warm the character and make her more accessible. Once THAT was gone, well.....

I disagree. Because Kate Collins (who does not look nearly as zaftig in that photo as she did on the show, BTW) and James Kiberd weren't getting along, I think the game-plan was to have Nat hook up with Dimitri after the Natalie-in-the-Well story, with the possible explanation that she found it hard to forgive Trevor for not knowing it wasn't her he had married. Unfortunately, although Collins and Mike Nader looked good together, he just didn't have the right kind of chemistry w/ her, so those plans were scrapped; and as soon as the whole "Angelique" mess was worked out, they decided to pair him with Erica instead. (Let's be honest, just about any man could have chemistry with Susan Lucci. I learned that much the night she co-hosted the Daytime Emmys with Drake Hogestyn.)

Not trying to be funny or mean-spirited, but it seems to me there was a reason why Nancy Pinkerton wouldn't discuss her love life and it had everything to do with her sexuality.

IA. I thought Harley was much more suited working as a nurse at Cedars.

Leah Laiman is someone whose understanding of soap opera far exceeds her actual writing abilities. And you're right about Rose. She worked better as a short-term character. If you have to rewrite history in order to shoehorn your character's doppelganger onto the canvas, something's wrong.

Why? As it was, Katie's intro made Lyla look like the worst mother w/ the crazy suggestion that she was too busy entering her daughter into beauty contests to be a real mom.

Even worse, many vixens on AMC were "defanged" after being raped or assaulted in some way.

Frankly, aside from the fact that he was related to siblings who had the staying power of fruitflies, Ryan's lineage, for lack of a better word, always came off as a nuisance and afterthought. Didn't Megan McTavish rewrite her own creation's backstory and say his name really was Ryan Alyosius Lavery even though it was supposedly John Curry (or some b.s.)?

Fiona Hutchison would've been much better off as a "kid sister" for Anna or Holly.

Ah, NOW we're talking!

A little tasteless? It couldn't be more tasteless if he had taken her to Lacy's Department Store off-hours and romanced her with a candlelight dinner and "Fascination" playing in the background!

Once upon a time, I was willing to emphasize with Todd's problems. But that was actually before all the whitewashing and attempts to turn his story into a fairy tale. Agree.

Marah's kidnapping was such juicy drama.

I don't find it amusing, I find it insulting! I might be okay with someone sleeping with the grandfather, father and son in the same family, but dammit, respect the history and continuity! LOL!

You have to understand, though, I come from GUIDING LIGHT, where Reva Shayne, the self-professed "Slut of Springfield," virtually slept her way through the entire Lewis clan. As long as Charlie and Erica weren't related by blood, I was okay with their pairing (although I certainly do understand where you're coming from, ellabelle, don't get me wrong).

In retrospect, I understand why TPTB gave CF so much airtime. Kim who?

To this day, I wish the Charlie/Erica relationship had been more successful. Next to Nick Davis, Brandon Kingsley and Mike Roy, he just seemed the most "right" for Erica.

Yates, Bolger and Gregory intrigue me...Durham and Markel don't...and Zmed just leave me going .

That's great to hear! Did he talk at all about what he's up to these days?

Actually, I think Lemay grew to understand soaps. However, the industry changed -- and not for the better. Plus, if we're going to look at friendships with JFP as a liability, then we might as well add Nancy Curlee to that list. As for Malone, though, I've said before that I felt he paid lip service to OLTL's history, despite Megan's death and all those consultations with AN. If Malone truly cared about the show's history, then why is it I felt as if I watching a brand-new show, with an all-new cast, every time I tuned in? Heck, even Ron Carlivati did a better job of reaching into the show's past and using it to enhance the current stories, IMO.

I miss David Pressman. One of THE best directors. Bar none.

Despite whatever else I have said over the years about LG and her work, I do give her credit for pulling ONE LIFE TO LIVE out of the morass it had become mired in with Paul Rauch. Furthermore, there's no question LG had excellent tastes as a producer. If she had paired up with Nancy Curlee, let's say, or even Harding Lemay -- in other words, someone with previous soap experience who might've explained to her why some of her ideas wouldn't have worked -- there's no telling what she might've done with the show, and with soaps as a whole. Unfortunately, I think her greatest liability was working with a HW whose interest in their show's history was passing, at best.

IA. I can't see Pam Long allowing Bradley to die from the Dreaming Death when what did happen provided so much juicy material for her, for the show, and for the actors involved.