P.J.

More like an invasion, but I digress.

Well, I may have exaggerated a bit. But you had Richard, Cassie, Edmund, Olivia, Colonel Dax ( you'll know him as OLTL's Carlo Hesser), Beth down there. Reva and Josh must be there a bit. Phillip would drop by, I think the Santos bum down there now and then...it's honestly ridiculous. But it's been forever since I watched any of it. There was a big common area, and a patio setting that I recall, but there must've also been bedrooms. At some point Richard steps down and moves to Springfield, but it's not long after that he dies.

You're probably right. With half the cast semi-permanentlly based in ChristoHell for the next three years there's little chance of them dropping by Meals and Wheels for breakfast.

Wired For Sound and Company were completely separate entities. The only thing they had in common was that Tony ran them both. Vanessa owned Wired For Sound. If it had been Company, she probably would have torched it herself to try and get rid of the Reardons. At the time, she was mean enough to do it--or at least threaten to.

There were times (even before the Gus years) when Harley got dour, shrill and bordering on self-righteous. God knows that dealing with the Spauldings and Beth, Harley had her reasons, but it got on people's nerves. I liked Hayley very much on ATWT. Her big story was a bulimia story that she was very good in. Some found her "too perky", but she was teen/young adult, so it worked for me. I think when she was filling in as Harley, they used her sparingly until Beth Ehlers returned. I couldn't tell you exactly how long she was in the role. But I think she either had filled in before this, or filled in again after. I can't be sure, but I think Jay saw the writing on the wall. Other than Maeve, Fletcher had never really had a successful romance (and I'd argue his with Maeve wasn't all that thrilling). While I can't really recall it, it doesn't sound like the writers were that committed to his romance with Holly either. It might've developed into something more if Michael had still been in the role of Roger, but once he was fired, the writers didn't seem to know what to do with Holly.

and that reminds me...I hated Fletcher and his nicknames for characters.

I remember that too @Khan While I liked Hayley, I don't think she would've worked long term as Harley. But for short bursts, she's able to carry story. I don't think Hayley ever did more soap work after ATWT.

As I recall, Beth had a medical emergency with her pregnancy and was out for a while. Hayley Sparks had been on ATWT in the role of Courtney Baxter Dixon.

Well, viewed by itself, I understand your reaction. It's really more of a finale week. The reason Dinah only had a cameo was that Gina left before shooting ended. I have my issues with the ending (too much focus on insignificant characters, etc), but it was more cohesive (imo) than it had been in years.

Lots of actresses tried that pixie cut. I was glad when it went away. I think you hit the nail on the head. Frank was the "normal" Cooper, sort of the plastic peanuts that kept Buzz and Harley (and Nadine before she was whacked) from grating together too much. I can't recall a story ever centered on Frank. He had romances, but they mostly seemed like filler, like with Dana (the girl who impersonated Beth and ended up being killed by Chelsea's stalker Rae). It's the reason he's the perfect beard at the end of the show for Natalia and Olivia's back-and-forth romance. I wish TPTB had just once, put Vanessa and Nola in a story where they worked together. I think that would've been a lot of fun to see them reluctantly on the same side of any issue. Reva spread a rumor that Josh had a "social" disease, but that's a bit in the future, after she and Josh broke up, but before she comes back married to HB in May. Vanessa (who by now knew Alan had brought Reva to town) had set Josh up with one of her college friends for a date. The friend avoids Josh's touch, and makes an excuse to leave. I think the friend tells Warren what Reva said...I'm not sure Vanessa knew what Reva had said. I'm not sure I'd call Reva fun....just unencumbered by the need to make her a "heroine" with endless coats of whitewash. (but I'm jaded...lol)

Yeah, in retrospect, Maeve probably got tired of coloring it. Later she goes to her natural gray. I was just glad she let it grow again. That pixie wasn't my favorite look for her.

Granted, we as viewers don't really understand how hard it is to course correct, especially at the beginning, when you don't have a "B" story for a character to lean into if their "A" story isn't working. It still feels very rough, but at some point, they need to make hard decisions on the casting side, imo. And you're right, '89 GL is kind of figuring out who and what was working and what wasn't. And they had the benefit of working with characters that were fully established and in many cases, had been played by the actors for years. Just random question, as long as we're also talking JvD's anniversary...when did Maureen Garrett take over the role of Holly?

LOL...well, Van's a little over the top and Reva (surprise) is WAY over the top....but I consider it an homage to screwball comedies, so I just roll with it. Van and Reva would've been so much more fun as straight up rivals.

@Khan lol. To get us back on track, today marks Jerry verDorn's debut as Ross. One of my favorite Ross moments starts at 1:14 @alwaysAMC it's been a blast having you! As they say, "welcome to the tribe!"

There's really no conflict within the family either--or when there is, it's quickly resolved. At least outside of Eva/Kat, and Eva isn't a problem for anyone else.