P.J.

Vanessa's at the Towers when she tells Josh she should've married Billy. (After Dinah left, Billy decided a depressed Van needed a distraction, so he tried to throw a "surprise" wedding, "kidnapped" her and took her to Towers where he'd arranged to have Father Ray marry them with Bill, Lizzie and Josh present. She says no, but tells Billy she's not saying she'll never marry him, and that she wants to be courted. It's funny, it would've been funnier at the time if I'd realized their first wedding had been the same kind of impromptu affair.) Compared to the rest of Peapack, it was the Ritz. Yeah, I think the Country Club bit the dust after the Cristobellians invaded. I guess once they'd been to a palace, no one thought the Club was chic enough. Billy and Hamp did open The Heartbreaker, but that only really lasted about six months. I think they reconfigured it into some other dives through Reva's PPD story, but after that, they didn't really do any dive bar sets. Billy and Hamp sell it after Billy got the Towers. Hamp and Fletch owned The Blue Moon, a floating restaurant and used the pier next to the Towers, as Billy granted Hamp the access. It did fade away after the restaurant at the top of the Towers opened. (that's where Mindy and Nick's reception was happening when the blackout rolled through town) Hamp ran that for Billy.

I thought they're using Towers at the end, but maybe not. Olivia owns it, whatever it is.

Wait a minute, get it straight--Vanessa would hire that done, then send out to her dressmaker to get it made. Me? I love Vanessa in all her bitch Goddess glory. Helena, on the other hand, looks a little over the top. I don't know why they stopped using the Blue Moon set. Other than not needing the piano for Chelsea to caterwaul around.

Van was only there to get laid (or at least try and keep the copyright on Tony). I have no clue what Josh was doing there, other than skulking. He used to do a lot of that.

Well, I'd say it was because Olivia was a cold-blooded bitch, but que sera sera. After one wife with a split personality and one psycho girlfriend, someone probably realized making a third lover nuts was going to the same well too often. It's not that I didn't like other meet up places (I loved the Blue Moon, Towers, Company and the Country Club.) it's just that I think Wired for Sound was a bit of a departure from what they had at the time. I don't know where younger people hung out at the time, other than Laurel Falls. It seems to be a lot based around homes---and that doesn't invite a lot of interaction.

Ewwww..really? I knew at some point Josh and Liv had done mattress tag. But I had not realized it was so soon after marriage#2 to Reva and before she "fell in love" with Bill. While I loathed the disco opening, Wired for Sound at least was a way for a varied assortment of characters to interact. And more natural than say, everyone running through the hospital past the nurses' desk. Especially as the show became less hospital based. Marland later on ATWT had The Cellar serve the same sort of function.

Well, using the framework of The Children's Hour---if it's just that a child (say Lizzie) misunderstands something that led to the talk about the Stalking being stirred up causing trouble for Holly and a newly arrived Olivia, I could see that. I'm fuzzy on what exactly Liv was doing after hitting Springfield, and how soon she got involved with Phillip.

Nicole has always gotten the short end of the stick in terms of story. The end of her marriage was much more about Leslie/Dana and Eva, and most of the time she feels like a coda in the story--someone who wraps up the story, as in Martin's "huge secret" that dissolved into pretty much nothing. This relationship with Carlton wouldn't have gone anywhere anyway. Carlton isn't more of a presence than Kial. He was always slotted into a "rebound guy" role.

I doubt there would've been a PPD story if Kim had stayed. As hard as that is to imagine, as most of it dovetails beautifully into other plots.

I can at least understand why Olivia was kept around, she moved plot. But disgust barely scratches the surface. I don't know if it was how CC chose to play the character, or if the writers kept doubling down and making her unrootable on purpose. Olivia is a bigger bastard than Alan. Or at least a more believable villain. Had the show lasted another year, she would've reverted back to being a bastard and not the sap Natalia had tied up in knots.

I don't think it would have worked with Holly---a character they audience had known for decades. Personally, I thought it was BS for Olivia as well. I suppose it was going to be impossible to sell Olivia as bisexual to GL's audience, but it would've seemed more honest. Wow...that certainly didn't age well.

I hate to even ask, but did she ever say when she "felt accepted" by the fans? In the short clip I saw, it's like Kim still doesn't quite get how grating Reva was initially. Not to mention 'ho-ish.

No, Maeve said nothing publicly that I know of. I didn't even know about it until I saw talk about it in this thread. GL actors in general weren't interviewed as much by the mags (unless your name rhymed with Twimmer), and I don't think Maeve gave very many interviews, period. I think you're right. (I can even see O'Rourke and Maureen Garrett having chemistry) The other name that comes to mind would be Tony, but while he'd been a presence, he never quite seemed like patriarch material, if that makes sense.

Maeve went back and got an advanced writing degree if I'm not mistaken. Her kids are entering college. By this time, she'd been in soaps for 20 years, and whether she felt like she'd done everything, or she saw the writing on the wall, I can't speculate. Van does have story coming up, as someone hinted.

Well, how long would P&G have been planning that move? She's obviously mistaken, but maybe it's more in the vein of "just as I got settled in, they told me in six months, it was expanding to hour," doubling the work load.