P.J.

There always should've been room for Hope on the canvas. Especially after Maureen died. She should've stepped in as the next Bauer matriarch. The aging of Alan Michael never was a barrier to that, as others have mentioned, actors playing parents/children haven't always been a generation apart. Successive writing regimes either weren't interested or didn't see the need. I'm less convinced when it comes to Elizabeth Spaulding. The woman was dull as dishwater.

Aww, I find it sweet that Irene Ruan watched the show. I guess they're referring to Ed marrying Holly? In '73?

I'm fine with first born sons being named after their fathers--and especially in Billy's case, it made sense that he would want to pass on his father's name. (I can't think of another son named after the father after A-M and Bill....I guess there's Phillip and Harley's kid Alan Zachary, but he was just Zach. I must be forgetting someone.) I am humbly grateful however, we were never stuck with anyone naming their daughter after "dead" Reva. That's a step too far.

Or even Ryan, the surname Quint grew up with. And forty years later I still dislike it and am sad the children named after Henry were not related to him. (Coop Bradshaw and Henry Lewis)

Yeah...Venton gives a sitcom dad vibe. Any idea who the lady is? She almost seems familiar.

Le Plat was good looking enough. Was he talented enough to pull off a Jekyll/Hyde kind of character? Maybe not. It's hard to judge with so little of that story up. But Marland was also weak in writing villains. They tended to be mustache twirlers (as opposed to "gray" characters like Roger or ATWT's John Dixon), with no really redeeming qualities. There's really no difference between Andy, Mark and Joe (the PI who was killed shortly after Diane Ballard.) Re: Robert Newman. Never has a beard made such a difference.

WHAT? I'd assumed this was the car accident that killed Jennifer (I think she was killed in an auto accident anyway), not an accident before Frannie was born! LOL...anyway, Bob must've been okay. whew

True. But hard to spark with the ever dull Hillary. I don't know--it's hard to distinguish "flopped" from "didn't work as intended." LOL...poor Peter Simon. Not easy getting months of "We want Mart back" mail.

cough cough....another possibility for the sensual male? (Actually two...) Greg Beecroft and Robert Newman. Tony was doin' just about everything in a skirt back in the day, yet no pairing really took off until Marland left. And Robert...well, Josh is underwhelming to say the least. I'd agree the leading candidate is Pinter (but he's later hired at ATWT under Marland). If it's characters that Marland lost interest in, you could also add Harley Venton as Derek Colby.

I still wish the Cotillion itself had shown more purpose. Sure, we heard that Samantha's idea of the clinic was great--yadda yadda--but most of the talk was the emphasis on the etiquette of it all and of course the Dupree history of winning the Deb of the Year. Yes, it was pretty. But I also wish someone other than Samantha had won, just to show that the Duprees don't automatically win everything they enter. The most interesting moment for me was when Chessie stopped her grandmother's protests and grudgingly gave the sash and tiara to Samantha. On a very picky note, couldn't the show have spent five minutes showing either of Samantha's fathers how to dance the waltz? And spare me Ashley's tears. I get why she needs to be upset, but it came off really hollow.

weird--just looked Justice up. in a picture from Mannix, she looks very similar to Lenore Kasdorf.

I had no idea Mary Stuart wrote either.

Thanks so much for continuing to look, and for posting these. I wish we could see Bob and Jennifer's car accident too.

Someone probably posted this a while ago, but an interview with Rebecca Hollen. Around the one minute mark (or so) it has a clip of her talking to Mike, which I don't think I've seen before.

It's just the antithesis of what Guiding Light was---you'd be forgiven in thinking you'd stumbled into a repeat of Mannix, FCOL, with those strange actions shots. And I will forever loathe that shot of Vanessa playing up to Tony. What I loved about the My Guiding Light opening (especially the original versions) was it gave you a sense of who the people were, and how they were involved. Springfield was not a town of spinning dancers, leering ankle lusters, and the occasional crime fighter. I think the show beefed up the younger crowd from the Dobson era. The Dobsons didn't really have a teen scene. And even the young adult crowd (maybe 25-30), Ben, Amanda, Eve, Hope seem to be playing older. (.That's just the impression from what's available to see, but it was happening on ATWT as well) Marland brings in Kelly/Morgan/Nola, makes Tim a little more involved. Even if they're not significantly younger, maybe they're not as established in their lives.