P.J.

We had, but this just allows me to reiterate my incredulity at the entire thing. I really don't remember the Labine era, or know her other work, but it just communicated to me that she didn't fundamentally understand the show. While Deas, Garrett and Clarke are all talented, and would work in any story together well, I can't imagine those three in a triangle because of who their characters are. I was also annoyed she couldn't remember Jordan's name, but I just sort of let that go...a bit. I can imagine they got some positive reaction simply because it wasn't the BS mob/San Cristobel crap. And, of course, those three would run with whatever they got. No. I hadn't really realized how highly regarded the Dobson era was until I jumped into the thread. I remember snippets of it, but my first real connection to GL starts with Marland and Kelly/Morgan/Nola. I remember Rita and Eve, etc, but don't remember specific stories. Those that do have been very generous about answering questions. Rev Rutledge has posted synposes from the show all the way back to the 50's, iirc.

I get lost in the HW merry-go-round, I thought she brought him back in '86. The show's insistence that every man be utterly fascinated by Reva is--regrettable. LOL The mid-80's were deluged with useless characters. If Maeve hadn't had a child, I think she would've been jettisoned sooner after Kyle left.

Well, I think Bernau had a firmer grip on what drove Alan than Long ever did. His Alan wasn't looking for a co-conspirator, he was about having control. He would've (maybe) been amused by India, but I don't buy he would've been attracted to her. And his Alan did love Phillip. Even if he knew Phillip had been blackmailed into the marriage, I don't think he would've crossed that boundary either. His interludes with Blake and Olivia predated them sleeping with Phillip (def Blake, and Olivia, unless I'm mistaken). By the time the twisted Alan/Beth thing happens, both Alan and Beth are almost unrecognizable from Bernau's era. Re: Zimmer and his reaction to her bringing her kid to the studio. A) I think you can adore children and not be thrilled if their actress mother is bringing them to the studio. It's one thing to have babies/toddlers occasionally on set that get very limited time and handed off to baby wranglers when they fuss, it's another to potentially have mom splitting her focus while kiddo's downstairs and impacting the shooting day and B) I'm not sure how common it was at the time to have actresses bringing their children to work in the mid-80's. Not to mention, we know Chris' health was declining. YES. I'm only surprised she pulled out the comparison to Tracy/Hepburn and not Grant/Russell from His Girl Friday (as that was newspaper centered)

I got a feeling Bev might've been tempted.

I concur. I understand now that Meta had been a stalwart back in the day, but at the time, I thought she'd been retroactively made up. She had a very tenuous link to the canvas at that point, and there was next to no effort to explain her past or really make her integral in the present. In 89, bringing back Barbara would've made a lot of sense, especially to punch holes in Roger's "redeemed " persona. And later, around 96-ish, if Michelle needed a Grammy, bringing back Bea would've been delicious, given the fact that Nola had returned and Vanessa married into the Reardons. That history viewers would've remembered. I just caught a snippet of GA talking about Don, mentioning that he was still using cue cards when Grant arrived. That it was a hangover from the days of live shows when you couldn't stop tape for your line.

Ben's status as Ross's brother only had one real purpose---to further cement Blake's role of skank. None of the backstory made any sense (blaming Ross for their mother's choice to give him up for adoption or whatever), especially considering Block didn't look significantly younger than Jerry. It would've made much more sense if Ben had been a college friend (or maybe even a colleague when they were fresh out of law school) who Ross screwed over while scrambling up the career ladder. And yeah---Ben being Selena's baby daddy and fathering Drew---who cared. While I didn't really care about Cassie's connection to Reva either--at least we had known Sarah and might have understood her motivation in giving up a child with two other young children to feed.

I doubt the show really had much to say about the why's of Marah's behavior other than trying to make it seem like a continuation of Reva's wild streak.

True. And occasionally there was some friction between Reva and Marah--but it never really stuck because a) everyone had to love and forgive Reva in spite of her selfishness, and b) the show wanted Reva to have well-adjusted kids as proof she was a "good" mother. Those kids should've been like aliens to her.

I thought Marah and Shayne leaned more into Josh than Reva (as it should have been, since he raised them for years) . I just didn't find any of them had any charisma. Including Branson, who I didn't think fit as a Lewis at all.

They really didn't do a good job casting the older versions of Josh and Reva's kids. It would've benefited them immensely, having more family-based conflict vs the endless stream of interlopers.

Bell show heroines could drive this topic: MTS, KKL and of course, LLB. (although LLB isn't as much the halo effect as nepotism.)

LOL..Josh didn't even need a lie detector. Anytime he saw Reva and a red dress, he knew she was full of it.

LOL...obviously Lenore was typecast as a temptress. Even when dressed like a '50's housewife.

I don't think there weren't internal conflicts in Mindy's relationships, I think the show cast poorly opposite her and relied on her charm to carry the couple. The best love interest she got was psychotic Will Jeffries/Patrick Breen. And that was on her way out. I wasn't a Nick/Mindy fan, and they really should've just let the Nick/Mindy relationship go when Simms left. (I'm not a VI fan either, I think the show was grasping at straws, trying to reclaim the past with Aleksander's exit. Personally I think Nick is a sanctimonious man-child with delusions of sainthood.) Adding Eve to the mix only made the situation worse, and VI had no chemistry with either of the three women (Hamilton, Crampton or Edson.) It's only my guess, but I'd assume that originally, Alex was going to support Nick/Eve come hell or high water, no matter how unbalanced Eve acted. At some point, Alex would've been forced to realize Eve was crazy/obsessed with Nick and that she'd facilitated harm coming to Nick because she was too focused on revenge (or controlling Nick's life, take your pick.) Honestly, now that I think about it, Eve should've gone nuts on Alex. No, none of it was well written. Sure, not every story can be a winner, but it seemed to lack Curlee's intricate plotting.

I don't think succeeding regimes ever thought about bringing the character back. Billy had Bill in town, the other Musketeers came back, and the next Lewis generation was Josh's kids who were on for a while. Krista did appear when Rick had his heart transplant and the Phillip's ex-wives club thing. When I say I think they were bringing back Mindy to her roots--I just meant I think they were trying to remind us that Mindy had been more fiesty. It makes sense to me that the Eve/Nick/Mindy triangle was originally supposed to go longer than it did. And that would require a much more reactive Mindy who would fight back against Eve's gaslighting. That's what a well written show does--calls back on the past to inform the present.