P.J.

I know it's not exactly a fair comparison, as Long didn't have to create an entire world along with the characters in that world. And most of Long's actors weren't completely new to the mechanics of a soap. I can't recall anyone saying Marland and Long would've made a good team. If there's any team I'd have wanted to see, it would be Marland/Curlee. I kind of wonder if Curlee doesn't deserve credit for the repercussions playing out through town, while Long was more focused on Reva's antics. Marland was great at the big picture, but could get stuck in emotional ruts.

Right?

Even when you hated it, they were punches to the gut that heightened the stakes. Soaps today just don't have that emotional wallop anymore. When you compare BtG (written by a HW with decades of experience) to Long's first two years of GL, it's no contest. I don't know if soaps are just playing it safer now with more jaded audiences, or what. But it's not the same. I did not mind Danny/Cassie, what there was of it. I'm not sure who was playing Michelle at the time, but it's never a bad thing for the audience to feel that triangles are equally sided.

There's no denying Long had talent, unlike someone like Bradley Bell, nepo baby who's been recycling his father's storylines since he began. I certainly agree--her GL had a sense of action and humor.

Right? Sometimes she is just drowning in her clothes. She's in her fifties, and they dressed her like she was 70. Granted, not everyone could be hanging out like Kim, but geez. By the late nineties, they went very more casual. Vanessa flippin' Chamberlain is in a sweater set. Let that sink in--Sweater set.

LOL...confession--the only James Dean movie I watched was Giant. I initially didn't even like it, but on rewatch, Liz Taylor is really good in it. re: Bev, I didn't have access to soap articles until later in the '80s, so it was all news to me. I liked Marj. I've been thinking on it---Marj had a better wardrobe than Bev. So often, they dressed Bev like the Queen Mother, all one solid color so they could pick her out of a crowd.

One, Pam Long never met a movie she couldn't rip off, whether that was GWTW, Grand Hotel, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof or (I assume) something like The Manchurian Candidate (or wTfever Infinity was ripped off from). Not that this is unique, everyone did. (I was binging The Love Boat and was amazed to realize they ripped off an entire movie, at one point, including the final shot, with only tweeks that updated it from the '30's) Two, she didn't exactly invent Billy, he'd been mentioned for years. She just fleshed him out and gave him to Vanessa. Which, obviously worked. Three, I can't believe they spoiled Bev McKinsey's being Alan's sister nearly two months before she popped up in Springfield. And four, shout out to the forgotten continuity people. Although if Long really wanted X and Y to speak, she simply had to invent a reason for them to do so. It's called motivation. Kobe simply solved that problem by firing most of the actors who'd been on prior to Long's arrival.

That's correct. We never see the footage. It wasn't like after Beth "died" where we saw a body double. It's everyone's reaction to the video that we see. What's in the vault from Jan'91 doesn't cover it. The only episode in English that I've found is below, and only about the first fifteen minutes is GL. I know I've seen when Billy and Sarah actually first see the report, and Billy becomes obsessed by it, taking it to some video expert that tries to blow up the image, etc. Here, Billy has blown up an engagement party of sorts with the news. I think when Josh came back in '93, he just says he searched and searched and never found anything that led to Reva, so he gave up.

I don't think they really had any plan for Justin, outside of being Sam's belligerent father and Daniel's mentor. Which is a shame, Justin could've been a very welcome return if handled right. But it never felt like GL invested in the role, which is unusual for the time. Maybe not getting Tom back made them rethink the entire idea? Casting Pennock feels like an unserious choice.

sigh ...the contortions they did to give Reva story shakes head

@slick jones thanks! Cool that the soap child we fans once referred to as our Little Lima Bean could've been on a Sprout show! LOL!

Well, Reva was dead. And no, no one ever blamed Reva for anything. It was years before Reva and Phillip were back on the show together, and I doubt it was even brought up. Guiding Light didn't really have characters hold grudges. At least if it didn't involve Roger. And even that was muted. I believe the academy went to a weighted system, where each vote was worth points. The rumor was, that while Maura received more first place votes, because Jeanne got more consistent second place votes, she earned more points and thus won that year. They always tried busting up "block" voting, and it seemed to make the situation worse.

Thanks @DRW50 I did love Kirk and Iva so. "You're uptight and humorless." It's too bad they didn't list the scriptwriter, 'cause someone understood the assignment.

Well, "Reva Red" started before her PPD. I'm not even sure when it became a "thing", but the audience knew when Reva wore red, fireworks if some kind were gonna blow. During her PPD, yes, when she wore red, it meant her symptoms were flaring. She threw a party for Justin to meet Dylan, and wore this expensive dress with some kind of cape--all in red.

Jackie died in 1982. From when Justin left in '83 to when they recast in '90, they barely brought his name up. Part of that time Phillip's off canvas (or recast with John Bolger), but through Philip's many, MANY marriages, there's never any talk about "hey, sent an invite to my day Justin btw". Maybe GL is just worse at it than most shows I watched, but yeah....once someone left, they've just fallen off the face of the earth. One of the rare exceptions was Reva's sister Roxie, who would occasionally get a shout out. Not (probably) that she was that hugely popular, but to use as an excuse for Reva either being out of town or whatever. Not just random peeps with no family left in town, but peeps with family--Trish Lewis, Justin, Lucy Cooper, Alan-Michael, Mindy, Dylan, Marah, the list goes on. Long story (way) short---Reva's post partum depression came back while she and Josh were on vacation. Dylan went down while she was hospitalized, and Reva arranged for Sam to come down as a surprise for him. (this was a small sign her PPD was back, initially, Reva was obsessing over the idea that Dylan and Sam should get married. She helped them runaway to get married, but Billy, Josh and Ross stopped them) Reva, Dylan and Sam went shopping in Florida, and Reva became convinced a car was following them. She was driving to lose them, and told Dylan to get out. When it was clear to Sam that Reva wouldn't stop, she threw herself out of the moving car before Reva went off the bridge. Sam was paralyzed for about six months. Sam and Dylan were a nice couple, but they weren't the second coming of Beth/Lujack or even Harley/Alan-Michael. Neither actor was very dynamic, alone or separately. Jordan's was a welcome surprise. I think the academy changed the rules shortly thereafter. Which supposedly cost Maura West the ' emmy, the year Jeanne Cooper won.