P.J.

Well, to be fair, it seems like Agnes Nixon took her fair share of swipes at ATWT in the press before this article appeared. What strikes me is that in 1976 (two years before ATWT falls from the number one spot) they're already losing the publicity war. The one thing that always drove me crazy (and this is from the mid-80's on) is that ABC excelled at promoting themselves, while CBS seemed to always be about three steps behind, like deigning to promote their shows was somehow beneath them (or, just simply an unjustifiable expense). I am a little baffled by the author's explanation of the Kim/Jen/Bob resolution. I guess I need to brush up on my history, 'cause I thought Jen died without knowing about it. I thought that was kind of behind Kim's angst during her pacemaker storyline, when Jen came back to comfort her.

I think HBS would have been fine in the right-to-die story, but the rape/HIV story wasn't her type of material at all (she was not at her best at that type of heavy dramatic material on OLTL - she just got shrill). I also thought Ellen and Scott Holmes had more chemistry than he did with HBS. To me it was the writing that destroyed them - once they took away the everyday couple aspect of Tom and Margo in 1995 or 1996 and she just barked and he yelled all the time, they were never any good. Yeah, in part, I don't think the writers knew what to do with them. But I also think TIIC realized Holmes' limitations, and wrote more for Dolan. '95 starts the focus more on Margo, starting with the PTSD and leading into the Alec Wallace/Eddie Silva and the non-reaction of Adam to his bio-dad Hal. Why TIIC didn't just break them up and move them on to other people, I don't know.

I was glad HBS left. By the end of her time, Margo was a shrill hypocrite and everyone kissed her ass almost as much as they kissed Lily's. And I think dramatically, Dolan was a step up from HBS. I think HBS would have played both the right-to-die and rape/HIV stories differently, and softened their impact somewhat. At least in the beginning, I believe Scott Holmes' Tom was less of a "whipped" husband with ED, and they "fit" better than Holmes and HBS. I don't know how "reflective" CZ was, but I remember she got testy at some of the talk that was going on on social media.

Supergirl doesn't seem to have a purpose, other than to become Supergirl. While that journey is probably the foundation of every superhero story, there doesn't seem to be any inherent urgency in the show. With Arrow, it was about finding out about the Undertaking and avenging his father, with Flash, it was finding his mother's killer in their first seasons. OTOH, Kara's bopping around fighting aliens of the week and quaking in her boots everytime Cat Grant purses her lips. And that Lord guy is clearly a lightweight villain. Compared to Malcolm Merlyn, WellsReverseFlash or Slade, he might as well be a puppy-kicker. And maybe I'm just really old school, but I don't like the "humans don't trust Superman" vibe and there's something kind of off-putting in the way Kara talks about her adoptive parents.

I wish the writers would have been brave enough to simply end Holden and Lily when Martha Byrne left.

It was a mistake to let Brown go---but I kind of see where she was written into a corner, even by Marland before he died. Iva was the eternal loser, someone who was practically always forced to do the "right thing" and sacrificed any self-interest she had to promote family peace. It's hard looking back and realizing she never fought for anything for herself. It seems her entire family walked all over her, and she had to smile and put everyone else's happiness ahead of hers. Lily--criminy, that selfish brat eternally played her and Lucinda against each other; Ellie walked off with her man; Holden took the child she'd spent years raising; and Meg married her rapist and got Iva's blessing. It would have been fun to give Iva a "Barbara" moment, where she says "I don't GAF and I'm not going to take it anymore!" and unleashes her fury on all of Oakdale.

I had to look it up---it seems Jason was brought on to prosecute Paul for James' death. The bible only listed Jonathan Hogan in the role ('89-'94), which I guess means the first guy wasn't on for very many appearances. (which I still find curious; lots of bit players are listed, both actors who played Ray Tenney are included, and that certainly wasn't a big or significant role) Kirk was a dick---but he certainly wasn't boring. Hogan recurred for years, but it's not like he had a significant story of his own---all I remember is him being Tom's pipeline to the Crime Commission. It had to be that once they decided to fire Brown, Iva needed a "happy ending", and a reasonable excuse to allow her to take MJ with her. Don't get me started on the Ciccones. I'm convinced Julie Pinson had photos of someone doin' something.

Personally, my bet is that the first Jason had been written too harsh for anyone to believe Iva would have any interest in him. I forget exactly what case he was involved in, but I remember him being a huge dick. I doubt Jason would have been retooled if they hadn't decided to give Iva a somewhat happy ending and ship her off. But JasonTheSecond was such a dull wuss, I felt sorry for Iva being stuck with that boring, homely loser.

I grew very weary of SH's verging on hysterical rants every time Tom got on his moral high horse. He's the Tom I remember most, which is a damn shame. It's weird, when you look back on the casting---Deas seems more like Lisa's child, Marx seems more in Bob's image, and Holmes's version seemed somewhat divorced from Tom's history---other than his marriage to Margo in a way. Had Holmes left say after dealing with Margo's rape/HIV story, I'd probably have a better opinion of him. But he did virtually nothing for the last ten years of the show, other than look like a moralistic prig reacting to Margo's story.

The Tony/Gibbs and Tony/Tim relationships are so core to the show, that it's hard for me to imagine what the show will try to do once Tony leaves. I already think the show's been on a down slide since Bellsario left (which I think was the season after Jenny was killed off), even though the show's ratings continued to rise. I'm not sure there's really a point to going on if Tony's leaving. There's no more "Gibbs mythology" to explore, Tim isn't interesting enough to drive the Gibbs' team of underlings, and Ellie continues to be a bust. But I'm sure CBS will get as much blood out of this stone as they can before retiring it.

They came straight out of the Holden/Lily mode. Rich girl who really wants family falls for poor boy from wrong side of tracks. Only with marginal chemistry, a day-player disapproving parent, and an antagonist (Carly) who was clearly more interesting than either of them.

Who knows the Diego murder story would have played out if ATWT had had a stable regime in place. At least we got rid of Mike Kasnoff....and was replaced by the talented Michael Park as Jack (PJ says without a hint of bias....LOL)

Boy, I thought Flash was too do-goody and earnest when it premiered. Kara is so eager to do good it almost makes my teeth ache. Curious that they sort of skipped over the "superhero training school" aspect of the show almost immediately. And this "let's just show Superman as a shadow/distant photo/IM buddy" is annoying. Even so, it's hard to not like the cast. It also has a reassuring, wholesome vibe that seems like a breath of fresh air nowadays. It's like a new millennium Greatest American Hero.

At least Shawn Christian's version had a little bit of personality. Yes, SC was more pretty to look at than an actor who could emote.., but at least he had some fire in him at the time. Mark Collier portrayed Mike as an idiot---the male equivalent of Lily. My hatred of him will never, ever die.

Um...I'm less surprised that Marland recast her. In '89, Lily was practically the focal point of the entire Snyder clan's lives, not to mention Lucinda. It wasn't a joke to say that the entire town practically shut down to celebrate Lily's birthday. I'm just surprised it was only a three month gap. As for Goutman recasting her---I was fine with it. By that time, I was beyond tired of Byrne in the role. I don't think they needed to recast though. The way they continually wrote her as a weak and selfish twit grated on my last nerve. Admittedly, the way they trashed Carly to make Lily the "victim" of the affair with Holden made me puke, so I had no love left for Lily's character....but the stupidity of the Rose/twin saga wore out whatever respect I had for her years before anyway.

Episodes up at youtube have Rattray's debut in the 1989 Christmas shows. Kind of shocked they recast her so soon.

I didn't even really realize Colenback was Dan for such a long period of time. I was very young in the '70's, so I don't have memories of Dan per se, but any time I think of Dan, it's John Reilly's face flashing in my mind.

Oddly, I thought Chambers had chemistry with Jon Hensley. But she was an awful choice for Molly. It didn't help that she was thrown into a story that really should have hinged on the Carly/Molly relationship and history, and she just didn't have that connection with Maura that Lesli had. But she only made a handful of appearances, and if Molly hadn't been the impetus of Jack being presumed dead, they clearly wouldn't have bothered to recast.

Molly kind of floundered after Jake was killed in 2003. There was backlash over her screwing Mike (and I actually kinda/sorta liked them), then he slept with Carly, and they stumbled on to Mike/Katie which was clearly popular. The show was going to kick her down to recurring, and they actually let her out of her contract so she could take the role on GH. That was spring 2005, and Chambers stepped into the role right before Jack went off the bridge and was presumed dead. By '09, when LK came back to ATWT, her B&B work was down to a handful of episodes throughout the year. I do think she appeared on the B&B Xmas episode that year, but I think that was the only one that was concurrent.

Hey---Carjack are AWESOME. Even the remembrance of Jack being free of that pre-psychobitch Jules gives me the warm fuzzies. But yeah---Eddie and his daddy drama was suckitude x infinity.

It was Emma's family farm. She occasionally said she had memories from her childhood there. I know she mentioned it had been known as the "...." farm, but I can't remember what her maiden name was. I think Emma's ancestry was Danish, but then they kind of implied it was Swedish in scenes she had with Vienna.

Could they have mentioned the old Hughes farm? Sure. I don't really see why that would have been some kind of tribute---by the '80's, even if you were a legacy viewer, you might not have known about it. I'd watched ATWT forever, and had no clue until I read the history that Chris had moved off the family farm. I think at the time he invented them, Marland tapped into a topical subject, the loss of the small American farmer, and that's what Emma represented. It'd been in her family for generations, and it was a legacy she tried to preserve. Curse Brad all you want, but not my Jack!! He was the best thing to happen to that family.

I know the Snyder farm was considered "the country", but it's not like it was Far Far Away. It necessitated a car ride. And if Oakdale hadn't supposedly been big enough for three consulting firms or multiple million-dollar corporate headquarters, y'all wouldn't have been surprised buses don't go there or run 24/7. I loved the Snyders. I don't know why they get such a bad rap. They're no different than any other soap family, passing love interests back and forth. While I wish we could have gotten a little updating through the years (good God, that water heater never moved), I thought it was comforting.

According to my book, Dan's illness in '65 was encephalitis. Dan died of a brain tumor years later. Paul also died of a brain tumor.

Rita Lloyd played Edwina (and Lucille Wexler). She was diabolical on both shows. I remember distinctly being scared of her GL character.