P.J.

I don't know if there was ever anything brought up about Brandon/the will, but it wouldn't surprise me. I can see Brandon being fixated on a males (after all, Alexandra, even though we don't know about her yet, was deemed inferior for being a girl, Amanda is given to an old lover) and that for Alan, having a male heir legitimized his right to take Spaulding from his father. There's also always a fixation on men having a son (Henry even seems to fall into that trap when he searches for Quinton, and Billy is later giddy at having a boy.) There was some talk a while back that Alan may have only married Elizabeth because she came from a rich family, and that played into his business aspirations. He rarely gives in to the concept of loving someone.

Thanks @DRW50 I'm not exactly sure who these people are, but it's encouraging that it still exists.

I wish more of the Dobson era was up. Because no matter how many times I read it, I'm amazed that viewers didn't find Jackie a complete psychopath user bitch. It's a Gordian Knot of a story. It would've been interesting to see how the Dobson's played it out.

Maybe then it's the entire situation around Phillip that's convoluted. The fact that Jackie lied to Justin, and claimed to have an abortion. That a rich (or at least well-off) daughter of a prominent surgeon gave up her child rather than raise him. That she not only befriended the couple that adopted her son, but after they divorce, marries Alan and gets pregnant by him herself. That Justin and Elizabeth also marry. That both of those marriages crash and burn within months. Yadda yadda (a thousand little details I'm probably overlooking.) I'll defend Marland to this extent---it took him three years to orchestrate the Adam reveal on ATWT. And the Aaron reveal was probably at least two. Marland's barely there two years. I don't think Alan was ever in love with Jennifer (or Jane Marie). He was dating her older sister, and ending up having sex with the younger one. (and how exactly, I don't know.) It was the older sister's drowning that (somewhat) haunted him.

I'm not sure about Amanda/Dinah. As they both hated Blake, it's a definite possibility.

Amanda should've been a lot closer to Vanessa's age. Vanessa and Amanda were scrappin' at Spaulding before Alan Michael and Bill were born.

I'm pretty sure he was originally supposed to be two years older than Harley. Harley's 16/17 when she's pregnant with Daisy in '87. Dinah graduated high school in '87 (so she's at least 17.) Dylan's 19 when he shows up in '89. Even if they're all the same age, it means Nadine, Vanessa, Reva and Hope all gave birth the same year. (which is a head scratcher, when you throw in that Jackie gave birth to Samantha onscreen the same month as Hope, but Sam is at least a year younger than Alan-Michael. Alan-Michael got married shortly after Samantha arrived in '89, to access his trust. Yet in '90, Samantha can't marry in the state without a guardian's permission.) They did acknowledge that Julie was younger than Dylan. She was about 18, while Dylan should've been 23.) Like I said--soap math is migraine inducing.

Never try and do soap opera math. It's worse than calculus. I realized that when I realized that for Dinah and Harley to be the same age, and Dylan older, Reva had to be pregnant before Vanessa. Yet both were supposed to be seventeen when they got pregnant. Well, Dinah's first pair of adoptive parents died. But yeah, soap adoptees don't generally have a lot of luck in that department.

Other than Harley, none of the stories behind the retcon children given up for adoption (Van, Reva, Sarah just off the top of my head and even Jackie with Phillip) make a lick of sense really.

LOL...Frank even flirts with Holly, and Vanessa flirts with him (but only on a bet with Billy...). But yeah, they threw that side of beef any which way to see if anything worked. Jackie---amnesia after the crash. I'm jus' sayin'....but yeah, personally, Buzz is just too unconventional for me to think any woman would be attracted to him. *shrugs*

Well, her body was never found. Soo...in the 'not exactly dead-dead' category.

Why they didn't make Hawk Cassie's father is a head-scratcher. It sure would've been more believable than the pious Sarah having some random affair. There's Lainie Marler, Ross and Justin's younger sister. She wasn't on the canvas long, so I doubt her history was that explored. But I doubt they would've ever brought her back onscreen.

Uhm...while I just found out Sonia is older than Laura Wright, I think they really would've needed to bend the time/space continuum to explain Lucy being Reva's sister. Lucy was Buzz's biological daughter, right? Maybe Reva's neice, via a dead sister who hooked up with Buzz after he deserted. Maybe Lucy could've been Tangie's daughter?

If Rick had stayed, I could've definitely seen them reuniting at some point. Blake and Ross kept stumbling into cheating plots, which grew stale quickly.

And the angels SING. LOL. Join the dark side....

Harley always had a job--waitress, resale shop, nanny, cop (did she want to be a fashion designer, or just be in business with Mindy?) and probably a few I'm forgetting. Even if, like most characters, she spent more time away from the job than at the job. Reva only "wanted" a job between men. And no, I don't think they ever brought up her photography again. I've seen a number of actresses I thought would be big, but then weren't. And then opposite is true too--I certainly never saw Melina Kanakardes being so successful. Or Julianne Moore, or Marisa Tomei.

Hell...even Vanessa's coming back from the dead and not giving two F's about what people say about having a boytoy. And little Michelle is getting all kinds of angst and hooking up with powerful guys and getting a MIL from hell.

I'm sure some must have...I just can't think of one on a show I watched. Some would probably say Liz Keifer taking over the role of Blake and Blake/Ross but I'm not sure I ever could've bought SS's Blake and Ross as a couple. Hot in bed, sure. I just loved Grant. He almost managed to make Crystal Chappel rootable for me.

I was okay with Cassie (and Laura Wright was certainly better than Nicole Forester), but simply being Reva's bastard sister isn't exactly a great tie to Guiding Light's history. Although I know this fictional child is part Thorpe, Hart didn't claim that name, and I have no clue what last name RJ was given. Maybe it was something other than Watros' win....but I think it's possible to cheer for someone getting recognition for your show and realizing at some point down the road that you're not getting the same type of praise you did before they came along. Kim had been the big dog on the block (while not the only award winner on the show, but it's biggest) for so long, she never really had to deal with not having that spotlight.

Reva hadn't worked since 1985. And even then, I doubt she did anything. All she ever knew was how to cash checks. There's a point where I think Kim was just sick of everything. I don't know if Watros winning that emmy got under skin, or the writing, or just realizing she was back where she started and not going anywhere. I never thought Kim looked good in short hair. And it really didn't fit Reva's character.

My eyes, my eyes! I just can't stand Hunt Block. And I had to cringe through plenty of Hunt Block's making out technique on ATWT. I'm not sure I've ever witnessed a recast where the new person had a good chemistry with their love interest. Whatever Tom/Margo on ATWT had withered through the multiple recasts. It's probably why I was more of a Phillip/Harley fan than a Phillip/Beth fan with Beth Chamberlain in the role. That some weasely writer ignored a boatload of history and foisted a brat on some insignificant notShayne instead of giving us a grandchild of Chamberlain/Marler and Thorpe lineage is a crime. Who names a child after their brother in law? An ex-stripper who doesn't know her own daddy.

Yeah, I wouldn't have been interested in any story with Holly and Olivia. I just didn't like Olivia, period. And given how trite Olivia/Natalia was written years later, I don't have confidence that the story would've given the weight it deserved. I think there were so many cops on the show because it was an easy shortcut to create conflict. Gus was a thorn in the Spauldings side, Mallet had been a cop (and came back as some prison warden but who had been working as a hitman or whatever), and Marina just kind of fell into the family business. Yeah, if Mae was Stacey, the only connection she would've had is the name Reardon (or Chamberlain). Both Bill and Michelle were her cousins, but there wasn't really any history there, which is part of the reason "J" was such a flop.

I don't even think it's a contest---it's San Cristobel. It may not be realistic to have multi-millionaires and multi-national corporations on every block, but at least it's rooted in the relatable. Princes descending on a midwestern town it beyond ridiculous. Even when we got rid of the island, we were stuck with the inhabitants. And of course, then along came Jonathan. RME. We were stuck with them all, thanks to Reva. Thanks for the info and Dinah/Moniz. While I don't think Sydney Penny would've worked in the role as written for Moniz, maybe Dinah wouldn't have been so over-the-top bitch either.

The what ifs are endless. I think the custody trial would've been pretty much the same, with some kind of shared custody between Billy/Van and Bridget. But, would Dinah have come back to Springfield? (Oh, imagine round 4 of Billy vs Roger over his involvement with Dinah.) Would Josh have come home, and if there's no Josh, does Reva return? If there's no Reva, there's no San Cristohell....sigh.

Oh, definitely they were a rebound relationship. It's just painful watching such a forced pairing. There's literally no one else on the canvas for either of them, and they really don't have anything in common other than having children the same age. The natural pivot would've been to Ross, but as you say, they were building to Ross/Blake. I think it would've been harder for Billy to see Ross as a threat, because he knew they'd tried, more than once and they just couldn't make it work. In that way, Fletcher works, because Billy's confused by it and can't as easily dismiss the relationship. I shouldn't complain as much, as it throws Billy and Van into some of my favorite tropes, (exes who can't stay away from each other, and who fight like there's no one else in the room). I think Jordan's sudden exit in '93 just makes me melancholy for the time lost in dealing with also rans like Nadine and Fletch.