P.J.

I was going to ask---how long did you watch GL? True, maybe Hearst's A-M didn't show his Bauer side as much as CTE. But I saw Hearst's A-M as damaged from his involvement with Blake, and being claimed by the dark-side Spaulding power-mad gene.

As I understand it, the story evolved out of the way Holly's life crumbled after Fletch took Meg after she donated her kidney to Baby Mo. (I'm sure there's more to it, but I'm not revisiting that era of GL) Not only did Holly and Van already have a connection (via the Jack Kiley trial), they had similar problems (troubled relationships with older daughters and younger ones with medical issues.) But of course, the story was written for Reva to be our heroine. *eyeroll* Was Roger still in town?

Y'know, it should've been Vanessa. Vanessa and Holly had the connection. But...sigh...Reva.

They certainly were her Waterloo... Name those kids....Daisy, Shayne, Marina, Lizzie, Tammy, Kevin and Jason. Who's the dark-haired boy (Coop?) and the baby?

Oh lord....that list is long, but certainly those two deserve spots of dishonor.

I don't think Alex and Reva went at it too often, unless I skipped over stuff in '87 (which is possible, I know Alex thinks Reva's a horror and would've much preferred Vanessa as a sister-in-law). I'm sure whatever they did have, Reva came out on top, because no one ever got the last word in on Reva. EVER. RME. I don't think Holly interacted much with either Josh or Reva. They're gone most of the early '90's, when Holly's getting better stories. Maybe when Reva became a talk show host? Reva and Josh kinda stayed in their own lane a lot. They got new people to interact with vs the vets (aside from family). Neither really interacted with Roger, for example. Although I guess Josh did during the Peter custody story a little. I hated the Blake/Ben story. But GL was always ready to write Blake as a dumb slut.

And now I'm wishing I could've seen Mattson go up against Bev as a Spaulding. Geez...that would've been bananas, in a good way.

Unless they fundamentally changed the role of Hope, it probably would've been too tame for her. Amanda, arguably, would've been a better fit.

I've tried thinking of a Hope recast--Jackie Schultz was too much of a sad-sack as Dee (ATWT) so I can't see her working. Kate McNeil would've worked, but she was doing L.A. I don't think she did a soap after ATWT.

There's also something about Holly going to Switzerland with Ed and Mike...so I guess they really were easing Holly off the canvas (which surprises me, 'cause Holly really seems like a character Marland would've loved to write for). And yes, Vanessa was much more focused on Alan and Ross, not to mention sparring with Hope and threatened by Amanda and Eve's presence in Ross' life. So maybe she never did interact with Holly. It just seemed odd. I will say, it is funny to me that in '89, Vanessa immediately knows that Holly is Ross' type, and Nadine wasn't.

Tom Wiggin, my Kirkadoodle. He and Lisa Brown had mad chemistry (to my eyes, even more than her and Michael Tylo), but Marland scuttled them for her wacky sister Ellie. RME. It's true, Holly and Reva are two ends of the spectrum, that's for sure.

I'm not sure Tonja Walker could radiate warmth. Even if Hope had returned a tougher woman, she would've needed to have a Bauer heart.

Per newspaper weekly synopses, Holly was in town until late November, 1980.

Rebecca Hollen was such a lovely presence onscreen. The affair with Alan was the only story she really got to sink her teeth into, she's in the Andy story, of course, but she's only in it for a couple of months before he's shipped off to jail. Trish really was a stabilizing force in the Lewises, and it really felt she got booted to leave Billy dependent on his "new" brother Kyle.

1987 wardrobe is all over the place. It's not all bad, but I think they were trying to get her away from her look with Billy and then a tad sexier when she was reconnecting with Ross. (The dress she wears to after Dinah's graduation looks fabulous on her, as does her Fourth of July dress, even if that's a tad long for summer.) She wears slacks more, she's growing out her hair. I'm not sure anyone's look is really fabulous that year. Some of the stuff they put Bev in was hideous. And I'd argue they dressed Vanessa better than her daughter. Vanessa's arguably one of the few fashionista characters GL ever had. But it was always a classic look. Maeve really rocked the pencil skirt in the '90's. I think I've seen some stuff where they tried to dress her younger with Matt---and that's just not Vanessa. She was never "trendy" and she wouldn't have strayed from her look. That stupid line from Van's memorial runs through my mind, where Matt makes the stupid remark about how sometimes he's have to remind her to change out of her casual clothes to go to the office (or whatever...) ANYONE who knew Van knew she wouldn't leave for the office without her heels and clip on earrings, looking fab.

Not to mention Vanessa hating her sister Eve. Van, Henry and Ross even head to Bermuda (or Jamaica, I can't remember where Alan and Rita went to tryst) as Van and Henry are hoping to catch Alan and blackmail hom into buying Jocelyn Electronics. Rita gets out of the villa in time, but Ross ends up breaking up with Van. So yeah, I'd think Van and Rita talked. Van really used to love taunting people.

*shrug* I don't know. But when Van comes back to town, Henry teases her into going to Ross' and he and Holly are there. He and Holly fight, and she slaps him, running past Van and Henry at the door. Van thinks its Nadine until Ross describes her as both Roger and Ed's ex-wife.

If their time overlapped, it probably wasn't by much, and I couldn't find any reference in the recaps that they met. I just found it a bit odd that Van wouldn't have recognized her, because she had dated Ed and because it had been such an important case for Ross. But fwiw, I've never found any reference to Van meeting Rita either. And that seems very unlikely to me.

Johnny leaves town, dumping Chelsea because he visited Roxie and decided he still loved her.

But he didn't need to be behind a mask. He and Alex weren't onscreen at the same time, and per established history, before she came back, she'd been out of town for twenty years. Maybe it was supposed to be a surprise to the audience (ala James Stenbeck's "Hello, Barbara" return) but I kinda doubt it. Sometimes you just have to honor your history. Later, when Vanessa returns, she doesn't recognize Holly.

I gotta admit, Nadine having Alan's number, unlike his most recent conquest Reva was an interesting choice. Before I never quite understood why Ross was ever interested in that airhead. But there's a scene around AM and Harley's wedding where she's telling him why she left town, and it almost made me sympathize with her....and I hate her skanky ass.

WSPR was the more interesting work place, that's for sure. That's due to the Holly/Roger conflict, where the Journal was always a snoozefest with no interesting characters. It was more like "anyone who doesn't have a story works at the Journal."

Re: Henry and Vanessa: I think it's Vanessa's pot-stirring that solidifies their spot in town. Springfield was full of do-goody types at the time (Hillary, Morgan, Trish, Hope, Amanda, even Nola is changing her spots). Vanessa is running around upsetting apple-carts in everyone's perfect little lives because she can.

It just feels like it's being dragged out way past it's expiration date. But at the same time, given the other lackluster plotting going on (Alan plotting to punish Phillip by exposing him to Rick, Mo moping around while Ed diddles Holly, Alex being fascinated by MaskMan) I can see why they tried breathing more life into it. But omg...spare me Reva wringing her hands over Marah's kidnapping. I've softened on Dennehy--her writing is atrocious. Not that it's any better for Goulet and Neil, but those characters are just so ill-conceived I don't think anyone could've made either work.

While I'm not blaming the Reva focus per se---the Will/Sonni/Josh/Reva story is eating the show, yet nearly completely disconnected from the other half of the show. The town is full of lackluster characters---Blake, Meredith, Rose---driving story. It just seems like the show is treading water waiting for Roger to take off that damn mask.