P.J.

The part where she wants to rip his lungs out? Yeah, that's a great speech. And highlights the connection between Henry and Alex. I hope the full episodes eventually get uploaded. And I think Rick, Matt and Frank (maybe) kind of drift by them at Bill and Lizzie's wedding, and Billy says something about how she's already attracting all the boys in town again. When KS arrived, Mindy and Billy are a little more at odds than they ever have been between the Will thing and the Dylan reveal. But there's a moment between them after Billy and Vanessa blow up (after Saudi Arabia) and he's sitting alone in his office and she just comes in and consoles him that sold it for me. That moment's in the opening credits until the Hold on to Love one debuted.

Yep. AFAIC, Billy is the heart and soul of the Lewis family. Josh is it's conscience. I'm not sure I would've accepted Crampton more, but the Billy/Mindy dynamic had always been important for both characters.

I think this is the clip you're thinking of, it's from May '91, when Mindy's miscarrying. Alex had learned that Mindy was pregnant with Roger's child, that Hart was Roger's and that Roger was embezzling from Spaulding. As for the writing for Alex, there are things she's doing that I don't think Alex would've done. After getting him out and divorcing him, she turns around and uses Roger to get the dirt on Mindy to stop the wedding to Nick. I also don't like the way she punishes Mindy by telling Billy. (Although on rewatch, she and Billy have a more antagonistic relationship than I'd remembered.) Then again, the ripple effect from that is fantastic.

I'm surprised Locher isn't doing some kind of GL interview. I should go watch those anniversary shows interviews.

Now Martin's secret is some multi-level conspiracy, involving nearly all the male cast? Oy vey. But hey, points for the unexpected.

I do occasionally watch some Henry/Jenna. He "mentors" her after she's won the lawsuit, encouraging her to run the business and not just let Roger play puppetmaster. It really is hard for me to watch Jenna, especially during this period. She and Roger are so odious together. I haven't watched into the fall, but just from William's appearance at Billy and Vanessa's wedding, I have to wonder if his health wasn't declining.

But that is much more about the writing than the characters themselves. As long as the Lewises or some assemblage of the Three Musketeers was on screen, there was a place for Mindy on canvas. Yes, characters also benefit from rests. But there's a huge difference between Mindy and Reva. No way, no how was Mindy ever going to get the outrageous, continual front burner status that Reva enjoyed.

I remember SSH as Lauren Fenmore's bitchy mother, so that definitely would've been a 'no' from me. Even someone like Susan Flannery, who is arguably in the top ten of soap actresses, I can't see having Alex's softer qualities or humor. I think Krista could've played a more adult version of Mindy easily. However, I don't think she could've played Mindy's affair with Roger.

I adore William's chemistry with everyone. He and Jerry ver Dorn as a pseudo father/son-in-law were gold.

No on Krista. Krista said about six months after she left, Pam Long called and tried talking her into a return. Is she on OLTL at this point? I'm not sure it was initially made clear who was older, but during the Susan Piper story, it was established that Alex and Alan's mother had died shortly after giving birth to him. Retcons/story "tweaks" so often seem completely unnecessary.

OMG---I had not realized Munker was such a baby on ATWT! I can understand it being hard to recast Alex. Look at how divisive Marj Dusay in the role is, and she is by no means a slouch. Any actress is going to suffer by comparison. Yes, that's JFP's job. But there were so many qualities that Beverlee brought to the role, that it must've seemed impossible. I

MOL wasn't even on the show at the time. But no, I can't imagine Hickland embodying the quirkier aspects of Mindy, or clicking with MOL as ex sweethearts.

That was the point I was also (clumsily) trying to make.

And how many times have fans complained about age disparities between parents and children? She's only six years younger than Jordan Clarke. If JFP had wanted to cast Hickland, she could've created a new character for her. I don't think I would've minded, although I haven't seen her in much since CAPITOL. Hell, she could've been recast as Trish Lewis, and given Blake a run for Ross. Or even been tested with VI.

Cat Hickland was too old for the role. She's older than Barbara Crampton. Yes, I know that shouldn't matter, but she'd have been more suited to play Reva than her former stepdaughter.

Originally, Alan was Alex's younger brother. Sometime during Bernau's second run, that got flipped, and he's the older brother protecting Alex from their father. Ugh...that's right. But I constantly forget that. Given that's it's 2003, probably. It begins October 17, 2003, if you're looking for a start date. It is too bad they wasted Ariane Munker in the role of Christine Valere. She had the right look for Hope, and seemed to have chem with Chris Bernau. She had played Melinda Grey on ATWT (Barb's half-sister).

So, there was a writer's strike in '81?

I would bet that part of the reason Alan wasn't recast sooner was Phillip's absence. Yes, Alan-Michael was also his son, but the dynamic was always about Phillip.

No kidding. No matter who, it seemed like Frankie was always out there casting a line, hoping to land anything swimming by. In '89, it's even with the likes of Holly and Vanessa. On reflection, Pilon's not as bad as I remembered. He at least seems like he could match wits with Roger. It's harder to judge RR in some respects, simply because the writing and his adversaries is so much poorer. His Alan is perpetually a chump.

I will say, I had forgotten that Blake and Frank were "friendly" back in the early '90's. GL's wrap up seemed to want everyone happy (although Matt's misery tickles my funny bone as he mopes around the last few weeks, Maureen introduces him to her teacher at the end...) so everyone "got" someone or some kind of fresh start. Which led to some silliness about Blake/Frank and online dating.

So did Jackie Marler. And Bill Bauer's original death was in an airplane crash. At least from what I've observed from '89 to '93, if they start playing the actor's pictures, they run the cast list.

sorry...I must've missed that. I can understand having fond memories of Fletcher. Honest. If you had asked me before I started rewatching, all I probably could've recalled about him was his humor and the fact that he'd raised Ben.

Just FYI---Fletch did marry Maeve. Maeve died in a helicopter accident in '88, shortly after they married. If she didn't remember that, I'd speculate that she was talking about Chris Bernau's Alan, not Daniel Pilon's.

I guess I understand them needing to explore other romances (even Phillip and Beth have a relatively short initial romance before Lujack enters the scene) for Rick and Mindy, and some of it is bad timing (MOL left, so enter Rusty...RME)...but yeah, they could've gone back to Rick/Mindy either then or even with Kimberly Simms.

They didn't put a lot of effort into any of Rick's romances after Mindy. Sometimes, the way he seemed to gravitate to older women, it was like he was either looking for a mother or looking for his own version of Maureen.