P.J.

GL's Amelia Marshall.

I watched that cow Reva tell Trish she was dumping HB in utter disbelief. When even Trish is staring at you like you are an ungrateful bitch, all because of a guy you met six months (or so) ago, you are a 'ho. How Reva and Zimmer survived this clunker remains a mystery to me. Were she and Kyle really that well received? Or did the writers realize they'd gone too far and write Reva's suicide attempt to softly reboot the character? Nowadays, David definitely would've been crushing on Kyle and jealousy over being rejected by him after Kyle found the Lewises would've driven him to try and kill him. Rick/Mindy FTW. I think Michael and Krista really were sparkly. I understand what they were trying to do with Kurt, but BLECH.

Yes. Something about Charlotte and Alicia being sisters and a childhood with an abusive drunk father. I couldn't watch the explanation, which seems to be an orchestrated "gotcha" moment by Fletch sort of "haunting" Alicia at the tv station. (I hadn't quite realized WSPR was around before Holly.) I think the radio thing was to make Fletch relevant. Long learned that globe-trotting peeps like Quint and Helena needed something to do in Springfield. Can't count on murder trials to keep the newspaper a-hoppin'. I swear the actress playing Alicia also had a role on ATWT---maybe she was Olivia Wycroft. I keep meaning to look that up. As much as I've criticized Simon, at least you can see there's something going on within him. VanVleet just feels like an aging playboy trying desperately to play a serious person. Yes, Leslie Dennison's Carolyn Crawford was a parapalegic on ATWT. LD's a lovely person, but a boring actress, imo. I was surprised to realize they really did show Billy having nightmares due to his brainwashing. It's mostly the same thing over and over, but I had only heard Vanessa telling Ross after Billy had been arrested before.

Thanks! I know the Infinity story takes the heat for the lackluster of 1985, but the Charlotte Wheaton story isn't any better. Other than proving Barbara Garrick has a talent for playing mean spirited kooks. Watching Richard VanVleet is like watching paint dry.

Rebecca Hollen's last airdate seems to fall between July 4th, 1985 and July 15th. Reva tells Trish she's in love with Kyle and leaving HB on July 4th. The Lewises (minus Trish) go to Cross Creek to celebrate Billy's birthday (this year, other years it's in March) to "accept" Kyle as a Lewis the week of the 15th.

I guess in terms of Phillip's woman du jour coming in third behind Beth and Spaulding, that's true. But she sure wasn't either MKA or even Liz Dennehy. Was Bolger still in the role at the beginning of Phillip/Chelsea?

Making her Chrissie was inspired, but if they hadn't gotten Roger and Holly back, would it have meant as much? Lord, save us from another Shayne. No offense to KdP, but she's just not my cup of tea. Maybe she just upped her game for OLTL, but she's uninspired on GL. Well, you can't have a "bad" Reardon. They could've said Chelsea was the oldest child of the oldest Reardon.

Or was the character of Blake going to be a new Spaulding? Chelsea.....grrrrrrr.

Honestly, rewatching the mid-80's, I wonder if Pam Long GAF about anyone other than Reva. Even Alexandra, who isn't getting any great story that I can see, she revolves around her precious Brandon. Reva is supposed to be plucky, "tell it like it is" brave for living with no regrets, while she pisses and moans, biting the Lewis hand that clothes and feeds her so she can lust after a virtual stranger because they've both "hungered" to be a Lewis and feel like they've been excluded from the precious Lewis circle of trust. Lord love a duck. Long didn't know how to write for strong women. She's not interested in Annabelle, Nola, Katie (although she hadn't had a story since '81) or Trish, Mo and Claire have babyitis, Roxy's an ex-whore, Mindy's spoiled but occasionally tries to grow up and Beth cries all day everyday. Yes, Vanessa isn't the mover and shaker she was upon entering Springfield. But at least she was allowed to grow as a character. Unlike Reva, she's not hamstrung in some eternal sexpot role that she can't escape from. As much as I dislike some aspects of the Dylan storyline, it's arguably Long's best umbrella story. Yes, it could've been written without Vanessa, but it's undoubtably richer for her being in it.

True enough, and Tony and Annabelle suffer the same problem. And the people Quint and Nola had interacted with were gone--Kelly, Morgan, Helena, Mrs Renfield---even Van's been transplanted to the Lewis enclave. Nola's curiosity could've been used somehow, but after Reva's arrival it seems like Long is obsessed with selling that woman to the audience. As originally written--no, the Chamberlains weren't stockholders anymore. But any story where Quint and Vanessa teamed up, realizing that Alex had played them, and found some loophole to get back in to restore Henry's legacy would've been welcome. As much as I like India--Spaulding gets weird in '85 with Alex, Phillip, India and Warren fighting amongst themselves.

I can forgive them not writing a lot for Quint/Nola at Van and Billy's first wedding, given that Lisa was hugely pregnant and the other story going on was Tony's medical crisis. But yeah---Nola and Quint barely even speak to Van for that last year-plus. Not even after little Billy's born (although Nola and Van do have a nice scene, which is one of the few that they're just nice to each other) or the fallout of Van's addiction, and they flippin' leave when Billy's in a coma or right after being in one) Even Henry goes to story Siberia. They gave them a big, new set and the promise of some Billy/Van/Nola/Quint family squabblin'--and NADA. How COOL would it have been to see Nola side with Van and put Reva in her place? But no...NOLAROBICS. RME. Reva really needed someone outside of Josh to tell her like it was. Instead, Billy's head cheerleader. And Jon's calling him "uncle Billy", which just about made me gag.

Given the weird fantasies/out of town barn trips she does for Reva/Kyle, I can't see it either. (Not to mention Kyle's obsessive talking to paintings, or Billy's nightmares.)

As others (I think) have said, Long just didn't get Nola and Quint. I guess it would've been hard to write them into adventure type stories with two kids, but they just fell off the map after AJ's birth. (or even the wedding/honeymoon) Long would've had to rewrite something, because Alex forced the Chamberlains out of Spaulding in the fall of '84. Not that she couldn't have just ignored it and written Quint and Henry being involved at the firm. I swear there was some plot point she just literally ignored that surprised me, but as I'm floating around between years, I can't recall what it was. lol Has anyone found the first day of the Kyle/Lewis dinner party up in English? After he took over Lewis Oil, Kyle arranged a dinner party. All hell breaks loose--Mindy admits to shooting Kyle, Vanessa remembers Reva's accident, and Billy and Reva get into a screaming match and she tells HB that Billy blackmailed her out of her Lewis shares. The last three minutes (or so) of the episode are up, where Kyle tells the assembled that HB's his father. And the next episode picks up with Sally entering the fray. Y'all know I'm dying to hear Billy and Reva go at it. As dicey as '85 is, I love it anytime when Billy isn't Reva's bitch.

@Mitch64 especially since they had kind of set up a college "scene" with Annabelle being a teacher and later Quint. But no, they shoved them right into full fledged adult behavior like marriage and babies, murder charges, blackmail, etc etc.

LOL...who has time for college? They only went to half a semester, which wasn't really a problem for Mindy, Phillip or Beth. But no wonder Rick became known as Dr Death.

Yes, Nicole's work would be seen as important, but she's wouldn't be (arguably) a national figure.

I will admit to not liking John Bolger in the role of Phillip, but on rewatch, he has a really nice friend chemistry with Michael and Krista. And I think it's the only period of time where Phillip hasn't pulled Rick into some stupid scheme that ends up hurting the friendship.

Wait.....Anita is an EGOT, Vernon was an important Senator, and Dani was an international model (no matter how brief, although I thought she said she was on par with Tyra Banks(or someone)...meanwhile, Nicole's some nice psychologist/psychiatrist with an award on her wall...but Dani's hasn't added to the Dupree mystique? I don't think the writers considered ever having any Dupree be less than utterly fabulously successful and that's actually flaw in the structure of the show. Oh, I forgot to say...Smitty acts like she stumbled into Vanessa's Only Fans account and paid for a picture of her dirty undies before realizing it was her.

I like Nicole the most, because she's the only normal person, even if she slides into psych-analyzing speak. I like Anita--but I suspect that's more about my attachment to Tamara Tunie. I'm on the fence about Dani--but I don't see her as the underdog vs. Nicole. Dani had her a fabulous life. Nicole might not have lived in her sister's shadow, but it seems like Dani gets the attention in the family.

@ranger1rg @DemetriKaneI was sure I was swimming upstream alone on this. I get that they are all proud to be Duprees, but the writers are just overplaying it. Ted's an ass, but presumably, he's been a model husband for the last 25 (?) years...but he just isn't good enough (or can handle or whatever..) a Dupree woman? *cough* I guess the next "shocker" is whatever Vernon and Anita's secret is. I hope it's something a little more original than him cheating on Anita.

Sometimes, I'm not sure we're supposed to like the Duprees. They pontificate at the drop of a hat. And even when they have the right, they gotta just put that last little nail in. I guess they were justified in reading Eva, but the "and you're never going to be a Dupree..." like...do they really think that was the goal in all that?

Well....gotta have ducks. lol

I was focused on 1995 Phillip. With only one child at that point, all he'd really have to rule is his harem of ex's. I'd have loved to watch Grant Aleksander and Rick Hearst go toe to toe, but he's on his way out and I doubt the writers would've ever let A-M best Phillip. Yes, to someone like Kyle, but no to someone to horndog Reva or be an ineffectual six month villain. They really needed to invest in a Roger-type villain who was built to last. I don't know what it is about location shoots, but shows had a way of overplaying them. Just because you can swim the length of a real pool, or run in a literal field of flowers, etc...doesn't mean I have to see it in it's entirety. I just watched Mindy's wedding to Kurt, and Mindy must've walked a bleepin' mile between the carriage and the altar.

Sometimes you don't have friends as much as you have family. I'm trying to remember if Dylan really had a guy friend. He and Mindy finally became friends after a rough introduction, and he interacts with Hart#1 and A-M#1, but I'm not sure they're really "friends". Maybe David. Whereas with Bridget, because there aren't a lot of Reardons around, gets friends like Kat and David.

There was something about her being kidnapped by a Professor (?) and then presumed dead when Judi Evans left. Then somehow she ends up with Neil Everest with amnesia and being mute. Beth Chamberlain doesn't say a thing for like her first three months on the show. I sort of agree that Phillip should've been head of the family. But there's not a lot of family for him to be "head" of. Unless they could've found a better recast for Alan, I'd have been okay with him dying earlier. What Phillip really needed was an equal rival. Whether it was in the family or outside the family. And other than Roger and the first go-round with VI as Lujack, he never really had one. I'm hesitant to call Chris Bernau's Alan a rival, but he certainly was a source of conflict in Phillip's life.