P.J.

Hillary is always supposed to have some spunk to her, so much so that sometimes I really just roll my eyes at her spunk. She always seemed to lust after the guy who thought she was a "great friend". I do kind of side-eye how "close" the Bauers of that period are, but I just assume there's not enough out there to really judge.

While I love the Carrie story, it's hard envisioning the mercurial Jane Elliot sticking around GL for long. It's sad his leaving started a writing instability that lasted until GL's finale. Lainie, Evie and Katie are all sort of the same character. I honestly don't think Lainie ever did much on the show. Evie (who I remember liking) didn't do much after being stalked by Chet. In fact, I was surprised to realize she was still around as late as Nola and Quint's engagement ball. (she must leave sometime in the fall after Justin leaves.) Katie just seems to drift after the Andy Norris story. I mean, she never even gets to go to the parties. Hillary manages to, but Katie's the Cinderella who never goes to the ball.

It's unclear to me whether Marland meant "older" as in advanced in years, or simply characters that predated his tenure. Jackie Marler got killed off under Marland, when I'd assume Marland's instinct would've been to recast to play out the reveal of Phillip's parentage. Sara McIntyre's role certainly dwindled under Marland, where she's basically just a talk to to the sexually frustrated women of Springfield. Evie and Katie kind of fade into the background. Elizabeth Spaulding, Lainie Marler, Ben McFarren also leave town. Other than Barbara and Adam (and you could argue that Holly and Roger's exits make them expendable) and Stephen, I can't think of another "aged" actor that got let go. I'm not sure how big a presence Viola Stapleton ever was in town.

I'd always assumed that Lily's reluctance over Luke's sexuality was to facilitate another maternity leave....now maybe it was a little deeper than that. As for Byrne, I think she was a precocious child Broadway actor who fell into the trap of believing the praise she got, and that her acting never really grew after a point. Lily's basically the same spoiled princess she is in 1988 as she was in 2005, when she's ready to bring Carly down with her to save her precious Luke after Julia II was murdered. And I heartily disliked Rose, whose novelty wore off after Holden uttered those famous words "...that's your real voice?"

I guess I'm surprised he sees himself so much in the character of Kelly. I probably shouldn't be surprised he has such a fondness for the Morgan/Kelly/Nola story, but in my head, it's Doug's fondness for Nola that sticks. I just never think of Kelly or Morgan as layered or complex.

Ed had been cheated on before. Both Holly and Rita had affairs during their marriages to him. Holly slept with Roger (which is why Ed thought Chrissie was his daughter) and Rita slept with both Alan and another doctor (who I believe was named Greg, and who at some point dated her sister Eve). Rita had just received word that the child she was carrying was Ed's when Roger kidnapped her (after the chase through the hall of mirrors, hauntingly set to Donna Summer's Enough is Enough). She miscarried the child after a fire started in the cabin she was trapped in. 1993 would not have been the first time Billy called Vanessa "uppity" and/or a snob. They have a hilarious fight the night before their second wedding because he is suddenly acting like an ass over Nick's treatment of Mindy while Eve was crazy (and doesn't want Nick invited to the wedding or dating Mindy). Vanessa calls him out for being upset with Nick, but upset that Henry has called him out for his treatment of Vanessa in the past few years since jilting Vanessa at the altar after Reva's "death". While Vanessa never lost her uppercrust ways completely, in 1993 I can't think of anyone other than Nadine and Buzz she would've had issues with, and they deserved it and a lot more.

As Brandon's daughter, Spaulding was split three ways. Although honestly, I think originally, Amanda received a hunk of stock in Brandon's will.

I didn't realize until recently that Amanda flipped out because they were hiding Kathleen's pregnancy. Maybe Amanda is different under the Dobsons. But I always found the most interesting thing about her to be her mother Lucille.

LOL...Marah took up where Little Bill left off. He ran away three times in three years. Once he even took little Marah with him (or she tagged along anyway.) OMG...Charita pre-dates the MOVIE? I didn't have a clue! TY!!!

Sid came to town as Vanessa's lawyer in her custody fight with Bridget. Although I guess they didn't play that connection for long. Alan was always a user bastard who manipulated people like balloon animals, but Chris Bernau was a master at showing Alan's layers.

But there's where being Roger's daughter was a detriment. No one trusted her---or trusted her not to be used by Roger. And it cut Blake off from a lot of business stories. She could've moved over to WSPR or The Journal while Holly was involved with them, but even Holly barely trusts her.

I don't know if there was a way to do that at the time without it being called a direct rip off of the Reva/Lewises story. I guess Blake/Ross were popular for a reason, but they also became the direction because Alan, Alex and Phillip were all out of town. It might've been interesting to see Phillip be hell bent on keeping Blake out of Ross' life.

Thanks! I've only watched a few myself, in part because I'm never sure they're worth the time, and of Locher. I always mean to watch the one with Maeve, Ellen, Tina and Rachel, just because it would cover Maureen's death. I'm not surprised Maeve would've connected more with Wendy Moniz. They worked more together. While Maeve was on more than I remembered those last couple of years, she'd be gone for long stretches, and then show up at the end of Dinah's failed plots.

When you have Beth less well-adjusted than Blake, your writers got issues.

NO...lol. Personally, I don't either. I think they would've recasted, had the late '90's writers not decided to make Beth the unhinged spoiler for Phillip/Harley. And it just got progressively worse from there.

Mostly because TIIC refused to let those chickens come home to. I think one of the Marah's got to call Reva a slut, but that was quickly patched up. Reva would've been much better served by kids who realized Mom was an unreliable screw-up. More of the animosity between Van and Blake is with Sherry Stringfield, right around the time Vanessa returns home. Blake is pulling rank as Mrs. Spaulding, and Roger's daughter. At one point, Vanessa outright tells her she despises her because she slept her way to the top. Blake counters with something like "it's not my fault the only man you can keep interested is your daddy." It wasn't nearly as salty with LK in the role.

Yeah, to get the full scope of Judi's work, you need to watch 1983 Beth. Even by the summer of '84 (with Lujack) she gets super chipper, which is kind of jarring after watching her scenes around Beth's rape. Chamberlain is like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. I can deal with her from '89-'91. I recognize that Beth. Her late 90's return---nope. That Beth might as well be an entirely different character.

Lezlie Dalton was only four years younger than Geraldine. I would've thought Don would've seen the value in being the family patriarch, but who knows. I know I cited Lillian as someone who stuck around longer than necessary, but I think Tina understood her role and stayed in her lane.

I could forgive Rebecca Staab for being green (even though I've never seen her be interesting in much of anything, tbh). I couldn't exactly forgive Lisby Larson for being uninteresting in the role of Calla. Maybe if Alan had been around, that dynamic could've created some kind of rootability for the character. But pairing her with Ross just made her look ever so much more like a heartless bitch. You really wondered what Ross ever saw in her.

You mean Ariane Munker. Other than ones already mentioned, the big one that stands out to me is Geraldine Court as Jennifer. Maybe "floundered" in the role is an overstatement, but the show never seemed to know what they wanted to do with her. She never seems close to either of her daughters, the relationship with Mike went nowhere, and marrying Mark seemed like a hail mary effort to make her relevant. And then she just disappears before Mark dies.

I admit, I don't understand casting Hamilton at all, although in retrospect, I think she could've made it work if a) they'd given her more time and b ) not forced Mindy back into the pairing with Nick. VI doesn't have chemistry with either woman, tbh. Hiring Crampton was obviously just to bring in a name. She looked like she should be dating Josh, not calling him Uncle. I don't think Crampton's energy fit the show somehow.

Tomboy Mindy? Krista's Mindy was a little fighter, but that was always played for laughs (when she takes a swipe at Phillip at the Masked Ball and Rick pulls her away like a little cotton ball, or the knockdowns with Roxie). I don't even get a spoiled princess vibe from Hamilton. Its like no one told her anything about Mindy's history and she just played it like Mindy was returning like any run-of-the-mill teenage runaway.

Well, Reva's kids ended up too well-adjusted to bring home anyone either parent would've objected too. And then they basically disappeared for the last five years of the show. There's a point where Van and Blake really went at it too. And of course, Van vs Nadine, who is like the Earth666 version of Nola.

You know it! Most people remember the catfight before the engagement party, but I think my favorite moment is a couple of weeks before when a drunk Vanessa just lets it rip on Nola in the country club ladies' room. GL: Alex vs. Roger Billy vs. Roger Mike vs. Alan Ed vs. Roger ATWT: Bob vs. John Kim vs. Susan Barbara vs Margo Barbara vs Emily Carly vs. JuliaI Lisa vs. Joyce

I'm a little surprised that Simms is only four years younger than Eileen Davidson--but, there's no way Eric Braeden wouldn't have looked like he robbed the cradle opposite her. It was bad enough with Zaslow.