P.J.

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.

ugh...do you know how much heat "crazy CarJackers" took for "chasing" SJB off the show? I know it's so not the point but....RME.

Admittedly, I haven't rewatched a lot of '86-'88. Recently though I did read some old SOD, which either called Josh/Reva's ('87ish) reunion a bust or gave it a thumbs down, which now makes a little more sense. '90 Harley was the little canary in the mine around the Lewises (post-Reva) as she was pushing back against Josh, Sarah and Vanessa all kind of sticking their heads in the sand and pretending to be ok. In that way she was RevaJr, who always thought everyone should just be upfront about their feelings (when it wasn't her lying).

I'm not sure how interested Krista ever was about returning, but I sure would've welcomed some Rick/Mindy interaction over Rick's endless obsession with Beth. I guess I see Billy as the obsessive one, and Josh as the guy who feels like a chump when she comes home married to his daddy.

I liked Mallett more when he got involved with Harley. Watching him go after Phillip was off-putting, and the Francesca stuff bored me to tears. I agree, Krista couldn't have played the affair with Roger. I don't think there would've been any way to sell her Mindy completely forsaking Billy to go screw his enemy like that. It was hard enough to sell KS finding a way to sympathize with Roger. Krista only made small returns. Once for the First Wives Club meeting called by Alexandra, and then at the end. And no, she really didn't do much, she was mostly there for atmosphere with either the other Musketeers or Billy. Well....not really. All the men could be assholes. Maybe the issue with Josh is that he always seemed so surprised that Reva would lie to him (or do something so completely stupid).

Early on, I guess I can see where they were just kind of toxic to each other. But then Long made him into such a goody-goody when he returned in '86.

Michelle Forbes and Cynthia Watros would like a word. I really dislike CC, so I can't comment on that. I guess I never saw Josh as obsessive. Or maybe I'm too busy seeing him being a self-righteous jerk. It's interesting, I just caught a couple of eppys of him and Morgan, where he goes off on this rant about her behavior, and I swear, it was like watching him yell at Reva. I guess for those couple of months maybe Harley was coming off like Reva Jr, but otherwise, nope. And I never thought the male population of Springfield adored her the way they did Reva.

No, it was Ann Hamilton.