P.J.

Having grown up with him as Jack Abbott, I have to believe he could've added depth and nuance to the role. Then again, he might have run shrieking from the building with those writers. I guess there were other couples that sort of "creatively withered"...but I don't know if that was due to fans. The one that came to mind was Tony/Annabelle. They never seemed to have story after Barbados. Thanks Slick!!

I don't think I've ever seen her fight with Jennifer or her death. It should be the week of October 13th, 1980 per TVGuide.

Janet Ciccone, the Italian roadblock/personification of Jean Passanante, hack du jour of ATWT. Later, when Uncle Stavros came to town ('91-ish), he did mention something about his brother Americanizing the name. I can't rightly recall if their Greek roots were immediately mentioned, but I have a suspicion that the Coopers were Greek because Frank Dicopolous was. Ehlers and Dicopulous started the show in '87. And I know by '89 when Harley and A-M married, they were starting a baklava business. With this talk of Terry Lester, he's a decade too young, but he'd have been a GREAT Alan Spaulding.

LOL..I fully believe in grudges. Not only can i still not watch Kurt McKinney pose and say his lines (i will however, I will watch Vanessa dump his ass), I have loathed Hunt Block through two shows. And Annie Parisse? She nearly ruined Person of Interest for me. I'd have voted for Chamberlain too over Pinson. Hell, I'd have voted for a lamp post over Pinson in that obnoxious role. (I swear to God it's only a coincidence Block, Parisse and Pinson played roadblocks to Carly/Jack. *cross my heart*)

Then they were looking for Buzz in '92. That's really depressing. Although i can not for the life of me see Lester as Buzz. In any way, shape or form. Good Lord. I cringe thinking about Frankie D trying to act opposite his dad.

I'm consistently amazed when I get reminded that GL stuck with the bland St Alban for as long as they did. I had checked out of GL by this time, and have zero recollection of any of this.

It amazes me how TIIC keep running into the same problem with stannish fanbases that they can't risk pissing off over the last 15 years (or so) of the show. Whether it's Matt/Vanessa, Danny/Michelle, Richard/Cassie or Gus/Harley. If you can't create friction, of course you're creatively stifled. Even with Josh/Reva, they ended back up together, but at least they hadn't always been afraid of breaking them up.

OMG...bless her heart, but as I've become distinctly aware of since posting to the thread, 1983 viewers probably felt the same way about Kobe?Long's cast purge. Which of course, led to La Zimmer's hiring. Now, that gamble paid off in ways Wheeler's wasn't going to, but c'mon here, Kim.

Yeah...I gotta wonder what Zimmer thinks was left to gut by Wheeler. No, Wheeler's direction wasn't any better...but Springfield had taken hit after hit long before that. Usually in service to Reva's golden hoo-ha.

Were they on AMC and GH at those times? It would've been nice to at least see Rick Hearst return as AM for the finale. VI---I'm not really a fan.

There were a lot of times Josh was got self-righteous when it came to Reva, but that was a shockingly low blow. GL had a real thing for parties. I seem to recall Nancy Curlee praising her husband for finding excuses for people to be in a gathering. I'm not sure that's Judi Evans at bat either, but at least that's possible. I wish Grammy had kicked that author's butt for mixing up Larry Gates with his character, HB. She managed to get the other actresses names correct, even though this is an article about GL.

Trust me....that is Grant. A blind woman could see that. BLIND. Re Matt: so basically being a topless waitress was his great shame? HA. I smell a rewrite in the wake of rabid Matt stans. That was throwing Josh under the bus to sell the latest "poor little Reva just couldn't help but do something stupid" plot. I believe that's also the costume ball where they felt the need to insult Billy/Vanessa fans by dressing Matt as a knockoff version of Rhett to Vanessa's Scarlett.

Yeah....GAG. You would think as a woman, Wheeler would've seen the optics of having a rape survivor kiss her rapists son was BAD. I was never a fan of the icky '94ish Roger/Holly relationship either.

Well, one of my favorite eras is Billy (pre "Reva is my bestest friend) spending a chunk of '84 basically calling her a gold-digging whore. Even if they whitewashed Reva completely and claimed she "loved" HB.

That's the story Simon wouldn't come back for? All I can say is good for Peter. The Sebastian story never should've been greenlighted. ICK.

Agreed. While I felt that Matt screwing Dinah was simply a titillating plot point, the best thing Wheeler/Kriezmann ever did was take a torch to that marriage. While having a fling at the time would've fit in perfectly with Vanessa's history, marrying a prostitute was not. (although honestly, I don't think Matt dropped that little tidbit until after they'd married. If anything, Vanessa would've had divorce papers drawn up by the end of the business day once that came out.) The most heinous thing they did in later years was have Reva go along with Jonathan and convince Lizzie that Jon and Sarah had died for a year. Reva was pretty much always insufferable, but that went beyond the pale. And I don't really think she ever got called out on it. You know, while I know people love Mike---what I've seen, I agree more with you. There's a point in the early 80's where he's casually dating Trish, and they have a falling out because Alan gives her a bracelet. Granted, Alan's on the prowl (because he was always on the prowl back in the day), but he doesn't even give Trish the chance to explain before giving her an ultimatum. Meanwhile, he's pretty oblivious to the fact Hope's become a drunk.

Well, there was always this underlying squicky attraction/hostility push-pull between them. It was no secret--even when Vanessa imagined (or got shown the future with Mo's visit) the future, they were in some co-dependent relationship from hell. But yeah, Matt does not look good in that story. I don't know if he's taking advantage of Dinah, or passive-aggressively giving Vanessa an FU by screwing her daughter.

Well, honestly, you'd have to be a flippin' saint to go all the way to the end. But Matt and Vanessa leave town in '00, and only have a handful of appearances between '00 and '06. But yeah, Dinah doesn't change that much. She never really grows as a character.

If I were honest, it's 85% because he's not Billy, (Jordan Clarke is a far superior actor) and 15% because Matt is simply a dull, stock character. It's supposed to be "edgy" that Vanessa took a younger, blue-collar lover, but honestly, he's nothing more than an younger version of Fletcher. Spoiler alert

I believe the blonde guy is Dean Blackford, at this point married to Sara McIntyre and Alan's lawyer in his divorce from Elizabeth. The other guy is probably Peter Chapman (who was falling in love with Holly) and his old girlfriend Maya.

While I loathe Matt with the heat of a thousand suns....the only positive thing I will say about that era is that they gave Maeve her due. They could've pushed her into some dusty corner of Springfield, as they tended to do with actresses past a certain age. It's actually slightly funny to me they push her into "damsel in distress" type stories that she never really played when she started out.

I would be surprised if it's 1981, but then again, 1982 (especially the first half) is all Carrie Carrie Carrie. I don't find Hunt Block fascinating so....but I can see where the Phillip story could've gone had they not fired O'Rourke and CB's health hadn't led to his leaving in 84. It was always easier to understand the rancor between Phillip and Pilon's and Raines' Alans, as they never had the established bond that GA and CB had. You won't in '95. Hamp has a much bigger presence in '89-'93, although if I'm honest, he doesn't get as much story as he should have. Hamp really is one of those comforting and sane presences around town. Interestingly enough, Hamp is both Fletch and Billy's friend when they're low-key fighting over Vanessa.

Jackie definitely died in a plane crash.

Sadly, Vince was only 39 when he passed. I didn't realize until recently that he had also briefly played Lamar Griffin on ATWT prior to becoming Hamp in '89. He first appeared during Josh and Reva's Cross Creek wedding. GL was blessed with some really fine musicians over the years. Millette Alexander was a concert pianist. Kathleen Cullen, Krista Teserau and Vincent Irizzary (as Lujack) also played piano on the show. Tom Nielson also played sax.

Well, it's not easy thinking of established soap actresses that are still with us. Not that it matters now since it's established that Joey's mother's dead. But as long as we're throwing names out there---Maeve Kinkead.