P.J.

Holly was a better mother than she was given credit for. She wasn't Maureen Bauer warm-and-fuzzy, but she really backed Blake up, through all her schemes that backfired, and would try to get her to see what she was doing was wrong/selfish/self-destructive. It was mainly the thing with Ross where she wasn't, but Blake really did start out to hurt her mother.

Locher is rarely on point. My bet is he loses control early. Ugh...that scene between Josh and Billy kills me everytime.

It gives me a headache just thinking about all the yelling and talking over each other will be goin' on.

It doesn't really seem like Floyd ever had a pressing purpose. Maybe the Dobsons were just building up a family around Katie. I'm not sure what Brandon's original personality was supposed to be, but given how he's later written as controlling, I could see them thinking that Brandon would've wanted to keep an eye on his grandchild, but also didn't want Alan to be tainted by some type of scandal for fathering a child with the underage sister of his girlfriend/fiancee.

I think Ben and Eve started drifting back to each other after he and Amanda divorce in early '82. But I think he heads for Italy (or Spain.) There's a brief weird moment where he runs into Morgan at an airport around the time Josh, Morgan and Kelly all end up in Tenerife. He encourages her to call Kelly or something. The Morgan recast didn't work. If Vigard had stayed, (or hadn't gotten fired, whichever) I think she would've remained popular, although that's no guarantee she'd have stuck around longer after Long arrived.

I can't find what I think I saw. From the synopses, which has a cover date of May 11, which makes it March '82, just after Ross and Carrie's wedding, it seems that it starts after Hope talks to the shareholders at a meeting, which Amanda takes offense to. https://40.media.tumblr.com/b311bec2581966fabc1c2e0fc87bf3de/tumblr_o4ae02laKm1u8fc9to1_1280.jpg

Let me look when I get home. I think the German eppys start mid-82, so I'm not sure. But I swear, i think Vanessa pulled this stunt twice.

LOL...I've always wanted to find the Huey Lewis and the News appearance, but I never have.

It does have frustrating gaps. Between recaps, German episodes and what's up in English, I've cobbled together a lot of what went on, at least concerning Vanessa. Someone brought up The Fishing Trip again, and I began to wonder why the Spauldings and Bauers are even connected to it. Other than Bill's death, the Bauers are barely impacted by it. Hillary isn't even invited to the big explanation party. And other than blaming some of the loose morality of the men on Brandon, he doesn't seem to matter. And Eli doesn't bother going after any of Bill's or Brandon's progeny until the very end, when they just happen to be at a meeting where he can blow everyone up at once.

No. Vanessa was more resentful of Jennifer, as shortly after Mark dumped her, he ended up married to her. Vanessa quickly moved on to Tony and obsessing over him. By the time Mark and Amanda are having an affair, Vanessa is looking for her half brother. I think Vanessa knew there was something going on between them, but didn't care. When Billy first comes to town, Vanessa is irritated whenever he spends time with Amanda. He's making moves on Vanessa, and his flirting with Amanda is mostly related to business, but Vanessa doesn't know that.

Yes, there was some ancient bad blood between Van and Amanda. Back in the day, Van had beefs with almost everyone to some degree. It started with Van making moves on Amanda's husband du jour, Ben, and exposing the fact Amanda had paid an art gallery owner to give Ben a contract. They also skirmished constantly at Spaulding, as Amanda was in charge and Vanessa chafed at being told what to do. Vanessa also engineers a scathing interview of Hope's to be printed that's highly critical of Amanda when she first takes the reins at Spaulding (while Alan is briefly jailed). It's not exactly all out warfare, but they disliked each other.

I'm not sure it's a real bomb. There's something about a box that Nadine knows about.

Well, true. It just feels like I'm forgetting something. He's spent the past few years involved in an art theft ring, aiding and abetting Sonni, and faking paternity tests (although I can't think of anyone who was ever prosecuted for that off the top of my head). There's also how he was trying to manipulate the situation and warn people Blake was working with Roger, who he suspected was alive. OH....he's the one who shot Phillip at his wedding to Blake. Although I think that was accidental.

Alan went to jail in '90 for shooting Roger. Right? He'd also been complicit in keeping the truth of Marah's paternity from Reva and Josh, and assisted Sonni(Solita) in keeping them apart. He's in a wheelchair after being accidently shot by Sonni, but had recovered and pretended to still be paralyzed. Adult AM (actually he's a teen) came back to town in '87. Carl T Evans interacted with both Chris Bernau and Daniel Pilon. But by the time Rick Hearst takes over in '90, Alan is in jail and off-screen.

Or Judge Judy.

I kind of debate throwing John McCook's name out in any of the fantasy casting talk. He's too young to be Mike, and I'm not sure he can project the kind of inner struggle that defined Ed. And he's arguably prettier than half the female cast. lol.

As a Billy/Vanessa fan, I wouldn't skip it, but that's me.

I still don't like Ted, but it was a nice little laugh having him scoff at "someone who spells Kyle K-i-a-l." I agree, I think whoever at BTG thought Kyle needed an extra unique spelling is focused on the wrong things.

I bust on Simon for Ed's turning into a dour wet blanket, but he didn't start out that way. Even in his second stint, it's not until after he and Mo renew their vows that Ed seems to start sliding into a moroseness. About half of Ed and Vanessa is with Mart Hulswit. They start interacting more after Vanessa's suicide attempt (it's not a serious attempt, she was trying to get Ross' attention and then couldn't get a hold of him) in March '81. Mart is replaced in September. It's a really weird set of circumstances: Ed and Maeve start the relationship, Maeve goes on maternity leave late August/early September and Anna Stuart replaces her, there's a few episodes with Mart and Anna, and then Peter takes over for Mart. Peter and Anna play out the final breakup sometime in December. Maeve returns in January '82.

When she first came to town, Reva flirted with all the men. Billy tried to hustle her out of town because he didn't want her to meet Vanessa. HB takes Reva to the club where she dances with practically everyone there, including Henry and Ross. Mike is Reva's and Vanessa's lawyer at the time. Reva wanted to buy Vanessa's apartment, and introduced herself to Van as Anita Ruiz. I think Vanessa signs the papers and then snoops through a file on Mike's desk and finds out she's actually Reva. Boy, was she pissed. She charges out just as Billy is calling Mike to verify that Reva's going to give him a divorce. Mike verifies that she is, and he tries warning Billy that Van's coming his way, but he misunderstands. Van finds Billy and Reva drinking champagne to their divorce and dancing. Van pours champagne in Reva's shoe and slams out on them. It's hilarious.

Not to mention, every town needs a sleazy PI/lawyer. I wonder if the actor wanted out.

They do. With three writing regimes going in/out from '80-'83, you lose lots of major characters.

In 1980, TJ and Morgan are finishing high school. Kelly is a first year resident (i believe). Nola is out of school, but just kind of drifting. Katie and Hillary have been in town a few years, and aren't far into their nursing careers.

About a month. Two at the most. Diane and Joe were killed within weeks of each other. When Vanessa comes to town, he is simultaneously using Van and Evie to break up Amanda and Ben, while trying to date Evie, being somewhat attracted to Amanda and sleeping with Vanessa. Carrie gets the credit for turning Ross around, but it was Evie who tugged at his conscience first.

After breaking up with Morgan, yeah, Kelly just kind of hangs around. He dates Claire, but from what I've seen of it, it's a little cringey by today's optics. Kelly is so forgotten, he's not even invited to Nola and Quint's engagement party....and Eve's there. JWS, imo, would've been a little too old to play TJ. TJ was still in high school when Kelly came to town, IIRC.