P.J.

I didn't say that right. Yes, Blake's self-destructive, but under most writers, it got reduced to her being a dumb slut. Also--a soap truism, the "tell me the truth" get out of trouble free card is either used too late, or at the wrong time. I have rewatched part of this lately, but wasn't quite sure if Vanessa knew about the clone, or if she just thought Alan sounded crazy and told him to shut up about his wild theories. You're getting a glimpse of the OG Vanessa, who wasn't to be trifled with.

I understood it was time to settle Ross down and give him a family. I'm not sure it did Blake a lot of good, story wise, to give her kids. As Roger and Holly's kid she should've had a self-destructive streak a mile wide. But her sudden attraction to Ben was just weird.

I just always thought Ben was a sleeze. There's a scene where Blake is literally crawling away from him, and this was supposed to be who she was attracted to? BS. Ben didn't have one redeeming quality. They tried making him more human by giving him a kid, but it was way too little, too late. I know there are people who like Block, believe me, I know. But it's a hill I would die on, HE STUNK. Sheffer's obsession with Block was a nail in ATWT's coffin.

I can't believe there was anyone who liked Ben, or Ben/Blake. ICK.

Grant I believe was December '82. He and the Rick before MOL both were back around Xmas.

There is such a contrast from the summer of '82, with half the cast hanging out at Wired for Sound (although those scenes seriously got me hooked on "Everyday Love" by the Dazz Band.) doing virtually nothing but glaring at the people they were crushing on but couldn't get. Yes, even Reva's introduction is good. I think they actually turned her sympathetic too soon. Then again, I'm not sure they had a lot of choice, if they knew/suspected Robert was going to fly away.

Sigh...if you ever stumble on Tony kung-fu fighting, you might feel differently.

No matter what you think of Long's GL, what's undeniable is that 1983 was probably the best summer of romance the show ever had. You had the Musketeers falling in love, Tony/Annabelle, Vanessa/Billy (who I adore) and Quint and Nola.

The Dobson's material might not have been as intricate, but those stories and relationships weren't uncomplicated. The fact they had Mike/Elizabeth/Justin/Jackie/Alan intermarry and juggle relationships and affairs wasn't exactly as "easy" to pick up and run with as you'd think. It took time for Marland's intricacies to work into Oakdale's fabric and really bear fruit. Leaving in a huff was more the issue than complicated storylines. At least IMO. It's six months (or so) spinning their wheels until Long takes over that mucks up the Mark/Amanda story. Whoever thought up knocking Jennifer up should've had their pens taken away.

Well, I certainly approved them jumping/falling off a cliff. Although Mark "really" loving Amanda was pure BS. Just let evil go out as evil. Ain't no thang.

YEP. I love Marland, but he was guilty of it repeatedly. I'm not sure how much of the Mark debacle is on his head, as things got really ridiculous with the addition of Rebecca/Mona, which may have been after he left. There are things Long conveniently glossed over, much to my annoyance. Like a little detail about how Billy and Reva's divorce wasn't legal, or how TF Billy and Reva ended up married for 8 years without killing each other. Or her screwing her beloved Joshua. But that's just me.

Oh, I do have memories of Evie, who was probably one of the gentlest, truly good people ever on soaps. (for an equivalent, I think of Y&R's Traci and Beth Maitland) Even mildly criticizing her feels like kicking someone's dog. And while I semi-loath Elizabeth, who has a lot of the same characteristics, it was hard not to like Evie. I wouldn't doubt they hung on to Evie in case they brought Rita back (either Lenore or as a recast). And if Stephen Yates hadn't left, he and Eve probably would've reunited. Instead, she just kind of limps around town until sometime in '83, and disappeared. Who knows...had Marland not gotten Jane Elliot and invented Carrie for Ross, he might've circled back to Eve. I think Ross did have the real-real feels for Eve, but it morphed into feels for Amanda as Evie just faded into the background. I don't know why Amanda/Mark/Jennifer isn't more juicy. Probably because the bond between Amanda and Jennifer is so new that there's no real investment for the audience in it. And that you know Mark is just slime waiting to ooze over whatever he wants. It doesn't help that his backstory is so needlessly convoluted.

Logan Stafford. He seems to be the one who tips Amanda off that Chet was bitter, and wrote rhymes for his sisters (which must play into the notes Evie was sent.) Worth the time spent? eh, I dunno. Marland doesn't even seem to know what to do with Jennifer after the trial. I guess it was nice Amanda had family. But given the way nearly all the characters involved limp out of town, I would say probably not. I find it ironic all this activity swirled around Evie, who bless her heart, was not the most dynamic character ever in Springfield.

Thinking about it, it's odd they set it up that way, but immediately threw Kyle at Reva. And poor Billy, Van, Trish and Mindy--they look like their posing for mug shots. I don't think I'd seen that pic before. I know I've seen a similar pic of Billy and Van, but not with Trish and Mindy that I recall.

Thanks! I just reread the SOD recaps (damn I wish more of early '81 would turn up) and Chet was killed by the police after luring Eve to Ben's cabin. He was stalking Evie because Amanda was obsessively blaming Eve for everything that went wrong in her marriage. Alan doesn't recognize Jennifer as Jane Marie until the retrial, which had to be 6 to 9 months after she turned up in town. So either she was good at avoiding him, or they didn't really cross that much.

Does someone remember...what was the deal? Wasn't Alan dating a sister of Jane Marie's who drowned? Or was there just one Stafford girl who Alan (or Brandon) got pregnant?

The dark haired lady in the Charmin commercial looks like Joanne Worley, but doesn't sound like her.

LOL...they were speaking to EON fans. I guess I'd forgotten EON was a P&G production too. Now I wonder if Malloy had some kind of play or pay contract, and that's why he wound up on GL. Greg Burke never made much of an impression on me, he's mostly just the dorky friend who pops up occasionally. So I probably wouldn't have noticed if they did recast.

When David first came to town in '92, he worked at the Diner.

Well, it didn't make a damn bit of sense. But Carly's initial resentment of Gwen (Gwen wanted baby Rory/Billy back after Rosanna fell into a coma after Craig forced her into the ditch when she found out he'd switched babies) to the point she drugged Gwen to make her look like a bad mother and Jack lying to Carly when he found out she'd been suspected of killing her baby "brother", was the foundation of the HUGE CarJack breakup in '06. Usually when the subject of ATWT rewrites comes up, the one I think is the stupidest is making Brad Jack's younger brother. When they were introduced, Brad was at least a decade older than Jack, and went to jail to cover for Delores, who'd run over their father in a drunken stupor. With Brad suddenly younger than Jack, it completely rewrote their history and dynamic. Brad was suddenly just a brainless idiot, and Jack the judgmental older brother.

Ugh...I really intensely disliked St Alban. I remember when they gave her amnesia and tried dirtying her up to give her personality. Cringe.

Well, I see CBS tried luring Larkin Malloy fans.

Bill, Michelle and Ben should've been the Musketeers of their era. They could've written age-appropriate stories of substance. No need to rush them into mob or psycho stories.

I think the writers were fine focusing more on Michelle. Bill was a bigger presence when they were younger. It was one of the few times I really recall seeing parents parenting their preteen. Usually kids skipped from toddler thru preteen unscathed by their parents, hit 16-18 and then realized how screwed up they were. Bill was a definite presence in Billy and Vanessa's lives and relationships.

Oh, Good Lord, how could I have forgotten Carly's past in Oakdale!!! She was either around ten or nearly 16, watched Iris give birth, and then they went walking through some woods to get ice cream, where Iris managed to hide a newborn and make everyone in town think Carly had thrown it in some pond. All while calling it her "precious baby boy", but having a girl. And Carly was so traumatized she forgot everything until she was nearly choked to death by Les Sweeney. And then---it turned out Iris really did have some rotten son, begetted from some nameless dude for no random reason other than to torment Gwen. I've forgotten the whys and wherefores of the Jordan story, but Barbara and Paul went to some orphanage to check Jordan's birth date.