P.J.

Right? As soon as Reva even thought about jumping ship, the next man was already drooling over her. Didn't say he wasn't lucky...and sometimes it's better being lucky than a chem magnet. No need to be fired if the actress playing your significant other decided to leave.

Well, Suzanne is pretty much a throw away character. the surprise was more about the fact that she was working for Ross, and that Roger had place her there. I will say, watching some of the latter half of '88, Mindy is maturing with Krista in the role. And maybe it's just the era, but I'm surprised how much I'm hearing Billy's name and little updates on him. We've all experienced the family member who left town, rarely to be mentioned again *coughTrishLewiscough* Ugh...Frank is like a chemistry free zone.

oy, don't just single out 87....there are times it's just not good from '84 to late '88, or whenever she went back to her blonde color.

Well, everyone in a soap town is overly friendly and knowledgable about everyone's past.

I don't see them trying to say Lillian had been working at Cedars while Adam was in town. I think it's just the general chit-chat kind of scene. There would be a historical link to explain Lillian's presence, Ross had dated her sister Calla and had taken Dinah in before Ross and Vanessa knew she was their daughter.

I don't know much about Elizabeth's background, but she hardly seems like his type. So I couldd see money being a motivating factor. True enough. lol In one sense, it's a decent use of Vanessa and Reva's history. It's natural and well-established. But then again, it always stops just short of where it should, because Vanessa's now too much of a lady to really let Reva have it. Speaking of that tramp---after Phillip throws Alan out of Spaulding, she's got the nerve to go on about how the Lewis' always use her. I know it's the scabs, but it's like GTFO.

Thanks!

@JAS0N47 hi, out of complete ignorance, I'm just gonna ask. What page would the GL preemptions from the '90's be on?

The only way I can make sense of it is to think of it more like a business merger. Alan would increase his control at Spaulding, and probably thought he'd be free to have discreet affairs. Vanessa would gain security and a partner who wouldn't interfere (or restrict) with her work. Not that Vanessa was asset poor, but she'd been through several boom/bust cycles with Billy, and Henry's health was a perpetual worry for her. And had not the object of Alan's lust been Reva, who had stuck in Vanessa's craw more than once, maybe Vanessa could've talked herself into marrying Alan.

I remember the Sonni/Solita story zigzagging all over the place that summer. I've watched a few episodes after Vanessa leaves in January, and you're right it's strange. Ross is making passes at police officer Jenny (played by Mary Ellen Stuart). Sarah is bizarrely supporting Alan's romancing Reva, and nothing would convince Ed that Alan was treating a woman "well". He'd be warning them that Alan never sticks with one woman for long. Or y'know, remind her that just five months before, he was throwing a rock on Vanessa's finger while crossing the river on the downlow.

So Annabelle suddenly becoming psychic because she moved into a house wasn't a masterstroke of storytelling? (and that's about all I watch of that story, other than cringing at Tony's karate fight with Susan Piper's cohort.)

It was the latter half of Nov 84, and they scatter Brandon and Sharina's ashes the first week of December. It's some beautiful location scenes. Vicky didn't reveal herself, a pissed off Vanessa told Alan. Michael, of course was the doctor who saved Vanessa. I'm not exactly sure why, but Vanessa blamed Vicky for his death.

Yes, Lenore Kasdorf played Rita. Have you seen the Funhouse mirrors clips?

There are several factors at play though. I think Bridget had only been living with Mo and Ed for a year. Mo had stuck up for her with Ed when she had caused trouble, and Bridget didn't want to disappoint Mo. Then there was the fact Mo couldn't have children, which might have been awkward. I also think they intentionally mirrored Vanessa's story, with Bridget hiding and pretending to be out of town on a trip. And, somewhat hilariously, Bridget testifies that she was in part using Nadine, and kind of felt like she could bide her time with Nadine, and leave if she came up with a better plan (which I guess really means if/when Hart returned to town.) About GL's relationships---well, it depends on what era you're watching and who's involved.

I only scan the last few years for Vanessa and Billy. How Vanessa's children are running around being such brats I'm not sure.

Bill named it Maximus. Max was the name of the baby that he and Ava were going to raise. I shouldn't have said Lewis Construction started after Phillip took over Lewis Oil. Lewis had a construction division starting in the late '80's. When Josh came back to town, he had started working at a construction firm, and the owner died and left it to him. When Josh goes back to Lewis, he merges it with Lewis Oil. In the '90's Dylan is working in it, as he would rather be involved in construction rather than at the main office. Hart also briefly works there, when Billy hires him rather than press charges when he attempts to steal money from The Towers. (That added gas to the feud between Billy and Roger.)

I remember reading something about in the late '90s that Phillip took over Lewis Oil. And something about how Josh, Billy, Jim and Matt quit rather than work for him. Then Lewis Construction started. At the end, it's either Lewis Construction or HB Lewis and Sons, as that seems to be the sign in Billy's office. At one point around '07 or '08 (whenever Josh decided to run off and be a preacher), he leaves the company in Billy's hands. Billy starts drinking and accepts a bid from a dodgy supplier and there's some kind of building collapse. Cassie (I think) accepts the blame to protect Billy/the company. Later, Bill ousts Billy from the business and tips off the press that Billy's drinking again. I'm not exactly sure if Bill merged Lewis with Spaulding, or if he and Dinah managed to take over Spaulding and renamed it Maximus.

uhm...ewww. But thanks! It seemed like everyone in town at some point owned the station. I think at one point, Josh bought it.

I think Mo starts taking on the Bauer matriarch role when Charita couldn't work and Bert left town. She's suddenly everybody's friend, being stepmom to Rick and mothering Michelle from birth. She'd dole out advice to women who miscarried (or in Reva's case when she was told she shouldn't have any more children after Marah---that's a laugh and a half.) She befriends new people in town, and even thinks the villainous Roger just "really needs a guy friend". I think they said she went to visit her mother Barbara. Then when Blake was in a coma, she was raising the kids in Europe. I don't know how Dinah got the station. She had owned it in the late'90's, and at some point in the late '00's, I recall Vanessa saying that Dinah had fired her after the head injury. The only reason I can recall Vanessa was running it was that Billy kidnapped her from there at the end, trying to surprise her with a wedding. Reva just really coasted from man to man. They were all throwing money at her to either keep her in their lives or get them out of it. RME.

Right? Reva rarely works. Other than right after Marah's birth, Reva never had to support her kids. Josh took care of Marah and Shayne. Dylan and Jon came to town as adults. I would suppose that HB left her money, as he always had a soft spot for her.

Vanessa is running it because Dinah skipped town. Dinah owns it. Alan actually wanted to marry Vanessa twice. In '84, he decided he'd rather marry Vanessa than risk her shares coming under the Lewis influence. In '87, well, I'm not really sure why. It's probably as much about keeping her away from Ross as her business acumen or solidifying his position in the company by gaining the Chamberlain voting block.

Lynn Herring, Robin Mattson, Billy Warlock, that greasy Professor who was harrassing Noah and had been on OLTL, flippin' Sarah Brown, Howarth, Real Andrews (although he was a sweetie), Howarth....basically any ABC actor who went off contract it seemed.

Thanks! It would've been interesting to see Gary come back, but alas. As others have said, Van didn't hate the Spauldings, but I wouldn't call her particularly close to them personally. Henry was the one who was close to Alex, Alan, and Phillip. Vanessa usually was a bystander as the Spauldings fought over the company or their position in the pecking order. I took Vanessa's capitulation to Roger as the product of her helplessness. She's more worried about her family than the Spauldings, and they are people who do treat each other terribly. She knew Roger well enough to know that he'd force the information out of her and use anyone he could to do it. And she didn't really do much but confirm that there was something Alex had over Alan. Did it ever come out that Vanessa had said anything to Roger? I wouldn't say that Alan or Alex remembered Brandon fondly. They occasionally remembered how close they'd been as children. But Brandon was always someone they feared, even when they tried to earn his love.

Vanessa wasn't the only one. Mo, Claire, Trish--Long didn't know what to do with any woman in Reva's age group really. Mindy and Beth are her creations, and younger, so at least they had story.

Now that I watched a couple of more episodes....Van and Alan do mention their history and how this would be making order out of their chaotic lives and not a love match (which of course causes chaos). But time and again, Alan tells Van one thing, only to run to Reva and say the exact opposite. He proposes to Van out of the blue, then turns around and invites Reva on a business trip to Hawaii. OY. There is a delicious moment after Alan and Van have sex where she flat out tells him that if he marries her and then turns around and hurts her, she will make him pay. DAMN...talk about a missed opportunity. It was like 1982 Van stepped out of a painting (LOL) and came out to play. Yes, of course Van should've wiped the floor with Reva. But Long was never interested in Reva being on the losing end of any fight. What I also noticed is how Vanessa's wardrobe practically changed on a dime with Long's return. Just a few months before, Van is in cute, flirty dresses (the dress that Harley later wears, there's a red sundress-y type that she wears to the anniversary celebration, and a real cute dress she wears at Dinah's graduation.) But Long comes back, and suddenly she's running between dates in a huge formal gown only slightly less noisy than Grand Central Station, and the gown she wears before bedding Alan has a huge skirt with a stiff looking jacket. The lack of nuance is what I hate about both Block and Howarth. Block couldn't even muster an emotion when his on-screen son died.