P.J.

I honestly don't think Alan-Michael ever really had a friend on the show. Maybe Cameron or Samantha, but otherwise... *Cameron was a high school friend who ended up dating teenage Dinah after she broke up with A-M. Samantha is Phillip's biological sister, who A-M treated like a sister. Interestingly enough, they were born the same week on the show in 1981, but A-M ends up being older than her when she returns to town in '89.

a) you would not be sorry, but b) full episodes from the first half of '89 are hard to find.

1) Ross and Alan had a history aside from Phillip. In the early '80's Alan torpedoes Ross' campaign for DA in retribution for Trish Lewis leaving him and falling for Ross. Ross then assisted Alex in kicking Alan out of Spaulding. Then in the late '80's, Vanessa and Ross break up over her working at Spaulding with Alan, and she's briefly engaged to Alan. Then Alan shot Phillip accidently, and well....you get (part) of the picture. Phillip trusted Ross, and their closeness really chafed at Alan. I do not think Ross really initially held Alan adopting Phillip against him. Jackie had lied to Justin and had the baby in secret. Jackie discovered Justin had had an affair and divorced him. When she came to town, she actually ended up marrying Alan to be close to Phillip. Jackie and Justin eventually remarried and had a daughter named Sam. Jackie dies, and Justin leaves town about a year later. Justin makes a brief return, but it's mostly tied to Sam and then Phillip leaves in '91. Justin leaves town again. Rick and Phillip patch up their friendship, although there are some other rough patches. 2) No, Rick and Fletch generally got along. But I don't recall them interacting much afterward either after the divorce. Meredith had left of her own accord, and Fletch and Rick drifted into other stories.

Yes and no. If they had wanted to recast Phillip, then no, he didn't need to return. There were already too many recast Spauldings at this point. Regardless of how you feel about Dusay, Raines or Poser, I think the viewers had trouble connecting to them. I think the viewers loved Rick Hearst, and yes, if he had stayed, then you could've built around him. But with a lackluster Michael Dietz soon to appear, Grant Aleksander anchored the family. Reva--pfft. Yes, she could've stayed gone. I'm unsure what the early reception to Josh/Annie was, but I thought RN and CW had good chemistry. Reva had been gone a while at this point, the audience would've accepted anyone who was good to Josh's children.

1) A-M had an inferiority complex when it came to Phillip. Alan had adopted Phillip (his wife Elizabeth had a stillbirth, Alan then had the babies switched) and always favored him. When A-M came to town, he got involved with Blake as his marriage to Harley was disintergrating, and Blake was married to Phillip at the time (but that marriage was crumbling because a) Beth was alive and b ) Blake kept that from Phillip). But by the time Phillip left town in '91, he and Alan-Michael were on good terms. So whatever A-M's referring to is writer laziness to further this plot. 2) Meredith Reade Bauer was Fletch's sister and Rick's ex-wife. Their marriage broke up after she discovered she couldn't have any more children. After a fight, Meredith and Phillip slept together, she got pregnant. Right before they got married, Rick realized, thanks to a sonogram, that he couldn't be the father. I believe Meredith just told him it was a random ONS, and he accepted that. Meredith had complications, and Rick couldn't decide whether to save her life or the baby's. He asked Phillip to decide for him, and Phillip chose Meredith. It wasn't until after that Rick found out that Phillip was the father, and had chosen Rick's wife over his child. Not sure why Rick/Blake were "at odds", other than by that time Blake had married Ross, who was Phillip's biological uncle. Phillip's bio parents are Justin and Jackie Marler. 3) Back in '90, Phillip was accused of killing Beth's ex-lover Neil Everest. (Neil was killed by a bomb he planted the night of The Towers opening. He had planned to kill Phillip (and there's some weird twist where Neil had killed his wife and her children in a building collapse or something...but anyway..) But Gary Swanson (who was plotting with Neil for some strange reason) knocked Neil out and saved Phillip. Neil had already planted evidence implicating Phillip in the bombing (to make it look like he had been caught in his own trap), so he was charged. Phillip, Beth and Rick faked Phillp's death. Rick and Phillip planted a cadaver and burned it in a car to make it look like an accident. Beth was pregnant with Lizzie at the time. To divert suspicion, (Mallet was already skeptical that Phillip was alive) Rick and Beth married, which upset Mindy (who was trying to start things back up with Rick) and knew nothing about the plot. When it all came out, Rick, Beth and Phillip were all given community service, and I believe Rick's MD license was suspended. Beth and Phillip went to Arizona, and Rick (I think) first got help from his uncle Mike to start community service out of state.

I'm not going to watch (because...well...that M-dude...lol) but knowing the history between Henry and Roger, I could see Henry wanting to enable Hart to stay independent of Roger. I could even see it as Henry having the last laugh at Roger. Roger hated "the Henry's" of the world, which basically meant anyone who had money and social prominence. Twice Roger swindled Henry out of a chunk of his fortune, so giving some to Hart, who hates his father, is a form of karma.

And on rewatch, I could've done without the unsubtle praising Matt like he was the only one who ever accepted Van as she was...but TPTB and their agendas. It was totally in character for Vanessa to shut down emotionally until she was alone. While she could be volatile, both she and Henry believed in keeping emotions private. Thank God it's still Bryan Buffinton in the role for both Henry's and HB's funerals. It just wouldn't have been the same with Ryan Brown, who couldn't act his way out of a wet paper bag. Roll My Eyes.

It was just inexcusable. SMH. I'm surprised Lisa Brown didn't change it somehow.

Maeve breaks me reading that letter. If you ever need to cry, look it up. Other than the dopey line about Henry wanting to come home to Van's rice (or tapioca) pudding (VANESSA CHAMBERLAIN DOES NOT COOK, Y'all...) it's a sweet sign-off to one of the best father/daughter relationships on soaps. Other than Ross, and Bill (if he says something, which I assume he does) and the letter, the rest of it is BS. I haven't watched it in a while, but it typifies what I dislike most about events that should be laden in history. The writers are too lazy to do the work and get it right. And it becomes about making sure characters X, Y and Z make their guarantees. Roger being there is an abomination. Henry never ever saw Nola as a gold-digger. She and Quint were practically engaged before he even knew Quint was his son. Before that, he was fairly close to Bea and enjoyed Nola's spirit. And Henry never helped Rick become an Eagle Scout. I get that maybe you don't want to play Amanda#1 or Dinahs 1&2, or Billy, Trish or Alan #1 clips, but damn it....don't make stuff up. I'd have much rather watched clips from Henry, Vanessa and Ross' early days than Rick blather on, or nuMichelle try and dig for a human-like emotion or wonder why after TEN YEARS, Dinah and Quint have never met. Do not remember anyone named Tina. I barely remember Dahlia, and that's mostly because for a while, I saw Sharon Leal in everything after she left GL. Reva and Josh airhogs? ALWAYS, darling. ALWAYS. RME. I hate to tar and feather Robert Newman with that brush, but DAMN.

There is some kind of arrangement going on between Justin and Evie, who seems to be caring for Sam. I'm not sure, but she may even be living there with Justin and Phillip. Phillip inviting Evie at least makes a little more sense (if the guest list was limited to women Vanessa liked, it would've only consisted of Trish and Helena. lol) Maybe it was more common to hang on to performers, back in the day? Instead of immediately kicking them to the curb? Evie hadn't had much to do after Chet was revealed to be her stalker. With Rita, Jackie and Ben gone, there weren't many on the canvas she'd really worked with, other than Ross. They could've pivoted her back to Ross, instead of letting him languish love-less for nearly a year other than goo-goo eyeing Amanda. Nowadays, there might've been a moment written Jordan and Janet, an eye-wink to the audience about them having previously worked together.

A--I wish someone would post a better vid of the entire ball, as it must be out there. And B--nope. Evie is only in a small segment of the ball with Phillip, Rick and Mindy. She doesn't dance at all. Ross dances with Helena and Amanda. I'm not even sure why Evie is at the ball---Vanessa heartily disliked her. I did see that Billy actually asked Henry to introduce him to Vanessa, which I hadn't realized.

The last I remember seeing Ben, he was divorcing Amanda. He came to tell Evie that he still loved her, but was leaving town so that Amanda wouldn't blame Evie for his divorcing her. I'm not exactly sure when, but Evie doesn't leave town until sometime after Nola and Quint's engagement ball. I'm not sure if she leaves before or after Justin leaves in Sept(?) of '83. I grew to like Helena when she became friends with Vanessa, once she's edging her way out of Quint's life.

Dr Linden. She treated Vanessa's drug addiction (although Vanessa seemed to forget that by Henry's suicide attempt) , and she's mentioned during Reva's PPD. Although I can't recall if she's actually shown right off the top of my head. She probably was temporarily shelved when Sonni was a therapist (between her crazy times) And I think Billy sees her after he falls off the wagon after Reva's death.

Assuming that Marland had been allowed to write the Carrie story the way he'd envisioned, Millette would've been involved in the story. And she might've played a role in Andy Norris' return (if the speculation on that had ever materialized, and Marland loved bringing back bad boys) But he doesn't seem interested in Sara's personal life. And the women of Springfield could only be analyzed so much.

I thought Adam and Sara got married? Although I do not remember any mention of her when Adam returned for Blake's weddings. But MA certainly got the short end of the stick storywise, as Marland's obsession with therapy reared it's head.

oooh....the '76 plot thickens... thanks @Paul Raven

'92. I was looking for when Vanessa called Billy a sonofabitch. Then I got sucked into '92 and got rewarded by finding Vanessa and Mo getting sloshed. (3/6/92, I believe). Then the Blackout...lol, and just kept falling down the rabbit hole. This is lateOct/earlyNov. I couldn't believe my ears! Reva's marriage to Billy was before they came to town. But yeah... Maybe it was Harley and Gus that CarJack lost to later. thanks! Thanks @Paul Raven this is a fascinating read.

In the "things you miss while FFing" category---that 'ho Lillian Raines wanted Ed to keep the affair up and sneak around? Flippin' WHAT THE HELL? Mo should've cut the bitch.

Guiding Light, please!

I think it was Most Irresistible Couple. I'm pretty sure ATWT's Jack and Carly were up for it to, and I felt gypped that they lost.

Robert Newman gets the short end of the stick, as Josh is usually stuck being an [!@#$%^&*] until the chick he's with goes cray-cray and Reva becomes the better alternative. Reva was also married to Josh's brother Billy. You said it better than I did. While I didn't know Brandon had died on-screen previous to this, it was just odd that they'd made such a huge deal about him already being dead the summer before, yet now he's just hanging around in white linen in the islands, not giving a fig about his family and friends. To me, Brandon was always the spectre hanging over the family that explained their lack of conscience. Long at times used history very well--or at least knew how to mine it for story effectively. The Fishing Trip and Dylan are probably the best examples of that. I don't think she came up with Dinah, but I could be wrong.

I'm sure old Reva/Josh fans saw the writing on the wall--and this was their pattern. They (or usually Josh) was so angry that they'd spend months yelling at each other, and then "boom", they were macking up on each other, regardless of who else they were entangled with. (This is the couple who slept together under HB's roof while Reva was married to him, after all.) "Always". *gag me*

Carrie Nye is just a little too arch for my taste, slinking around like some python on the make. (And some of the dialogue she utters...I'm surprised she could say it with a straight face.) The Cottage story is just a little too convoluted (yes, I know, someone's thinking "this, from the defender of The Fishing Trip, say what again? LOL...). And it's centered on three characters I don't care about (Tony, Annabelle and Jim). Yes, even though Tony and Annabelle are at the center of the Fishing Trip, it's balanced out with Nola and Henry and is an umbrella story that ripples through the town. I don't give a rip about the Spaulding history backstory. Other than some gorgeous scenery and shots (when Alex and Victoria go to spread Brandon and ....(? I can't come up with her name off the tip of my tongue) ashes is beautiful. But this was an action adventure story that should've been grounded.

Raise your hand if you saw GA on Capitol in a speedo. *waves* Thank you. I always get Maureen O' Sullivan (Tarzan, Mia Farrow's mom) and Margaret Sullavan (The Shop Around the Corner) mixed up. And I really can't concentrate during Susan Piper story at all. And FYI, Ed and Lillian slept together 9/22/92. I think someone was wondering the date a while back.

oh, definitely! It's too bad she hit the start of a rough transition period for the show. She shines, but she's stuck with bad story and some (if not exactly bad) not great co-stars. Uh, who did Maureen O'Sullivan play? (Sigh--and only if I'd understood exactly who and how wonderful Teresa Wright was in '86) God, the summer of '84 was literally one event after another. Kim's outfit alone must've been worth a small fortune. And poor Maeve. She looks so uncomfortable. Rebecca Hollen told a story on Locher Room where Maeve dropped the f-bomb during the shooting of it. For some reason, she wasn't being listened to, and had just had enough. As a producer, I would've been holding my breath as my pregnant actress kept walking around strange and undoubtably uneven sets in that long skirt.