P.J.

It's too bad GL didn't have the time to try out Claire and Josh. Susan Pratt and Robert seem to have some major chem going on when Claire is his doctor/life coach.

I found some of the "mourning" odd....Fletch has some moment where he's like "yeah, I really should've tried harder when you were interested in me", and Roger's "I was sexually attracted to you the night of the blackout." And I think they should've showed things that were later talked about, like Michelle pulling away from her friendships with Bill and Ben, and not wanting to be around Vanessa. I think they were afraid that talking too much about Maureen would depress the audience, but honestly, there's this kind of melancholy that emerges anyway. I think the first half of '93 is the end of the last great era of GL, with some really noteworthy acting. But there aren't a lot of light-hearted moments in it.

I guess the purpose of cameos is for the audience...but for me, the effect would've been blunted by the fact we'd never had Lisa and Ellen Parker in scenes together. Ditto Tony and Jim. Even if Lisa had been willing, she was being heavily used in ATWT's Aaron story in the same timeframe. Lee Lawson had at least had scenes with her, but to show Bea without any other child (other than possibly Chelsea) wouldn't have seemed right either. I would've much rather heard Ross' eulogy as characters flashed back to scenes with her (even if they had been newly created. Vanessa tells a story about Mo making her sing at a piano bar that is flippin' hilarious). But I think GL knew that if the audience sat and watched Michelle in a pew for an hour, crying her little eyes out, the fans would've wanted to string Ed up by his little surgeon.

They could've had everyone of Mo's family show up, and people still weren't going to be happy. I'm not saying it couldn't have been better, but other than Michael O'Leary (and maybe KdP) I'm not sure who they could've realistically brought back.

Does anyone recall when/where the Four Musketeers came up with "blue skies and Palamino ponies"? I thought it was the summer of '83, but I've never run into it. Maybe it was in NY?

As I loathe Jon, I couldn't even hazard a guess about when it happened. And maybe it's supposed to be, but the original fountain was at Billy and Vanessa's. I'm not sure where Jon's was.

GL did a homage to Reva's Slut of Springfield moment when Jonathan splashed around in some kind of water with Reva. But I doubt it was a true recreation. ATWT did some kind of thing I swear where they recreated Lisa moments using Teri Conn/Columbino/Peck and Daniel Cosgrove as Lisa and Don. I don't recall liking it. Otherwise, I can't recall the soaps I watched doing that. But I've probably forgotten a ton.

They could've easily given Alex a grandchild via Lujack---having kids (or in this case a grandchild) dropped on you out of the blue was nothing new in Springfield.

William Roerick doesn't get nearly enough recognition. HB was the flashier role, but Henry was always a joy to behold.

True enough...loved Hal! It's one of those weird coincidences. It's a good thing Phillip's "friendship" with Reva remained platonic---imagine the product of the father of Springfield with the mother of it. RME.

I just realized that had Mindy, Maureen and Reva not had miscarriages circa '84-'85 , Bill could've had a completely different set of friends. Granted, he'd have been uncle to Mindy's baby and nephew to Reva's, but still.

Honestly, Dinah ran rings around both Ross and Vanessa, which was ridiculous, given their own devious pasts. Not to mention Ross being a pseudo father to both Phillip and Sam, and Vanessa being stepmother to Mindy for years.

Yeah, OGVanessa ('80-mid'83) is a 180 degree turn from post-Billy Vanessa. She's basically Dinah, only with one parent. And more business sense.

Historically, Vanessa and Amanda don't like each other. When Van first came to town, she was conniving and set every woman's teeth on edge as she flirted with the men. Van's first target in town happened to be Ben McFerrin, who was married to Amanda at the time. Van doesn't break them up outright, but she strains the marriage. Then Van and Amanda butted heads at Spaulding. They never fought outright over a man, but they had lovers Ross and Mark Evans in common. OG Vanessa found Amanda boring (as she did anyone who Ross was interested in like Evie Stapleton or Carrie). Plus, Vanessa's a little more territorial about being Ross #1 ex...which sounds a little weird I know.

If you want to see Roger/Holly/Blake, I'd start at the beginning of '89 (or maybe even December '88, when I believe Holly returns. I just caught like Xmas '88 and Holly/Blake (Liz Dennehy) are getting along...) You'd definitely need to see Roger's return to Springfield, which I believe is May.

I don't understand why they didn't lean into the Nick/Eve story and play that out longer. I understand Hilary Edson isn't the most dynamic actress, but they could've still made her crazy over living in Mindy's (off-screen) shadow. Then bring Alex back, and have her see that Eve is off her spool, but Nick just think that Alex is that jealous and controlling that she no longer likes the woman she purposely brought back into her son's life.

I don't even blame her for trying to continue that story...but you can't just hand the part to an actress without screen testing her with VI. That's unforgivably stupid. How many times have the same co-stars not recreated the chemistry they had on show #1? No matter how well-regarded Crampton was, to my recollection, she'd never had romantic chem with anyone on Y&R.

No problem! SOD recaps always leave a lot to be desired. The early ones read like a cheap novel, and the later ones will ignore stories points deemed "unimportant". I only know this so well because it's also around the time Billy proposes to Vanessa. In fact, Dylan has taken Bill for the night so Billy can have some "alone time" with Van. Dylan and Bill don't exactly interrupt---but Billy and Van's night is cut a little short when they bring news of Reva's medical crisis.

Well...that piece on Crampton sure doesn't age well. For a minute I thought they got Crampton confused with Eileen Davidson. I mean...c'mon. Crampton was okay on Y&R, but "most respected"? I knew I hated Peter Barton for a reason. (God, he ruined Lauren...RUINED.)

Just to clarify---Harley didn't lure Dylan down to the Keys. He went after Reva suffered some kind of medical issue due to the medication for her post-partum depression. Dylan was on parole, and couldn't go until Billy persuaded his parole officer to let him. Reva (back to suffering PPD unnoticed) then arranged for Sam to come down as a surprise for Dylan.

Yes, Evie fell and knocked herself unconscious after seeing Ben and Hope saying goodbye (Hope returned to CA to college, which I assume was Robin Mattson's exit). But per the SOD recaps, her deteriorating eyesight (and loss of some motor skills) was "due to a fungus related to meningitis" and had an 80 percent chance of going blind ...which sounds... strange. She was Ed's patient, a Dr. Lathrop diagnosed her. Justin was a cardiologist (among his patients are Jackie's father Emmett and Henry Chamberlain), at least until his '90 return when they turned him into an infectious disease specialist.

Thanks!! You really are amazing!!

I think she overexposed Reva practically from minute one. And then the Lewises really literally revolved around Reva. The Kyle Sampson story. He literally arrived with a built in entourage that no one GAFF about. Then he ate the town. I hate that they rewrote Billy's parentage to shoe horn Kyle into a family. Couldn't he have been just a businessman looking to takeover Lewis Oil, who used Reva but then they fell in love? Killing Lujack. Look, I get VI was a hit with the audience. But honestly, enough so that the role was unrecastable? Permanently? Puh-leeze. Greg was the doctor Rita had a fling with, correct? Which Mark was this?

It is. I like Rebecca and Trish. I think I know what you're referring to--after the oil rig disaster, Vanessa is left to deal with the press, and while she gives a strong, prepared statement, when one of the reporters asks how she identifies with the women who lost their husbands, it kind of rattles her. After, Ross asks her how it went and she cracks a little bit about how she is human. Which is really kind of sweet, as Vanessa had been a bitch on wheels for a lot of the year.

While there's not enough of Vanessa/Ed (and I mean Maeve and Mart) for me to judge---I think it would've been fascinating to see Vanessa and Rita go at each other. I have never found a scene of Maeve and Lenore interacting, even though they were on for maybe a year together, and Rita realized that Vanessa was snooping into who Alan slept with in Jamaica(?).