P.J.

It wasn't Bryan's choice. He said in his Locher room interview that he knew once RB was cast that the writing was on the wall for him. Maybe keeping Rachel Miner and him wouldn't have worked in the long run, but I think the audience would've continued to be invested in Bill and Michelle more than they were with Budig in the role.

I mean, that's some Y&R, Ashley/Nikki hair goin' on. That's probably the only time I've seen it on GL. Amanda/Morgan/Lainie had long hair back in the day, but it was never done like that. Vanessa has her '80's mane in full force, but it's not sticking out two feet from either side of her head. (Maeve, to her credit, was the master of the one finger--don't mess with the 'do--head scratch.) I was amaze-balls that the Lewises were mentioned before Diane Ballard's murder. AMAZED. Marland would continue do that later on ATWT, start building up characters before they hit town, usually in the business setting.

ATWT---James and Lucinda knew each other back in the day, and he tries to pass off his nameless bastard son David as her child. ATWT---only to be followed a few years later with James trying to pass off another bastard son, Jordan, as a child Barbara didn't remember having. Although now I'm not sure if James actually tried to convince her, or if Barbara herself for some strange reason thought she may have. GL--flippin' Maryanne Carruthers. It wasn't 66 years of history upended, but it was nearly 30. Trying to convince us that Alan, Billy, Josh, Ed and Buzz shared some horrible secret from their young adulthood was stupid, considering we'd seen them meet each other over the years. The Eli Simms/Fishing Picture mystery worked because only one of the men involved had been a major character on the show. History was tweaked, not burned, bulldozed, boondoggled and BS'd into existence. Any 5th grader could've crafted a better story, and it wouldn't have insulted our intelligence.

Short of growing five inches and packing on 30 pounds overnight, Bryan was never going to look as old as Rebecca Budig's Michelle. The irony is, Bethany Joy Lenz and Bryan are closer in age, and wouldn't have looked as mismatched as he and Budig did. I get that maybe they simply wanted Bill in more adult stories, but had they waited just a bit, we might not have suffered through Ryan Brown, who was horrible. Best Recasts: Rick Hearst ----Alan Michael Sherry Stringfield ----Blake Grant Aleksander---Phillip Danny Cosgrove---Bill Kimberly Simms---Mindy Bethany Joy Lenz--Michelle Worst Recasts: Carrie Mowry---Jackie Marler Signy Coleman---Annie Dennis Parlato--Roger Crystal Hunt---Lizzie Mandy Bruno---Marina Nancy St Alban---Michelle Ryan Brown---Bill

WOW...that is some soap opera hair on Hope!

William Roerick really is a sweetheart. I know I'm biased, but Henry and Vanessa are probably my favorite father/daughter duo.

I had some vague memory about either her accident or having had the accident. Granted there's not a lot of episodes with her in, but she's not very mentioned in the recaps, and she's gone before Jackie's death in '82.

Did they ever do anything with Lainie? Her stay seems really, really brief. I'm sure part of it was just needing a trustworthy lawyer in town. But I don't think Jerry gets enough credit for his ability to be that person, if that makes sense.

Limped.... I don't think it limps until '00, or whenever the San CristoHELL stories start. There is still good storytelling from '94-'99 in fits and spurts. And there's still a good core of actors anchoring the show. (Even though honestly, I have no desire to watch it, which seems like a contradiction.) When they tried to make make Reva into some fairytale Princess, and then subbed in Cassie--it's the ship listing dangerously. Springfield suddenly isn't Springfield, it's San Christohell North. You start losing actors, getting bad recasts and stunt casting (ugh..Ricky Paull Goldin is my personal low benchmark and then there's Nancy St. Alban...ICK)

I know people liked it. I didn't. I don't know why I seem to dislike every special episode they try.

His lack of ties certainly did make him unique. Sort of like Ross, although Ross was always more in the thick of the action than Fletch.

Oh, I think in general, Fletcher was liked more than we do here. If not for the relationship with Vanessa, I wouldn't think less of him. He'd be an average, unremarkable, even sometimes funny guy. I'm sure the reason they threw him at Van was the fact he's the least threatening guy on the canvas at the time. I'm sure he even seemed patient and devoted. It's just in hindsight that the optics aren't that good. And I think it's kind of telling that everyone seems a little shocked they hooked up. Other than Ed, it's one of Van's more puzzling relationships.

LOL...yes. Specifically in Vanessa's case, Fletch is the anti-Billy. Clingy, grateful for every scrap of attention, dull, and not about to contradict her about anything. LOL. Sort of like a pre-&&&& . A walking, talking Sominex, which admittedly, after her last two years with Billy, she needed the break. Ol' Fletch seemed to like wounded birds. There's Hillary (who was sick), Claire, Maeve (break up with Kyle), Maureen (barren earth mother), Chelsea (break up with Johnny), Alexandra (daddy issues and off a break up with HB) and Vanessa, who reeling from getting dumped for Nadine and then nearly raped. Then there was Holly, who was never arguably stable after being raped by Roger. Vanessa never would've looked at him twice otherwise. Sorry Fletch fans. He is the perpetual last minute invite to round out a dinner party. And then he'd show up in a rumpled suit with two different colored socks and that stupid reporter hat.

Yes, it was the episode from the vault that I could only hear the vocals from. *shrug* not sure why, maybe I'll check it out later. Trekker me never watched Enterprise (or actually anything past Deep Space Nine, which I would've checked out of if not for Worf.) I wanted to, but I think it started out on the CW or whatever, and I couldn't get the channel. UGH---yes, that's Fletcher. If you watched the entire episode, you know it starts out with Billy finding out they were sleeping together after the Jack Kiley trial. It's an emotional gut punch, as he's finally ready to admit he's still in love with her. And yes, it's a beautiful shot of Maeve, and you know Vanessa's still hung up on Billy (as if that was ever in doubt, lol), no matter what she claims to feel about ol' Fletch. Yes, that's Sherry Stringfield in bed with Ross. There's only a few more episodes with her before Liz Keifer takes over. There's also a couple of good ones in '93. One is right before Maureen's accident, set to a song by The Judds. And there's another on in late '92, set to Hold On To Love. I'll look that one up. That's the 9-24 episode, after Vanessa admits she's still in love with Billy, but Billy is deciding to stick with "pregnant" Nadine.

Because I had to know, I tried to watch the horrible montage. For whatever reason, I couldn't see the episode, just hear the vocals. The fifteen seconds or so that i heard convinced me that you're right, it's horrible. It must've been specially written for the show. Why is a mystery. I'm not sure when montages became a thing, but I couldn't really find GL using them until '92. (Other than maybe couple specific ones like Beth and Lujack's beachy-montage) There's a really good one that ends the 6-8 episode, set to Carole King's "In the Wee Small Hours" and then at the end 7-2 episode concluding the blackout, they used Linda Ronstadt's " 'Round Midnight." I think Second Chances only really existed to give Holly a hit list. Not that she really needed one, even if people didn't interact, everyone knew everyone's business.

that somehow is even more disturbing...

You just gotta torture me with that....LOL.

Well, I think the answer about why Bridget wasn't Jim's kid is fairly simple---you couldn't write Jim being a deadbeat father with a troubled daughter. Not knowing Bridget's parents made it easier to give Bridget that personality. (although GL's troubled daughters are certainly not exclusive to blue collar characters) As much backstage turmoil as GL had, I wonder if some of the HWs even knew these core families had other members. You can add to the non-kid list: Maureen, India, Dylan, Samantha, Kat, David. I mean, it took them 15 bleepin' years to give Ross a kid on-screen (surprise children don't count). Not to mention Rick. I mean I get that you don't need every one droppin' babies with every relationship, but it is shortsighted.

I don't recall Blake talking about him, period. Or really Holly for that matter. Blake's judgment of him might have been somewhat skewed, as he wasn't Ed (when she was young) or Roger (who's love she kept chasing). Prime examples, Trish Lewis and Justin Marler. Both of whom had plenty of family still on the canvas for years, yet, other than the odd mention (or appearance at weddings or funerals, at least for Trish), NADA. Maybe it's not that surprising, as I can't think of a soap other than ATWT under Marland (yes, the irony) that ever regularly made mention of family members with the occasional update on what they were doing. (Craig and Sierra had Lucy off-screen, Seth was writing, and Frannie/Sabrina were in Montega doing good works) I doubt Roxy would've ever gotten out of that mental hospital if they hadn't needed a quick, can't hate him for leaving exit for Johnny.

I just wanted to punch Ted in the throat during that fight. But Nicole kind of dodged any responsibility for having that confrontation in public. Shanice was the best just lurking behind the desk all agog. Is it just me, or does it look like Samantha is stuffing her bra to look more mature?

I loved how Billy had "ol' Roj" 's number too. And wasn't afraid to let him know it either. Everyone else in Springfield just steered clear of Roger. If not exactly cowered in fear, then stayed far, far away. Other than Chris Bernau's Alan, Billy was Roger's best opponent.

That was the summer of 2006, I believe. It led to the revelation that Maddie had been raped by her brother-in-law, and her sister was the slasher. I think the sister's name was Eve. I mainly remember it because Carly and Jack were broken up, and he almost went on a date with the woman.

LOL...OMG!! And imagining them terrorizing Roger to get to the bottom of him seeing Van on her way out of town! Of course, we couldn't have nice things....*sigh* Add me to the list of wishing Holly's ex had appeared in town. Springfield could've used a truly charming mover and shaker, as opposed to the endless parade of muscle-bound, idiot mannequins they brought in (usually to service Reva's story.)

I know I sound like a broken record re: Reva, and I assume that if you examined most of her friendships, they're all lopsided in her favor. Billy just has the misfortune of being the last man standing, so to speak. Billy and Nola really don't interact that much. There a little bit around the planning of Billy and Vanessa's wedding. And a funny bit where over a heated game of poker that Billy ends up pulling Van out of harms way when Nola's ready to slug her. But honestly, I don't think I've ever caught a direct, one on one conversation between Billy and Nola. I could see them conspiring to help Vanessa when she was sick or something...and goodness knows anything would've been more palatable to me than the bland drippiness of &&&&.

What's the point that Roger crosses the line from misguided to amoral?