P.J.

this almost make me want to dig into 1988. almost.

Well, I don't doubt Carly gave Caleb plenty of reason to think they might sleep together. And I don't rewatch her initial run...but I'd remember if she'd slept with him. Eh....count me as underwhelmed by the news of VH getting a job. Ryan Carnes was damn good, and GH barely used him. And I honestly haven't watched GH in nearly five months. Cute story about Maura though---her being his aunt doesn't guarantee much. Lucas didn't like Ava.

Carly didn't sleep with Caleb. They kissed. Carly later told Rosanna that he was coming on to her, but that was so Ro would move them out of the farm and into a nice apartment. I wouldn't have called Carly and Julie friends, but I do remember that they were both working at the Yacht Club, and when Julie wanted to go visit her kids, Carly loaned her some money. It was only nice things Carly did during her original run.

So many things about late era Beth were disturbing.....

I think the Bill/Michelle/Ben trio formed almost accidentally. It was convenient for Michelle and Ben to be the same age, as it lead to some confused Maureen/Fletch feels, and when Vanessa returned, you couldn't not bring Little Billy back. I don't mind that Marah wasn't in Bill's peer group, (one boggles at the potential of Bill's cousins Ben and Marah dating, after all, even if the show rarely/never acknowledged that Bill and Ben were cousins), I just wonder why Marah never got one of her own. I guess Marah had enough trouble with Reva as her mother, she didn't need friends drawing her into more. Susan/Daisy's backward aging still stumps me. I'm trying to remember if other shows were doing tween stories at the time. A show might have one precocious kiddo, but three had to be unique.

No, Daisy was born on screen when Alan Michael and Dinah crashing into Harley's car while she on the way to the hospital. It must've been '87, because it must've been shortly before Vanessa's '88 exit. AM and Dinah are dating while Alan and Vanessa are. AM stole a motorcycle from Frank's shop and crashed it with Dinah riding on the back. Alan was livid.

I did remember one, Susan/Daisy had to be sometime in '87 or '88. And there was Meredith's miscarriage somewhere in there. Re: Marah and Shayne--too true. At least the show tried at times with Marah. Shayne was mostly ignored.

Well, while I hated Gus, RPG had roots with P&G. Am I misremembering? There was a gap in births on the show after Marah was born? Bill was born the end of '84, Michelle in '85, and Ben must've been born in '86. Marah was '87. I don't recall another birth until Shayne in '90. Bill/Michelle/Ben got lumped together as group in '89. And I always thought they benefitted from having that established friendship. Marah never got that, and on some level it quashed some natural storylines for her. I fully admit some of the reason I don't remember the older Marah and Shayne is because my interest rapidly declined in the 2000s when a bunch of nobodies and bland actors overtook Springfield. I watched at the time, but I certainly don't feel the need to review and refresh my memory.

I don't think BC had a fanbase as much as Laura Wright had a loud, vocal fanbase who thought Richard/Cassie was the best thing since sliced bread and that the show would put them back in each other's orbits. I found Jeff Branson too dour. I honestly do not remember Kay or West. Crystal Hunt was the obnoxious Lizzie. The main Marah you forgot was Kimberly J Brown, who came on when Josh returned from Italy. There was another one around the '99 Josh/Reva wedding with long curly hair who didn't last long.

I didn't like either of the adult Marahs, and the Shaynes made zero impact on me. The fact that Reva was absent for a good deal of their childhood should've set up a natural conflict for years. But instead they were rather bland and boring. I don't think Marah and Shayne did have interactions with Jon. I think the show aged him when Marah and Shayne left town.

Exactly. Kim embraced people into her life much easier than Vanessa ever did. (which made her friendship with Mo so unexpected.) But where Kim would boil over when she'd had enough, start shaking her finger and call you KIDDO!... Vanessa's control cracks and she shivs you with cold vitriol.

It seems to be a skill that's died out. Vanessa would probably be seen as "boring" by today's standards. The ironic thing is Maeve's acting is subtle---Vanessa rarely is. You know exactly where you stand with her. It makes the times she snaps mean so much more. There's a point about a year after Billy left her at the altar where they're arguing again (I think it's over her running Lewis Oil) and Billy pushes her buttons about her "punishing" him for it, and she snaps on him hard--"you nearly killed me you sonofabitch." And it's like whoa buddy. Stuff like that's what made little Beth Raines being able to rattle Vanessa unbearable to me.

LOL...you know I love give-no-quarter Vanessa! She introduces herself to Edmund, then in her iciest voice..."yes, I've heard an earful about you..." *sigh* Vanessa could snap people like twigs.

Well, God knows Van having to suffer Cassie's snottiness was punishment enough.

As is Tamara Tunie!!!! I knew Frankie D was going on the Locher show, but honestly.....*shrug* other than the triangle with AM and Eleni, his stories wouldn't really interest me.

I might as well try, it's driving me crazy. Does anyone know the song playing under the Billy and Vanessa scenes at 29:15-30:14 and again at 36:28-38:05? I even sorta know the lyrics. I've googled and googled with no success. It's a country song, and sounds a little like Lorrie Morgan, but with less twang. *sigh* Vanessa is so dang smiley it makes me hurt. Timeless and true that’s my love for you long ago you left your mark so deep in my heart that I never got over you no matter where I go your memory haunted me so like a song without rhyme, a day without time a story untold like a river Look at us now, you and me maybe this time we’re meant to be after years, going our separate ways time could never erase what must have must have been deafening here you are back in my life everything feels so right now whatever life brings remember one thing I want you to know like a river like a river youre like a river wide and (deep)? in my soul you’re like a river wide and .(deep)? In my soul

It did not help that they tied her to the obnoxious-ness that was Hunt Block. I loathe that man. I can't recall any of her story really, I mostly remember she ran around like a Amazon version of Dinah, without a lick of Wendy Moniz's talent. *sigh* TP was way overrated. And I just scanned some weird eppys with his abusive adoptive father (?) Ritchie Coster, Reva and Jon. Ugh. Just Ugh.

I know shows have to have new blood, but there were so many unnecessary and unremarkable characters the last dozen years of the show. Blanchard grew in the role, but I was never overly impressed by her on the show.

lol...I forgot...I always secretly wanted Stacey to come back to town and adore her Aunt Vanessa. Either because she'd been raised by Quint, or as a rejection of Nola's general nuttiness. Or even just to piss Nola off. Seeing Nola go ballistic as Stacey played Van's mini-me would've been hysterical.

What about Barbara's smarmy brother Rick? It's too bad they had killed Dan Stewart off--I can see him being a perfect Dan. Tom actually was briefly on ATWT as the Police Commissioner. I think he suspended Jack for seeing Carly while married to JuliaI.

Maybe. But the way the east coast soaps used to trade personnel back and forth, you'd think a lot of staff might've known him. At least Tom O'Rourke got some kind of exit. I swear, Eve just disappeared one day.

My first thought is---Jerry has to audition? Seriously? My second---that they kept the door open in case Jerry wanted to come back. I know he'd said he wanted to be a part of the last episodes somehow, (as a ghost, whatever..) but it didn't work out. He lived close to where they shot the final scenes and could see them from his boat.

It's just odd timing, given that Dinah had just returned and was deep in her psychotic mess with Cassie and Edmund, and Ross was also playing Daddy figure to Lizzie and even looking out for Michelle. The budget squeeze is on---I scanned about six months worth of episodes and Ed, Marah and Shayne are still in the opening credits and not on the show. I could swear it's even Aubrey Dollar's Marina in the credits, while Mandy Bruno's in the role and dating Danny. I could've come up with about a thousand ways to save money other than putting Jerry on recurring--but you don't know contract situations and he's making more money than Frankie D on a per episode basis, I'm sure. I'm pretty sure Jerry said he would've stayed on recurring. I don't know how the OLTL came about. But it must've been quick.

I could see that in O'Rourke's case. I think they lost interest in Justin after Cindy Pickett left.

Yes. A postpartum Reva went to India to try and clear the way for Dylan and Sam--I think to get married. No, I wouldn't consider him well-received. But honestly, they didn't even do much with him. He's overbearing with Sam and a mentor to Daniel St. John. Daniel has a brief relationship with Holly before being exposed as having killed his wife and her sister, Jean Weatherhill. Justin leaves town soon after Sam regains her ability to walk, I think. And being cured of some rare illness through Daniel's research. They didn't really even try to reestablish his relationships around town, other than with Ed and Ross. He's now an infectious disease specialist, instead of a cardiologist. He has a conversation with Vanessa, where he charmingly asks how Ross let her get away---which is weird since he knew Vanessa back when she was spoiled and selfish and he knew exactly why her and Ross didn't work out. It was a rare miscast and extremely lazy writing for the era.