P.J.

Yeah, to get the full scope of Judi's work, you need to watch 1983 Beth. Even by the summer of '84 (with Lujack) she gets super chipper, which is kind of jarring after watching her scenes around Beth's rape. Chamberlain is like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. I can deal with her from '89-'91. I recognize that Beth. Her late 90's return---nope. That Beth might as well be an entirely different character.

Lezlie Dalton was only four years younger than Geraldine. I would've thought Don would've seen the value in being the family patriarch, but who knows. I know I cited Lillian as someone who stuck around longer than necessary, but I think Tina understood her role and stayed in her lane.

I could forgive Rebecca Staab for being green (even though I've never seen her be interesting in much of anything, tbh). I couldn't exactly forgive Lisby Larson for being uninteresting in the role of Calla. Maybe if Alan had been around, that dynamic could've created some kind of rootability for the character. But pairing her with Ross just made her look ever so much more like a heartless bitch. You really wondered what Ross ever saw in her.

You mean Ariane Munker. Other than ones already mentioned, the big one that stands out to me is Geraldine Court as Jennifer. Maybe "floundered" in the role is an overstatement, but the show never seemed to know what they wanted to do with her. She never seems close to either of her daughters, the relationship with Mike went nowhere, and marrying Mark seemed like a hail mary effort to make her relevant. And then she just disappears before Mark dies.

I admit, I don't understand casting Hamilton at all, although in retrospect, I think she could've made it work if a) they'd given her more time and b ) not forced Mindy back into the pairing with Nick. VI doesn't have chemistry with either woman, tbh. Hiring Crampton was obviously just to bring in a name. She looked like she should be dating Josh, not calling him Uncle. I don't think Crampton's energy fit the show somehow.

Tomboy Mindy? Krista's Mindy was a little fighter, but that was always played for laughs (when she takes a swipe at Phillip at the Masked Ball and Rick pulls her away like a little cotton ball, or the knockdowns with Roxie). I don't even get a spoiled princess vibe from Hamilton. Its like no one told her anything about Mindy's history and she just played it like Mindy was returning like any run-of-the-mill teenage runaway.

Well, Reva's kids ended up too well-adjusted to bring home anyone either parent would've objected too. And then they basically disappeared for the last five years of the show. There's a point where Van and Blake really went at it too. And of course, Van vs Nadine, who is like the Earth666 version of Nola.

You know it! Most people remember the catfight before the engagement party, but I think my favorite moment is a couple of weeks before when a drunk Vanessa just lets it rip on Nola in the country club ladies' room. GL: Alex vs. Roger Billy vs. Roger Mike vs. Alan Ed vs. Roger ATWT: Bob vs. John Kim vs. Susan Barbara vs Margo Barbara vs Emily Carly vs. JuliaI Lisa vs. Joyce

I'm a little surprised that Simms is only four years younger than Eileen Davidson--but, there's no way Eric Braeden wouldn't have looked like he robbed the cradle opposite her. It was bad enough with Zaslow.

ugh...do you know how much heat "crazy CarJackers" took for "chasing" SJB off the show? I know it's so not the point but....RME.

Admittedly, I haven't rewatched a lot of '86-'88. Recently though I did read some old SOD, which either called Josh/Reva's ('87ish) reunion a bust or gave it a thumbs down, which now makes a little more sense. '90 Harley was the little canary in the mine around the Lewises (post-Reva) as she was pushing back against Josh, Sarah and Vanessa all kind of sticking their heads in the sand and pretending to be ok. In that way she was RevaJr, who always thought everyone should just be upfront about their feelings (when it wasn't her lying).

I'm not sure how interested Krista ever was about returning, but I sure would've welcomed some Rick/Mindy interaction over Rick's endless obsession with Beth. I guess I see Billy as the obsessive one, and Josh as the guy who feels like a chump when she comes home married to his daddy.

I liked Mallett more when he got involved with Harley. Watching him go after Phillip was off-putting, and the Francesca stuff bored me to tears. I agree, Krista couldn't have played the affair with Roger. I don't think there would've been any way to sell her Mindy completely forsaking Billy to go screw his enemy like that. It was hard enough to sell KS finding a way to sympathize with Roger. Krista only made small returns. Once for the First Wives Club meeting called by Alexandra, and then at the end. And no, she really didn't do much, she was mostly there for atmosphere with either the other Musketeers or Billy. Well....not really. All the men could be assholes. Maybe the issue with Josh is that he always seemed so surprised that Reva would lie to him (or do something so completely stupid).

Early on, I guess I can see where they were just kind of toxic to each other. But then Long made him into such a goody-goody when he returned in '86.

Michelle Forbes and Cynthia Watros would like a word. I really dislike CC, so I can't comment on that. I guess I never saw Josh as obsessive. Or maybe I'm too busy seeing him being a self-righteous jerk. It's interesting, I just caught a couple of eppys of him and Morgan, where he goes off on this rant about her behavior, and I swear, it was like watching him yell at Reva. I guess for those couple of months maybe Harley was coming off like Reva Jr, but otherwise, nope. And I never thought the male population of Springfield adored her the way they did Reva.

No, it was Ann Hamilton.

The problem with Josh/Harley is the speed with which it developed. Reva dies in July, and Josh is asking Harley to marry him NYE. Now, obviously, that was done to up the stakes before RN left, but honestly, the romance did more to develop Harley's character than anything. And it was better than the other direction it looked like they were heading---Vanessa and Josh really start relying on each other through Reva's PPD and death. And in soapland....

No, she plays a cop. I think she's Rusty's partner, but she also interacts with (maybe dates?) Ross.

I'm pretty sure I know the character you're talking about. She was the girlfriend of a Galahad, and after that blew up, she went to work for Ross and developed a little crush on him. It was an odd plot point, if I remember correctly.

LOL...no Spaulding wanna-be is going to rename Hope's son, even if Hell froze over. Alan-Michael may sound clunky to people at first...but it grows on you. If you want to pity a kid (other than little Freddy...), consider the case of Little Billy Lewis, who put a stop to that himself around age 9.

Guiding Light had this fixation on reusing names. Alan-Michael Harlan Billy (giving us HB, Billy, Bill and Bill's son presumably HB IV) Marah--combining Josh and Reva's mothers (Martha and Sarah) Hope Santos (Michelle and Danny's daughter) Michelle (for whatever reason being named after Mike) Henry Cooper Bradshaw (and Henry Lewis, who Marina had named for uncle Coop) Phillip and Harley's son is Alan-something and they called him Zach Cassie named her son Roger Joshua (which why she'd name him after the father Hart hated, I don't know) Vanessa named her daughter Maureen Peter (Thorpe Lewis) Reardon---Peter was Hart's given first name Shayne (Good Lord, in case we EVER forgot Reva was a Shayne) Rick (named Frederick for Papa Bauer) William (Edward) Bauer aka Ed Lizzie was Elizabeth Lillian, IIRC Anthony James Chamberlain (AJ or the infamous J)...and I'm probably forgetting more than a few others. I mean, I get some of them, but it's like the writers just didn't want to step outside the box. I do disagree with Marland on renaming Kelly Louise Stacey. It signaled the end of Nola's obsession with Kelly. It was always kind of creepy that she picked that name.

If it's what I'm thinking of, it's Bridget/Kat/David/Hart/Dylan at the boarding house, Mindy throwing a sledding party where Eve ends up cutting up pictures of Mindy&Nick, and AlanMichael and Blake winding up at the Bauer cabin and screwing, and getting caught by Eleni, which enables her to blackmail him into a divorce. To say it's a nothing-burger is kind of generous.

OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG.....my Holy Grail got posted!!!! Billy returning after Eli put the bomb in his car!! **twirls**

I believe the rumor was that that horrible May the cigarette girl character was supposed to be Stacey working undercover for the FBI or something. But the character tanked so badly they simply fired her.

Well, I didn't want to be crass. Otherwise all that would've shown up in my post is [!@#$%^&*] [!@#$%^&*] [!@#$%^&*]. And I couldn't come up with what I wanted to say...but what I should've said was "St Alban wouldn't understand chemistry if she sat on a chemistry book soaked in gasoline and lit on fire."