P.J.

Sigh......so brilliant to set fire to 5th street for like the third time in 5 years. RME. Firing Hunt Block? Applause, applause. Ben Warren was a pale imitation of Roger, and Hunt Block couldn't act his way out of a wet paper bag. I said what I said. I heartily dislike the 50th primetime special, but not because it didn't mention Nola's fantasies. I didn't like them then, and I skip them on rewatch. I love Lisa Brown, but those sequences go on FAR too long.

Don't blame Danny Cosgrove. St Alban wouldn't have known chemistry if she sat on a book. Ed and Lillian kissed during the blackout. They didn't have sex until September. I think it's the same episodes where Vanessa gets into a car accident on her way to marry Fletcher.

If I understand the credits correctly, yes, he is the scriptwriter on that episode.

I just meant that publicly Curlee couldn't just say "hey, my EP is bored by housefrau Mo, and we're going to try and reset the character of Ed the same way we did Ross, by giving him a hot young thing." Unless I'm forgetting something, they didn't even really try to fill Mo's shoes until they brought Meta on. They tried giving Michelle a mentor in Holly, and they might have tried making Van and Billy that "stable" couple (had not Jordan been fired)....but after that, they sure weren't leaning into "Vanessa the matriarch" giving her that himbo Matt. And re: 1992---because it can't be said enough---I HATE the Ross' election nightmare episode. I get that a lot of work went into it---but I still HATE it.

I kind of understand why Curlee had to sell it publicly as "we need story for Ed", but geez. If they really would've had balls, they'd have canned Peter Simon. They could've then written a story of Mo getting her groove back after having to "publicly" grieve this marriage after learning she'd been cheated on for the third time.

It's a combination of things. Vanessa and Henry had been so close, that just the fact he was keeping something secret from her threatened her. She felt herself being cut out of Henry's life--his interest in Bea and her family, the friendship he was developing with Quint even before he knew Quint was his son, and then Henry's doting on his new found son and praising him to the heavens, while (understandably) seeing Vanessa's plethora of shortcomings (Quint's self-made and independent while Vanessa's spoiled and can't even manage her money). But yeah, getting "replaced" by someone as "common" as Nola--wasn't ever going to sit well with Vanessa.

I believe Van also drops her coat for Mark. It seemed to be her early go-to move. I couldn't ever really see Van and Nola as frenemies either. They just irritated each other too much. Yeah, I agree, Van and Reva aren't really friends. They get along, but they rarely naturally confided in each other. I could seen Van as that strong town matriarch, had Maeve stayed. She wouldn't have taken Dinah's [!@#$%^&*], she'd have divorced Matt's trifling ass, and stepped in at Spaulding while Alan was too busy screwing Phillip's sloppy seconds.

The other real irony about the engagement ball---other than the Reardons, it's really filled with Henry and Vanessa's business acquaintances. Vanessa has two friends there--Trish and Helena--and unless I missed her, the only true friend friend Nola had, Gracie, isn't there. Nola has a semi-repaired reputation at this point, but it's not like people didn't remember the dirt she'd done. The ONLY person that Vanessa doesn't know there is Billy. (Irony number 2) Re: Josh/Nola --not that I've seen. It does answer a question though. There was a point where Josh is interested in who fathered Nola's child. I presume that had something to do with him trying to make Floyd a "star". I do find myself really irritated by Tony now.

Well, that makes sense. I do know at one point, Mark almost poisons Amanda. I thought it was more along the lines of Jennifer being the easier patsy, since Amanda would've had both Alan and Ross looking out for her interests. teehee-- 1) I love Vanessa's hair here (even if in this particular eppy it's oddly molded to her hat.) And from '89-'92, when it's very Princess Di-ish. Sometime in '93 it gets too short (sigh, that damn pixie...) 2) Vanessa also becomes Maureen's best friend, which you would not guess from this era. Although honestly, getting Nola, Tony and Bea out of town improved her estimation of the Reardons 1000 fold. 3) ugh...that trash disco opening. And this is the arguably better version of that. The first one features Josh staring lustfully at some girl's ankle. (which I've never figured out...) And I literally hate that pic of Vanessa/Tony that they stuck with. The flashing cop light always reminds me of Hawaii 5-0 (the original series).

Ugh...ATWT's Stern and Black era.

@DRW50 whoopee! look what I found! One of my favorite Vanessa eppys. Now, please God, let them have the next eppy. This is around mid-May, around when Mindy and Billy show up.

LOL...I am delighted !! You know I love me some bitchy Vanessa!! I hadn't seen this in English. And as much as I love seeing the German episodes, there is NOTHING like Maeve's voice dripping in sarcasm. Vanessa and Trish were friends---but it feels like we're missing some key explanation why. All I've ever really gathered from what's up is that they were sorority sisters. (It seems like that was a popular way to bring anyone rich to Springfield--"oh, they know Vanessa" for a while.) Their relationship seems less one-sided once Billy comes to town. Spaulding really got gutted after Diane's murder, that's for sure. It's not that I dislike Jennifer---but geez, is she dull. I never figured out why Mark married her. Wouldn't marrying Amanda made more sense to his revenge plot? well, the mid-late 90's were a challenge, both for GL and ATWT. My interest waned after '00, and while San Cristobal/Santoses didn't exactly break me, I think Maryanne Carruthers did. Those last 4-5 years were just sad.

LOL...there's a Christmas episode where everyone is at the same church---the WASP Chamberlains, Catholic Reardons, probably Lutheran Bauers---and it's just funny. Like, people, please---couldn't they have gathered at the hospital chapel?

That's one of those things that you didn't realize would change so fundamentally. As much as I complain, I watched GL through the '90's. Admittedly, being able to skip through (or over) episodes is really nice, but even if I couldn't, it wouldn't be as horrible as trying to watch soaps now live.

I have some fuzzy memory of it, I don't know how, I should've been in school, lol. Rita Lloyd scared the crap out of me.

Both had a good acting rep, although I never watched either of them in significant roles. Born did have a reputation for being problematic though.

Having grown up with him as Jack Abbott, I have to believe he could've added depth and nuance to the role. Then again, he might have run shrieking from the building with those writers. I guess there were other couples that sort of "creatively withered"...but I don't know if that was due to fans. The one that came to mind was Tony/Annabelle. They never seemed to have story after Barbados. Thanks Slick!!

I don't think I've ever seen her fight with Jennifer or her death. It should be the week of October 13th, 1980 per TVGuide.

Janet Ciccone, the Italian roadblock/personification of Jean Passanante, hack du jour of ATWT. Later, when Uncle Stavros came to town ('91-ish), he did mention something about his brother Americanizing the name. I can't rightly recall if their Greek roots were immediately mentioned, but I have a suspicion that the Coopers were Greek because Frank Dicopolous was. Ehlers and Dicopulous started the show in '87. And I know by '89 when Harley and A-M married, they were starting a baklava business. With this talk of Terry Lester, he's a decade too young, but he'd have been a GREAT Alan Spaulding.

LOL..I fully believe in grudges. Not only can i still not watch Kurt McKinney pose and say his lines (i will however, I will watch Vanessa dump his ass), I have loathed Hunt Block through two shows. And Annie Parisse? She nearly ruined Person of Interest for me. I'd have voted for Chamberlain too over Pinson. Hell, I'd have voted for a lamp post over Pinson in that obnoxious role. (I swear to God it's only a coincidence Block, Parisse and Pinson played roadblocks to Carly/Jack. *cross my heart*)

Then they were looking for Buzz in '92. That's really depressing. Although i can not for the life of me see Lester as Buzz. In any way, shape or form. Good Lord. I cringe thinking about Frankie D trying to act opposite his dad.

I'm consistently amazed when I get reminded that GL stuck with the bland St Alban for as long as they did. I had checked out of GL by this time, and have zero recollection of any of this.

It amazes me how TIIC keep running into the same problem with stannish fanbases that they can't risk pissing off over the last 15 years (or so) of the show. Whether it's Matt/Vanessa, Danny/Michelle, Richard/Cassie or Gus/Harley. If you can't create friction, of course you're creatively stifled. Even with Josh/Reva, they ended back up together, but at least they hadn't always been afraid of breaking them up.

OMG...bless her heart, but as I've become distinctly aware of since posting to the thread, 1983 viewers probably felt the same way about Kobe?Long's cast purge. Which of course, led to La Zimmer's hiring. Now, that gamble paid off in ways Wheeler's wasn't going to, but c'mon here, Kim.

Yeah...I gotta wonder what Zimmer thinks was left to gut by Wheeler. No, Wheeler's direction wasn't any better...but Springfield had taken hit after hit long before that. Usually in service to Reva's golden hoo-ha.