P.J.

Were they on AMC and GH at those times? It would've been nice to at least see Rick Hearst return as AM for the finale. VI---I'm not really a fan.

There were a lot of times Josh was got self-righteous when it came to Reva, but that was a shockingly low blow. GL had a real thing for parties. I seem to recall Nancy Curlee praising her husband for finding excuses for people to be in a gathering. I'm not sure that's Judi Evans at bat either, but at least that's possible. I wish Grammy had kicked that author's butt for mixing up Larry Gates with his character, HB. She managed to get the other actresses names correct, even though this is an article about GL.

Trust me....that is Grant. A blind woman could see that. BLIND. Re Matt: so basically being a topless waitress was his great shame? HA. I smell a rewrite in the wake of rabid Matt stans. That was throwing Josh under the bus to sell the latest "poor little Reva just couldn't help but do something stupid" plot. I believe that's also the costume ball where they felt the need to insult Billy/Vanessa fans by dressing Matt as a knockoff version of Rhett to Vanessa's Scarlett.

Yeah....GAG. You would think as a woman, Wheeler would've seen the optics of having a rape survivor kiss her rapists son was BAD. I was never a fan of the icky '94ish Roger/Holly relationship either.

Well, one of my favorite eras is Billy (pre "Reva is my bestest friend) spending a chunk of '84 basically calling her a gold-digging whore. Even if they whitewashed Reva completely and claimed she "loved" HB.

That's the story Simon wouldn't come back for? All I can say is good for Peter. The Sebastian story never should've been greenlighted. ICK.

Agreed. While I felt that Matt screwing Dinah was simply a titillating plot point, the best thing Wheeler/Kriezmann ever did was take a torch to that marriage. While having a fling at the time would've fit in perfectly with Vanessa's history, marrying a prostitute was not. (although honestly, I don't think Matt dropped that little tidbit until after they'd married. If anything, Vanessa would've had divorce papers drawn up by the end of the business day once that came out.) The most heinous thing they did in later years was have Reva go along with Jonathan and convince Lizzie that Jon and Sarah had died for a year. Reva was pretty much always insufferable, but that went beyond the pale. And I don't really think she ever got called out on it. You know, while I know people love Mike---what I've seen, I agree more with you. There's a point in the early 80's where he's casually dating Trish, and they have a falling out because Alan gives her a bracelet. Granted, Alan's on the prowl (because he was always on the prowl back in the day), but he doesn't even give Trish the chance to explain before giving her an ultimatum. Meanwhile, he's pretty oblivious to the fact Hope's become a drunk.

Well, there was always this underlying squicky attraction/hostility push-pull between them. It was no secret--even when Vanessa imagined (or got shown the future with Mo's visit) the future, they were in some co-dependent relationship from hell. But yeah, Matt does not look good in that story. I don't know if he's taking advantage of Dinah, or passive-aggressively giving Vanessa an FU by screwing her daughter.

Well, honestly, you'd have to be a flippin' saint to go all the way to the end. But Matt and Vanessa leave town in '00, and only have a handful of appearances between '00 and '06. But yeah, Dinah doesn't change that much. She never really grows as a character.

If I were honest, it's 85% because he's not Billy, (Jordan Clarke is a far superior actor) and 15% because Matt is simply a dull, stock character. It's supposed to be "edgy" that Vanessa took a younger, blue-collar lover, but honestly, he's nothing more than an younger version of Fletcher. Spoiler alert

I believe the blonde guy is Dean Blackford, at this point married to Sara McIntyre and Alan's lawyer in his divorce from Elizabeth. The other guy is probably Peter Chapman (who was falling in love with Holly) and his old girlfriend Maya.

While I loathe Matt with the heat of a thousand suns....the only positive thing I will say about that era is that they gave Maeve her due. They could've pushed her into some dusty corner of Springfield, as they tended to do with actresses past a certain age. It's actually slightly funny to me they push her into "damsel in distress" type stories that she never really played when she started out.

I would be surprised if it's 1981, but then again, 1982 (especially the first half) is all Carrie Carrie Carrie. I don't find Hunt Block fascinating so....but I can see where the Phillip story could've gone had they not fired O'Rourke and CB's health hadn't led to his leaving in 84. It was always easier to understand the rancor between Phillip and Pilon's and Raines' Alans, as they never had the established bond that GA and CB had. You won't in '95. Hamp has a much bigger presence in '89-'93, although if I'm honest, he doesn't get as much story as he should have. Hamp really is one of those comforting and sane presences around town. Interestingly enough, Hamp is both Fletch and Billy's friend when they're low-key fighting over Vanessa.

Jackie definitely died in a plane crash.

Sadly, Vince was only 39 when he passed. I didn't realize until recently that he had also briefly played Lamar Griffin on ATWT prior to becoming Hamp in '89. He first appeared during Josh and Reva's Cross Creek wedding. GL was blessed with some really fine musicians over the years. Millette Alexander was a concert pianist. Kathleen Cullen, Krista Teserau and Vincent Irizzary (as Lujack) also played piano on the show. Tom Nielson also played sax.

Well, it's not easy thinking of established soap actresses that are still with us. Not that it matters now since it's established that Joey's mother's dead. But as long as we're throwing names out there---Maeve Kinkead.

I don't think they ever said Elizabeth died. I have a very vague recollection of her name popping up randomly (maybe around the time Phillip faked his death?), but much like Lanie Marler, she just faded from everyone's memory. LOL...I guess that was one line the soap couldn't cross. Although, with some of the bad regimes, thank GOD someone like McTrash didn't try.

I feel like more of the women have settled into their roles. Not so much the men.

I do wonder when Jarrod Ross' last air date was. As Phillip wasn't at Jackie's funeral, it must've been before July when Jackie's plane went down. I think Marland would've loved writing for GA. If there's one regret, it's that Cindy Pickett wasn't there to play out the reveal. But I disagree that it had zero long-term impact. It colored the Phillip/Alan relationship for the rest of the series. It may not have been stated, but long term viewers knew the root cause of Phillip distrust of Alan. The part that never played out was Justin/Phillip. Which is too bad. Tom O Rourke was underappreciated. Ugh...please don't remind me. The less I recall about him, the better.

Knowing how Marland plotted, Phillip and Rick's return probably was on his mind. They didn't come back until around Christmas '82, so he didn't write for them.

Who needs a resident patriarch when you can keep a guitar playing Prince imposter and and at least half a dozen useless characters? *sarcasm* Stans.

Yep. I know that's probably an unpopular opinion, and I know she was liked on B&B.

I don't presume to understand what goes into making a performance, but when you don't feel respected by upper management, it makes everything harder. I think everyone can relate to that. not to go off subject...but imo, that girl still has not learned to act.

No, Mindy didn't like Lujack. She and Phillip both considered him a troublemaker. Rick was the one who respected Lujack and Beth's relationship. I didn't even consider Mindy and Beth that close of "friends" at the time. The Musketeers kind of broke up after Phillip and Mindy's wedding, and once Beth started getting involved with Lujack, she wasn't hanging out with them. I can't say for certain, but I'm not all that sure that that "recreated" moment between Mindy and Lujack ever happened.

Well, considering GL would've produced around 250 episodes a year, that means Beverlee was in 45 percent of them. And if you figure in her 8 week vacation (subtracting 40 episodes) raises it to 54 percent of episodes. Which is nearly 3 days a week. I think the bigger point was, Bev wasn't happy with how she was being treated (and I recall her saying that she spoke up for all the performers, not just herself) , and she had spoken to Jill about it. Jill basically told her to read her contract and did nothing. That's not the best way to handle anyone, not to mention a 22 yr veteran of the genre.