P.J.

Amanda is only in a handful of episodes around the end of 2000. Peyton List assumed the role in December 2001. She appears just as Carly's leaving Oakdale for France to wind up in the Spa. Her arrival stopped Craig from pressing Carly to accompany her on the trip. Hunt Block didn't start until mid-2000, ergo Lucy wasn't in town.

*Sigh* the show should've let Vanessa keep her dignity and let her walk out on Matt for x, y or z reason. Bill could've stayed with Josh and occasionally visited Mom in Europe.

LOL...too true. But in saying that Mo would have to have amnesia, I implied that you couldn't write Mo going along with it. OTOH, I thought it would be completely in character for Roger to allow Michelle to believe Mo had died, no matter what kind of "feeling" he had for the child. It was hard enough for the writers to justify Reva and Vanessa allowing their families to believe they were dead.

Of course he would. He let Blake think he was dead for 15 years or so, didn't he? Mo would've had to have amnesia, of course...but Roger would've done it in a heartbeat for any number of motives. Random thought---imagine Vanessa being the first to find an amnesiac Mo and having to work with Roger to help Mo get her memory back. *sniff* Hence, the "I'd do anything for you," line.

I'm not particularly fond of Anna Stuart's time as Vanessa either, but Maeve went on maternity leave. Anna starts (or the first episode I've found with her in it) Sept 7. The video quality is poor, but part 3 cleans up a little. Anna's in the part from September to December 1981. My playlist is Vanessa Guiding Light 1980-1983 if that helps. I swear she did commercials. But it wouldn't surprise me if she hadn't done anything else of noteworthyness.

I just imagine Sonia worked with someone at GL on something else ---'cause I don't understand why anyone thought she could act.

I've been rewatching GL, and Sonia Stuart always grates my nerves as Vanessa. It's too bad they couldn't have simply shot her from behind for all of the scenes, and then had Maeve dub in the dialogue. Thank God it's always just a day or two. The funniest time I've caught is New Year's 1991. Sonia's Vanessa comes to the party with Ross, dressed in a sedate black dress and bolero jacket. The next episode, Maeve is back--Ross is gone (to help Phillip) and Vanessa is spilling out of a flame red dress.

Lord knows she wasn't well-received on ATWT or B&B.

Maeve Kinkead, Guiding Light. When we discussed this in the GL thread, someone described it perfectly--Maeve had the cold, internal seethe down pat. While others (coughcough) would've relied on screaming crying jags, Vanessa would shiv you with an icy stare and a few well-chosen words. Ditto.... Others: Maureen Garret Lenore Kasdorf Cindy Pickett Bev McKinsey Lisa Brown Kathryn Hays Marie Masters Maura West

I never really realized how much Elvera and Robin look alike. Do we know which writers turned down the GL job, necessitating more Labine? I'm not impressed by Labine's work, and the stories she liked having written aren't an argument in her favor. I realize she had to work with the actors who were there, but the entire San Cristohell gang were duds, imo. I will never understand why execs don't understand that the audience has invested a lot of time in a show's vets, and build on that. No, I wouldn't have wanted to see a Billy/Holly/Buzz triangle, but if the audience is reacting to actors who know how to freakin' act, as opposed to a bunch of wooden mannequins not even in Springfield.

I haven't seen enough to know if the writing simply drastically changed for Jackie, or if Carrie Mowbrey was just a complete washout in the role. As much as La Zimmer grew to annoy me, it's hard to imagine anyone else in the role.

Cindy Pickett doesn't get nearly enough recognition. The Dobsons must've loved writing for her. It's ironic that JE's stay is so brief. I'd also love to see more of the disintegration after her marriage to Ross. From what I've seen, they really make Vanessa look like the culprit.

I've become such a fan of classic GL this year, I would take anything from the Dobson era to '93. from the Dobson era: anything Chris Bernau/Lenore Kasdorf/Cindy Pickett related from Marland: early Ross/Vanessa (including Vanessa's suicide attempt), Andy Norris and Carrie Todd (in particular the revelation that she'd killed Diane and Joe Bradley) the Long years: there's a fair amount of this up, but whatever fills in the gaps. There's nothing more frustrating that watching episodes and hitting a gap. I can't believe Josh's accident isn't up in English. Quint and Nola's reception in it's entirety, because there's a section where Billy and Vanessa are getting to know each other, and the translation is bad. And of course, Beverlee McKinsey.

It's hard for me to remember that Phillip and Samantha are brother/sister. But i suppose that's because she was on canvas for such a short time. I really do dig the GA/CTE connection. I wish we'd gotten more of Rick Hearst and GA together, but c'est la vie. P&G seemed to really stick with their group. Not only HW, but everyone. I'm watching early 90's GL episodes and see lots of names pop I know...Melissa Salmons (who wrote some of my favorite Carly/Jack scenes a decade later) Jen Pepperman, Susan Dansby. Not to mention the Cullitons, Goutman (at some point, I know, I know...but he's a hell of a director.) etc. I do get a little fuzzy on when Craig went to prison...'84-ish? But yeah, Craig really became a romantic hero under Marland.

I think it took Robert a little longer to flesh out the role. There's not a lot really asked of him those first two years, and all he had for family was Trish, who enabled him more than challenged him. He spent a lot of time carping about HB and Billy, who were off-screen. Craig, otoh, was always seeking Lyla's approval. Ironic that Marland wrote for smarmy Josh, then ended up reforming Craig.

It was Betty Rea. I think I read that she was the casting director for GL from the late '70's to the mid-90's. Both JvD and Maeve mention her with their casting. It's funny, when you want to think of something, you can't. I know I missed most of Mike/Ed and Justin/Ross aren't on together that long. But other than Phillip/AlanMichael, I can't really think of GL's brothers. But other than Billy/Josh, the Snyders from ATWT are my faves, and they only interact as a group for half the time Billy/Josh do.

I didn't mean it to sound like a criticism of Robert. It's just a situation that makes you go "what if?" Josh and Craig initially are very similar, with Trish/Josh having the same kind of brother/sister dynamic as Margo/Craig. I can see Scott fitting into the Lewises, but I can't see him having chemistry with Zimmer. It's harder for me to see Robert on ATWT, but I can't put my finger on why. I truly consider Billy and Josh the best set of brothers I watched on soaps. And yes, being the "calm" one is often the harder and less lauded role in any kind of pairing.

In a Locher room interview, Robert Newman said he and Scott Bryce auditioned for the role of Josh. He got Josh and Scott ended up at ATWT. I gotta admit, the idea of Scott and Jordan Clarke playing brothers leaves me intrigued.

That is probably the biggest difference I've noticed in rewatching episodes. The scenes are long and juicy. Sometimes I wonder why soaps ever got a bad rep for being slow. Although that could be my binging episodes.

Kyle has invited the Lewises to a dinner party, and it turns into a free-for-all between Reva and Billy&Vanessa. Reva blasts Vanessa, then outs Billy for blackmailing her out of her 20percent of Lewis Oil to HB. It looks to be one of those episodes where everyone was on their game. The small clip that's up is after all that, and Vanessa and Billy are either sitting on the same chair (so Vanessa can be as far away from Reva as possible) or on his lap, which I think is aborbs. That thing around Kim's neck is mesmerizingly hideous. IA about Reva's pregnancy. I don't understand why it wasn't Josh's child. Robert left, they could've just had Reva find out after he left and not be able to tell him.

Wait ---the year Guiding Light won the award, but it got handed to Y&R, they submitted the episode with Vanessa taking responsibility for Reva's miscarriage? AWESOME. I wish the entire episode were up in English. Bonus: Margo slapping the smack out of Barbara's mouth.

Me too.

I don't recall ever seeing that, but Hubbard was never afraid to say what she thought.

I'm unsure who exactly brings Dinah back (Broderick?). But especially with the age tweaking, it ended up that Vanessa and Reva should've been pregnant about the same time. There's a vague insinuation that Vanessa coming from a more privileged background should've simply sucked it up and raised a child out of wedlock, no matter how immature she was. Nonetheless, they could've written Dinah as emotionally needy without the constant blame game she played with her parents.

I'm not sure they knew what to do with Ed with Roger off the canvas. Hulswit's Ed was messy. When PS came on, I don't recall him doing much other than be an upstanding citizen. Some of Ed's reserve is Simon, but in hindsight, it seems like Ed got lost in the shuffle a bit. Later in life pregnancies seem to be an epidemic around this time. Holly had Meg, Vanessa has Maureen, and that's between Jenna's pregnancies (ok, she's a bit younger, but still.) I'm okay with Vanessa having another child....it just should've been Billy's.