P.J.

Do I have some vague recollection of Liz sleeping with....Tonio? Ah...sometimes incidental characters just need to stay incidental. No need for everyone under the sun to move to tiny Oakdale.

Considering how huge Marland's canvas was at the time, I don't think there was any room for Iva's bio family. But, Marland would've always kept them in his back pocket, to use if/when he needed someone.

That's the only other character I could come up with as well. I don't see Rick Ryan having the impact. He was a minor character they'd have had to unearth from the '70's (aside from a brief visit in the 80's to explain away Sabrina having survived), with no real ties to the canvas other than Barbara (who hadn't mentioned him) and Kim. Scott was briefly involved with Lucinda, was Lisa's son, Tom's brother, and had a past with Carly (and Rosanna). Plus, while his past was defined, it wasn't as (for lack of a better word) restrictive. It might've made a lot more sense for Barbara to be attracted to someone didn't know as well, as opposed to Craig, who'd she'd co-existed with in Oakdale for at least 10 years without noticing. (and let's be real, Barb cut through Oakdale's male population like a hot knife through butter in the '80's). Having just dumped Michael Wood's Alec Wallace, you would've thought they'd seek to layer their gray characters a little more. Instead, HB's Craig seems like a carbon copy rather than an upgrade. Which maybe isn't suprising, since they originally wanted to bring a new guy in the fall of '99, and it got pushed back due to Maura's pregnancy.

Me either. I hated Ben Warren. Having loved Scott Bryce, I'm not sure I could've accepted anyone else in the role. I understand that at the time they needed a [!@#$%^&*]-stirrer to shake Oakdale up. And it's hard to come up with a character who'd have as many ties on the canvas (although they rarely, if ever truly used Craig's). Maybe a better solution would have been to import a shady AW character to screw with everyone's lives. Although honestly, I was hella annoyed by Tom Eplin smothering the canvas at the time too.

While I agree the writing for Craig was atrocious, I think the bigger problem was casting Hunt Block in the role. Block was a one-trick pony, really incapable of conveying anything other than an all-consuming self-interest. Block was given plenty of material to use as emmy bait, and only netted one nomination at a period in time when ATWT was awash in them. He was good at portraying a smug belief in his innate superiority, but not the ability to care about anyone else. And it's not like Craig wasn't given those moments, Block either couldn't, or didn't chose to play them. Meanwhile, Scott Bryce was able to give Craig a conscience in spite of even more atrocious writing.

Marland left GL because EP Allen Potter fired Jane Elliot who was playing Carrie Todd in 1982. After that he created Loving and A New Day in Eden. My guess would be that ATWT offered him more control. Besides, Pam Long had shifted the focus of GL substantially. I'm not sure he could've dealt with the whale known as Reva Shayne Lewis Lewis Lewis. (And I would find it surprising if GL was prepared to kick Long to the curb, I thought she was doing well at the time) Marland retooled ATWT and hired a substantial number of actors he'd had at GL. Lisa Brown, Ben Hendrickson, John Wesley Shipp for starters. I don't know anything about the legalities of why the Dobsons didn't start right away. But I'm not really sure some kind of ghost collaboration was practical. I assume they would've been working on their long term story projections, and that might've been more important to everyone involved.

Haven't I read that Marland was given the choice about which P&G show he wanted to write for, and he picked GL? That he thought it was the more (for lack of a better word) modern, and thus easier to jump into?

Cricket/Nina Y&R I don't even really recall the why, but Cricket definitely smoothed Nina's rougher edges. Barbara/Lisa ATWT---they held each other in check, even if they neither was more upstanding.

Katie Peretti, ATWT. She was a direction-less teen also ran for about two years, until she got thrown into an All About Eve-esque plot and decided to try and bed Holden. (and she's about the only woman he ever passed on...but I digress.) And she probably would've ended up on the same scrap heap as the rest of Lily's rivals, except for the fact she clicked with Paul Leyden. The rest is infamy.

Now that you mention John, David Stewart was presumed dead when Henderson Forsythe went off to do Broadway. Although I'm not sure the audience knew he was alive the entire time.

Not to belabor the point, but it is CBS Sunday Morning, and not exactly catering to the young and hip demographic. I don't think it would be asking a lot to acknowledge the passing of stars that appeared on their network. They are airing the Daytime Emmys again this year (or at least were until the writer's strike, which I assume leaves it up in the air), so they might give half a crap about the soap audience. While acknowledging her passing was nice, I sarcastically wonder if it would have happened had she passed away on Monday, as opposed to late Wednesday/Thursday.

Holden Snyder, circa 1992 and 2010. Around 1992, he went to NYC to confront Julie about Aaron being his son. He got into an accident and lost his memory. He was missing for months (and presumed dead by the NYPD). Lucinda's PIs discovered him, but she left him there, not telling anyone. Upon learning what her mother had done, Lily "divorced" her mother and nullified her adoption. In 2010, Holden was carjacked on a trip by an escaped convict. Through Damian's shenanigans, Holden was declared dead so he could make the moves on Lily. Holden escaped and returned to Oakdale just as Lily was marrying Damian in his living room. Jack Snyder, 2004. Violent criminal Stark attacked Molly in Jack and Carly's Milltown home. To calm a hysterical Molly, Jack took him to the PD in his own vehicle before backup arrived. Stark attacked him with a knife and the car hit a bridge abuttment. Stark was dangling from the car over the river below. Jack managed to pull him back into the car, only to wind up being pulled out and hanging on for his life. Stark tried to send him into the river, but the car ended up falling into the river. He was killed and Jack was presumed dead. He woke up in a small town Missouri hospital weeks later with no memory, latched on to a weepy nurse type and became "Jack Jackson".

Mason Boccardo, OG Aaron Snyder

And I understood it too---to a point. It was just too big a departure for me. Especially when Block couldn't really seem to connect emotionally with his children. And the continual dumbing down of every woman in his path to allow him to be the biggest stud/starmaker in town was grating. It was only when Lindstrom got the role that Craig showed the slightest inkling of humanity.

You and me both. And the only real reason I felt anything at Bryant's death was Carly and Emily's scene discussing the sudden unfairness of it all, which in the aftermath of 9*11 was even more poignant. Otherwise, that kid was a waste of airtime.

Well, we know Sheffer thought he was single-handedly reinventing the wheel, and we know Jean Passanante shot it out of her mouth as soon as she was hired. Personally, while it broke my heart that a legacy child I'd been so invested in at birth was killed off---I was not a fan of the writing for or casting of the character. IMO, his death was partly emmy-bait for Hunt Block, which I believe failed spectacularly.

@DRW50 @Liberty City ah...Chris and pornstar/cokehead Alison...that explains why I don't remember him.

I admit, I didn't appreciate Dylan Bruce as much as I should have. I can't recall anything his Chris did. The recast that sunk Chris was Bailey Chase. He looked forty and was dating a teenage Alison.

Heartbreaking news. She was such a force on-screen, it seems unfathomable that she's gone. Lucinda was a full-on anti-heroine, who infuriated you one moment, and broke your heart the next. It was always clear Liz embraced the contradictions of her character fearlessly. They don't make them like her anymore.

As Vee said, it has to be after, since what broke the marriage was his undercover work trying to get Cyrus.

The Maura West edition Maura/Kin Shriner/Jon Lindstrom/Wally Kurth/Lynn Herring/Roger Howarth ATWT/GH Maura/Michell Stafford/Billy Miller Y&R/GH I don't know if Maura and Genie Francis and Emme Rylan were all on Y&R at the same time

Curtis did the conception math, as soon as he realized Trina was Portia's daughter and the right age. Portia told him he wasn't the father. GH timelines are so wonky, I don't know if Curtis' addiction was before, during or after their affair.

maybe in the thread, but Block was a controversial recast. I never accepted him in the role. And I didn't find him appealing in any sense of the word. Or empathetic. Even in the scenes around Bryant's death, I felt nothing for him.

It's probably the best example of the damage that can be done by the hiring/firing carousel. I think there were three different sets of writers helming that story, and none of them paid attention to what the other wrote. And for being a thrice-married woman (in about fourteen months) she was practically a nun. Her marriage to Hal collapsed in months, she didn't sleep with John (thank God...) and she slept with Brad TWICE.

@NothinButAttitude KATIE! I still f'in hate her. LOL, even Kim wasn't spared---she could take in Molly, Alison and Katie. UGH. @DRW50 I'm not sure Delores even got an exit. I think Brad skipped town after outing Parker's paternity and she just disappeared, never to contact her son Jack again.