P.J.

I was reflecting on how much I love Josh and Billy as brothers, and was amazed to realize I couldn't even think of a pair of sisters from the last two decades of the show that I liked. I must be forgetting someone, right? (I didn't like Reva/Cassie) Harley and Lucy were sisters, but didn't really interact much. The last sisters I remember are Mo and Chelsea, and saying I liked Chelsea is a bit of a stretch. It seems like the show had plenty of bro/sis combos (Alan/Alex, Frank/Harley, Rick/Michelle, Bill/Dinah, Gilly/David) featured over the years.

I know at some point in watching the '81 episodes, I was amazed to realize that Amanda, Jennifer, Vanessa, Trish, Diane and Carrie were running/working at Spaulding. (Alan and Henry had both given their daughters their voting proxies and intended to start their own consulting firm or something). Alex's disdain for Henry and Vanessa circa 1984-85 never made sense. I guess it was supposed to prove how very ruthless she was in business. Stock situations rarely add up (on any show) anyway. It's just one of those irritating loose ends that I probably didn't even notice at the time. *sigh* So much more could've been done with Trish. But to be fair, her reluctance with Ross was also rooted in his feud with Alan and involvement with Alex. The Lewises' schtick diminishes markedly when Josh leaves (at least IMO). Or maybe it's Kyle's arrival, as Reva begins to break the Lewis habit. I do kind of chuckle---Billy's wardrobe also gets an upgrade when he marries Vanessa. I can imagine her burning those damn string ties.

just out of curiosity, what did Bill Bauer do for a living? And is Bert some kind of nurse? In the late 70's she's always at the hospital.

I know we did. But having watched more of '84 now, I'm not sure Long knew what to do with anyone other than Reva. The Spaulding business angle practically disappears once Alan leaves, and while Alex spins some business plots, they're thin and boil down to her obsession with Lujack. On one level, it was consistent for Vanessa to throw herself into a new project (or romance). But at some point, Vanessa should've gotten as mad as hell at Alexandra (for blackmailing Henry into selling some/all of his Spaulding stock) and plotted revenge. Long is so under-interested in Vanessa, I'm surprised she wrote her back in as quickly as she did in '89, and then threw her back into the Spaulding realm. ATWT used Montega off and on throughout Marland's tenure, although not nearly to the extent of GL's San Cristobel. I'm blanking on any other soap really doing more than an extended summer story, but even those got tedious at some point.

Vanessa and Reva should've been GL's version of Kim/Susan---two women who could always press the other's buttons and cut the other down to size when warranted. I don't mind that Vanessa grew up, but she should've been allowed to be more bitchy than she was. If Chris B had still been there, that would've been one thing, but the others? Nope. I don't get Larkin Malloy either. He just doesn't fit on GL somehow.

Shows always made a mistake taking extended usttories out of town. You end up isolating the characters and throwing a bunch of newbies at the audience that no one cares about. As a Billy/Vanessa fan--I wouldn't have minded a triangle with Ross (Calla could've just dropped off the face of the earth. Pfft--she wasn't fit to wipe Vanessa's high heels). Vanessa should've had men chasing her (and I don't count Fletch). Instead we got decades of men beating their brains against brick walls to declare Reva the be-all end-all. I don't think there was ever any serious investment in trying to reunite Vanessa and Ross at the time. I think it was all about servicing the Dinah story. If I understood Maeve correctly during her recent Locher room interview, there was a point where it became too hard for her to work with Jordan, and she asked not to. I just watched the July 87 Bauer BBQ, and Vanessa and Ross are cute as bugs. I don't know why the show gave up. Soon after that, Vanessa gets thrown into the Alan/Reva attraction, which made zero sense. And when Vanessa returns in '89, they act like Vanessa/Alan never happened.

Oh, the side effects of having to write more and more outrageous stories for Reva. While LaZimmer might not have ever been the worst thing about those stories, the baggage that came with them choked the show. Not only Cole, but I wasn't a fan of DAM or CC either. When I think of the time and energy to bring on the San Cristobel crew on, and drag half of Springfield down there at one time or another...I just want to spit. Maeve and Jerry are all kinds of sparkly! It's weird to think that Ross doesn't have another child on-screen (other than Dinah) for like a decade. That's got to be some kind of record. I think the twins were born in '96? It's while Annie's around.

Sometimes I'm more amazed at the small things the actors remember. I swear to God, every Kim Zimmer interview manages to throw out that she was brought on to bust up Billy and Vanessa. Or they remember who they auditioned with or who they were up against. Robert Newman and Scott Bryce auditioned for Josh, and Scott was cast as Craig Montgomery from that, according to Robert.

Speaking of Leslie, is it true she was briefly married to Holly's father, making her and Rick stepsiblings? Talk about bizarre.

They should've brought someone in when they knew Charita's health was failing. And I'll never understand why they didn't keep Lee Lawson. Mo was still there, and Chelsea (rme...that girl..) They'd even established that Bea had other kids who hadn't been shown. Or even bring in a grandkid for her to raise before Bridget.

You're right in that respect---GL's family dynamics are certainly more true to real life. It's one of the reasons Maureen was important to the canvas. She gave a lot of characters without family (or a weak family unit like Blake or even Vanessa at the end) someone to lean on and let you know it was okay to be messed up.

But honestly, unless Bert had been there to shepherd someone like Trudy or Meta (who I never knew existed when I was watching as a child back in the day) I don't think they would've felt grounded to the canvas. Even Hilliary felt like a fake Bauer to me, tbh. Of course, Justin would've always been an important character to have back, and I mourn that they botched it so badly in '89 and with Sam, who was just this little mouse of a thing. ATWT to me is always much more family-centered. You always supported them, and you always strove for their approval. On GL, you loved each other, but you did what you damn well pleased. They could've found a way to bring back Jackie. That was a stupid, stupid mistake, no matter how bad Carrie Mowrey was in the role.

ATWT had a path that GL didn't. Yes, I'd rather have seen anyone from the late 70's return rather than been inundated by the parade of newbies in '85-86 (I was watching some of the Infinity story today, and I'm shocked that 99% of the characters that had been on the show less than two years) But other than Mike, Hope and Alan, I'm not sure who would've truly felt "core" to me and they'd have been able to build around. It had to have been with Moniz, I'm sure by the time GT came on, Dorie was completely forgotten. Maybe India mentions something about paying for her college during the Phillip's ex-wives' club meeting?

Yes, they considered themselves sisters.

I have died and gone to heaven---from 1981, slinky, sexy Vanessa and Ross being all cozy!

I never really realized she was that young when she died. Honestly, I don't understand why Vincent Ir-- was unrecastable. Simon was an attempt to recapture Lujack's essence in Alex's life, and it went nowhere really. I mean, they recast Grant (arguably badly, but still...). At least try. I adore MKA. I hate that most of her time was wasted.

ATWT in particular was blessed to keep a core of characters for so long, and in some cases (like Susan) welcome them back. You always felt connected because of Bob/Kim/Lisa/Babs/Nancy/John. Sometimes it's just good to be lucky. What might've changed had Chris Bernau and Michael Zaslow lived? The what ifs are endless.

Well, at this point, Ross is the only lawyer in town. I did find his comment that Billy tried making him an errand boy at Lewis a little strange, but I haven't watched much of the brainwashing part of the story. Billy and Ross were usually ok with each other. Imagine what the Dobsons could've done with Mary Kay Adams. Wasting her on Flock of Seagulls guy---oy vey. LOL---I enjoyed Sally dishing out hard truth to Reva. FYI in about six weeks, Reva forces Sally and HB to tell to Billy that he is their son. Sally's right, Reva's out for Reva.

There was a beat during the Peter custody battle where he's toeing the line between helping Vanessa and sacrificing Dylan in the process, that was a little interesting. It would've been nice to see him stumble in business perhaps, and pull a Billy-like manuever that only made matters worse. Or even try and go after Roger...but of course, Josh wasn't going to do that. Right? I get wanting to connect to the roots (although honestly, I kinda rolled my eyes at that too, sorry..) but that was ridiculous. They already had Father Ray. If they really wanted to go there---boring ol' Coop was available. Stumbled on an episode (I think it's from '06) where cancer patient Reva has a dream that she and Billy had stayed married. Vanessa is Billy's side chick. In a fur coat, no less! OMG--you know I'm in heaven! I think it's the July 30 episode has Ross/Henry discussing Vanessa dumping him to save Chamberlain Corp. *squee* Lord, GL must've saved thousands of dollars on bras for KZ, as Reva never seemed to wear them in the early days.

More early bitchy Vanessa!! So excited!! There's also an episode from December 83, where Vanessa learns that "Anita" is really Reva, and Reva tells Billy they're not divorced. Grant was also often in a speedo on Capitol. Just FYI

I should clarify---I meant he was the catalyst for everyone else's story, not that Roger took over the show. Roger never felt forced into a story. I think Roger came before ATWT's John Dixon, but Zas and Bryggman are 1 and 1A, and you could flip a coin every day and feel good about either choice.

I have to agree re: Josh. I'm not saying RN couldn't have done more, but the writers never challenged who Josh was either. Even Ross, who's scoundrel days were as far behind him as Josh's, could occasionally revisit his pissy, ambitious self. Or contrast with Billy, who flourishes when untethered to Josh and Reva in the early '90's. Personally, I think GL only went out and got Robert back because Jordan Clarke had to leave. Josh literally shows up with notBilly Geoffrey Scott. I don't even think Josh's name was brought up at Billy and Vanessa's wedding (it probably was, 'cause they'd still do things like that back in the day). But he's suddenly on hand for Dylan's wedding to Julie. The thing about Reva was that she only drives her story. It may involve all the Lewises, but it's contained. Rewatching '90 and '91 especially, at some point I realized Roger was driving story for nearly the entire canvas. Maybe it's just my perception, or maybe it's some kind of writer bias, where women mainly drive their love story---I don't know. Like they say---heavy is the head that wears the crown. If you're the face of the show, you get the credit and the blame.

I'm one to abhor the Reva-ization of GL as much as anyone, but what show could survive the behind-the-scenes turmoil of the '80's? 12 different headwriters/headwriting combinations? That's insane. I love '90 to '93. I even throw in the last half of '89 as great soap. I should probably give in and watch the first half, as it covers Roger's return.

I kinda sideeye why Maeve wasn't in the final episode ff. Like they couldn't tape one scene of Vanessa gushing over her grandchild-to-be and then insert it into the episode? I really didn't care that Dinah and Mallet were running around Europe spying on weddings. rme.

Both Rusty and Hawk are at the '02 wedding. Josh/Reva got a nice string of flashbacks. It might've been nice if others had. *Bonus Vanessa's stag at it, so I didn't have to ff Matt.