P.J.

Block was a polarizing recast from day one for the fans. Sure, some loved him, some stuck with the "this is who Craig was in the beginning" reasoning, and the soap press was all ready to slurp everything Sheffer. But "very well received" is a bit of a stretch. Maybe better writing (I especially remember that the explanation for Craig's reversal was scant and a long time coming) or not having such a contentious relationship with Bryant would have helped. Part of the reason character "shifts" like Barbara's are (sometimes) better received is because they develop on screen. And if Block gets heat for his portrayal, it's because he so often relied on smirks and bluster. I rarely felt he connected to any emotion in the material.

No, that would've been July of 2002. Barbara was acquitted of that, there was no need for her to jump out of a window. I think in 2004 she was being held as James' accomplice in Baby Cabot's kidnapping?

Shanks!!! You've been found!! LOL.

Uhm…..not exactly the most reliable source of much of anything.....

Well, I gather Peck had a reputation as an irritant on the DOOL set, so it wouldn't surprise me if the rumors about tension between him and Michael were true. But if it had been bad enough to get him fired, I'm sure we would've gotten the scoop by now. At least Colleen seems to have addressed her problems.

I don't recall if Colleen ever gave a specific reason why she and Benjy didn't get along at first, but IIRC, she said at some point, they got along better. Re: Peck. Personally, I doubt he got fired because of the affair. My best guess would be that the show was looking to cut costs before renewal and Brad was expendable in the scheme of things. As much as I loathed the character, Katie was a legacy child.

I wouldn't blame Zenk for downplaying the Barbara/Gunnar pairing in her later years----given her longevity on the show, it was a small part of her story arc. I was surprised when I realized HN was only on the show like 2 years. And could you blame her for getting tired of playing the Perils of Barbara stores of that time? I couldn't. I'd heard those "difficult" rumors for years. Mainly in relation to Jackie Schultz and HBS. But also with Benjy. Not everyone gets along.

I KNOW!! It's was all over my twitter feed. I haven't watched it yet, so thanks for a brief run down. So happy Don looks well. Been a little worried about the older cast members with all this going on.

Yes, Deas chewed scenery on GL, but he was thrust into the loud moral center role. And he still did it better than some (for example, Scott Holmes, who grew more and more shrill as Tom...)

LOL....thanks for the laugh!

That's definitely Jane talking to Duncan and Jessica. If that's supposed to be Ambrose, it's a sub. And yes, that's Lamar, played by Michael Genet.

Kathryn Hays was married to actor Glenn Ford. Anthony Herrera was Gaby Hoffman's father. Meredith Hagner (Liberty #1) just recently married Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell's son.

Doug Marland died March 6, 1993.

I assume all soaps incorporated the holidays, since they began. ATWT, for example, always used to acknowledge Frannie's birthday was Christmas Eve.

Emmy Rossum wasn't in the part for a year. She played the part for a few episodes when Molly found out who'd adopted her. Brolden's post lists the dates as 8/15 thru 8/19 of 97.

Jack had a teenage crush on Molly, but it was not mutual, she only had eyes for Holden. "Previously unknown relatives" always get some kind of retcon. As time went on (and continuity was a thing of the past), Jack would sometimes go on about knowing teen Lily, when his intro to the show revolved around Lily (who was in jail at the time) not recognizing him.

Feeling more than a little nostalgic for ATWT today. And at least with Holden I had a starting point. I wouldn't have a clue about searching out the others. Other than I doubt Luke got anywhere near a motorcycle on the show. Re: David Harbour/Shanks....he might have started as early as '97. They still had a fair amount of extras running around then.

I thought maybe it was Holden's '97 return, which was on a motorcycle, but a quick scan of the 1-16-97 episode only has an "Entering Oakdale" sign. Maybe the first or last Alan-Michael? It sounds like something Carl T Evans might have done, or something Ellen Wheeler would have done in Peapack.

Maybe two or three years? I know he was there in 2001 for Julia I's going crazy---not sure he was there in 2002 when Julia kidnapped and raped Jack.

I guess I understand why it never happened while the shows were positioned better---the shows actually cared about continuity, the scheduling, and PITA-ness of it all....and the "crossover event" wasn't a thing yet. But YEAH, it would've been LIT to have any sort of interaction between the shows.

Well, I meant the years both shows were taping in Manhattan ("later" being after the Mike Bauer GL/AW crossover in the '60's).

And the P&G soaps had a long history of referencing the others---at least obliquely. For instance, road signs or travel destinations might have been "Bay City", "Oakdale" and "Springfield". (With occasional nods to Love of Life with Rosehill, Search for Tomorrow with Henderson or Edge of Night with Monticello...) I was always puzzled why ATWT and GL never in later years did any kind of crossover---especially when they were still taping in the same building. RE: the Y&R/ATWT crossover---wasn't there some kind of "see content online" hook to that story? I seem to recall something about that---I don't think Amber went over well on YR and they were trying to seem edgy with the story about Amber & Ali and how they met doing porn or something.

Yeah---defined relationships weren't their strong suit. Sort of like how Jack started out as Holden's second cousin---then quickly got an upgrade to first. I was surprised that they made Carly and Molly cousins. I'm not sure Molly would've been salvageable if Carly hadn't returned to town. Molly had crossed a line trying to kill Lily, and seemed destined to get the bum's rush.

And Betsy was about the only connection left to the Stewarts at the time. Without Betsy as a direct tie to Emily, Em's reintroduction to Oakdale would've felt flat. Frost could've handled more and better story than she got. If there was a character who truly fell through the cracks under Marland, it was Betsy.

Specifically, in the case of Steve and Betsy, not being "as iconic" as Luke and Laura is because of the short time they were together. Ryan left the role shortly after Steve and Betsy got married (and Jimmy wasn't quite accurate---yes, Betsy got amnesia, but she was also burned, requiring surgery, grew about five inches and emerged as Lindsay Frost) and then Runyeon left in '85, '86. They just weren't together as long. They didn't come back either. Now...if someone wanted to debate Reva & Josh vs Luke & Laura.... and I would totally agree, after with Luke&Laura and Y&R's emergence, there was a west coast bias, at least in the press. I always considered the west coast soaps more the "hair modelish" vs the real actors of the east coast. But I'm a CBS raised person, and my heart lies with the P&G soaps, for better or worse.