P.J.

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.

The '99 wedding ends with them going to San Cristobel on their honeymoon. although I didn't catch any ghost Sarah on my quick scan of the episodes, there is a moment where Reva shows Vanessa some ring with the San Cristobel crest she says she got from Sarah (or maybe found in Sarah's things?). The '02 wedding has returns from Vanessa, Trish, Dylan and Mindy.

I'd concede on Cricket and Lily, and Nikki certainly never had Reva's attitude, even if she was sex on a stick back in the day. I just always found Reva just thisside of grating. there were so many, I can't keep track. LOL and I'm way too lazy to look it up.

ugh...that name make my jaw clench. Katie---aka FlufferNutter. Exhaustion is an apt description. I at least stuck with their story until, gosh, the 2003? wedding. The one where they ended up honeymooning in San Cristobel, and they didn't even get to honeymoon in peace.

I think every show had that woman, the one every man just found fascinating. GL had Reva, Y&R had Nikki and Cricket, ATWT had Lily.

I guess my main critique of the "friendship" is that it tilts heavily in Reva's favor. Some of that is due to timing (as Reva's dead when Billy starts up drinking), but Billy's constantly her cheerleader. I know she rarely had a close woman friend to confide in (other than Abby, I could only remember her sisters.) While she and Vanessa are usually on good terms, (which is it's own WTF) I wouldn't call them close. I think Billy was just as guilty of seeing the Reva he wanted as opposed to who Reva was. He was hung up on "fun" Reva. (Nadine is the knockoff version.) SeriousReva need not apply. I think Billy always measured himself by HB and Josh. He wanted to fill HB's shoes, but he knew HB admired Josh's independent streak. So Billy came up short both ways.

LOL...that might've made sense re: Jon. You just know if the show had continued, they'd have found a way to give Reva some Amish kid. Or have another half-sibling of Billy's show up in town for Reva to swoon over.

the Kelly/Nola reveal seemed to go on forever, and was so delicious! GL completely chickened out and made them "friends" after that. Billy always should've had a certain level of disdain for that woman. But because only "bad" people would hate Reva (no matter how much [!@#$%^&*] she pulled)...*sigh* Ditto on ME. I can appreciate how much he grew, but he was written more like Josh's kid than Billy's.

I just didn't know.