P.J.

Its not so much that Craig and Iva were a couple that got away, its that they were never given a fair shot. Poor Iva's love life.... Sigh....what I wouldn't have given for more Scott Bryce Craig interacting with Carly and Jack. But no....

Well, I did know I knew her...now, if she'd said Big Ben, I coulda cut that in half.

I actually watched about half the episode, mostly to figure out where I knew her from. Took me a good ten minutes, but I think I was distracted by her hair.

Yeah, that was another entire level of complication...Ariel was James' sister. They were both Greta's children. Ariel did figure out that Dusty was Gunnar's son, but I believe she did love Burke. Dusty didn't like her though. Burke collapsed at their ceremony, and there was some debate about if the marriage was legal. Since Dusty didn't want her as his stepmother, Burke didn't go through with a second ceremony, and made Karen Dusty's guardian. At some point it was decided the first ceremony was legal and Ariel tried, I think, to gain control of the fortune. But either way, Burke died soon there after. James grew up with a brother named Lars (who would've been Gunnar's brother) but he had died previously. I'm not sure he was ever on screen. But his widow blamed James for his death and hatched a revenge plot.

When Ava was at the Russian clinic.

It helps having lived it. And having the bible for some of the finer points. LOL over Parker. While BH was alive, they were very conscious of Parker's last name being Munson and Jack respecting Hal's status as dad. Parker didn't even start calling Jack "dad" until after he came back from the dead. But the last few years, the lines totally blurred, and occasionally was referred to as Parker Snyder. Parker's family tree was legit half the town at one point, and as confusing as Lily's. As for an teen, dark-haired Parker....he'd already been a red-head (Hal) a blonde (Carly)....so all three of his parents were covered.

Yeah, I was going to order the James DVD as an Xmas present to myself. Damn it. Dusty is Gunnar's biological son. Dusty is John's "stepson" via his marriage to Karen ( who had married and divorced James, making her briefly Paul's stepmother as well), who was Dusty's legal guardian after Burke Donovan (the man who raised Dusty) died. Dusty's mother Nicole had died before he and Burke came to town. Dusty was the only true heir to the Stenbeck fortune, which was why James wanted him dead. It is one of ATWT's more complicated explanations...lol. (A lot of short term characters who either died or left town involved) Otherwise you were correct. James wasn't a biological Steinbeck. Gunnar was, but died before Dusty knew Gunnar was his father.

I think at the time, the rumor was Kathleen semi-retired. Holy crap, just googled her and found out she was married to actor Richard Jordan.

Well, I wouldn't have put Parker, Jen, Aaron or Connor/Evan on the list. Paternity questions aren't the same as "lost" children. (the Connor/Evan thing baffles me, meeting new people qualifies as "lost"?) But it was hilarious that John kept meeting adults that he'd fathered throughout the 80's. And Jack was about the only adult male who never had a kid pop up on his doorstep---although I guess there was that baby WhackaJulia tried passing off as his. And I think that thing about Caleb and Ellie is completely off. I seem to remember that there was always talk about Emma's two kids who were off the farm and in Chicago.

Sigh....days gone by. Extras! Family members showing up! David! And those HUGE earrings the women are wearing!

Sorry---I'm never going to believe that's all there is to the story re: Jake. (Although I don't recall spec that he was homophobic, and any spec like that about a 14 yr old is out of line. I do recall peeps thinking that at 14, he wasnt mature enough to handle the role, and given what we know about how that blew up, I'm glad he didnt have to deal with all that attention) That aside, I'm glad he's gone on and done well. I honestly wouldn't have even recognized him in Animal Kingdom if I hadn't seen his name in the credits. Re: Reid/ESS, yeah he was great. But all the Sturm and Drang over killing off a nine-month character was insulting. Personally, its not the way I would've done things, but plenty of shows ended killing off characters. GL had just ended with Alan's death. If someone had to die, I'd have had a few other nominees (oh, to put an end to Katie, Janet, Craig or Tom. JOY). And honestly, if it was between one of LuRe, I'd have picked the other half.

Yeah, God forbid the show write a character driven story and allow chem to develop instead of shoving a couple front and center---two very green actors in Hansis and Silberman to boot. The "fanbase" demanding "their due" from a show they (or a lot) were only catching on YouTube was infuriating. But, as you say, ATWT didn't do much better where any of the teens in the last 15 years were concerned.

When Tyler Perry is the epitome of a successful creator/writer/showrunner----I tend to agree and fear for civilization in general. Luke's coming out to Holden was well done. The rest of it---from Lily/Damian and the rest of the plot driven drivel until the end of the show was embarrassing. Luke was every inch Lily's son---completely unaware of his selfish, narcissistic, and self-righteous and condescending attitude in dealing with people. The way he outted Noah because he was hot for him just showed how immature he was. I've accepted that a lot of things ultimately killed the show. (corporate greed, suit interference, changing viewership tendencies in the cable and digital age) And if Goutman had said that (although I haven't watched the WLS thing myself), then fine. But going back more than 20 years to blame it on a timeslot change is ridiculous. I haven't read anything from Weary myself about it. IIRC, it was around the time LaZimmer was in tense contract negotiations herself that suddenly "Jake" wanted out of the role. If it walks like a duck...it's most likely a duck. Well, why deal in fact, right? Maybe getting out from the Ex Producer chair just fired Goutman's director cylinders. But I always knew when he directed an episode. Building suspense in an episode now just seems to be about jump cuts.

I will say this---Goutman is a talented director. One only has to sit through the stale direction of GH to see that.

Network TV is still generally too conservative to honestly do a gay storyline. If they didn't have the balls to do it (if not completely honestly) at least respectfully, they shouldn't have pimped it and acted like they were. There was probably a lot more value story wise, in letting Luke's coming out play out over time, instead of rushing into a (IMO, poor) recast and inflicting Van Hansis on the world. That jumping on the bed crap might have set back TV 25 years. And I still find it ironic that Zimmer pulled her kid from the role, and he wound up on Animal Kingdom...portraying a closeted gay. And I reject Goutman's BS. ATWT was doomed from B&B's premiere, but AMC and OLTL with aggressive fanbases, only last three months and one year more? RME. Excuses, excuses...

Janet's daughter was Liberty. Couldn't stand Janet, was okay with Liberty no. 1, except for the fact Parker had to become obsessed with her, and hated when Liberty no. 2 became the reason Jack had to stay married to her bitch of a mother. Jade didn't really bother me. I wish they'd had her stir up more trouble around town, actually, and not keep her in Luke's gay-sphere. And Luke bothered me more than Gwen, Liberty and Jade put together. He was literally the new Lily. RME.

oh, jeez...for SEVERAL years, Lily's birthday dominated August. RME.

Rita Lloyd Greg Beecroft Grant Aleksander

Well, its not like Downton spent a lot of time dwelling on the dead Turk. What they did (and what American soaps have almost completely given up on) was to play out the consequences for Mary. I think Edith exposed it at the end of "season" two.

Ah, I didn't notice that. BTW, a couple of pages back, who was in that TV guide ad you posted?

Odd that Ellen (Patricia Bruder) isn't on that TV Guide pic.

Yeah, the crossing between ATWT, AW, and GL bordered on the redonkulous. I remember a one point SOD did an article about it. And that was just major roles. Not dayplayer stuff.

Interesting perspective from TW. I think I remember about him writing. Ironic he at one point is talking about Diego /Umberto, and the murder is later (badly) pinned on him. Kinda weird that he's also talking about the Snyders being pushed out in part because they were so closely identified with Marland.

I'm like 90% certain that's Charles Frank.

Scott Holmes was particularly obnoxious. Hal got screwed over by those two, and yet Tom acted like a martyr anytime Hal showed interest in Adam. RME