P.J.

Man, 89-90 Guiding Light is kicking ass! I'm actually a little more than skeeved out by Roger/Mindy, but I'd forgotten how likeable Kimberly Simms is in the role. At least before this war with Alex starts.

The NY shows definitely had better access to talent, and they would pop up in different roles. Phyllis Somerville (who played Annabelle Fettle, the baby broker) was also in episodes in '94 when Mike and Ro went to Montana, and GL in '90 as a mouthy attendant at a Spa Blake went to. Who knows how many the shows hired over the years. But I'll always know Sara Ramirez as Hannah, who married Jack and Carly in Montana.

I'm sorry---I didn't mean to single you out. It just happened that I quoted your post. It's an open question for the board. I'm not sure what gets Hogan credit as doing anything different in terms of story. He egregiously retooled beloved characters to fit his stories, and after the first year, he pretty much recycled his own scripts. I will say, that ATWT under Goutman did some nice stand alone episodes (which at the time I hated, but have grown to appreciate, especially after watching GH's trainwrecks). But that's Goutman, not Sheffer. I guess I just credit Carolyn Culliton with Hogan's first year that felt fresh and revitalizing (although I now wonder how much of that was just spin from the soap press) and see the flaws in years 2-5 that signalled epic burnout.

Am I just dense? What kinds of story points did Sheffer do that "no one else would have"? Deal with two actresses pregnant at the same time? Puhleeze? (I wish people would remember, Sheffer didn't send Byrne to the Spa story because she was pregnant. She ended up getting pregnant and gave birth in September of 2002. In fairness, even Byrne seems to have forgotten this. Unless Sheffer had ESP, he sure as hell didn't know when he planned The Spa out Byrne was gonna get knocked up.) Otherwise, he ripped off movie plots (as soaps had done before; sigh, I didn't know until much later that GL ripped off major points of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in the '80s with Reva/Lewises) and recycled himself. His writers seemed to like him. But reinvent soap opera he didn't.

Scott really should've had staying power, but after Joe Breen was fired, the writers seemed to regard the character as nuclear. It is an odd episode, having so much focus on the hokey wedding.

"biological twitchings".... :DEAD: I'd like to find more early Vanessa/Reva. Later, Vanessa slips into the "too much of a lady" to truly rip Reva a new piehole when she deserved it. Early Vanessa does seem like a bitch in search of a purpose. It isn't until much later that her old feelings for Ross even seemed sincere.

That's probably fair. Long wrote for her creations.

From what I've been able to revisit, I think Vanessa did need to be anchored to another family. I love Henry and Vanessa's relationship, but a grown woman can't run around town being besties with her "Daddy" indefinitely They kind of threw her at everyone when she started. If it was in pants and moved, Vanessa batted her eyes at it. Good grief, she even dated ED. (and not one of the cute Eds, Mart Hulswit's Ed, bless him.) Which they seem to have forgotten by the end of the 80's. I don't blame Billy for the shift in Vanessa, I blame Reva. Reva took over the "outrageous vixen" role the minute she stepped into town. And then I blame Matt. Vanessa caught "brain MIA disease" from him.

I'm sure part of it is that there are huge gaps in what I can find online (and both Clarke and Kincaid took breaks from the show more than I remembered), but DAMN. Vanessa tells him she's pregnant, and Billy's barely listening to her because he's suddenly obsessed with getting Reva out of the family (she's just married HB.) DAMN DAMN DAMN Pam Long and her obsession with Reva's magic vajayjay. Now I'm watching 89-90, and Billy's convinced he was still in love with Reva. JFC. And no one except Josh ever gets to read Reva for filth. SMH. Man, I thought ATWT's Jack and Carly had it rough. Vanessa put up with a lot of BS from Billy, that's for sure.

Nope. And I remember really liking VW in the role. I remember she got some sitcom that tanked, and had a couple of appearances on HIMYM.

Brandy was first brought on in 2001. She was paid by Nick Scudder to sleep with Adam and break up Adam and Abigail. She then just kind of hung around town. In April 2002, Craig pays her to start a diversion to let James escape the hospital, in exchange for information on Carly's whereabouts (while she was kidnapped in the Spa story). Paul and Bonnie were trying to get dirt on Marshall to get him to back out of the DA race against Jessica. Spoiler:

I love Billy and Vanessa, but they are always miserable. Or at least the clips I manage to catch.

Since Soapsuds already brought it up---Kelley Hensley in pretty much any "dramatic" moment. It was the worst acted rape story I've witnessed. I remember laughing as Emily ran through Susan's house, to wash herself in the kitchen sink. Accompanied by her incessant "hmmmmn, hmmmn, hmmmmm" and snot crying. See also any time Emily cracked up. Brooke Logan wandering the beach with her doll "children". Sigh---KKL is a trooper, but master thespian she ain't. There's a reason she's only gotten (I think) one emmy nod in all the years she's been on B&B. Ronn Moss. PERIOD.

Crossovers are a great idea in theory (and I'm talking all of them, daytime and primetime), but the writers usually aren't able to grasp the nuances for these "foreign" characters. That said, I wouldn't give a flying fig about some iconic left-sided curly-que either.

I don't think ATWT breaking up Jake and Vicky would have played any better with the AW audience. ATWT should've just created a new character for Eplin and played that. I know as an ATWT viewer I never really cared about Jake no matter how hard they shoved him down our throat.

I for one hated that they kept dragging Cass' butt over. I think the last time I saw him, he was blackmailing Carly and defending Iris. Or maybe that's just when I declared him dead to me.

Originally, I think calling ATWT, AW and Guiding Light "sister shows" just referenced them being created by Phillips. Maybe there was some implied cache about linking them in the viewers minds. After Phillips' firing, it became more about them being sponsored by P&G.

I guess I didn't realize that Brandon's ashes were spread like Alan's. (yes, less spectacularly, but still...)

Most likely. That's what all soaps do. There was a particular slanted window treatment ATWT used for thirty years. I always recognized it from the old Montgomery and Associates set.

Yes, the carriage house was on the grounds of the Wexler estate. I think Ben and Eve got to live there while employed by Lucille. Then Carrie and Ross moved there. No, the Spaulding mansion was a separate entity that would've come before the Wexler set. I'm not sure if any other characters bought it after Amanda left.

Thanks! Rebecca Hollen did return for HB's funeral in '97. And I think another of Josh and Reva's weddings.

That I'm not sure of. But Ben lived there before Carrie and Ross. It was hideously decorated with wood every where.

Right? I can't really think of one that survived longer.

I was going to say---that's not Blake and Ross' carriage house. It may be some carriage house, but not Ross and Blake's. Their set had been used since the early 80's in various forms.

Soapsuds---did Pat Kingsley die in that explosion? Was that Rebecca Hollen's last appearance on ATWT?