P.J.

I must not watch enough of '84, because I never see much of Mike and Alex, and I'm not sure how they're even showing interest in each other when she slept with Ross and has Warren's balls in a jar on her nightstand. I'm sure Marland would've developed them differently, but other than early Nola's machinations, the Reardons don't seem all that interesting. Tony sole purpose seems to be bedding anything that moves.

On paper, I can see why GL might think Alex/Mike/Lillian would work. There's the Mike/Alan history, the Mike/Phillip history and all that playing out over Lujack and Beth's romance. But I can't think of a less interesting story---unless it was Jim/Hillary/Fletch. I credit Beverlee with a lot, but I can't see Alex being fascinated with a straight arrow type (even Fletch originally had a bit of operator in him), or putting up with Mike's self-righteous streak. As for Jim Reardon, I think he was brought on to shake up the Reardon family dynamic, especially after the truth about Tom's "desertion" was revealed. Tony needed someone to measure himself against, and a brother is kind of that natural fit. I just don't think it worked. Jim wasn't a dynamic enough character to spark story, imo. To be honest, I don't watch a lot of the Reardons, so I don't even know if they really interact much after his arrival. Jim is briefly an issue for Ed/Mo, but mostly he romances Hillary. Of course, he's only there a year, whether or not that was Michael Woods' intent or not---the role was hardly unrecastable at that point. I think the Reardons just fell apart. It would've been hard to recast either Nola or Tony, but to do both would've been nearly impossible. And they're pretty much the heart of the clan. (With apologies to Ellen Dolan, who I love as ATWT's Margo, her Mo is just kind of "there" for most of her run.)

Jenna's father wasn't cheated. Brandon had paid for the patent. Alan Michael even found the agreement. AM lost it because he was chasing after Eleni who was chasing after Frank who was looking for Alex in Bangladesh or somewhere. That's what caused Spaulding to lose the case. Jenna got Spaulding, lock stock and barrel, and kicked the Chamberlains and Spauldings out. (Jenna met Roger during the infamous blackout, and they eventually became lovers. Roger financed the lawsuit, and knew there was an agreement, but paid off Brandon's old secretary to disappear so he could get his hands on Spaulding.) Vanessa goes back to Lewis, and helps Billy poach clients left and right. A-M gets Jenna to exchange the Springfield Journal for the Spaulding mansion, Nick goes back to print journalism in the hopes of exposing Roger. Vanessa authorizes a line of credit for them from Lewis funds, on the condition that Fletch is the Editor in Chief.

@alwaysAMC Jenna came to town and stole some of Alex's jewelry. Then Roger used Jenna to get a hold of Spaulding. (way too long a story) while Alex was out of town. And part of the reason I loathe **** is his self-righteous [!@#$%^&*] nature. ANYONE who knew Vanessa knew her work was important, and that she had a tendency to "bury herself in work" when she was upset. Aside from whether or not Jenna was "Vanessa's best friend", the fact that &&&& wants to ream her for how she reacts to someone's death, when we know how hard she took Maureen's death and Henry's, he can go STFU. From the way you described it, Vanessa wasn't expecting Vicky. Yet **** assumes the worst. UGH.

Please, BTG, just fire Tomas. Dude went on and on and on about how Kat had been his "person" to go to with his problems (what, his broken dick? 'cause I don't recall him ever having a problem...) and whine about how she wouldn't let him be there for her. Ten minutes later, he's complaining to Jacob (who I can't recall him ever meeting...but whatev) about how "too independent" Kat is and hard to get to know. I think all Kat's problem has ever been is that she senses his potential dumb assed-ness and knows she's gonna regret ever getting his number. And whoever wrote the dialogue between Dana and Marcel---needs to go back to Skinemax. Or Hallmark. Because it was painfully painfully awkward and the opposite of banter-ish.

I have the impression that Jerry and Liz stayed close. They continued to host a charity event together for years, IIRC. And I may be mistaken, but I think they lived somewhat close to each other.

Well, I swear they aged Coop to be older than Lizzie. I generally dislike SOARSing, but I lobster hate out of whack aging of characters. There are too many examples to list, GL just seemed to randomly bring back "legacy" children to fit whatever story they needed a character for. Beth seemed to take a correspondence course in "Schtupping your Daughter's Ex and Future Lovers" from the Brooke Logan School of Yucky Family Dynamics.

Well, both Calhoun and Stuart had long, long ties to P&G. I wasn't overly attached to Meta, but I remember Search for Tomorrow. If not actual stories, just it's presence on CBS.

lol...Grandma Moses... :)

Did Danny Cosgrove have any scenes with Bethany Joie Lenz, or was it all Nancy St Alban? I can't help but think they would've been fire. Instead, there's ol' dishrag Nancy, about as exciting as a piece of chewed gum on a sidewalk. I think JFP fell into a rut of bad casting decisions/departures that forces her hand in some respects. She refuses to let Kimberly Simms ink a one year deal that would've kept the Nick/Mindy story going (not my cup of tea, but whatev), Bev leaves, Jordan has his situation. There's the miscast Mindys, Geoffrey Scott isn't well received as Billy (if he ever even really would've stayed), Tangie, losing Beth Ehlers and Mark Derwin. Yes, it's her job to navigate those waters, and all shows lost performers every year, but GL really did feel snake bit for a while there. Re; '84 and '85, yeah, Reva isn't the problem (even if you found her annoying), it's the heavy plot point stories and influx of new, bland characters. Of course, a literal flotilla of them were attached to Reva via Kyle, but it didn't feel like Reva swallowed the show---yet.

YEP. Complete with random bloody noses that looked disgusting. SMH.

Y'know, yes. Or at least I tried. GL was an unholy mess by then. Wasn't 2004 also the year of the horrible Maryanne Carruthers story? That blasphemy lives in infamy. But the Sebastian plot was just sick. I never bought that he was really Roger's son.

It was June '84, when GL either won the time slot, or beat GH's demos or something. They were not the overall number one (or whatever the rumors are. Sadly this also applies to ATWT which tries to claim 30 million viewers watched Steve and Betsy's wedding, and there's an entire thread debunking that, which breaks my heart) That two weeks in June also is the fallout of Reva's marrying HB, and Josh's resulting accident. Which is inexplicably NOT up in English to watch. Not trying to bask in Beth and Lujack's glow, because I remember watching that all LIVE and it all was can't miss TV. GL was the definition of FIRE. And they played that damn song for WEEKS.

God, how I hated critical darling Santa Barbara. Never watched a moment of it, but it sucked up attention like a Kardashian.

@alwaysAMC I don't think Billy ever mentioned Hamp again either (when Jordan returned) which is sad. But I guess I'd rather have not have him just randomly killed off-screen either. Yep, and I definitely remember all the crap over Rock Hudson/Linda Evans/Dynasty around the same time. I certainly wouldn't have wanted either Kim or Maeve to deal with anything even remotely approaching that. P&G certainly wasn't any more evolved just a few years later when they dumped Joe Breen from ATWT when his status was revealed.