soapfan770

Since we're also on the subject of Nina Arvesen, I'll share this retrospective story that Arvesen did with Bernews, a news organization out of Bermuda:

First off, thanks so much for that Christmas 1987 episode! It's been ages since I had seen the full episode but I absolutely loved it when I first saw it re-air Christmas Day 1997. Here's hoping that the classic Christmas 1988 episode pops up again. Sony really should have done a nice 40th Anniversary DVD set for Y&R last year if they're so concerned over old episodes on Youtube it's a shame. Second, thanks for sharing the 1990 episodes! A few thoughts: -This IS the Victor I knew, liked, and loved to hate. Victor was aggressive, ruthless, cutthroat, and power-loving no doubt about that. Yet he always had that human side that was his redeeming quality. Victor's love was the polar opposite of his coldness. It was the "It's just business nothing personal..." attitude that was always his downfall. For the most part in the last decade it's a side to Victor we rarely see anymore. The best part is Bell got to show off his famous penchant for psychological drama for the scenes of Victor and Nikki. They deep down love each other, yet so much conflict and lack of trust they can't truly be together. -Nina Arvesen as Cassandra is up there with Diana Barton's Mari Jo as characters that should have lasted a lot longer than they did in my opinion. Arvesen was stunning while Cassandra's character was truly something else. I love the idea you guys presented of Victor and Cassandra, that would have been something fierce. I think if I recall right Victor slept with Cassandra to prove she was a "black widow" while helping Paul out after Paul faked his death. I also have to give props to Melissa Morgan Squire. I have always usually disregarded Brittney as one of Smilin' Jack's throwaway love interests or that goofy purse swinging lady from the opening credits. -Poor Chase Benson ended up getting the short end of the stick lol. -Morey Amsterdam -I really enjoyed the scenes between Jill and Marge. I really was fascinated by Jill's reaction and storming the Chancellor mansion. I really do also have to appreciate the nice easy going chemistry Jess Walton and Quinn Redeker have together. Even from those earlier 1987/1988 episodes, it was believable for me to see Jill fall for Rex herself. Jeanne Cooper did a fabulous job with the dual role.

Michael Crawford was basically Jill's on/off lover in the late 80s while being the town lawyer at the same time(most notably to help Skip and Carol out with adoption) basically in role similar to which John Silva played in the mid-90s but I never knew Jill actually wanted to marry Michael like this. With John Silva I think her biggest thing was having him spend Christmas with her and Billy in what, 1995 or 1996? Hard to believe from those nice scenes that Phillip was doomed not long after this too. I enjoyed those Victor and Ashley scenes too. Braeden and Epperson had good chemistry and I think it well represented the more seasoned relationship Victor and Epperson's Ashley had as opposed to the starry-eyed relationship between Victor and Davidson's Ashley. Not to knock Braeden and Davidson who I did adore together myself, but that's how I could best describe it as.

Heh I forgot about King as Dru. I do remember they did bring back Adam Lazarre-White of all people as Nathan for a heavenly sequence for a couple days after Olivia flat-lined.

I forgot to mention the triangle involving Alex. Yes it was dull and contrived but it was somewhat better than what happened the year before with Malcolm and Dru getting passionate while Olivia was on her deathbed. At least that story ended fairly quickly for being pretty inappropriate.

It was sort of a stretch to get them together to begin with. After Victor and Leanna split and Jim Grainger dumped Nikki they were naturally getting closer together again. However Jack intervened and began romancing Nikki out of revenge for the hostile Jabot takeover and only fell in love with Nikki after the fact of marrying Nikki. Their previous history was the two previous affairs before that so it wasn't some whirlwind romance they had. It was a feud over story direction and casting decisions. Scott was accused of interfering with Alden's writing(he was later charged with this in 2008 on Days) and basically he and Alden clashed over creative differences really. Hence why Donnelley was a victim as she was fired over which direction to take Diane in. Same thing happened with Douglas. Scott wasn't fired per say, he simply finished out his contract and that was it. He was hired back as supervising producer in 2004 until Latham let him go in 2007, However had Alden been let go in 2001 I don't know what would have happened. Perhaps Smith and MAB as Co-HW's...?

This was the first story where she fell off a horse and miscarried which led to her painkiller addiction which turned into the alcohol addiction.

The backstage war between Ed Scott and Alden cost us Alex Donnelley(!!), Christopher Douglas, almost MTS, and eventually Ed Scott himself. 2001 was good with Tricia's descent and the Nick&Sharon drama but had some mixed things like Paul and Isabella being boring and taking over the show. The bottom of Alden's era came with the Malcolm in Africa story which was ridiculously written and caused a substantial ratings loss. Thanks Carl/DRW for sharing that 1990 synopsis I really have to wonder a couple things about it: 1. Ashley and Brad were very hot around this time I wonder what would have happened if Ashley went full speed with Brad. 2. I wonder if Cassandra Rawlins could have been kept around for years to come. 3. I really wish I could see more of the whole Rex/Jill/Leanna/John/Kay stuff it seems so largely forgotten.

This is interesting as I know the Victor/Diane vs Nikki/Josh story got played up there late '97/early '98 but this probably a rare time Victor and Joshua Landers shared scenes together: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5FIydLcCyw I'm also on the lookout for Hope's final scenes in 1997. I know she left town with Kurt Costner after dumping Ashley but I do recall she and Victor had a huge fight with Victor regarding his marriage to Diane.

I know I did with the Y&R, ATWT, and GL threads but for some reason after looking through I don't think I ever posted my written summaries for two episodes of B&B from 1995, so here ya go, the first one is from May 26th, 1995

I actually have a couple episodes from August 1995 myself, mostly dealing with the aftermath of Matt's shooting, Brad&Nikki, and Cole/Victoria/Ryan/Nina so it's nice to other stuff going on at the time such as Jill famously giving Mamie the huge bribe. Interesting to see Lauren's final days here on Y&R I think if I recall right her final scenes before leaving for LA and B&B was Brad telling her about the affair with Nikki but my memory might be playing tricks on me. Jeri Paulsen was indeed Cole's editor and was secretly a nutty obsessive. In the episode I have of her Victoria hangs on the phone on her and when she calls back to set up a lunch meeting with him she looks starry-eyed as he accepts with a picture of him on her desk.

I remember that Carly and Lisa worked together and got along well but I recall that when Carly came back from Hong Kong and Montana that Lisa wasn't thrilled at all to see Carly after the whole thing had failed. Behr and Broderick were still in command back during that disastrous Thanksgiving wedding I remember being so angry at watching but you are right about Goutman and friendships. I hated, hated when Kim and Lisa disowned Barbara to her face there 2001/2002. Same with Carly pushing Molly far away after reconciling with Rosanna and blowing it off when Molly asked her about it. The worst had to be when Lisa took in Sarah Travers working in her store. I remember Hoggie prompting it as "you asked for it, we have a special story with Lisa!" for a sweeps preview.

So I was watching Holden&Lily's '98 wedding and Hal&Barbara's engagement party where Carly was busted on the DVDs again the other night and I was wondering, why were Lisa and Carly written as rivals? So many thought Carly reminded them of a young Lisa and the similarities are there. I think it was a lost opportunity. Instead of them befriending each other I have bad memories of the Fashions Inc. hoopla, a drunk Lisa running around the Dominican Republic on Thanksgiving hoping to crash John&Carly's wedding, and Carmen Duncan as Lisa badmouthing off Carly to Sarah Brown's Julia.

I really forgot their was an original JT, I remember the first Brittany and Rianna coming and going but I don't remember a JT other than Thad although I missed a lot of the beginnings of those stories. Earliest thing I can remember of JT is Jill's disapproval that JT and Billy trashed the estate with a house party. Rianna! What a forgotten character. I think Alexis Thorpe has fallen off the radar as well.

I discovered I had a few Passions episodes from January/February 2003 and found them to be absolutely terrible, worse than I remember. The acting was hammy, the dialogue was awful and the repetition from show to show was just dreadful. The only thing that had me intrigued was the scenes Tabitha and Kay shared in which Tabitha promises to Kay she can teach Kay to become a witch and exploit her own powers she has in exchange for keeping the witchcraft a secret while David and Eve vow to stand their ground against Ivy. The rest was nonsensical especially the whole Antonio in a coma ordeal. I really only watched the show more than occasionally there from 2001-2003, after the whole Sheridan in the pit thing I gave up--it was disgusting not in the least bit funny or interesting.

So right now there is a A LOT of the Jill/Jed affair on Youtube between Mamie threatening Jill to Jill's bday disaster and I was wondering what people thought of the story. It seem like an easy convenience for Jill to return to her wild ways with John's impotence yet she still loved him so it was kind of hard to watch. I know the divorce and custody battle was incredible to watch but I had to wonder if it was all really necessary or believable enough. I think my ultimate fantasy would have been Jill and Ashley clashing over Blade as played by either Peter Reckell or someone similar rather than Michael Tylo. Or at least had the affair with Blade.

I've love to see actual footage from Kay shattering the patio windows with Jill's screaming at the revelation that Katherine was actually still alive. The audio I've heard made it sound absolutely terrifying. I also thought Jill had married the blind guy David but my memory of reading the late 70s' synopses must be really skewered although it was part of a bit of redemption tale for Jill if I recall right. That photo of Neil and Dru did seem odd to me and screamed more 1987 than early '90s. Steve Ford and Colleen Casey don't look too flattering next to Davidson and Bregman either.

From November 1985, Mindy's wedding to Kurt Corday when Billy went nuts...

Some classic photos of Y&R from the 80s and 90s:

I forgot to mention that the first photo that is Keith Charles as Ralph Mitchell, he made a guest reprisal in 1998 which I really don't recall at all. In regards to that 3/29/96 episode there on Youtube, several years ago the old WOST site had I think either the 3/27 or 3/28 episode up which featured an angry John trying to choke Lisa to death after she interrupted his hospital board reinstatement hearing with Kim, Nancy, and Lucinda trying to pry him off. That scene has always disturbed me since.

I was just going through the archives on this site particularly reading old every weekly/monthly discussions on ATWT and I guess I never realized that even to the end in those final three years I was committed to the show, Cleo, the Iraqi wife of Noah, Holden/Carly, and the Z twins all excluded of course. Anyways I have a few pics to share, these appeared in the 11/24/98 issue of Soap News:

I was just reading some recaps from 1996 and saw Katherine actually did offer a piece of her inheritance to Kurt Costner in exchange for him living with her. I wonder if he'll be involved somehow with Katherine's death storyline.

I should upload the August 1995 episodes I have. The two or three eps I know I have tucked away mostly deal with Nick shooting Matt and the weird stuff of Cole and his nutty apprentice. Epperson took an extended maternity leave if I recall right and the whole Blade/Rick tale sputtered and got confusing. I'm glad to hear someone re-uploaded the revelation episodes, Jill's involvement and Jess Walton's performance stole the story as did Diane Barton.

Good to see early Phyllis there and a young Eddie Cibrian. I think Cibrian was on what, Baywatch Nights concurrently with Y&R during his last days on the show, and yes that is LOL-worthy. Is that Steven Culp as Brian Hamilton? The Victor and Ashley scene was nice and ironic in hindsight. I think they were becoming sparse by this point as Epperson was in and out during this time if I recall right. Much better than the flat scenes we'd get a couple years later of Shattuck's Ashley breaking down before Victor confessing her affair with Cole.

Oh yeah, Dinah inserted herself into Edmund and Cassie's lives by becoming their surrogate. She miscarried but took part in Edmund's baby switch scheme until he locked her up and left her to die. After that I don't think they had any interaction too much after Nicole Forrester took over but I stopped watching regularly. Speaking of the 1970s GL, I was wondering about Sara McIntyre. Who were her contemporaries and what other leading ladies was she comparable too?