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Parker O'Hara appears in the Bad Seed clips. She first appeared in late June, 1986, after Susan Walters contract was up. I'm pretty sure the Dolly story is wrapped up by mid-July so this should narrow it. This would be very early in O'Hara's run. I don't have much use for 1986, but I'm surprised by how many short scenes are in that clip. Carl was the father of Dolly's baby and her former pimp, if I remember correctly. I believe the legacy of Hunter Belden (Jeff Trachta) is that his family is the namesake for Belden Pond which was around until at least 1994. I don't think we have ever gotten a full episode of August, 1991. I believe this might be the same account that had some of the other snippets from that month that we've seen (the early Dinahlee / Jack seduction, the camping trip, Lauren Gilbert as Reverend Ford). August is when Millee Taggart departs and Mary Ryan Munisteri takes over. Fran Sears arrives in July. I think the Carly / Paul / Ava stuff is strong, as always, and the tension about Paul's paralysis and Carly's son makes the material much more engaging for me than the 1986 material. It's a shame that Addie Walsh dumps the characters, but I know the show needed space to explore the college kids.

1990 is a tough sell. I enjoyed it when I was watching it, but I have no desire to revisit it. I understand why there are people who are fans of edits. The Alan / Monica / Lucy stuff and the Scotty / Tracy stuff is fun, but often so much else is either underplayed (Bobbie / Tony / Lucas until late in the year and Tommy Hardy's paternity) or is such C-grade leftovers from the action and adventure era that has some interesting scenes. I did like elements of the Ned / Decker / Dawn romance (mostly the Wendy Masters material and Monica's angst over the secret she had slept with Ned) and some of the Greco stuff is interesting only because it is class conflict stuff that enhanced the Lucy / Alan story. Lucy has a complicated relationship with her family in 1990. She has little to no use for Decker because he is always involved with something. When Lila hires Decker as the mechanic, Lucy is mortified. She doesn't like Colton romancing the maid. It's different than a lot of the other parts of the show, but Lucy could take or leave her family. I think she was close to Charlene in 1990, but so much of 1990 can be kinda weird with Charlene. There was a pseudo romance with Drago and Decker slut shaming her a lot. Colton probably rakes up a good amount of episodes in 1990. I felt like the Carla / Colton threat was reaching a natural conclusion, though I think there may have been some beats they were considering with Carla's mother in town. I think the Greco father was an academic or intellectual who was missing or presumed dead, but then they got the proof. I thought Frankie was interesting and having the Frankie-Colton dynamic could have produced some more drama in the Edge Jackson plot as Frankie went to work as a videographer and planned to film Frisco's music video. Katherine's exit was under Hardy. She last appears around Thanksgiving and Gloria Monty's first day in the studio was early December, though her name doesn't appear in the credits until late January/early February. It's possible that Monty did some uncredited consulting before that, but she was also in contention to takeover Santa Barbara in the same period. I think Hardy / Palumbo wanted to do Robert / Anna for most of the year. I felt the climax of the Wellington collection plot involving Sean Donnelly in the hospital confessing he had arranged for the Faison / Anna affair in the 1980s in order to split up Anna / Robert for the good of the agency was to push Robert and Anna back together. The Anna / Faison / Robert story ending with Robert / Anna seemed like the natural conclusion. There is a lot of effort made to make Katherine work by giving her the club and trying some screwball romance scenes with Robert / Katherine before the dominatrix scene. I think the best shot at grounding her in the canvas was bringing her into the Quartermaine circle. There is a rather elaborate, from what I recall, costume party sequence that I believe was mostly focused on Decker and Sharon Case's Dawn. You are right that Colton was never at the heart of any of the main nexuses but always on the periphery of all of them. He flew the medical chopper for GH. His connection to the Grecos and Lucy put him in the range of the Quartermaine. His military background and his knowledge of the hospital was used by the PCPD during the siege story. I think Colton was a good utility player, but also easy to replace. I don't even think fakeDuke is on two months. And those stories are literally back to back. Duke dies on Monday and Casey crash lands on Friday in the same week. There is a very homoerotic Duke / Julian Jerome scene set in a steam room where Duke is hiding in the heating vent and is watching a towel clad Julian who is styled in a Jesus like way performing a last supper monologue for a group of mobsters. I'm missing a bit of FEbruary, 1990, so I'm not sure how much more homoerotic tension there is between Julian and Duke, but it wouldn't surprise me.

The tail end of Wes Kenney's General Hospital from what I saw definitely emphasized the comedy aspects. I think Janis Paige is also on around this period (late 1989) as a kooky relative of Katherine Delafield, who's character may have been the original owner of Wyndmere and Spook Island. I think there's a pseudo ghost story, but maybe I'm completely off. And then you had Elizabeth Savage as Jynx Henshaw, who was some wealthy sexpot from what I vaguely recall. I think Port Charles pre-arcs is often undervalued for its commitment to the General Hospital lore surrounding the crossover characters. I know Charlene pops up first under Scott Hammer, who's run gives me such Bill Levinson vibes when ignoring the psychic spy crap (which is hard to do). I don't think she continues passed Barbara Bloom and Karen Harris' run. I though a lot of the comedy stuff was passable, but lacked the real dramatic oomph that really doesn't return with any consistentcy until Riche. In Colton's final year, he has two major pairings and one chemistry test. I think he is briefly a televangelist or some sort of motivational guru at Tiffany's TV station who falls in love with criminal Olivia Jerome. In the brief bits I saw, Colton and Olivia were strong together, but I'm not necessarily sure that they had fan support. Colton's story mostly becomes about being Decker's big brother and opening the gym, which is located next to Duke's nightclub. When Katherine turns Duke's into Delafield's, there is an extended Katherine / Colton chemistry test while Robert is off on some story (I want to say something Faison related). I got the impression, this may be very misguided, that Palumbo wanted to do some sort of Robert / Anna / Faison triangle and may have even intended to play with Robin's paternity (they made sure repeatedly to say Robin's age and how Anna / Faison had been together a year prior to her birth). My main point is I don't think Katherine Delafield / Robert had the long-term story. After the Katherine stuff, Colton is immediately thrown at Carla Greco, who is reconned into being Monica's favorite maid and who is clashing with the new lady of the manor, Lucy, Colton's cousin. Additionally, Carla's brother Frankie has been accused of being the man who stabbed Ned Ashton during a period where Decker has started to have blackouts. Colton plays white savior and takes the kid under his wing with the tension being that Colton wants to find out who actually stabbed Ned, and we are led to believe it was Ned. It turns out the knifer was Drago, which was tied into some insane Midvale story that ends with a sequence at a carnival that makes Casey the Alien look like high art. Carla / Colton remain a couple for the remainder of their run dealing with Carla's ex boyfriend or pseudo love interest Rico raping her and then Colton becoming involved in the rescue squad of hostage crisis at General Hospital. Colton saves Carla's mother from the war torn country they come from and they become engaged. By the end of 1990, Colton and Carla have actually been written out, being sent off to Carla's fictional country to prepare a life together, only to be brought back briefly in 1991 to usher out Charlene and Frankie. Colton is a solid (not always exciting) lead, but I would say he's basically replaced by Mac Scorpio. Monty pretty much gets rid of every single new character introduced since she left. The only ones I think she retains are Tom Hardy and Meg Lawson. Simone is written out and brought back later in the year after the Eckerts flop. Lynn Herring goes on maternity leave in the late January, 1991, episodes after losing Scotty's baby that she has been passing off as Alan's. She isn't even around for any of the departures of her family in February, 1991, nor do I think she is around when Decker departs without fanfare in March, 1991. if I remember correctly. Lynn leaves permanently during early Riche, in late March, 1992. I believe Riche and/or Herring basically said that Herring's contract was up for renewal and no one seemed to do much about it so she jumped ship. I think Riche had been trying to convince Rogers / Hughes to stay at that point and there was no headwriter. Lynn returns mid November, 1992, in the "Summer in Provence" story initially before being incorporated into Scotty / Dominique. I believe Lynn's return involved some disguise at some art auction with audience seeing Lucy for the first time since she left, which was suppose to echo, I suppose, the big mousy librarian to sexpot reveal from the 1980s.

Thanks. I have an odd fascination with that 1990-1993 period because there is such ongoing level of chaos because of the constant change in headwriters, producers, cast, and stories. I think there is a bit of irony that it is ultimately the return of Luke and Laura that grounds the show in a reality that was often abandoned by their initial rise to prominence. I think Bobbie and Tony's wedding is a surprise to Bobbie if I remember correctly. I could be wrong. Bobbie thinks she is just going on a vacation to Puerto Rico (I think?) and she ends up getting married to Tony. I think Jackie was pregnant at some point in 1989-1990, but I don't remember what part of the year. I don't think that would have played a role in anything, but maybe it did. Given Bobbie's often mentioned past as a sex worker, having her marry Tony, who loved her for just being the amazing woman she was, seems like such a richer emotional story than it probably was intended to be. The woman who had started off weaponizing sex to get what she wanted settling down with a man seems to borderline conservative wet dream and a truly happily ever after. Palumbo is writing most of the romance as I recall. Tony and Bobbie are fairly on the outskirts of the story until late in the year 1990 when Cheryl returns and Bobbie starts working with the adoption agency after a substory in the summer where Bobbie had helped the pregnant bodega worker. Despite the lack of focus in 1990, when Tony and Bobbie get material, Zeman and Maule always hit it out of the park. When Simone is first diagnosing Lucas with diabetes, there are some nice scenes where Bobbie is worried about not having the medical history of Lucas because he was adopted and thinking that this was somehow her fault because of her call girl past. Tony is so supportive as Bobbie is crashing out. It was a rare moment of depth for them at a time where I don't remember them having much of their own story. I would have preferred to see Laura without Luke and letting Geary play Bill, but I accept that was never going to be a possibility. I think Tony Geary was too big a name (with too big a paycheck) to be playing a supporting role in a much broader canvas like I would have liked. I don't think Bill could have played a leading man opposite a strong mature female lead unless the woman was morally corrupt. Maybe Bill and Katherine or Bill, Katherine, and Damian in a story, but I don't think that this would have been front burner material. Similarly, there was some discussion about Tiffany and Sean earlier in the thread. I do think there was a place for them in the late 1990s with the Cassadines as Sean had a roguish start and there were always questions about whether or not he'd go turncoat again. Similarly, wasn't Tiffany basically one of the Cassadine women when she was first introduced (Tony's girlfriend?). I think having one or both of them playing double agent in the Cassadine circle might have been intriguing, but maybe nothing that could be played long term. I also think Tiffany being dragged into the Bobbie / Tony / Carly stuff as an anchor in the storm for Lucas would have been an interesting layer. I just don't know if you could justify contract money for those sort of positions. Riche always seems to be about the long game. Even though Sly was raised in Luke and Laura's home, and Bill was a terrible father (sorry Geary, he was), Bill still died saving Sly and Lucky because the hitmen thought Bill was Luke. Sly lost his father because of the Spencers. The setup for a bitter young man would have been too similar to Nikolas, who hated the Spencers because of their connection to his family. It could have been interesting to bring back Sly, have Nikolas try to turn him to the dark side, only for Sly to remain a positive force. The last episode Sly is mentioned in the curlyq summaries is January 23, 1996,though sometimes minor characters don't always make the summaries. I will be curious to hear about this after having done bits of Monty's return run recently. These transition periods always seem to be rich in roads not taken. I don't think Hardy / Palumbo's GH was amazing, but it wasn't the creative wasteland that needed to be hacked away in the manner Monty did. There were stories that should have continued to their natural, non-rushed conclusion (Cheryl / Bobbie / Lucas and Dawn / Decker). Some characters leaving was probably for the best (Colton and the Grecos, even though I enjoyed them), but the wholesale dump of everything in the course of 2 months was too extreme for daytime. I enjoy what I've seen of 1992, but it's definitely rocky. For me, it seems to settle a bit by the time Levinson is left to be the solo headwriter (c. October 1992) until Labine's arrival in the next year. Tonally, Levinson's material can lean into the "women in peril" more than I feel Labine did, but it would also be a bit of a turn. Felicia may have been tortured by Ryan Chamberlain, but she had a lot of agency in his comeuppance. I don't feel like we would have seen that under Monty.

Thanks @Vee The standout comment to me seems to be Bill was just an unconventional dad, not a bad father. I believe that Bill would believe that, and, as a result, Tony Geary should have. The truth is though Bill was a sh*t father who dumped Sly with his grandparents, then Finian, and then whoever else would watch him (Jenny, typically). I think an argument could be made that when he was with Fred and Angela Eckert that Bill was off at sea and providing for his kid. In the initial backstory, this was a sort of noble act where Bill's work on the ship was less about the life of adventure and more about the big pay day that came with that type of work. To examine Bill as a father would mean to look into Bill's own father, Fred. As presented in early in the run, Fred was a loud, boisterous family man who was also maintained a family feud that was tinged with ethnic bigotry. He was also a successful small business owner. Fred is the first of the Eckerts that are dumped. I think later Fred was described as more complicated and possibly abusive. I don't think that is present in those February-May, 1991 episodes, but I think it's possible Fred could have mellowed over the years. Making Fred a recovering alcoholic may have given Fred's history a little more nuance explaining how Fred could be a wonderful grandfather and still create the man that Bill became down the line. I think by the time you introduce Nancy Eckert it can almost be seen as a way to justify Bill as a parent because Nancy was so much worse. I haven't seen much of Nancy-Bill interaction but they seem incredibly toxic. It's hard to imagine what the thought was that drove Bill to Nancy. I imagine we are suppose to see Fred's strict disciplinarian ways as the impetus for Bill's departure from the Eckert home not necessarily In a super negative way, but just a catalyst for Bill's independence. The Eckert parents characterization changes several times (I'm more aware of Angela's), and Angela's evolution into a status conscious domineering matriarch who helped conceal Jenny's miscarriage from a fling with a much older man sheds a different layer on the Eckert family. It is Bill's own actions for me though that make him a crap father. He chooses the women in his life over his son (Julia, Holly, and Victoria) as well as going off on those adventures and leaving Sly at home when he has already lost one parent, a grandparent, and never been in a stable environment for long. There could have been fun tension of Bill trying to be a good dad and just failing miserably, but Bill's parenting style seems very ahead of its time. He wants to be more of Sly's friend than anything else. By 1993, they have Sly pretty consistently calling him out on it and pair Sly and Scotty in an inspired friendship that adds such depth later when Dominique is dying and she wants to give Scotty a child. Michael Logan is right though that so many writers had their fingers in 1991-1993 that it's hard for any character to find a solid, consistent footing in that period (though I enjoyed many of them). I suspect one of the greatest influences on end stage Bill Eckert may have been, ironically, Anne Howard Bailey who was a consultant in the spring of 1992 during the headwriterless period. I suspect she may have been the one to create the San Sebastian tale which has a very mid 1980s vibe to it from what I've seen. Out of that story, with Bill away, I think they started to lean into Bill as the deadbeat dad. I also don't think Bill as bad father was anything new to the show. Monica and Alan are pretty consistently skewered in those years for the way A.J. turned out and people insisted that their bad parenting was to blame. So Bill wasn't alone. I do feel it became part of that unique perspective that made him interesting. I also think that Bill dying protecting Sly and Lucky shows that the show didn't think Bill was without worth or redemption. Good or bad aside, the truth is that Bill wasn't the father Sly needed and that was his fatal flaw that made him fascinating and yet a hard sell as a romantic lead. I am nearly positive that Bill's origins are in Gloria Monty's 1990 proposed soap opera project that was set in Portland and also to be filmed there. I think we would have gotten Bill Eckert without Geary, but Geary was brought back to for impact on the ratings. If Bill was played by someone else, I wouldn't be surprised if Monty had axed Bill before 1991 was over. In his initial form, Bill is just boring because the connections to the canvas aren't there. The romance with Bobbie is quickly aborted as is the blooming romance with Carol Pulaski (who's entire family was introduced and quickly faded into the woodwork). At the end of the day, I do suspect Geary may have sabotaged the more effective version of Bill who took over the cannery with Paul, was business rivals with Jenny's husband Ned, and was still in love with Julia even though he killed her father. I doubt Geary fought against Holly and the San Sebastian story and I'm not sure how he felt about the Victoia Parker gothic mystery but I don't think either suited Bill well. For me, Bill at his best is grounded in Port Charles possibly feeling restless, but deeply involved in the fabric of the town. I think Bill is a fascinating creature and I do wonder what Labine might have done long-term with Bill, but I doubt this was ever truly a consideration.

I'm not sure about Bobbie / Scotty, but I know a little about the follow up romance for Bobbie. Bobbie was paired with Gregory Howard, who was the father of one of the teen characters. Gregory was played by Alan Feinstein, who I believe took the job because of the Writers' Strike. Gregory was a married man. When the strike ended, Ann Marcus was hired as headwriter and didn't want to continue the story. Monty 2.0 ends with Monty's return to the past. Delfina is around working on either the wedding or engagement party. It think she is in a couple episodes. Slick Jones is back around the same time, but he is around through at least April, 1992. I am not sure if Riche also kept Delfina round as well.

Jason is very aimless under Riche in what I've seen. There is the desire to be the doctor and the very complicated relationship with Karen which becomes so nasty and vicious by the end, but that's more than likely Levinson's misogynistic slant to the material. He is tethered too long to Karen as the loser, which was sort of the fate of Kurt McKinney's Ned Ashton for a bit. I think the Karen / Quartermaine connection is very interesting, but they probably should have leaned into the possibility of Brenda / Jason sooner even if it was as a scheme for both of them to get the other person, though Jason would have been a more manipulative character. Because he's the good brother, he is always forced to play mediator. It might have been nice to have gone with a Brenda / Jason story where Jason was trying to break free of always being the good guy and wanting to be more carefree and slightly dangerous. Break his moral compass long enough for Karen to save him and allow Karen and Jagger fight when Karen (wrongly) assumes that Brenda is the source of all Jason's woes, but only for Brenda to bluntly inform Karen that it's Jason inability to get over his obsession with St. Karen that his driven him down this road. Of course, if I'm allowing for a briefer moment of a darker Jason, I would also have Jason and Karen reconnect when Karen worked as a stripper with Karen confessing the truth about Ray to Jason before Jagger, causing more Karen / Jagger tension, and later causing A.J. / Jason tension when A.J. continues to slut shame Karen. And in this situation, you could play out the possibility of people thinking Jason killed Ray which could add more tension to many dynamics (Jagger / Karen, Alan / Monica, Alan / Rhoda, Jason / Brenda, Jagger / Jason). I'm going to stop before I go too far down roads not travelled.

@NothinButAttitude I really enjoy how that "Another World" story idea turned out based on what @DRW50 had suggested. As someone who isn't a huge "Another World" fan but has a working knowledge, this all seems like something Lemay would have written with the possible exception of the vague Iris / Michael stuff which may have been referring back to the earlier suggestion that someone try and marry Michael off to a Cory cousin. I do think stuff like this is fun especially once, as you suggested, explore it out a little bit more. In 1975, when Michael returns, Iris would be involved with Robert Delaney, or on the verge of becoming involved with Delaney. Given the suggestion that Julian Vane (I'd change the last name to something else) was a promising architecture student, I would make him Robert's protege working together at whatever the firm was in Bay City. I see the more likely connection not to be Michael and Iris, but rather Julian and Iris through not only Julian being connected to Robert, but I would have played on Julian being somehow tied to the jetset group that Iris would drag to Bay City. I would really be interested in at least suggesting that Julian was a bit of a social climber and if we were to go the Cory cousin route, let's call her Betsy Cory, I think Iris meddling in Betsy's romantic life trying to put her and Julian together, could lead to some of the tension that would later lead to the Iris / Michael confrontation. I like how the story suggested on playing on John's insecurities, which I don't think was necessarily something embedded into his character but I think Lemay could slowly simmer to the surface in other ways. I would have Julian charm Pat and not only have John threatened by Michael's presence in Pat's life, but Julian's as well. Making Julian a bit like Terence Stamps' Visitor character in Teorema who has an influence on the entire family. With this situation, I think John's aging and his relationship with a much younger wife, Pat, as well as a blooming romantic entanglement with an even younger woman, Barbara, could bring a level of neurotic desire to ensure Michael's (heterosexual) virility in order to placate his own fears that his own is fading. If the show still told the Marianne abortion plot, I would have have had Marianne confide in Julian and have Aunt Liz cluck about Marianne's closeness with the more sophisticated Julian causing some neurotic paranoia for Michael especially as Julian and Marianne deny this. Later, when Michael learns that Julian has paid for Marianne's abortion, he again jumps to conclusions fueled by Aunt Liz's gossip and insinuations. I'd also have the Barbara Weaver thread play slightly differently. With John deducing that Michael and Julian's living arrangement is more than financial, John pushes Barbara towards Michael as a way to "get the boy on the right path" with Barbara agreeing to intercede mostly because she admires John. John's language would suggest that he thinks Michael is just a shy and needs to come out of his shell. It would be Barbara, who would quickly deduce Michael isn't straight that becomes his confidante. Barbara who claims she and Michael are going out for intimate evenings as cover for time spent with Julian. I would go a step further and even play the potential angle of Pat being threatened by the Barbara / Michael romance feeling that Barbara, an older woman, is out to replace her in her son's life. A Barbara / Michael / Pat triangle over Michael's affections as well as Barbara replacing Pat as the one he shares his secrets with causing tension. In addition, if the Chris / Marianne stuff is playing out with Pat's own fears about Marianne replaying her past, Pat might feel the need to turn more to Michael, which would infuriate John as it would thwart his plans to keep Michael from being so attached to Pat. This, of course, would spill over later into the Barbara / John affair which would now hurt both Pat and Michael much more given Michael's affection for Barbara and Pat's already established animosity. There would also be fun little moments to savor throughout. At one point, John would accuse Pat of liking the idea of Julian / Michael because it would mean that Pat would always be the most important woman in Michael's life. John's painful realization that Michael had confessed to Barbara months ago about his sexuality, and that Barbara had hid this from John and continued the charade. In the romantic entanglement, I would have Betsy Cory, Mac's niece, become smitten with Michael after meeting him through Marianne; Marianne and Betsy could be in college classes together. Maybe lothario Chris makes the moves on Betsy which would fuel Marianne's desire to sleep with Chris and to encourage the romance between Betsy and Michael, which never gets off the ground for obvious reasons. Chris could continue to also pursue Betsy with Michael coming to her rescue leading to Betsy, at times, to purposely flirt with danger because of Michael's protective nature. Later, when Betsy learns of Michael and Barbara, she would end up crying on Julian's shoulders, who she had befriended in her failed pursuit of Michael. At this point, I would have Iris trying to play matchmaker between Julian and Betsy as she wants Julian, who she has learned about some of his "complicated" backstory (spending a holiday with a wealthy couple known for having an open marriage) from a mutual acquaintance on a trip to San Tropez. Because Julian is cultured, seems more settled, and is Robert's protégé, Iris sees it as her duty to arrange the romance between Julian and her cousin. I would have Julian play along for the career aspirations while Michael becoming more concerned how easily Julian is willing to use Betsy for his won social gains. I don't know how accurate this would be for John and Pat as it definitely muddies them up more than they probably were at the time, but I think it could be compelling.

The Jason / Robin seed is in March, 1992, when there is no headwriter and Wendy Riche is overseeing pretty much every aspect of the show. Riche had Robin and her pal (who I think stuck around through early Levinson/Thoma as I think its the same girl who is with Robin during the storm when I think they are babysitting the Jones kids) talk about Robin wanting Jason, while Jason was pining after Karen in her first few appearances. I think you and spoke about this before, and I think you suggested that the show may have been waiting until Kimberly McCullough either came of age or at least appeared older, which makes sense. There was definitely indication that the show wanted Robin / Jason as endgame as you said especially since it seemed Karen / Jagger were the intention from the start. Riche wanting Jason / Robin from the start would explain why this thread plays out pretty much until Riche leaves.

I think anti-Christian sentiment plays a role in the view of the show, but I think it is also a bit more complicatedthan that. That first year is incredibly rough. Roy Winsor's work is dramatically flat. Dallas and Joann Barnes' material lacks a true understanding of the structure of soap opera with most stories ending with some deux ex machina conclusions which may be effective on a weekly dramatic nighttime show, but fail to grab the audience's attention in a daily serial. In addition, by the time that Jason Vinley's work did start to appear, a good number of the local channels that syndicated it no longer carried it. Though, I guess you are right a large number of people, even if they heard about the dramatic improvement, more than likely weren't going to hunt it down on the Christian Broadcasting Network. By the point I am currently at (February, 1983), though show is easily as strong as or stronger than its network competitors especially in the half-hour form. And, it seems like there may even be some lifting from one show to another. The conclusion of the Blue Nobles story set in the abandoned factory is very similar to the conclusion (later in 1983) of Jo's kidnapping by Vargas in the factory down to the blue hue color scheme. I feel a bit of connection between AL/SFT of the same time period. Like Ringo / Warren of SFT, Blue and Lance have a bit of a "Midnight Cowboy" inspired friendship that seems to have hints of homoerotic subtext. Throughout the final pursuit of Blue, Lance seemed genuinely worried about Blue and now we get a scene of Lance singing Hank Williams' "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry." Without Blue, Lance has now shown an increased sexual interest in Miriam. I suspect that the show has simply decided to beef up Lance's role, but the timing provides for a bit of queerness to the mob storyline. Given the jealousy (which Ron calls out) between Lance and Russ, I could easily see a story where Lance gets into bed (figuratively or literally) with Tony Cardello. The show's current view of queerness continues to be quite negative. Peter alludes to the fact that Vicki Lang might think he is gay without stating it, while Babs goes off on Nancy because Nancy calls her a thespian, and Harold has to explain to Babs that it's not what she thinks it means. It's still being addressed which is more than most of daytime would be doing. I still would be curious to see how Vinley would have approached Tony Cardello. I can'tremember if Hill Harben is one of the interviews done by the AL fan on YouTube. @YTG would probably know better. I wish there had been any real coverage of Another Life because I am deeply curious about what the reaction was of the audience to Blue's death. While I imagine many were happy that such a violent man reached his end, he is very clearly saved and welcomed into the arms of the Lord. It is such a happy ending for such a complicated character. It hasn't been made clear yet completed to Miriam that Blue is dead; she has been told he is no longer part of the organization. I am curious if we will get any further exploration of Blue's death after Miriam is released. I would love to see a scene with Miriam and the Martins where Lori and Ben are forced to process that Miriam, held captive by Blue, has been able to forgive him and how they still have intense feelings regarding the man. There is a really great scene where Russ goes to visit Lori after he has killed Blue to talk about the situation in very coded terms. It's very powerful. It is almost like Lori might know what's going on, but is adamant that she won't accept this. This would be very similar to how she has reacted to her own near rape for the past few months. Lori and Russ is one of my favorite relationships on the show. I don't want them together romantically, but there is something about their shared past and the road not taken that I just adore. Russ clearly will always love Lori and Lori will always try to save Russ. I am curious how late 1990s General Hospital fans would think of this mob heavy sequence (Blue's demise). There is another delightful scene in which Ron Washington lets Vince Cardello know that ti was Russ that killed Blue. Nick Benedict is coming into his own as sleazy menacing Ron Washington. This is a more polished performance of his later Curtis Reed on Days of our Lives. Ron has used Russ' role to his advantage. He seems to be keeping Russ closer because he knows it is inciting jealousy from Lance (this is stated on air) and to keep Lance in line. He also seems to genuinely admire Russ realizing this isn't just some nepo hire that Russ is the man he claims he is; a scraper from the streets of Chicago who survived on his own wits and hands. He also seems to be forcing Vince's hand by showing him the terrible consequences of forcing Russ on to Ron. I'm not sure how Ron plans to keep the side businesses quiet, but I think Ron has a plan. All the plotting and scheming here is much more appealing than I ever expected. The ripples in this story continue. Marianne has broken it off with Russ moments after the murder and she admits she cannot support Russ in whatever he is doing. It is a nice way to strip away whatever human connections Russ has left. I cannot tell exactly where this is all going. I cannot tell if we are taking Russ to the bottom in order to redeem him or if he will enjoy living in the gutter. There have been comments to suggest that this can go each way. Ron explains about how they are all living by the sword and they should pretty much expect to end the same way. Meanwhile, Terry mentions Russ' visit to the house and says she thinks this is the start of a new Russ, insinuating he might actually find God. This after Terry, Lori, and Marianne discuss that maybe God wants Marianne to hold out hope for Russ. I am realizing more and more that Marianne seems very limited. Renee Crawford is a talented enough actress, but Marianne doesn't have a lot of potential. I do think I would have sent her into Amber's modeling agency for a bit. Marianne has always been controlled by a man, her father, her brother, and Russ. I think putting her in Amber's orbit, who is a strong female who also likes to control other females, would be interesting. Also, in that orbit, I think Marianne could explore her commercial art interest. I also think that the Russ - Lori connection is too strong in the long run for Marianne to work. With Becky, Becky was more complicated a character that made it all work. There was some good stuff with the Phillips family that I save for another post. Happy holidays everyone.

Kate Phillips is on the scene. She is an interesting character from the start. They immediately don't hold back and reveal to her that Dave is back in town. Kate is the middle ground; she doesn't know how she feels about Dave's return. Stinette gives the character an elegance in these early appearances I wasn't expecting given that I mostly know of her from Loving where she was working class Rose Donovan. I guess she gave a different aura in her roles as Kate and Nadine on The Edge of Night. There is some simple sloppy writing in the Babs Farley story that borderlines on well intentioned camp. In a typical soap opera fashion, Ione Redlon and Dr. Dave Phillips are talking about an on the run Babs' whereabouts in a public space while an U/5 mob goon listens in a chair nearby. This alone isn't insane, but add in the conversation that follows about them needing to pray for Babs' safety with Dave insisting they shouldn't waste their prayers borders on hilarious. I get we are probably building tension for when Babs is in danger, but overall I just can't. The end of the reign of Blue Nobles is powerful. Blue was a rapist. A kidnapper. A stalker. A general menace. Yet, I still feel for him, which I think was the point of it all. Blue has terrorized Paula for money and informs her where he is staying so that she can bring him more, only for Paula to inform Russ, who is hunting Blue down. In the meantime, Lance accurately deduces where someone like Blue would hide out. Lance is still playing the jealous boyfriend (of which boyfriend it is unclear: Blue? Ronnie?), but it's interesting that in the conversation with Ron that he is wearing a blue shirt. This actually makes me like Lance for the first time. As Blue's hours tick down, we get a scene of Miriam praying for Blue hoping that Jesus will help him to find the path to Him. It's all pretty intense stuff, which, out of context of the larger story, would seem hokey, but given all the beats played leading up to it, there is such weight to the material. Russ tracks Blue down to the warehouse and a fight ensues. The verbal back and forth between Russ and Blue is delightful with Russ admitting he can lose people like Lance and Vince, but it is the Loris and Mariannes of the world that make it worth wild. And then, the bomb is dropped; Russ' true motivation for his intense hatred towards Blue. As Blue insists he has never had Lori, he never raped her; he delightfully adds that neither has Russ. This is a such a delicious low below from the writers that Blue has no way of knowing, but sheds light on Russ' character. Russ is pissed because he thinks Blue got to do something he didn't, have sex with Lori. It's a crazy surprise for an already great sequence. At this point, Russ loses control of the gun and now when Russ does finally shoot Blue, it is self defense. And now Russ joins the likes of the truly criminal. Blue's final moments,in the next episode, do find him finding God moments before dying saying Jesus' name in the last seconds of his life. This is pretty profound stuff. In the year prior, we would get so many of these find Jesus moments after literally a single interaction between a believer and a non-believer. This works better for me. Kudos to Vinley for taking the deus ex machina ending of the last writers and making it not only palatable, but powerful. This features Miriam's prayer for Blue and Blue's demise. I feel like Russ' role in all of this should be more controversial than I am taking it. The show has inconsistently shown that Russ still cares for Lori, but I've always found it such a critical part of his character. The show's writers have several lines in episode 440 where they imply Blue and Russ are two peas in a pod. When Russ talks about the Loris and Mariannes of the world, he asks what would be left with them gone and Blue says "You and I." It's really shockingly psychological stuff for a location sequence. It's also wild to have Russ witness Blue's moment of belief when Lori spent months and Marianne spent months trying to convert Russ. Where does Russ go from here? Does his guilt lead him to religion himself or does it lead him deeper into the mob? I think I know the answer, but it provokes such intense questions. Chandler Hill Harben will be missed on this show.

The Miriam-Blue dynamic is intriguing. Miriam is unaware that Blue is the man who attacked Lori and there is a suggestion that Blue is attracted to her in the same way he was Lori. At one point, he asks Miriam about her sex life when she was married, which seemed very disturbing when he said it at the time. In a grander context, I have to wonder if Vinley wasn't trying to keep the haunting spectre of Paul and Lori's "affair" present as a way of keeping Lori very present in the Blue / Miriam situation. For a character who doesn't do much, Lori has many connections of the canvas so a one-time attack can resonate far and wide. Miriam does recite some Bible verses to Blue, but mostly talks about how much Blue loves the story of Samson. It wasn't until yesterday that I considered how much they've really crafted this into a George & Lenny from "Of Mice and Men" situation with Blue, like Lenny, being such a mix of brute strength and childlike naivete. What could easily be a cringe character (and in some ways Blue is) there is so much more depth and humanity instilled into the character than I ever expected. Blue's role in these two critical stories (Lori's attack and Miriam's kidnapping) is such an important cog in the show's success at the moment. I have to wonder if there was ever serious consideration to keeping Blue around with redemption, finding God, and living in Ione Redlon's house while doing some odd jobs. They haven't really mentioned his Cinderella Rapist past much (though Lance and Ron seem to finally accept that Blue is a rapist). Not that I necessarily feel this would be ideal, but I could see the drama of it. Lori and Ben struggling with their faith saying to learn to forgive while not able to accept the realities of living in the same community as the man who hurt Lori. Dave and Terry's arguments when Dave, the recovering alcoholic who killed his own son, supports Blue. Gene's moral dillema when McGovern wants a Gene to do a salacious follow up piece on Blue. The community's gasp when Blue does meet a young woman for the first time who is unaware of his past. @DRW50 I'm slowly warming to Debbie McLeod (or rather cooling my disinterest) as the character's story involving her mental health is treated so differently than I am use to on the soaps. Lori is often talking about overcoming the stigma and correcting people's impressions about those who are deemed mentally ill. Recently, Babs Farley has been hiding out in Fairmount, where Mercy Hospital is located, and runs into Ben and Lori Martin. When Babs makes some tactless comments, Lori corrects her. Babs is definitely uneducated, but she is someone we root for. It's just nice to see that the show addresses how casually people will dismiss what mental health can look like.

I'm somewhere in the 430s. There is really powerful stuff in here that I just wasn't expecting. I always heard that people enjoyed Miriam's kidnapping, but I didn't understand the complexities and richness to the story. Blue isn't treated as a cardboard villain, which would be easy to do given the show's nature on Christian television. Miriam believes he can be saved and has spent time preaching to him about how he needs to serve God and not Ron and Lance. This is borderline absurdist (I'm expecting a few quips from you @Khan ), but the pathos given to the character of Blue gives the moments such weight. Blue has been abandoned by society in so many ways, but not by God. Miriam's attempts to get herself released aren't pure but aren't purely selfish. More of Blue's backstory is given involving his first "girlfriend," a college student who seems to be studying him as some sort of sociology project when he was 16. It's really gut wrenching stuff. There are a couple noteable moments in this end of the story. Miriam states that her captivity is worse than Blue being in foster care. Now, I thought Miriam was told the story about Blue being Blue because that was the color of his stuff at one of the foster homes. I think the oppression Olympics here show that Miriam is still a very privileged woman, though I suspect that might be the intention. In a more shocking moment, to me, Blue has very negative reactions to Miriam mentioning Jesus' name later revealing that was the name that Lori repeated when Blue attacked her. It was a stellar connection to keep the audience aware of both plots. Meanwhile, as Vinley continues to develop the criminal syndicate, I'm more and more interested. Nick Benedict's Ron Washington is a slick member of the upper management who doesn't like to get his hands dirty anymore, but still shows that he has the menace that got him to the top. His penthouse style apartment is very nice. He discussed how he came up through work in Los Angeles, I believe, or maybe that was someone else. Anyway, I thought they were going to pair Nancy and Ron for a minute, but instead, they have kept him loyal to his paramour Ramona, one of the "girls" in the stable. His skimming from the top and side projects (like Miriam's kidnapping) are threatened by Russ' arrival. I didn't like Russ in this story. It felt like an attempt to revisit the original plans from 1981 when Russ went to work for Vince after borrowing the money. I didn't see the point. I get that Russ' presence is a threat to all Ron's side ventures, but there is also a bit of a respect growing between Russ and Nick because of Russ' ambition and his desires. At the lowest levels you have Lance and Blue, Another Life's answer to Lenny and George. They are the enforcers doing the heavy lifting. it is Blue who elicits the most sympathy from me, though Russ did as well in a moment that just came up that I will expand upon in a moment. Beneath the ribbing and the tormenting, Lance does care about Blue. He says more than once that Blue is his best friend. I do think he means that. There relationship does have an unhealthy dynamic to it, but it is also Lance's central emotional connection on the screen. No female love interest as of yet. There was several episodes spent on something that I felt was wildly insignificant, a loyalty test for Russ where he was asked to handle Paula, the sixteen year old runaway that Lance has been pimping out. We met her during November I think. Russ goes to her room as she has been skipping appointments with John's. He's mortified to realize how young she is; he tosses the room, shouts at her, and leaves. It's a chance for Nick and Lance to snicker at Russ, but it plays a deeper role in the coming episodes. In the most critical moment of late, as stories collide, Blue goes to the Chesterfield Clinic to have his bandages removed by Dr. Phillips at the same time Lori, tired of being stuck at home, also goes to the clinic to volunteer leading to a very early in the episode confrontation (maybe shortly after the opening credits) between Lori and Blue with both individuals freaking out. Blue's identity is now revealed to the public. He is a wanted man. This moment has been a waterfall moment. Everything iscoming back to Lori. Blue has had to tell Lance that he has been caught, and Lance is forced to realize what the girlfriend story really means. Nick feels the whole organization is threatened by Blue's stunt as it threatens the stability of the kidnapping plot as well as Blue's involvement in the drug and prostitution. Nick orders Lance to kill Blue, and it's clear that Lance is mortified. It's a satsifying moment for the typically smug Lance who just episodes earlier spoke about Russ' inability to do the job being placed in a similar situation. Lance reports back that Blue is gone, but I don't think we saw what happened once Lance leaves to go to Blue's apartment leaving the edge of mystery about what Lance did or didn't do. In the moment that shocked me the most, though it shouldn't have, Russ arrives and reads the paper with Nick and becomes infuriated because of his connection to Lori. They have always played Russ' love for Lori in a way that it is still very special to him. He knows he cannot have it back, but he will never let anyone else hurt her. He offers to kill Blue, in front of Lance. Kelly Gwinne is impressing me in these sequences as you realize Lance's horror at realizing what the end result of this will be. Nick initially refuses the offer because he doesn't want them using the job to handle personal grudges, but Nick is later impressed by Russ' gumption. It's all powerful stuff. Sprinkled in there has been some other kidnapping stuff. Charles is still working with Harold to gather the ransom without arousing suspicion in the business community. Harold has created some sort of dummy corporation that I suspect will come back to bite them. Gene writes an article, against Charles' wishes, about Miriam's disappearance for the paper, which leads to drama. Gene and McGovern (the editor) are suspicious about Charles' claims and the editor tells Gene to keep investigating. Meanwhile, Marianne has convinced herself that Russ' job is a government position which is why he has to keep it secret. This is probably the most insane thing to me. Marianne and Russ don't work. They look good together. Renee Crawford is a good actress, but there is a certain level of gullible and stupid you need Marianne to be in order for this story to work. And she isn't so it doesn't. Lori's story continues to be very strong for me. The strain this has put on her marriage to Ben is very real and Ben has expressed his frustrations. There are also some very veiled comments that make it clear that Lori and Ben haven't had sex. Before running into Blue, Lori was slowly starting to remember things and was equally desperate to uncover the truth and to keep it hidden. Once Lori learns the truth, Ben assures her that she wasn't raped, but I could see how she wouldn't believe them. No one has told her the truth. There are also hints that she is pregnant, which means she got pregnant back when Jeanette Larson was in the role which was months ago. The timeline might be a bit of a hard sell for me. Meanwhile, Kari Page is starting to look significantly pregnant, but maybe her clothes just aren't flattering. The Phillips family drama is also brewing and it is quiet engaging as we get more and more pieces of the family story. To me, this is the version of the Jeff Cummingsfactory done right. This haunting tragedy, the death of Kevin Phillips in a car crash because Dave was under the influence, is contuining to impact the members today. I didn't realize everyone was in the car when it happened. How brutal. Amber finally confirms that Kate is her mother so we know that Dave is her father, a man she refuse to talk about with Gil. I like Gil and Amber's dynamic. She is very aloof but flirty in a way that Deena Greely wasn't. The way she tries to manage her sister Stacey is also notable. In their first scene, Amber instantly cancels Stacey's order (a Reuben or a pastrami sandwich) and substitutes it for a salad with Stacey complying. It is very telling. I do think there is a suggestion that Amber might feel compelled (at one point anyway) to have looked out for Stacey because clearly their father couldn't and their mother may have been too involved. It's gone beyond that now. Amber is a control freak, but I love the dynamic. Stacey's work at the Kingsley Chronicle puts her in contact with Gene, which in turn given her a direct line to her father. Gene tells Stacey he is doing an article on her father's clinic. While Amber is adamant about disowning Dave, Stacey shows signs of forgiveness. You can see the drama brewing and I am here for it. Dorothy Stinette is in the credits so Kate should be onscreen soon and that should keep things even more interesting. There is a nice beat where Stacey tells Amber about the clinic and Amber immediately assumes that Dave is getting Medicaid kickbacks or from some other government program. It places Dave and Ben's insistence in private donors in another light or at least a shot of hope for Amber down the line at forgiving her father. I already adore Karen Chapman as Stacey. As much as I like the dynamic in the Phillips clan so far, I think she would have been a remarkable Lori. There are lots of little moments in this story that just break your heart. Dave talks about digging in the garden a year after Kevin's death and finding toy soldiers that had more than likely been buried there for more than a decade since Kevin lost them. Dave runs into Amber at a restaurant and she publicly claims no knowledge of who he is and when he tries to broker peace, she threatens to cause a scene. There is a beautiful shot of Amber telling Gil that that terrible excuse for a man was her father as we see Dave staring from across the room. Stacey's slowly emerging happiness at hearing Dave has gotten his life together is also a tender moment. I hadn't been aware that at this late in the game, we would still be hearing about Dave wanting to reunite with Kate, but I guess that makes sense. I just assumed they were going to play Dave and Terry sooner. Nancy's story seems to be mostly in limbo. She still is trying to figure out how to maintain the house. There is a suggestion she is seeking illegal loan for this which I suspect might put her in Ron Washington's orbit again. Nancy and the mob would be fun. I'm surprised how much mileage the show has gotten out Nora's house. The house has gotten more story than Nora ever did. I apologize for the length. I've been watching this week with the flu and haven't had the energy until today to form a proper response.

I did a little work on finding these last winter, but didn't get very far as it was hard to track down any paper that seemed to have the complete run (February 1, 1981 - November 25, 1984). The strip was carried by many papers in its first year, but it pretty quickly faded in circulation numbers. One of the first stories was about Bobby and Pam adopting a child that J.R. claimed was Pam's illegitimate son. Early on, there seemed to be more of a rotating of characters in the central story, but by the end, it was mostly a story about J.R. and Sue Ellen's toxic marriage. The final storyline, if I remember correctly, involved Sue Ellen being kidnapped. The official last print is said to be Sunday, November 25, 1984, but I've never seen that the final strip. All the papers I have found ended on November 24. The November 24th strip was slightly resolved (Sue Ellen was recovered) but there was a lingering questions about J.R.'s retribution.

I saw the Robin Kennemer promo as well. I thought it was more stylized than I expected for the 1970s. Most of the promos I've seen have just been clips of episodes. This was more shots of various characters. In addition, there was a slightly longer version of the Jennifer through the glass promo starting off with Kathy talking to someone about loving Scott even though Jennifer was pregnant with his child. Like maybe 8-10 more seconds

There was also nice movement in the Matt / Ellen story. Matt had saved elitist Boardman's life which put him in the spotlight. Monica asked Matt to assist her in a surgery using the new chair lift he had fought for. The surgery sequence reminded me of Monica's return to the operating room in June, 1992, after the Langton trial was over. It wasn't a necessary beat, but powerful. The surgery goes well with Matt performing most of it, but at the end, there is a issue. A valve is bleeding and needs to be sutured. Monica asks if another doctor needs to step in, but Matt comes through with flying colors and precise sewing skills. I think it is a nice thing to help let the audience know that your doctor can be differently abled and still be a competent surgeon. Additionally, Ellen drops the wig and starts wearing her natural dreads. When Matt comments on the change in hair, Ellen said Matt has taught her that she needs to stop conforming to what people expect to be a doctor and simply be who she is. I thought it was a pretty powerful comment on the racism in the medical profession that I could never see flying today in the more conservative daytime landscape (unless you had a white character explaining it).

I picked up in November 1997 where I left off a while ago starting with November 10. I finished off the month making it to Thanksgiving, 1997. This would be the start of the second month of Lynn Marie Latham's run. I do think the show is getting a bit stronger in most areas, but I don't think there is a strong enough big story to keep an audience tuning in day in and day out. Port Charles is a quieter show in that sense, which seems odd to say about Latham's work. My favorite material involves the Devlin family. In the Loving / The City thread, we've discussed Harding Lemay's comment about The City not being compelling in it's early sequences because it was all set among one generation of characters. This comment would also apply to early Port Charles. I think it helps that they have started to explore multigenerational dynamics more. The Bennett / Nicole / Chris / Eve story has developed nicely in terms of story and characterization with some interesting structural decisions made in the process. The Ellen / Matt / Grace triangle is benefitting from the recognition of the non-traditional family dynamcis with Ellen's role of supervisor of the interns preventing Ellen to committing to a relationship with Matt. Joe and Karen's romance is more interesting because of the needling from all of their assorted family members about what their relationship status is. The Devlin family scenes are some of my favorites. Bennett and Nicole's marriage is toxic. Bennett is a philandeerer and Nicole seems to be having her own mid life crisis by throwing herself into an affair with Dr. Chris Ramsay, who Nicole describes in one scene as a mirror image of Bennett in his youth. Chris and Bennett as the same type makes not only the Nicole / Chris and Nicole / Bennett dynamic intersting, it sets in motion what should be a more solid foundation for Chris and Julie in the future. Nicole isn't really going to bed with Chris; she is trying to relive the love she experienced with Bennett. Barabara Stock does well with the little she gets, but I wish they'd dig deeper. After learning the Julie knew about Eve and Bennett's affair, Nicole berates her daughter only days after Julie has been rescued from Greg Cooper's clutches. Julie's role as Nicole's confidante and Nicole's need for Julie to parent her sets up an interesting role reversal that explains why Julie is such a neurotic mess. Bennett also uses Julie as mediator in his attempts to reconcile with Nicole. All of this culminates in a rather purposely bizarre sequence where Julie dreams of performing surgery with Greg Cooper on her mother while Greg morphs into Bennett during the course of the dream and Nicole into Eve. The sequence ends with Julie stabbing Eve in the stomach on the operating table. I have to wonder at what point Latham was considering going the serial killer route. There are other interesting structural choices made in these episodes. On the way to the Scanlons house to see Julie, Bennett and Nicole both offer up their own versions of how Bennett and Eve's affair began each including competing filmed versions of the stories that play out one after the other. It's an interesting gimmick I have rarely scene in daytime, but it allows the audience to draw their own conclusion. Once the Devlins arrive at the Scanlons, they are surprised by the arrival of Eve and Chris (pre-affair with Nicole) when Eve arrives to get some notes she left in the Scanlon basement from when she shared the space with Julie. Eve walks right between Nicole and Bennett, which is played lowkey but is a delicious visual representation of the role Eve plays in their marriage. Pinson is charismatic and has a nice comedic flair, but occassionally will fall flat in some of the more dramatic material. At one point, Bennett attempts to persuade Eve to tell Nicole that neither Bennett nor Eve loved each other and that was little more than a one-night stand. This lie devastates Eve as there was a time she expected Bennett to leave Nicole for her. Eve confronts Bennett over whether he ever truly loved her, and Bennett backtracks. It's increasingly clear that Bennett is someone who will do whatever it takes to get what he wants. Albert underplays a lot of Bennett's swarminess which is fairly effective, but I'm not convinced it's as nuanced as I would like. Anyway, when Eve does goes to Nicole, Eve reveals what Eve now beleives to be the truth; Eve's love for Benentt was one-sided. He only loved Nikki, but Eve. All of this culiminates in Nicole's proclamation that she will be staying in Port Charles and later informs Bennett and Julie of her plans to divorce Bennett. Julie's reaction to this is pretty prominent, and, if I remember correctly, it plays a role in how she will react to her relationship with Frank down the line. Frank and Julie are very comfortable in their relationship after Julie's kidnapping. Bennett offers Frank the reward money, which he initialyl refuses before telling Bennett to donate the money to the Dominque Baldwin Pediatrics AIDS Wing at General Hospital. Julie and Frank mostly appear in their own stories, which is fine. I like how Frank Scanlon maintains two different jobs. I don't think soaps always do this well. Frank's work as an EMT and a substitute teacher put him in the center of several stories and effectively crosses over nicely at the end of the month in a much larger story that doesn't focus on Frank. Slowly, throughout the month, Frank's next story starts with the arrival of Lark Madison, a student in his class who has an injured arm. Frank has taken Lark to GH in order to have her treated. Karen is the attending who sees Lark, who claims she is just clumsy. Later, Karen is unable to confirm Lark's address, while Lark also skips school to work at Mario's restaurant, which seems to be the new, more upscale, dining location. When Frank stops by Mario's to confront Lark, the teenager has alcohol on her breathe. It's an interesting beat in a mystery that is slowly spiraling out. Speaking of Mario's, Joe and Karen treat Mario, Jr., the owner, for heartburn that he assumes is a heart attack and Mario thanks them with a dinner at his restaurant. It's a comedy of errors as Karen and Joe both get ready for their non-date with Mary, Frank, Julie, and Rhonda all clucking over the date that isn't a date. This is also involves a well directed sequence where Joe and Karen pick up each other lines and the camera matches body movements with Karen going to sit down in her scenes with Rhonda while Joe stands up in his sequence with Frank and Julie. After the non-date, Joe asks Karen out for real. Joe and Karen as played by Dietz and Hammon have a nice rapport. It's not a love for the ages, but it's clear that we are in an era of shows like Chicago Hope and ER where we are firmly in a world where medical romances are popular. There's also a lot of gratuitious shirtless scenes with Karen trying on the dresses for Julie and Julie stripping down for work with Matt walking in on both women shirtless. Later, you have Eve down to her underwear to get Chris out of bed. Chris also walks around in a towel at one poitn. It's all very obvious at times and slightly cheapens the drama. There are some nice beats hit in the Karen / Joe material. Karen talks about how this will be the first time she has been out with anyone since she's been married and how nervous that makes her. When Joe and Karen do go out, it is Joe who wants to slow it down because he doesn't want to be Karen's rebound after Jagger. Joe wants to be there for the long haul. Karen also talks about how hard it is for her constantly wrap her mind around the idea from Joe going from being just her buddy to something more. When Danielle dies at the end of the month, it is Joe and Karen in the operating room. Karen speaks to Joe about how hard she is taking Danielle's death because she was just getting use to patients dying when she didn't know them and how she knew Danielle. I think this story is in a good place, but it was going to need a catalyst for drama that wasn't there. Danielle's death was well done for a character who has had little to no story for much of the last two months that I have seen. In her final days, a run in with Serena at the hospital leads to Danielle have a change of heart and decides she is going to confess to Scott the truth: she is Dominique's half-sister, but she is not Serena's mother. Danielle has planned to flee Port Charles because she has nothing left and to escape Rex's control. In addition, Rex told Danielle that Scott was a danger to Serena, which is why she went along with the scheme. While awaiting the FBI agent at the firehouse, Danielle gets a call from Rex, posing as Jake, saying that he has the FBI agent on his payroll and then alludes to Danielle's impending death. Danielle flees before telling the FBI agent what her role was but leaves a message on Scott's machine before disappearing. Danielle's accident occurs offscreen. Instead, the episode ends with a woman being brought into the ER after a car accident and everyone learning it is Danielle. The next episode only deals with Danielle's surgery and everyone waiting to find out the results. There are a lot of nice character beats. Matt wants to know what caused the accident for Jake's sake seemingly alluding to the nature of his own accident that left him paralyzed. Scott tells Jake he knows what he's going through alluding to Dominique. After we are told Danielle has died in surgery, Kevin goes as far as to speak about Grace's death (without naming her). There's a lot of assumption of GH lore in these scenes and I am starting to see why the show felt in the long run they wanted to cut ties from that. I still think its fairly well done. Rib Hillis, while a beautiful man, isn't the strongest dramatic actor. With that said, Pinson's scenes had me cringing more than Hillis, but Pinson's presence is more laid back overall than Hillis'. The Scott / Lucy / Kevin stuff involving Rex has been slightly more enjoyable than I remember it. Lucy and Kevin go to the Cayman Islands in a sequence that seems like a more subdued version of the Eve / Kevin stuff I saw in the summer of 1999. Andrew Lee was the director of an episode that had a very nice overhead shot of the Cayman Islands hotel room from the view of the ceiling fan. These kind of shots are not done often in daytime anymore so it stood out. Honestly, the production values in terms of how scenes are put together and some of the filming techniques are surprising. There was another sequence (a surgery) that was filmed using the hand held cameras which were shaky. It worked for the intensity of the situation, but it was carried over into some other scenes and it was less effective. I believe one of the medical shows had used a similar format. The bulk of the plot in the story is Scott and Rex each trying to gaslight the other. Scott manages to lure Rex's PI to his side and then claims he has Rex's chef on the payroll. Rex claims he has the FBI agent in his pocket. It's a lot of back and forth and often things are purposely ambigious, which I don't mind but I could see as bothering others. I've seen better Riche produced gaslighting tales. In an exposition dump to Danielle, we get more details about Rex's stint in a mental institution which Rex claim was instigated by his brother Avery Stanton (Domique and Danielle's father) and insinuated that he was very aware that he was surrounded by psychopaths. It leaves the source of Rex's mental health issues up in the air as well as giving motivation to why Rex is so determined to get the money. Lucy's sidequest to find information about Serena Ltd, which was a shell company I believe that Rex funneled money into to make it look like Scott was stealing the inheritance, has her doing her schtick with a Cayman Islands banker which is fine. Then, she comes up with the idea to kill off Scott so that they don't need Scott there. It plays out better than I can explain it. It's not my favorite stuff, but its solid plot movement in the story. Towards the end of the month, Lucy thinks the only way to get to Rex is to fake a break up with both Kevin and Scott in order to allign herself with Rex with Rex believing this will be the only way Lucy can get access to Serena. This arc makes sense to me and is messy as you have Lucy and Kevin still trying to have a baby and talking about their wedding at some point. The other noteworthy thing to mention is the brief custody hearing where Justus Ward defends Scotty and the Baldwins (Gail and Lee) securing temporary guardianship of Serena for Gail and Lee. Interesting enough, Dominic Hoffman appears as Byron Rollins, Rex's attorney. I believe this is the same character who defended Tiffany Donnelly in her suit against the Jones for Lucas back in 1993. I think Latham is making strides, but I feel like I don't remember there being much of an energy shift in the January 1998 episodes I watched within the last few years.

Having watched Palumbo's 1990 General Hospital in recent years has helped frame Rituals in a different context because there is a lot of repetition (as there is with so many headwriters given the output expectations of the genre). I still don't think the first six months is the most compelling narrative in the history of soap opera, but I think it would be interesting to see more of how the show developed over those initial months and all the stops and starts. I think there are some story twists that seem decent. For example, Patrick Chapin's death and the ensuing battle for heirs seems mildly intriguing. I believe the show was setting up Tom Gallagher as Sarah's son by Patrick Chapin early on before they went and revealed that Carter Robertson was Patrick's son. I think once they decided to kill off Eddie, and Patrick was already dead, the change in Tom's paternity wouldn't have had as much bite, though it probably was intended to play into the revelation that Mike was the father of Diandra's baby. I'm much more interested in Raymond Goldstone's work (March until about June, 1985) when Jorn Winter seems to take a deeper role in the creative end and we end up with young rich bitch in training Julia Field falling for African American cop, Lucky Washington, Sarah Gallagher on trial for murdering her abusive husband Eddie to protect her daughter, Noel, C.J. Field's arrival in Wingfield to takeover Chapin Industries, the kidnapping of Mark Field by the white supremacist group the American Crusaders, and the introduction of Christina's former madam sister Lisa Thompson. I also would be curious to see Stacey Anderson and Steve Burkow finishing off the show to see how to two relatively soap novices did at writing an off network show as they seemed to do a lot of social issue plots (or continued them) and plots that were just different for soap opera. I'd really be curious to see how they mingled the political drama involving C.J.'s campaign for governor with the ongoing business machinations involving the Chalon formula while also telling the romantic stories between Dakota / Mike while Lacey starts having an affair with Larry Burns, the father of her former foster daughter. While it's understandable why there is more available of Palumbo's I can't help but wish there was more later in the run material.

@Khan I think "Search for Tomorrow" is an apt comparison. Joanna Lee spoke about how the half-hours needed to compete with the hour shows by providing the same type of stories, but I think you are right. Those type of adventure plots are hard to achieve because of the necessary resources and story space. I think that the show was trying to figure out what to do with Kevin and Eve as a couple. At some point, Eve is tormented with the idea that the son she had by DV Bordisso was alive. I imagine the original endgame was to have that become the reality. From the weekly summaries from earlier in 1999, Eve was suffering from endiometriosis and there were questions about whether or not she would be able to become pregnant. Psychiatrist Kevin and his spy father Victor involved in a plot involving both their careers on paper sounds smart, but it's not super interesting. I imagine when you are telling a story about a serial killer being released from a mental hospital, a couple gaslighting a young sexual assault survivor that her boyfriend is a sex addict, and a love triangle involving a father and son where the father assaulted the female leg of the triangle by coercing her into sex during a stint with amnesia, you see the psychic spy stuff as lighter fare. With all that darkness, the show doesn't feel heavy 24/7 because there is a lot of emotional beats around family, friends, and romantic interests. I think you can effectively do some of the psychological adventure stories on the half-hours effectively. I think you could pare down the Ryan Chamberlain saga on GH from 1992-1993 into something smaller in scale. Rusty Sentell gaslighting his daughter-in-law Liza in order to end her marriage to his son Travis is effective in plotting, but not motivation (Rusty was looking to secure a grandchild to access the General's fortune). Vargas kidnapping Jo was also effective on the same series. I really enjoyed Amy Morris, the crazy babysitter, kidnapping Ryan Fenelli and Maeve Ryan thinking Ryan was the baby she aborted and Maeve was her former boyfriend's controlling mother. I think your larger point about these grand adventures is completely accurate, but I also think that the 1980s style big adventure stories could only be effectively done by a handful of writers, while most writers and their teams can make domestic stories semi-effective mostly until the early 2000s. The Livvie story a year later seems a more effective use of Eve and Kevin.

I did end up watching Kimberlin Brown's arrival. Rachel's introduction was intended as a Friday cliffhanger for Friday, July 23, 1999, but a preemption left it as the Monday, July 26, 1999, cliffhanger with her more in-depth scenes on Tuesday. Rachel is brash and a bit abrassive having been lured by Chris Ramsey to take over Julie Devlin's case from Kevin Collins. During Rachel's consultation with her, Julie is evasive leading Rachel to bluntly ask what it was like to walk in on her brother Buddy after he had blown his brains out. Maybe Rachel wasn't that crass, but it doesn't seem out of the realm of possibility. I had forgotten that little detail of the Devlin family history (Rachel finding Buddy). In the aftermath, Rachel tells Chris she'll take the case and Julie makes it clear that she doesn't trust Rachel (comparing her to the sharks she saw at the aquarium when she was younger). The Devlin family history was very twisted and I could imagine the Bennett / Buddy / Allison (Buddy's fiancee) situation playing out as a sorta darker take on the Alan / AJ / Nikki Langton story. Maybe its a superficial comparison, but it seems that the Devlins seemed to have the foundation to be "Port Charles'" answer to the Quartermaines. I think Chris and Nicole Devlin also had had an affair so the whole Julie - Chris dynamic was twisted as well. No wonder Julie was a mess. In the other main story of interest (to me at least) in these episodes was Frank's renovation of a bar (maybe the Recovery Room? Whatever it is it sounds like Mary owns it), which leads to a celebration and lots of accolades being made about Frank in front of Karen and Joe. Joe, who apparently has held on telling their mother about Frank's deception leading to Karen and Joe's breakup, finally lets the cat out of the bag and informs Mary of what her eldest son has done. Initially, Mary rejects Joe's claims, but as the conversation goes on, Mary starts to turn. Pat Crowley does a decent job in this sequence with her loyalty shifting from one son to another with an unnerved Courtney fluttering in the background (afraid Frank will be a turncoat and reveal her role in the breakup). The resulting spiral of confrontations with Frank is fascinating with Frank desperately trying to regain control of the situation before turning on Mary saying she has always sided with Joe (even though moments earlier she cannot believe what Joe said) and then leans into the Scanlons' own twisted family history reminding Joe how many beating Frank took from Pops Scanlon to protect Joe. It's all a well done mirror to the dsyfunctional family history on display in Julie's story. I think there were also some bits of the psychic spy crap with Victor, previously presumed dead, now alive and helping Eve in a mock up of Jasmine Island or something. It's all not very compelling to me, but, at times, I get what they are trying to do (a psychological adventure story with a more modern twist), but like a lot of the GH stories from the early 1990s, it's not my cup of tea.

This preview from the Brazilian airing (under the name "Rituais da Vida) shows a brief glimpse from either the same episode or an episode after: This clip features Jeff (Tim Maier) being arrested. A generic promo probably announcing the show with clips from the first episodes: And another promo from one of the episodes we've already seen a clip of earlier this fall:

@robbwolff It is an easy mistake. I think Maeir's Jeff Robertson was Noel's chief romantic interest early on. She wanted Brady, got him in the sack in the first week or so, and then schemed to break up Dakota and Brady while dating her cousin's stepson, Jeff. I wonder if it was ever established how long Christina and Carter had been married. I find it odd how the show was completely cool with Jeff and Noel being a couple when there seems to be an implication they were raised as family. Christina was only Sarah's niece, but it wasn't like they weren't involved in each other's lives. Noel never seems to get a romantic interest that I think she deserves.She and Jeff were together on and off, but she mostly wanted Brady I think. Brady might give her a bit of the time of day towards the end when Dakota is being weaved into the Mike / Lacey story. There was a relationship between Noel and her psychiatrist, but even that seems to just be in a stalling pattern (but there may have been a switch from Ray Goldstone to Stacey Anderson and Steve Burkow as headwriters). I would like to see what would have happened if they tried her and Clay Travis or even someone older maybe like a professor at Haddon Hall.

@DRW50 Thanks! I love that these snippets keep popping up. I'm pretty sure this is from October, 1984. In the Eddie Gallagher scene, he is on the phone with Carter Robinson discussing the murd/er of Sammy Loakes, who Eddie dumped into the lake at the Willows. I also believe, but we need to look at it again, but @robbwolff I think that is Marc Poppel's Brady (not TIm Maier's Jeff) softly letting Noel down so that he can go to the Cannon Ball with Dakota (Claire Yarlett, who was out in late November). Unless Maier pops up at the end and I missed it. Karen Kelly is impressive in that sequence, and I have often found a lot of her (brief) performances in the role online very flat. She is very effective in this material as genuinely hurt by Brady's decision to not to pursue a romantic relationshipafter she emotionally manipulated him into sex shortly after his mother's death. That scene between Eddie and Noel is a little more insidious when we realize Noel later murdered Eddie because of his abusive relationship with her. I really liked this initial Gallagher's bar set that was later replaced with something more upscale. In story, I think the revamp was used to bring in "the college crowd," but as the story continued, I feel like the class conflict was deemphasized in some ways. My favorite bar in college was the local dive bar, but maybe I'm the odd man out on that one. There is a certain seediness in this original set that I really like. This version of Gallaghers' is probably derived from the original premise where Jenny Barnes (Stephanie Braxton) ran a truck stop. This gives off that vibe. The later set feels more generic to me, but it is a lovely set. @MissPalmer would also enjoy this.

I do think part of the issue with Bordisso is the timing of his arrival. He is introduced late February, 1999, and Latham is out the door in very early May, 1999. There was a little over two months of set up before Hamner, who was already on the team, took over. I think Latham may have left due to illness, or maybe that was just an excuse to politely fire her. Anyway, I get the general idea of DV being Scott's father, but it just seems to be lacking the oomph. Having watched a bit of Scotty's early 1990s episodes, the relationship between Scotty and Lee was so layered and complicated. This complication didn't really add anything to that so I guess I am just wondering where they expected this to go in the long run. Bordisso is out early December. Hannan Carrouthers comes in late December, but may not be credited until January. I know she is credited for bringing on Erin Gray as Nicole Devlin who appears in December. Hamner is out in late January. There is no writer in February and Harris arrives in early March. It feels like Bordisso was part of a housecleaning between TPTB. Van Drusen also immediately returned to "The Young and the Restless" as Keith Dennison so it might have been the actor's decision to cut and run. I don't think van Drusen was under contract. The show definitely lacked clear villains early on. I think that's why I like the messier Frank and Courtney and the slightly unhinged Julie. Julie's reaction to Lee surviving the embolism is diabolically campy, yet slightly enjoyable. Rachel was only a few weeks from arriving in the place I stopped (July 9th, she's there two weeks later). I like what I've seen of Rachel, but she definitely feels like a smaller scale (yet more effective) villain that what was originally intended. I think her involvement with Julie and later the larger feud with Kevin over Grace was smart. I'm curious if Kimberlin Brown would have stayed another year or more had Harris and Bloom stayed as headwriters. Or if she left, would they have recasted given how integral she was becoming to the canvas by that point. It's a shame Scott leaves after Christina's kidnapping because I think the Baldwin unit was so well developed removing him undermined a lot of that. During the DV era, I believe they also, for a hot minute, tried to make Victor Greg Cooper's father, which I think would make sense if anyone in the audience thought Greg Cooper had a lifespan outside of a sweeps month. In another one of my "Port Charles" jaunts this weekend, I was looking for the sequence from 2000 where Claire Wright dies. In that search, I found some very solid scenes with Alan Quartermaine coming to see Karen about her pill problem during the Nurses' Strike. The history between Karen and Alan was very integrated given Alan's connection to Rhonda, the bond Karen once shared with Jason, and Alan's own history of addiction. It's a shame more wasn't done with Monica's ties to the Baldwin clan through Gail, but I thought it was all very good. A lot of the bigger story on "Port Charles" may be tough, but so much of the domestic conflicts are fairly well done.

@DRW50 The Lee stuff is fairly well done and feels intricate to the story and not necessarily just filler. Lee's role as Julie's legal guardian given hercompetency is significant and Julie and Chris' challenge of Lee's role is what leads to the dramatic moment where it looks like Lee is having a heart attack. Chris actually accompanies Lee back to Port Charles saying that he helped save his life, which is undermined in a very low key way by revealing Lee's problem was an embolism and not a heart attack as the meds Chris administered for the heart attack had no impact. It's a sequence which spirals in several ways. It brings the Baldwin clan together, who feels tighter and more developed than I felt in a lot of earlier sequences with Karen's monologue on her dream grandparents and Gail's confession that Lee still hopes that one day Lee and Scott will work together again. Most beautiful though are the moments alone between Scott and Lee where Lee has resigned to his fate (Monica has, off screen, confirmed that there is a low likelihood Lee will survive) and Scott has to be the one to uplift his father and convince him to fight. There are clearly other threads building. With Lee incapacitated, he won't be able to fight Chris and Julie when they want to install Darren Leopold as Julie's new guardian. This also will enhance the animosity between Chris / Julie and Scott / Lucy as Scott and Lucy are fostering baby Christina. While this health crisis certainly drives the plot, it is also a moment to explore the dynamics of the Baldwin clan. This episode might be worth a peak. It features Lee / Scott's conversation about DV / Lucy framed in the experience Scott had with Laura / Luke. It also includes Gail / Lucy discussing the incident with Lucy / DV and Gail, as a psychiatrist, framing it as something damaging that was done to Lucy. It's very nice to see Lee and Gail in support of Lucy. Lee also goes to confront Chris and Julie after Chris' news broadcast where he alludes to Lee keeping Julie locked up to manage her estate. It ends with Lee's health crisis and Gail calling Scotty to come to the hospital. This episode features the more emotional Baldwin family moments. Gail pleading with Lee is heartbreaking. Marie Wilson has been in the role of Karen under 2 weeks and does a decent job selling the connection to the Baldwin clan. This features the Lee / Scott scenes starts at 15:22 with the rest of the family scattering leaving to some very wonderful work from Shriner and Hansen. In an era for the genre where this kind of character work was fading, this is a standout sequence. @Vee The psychic spy stuff is definitely ingrained in the fabric of the GH universe from the Ice Princess through Casey the Alien and beyond. Riche's early adventure sequences were more grounded (even the Paloma / San Sebasitan stuff which I believe may have been cooked up by consultant Anne Howard Bailey seemed more down to earth) and I know she's about six months from turning over PC to Julie Hannan Carrouthers. I get what they are trying to do but it is such a tonally clash with the rest of the show, as you stated. There's also some stuff I skimmed over about Victor's electronic role playing game and some of the spy gear stuff that I think is suppose to evoke a level of modern day suspense paired with pop culture camp with references to "Austin Powers" and the inclusion of Peter Zorin. None of it really works for me, but I know there is some later stuff involving Eve where she has been convinced her child is alive that I will eventually have to get to that seems like it might be a better balance of the absurd and the emotional. The Noel Clinton stuff occurs on the cusp of Lynn Latham departing and Scott Hamner assuming the reigns. I want to say it is set up in episodes still attributed to Latham, but he appears under Hamner. This is all the first week of May, which I believe also focuses on Lucy (as an amnesiac believing she is Eve White) and DV sleeping together. I want to say all of the Noel Clinton sequences are in a single episode. I haven't seen enough of DV to make a firm opinion. Most of the stuff I've seen isn't great, but Riche typically allowed villains to have more layers than I've seen yet with DV. It's just very intriguing that so much story space is spent establishing the rewrite of Scotty's paternity in the very real timeline. The one thing I don't think completely works is that Lee and Scott's bond is so strong and it was long established that Scott was Lloyd Bentley's son. Changing this doesn't change the relationship between Scott and Lee. I think they could have gone one of two routes to make this dynamic more interesting. Either establishing that Meg and DV had a child that DV raised that was a half-sibling to Scott (I'd go with a sister to pair with Kevin and shift Eve back to the younger set) or establish that DV's late wife and Lee had been involved with DV having raised Lee's biological child. DV as Scott's father is the more traditional route, but I think they could have extracted more by going a slightly different path. I almost wonder if Rachel Locke as Lee's daughter and DV's surrogate would have worked.