dc11786

@slick jones Confirmation that Anne Lockhart's character was who I suspected, Susan Walker, the first victim of the Campus Strangler. Also, the first printed confirmation I've seen, other than IMDb, that Dana Halsted was Francie. Halsted looks like Lauren Marie Taylor. This is Greg Lewis (Larry Poindexter) and Pam Evans (Rachel Todd) from early in the show's run when they were a couple.

Thirty-three hour long scripts were written. Each script has a part one and part two. So what I have described as Episode 49 is a script titled N.D.E. #125 and describes the events in Part 1 of the episode. In the end, there are sixty-six episodes that aired. Most markets in the states aired the show twice a week. I have seen some markets that also aired it daily in the morning so I am assuming that some places bought the G-rated episodes that were also produced. From November, 1982, until May, 1983, Showtime would air 3 weeks of 2 episodes a week and then typically would run a week with the prior six episodes airing over the course of a single week.

The episode where Jason Aldrich is killed (May or June 1981) is available at the Paley Center. Mona's kidnapped by Catherine Shaw and Jason tries to save his mother only to be shot during the process. So a little over six months since he died. Mona dies in August 1982 during the plague storyline. The Christmas tree gag was used many years later on "Days of our Lives" when Gary Tomlin and Christopher Whitsell were writing. Kate Roberts and Jordan Ridgeway both brought Rafe Hernandez the same tree when he was in the hospital for some reason. It's a shame the final two years are mostly gone.

Episode 49 Filmed on December 3, 1982 Aired Tuesday, June 14, 1983 on Showtime Local lothario Biff Lewis, returning from a business trip to Santa Fe, has picked up a hitchhiker, Amy Stanley, and stopped at a roadside motel for a quick sexual encounter. His brother Greg Lewis stops by to visit his best friend, Clint Masterson, to find his friend sullen and unwilling to discuss the source of his moodiness; Clint had spotted his girlfriend Pam Evans in a poolside dalliance with Clint's former lover Miranda Stevens. At the Lewis mansion, Pam tries to navigate the morning after with Miranda, who clearly has gotten what she wanted (Pam's mind off of Clint) and wants little more to do with the young woman. After convincing her friend Laurel Franklin to lie for her, Cynthia Claybourne and her father Emmett have a heated exchange over Emmett's possessiveness and Cynthia's investigation into her mother and brother who fled Eden years earlier. The scene ends with Emmett attacking his own daughter suggesting he is going to rape her. Government representative Josh Collier goes to see police chief Lockhart about the investigation into the Campus Strangler who has raped and murdered three women. Josh, who works for AURIC, has been pressed by his employer to put pressure on Lockhart because the investigation hinders their success of Eden as a model of urban rejuvenation. Josh wants Lockhart to interrogate Emmettl Claybourne because he attempted to rape Gail Lee, another AURIC representative. Back at the motel, Amy wants to continue to see Biff after their tryst, but Biff claims he is married to Francie and has a kid to get out of maintaining a commitment, which Amy understands complimenting Biff for his "honesty." While Miranda awaits her nephew Biff's return, Miranda pleasantly shocked by her brother-in-law Bryan Lewis' return from Atlanta, but less pleased by the Bryan's surprise, Madge Whitehead Ravenal. Bryan instructs Honey the maid to place Madge in the suite next to Bryan's own bedroom. In Bryan's office at Lewis Electronics, Josh informs his superiors at AURIC over the phone of the conversation with Lockhart regarding the investigation into the Campus Strangler. A hostile Miranda arrives still stewing over Madge's arrival in Eden and the impact it will have on Miranda's own romantic designs for Bryan. Miranda calls Emmett at home and the audience sees Cynthia wrapped her robe in the fetal position as the phone rings unanswered. When no one answers, Miranda lets it slip that she also couldn't locate Emmett the night the last murder in Eden occurred. Amy and Biff say their goodbyes as Amy waits for her car to be fixed and Biff prepares to return to Eden. After Biff drives off, Amy realizes her gloves and pantyhose are in the glove box, which Amy fears will be found by Biff's "wife." Logan appears at the Clayborne home causing Cynthia to beg him to leave. Emmett returns and Logan greets him as father. Written by Doug Marland Script by Patrick Mulcahey Cast: Grant Wilson as Biff Lewis ???? as Amy Stanley Jack Wagner as Clint Masterson Maggie Sullivan as Miranda Stevens Rachel Todd as Pam Evans Larry Poindexter as Greg Lewis Britt Helfer as Cynthia Clayborne Jeff Severson as Emmett Clayborne Steve Carlson as Josh Collier Catherine Curry as Honey Don Matheson as Captain Tim Lockhart Jim McMullan as Bryan Lewis Jane Elliott as Madge Whitehead Ravenal ???? as Logan Clayborne

From an Ismael Carlo interview on the Santa Barbara Le Site Francais. Carlo seems innocent, but the treatment of Ruben is pretty wild. In the Bible, he is described as being at the same level of C.C. with having dreams for his children and then he is later ignored and said to have abandoned Rosa and the kids without even a real exit plot. I like the idea of Santana and Brick because Santana was so obsessed with her childhood fascination with Channing Jr. that her connection with Brick made psychological sense. I also though having her raise Johnny would give her the chance she never had with Brandon. Santana easily could have become involved with others. I'd be curious to see how she would have done in a triangle with Kelly and Ric Castillo and/or Kelly and Robert Barr. I really liked the suggestion in 1991 that the Andrades had their land which became the Oasis Hotel swindled by C.C. Santana becoming a major player in the business world was some equivalent to Brooke Logan and the BeLieF Formula in terms of potential to rock the show's core. Keith to me is a successor to Kirk, who himself was a successor to Jack Lee. I also prefer Linda Gibboney / Ava Lazar Gina/Santana dynamics so its hard to enjoy what Gina Gallego's Santana becomes even though I think she is more than capable of playing a stronger Santana. I know Mattson's Gina is more memorable to most (and certainly there longer) but I like the more neurotic Gina who is present in 1984-1985. I'm not sure how invested the Dobsons were in Warren as a character. He was originally set to be killed off after being revealed as Channing, Jr.'s murderer. I don't think the change occurred because of an intense desire to save John Allen Nelson, but rather because of the dramatic potential of revealing that a mother shot and killed her own (presumed) son. I haven't seen the bits that suggest that Warren might be C.C.'s son, but I don't doubt it. At times, I suspect they were also considering John Beck's David Raymond as Warren's biological father. Years ago, I suggested the less convoluted (or maybe more convoluted) rewrite would have been to have Eden as "Channing Jr." kidnap Minx before Eden fled Santa Barbara and have him deviously reveal to Minx that just as Minx had switched him at birth, "Channing Jr." had manufactured the evidence that Cassandra was her daughter.

Pretty sure it was on the writing team (most likely Sussman). There was another nepotism joke on in the story earlier. I believe said daughter of the producer replaced Jessica on the soap. I also believe there were some snarky remarks in some episode outline notes I have or have seen. I think the swipes are nothing different than what has been said on the soap boards for years. In some ways, I think the dynamics of Jessica's story may mirror not word for word) the situation with Brenda Dickson. Barbara Rhoades' Jessica definitely gives off a Dickson-esque drag performance at times. Given the daytime landscape of 1990, it probably wasn't strong enough. It seems to fit in with my image of NBC daytime of that period, but that isn't really known as the halcyon days. I think the material surrounnding Ruth and Doreen tends to be incredibly strong and I really wish that Sussman had been given another two years to get the show into place. It probably would have ultimately been cancelled anywat, but I think a lot of the material had potential to work really well. It's crazy to think about how quickly the Whitmore family was deconstructed with the jettisoning of J.D. fairly early, which makes sense since his romance with a trans woman was nixed in pre-production. Younger male lead Cory McCallum was also quickly written out before even getting much of a story. Then, Rebecca and Trevor are both dumped around the same time and Laura seems to become supporting at best. Sam is the only one of any prominence until Peter returns and ultimately Chantal gets more of a presence once Debbi Morgan is cast.

Kim's 1982 return feels forced. Once Michael was dead, it seemed like Labine and Mayer were quick to dispense with Kim. Given they were about to start the soap opera story, it would have made more sense to place Kim in that story as a rival to Barbara Wilde and play a Kim / Seneca / Barbara triangle. I can see how the additif a child would complicate things, but the child easily could have been dispensed to an (off-screen) nanny. So for her to return in March, 1982, after the conclusion of the "Proud and the Passionate" story seems network dictated. Reading the summaries made it clear that the "Kirklands Hope" label was a bit of an exaggeration. Before the oral history, I figured this was something that was cooked up by bitter actors who were sidelined during the time (mostly Ron Hale). The oral history really shed light on the "them vs. us" nature of the cast.

I am into early October, 1990. The transition at the six month marks are pretty rough when they are writing out a bunch of characters (Martin and Rob with Jason now recurring) and the introduction of new characters (Ron Harper as Mr. Williams/Peter Whitmore). I do think the decision to reveal that Danielle is Adam's daughter as Peter returns to town with the clear intention of having another paternity reveal about to happen (Chantal is Peter's daughter) is delightfully wicked. Hindsight gives a different view on the scenes where Ruth goes in on Doreen for her deception regarding her child, while the show is slowly starting to lay the groundwork for the next big story. I can now see why the show was keeping Doreen on the edge of the story and moving her into Peter Whitmore's orbit towards the end in order to really lean into that drama. Kyle and Sam are a great couple even when I don't always love the story. Stacey Nelkins' Chrissy Russell is a relic of the era, a pure unhinged interloper with no real goals outside getting herself her man (Kyle). Do these types still exist in daytime? I don't like Jessica and Reginald, though Jessica's art caper has inspired a movie idea which she tries to sell to her old soap producer, the Bill Bell esque Leonard Cooper, who quickly plots to use the movie idea for a vehicle for his daughter. The shade is very real. I'm not a big fan of the Eric Royal drug dealing in prison plot. It's purely plot. I almost wonder if the show would have been better off playing this all out during sweeps because from what I remember, November is pretty dull. Kyle and Sam marry and I imagine Peter reveals himself to Sam but I don't remember much of the other plots coming together.

The advertising may not be hitting it on the head the way it should, or maybe we are too far removed from the period, but I think the emphasis is suppose to be on the mood of soaps in the 1980s. This was a cable soap opera, but it wasn't embracing the "Ice Princess" style capers (yet) that most of the shows of the era were. The show's initial murder mystery does descend into utter chaos as the deranged psychiatrist kidnaps the young ingenue Jennifer Catlin after he had been trying to place subliminal memories inside her mind (I believe this was when creator C.T. McIntyre acted as interim headwriter between Sam Smiley and Steve Lehrman). The overall tone though was on family conflict (the rivalry between the Catlins and the feuds fueled by the marriage of Eleanor Quinn and Jonathan Catlin) and romantic conflict (the quad between the brothers Dr. Matt and race car driver Beau and the reporter, Lauren Woodward, who was investigating their sister's murder charge case). It's later under Steve Lehrman (formerly a script writer of "Edge of Night") when more of the action and adventure elements start to be introduced and continue until the show's conclusion.

I think the fluidity of the show helped the younger set of "Loving" as the show was quite willing to change actors, characters, and personalities at the drop of the hat until they found what worked. In hindsight, the college revamp of 1992 only provides us two long standing characters (Cooper and Casey) surrounded by a string of duds (Hannah, Staige, and Kent) and one holdover (Ally). Things don't really pull themselves together until Millee Taggert and Robert Guza introduce Steffi, who is strong out of the gate but morphs when Nixon decides she wants to redo Claudette/Margo with Steffi/Deborah. The fact that both actresses are still in daytime (Laura Wright and Amelia Heinle) speaks to this go with the flow nature.

The Corringtons also worked on "Rituals" briefly during the pre-production period in 1984. I think they wrote a bible for the show that I have some pages of and discussed briefly in the thread for that show. In looking at the 1980 summaries of "Search for Tomorrow," I found the period where it becomes clear they are leaving (February-early May), a bit of a drag because the stories are clearly stalling other than the drug plotline involving the Boilmaker and Beau Mitchell. They even seem to scrap the setup for a Liza / Travis / Allison Snowden triangle. I enjoy early "Texas" from what I've seen (August-November, 1980). I think there was a lot of potential in that foundation and I am sorry they didn't get to see it through a bit longer. If they could have survived long enough to make it through the strike, I am curious where things would have gone.

I think Jill was born in Australia. The original on-air backstory was that Ed served in the military and I believe was stationed in Australia where Jill belonged to a one of Ed's late service member pals. Bess choosing to go there may have been because she had ties to Australia, which, in turn, was the reason that Jill and Maggie joined her there. Kim going to Australia was probably because you wanted to send someone somewhere where they wouldn't be just a quick flight to return. Kim was written out by Labine right? Labine seemed done with Kimberly post-1981 strike.

I'm by no means an expert, but I have noticed in the sporadic viewing of (random) episodes from the early years how powerful the characterization is for both Cruz and Eden and the resulting conflict between their two very different personalities. I find something is lost later on when Eden mellows as they seem to end up in the heat of a lot of action and adventure material, which is a shame because it doesn't really highlight their strengths as performers though A Martinez does a bang up job selling the day to day insanity they throw at Cruz. Part of the issue in Eden's early characterization is the Daddy's Girl issues that also seem to mellow. Her hatred for Sophia isn't solely based on her own abandonment issues, but rather the pain that it has caused her father. I think Eden's involvement with older man Jack Lee, which I don't think went anywhere due to Joel Crothers death, would have emphasized that. I often wonder what would have happened if they had maintained Eden's involvement with a rich older father figure type who would have been that source of conflict especially since Jack was involved in law and could have easily had professional conflict with Cruz. I also wish that a more vibrant characterization for Santana had been maintained throughout performers. I actually find Wanda DeJesus compelling in 1991 and wish that they had tried to revisit Santana and Cruz at that juncture. Carrington Garland definitely shouldn't have been dumped. I'm one of the few that enjoys what I've seen of 1991, and I still think that was a huge mistake. I do see where the Dobsons could have struggled with some of Garland's performances (I find her Kelly, on some occasions, more flighty than I imagine they saw her). I think the Dobsons wanted a more neurotic Kelly, which I think they thought Davidson could give them. I think they should have let Garland play that out because I think she would have been fine. I am curious if the international sales had anything to do with the nature of the show. If the hour long show was sold overseas and aired in 2 half-hour segments, I could see why you would want to keep the show's cast a little tighter and the pacing a little bit quicker. I notice in the "New Day in Eden" scripts I have characters/plots can go missing for long stretches when they are broken up. With that said, the original multiple family structure should have been maintained. The biggest issue was casting in those early episodes with some of those family units. The Perkins are wildly miscast. The Andrades less so but once Ismael Carlo pissed off the Dobsons, Ruben was crucified and set in motion the unravelling of that family. I would love to see an alternate reality of SB where Santana was the central figure instead of Cruz and Eden.

While I love the sentiment,you know we would have to hear the little girl who played Violet sing it because that's where we are at. I think they were teasing Finn and Alexis, and maybe we would have gotten there eventually. Given the fact that Gregory brought up Finn's fling with Jackie before he died, as well as the brewing rivalry between Tracy and Alexis over Gregory's literary legacy, I cannot imagine a fling between Finn and Alexis wasn't going to happen. I'd suggest shortly after Alexis has to defend Finn when Brooklyn and Chase go for custody of Violet during Finn's drinking (as that's where it seems this is all going as of my viewing of last week's episodes).

Between Mark Philpot and Tai Tran? Philpot is older by 4 years. https://www.ebar.com/story.php?ch=news&id=246194

I'm assuming your mother is Marilyn Martin. She was quite good from what I've seen (which is limited), but others have complimented her work. I've seen her praised as being one of the stronger local actors who was working in those early months. Her character seemed to go through a bit of a shift from more manipulative (her character was married into the Catlins, but she was the daughter of their enemy Medger Quinn). When I saw her character (July, 1983), her character had already been softened a bit as she was pregnant. I've only seen one episode with Marilyn Martin's Eleanor Quinn Catlin. It was on YouTube years ago from early July, 1983. In it, Eleanor and Jonathan (Jerry Homan) were putting together the nursery. I haven't seen it in years, but your mother was pretty strong in the role. It's a shame her character was killed off, I believe as part of a drug smuggling storyline involving her character's brother Cullen and her politiically ambitious husband Jonathan. I have seen an episode from March, 1984, and Eleanor was already dead. I do have a publicity shot of your mother. I'll upload it in a bit.

I still find the show oddly engaging. I watched Wednesday and Thursday, both of which were pretty strong in my opinion. It helped that a good amount of the story carried over from one episode to the other. The bulk of the work in Gregory's death story works for me. I think it helps that I didn't start watching until a few months ago so I don't have years of built up animosity (probably deservingly so) that impacts my ability to enjoy the story. In the past, Mulcahey has also spoken about some of his own issues with his father (I believe in reference to Buzz Cooper on Guiding Light) so a lot of the emphasis and detail in this story doesn't surprise me. I think a lot of the work on character dynamics these past few months really pays off well in this story. I think it is becoming clear that the Alexis / Tracy heat which I assumed would be present in a legal story over euthanasia will instead go into the battle over authority over Gregory's literary legacy. I can already anticipate the posts about how boring some will find it. If done right, I think it will provide a good chance to play the conflict between those involved. How will Chase handle the decision regarding his new grandmother-in-law's desire to want that role? How will Tracy and Alexis rectify their places in Gregory's heart at the end of his life? If Finn and Alexis do become romantic, how will this impact Chase's decision given the history between Finn and Chase's mother, Jackie? I'd also have had Tracy retain Fergus Bryne as her legal representation to play a potential Tracy/Fergus pairing (though I hate all the contract/non-contract pairings) as well as to explore the inheritance piece that they have hinted at with Fergus. I would bring Jackie back for several months for this story, but I recognize this is a show with a bloated canvas. I imagine this will be one of the first stories dropped when Mulcahey is out the door if it hasn't been wrapped up by that point. Drew's political story works well for me. Willow as the cheerleader continues the build of the Willow / Drew connection which will more than likely lead to an affair if the story is allowed to continue. I hope that this is used to turn Michael into a heel as I think has been suggested before. Michael's stance regarding Drew's political career is logical, and I imagine it will only continue to create resentment when Drew changes his name to Quartermaine for the campaign. Now, I am wondering if it won't be Michael who will out Willow's role in the helping Jason in order to create a minor scandal to remove her from both the Tomorrow Institute and from Drew's orbit only for him to open a new hole when Ava decides to set up Willow as the one behind the med change leading to a medicated Sonny thinking that Michael, Willow, and Carly might out to get him. Ava's confrontations with Josslyn and Alexis were both great. Maura West just seems to be having tons of fun making everyone's lives miserable. I am curious if this will continue to play out as I think with Ava manipulating Josslyn into causing Kristina to suffer some medical complications with the pregnancy in part because of the Dex - Sonny conflict. I also found Ava going after Nina and Nina giving as good as she got pretty fun. The Sonny-Dex fallout stuff is particularly strong. I thought Dante's stance with Dex was smart. Kristina pointed out what I think I said last week about not seeing her father commit acts (and maybe that's a rewrite but that's what I had assumed). Also, Dante reframing his shooting for Kristina, who acted like she believed (wanted to believe) the line that Sonny accidentally shot him was a nice beat. The conflict with Molly over what to do with her knowledge of this incident (will she call Kristina to the stand in the Cyrus case to show that Sonny has a history of violence) is intriguing to me. Spinelli and Maxie's dilemma makes for fine C-story material, but the odd decision to pair contract actors with non-contract romantic partners is incredibly odd. As much as I enjoy things, the lack of story flowing from episode to episode does make the show hard to reach the point of must see versus just being a good one off.

I am in September, 1990, still. Now that I've adjusted, the show isn't terrible. There are parts that could be better developed, but I am enjoying it more and more. It doesn't seem very off brand for what NBC daytime was doing at the time. The strongest group remains the Marshall / Jackson / Reubens set with their interconnected dynamics mostly centered around the paternity of Danielle Jackson and the ownership of Marshall Ice Cream. Given the first thread, the constant threat of the paternity reveal is what seems to be subtext to a lot of the drama, including the second story thread. The business intrigue works in fall 1990 in a way it didn't work in spring/summer 1989, at least for me. Martin, who is covering up the fact he is constantly on the brink of financial disaster, has dumped Ruth Marshall in a stock sale transfer where Ruth buys back the 25% of Marshall's Ice Cream that she had leveraged late in 1989 to buy the Whitmore estate. Ruth's stock certificates are fake and now Martin plans to sell the company to P&K Foods and run away with Danielle and Doreen. Maya, who is now Martin's secretary, is playing double agent and running back to Adam, and, in turn his parents, about what is going on. In another story point that was laid out months ago, Doreen is in control of Martin's stock because of his IRS problems, but Martin has a power of attorney for Doreen's interest. Meanwhile, Doreen has bedded down with Daniel Reubens on the beach while Martin's PI has snapped photos. Martin blackmails Daniel, who in turn tells Doreen. Doreen, knowing some of what is going on, but not all of it, has decided she is done with Martin and leaves him; she takes Danielle to the Marshalls to seek refuge. At the Marshalls, Doreen learns about Martin's duplicity in business and downplays her departure to Martin when he comes to retrieve her returning to the enemy camp on behalf of her friends, Henry and Ruth. The Ruth-Doreen dynamic remains so fascinating to me especially with what's coming down the line. As a counterpoint, Doreen - Maya's relationship is equally complicated between Doreen and Adam's past, Adam and Maya and Doreen and Daniel's present, as well as Maya's decision to work for Martin which is partially to piss off Doreen (which Martin knows and indulges at times). The P&K Foods deal leads to a nice set of scenes with Laura McCallum and Joel Resnick, Martin's cronie. Joel has to cancel on Laura's planned European vacation and Laura makes it clear that she won't be forced to repeat her marriage to Trevor where business took precedent to her need for a relationship. Laura is essentially a dead in the water character at this point. Her "big" plot has been forewoman of the Eric Royal trial, but Gail Ramsay does well with this story beat. Laura's sister Sam continues to have the stronger story. The art theft stuff shaped up better than I expected as Sam continually involves herself in stuff she shouldn't (she ends up locked in a treasure box) while the art heist occurs. There is clearly some issues with the plot. A big emphasis is placed on how everything is weight sensored while Sam's added weight doesn't set off any of the sensors. The art heist also leads Rob Donnelly to realize that his wife Jessica is stepping out with Reginald Hewitt and Rob leaves for California to work on his screenplay saying goodbye to Jessica. The Rob/Jessica goodbye was sweet and I ended up being disappointed more in Rob's departure than I would have in the fall of 1989. The big Sam story is going in two directions. The first is the biggest with Christy Russell plotting to convince Sam that Kyle and Christy have hooked up. A typical NBC daytime trope (if not most of daytime). It's pretty well plotted that I can see why Sam thought it was real and why she and Kyle didn't end up talking things out. The preceding action to all this was Sam returning from a trip to Hawaii where she has seen her mother (offscreen) and basically been made to feel like a failure. This leads into the second Sam story direction where Jordan has convinced the dean to let Sam retake biology so she can graduate (and resolve the earlier plot). Jordan is charming enough. Gentry is growing on me, though I probably am the only person in the world who prefers George Shannon. The final story is Eric Royal's trial. While I wasn't the biggest fan of what I've seen, I have to admit the conclusion was fairly strong. I forgot how even struggling soaps were often good at payoff back in the day. Anyway, there is a lot of build regarding not only whether or not Eric will be found guilty, but what the sentencing will be. Benita Royal, Eric's mother, is convinced that he will be innocent and is devastated when he isn't. Similarly, Chantal's suggestion regarding sentencing will be accepted by the judge, so whether or not she will plead for leniency is made a big deal. In the end, Chantal goes for the max. By the end of the story, I did understand what Sussman was going for: is Eric going to be able to charm Chantal? Are his feelings for her real or just emotional manipulation? Maybe if I had seen the whole story, but I am not convinced. An intersting side note regarding the dead woman, Margaret Simpson. She had been homeless, but it sounds like she may have fled from home and was young. Her father shows up at the trial and makes an appearance and there seems to be a question about why he wasn't helping her. There are some interesting side pieces to stories that I think Sussman adds that are appealing, but come as underdeveloped when I don't have access to all the episodes. In the latest story, Eric is now in prison and one of his cellmates is doing drugs. The guards are in on the drug scheme and this probably seemed fairly clear to the audience that this would be how Eric gets out of prison. The dialogue isn't as slick as I would like it to be, but the emotional beats are there but would stick out more if someone went with more heart and less exposition.

I am in the midst of watching some August-September, 1990. I think the show's individual episodes aren't always the strongest, but I am finding the overall story compelling enough to stick around. The Craig Gallery opening was a very fun event. Mary Gardner returns to Chicago and is discovered by Mama Viv a few days before the opening leading to the question about whether or not Jason and Monique will get the diamonds back. We see a bit of Mary's life on the farm with Vern and Junior. Mina Kolb does well with the folksy material, but I enjoyed her more as thegossipy society matron she was when she started. Anyway, Vern and Junior realize that Mary came from money and Vern marries her. Mary shows up at the opening while on her honeymoon and everyone learns that Mary is alive and well. The sequence where Mary either regains her memory or breaks her charade is well staged with closeups on various characters. There is an attempt at a flirtation between Junior and Monique (they really have no clue what to do with Monique and Jason). The diamonds cannot be located in the moosehead so everyone returns to their ways, except for Vern who reveals to Mary he's hiding her diamonds in the coffee grounds. The ending of the farm arc is delightfully wicked with Mary promising her new family she's going to make them her infamous English trifle for the holidays. I don't care for the Brad Russell murder story so the fake out resolution with Christy shooting the drug dealer who supposedly killed him wraps this up quickly. The shift is to Jordan and Sam, which I like. Sam is involved in the opening and discovers that Jessica is up to no good. Jessica has been bedding down with Reginald and he convinces her he is a CIA agent. The Jessica angle is very foolish, but very in tune with what I think is NBC daytime at the time. Anyway, Sam again finds herself in the middle of a crime locked inside a treasure chest during the heist which Jordan and Reginald have orchestrated with Jessica's help. I did enjoy Rob learning that Jessica is bedding down with Reginald causing him to dump her. The strength still lies in Adam / Maya / Doreen / Martin story. Maya is now working for Martin which allows this to play a brief Martin/Maya flirtation. On a side note, they also tease a Jordan / Doreen relationship, which I think would have been interesting. Maya and Adam ended up going to bed together and make up, which is one of the nicer moments. Eric's trial takes up a lot of time, and I don't mind the chemistry between Randy Brooks and Debbi Morgan. I just don't like the court trial. I think there is some interesting angles (a celebrity football player on trial), but it is ultimately about a brand new character who killed an offscreen character. One of the nicer moments in the story is Ruth admitting that she gets a lot of her joy in life living vicariously through her children. The show isn't as good as it was in the winter/spring, but still nowhere near as dry as it was in the first few months.

I don't think this has been posted in this thread yet, but it was posted several years back in the "Where Are They Now" thread. This is a music video that incorporates different found media which includes a fictional soap that mimics Generations style and stars Timothy Stickney as the Henry Marshall role.

I am pretty sure there was a thread in the cancelled soaps thread about ¨Juliet Jones" many years ago. This version looks a little clearer, but I may be imagining things. I think it was being proposed as a syndicated show.

I felt Gregory´s death left me with mixed feelings. The dialogue from Chase, Brookly, and Finn has projected Gregory was in such poor health that he wasn likely to survive the ceremony so him dying directly afterwards made sense. Still, I was hoping for something more dramatic like a euthanasia story with Tracy pulling the plug at Gregory´s request while keeping Finn and Chase in the dark with the inevitable fallout being Finn falling off the wagon into Alexis' bed and financially conscious Chase deciding to take Tracy to civil court because it was deemed that Gregory´s life insurance policy was void by Tracy´s actions leading to the quick dissolution of Brooklynn and Chase´s marriage. What played out was rather beautiful. The tender intimacy shown by having Finn help undress his father before bed was something I never expected. I think it also showed how far Gregory´s decline had progressed. Given Gregory´s desire to live and die with dignity, him passing peacefully in his sleep right after made sense. Finn hitting the bottle shortly after was also has been a nice beat. Liz´s decision to confide in Portia will lead to further conflict. It is all quite effective. Tracy´s arc in this story was incredibly powerful. I am not surprised that Tracy compared Cody to Gregory; I have felt they were trying to do something with Cody and Tracy, but I´m not clear what. I like that Tracy turned to Stella. That is a friedship I would like to see continue. The beating story works for me. I think Kristina can know her father is involved with violence and have a code of honor and still be shocked to see him senselessly beating a person who, by Kristina´s own understanding, has done nothing wrong. I think the beating, like the shooting, has been a nice umbrella story and I won´t complain about the attempts to suppress the case until it is dropped becasue jumping into prosecution kills. Though I am also waiting for the scene where Marshall reacts to white Heather having all her crimes washed away while he spent years being told his rage due to racial injustice was mental illness. So I am probably gonna have to eat crow. I am also hoping that Kristina´s request to have Dex not press charges will play into the inevitable Kristina / Josslyn conflict that could lead to medical danger. Dante´s reaction to Sonny was great. I think that whole arc has been beautifully built and Dante turnign on Sonny was strong. When Bernard leans into Sonnyś irrational paranoia I find the character more compelling than I typically do. The Ned / Lois scenes were beautiful. Lois leading Ned to the conclusion that Tracy loved Gregory was nice. Also, the scene was a deeper version of the scene between Gregory and Tracy from the wedding where Tracy stoically accepted that if she had met Gregory earlier in life that this day wouldn´t have happened. Fergus Bryne was not the character I expected him to be. I figured they would at least attempt a flirtation given the Mason/ Julia history, but I found the short arc meaningful. Still would have rather had Fergus defending Tracy in my proposed civil suit with Alexis representing Chase, but I will allow myself to dream that alt GH on my own time. The Willow / Drew stuff from the previous week was intriguing. I definitely have gotten Willow / Drew sexy vibes for weeks for the proposed Ross/Holly/Blake redo. Before, I thought it was a round 2 story, but now I wonder if we don just have competing agendas: Mulcahey wanting Drew/Willow/Nina and Korte wanting Drew/Willow/Jordan. I like the positioning of Drew as this version of the characters seems very viable. I also want the Tomorrow Institute to be a fraud and that to impact the election campaign. Am I the only one that thought the domestic partner nickname may have been a sexual inneudo? I don´t hate T.J. and Molly. I do wish there was some more bones to their relationship to make them last longterm, but at this rate, I imagine they´ll fade back into the woodwork. I´ve also felt that we were heading towards a Ava Jerome mysetery (murder? shooting into a coma?) several weeks back and this latest twist in Alexis' story feels like another beat. I will be very sorry to see Mulcahey go. The show has been far from perfect, but the hints of potential in this canvas that manages to somehow be overpopulated and yet incomplete at the same time has been a pleasant diversion. Also, it was one I never expected to experience ever again.

@Khan I am curious to see what happens what the dust clears in the summer of 1991 after Fred has been killed off, Angela shipped off to Portland, and the show settles on Bill / Julia and Jenny / Paul / Tracy / Ned. I genuinely enjoy Bill from the bits and pieces that I have caught from December 1991 through about March/April 1993. Bill and Julia work for me and Bill and Holly are serviceable, but nothing to write home about. Bill as Paul´s partner in crime and big brother to Jenny (who wavers between pathetic wimp and genuine spunky heroine) is a piece of the cog that makes early Riche´s General Hospital functional. I cannot imagine how they would have tried to incorporate Luke back into Port Charles without Laura, but I can only chuckle at the idea that they could have killed off Laura the same week they killed off Ceara on Loving. I´m not sure if a Luke and Holly redux would have worked any better than Bill and Holly.

Thanks @DRW50. I can´t recall if this is one I´ve seen. I know a bit of July, 1990, has popped up in the last few years, which I only recall because the tape trading collection of Generations has a gap of about mid-April, 1990 until early August. The only story here generating any interest for me is the rivalry between Doreen and Maya. Maya using the secret of Danielle´s paternity should really be a game changer for Adam and Maya, but I am curious why this doesn´t seem to be the case. I do see the tension between Allen and Fox, which is really why the catfight several months later holds such weight outside it being wonderfully choreographed and acted by the two women involved. I like the conflict between Sam and Kyle over his career, which was a constant, though I find Stacey Nelkins' Chrissy such a cookie cutter NBC daytime spoiler without much depth or flavor. The original actress, Pat Tallman, played her with such flair. I don think any of the March, 1990, recasts worked for me (Nelkins, Robert Gentry, and Debbi Morgan). I know Morgan was a name, but I can´t help but wonder how Sharon Brown would have played the court material. I find Morgan as Chantal to be very cold. It is effective in the courtroom scenes to an extent (I just don´t care about the Eric Royal case), but the only moment of interest was when Brian Price (the reporter) kisses Chantal and there is a hint of jealousy from Eric. I think Eric had only been introduced two months earlier and was immediately thrown into a frontburner story (which makes sense now that I learned that Ericś story was originally in the bible). It´s a shame that the show lost its energy so quickly, but I can´t help but wonder if I would feel differently if others were in the roles.

Thank you for the very generous offer. I may take you up on that later. I'm a middle school teacher and we are three weeks away from graduation so I'm in the midst of planning for the ceremony. Most of my GH 1991 time is mostly casually watching material in the background while I am doing other things. Additionally, the issue seems to be that Monty doesn't take a production credit for a good chunk (all?) of the pre-Eckert material. Before Christmas, 1990, it is clear that Monty is back making little adjustments and the press stated her return to the studio was going to be December 4. So while I think you would be able to determine Norma Monty's writing credit, I suspect I'd have to dig into script filming dates to determine when Gloria returned. Any energy the show has had in the previous months is pretty much gone by late March, 1991. March is dragging. I think I am reaching the end of the first round of Monty's reshuffling. Tracy and Ashton have had a fight and Ashton seems set to leave Port Charles, but not before maneuvering Lucy out of the Q mansion before he too is set to exit. Harlan and Paul have both arrived so the business contingent is set. Part of the issue with the "new" General Hospital is the disconnect between not only the past three years and the present but between the present canvas. For example, the attempt to infuse the show with a sense of realism through the focus on social issues such as environmental concerns, the economic depression, and the life in post-Communist nations is that there is often no real connection to the characters. The environmental story is often the source of end of episode cliffhangers. Oh no, PCBs are leaking into the Port Charles River! Though, there is not really any impact other than conversation. Furthermore, while the decision to have the Quartermaine clan face the economic recession with cutbacks on personal spending may seem relevant, I cannot imagine the audience sympathizing with them why the audience themselves faces losing their homes while the Qs worry about whether or not they can dine out this week. The only characters from pre-Monty 2.0 getting much action (outside the Qs in their facing the economic recession with varying degrees of humility and humilitation) are Robert and Anna. Even the conflict at the heart of their relationship is over newcomer Mac, who I really don´t like at this point. Also, if I don´t hear the Mack the Knife cue again I´ll be quite okay. Robert´s accident at Delafield´s (someone tries to kill him by rigging the elevator) might be the last appearance by Angel. I am pretty sure that Mary´s last appearance was when she outed Bobbie in the Lucas tale when she told Tony that Katherine was just now asking Bobbie about adopting King as this had been Bobbieś cover story about meeting with Broxton. Speaking of Bobbie, I think we´ve reached the end of Bobbie/Bill. Angela spent an entire episode listening to Marge Pulaski attempting to matchmake her widowed daughter Carol with Bill, whcih has lead to a party at the Eckerts house where all the Pulaskis appear (the already mentioned Patrick, Marge, and Carol with the father Hank having a conversation with Fred). I am curious to see how long any of these secondary characters last. Carol is given a tragic backstory (truck driver husband Ralph Reynolds was killed while on the road). I could see how a Carol / Bill / Nancy triangle could have worked down the line (and I suspect the original plan was probably Nancy/Joey not Nancy/AJ). I really don´t know what to think of Michael Cole´s Harlan. I can´t tell if the actor just isn´t suited for daytime or if the character is purposefully shifty as the character doesn´t seem as together as I would think he would. I find Harlan very bumbling and seemingly hiding behind his persona rather than actually being someone with money like he claims. The only thing that has been noteworthy to me about Harlan is that he has made Bill his chief machinist, which clarifies how we got to the place where Bill was involved so heavily in the business sector. I wonder how the character of Bill would have progressed had Tony Geary not been cast in the role as I´m not convinced Bill was tailor made for him. Bill is all over the canvas already. He has pulled up a PCB drum from the Tracy using his newly designed salvage device which has made him friends with the Greenbelts. He has seen Bobbie socially and went to bed with some Greenbelt friend of Jenny´s. He´s managed to secure and lose work as an automechanic. He has befriended a professor a tthe university to help devlop his salbage device. Now, he´s a machinist again and headed for a relationship with his high school sweetheart Carol Pulaski Reynolds.