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This came among the pages of a press kit I bought on eBay several years back. It is pages 3-8 of a document, which I suspect is a bible written for the show sometime between February and June, 1984, presumably by John Wiliam and Joyce Corrington. First up is the final page of a biography for Laura Lawson. Laura is clearly the Priscilla Lawson character with a new name. *** page 3 ... kind of power. Her family´s wealth, social position and importance to the college gave her unique standing among the eighty entering freshmen. Laura won election as her class president and has been asked to conduct Freshman Orientation for this year´s crop of girls. She plans an impressive student-faculty reception at her home. Because she has, without knowing it, Judd´s blood in her veins, Laura is more imaginative and romantic than most children of staid upperclass families. She is bored by young men like Randolph Stiles who pursue her because of her grandfather´s wealth and political influence. So when Laura first sees Judd Dwyer come riding into the student-faculty reception she is hostessing, elegantly dressed in a tux and mounted on Turner´s best stallion, drunk as a lord but still handsome and gallant-- she falls in love. That he is old enoguh to be her father is no detriment. She wants Judd, and sets out to win him-- by offering him what all the males who´ve pursued her want. She senses some old tension between Judd and her mother-- and wining for a change-- spurs her onward. If her indiscretion with a faculty member is discovered, Laura knows it would end her career at Briarwood before it has time to flower. But she does not know the turth about the relationship between Judd and Charlotte, there is no way that Laura can realize a much more serious disaster will lie ahead for her if she succeeds in keeping the affair secret from her mother. *** Lots of things have been renamed besides Laura. Judd McBroom is now Judd Dwyer. I suspect Randolph Stiles is a renamed Fenton Langley (who, in the pilot, is Priscilla´s fiancee played by Matt Lantazi). Other names will be changed as the show moves away from the original pilot stage into this (brief) unproduced bible. Turner is Turner Lawson, Laura´s legal father. I have his (incomplete) biography as well as the complete biography of General Bayard Lawson, Turner´s father and Laura´s ¨grandfather.¨

Thanks! I had mistakenly thought that the halfway point would have been episode 120, but it would be 130. So yes, it would seem most likely that Gene Palumbo´s last episode was episode 130. When Raymond Goldstone stops and Anderson and Burkow begin, I do not know. I may have a better idea in the near future. The only reference I have to the final writers is from early June, 1985, which would be right before the start of the final cycle. I do have a comment from someone at Metromedia in one of the newspapers where they state they would wait until after May sweeps to make a decision regarding cancellation, which I believe was announced in early July. Given that Burkow and Anderson were announced after sweeps, I wonder if the news was delayed. The final 13 weeks would start in mid-June 1985 and there are some story points that seem to end abruptly while others start (the Crusaders kidnapping ends with Mark Field being shipped back to New York, Clay Travis returns for a hot minute to tie up that dangling thread, and the surrogacy plot begins). Regarding filming, I am in the process of receiving material that should help with that. I know that episode 1 was taped August 16-17, 1984, with episode 2 filmed August 20-21, 1984. The last film date I have is for episode 251, which was Monday, July 1, 1985. It would be most likely that the show filmed its last episode around Friday, July 12, 1985, but I am not sure if Christina´s final speech was an add-on, but it seems unlikely given that Jones is quoted as having 40+ pages her last day on the set, I would imagine that most of this was her final monologue. I don´t believe Jeff had a reason. I have to look into the February, 1985, episode summaries that are available via Soap Opera Digest and the newspaper columns. I am also trying to compile an episode guide using the daily newspaper listings, but I am going backwards and have only gotten from June-September, 1985. I believe Christina Robertson hired Clay Travis to steal a necklace from Taylor Chapin so he had a reason to break in. At this point, Carter has discovered he is a Chapin, which means so is Jeff. Jeff shouldn´t need to break in. Thanks.

@DRW50 There are moments in 1990 where they play Anna/Robert, but usually it is just an attempt to make Katie Lady (as King refers to her ad nauseum) jealous. Part of the issue is a big chunk of the first half of 1990 depends on the revelation that Anna cheated on Robert with Faison during their marriage and that Sean arranged it to happen. For this to be a big deal, you had to play into Robert/Anna. I think Joe Hardy said to the press he wanted to open up opportunities for Anna, which is why they ditched Jonathan Paget. Also, at one point, Robert misses his wedding to Katherine in order to save Anna. Anna and Robert as endgame makes sense in this era because none of Anna's new pairings work and almost nothing works about Katherine. Her career as a pianist keeps her out of the spy circuit. She is an orphan so there is little family drama to play. Every time they try to expand either area, it just doesn't work. Cheryl is set to return in the upcoming weeks (I'm in mid-September), but I haven't even gotten to the groundwork for her return yet. Though, I suspect the Anita's baby subplot plus Alan and Bobbie's adoption program was meant to lead into the Lucas/Cheryl stuff. Cheryl/Shep/Anna/Robert would be a quad that makes sense. Regarding Anita's baby, there is a nice little beat during the scene where Anita meets the baby's prospective adoptive parents. The couple (also Latinx) talk about their struggles with conception and then explain that they were discriminated against in the adoption market, which I thought was pretty surprising for 1990. Though, it lets Bobbie get on her soap box. Lucy's "baby" is a great arc, which leads into Lucy's actual pregnancy. I like when they just play the reaction to things. Lucy is with the Q clan in the red living room (Tracy, Monica, Ashton, Lila) discussing Dawn, Decker, and Ned's predicament in Midvale. The nice moment where Tracy comments feeling odd being bonded to Monica in this moment is disrupted by Lucy's attempts (again) to make a connection within the family. Monica, Tracy, and Lila all go in on Lucy about how she couldn't possible understand until she becomes a mother. In that moment, Lucy, who has already been plotting to get pregnant, announces she is carrying Alan's child. It's delightful. Later, when Alan comes home, Tracy lashes out at Alan about the baby, which Alan is not aware. Stuart Damon and Jane Eliot do really well in those scenes. @VeeThank you kindly. I enjoy your posts as well. "General Hospital" was never my show, but the early 1990s period interested me when I bought a lot of DVDs and there was a three month stretch (October-December 1989). Palumbo's work intrigued me (less now than then) and massive overhauls such as Monty's 1991 purge fascinate me. I kindly stumbled upon someone who was getting unloading DVDs they no longer wanted from GH so I got (March 1981-January 1992, with some gaps) for a very good bargain. So I'll continue to pop around. I really want to get through Wendy Riche's entire pre-Labine era because what I have seen is very intriguing. I'm most disappointed, and interested, in Tom, Simone, Meg, and Harrison. Stephanie E. Williams is just a leading lady. I don't see how they weren't keeping her on the front burner in this story. Simone is clearly still captivated by Harrison, whether that is sexual or not Williams leans into the ambiguity. Harrison is clearly playing Meg, but there is no build. The fact there is no build to Harrison/Meg is really wild when you realize Meg's first scenes (at General Hospital with Lisa Fuller's Dawn) revealed that she had a crush on Harrison. Not building the Harrison/Meg angle is a misfire. Furthermore, the fire Alexia Robinson shows when Simone confronts her after learning Harrison and Meg are married (Simone has come to Harrison's condo to discuss Tommy and finds Meg in her negligee) is wonderful. We are a month away from "Generations" doing the Maya / Doreen catfight, but you have two very strong African American actresses here as well who could carry the show if TPTB allowed them. I also appreciate that Meg/Harrison happens when Dawn is out of town and not able to counsel Meg from making such a decision. With that being said, the diversity for 1990 is somewhere between admirable and criminal. The African American cast is great, but not used. Hardy and Palumbo also introduced a Latin American community with Rico Chaccone's bodega, the Grecos, and briefly a nightclub that seemed to have a latinx flair. Their stories aren't great, but I think Colton/Carla are interesting in context of the class conflict between the Qs (where Carla is employed as a maid) and Simpson/Coe clan. I know the "Santa Barbara" crowd wasn't thrilled with Robert Fortinero, Jr., but I like Frankie, but he is very limited in his scope. I still think they should have kept him and paired him in an unlikely friendship turned frienemies situation with Gerald Hopkins A.J.

I've jumped back into late August - mid September 1990. The show maintains the typical adventure story of the month and I have watched two climaxes to two different action and adventure stories. The first saw the end of Cesar Faison. I do not have much use for Cesar so I was glad to see him go. That whole group of characters is not my favorite. I appreciate the references to other spy missions and the sense of commraderie between Sean, Anna, and Robret, but the stories are very plot heavy. Katherine Delafield remains the odd person out. She feels so forced into the show. She takes over the club to give her something to do, but that doesn't work. So they give her an adopted son, King, from the San Cristo storyline. I just do not care. Similarly, poor Finola Hughes cannot hold onto a love interest to save her life. There has been Jonathan Paget/Duke, Julian Jerome, Cesar Faison, Casey Rogers, and now Shep Casey. Before the year is out, I think they might even try her with Edge Jerome. The end of Cesar at an essay contest for Wyndamere's at Delafield's has a few nice moments. One where Anna seems more complicated about her feelings for Cesar than she had suggested earlier while Robin reads her essay about how great her mother is. Andre Hove leaned into Faison's feelings for Anna. I liked the twist that the DMX agents (including Boris played by a pre-"Days of our Lives" Ivan G'Vera) working with the WSB agents. There was also a rather ludricious twist where Frisco dresses as a man of another nationality for a second time this year (this time he is impersonating Jacques, but I believe it is actually Ric Young playing Frisco playing Jacques). The second adventure plot that comes to a conclusion is Decker's mysterious past/ Wendy Masters' murder. I think Wendy Masters' departure is a loss for the show. I think she is a young schemer that the show really could use. The tailend of the story is high camp with Decker and Dawn playing a reheated love on the run tale which takes them first to a movie house in West Viriginia and then later Midvale, the town populated by the people of Turley's Roadshow, the circus that Decker use to belong to. The Midvale story is mostly camp complete with Lynn Milgrim (I think its Milgrim) appearing as the thought to be dead, Loretta Drago. There are moments I feel like I am watching Jean Holloway's Bambi Brewster story or wondering if it is an attempt to redo Laurelton. Either way, the highlight has to be the insane conclusion featuring Anna and Shep and the circus folk in full costume performing a clown reenactment of the tragic love story of Drago, Loretta, and the late Collssimo. Palumbo and Hardy do not disappoint in conclusions, but they are often these hugely over the top events. The quieter material is more enjoyable. Alan and Bobbie are developing an adoption service based on their work with Anita, the pregnant bodega worker who's baby Rico was going to sell. The antics of the Quartermaines in reaction to everything going on. Tracey Q really is a gem and Jane Eliot can sell even the silliest of quips. The relationship material can be fun. Tracy and Monica connecting over their children in danger. Carla's concern about her mother back in Santa Mora. Scotty and Tracy are fun when they are given something to do. Tracy going at it with Lucy is great, which leads to Lucy faking a pregnancy to be "more apart" of the Q clan. There is some nice Alan and Monica scenes revolving around an offscreen AJ failing in school. The strongest story is still a B-story unfortunately. Simone is concerned about the closeness between Harrison and Meg. Harrison has secured a lawyer, Eric Nash, who has stated Harrison's custody case will be a cause for him (I'm assuming father's rights). Stphanie E. Williams is great as Simone. Alexia Robinson holds her own as Meg, who has gone all in and married Harrison. Harrison and Meg now have a condo set, which is quite nice, and leads to another story at the end of the year. Simone learning about Meg and Harrison's marriage is delightful. I wish this was a bigger story. There was a moment where Steve prevented Audrey from meddling, but I would have liked to see where that would have gone. Tony has been given little to do, but Brad Maule continues to do so mcuh with so little. I don't really feel much one way or another about Felicia and Frisco and the baby, which is crazy because I love Felicia later in the Wendy Riche era. I do think the problem is the lack of agency that Felicia has. It is definitely an issue across the board. Furthmore, another strange choice is the fact that the show is so expansive in terms of where the story is taking place. Raimundo and Electra arrive from San Cristo. Shep and Tiffany spend a lot of time together in Midvale before Anna, Drago, Dawn, and Decker arrive. There is talk of Santa Mora, the country that Rico, the Grecos, and Anita are from. Dawn and Decker are in West Virginia. Cesar is on Spoon Island, which I realize is off the coast of Port Charles, but it still isolates the character at times. I think this travel continues fairly often until later in Riche and Labine's run. The couples are fun: Lucy/Alan, Scotty/Tracy, Carla/Colton, Simone/Tom, etc. It just seems like so many of the long time characters are sidelined in order to focus on the very narrow focus of Sean, Robert, and Anna. I look forward to seeing how the final days of Palumbo/Hardy go before Monty arrives in December.

Only from the clips online, but the shift from Gene Palumbo to Raymond Goldstone is pretty big. Out are a lot of the original older players (Logan, Taylor, and maybe someone else I´m forgetting) and some younger ones (Marissa and Clay) to be replaced by C.J. Field. The C.J. and Carter feud that takes up a good chunk of the second half occurs at that point. I believe it is Palumbo who brings on Lucky Washington (Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs) and pairs him with reformed spoiled princess Julia Field. I don´t know exactly when Burkow and Anderson start but there definitely seems to be a bit more social relevance or attempt to present real world issues with the radiation leak (a year before Chernobyl) and the surrogacy plot. I don´t know who wrote the white supremacist plot. Off the top of my head.. . 1) ¨Search for Tomorrow" 1985 had Jeanne Glynn & Carolyn Franz, a brief Jeanne Glynn solo period (a few weeks), Stephanie Braxton & Paul Avila Mayer, and Gary Tomlin 2) In 2000, ¨Port Charles" had Scott Hammer, an interim period with no head writer, Karen Harris & Jonathan Estrin, Karen Harris solo, Karen Harris & Barbara Bloom, and James Harmon Brown & Barbara Essensten. 3) From February 1991- February 1992, ¨Loving" had Tom King & Millee Taggert, Millee Taggert solo, Mary Ryan Munisteri, and Addie Walsh. 4) In 1991-1992 on ¨General Hospital," you had Norma Monty, Monty with Linda Grover, Noma Monty solo (again), interim writers, Maralyn Thoma, Maralyn Thoma & Bill Levinson, and then Bill Levinson solo. 5) In 1988, ¨Another World" would have had Margaret Depriest, Sheri Anderson, strike writers, Harding Lemay, and Donna Swajeski. 6) ¨How To Survive a Marriage¨ had Anne Howard Bailey, Rick Edelstein, and Margaret Depriest in a single year I believe. 7) It´s not well documented, but I do think that ¨The Catlins¨ had about three or so headwriting teams in 1984. I believe Steve Lehrman started the year, Maura Swanson and Robin Grunder at some point, and I believe somone else. I´ll edit this later.

Is Jessica Tuck coming back? This article says its from 2019. Alexandra Shipp (ex-Marybeth, ¨Days of our Lives¨) was in the ¨Barbie" movie. I know Shipp is better known for other roles, but she appeared on ¨Days¨ during Tomsell´s run as Paige´s friend and talk-to. As I recall, her character wasn´t the biggest fan of J.J., who was in his rebellious stage still. Marybeth wasn´t a well developed role which is a shame because Shipp had more charm than True O´Brien. When Shipp left, I think to do an Aaliyah biopic, her role was replaced by Alisha Boe´s Daphne.

@NadineC Thanks for sharing that. I think the clip may end with Clay Travis, not Jeff Robertson, breaking into the Willows. I may be wrong. Michael Weldon and Tim Maier do have a similar look. I believe this episode would be probably around 110-119 from February, 1985. This seems to be approaching the end of the show´s first batch of episodes ending with Eddie´s murder. It was nice to see Tina Louise´s Taylor. Taylor mentioned she was going to see Logan so I am curious if Lazenby was still around or if he was just on canvas, but the actor have left already. @Paul Raven I think there were only three sets of headwriters. 1) Gene Palumbo wrote the show from September, 1984 - February / March 1985. He is credited in the February 28, 1985, episode #124, available on YouTube. 2) Ray Goldstone wrote the show from March, 1985 until early summer 1985. Goldstone is listed as the lead writer in the episode #141 credits on YouTube. He was also announced in Soap Opera Digest as succeeding Palumbo 3) Stacey Anderson and Steve Burkow early summer until September, 1985. The development of the show had many writers attached as you can see in the credits. Keel wrote the novel. Someone developed the original pilot from the book. I also have a couple pages of a second bible for ¨Rituals¨ which seems to be the first attempt to transition from the original faithful adaption to the more traditional soap opera with Keel´s characters receiving new names and slightly altered backstories. I don´t know who developed what other than I can speculate that the bible pages I had were reworked by Gene Palumbo into what ended up airing on screen because there are definite predecessors to the on-air ¨Rituals¨ characters in the few pages I have. Here is my source for Stacey Anderson and Steve Burkow´s work. It is Mary Ann Cooper´s Speaking of Soaps Column that appeared in papers the first week of June, 1985 https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-dothan-progress-rituals-new-writers/130508521/

¨Love of Life¨ was just consistently reinventing itself even in the 1950s which is probably why the audience was willing to play along. The initial crime element involving two sisters seemed successful for a couple years before they shifted and had Vanessa working in the TV industry in New York. Then, they had her marry Bruce and move back to the suburbs and go back to more domestic drama. At some point in the 1950s, Winsor wanted to embrace the community feel and expanded the story outside the realm of the Sterling clan and added more stories about their neighbors and the boys who attended the private academy that employed Bruce. Then, the show had a strong youthful love story with Tess and Bill, before having that brief period of static before Labine and Mayer came in and reintroduced Meg´s branch of the family. i think ¨Love of Life¨ could have continued to evolve if the audience had been there.

As I recall, Penny died in January, 1981, in a plane crash right before or right after Althea returned to the canvas. Althea was brought back as a potential obstacle for Matt/Maggie. It does seem like Althea is having a moment because all of the stuff she has had in storage has arrived and there are painful memories, but it just comes off as very odd to me since there is no attempt to explain the source of grief in context. Jerry came back in March, I believe, when Nola remarried Jason. I think there was tension between Althea and Jerry over what had happened in Japan, which was a mystery. It was later revealed (during the strike) that Jerry was involved with drug lords. I think Robin´s stepfather, Sebastian, was the head of the drug cartel that Jerry was involved with. At one point, I thought I figured out why they killed off Penny, and I think it had something to do with Matt and Maggie, but I don remember anymore. It was weird bringing Jerry back as a doctor when he had previously been a lawyer. Jason dies during the strike killed by Kevin´s deranged sister, Catherine Shaw. It would have helped to have had a lawyer around. Penny had died in a plane crash with no body recovered. I imagine the plane was to bring her back at some point. I don´t think it was terrible to give Matt and Maggie a marital conflict that wasn´t an infidelity. I think Matt´s impotence also was part of Steve Aldrich´s book about sex. I just think it was silly to jump from an impotence story to a pregnancy story. There was a story teased towards the end of the Writer´s Strike in August, 1981, when a mysterious young woman, Robin, was brought to the hospital. It was suggested in the weekly summaries that Robin might be Penny, but I think it was more of a story beat. Given the nature of Penny´s death, she easily could have returned.

@DRW50 Thanks for sharing that. I hadn´t seen it before. Such a mess of an episode best exemplified by whatever Elizabeth Hubbard is doing in her one scene. I don´t know how much of that was scripted or not, but it is an insane scene. I have read in one of the newspaper summaries that Nick Bellini was stated to be dead around this time. Í´m curious if that´s the reason the scene ends with his picture. It´s great to see a little bit of Matt´s impotence storyline. I´m still unsure how Maggie is pregnant by the end of the summer, but I was hoping we would find out if there was a resolution to the impotence or the writing just got that bad. Jerry and MJ´s comedy of errors date was almost on par with Hubbard´s one-woman meltdown. I´m surprised by the material in the Kevin Shaw / Nola scenes. It´s such a bizarre story, but the scenes were well done. Zimmer seems to be trying to find some way to sell Nola´s motivated seduction of Kevin, only for Kevin to reveal that he was raped as a child by a friend while his sister Catherine watched. I think later they reveal Kevin and Catherine have also slept together, or maybe that´s just how Kevin´s confession has gotten twisted in the retelling over the years.

The online fans definitely leaned into that angle. This was also nearly twenty years ago. Was Nelson Branco in charge of TV Guide Canada´s Soaps section at the time? I feel like he may have as well, but I honestly don´t remember when he became a thing. I think your characterization of selfishness/unselfishness though demonstrates the mindset that was prevalent at the time that led people to blame Zimmer. How was it Kim Zimmer´s, and the rest of the cast, responsibility to make up for P&G mismanagement of the show? The only morale issue is that Wheeler allowed Zimmer to stay on after refusing the paycut. I like Zimmer, but it was Wheeler´s decision, not Zimmer´s, that led to the show having to drop people. Also, given how Martha Byrne departed ¨As the World Turns," her unselfish decision may have been made because she knew she would be out of a job. @MichaelGL I respect your opinion. I remember having this discussion with you several times over the years, and possibly even when these events were playing out. I think the plans Taggart/Culliton had developed for the Spauldings was definitely stronger than the angle Weston took them in. The problem I always have is I always seemed to find myself catching that period at it´s worst moments: Cassie stripping for Danny, Marah yelling for Tony to rape her, etc. I also remember the show just being very energy-less in many places. I remember tuning in for Joan Collins' arrival and being in utter shock by how boring the show was. To be fair, I think Culliton only was added in early September, but Taggart had been working on the show, I think, since February supposedly rewriting Lucky Gold´s material or working with him. In some ways, I´m curious what the fan reaction would have been to the original outcomes of the stories left behind. Jonathan as the stalker would have provided Reva conflict (as he did a year later), but ultimately, where would that have gone? The younger set was a mixed bag. Tony and Marah weren´t good. Ben and Marina had a following, but I felt not enough work had been done (or if had I missed it) to undo the damage that had already been done to both characters with Marina accusing Gus of molesting her and Ben agreeing to deflower Marah as part of a bet. I imagine the younger set would have been opened up a bit more since they had dumped a bunch of the younger people in 2002 as I recall the unmemorable Catalina Quesada Santos and Romeo Jones, who I only remember because he was Pamela Murphy´s son who´s early birth prevented her from airing in the final episodes of ¨Bright Promise.¨ Also, Gus´ parentage wasn´t going to end in a satsifactory conclusion as he really should have been Selina and Miguel Santos based on the original 2001 setup. I think it was rumored that Gus was going to Alan and Rita´s son, but I think that outcome would have produced a lot of the same issues that came up with Alan and Lucia as his parents. There were things I definitely liked. Bill and Michelle´s pairing worked well. I thought the scene where Michelle had a bad reaction to Ed wanting Holly to help him babysit Robbie was incredibly well done and led to a nice moment between Holly and Ed. I thought the stalker storyline gave the show some general suspense and intrigue which had been missing. Overall, I remember thinking late December, when Conboy started, until late February, when Taggart and Culliton´s work was done airing, was very strong, but I didn´t get the sense that this was going to be sustainable, but I could be wrong. I found Ellen Weston´s work disjointed, but not as miserable others. I could enjoy most of the episode, but really would have no strong attachment to the stories being told. I remember she gave an interview where she took a lot of the story direction ideas from the energy she got from the actors. Matt Bomer gave off an intensity that I could see would have inspired the serial killer angle (not that I support the decision). Similarly, I remember feeling that Marj Dusay was still a bit manic in some of her performances early on as she was recently off playing the nutty Vanessa on ¨All My Children." I could see why Weston made her Reva´s stalker. Again, not a decision I agree with, but one I understood. I thought some of the angles approached were intriguing. The characterization shifted in ways that I didn´t mind (Harley deciding she wanted to focus on being a mother rather than her career as a cop, Josh being an overbearing baseball dad), but I could see why people didn´t enjoy it. I thought they were both elements that hadn´t been done a lot on soaps so I was curious to see how they played out. Jeffrey was trash. I felt incredibly sorry for Troy Kurtis, who was greener than Marty West. To be fair, most of the Weston material I really liked was under Wheeler, which supposedly was being doctored by different people depending on the rumor (Kriezman was said to be one of the people but seemed unlikely based on later work). The way most people feel about late 2002-early 2003, I feel about spring 2004 - early 2005. Kriezman needed to be paired with a strong co-headwriter than Donna Swajeski. Someone who could have made the day to day plotting more entertaining and kept some of his clear biases (i.e. Jonathan) in check. He occasionally had intriguing ideas, had decent filler domestic stuff, but no real sense of how to make the daily plotting work. Given what ¨Days of our Lives" had done to the veteran cast in 2003-2004, Wheeler should have known that the show could have survived post-Reva. Also, they needed to be realistic about what the story parameters were and stopped building entire stories for people on recurring.

The year was very disjointed. The stories just petered out. One of the big stories in the fall of 2005 was the baby switch (Hope Bauer was passed off as Cassie and Edmundś child). I remember because the first episode of the audio only version that were put online was Michelle coming out of the car accident when her baby was stolen. Then, everyone was gone. Stewart, St. Alban, and MacDonald were all fired. Laura Wright jumped ship to ¨General Hospital.¨ Daniel Cosgrove had played a supporting role in the story and he also jumped ship. This left just Cassie and Olivia who were then positioned into stories that didn work (Cassie/Josh and Olivia / Buzz / Frank). The show became incredibly focused on the love story of Tammy and Jonathan, which was just poorly written. Jonathan would do truly terrible things that hurt Tammy, like having Sandy arrested at the church on Sandy and Tammyś wedding day, and Jonathan was still the hero. Michelle Ray Smith was added as Ava. Then, overnight, Sandy was batshit crazy because they needed a villain for Tammy/Jonathan. I think Sandy´s demise was a repeat of Tony Santos' end a year earlier but only Sandy was more of a psychotic than Tony was.

The argument made was that Jerry ver Dorn was available because he had been put on recurring due to the budget issues. You are absolutely right though, it wasn´t Zimmer´s fault, but that was how it was spun. Just like Wheeler should have fired Zimmer if that was the route she wanted to go, Wheeler should have recast Ed Bauer. Ed´s presence was needed for other stories that were playing out as well. There was an emotional affair brewing between Rick Bauer and Beth Raines that came to a climax in January, 2005, and it couldn´t go much farther because a lot of the drama came form Ed and Lillian seeing their children repeat their mistakes. Also, Michelle was still suffering amnesia and was about to become engaged to Tony. I had forgotten about Mary Beth Evans. I think Kimberlin Brown played Paige on a recurring basis, and they wanted to make the role contract. I was watching ¨One Life to Live" at this point because I was curious about what Dena Higley was doing (I thought her work the first time at ¨Days of our Lives" had been so bland, but was intrigued by the Daniel Coulson stuff). I think Mary Beth Evans was offered the role when Brown left and Cady Huffman came on. I remember they only signed Huffman for six months. Wasn´t August, 2005, about the time that Nora went into the coma? Now the six month contract makes more sense. Anyway, I think Crystal Chappell was up for the role in late 2005 when they were Huffman´s contract was up. Valentini, I believe, wanted Chappell. Beth Chamberlain had supposedly also auditioned for the part. Typically, I wasn´t impressed with Beth Chamberlin. Under Raunch her material tended to be weak. The Lorlei story was bad. I think Chamberlin did some of her stronger work on recurring. Collins' run was cut short because of the turn over in executive producers. Raunch hired Collins with the understanding that Collins' would have needed time off to promote the book she was releasing. I suspect Collins´ took the job thinking it would give her additional exposure, even though she didn´t need it. Collins was suppose to be on for about six months, but, when Raunch left, Mary-Ann Dwyer Dobbins was a brief interim EP, not even sure if she was credited, wouldn´t release Collins for her book tour appearances so she left. I want to say that John Conboy´s first episode or one of his first episodes was Marj Dusayś first episode.

I started watching in 1998. I started middle school and got home from school around 2:45 so I could either choose ¨Guiding Light" or ¨General Hospital." The episodes I taste tested were on the same day. On GH, Brenda and her mother were driving over a cliff. On GL, Cassie learned that she was in disbelief that she was pregnant with Hartś baby. The GL situation seemed more compelling. Most of middle school I watched GL, but I think I dipped a bit in high school (if I recall, SoapNet was airing early 80s ¨Ryan´s Hope¨ in 2002 and I found that more consistently compelling). I thought 2004 of ¨Guiding Light¨ was strong, but I associate that with a very specific point in my life. I thought Wheeler initially made the show very compelling. I loved a lot of the family scenes and the approach to the material. I loved the warehouse bombing storyline. I thought the staging of ¨Romeo & Juliet" was intriguing. I liked Olivia manipulating the Spauldings by first lying that Emma was dead and then using her mere presence to manipulate them. I found the daily episodes the most compelling in my viewing years. I remember there was a scene where Olivia crashes Bill Lewis' bachelor party to Daniel Beddingfield´s ¨James Dean¨ because Olivia learned Bill had secretly been acquiring Spaulding stock during the SEC investigation. This was playing out with Danny and Jeffrey staging a warehouse bombing that would lead to Eden´s death. While Eden´s death was faked, a curious Michelle went to investigate and got caught up in the explosion. There was a scene with Danny in the hotel room telling someone that he was finally free and able to live happily ever after wiht Michelle while a siren blared in the background that was going off to the bombing to deal with Michelleś injuries. There was a very brief story where the younger set participated in a contest where they could earn a job at Spaulding clearly inspired by ¨The Apprentice.¨ There was a scene where Tammy, knowing she was losing, decided to prance around in her bathing suit for a car wash which pissed off Lizzie. Meanwhile, Sandy was lusting after Marina, his brother´s girlfriend. Phillip had returned and was looking to make life hell for Olivia. There was a very silly set of scenes where Phillip made Olivia wear a red dress to some sort of gala event, where I think they revealed that Alexandra had been Brad Green´s contact at Spaulding for the drug ring. I think that transition period (March-July 2004) was just remarkable. Early Kriezman was enjoyable as well. Dinah was impersonating Cassie throughout Europe leading to Dinah´s return to Springfield, which caused tension in Blake and Ross' marriage. The end of Roger story was enjoyable. The impersonation story was one of my favorite stories with JB arriving, Sandy saving Tammy from being hit by a car, Tammy and Jonathan growing closer, the confession by Sandy that Jonathan was really his son, and the realization how twisted Jonathan was by deflowering his own cousin to purposefully hurt Reva, who had taken Tammy in briefly earlier in the year after Tammy was embarassed by her own crush on Edmund. By January, 2005, I could feel the switch. I know some credit it to Lorraine Broderickś departure (she had been working as a breakdown writer I believe). There was just a change. The first set of stories Kriezman had planned were wrapping up and the next set were terrible. I watched a bit from February until April intermittenly. I think May, 2005, was the last solid month. Once they revealed Phillip was alive, a storyline we were suppose to invest in, I was pretty sure the show was done. I saw some episodes in July. The last episode I remember watching in any sort of series of episodes had Reva holding Nate/Alfred hostage and really giving him hell about what he had done to her son with Zimmer playing both the angry, the pain, and the love for Jonathan all at once. It was a strong scene, but I knew we weren going anywhere. I saw some episodes here and there. I tried to watch around February, 2009 when Jill Lorie Hurst was writing and she was getting a lot of praise. I watched the episode where Coop (a half-baked character at best) died, which was incredibly strong and then ended with Buzz crying over some totally inappropriate song. I´m not even sure I watched much of the final episodes. I did tune in for the finale.

Garrett was dropped to recurring under Conboy with Liz Kiefer, Beth Chamberlain, and Yvonna Wright. Wheeler brought back Garrett who had only had a handful of appearances after being dropped to recurring (the Bloss Christmas remarriage was one of them and a random February appearance talking to Ed as the Maryanne Carrouthers story was winding down). Garrett returned in September, 2004, when Kriezman launch the Roger´s death storyline. Garrett then appeared pretty consistently until at least January, 2005 when the San Marcos revisit was concluded. I think there may have been a lull in appearances in spring 2005 as the original ending of the San Marcos revisit was suppose to bring Peter Simon´s Ed back to the canvas. Simon didn´t agree so they scrapped Ed's return. Just before the budget cuts, the show was launching a new storyline with Holly. Holly had sold part of the Journal to Alan Spaulding in exchange for shares of Spaulding Enterprises while Josh Lewis, Blake Marler, and Sebastian Hulce had united under a plan to takeover Spaulding. The show then cut Doug Hutchison (presumably as part of the production cuts) and stopped using Garrett, who had remained off-contract since August, 2003.

There are times I´m incredibly grateful that ¨Guiding Light" was cancelled when it was so we never got the opportunity to see Ron Carvilati´s ¨Guiding Light" complete with a tribute to Conboy´s gay rave with 30 something Marty West running around in bootie shorts handing out drugs to Emma Spaulding. I enjoyed Tom Pelphrey´s Jonathan at the beginnning. His initial arc was strong, in my opinion. The minute the show decided that Jonathan / Tammy were end game, I was done. It negated the initial tawdriness of Jonathan seducing Tammy by making their relation tru soap love without any of the angst. The show lost all objectivity to Jonathan and that led to so many poor decisions. Now that I think about it, didn´t Frank Valentini try to steal Crystal Chappell for one of the Dr. Paige Millers recasts a few months later and GL wouldn let her out of her contract? People may have agreed, but they also were quick to jump ship. I remember Jerry ver Dorn had left, but, for some reason, I thought he had been dropped to recurring with Marj Dusay, Michael O´Leary, and I think someone else. I know they also cut Michelle and Danny at the same time after giving Nancy St. Alban an extended maternity leave to, what I assume, was to test the waters with a Manny-less show. Zimmer´s story, as I recall, also got traction because the cuts came when she was up for ¨Best Actress," which was just terrible optics.

Here´s the thing though. Was everyone really on board? Daniel Cosgrove and Laura Wright both left in the wake of that. Beth Chamerlain refused to accept a contract about the same time because it wasn´t lucrative enough. To me, Zimmer was well in right to say no. If that was a problem, Wheeler should have cut her. Reva wasn´t as important to the show in 2005. Shayne and Marah were gone. Jonathan was heavily featured but Jonathan´s maternal figure could have easily become his adopted aunt Olivia. Reva´s story in the summer of 2005 was her romance with Alfred/Nate?, Jonathan´s abusive foster father. You could have easily written out Reva through that story. Wheeler was wrong for keeping Zimmer and cutting the rest of the cast because it didn´t meet Wheeler´s vision of the show. Trying to produce a Marland-like canvas with multiple characters and stories on the very limited budget available was foolish. Personally, I still wonder what Gary Tomlin could have done on that show with Christopher Whitsell (or Lorraine Broderick or a Culliton) supporting David Kriezman in the writing department. I don´t remember the press criticizing Wheeler for keeping Zimmer, which would have been more balanced coverage. Though, the soap press by that point was getting pretty polarizing. Wasn´t Nelson Branco running TVGuide Canada´s Soap Opera section?

Grant Alexander was gone in 2005. Kim Zimmer´s point was a contract was agreed upon and it should be followed. This all played out around the time of the Daytime Emmys and most of the other nominees in her category ( I want to say Erika Slezak and Jeanne Cooper) agreed with her. I think Zimmerś point was that what was the point of a contract if it wasn´t going to be followed? Having had a similar issue occur many years later in my profession (education), I completely agree with Zimmer´s point. It was setting a precedent that has led to things like the entire cast of ¨Days of our Lives"being fired several years ago. Bradley Cole supposedly had an insane contract at the time too. Cole should have been cut loose as well since his character was such dead weight.

Your thoughts on Harley and the Coopers are pretty much how I felt. I didn´t think John Driscoll was a terrible actor, but the character was underdeveloped at best. Driscoll had auditioned for Jonathan and Wheeler was impressed so they decided to introduce Coop. If they were so hard up to get Driscoll, they should have put him on a holding contract (like they did with Michelle Ray Smith for whatever reason) until they could release Scott Bailey from his contract because they clearly had no use for his version of Sandy. I Though, I think at one point they were planning on revealing Sandy´s biological parents were characters with ties to the canvas. Honestly, Driscoll would have been lost as Sandy as well. The show only cared about Jonathan. And I say this as someone who liked Sandy/Scott Bailey (I was 17 and thought Bailey was hot lol). I thought the eminient domain story where Phillip tried to take Company was ok. The Ruth Karloff stuff was BAD. Then the investigation into Phillip´s murder just dragged and then they brought in Mallet and it was very clear where they were going. Kreizman had promise at the start, but by January, 2005, the writing was on the wall. With that said, I think the biggest mistake was how the show handled the budget in 2005 and nixed a bunch of people because Zimmer wouldn´t alter her contract. I say this with respect to Zimmer. I respect her decision, but I would have cut her or accepted that I was going to have to have a different type of show. I don´t think anyone benefitted from Kriezman and Wheeler trying to keep a large canvas of stories with a smaller contract cast and so many recurring veterans. By summer of 2005, I was pretty done with ¨Guiding Light. Regarding the CEO story, I think Michael Dempsey came on as Alan-Michael around that time. There was a definite attempt to do something with the Spauldings but it all quickly came apart. I was hoping to return to regular viewing, but the quick shift in direction made it clear that the show had not learned from any of its mistakes.

Bruno came on in early May as I recall after Kit Paquin´s short stint (March-April). Initially, Bruno´s Marina was being setup in a triangle with West´s Shayne and Scott Bailey´s Sandy in the case of two brothers loving the same girl. It was Aubrey Dollar played most of the Shayne/Marina romance. When they brought Shayne on with Marty West, they pretty much implied that they would pair them right away even though Ben and Marina had been a thing for a bit and had a loyal following. Marty West and Aubrey Dollar had a love scene when Shayne was paralyzed where Dollar pulls down his shorts and you could see West´s backside. He wasn´t the only one. Daniel Cosgrove had a shower scene with Deborah Zoe´s Eden where you could see his bottom as well. This was all January - early March 2004 as I recall right around the time of the Janet Jackson incident at the Super Bowl. I think Mark Collier may have shown his butt on ¨As the World Turn" around the same time. I really enjoyed parts of Weston and Conboy´s ¨Guiding Light" while also acknowledging the insanity and harm that was ultimately done. I had always heard the complaints about watching Ben Reade destroyed, bu it never meant much to me because the Ben Reade I knew was making bets to steal Marah´s virginity and had been the target of a social climbing Marina (prior to them softening her and deciding Marina and Ben were going to be an actual couple worth rooting for). I will have to revisit 2002-2005 someday to see if I still have the same feelings about that period. I thought Carolyn Culliton and Millee Taggart did some strong work, but there was also a lot of poor decisions that made enjoying the other parts difficult. I guess the same could be said for Conboy and Weston. I enjoyed Olivia faking Emma´s death. I liked Edmund and Cassie with Edmund´s guilt over his role in all the pain he had caused Cassie. I thought the younger set was fun. I found the mystery involving Carolyn Carrouthers fine. I don´t think I would enjoy it as much today. In retrospect, I can see how disjointed it was, but I still have a fondness for some parts.

I suspect it might have been a holiday spike/weather spike. As I recall, the Christmas 2003 episode was noteably strong compared to what had been happening in the months leading up to it. Blake and Ross remarried. A lot of characters who hadnt been seen were pulled out. There was a dopey, but holiday oriented, story about all the men to dress up as Santa because the kids stopped believing. I think that may have led into the next week of good will. Also, the East Coast got blasted that year was snowstorms (I was a senior in high school and remember catching stuff from the Salem Serial Killer a month later). I dont remember specifically if it was that week, but I feel like I remember it just snowing a lot that winter. I can only speak for myself personally. I enjoyed Harley and Phillip. I wasnt happy when the show went with Harley and Gus, but didnt see them as problematic at first. Wheeler and Kriezman made GusH the new Danny and Michelle. They were everywhere, they did everything. It seemed like everything revolved around Harley. I remember there was a potentially great story in the fall of 2005 (or maybe 2006) where Beth was going to assume the reigns of Spaulding. She had married Alan (who I think agreed to marry Beth to get Phillip to come out of hiding). Anyway, there was a board meeting. They even brought back Mary Kay Adams again. The conclusion: Harley as CEO of Spaulding. Good grief. The Coopers were treated differently under Wheeler and Kriezman. They were probably the most cohesive onscreen family (on-contract) that Wheeler and Kriezman inherited, but they were not interesting by that point in time. Frank was a C-level lead at best. Buzz was fine when Justin Deas was reigned in; I remember him (and I think Crystal Chappell) being one of the few people to get a decent performance out of the forgotten last hire by Conboy Kit Paquin. Harley was a strong lead when she didnt dominate the story. Mandy Bruno was bland and constantly paired with the wrong actor (they should have gone Marina/Jonathan, in my opinon). Marty West made some wrestling tapes prior to appearing on ¨Guiding Light." I believe the tapes surfaced online pretty quickly though West made them under a pseudonym. I´ve never seen them myself, but would happily accept a link in my messages lol). As of a few years ago, a lot of that GL younger set seemed to be in touch. Stephanie Gatschet had a pretty active Facebook a while back and had some (non-serious, as I recall) medical issues with her daughter and people seemed to be pretty supportive. West, in particular, I remember commenting and I feel like some others did too (maybe Justin Klosky). I know that teen scene wasn´t the strongest, but they were there during my final years of high school and first year of college so they are very memorable to me.

It is interesting to consider what Stacey's trajectory would have been had Lily stayed. Would she have been written off as a second tier heroine? Would she go for broke and become more of a vixen? There was some early 1985 material that I came across where Stacey and Jack have decided to carry on an affair even though Jack is married to Ava. Stacey has much more depth than she had later on. This seemed to be Marland and Nixon repurposing elements of the Merill/Roger story in a more effective way. Stacey felt guilty about carrying on with a married man. She was afraid her parents would find out. She was worried what this meant with her own religious beliefs. I think something like this could have happened with Lily / Jack / Stacey, but obviously repositioned. It might have been interesting to see Lily have been receiving psychiatric treatment, but rejecting Jack physically due to her traumatic sexual history even though I think with her alter Trista she bedded down with Curtis. Curtis could have egged Jack on that he was able to sleep with Lily when he never could and Jack and Stacey could start carrying on sexually becasue Jack "has needs." Stacey, who had feelings for Jack, would enjoy the sexual relationship, but obviously be upset that she couldn't have all of Jack. Since Curtis would want Lily, Stacey would start dating Curtis to incite jealousy from Jack with Curtis hoping this would lead to a split between Jack and Lily. To explain the motivation, I would make it clear that Stacey and Curtis didn't want to tell Lily outright about Jack and Stacey because they knew how much this would hurt Lily. Of course, Ava would learn the truth and then... the story could just keep going. Jack definitely seems to be like so many of the characters in the early years of "Loving," part Nixon and part Marland. I'm almost positive elements of the Lily - Jack romance were originally planned for Tara-Phil on "All My Children" with Phil murdering Nick, who was originally suppose to be a criminal type, I believe. Similarly, Jack also seems part Phillip Spaulding with the paternity secret. The difference with Jack was he knew he was adopted. He just thought his biological father was Hemsley Whitehead, who had died in a car accident with Jack's mother Linda Henderson Whitehead. His biological grandparents, Ada and Haddon Henderson, had given Jack to his mother's best friend, Ann Alden Forbes, to raise. I do think ignoring Jack's paternity after Dane left was a mistake. I feel like there was definitely story to mine with the Henderson side of Jack's family as well as the divided loyalty between Jack and his other families. Merrill wasn't as interesting as she could have been. The show would have been better off making Merill-Roger a B-story or lean in heavier on the guilt like they did later on with Stacey. I'm not sure even Susan Keith could have done much more with the character. Merrill and Doug were suppose to remain friendly after the broken engagement because Doug suspected one day Merrill would be ready to get married. Part of the issue is Merrill was an ambitious reporter, but I don't think there was much story to chase until Garth Slater dies. Shannon Eubanks manages to do a lot with a little. I've come to appreciate Callan White more in the last couple years. White is introduced in order to facilitate the Roger has died plot and is pretty much brought on to be a new character. Roger's death is suppose to alter her and she finds a new sense of self and purpose, which, since she didn't have much, was probably a smart move. Maneuvering Ann into the business world as they were introducing her half-sister, Shana, allowed a business rivalry to develop on top of the eventual sisterly rivalry that developed later on. Personally, I would have brought Roger back in the mid 1980s and paired him with Shana just to really cause a stir. I think there was space for the Donovans and the Rescotts if they developed the differences more. The Rescott/Sowolskys were more working class with the desire for upward mobility verse the Donovans who were heading into that middle class territory. None of the Rescotts were college professors or nurses. They were mechanics and cleaning ladies. I would have made Kate a little more slick than Rose. A quick wit, maybe even a past as a good time girl before she settled down and married Charlie and had kids. Though, given how Kate was written, yes, she basically replaced Rose. Lorna didn't work as a Meta Bauer type with the stepdaughter from hell. I think Edy Lester was intended to be an obstacle in reuniting Doug and Merrill. The Stephanie Sloane character who works with Doug in California and was investigating the murders that were tied to Jonathan Maitlane would have made more sesne as Merrill Vochek. Merrill learning Jonathan's ties to Edy would have meant Merrill destroying Doug's marriage which would have been powerful.

I definitely think there are certain elements of the original show that are tweaked or reused. To me, Dane comes off as more of a replacement for Garth, a foe for Jack, an enemy for the Alden family, and someone driven by ambition. Dane is not directly mentioned in the bible, but it is clear that Jack was adopted and there is a note that his parents died in a car accident. Jack is a variation on Phil Brent. In an early AMC bible, Phil ends up killing Nick and going on the run like Lily and Jack were suppose to. Dane seems to be a bit of a variation on that. I truly believe Roger Forbes would have returned some point down the line. I also suspect that Stephanie Smith was supposed to be a recast Merrill Vochek. Kate and Rose are similar types. I think Kate was going to be a slightly different variation on the Ada / Mona type. The Erica / Rachel type were always hurt by the abandonment by their fathers. Charles Rescott was dead, which, in itself, is a variation on the abandonment issue. I do think there might be more to it though. I had heard that there were plans once to reveal Ava (when played by Roya Megnot) was biracial, the product of an affair between Kate and an African American man. This would have been an interesting take on the abandoning by the father story. In some ways, Ava actually replaces Stacey, who was going to be a bit more cunning in trying to keep Jack and Lily apart. I had never considered a Gwyneth/Garth connection. Later on, Gwyneth ends up sleeping with a bunch of Trisha's men so there is a different sort of incest going on there. Gwyneth and Harry, at different points, have significantly unhealthy obsessions with their children's sexual habits. I don't know how Harry made it past his initial few months after kidnapping and nearly raping Shana and genuinely being a terrible human being. I think Lorna remains a complicated character until Marland leaves. Lorna alligns herself with Dane early in 1985 when Lorna sells some of her shares to Dane, but, now that I think about it, Linc and Dane are in cahoots so part of Lorna's situation is less about her own agency. I do think she slowly becomes more snobbish rather than cunning and actively manipulative.

I wonder if Donna might be referring the story where Bonnie's sister-in-law Calista Lockhart (played by Cady Huffman) was on. I think her character's husband was named Harrison Lord. This was a Ron Carvilati story. Ron was definitely referencing the actress Calista Flockhart.

I think the dropping of ideas is probably the result of a couple things. Certain story elements most likely were nixed by the network (the interracial romance involving a black man and a woman as well as the impotency plot). I imagine Jake Vochek was dropped because the network didn't want that many older characters, while I wonder if one of the reasons Patrick Donovan didn't kick the bucket in 1983/1984 was because they had killed off three other fathers in that time period (Johnny Forbes / Garth Slater / Roger Forbes). Part of the issue with the Bristows was that a bulk of their story was determined by Billy's impotence. This would have made Rita Mae's sexual pursuits a little more understanding to some people as it wasn't that Billy wouldn't satsify her, he couldn't. Instead, Rita Mae was just a neglected housewife moving from mild flirtations with Fr. Jim to Curtis to Doug. Furthermore, the shifting from Rita Mae to Ann gave the writers more story to play in the long run with Mike. Ann had more connections on the canvas so the action had more repercussions. Merrill and Roger are interesting as I initially thought the story ended fairly early when Roger returns to Ann and takes a post in Washington before the Garth Slater murder trial. Then, I realized they were continuing the story a bit with Merrill becoming involved with Warren Hodges, the district attorney who was a political rival of Roger's. The decision to drop Merrill seems to come at a time where they've positioned Shana to assume a lot of Merrill's place on the canvas. Shana is an attempt at a similar character, but without trying to pigeonhole her into the role of a heroine. Shana was more open in showing her hurt which I think helped. With that said, I think a Merrill/Shana friendship would have been delightful especially if Shana ended up using information she gathered about Merrill and Roger's relationship to hurt the Aldens. I'm curious where they would have gone with Lily and Jack. The bible ends with the trial which was suppose to be in the summer of 1984, wrapping up in August after the Olympics. There's suggestions that Stacey might become a threat to their relationship. A lot of space in the bible is spent on June, but I don't see where Nixon would have wanted to take her after the trial.