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Regarding the appearance of wrestlers, it seems typical of the time period. It's a bit more extrmeme than usual, but I wonder if it wasn't meant to be some sort of deal between P&G and USA. Wrestling was airing on USA at the time and "Edge of Night" reruns started airing in August 1985. Timing might be coincidental, but I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't. I'll take wrestlers appearing as themselves than Olympic swimmers playing pivotal roles like Steve Kendall. When Sherry Mathis is in the role, I don't mind Hogan and Liza. I suspect Liza / Hogan was an attempt to keep Sherry Mathis on the show given her contract was up for renewal. In hindsight, Marcia McCabe was criminally underused or misused by most regimes during the NBC run. Sunny's rape and her (initial) romance with Hogan were the highlights of a lot of lame duck stories or untapped potential. Some of the couple writing for Liza and Hogan was very strong, in my opinion, but the writing for Sunny was pretty weak and, at times, offensive. I'm curious to see how my opinion on that changes as I watch more of that period. The circus stuff is Paul Avila Mayer's creative excess at its most extreme (matching the Meritkhara and Prince Albert stories on "Ryan's Hope" in the early 1980s). While I find the trappings annoying, the characterization and relationships between Ryder, TR, and Danny are strong. I appreciate Adam Storke and find his Ryder (pre-circus at least) soulful. He seems like the kind of actor that would have been hired a few years earlier to play Brian Emerson. Bringing back Stu's grandson gave Larry Haines more to do just as the introduction of Michelle Joyce's Sarah Whiting gave Mary Stuart more. As I rewatch bits and pieces from YouTube of the Avila Mayer / Braxton period, I'm remembering that I am often liking the idea of scenes are stories rather than the actual stories as they are executed. The scripts often lacking the eloquence that Avila Mayer was able to produce with Claire Labine at "Ryan's Hope" and they have some solid script writers (Nancy Williams was a P&G staple for years before working for James E. Reilly, I believe). The plotting isn't always as tight as it would be with a different co-headwriter. With all that said, I think this is one of the few periods where I feel the writing for families and friends is stronger than usual for the NBC years, but will acknowledge those relationships may not play out the way people would like them to. This is also one of the few periods I find Suzi and Cagney compelling as a couple on their own. In terms of canvas building, I think the circus stuff was a mistake, but I think it was easy to rectify. I think introducing Caldwell House was a smart move to recenter Jo and Stu in a central set piece where they could interact with people in a way that they had historcially. I think rebuilding the families was important. Off the top of my head, I think Jeanne Glynn only really added to the McCleary and Kendall families during the year or so she was wriitng the show with various writers. I don't think Gary Walton returning would have saved the show without a solid story in place. With that said, if Gary had returned, it would have been interesting to me to see Gary involved with work at the clinic and a possible romance with Selina McCulla. Then, eventually you bring on Laine Adamson with plans to redevelop that part of Henderson which would threaten the existence of the clinic. I think Lee Sentell would have worked better in a triangle with Liza and Sunny even if it required a recast. Also, I wish that more time had been spent setting up Liza and Hogan. Instead of Liza's midlife crisis, I would have used the loose thread of the prototype to result in TI loosing the government contract because they failed to deliver the prototype on schedule. This would have resulted in a huge financial loss for TI which would have pushed an older, conservative (as well as misogynistic) board member to push for her to be removed from her role as president of TI. Lloyd would step in as a co-president to keep the vultures at bay, which would infuriate Liza. On the otherhand, Sunny, who has had no social life, would be winning journalism awards left and right and would be at the peak of her career. As a result, when a jaded Hogan returned to Henderson, he and Liza would find themselves in a similar positions. Once Sunny takes a job away from Henderson (some morning show position in a major market with the potential advance to a network anchor role), Liza and Hogan would get together only for Sunny to return to Henderson after deciding her dreams involve being with Hogan. Lloyd could have even lured her back to town because he wanted Sunny to keep Hogan away from Liza, though Sunny would be unaware of that. What we got instead was deeply problematic. The decision to have Hogan act the way he did from the start was a terrible decision and sets the tone for a lot of the problems down the road.

Entering December 1984... I cannot believe that November sweeps started so strong with the climax of Adair and Chase sleeping together right before Alec's return. It's maddening that Adair leaves for Los Angeles to go visit Hogan less than two weeks later. With that said, Kevin Conroy is very good when he tells Adair that he doesn't love her knowing that Alec is intending to propose to her. Page Hannah needed a little more time in the role and I think she would have been fine. I loved Wendy listening in and that it all took place at the welcome home party Liza through for Alec. The welcome home party was just a great opportunity to allow some interplay between characters. I really enjoyed the tense moment between Wendy and Liza where Liza subtly lets Wendy know that she still blames Wendy for Warren's role in Travis' death. For a show that forgets everything else, I appreciated this. They also managed to remember that Liza had been a model. The lack of follow through continues with Kentucky and Liza. Kentucky pops up at the end of November to help find Tourneur Sentell when he wonders off after the other Kentucky (the dog). I wish there would have been at least some attempt to consider who might kidnap him (is Cord escaped from the institution?) Tourneur's disappearance was a minor crisis in the gist of the story, but it produced a really nice set of scenes for the Kendalls. Upon learning of Tourneur's disappearance, Lloyd becomes determined to see Liza speaking about knowing the loss of a child and how he threw himself into his work because he blamed himself. Later, Alec and Chase recall the day their sister Rebecca disappeared and there is some interesting backstory I didn't know. Apparently, Alec was suppose to stay with Rebecca, but Chase took the blame. Chase seems to have been beating himself up for years and has been protecting Alec all his life only to learn that Alec confessed the truth to Lloyd shortly after the kidnapping. It's a very nice moment for a character who has sacrificed love of a woman for the love of his brother. Wendy and Warren's reunion is nice, but it clearly cannot go anywhere. They believe the man is dead. Unlike the other faked death story the show was telling, Warren cannot just appear and all is well. Michael Corbett and Lisa Peluso are great together, don't get me wrong, but this is a story that couldn't have ended well. Warren's illness was a nice beat, and I do appreciate the little bit where the motel owner thinks Wendy is a prostitute. Given Justine's secret past, I wish they could have found a way to intertwine the two. Maybe Wendy could have legitimately been arrested for prostitution and Justine would have to bail her out. I don't know. I just feel everything is so small and a lot of this feels isolated. The writers have little idea of what to do with Cagney and Suzi. The payroll robbery stuff remains unresolved, the kids furniture business doesn't seem to be going anywhere, and Cagney may or may not have anger issues. I get why they went the cop angle with Cagney, but it would have worked better with Warren still around which is why they went that angle with Brian Emerson previously. So I think I've figured out the Brett Hamilton sex tape story. Brett would lure women into his studio to model for him and then sleep with them while he filmed. This is the tape that I think Warren has. It wasn't a pornographic film. If I'm wrong, someone let me know. Jo and Stu and the Shapiros was a quiet little mystery. The bigger story building with the Murder with Merriment party is a bit heavy handed. The showdown between Justine and Suzi at Bigelowe's doesn't seem to have enough build; everything just seems so small. I do like Justine and Chase and that Justine seems to have Wendy's number. I also cheated and watched some April 1985. I found that period very bizarre. The emotional stakes in the resolution of the Warren Carter plot were much more intense than the show had been producing in November 1984. In the April episodes, Wendy has summoned Cagney to her apartment to convince him to push Suzi to accept an insanity plea while Trisha pops up with the doll that Warren used to torment Suzi. The showdown between Wendy and Cagney over the tape was awesome. Wendy determined to maintain her belief that Warren wasn't the monster he was, but accepting that if she destroyed the tape, she would be destroying Suzi's future. I felt playing that beat, Wendy's POV, would not have been done in the fall and I felt it was a very strong element to the story. Similarly, I really liked Wendy and Suzi's subsequent reconcilliation. Much in how Gary Tomlin was able to recenter away from Travis and Liza, I appreciate that Braxton and Avila Mayer have managed to keep Cagney and Suzi involved, but allowing other character's throughlines to be developed more. The back and forth between Stephanie and Jo over Suzi's wedding plans was something I loved from the first time I saw those episodes and still do. Chase and new Adair are around without much story. It seems like Adair has now chosen Alec who is going off to study medicine at Tufts or some other school. I do like the hint of a rivalry brewing between Chase and Quinn as I feel there was definitely more to develop there. Joe Lambie is still to young for the role of Lloyd. I'm not a huge fan of Liza's "mid-life" crisis. It's a unique stance to take, but I'm not sure if Liza was the right character for this. I wonder if Jeanne Glynn intended for Sailor to be Liza's new love interest. The actor is under contract, but maybe I'm reading too much into Sailor's background (the wealthy man who joined the Merchant Marines) who almost seems like a successor to Kentucky Bluebird. That said, there are some very nice comic moments with Sailor, but also I feel uncomfortable in some of the Sailor / TR scenes. Speaking of oddities, Paul Espel has popped up as Bela wearing what I can only assume is his circus costume, but reads to me more like some back alley hustler. I don't understand how this care ends up lasting to the end. I do like Ryder. He and TR have a sweet connection. TR as the romantic lead makes sense. I know the TR-Ryder stuff devolves into the circus stuff. I do like the class conflict element of the Ryder-TR pairing. The poetry stuff seems a bit of a retread of the Despina stuff a couple years earlier. And Ryder lying alone sick was done in the November episodes I watched. Writing out Cruiser was unfortunate. I do like that we got to see Selina a bit more than I thought we would given that Cruiser has left for a computer programming course. Cagney and Suzi's engagement party is another nice event. The mirror stuff is silly, but I love this version of Kate. A bit controlling, but always loving. Kate recalling her engagement to Matt was nice. I remember really liking the family interactions under Braxton and Avila Mayer. Big getting drunk and offering everyone his spiked punch is a nice running thread. Chase showing up not knowing what was going on was a nice beat to play to show how out of the loop Chase is. Hogan's return was a nice complication, but the interaction between Hogan and Sunny is odd, I get where they are going with this; Sunny has been carrying the torch back home and Hogan seems more jaded by his experiences in African and Hollwood and seems pretty much over Sunny. From a storytelling perspective, there are possibilities, but having watched Sunny on the backburner with no story for months get shunned the minute Hogan returns has to be one of the most depressing moments. At the very least, I wish they could have built up Sunny's career and had her at the peak of her success while Hogan was on a downward slide. Neither period is perfect, but each have their own strengths and weaknesses. I know there is a brief period with Jeanne Glynn writing solo in the winter of 1985 that set up a lot of interesting things, some of which Braxton and Avila Mayer used, and some that they didn't. I'm returning to the winter 1984 episodes (December) but I'm more interested in getting to the 1985 post-Warren stuff.

There are elements of Warren's plot that I had completely forgotten. In my previous watches, I don't think I ever picked up on the thread where Warren set up Brian Emerson on drug charges in D.C. Granted, this all happens off screen with Sunny learning about it over the news wire and Stephanie rushing off to D.C. to help Brian. I wonder if the show was planning on bringing back Brian or if it was just a way to flesh out the story. The finale is weeks away in the material I'm watching (I'm approaching mid-November 1984), but I thought the idea of Suzi killing Warren had the potential for longterm ramifications (Jonah eventually learning Suzi's role in his father's death), but the immediate fallout (like most of this time period) wraps up quickly. In the episodes I'm watching, Warren is continuing to target people, but his main concern is Jonah. There is almost no mention of his loyal wife, Wendy. It's interesting to me that Warren always has a sidekick, but also has vastly different those two were. Ringo was loyal and truly friends with Warren. They had a history together that bonded them as well as genuine affection (at least on Ringo's part). Brett is being blackmailed. The power dynamic is completely different. It definitely can be read as sexual even if it wasn't intended. Warren has always coveted the background and lifestyle that Brett comes from. I would be interested in seeing if Franz and Glynn delve into the pornographic film backstory. I don't really understand why Brett got involvied in a starring role, but I'm not surprised Warren discovered it or that he had used it to get the upper hand with Brett. Chase / Alec definitely have chemistry. I imagine that the Alec / Chase / Adair story was inspired by Arthur / Lancelot / Guinevere with the whole show "Knights of the Turntable," Alec's song "Your Shining Knight," and Alec's whole quest for adventure leading to his presumed death. I'm really excited by the point that Alec returns from the dead while Chase is singing a love song to Adair that Alec has written. It's just really messy in the best way possible. The plot mechanics of Alec's return are sloppy. Alec cannot manage to find a phone, but arrives at the studio looking no different than he did when he left Henderson. Robert Curtis Brown could have at the very least grown a little stubble. It's humorous when Lloyd says that Alec looks so different. I can't tell if this was a failure on production to make Alec look worse for the wear or if they had considered recasting Alec during his death. This episode features the return: The homoeroticism of the Kendall twins is definitely on display. The writers' choice to focus on Alec's feelings about seeing Chase again over seeing Adair was a bizarre choice given the storyline's direction (within episodes Alec intends to propose to Adair). It is Chase who never gave up on Alec and it was Chase who was concerned about Alec's feelings rather than Adair. I would even add the choice to have Justine dance to "The Best of Times" from "La Cage aux Folles" would lead one to think that way. On a sidenote, I miss the days of New York soaps that would make theatre references. Anyway, the look in Alec's eyes for Chase seems more intense than most looks he shares with Adair. There is a later scene where Alec and Chase are talking privately and Alec informs his brother that he is going to take a shower and I half expected Alec to ask Chase if he wanted to join him. Soaps use to be able to do things without being completely campy. @victoria foxton Your point regarding Brett's sexuality reminded me of a little tidbit I came across recently. I mostly know Brett Porter from his appearance on "The Golden Girls" with Tom Villard. Villard had been partners at one point Wayne Hudgins (Beau Spencer, ATWT). I was saddened, but not surprised, to realize that both Villard and Hudgins had died quite young of AIDS. Bringing it back to "Search," I believe the actress who played Cyndy the PA at Channel 6 also died from the disease. I don't care for the Murder with Merriment stuff. I enjoyed it more than I have this viewing than I have in the past, but I wish the lighter material was truly light. I'd prefer more merriment and less murder. Do Victoria or Cord appear after the showdown at the hanger? Does the prototype get completed? All this stuff just seems dropped immediately. I know the show had problems locking down Will Patton, but Kentucky just drops off. With that said, Sherry Mathis' subsequent story seems to be an (aborted?) attempt at a triangle between Stephanie, Lloyd, and Liza. It would have been more interesting with Maree Cheatham, but I do think if the dressed Shaffer less matronly it would have worked. The show is definitely delivering a sweeps. Alec's back from the dead. Warren's return stint is kicking into gear as he is making moves to secure his future with Jonah and possibly Wendy. You have guest stars (Mel Tillis, Rowdy Gaines) even though I question who they are expecting to turn in for these two. A large party with a bunch of different cast members to celebrate Alec's return. The Alec / Chase / Adair stuff remains strong and moves briskly, possibly too briskly. Alec's decision to enter medical school is great, but planning on proposing to Adair seems rather sudden. At least Chase treats it as a sudden move. The sequence with Chase telling Adair that he had slept with her, but didn't love her, while Wendy was listening was great. Lisa Peluso is definitely underutilized at this point, but I know she was pretty busy earlier in the year with all the Warren / Suzi drama. I know its sacrilegious, but I'm not the biggest Cagney and Suzi fan. I like the actors, but I find the pairing forced at points. Leslie Stevens would be better utilized in other stories. I enjoy her more as Adair's pal or a thorn in the side of mother-daughter duo Stephanie and Wendy as Stephanie's secretary and Wendy's roommate. Justine, in some ways, is a replacement for Rhonda Sue Huckaby in terms of being a comic foil for Stephanie and a sort of tagalong in the younger set. I'm looking forward to seeing how Liza's party progresses.

I'm making my way through October 1984 having tried several times without much luck. I've always found the episodes too dark. I still find things rather bleak, but I can appreciate the dialogue and the general sense of character more. People have much richer lives. Jo is still involved in city council and attending college courses even if it isn't driving story. Adair worries about passing her Italian class. Wendy is working at the station but also seems to be dabblin with modeling and Brett Hamilton. Production wise, I like the look of the show. The darker color palate works in context of the time period. I always really enjoy how detailed that Sentell set is. I always am wondering whether the Kendalls have a similar setting. I've seen Chase in a bedroom, but I may not have figured out if it was a hotel room or in a Kendall house. Given the time period, I don't mind "Knights of the Turntable." The concept is silly: two well off fraternal twins launch a music program at some small local TV station where everyone under 21 seems to be really into Mel Tillis. I like the look. I'm also surprised by the amount of location shooting (the fishing trip, Adair/Chase's golf date). I was surprised to see people outside the studio for something that wasn't that remarkable. Ultimately though, being unremarkable, is what I'm noticing in terms of most of the story. While nothing is bad, nothing is long term. I really enjoy Alec Kendall's death, the fighting that results between Chase and Lloyd, and Chase and Adair's romance. I enjoy Kevin Conroy's angsty performance as Chase while he loves Adair, but feels guilty because she is his brother's girl. Page Hannah is a true ingenue, but she struggled with some of the more dramatic material. The problem is any momentum this story gains is immediately going to be hurt by the casting merry-go-round involving all three actors. I also have a soft spot for "We Can't Be Wrong." I think having a Liza operating a company called TI with a ward named TR is a bit silly. Mathis and Patton have good chemistry as Liza and Kentucky, but I find a lot of the overall story bizarre. Is Cord sabotaging the company because he was deprived of his birthright or simply trying to discredit Liza so that he can take over? Martin Vidonic is intense in his performance, but I think a more charismatic actor would have given Cord more legs to stand on. I'm not a fan of the deranged war veteran trope so the climax to the story is a bit too much for me. I do appreciate that it is Liza who talked Cord down. I just don't see where any of this is going. I wish the climax had involved Cord kidnapping TR and the kidnapping bringing all sort of emotions regarding the Rebecca kidnapping which may have brought out more information to forefront for the adoption storyline. I wonder if Franz and Glynn had always planned such a short arc with Cord or just decide to wrap things up. I know Victoria was Hogan's ex so I imagine she was an intended Hogan / Sunny spoiler, but she really just sort of floats around in story limbo. Warren Carter faking his death and blackmailing Brett Hamilton about his pornographic past is something I feel Ralph Ellis and Eugenis Hunt would have done. There is definitely shades of Warren / Ringo in the Warren / Brett relationship. Corbett just has sexual chemistry with everyone so I'm never sure if he wants to have Brett over a barrell metaphorically or literally. Brett Porter isn't bad, but I find the character underwhelming. I'm not the biggest Cagney / Suzi fan, but I'm appreciating Teri Eoff more and more as time goes on. Similarly, I don't like Cagney / Justine, but Leslie Stevens has grown on me. I wish they had kept her in Chase's orbit longer. I wonder if Stevens would have worked better as Adair. The Stu / Jo / murder hotel stuff has started. I'm glad they have something to do, but this isn't my favorite material. Overall, I think my problem is the show feels to small, but too big at the same time. There are a lot of characters, but none of the stories feel big. Franz and Glynn stylistically are very differnet from Tomlin and Lee's era, who seemed to strike a better balance between NBC and P&G. I do like what comes later at the tailend of Glynn/Franz and during Glynn's solo run.

@victoria foxton Thanks for posting about that 1989 episode. I'm not a huge fan of that period. This episode really maintained that belief. I was surprised to see Callan White was still around as Anne. It was a lot to have both Trucker / Clay and Jack / Rick fight in the living room one right after the other. The show is so plot heavy. It would have been better to split the fights over two episodes and had something more character driven in its place. Either Stacey and Trisha having some girl time or something with Kate mothering Ava or even Rocky. There is just a lot happening in 30 minutes that its hard to digest and appreciate it. This seems to be the end of the line for Casey / Ally. There may be another couple episodes, but I can't imagine much more. Watching the end of Casey has been hard given his character's trajectory. Also, watching how nasty Danny Roberts is and how involved in this sequence makes the attempt at a Danny / Ally pairing later even more disgusting. The virtual (implicit) reality stuff with Clay was interesting in terms of exploring Clay's psychology in regards to Gwyn and Steffi, but I do feel like its a bit hokey. I'll be honest, I'm not watching every part of the 1995 episodes (I find them slightly more engaging than the 1988-1989 stuff), but this would seem to be more lead up to the serial killer stuff with all the family photos and the talk of Curtis' release. Angie and Jacob have some nice couple building scenes. Jacob admitting that he had been scamming her before, but now he cared, was nice. Graham being the drug king pin was lackluster. A lot of the cop shop stuff does very little for me.

I don't know much about the promotion, but I would imagine having Rod Arrants and Christine Jones appear on "Another World" in the month leading up to the show's return was part of the promotion. I also would imagine having Rachel and Mac go to Point Claire for a brief stint was meant to bring some of the "Another World" audience to "For Richer, For Poorer." The ratings for "Lovers and Friends" were low. I don't think NBC cared about regaining that audience, but rather hoped that a revamp would bring in a new (larger) audience. The premier of "For Richer, For Poorer" is available at the Paley Center. It is a very plot driven episode. The show jumps right into the action without much recap from what I recall. The show opens with a fakeout. Megan and Bill are reciting their vows, but the camera pulls back and you realize it is only their rehearsal. I don't remember if they even mentioned that Richard Cushing had died from the heart attack he had in the finale of "Lovers and Friends." There was a scene with Connie Ferguson talking to her father Ira about the wedding plans and it was clear that Connie had some news that would disrupt the wedding. I believe it was clear in the show's initial run that Connie was pregnant with Bill/Rhett's child. I'd like to see more of this especially the "Lovers and Friends" run. Rod Arrants was very good with the early version of Austin, the alcoholic screw up who didn't fit in with the posh uptight Cushing clan. I also would have to loved to seen how Flora Plumb played the social climbing Ellie Kimball and her "friendship" with Nancy Marchand's Edith Cushing. And basically anything from either run with Richard Backus playing Jason.

Before CBS cancelled "Search for Tomorrow," it was announced that John Burnett and Millee Taggart were going to be heading the writing team in November 1981. Next month, it was announced that the show was moving to NBC and that Ellis and Hunt would be the headwriters. Jackson Chase is probably one of the two of them.

During May sweeps, Stacey gets a call about J.J. being missing and she runs into Buck who agrees to help her find J.J. They were separated at the time. While they are driving, J.J.’s friend runs out of the woods and they go and find J.J. after he’s tied himself to the train tracks. Buck cuts him off and Stacey is so grateful they have sex in her living room only for Buck to freak out, leave Stacey to go drink at a dive bar, and has sex with Tess. I like most of Nixon’s run, but some parts are bad. *** Most of the family tree stuff is accurate, but Cooper’s father Tyler Alden was Cabot’s nephew, not brother. When Tyler and Cynthia Alden perish in a plane crash in March 1992, there are no living members left of that branch of the family so Cabot’s brother can assumed to be dead. This originated from some FAQ on Usenet which I believe was stored on a fan site for Loving/Guiding Light and some other soap. By the mid 1990s, Jack’s parentage was rarely mentioned and rarely clarified. Jack was adopted by Roger and Ann Forbes. Dane Hammond and Linda Henderson were his biological parents. Shana’s mother was Lillian Sloane and she died several years before Shana arrived in Corinth. I think Isabelle (née Dwyer) was married to Cabot when Clay was conceived, but I could be wrong. Gwyneth’s maiden name was Marshall. Shana had two children: Jimmy, by Jim Vochek, who died with his father in the plane crash and Patricia (by Leo). Trucker and Trisha’s stillborn son was Benjamin. Cabot’s father is Barrett Alden, who had been engaged to marry Kate’s mother, Maggie, before Maggie married Kate’s dad John. Barrett may have had a brother Richard Alden who married Abigail. Abigail haunted 35 Maple Street, supposedly.

Casey dies the first week of June. Once Agnes Nixon steps down as headwriter, the show immediately takes a darker turn. Within their first months of taking over, Laurie McCarthy and Addie Walsh have Casey turning to drugs, Clay run down in a hit and run, Curtis shooting his own mother while hallucinating about Dante, and Ava and Sandy being held captive by Gilbert while his adopted mother (played beautifully by Marian Seldes) reveals the twisted backstory leading to Gilbert's current mental state. This is all just the tail end of 1994. Fans of "Loving" on the old usenet boards always appreciated that the tone was more lighter in the early 1990s. Only when Walsh (and later Harmon Brown and Essensten) did the show have a more serious tone. I don't hate the more dramatic tone, but I do wish it had been balanced with some more lighter material. Danny and Ally were never going to work. I've never seen that seen that scene before, but it's pretty wretched. I almost expected Ally to rip her shirt open and beg Danny to rape her as if she were Marah Lewis. Honestly, this makes me feel less sympathetic towards Danny when Ally later claims Danny raped her. I still think that they should have gone the angle of bringing back Matt Ford as an undercover cop involved in the drug sting, but let the audience think that Matt was back into drugs and that he had dragged Casey into the mess. This way, you could play Matt and Ally post-Casey with Ally having very relateable reasons for blaming Matt while also having a previous pre-established connection. The Jacob / Charles stuff is strong. The psychologist stuff stands out because everything else is pretty good. Carolyn, Lisa Brown's character, is the one who has been poisoning Jacob. It's a really bizarre story. I'm glad they tied Charles' dead fiance into the conversation as they have very similar backstories. Jeremy still remains dead weight. I did appreciate the stuff with Isabelle and Clay with Deborah and Steffi. I thought incorporating Isabelle into Deborah's heart issues was smart. I'm not sure Deborah was the right character for this story, but I think it worked. It's one of the few stories from the final year I would like to see a bit more of. The Tess / Stacey / Buck stuff is pretty generic. No one comes off looking good by this point. I wish the show had just backburnered Stacey rather than have her pine over Buck. I love the early stuff with Buck and Stacey and through the loan shark stuff, but so much after is just treading water. Some of it probably was due to Lauren Marie Taylor being pregnant again, but their story becomes ridiculous at some point. When you have J.J. on the train tracks as foreplay for Buck and Stacey's reunion, the couple has run its course.

Another reason that Shana chose Leo was that Leo didn't want to be a father, which meant she never was going to have to really deal with him. Shana did go to a clinic and did consider an anonymous donor, but ultimately chose Leo. The real plot contrivance was that there was some issue at the fertility clinic that had resulted in Shana and Leo going to a suite at some country inn in order to conceive Patti the old fashioned way rather than waiting for Shana's next cycle. The first half of 1993 is incredibly strong as tends to be the case when any headwriter comes in with a bible they have been able to write without having to also plan the rest of the series at the same time. Susan Keith claimed when she was fired in 1994 that the ratings had gone up in 1993 because of the Shana / Leo / Ava triangle. I don't know how specifically she was making that claim if it was simply on the basis of ratings or focus groups or a combination of both. I remember rereading the posts on Usenet in the late 1990s from this period and the longtime fans were very happy with the story as it injected both romance and humor back into the show. Leo was interesting when he was arrogant and pompous, but the point of a Shana / Leo pairing would have been to dilute that characterization. I'm not sure Leo would have been as interesting longterm without the arrogance, but I think there were angles to go with the charactes for another year or two before ultimately deciding to dispense with the character. James Carroll was very charming so they could have ultimately paired him with someone like Christine Tudor Newman, who seemed to get chemistry tested with every male in her range but was never allowed to keep any of them. A Leo / Gwyn / Clay triangle after Clay and Steffi split would have been interesting especially if Clay and Deborah were still married. @FrenchBug82 makes several good points about Shana. The writers didn't know what to do with her. When Susan Keith returns in the summer of 1990, it is Jacqueline Babbin who wanted the character back on the canvas. Babbin previewed Shana's return describing how the plan was to make Shana more of crusader type who would deal with a lot of social issues. Tom King and Millee Taggert wrote the airplane crash story, which tied the corporate element to the personal by having Jim and Jimmy Vochek die in the crash to the suit against the Aldens for their involvement in the situation. Meanwhile, Dane Hammond was taking advantage of the fact that the crash had caused some sort of hysterical amnesia for Shana leading to a Dane / Shana pairing. Babbin was critical to the press about King and Taggert's writing. Personally, I think the writing really only tightens up in the spring of 1991, and, by that point, Shana is mostly not a presence on the canvas. In the 1980s, Shana spent most of her time with Dane, Mike, Ann, Jim, Cabot, Isabelle, Jack, and Stacey. Most of these characters would depart within first few years of her return if they hadn't left already. Without these ties, there needed to more connections made to the canvas. I wish more of Shana's plot to break up Jack and Stacey's marriage while Shana was working with Clay was available. That story sounds very appealing to me even though I'm disappointed we never really got to see Jack and Stacey rip into Shana for what she did to them with Dinahlee. Ultimately, I think Agnes Nixon decided that Susan Keith wasn't needed as they had Debbi Morgan. Nixon gave Shana and Leo very little to do, but I wonder if it wasn't Addie Walsh and Laurie McCarthy who suggested they write out Shana and Leo as Shana and Leo are gone in June and they takeover from Nixon in August. If they had story planned for them, they could have utilized it. Also, bringing back Cabot and not having Shana around was a foolish decision. Maybe they did ask Susan Keith to make an appearance, but she was done with them by that point. I wouldn't blame her.

Leo Burnell, like so many characters on “Loving,” was only interesting depending on who was writing for him. Leo was introduced in the summer of 1992 shortly after Haidee Granger assumed the EP title from Fran Sears. Rumor is that Granger and headwriter Addie Walsh fought over the direction of the show and Walsh departed while Granger ghostwrote. Walsh was credited until January 1993 so who knows what really happened. Leo’s origin remains questionable as a result. I tend to suspect that Leo might have originally been intended to be a Curtis Alden recast, but that’s pure speculation on my part. Anyway, Leo was introduced in August 1992 as the mysterious owner of Burnell’s department store who had been lusting after Ava Rescott, recently employed as a manager at the department store. When we met Leo, it was revealed he had been an overweight nerd who had been in love with Ava while they were in high school together. As a result, Leo had created Burnell’s. None of this backstory made a lot of sense. Burnell’s had been an established entity in the “Loving” universe since January 1984. It was also a division of AE. A more realistic backstory would have been to reveal that Leo’s family had established Burnell’s years earlier, but had been swindled in business by the Aldens or had lost the business to the Aldens because of poor business dealings. Also, if the Burnell family had established the store there could have been internal conflict about Leo not meeting the physical standard of beauty given that the Burnell name was synonymous with fashion and beauty. Later in the year, October or November 1992, it was revealed Leo was also in cahoots with Clay Alden to buy up Alden Enterprises stock after Clay learned his father was horse trainer, Tim Sullivan, and was determined to destroy AE to get back at his mother Isabelle for passing him off as Cabot Alden’s son in order to secure a legacy for Clay. Leo was involved in some silver smuggling deal. When Robert Guza and Millee Taggert take over in January 1993, Leo becomes a much more complex character. He becomes much more chauvinistic (I believe tied to his self esteem issues) and plagued with money issues (explaining his role in both the silver deal and his unholy alliance with Clay). I liked Guza and Taggert’s Leo. I thought the pairing of Leo and Shana was unique and had the potential to allow both characters to play on their best and worst traits. Ava as the third wheel worked well. Taggert and Guza gave each Leo and Shana separate motives for the baby contract: (1) Shana was looking to restart her life after losing Jim and Jimmy years earlier and (2) Leo’s money problems had escalated to the point where he was on the verge of losing Burnell’s. Add in Ava’s motivation (she didn’t want to be alone after a string of failed relationships) and you had a solid story. Shana securing the funding for Burnell’s in exchange for Leo’s sperm was an interesting plot that played on the best (and worst) of Guza and Taggert. I also suspect that Guza and Taggert were reusing elements of the Mason and Julia baby contract, but with a stronger third wheel in the role of Ava. I appreciate that the show would switch the story focus between the three characters. Either Ava was scheming to keep Leo by her side, or Shana was trying to get pregnant, or Leo was acting to try and keep the department store afloat. The twist with the baby having developmental issues was a nice way to bond Shana and Leo. When that emotional drama settled, Leo defaulted on the loan and Shana assumed control of Burnell’s. The next step of the story was suppose to have Shana and Ava fighting over the day to day operations at Burnells, but Nixon stepped in in September 1993 and scrapped all that. Nixon had little use for Shana and Leo. Under Nixon, Leo struggled to accept that Patti might have developmental issues. This put some strain on the Shana and Leo’s relationship. The problem was that Nixon introduced several new story elements (Angie / Charles’ relationship, the ad agency) without really removing any story so Leo and Shana were sidelined and the entire Burnell’s aspect of their story was dumped. Personally, I think they should have continued the tension between Shana and Leo regarding Burnell’s. I also would have brought in someone from Leo’s past who claimed their child was Leo’s. Leo would bond with the new family until it was revealed that Leo was in fact not the father of this child, but, because the child was healthy, Leo continued to bond with the child. I would have allowed this tension to be the straw that broke the back of Shana and Leo which would have led to Leo and Shana splitting. If this had played out around summer of 1994, I would have slowly paired Shana and Alex, at first friendly, and later romantic after Alex and Ava came to blows over Ava’s refusal to return AE to the Aldens. Shana and Alex would have worked together to get AE back, while Ava would have found solace from Curtis while Clay was playing both sides. Of course, after Shana and Alex were closer, Leo’s former love interest would have run off leaving Leo to raise this child and Leo trying to get back in Shana’s good graces. *** I know this will be unpopular, but I find the Trisha / Trucker / Jeff stuff so unimaginative. It seems like something you'd find on "Days of our Lives" in the same time period. I thought the initial Jeff stuff was appealing when he was a selfish son of privilege looking to strike out on his own and build a name for himself while flirting with both Trisha and Gwyn. By the time Richard Steinmetz takes over, something goes in a different direction and Jeff goes from complicated romantic lead to romantic antagonist once they introduce Trucker McKenzie, who seemed like an attempt to retell the Trisha / Steve Sowolsky storyline. I do like elements of the Rick / Stacey / Jack stuff, but it would have all gone down a lot smoother if they had just cast Ron Nummi as Curtis Alden. Very little from Taggert / King interests me until Kate's cancer and Paul / Ava become a couple under Jacquie Babbin's run as EP.

There are four phases to the Dante story. The first phase (May - September 1993), Tess joins Buck in Corinth where they are suppose to conitnue their scheme to bilk Trucker out of Trisha's inheritance. By the time Tess has arrived in Corinth, Buck has already softened and doesn't want to continue with the plan. This is when we get the details about what happened in Kuwait: Tess was married Dante and had met Curtis and Buck, who helped her escape from Dante. On the airstrip, Dante caught up with Tess leaving Curtis to shoot and (presumably) kill Dante, while Tess and Buck fled the country leaving Curtis behind. At this point, Dante is presented as dead. Ronald Guttman appears in one sequence in June 1993 as Dante in a vision Jeremy Hunter has of Dante and Tess together in Monte Carlo, or somewhere else where they are gambling together. Tess uses the gun to blackmail Curtis into keeping quiet about why she is in Corinth. During this stage, both Michael Lord and Patrick Johnson play Curtis. By the time Lord leaves, the Dante stuff isn't getting much play (as I recall) however Curtis has already started to unravel mentally due to his father Clay lusting after his very new bride, Dinalee. In the second stage (about November - December 1993), you have the big Dante arc. This is where he is harassing the Aldens putting them all in danger. Dante first arrives in Corinth pretending to be Joe Young, some man who comes to live above the bowling alley. I don't remember when we learn Dante is Joe, but I know the clue was that Dante had a spider tattoo on his hand. Anyway, Joe kidnaps Tyler for a hot minute, is toying with Dinahlee, and has his mystery guest locked in his apartment. Soon, we learn it is Curtis just as Dinahlee has accepted that Curtis has abandoned her and decided to reunite with Trucker. Meanwhile, Alex is revealed to be on the case and agrees to impersonate Clay for a meeting with Dante, but things don't work out in Alex's favor and he gets caught in his own trap. I think the canvas finally realizes it is Dante in December when the spider shows up at the fashion show and Tess realizes it has been Dante all along. Then, there is the whole Dinahlee kidnapping showdown where Tess offers herself up to Dante in order to end all this with Dante being shot in the process and left (again) presumably dead. This sets the scene for the next stage, stage 3, where Dante is faking a coma and manipulating things behind the scenes. Dante has a series of accomplices (his guard, a doctor at the hospital who is in debt due to malpractice, and Egypt). The bulk of this stage is Dante helping Egypt with her plan to fake her own death in order to frame Ava. Egypt realizes she is in too deep when Dante threatens to hurt Alexis if Egypt is to say anything about him being alive. In the meantime, Curtis is convinced that Dante is awake; he is. Curtis tries to convince others of the case but cannot. Eventually, Dante is shipped off to surgery in a case of a wrong patient receiving the wrong surgery. I think he has his jaw wired shut or something. Anyway, Dante dies again shortly there after. Dante was pronounced dead by the doctor on his payroll so it was left vague whether or not he was actually dead. This would be late March / early April 1994. Finally, Dante appears again in the fall of 1994 as visions to Curtis. I think Curtis sees Dante when he shoots Gwyn. Thom Christopher reprises the role. The story got some heat in the press because of Dante being presented as a villain. Speculating here, but I think Nixon was hoping to revive the character once things quieted down. With that said, I didn't see much long term potential in Dante. He was a poor man's Stefano Dimera.

We have been talking about Agnes Nixon's run so I watched some May 1994 episodes yesterday. By this point in time, most of the show is solid, but, as @Kane has said, characters waver a bit. Because it's sweeps, everyone seems to be appearing, but some more than others. The biggest lull in story is with Angie / Charles / Frankie though they will be more involved in story by the end of the month. Charles and Angie are still trying to navigate a relationship while Charles is adjusting to the idea he would be an insta-parent to a teenager. Shane McDemott appears as one of Frankie's friends in a party sequence. The AIDS scare must be over and done with because I know another medical crisis is looming. What was more interesting to me was seeing Angie hanging out with Stacey and Shana during Shana and Leo's dinner party. "Loving" really slid Angie into the Trisha position. I know Shana and Angie were acquainted due to Angie's involvement in Shana's pregnancy, but I'm trying to remember if they really even made an effort to create a relationship between Stacey and Angie. I vaguely recall the two talking in the park about dating after their husbands had died, which would have been months earlier, and everyone was present for Thanksgiving at Stacey's house. I wish a bit more was done with this grouping. Leo and Shana have slightly more story, but only in the sense that everything is coming to an end. Shana is still talking about feeling like an outsider. We get another reference to Shana and Isabelle animosity which seems to be foreshadowing Isabelle's return. Shana has received the offer from the Italian law firm that wants her to come work for them. The two are also planning their wedding. Very different from a very earlier where they were driving story under Millee Taggart and Robert Guza. The Patti story remains very vague. Does she have developmental issues? They skirt around it never stating whether or not that there are problems. Shana and Leo have been involved in early intervention programs with Patti, but in the latest consult with the doctor, it remains to soon to determine what kind of life Patti will have. Also present, but sort of spinning their wheels, are Ava and Alex. Ava is still recovering from her surgery from being shot in the head while trying to remember what Uncle Harry warned her about when she was in heaven. She has finally remembered that someone is going to die. Of course, Alex doesn't believe her. There is also some very minor tension between Ava and Alex involving Trudy, Ava's physical therapist, who is constantly around and makes Ava feel threatened. One thing I will say about Trudy that I appreciate is the actress bears a resemblance to Linda Cook so I could see why an Egypt doppleganger being in her home would cause Ava some anxiety. Now onto the most plot driven couple: Buck and Stacey. I like Buck and Stacey. They have nice chemistry. Stacey is very relatable. I definitely see her as the soccer mom who is trying to do it all (shuffling the kids, maintaining the house, and working a full time job). I like that Nixon has emphasized that Buck comes with baggage as it is leading into his next big (but aborted) story with Janie. Buck and Stacey have been on the outs since about March when Robert Lupone's loan shark character was threatening Stacey and the kids. In order to reunite Stacey and Buck, they literally put J.J. on the train tracks and have Buck and Stacey stumble upon his friend while driving. This is a bit preposterous and stands out because so much of the show is just really strongly written. After cutting J.J. off the tracks (his dumb @ss was literally tied to the tracks), Buck and Stacey admit they love one another and end up sleeping together. Don't get too excited though as Buck gets up and leaves moments later. To top things off, Buck goes to some random dive bar (a set I liked much more than the Rodeo Bar), gets drunk with Tess, and falls into bed with her. The Tess / Buck hook up I actually liked. Not in a way where I want them paired, but I appreciate the fact that Tess was looking for casual sex as a way of dealing with Cooper's rejection and Buck as a way to self destruct his relationship with Stacey. Also, Buck sleeps with both Tess and Stacey on the same evening, which, if it happened today, would have led to some baby switch storyline. The Dinahlee / Trucker / Curtis stuff is moving nicely. Dinahlee realizes she has gotten herself in over her head and that Curtis' mental health issues are going to take months, not weeks, to be treated. I do think that some of that day to day stuff is well done. Dinahlee is concerned about Curtis' lack of sleep and Curtis using this to try and get Dinahlee to spend the night (on his couch in the gatehouse). They also go to great depths to torture Curtis; he is definitely presented as a sympathetic antagonist. He still has flashbacks to his wedding day with that country song that was Dinahlee/Curtis' theme. Curtis learns that Dinahlee has taken the song off the jukebox at Pins as well as learning Dinahlee is staying at the Corinth Towers under her maiden name. Buck's annoying self has butt in, but has set the stage for Curtis' next scheme (to convince Trucker that Trisha is still alive). Dinahlee and Trucker have lots of tension trying to avoid sleeping together, which is really effective. @j swift While watching this, I do see more what you mean about Clay and Curtis. I think Nixon has chosen to go the mental health route because it gives Curtis a dimension that is different from Clay and Cooper. If I were writing, I would have allowed Curtis to be more sullen and brooding because, at present, they are playing Clay as sort of the casual, aging playboy, which is a role that would have made more sense for Chris Marcantel to play based on his initial characterization in the early 1980s. Ideally, I would have written Curtis and Clay as openly hostile whereas Clay would have done more to mentor Cooper, who would at times accept the advice and later reject it. This could have caused Curtis and Cooper tension, which would have sent Curtis to work for some rival of Clay's (possibly some relative of Dante's). Eventually, the Cooper / Clay / Steffi situation would have allowed Curtis to basically tell Cooper that he told him so. Also, it would have been very interesting to see what would have happened if it was Jack Forbes, not Cabot Alden, who had come back from the dead in 1994. Cooper manages to be different because his parents. Also, I feel like it should have been addressed either directly or in passing that Cooper's affair with Tess, an older woman, was an interesting choice given that he was sexual abuse survivor who abused by his nanny, who was also a woman several years older than him. Tess and Cooper's relationship is interesting. Both claim they want it to be just sexual even though there does appear to be a bit of actual feelings there. I don't necessarily want them together, but I like what is going on. Cooper and Steffi are where it is at and they have really just started. Steffi is still deeply devoted with Clay. Her eating disorder isn't really touched upon other than a passing comment about her weight by Cooper, but her insecurities have manifested in this obsessive need to have Clay love her. Clay does enjoy Steffi and Dennis Parlatou does a great job sort of balancing the icky quality of the dynamic by making Clay's concern for her at the forefront of their relationship. Clay wants Steffi to be happy. Is it because he wants to make her his wife or his new daughter? That doesn't seem clear, but it's a gray area that I find myself enjoying. Edmund Genest is appearing as the creepy Wendell Barnes who makes a pass at Steffi, while Susan Pratt is using some over the top posh accent as Wendell's socialite wife Elizabeth. There are bits and pieces of Clay's story happening offscreen which is annoying (there was a significant board meeting that we only see outside the doors and Elizabeth and Steffi have an outing that is important to getting Wendell to keep Clay in the CEO position), but overall I really enjoy this story. Now that Tess and Cooper are self destructing, Cooper makes a play for Steffi and kisses her during an argument. Meanwhile, Deborah has hired Tommy Fontana, a sleazy PI, to get the details on Clay. Tired of Deborah manipulating Steffi, Clay tracks Deborah down to her motel room and starts throwing money at her while she is in her nightgown trying to buy her off. He completely degrades her moments before she drops the bomb on him that she has proof of his underhanded dealings (the photos from Fontana). She then requests Clay to dance with her in some wild moment of victory. As a result, Deborah is back living at the Alden mansion which is just tons of fun because Cooper has no use for Deborah's meddling self. Clay also has his hand in the business at the ad agency. Still owning a controlling interest, Clay leverages his power to get Tess to break up Gwyn and Jeremy, which seems to be for both personal and professional reasons. Jeremy catches on to Tess' ploy (which it is implied Tess has done on purpose) leading to a confrontation between Clay and Tess, Jeremy, and Gwyn who convince Clay to sign over the ad agency. I'm not sure when he gets control of it again, but, for now, it seems to be out of Clay's hands. The other younger couple, Casey and Ally, are planning their wedding. Cooper makes a rather important gesture (helping Kate secure the permit to have the wedding in the park) as a way of having Cooper move on from loving Ally. Casey isn't that lucky. He remains convinced that Ally is still enamoured with Cooper or at least the life that Cooper could provide her so he has become focused on his work. He has been doing photography for the police department (putting himself in dangerous situtations) which upsets Ally. Casey quits only to be offered money by Tommy Fontana to do some work for him with a very omnious "That guy is going to get someone killed" comment from the cops regarding Fontana. I think this part of the year is very good. Once the initial Dante stuff concludes in December 1993, Nixon seems to have a much firmer grasp on where she wants things to be going.

I think "Generations" had massive potential, but it was rarely able to get all the pieces working at the same time. For example, I was rewatching some episodes I have from May 1989. For the most part, they are nothing special. The show is very low key. There is nothing that really grabs me as a viewer and demands that I watch this everyday, but the potential is there. The relationship between Laura Whitmore McCallum and Ruth Potter Marshall is fascinating. Both women had grown up in the same home and attended the same school. When Laura was done with something, it was handed down to Ruth. I would have loved to seen Laura's reaction to the revelation that not only had Ruth slept with her father, but that Chantal was Laura's half-sister. Joan Pringle, by herself, could have carried the show, and, at times, she did, often with the help of Jonelle Allen. Gail Ramsey seems incredibly capable, but Laura is dull as dirt. It would have been much more interesting to me if Laura was as desperate to maintain her privileged status as Ruth was to make it in the social circles of the Chicago North Shore elite. In a way, Laura is such a passive character, while Ruth is such an active character. I would have continued to find ways to keep Laura and Ruth together. It would have been interesting if Trevor's agency was suppose to be behind the marketing blitz that would have been used to launch Marshall's ice cream nationally. It would have put more at stake for this Marshall - Jackson deal. Also, I think it would have been interesting if the Women's Arts Council story had been something of a more competitive nature. Also, if the show wasn't going to go with Sam and Adam immediately, maybe the show could have explored Monique and Wally Beaumont and force Ruth and Laura to deal with that situation. Also, I think it would have been interesting if they paired Martin and Laura up after they both had divorced their spouses. I think Ruth would have a few choice words about that. Also, if Martin ended up in jail briefly, with Laura taking over the reigns of Jackson's business interests, Laura would have a say in Marshall Ice Cream. The Whitmores fall apart pretty quickly as a family unit. Once Laura and Trevor divorce, Laura is in a C-romance with Martin's right hand man and is a juror on the Eric Royal trial. JD is the first contract role jettisoned. Neither Trevor nor Rebecca make it on contract for a full year. Ultimately, it's just Sam and Monique, and Monique's story dries up too. Peter's return set up potential for the family to reemerge, but I wonder if it would have been successful.

I don't recall, but the cage Dante kept Curtis in was intended for an animal. It wasn't very big.

This show always fascinates me. Glad to see some new memories from people. @Joseph I don't think the multiple personality storyline lasted very long. I have a couple of scripts from the final months (mostly from late January / early February 1973). The main thrust of the story is Peter Jardin's accident in the garage. He had gone out to start up the snowblower and ended up lighting himself on fire. Labine and Mayer were telling their first child in peril medical story. In the few episodes I have, it is pretty brutal. Peter doesn't die from the fire instantly, but lingers on for DAYS. It is touch and go for several days before Peter perishes at some point. In the last script I have, Peter is still alive and is being visited by a classmate who has clearly taken a romantic interest in Peter. This comes after Steve Prescott has delivered a long speech about the things that he worries Peter will never get to experience like his first love. This was intended to let the Prescotts know that Peter had lived a very rich life despite how short it would turn out. I'd imagine Kate's mental decline would have only last a few weeks between mid to late February until the show's final week in March. @Nicholas BlairThanks again for sharing memories. Labine is one of my favorite soap writers. I was able to her her speak several years before her death at a local high school. She had fond memories of Diana van der Vlis. I was disappointed when she alluded to the fact that she hadn't kept any of her material from her early soaps days, but had planned on donating her "Ryan's Hope" material to the WGA. @slick jones I always enjoy your cast lists. I think Christine Cameron's daughter was named Katina without the R. I always thought it was Katrina, but I have now read it was was Katina named after Christine's best friend, Kate. The details about Barbara Jessup and Harry Rowsky were interesting. I forgot that those early days had more of an underworld presence. The secondary families on the show, the Jessups and the Prescotts, intrigue me so I was happy to learn a bit more about Barbara and her husband.

Thom Christopher never seems to shy away from playing the homoeroticism in any storyline he has been given. I remember reading Christopher's comments about the Cristian Vega mind control story in the oral history book about "One Life to Live." Christopher talked about playing up the sexual element of the story and David Fumero being pretty open up until a certain point. From what I recall about the "One Life" story, that was most subtext, but the Dante story was less subtle. Dinahlee and Dante have a very specific conversation about Dinahlee thinking that Joe Young (Dante) has been sneaking a lover into his room above the bowling alley before Dante starts to referring to Curtis as his kitty. The story is very James E. Reilly. The suspense in the Dante story is very, very good.

@Nicholas Blair Thanks for sharing your memories of the Stacey / Josh / Gerry / Tod story. I am always interested to hear about this show because it seems to make so many shifts in direction over the years. The only Stacey stories I had heard about previously involved her initial arrival to reunite with her father Matt Corby (Paul Raven, back from the dead) with her Southern belle mama Evelyn, who was disturbed by Stacey's friendship with African American Daisy Allen as well as some plot involving ESP around the time Bill Prentiss was written off. The scene of the teens getting high and trashing the house sounds very interesting. I know I've heard someone describe a very similar scene on "The Young Marrieds" several years before that one. It's a shame more shows didn't embrace the idea of the show's mature leads taking on wards rather than rapidly aging the next generation. I think something has been lost in the soap opera genre now that characters no longer have an older adult to turn to talk about their problems. The lack of that intimacy makes the shows so hollow and is one of the reasons the genre has been dying for the last two and half decades.

Reena and Justin were childhood sweethearts. They had split because Justin went off to Europe on the racing circuit after Reena had desperately tried to convince Justin to go to college, study law, and work in her Daddy's law office. When the show opened, they were united when Justin returned for his father's funeral. Reena and Justin were able to bond over their hatred of Alex Wheeler (Justin blaming Alex for Mike Marshall's suicide and Reena angry because Alex had made a cuckold of her father). Reena knew that Alex and her mother Victoria had been carrying on for years and had the pictures to prove it. It was Reena who landed Justin the job at KVIK by threatening to use the photos against her own mother. Victoria kept mum because she knew, and Reena didn't, that Striker had a serious heart condition. Victoria feared the ramifications of Striker learning of the affair, which he did. I believe Clipper Curtis ended up spilling the beans. When Reena learned Justin's sister Courtney was sleeping with Reena's husband Dr. Kevin Cook, Reena and Justin hit the sheets again around the time an attraction was growing between Kevin and her mother's right hand woman at KVIK, Reena's cousin Samantha. To complete the mess, Courtney Marshall was the object of desire of Samantha's brother, Dr. Bart Walker. I definitely think the Corringtons were planning some sort of combination of Reena triangle with Justin and Max. I also felt they were chem testing a potential rivalry between Ginny and Reena with Reena potentially pursuing Ryan Connor at some point. So they could have also done a Max / Ginny / Ryan / Reena story. There was just so much potential and so many directions that the Corringtons could have gone with the first year of "Texas." I've reached mid-November 1980 and have a few more weeks of material on DVD to work my way through. I'm disappointed they didn't do more with the Sam / Justin / Reena combination, but Ann McCarthy lacks the presence that was needed to be Reena's rival though I think she and Borelli look like they could be family. I also wouldn't have hated them pursuing Kevin / Victoria in a more intimate friendship that frustrated Reena.

Casting the 2nd generation of Aldens (Clay, Gwyn, Ann) and the 3rd generation of Aldens (Curtis, Jack, Rick, Trisha) with actors with such a small age gap I do think complicated things. I do think this may have been why Ann was never brough back in the 1990s. I don't think Curtis served the same story purpose as Clay. Curtis' bigger issue was the evolution of the character from unloved bad boy to more a reformed playboy to traditional romantic lead. By the time Curtis returns in the 1990s, the character has been reset to a man haunted by his past while Clay is more bitter and vengeful. Clay looms as a omnious vision of who Curtis can become if Curtis falls too deeply into the Alden rabbit hole. With all that said, I would accept the argument that Cooper rendered Curtis unnecessary as a younger Alden male heir with the potential to be Clay or reject the world Clay presents to him. Nixon ultimately plucks Clay out of the triangle with Dinahlee and Curtis and places him into a similar situation with Cooper and Steffi. In the end, I think the Clay / Cooper dynamic was more well developed, but it definitely benefitted from a stronger actor and more care and nuance. I think if TPTB had found an actor that more suited their vision of Curtis, then he would have still been in town in October 1993. Millee Taggert and Robert Guza's 1993 run definitely integrated the cast more into other stories. The show storylines didn't feel so isolated. While I didn't like how all encompassing it became, I don't think the ad agency was a terrible idea. I think that was a smart set piece given the canvas in place at the time. I appreciate what Nixon did to rehab the character of Tess, but I wish they had just put Lorna in charge of the ad agency (even if it was Catherine Hickland playing Lorna). I know a lot of people don't like Egypt's murder scheme, but I did. I like that Egypt roped in Buck, which laid the groundwork for the Janie Sinclaire reveal. I also felt the Dante angle gave Egypt a very valid reason for leaving Alexis in Corinth and running away. The minute Mary Ryan Munisteri left "Loving" Dinahlee becomes less interesting. Walsh makes her into some weak, clingy heroine which was completely unnecessary given the story in place. I much rather Clay have approached Dinahlee in order to BREAK up Trucker and Trisha's marriage. Clay would have pursued Dinahlee in order to keep Trucker involved in Dinahlee's orbit, which would have infuriated Trisha and hopefully, for Clay, instigated a separation between Trucker and Trisha. Of course, Dinahlee would have seen dollar signs. Also, Dinahlee's pursuit of the Alden fortune via Clay may have made Isabelle put more stipulations on her plans to make CLay the president of Alden. There was a way to keep Dinahlee in the Alden orbit as an active instigator rather than a passive pawn. I agree, though, I wish Dinahlee got back more of her backbone even though I enjoy much of the Curtis / Dinahlee / Trucker triangle. I think they kept Robert Tyler around because they hoped Noelle Beck would return one day. Having Trucker with Dinahlee when Trisha returned would have been a smart setup, but unnecessary. I was intrigued by the Trucker / Angie relationship, but the most interesting angle of that, Trucker taking Frankie under his wing, was used by Nixon with Frankie and Charles. Thinking about your point regarding Clay / Dinahlee, I wonder if the original plan wasn't to play Clay / Dinahlee / Alex triangle for several months before Curtis returned to town with Alex taking on the role similar to that Jeremy took on with Stacey when she was married to Clay. The Dante story is fun, but it is has a spontaneous quality that is a bit disappointing. I remember the suggestion that the people stalking Clay were behind Trisha's murder. I believe there may have been a lingering question about what Trisha was in a rush to tell Trucker the day she died. Ultimately, it was that Curtis and Buck knew each other, but I can't remember if everyone knew that at the time. I believe the original intention may have been to reveal Trisha was alive sooner rather than later. There was also a great beat in the Dante story where Gwyn brings in a psychic who is able to track down Gwyn's child, but Gwyn dismisses Mrs. Quackenbush because she talks about Gwyn's female child rather than her male child. There was backlash about Dante being the only Middle Eastern character and a villain. It would have been interesting to bring on another member of Dante's family who people questioned their motives, but ultimately they would have been on the up and up. Potentially a business rival for the Aldens. I liked disliking Leo. I was disappointed how quickly they downplayed that.

Nixon wrote from September 1993 until August 1994. There were episodes online from September 1993. In an episode leading up to the tornado (before Michael Lord's Curtis left town), Millee Taggert and Robert Guza are still credited as headwriters. By the time the tornado is over, Agnes Nixon is credited. This is about mid to late September. It doesn't feel like Nixon returned with some sort of grand plan. SOD reported that Millee Taggert left the show in 1993 because she was ill so its possible that Nixon's decision to takeover was sudden and not meant to be as longterm. I believe Nixon tended to do short runs in the late 1990s / early 2000s on "All My Children" between writers. Nixon's associate headwriters during her 1990s run were Laurie McCarthy and Addie Walsh who would assume the role of headwriters once Nixon departed. Despite this, McCarthy and Walsh were the ones that the soap press were speaking with when they were getting information about the show. Nixon's first months are rough. I don't think things really settle in until January 1994 though there is definitely some good stuff in between. I don't think any of the scam stuff worked. There were a lot of elements of Tess' character that felt very Guza. When watching the 1993 episodes several years back, Tess reminded me very much of Summer (Brittney Powell) from "General Hospital." I think Taggert was resetting Tess in September by scrapping the scam stuff, downplaying the Curtis / Buck stuff, and putting Tess in Shana and Leo's orbit. I think its possible Taggert may have intended to fashion more into an early Dinahlee type, which I think would have worked. Honestly, a lot of characters became less complex under Nixon than they were under Guza / Taggert. I'm not sure if the show was really dumping Curtis as much they were Michael Lord. The setup was there for Curtis' return, but Nixon didn't go the route that Taggert and Guza hinted at. In the final days of Michael Lord's run, Curtis switches out Dinahlee's birth control pills and is looking to have a baby with Dinahlee. I felt Curtis was going to return to a pregnant Dinahlee. Jeremy in Corinth was a mistake. LeClerc and Peluso had nice chemistry, but Jeremy was an albatross. They would have been better off developing a different character for him. Similarly, I don't think bringing on Angie in the way they did was smart. It would have been better to have Angie working at the university in either a research position or clinical work. I really liked the Gwyn / Stacey rivalry. I thought it was disappointing to dump that. It would have been better to keep Gwyn and Buck friends, as Gwyn suggested, and Buck becoming concerned about Gwyn and Clay based on Clay's recent machinations involving Stacey leading to Stacey and Buck tension. Buck feeling not good enough for Stacey for financial reasons was a serious shift that I felt worked, but it was a huge shift that could have been handled another way. The first part of the Dante story was interesting, but the timeline was wonky. I'm pretty sure Alex arrived in town right before or right as Curtis left so that whole angle seemed to be a different direction than what was initially intended. Nixon completely dropped the tension between Leo and Shana regarding Shana's ownership of Burnell's as well as the angle that Ava had gone to college to be near Jeremy. The baby situation was interesting, but it wasn't the kind of situation you could tell everyday. Curtis was older than Trisha.

I'm making my way through the interview (seen about an hour so far) and very interested. Sussman Morina talking about the origins of the development was interesting. I knew the African American family angle was suggested by Brian Frons. I did not realize that the success that New World had selling "Santa Barbara" overseas was a major factor in why NBC wanted to produce their own in-house soap opera. In many ways, you can see how that element plays out in the show. Initially, the show's tone is very stoic and clearly influenced by Sussman's experience at "The Young and the Restless" without the solid plotting that was need to make the day to day writing interesting. There were concepts that were floated around (Ruth wanting to buy the old Marshall house, Hugh Gardner's inheritance, Jessica's alcoholism) that were intriguing but poorly executed. Even Martin Jackson buying the Marshall Ice Cream stock wasn't as interesting as it could have been. By the end of the year, the show was much more colorful and had much quicker pace. Jason Craig's "murder" worked well as it tied several couples together under one story. Similarly, introducing the Winston Hotel, the Chicago branch of the Hale hotel chain, worked well. The secret of Danielle's paternity was very effective as well as the Maya / Adam / Doreen / Daniel quad. Jorn Winter definitely injected the show with some energy that wasn't really there by the summer time. All the actors spoke about the chemistry, and I agree a bit. As I said, I haven't finished, but I wonder if anyone asked about the possibility of pairing Adam and Sam, which was flirted with occassionally. Jonelle Allen was delightful. Her getting choked up about Kristoff St. John was very poignant. I wonder how much of Doreen was influenced by Allen herself given the singing and the struggle with alcohol. Allen as Doreen (along with Joan Pringle as Ruth) really manages to make the character's throughline very strong. I have seen some (and have some) of the final months, but I really would like to see more of her interaction with nephew Tyrone. I thought Rick Fitts' comments about playing a villain were interesting. Martin was definitely an Alan Spaulding type and I do wish they had managed to find a way to keep Martin in the story as I enjoyed him a lot. I know they chemistry tested him with a couple of people (Sharon Brown's Chantal, Maya), but they eventually just dumped him in Brazil. Nancy Sorel seems sweet. Monique was very dull. Early on, there were just too many characters in places of employment without overlap with a bunch of side characters associated with them. Jason and Monique were pretty bland after they removed Sam from the equation. George De Loy's character Rob Donnelly was enjoyable in his pairing with Linda Gibboney's Jessica. Like Fitts, I wish they had managed to find a place for him on the canvas as I really liked him in the Daniel Reubens underground storyline. I think they chose a good group. The only person I really wish they could have gotten was Joan Pringle. I wouldn't have minded Gail Ramsey or Linda Gibboney, but I would have really loved to hear Pringle speak about playing Ruth.

Great to see a full episode in English! I think the first two episodes were online years ago dubbed in Italian. I believe this episode is about a week or so after the infamous "murder mystery contest" episode that ended with a bunch of different cliffhangers most of which seemed to be very quickly resolved by this episode. The episode itself was very plot heavy, but, coming off the previous week, the writers were probably trying to maintain momentum when it might have made more sense to slow things down. It was interesting seeing Kelly Bennett as Michelle Davenport. This character was eventually revealed to be Sarah Gallagher's daughter by Patrick Chapin, but not before she slept with her half-brother Carter Robertson. It was also nice seeing Janice Heiden playing Marissa Mallory. I liked the potential in that friendship (Michelle / Marissa) but I think Marissa is on her way out. I think her trying to poison Carter was her last hurrah. I was actually surprised they mentioned the poisoning (the issue with the vents). I am actually really surprised by how engaging I find Laurie Burton, the actress who plays Sarah Gallagher. I see why the show made her a more central figure as time went on. I believe they briefly paired her with Anthony Ponzini's police captain character. The stuff with Christina and Clay was less than appealing. I like both characters, but this just was pure plot. In regards to the connection between the book and the show, as previously stated, there were significant rewrites and story evolution that is grounded in the original source material. The Taylor Chapin / Julia Field / Logan Williams set up is lifted straight from the novel. In the book, Judd McBroom would bed most of the female students, which was one of the 'rituals' at the all girls' school. Judd impregnated Charlotte, who married a wealthy bisexual, and passed Judd's daughter Priscilla off as Sterling Lawson's. In the original pilot, Joe Lambie played Judd McBroom, Philece Sampler played Priscilla, and Christine Jones played Charlotte. Also in the pilot was Barbara Crampton as Sandy, who, in the book, is revealed to be the daughter of Priscilla's perceived father. When the pilot tested poorly, there were several significant rewrites. In one unused version, the show managed to retain the original source material by keeping the story ingrained in the all girls school but by adding in some significant older characters. Bayard Lawson was the industrialist grandfather of Laura Lawson, previously Priscilla. Bayard would eventually become Patrick Chapin. There was also an older female president who was a sort of Alice Horton type. Sarah Gallagher was originally named Jenny and played in the pilot by Stephanie Braxton. In this alternate version, Jenny had been raped by Turner Lawson, Bayard's son and Laura's "father," and birthed a police officer son (who would later evolve into Tom Gallagher). I recently read a newsbrief about Christine Jones from September 1984 saying that her character had gone from Charlotte Lawson to Ashley Tafton to Whitney Robertson to Susan Robertson to Christina Robertson. So the tweaking was pretty insane. Going back to Charlotte / Judd / Prisc story, in the soap, Taylor and Logan were lovers in their youth before Taylor married Carson Field and quickly birthed a daughter, Julia. Taylor and Logan were rekindling their romance and Julia was attempting to act as a spoiler. From what I've read, there seems to be hints that Logan was suppose to be Julia's father, but that was never revealed. I suspect that this was going to replay many of the elemetns of the original source, but they decided to scrap it. Julia had daddy issues and was involved with her older lover Berhardt, who eventually married Julia's frumpy roomate, heiress Patty Dupont. Julia was briefly involved with Clay Travis, who is involved with Christina in this clip, before they paired her with African American cop Lucky Washington. Once they brought on Peter Haskell as C.J., I think they had long abandoned the idea of Julia being another man's child. As disappointing as this episode was, it gives me hope more of it is out there.

Neat article. If I had to venture a guess, it wasn't Patrick Johnson alone that the audience was rejecting, but the Curtis storyline. My first introduction to "Loving" were the old rec.arts.television.soaps messages; that crowd was not found of the Kuwait storyline. Watching those episodes in more recent years, Patrick Johnson has the misfortune of arriving several weeks before Noelle Beck leaves and is positioned in a major pairing with Dinahlee with some very bizarre trappings (the false names, the introduction of the country western bar). Jessica Collins had managed to sell so many different versions of the Dinahlee character, but this just wasn't going to work. The idea of a Curtis / Dinahlee / Clay triangle was much more interesting on paper than it was in execution. I prefer Lord over Johnson, but Lord overplayed a lot of the material. Also, I'm not sure we would have gotten crazy Curtis if it wasn't for Lord. With that said, I would have liked to see what would have happened if he had been given a few more months in the role. Prior to Lord's Curtis leaving, Curtis had been messing with Dinahlee's birthcontrol and I suspect they might have done a Who's the Daddy storyline involving Curtis, Dinahlee, and Clay or maybe Trucker. Part of the issue with Curytis was the character had been a mess for several iterations prior to his 1993 return. Chip Albers Curtis was too young and sending Curtis off to the Persian Gulf would have worked better if they used the experience to age the character (both in terms of actor and characterization). Instead, they continued playing him in the younger crowd when he was Trisha's older brother. I don't think anyone could have made that material work as it was written. The Shana / Leo storyline is good. Shana's desire to have a child was a smart move for the character. Taggart and Guza made Leo super chauvinistic which gave the characters some very natural conflict to play. Add in Ava and you had a very interesting set of circumstances. Sometimes they overplayed the slapstick in this story, but I felt the meat of the story (Shana's baby having developmental delays, Burnell's being owned by Shana) was enough to keep the story going much longer than Nixon did.

Ruby mostly was with Lloyd and Stephanie in the stuff I've seen, but the pre-AOL material is spotty in places. Summer of 1983 is definitely one of them. I believe there was initially some build up to the owner of the paper. I want to say both Lloyd and Stephanie were separately trying to buy it because the owner had died and the widow was looking to sell it. In the character's backstory, Ruby and Stephanie had both vied, I believe, for the newspaper owner, but Ruby had won out. Given where the story was heading, I think the show was just using Ruby to help set up more situations for Lloyd and Stephanie, who I suspect were the show's longterm goal. I think the Steve stuff was more foundational than longterm.