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As much as I enjoy 1994, the show made several critical errors in the second half of 1994 that really hurt it which didn't help the many full and partial preemptions in the summer of 1994 when the show was pretty solid. Some things were out of their control (Jessica Collins not renewing her contract), but the handling of Dinahlee's exit was bad. Curtis rigging Buck's plane which lead to a crash was such a bad, destructive move for the character of Curtis. By some twisted logic, I can forgive Curtis for trying to convince Trucker that Trisha was alive because, well, she was even if Curtis didn't know that. Trying to mess with a plane just took the character too far. By the time you have him shooting Gwyn, there is nothing left for the character. Elizabeth Mitchell was very green and was asked to carry a very demanding story where Dinahlee had suffered from injuries that required her to learn to do many basic life skills again. It was too much for Mitchell and the story is pretty hard to watch because its cringy. Also, killing off Janie Sinclair who I think had the potential to be the show's new longterm young female schemer was a terrible choice. Through in the Jeremy / Gilbert story and things really fall apart towards the end of Nixon's 1994 run. Also, I love the Cradle Foundation mystery and Cabot coming back from the dead, but its a story without the sort of gravitas that should have come from bringing this character back from the dead. Revealing that the Sowoloskys, and not the Aldens, were to source of AE's fortune had the potential to create long story for at least a year, but instead it ended up being over in a few weeks. Insantiy. As Ken R said, the Gilbert / Jeremy story is pretty bad. Jean LeClerc was a fine actor, but Jeremy never really fits into the "Loving" canvas. His relationship with Gwyn after Gwyn decides she needs to be independent from Clay and the Aldens is nice, but Jeremy's role could have been fulfilled by someone else. I remember some scenes where they seemed to be chemistry testing LeClerc and Hickland during the fall of 1993 after Nixon arrived. I suspect Nixon would have wanted to do a Jeremy / Tess / Clay / Gwyn story as some point, but none of that came to pass. I do think the quartet was used a bit during the beginning stages of the advertising storyline, but nothing was ever substantial or completely utilized the potential. Back to Jeremy / Gilbert, this is one story that I feel DID get better when Nixon left and the focus was more on Ava and Sandy's kidnapping and the psychological exploration of what caused Gilbert to become the man that he was. The ending that Addie Walsh and Laurie McCarthy penned is very dramatic, but also makes Gilbert much more human. It wouldn't play well in the current climate. Alex, egged on by the psychotic Denise Nostrand, is convinced that Gilbert will kill his wife and son. Once he tracks them down to the Hunter family church, Alex shoots Gilbert even though he has already let Ava and Sandy go as well as save Sandy's life when he nearly fell through rotting floor boards. Alex feels guilty about the shooting and Charles encourages him to cover it up. Ava actually lies for Alex saying that Gilbert had a gun. My episodes stop in January so I don' t know how the story completely wraps.

They have got things working...

Thanks. Yikes.

Rachel Todd played Pam Evans.

@RavenWhitney I got lost in my train of thought and meant to say that Ellen Barrett, not Joanna Lee, casted Conroy. I thought he was fine, but I sort of get your point about not being typical leading man material. In some ways, he reminded me of Grant Alexander, who I also feel has a very specific look. I thought Adair and Chase were decent, but not awe inspiring. I much rather have seen a Chase / Wendy / Alec triangle. @Paul Raven If it was a short arc, spring 1985, Fairchild would have been between "Paper Dolls" and "Falcon Crest." Am I missing something? If they could have gotten like 13 weeks from Morgan they could have ended my silly sanitarium story with a fire where she saved Suzi's life, but was horribly burned. Then she could be sent away with the audience knowing that she could eventually return with a new face just in time for another sweeps. In terms of other stories, I don't think Patti ever learned that Chris was Len's biological child. Crafting a story that built to that moment would have been worth some time. I think I thought it might be good if they had cast an age appropriate Patti to pair her down the line with Lloyd Kendall, but I think that was because I wanted a scenario where Len would have mentored Alec at the hospital which would have built a rivalry there. Eventually, you could have Estelle on the hospital board and show an interest in Len to make things more complicated. I know that they played a rivalry between Estelle / Sunny over Bela, but I would rather have had them bring back Steve Kendall, who I felt was dumped way too quickly. I know the Kendalls end up replacing the Tourneur / Sentell clan, but initially they are there as rivals, which wasn't utilized to its full potential. I think Sunny and Steve getting together and Estelle being the meddling potential mother-in-law who was her boss would have been intriguing. If they were determined to do a Liza / Sunny triangle, I think it should have been over Lee Sentell. I would have had Cissie run off leaving Lee as a single father. Lee would arrive in Henderson to help Liza with the company. Liza would be interested in being a mother figure to Roger Lee, which would lead to Lee and Liza spending time together while Lee and Sunny were also together. I probably would have liked to see this played out around the same time as the Cord Tourneur story with Cord a more traditional villain to take over the role vacated by Warren Carter. I would also have Cord trying to seduce Sunny to keep her off the trail of his illegal dealings at Tourneur Instruments which would play into the Liza / Lee situation. Given how fluid the canvas was at the time, I think I would have had Cord aligned with a returned and recast Spence Langley. Spence, I believe, also had a small role in the Roger Lee plot. Wasn't he friendly with Cissie? I thought I read he pretended to be the baby's father, but I might be wrong. @robbwolff I have heard about the mystery owner before. Any speculation on who it might have been? Could Tomlin planned to bring Martin Tourneur back into the story?

Thanks for sharing. I was a bit shocked to see that Jack Betts character appeared to be a love interest for Jo. Interesting to hear that they seemed to be giving her something more than that.

I have seen a bunch of stretches from late 1982 until early 1984 before Jeanne Glynn came on and then years ago the episodes from AOL from late 1984 until early 1986. I think Jeanne Glynn's work is a bit of a mixed bag, but a bulk of 1984 is missing so it would be interesting to see how most of that played out. Glynn came in after Tomlin, who left the show in pretty good shape, but had a massive cast turnover within months when Brian Emerson, Kristen Carter, Warren Carter, Ringo Altman, and Travis Sentell departed during a very short period of time. Martin Tourneur and Hogan McCleary were out not long after. I think this really shifted too many dynamics at once. I don't know who left verse who choose to leave, but it might have been more reasonable to recast someone like Warren if Michael Corbett couldn't be tied down to another long term contract or at the very least have spent some time with the fallout. If they had to kill off Warren, I would have liked them to have Suzi unable to handle it mentally and have to be committed to a sanitarium briefly. I think this would have added stakes to the custody of Jonah especially if Kristen returned looking for custody of Jonah for herself. I think Kristen trying to align herself with Wendy, first, as they were friends, before Wendy turning on her because of events that had happened between Kristen and Brian offscreen, before siding with Cagney and slowly falling for him. Meanwhile, you would have Suzi in the sanitarium becoming friendly with a woman who is looking out for her who turns out to be Jennifer Phillips, the woman who killed her mother. Jennifer still had some ties to Henderson (she had killed Eunice, had been involved with one of the Walton/Bergman boys, and had been friendly with Stephanie) so I think she could have come town briefly after the sanitarium storyline. I think if they had integrated Kristen and then Brian back into Suzi's orbit that the writers wouldn't have had to try so hard to come up with story for Cagney and Suzi especially since Brian and Cagney were both police officers. I'm perplexed by what period of time viewers consider the show dominated by the McClearys. I feel like the last year is very McCleary heavy, but most people seem to claim that they enjoyed the Ireland storyline. The little I watched wasn't my cup of tea and dominated a large portion of story time. I thought Paul Avila Mayer and Stephanie Braxton did some good work with the McClearys in making them feel like an actual family, but I didn't feel they were overwhelming. Maybe I just didn't watch enough episodes.

Thanks. When I first got into "Guiding Light" around 1998, I found a website that had saved the old usenet posts for "Loving" episodes. I was surprised to see that there was so little available for "Loving" given that it had aired so recently (as of 1998). My first "glimpse" of "Loving" was those old usenet posts from June 1992 until the show's end. I've spent years reading anything I can find on "Loving" and within the last three years or so have been able to obtain a substantial set of the show's later run. I'm not overly fond of the post-Marland period until Jacqueline Babbin arrives as EP in 1990, but I really wasn't all that interested in 1991 until I saw it so things can always change. I really struggle trying to follow the show in the 1986-1988 years because its just so representative of the outrageous excess of camp and adventure that the soaps seem to embrace in the 1980s especially when it was conceived in order to combat that. I realize there are people that don't like the business plots, but I think Dane Hamond's quest to takeover AE between 1984 and 1985 was a very interesting Marland-style tale with a bunch of threads that impacted various areas of the canvas and created a lot of strong interpersonal conflicts between the characters. Nixon and Marland are very different writers, which is why I think the show struggled. The first six months or so are mostly based on Nixon's original projection for the show with some Marland additions, but after the Lily story ends and the Roger - Merrill affair is resolved the show becomes very different. I imagine it was either more collaborative or Marland had more of a say over what was going on. I think 1984 - 1985 plays very well in those old SOD synopses, but by the summer of 1985 you have things like Ava running around with a gun threatening to kill Stacey, Jonathan Maitland impersonating his brother, crazy Zona Beecham arriving, and Keith hiding out in a brothel with a hooker named Dolly. In my opinion, Nixon's 1993-1994 run is much better than the short period between Marland and Bill Levinson. I've only seen a little of Cece and, as I explained above, I'm not fond of her period so I don't always remember details about certain characters. I believe Cece was introduced in 1985 after Marland left or towards the end. I know Trisha and Steve originally had another obstacle, rich boy Rick Elkins, who had some feelings for Trisha. This was playing out in the summer of 1985 synopses I read, but I don't remember if Cece was already there to take advantage of the tension between Trisha and Steve. In the 1986 episodes online, Steve is serving time because he slept with Cece, who was underage. What's interesting is that I don't think Trisha was of age either. I'm curious how that storyline would be perceived by a modern audience. My understanding is that originally she was just a thorn in Trisha and Steve's side and most viewed as troublemaker during Alice Haining and Rebecca Staab's run. Colleen Dion had the longest run taking over around June 1986 and leaving in Decemeber 1987 around the time Steve was written out. I think Colleen Dion seems very interesting in the material that has appeared from 1987 and Cece definitely seems to be a precursor to Dinahlee. It seems like Ralph Ellis gives the character more dimension when he has Cece get pregnant by Steve in the spring of 1987 and then uses the baby to try to manipulate her way back into Steve's life to the chagrin of Trisha. While it was basically a replay of the Stacey/Jack/Ava situation of two years earlier, I'm intrigued by the fact that Ellis paired up Ava and Cece as friends and had Ava as Cece's confidante when she lost the baby and was planning on lying to keep Steve away from Trisha. I know Ava was afraid her part in the lie would affect her relationship with Clay, but I wonder if there was any reflection on the fact that Ava had just done this. As much as I have come to enjoy Jessica Collins as Dinahlee, I can't help but wonder what could have been if it was Cece Thompson who came back to town in 1991 working as a nanny while secretly working on Shana's payroll. Ava certainly could have used a friend with all that was going on with Paul, Carly, and Flynn. It was neat hearing how Millee Taggart slipped in the Kate story. That is one of the few stories from that period I'm interested in. Hearing the Laura Wright story from James Harmon Brown was interesting. I know Millee Taggart introduced Ally and that they cast Eric Goodall before Laura Wright (then Sisk). There's also a SOD article towards the beginning of the thread that says Laura tested with Ally alongside Jessica Collins and that LW thought Collins was being brought in as an Ally recast and was rude to Collins. I wonder if the contest was a chance to audition for "Loving" rather than actually getting a role on "Loving." There was also the national casting search the next year for the college set. There isn't much of Horan's Clay available. He certainly seems fine as Clay and plays the material well. I think Parlato gets more praise because he was good in what he was given. Honestly, the only Clay I'm not thrilled with is Larkin Malloy, but that had as much to do with the writing as it did with Malloy. Chris Marcantel mentioned they were thinking about doing an all Curtis reunion. I'm sure he must have had a way of contacting Albers. During Chip Albers run, I believe he was close to most of the male cast members to the point that they goofed around together. I'm wondering if the "Men of Loving" isn't just a rebranded version of the friends of Randy Mantooth reunion that Marcantel mentioned was coming up. Mantooth would have worked with most of the actors on the panel accept for maybe Christopher Cass. Cass is a bit of an oddity on that panel because he only worked with James Horan from what I recall. Then again, Christopher Cass has commented on Lauren Marie Taylor's posts so maybe there is more contact. Honestly, I was sort of hoping for some combination of James Kilberd, Tom Lignon, and/or Ron Nummi as they all seemed to be connected to Marcantel on social media. I wouldn't be surprised if we get another pop in video or last minute jump in from Bryan Cranston. I have similar feelings about the storyline. Christine Tudor Newman is spectacular in those final scenes and I'm not necessarily sure the entire storyline would be as well remembered. When Gwyn finally is forced the realization that she, not Trisha is the killer, I am absolutely heartbroken. Gwyn begging Steffi to end her pain the way Gwyn has ended everyone else is incredibly compelling. After seeing how Curtis was treated when they thought he was the killer, I was pleased to see that there was certainly a level of sympathy given to Gwyn. I'm not really sure what happened with Gwyn. I don't believe it is DID, but I do think there seems to be a level of disassociation. She is insistent that Trisha is the killer and even after realizing she killed everyone. during her clearest most broken moments, she claims she truly believed that Trisha had been doing it. I find the line from Alex about "never truly knowing what went wrong" psychologically with Gwyn rather cheap given what the audience was asked to sit through. This all happens in 1995. I believe this was around the time that most shows were starting to see a steady decline in viewership. The only show that was seeing massive growth was "Days of our Lives" which I believe hit some highs in early 1995 with the possession storyline. I think network execs saw an opportunity there but didn't truly understand that it wasn't just the possession alone that kept the ratings high. The outlandishness of possession storyline drew viewers in but there were a lot of other storylines building (Bo / Billie, Sami / Austin / Carrie / Lucas, Jack / Jennifer / Peter) that could keep the audience tuning in afterwards. I think having Gwyn (who is now in the mental health field like Marlena) going nuts was meant to goose the ratings to deliver healthy numbers for the start of "Loving." The Angie / Charles / Lorraine / Jacob story is particularly strong and had that continued over immediately, maybe "The City" would have had a stronger start. There is no conflict with Jacob and Angie just arriving in the City and building their careers. The start of the Kayla story with her holding a gun on Angie seems such a poor choice meant to mimic the shocking stories told on the nighttime shows on FOX. While not nearly as extreme, NBC hired Jill Faren Phelps to overhaul "Another World" in a similar manner (primetime elements / serial killer storyline) and CBS did a much milder version with "As the World Turns" hiring Stephen Black and Henry Stern who flooded the canvas with much younger characters. The opening episodes of "The City" seemed rather tame. I suspect that the dead body that was found in the carpet during the move in was suppose to let the audience know that things would still be happening, but I don't think that really happened in the early episodes. With that said, the last few months are well remembered. I wonder what would have happened had "The City" survived until the arrival of "The Sopranos." I believe Amelia Heinle was relatively popular on "Loving" and I believe Steffi and Cooper had developed a pretty decent following among those who were watching the show. My guess is that they were hoping to convince Heinle to stick around or at the very least to utilize her popularity to keep people watching.

Ned Bates was part of high school set built around Kelly Conway, Lorna's stepdaughter. Kelly was involved with Rob Carpenter, who was a punk with a careless mother. At the time, Jim Vochek had amnesia and was working at Corinth High because he no longer remembered being a priest. Initially, Ned is interested in Kelly before April is introduced. Also introduced around this time was Dave Hindman, the basketball playing son of Lt. Art Hindman. Dave had academic difficulthy the basketball coach, MacDonald, made sure that Dave would pass. Jim took an interest in Dave and was determined to make sure he would be able to go to college. There may have been a change in writers (from Bill Levinson to Ralph Ellis) in the spring of 1987 because there are some signficant story shifts. April Hathaway is introduced. April is living with her alcoholic cousin, Marty, who took an interest in Jim Vochek. April had been knocked up by a boyfriend, had an abortion, and was kicked out by her parents. I believe the boy's brother was the Alan Howard character who would later kidnap her. This backstory sounds similar to Ralph Ellis' backstory for Jenny Deacon, woman who was pregnant by a wealthy boyfriend, got pregnant, and became a prostitute. Nixon touted April and Ned as the show's new couple to watch when interviewed about the show's fourth anniversary. By May, Kathleen Fisk was dropped as Kelly. Kelly was sent to live with Zach and Lorna in San Francisco. Zach and Lorna had left earlier in the year on their honeymoon and never came back. During this time, Kelly was living with the Aldens. Kelly was replaced with Teri Polo's Kristen Larson, who was initially helping out Dave Hindman to pass his classes and then set her sights on Ned. Rob Carpenter also sort of disappears from the synopses around this time. His mother had abandoned him and come back only for the Carpenters to be evicted. Terry was leaving town to live with her new boyfriend and Rob seems to be left trying to find a place to live. My guess is the plan was initially to transition this group to Alden University, but clearly that never happened. Most of these characters are completely forgotten. April is trying to escape prostitution, then she is stalked by Alan Howard, and then she ends up being kidnapped by the man. When she started on "Another World," Alexandra Wilson declared that April had no real sense of identity and that "Loving" was extremely melodramatic. I don't think she was wrong. From what I've seen of Ellis' 1982 "Search for Tomorrow" run, Ellis can tell some very good character based stories, but he also has characters with extremely loaded backstories. He also could write very poor action adventure tales. I know some of the Alex/Clay and Ava clips feature a story about the duo crashing in the woods. Seems like Ellis was replaying his South American plane crash story from "Search for Tomorrow." In general, I don't think the teenage prostitution angle was the best story to explore less than a year after suggesting that Dolly Jones' daughter was the star of child pornography. At the same time you had April, Lily Slater did return to town. It may have been too heavy for the show.

Burke Moses left in 1987. He landed the role of Rapunzel's Prince in the Broadway production "Into the Woods" during the summer of 1987. Moses was given a 2 month leave of absence to prepare for the play. Curtis was shipped off to Germany. Moses and the production team couldn't reach an agreement about his return, and he was let go in September 1987. I'm not even sure they brought him back for an exit. In the initial news releases, the show stated they planned on recasting, but they dropped the character of Lotty. Judith Hoag departed in November 1987 with Lotty announcing to Ned she was going to Germany to join Curtis. Lotty and Curtis married the week of May 18th, 1987. Later on, someone asked about Ned Bates. I don't think he made it into 1988. If anyone has some more definitive proof one way or another, I'd be happy to see it. When Lotty initially departs, Ned does stay on as a border at Kate's, however immediately after Lotty leaves Ned learns April was leaving. Perry is still in the credits for November 16, 1987 while Lotty, Curtis, Marty, and April are all gone. Then, Steve is shot during the November 1987 bank hold up and dies in early December 1987, which lines up with Johnson's December 1984 start date. Ned would only have Kate to interact with. Cece, who was also living in the boarding house, was written out in December 1987. I just cannot see him staying on with no one to even be a talk to for. I think the Aldens always owned the mansion. I believe Johnny Forbes, Roger Forbes' father, had made his own money through his construction company, Forbes Construction, which was a pretty prominent business during the Marland years. Credits are hard to come by for "Loving." Without seeing scripts, it would probably be hard to know. Then, of course, you have the questionable authorship of 1992, which I don't know if that ever will be cleared up other than asking Addie Walsh directly. Albers seems fine, but Curtis is such a different character due to no fault of Albers. The show had changed so much since 1983 when Curtis was a rascal and conniving schemer. Taggert and King clearly are playing him as Trisha's brother so that is why he is always in the orbit of Trucker's sister. It makes for a tight B-story to the Trucker and Trisha story, but I just don't find it all that interesting. It would have been interesting if Jeff Hartman had managed to woo Curtis to his side through promising to help his career at Alden Enterprises through the production division and played Curtis' divided loyalties. The Dan Hollister murder story doesn't interest me because Hollister is such a ill conceived character from the spy story. To be fair, I have similar issues with Patrick T. Johnson's Curtis, who Taggart and Guza introduce. His Curtis cannot escape the mold of being Trisha's brother even though the potential of a Curtis / Dinahlee / Clay triangle is intriguing. Even with Trisha gone, Curtis is still tied to one of Trucker's siblings (Buck). I do think Albers played a much lighter version of Curtis very well. One of the moments I enjoyed from his run is when Curtis crashes Trisha's bachelorette party in drag with Dave Hindman. This was inspired by a real life incident where Albers, Randy Mantooth, and a couple other male cast members crashed either Lauren Marie Taylor or Noelle Beck's baby shower also donning women's clothing. The bulk of the Trucker / Dinahlee / Curtis stuff is pretty even keeled, in my opinion. Curtis is clearly suffering from post traumatic stress due to his experiences with Dante and is refusing to recognize the need for help. It puts Dinahlee in an interesting spot as she does want to protect him. Dinahlee clearly loves Curtis, but she is not in love with him. There is actually a decent scene between Dinahlee, Curtis, Gwyn, and Clay at Pins where they are all trying to support Curtis despite all their twisted relationships with one another. I even can handle most of Curtis tricking Trucker into thinking Trisha is alive because, well, she is alive. I start to lose my favor with a lot of things around August 1994 when Curtis manipulates the airplane that kills Janie Sinclaire and Jessica Collins leaves. Clay pops up alive in mid-January 1987 and Steve dies in early December 1987. It was probably 1987 that aired.

I know there is always confusion over Jill O'Hara and Susan "Sue" Michaels. Typically, that role is associated with "A Time for Us." Now, I've found a picture of Jenny O'Hara from December 1965 credited as playing Andy, a nurse and friendly confidante to Linda Driscoll, on "A Time for Us."

The guy I remember Conboy pushing was Troy Kurtis’ Nico Castana, who lived with Danny and Michelle because Danny felt guilty as his parents died due to mob violence. Kurtis auditioned for Tony Santos when they hired Stephen Martines. I believe Nico was created for Kurtis. The guy had no story, but some hype. When Conboy was fired they briefly played Crystal Hunt’s Lizzie with Nico. Lizzie was present when Nico OD on Delerium at the rave. Kurtis was one of the first ones Wheeler let go. Kurtis left in May 2004 when Nico left to pursue his music career in New York where he was suppose to stay with Drew and Jesse.

I have an early outline for this show somewhere. It was suppose to be very different. As I remember, Baylor Duncan, George Hamilton's character, was the main focus. I also feel like there may have been more of an action/adventure story going on. I think some of the original was filmed because they scrapped the original concept when there was a change in producers. The material was repackaged as sold in Europe as "The Last of the Power Seekers." I didn't know that Lana Turner had left the series.

This has got to be one of Travis' last episodes in the first 20 minutes of the video. Travis dies in June 1984. I believe this is the start of a second revamp in a little over a year. When Joanna Lee came on, she shifted the show dramatically, but kept adding characters into the old and the new. So many of these characters are just new. Janet was written out in June 1982 after the move to NBC when the show was going younger to fit the NBC demos. As was already stated, she and Danny left for California. Nicolette Goulet and Patsy Pease. When Danny returns in 1983, he mentions his mother going to Europe I believe.

Excellent to hear. I imagine the original kids is intended to be in honor of the show's anniversary. Very interested in seeing what they talk about this go around. I was looking at that initial promo picture of the four of them and Perry Stephens. Shame Stephens isn't around.

A weird tidbit... In my latest search for information on "A New Day in Eden," I stumbled across a review of the uncut version of "9 1/2 Weeks" featuring Kim Bassinger and Mickey Rourke. Apparently, scenes were used in the film from a script written by Patrick Mulcahey. From what I could tell, it was a small interaction between a man and woman. In the film's credits, Jeff Severson and Kim Michel are credited as "soap opera man" and "soap opera woman." Years ago, I had seen Severson list "A New Day in Eden" on his resume without listing a role. In the brief clip, Severson's character is seen wearing a suit. No clue who he was or how he fit into the show.

Awesome. Now we can update the writer's list: Millee Taggart and Tom King (September 1988 - April 1991) Millee Taggart (April 1991 - August 1991) Mary Ryan Munisteri (August 1991 - January 1992) Addie Walsh (January 1992 - January 1993) [credited until 1/93; may have departed by 7/92] Millee Taggart and Robert Guza (January 1993 - September 1993) Agnes Nixon (September 1993 - at least September 1994) Addie Walsh and Laurie McCarthy (fall 1994 - spring 1995) James Harmon Brown and Barbara Essensten (spring 1995 - November 1995) Interesting. Dinahlee and Flynn are both created by Millee Taggart. Flynn definitely seems to be headed towards Ava, which continues until October when Mary Ryan Munisteri goes Flynn / Carly. That Dinahlee / Gwyn scene is fun. Jessica Collins may have been green, but she is very charismatic. I don't know how the Dinahlee / Jack storyline was initially intended. I know I read that Lauren Marie Taylor went into labor while filming, finished her scenes, and then had her child the next day during an episode of "Loving." The original Rev. Ford. By the fall, its Uncle Frank from the "Home Alone" movies in the role. I have no clue what that hostage / cave story is about with Rocky / Rio / Trucker / Trisha. Interesting that there are several characters referenced who are on the verge of disappearing. Carly has just married Clay and he's about to depart. Rocky and Rio disappear around this time. I didn't even realize they were still around at this point. Fran Sears definitely has a strong idea of what she wants to happen. @Vee Mary Ryan Munisteri did create Giff Bowman. I'm assuming you've seen the episode from October 1, 1991. I believe it is his first episode. Jeremy does replace Giff. It's a bit of a sore point for me because I think Giff, at least as he was initially written, was a much more interesting character. Jeremy tends to have too much soapy baggage in my opinion (the mercenary who was also an artist, the psychic visions). @slick jones Pretty sure that is James Carroll (future Leo Burnell) as the drunk bar patron at Checkers. His voice is pretty recognizable. @j swift You may have seen this. If you haven't, it doesn't necessarily answer your questions. I tried to watch some of it, but this really isn't my kind of story. I like a good imposter story, but the actual execution is a bit much. I think @EricMontreal22 has complained about Ralph Ellis' spy adventures / business storylines. The spy stories seems very boring.

Isabelle was mostly the kindly grandmother type. Originally, Meg Mundy was hired to play the role, but she balked at the salary they were offering and refused to sign the contract. As you know, Mundy had played devious Mona Aldrich for many years. I know the original material described Isabelle as a “Eleanor Roosevelt type” so I imagine the plan was for Mundy’s Isabelle to be more like her role in “Ordinary People” as Mary Tyler Moore’s mother than her scheming role on “The Doctors.” I do think that had Meg Mundy stayed someone would have made her more calculating. Augusta Dabney ends up playing the role on and off until March 1991 when she is let go by Jacqueline Babbin and Tom King / Millee Taggart. This was during a rather large cast purge. When the character returns in the fall of 1991, Fran Sears and Mary Ryan Munisteri are the production team. They really invested some money in Holms bringing in an expensive piano to put in the Alden living room as they hoped the could get her to play on occasion. It is Celeste Holms’ Isabelle who is the first iteration of a stronger Isabelle. Upon her return to Corinth in November, Isabelle, hardened by Cabot’s death earlier in the year, is determined to maintain her husband’s legacy through her own brand of business savvy. Holms’ Isabelle used her knowledge of people to get information from them. It’s a very different interpretation, but it is very much meant to be. As you say, they were looking to replace that Cabot Alden role, the wealthy domineering family head who meddled too much and, in Isabelle’s case, loved too much. In January 1992, Mary Ryan Munisteri leaves and Addie Walsh takes over. Isabelle’s story shifts dramatically. During the crossover between Munisteri and Walsh, Sears had lured Wesley Addy back to appear in sequences as Cabot’s ghost with Celeste Holms’ Isabelle. They were purposely hoping that having husband and wife playing opposite each other would be a draw. In the initial set of scenes, Isabelle and Cabot are loving and affectionate. In the final sequence, Cabot accuses Isabelle of having a secret which she has kept from the family. This is a complete 180. Walsh has Holms’ Isabelle as less business savvy and more meddlesome. Her intention is no longer to preserve Cabot’s legacy but rather ensure that Clay gets the company. Everything is about Clay. Even when Isabelle starts to groom Gwyn to takeover, it is only because she is trying to incite a fire in Clay in order to get him to leave Dinahlee and Pins and return to AE. The bulk of Holms’ Isabelle during the Walsh / Sears period (January – May 1992) is Isabelle trying to keep her secret: she slept with Tim Sullivan, a stablehand, and he, not Cabot, was Clay’s father. When Haidee Granger becomes EP, Holms is fired and stops appearing in June 1992 with Barry immediately picking up the role. Barry’s Isabelle has always come off as cartoonish to me. Too big, too gaudy, too much. I don’t necessarily blame Barry, but the writing leads Barry to some choices in characterization I don’t care for. I don’t remember any version of Isabelle being as classist as Barry’s, which is what made her intent to see low rent Ally Rescott marry her darling nephew Cooper. One of the writers in SOD made the point that Barry saw Ally as a way of rectifying her own past by ensuring that Ally marry her baby’s father, but also ensuring that the child received everything entitled to an Alden. I see Barry’s Isabelle Alden as a sort of poor man’s Phoebe Wallingford. Isabelle appears a lot in the these two sets of episodes (January and May) but I don’t think she appears much in between or afterwards. She is certainly an element to the Cooper / Ally / Casey situation, but more often than not they are talking about Isabelle not to Isabelle. When Nixon takes over in September 1993, there is no story for Isabelle. Pat Barry’s big moment under Nixon is Isabelle blowing up Cooper’s spot to Ally by revealing that the two of them had concocted the claim that Cooper had been disinherited to keep Ally and Casey apart. This was after Isabelle paid off an Alden employee, Ned Delaney, who was threatening Cooper over his involvement in the car burglary that Frankie Hubbard had been involved in. Barry is one of the first, if not the first, actor fired during Nixon’s run. She departs in January 1994 when Isabelle departs to some warmer climate. The only time Pat Barry and Wesley Addy ever appear together is in the portrait hanging over the mantle in the Alden living room. Nixon actually replaces Isabelle with Nancy Addison Altman’s Deborah Brewster who is Steffi’s class conscious bitch mother who is trying to pimp Steffi out to Clay in order for her to secure a financial future through her daughter’s marriage. Altman arrives in December and Barry’s gone within the month. Nixon brings back Dabney in July 1994 while Jozie Emmerich is producing. I haven’t watched much of the return. I’ve seen a bunch of September 1994 and Cabot and Isabelle are rarely used. There is a rather intense scene at the end of the month where Cabot and Isabelle visit Deborah and Clay at the Bistro, which was where Cabot worked during his days as Buddy. Clay goes off on Cabot for icing him out of the company and giving him some lousy restaurant to manage. Cabot claims he thought it would make Clay happy, but Clay goes in on Cabot. Clay goes after Cabot saying that he knows the true reason; Cabot isn’t Clay’s father. Deborah is present for all of this and Isabelle is mortified. After the men leave, Isabelle writes Deborah a check to keep her quiet, not wanting Clay’s paternity to be revealed. My guess is this is the closest we’d ever get to a manipulative Augusta Dabney. Regarding Gottlieb, anything is possible. I would say this is unlikely, but I’ve also been floating the idea that Michael Malone could have consulted. Clay’s gaslighting reminds me of elements of Malone’s second run at “One Life to Live.” Anyway, the show was using popular musical cues since the 1980s. Someone posted a clip from 1987 with Jim Vochek and Ned Bates with the score from a miniseries and the show used the Rocky theme in a rather well remembered catfight between Ann Alden and Gwyn. In 1993, Haidee Granger, a former ABC daytime executive, was EP so its entirely possible she was influenced by Gottlieb and increased the popular music cues. Armand peters out. Michael Gagliardi was hired by Haidee Granger as the lawyer in Trisha’s custody storyline. She simply kept Rosario on and gave him a contract when the trial was over. Rosario and Gwyn get very little story. I think they break up in February or March 1993 when Rosario overhears Gwyn telling Clay that she will always love him. Every new writer comes in during the 1990s and kills whatever romance Gwyn has going at the moment often without having any other story in place. It’s quite unfortunate. Rosario is listed in the credits through the summer (at least early August), but is more often than not talked about rather than seen. When Cooper goes for custody in August, another Alden lawyer is used. I don’t think Armand gets an actual exit, but he might. The show burns through story, but also everything is impacted by the constant change in production. When Jeremy arrives in October 1992, you have Addie Walsh credited as headwriter. Who knows who was actually writing. Paul Anthony Stewart claims the show was without a head writer in the summer of 1992, but Walsh is credited through January 1993. My guess is Granger, who had previously worked for British television, took on a more English approach to the producer role and was dictating story while using pieces of Addie Walsh’s long story. Anyway, it is Granger/Walsh? who pursue Jeremy / Stacey, but Taggart and Guza don’t dump it immediately in 1993 when they arrive. Instead, they let it play out for a bit, but rarely having any big story other than Hannah’s accusation in those May episodes. I think Stacey and Jeremy just realize things aren’t going to work out. Taggart and Guza definitely have Jeremy view Ava as his Corinthian Erica Kane including flashbacks clips from AMC with Erica and Jeremy. Guza and Taggart are committed to the Jeremy / Ava / Leo / Shana story through the summer of 1993 and into the fall. Even when both couples were paired off (Jeremy / Ava and Shana / Leo) there were hints that Ava and Leo would be drawn together because Ava’s insecurity over her intelligence and Leo’s frustration over Shana’s ownership of Burnell’s. Nixon comes on and send everyone in different directions in September 1993 just after Alex Masters returns to town. So the biggest problem is every writer had a different vision. Jack Forbes was killed in July 1992. Jacqueline Babbin fired Perry Stephens in early 1991 and replaced him with Christopher Cass. Stacey and Jack’s last big story as a couple was Dinahlee’s seduction plot in the fall of 1991 which dovetailed into the Dinahlee / Trucker affair. Mary Ryan Munisteri started some tension with Isabelle’s return, but she didn’t stay around long enough to do anything. Jack and Stacey go in separate directions in 1992 (Jack focusing on AE and Stacey on the mystery of the Tides). Haidee Granger dumps Christopher Cass/Jack in the summer of 1992, but brings him back in November during the gaslighting storyline even though they had started using Perry Stephens image as Jack again. Jack wasn’t dead. No body was ever found. Stacey and Clay marry in November. In October, Trucker suffers a head injury after falling from the belfry saving Trisha from Giff Bowman. When he awakes, Trucker thinks he loves Stacey. When that is quickly resolved, we go straight into Stacey and Clay. Clay wants Stacey’s AE assets and Stacey wants someone to protect her. Initially, they do not consummate the marriage, but eventually they do sleep together. Shortly after, Clay locks her away in the hospital. There are credits in the January 1991 episodes. Addie Walsh is credited at the start of the month and Taggart and Guza at the end of the month. Taggart and Guza introduce Steffi, but the prototype to Steffi was introduced by Addie Walsh. Mia appeared in December 1992 and was a dark haired girl who was hanging around Cooper. I don’t know how far those January 1993 episodes go but she can be seen breaking up the fight between Cooper and Casey in Jeremy’s classroom after Casey learns Coop has knocked Ally up. Steffi also appears before the end of January. The Curtis list… Chris Marcantel was OG Curtis from June 1983-June 1985 Then Linden Ashby from August 1985-86 Burke Moses from 1986 until fall 1987 [I think] Chip Albers from March 1989 until March 1991 Patrick T Johnson from February 1993 until May 1993 Michael Lord aired May until September 1993 Then CM returned in November 1993 Augusta Dabney played the chemical burn story when James Horan was there so that was either 1990 or 1991. There is an article on the makeup used for it somewhere in this thread. Beatrice in 1993 is the clerk for the Alden archives. My guess is “town clerk” was just a mistake and that the roles are the same.

Nixon's original plan was to reveal that Johnny Forbes was behind the prostitution ring; his underworld ventures being how he had amassed his wealth. When Johnny was found out, he was to take his own life. Personally, I think there was some value in keeping Johnny around, but they really weren't telling too many stories with characters of that generation. It would have given Roger a sounding board. By the end of the story, Egypt admits she was wrong. I haven't watched the episodes again. Is Egypt's departure in it? I thought it was effective in tying up loose ends and leaving Egypt in a better shape than she arrived. Nixon definitely had Ava and Alex involved in bigger stories which is why we get Egypt faking her death. The video store was around for a bit during Nixon's run. I don't know if its featured, but in most scenes there is a rather prominent display of ABC soap operas on VHS for rental. When Alex returns in 1993, there are a lot of Alex / Dinahlee scenes. I don't know if that was the direction the show was heading or it was simply to create tension for Ava. Anyway, when Ava is recounting the Alex / Clay saga, Ava states that Alex was a con artist who became too involved with the Alden family. I think the backstory was rewritten several times over. Originally, Clay went missing in Paris around the time Gwyn and Trisha arrive in Corinth for Christmas in 1984. When Christopher Marcantel departs in June 1985, Curtis leaves Corinth to find his father who he believes is in Thailand or Singapore. In August 1985, Linden Ashby arrives in Corinth as Curtis and announces that he has found proof that his father is indeed dead. Like so many stories, I think the Clay is Alex plot was written by several writers. Marland, and then Nixon, handled the 1985 initial departure. Then, Ralph Ellis initiated Clay's return to Corinth in the form of Alex. There's a writer's strike in 1988 when the plot is really kicking into high gears (Egypt's arrival) and then Tom King and Millee Taggart do all the spy / POW stuff. I think the outcome is why people liked the story; everyone preferred Alex's Clay to the true Clay. Patrick Johnson starts in those episodes, but Michael Lord is the Curtis by the end of those episodes.

I recently received Marland's story notes from March 1991 which included some of the early plans involving the Carolyn Crawford murder plot. Marland makes it clear that Darryl is going to be the killer, but he also intended for Darryl to get away with the murder. Frannie and Darryl still would have married, and Frannie would have become increasingly terrified by the realization that Darryl was in fact the killer. She even expressed concern over Carolyn's child, which Frannie feared Darryl would. Eventually, the police would be lead to believe that the Chicago mob was involved in Carolyn's death and the proof of Darryl's crime (a page in Carolyn's diary) would go missing. The invitro-fertilization element was supposedly an element introduced very late in the story and the plan was to start the murder story earlier than they did, but the writers had delayed the plot due to Bob Hughes' shooting (I don't think they wanted two dark plots playing at once). Dana was suppose to be a red herring in the story and there was going to be a blackmailer who would call the police and then Darryl in order to throw the audience off. In the original story, it sounds like Darryl had paid someone to kill Carolyn and may have been involved in the death of her father. I don't know much about this period of "As the World Turns," but one of the bigger shocks to me was that Marland introduced Darryl in order to create a dynamic, modern villain. Was Darryl actually portrayed as a villain? Also, the initial long term plan was to repair Larry McDermott and Frannie after Darryl and Frannie's divorce (which the notes suggestion would be in the summer of 1992) after Larry and Susan's affair petered out. Marland's comments implied that Larry had become an audience favorite so they were going to develop him a bit further. The Susan / Larry relationship was suppose to be short term and Marland specifically states they wouldn't be the type of couple to marry.

Ruth's desire to purchase the old Whitmore estate was a story thread from the first episodes. In the opener, Rebecca learns that her old family home is for sale. When she passes the estate, Rebecca witnesses the Hassad family leaving because of a bank foreclosure. When the banker spots Rebecca, he tells her how the home should be owned by "a good old American like you." Rebecca reminds him that he foreclosed on her in that home too. In the second, Ruth, who grew up in the house as the maid's daughter, informed Henry that she wanted to buy the home. Ruth had a desire for social respectability which she associated with the Whitmore name. At one point, I believe Jessica Gardner comments how Ruth has even patterned herself after her white contempory, Laura Whitmore McCallum. in this context, Ruth's desire for a partnership between Marshall Ice Cream and Martin Jackson's company becomes a little more complex. Martin was old money; his father was a doctor and Martin was Ivy League educated. Ruth saw the connection to the Jacksons as a way of elevating her position in society. Ruth didn't get the Whitmore home at first. Rob Donnelly briefly bought it when he married Jessica Gardner. If I remember correctly, Rob and Jessica bought the money with the money from Hugh Gardner's estate when Jessica's son Jason Craig couldn't be located. I believe when Jason appeared the Donnellys were forced to put the house on the market in the fall of 1989. It was at that point that Ruth sold some or all of her shares of Marshall Ice Cream to Martin Jackson in order to put up the money to purchase the home from Rob Donnelly. In the meantime, Ruth had become involved with the Mayor's Art Council, which, again, was an attempt at Ruth developing the presence she had wanted since she was the little girl living with the Whitmore family. In order to become a part of the council, I believe she needed to be sponsored or voted in. At the Art Council, Ruth encountered women like Mary Gardner, who was more of a snob than a comical sociopath at this point, who made sure that everyone knew that it Ruth's mother had cleaned the toilets at the Whitmore home. Laura and Doreen Jackson were both a part of the council. Doreen and Laura both stood up for Ruth. Incidentally, it was at the Art Council meeting where we first meet Helen Mullens, then just a day player played by an unidentified actress. When the Marshalls purchase the estate in December, Helen Mullens return, the Marshalls new neighbor, with her husband, Charles Mullens. Initially, both Helen and Charles were racist and not pleased with the Marshalls moving into the neighborhood. No mention was made of the Hassads, which would have been a nice beat to play. When the Marshalls bought the house, they didn't move in right away. The house was in disrepair and Ruth was determined to restore it to its glory because, in Ruth's eyes, turning the Whitmore home into the Marshall estate would help her to achieve the self worth she was searching for. There was some vandalism during the construction phase and I believe the construction workers were involved with a white supremacist group. It is Ruth and Doreen who arrive at the home to find a nasty racial epithet sprayed on the newly painted walls. By this point, Helen had been softened and claimed that no one from the neighborhood would do such a thing. Doreen just saw Helen for who she was and Ruth was more concerned about getting the word off the wall. Once the work was done, the Marshalls moved in and Ruth was planning the housewarming party. I don't remember if Charles Mullens was behind the white supremacist attacks, but at the very least he was affiliated with the group. There wasn't a bomb scare at the housewarming; the bomb was detonated. Somehow the party guests were alerted there was a bomb (it was brought in by the caterers) and they managed to get it out the window or out of the room before it went off. The scene that followed was heartbreaking. Ruth, completely in shock, trying to find some way to salvage the evening after the horrific events that had just occurred. The racist attacks ended with this, I believe, but the Mullens continued into the Daniel Reubens/Maya Reubens story. Daniel was on the run for an incident involving the death of a security guard at a pharmaceutical company. Daniel had been set up. His wife, Amy, had died after ingesting contaminated cough syrup. I believe the Mullens' daughter, Karen, a teenager at the time, died from the same substance. In the hospital, Helen had bonded with Amy's daughter, Maya. There was an entire thread between March and April 1990 where Maya was trying to determine how she knew Helen Mullens, who was constantly taking Maya's aerobics class at the Hale Hotel. Helen recognized Maya right away because she was a spitting image of her mother (Vivica A. Fox either appeared as Amy in flashbacks or was, at the very least, used in photographs as Amy). Anyway, it turned out Helen briefly had cared for Maya after Amy's death, but she couldn't keep her because of Charles' bigotry. In fact, Charles was involved in Daniel being on the run. When Adam, Daniel, and Rob Donnelly tracked down the guard's widow, Rita Barton, it turned out that she had a married lover supporting her since her husband's death. It turned out that Charles was Rita's sugar daddy who was somehow connected with her husband's death. My episodes end with this part of the story. In the aftermath of the bombing, Ruth just wants to forget the incident and bury the memory of that horrible evening. Her pal Doreen, who is about to give birth to Ruth's grandchild, unbeknownst to Ruth, brings a reporter to speak with Ruth about the bombing and the racism on the North Shore. Ruth was furious; she felt completely betrayed by Doreen. Doreen spoke about the importance of exposing these people, but Ruth was too raw. The bombing had had the potential to figuratively and literally blow up her dreams. I think Ruth and Doreen were able to resume their friendship until it was later revealed that Adam, not Martin, was the father of Doreen's baby. On a side note, Martin was cash strapped after purchasing Ruth's stock so he could have a controlling interest in Marshall's Ice Cream. It was about this time that the IRS audited Martin and he had owed money in back taxes. He arranged for someone to stage a robbery in the Jackson penthouse in order to collect the insurance money and the profit off the sale of the stolen property. It was Brad Russell, Kyle's cop buddy, who handled the burglary case. It was a nice story crossover. Also, during the heist, the robbers grabbed Doreen's mother's wedding ring. Doreen was pretty distraught, and Martin had to get it back. At the time, a lot of the stories really played well off one another. Back to Ruth, I think the desire to attain respect through the Whitmore name becomes even further complicated when you look into the final storyline: Peter Whitmore returns to town and it is revealed that Chantal is in fact Peter's daughter. Henry married Ruth aware that Ruth was pregnant with another man's baby, but he had never known who that man was. Vivian, Ruth's mother, knew, but she had kept her secret. The story also weaved in Doreen and Ruth's friendship with both women vying to sing at the reopening of Peter's nightclub, the Music Box, as well as the fact that Ruth's outrage over Doreen's paternity lie was about to be surpassed by Ruth's own deception involving Chantal's conception. It's a shame we never got to see how that all would have played out. Would Ruth have maintained the Marshall estate, kicked Henry out, and moved Peter in? Peter's departure is the reason the Whitmores had lost their money. There were some interesting plots boiling, but it was never was resolved. The show made a significant mistake in shifting too much of the story to Sam and Kyle, who had immense chemistry and a strong triangle with Jordan Hale, but the show was so much better as a true ensemble where the stories were interconnected. With that said, I stan for Sam and Kyle, but I think Stacey Nelkins' Christy Russell is such a product of the NBC soap culture that I really cannot condone a lot of the story for the couple in mid 1990. There was enough going on with everything going on at the Hale hotel and Jordan's gangster past to keep that story going for quite a while without some generic psycho. I don't know if the Eric Royal murder trial story was a good idea either. I think Eric and Chantal became a very good couple, but it might have been more interesting to have involved Chantal and Eric in a story with Martin Jackson. When Sharon Brown played Chantal, they definitely tested her with Martin, but dropped the ball. I wonder if Sussman could have pulled it together in 1991. It seemed to be heading in that direction, but she struggled with building sustainable story.

Let me see if I can get that one on there. If I do, I'll try to upload a November 1994 episode with it that plays the same reveal but in a different context. I don't think you are wrong regarding Alex's motives. I was commenting that, when I was first watching this, I thought they were pursuing one angle and they didn't. I don't have any real feelings for Egypt so this story doesn't really bother me. Egypt definitely is taken to an extreme, but I do find some of the details of the plot fun. It's not an award winning story but I appreciate the fact that Alex never really doubts Ava, which would have been the obvious angle to play. I'm jumping around 1994 so I don't really know where Nixon ends the Curtis story. I really hate the Curtis causes the plane crash angle. When I first was reading the daily recaps from rats years ago, I thought they should have had Janie Sinclaire marry Curtis as and have him locked in Dunellyn. At one point, scheming Janie convinces Coop and Steffi that she is Clay's mistress. I'm looking forward to those scenes, which I haven't gotten to yet. Regarding Shana, the original Shana / Leo story is remembered mostly for the artificial insemination angle and Shana's desire to have a child. What is often downplayed is that Leo only agrees to father Shana's baby initially because he needs a loan to bail out Burnell's department store. Shana agreed to co-sign the loan in return for Leo's genetic material. This was a rather important story thread that only started to really develop in the last few weeks of Taggert / Guza's run when, after six months, Leo is unable to repay the loan and Shana is given control of Burnell's. This story was clearly intended to be the second round of the Leo / Shana / Ava triangle as the banker asks immediately if Shana has plans to make any personnel changes now that she is in charge, particularly Ava's role as manager. Nixon comes on and never explores that story thread. The developmental issues had been introduced by Taggart and Guza, but Nixon focuses in on those. Trucker and Buck quickly fell into a brotherly relationship. I don't think the original deception angle was ever really explored too deeply. Buck was quickly shifted into Gwyn's hired stud who got drunk one night and ended up the front steps of the Forbes home. Trucker and Buck were similar type of characters, but Buck was more insecure in terms of the class issues. He was constantly trying to make money in order to prove himself. When Buck isn't working at the Rodeo Bar, he was typically employed by Trucker at the bike shop, though he also had a stint as a pilot for AE. The relationship could have been more complicated and it definitely didn't seem like they hadn't grown up together. I wouldn't say it was a deep relationship, but more functional in terms of progressing the story. As has been pointed out, Tudor is more than likely not Beck's age, but casting on most soaps in the 1980s was bizarre when it came to parents of young adults. In the reunion video, Callan White commented she was playing a grandmother at 29. There is no way that James Horan or Christine Tudor Newman were old enough to play the characters they were playing.

I'll be honest. I tend to probably put more into the scenes than are intended at times. Steffi is such a complex character. I think the dynamic between her and Clay is much more richer than is typical described on paper. Clay does come off as pervy when you look at his later choices (Carly, Dinahlee, Tess, Steffi). I apologize if I went into it already but what Nixon does with Steffi / Clay / Deborah / Casey is pretty great and later when they switch out Casey for Coop it maintains that level of fun. Some of the initial Coop / Steffi stuff has a tendency to be a bit juvenile, and I'm sure that is the purpose, but it becomes very heavy handed. I haven't rewatched these. Is this the episode where Deborah makes a big revelation to Steffi? If it isn't let me know and I can try and find those episodes. A lot of the Gwyn and Jeremy stuff is simple character stuff, which is why I think why it works so well. The Curtis in the cage stuff is bizarre as it goes on for a bit. I think the PTSD element had the potential to be different as most kidnapping stories rarely seem to deal with those sort of ramifications. At times, I do think it becomes too much of a crutch at other times I think it makes sense. With that said, I can see how @DRW50 would see it as insensitive and I'm not a fan of the extremes the story takes in the late summer (Curtis rigging the plane) and the fall (Curtis shooting Gwyn thinking she's Dante). There are some episodes later where Curtis saves Trucker from an incident which helps humanize Curtis. I don't think the writing always shows the complexity of certain characters in single scenes but rather over the course of a story. I have little use for Tess, but I don't mind this version of Tess as much as I do a lot of the other versions. I felt that they were playing on Cooper's previous trauma by pairing him with Tess (i.e. the incident with the nanny). I think it may have been intended to make Tess more sympathetic. There's a very strong Tess and Cooper scene sometime in April where Cooper takes Tess to Belden Pond to go skinny dipping. When Cooper starts stripping down, Tess starts to freak out because she doesn't want Cooper to see her naked. During the early stages of the Steffi bulimia story, Tess revealed that she had been anorexic. At the pond, Tess explains to Coop she still deals with body dysmorphia. Given where the show was heading, Coop and Steffi, the Clay / Steffi and Tess / Cooper pairings worked as catalyst for later problems. I do get why the Egypt murder plot is controversial. I will say I had forgotten about how the arrest scene actually plays out. When I first watched it, I thought it was brilliant because I assumed Alex had purposely taken her out of town in order for her to break parole. At the start of the episodes, Alex tells Ava to stay put and she simply won't. I thought he took her out of town because the only way to keep her safe was to have her in jail. Clearly, this isn't how this played out in the actual episode. Shana's evolution as a lawyer is quite wide and varied. Even when she comes back in 1990 as "a champion of victim rights," she often gets pulled into a lot of corporate AE stuff. In the 1991 episodes I have, Shana handles Carly's search for Michael while still working at AE. Isabelle keeps threatening to send Shana to the Hong Kong offices. In early 1992, you still have Shana involved in the Take Off scam where John Schneider seduces her while bilking money from Alden Enterprises. After that, Shana seems more involved in personal drama. So you have her handling Trucker's attempt to gain custody of Christopher. She is involved in some of the work at 35 Maple Street which is definitely less corporate. When Shana is arrested in the summer, something involving Ava, she is being paraded through the courts and it is basically the chance for a bunch of court officers she pissed off getting a chance to sneer at her. Shana also represents Ally in the custody suit against Cooper. I like the Shana / Ava / Alex stuff because Ava / Shana spent so much time the previous year in a triangle and I felt it made sense to kind of show that Shana wasn't going to hold Leo against Ava. I also thought Shana and Alex were close in the late 1980s after it came out that Alex wasn't Clay, but I may be making that up. It's unfortunate that Shana is never treated as much of anything by the Alden, neither close relation or unfriendly animosity. There are only passing references to Shana's involvement with the family to the point you have Isabelle declaring the shocking revelation to Trisha that Cabot cheated. There seemed to be no real sense of Shana's conception.

This is the next episode in that sequence

@EricMontreal22 I'm sure they were trying to bank on Genie Francis' name value. Ceara's story runs perfectly in Corinth. She arrives to accept a public relations job at Alden University and takes residence at the Rescott boarding house. Ceara was running from her impending marriage to Jeremy because she was still dealing with residual effects of the sexual abuse she had suffered at the hands of her father. In Corinth, she connected with Matt, who had only recently been exonerated of raping a young woman who had in fact been raped by his stepfather, Rev. Albert Ford. On AMC, Ceara confronted her mother about the years of abuse that went on noticed. On Loving, Ceara was there to witness a similar interaction between Matt and his mother. Ceara developed a very intense emotional connection to Matt, which Ally interpreted as sexual. I get the sense from Goodall's performance that there may have been a little bit of that there, but Francis made it clear that Ceara's intimate connection with Matt was motherly, not romantic. Ceara was not a true threat to Ally and Matt's relationship. It was actually Ally, jealous of Matt and Ceara's connection, who locked Ceara and Jeremy in the Rescott shed. Through her friendship with Matt, Ceara no longer feared that she could be a mother, which is why she had skirted her marriage plans with Jeremy. Ceara and Jeremy's reconciliation in the shed played out just as Matt was continuing to struggle with his emotions regarding his stepfather's influence on his life. Not only had Albert raped this one girl, there had been countless others. Matt talked about hearing the muffled screams and later being physically assaulted by Albert. This was all before the trial. Matt was listening to Paul Slavinsky's radio show and a caller rang in about Matt's situation. He basically said that Matt had no hope of having a normal life. Paul quickly cuts the caller off and tells him he's wrong, but the damage is done. It's too much for Matt and he ends up doing heroin and overdosing. Goodall performance during the overdose is pretty strong. Ally lets them out of the shed to help with Matt who she has found passed out. I haven't watched much of the Carter Jones stuff, but I have it. It's just not a particularly good time for the show in terms of the build to it. The Carter Jones stuff was definitely bigger, but I don't think of "Loving" as a show that tells those kind of stories well. Jeremy basically replaced Giff Bowman, who had to go crazy at the alter of Trucker and Trisha. It was Jeff Hartman, Part II. Jeremy came with too much baggage that just was bizarre (the mercenary stuff / the psychic visions). Jeremy's initial pairing with Stacey is just bland. I don't know what they thought they were accomplishing with that other than pairing someone from a higher rated show with one of the main heroines of the other. Millee Taggart and Robert Guza, bless their hearts, don't drop it immediately, but slowly pivot Jeremy and Stacey into the Ava / Leo / Shana triangle in a much more successful way than in the story that they were the focus (Hannah's crush on Jeremy leading to the accusation of sexual harassment). The Jeremy problem really continued no matter who the headwriter was. The Faison stuff is lame though the sexual tension between Leclerc and Peluso was exciting. They try to tag Jeremy into a lot of the police stuff which is so weird because he is an artist and that's not the angle they often played. Jeremy as the backer of Tess' ad agency and Gwyn's good-natured boyfriend worked best, but I can't imagine Leclerc was making scale for a role that didn't require him per se. No clue what happened with Munisteri. She may have been interim as I believe Walsh would have been finishing up the French soap "Riviera" when Munisteri stepped in. I don't know Walsh and McCarthy were let go. The statement from ABC was that their contracts were not renewed. Addie Walsh and Laurie McCarthy were the associate headwriters when Nixon was there and it Walsh/McCarthy, not Nixon, who would give the previews to the press. I imagine Nixon was grooming them to takeover. For me, Walsh and McCarthy is a mixed bad slightly better than Walsh on her own even with Fran Sears, but not nearly as good as the beginning half of 1994. They do do one really good story: Clay's hit and run on the night of Steffi's 21st birthday. Honestly, it was hard at that point to mess any of the Steffi / Cooper stuff up or Casey / Ally for that matter. I actually think they did the lead up to Jacob Johnson arriving in Corinth. Not sure when Nixon leaves and Walsh / McCarthy takeover or leave for that matter. @Paul Raven Meg Mundy wanted more money than ABC was offering her so she left. I think Dabney was let go during the Alden purge in the early half of 1991. She may have not renewed her contract, but it's also possible she was fired. Celeste Holms was fired by Haidee Granger. My guess was it was a budget consideration. Also, the version of Isabelle that Munisteri wrote and Walsh wrote were vastly different shades of the same character. Munisteri had made Isabelle savvy and calculating while also sentimental and mournful. Walsh played Holms' Isabelle as more of a heavy. She was manipulative and heartless when it came to protecting her secret from comin out. Sears brought Wesley Addy back for the coup of having husband and wife play husband and wife in scenes where Isabelle chats with Cabot's ghost. Through all but the final sequence, Isabelle and Cabot are loving and affectionate. In the last scene, Cabot lashes out at Isabelle over what she did all those years ago. Not subtle at all. I've read that Holms was pretty shocked by her firing. Pat Barry is basically playin the same type of character but without an ounce of subtly. To be fair, the scripts didn't call for it. Pat Barry's Isabelle would rant and rave about "those Mayberry girls." I can't see any other version of Isabelle going off like that. After Walsh's name is out of the credits, Isabelle appears infrequently. Guza and Taggart rest the character. She's still has her hands in the pot (mostly Ally's pregnancy), but nowhere to the extent she did before. Nixon uses her even less infrequently before shipping Isabelle off. Ironically, it's Nixon who abandons the college campus completely in her return in 1993. Haidee Granger definitely took an ax to by dropping Staige, Kent, and the sorority/frat plotline, but the rest of the gang is still in school. In one of their last stories, Taggart and Guza had Ava take courses at Alden University in order to better herself and spend time with Jeremy. Nixon shifts the stories from the college TO the hospital more than likely due to the arrival of Angie. With the number of issues based stories the show was telling (Curtis' PTSD, Steffi's eating disorder, Angie's HIV scare, Casey's descent into drugs related to mental health issues). the move to the hospital made sense. I hope that more of Ralph Ellis' period shows up. So much of "Loving" doesn't read well in summaries, but seems to play out much better onscreen. The little bit that has shown up is from a show that takes itself very seriously, which is something that was rare afterwards. I love imposter storylines so I really would like to see how the Clay Alden/Alex Masters story started before it went completely off the rails under King and Taggert. I've seen Ellis' work on "Search for Tomorrow" in 1982. It definitely has that drier Proctor and Gamble style with characters talking things over coffee and talk about their emotions rather than talking with their emotions. I think the romance between Cece and Rick looks sweet, but it was truncated. I've always heard good things about Lily's return storyline. It was very sweet seeing some of the end of Lily in that 1988 episode. I have no use for Dan Hollister and I love Susan Keith and Peter Davies seems more than competent, but most of the Shana / Jim stuff bores me. Again, maybe it would play differently than it reads.