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I don't really want to create a thread for this since I don't think it will generate much traffic, but Pure Flix, the Christian alternative to Netflix, has released the first eight episodes of its Christian soap opera, HILTON HEAD ISLAND. Pure Flix offers a 1-month free subscription. I can't really say I'm overly impressed, and I'm a fan of 'bad' soap opera. The overall production is fairly lifeless. Despite some big names (Donna Mills, Antonio Sabato, Jr.), the overall acting and storytelling are as bad as the greenscreen sets. I could overlook the greenscreen if the story was stronger, but it is all so vanilla. The only characters who show a shred of being interesting are being kept on the sidelines. These characters are Aaron Fergland, the African American news director who was raised along the wealthy white Trisk kids when his mother became their maid. Aaron, we are told, was on the path to being a hoodlum before Daniel Trisk (Michael Swan) took him under his wing. The potential conflict with this non-biological son and his other two sons, the subtly named Christian and Jude, could lead to something as could the relationship between Aaron and his wife Naomi, who works in the mayor's office and has chosen her job over starting a family. The other character of note is Chance Montgomery, a New York newsman who Victoria Trisk (Donna Mills) is trying to lure back to Hilton Head Island to assume Daniel's place in business and in Victoria's bed. Crystal Hunt does an above average job as the doctor daughter, Elisha, who returns to town when her father falls ill, but has little to do. Antonio Sabato, Jr. squabbles a lot with the other characters as the 'bad' brother Jude, but has no real definition. None of the newcomers stand out other than the characters mentioned above. Some of it is weak acting, a lot of it is underdeveloped writing, but most of it is just lack of an interesting driving story. With so many characters and so little time, a quicker, snappier narrative would help. The religious piece isn't overwhelming. Wink Martindale has appeared twice as the local pastor in the first five episodes I saw. Only one of his two appearances had a heavy religious bent. Mostly, characters say grace before eating and pray for their loved ones in times of crisis. Nothing too heavy handed. I wouldn't necessarily recommend this, but there are suppose to be two more sets of episodes released to bring the show up to 22 episodes. Things could improve for the better, or for the worse.

As far as I know, this is correct.

Gus Catlin was Catherine's husband, not her son. I always thought the same given that Rod Davis, a radio personality, was credited playing the role. I think Davis most likely played Gus Catlin in flashbacks to his murder in 1936. Gus was killed by Marsh Quinn, who I would assume was Medger's (Danny Nelson) father. I could be wrong about how Davis appeared, but Gus definitely was Catherine's husband. Jonathan was T.J. and Annabelle's son. Eleanor and Jonathan had a third child, but I don't know the child's name. Jerry Homan, who played Jonathan, was the only Catlin child to appear from the beginning to the end. Homan was a regular with WTBS having appeared on some of the earlier programming, including a sketch show as a newsman who wore a paper bag over his face. Beau had married Lauren Woodward in July, 1983. Maggie Catlin had been married and divorced during the series. In early episodes, she was linked to Roger Brown, an attorney, while a flirtation developed with another attorney, Bryce Draper. I'm pretty sure Roger was her husband. For the Mahoneys, I would list Carla first. Vanessa was Carla and Jack's daughter and it would seem Vanessa was the older sister. Stacey came off younger as the roving reporter and the implication was that Stacey was the product of an infidelity during Jack and Carla's marriage. Otherwise, this looks right.

I'm sure someone with a better knowledge of "Search for Tomorrow" could give you a more detailed answer, but the quick version is Grant played Rose. Rose was the young woman who worked at the motor inn that Jo owned and was secretly working for the mob. The poison soup plot was, I believe, a plan to discredit Jo and force her to close the inn so that they could buy the land. Rose's brother was Wilbur, played by Don Knotts. I believe Constance Ford replaced Lee Grant in the role.

Were Anitmonious and Delerium the same thing? I can't remember. I think Antimonious may have been the pharmaceutical drug and Delerium was what was being sold on the streets. I remember one of the guys from OZ came on as a drug dealer for a couple of episodes. I know I'm alone, but I like how it tied back into Spaulding Enterprises and Olivia and Phillip jockeying for power at the company. The framing was a bit messy, but I thought a lot of the material that came out of that as Phillip went after Olivia was very intense and well done until it descended into Phillip controls the world. I still secretly wished that Phillip had been visiting Elizabeth's grave rather than his secret Springfield model. I believe Brad and Alex had been sleeping together. For some reason, Brad was blackmailing Alex about something (was Alex Brad's boss?) and Alex agreed to sign off on the drug production or something along those lines. It was a very passive connection, but the show acted like Alex was dropping drugs in kids drinks at parties. I can't remember how or why Marie Green even was present, but I did enjoy that they had the show had a bunch of recurring characters who would pop in and out of the story. Of course, if that was at the expense of Kiefer and Garrett than it wasn't worth it. Rick talked sh%t about Ed again when they planned Ed's return in January 2005. Rick stated that he didn't want to be a father like Ed who abandoned his kids when it looked like Rick and Beth might hook up. I also remember that Joey Lupo, of all people, suggested Ross Marler was the kind of guy you'd want in your corner when Ross defended Marah for Maryanne's murder.

For a long time, I defended Ellen Weston's work. I didn't think it was wonderful, but I didn't find it nearly as offensive as others. The Ben Reade stuff was highly melodramatic, which I do see now was out of tone with what the show typically did. I was more offended by the fans that said there was no way Ben Reade could have been molested because he had a father like Fletcher who would have known something was going on. Now, I can see why people would be upset that Ben, who they watched grew up, was a serial killer and there seemed to be a tacked on excuse that he was sexually abused. The abuse angle didn't bother me because I felt it explained some of Ben's sexual hang ups (the initial Marah plotline, the escort service). It wasn't handled with an ounce of sensitivity. I did like how Michelle and Bill were working on creating a hotline for troubled youth because of what happened to Ben, but that wasn't really featured a lot. I also find it odd that the show wrote it like Ben killed himself, but the scene was staged as if he was trying to kill Marina and had failed. Of course, then the show had Lizzie try and end her life... Trying to create a timeline for the Maryanne Carrouthers storyline was foolish as was the story idea itself. I did like that the show had an actual storyline. Often, Weston's work was just a bunch of vignettes that sometimes would, but mostly wouldn't, lead to short story arcs. There were things I liked: the introduction of Gus' mother, the C-storyline where the younger set was involved in a staging of Romeo & Juliet, and Olivia's lie about baby Emma. Rewatching clips of the Olivia story, I can see how the motivation, plotting, and individual writing was so much stronger once Conboy was out the door and Wheeler arrived. It's really a shame that the level of writing couldn't be maintained after Kriezman took over. Kriezman's problem was he bought into the hype too quickly. Tammy and Jonathan's initial story was fascinating, dark, and twisted. What followed was generic and basic. They really needed to address Jonathan's problematic history with Tammy rather than to sweep it under the rug. It didn't help when they just started throwing basic tropes at them (the crazy boyfriend, the meddling mother). I think the story where Lizzie got pregnant by Jonathan had the ability to be a bigger story, but the show catered too much to Tom Pelphrey and his constant comings and goings. I thought Jonathan keeping Sarah from Lizzie was atrocious, and I couldn't stand Marcy Rylan's interpretation. The Sebastian story had the ability to work, and I loved Doug Hutchison in that role. It's a shame that DH has made the life choices that he has made since leaving the show. I never understood the whole "We're scrapping it because PS won't come back." Simon may have been a wonderful actor, but he was hardly irreplaceable. The bigger issue was that Wheeler was producing a show with actors she couldn't afford to pay. Instead of trying to give Rick, Beth, Blake, and Mel stories once a month, I think someone should have made an investments in characters they could afford and that were interesting. So much of Kriezman/Wheeler was just so vanilla and lifeless or insane and over the top. Despite the ups and the downs, I found most of 2004 entertaining, but things just went off the rails by January 2005 for me when they basically decided to reshuffle the deck and drop stories and develop new ones. By the summer, I was fed up with the lame reveal to Phillip's murder, the pointless Harley in prison / Harley and Gus on the run storyline, and the decision to commit to Jonathan and Tammy as endgame without presenting a redemption storyline or treating their romance like the toxic relationship it was.

Bumping for Nothin'ButAttitude. I posted different scenes from various scripts on pages 3, 4, and 5.

I have only found scripts covering the tail end of the show. It was on Showtime and some other cable outlets, like Prism.

And the Lily story was his second take at the incest storyline after trying it on "A New Day in Eden." On "Eden," Emmett Claybourne, a scheming lawyer who worked for the electronics magnate Bryan Lewis, had an unhealthy attachment to his daughter, nursing student Cynthia Claybourne. Emmett had tarnished his ex-wife's name many years ago and run her and their son, Logan Claybourne, out of town. Logan returned to Eden to learn why Emmett had been so intent on keeping Cynthia. When Logan started getting closer, Emmett fled Eden, but not before a scene where it was alluded to that he raped Cynthia. In the final episode, Logan seemed to be getting closer to learning the truth, but he was shot by an unseen intruder. Cynthia, a bit frigid, was getting closer to Jack Wagner's Clint Masterson after his girlfriend, Pam (the one who had the lesbian one night stand with Miranda Stevens), faded from the story.

From what I can gather, Paul arrives on the scene in late April / early May 1990. Roya Megnot would be playing Ava; she returned for six weeks in the spring of 1990. I don't think Ava and Paul interacted when she was in the role. Initially, Dane Hammond seeks out his old friend, Paul Slavinski, as a part of his revenge plot against the Aldens and to help Jack and Stacey. Dane gets Paul, a loan shark, to lend Rick Alden money. As we see in the May 1990 clip, Dane has Paul call in the debt so that Dane can pay it off and blackmail Rick out of Corinth. Louis knows his son is involved in the mob and is friends with Dane Hammond. At the time, Ava was actually involved with Dane. Dane also set it up so it looked like Ava and Cabot were having an affair. Ava believed Dane was dying of some (I believe) fictitious disease. Dane's lackey, Robert, paid some intern to tell Ava that one of the side effects of his medication was increased libido. Ava planned to use this to marry Dane and got as far as buying her own engagement ring and signing a pre-nuptial agreement. Typical of LOVING, you have a change of the guard around this time. The April 1990 episode is credited to Mary-Ellis Bunim and the May 1990 episode to Jacqueline Babbin. Babbin hired Joseph Breen as Paul Slavinski and brought Susan Keith back to town as Shana. With Shana back, the story starts to shift. Dane up and dumps Ava without much fanfare and Paul goes after Ava looking to get a hold of the gambling license on Harry Sowolsky's old casino. Gwyn broke into the Bistro, which was the restaurant she was working at with Norma. I do feel for Savage. I don't think they gave her much (good) to work with. The stuff with Dane had some potential, but there is not enough depth to it in the material that has made it online. If I were in charge, I would have had Ava learn about Dane's scheme from Paul and later reveal to Gwyn what Dane had done to Rick, but have Gwyn (claim) that she didn't believe what Ava said. Then, Gwyn could seek out Denny and confirm Ava's story. Secretly, Gwyn would plot with Clay to ruin Dane. I like Matt. I think it would have made more sense to have built a relationship between Matt and Giff, which would have sparked Giff's desire to seek out his own son. Then, once Casey arrived, you play up the natural tension between Giff and Casey, who hardly know each other, and Giff and Matt, a man that Giff has come to love as a son. Once Casey started pursuing Ally, you have a stronger basis for a rivalry between the two men or you could play it where Casey and Matt came to see each other as brothers and play it so that Casey fights his feelings for Ally because he doesn't want to hurt Matt. The weird part is that they had a young man, Arthur, who hung around the younger set in a recurring capacity. So it wasn't like they didn't have a use for another young male. Ultimately, I think they dumped Matt because it is a half-hour soap and there was only so much space. Casey was intended to give Giff story, but they dumped Richard Cox because of another change in personnel when Fran Sears and later Addie Walsh were let go. Based on what we've seen, it's clear that crazy Giff wasn't the original characterization and was likely the result of Haidee Granger, an executive turned EP and interim head writer, who was trying to create story that she thought would generate some interest.

As already pointed out, the Shana / Jack stuff seems to stem from the custody battle. I think there may have been animosity towards Jack because he was Dane's son. Initially, Shana represented Trisha and Trucker before aligning herself with Clay to get a piece of the family fortune. In material we haven't seen, there was an additional bit to the video where Cabot apologized to Shana and left her something in his will. Clay hid this from Shana, and, by the time it came out, Shana was nasty again. Also, she and Clay had teamed up to get Dinah Lee to seduce Jack. Dinah Lee had agreed, which is something she left out of her confession to Jack. On one hand, I'm glad they are using Shana and Susan Keith. It was a bit of a disappointment to see her moping around the Alden Mansion upset over the ongoing tragedies in her life. Given what she went through, I could see Shana reverting to form and becoming cold and bitter. On the other hand, I think Shana trying to destroy Jack and Stacey's marriage is a bit much given Stacey and Shana's friendship. I hope, at least, they played the Stacey-Shana angle a bit. I do feel that the characters are more active than they were before. Trisha seems to be actively pursuing her work, while previously Trucker was secretly dealing with Monty to get baby Tommy. As I already said, I think Shana seems more involved than she was before. Also, Jack and Stacey seem front and center. When I look back on the spring episodes, a lot of the long term characters were either written out (Cabot, Isabelle, Curtis, Alex) or sidelined (Jack and Stacey). For better or worse, I think the right characters are front and center. I certainly cannot say I miss Abril, Rocky, or Rio despite being so present in those spring episodes. Ally premiered on June 25th. Matt Ford appeared a few weeks before her on June 10th. Matt was homeless and was stealing from the pie shop that Kate Slavinski ran. Later, we learned that Matt had been accused of raping a young woman by his stepfather, Reverend Ford. There is some material in the episodes that have been uploaded. Reverend Ford appears at the prison to threaten Matt regarding Ally. Ally goes to Paul about getting the tape recording trying to trap Ford, which is why Paul is worried about Ally's safety. This is also why there are so many Matt-Ceara scenes. They were trying to have the two bond over their similar experiences (Ceara being an incest survivor). After the trial, Matt stays in town and his mother, Bethel, who is seen visiting Matt in one of the November episodes, becomes Isabelle Alden's personal assistant. I think the fall episodes are fine. Comparing what we've seen, I feel like characters are talking about their emotions more, or, at least, long term characters are delving more into their conflicts. There are a lot of small scenes I really like. I thought the Paul / Ally scene was excellent. Ally is a true Ava clone; putting herself in a dangerous situation for the man she loved without considering her own safety. Paul relating that to his own paralysis was a strong moment. I also really liked the moment on the porch between Matt and Ceara where Matt seems drawn to Ceara, but I'm not convinced it was romantic in nature. Similarly, I thought the Giff / Dinah Lee scenes were great. Giff was such a different character. I wasn't overly amused with the feet painting, but it provided a nice light moment. I do like how he seems to be a bridge between Trisha and Trucker. He has the passion for art like Trisha, but seems more down to earth like Trucker. The Stacey / Trisha scene was very nice. This isn't to say that the spring episodes are bad, and there are certainly low moments in the fall episodes. There is at least one other clip with Rose Donovan online. She appeared at Trisha's bachelorette/bridal shower in the Chip Albers clips. I do find Stacey a lot more engaging in all of the 1991 episodes than anything else I've seen of her. Trisha's reaction to the fax machine is over the top, but the meat of the scene afterwards is strong. A clever writer would have tightened that scene to focus on the internal conflict going on between Trisha and Trucker. This couple lost two children in the span of six months. These are definitely two people who should have emotions brewing under the surface. I think Trucker's accusation about Trisha running to her family was more potent in context of the story being played out. In material we haven't seen, Trisha attempted to secure work at AE, but Jack refused to hire Trisha on the basis of nepotism alone. He flat out told her she was unqualified. In spite, Gwyn gave Trisha this art programs position. I think Trisha had a bit of reason to feel insecure. Personally, I would have grounded Trisha's reaction in Trucker shutting her out during the Tommy matter. Trucker's conflict with the Aldens is interesting; he is always employed by them, but he also has reason to hate them. While I certainly don't think Trisha and Trucker are probably acting like they did six months ago, I think there are very real reasons for them to be acting the way they are even if the past writers didn't develop them. Even in Italian, I find the Linc / Zona story annoying. Regarding Mary Ryan Munisteri, I think it quickly became clear that she wasn't going to be there long. Giff's arrival signals the return of Alden University and with the presence of Ally and Matt there seems to be an attempt to build a younger set. By November 1991, SOD was stating LOVING was planning the college revamp. Based on the way the magazines get info, my guess this means the show was planning this at least by September. Walsh was in the credits by January/February 1992. Fran Sears / Addie Walsh end up bringing back most of the Aldens who were written out. Isabelle returns in November. Clay is back in January. I'm pretty sure Addie Walsh originally planned on bringing Curtis back during the summer of 1992, but Granger decided to create Leo Burnell instead. I also don't think the plan was to write off Jack in the long run. I suspect that they were going to have Jack return at the end of the Clay / Stacey storyline, but, in the turnover, Jack got lost.

You right about Frank and Rick as a couple, but I'd still want to see it just to watch Grant Alexander played the scorn third wheel. Even if they didn't write it as a triangle, you know Alexander would it play that way. Phillip wouldn't have been pleased for Frank to take his place in Rick's life. And I think O'Leary might have taken that seriously.

I enjoyed the October 1991 episode a lot more than I've enjoyed other episodes from that period. It was interesting to see them play the conflict beat Paul and Flynn. It would have been easy to quickly go to the tension between Paul and Ava over Flynn and Ava's faux work romance, but it was nice to see that the initial tension stemmed between two friends. I also really enjoyed the way they had Flynn address the romantic tension between himself and Ava. The writing was really strong for all of this material. Ava easily could have gone into hysterics (as she would on modern soap), but she just proclaimed her love for Paul. I thought that was a mature reaction for a character who had shown a lot of layers in the Feb - May episodes. Paul's radio show was such a different direction for the character. Both Ava and Paul's new careers are less interesting than the ones they were previously pursuing, but I think the idea of knocking Ava down to have her climb up again was such an important part of Ava's character. Her ability to survive all the things she had thrown at her, often created by her own impetuousness. I thought Paul's Weird City monologue was wickedly over the top, but it's the kind of craziness that I can enjoy in small doses. I still cannot believe the show ended on the beat with Paul and Flynn and that great jazz music cue. I thought the party at the Corinth Towers suite was a nice contrast to the events playing out at Checkers. This must have been a very early episode for Richard Cox as Giff. It was nice to see Giff in his initial form, a genuinely nice guy. I get what they were doing with Trucker and Trisha. They were playing the class differences between working class baseball loving Trucker and art appreciating upper class Trisha. I love the added layer that Giff could love both. Trisha's reaction was extreme, or Noelle Beck choose to play it that way or she was directed to go further. I think if they had allowed that moment to be a more subtle, like a lot of the other tension building between them, it would have been more effective. I really liked how Robert Tyler played his reaction to Dinahlee at the bar. You can see where this is all going without being hit over the head with a hammer. Lauren Marie Taylor was the real standout in this. Stacey always comes off so plain jane and boring. There is some real fire here. Her reaction to Jack and Dinahlee was wonderful. And Taylor was genuinely sexy in that outfit. I really would love to see more of this story now. I loved how they used Christine Tudor's Gwyn. The light banter between her and Giff was nice as was the moment where she played potstirrer and let Stacey know that Dinahlee had worn the dress.

Between May and October 1991, not only did Fran Sears replace Jacqueline Babbin, but Mary Ryan Munisteri replaced Millee Taggert.

I don't what to think of Christopher Cass. To me, Perry Stephens always seemed like he was haunted by something and so did Jack. In terms of the character, I felt it had a lot to do with the problems regarding his paternity. I think Cass is probably the stronger actor, but he doesn't have the history. Trying to create a friendship between Trucker and Jack was interesting, but I'm not sure how I feel about that. I will say Robert Tyler impressed me when baby Benjamin died. I don't know if I had seen Trucker handle anything that really had any meat to it before. I remember reading an interview about Stephens firing and the producer at the time stated he was weak and then said she paired up Jack and Dumas' Alex Masters to use up their guarantees and not to hinder other stories. I thought that was a bit crass. Peluso really does display range in these episodes. I was pretty sure Christine Tudor returned in May. She has a very early 1990s look with her return. I remember seeing women with that look in the magazines at the hair salon when my mom got her hair cut. Based on what I've seen, I prefer Tudor to Savage, but I think Savage would have made an interesting addition to the canvas in another role. Either as an ex-wife to Dane or possibly a friend of Jack's biological mother who pursued Jack. The Dane / Paul scene was very nice in the May 1990 clip. When Paul was talking to Ava about his job hunt, I thought Paul and Dane were similar characters. It was nice to see a scene that also commented on that. A lot of the big story in 1990 doesn't interest me (the plane crash, the Rick murder, the mob stuff with Paul) but there are definitely elements that I think are very interesting and seem to lead somewhere in 1991. Norma is a bit detached from the main story. Wally / Denny were twins. I think one dies at one point and Norma thinks the other came back from the dead. It's a shame that Norma couldn't have been tied in better to the main plot. I could take or leave her material, and I appreciate Ilene Kristen's work. I see how well they integrated Monty into the canvas and I wish the same could have been done for Norma. I think letting her stay at the boarding house would have helped especially since she was living off of tips at the Bistro. I think Ava and Carly would have had a field day with Norma. Funny, I was thrilled by the lack of Rocky and Rio in these episodes. Rena Sofer works better for me in the family drama though I did appreciate Rio and Rocky's conflict when Abril disappeared. From these episodes, I don't get a sense of who Rio is. I wish there was more depth to him because Rick Telles seems competent. I was sorry to see that Matthew Labine had died. His name has been standing out in the credits lately. I hope he and his mother have reunited.

I jumped a bit all over the place this weekend with "Loving" so forgive the scattered nature of this post. Watched the scenes of Chip Albers' Curtis coming home from Germany. I always forget that Ann was recurring at the time. It was kind of bizarre seeing her and Curtis together, though I did enjoy his passing shot about Jack at the Alden family dinner. Curtis' return was a lot better handled than I expected with the scenes with Gwyn, Trisha, and even Ava. I have a much better appreciation for Albers, but I still feel his Curtis was a light weight. I don't necessarily blame Chip Albers for that, but rather the writers. I wonder how Albers would have done if they had written him more like Rick. In particular, I would have been interested in seeing someone with more history (Curtis) involved in the Jack / Stacey / Lily story in 1987-1988. I didn't realize that Dave and Tally Hindman, the children of Officer Hindman, were around as long as they were. Saw both characters at Trisha's bridal shower / bachelorette party where Curtis and Dave appeared in drag to be among the women. I believe I also saw another actor, Eric Griffin, credited in one of the later 1990 episodes that have been posted. I watched the April 1990 episode that is available on youtube. I really liked the Dane / Ava story as they had history during Dane's first go around. I believe he spotted her the money to give to her sister Sherri so she could buy baby Johnny off her. I cannot tell if Dane is tricking Ava into thinking he is dying or if she has just jumped to conclusions. Either way, I thought the scenario was fun even if Ava faking a phone call to a mechanic was overdone even by 1990. The April / May 1991 episodes are surprisingly strong. I thought the B-story involving Stacey and Jack moving into the mansion complete with Ava poking around the Forbes house (which I never realized was Stacey's childhood home) was pretty humorous. When Trisha and Trucker arrived, I thought it was logical to have them rent the house. I really hope more of that story pops up with Jack and Stacey. I thought the scenes with Carly at the Paradise Bar were really remarkable. It was nice to get more insight into Carly and Paul's past. I actually have a lot of trouble deciding who I want Paul with. This story also allowed Lisa Peluso to play Ava's vulnerable side, which Peluso does so well. The Ava-Carly dynamic is so rich it really is a shame that no one thought to bring Coleen Quinn back on a permanent basis. I think I would much rather have seen Paul and Carly, separated, back in Corinth and not seen Tess and Buck. While watching the November 1991 episode, I'm not only struck by how quickly things change in Corinth. Trisha, who wanted Tommy because she was infertile, is remarkably pregnant again. I thought the Checkers scenes with Michael/Ruthie (is that the girl's name) and Paul / Ava were sweet. I wonder what happened to Ava's boutique. I'm not overwhelmed by the Hunters in Corinth though I could see why bringing Ceara in would make sense given Matt's story. Matt Ford was really interesting. Was that Jason Wiles as the drug dealer, Reggie? I always like seeing what happens to people who worked mainly under Claire Labine. Munisteri's period definitely has a Labine-esque feel without the noteworthy dialogue that usually accompanies a Labine show. Maybe this episode just was a rarity. It reminded me a bit of Paul Avila Mayer and Stephanie Braxton's work on "Search for Tomorrow," but I think their dialogue for certain characters was spot on while others was clunky. There were some really lengthy therapy scenes with Stacey and Jack in there somewhere when Perry Stephens was still in the role. I thought those were pretty rich scenes that gave Stacey and Jack some more depth than I expected. I didn't remember, or possibly know, that Jack had implied that Stacey was overtly sexual with Rick. For one, it's hard to imagine Lauren Marie Taylor as overtly sexual, but its also a rather fascinating layer to the Jack / Rick conflict and the tension in Jack / Stacey's marriage. I really cannot see any show today even attempting anything like that with any sort of depth. The credits are always funny. Wesley Addy is listed one minute in April, but Joe Breen and Augusta Dabney aren't. There were a couple of other mistakes I picked up. It was also interesting to see that Tom King departed the writing staff in mid-April leaving Millee Taggert to fly solo until she was booted; I believe for Mary Ryan Munisteri.

I loved "Secrets"! The plot worked really well given the format the show was using at the time. If I remember correctly, the first month or so there was some mystery over who the three were. One of the really nicely done character moments had Lucy Coe investigating Paige Smith because she had aged so beautifully and she wanted to know her beauty secrets. I thought that was a very Lucy thing to do. Once they revealed they were Angels with unfinished business, then they weaved in the mystery of the fifth chair. I also think Amy's true connection to Ian and Eve a secret for a long time. When they eventually revealed Eve was sitting in the fifth chair, I was hooked. The only downside of this plot was it was really the first arc where they gave up on Allison and Jamal, who I thought were wonderful. Rafe was just so vanilla and boring. The writing didn't help, but the Brian Gaskill didn't bring much to the table. I thought Gaskill had a very modern look, for the time, but I didn't see where they were going with Rafe and Allison. Also, revealing Jamal was the father of Valerie's baby was one of those unforgivable rewrites. The big gripe I had was that they didn't write all of the ladies out when the story ended. Joy Bisco and Vanessa Branch should have left with Tamara Davies. The follow up arc, Superstition?, was boring. Going back to 2000, I think you make valid points about the show. Christina was a character that had ties to so many parts of the canvas, and I think removing her from the canvas took away from a lot of the overlap. There wasn't really a big overarching story or villain in the rest of the year. I thought the stuff with Kevin and Charlie McMillan/Livvie was very well done and fascinating, but it relied heavily on the introduction of a newcomer. Kevin's hearing with the discipline board over his handling Livvie's case is a very well done episode. As mentioned above, I really liked Allison and Jamal, but so much of their story featured them with others (Amanda, Frank, Courtney) in more supporting roles. I haven't seen the story about the nurses' strike or the Claire Wright story. Both of those are stories from that period I would love to see.

Lorna always had interesting story potential (a romantic dalliance with Doug Donovan, a potential rivalry with Stacey, possibly aligning herself longterm with Dane and the Beechams against her own family) but none of that really went anywhere. I would say that Ava basically squashed Lorna in the long run, but I don't think that was Marland's original intent. I think the show would have been more successful if they had played a frienemies relationship between Lorna and Ava, unlikely allies who would occasionally stab each other in the back. When Nixon took over from Marland, the character of Lorna changed. Nixon, and possibly Ralph Ellis, shifted the landscape and Lorna's romance with Linc Beecham went from a possible threat to the Aldens and AE to a more traditional conflict involving a secret wife, a faked pregnancy, and a wrongful murder accusation. None of this seemed to effect the Alden clan the way it should have. Lorna went from a damaged young woman with money who lashed out to a damsel in distress. Even if Parker O'Hara didn't take over, the character would not have been successful with that direction. I can see now why Nixon made the decision to make Lorna a more traditional heroine, but it limited the story potential. Lorna needed to be further entrenched into the affairs of the Alden family, not further withdrawn. Her romance with Zack Conway sounds lame and the crazy ex-sister-in-law didn't provide much long term conflict. I think there may have been some potential with Kelly Conway, Zack's daughter, as she was a troubled young woman who had many issues like Lorna had. It would have made more sense if it had happened down the line. Especially if they had gone the route of playing Linc and Lorna for a few years, then having Lorna become bored and sleep with Nick Diantos, the guy after her cousin Trisha. Then, they could have had Lorna go on trial for murdering Nick and introduced Zack and Kelly then. Lotty and Curtis left for Germany in November 1987, I think. Ned joined them several weeks later. I'm pretty sure when Curtis returned from Germany he said Lotty had died.

I think they were trying to go for a more balanced tone, but I think it doesn't work. The material at the church was pretty weak. I did like that Alex gave the speech and thought that was well written. JJ (I assume that was JJ) sitting with Isabelle was a nice touch. The events surrounding the funeral were rather underplayed given the fact that Cabot's death was suppose to be a big deal. I think Cabot's demise was rather plot-driven; a way to clean up the messy story involving Alden Enterprises and the faulty airline parts storyline. Most of the fallout seems functional rather than poignant. I did think Shana turning to Dane in her darkest hour and then scolding herself was well played. Shana's entire speech about Dane bringing Cabot into her life was a very nice character moment. It would have been interesting if Dane brought up the fact that if Dane hadn't brought her to Corinth she never would have reunited with Jim to begin with, but then they would have to deal with Jim and Jimmy's death, I guess. Ava bought Johnny from Sherri Watley, her sister with the boatload of kids including another one named Ava. Sherri popped up in 1994 under Nixon when Ava was in a coma during another fantasy sequence (Ava played cards in Heaven with Uncle Harry who gave Ava some prophecies, which was basically a neat way to give spoilers within the context of the series.) Had the show made it into the early 2000s, a rivalry between Johnny and JJ would have been a must. As you see in the other episodes, there was some animosity between Cabot and Trisha over the Aldens pinning the manufacturing problems that led to the plane crash (the one that killed Jim and Jimmy Vochek) on Trucker. Having Cabot's funeral while Trisha and baby Benjamin (I think that was his name) fought for their lives was probably overkill, but it was sweeps and the show was low rated. I don't know why they didn't bring back Ann at least. She was name dropped a couple of times and I think they brought Callan White back in 1990 for a wedding (maybe Trucker and Trisha's? or Jack and Stacey's?). It would have been especially nice to have played her in the Cabot story given Dane's return and Shana's animosity for Cabot. I was more fascinated by Carly though I thought her friendship with Abril was a nice touch especially given that Carly and Clay were getting closer together. I think Abril's storyline was interesting (Abril giving Trucker and Trisha a child who was actually Trisha's half-brother and now the added element of Abril's friend Carly going after the father of Abril's child). There were clearly some interesting elements to play: the tension between Carly/Abril over Clay's eventual play for the child, Carly raising a child when she gave her own away, Clay trying to take his child away from his own daughter). I just find Marisol Massey to be too low key for all this. I don't find the character as compelling as her situation was. Similarly, I don't understand where they were going with Robert Leeshock's Monty character. He seems like a decent guy, but Carly hates him and he eventually ends up dead. I love Ilene Kristen but all the Norma / Denny / Wally stuff seems so extra and unnecessary. Maybe if they were tied to the other working class characters, the Slavinskis and the Rescotts, they would have worked better for me. Especially if Norma ended up as a boarder at Kate's and Ava had to deal with her. Colleen Quinn was the real star in this. She and Lisa Peluso were dynamite together. Peluso is fun as a vixen, but I like when she gets to play her character's insecurities. The stuff with Ava and Kate was remarkably layered. I thought Kate's running commentary was hilarious and tragic at the same time. It was nice to have Kate call Ava out, though, when she said she (Ava) was trying to be the woman her mother wanted her to be rather than the woman she wanted to be herself. On that note, I thought the Wizard of Oz fantasy was very well done, and this isn't the type of material I really go for. Abril first appeared in April 1989. She took care of Alex Masters when he had been shot in some fictional island nation. She departed in July/August 1991 when she got custody of her son, Tommy, and moved to New York. Rio arrived in March 1990. Colby was Colby Cantrell. She was Rita Mae Bristow's niece. She appeared in 1984. Colby worked as a buyer for Burnell's department store and was Curtis' big romance post-Lily. Prior to returning to Corinth, Curtis had been slumming it in Europe where he knew Sasha. Sasha was Sasha Hale who arrived after Colby and worked as a model for Burnell's. Sasha had known Curtis in Europe and had starred in a pornographic film that Curtis had financed. I believe this was the breaking point for Colby and Curtis, and I believe Colby developed some feelings for Keith Lane, the chemist at Amourelle. Sasha also had ties to Jonathan Maitlane and/or Edy Lester Donovan. She somehow was tied to the byzantine San Francisco serial murders and I believe Jonathan tried to kill her at some point. I'm blanking on Juliet. I assume she was later on, 1987-1989 era, and I think she may have been tied to the spy story involving Mark Pinter's Dan Hollister. April was the teenage prostitute who loved Luke Perry's Ned Bates, who worked with Steve Sowolosky at the garage. Ned's sister Lotty was Lorna Forbes' cellmate, and later married Curtis (I believe when Burke Moses was playing the role) and dealt with her scummy common law husband Eban Japes (Matthew Cowles). April had an alcoholic aunt who longed for Jim Vochek and Jackie Courtney briefly played April's madame. April's stalker was actually Steve Fletcher's Alan Howard. Trachta played the wealthy masochist who tormented Dolly Jones, another prostitute. When Jonathan Maitlane (John O'Hurley's bad twin) took over his brother's life, Keith (the good brother) ended up locked up in a brothel with Dolly, who saved him. Dolly reformed and fell for Keith. They were tested by Hunter Belden, who knew where Dolly's daughter was. Hunter claimed the daughter was in the hands of child pornographers and used his knowledge of the little girl to get Dolly to sleep with him. Completely understandable why you'd confuse the stories: similar tropes and both sound like awful plots. The woman that Cranston was paired with was Lesley Vogel's Edy Lester, who had been married to John O'Hurley's Jonathan Maitlane. Edy had been a nurse in San Francisco for wealthy older women who Maitlane would kill to get his hands on some of their money.

And for the same reason, I liked the Faith / Frank pairing. At the heart of the matter, Frank was an arrogant, selfish individual who was often reckless with other people’s emotions and was often absolved because he was a sainted Ryan. Despite all the protests, I felt Faith was duped and that’s why I sympathized with her even if her hatred was misdirected. She had been open and honest about her concerns about Frank still being in love with Jill, but decided to believe that Frank was telling the truth about his love for her. As a politician, Frank was supposed to be charismatic and persuasive so I could buy Faith believing in him. Hugh Kelly did a good job with those aspects of Frank’s character. He also played a lot of the material with an emotional detachment that made me loathe Frank even further. He was just a wonderful scumbag. You hit on some interesting points about Jill and Frank. They didn’t work on a certain level. Frank waffled between respecting Jill as an independent and strong woman and wanting her to fill the mother role. I think the disconnect related back to Maeve, who was a strong woman but ultimately condoned a lot of his bull because he was her first born. Jill was less willing to coddle him. While I don’t think it would have been fulfilling for the characters, I would have liked to have seen Jill with Barry, which they sort of hinted at during the strike. If for no other reason than to see Frank and Delia squirm. Faith is one of the show’s more problematic characters. The initial concept was very cold and standoffish, but than they hired Catherine Hicks who was so saccharine. I never warmed to Hicks’ portrayal. I thought Hicks played Faith like a Ryan, slightly sanctimonious but mostly angsty. At Mulgrew instilled some inner turmoil in her conflicts with Dee and Jack. Faith came off as so passive. I also agree they would never have played Faith / Frank with Hicks in the role. Hicks basically played a different character. After Barrett’s few weeks, Hicks played Faith fresh from the mental hospital with none of that history in her performances. I never got the haunted sense that I got from Catlin or Morris Gowdy (in her later performances). KMG was very vanilla until the alcoholism story. In the end, icy and disconnected Faith worked better for me, and I think it provided the canvas with a very different type of character. With that said, it was such a departure from what Faith had been for so many years I can see why it would put people off. I agree that the show often skirted Faith’s accountability. She shouldn’t have been involved with someone so intensely on the heels of her recovery. It would have been nice if someone like Roger had played that card. Actually, I think someone may have said this, but Faith dismissed it. For me, it was the trainwreck quality that I adored. There was no way this was going to work no matter how deeply Faith wanted it to, no matter how much Frank protested he loved her, or how much Jill tried to stay out it. Eventually, it was going to explode, and I just really enjoyed the momentum to the climax. I got a lot of enjoyment out of seeing Faith's world crumble even if I didn't feel she deserved it. I think Faith as an archetype, someone in love with someone she could never have, was identifiable and relatable, but I could see how her reaction afterwards put people off. At times, I felt Faith attacked the status quo by calling out some of the hypocrisy, while being blissfully unaware of her own. I also felt she suffered because she was alone, and I don't think that was something that she was as comfortable with as Jill was.

I loved the Faith / Frank romance. I didn't find it plot driven at all. Ken George Jones? Yes. I believed that was something born out of a desire to give Jill and Frank drama. I felt when they paired Faith and Frank, both were in a place in their lives that they would be open to something else. Frank was reacting to Jill's infidelity and Faith to the loss of Tom and her attempts to recover from alcohol dependence. Did I think it was some grand love? No, but it was a delightful trainwreck. I liked that everyone told Faith that Frank still loved Jill, and that Frank denied it to high heaven. Frank was a selfish b#stard who had no problem with loving multiple women at once. The scenes in the episode posted really make me reevaluate Faith's position on Jill. I think I better understand the nature of her animosity after Frank declared he still loved Jill. Jill really didn't suffer for what she did to Frank. She got to get with Ken right before her wedding, she dealt with some angst watching Frank with Faith, but, in the end, Jill won in Faith's eyes. Do I think that's necessarily fair? Probably not, but I can see the genesis of Faith's view. I think Faith should have been more angry with Frank, but it was naturally for her to blame someone else. Do I think Jill is at fault? Not for what Frank did to Faith. In the larger context, I do see some of the trouble with some of Faith's retelling of Coleridge family history. While Faith Catlin's version was frigid and neurotic, the recasts after had been level headed and had most friendly relationships with Jill. The sudden "Jill was the usurper" position that Faith presented wasn't really accurate, but also was one of Jill's biggest fears early on. It was almost inhuman of Faith to go that route, and probably out of character given how things had progressed. On some level, I feel that the Coleridges were always fundamentally flawed individuals who struggled with connecting with one another and each other so I was willing to dismiss some of Faith's tirades as hyperbole rather than accepting them as fact written in stone. I also really enjoyed some of the layers that were added to the story, which was clearly a B-story using A-characters. I liked Little John telling Frank he wanted Frank to marry Jill, not Faith, and his Delia-esque antics (running away from the Bar, growing bored and calling home, and then later running to Jill when he thought she was leaving New York). The Jill-Johnno relationship is a very rich relationship that was really well nurtures. I also like Bob getting mad at Frank about what he had done to Faith because he cared for her. This wasn't Rae or Delia who Frank was wronging. This was Faith, an insider. I also thought Faith trying to be a Ryan by bringing Annie to town and by agreeing to go through Catholicism classes with Father Shane were nice touches that could have easily been skipped but gave the story a level of depth. The biggest problem I had was that Frank, who completely led Faith on and then pulled the rug out from under her, didn't really suffer. I know the strike happened and then Hugh Kelly exited, but I never felt like Frank ever really got what he had coming to him for all the stunts he pulled. Maeve almost went there and blamed him for his behavior in one of her verbal altercations with Faith, but then both Maeve and Faith pulled back and absolved Frank. F#cking Frank.

Stephanie underwent a rather radical personality shift in the course of the first thirteen episodes. The pilot began with Stephanie as a fish out of water; a West Coast girl in a world of cunning East Coast wolves. Pitted against Madchen Amick's Carrie, Stephanie, nor Hemingway, stood much of a chance. I suspect the powers that be realized this early on which is why they introduced Kylie Travis as Rachel Dennis. Rachel and Carrie's relationship was complicated; they had been friends, Rachel wanted Carrie's JKJ Jr.-esque brother Peter, but they were able to unite against a common enemy, Stephanie. When Stephanie did try to step up her game, she failed. Her scheme to undermine Carrie producing Mark's play blew up in Stephanie's face. In the episodes that CBS didn't air, Stephanie finally played dirty and managed to thwart Rachel's advances at Communique by producing the Fashion Sucks! edition. This version of Stephanie seemed much more capable of playing down and dirty with the likes of Carrie and Rachel. In Stephanie's final scene, she delivers a rather insightful speech about becoming to hard and jaded and chooses Mark and her marriage over her career and manipulation. If Hemingway had stayed, I suspect her role would have been minimized as the show was heading from the internal struggles of Communique to the battle between two media companies. If they had continued, I imagine Stephanie would have remained loyal to Allen, while Carrie would have sided with Brock to anger her (former) stepfather, and Rachel would have played whoever she had to to get ahead. Essentially, Stephanie was replaced by Noelle Beck's Jordan Tate, an editor with a romantic interest in Mark Merrill. If the show had continued, I imagine Jordan would have taken a position at Communique and this would have pitted her against Rachel and Carrie. I don't think Hemingway was hurt by Central Park West. CBS had a rough year. Besides Hemingway, both Patricia Wettig and Mary Tyler Moore intended to leave their roles in new dramas, but both series were cancelled before their characters could be written out.

Curtis did suffer PTSD afterwards. This is what we saw in the May 1994 episodes at Burnell's department store. Curtis wasn't committed to the mental hospital until much later after he pretended Trisha was still alive in order to split Dinahlee and Trucker and fixed Buck's plane which crashed and killed Janie Sinclaire (Buck's long lost daughter). There wasn't really a Burnell family. It was a rewrite. The Aldens owned Burnell's department store, but Haidee Granger created Leo Burnell as the mysterious owner. Agnes Nixon wrote "Loving" with a very large cast. I think Leo and Shana were written out to trim down the canvas even though Cabot returned from the dead several weeks later. Shana's reaction to that would have been interesting. Also, Ava took control of Alden Enterprises shortly after Cabot's return so they could have played the Ava - Shana rivalry a bit more there as well.

Leo Burnell was introduced under Haidee Granger in the summer of 1992. Addie Walsh had Ava working for a mysterious boss at Burnell's, which had (historically) been owned by the Alden clan. My personal speculation was the plan was to bring back Curtis Alden as the boss as Curtis had been Ava's ex-husband, which would have produced a lot of natural tension. Instead, the show went with Leo Burnell. Leo and Ava were involved for the second half of 1992, and, I believe, it was revealed that Leo was involved in some international drug dealing. The drug dealers were involved in the death of Ceara Hunter, Jeremy's wife. In early 1993, Shana Vochek, feeling lonely after the death of her husband and son several years earlier, decided she was going to have a baby via artificial insemination. Shana went looking for a donor and chose Leo. Before she was inseminated, Shana began communicating with Leo and there was a connection there, which infuriated Ava. Ava claimed she was pregnant by Leo so Leo stayed with her even though Shana was really pregnant with the child. The baby was born in August and was named after Trisha who had died several months earlier. At the time of birth, it was determined (I believe by the newly arrived Angie Hubbard) that Patti may have developmental delays. This is what is being discussed in the scenes in the clip above. Shana and Leo eventually married in June 1994 in Rome. It was in Rome that the duo ran into Jeff Hartman, who was hiding Trisha Alden from the rest of the world. Leo and Shana left shortly after the wedding. Shana and Leo were mentioned as being unable to attend Cabot and Isabelle's funeral in the final year. Thom Christopher played Dante Partou, the presumed dead husband of Tess Wilder. Offscreen, Tess had been involved with Curtis Alden and Buck Huston, if not romantically, at least platonically. When Tess escaped the Middle East (I believe Kuwait specifically), it was with Curtis on Buck's plane. This is why Dante was targeting the Aldens and held Curtis hostage. There was push back because Dante was the only Middle Eastern character in daytime television and he was a villain. He was quickly written out in March 1994, but not before Dante paired up with Egypt Masters, who returned in January 1994. He did pop up to haunt Curtis later on.

She played Tex in 1990.