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Billy and Nola were involved at least once in the summer of 1982. Billy believed Nola was carrying his child before she left town with the baby's real father, Tor. I believe A.C. Weary, Zimmer's husband, played the role of Tor. I know World of Soap Themes posted a couple of episodes from 1981 and there was definitely some flirtation between the two in 1981, but I'm not aware of anything coming of it. Once Jason died in June 1981, Nola inherited the newspaper where Billy was a columnist. I think there romantic tension arose from those interactions. Going back to the synopsis Paul posted, at least one thing I see missing from the synopsis (which I think is fall 1980, I'm thinking October) is Darcy's reasoning behind cuddling up to Brad. Her intentions were not as pure as the synopsis may suggest as Darcy was having money troubles at the time and Brad was the local trust fund brat. There really is some shades of Ben Harper/Arlene Lovett in the Billy's return story with the son of a longtime character returning to seduce a young ingenue in order to inherit a fortune while his more vivacious lover is plotting on the side. I think the fall out seems interesting, but I'd imagine today's soap audience crying foul that Matt and Maggie and Steve and Carolee weren't at the center of the storyline. Ashley Bennett was originally a deeply troubled character. In her past, Ashley believed she had been behind the wheel of the car that killed her fahter. In the summer of 1980, Ashley went back to the scene of the crime and learned she wasn't the one who had caused the accident. I believe being free of this guilt opened Ashley to a new world of possibilities. When her husband John Bennett first came to town, he had a flirtation with the very married Carolee and I think they may have tested him with Greta, who was working for him. Jack and Ashley had once been involved before appearing on the show and Jack wanted to rekindle this, but Ashley became pregnant by John and stood by her husband. The baby had developmental issues and I believe, Terri, suggested that she should abort the baby. There was a bit of a back and forth on the issue, but Ashley lost the baby. Later, in shades of John and Marlena, John Bennett was paralyzed in a car accident and left town with Ashley to recuperate from his paralysis.

There are four episodes from 1960 available for viewing online at the Museum of Broadcast Communications. One episode is from February and the other three are from August. I was actually surprised by the relationship between Myra and Susan as well as the characters themselves. Most soap books talk about how Susan, following the death of her mother, had taken on the role of family caregiver and wasn't pleased when Jane Edwards romanced her father. After this incident, the book would simply refer to Susan's marriage to Alan, the birth of her son Petey, and litle else. I didn't realize that Susan continued to be threatened by the presence of women in her father's life. Brent's recollections even set me back further when he said that Susan had issues with Valerie Ames, Peter's third and final wife. I didn't realize how threatened Susan was by these women. Everyone goes on about Lemay creating Iris with this Oedipus complex, but it seems Susan was in a bit of a similar situation, or am I reading into this too much? The one episode in February is one of the ones available on youtube. Susan is whining about her husband's career while blaming Myra for all her problems. Peter says Amy deserves a good school to go to. A blonde Amy appears in the episode, someone other than Jada Rowland. Anyway, I particularly like the August episodes. Pauline has fled Woodbridge after it has been revealed her husband/fiancee Bryan Fuller has been fleecing Tyrell's for thousands of dollars and placing the blame on Peter. Apparently, Susan had befriended Bryan and had thought he was this wonderful guy. When the truth came out, Peter laid into his daughter about her behavior towards Myra, who had suspicions about Bryan. Peter told Susan she always alligned herself with the wrong side. It was a wonderful moment. The family went to the Tyrell cabin, I believe at Spruce Lake. Amy had gone into town with Myra's father giving Myra and Grace a chance to chat about the family's latest situation. Myra talked about how Amy adored Ezra and that he found the girl amusing. It seemed like Ames/Lake family had blended quite well. I thought June Graham was fine as Myra. She seemed rather quiet, but very much a person of character. Roy Windsor stated in an interview he felt the Myra Lake story didn't work. I wonder if he meant the entire storyline? I thought Myra seemed like a woman with strong morals and a was a caring stepmother towards Amy. In 1962, I think a very married Myra was pursued by a man other than Peter. I think this may have been the story Windsor had trouble with since it seemed like Myra was fighting temptation. This doesn't seem to fall in line with the women who would follow Myra after she departed. I've appreciated Jon and Brent's reflections on "The Secret Storm." As another poster said, I can reread these posts all day.

Being used to soaps from the last two decades, it has been astonishing to have so many notions regarding past soap characters ripped apart. Matt Powers wasn't some warm patriarch of the series, he tended to be an stubborn and set in his ways. I believe he clashed with Dr. Jack Garner on occassions during 1980 over hospital protocol and the treatment of patients. Jack was one of Greta's beaus, who Matt was always critical of. He wasn't a fan of Billy Aldrich when he returned to town either, but, to be fair, he had quite a right to be given Billy abandoned Greta to raise Leanne on her own. That most have been interesting to see play out given the friendship between those two families. I have to wonder if Matt was always this strong personality who would clash with others over professional and personal matters. I've read that Mike blamed Matt's behavior for his mother's suicide years before. I use to think this was simply Mike perception of the matter, but maybe Matt always read on the cold side. I have to wonder if this wasn't another reason Matt and Maggie didn't make it down the aisle in the early stages of their courtship. Regarding Barney, it's entirely possible the reference I found to him in the May synopses was a mistake. The columnists often mistook characters or misprinted names. I do know Natalie did become involved with Billy, which pitted him against Luke for her affection. Given Lemay's nature, I could also see where this could have been revisited later as Barney's request would once again have put him at odds with his son Luke. Speaking of the tornado, what did you think of the new characters who were introduced around this time: Dr. John Bennett and his wife Ashley, Jack Garner, Darcy Collins, Brad Huntington, Alan Ross, Viveca Strand, Calvin Barnes, and Dr. Terri Foster. It seems like the show was trying to integrate the cast with more African American cast members with paramedic Calvin, gynecolist Terri, Terri's mother Lillian (who I believe was Mona's maid), and the pregnant prostitute who Terri took in. Overall, it seems like the characters weren't integrated into the overall canvas very well. Now I remember the Jack Garner/Matt Powers issue. There was another intern alongside Darcy/Alan/Brad who wasn't able to cut it and dropped out of the program and left the show in June 1980. Jack was furious with the way Matt had pushed the young man out of the program, while Matt felt there needed to be a standard for doctors. The conflict was rather interesting as it fueled the Matt/Jack conflict which spilt over into Jack and Greta's relationship.

I think the couple reconciled in early 1978. Matt and Maggie tended to be on different sides of arguments, but they didn't really separate again until spring 1981 and weren't reunited until the show's final weeks. In the meantime, I'm not sure how much story they got. I know Maggie was kidnapped at one point, Maggie had a pregnancy scare, but for the most part it seems like they were reacting to their children's problems.

Althea returned in January/February 1981. There was a conference of some sort at Hope Memorial and Althea was set to be the guest speaker. She was in town for the conference, and a few weeks later, her son-in-law, Jerry Dancy, arrived for his sister Nola's wedding to Jason Aldrich. I think there were some issues between Jerry and Althea. Jerry was very aggressive in his approach to medicine, and I think Althea didn't want him working in the hospital. Matt and Maggie were on the outs again. Matt was becoming very close to Althea right before the strike, but once the strike hit everything went to the pot. In the final year Althea had romances with both Jeff Manning, a much younger surgeon, and Jean Marc Gautier, a doctor who seemed to be experimenting with the fountain of youth serums.

Here's an article that covers some of Margaret DePries's tenure:

Several years ago, Hilary Bailey Smith told SOD that the plague that hit Madison was used to renegotiate contracts on "The Doctors" since several actors were up for renewal at this time. Didn't Steve come down with the plague as well? Maybe they were playing hardball with David O'Brien and cast John Rixey Moore in order to show O'Brien they would move on without him. The plague storyline certainly didn't take any lives of important characters, other than Mona. Barbara Lang played Marilyn Langley, Paul's wife. James' major story point seemed to be to disinherit Billy of his claim on the Aldrich fortune. The Writer's Strike was AWFUL for "The Doctors." Wasn't it revealled that Kevin had been sexually abused by Cahterine at the climax of that storyline? I know Kevin staged a wedding ceremony for himself and Nola and then raped her. Around the same time an impotent Matt and Maggie broke up only for Maggie to learn she was pregnant. Did Matt and Maggie even have sex or was this truly a miracle child? Jerry Dancy was revealled as a drug dealer working for an Asian drug cartel. And then there was the mystery patient who knew Althea? It all reads as very bizarre and nearly changing from week to week. Glenn Corbett was also killed off during this time. I wonder if that was the original plan or if it was something the scab writers cooked up. The episode where he is killed is available at the Paley Center. I believe Barney is featured in it working at the Medicine Man alongside Calvin Barnes. I think Barney appears past March 1982. In one of the weekly columns from this time, Barney asked Natalie to break up Billy and Nola. This was right before Nola ended up pregnant and left the series. Initially, Donald Crabtree played Burton Canfield on "Texas" I don't think Weber ended up in the role until the summertime. There is an article in one of the papers about the show's second anniversary and Weber is referred to as being a new addition.

I've heard that Van was supposedly unable to have children. I'm not sure if this is fact or simple fan conjecture that seems to be accepted as part of the canon. Either way, I do think Van was pregnant during the 1950s when Paul Raven's daughter Carol arrived, but I believe she lost the child. Or maybe this storyline never happened. I think Van and Bruce didn't have any children because of the age of Bruce's own children. Because Barbara was a young woman, I believe this placed Van in age where it wasn't proper on a soap for a woman to be having a child since Van would soon be a grandmother to Barbara's future children. I'm not clear on the Van/Ben relationship in the 1970s. I think Van cared for Ben the way she did most of her surrogate children. Van seemed to be involved in the Betsy/Eliot/Ben stories so I suspect she still cared for him in a maternal manner. I believe Malick's Ms. Jones appeared in December 1978/Janaury 1979. She was a nurse who was looking after Carrie. Carrie had suffered a heart attack in October so I assume she was helping her recover from that. Wes Osbourne, Mia's younger brother, was intended to be paired with Kelly Wilson, Liane's sister. Both Kelly and Cheryl Kingsley (played by Judy Landers) were introduced in Janaury 1980. John Aniston's Eduardo Aleata married Sherry Rooney's Dory Patton and both departed in November 1978 when Abbi/Holloway took over. Irene Yah-Ling Sun played Kim Soo Ling, a nurse who had been involved with Tony Alfonso. Kim and Tony had a son, Tran, who Kim had given up for adoption. Kim and Tony tracked there son down and learned he was living with the Changs. Tony and Kim let Tran stay with the Changs since Mrs. Chang was dying. Kim departed Rosehill in the show's final week, but, for a time, it looked like she might stay. Andrew Marriott did find her work at Rosehill Hospital so maybe at one time they thought about keeping her around longer. It's interesting to hear that it would be revealed Bruce wasn't Amy's father. Several articles regarding "Love of Life" talked about how Van and Bruce never learned Amy was Bruce's daughter, if she was his daughter. The cancellation notice is in the papers for January 1980, but I thought that the press was simply late on publishing this information. Two weeks is really a short amount of time and I'm not surprised that nothing was revealled. It is neat to hear that Alan and Barbara were coming back to Rosehill. Marcus had such a full canvas at the time I wonder who she was planning to let go.

Most of the characters written out were such peripheral characters who were given major storylines. Dory Patton came on as the lawyer during the custody battle over Felicia's baby and then was suddenly vying for the affections of both Eddie and Tom. Eddie struggled to maintain story time since his arrival. Dory's legal assistant Wendy Hayes romanced Dr. Joe Cusack, who worked at the hospital but often had little to do. Mary Jane Owens came on as a nanny for baby Charles and later was linked romantically to Michael Blake, who I think Meg paid to break up Rick and Cal. Lynn floundered in various romantic pairings. Most of the characters didn't work because they had no substantial ties to the canvas. Personally, I would have kept Lynn Henderson and Andy Marriott. Lynn was practically a daughter to Van and it would have been interesting to see her involved in the Amy Russell storyline and her reaction to Steve Harbach. Lynn's strained relationship with her parents and her battles with alcohol were enough demons that the show could have revisited down the line. Upton created Andy in the Ben Harper mold, a rich playboy who often got himself into trouble. It would also have been interesting to see Andy's reaction to his father's relationship with Lianne Wilson. There were a number of younger females on the show in the last year who Andy could have slept his way through. Later on, I probably would have brought back Cal and her stepson, Hank, since Hank was Bruce's grandson. I probably would have either killed Rick off or left him in Montreal.

In November 1978, Dr. Joe Cusack died in a car accident the night of his engagement party to Wendy Hayes. Two weeks later, Wendy later revealled she was pregnant, and that is the last mention I find of her. Eddie Aleata married Dory Patton in November and immediately departed for France, I assume the took Dory's daughter Kirsten (and son Kevin) with them. Lynn Henderson went to Switzerland to care for her sick dad. Mary Jane Owens and Andy Marriott went to Los Angeles once Andy was clear of murder charges. Sometime in 1978, Jonathan Moore stopped appearing as Charles Lamont. He wasn't written out, he simply ceased to exist and with him went Charles, Jr. and Johnny. Cherie Manning, a member of Upton's younger set, disappeared at some point in the fall of 1978. As Paul mentioned, Felicia was dropped much earlier than 1978. I think she died in June 1977 right before Betsy Crawford ran off to England. Rick and Cal left in June 1978 with Rick's son Hank with the intentions of opening a restaurant in Canada.

Feel free to add the stuff about 1977. I've been meaning to getting around to look at the "Love of Life" stuff from 1978 and 1977. This will give me a reason.

I don't have as much information about 1978 as I do 1979. I use newspaper columns to pinpoint timelines for "Love of Life." The paper I originally used only started running Jon Michael Reed's column in February 1979. Since then, subsequent papers have put their archives online. In October 1978, "Love of Life" aired its 7,000th episode. Jon Michael Reed covered the event and announced Cathi Abbi had just taken over and Jean Holloway had been announced as the headwriter. While not inexplicitly stated, it sounds like Holloway's work hasn't aired yet. I haven't been able to completely pinpoint the weeks in this SOD, but I think it is September/October 1978, which is Gillian Upton's period. I think Holloway's material begins in November 1978 because half a dozen characters are written out in a matter of several weeks.

Regarding the synopsis Paul posted, Soap Opera Digest was posting 3 weeks worth of story at the time. The synopsis Paul posted covers the weeks of May 14-18, May 21-25, May 28-June 1, 1979. This is the first batch of Ann Marcus' own material as the week of May 7-11 covered the end of Holloway's much derided Brewster saga. In one of his April columns, soap columnist Jon Michael Reed announced Ann Marcus' work would start appearing in early May. The SOD synopsis prior to this one would have covered Holloway's final week(s), Marcus' arrival, and detailed the conclusion of the mysterious dealings of Reverend Richard Brewster and his connection to Bambi Brewster. Ann McCarthy's Bambi Brewster was the center of the bizarre tale Jean Holloway wrote for "Love of Life." I was actually shocked to see Ann McCarthy as Sam on "Texas" when the series was being shown on the AOL P&G Channel. McCarthy was talented and charismatic as Sam, which is probably why Marcus kept her rather than dumping the character. Marcus continued the Bambi/Tony/Paul triangle that Jean Holloway had created. Marcus put her spin on it by introducing Kim Soo Ling, Tony's lover from Vietnam. Kim had been a nurse who tended to Tony during the war and had his baby. Kim arrived in Rosehill to convince Tony to help her locate their son, Tran. Tony even blew off his nuptials to Bambi in order to do so. Bambi and Tony's story continued to play out into the final week when Kim departed Rosehill. From what I've read, Marcus' story seemed more cohesive than subsequent writers, but she did have a bit of a rough start. The highlight of the summer was Given more time, or a better time slot, I think Marcus' "Love of Life" would have caught on. Cathi Abbi was also a solid producer from what I've heard. It's a shame she never was given a shot EPing another serial. Van had worked before. I believe she was a newsreporter when Labine wrote. It should also be noted that Van returned only recently to the show after a brief break; I assume Audrey Peters had been on vacation. In the story, Vanessa had spent the past several weeks in Switzerland tending to Lynn Henderson after a skiiing accident. However, Lianne Wilson also lamented the fact she was the ONLY female resident at Rosehill Hospital, so at times the show could be a bit much.

On "Loving," Doug Marland was still head writer when the Sowolsky family was introduced. Ava first appeared in May 1984, Harry was Dane's henchman who probably popped up around the same time, Kate showed up not long after, and Steve arrived in December 1984 just as the show brought Noelle Beck on as Trisha Alden. Marland left in June/July 1985 after his two year contract with "Loving" expired.

Thanks for sharing. Was Pat Falken Smith also responsible for Allison and Hugh? I assume Christine entered that story after Allison and Hugh were married.

Delphi Harrington temped for Judith Bancroft when Barbara Wilde recovered after choking on a canape at the anniversity party for "The Proud and the Passionate." On "Where the Heart Is," Harrington was Allison's photographer pal Christine Cameron, who had a pension for married men. Initially, she was involved with Tony Monroe, which I've read went bust when Tony was shipped away. I suspect there was a change in writers as the show seemed to go through so many of them. Later, Christine bedded Dr. Hugh Jessup, who married Louise Shaffer's Allison Archer, a birthed his daughter Katrina. When Hugh chose his wife over his mistress, Christine sought the solace of John Rainey, a lawyer who was estranged from his wife Adrienne Harris. Adrienne was a psychiatrist who treated Christine for her psychological issues and used her position to have Christine go insane during Katrina's custody battle in order for Adrienne to resume her marriage to John. On "Where the Heart Is," Liz Rainey and Julian Hathaway rendezvoused at the Red Hand, an Irish pub. It was during this storyline that Claire Labine and Paul Avila Mayer contemplated the idea of a story about a family who ran a pub. The scripted moments from the WeLoveSoaps article come from another online article about the cancellation of "Where the Heart Is." The Village Voice wrote about WTHI on several occassions and recapped much of the show's final storylines involving Liz/Julian/Mary, Adrienne/John/Christine, and Kate/Steve. Saynotoursoap, do you what stories or characters Pat Falken Smith was responsible for?

I don't think they would have revealed that Kate and her father had a sexual relationship. It is said on the article on page one that it was a rather cathartic experience for Diana van der Vlis, delaing with her own father's death not that long ago. Plus, I think Kate's devotion to her father seemed more related to proving to him she was good enough professionally. Kate was studying law, while her father had been a judge. Her daddy issues seem more related to proving herself. Not to side bar too much, but I love early "Ryan's Hope." Maeve was a nasty b###tch at times. I remember a conversation she had with Jill where Maeve rather bluntly informed Jill she would never recognize Jill as Frank's wife because, in the eyes of the church, Delia would always fill that role. I also loved Patrick Ryan before they decided he needed to be the romantic male lead. When Pat realized Bucky loved Faith, Pat rather coldly informed Bucky Faith wasn't worth the time because she wouldn't put out. Then a month or two later Faith was the love of Pat' life. Ugh! I loved when Faith was a cold fish who was messed up because she had slept with one of her professors in college. God, some of the early characterizations for those characters were so much richer before they were watered down.

In the final months, Kate had developed a split personality, Betty, who was the one dancing lewdly in front of children. Kate's psychological issues stemmed from her troubled relationship with her father, Judge Hathaway, who had died when the show premiered. In the final week, I beleive Kate agreed to take time off from law school to take a vacation with Steve in order to handle her issues. In regards to Labine & Mayer and incest, I remember Delia, on at least one occasion, accused Mary Ryan of loving her brother, Frank, a bit too much. Kate Mulgrew was playing the role at the time and played it like there may a have been a bit of truth to that. I'm not saying Mary was trying to jump into bed with Frank, but I think Mary's attachment to Frank ran a bit too deep at times.

Eric, I've been searching newspaper archives using Google News. The wedding story is most likely from "Love of Life." The first time Audrey Peters appeared as Van it was on Van's wedding day to Bruce. I believe Diana van der Vlis was referring to temporary recasts vs. a full time replacement. She had never worked on a soap before WTHI so she is referring to CBS' practices. When I watched "Guiding Light" in the late 1990s, CBS typically stated "The role of [insert character] will temporarily be played by [insert actor/actress]." I don't remember them announcing recasts otherwise, but maybe I'm forgetting.

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The university was the focus for the first six months or so. Garth Slater was killed during November sweeps, which set in motion the slow decline of the college scene. By the end of sweeps, Roger Forbes had been offered a position in Washington, D.C., which meant he and Ann needed to reconcile in order for his career to take off. Then, Doug and Rita Mae's flirtation ended after their faculty folly show arc came to its conclusion and Rita Mae and Billy focused on having a baby while Doug began working on a television series. One by one, the younger characters left the college to pursue careers (Jack worked at Forbes Construction with Ava, Lorna pursued a modelling career, Curtis went to work at Burnell's department store) so there was no real need for the college. In reality, "Loving" probably was never really a college soap as much as it was a soap set in a college town. Denny was the one who killed Rick, but then Norma killed him (I think) or was lead to believe she killed him. Then his twin brother Wally arrived and romanced Norma. It's all covered on Ilene Kristen's site. To be honest, it sounds a bit bizarre, which is what I think Jacqueline Babbin was going for. The real problem was the show wasn't grounded very well at the time in anything solid. I think she sort of ran off Perry Stephens because she found him bland, but I've never heard much about Christopher Cass. Stephens had been a staple for many years and I think she was a bit foolish to ignore that. Babbin was hired April 1990 and was key to getting Susan Keith to return to the show. She was fired around August 1991; her dismissal announcement was reported alongside the hiring of Michael Malone as OLTL's new headwriter. According to Nancy Reichardt's column, Joe Hardy took over from Joe Stuart June 20th, 1988. I'm assuming this date was his first date on the set, which means he was probably responsibile for hiring Taggert and King to pen the show once the Writer's Strike ended. I don't think Patricia Kalember was fired for cutting her hair or if she was, it was simply used as an excuse to cut the character who was wandering aimlessly on the canvas. Once Anne took Roger back and Doug learned of Merrill's affair, there was pretty much nothing left for Merrill to do. She seemed to be chemistry tested with Clem Margolies, the Alden/Forbes family lawyer, and later Warren Hodges, the district attorney, but there was no investment in the character. Savitch died in October 1983.

Thank you, I appreciate the clarification. It's a shame that soap books are riddled with errors.

From the Claire Labine/William Bell interview in On Writing: In regards to Love of Life's syndication deal, I have to wonder if Marcus thought it was a real possibility. At the time, her comical serial "The Life and Times of Eddie Roberts" was also airing and in some press she mentioned that stations were looking to find a nightly serial given the moderate success of "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman." I wonder if Marcus suspected she could get a production company to push a more edgy "Love of Life" to a late night audience focusing on the Rosehill College set. Others who got work post "Love of Life" included Ron Tomme, who appeared as a con artist in Joe's revenge against Jack on "Ryan's Hope" in the spring of 1981. Ted LePlat ended up as Andy Norris on "Guiding Light." Ann McCarthy was Sam Walker on "Texas" with Chandler Harben Hill. Mark Pinter went to "Guiding Light" as Mark Evans. Dana Delaney returned to "As the World Turns," this time as Hayley (previously she had appeared as a dayplayer).

The clip was from Addie Walsh and Laurie McCarthy's brief tenure (maybe six to eight months) as headwriters. I think this was set up for the Who Mowed Down Clay? storyline. Clay and Steffi were one of Nixon's bizarre pairings, but I think it was suppose to incite conflict between Deborah/Steffi, Steffi/Cooper, Cooper/Clay, and Clay/Deborah. In the end, Clay looks like a predator, when most of the audience seemed to accept him as a sort of aging anti-hero. I don't understand why Steffi wasn't written off before "The City." Did they really expect Amelia Heinle to stay once her contract was up? I wonder how "The City" would have worked had the younger set stayed in tact. I think it was Paul Anthony Stewart, Michael Weatherly, and Amelia Heinle's choice to leave rather than being fired. Maybe if they had renewed their contracts the show would have had a more solid ground to work from? The way I've read it, Lisa Peluso and Jean LeClerc had terrific chemistry togehter, but storywise Ava and Jeremy were dull. Gilbert was suppose to be a more exciting character to keep up wiht Ava. To me, it sounds a bit like a retread of the Jonathan Maitland story from the 1980s (which Nixon wrote). Ava and Gilbert were involved at Burnell's after Cabot turned over Alden Enterprises to the Rescotts. Gilbert was involved with Gwyn Alden (who slept with three men who claimed to be her lover when they were actually imposters) and there was the whole shoot out climax. I'm pretty sure Gilbert died at the end of the Gilbert/Jeremy storyline.

This scene was probably written when Addie Walsh was still headwriter. At the time, Giff was Trisha's shoulder to cry on when Trucker boinked Dinahlee when Trisha was pregnant with Christopher. Giff was well intentioned and probably was intended to have a larger role when the show was focusing on the college set. Then, Walsh quit and Haidee Granger became defacto headwriter and Giff decided he needed to keep Trucker and Trisha apart so he kidnapped Christopher and gave the baby away. By the time Robert Guza and Millee Taggert arrrived, Giff was such a mess they just wrote him off quickly. I haven't watched the scenes in a while, but I remember the scene with Casey lamenting Alise's death being distinct.