thelma

The whole Love/McKinnon story was a bust from the outset.The premise of Mary back from the dead and an amnesiac and married to Reg was a stretch .The we had Vince having to be recast to fit the story,the creation of Cheryl,complete ignorance of the viable character of Ben.It was almost like DePriest came up with the story and twisted things around to fit it.

I remember reading in SOD that by the end of 86 they had only 6 characters left from the start of the year.

I think Eplin and Wheeler asked to be released from their contracts.Did Stuart,Schnetzer and Osburn all leave when their contracts were up?

Just from the top of my head, and I could be wrong about some, by the end of 1986, the show had lost...Carl, Larry, Clarice, Sally, Caitlin, Brittany, Zane, Kathleen, Cass, Nicole(?), Jake, Marley. They also recast Vicky, Vince and Donna. That's a huge change in the cast and so many of them were fan favorites.

I also agree about the writers twisting the story to make it fit. It was messy. The good thing was the Vince recast. He had great chemistry with Denise Alexander. I also liked Mary's friendship with Felicia which was dropped when they isolated Denise's character in her final years.

I just finished watching the first set of clips and one stand out for me is Gomez. I forgot about her and I love her.

You did it right. Great job. Thanks for telling us about this.

I didn't see the story from the start, but I think one problem was they had to quickly change the backstory of Scott being Donna's son, due to Philece Sampler's age.

Denise Alexander is wonderful but putting her in the role of Mary McKinnon when the only McKinnons on the show were two helpless and needy daughters never made sense to me. Why put her in that role when Kathleen (the heart of the family) and Jake were leaving, and Vince was being recast?

I also hated Reginald. I don't mean love to hate, I just mean hate. He was so one-note, and he had no one to play off of, because Michael was too smug to be a hero, and Donna was so extremely weak, she could barely even walk half the time.

Thanks Carl.

I agree about Reginald. He was a mustache twirler for sure! Besides Mary, he had no romantic interest or any storyline beyond being everyone's enemy.

I always thought during this period, AW never thought ahead or was proactive. When they hired Denise, they knew Jake and Marley were leaving, but I'm not so sure about Kathleen. Also, from what I recall, wasn't Anna Stuarts departure kind of a surprise? That's why Scott's story had to be so quickly adjusted. Also due to the fact her recast was so much younger.

As for Vince, the actor in these scenes is not a romantic lead at all. There's a scene where Denise is sitting between Reginald and Vince, and if I were her, I would have run!

I think the bottom line was they hired THE DENISE ALEXANDER who was so popular that they were going to fit her in anywhere. She and the actress who played Kathleen looked so much alike, she was a perfect fit for the McKinnon matriarch. As messy as it all was, I loved her character and this was my first exposure to Denise and I fell in love with her portrayal.

I hope I'm doing this right. I'm usually just a reader.

A user on YouTube has started posting the Reginald Love, Marissa LaSalle/Mary McKinnon storyline from 1986. I love re-watching Denise Alexander act up a storm, but I'm amazed at how full of holes the plot was.

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