Michael

Ah, yeah, that makes sense. Although they bumped up the anniversary of Abby's death -- she originally died in July, and I'm pretty sure they marked the occasion in actual July last year.

Did Jack come because of Abby's journal that was discovered? I thought that was the catalyst, and although I'm always happy to see MA, it feels like the kind of info that could've come through an offscreen phone call.

Why did Leo go to the hospital and THEN call Marlena's office to ask if he could see her? Wouldn't you do that before making the trip down there? I know the answer is "because they wanted Mark to run into him and ask if he's okay," but lord. It didn't make any damn sense.

I thought we wanted Lulu to wake up from the coma. 😜

Days still airs on terrestrial TV in other countries, so I assume that's (part of) why we didn't notice a big change content-wise when it jumped to Peacock.

I think the blowback to the Stefan/Abby/Chad thing was pretty negative, but Ron moved Stefan on to the Gabi pairing (and then killed him off and created Jake when that actually proved popular) pretty quickly. Marci Miller left in the middle of the DID story, and they brought Kate Mansi in, kept her until the story was resolved, WROTE A DIGITAL SERIES FOR HER, and brought her and Chad back when they did the time jump. Then Mansi wouldn't commit, and they brought Miller in and kept using her for as long as they could until she wouldn't work anymore. So I agree the DID story was awful and offensive, but I don't think it boiled down to "Ron hated the character." He also didn't choose to write out Jennifer, Hope, Ciara, Will, or Eli. Or even Claire, really. (ORK left and they recast and it was terrible.) Not saying the writing for any of these people or their stories was even decent, but he didn't shuffle them all offscreen with force.

Rita's appearance was so random. I wonder if the scabs had some greater plan there? I thought her scenes with EJ felt very forced but I'm even more confused that there was no follow-up. The Juneteenth stuff today was sweet, but it was tough to watch James Reynolds's hand shaking so badly as he pulled out his phone to read the phone. I'm surprised they didn't find an alternative to that (or, if you're going to show it, address it -- I know that can be difficult and sensitive when it's the actor's real life business, but there's an honesty and vulnerability in writing that stuff in, as well).

I believe both Miller and Mansi didn't want to be on contract. The show was willing to work with them for a while and then it got to be too much.

Thanks. I figured the answer was "with Fletcher offscreen." I guess Holly was offscreen a lot by the mid-2000s, too.

Did they ever address Meg after the 90s? Like do we know even know what became of that child or where she was for the last 12 years of the show?

Tom Horton for sure. I'd throw John Black in the mix despite all the brainwashing, disappearances, misguided attempts to seduce Kristen for Brady's own good, etc.

Wouldn't Suzanne only be at 51 years? 1973-2024 is 51... they just celebrated her 50th last year.

Those curtains in the "new" Horton living room are horrible. Every time they update one of these sets, it's like they go and grab whatever's in the Clearance section at Home Goods and just slap it all together.

I actually buy that, considering the sh*t he did to Bo concerning Carly. But we needed to see the turnaround with Xander on-screen. I know JA's passing meant that wasn't possible, but they need to address it in some way. "Actually, I feel bad that I treated him like crap all his life" doesn't really make sense when Victor didn't KNOW he was about to die.

The setup of this whole storyline never made sense. I agree that doing something with Alex/Xander had promise, but Victor just... left half his estate to Maggie and half to Xander, whom he was bad-mouthing right up until his final appearances? They threw in those random lines about Philip having a trust, but there's also Bo, Shawn, Ciara, Chelsea, Claire, Justin, Sonny, et al. It's so contrived and goofy.

It's dumb, but I guess the loophole is that Clyde is the one who recounted the story of killing Abigail, right? (Maybe I'm mixing my stupid stories up, though.) So the flashbacks we saw could be what he WANTED people to think so that his drug ring wouldn't be exposed. It's still very stupid, but I think they have a little wiggle room to play with.

John & Barbara definitely feel like one. Even at the time, when I didn't know the history of the show that well, it felt random as hell. That was a period when it seemed like Barbara could've faded into obscurity. Hal & Emily might've been borne out of convenience, too, but I thought that pairing worked well and created some interesting material.

Dena Higley's first run on Days. She was head writer (for air shows, at least) from like... April to early September 2003?

I really can't process how senseless and tragic this is. I keep up with GH but I'm not a devoted viewer, and it's still just like... WTF. Maybe the fact that I live in L.A. is part of it, but it's so sad and awful.

LOLLLLLL. Too true. "How nice that the hotels in Scotland have exactly the same builder-grade doors as every home and hotel in Salem!" Rafe's idiocy cracks me up. John and Steve aren't even the ISA -- they're just dudes who have worked with the ISA. At least call Shane or Andrew?!

I still don't get how Everett's coma plays into this whole thing. Has anyone even verified that he WAS in a coma for all that time? And that's sort of a separate issue from the DID, right? Because he was living as Bobby Stein and married to Jada while *also* living as Everett Lynch and dating Stephanie. Then the (alleged) accident and coma happened, and he recovered and came to Salem to find Steph. None of this makes sense, and I doubt it ever will. How was he a well known journalist working in Seattle under two names and no one knew?

How awful and heartbreaking.

How did this devolve into an argument? LOL

So good!!!

😍 Love your Madonna avatar and banner btw! That tour was so iconic.