Michael

Yeah, it doesn't seem to have been well thought-out as far as what would come after Meg was born. Dramatizing the struggles of a family with a Down's child is basically the antithesis of what these shows have been trying to do for the past 15-20 years. I just haaaate dangling threads like that. It bugs the crap out of me that Holly that this daughter with special needs (and Blake a little sister) and she was never even referenced for the last decade of the show.

Wow, that's... not entirely surprising, but awful. Having a child with Down's Syndrome should have defined so much of Holly's drive through the late 90s and 2000s.

When was the last time Meg was mentioned onscreen? Where was she supposed to be when Holly was on the show in the early 2000s -- off with Fletcher?

I think she was probably, as written, not a particularly well-defined character. I think the most 'interesting' thing she did was be implicated in a porn scandal that turned out to have been faked. Doesn't seem like they bothered to involve her with the rest of the canvas too much, so I can see why it seemed like it was best to cut their losses and create someone more interesting. But yes, the connection could have helped Don quite a bit!

Lorraine was Donna's biological mother. She'd had an affair with Don, producing Donna. I don't remember too clearly, but I feel like she was written out kind of quickly.

Thanks. That really annoys me! It was such an integral part of Sabrina's intro.

Were Frannie and Sabrina magically no longer lookalikes after Julianne Moore left the show?

Just wanted to echo the thanks to saynotoyoursoap for taking the time to review that story in such depth! What a great read and an even better resource.

After Gwen heard Alistair raping Theresa and TURNED UP THE RADIO so Ethan wouldn't hear, I pretty much stopped expecting them to treat rape like anything resembling a serious subject.

Remember that endless night where The Blackmailer (I guess it was Vincent) kept breaking into Fancy's room and raping her, and then she would go downstairs and cry for a while, and then they would just put her back to bed and it would happen again?!

When is that pic from?

Thanks for sharing your perspectives. I can definitely see how it played differently onscreen than it does in written summary, which is a shame. It sounds like there was a real, Tina-appropriate story in there somewhere -- it's a shame it was so centered on the idiotic younger characters. I really do hope we get to see her again before the end, at least to reunite her and Viki and just let us know that Tina gets some sort of happy ending.

While you guys are on the subject of Tina... I only half-pay attention to OLTL, but I just went over to Wikipedia and read a recap of Tina's 2008 return. The story actually sounds like it was pretty fun, tying in Mendorra, her trip over the waterfall, her histories with Cain and Cord, her relationship with Sarah, etc. I've mostly seen that whole return panned around here. Is the general consensus that it was a flop? Is that because she wasn't really in story with Viki, or because the actual material was crap, or what? It really reads pretty well, in isolation, but I know that's often very different from the viewing experience.

I know this was pages ago and plenty of others have responded, but I had to quote this and give you a big +1. Days has always been "my show," but I feel exactly the same way about it as you do with AMC. So well articulated!

I feel like I'm just running all over the board 'LOL'ing at you, but... LOL.

The whole show felt oddly claustrophobic in its last years (well, except for all the scenes set in the middle of random empty fields...). I think it was Marina and Mallet's wedding where I had to turn off the TV because I was so uncomfortable -- they were seriously getting married up against a wall, with the four guests standing behind them in a line. It was just horrible staging.

That Cedars re-design was sooooo strange. Like, just use some white walls! It's a hospital. The place looked like a damn Hawaiian cabana.

It was Liz Keifer, yeah! I noticed the same thing, and I remember researching it right after getting home from the theatre.

Those brief returns of Nikki and Dani in the 2000s were so weird. Nikki just felt like a totally different character, and they tried that little quad with her, Mike, Jen, and Henry for two seconds... and Dani popping back up and SLEEPING WITH CRAIG was horrible.

Oh yeah, I do remember the little mention during the special Lisa episode! Thanks!

When did Don last appear? When was he last mentioned on the show? They must have at least mentioned him when Teddy/Ryder showed up in the mid-90s, right?

Wow, very interesting! Thanks again for being so informative.

Wow, thanks for such a detailed rundown! There's really no other way to learn about this stuff in such depth aside from generous people who actually saw it sharing what they recall. When Bruder was gone for that time in 1975, did they write Ellen out? Or did we just not see her? And was David Stewart still seen during that time?

The Stan thing was ridiculous, but it was also very clever. It kept Sami in story, and Dan Wells did a (shockingly) terrific job of mimicking her mannerisms and convincing you that he was really Sami in drag. It wasn't super well-received, though I think part of that was the fact that they wrote a horrible story for Sami during that time. S/he was running around "getting revenge" on... Mimi and Tek and all these random people. Meanwhile, Kate -- the actual object of her ire -- barely got touched, and then Stan/Sami wound up being a part of this horrible rescue mission to "the war in the Middle East" in which Shawn, Lucas, Brady, and Rex went to save Phillip from "the terrorists," who turned out to be Tony DiMera & Co. Yes, it was as stupid as it sounds. They barely touched the really fun aspect of the story, which would have been Lucas (who had just dumped Sami and thought she was out of town) being drawn to Stan and having all these confused feelings over it.

I feel like, based on what I was reading in the soap press at the time, the twins-by-different-fathers angle was deemed ridiculous back then. And people resented that Blake had cheated on Ross with Rick... even though they were playing out that skeezy Ben Warren story around the same time. That's funny about Jerry ver Dorn! Hadn't occurred to me.