Mitch

Thanks..interesting! What is interesting is that Hensley looked like a real guy with a farm boy body...not the sculpted and or overly worked out bodies considered as hunks in soaps and media now. I thought Hank was good looking and hot..but really, really bland and boring...(and yes, his lover's name was "Charles" and Hank said it a million times!

I think they planned on Blake being Roger's daughter from the start..right? That is a big thing and a huge dip into history for scabs to make. I just wonder what Long planned and how the scabs screwed it up...I would think Will "dying" would be one of them. But the show recovered so effortlessly that it makes me think that they were following Long's outline closely.

I can't remember the whole thing either. Laura had a "daddy complex" and was fascinated with Bob..(kind of reverse Doug Cummings) and the guy in the bathtub was an older married guy, I think she was having an affair with...this was during the writers strike so I am sure it got muddled.

In Chicago they kept interrupting this episode with Lori Dann's rampage...weird seeing crazy Laura on here and crazy Lori in real life.

Ha..ha..."Now dear..you only know me as a caring grandmother but I once was hard core and took no [!@#$%^&*]. Now, do me and the rest of the women in town a favor and arrange..an accident for a certain female doctor with incredibly low morals...a biscuit with your coffee?"

I agree...he and BE had good chemistry and despite the show trying to shoe horn him into "hunk" and romantic lead, ( I remember Curlee mentioning in an interview when she became a head writer that Harley did not fit in Reva's high heels..as they were trying to do with her and Frank is too nice to be a throw away hunk character) he was best as a friend and brother. I think that was the thing with Rick..he was best a friend and supportive family member and he kept being paired. After Abby left (and I think that was his best pairing) I would have had Rick casually date and just be a glue to keep the other characters connected. I loved slightly bitch Van..I wish they had progressed her to strong high crust and slightly bitchy matriarch ala Alex..instead of the sighing bore she became.

Oh God...people are going to jump on you about Block..but I agree..I loved him on GL..as Craig he got old, but I always liked it that he seemed smart and with ready with the snark..okay, some may call that smarmy but. I don't know why they killed him off of GL? Herrera was great and he did his best with the really bad lines the Dobsons would give him. He deserved a more filled out character then just "bad guy." James never had a sense of humor and was never fighting for something like his company or family like Alan and Alex did...so he was better as a short term villain. The best James was written was the first resurrection when Marland wrote him...he was trying to snow everyone that he changed..screwing Lucinda and Monica L and Em...every other time he was a villain rubbing his hands together in glee for his evil plans. LOL on Hensley in his tightie whities..I can't believe they got away with that (thought I have to say Emma was pretty good with the bleach there.) While "the kids" to do would consider him "fit-fat" that is a nice side of beef to keep you warm on those cool nights at the Snyder pond.

Fletcher, was like Frank..a character who just was there.. but for some reason they would shoe horn into the show.!

Yea, I am suprised that Gilly was created under Long and the WSPR stuff started then. I always liked the machinations there...unlike Spaulding characters were all vying for things but weren't cuthroat about it (well besides Roger.) I hate that Nadine was killed, I wanted a Nadine/Nola rivalry eventual friendship ala Absolutely Fabulous with them a Greek Chorus on the going ons in Springfield...(Josh and Reva getting married again.. I am NOT buying them another toaster!")

The show tying up storylines...Rick/Phillip/Beth..and soon Josh leaving town. I wish the soaps had done more of that later...Manny should have been written off and allowed to "rest" instead of constant Mob drama...etc. Mentions of the Matt Weiss character (so this is end of Long's tenure) and yes, Mallet and Mindy had great chemistry..and we could have avoided Nick yelling at both Mindy and Alex for years on end it seemed. Rick and Abby should have taken the place of Ed and Mo..not a glamorous or exciting function, that of tentpoles but one GL needed.

I get to play the chair??(I will refrain from a "sitting on" you joke.) A great time on the show..it was all coming together..the climax of Sonni/Solita...and Roger's return along with Holly. I wish they had made the "FBI guy" Mike Bauer and the triangle be with Mike/Alex/Roger not boring and once again shoe horned Fletcher. Nadine's talk show was a waste of time filler. I forgot how cheesy Rusty was..who calls their sister "beautiful"???

Derwin had chemistry with the chairs in the diner. And yes, GL at that time could have gone off in any direction..its almost as if there could be alternate dimension GL where characters took off with a different character for different outcomes. I liked Harley and Mallet but I didn't think they were as hot as Mallet and Mindy...but then those two actors were the ones with the most chemistry and hotness so I can see then spreading that out (and Alex vs. Mindy worked great..for a while..as it included so many characters like Billy and Van, caught in the crossfire..) so I can see them wanting to spread it around. Some of the characters, like Frank and Fletcher it just seemed as if they were going to fit those characters and actors in no matter what so they did a merry go round...(remember briefly Van made Billy jealous by riding off on Frank's motorcycle in her fur coat..) but it just seemed that Fletch, Frank and Rick were all better off just on their own, interacting with the community (besides Eleni, and its no suprise that Frank floundered when Melina took her star talent elsewhere....so it really was not Frank and Eleni that were popular but Melina...) Interesting to see a show that was willing to coast for a while and try out different pairings rather then shoving then down the audience's throat.

Even then when they were just writing Alex as an outright bitch..you can see Bev making it more. I loved Marj but she just would have spit out the lines with venom just what she read on the page. "Pavlov's dogs should be trained as well..Ill have a vodka!" I forgot that even in its glory days GL had some weak spots..such as Nick's DNA and people even questioning that someone who looks and talks exactly like Lujack could not be his twin. Loved it when people actually worked (as ridiculous as it is with them carring files around to show it...) and had something else on their minds then "true love" and whatever the hell Reva and Josh were up to.

One of my favorite scenes..Blake and AM in the Spaulding Mansion with Alex..Vera (a problematic character but it was a different time) is serving coffee or something and leans over to grab a plate and sticks her ass in Blake's face just as Blake was saying something..bitchy of course! So funny, nothing was said but the look on SS's face, coupled with the smug looks on Alex's and Veras face was hilarious and I wonder if it was a director's choice.

I think I remember at that time that Maeve said she was decided to leave just as they were giving her interesting things. I think her boredom of what Van had become helped make her decision but I think the over riding one was her kids? Agreed that Van is a plot device..it should have been Hope back in Alan's life and then Reva being the "back alley girl" that he was in lust with. Van deserved her own stories, but I think they had a hard time fitting her in...Mo had the good wife role, Reva the temptress, Alex the cut shark business woman that Van previously had. When Maeve returned after Rauch I wanted her to move into the Alex role and take on Alan and Annie over Spaulding, and for that to cause problems with Matt, not that she was..old.

LOL..yes, SS was styled so old. I know EVERYONE loves her as Blake, but I found her campy and her pairing with AM especially with RH..she looked like a lumberjack compared to him. Vanessa was SO wimpy during this time, going back to Long defusing her right after she married Billy, which made no sense, what made them fun was Van constantly slapping the crap out of Billy and him trying to tame her shrew. They would have made a great, fractious bickering couple, driving each other crazy but loving each other. I love how they made her "Oh, I was so worried about you," while wearing that dowdy nightgown..so NOT Van, she had more spunk with Matt even.

Calla had herpes...that was the big secret. I remember the hilarious scene of Jessie reading her medical report (Cedars had the worst patient privacy policies on earth) and the zoom in to "Herpes" and she ran out into the street and may have been hit by a car (or the audience was hoping that) and maybe she just went running around SF until boring Simon caught up to her. Calla was just one of those extra characters not needed on the show, like the whole Sampson crowd with the record company that stayed too long ..again, if they needed someone in that age range to pair with Ross, why not recast Hope??? Especially with Alan returning.

Agreed..but it does give a kind or reason for Alex being out of character nasty to Amanda on her return. Yes, Amanda voted against Alex's pet project, but Bev Alex was shown to have a friendly relationship when Amanda came back for a Christmas Episode..and BevAlex was always supportive of other women (besides Reva and India) to be that angry towards another women... I do think that from the backstory Brandon COULD have been Amanda's father..(I would have had him rape Jennifer which fits his character...) but the birth certificate was dumb and sloppy..and what could have been a good story was screwed up..(not to mention Poser being so young..) with sloppy writing and no follow through...(Alex would never have run, she would have stayed and fought..) Amanda who was shown to want Alan's approval..suddenly had the upper hand.. having Roger egg her on..would have been great..(kicking Alex and Alan out of the mansion,etc.)

I wish Bev would have stayed until the end of the Jenna/Roger/Spaulding Trial...there was still good material there as even Marj was good in it (the parts of not schrieking at Roger or Mindy.) After the trial and Spaulding was restored would have been a natural time for Bev and Alex to leave after she and Nick came to an understanding. Everything that came after was either repeating Alex vs. Roger/Alex obsessing over Alan's love life/Alex the town shrew.

Originally Alex was the older sibling, and strangely enough I remember watching this scene originally and thinking they they reveresed the order and it didn't ring true (which shows you even the good writers can make mistakes and retro write) The thing about Alex and Alan, even with Marj, was that as much as they fought, they would protect each other, and that no matter what Alan would do, Alex would protect him, even against his own children. Marj's Alex was more of an annoying buttinsky sister in his love life (as she was potrayed for most of her run in various way) but still would protect him.

Yea..I see in the reunions Martha give Liz the same look Lily would give Lucinda...so maybe it WAS Martha. I also see from the reunions what a pain in the ass Liz must have been...it was all about her, she talks over people (more so then the rest..) He always came across as so stiff and uptight..and not the stiff and uptight guy who can be crazy in the sheets..he just always came off as a drag..so the women throwing themselves never seemed to work that well. I do wish they had hired a really sexy Latino guy..but...I think Marland would have felt it was too much and give him the vapors. I hated that he ignore Betsy and Kim for Kim to focus on Frannie. The point of Bob and Kim was that they brought this family together of kids of different ages and (like Betsy) not bio kids to make a family. Of course, I was watching the Meg Ryan years where all Kim did was support her (what a waste of a character) but the relationship was strong.

Actually, the Eli Simms one was the ripoff of Ghost Story. (town patriarchs are attacked by a mysterious foe...a girl comes to town looking like someone they harmed in the past..)..but hey..if you have to "borrow" from someone, it should be interesting. What soaps after 1993 would ever borrow anything from a book..it was other shows or movies.

Agreed..and it did tie all the families together in a way which worked..if they had continued on with it being those 5 families being the main families going forward. Hate that they killed Bill, he needed to be around in the background and coming in on various events occassions...(imagine him at Bert's funeral.)

I never understood why Nola and Quint weren't more involved with the Cottage of Doom. Sacrilege but I would have killed off Quint in that storyline not Butch Hillary..there was nowhere to go with him. Carrie Nye threatening Nola and Nola not taking any of that crap would have been great...but they had to shoehorn annoying Fletch in..

Agreed..it was at the point in the show that all the families had equal time and they all "worked" together...Reardon's blue collar...Bauer's upper middle class professionals, Lewis' "neuvo riche" as Alex would love to say, Spauldings and Chamerlins...rich aristocratic and dysfunctional. The forumla should never had changed. Anway..the storyline itself while as you said, very premise was absurd it was a good tight mystery (and it didnt hurt to have Mr. Tony Reardon in the center of it all..)