Mitch

Oh my God..with Zimmer, Wright, Collins and Carrol of Bassey GL would be diva heaven...and hell for TPTB I am sure. I always thought it funny that Zimmer didn't have a scnene with Alex until Collins was gone and Marj was back. I do think it would be cool to have a "star" play Victoria and no, she didn't need to die to give Vicky motivation. Her agreeing to let Alex have Spaulding would be enough..Vicky would think it was bending knee to the white relatives but for Victoria it was just not wanting to deal with the crazy ass relatives in SF. Come to think of it, Perry's Madea as Victoria would get me turning in each day! "Cassie, someone needs to wrap your skinny ass around a lightpole..oh yea, you used to dance on those dont you..Alex..look at the cracker getting all snooty with us!"

That is what I wanted from Vicky...being annoyed that her side of the family was not given legitimacy and that Victoria gave up her claim to Spaulding..it might have gotten a bit edgy for P & G and GL at that time (especially with the stuck in the 80s vibe Rauch and MADD seemed to want from GL at the time) but interesting. I always wish they had brought Vicky back instead of Amanda during the McTavish time. She could have been angry that she felt Alex talked Victoria into a settlement and the whole Brandon is Amanda's daddy could have been that since Brandon was alive, all other trusts and wills were revoked and he had created a new will giving all of his assets in Spaulding to Victoria and then to Vickie. Alex and Victoria knew about it but when Victoria dies Roger finds the real will. Instead of a replay of Roger and Jenna Vickie would not trust Roger and as soon as she got it all she would only give him table scraps, making him work with Alan and Alex against her. That was so stupid..why not just going into the wedding say Harley found a higher level job in Florida and they were moving there? And say, "Oh I have to get boxes together as Harley and Mallet are coming in this weekend to get their stuff. " As weekends seem to not exist in soap time.

Vicky Spaulding..what a wasted character. Why even bring her on?? I remember E & B in one of their endlessly dumb interviews saying that bringing back Alex was important to Vicky's story...and then Alex had one fight with Annie in the attic and disappeared and then so did Vicky. Also it was fun when Van got back to some bitchiness when she was pissed at Vicky..but also wasted opportunity.

Beth Chamberlin's Beth on GL was brought back as a totally different character just to try to replicate the formula of Annie vs. Reva with Beth vs. Harley...MADD loved her some formula.

Phillip was back..but in disguise...as Frankenstein's monster..yes, the wedding was THAT dumb!

No Hurst was still playing AM for the wedding...Dietz first scenes...(and I remember this clearly) was later on with the ridiculous Alan vs. 5th Street and he (Alan) is trying to knock down a building and is arguing with Buzz and AM walks in and is so wooden..you can even almost see Zimmer kinda of laughing like.."What the hell are you going to do with this?" McTavish must have been wedded to the whole "Who is A Spaudling story" to keep AM and Lucy around after Hearst left as it was the perfect time to just right them off ala Phillp and Beth. It took Dietz to show just how bad SS was and that RH was pulling all the weight.

Ha..on another thread they said Soap Opera Digest of 96 gave that its "worst wedding," and one so richly deserved. I just remember an interview where somehow McLaiby thought Universal would be a great place? It had to be a promo and Universal covered all the costs..so really, really dumb. AM had the money to close down Universal, pay the staff to sit around and cater to his guests but he couldnt fly his own mother in for it..(was she even mentioned.) This would have been a great time to reintro Hope and Mike actually.

Being honest is not being negative...(for some reason the dead soaps are now like dead people, you have to overlook their flaws and act like they were perfect.) I was watching the Fresh Prince reunion (I have no idea as I never watched the show and found Will Smith grating but the world is the world now and it was on...) and while the majority of the show is exactly what Alan is trying to do..warm memories and camaraderie...Smith had the balls to tape a segment with the woman he had publicly dissed who played his mother...I guess she was offered a smaller contract with more restriction and because of Smith, found it hard to work again. Smith admitted his fault, he was young and dumb and didn't understand until he had kids, and she didn't just let him off the hook, she did call him on the fact that he had a great career and she didn't. Again I never watched the show but it was amazing to see a level of honesty with any actors and especially one as big as Smith. It would be refreshing to let the actors be honest,,,not bitch about the past..but MG talking about ageism...Zimmer talking about her weight, and yes, even corporate screw ups and mistakes. Besides some of the uh..wide eyed fans..like on the GL FB page..we were there and saw it all happen so it would be interesting to hear what the actors thought. And yes, Zimmer, Zenk, Hubbard and Pratt would be great moderators but no one would get a word in edge wise.

Because Alan is still working and people who were the decision makers are still working , even if they are not with P & G and egos are egos. PR is, like HR, there to protect the company. I am sure Alan still feels loyal to those people (is MADD alive still.)? What would be interesting is if Alan let them talk and then gave his perspective...(such and such was going on at the network, the focus groups said this, the budget was limited,..etc.) However the best thing would be if someone else besides an ex-corporate P & G..did these.. if they could shut up a minute, Zimmer and Zenk would be hilarious moderators...(especially around happy hour..)

Duncan and Shannon kind of remind me (at their most fun) of Quint and Nola. They were getting the kind of stories on ATWT that Quola should have gotten, but for some reason Long could not or would not write for them ..they should have goten the cabin mystery or been more involved in it.

God that song is so hokey with the split screen, but it is a hokey that makes me feel good..only ATWT at this time would do this. But really, what kind of song is that to play at a high end place..this is the first time I heard this song as opposed to Lyla's caterwalling of that dumb song of hers that hit the charts and capulted her to fame!!! Which characters are you referring to..the group of the really stupid McKechnie Castle thing...(you know the one which got moved, brick by brick and all the furniture and tapestries and also, carried the ghost with it? Marland didn't do camp???) or the Mona Lisa gang? I never really noticed before but the Duncan actor is really out of place in Marland's ATWT, he is sexy, masculine, not bad, and despite Marland doing his best to wussy him, not a wuss. He was fun when he was a rogue guy screwing Babs and causing problems for Shannon, and yes, typical Marland, he does get boring and blander when he and Shannon get together..they always should have been the fun couple going on adventures and solving mysteries, not the typical Marland bores spouting off about intimacy and "honesty" in a relationship! I wonder what the actor would have done on GL which was more adventurous and campy. And thanks..I love watching these old commercials and now I can't get that damn "Soft and Dry" song out of my head!

Did the show having any black writers or people of color on the show at that time? Not that they should be put into a box and only write for the black characters, but at least someone could have run the ideas by them. I remember when Nancy Hughes was trying to teach a girl to read by using rap music. It made good use of history as she was a teacher and I know what they were trying to do..but even to my white college boy mentality it was kind of..squirmy...(why was it black character the one to not be able to read...there was no push and pull between Nancy and the character, the teen treated Nancy like everyone else on the show did at the time...) It would have been interesting to see Nancy deal with her own white privilege before there was even a term for it.

And what was weird is this was not 1962..what was so controversial about being Jewish, half the execs at the network probably were. I can see it would be annoying if it was all about that but the guy is Jewish just like the Reardons were Catholic and the Coopers were most likely Greek Orthodox and then you move on with the story. Which ones do you think? I see the Bauer scenes being Curlee as she loved the Bauers...the Spaulding scenes?

Ah, here is the Matt Weiss character..were they setting up a triangle with Harley and Josh? It looks like a Mallet/Mindy was in the works.. I love that they let Grandma Sarah have some teeth with her passive aggressive attitude towards Josh. India looks great (if only they brought her back in 96 instead of de aged Amanda..) and Bev shows why she is the only Alex...she is soft to people she loves and keeps the snark for India..but still with a sense of humor..I just see Marj snarling and stuttering out the lines. I forgot that Mindy WAS running around and betraying Alex while being sweet to her..so this just shows that Alex did have a reason for the venom...it just went on to long and was eventually made to be Alex totally in the wrong. This must have been the beggining of the end for Pam Long. This was the Christmas she wanted to bring Reva back as a "ghost" to comfort Marah (thanks Pam for creating the idea of Reva as a ghost) and they wouldnt let her, and they didn't want her to develop the Matt Weiss character.

Yes, that is what I remember of Iva, Emma angry at her for leaving. I wish they had kept that push and pull between Iva and Emma and kept Iva as more of a rebel still.

I think you are right...ATWT before Marland was more free wheeling and fun (I loved it when John came to Lisa's costume party with just his street clothes..."Who are you supposed to be?" John "Mr. Nice Guy!") and you could see that she especially got Lisa..who was more subdued under Marland. Yes, every soap needs some camp.. Lucinda was camp personified and she knew it..it was like Mary Ellen was playing the part of flamboyant Lucinda...Lisa was fun and campy pre Marland...still getting into everyone's business and her appearance as the Queen on a barge at her costume party.. Marland did do camp but it was still too somber... the Castle is pure camp, as was Lilith.. When she first came on the show she was a former bad girl who was smart and fiesty..but as the years progressed.

Now I know why I stopped watching ATWT and just kept to GL. The show is so morose and wooden here. Marland really lost his "spark" from the start of his run which balanced some camp, family storylines, business, young love. The era is personified by Iva..morose and bland.

She had the best of both worlds..hopefully she was already set from her past career and she could be part of this goofy, fun show popular with a new younger audience and get paid nicely to dress up and have fun..at least I hope she thought of it that way! I always thought soaps today should do that. then we wouldnt get the repetitive desperate storylines to keep characters like Reva and Josh front and center..just let them do something else for a bit and let the show and the characters have time to breathe!

Why did Emma disappear and not return for the finale? I never liked her or the Snyders but they were there so long it was weird?

BWHAHAHA...From his airtime..that is where his talent began and ended!!

And after seeing that poor little Marty had to put his pants on and hang his head in shame!

Fletcher and Claire would good together...now I realize what Susan was saying in them ruining them. They could have still done the dumb Ed/Claire thing and had her preggers but why they made her a crazy bitch??? I also hate the Rick/Mindy thing...they were good together and Mindy changed during NY and they have her being a bitch to be spoiler with dimmie Roxie and Rick acting sanctimonious ...(O'leary always came off as an ass when he did that...) I was in college to at this time and no rich girl would wear a fur to class!!! I love the soap opera thing of someone doing something in real life which is irresponsible and get them fired...(like just leaving their job) and the writers acting like they are the victim. This was the beggining of the bad era of GL..you can see the transitioning happening here.

Why are they showing Peter Simon in the intro with Van Fleet already place? Lazy! Never liked Hillary but she was a Bauer...they didn't even need to kill her just have the bomb put her in a coma and when she wakes up she is recast. I looks like they were burying her in the BH side yard!

Bwhahaha...that pictue is so 1984 and I cant make fun of him as I laugh at my own pics from that time. I do love these reunions of all the actors without makeup or lighting...aging hits all of us. What is seen can not be unseen..thanks for that thought!

VW is very full of herself..so I think she is stretching things on her writing storylines and them taking her suggestions. P & G were notorious about not letting the actors have a say in things. I think VW was at the right place at the right time for her to become the "star" Lemay loved her..Rauch must have liked her..they did away with core family so it ended up that she was the "face" of the show.