Mitch

I have to say, GL bringing back Meta was a great idea...(believe it or not it was McTavish who started it) and while she disappeared from the screen often (some due to Stuarts illness some not) when she was on she was a spot on tough but loving town matriarch. She had a short scene with Abuela Santos once where she firmly blew her off and put her in her place...(we needed more of evil matriarch vs. good matriarch...) All of those deaths described above cracked me up and almost seemed like a soap parody. Did Seinfeld get the out of contol wheelchair idea from Ms. Irma? Mo's death on GL was small potatoes on what she could have come up with (she would have been the original "crock pot" as death machine writer..) I think this describes it well. Charita was just a force of joy that could not be contained so the writers gave up and no matter how hard they tried, Wagner kept a distance..(I have seen interviews with her that she is very firmly NOT sweet grandma) I wonder what the cast thought of her (besides her nakedness in the make up room...) It seems when she left in 80 there was not a lot of cast remarks on her leaving.

It looks alot like the orginal BevAlex Spaulding entrance living room..as it was blue but it probably different...( I know furniture from Bob Hughes living room would magically appear in Alan Spauldings office so...) Now can someone tell me where my key's are..I have too much useless memories in there.

Ha..I just know her from the late 70s to 80s..as a mag once said.."She was as familiar to daytime viewers as Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny!" I much preferred her Bert..warm, but could kick some ass when needed...(i.e. the frequently seen clip of her taking wheelchair Josh to task.) I could see her wanting to take Annie Dutton in ("Annie, put that dynamite down and help me with this cookie dough!") It would have been interesting to have Nancy counsel Lucinda later on the pitfulls of controlling your kids..as an acknowledgement of her past. I know when Lemay was story consultant before Marland came, (he previously had thought the Nancy Hughes model of matriarch had. a dark side and when Dywer on AW wouldnt play that he killed her off and brought Aunt Liz to the forefront..) he wrote Nancy in her first few months back with a sharper edge ("Well hello Dr. Dixon, it seems the mustache is the only thing that has changed about you." and Lisa manipulating her to have issues with Kim..) and it was much more fun. I kind of wonder how Lemay would have worked writing full time..he was making Lisa more manipulative and a spoiler in Bob/Kim, etc. I just never thought Wagner had any warmth even in her "good" Gram days. McClaughlin's Chris was supposed to be warm one there.

I love the idea of Ulrich as Hope..she would have been one diva who could have dealt with Kimmer nose to nose. Lara Parker as Alexandra Spaulding...cold, classy, with a bubbling passion underneath and a woman who would cut your throat if you crossed her. I know he didn't do daytime, but Ray Wise as Alan Spaulding...or someone else suggested this..Roscoe Born as Alan. Well, my dog would have made a better Alan then RR but...

Such a weird time on ATWT.. Its weird to see Deas be attractive and sexy as Tom..maybe Buzz shoulda had a beard??? Steve is obnoxious as ever..did Deas learn the gum chewing schtick from that actor. Love Ariel...what a funny "vixen"..I would have thought Marland would have loved to write for her but maybe she was more Dobson..more campy..humorous...Thought Lisa as "Dolly Valentine" was also funny, they should have kept that up.I think the Dobson's wrote well for Lisa...she was their kind of character, flamboyant, funny..but her time as STAR of the show was over and I don't think Fulton was ready for that. The reincarnation thing was really stupid but I wonder if it was ended from viewer backlash or that Zenk and the Dee actress didn't like each other? Cricket is really pretty and not THAT bad of an actress if I remember...I wonder why they didnt have her chase after Jeff, especailly with the baby thing (Annie at that time was afraid she couldn't conceive...) My Mom LOVED "Word Turns," and wouldn't watch it as the Dobson's took over. She loved Nancy..and I always thought she was a bit..creepy in a way..overbearing..controlling. I never bought her sweetness that Marland gave her. Wagner was too cold of an actress..she would have made a great rich, controlling Alexandra Spaulding matriarch of a show. I wonder if that is why the Dobsons had a hard time writing for her...going from bubbling warmth Bert to colder, more controlling Nancy had to be hard.

Yes, Morgan does, he is totally laid back, nice, sexy, but regular guy Dylan...but I have to say..damn, Derwin bald and dad glasses or not is still sex on a stick..that smile, the voice, and he is funny as hell...(how many times did he drop the f bomb??) He must have the market cornered on DILF roles. Great reunion and I love that they were all aware of what a great era they were had at GL..the acting, the writing. I loved Hayden's story about WH calling her ass on the carpet about being late...and Derwin saying that GL was a "blue collar" soap in the most positive terms that people were there to work and do good stuff. I love JS diss on Days..."I had to get used to the aliens and this person was cloned.."..I notice Locker cut her off there... I loved Simms sticking up for Derwin with the bald joke "And he is working more then any of us!" and they all seem to respect each other and get along. GL would have been a great backstage place to be during that time.' Also funny, Derwin admitting that Frankie D probably aint the best actor or smartest guy around...and everyone laughing...(well he didnt say it in so many words..) and of course, when Morgan couldnt remember Ehlers name and everyone laughing..(was she the most popular person on set..seems not) but Simms nicely saying that she was a great actress. Hayden seems very Bridget-ish and I like that she in in touch with "Buffy".

Wow, that's really cool I am glad Frank is doing okay, and with the issues had had on the show to say he is a proud GL Alum is really classy. Damn, they need to do a reunion with him, and the A-M actor at that time...maybe Toby Poser.. the second Hart..people cast (and [!@#$%^&*] on) by the McLaibey era. Because Babs Bloom (right?) wanted all her friends from that stupid Port Charles show on GL. What is really funny is that the appearance of Original (and hot) Dylan in the last week, acted as if that never happened.

Lord, I hated boring, hook nosed Connor! Just what we need, another cold business woman who of course, is getting it on with the steroid muscle boy in tight jeans. Okay Marland, you like young guys in tight jeans..geez! What I hated was all of these influx of characters who were Lucinda's siblings, step siblings, whatever the hell they were. I love that Hubbard felt that Marland never wrote for her..actors egos are a bitch aint they? Agreed, and I grew up on the Hughes family..(my quiet nap time was during "World Turns" so my mom could watch her show in peace, so Hastings, Fulton and Wagner's voices were always..comfort food for the ears...how many times had I heard..."Now Lisa dear...")

This really explains to me why I never really liked Marland's work after the first year or so. In a totally more sophisticated way it comes of similar to that of JER..a man of a certain age who has some issues with his sexuality or is at least closeted to most of the world...(I remember him bringing the Marsha actress to the reclaimed Emmy ceremony and the mags saying she was Marland's "girlfriend") Uptight, pretentious, cold, sex scenes very clinical and "remote" and of course his fetish of beefy guys in jeans..(never understood why he made Holden a business guy..why not just have him take over the farm and ship boring Emma off to Kansas or someplace...) Its odd that a show so based on family had really cold families at the forefront...(say what you want about GL, and its dismantling of its core but what was left of the Bauer family, and the Lewis, etc, I always felt were like "real" familes and they dysfuntional Spaulding still felt like their were strong emotions involved...(watch BevAlex and anyone in her family..at her bitchiness you can see love and warmth and a stuggle to dominate for her family's own good..) At least, like any gay man, he wrote for the older divas Lisa and Lucinda !

I will never understand why PG never offered Curlee a consultant position for their soaps? Hell, if I was Laibson when I got the show I would have moved heaven and earth to get her over as a consultant or writer...offering a schedule that worked for her and protecting her from the corporate bullshit. By the time Rauch came along PG and CBS had changed so much they probably didnt know who Curlee was.

I don't think so..he was replaced by Bunim at ATWT and never heard from. I would think he retired as he was a P&G exec before he was a producer of the shows.

On ATWT Lisa seems very passive from her "Hey Day" and even how she acted later. Were they trying to transition her to romantic heroine? Interesting that Barthalemule was the producer in 78 and the dismantling of the Hughes family.

Ellen Parker's Maureen reminds me of Ina Garten (well, without the drinks and the gaggle of gay friends) They both had a similar and calming prescence..which, if shown to a focus group in individual scenes out of context..would seem boring, especially if they don't know the show. Show me a clip of Mo in the kitchen vs...someone else up to no good or dramatics and yes, its seems dull, but that kind of character, as I said was needed. I agree that Rick and Abby were on their way to tent poles..but the show was so invested in Jeva's lastest dumb ass storyline, San Crud, and the mob that they were overlooked (remember Abby's transplant storyline was truncated for San Cristobal crap.

HAHAHAHA... no doubt the most cheerful, helpful and all around full figured slut Selby Flats ever saw! "Now dear, would you like some pie and coffee or are you too worn out from the mind blowing sex???"

Most tentpoles are "boring" but shows need them. Bert wasn't exactly jumping in fountains... I think there were a ton of ancillary problems which made the impact of Mo's death worse. It was very apparent that JFP was moving the show from the Bauer kitchen to the diner with the Coopers at the center. I have no doubt she felt Frank and Eleni would be the new Ed and Mo but Melinda left and Frankie D didn't have the chops to become the moral center. The show became the Buzz Cooper Hour, and of course Simms, McKinsey also left at this time. The show also did not have a matriarch in place. If they had brought back Meta right before the death, or at least right after, the hole would not have felt that big. The whole tone of the show changed at that time, and a lot of it had nothing to do with Maureen's death. I do think one of the main things that was so big about this as shows have always treated death so cheaply. People returned from the dead, beloved core characters died peacefully in their sleep of old age, but this death felt real, almost too real.

Poor Frank..he really is Frank Cooper, a dumb nice guy. Apparently Melina was desperate to get out of her pairing with him and have more scenes with Deas or the AM actor, but Frank was always apparently oblivious to it! I like Ehlers better as a middle aged cranky person then her bitter shrill thing she had going when GL was on life support.

It was a great story and use of history...too bad Sabrina was a total Marland dullard! Clips of her and Seth were most likely used to put people under before surgery! If anyone could make Frannie look like a free spirited vixen it was her sister! Oddly enough on Datalounge Seth is quite the fantasy stud to some posters!

That annoying girlfriend of Andy..etc. I always wanted Sabrina to be more like Dinah on GL (without Moniz playing her and without the constant whining.) The Hughes needed someone besides Babs in their circle who was not content, polite and upstanding (the show missed out during the Dobson years of not having a strong Hughes family and having them having to deal with Colin's pushy, loud Margo and her annoying father, by the time the Hughes were repaired Margo had assimilated into the family. I was really good with them recasting Sabrina as that twin crap was so cliche and beneath Marland. A more conflicted Sabrina bouncing up against the family standards would make soapy fun. That Indian character boarder of Lyla's SCREAMED "Socially Relevant Plot Character shoe horned in to the show." GL crashed as soon as Curlee and Demorest left and JFP had a free hand. Making it the Buzz show was just the first step in killing the show. Before that, the show was perfect soap. More free wheeling, funny, sarcastic, and big hearted and sexy then Marland's ATWT came at this time.

True, which made it unfortunately easy to go off the rails, but I do remember around this time I just got fed up with Marland's ATWT while GL was going great guns. He was so good at plot and structure, and usually history, I just wish he had someone to give the show energy and fun. Oakdale is a damn earnestly boring place there.

Comparing ATWT to GL at this time..the show was so damn stuffy. I love Bob and Tom having drinks in their suit and ties like it was 1972, (Holmes makes Tom such a prig in this) and while I love them finally deal with the fact that Lisa used to be a bitch on wheels...Tom as a kid kind of knew it as she left him to be raised by Nancy and Chris for a while. Lyla has a lot of nerve with her attitude after her own lying for years about parentage (usually Marland was better with history) and isnt Oakdale in driving distance to Chicago?? A big plane flys from Chicago to Central Illinois.

This looks great..and I have to say, Morgan's former pretty boy face has aged very well..which is not the case for most guys like that. I didn't even recognize Simms! Hayden and Seagrove havent changed.

God I love that, and its not the first or the last time that Emily would hear that! The show was so much fun then..and then we have the 93 episode which was so dour and depressing, Margo's rape and the unending discussion of her "HIV status" poor MKA being held in (I know its me, but I just see a sedated depressed India there, why waste her on Marland's dour show send her over to Springfield to insult everyone she sees.she should be bickering with Alex, not confiding in Lucinda) We went from the Hughes kitchen to that damn Snyder Farm (apparently Marland thought every farm was still in the depression era...)

Jill Lorie Hurst said the same thing on the GL Facebook page. The 80s and 90s blew the budgets on all the shows. What a bad recast for Natalie and a really dumb storyline...( a movie filmed in Oakdale, how did they think they were going to work Natalie in long term? I had thought that about the bookstore...make it a coffee house bookstore and the town would all come in.. Fashions was kind of limiting as only women would go there and it just didnt seem to be a good gathering spot. Why did the Dobsons leave the first time?

I think Nola thought more of Ed as an annoying stuffy big brother, but weirder things happened. I do think that Ed and Nadine could have been fun or when they had Selena living over the Bauer garage..tho it wasnt Simon playing him at that time. I much prefer Nola/Ed then Nola/Buzzard but...

I agree they did just drop Nola and the Ed, until Simon left. I think if I was TPTB that I would have told Simon do what we say or here's the door, which he took that Spring, which the perfect time for a recast and then a pairing with Nola. I think with the right actor, someone who wasnt as dour it could work. I think she did but I don't remember a scene. I think with Simon pitching a fit they just said [!@#$%^&*] it. He didn't even have much to do with Rick and Blake story. All of this kind of goes to my thought that they just should have written MarjAlex off and I would have had Van in her place. Say Alex had to go take care of Victoria and instead of leaving her shares with Alan, left them to Van drawing her back into Spaulding. This causes friction with boring Matt (and causing untold stress on the annoying freaking Mattessas) and Van takes on the old BevAlex role, strong middle aged woman who takes no [!@#$%^&*] but is not EVIL. Nola's fued with Van was stupid as when she left town they were fine (well Van was acting like a dowdy simpering wife to Billy, if you think Mattessa was bad you should have seen first round post marriage Van/Billy) but I think they just annoyed each other at the same time as kind of liking each other, so I think Nola would just be around to prick Van's aristocratic balloon more then fight with her. "Vanessa, Dinah is not that bad, remember when you would come to the boarding house to seduce my brother in nothing but a fur coat??")