Mitch

She did get rid of Lacey..who realized her dream of bagging A-M and was promptly shipped off. Lacey was going to be a schemer and Long replaced her with Harley...switching Todd into Frank..Long said there was "enough Bauers," which was dumb but I think that this branch could have worked if they went back to the Bauer's working class roots and this was the "poor" relatives. Lacey didnt because of the casting and really, even though it was distant...AM and she were related. Long was not going to kill Johnny, the cancer storyline was going to be a big storyline where he was a "faith healer" (there was a scene where he touched Michele and brought down her fever...) It was going to be a storyline about faith healing and crackpots trying to take advantage and someone wisely canned it. There were bits of that left as Johnny tried natural remedies and basically the faith of his family and the community brought him back from dying. Long actually brought his parents in as non contract and then gave them a contract..though they didnt do anything...besides taking over the Boarding House so I think she saw Laney Bauer as a Bea Reardon type character. The actor was popular but I never liked him or the character. And actually, Chelsea had a big storyline with the Ray Rooney stalker thing. Again, I think the blue collar Bauers could have worked...if Ehlers were cast as "Lacey" or Harley Bauer...it could have worked.

Loved seeing Darcy again!!! Long came up with a great and unconventional choice to bring her back years later as a drug counselor who turned herself around. I remember Mindy walking into Company and seeing Darcy again.....with a "Oh it YOU," and almost running away! I loved KT's Mindy...(I love that she is giving Phillip sympathy and gets derailed with all the meals she missed worrying about him...) my fave couple was young Rick and Mindy...O'Leary and KT were really cute together. ..so I'm glad they ended up together at the end.

I can't believe they let them get away with Holden practically dropping trou in that commercial! (though the kids today would think he was "fitfat" if they are using that term still.) I love that they spread the hot young things in with the vets..even using Wagner...(though if I was doing this I would have her clutching her pearls after Holden's little show...)

Stop it..your making me love that old bitch even more!!!!She could have showed Reilly how to do grisly death..with no camp!!!

A bride who burns to death in her dress, a wheelchair pushed into traffic by kids..Damn Irna...I would be all in to watching that!! I like that a show as supposedly "old fashioned" and waspy could be so damn dark. I loved Ehlers version of Irna...the first (and last) time I liked her acting in years. I never understood if they wanted to put ATWT and GL to bed they didnt do it with style and go out on a high note with good writing. Also just announce.."Hey we are done" and set a date a few years out, instead it limped along and just dwindled away.

So true..and it happens with shows that get a rather rabid fan base. The people on the FB page for "Once Upon A Time" (dont judge, its basically a soap set in a small town...okay, with the Evil Queen and Snow White...) and the show, like all shows, quality and writing dropped as the years went by. The last season was a total makeover with most of the cast gone (kind of like soaps and the vets being gone..) and the logic thrown out the window...(yes in its hey day it did have sorta an internal logic...) but the crazed fans would get so mad if you didn't think the show had "the best season EVER!" ..and "Wow, Lana hit it out of the ballpark in that scene," and would be so mad if you didn't accept the producers newly created "epic" couples (Cinderella 2.0 and adult Henry) It really reminded me of soap fans who would eat anything, no matter how bad it smells to see their show and their "favorites" (like soaps the audience for that show was strangely obsessed and wanting to be familiar with their favorite actors....it was weird...) They would almost blow a gasket if you punched a hole in their fantasy about the show being bestest ever....which of course, made sickos like me want to post more! As for Reva..an earthy character should not be jumping through paintings...she should have transitioned to a role where she was just as passionate about a solid marriage, her kids, her family, her friends and her community as she was about "Josh" and "Kyle" back in the day. And Zimmer aged just like Reva woudl have aged..a good time gal with miles under her belt....not the middle aged love goddess of all time.

You call that bashing??? Rauch was paint by the numbers soap..though sometimes it was entertaining..but he was basic..and he was unfortunately grafting his OLTL on GL with Reva being Vicki. And if I never see another pastel suit on a woman again... Stretching the limits of the genre would be..a lot of things....Shayne is gay and its Josh who is supportive but Reva who is freaked.... or Marah is gay and Reva just doesnt get that...Shayne goes to Iraq and Reva becomes a anit-war protester while Josh supports the war..she goes through menopause and questions her attractiveness and sexuality....Reva struggles with her weight and they explore a middle aged woman who has had her worth based on her looks struggling to be recognized as a worthwhile being in a culture that worships youth...or Reva and Josh discover that they love each other but are toxic for each other and split up..for good...but stay friends (or I would have them having occassional sex behind their partners backs with no repercussions. ) That would have stretched the limits not jumping through paintings...(which has been done before on DS..at least going through time..and ATWT in the 80s with reincarnated characters effecting their current selves...) Not bashing you either, just disagreeing...: )

Actually, Reva pre resurrection was not expected to have high concept storylines..the big drama came out of the way Reva dealt with it, and yes, she was a diva but it was because Reva was so emotional and had heart and yes sexual...(Zimmer was sex on a stick when she first came to town...) under those big hair and shoulder pads was a woman who was part vixen, heroine, and yes, a big mess! After resurrection they stuck Reva into high concept crap that could have starred anyone...Vanessa as a clone and Matt as Josh...Holly jumping through paintings...amnesiac Harley was a princess...before Reva's stories were only able to be told a certain way as Reva was in them. I wish that Carmen was written gothic, but that was too subtle for Rauch. I wanted the storyline (which they were headed too ) where Van takes over the Alex role of kicking Alan's ass at Spaulding...I would have killed Matt off and Van goes back to her cold steel. Carmen attempts to ingratiate herself with Van but no go. Danny goes back to the mob as an undercover agent for Mike Bauer to end it...Chelle not knowing this leaves him but then discovers she is preggers. Bill offers to marry her and claim the kid to protect him from Danny..I would have made Bill gay and trying to cover it up from Billy and Van and himself. Van is so excited to have Mo's daughter as her dil that she goes overboard and they can't tell her. The only people who know would be Claire and Aunt Meta who would go along with the ruse to protect Chelle. Carmen suspects the truth and she and Van are at loggerheads all the time. Then Danny seeing Chelle married hooks up with that goofy Mae Mercy (I would have written her differently ) who is really Stacey Reardon undercover..

Actually, as sad as it is to know this..Spaulding was funding the research, in a secret lab..that somehow everyone walkedinto all the time. This storyline made me turn on Josh, he did create a person to f*ck them, and because he couldn't be alone...pretty pervy and pathetic...I always saw Josh as a perve after that, which is too bad, Newman was the perfect soap leading man in his later years..handsome but he had a warmth and was really good with younger actors. It was the clone and screaming REEVVAAA..GRRRRRR>>.all the time that ruined him. As for E & B..I found the show entertaining until the mob and San Crud ..unlike others, I think the Santos could have worked on the show, but as an outsider family with ties to the underworld...I would have had Carmen trying to cut ties to that world by trying to use the Bauers as entree to the Spauldings and Lewises but continually being rejected..setting up Carmen hating her daughter in law but needing her for social approval. There is no way in hell that a fairy tale kingdom worked on any soap (as for the "lavish wedding" it was kind of pathetic as GL had no budget for a royal wedding.) The only fun thing about San Crud was when Reva and Josh fly their to investigate various villagers are on the phone reporting..."Oh its HER...SHE's back!" with disdain...I think E & B did well for what they were up against..Rauch, MADD and a different soap world.

Actually, that happened way before Conboy..back when she was first cast in Phelps days. Alex went from a complex character to a shrieking shrew obsessed with both her brother and her son. I remember a horrible scene of Alex and Roger...she had a snake and Roger sucked the venom out of her...with her moaning and shriecking and..God it was horrible.

Remember she was a friend of Rauch's and he was "retired" at that time and the whole show was changed with new writers. The story was that Joan had an agreement that she would do a book tour but after Rauch left MADD wouldn't honor it and they agreed to cut ties. I doubt Collins had a 13 week cycle in her contract..she is way too savy for that. But I think the new regime Conboy, and Weston, saw Alex differently and weren't as good as Rauch in dealing with a diva.and I think it was really hard on Collins..she was front burner and she was not used to doing soaps, so I think both sides were just like..."bye now." I LOVED Joan's Alex...her cool, sarcastic lines were perfect Bev Alex...and then Marj came in screaming and throwing chairs and it was back to Cartoon Alex.

No offense taken..I just don't remember the ladies being that turned on by Craig..but I am sure you are right. I just remember him bouncing from his mom, to his sister, to whomever he was involved with , and he was chief supporter of annoying Lily. You would see him walking around that damn farm..checking on Lily...looking off into a window dreaming of Sierra...talking about Sierra...checking up on Lily..telling Margo some wussy ass thing like..."You have to follow your heart but be honest," before puddling up his eyes and quivering those lips of his thinking of Sierra, Iva, whoeverhewasinlovewithitatthetime. You wanted to scream.. "Craig..just go to F*CKING work!" A middle aged man crying day in and day out would have gotten almost as old as Hunt Block chewing with his mouth open : )

It was not the best recast. Keifer got better, but it was Stringfield who owned the role. See, I am against the popular opinion here. I think Strigfield's Blake was fun, but she was campy and lacked any depth...(plus, she looked so HUGE against skinny little A-M..) I do think that Keifer was warmer so maybe that is where the matronly comes up. The Bauers were a lost cause with Ed gone, ...Mob Michelle and O'leary's..unfortunate bloat and bad plastic surgery..combined with his relying on bad schtick in scenes...I would have just left Rick as the town doctor and made Ross and Blake the tentpoles..even move them into the Bauer house and have Rick move back to the Lighthouse or somewhere. Ross was the patriarch of SF and I think Keifer has a nice warm personality..she would follow the GL reformed matriarch...Bert was a social climbing shrew, and even Mo had a "past" in New York, (we never saw it but it was mentioned.)

I never understood why GL killed off Ben Warren to move the actor over to ATWT to play the same character with an established character's name. I never thought of him as Craig..though to tell the truth, I never liked Craig to begin with, he was always a "weak" character, first as a villain...(how hard was it to trick Ryan's brain dead Betsy and dimbulb Steve??) and then as a romantic lead...his puckering of his lips and his eyes welling with tears every damn time he was in love with a woman, which was every three months..got on my nerves. Craig and Carter's Sierra were like watching paint dry.. But Craig screwing Dani is beyond horrible.

Remember when they had poor Mickey Horton perve out on his younger maid (Judi Evans..chewing as much scenery as Deas there...) after his wife was brutally "murdered," and the actor had the good sense to quit so he was replaced by that weird Edward Quatermaine replacement? At least Gautman never had Bob perve on a younger woman or choke Nancy Hughes to death with a donut..so there is that!

Talk about backstage gossip...there was supposedly some backstage chemistry with the A-M actor and Beaty, and that is part of his whole running around naked backstage craziness. I don't think it was for publicity, they replaced Beaty during the most important part of the storyline, the unmasking.. I also thought Beaty was good, and had a smoldering sexiness to him. I wish they had made him Rita's son with Ed...who was tricked into believing he was Alan's son so, which is why he competed with A-M..then we would have had a "bad Bauer" and still family connection and competition with A-M. Would have put energy into the family, reminded Ed of his abusive, alcholic past (and maybe woke Simon up) annoyed Rick, confused Michelle. I would never had him rape that silly Cooper girl...Why was Phelps so insistent in pushing Lucy and trying to make the audience feel for her through rape is cynical as can be..and they ruined a character with more potential to try to push a characters with a short shelf life.

You are on the only person on earth besides me who liked Brent/Marion..I never got why people got so upset with his changing the HIV test results...I thought that was a good twist on the boring pregnancy switch. I also loved the "Today the part of Marion is being played by....Brent Lawrence" metaness of that scene and my favorite line...murderer Brent annoyed..."You think I'm a LESBIAN??" I could have handled Fletch outside of romance...when he was everybody's buddy and was supporting. Hammer actually had nice, "friendly" chemistry with many of the women on the show..I loved it (tho the show sucked at that time)when he and Reva were buddies.) I think he and O'Leary and Dicipolous did best in that kind of role (sorry, I never thought feathered hair Frank had much sexual chemistry with anyone..) And yes, if it came down to Fletch or Buzz getting the axe...Buzz would have been the one floating in the SF river for months.

LOL...God I hate Fletcher and Hammer!!! They paired him with every diva on the show and no sparks were found! When they put him with Holly Hammer spent his whole time walking over Garrets lines..sorry...Fletch was right there with Buzzard on my Hate-O-Meter! I would have had Brent/Marion knife that nosey ****er instead of that boring cop guy, or poor dim Nadine. A two-fer...Buzz instead on Nadine (I would love to see Deas scenery chewing death scenes...Marion..."Its not that I hate you..its just that I am helping to stomp out noise pollution.") and Fletch for whatsisface the cop. Remember when they had that dumb.."Tell us what you think!" number at the end of the show... I MAY have had a wee bit too much to drink one night and after watching my "tape" of an episode where Hammer was trying to outdo Deas in scenery chewing... left a drunken rant about Fletch on the line. I can only imagine they must have kept that to replay for months for shits and giggles listening to me slur out my annoyance. (edited to change slut to slur..Freudian slip as the usual activity that happened after drinking back in the day..) As for Mike, yes, I would have fired the actor too, but I would have just recast..there were a ton of guys that age who could have played him. I actually would have brought Mike back when Simon left under McTrash..during the Alan tearing down 5th Street garbage. A could actor who could have contolled Marj during scenes would have been great for a Mike/Alex pairing. I know they were thining of making Jeffery a Bauer (God forbid) and Ashley Ricks kid from a sperm donation until the online furor stopped that. I could see big,clumsy , funny Ashley being Rick's kid and she was all Bauer, always sticking her nose into other people;s lives and giving them advice!

I think Bob and Lyla had a lot of dramatic potential at the time and should have been married ..the impact of Lyla's past would have thrown a loop and then just as they were getting back together Lyla could have learned of Margo's affair with James, causing tension as she tries to keep the secret that Margo is screwing over Bob's step daughter....(okay, I would have gone full Marland and had Bob mentioning his need for honesty while Lyla looks guilty..)but they needed to have a strong Hughes family to make that work with Nancy and Chris there and the close ties with Babs and the family, which the Dobs destroyed so all the potential was gone. Bob and Kim could have still come down the road.

The Vicky storyline had potential..especially when they were gearing up Vanessa to take over the more "Alex" role as being alpha gal in Spaulding. She was pissed at both Vicky and Alan and getting back her business balls, but then they brought Marj back..which left Van to dwindle back to sighing about Matt..the excuse was that they needed "Alex to tell Vickies story" but in usual E & B..they dropped both. San Crud and the mob came along and all the rest was lost (say what you want about Cleva..and I hated it..the rest of the show perked along around it and was not swallowed whole by it...) I would have loved if they had kept Vanessa being large and in charge at Spaulding and thwarting Alan at every turn and fighting with Vickie as Matt grew estranged from Van..(I thought Matt/Beth had potential without it being about age and with Beth desperately chasing another man...) Maeve K in Biz Mode was as closer to BevAlex then screeching Marj would ever be. But I also think there was more to the Vicky story earlier....an interview about the time of Zaz departure had E & B talking about it stalling and obliterating the Barbados Spaulding story AND the return of Ellen Parker....did they plan on having Roger having Mo nursed to health in Barbados??? I never saw any follow up so I dont know if it was BS or if it was something that wasnt supposed to get out.

I had suggested before that Edmund was the real Spaulding heir...I have no idea who you would work the mechanics with that one but we have had clones and paitings as portals to time travel..so. I didn't really like Edmund but I loved DAM and he would be more the age and no..Gus was not a Spaulding it was all a big mistake... I actually think they should have brought a "new" character on for the real Spaudling heir...a blue collar guy but this time, unlike Lujack etc...really, really happy to be super rich and he would be ruthless like Alan. It would be a nice add on angst if Prince Phillip got a real rival that was more then happy to be Alan's son. I can't believe they never went there. Instead of Alex Collins could have been Elizabeth..having found out her kids really survived...(no doubt Brandon was involved with faking his death) hiding it all of these years. Also, they could have establish an internship program with PG and the university..using cheap production labor (hey we all did it) in exchange for experience..including the writing staff.

Actually Peapack is upper crust and beautiful..(Reva's aborted wedding to Kyle was filmed there..) and so many places could have doubled as SF locations.,,the Wildwood Arboretum would be a great stand in for places in the Jessup farm and the grounds of the Spaulding mansion..you would think they would love to have the blurb "Filmed at..." in the credits. P & G was just too cheap and unimaginative to do things like that so we were stuck with the junk in Harley's back yard.

I realize why they did this in the 80s and 90s...all the shows were doing big multi sets and since the "critics' were always kind of dissing the P & G soaps as not being as 'hip" as the ABC soaps..(apparently Geary's fro was very hip for daytime at that time..)they had to do it. But GL's budget problems could have been help along as I said before, by just having less sets built.. but really good sets built on the ones they do. I see a really good Cedars set lobby...I would have Beth and Holly both set up a rape crisis center in Cedars so it makes sense they are walking around, have Olivia leave the Spaulding sphere and be the hospital administrator, Alex take charge of the Spaulding Foundation so she can spar with Liv and flounce around the halls, have Alex take Dinah in as her assistant to keep an eye on her...build a mayor's house set for the Mahlers it make sense that people are coming in and out all the time...keep Company as that would be a community get together, keep the Towers set for blow outs and fancy dinners...keep the old Spaulding living room set for infighting drama, the Bauer kitchen and that Lighthouse hotel thing would be condos and just show the lobby as people come in and out and talk and gossip and fight and engage in bitchy repartee with each other. I think the other thing was that all the P & G soaps should have kept their styles instead of trying to be ABC "hip." ATWT was always the midwestern "family heartfelt show, while GL always seemed more "sophisticated and upcrust."

I wonder why they didn't have Bob and Lyla marry. They were engaged and broke it off due to the revelation of John being Margo's dad but the impact would have been greater with Lyla and he being married. I don't remember them having that much chemistry but they both are such pleasant actors I cant imagine they didnt have an easy chemistry. It made more sense then Bob and the drug lord Miranda.

Is that Lyla...she looks freaking great! I truly think the ATWT vets made a pact with the forces of dark to age better and more naturally then any other soap cast.