Mitch

True..as a white viewer I honestly never thought about it. I have thought why all black characters had to fall in love with another black character..as soon as you saw an unrelated male and female black character you were like "Oh, they are going to get together." I know on GL I always thought Gilly and AM would have made a great couple...she was always working against and sometimes with, the Spauldings and she was strong and age appropriate but GL went with a silly blondish girl with a squeeky voice who was always being victimized..boring. I always liked Heather on ATWT and she was totally integrated with the Hughes and the Stewarts and it made no sense to get rid of her and bring Jessica to replace her as they were two totally different "characters"...Heather was warm and creative and more family focused (for a while she had grandmother) and Jess was colder and business minded, and kind of lone wolf at first...they didnt fit the same spot! But I never liked Jess that much, she was one cold fish... But I think that goes to having more writers from different backgrounds in a writing room.

God I love Bob's Thanksgiving speeches and I love the Hughes kitchen, why they would get rid of the set shows how stupid they were. I want a kitchen that HUGE...No..Snyders. I don't give a crap about your Hubbard squash and your dull kitchen, I want to hob nob with the idle upper middle class and gossip with Lisa behind everyone's back. A couple of things...Casey's family is annoying as hell but only ATWT and Marland would have gone to the trouble of casting them... Lyla has basically the same living room set she had when she first came to Oakdale with Cricket..I love the continuity and that the soaps had the budget to keep sets around that long. I love Seth and Sabrina slinking in like they were late to mass and Father Bob called them out. I also loved the defiant slouch Sabrina had against the refrigerator. Moore could have played the hell out of a defiant outsider Hughes instead of the dull one we got. How many times did someone say, "Investigating the Stenbeck case" over 30 years. I loved how so many people were on a set and "moving" around instead of the two to three people soaps show standing in place now. Also..HATED Lyla and Casey, not because they were super couple but yes, as dull as watching paint dry.

I remember that at the time, TPTB told them to "Make GL..GL again" for the anniversary. I think Taggert really went to town bringing back Ed, Alex, and having Eddie be pissed off at the Bauers...and I don't think the heart transplant story line was ironic, I think Taggert was saying, "Were putting the heart of GL back where it belongs..." Too bad that great year went to [!@#$%^&*] and its all because of MADD as usual. Josh having a kid would be great and I would have ignored Jonathon..because her missing years and San Crud were all really stupid and totally took the earthy character of Reva and made her..something else. Josh having a hellion from Soni....(when she fell of the cliff she was preggers, left the baby at the convent as she didn't know it it was Josh or Will's ) and her really giving Reva hell. I know the focus was always to give Zimmer the scenes but she was best when she pulled it in and seeing Josh have a kid that had "nothing to do with her" for once, and the kid was the offspring of her old enemy could have given Zimmer good stuff to chew on. The male hellion would have been Peter Reardon to take Jonathon's place.

Yea, I found the Reva/Cassie relationship as annoying as hell, but then, I HATED Cassie and wasn't to fond of PostResurrection Reva either. Besides that I think the main thing was the Roxie wasn't as shrill as Reva, who became self-righteous in her old age by the time Cassie came along, and Cassie owned the title of the self entitled cheerleader who could be sweet as pie until she didn't get her way. The two of them together were too much. ( I loved when they brought Vanessa back for the anniversary and Cassie was glaring at her and Van strutted by with her old elegant "Couldnt be concerned with the trash"way. ) I think that Roxie acted like a scrappy young woman with not the greatest self esteem, and Wright never came off as the down on her heels former stripper. I never understood why they made Cassie a heroine..she would have been so much better as a trashy social climber who found herself in the lap of luxury being related to the Lewises. Wrights natural shrillness would have worked if they just didn't act like she floated on a cloud all the time, even Reva would get a kick in the ass from the other characters but no one said a word to or about Cassie. Though, I think those bar afternoons Wright got with E & B helped them see Cassie in a certain way. I do think that they could have turned her with the mercy killing of Richard, where she becomes estranged from Reva and the Lewises and goes dark. I would imagine Wright would have liked the challenge.

I remember that..it was great! You immediately knew that new writers were involved (in much the same way of Marland's first week of ATWT) but not only that, you knew it was Pam Long. She and Marland had distinct writing styles that you just knew it was "them". I remember someone writing in a soap mag at the time that GL viewers knew who "Pam Long" was but fans of other soaps had no clue who the headwriters were or cared. Unfortunatley other writers just kept shoving Reva into a red dress to show she was "wild" so much so that Zimmer said, "Every time I see that damn red dress I know I am going to have to act like an ass!"

I think the Kyle actor chose to leave? Anyway, why phase out the Reardons when they had so much life left to them?? I would have had Quint die to let Nola have a new love, and Tony and Annabelle would be a new branch of the family (though they may have chosen to leave?) I just don't get WHY the abrupt shift when the show hit number one Summer of 84 and then in the fall it all went to [!@#$%^&*]. Miss Sally was not a important character and Im glad she was gone for good. However, her death was a huge plot point as she had the info that Josh was Marah's real father (Alan had it changed to that he could have a crack at Reva and she had his protection from Kyle) and during a heated exchange with Alex, she died. The plot was good (Alan hiding the truth, Reva needing his proection from Kyle who is finally shown to be a total assh*le, and Alex protecting Alan from his own crimes...) though a bit odd for Long to write as Alex did nothing to help Sally and then Alan had a gleam in his eye asking if Alex killed Sarah. A big send off to a rather pointless character. You forgot the Camp storyline had a "lake monster" (really a bad scooby doo villain trying to scare people away from Andoran jewels) and was had an plot line where Billy was stranded with Roxie on an "island" ...so they were going to go there but luckily the writers got fired. Though the highlight of the summer was Reva in a bathing suit snorkling and Zimmer was damn near at her peak then and looked great!

When first brought on during Long's initial run, I think Warren was supposed to be a more "John Dixon" character butting heads with the respectable pillar families, in this case when he was brought on it was as antogonist to the Bauers (at that time Ed and Hillary were at Cedars, and Mo was the administrator.) I think he actually had a back story that he was in Med school with Ed??? But with the change of focus in Fall of 85 towards "big" storylines and Reva and the Lewises, he drifted into the Spauldings and since he was not a convincing straight guy, was Alex's lachey. 1986 really started that fall in 85 where there was an abrupt change in focus and the show became something entirely different. Mike was written out, Hilary was killed, Ed was recast, Mo became a whiner, the Reardons were obscured...(Nola of all people did not get involved with the cabin mystery) The Four Musketers who just entered college the year before were thrown into adult jobs with Rick graduating med school overnight and Phillip as an exec. Mindy went nuts chasing after Kyle who she shot...and of course, Charita Bauer died so there was no Bert to keep the show grounded.

God, how I hated Jessie and Simon. Interesting thing was that India was going to be Beth' cousin, but when MKA auditioned for it Long wisely knew she couldn't loose her but that India would work best as an upper class (though down on her heels ) character. I wonder if Roxie was created to fill the rough edged social climber position Long was working towards. Simon didn't work as a Brandon's illegit kid..it was stupid and made Alex look like a fool. The big problem was that at that time all the families were in their own little orbits the Spauldings had a storyline, that didnt crossover into the Lewis..(Reva) storyline and the Bauers had their own storyline...etc. Another illigit Spaulding just put them more in their little world. I thought it would have been interesting if Simon (played by someone else..) was a Reardon but more of a male social climber like Nola was. He and India could have hooked up and she and he could have played Alex...(the old, you remind me of Lujack so much...) He could have charmed Alex...(not in the way they had MarjAlex perving on that Chippendales dancer looking character) etc. That would have brought the Bauers/Reardons into Spaulding territory and made the canvas seems bigger. I never bought Reva and Kyle I wasnt a big fan of the actor and thought Kyle was an [!@#$%^&*]. Big mistake was making Kyle, Billys brother, again making the canvas so small. He should have been a guy who was the head of a company that Spaulding took over and he was still president, bringing him into the Spaulding fold but having him be at odds with both that family and the Lewises.

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.