Mitch

LOL..I know I am in the minority but you gotta admit McCouch is hot...though I never really watched him as Dusty, as I didn't give a rat's ass about the endless, Dusty/ Rosanna/Craig/Carly/Jack/Katie..okay I have no idea if they were in each other's stories or how long but that is all I saw when I would turn the show on...two of those characters ..(pick any two) talking, in a room alone, very brightly lit with pastel tones...talking, talking, talking. Plus, I never really liked Bloom's Dusty that much so...but I just don't know if..when they bring in these soap *stars* they don't just write new characters for them. Wasn't he murdered and then I watched a few months later and there is he was..I mean,Dusty is no James/Roger/Phillip that he was important enough for a murder story when he wasn't dead. Granted I hated Howarth...(that promo above is hilarious...I love when they tried to be hip and were anything but...) but I hated just seeing that mug on the cover of Soap Opera Digest..I do think it ridiculous that they made Paul into "Todd" ...they totally forgot the guy practically grew up at Bob and Kim's house even with all the James/Babs drama. And Rose was the only time I ever liked Byrnes.

Wait a minute...Chappel was selling her panties to her fans???? Olivia may have been the town pump but for someone who hit the Springfield lottery in doing both Josh and Phillip (don't ask me who plain old Harley did that also) going to boring Natalia had to have been the biggest let down of all. I never got how Hansis or that first guy he was paired with had any fans at all..they were just so wooden and dull and uncharismatic but You Tube went nuts with people posting compilation vids of them kissing to bad music. But yes, the problems with the shows during their last decade is that storylines were all about the *couples* and did not involve fall out from family and friends. I blame that on MADD and her ABC'ing of the P & G soaps.

LOL..now THAT'S a quote ! I thought Luke was more like his mommy Lily..."ME-ME-ME" and everyone so worried about him and every gay man falling in love with him...(maybe I am mad that he got a kiss from my high school dream Greg Nelson but that's another story..) Was he ever kidnapped? Those gay storylines were so weird, as they had gay fans just because they were gay characters..didn't matter if it didn't work or make sense...(though I could see Olivia getting it on with anything..) or the actors didn't have chemistry...I mean, are we that hard up to see ourselves on screen that we just don't give a damn?

I read an interview with the actor, during the time he was fighting/stooging for Katie (when she was fun and a bad girl) and he asked Gautman..."Henry's gay..right???" and Gautman was all "Oh NOOOO..not our Henry..." (this was back in the day it would have been big controversy...) So the actor even thought he was gay...I remember that weird scene where he and Mike and whatsherface Carly's cousin and some other woman...(Who the hell knew or cared, Mke was there...) and Henry were playing strip poker...it was just really..odd..something happened and Mike (shirtless of course) and Henry ran out of the room together giggling...it was just weird. I always thought the Mike actor played it off that he knew Henry had the hots for him and he was okay with it and thought it was funny (not in a mean way.) Henry just would have worked so much better as the town busybody pain in the ass gay guy...(hell, he could have been one of Lisa's kids she forgot about...)

A flaming gay bearish Henry i never bought him with Katie, Vienna, or Babs. But i am glad Barbara did end up with someone at the end. LOL..of course, our bitch goddess/diva ended up happy with a gay man to love her! Katie, I just got the BFF vibe and Vienna, I mean come on show! The real chemistry was between him and Mike...you could see Henry turn into mush when Mike walked in..not that I blame him. I hated Gunnar as Babs needed to save herself and not have a man do it for her. Gunnar was more of a plot point in the whole "When is a Stenbeck not a Stenbeck..." plus, international photographer/ballooner...get a real job Gunnar!

Also, rumor has it that Jane was not beloved by the cast....JVD did not want to work with her anymore, and the rest of them thought she was just a biotch.. Marland wanted her to go through therapy...can you imagine, it would be like the Iva Snyder therapy sessions...AGGGHHHH.

They quickly dumped that story...the audience hated it, and as if we needed MORE Dee/James/Babs/Gunnar on the show while everyone else (besides Tom, Margo, John and Steve Betsy) sat around. Plus the accents and costumes were terrible! But it did lead into one of my faves (of the really stupid Dobsons stories) of James gaslighting Babs. I did hate Gunnar and his over bite.

LOL..I think that Tom is hot...Natalie would have been a great character to bring back by Marland...instead of boring Taylor the plain vixen going after him...too bad that the Dobson's screwed her up with that recast.

I always thought Jed Allan was the perfect recast Mike. I don't blame them not wanting Stewart back and I could have cared less, after dissing Bev Alex for being too old! I think Allen could have reigned in some of Marj Alex's uh, over the top acting and eye rolling.

They needed to bring back a recast Mike to go toe to toe with Alan and Roger. When Simon left I never understood why McTrash didn't bring back a new Mike..especially since Alex was still there and that relationship would cause so much tension. Claire should have been to the Bauers what Barbara was to the Hughes, part of the family, but set off a bit and a continuing pain in the ass to all, but you couldn't cut her loose because of the family ties. Claire had the added conflict of wanting to be part of the Bauers and disdaining them at the same time. They sort of did that with Meta taking Claire under her wing and ringing her beads at the same time but not enough.

Yea, I wasn't a fan of Nadine, or really of any of the Coopers (I liked Harley first go around....during the Wheeler years and she became the "heroine," everyone was in love with BE became so shrill and sharp...it was unbearable.) Hated her death though...(they could have married her off with that trucker guy she was seeing) but have to say I wouldnt have minded if they had killed Buzz like that and dumped his body in a dumpster.

Those story linesare exactly what made me turn it off. Anyone one of them would have been good if they were the lone "dark" storyline, but all of them at once? Add to that, Marland, except for a few characters, (Lucinda, John, Lisa) made all his characters (if they were "good," ) so earnest and serious they came off as sanctimonious bores. At that time on GL the characters seemed more vibrant and real....for example Marland would never have one "good " character dislike another "good" character, but on GL you would have Vanessa and Maureen (the matriarch of the show) gossiping and being catty about Nadine, while Nadine would do the same about Van, but they were still "good" people. (though I agree JFP's gimmicky "day" stories like Ross election and the guys hang out were a bit much.) You would never see KIm and Ellen being bitchy about Connor or Lucinda. GL just had energy to it, while ATWT resembled Marland fave Iva...dowdy, serious, and a downer...and yes, I did think Marland was a good writer who saved the show from the "Dobson" era of cheesiness. I know Margo's rape is good writing but I hate rape, done in drama, especially for a character like Margo. Yes, I know strong, good, funny women get raped but I am not entertained by that.

Those years of ATWT were almost like. "Oh see how SERIOUS we are!" I missed the days of Kim's Stalker, and James back from the dead...(the first time) after that, it is as if Marland got caught up in his own reputation. A show should always be fun to watch, and fun does not have to be "dumb." GL at that time was like "Hey, look, we're a soap and we're proud of it and we care going to trot out every soap convention in the book and write the hell out of it..enjoy!" ATWT was the dour sibling while GL was the fun one....(though the days my friend were numbered.)

Yes, 1990 was the year I stopped watching ATWT on a regular basis and started again with GL, which was just getting going with its "golden years," GL was fun and bright and still had serious storylines, while ATWT was dank and depressing and incestuous and just unpleasant. I know Marland was a good writer but he needed someone to pull him in there. I mean, really, did we need Mack (who I hated ...he always looked like he stank like ciggies and was dirty to me) have Alzheimers? What were you going to do with that Marland....there are some things, like Margos rape and that, that is too real and dark and I don't need to watch it to prove how "adult," and unsoap the show is.

Sorry, Lemay corrected Nixon that it was not "relevant" storylines, but "topical," I like that anyone had the nerve to correct Nixon especially with her getting on her high horse when a lot of AMC was just plain camp...(but good camp...I loved Opal and the Glamorama!"

I love how the writer disses Nixon and her endless mentions of "relevance!" that she kept doing right up until the 80 or 90s I think. ...(yes, Erica Kane facing down a bear IS relevant!" I remember Lemay sniffing that it wasn't "relevance," but "controversy" or something like that. The sad thing was, ATWT could have been brought up to date with the basic premise intact. Look how long Y & R stayed at No. 1 with the glacial pace , the pauses, and the close ups that Irna loved.

I think Melinda filled the role of someone who was "in the family," but "on the outside." (ironically a role filled by Barbara after Marland reshaped her.) I think they needed someone with an axe to grind perhaps...(not sure if she did but most illigit long lost soap kids have axes to grind...) Also, being that her mom was dead and she never knew her, gave Kim and Bob a good guilt reason to parent her. I have no idea if they actually did that or not as the clips I see of her she just seems to be there and not really at odds with anyone. Too bad they killed her off because of back stage politics between the Dee actress and Zenk. Instead of writing her out they should have had her hook up with Tom after Babs dumped him for James. Babs would be kinda jealous..especially when James true colors appeared and like his father, Tom needed a vixen to wake him up.

God I hated Rusty and his little pig tail in back. Anthony left the show complaining about lack of airtime, and that if he was on an ABC show, he would have gotten it, whatever that means. With all the storyline she had Reva did not need a brother and one as boring as Rusty to boot. Plus he was a cliche...."renegade cop, and I'm not going to do what the Captain tell me!" ... Im just sorry they didn't kill Rusty off in a shoot out so we could have watched Anthony try to act out his death scenes....oh if only he had been around for Brent/Marion HE could have been the one to take her out on a date and get killed in the phone booth (all the while Rick and Abby hilariously walk by not noticing anything wrong...)

Agreed...I never thought it was bad that the vets took on a supporting role in later years...Grandpa Hughes and Judge Lowell werent out screwin' around either. It just got to the point with some of the vets that they werent included when they should have been to add "richness," to the show....i.e. Lisa being involved with Carly..etc. I always thought they did a good job of keeping Bob and Kim involved and the respected patriarch and matriarch of the town...though I still can't beleive they took away Kim's kitchen and we had to have holidays at Tom and Margo's or wherever. Look at how Guiding Light ended with Reva and Josh...they had been given storyline after storyline to stay on the frontburner and it just screwed them up..by the time the show ended they were well past the date where instead of running around finding new partners they should have settled down..it got tedious. If ATWT continued on Carly and Jack and Holden and Lily would have ended up the same...as Reva and Josh a revolving door of partners breaking them up to just end up at square one again...

I want to know what pact with Satan the ATWT vets made that they aged so damn well!!! Masters looks the same always, Hastings and Hays look similar, Fulton, Larry B....let us all in on your secret.

Bunim came in..what fall of 81 I think..after the disaster of that summer when, after the Dobsons got fired in the spring, the show went through headwriters who had no clue what the show was about, and then the writers strike, and tons of new boring characters, like Aunt Connie, and Nick's boring step daughter Sofia, and the new head of Memorial who was gasp..Asian, but had no storyline and James dealing in stolen antiquities which somehow morphed into the drug ring..and Annie a surrogate for Carol and Steve....Obviously the show was so bad they even hired the Dobsons back, and they did better with a more cartoony ATWT. I think she left in 84? Fulton should be happy as she was the one who helped made a muck of Lisa before she left, dying her hair that hideous shade of red (she admitted she did it to get attention) and making Lisa a ditzy dope (again she admitted to get attention and she was bored..) and I am sure Von Furstonberg was easier to deal with then Eileen. I still feel that Marland would have wanted the original back though.

I think that was what finally got her fired from ATWT....Didn't she blame that, but later she came out that there was drugs going on with the porn husband (I know..shocking!) It was weird she was even there, she had nothing to do and was boring...I think it was Bunim who kept her there and would comment that she loved her because of "All that hair," which is typical Bunim...(to think they kept her on contract and put poor Don McClaughlin on recurring...) Also, the clip was during Fulton's hospital stay and she said she was laying there, and watching it and saw BVF and said..."She is wearing MY dress!" which made her get better quicker...(typical Fulton) so it must have been the scenes of the gala. Too bad Lisa was such a mess when BVF took over the second time as she had nothing to play. Luckily when Fulton came back the writers fixed things. and Fulton quit acting like an airhead all the time.

I feel like they tried to address this by acting like the hotel was a hip place and an example of a hipper Oakdale (wasn't someone marveling over the upstairs rooms or resting couches or something)? I wish Kim and Bob had taken them to that "swinging" disco we saw in the 1978 episode. You can imagine the muted horror and snickering. Come on..you know that place only gets "hot," right before dinner time..(judging from the scenes of Chris just getting home from work and it is still light out and cut to...swinging couples on the dance floor!) .and then must close at 10 p.m.!

Just skimmed the episode...Dumb Dee, when Lisa of all people stops you and wants to have a chat about something, "Just as a friend," you say, "Oh, I would love to, but I am on my way to the bathroom." Brad gets creepier and creepier..was that supposed to be sexy? Young James is smoking hot...it really does suck that they didn't give him any depth later on...he became a mustache twirling villain. I like the mention of his parents who must have been figured in to have more to play later on...and God Love Wagner who could do exposition in her sleep and still make it seem natural. I love Kim's annoyance with Cricket (shades of Kim to come..."Well she doesnt LOOK tired," ) but hate Nick. They should have made Ellen against the plan to buy John off (really David, you think that would work) and then be mad at David for going ahead with it..cause some drama for them. I also love Crickets bad dance that all the Euro Trash people are into..I wish some older guy would have asked her to join he and his wife to their room later..speaking of, none of Jame's sophisticated swinger set is asking him why the Holy Hell he is living in Hooterville?

LOL...I remember watching this episode! Sad but true. I only was able to watch five minutes here but that has to be the DULLEST gala I have ever seen on a soap...there is like 10 people there. I love that they threw Nancy and Chris a bone..I can see why Wagner left. they didn't even focus on them once, it was all on the kidnapper. Instead of getting rid of Nancy and Chris they needed to get rid of the directors and writers..the dialogue was terrible and the directions was very stilted. I can see why people were saying ATWT was out of date, but typical bone headed producers it WASNT because of the vets. Barbara looks so young, and Dee is not as annoying as I remember her..she looks quite pretty here. John and Bob and Kim look almost the same as they did when the show ended. Yes, Cricket was meant to be a big character but the actress was porny and the writing just wasn't there. A few months in and she didn't have anything to do..so yes, I am sure they ump the tramp on Margo since Cricket was such a bust.However, Eric Holister was boring and despite his stardom later, the actor playing him didn't have much going..at least here. I am sorry but Velka Grey was a better Lyla, she looked like a former floozy that was rode hard and put out wet and was tough and gritty. Anne Sward was just...dull, and too young for Lyla. The rumor is that Don H wanted his wife to play Lyla so he didn't get along wtih Grey.. I don't know how much is to the rumor as they did not hire his wife to replace her and I never heard of he and Anne having problems. David's obsession with his daughter is slightly...icky. And of course, speaking of icky ...herer comes Brad Hollister to creep around the corner. I don't remember , how did they explain how he could obsess over Dee but be in love with Annie too and marry her. And NO one in town sees him leering at Dee? I think this was the Dobsons answer to the late 70s virile male but he just creeps me out. And they had Lisa charmed by him when he first came on the show! The show was really WEIRD at this time.