Mitch

Well James was popular as he was , well HOT and a villan..which the show needed at that time, (besides Johnny Dixon.) I think Nick and Kim were both popular..but their storylines were duds. First it was all about hating Steve then they brought back Andrea, which didnt work, and then they put them on the backburner after marrying them (I cant believe they married them.) I really think the Dobsons were tyring to make them the new "Nancy and Chris," of Oakdale but it didnt work. Their only big storyline together after marrying was all about Betsy and Steve. I never got the Grant thing but werent the Dobsons basically copying retread stories for Lisa and he. Joyce was already a spoiler and then didnt another woman fake an illness to get Grant? Why did the Dobsons think that strong men had to act like ass holes?

God I HATED Nick and Steve! The synopsis of the Dobson's early years make them so unpleasant! I remember scenes with Betsy and Steve at their hey day when the producers and the Steve actor thought he was the star of the show, and he is YELLING at Kim, and she does not so much as give him a "LOOK here BUSTER!" I do love that Marland and company put the character, and the actor in his place. I can't beleive after the Dobson's f'ed the show up in their first run that they brought them back for a second time (which was better but trashier and not ATWT.) Maybe because the interim writers were SO bad. Those sets look so flimsy! I remember one scene during the Dobsons time when James (who never seemed to DO anything but scheme against Babs all day, under the Dobson's he was the dullest, mustach twriling villan around) starting hitting the walls of the supposed high end "penthouse," and they wobbled and shook as bad as anyting on Dark Shadows, and they left the scene in!

Tom was in a storyline with a whore??? "Oh DEAR!" as Nancy Hughes would say! The pace is very stiff and slow. I love it that the shows at that time thought they were "contemporizing things," with getting rid of the "old people," (i.e the people that generation of kids grew up with) but still stuck with the bad sets, slow pace and stiffness and bad lighing. This would go on through the Dobsons and Bunim. Annie and Babs apartment...I mean, pink? Because two girls live there??? I never liked that Annie or Dee. Tom seemed okay but everyone was stiff including Zenk there. I still think Deas would have worked better as a John Dixon type, anti establishment hippie lawyer who would have defended John in the rape trial and would be a thorn in the upright Hughes and Stewart clans. I guess I see him more as the character he played on SB, though I never watched that.

Who was that girl that Tom and Barbara were looking after? What was wrong with that Tom (he seemed kind cute in a cheesy 70s way) that the Dobson's dumped him for the future troll like Deas? I mean,if they wanted him why didn't they just make a new character, the hippie lawyer in town, instead of grafting in onto clean cut upright Tom? The pace is so different at that time, the scenes last long and I expected a kind of Marland thing were Melinda would bump into Annie on the way out. I like the talk with Kim and David, it was natural and real, seemed more so then the rest of the clip, but that might have been because of Hays and Forsthy that the younger actors couldnt pull off. And DAMN Annie, your brother was just put in the ground, and your hot and heavy for sex????

Thanks for the clips..(though You Tube has been stopping in the middle of the clips for some reason.) The John coming to see Kim at the Stewart house scene is almost repeated when he comes to see Dee at the Stewart house when David dies. (they are both outside of the Stewart house and both Dee and Kim are talking to someone else when he walks up) I wonder if Marland did that on purpsose? That guy wasnt Beau and both Annie and Dee were BORING actresses. Melinda was a live wire and would have been more interesting if she stayed. But the Dobson's were intent on obscuring the Hughes in favor of the Stewarts for some reason who I felt all of them were "mopey." The scene were Nancy answers the phone, Wagner is so natural its like she was talking to someone. They should never have gotten rid of Nancy and Chris..the Dobson's (and Bunim, RIP) sucked!

I would love to see some early 70's stuff with Lisa in her high bitch prime...i.e. the Dr. Michael Shea storyline. I think that is interesting in that it starts off with Lisa being a bitch on wheels, (stealing Shae from Claire Lowell) and then turning into a more sympathetic character when she takes the blame when she thinks Tom did it. Other interesting things is that this also heralds the entrance fo the next, Bad Doc in Oakdale, John Dixon, the start of the Ellen/Lisa simmering "feud," and while AMC gets all the credit for introducing "relevancy" (God I hate that...) Irna sent Tom off to Vietnam, he came back drug addicted, (something that never was brought up again...) It would just be intersesting to see how Nancy Hughes dealt with Lisa being a big ole ho and screwing her Nancy's best friends younger husband,etc.

Yea, I know that he begged her to stay away from Steve...but he didn't beg her to to get married..uh Bets, how about a career??? I remember college break rooms and everyone yelling at Betsy...She was really hard to root for. Loved Diana McColl except I didnt want her with that sleaze Steve. I think its funny that Marland and Company fixed Runyeons ego!

Yea, Dea was a real weird casting for Tom..short, quirky, hairy, loud. I think they were trying to be "hip," I don't even rememeber that many scenes with Lisa and Bob with Deas, (would love to hear what they thought of him and would love to hear what quirky JD thought of Fulton..who would give an interview to a broom...) and don't remember any scenes at all of he and his grandparents. ATWT was so weird during that time its amazing that after Bunim left that they were able to go back in time and almost act like the years of the Dobsons up to when they left existed. As for Runyeon...I always hated him and I thought I was the only one who noticed that weird leather strap. I never thought he was attractive, he was so odd looking in the face and his body was weird, tall and skinny...when they would have him do those speedo scenes for days on end....WTF? And Ryan...she played Betsy as funcitonally retarded with body control issues but no one in Oakdale mentioned it...

LOL on the Betsy thing, she also seems mildly retarded here. Can't remember why she married Craig, it wasnt like he came from a good, rich Oakdale family. Would have made more sense if it was one of poor farm cousins of the Hughes. Then you have the pressure to marry a Hughes (to explain why this nitwit would get married when she was still in college to anyone) and he would be marrying her for her trust fund. Both Colin and Deas were odd fits for ATWT. I just can't see either one of them in scenes with Nancy and Chris like HBS and Marx...(can you imagine Colin's strident Margo saying"Gram," to Nancy Hughes?????) Weird.

That episode doesn't age well. A couple of things stand out...the sets look terrible, the lighting is really bad..the clothes were terrible even for the time frame (what is with that dress of Betsy') Meg Ryan's acting is freakin annoying with her jittery, bouncing around and her arms flying out...the Whit actor is miscast, what the hell was with the song over Margo's memories of Tom..its like its a 1972 folk song and deosnt go with the montage... Fulton looks frumpy..and has no feist in this scene and what is with Lisa being friends with Ellen???? AH is looking smoking HOT in this, Scott Bryce looks almost the same, Margaret Colin was really pretty and the line "James leaving you is like getting off a plane in Tahiti" is a really stupid insult! LOL and I can remember this episode and watching it and liking it so I guess its just the time.

He will always be Bradley Raines to me! God, he was great as that snively child molestor. They screwed up by not letting he and Beth have a final showdown scene years later when she came back from the grave. Weird that they would have him play another daughter rapist on GL's sister show. I HATED Angel and that storyline with the pasty faced Snyder boys. That was when Marland's ATWT became the "serious topical storyline," show and lost all its fun, (i.e.Margo's rape, Angel and Mac getting alzheimers. ) The only topical storyline he did which was fun was Lisa hitting menopause as it gave a lot of good lines to John, "Whats the matter with you, your acting like an even bigger bitch then usual?"

LOL..that's funny because back in college, back in the tight jeans, dropping your overalls for a promo Holden was just okay. I actually found him sexier when he was older, and he was worried about his kids, and just wanting to live a life...he kinda became the DILF next door! I don't know why Marland, which his penchant for tight jeans, put Holden in a suit so soon. Plus Jon has the kind of body where he looked boxy in a suit all the time.

Before that happened...Zimmer, had a bag of cronies who she would instruct to write letters to GL to bring Reva back. The show was limping along at that time after Maureen's death and the departure of both McKinsey, the girl who played Mindy and the writers like Curlee. The show had shifted to be the Buzz Cooper show and it was a mess, so I am sure that JFP was pressured to bring back some of the past popular characters. In a way only JFP could do...to comply and screw over the execs, she brought back Reva, but only as a ghost. She didn't want to have Zimmer back full time as she was rightly concerned that Reva would eat the show again...(little known fact, one of the reason's Long left the show was that she wanted to bring Reva back as a "ghost," during Christams to talk only to Marah..the execs didnt want to do that oddball storyline and they didnt want to close the door on Reva's return..) So Reva comes back but only Josh can see her..which would have been fine as it could have been a figment of his imagination but then Annie could see her and Nadine (in a ridiculous storyline which was a precurser to one of Reva's ) was suddenly psychic, and she could sense Reva, though she didnt know it was Reva. Anyway, the story went on far too long and they finally ended actually right as Laibson took over (he was the one who brought Zimmer back full time) when we had Reva have a ridiculous conversation with God, where she wanted to go back instead of going to heaven...and in a funny scene that kind of made fun of the storyline...Reva is at heaven's gate but then turns around and is wearing a red dress and says, "Im going BACK!" and we see her wake up out of a coma in Goshen. So she wasnt really a ghost but a spirit leaving her body to watch over Josh and it was never mentioned again (except for Annie, when she first sees Reva goes up behind her to touch her to see if she is real this time.)

They were chemistry testing Josh and Jenna...and they were hot..(Its hard not to have chemistry with Newman, uh, oh yea, sorry Marcy Walker...there's the door..) and then she left. Never got the Jenna/Buzz as great loves thing..I can see a short thing with him but not anything longer then that, but of course, we were knee deep in 5th street at that time..I remember the endless Jenna and the what, face cream bullshit...gah...that made Peapack look stimulating.) Never understood any of the women of GL going after that Troll Buzz...all I could see is that JFP made him the end all and be all of GL so everyone else after didnt think it was weird that Jenna would return to him, Reva would beg him for sex???Nola would go nuts over him..and poor Lillian, who had to go 20 years celibate..would have to kiss him as he openly chewed gum.

From the change in tone from the show I can see that happening (and funny that they hit number 1 when the Bauers, Reardons, Reva, Spauldings and Lewis were ALL written for, and they dropped like a stone after that..) but what I dont get is how ATWT was focusing on their core at this time, and Marland came back what, that fall a year later and started writing for all the core characters and bringing back Nancy and Chris...that much couldn't have changed..plus GL didnt try to restore any of those problems later.

I think the problem was that they wanted to bring Nola on and throw her right in doing Nolaish things without mourning, etc. They could have rectified that by having Henry say, "Well, with Quint missing in that expedition, for what, has it been a year now...we can now unfortunatley declare him dead...both Nola and I have done our mourning so I suppose we move on the best we can." I would have bought it though I think other viewers would say, "Why havent we heard about this before!!!" I think Quint's "death," would be just what would make Nola come back to Springfield to re-group and "help," her family and friends there. I do think that Brown had a problem channeling Nola again and that the backstory of being the wronged wife didn't help...(I see Nola beating the crap out of the other woman and dumping Quint..but...) Soaplover that is funny, but I always saw Nola with a Fletcher type character, investigating things, etc. Quint after the mystery was solved was boring. I also thought it so odd that she wasnt invovled in the Cabin Mystery as that was right up Nola's alley. Something had to be happening backstage with that.

LOL..I forgot he was Lily's Grandpa. Marland's convoluted family trees made me give up on the show..it got so weird with Lily's parents, adopto parents, step parents, bio grandparents, and Lucindas step siblings, real sibilings,etc. It was even weirder that no one mention out freaked up it all was. I swear that Marland's ghost helps write "Once Upon a Time," with Henry filling the Lily role (always being kidnapped and in danger, always bitching at someone self-righteously, everyone worried about his emotional state and EVERYONE on the show related to him.)

Which was so stupid.....I think it was mostly the Quolas that were bithcing about that and they were as about as nuts as the Rassies and the Mannys. The actor had a job elsewhere so what were they going to do (thoughI would have had him missing in an avalanche or something stupid like that.) I did like the actor from Days as Quint, he gave him a manly kind of authority outdoorsy thing that the other actor couldnt. Which was weird as I never liked him on Days.

LOL..I actually liked the show during the first few months of McTavish. Loved the return to the Boardinghouse and Nola...I don't think she was so poorly written..I loved her as the annoying Aunt instigator busybody. I especially loved her and Vanessa bickering again. I think that Maeve Kinkaid really liked having Brown back, she had gotten so cold and blaise by this time (The whole Matt thing and her constantly sighing) that Nola's return seem to light a fire under her and both Brown and Kinkaid mixed their lines with the right amount of annimosity, affection and love. McTrash "got," their relationship.

Never got the Connor love..I thought the actress looked like a witch at the time. Mark was hot and he could have worked if given the right material. He was not a great actor by any means but he had that kind of masculine, hot but doesnt act like a preening Chippendales Dancer thing that worked on ATWT. I thought he was pretty good with Lily but they were still following the "uptight business person with the hot, honest sexy person," thing Marland did so often. Cal and Connor...kind of boring..never got Cal's purpose either and hated his fake accent. Didnt he date Lila too (my God can you imagine the boredom of those scenes???)

Yea, I never saw KA-RAZY Babs but at the end she seemed back to her morally ambivalant non-crazy part of the Hughes family but a pain in the ass just the same, Barbara. (There was a sweet moment during Nancy's memorial where Lisa is hiding out at Fashions and Barbara is on the phone with her trying to get her to come with her to Bob and Kim's and before she hangs up she says, "I love you," have no idea if it was the writers or if it Zenk but it was hearfelt and a nice thing about Babs and Lisa's long time friendship, sometimes getting on each other's nerves, relationship.)

I miss Bob and Kim. Love the look on his face when Allison was dancing..what the hell was that all about? Kim's manhandling and face off with Babs was great. Kim and Hays make such a good dynamic kick ass matriach. Why was Babs acting so over the top and nutty in this? With that scenery chewing and sneering she reminds me of Regina in Once Upon a Time. Hate Carly and Jack. So boring their endless repetition..they should have just done a Bob and Lisa on them and split them up, had them in each other's lives. The PG soaps under MADD just was an endless loop of Carly/Jack, Lily/Holden, Josh/Reva, Danny/Michele. No wonder ratings dropped..you could tune in 5 years later and see the same thing.

I never understood that storyline (as I quit watching the show at the time,...the end of Doug Marland's run was not that great and he seemed to get farther and farther away from the Hughes and relying on undiscovered relatives, whose the baby and of course, the hunk in tight jeans with the virgin storylines) Who the freak were those two?

The show is so darkly lit, and as I said, cheap looking. Also, as someone up thread said, so somber. Was ATWT always that way? Lisa is not even really flirting with an available man in her age range????I can really see why the show dropped out of number 1 down to I think number 7 before and during the Dobsons first run. GH and AMC, brightly lit and with such energy must have made ATWT really look even creakier. As I said, its too bad that they didnt realize it wasnt Nancy and Chris but everything else about the show.

Oh that video of Cassie made me realize just how trashily entertaining E & B's GL was...up until the San Crud point. I LURVED Moniz Dinah and her evil schemes and hated Cassie. I wish they had made Cassie a villianess after Reva pulled the plug on Richard. LW always reminded me of a bitchy entilted cheerleader that eveyone had to love OR ELSE!