Mitch

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!

They should have had the fire get out of control and burn down Nancy and Chris house and I can only imagine what the rest of the sets looked like. Yea, cotton candy hair and the rouge smeared on. I remember the girl who played Betsy at that time had the same thing, two globs of blush on her cheeks. And yea, Nancy's hairstyle and outfit was so dowdy...were they trying to make her look older? Which makes it so amazing the Joyce actress looks so pretty, despite coming back from the dead and being insane (wasnt she???)

Thanks!!! Love the clips...I have never seen clips of that time. Boy was Lisa's makeup terrible! And those sets! Damn, if I was a producer at the time I would have had a fire burn through town and build all new sets. I can see how the show seemed creeky and old compared to GH and the ABC shows. Too bad they didnt think that it might not be Nancy and Chris but the sets, lighting, music make up and staging. I did like that it had an everyday quality still, like Nancy coming home and putting the groceries away (and being confronted by her back from the dead daughter in law.) Were they chemistry testing Nick and Lisa? I always thought Lisa needed a guy like Nick, but he came off as an ass in this scene. I guess its the Dobson's idea of a real "man." I didn't get the "Well, I know where you come from." and his, "I don't try to hide it." First of all, does having a Greek sounding last name mean you actually CAME from there, and not your parents or grandparents, and is it a big scandal to be Greek? Nancy and Chris were two tough customers here werent they? Not the sweet grandparents most the shows had..and Nancy later became. I like it though she is quite a change from Bert Bauer..must have freaked the Dobsons out to write for them. I never thought about it as a kid but the Joyce actress is really beautiful! Too bad they wrote her out. Marland would have loved her and I liked her as a thorn in Lisa's side...a kind of Susan Stewart role..inside the "family," but not.

93 to 96...Buzz Cooper screaming, arms flapping and spitting is all I can recall of that era.

No it's Lisa's hotel, where Bob and Kim used to sit and eat and drink and discuss everyone's problems..constantly. Poor KH having to wear that pink suit day for the last 6 months of the show! But I have to say, the sets and the lighting look WAAAAYYY better then GL's even before the budget cuts and Peakpack. Did ATWT have that much bigger of a budget or did Gautman know how to do that one thing?

Wow..Bob and Kim's kitchen!!! I didn't think they used that set since the early days of Gautman. And my hottie Mike, with short hair just the way I like him!

I think they just dropped it as for one, they didn't know how to deal with it, and they just wanted to sweep "Phillip is the big bad, " under the carpet and forget it (remember Wheeler wanted GA and Phillip back as a James Stenbeck type bad guy and he wouldnt do it.) I think if they had brought him back when they should have (when we discovered he was alive) that would have been a very good storyline. I remember at the time most viewers were cheering when Phillip threw Grady off the cliff...I just laugh that he was brought in to be this big character and that was the end, nothing, he was gone.

Wow...Margo was always butch but she went full out dyke with that actress (not to mention, jeez, was she plain!) Was Marland writing this at the time...the recap dialogue is all Marland..."Well, with Iva on vacation.." I dont think people would ever put up with that kind of stuff today but it worked, it made it like Oakdale was more of a real town and you knew where everyone was even if they werent on the show that day. I also love that Kim and Bob were still discussing, going out to, and actually eating lunch, breakfast, brunch, dinner until the very end. That outdoor scene was weird, not only the cheap ass set, but were they padding the show for time, Emily just walks around and has flashbacks with that boring music ATWT used at the time. I also think Rauch snuck in and became the wardrobe head that day, that pastel suit and heals was totally our Pauley. Oh how I disliked Larry "Screamingly Gay," McDermont. I mean, they get a younger pretty boy for Susan and he is as dull as hell??? Mark Kasnoff had a love theme? I actually liked him and thought the actor was hot and not bad...much better then his orange brother. I liked it when they were acting like he and Lily were going to get together.

God...1994...terrible and I don't know what the ratings were at the time but I know that the quality of the show itself just screamed "cancel me!" Buzz, the Coopers, Frank and Eleni in an endless boring storyline, the fake Eleni, Vaness and Matt in their "ABC," romance, and of course, Tangie Hill and the Duck. I do remember JFP touting the 5th Street on fire thing (how many times has that dump been on fire) and the soap press, or maybe just Logan, getting on board...when Buzz through the TV set down I remember someone touting that to be JFP's indication that the bad times were over for GL. HA, HA!!! Yea, but we got a full week of Buzz screaming at the top of his lungs, etc.

I hate watching these scenes cause I have to remember that I once thought, pre-spitting, scenery chewing, flapping arms Buzz Cooper that Deas was sexy. It is a weird scene...the show could be over the top during this time but they didnt take advantage of a lot of the drama....Lisa and Whit should have been seriously at odds during this time with their sons on opposite sides..but Lisa just kind of stands there and says nothing until the end. I don't want to bring up the dreaded Santa Barbara comparison but I think the Dobsons were trying to make Lisa and Whit kind of like Lionel and Augusta (I think) two powerful people in love and married but contantly bickering and at odds, but it just didnt work. The Whit actor and his toup and dentures dont fit the character and what is up with Lisa's dowdy outfit and hairdo...(she looked terrible with red hair.) Wonder how much that set cost to make??? It was freaking huge with the snack counter and looked like a real courthouse.

Wow Carl, you are right, Deas is really good there....now THAT acting deserves accolades, not his Buzz Cooper scenery chewing. Also weird to be reminded that I used to find him sexy, and I can see why with that clip. Weird time for ATWT..they were so obsessed with "young,' characters yet the sets are so cheap and creaky looking and dimply lit as opposed to the ABC soaps at the time. Herrara was sexy as hell but even then James was a one dimensial villian. What the HELL did he do all day besides plot John Dixon's demise and try to keep Babs and Gunnar apart? Meg Ryan's Betsy was ackward and slightly retarded.

Maureen's last Christmas. I remember watching this episode and now in rewatching, the anvils were dropping all over the place..."I don't know how I got so helpless with out my wife!" Poor Ed, soon to be as much of victim of her death as Maureen was. And I didn't remember that Lillian wrote the infamous letter on Christmas Eve....JFP was a real sick customer wasn't she? Other thoughts, the show was already suffering from JFP fatique at this time, as Bev had left (Alex had not yet come back) and KS' Mindy was gone also. Liked seeing both Ehlers and Frankie D younger and working with better writing. Ehlers was not harsh and brittle here (and fuller faced) and Frankie D was not acting as a stuffy middle aged windbag. The writers too their credit understood his limitation and wrote Frank as a sweet, good natured normal guy instead of as SF's top cop, which Frankie D was not good at. Forgot that Derwin was actually hot, and HATED the stupid attic storyline. Made everyone just look dumb. (though loved Nadine's selfish "Cheer up its Christmas ," )

Thanks Khan, I miss Marland's ATWT!!!! I had to say that as "HONESTY IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF ANY RELATIONSHIP!"

I just have to laugh thinking if Doug M would have written this. Bob's ex lover would come to town and tell Bob that the time they were together were the happiest of his life and since his wife died he wanted to reignite the flame, but respecting Kim and Bob's relationship is importnant, so he wil just ponder the love letters he wrote Bob. John would find out but since Marland domesticated him he wouldnt tell, though we wouldd see weeks and weeks of cliffhangers where he would come into Kim's kitchen, "Kim I have something to tell you, you need to sit down," ..and then on Monday he would say, "Andy forgot his chemistry assignment and I need to walk it over to campus." Bob's ex lover would be named something like Reginald Wilson Bancroft and we would have scenes of Nancy welcoming him back to town, "You were like another son to me, you spent so much time sleeping over I almost forgot you werent," and Lisa, "Good ole' Reggie was always there for Bob when he and I had problems...he never seemed to like me much but he really did love my taste in shoes," with Bob having a pained expression (and a close up of course.) We would see weeks and weeks of Kim saying, "Now that the Susan affair is over, we both know HONESTY IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF A RELATIONSHIP,' and we would see other characters saying, "Bob and Kim are so strong as they know that HONESTY IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF A RELATIONSHIP," and just so we know the importance of this, we would have Lily say, "Someday I want a relationship like Bob and Kim, if they ever broke up I think I would take to my sick bed or go around whining constantly about how it effects me!" Lucinda would find the love letters (Marlands characters were always smart enough to write well but not smart enough to destroy incriminating notes) to Bob, and be tempted to publish (for weeks) but John would talk her out of it, but hem but it would be a temporary homophobic collegue of Bob's, or maybe Bob was advocating for an "HIV positive" clinic at Memorial and crazy angry homophobes would find them and publish them. The reveal would come at, where else, the Mona Lisa, were Reginald is being honored for saving Lily's life during yet another kidnapping (Just so we know he is not a villan and also gives Lucinda a reason to not let the cat out of the bag) as evil television reporter Cynthia McTavish would interupt, with cameras and say, "Dr. Hughes would you care to comment on your relationship with our hero, as you were lovers in high school? We have the letters here to prove it. Was that the reason you pushed for an HIV clinic in Memorial? How does your wife think about this and sir, is there anyone in Oakdale you havent slept with and/or married?" Imagine the pearl clutching Nancy would have done, imagine the pained but stoic face Kim would put on, look at the face Ellen would put on, looking like her hemoroid are hurting again, (she had her eye on Reginald since David died, at this point she thinks, "I might as well go on recurring,") Imagine Lisa climbing off the piano after singing a bad song and going after Cynthia "Why you witch, ole Lucy put you up to this didnt she," Imagine the close up of Lily and then everyone gathering around saying, "Now that Lily knows that even a strong relationship has secrets will she be able to love again? Maybe we shoudl throw another birthday party to cheer her up??"

I don't know if I could handle Bob being a closet case..plus he got a lot of ass (female) through the years. But I think a story like this could work if the writers and the audience could see that well....you know, "one blow job does not a faggot make.." kind of thing. It would make an interesting story if someone like a Bob character (though I think it would need to be more of a shades of grey character like Don Hughes or Ed Bauer) experimented with friend as kid..and then decided that hetorsexuality was their thing. That person they experiment comes back and blackmails or cause trouble etc. To beat a dead horse but on GL I thought they should have made Sandy and Jonathon lovers in boardingschool Sandy being gay and Jonathon letting him, uh service him for doing his papers. etc. Jonathon looked like he would screw anything!

You went out for drinks with GM???? BRAGGART!!!! God I hated that Betsy, I was so glad when the actress decided to quit and go to school I think. I remember all the tons of make up they would slosh on her, apparently trying to make her older?? Sexier???? Was that supposed to be Dee? She was kind of a chubbette wasnt she? Speaking of Betsy, up thread talking about Cricket. They brought Cricket on to be her nemises to fight over Eric, played by Peter Reckell. The Dobsons' paterned Cricket after Erica Kane and she was supposed to be a bitch. The triangle went no where as SD looked and acted like a sullen kid, PR had no charisma as Eric (weird that he became a big soap star) and Lisa Loring while looking the part, couldnt act her way out of a paper bag. I never knew why they kept her on so long.

Your not the only one..I saw in her that movie, I think its name is Bully??? She plays a murderous drunk, drugged out white trash slut, and I felt like yelling at the screen, "Michelle Bauer put your clothes back on and act like a lady!" LOL..I had to cover my eyes on the sex scenes, cause you know, its Michelle Bauer! I am in the minority in that I dont think she would have made a great grown up Michelle, just like the kid playing Bill Lewis wouldnt have made a great adult Bill. Acting and longevity yes, but I don't know, its a soap, and while I like the acting I like the eyecandy too, and Miner just doesnt have it. But once again, I was all for them recasting Scott Defreites as Andy Dixon on ATWT and when I mention that people wail "sacriledge!"

I think the fall of 85 seems SO bad in that it was such an abrupt change from what came before. Up until that point the show was an ensemble show, even with Lujack and Reva in the mix. The families were all featured pretty evenly, and they all had their differences and bounced off of each other (the working class but tight knit Reardon family, the traditional Bauer family plaqued but its own demons, the dysfunctional Spaulding family, and the rambuctious, rowdy, wild and rich Lewis family) and it worked. Fall of 85 came and the show just became so much darker. Not only were Hillary and Lujack killed within one year, but the focus left the more tradtional Bauer and Reardon families to showcase the Lewis (whom I liked, but you could only take a little bit of them ) vs. the Spaudlings, who went from shades of grey to downright evil, each and everyone of them. Eveyone else started acting more angry and mean (Rick throwing Mindy into a pool, Recast Ed going back to drinking and not taking responsibility for it, Phillip cut off all ties to his freinds and suddenly became a 35 year old version of Alan...etc) Nola was pushed into a closet and Vanessa went from hell on wheels to Billy's sad little mouse of a wife. To top it off Charita died and has been mentioned the Mike actor, who could have pulled it all together at that point, left. The show was inidated with exwhores (Roxie and Miss Sally) Kyle Sampson and his flaring nostrils and a goofy record company storlyine with its cast of all new and unpleasent characters. I never understood why TPTB didnt look at the summerof 85, when the show toppled GH from no 1, and tried to emulate what they did that summer instead of screwing it all up.