Mitch

I never understood why they didn't bring Mike back during the whole Michelle Danny Santos thing. Ed was gone, and Mike working for the Justice Department would certainly have set up the "law and order," Bauers against the sleazy Santos thing. To work they just needed a real actress for Carmen. I think Santiago could have worked if perhaps Rauch wasnt there insisting she wear skin type leopard prints and act more like a powerful woman in a criminal world then a cougar on the prowl all the time.

Wow, this looks like a 100 years ago! Mel and Rick had no chemistry at all, why did they push it? RR was a horrible Alan but would have made a good Mike Bauer recast. Wow, remember when Harley was likeable and BE had some meat on her bones, and MOL was still kind of cute here. What happened to both of them, BE became a shrill stick woman and MOL bloated up and had a weird face going on.

I never thought I would find anyone more annoying then Princess Lily but I did find that in Princess Luke. The doctor guy needed a man to tangle with not that jittery little kid. Despite the show desperately trying to make him a hero I never found the actor could make Luke "likeable," at all (unlike Byrne, who did make Lily relatable at times.)

I remember watching this episode and thinking, "Yea, they finally blew her up!" only to be tortured by HR's horrlble Lily recast! The Hughes family scene is almost a parady of Marland....everyone sitting around drinking tea(including John of all people) out of those pristine cups (which I remember) Bob, in his bad sweater, Kim, decked out in her 80's garb, jacket and clunky jewelry and all and her line "Well, in Julie's favor she DID pay back 47,000 of the 50,000" after they mentioned that Lucinda brought her to town to break up Duke and that she was preggers with another guys baby and had an abortion....and classic Nancy Hughes...giving the town's bad girl a benefit of the doubt for being "vivacious and full of life," and , actually clutching her pearls when she mentioned that "Well I realize that she and Duke, had,uh, a RELATIONSHIP, (aka Nancy Hughes speak for screwing) and then giving a look of horror when finding out how bad Julie was, and then a pissed off look that she was actually working for Lisa (apparently Lisa had to run all her hires through Nancy...) As I said, it was almost a parody...but I still love it! Off topic...but I started watching the GL 4th episode and I forgot what a weak d*ck Ed could be. They really needed to bring Mike back to head up the family...I never really liked PS' Ed and never understood it until watching this episode.

LOL, oddly enough, he was one of the soap hunks I actually thought was hot, usually I am not so much when they bring someone on and I know they are supposed to be a "hunk." But Walters brought a kind of quiet intensity to it. Wanst a great actor but there was something about him that made him a bit more then the typical boring hunk. On the other hand that Mike Kasnoff never did anything for me. I always felt he was too organge and his hair was weird. Last year I turned on Days of Our Lives and he was on it, and wouldnt you know, he was even MORE orange and had exactley the same hair. Dude, let the 80s go!

I wouldn't blame the last 10 to 15 entirely on the souring of T & M. I would first attribute that to Marland, who never wrote comedy well, even light comedy, which was T & M's thing, and I would blame the casting of both Holmes and Dolan, neither one who were good at comedy or warmth. I liked Deas as Tom, actually thought he was sexy (which is weird to me as all I can think of is Deas as total turn off Buzz Cooper) and the first Margo, but when I watched their scenes now they were totally over the top and their comedy was a bit loud (as they were) and forced. To top it off they were part of the era that obscured the Hughes family so they never felt connected to them (did Deas ever have scene with Hastings or Fulton or Wagner???) I thought both HBS and Marx brought T & M down to earth but still kept the fun and comedy, and of course Marland intergrated them into the Hughes family (could never have seen the first Margo having scenes in Kim's kitchen or calling Wagner "Gram,") I guess Deas and Colin just seem so harsh but that was the era of ATWT. Holmes and Dolan with Marland writing them, lost all the humor and fun. I know I am alone but I hated the rape and HIV storyline ..wrong character to give it to, totally took the fun out Margo forever (as it would in real life) I was also at the point of wanting to never have to see another woman on a soap raped..even if it was done as realistically as they did it. To add to the downer storylines, Holmes and Dolan both have a propensity to be dour and sour (not to mention they lost al the sexual chemistry the other incarnations had.) But yes, Marx was the sexiest best Tom, that chest, that voice that height!! They should have done everything they could to keep him in place.

That had to be during the summer of 79 or 80? where Barbara is about to marry James and his brother's inlaws are tyring to prevent it from happening. One of them chases Babs through the desterted museum (doubling for a museum that James' money had started in Oakdale) Hope that helps.

Good for Raines, hated his take on Alan, but who knows...it could have worked but by the time he came the show had started whittling the characters down to basic elements and they became cartoons (i.e. Roger =evil, Alex=rich shrew, etc.)

Gus and Reva????Oh God no! But it would have been hilarious to p*ss off Ehlers and the crazy Gushers!!!

Really, what the hell could you do with Lyla? I thought Marland and co. were extremely generous in keeping her on when they took over, as she lost all potential except to listen to Margo and Craig. Sward always looked too young and was so dull. Never mind that I hated her singing and the whole ridiculous "Lyla is a singing sensation going across the country with a hit album and sequin pant suits," thing. I remember that really dumb scene of I think it was Casey's batch party with all the stiffs of Oakdale standing around in suit and ties, (at a bachelor party no less) missing their wives (at a bachelor party no less) and then Lyla's bad song comes on the radio (at a bachelor party no less) and they all call their wives to join them (at a bachelor parthy no less!) That scene was Marland in a nutshell, so totally cut off and living in his own gay waspy bubble.

I love smooth in control Babs..I hated that they made her a freak show under Shaffer (a couple months yes, but after that they just forgot who she was.) The show was starting to loose its way at this point. Marland kept trying to have a Lily and Holden redux and kept bringing in young hunks and willy girls and bad vixens...not to mention all the Cals, Connor and her gay brother, ...the show just started to get more and more away from the core that Marland wisely wittled it down to. No wonder the succeeding writers had problems. They probabaly were told to not axe Marlands characters but there was no way for anyone else to write them.

Lol, for her former conniving ways, Lisa is a really rotten liar! I wish they would have let her retain that instead of her flitting fluttering nervousness. I love Lisa but Fulton kind of always makes me uncomfortable with her twitching. Link freakin' Laferty.... I hated that character and the actors bucky grin. LOL...I remember him supposed to be a major hunk to take over for Holden but he just looks skinny and freakishly blond here.

LOL...at the Emily and Greta scene. Tho it was played so flat....and I love Emily just looking at her like "Uh, Yea...tell me something I don't know!" At least Marland remembered Greta was James mom and she went to a lot of trouble to get him to be the Stenbeck heir. Guiding Light never brought people back for these one offs.

Oh yes, count me in on the "Finally Dale bit it (or it bit him.)" He was very true to life as a self-righteous person who thinks only he has the answers. But I am going to kind of miss how everyone would roll their eyes at him or walk away in disgust. Is it scary that sometimes I agree with Shane??? And another big agree that no one in their right mind would let their kid go lolling about with a zombie invasion at hand. Lori is never going to win mother of the year, (well, she might since the field is severely limited from now on.

LOL...I am embarrasse that I found Eddie "man," kind of hot. That Brad was smoking hot!

Totally agree that they handled it completely wrong. I wish they had just had Roger get a message and then disappear. They could have waited until they found out what was going on with Zaz (remember, at that time he didnt even know what was going on, was it a stroke, etc.) and then written him either in, as Holly goes to find him and finds him sick and trys to help him, or out. I wish they had just done that, with the mystery of where was Roger hanging over the characters heads (i.e. Blake saying "Why doesnt he answer my calls?" and Alex and Alan wondering if he would strike next.) After he died they could have had the Sebastian story where he comes to town, enacting vengance on all of Rog's enemies, trying to take over Spaulding, trying tobreaking up Ross and Blake (I would have made him the son of Ed and Rita, who Rog got his hands on and brainswashed him into believing Rog was the father) and have Holly go on a search to find out who he actually was and to track down Roger for real (thus splitting her from the annoying Fletcher) and find out that he had died from the same disease as Zas had, maybe have Ed be there, he treated him on his deathbed, and have a tribute to Zaz there. Ed and Holly could have gotten together at that time, wrapping up their storyline for good and they could have rode off into the sunset together and come to town for weddings etc. Would not have interuppted the "narrative," on the show, and would have been a tribute to Zaz, and an acknowledgement of him and the character's importance. The final insult was MADD refusing to address that Roger even existed, which just looked petty, spiteful, mean, short sited and insulting to the audience. The character that they should have recast at that time was Alan. If they needed a strong, sexual, dynamic villain, the natural thing was to recast Alan with an actor who could "bring it," instead of RR (never understood who he was blowing to be protected for so long in a role not sutied to him at all.) Recasting the one and only Roger while the actor was sick was never going to do any favors to the new actor, even if he could have taken on Roger.

The original plan was to sandwich the clone in between the two runs of Annie....so they always planned on it. It also shows that PG under Madd was hung up on "events," and "hooks," instead of any long range planning. I would have liked Butch Annie better if they had made her some nutball who worshipped Annie (hell I would have had Annie seduce this chick offcamera and send her to SF to torment Josh and Reva) who masquaraded as her. This time always makes me think about the Zaslow controversy. My gut reaction was always to blame MADD and PG, but thinking about from a distance, they were really stuck between a rock and a hard place. Zas, was getting progressively worse and they didnt know what it was, so it was hard to write for him or even count on him being there to film. Viewers were writing in and asking what was wrong with him so they coudlnt just ignore it. I know OLTL was, quite rightly, lauded for bringing him back, but I dont know if that would have worked with Roger. I am not defending the tasteless foot in mouth of MADD's comments (a problem she had for years) but I kind of know what she was saying, that it would be difficult for viewers, who have watched Roger be this strong, invincible guy, suddenly hobbled. It came out terribley "wizened???? REALLY??? but I kind of see what she was saying, once I take away my role as a viewer who grew up watching Roger and Zaz, and step into corporate who have to make budgets, schedules, etc. What does anyone else think?

Okay, I kind of liked this time on GL. I think sometimes Rauch got unfairly blamed for a lot of bad, because of the eventual rise of San Crud and the Mob, which did take over the show and did suck. But I kind of liked Dykey Annie with a new face (wish they had revealed it was all bullshit and FauxAnnie was a nutty imposter) and I know everyone HATES it but I liked the NurseryRhyme Stalker..."Hickory Dickory Dock, nows the time to stop your clock." But the show still had the family warmth to it, like this scene with Abby and Meta. I liked Abby...wish they would have kept her, she and Rick were a nice, normal couple (never liked Mel that much, at least with Rick.) In retrospect, a LOT of stuff was going on at this time.

Yea, Marland's time is pretty sterile. From what I have heard about him,, he was a classy guy but not the warmest person in the world and his waspy world outlook kind of translated to his material...(yea, I know he grew up on a farm but former rural people gone to the big city and made a success of themselves are sometimes teh biggest snobs around.) Remember, he was the guy that created the Irish Reardon family and made them..protestant????(uintil Long changed that thank God.) He did know how to make Oakdalde a community. It really feels like this is a real (though overly polite and waspy ) town with real stuff going on outside of the Hughes kitchen, and I know that the vets have a lot to do with this, but you get the feeling that the Hughes and Stewarts have been friends for years and that Kim, Bob, John, Lisa, Nancy, Ellen, etc, have been bouncing off of each other for years.

I wouldn't give Wheeler that much credit. I am sure they didn't want to stop tape and shoot again so they just went with Brown's ad libs (loved blowing a kiss good bye to Company/the Boardinghouse and to the viewers.) 80's Quint with Tylo was a weird character to bring back in the 90s. Actually, after they married in the 80s Quint stopped functioning as a character, he really was a mystery man plot device to redeem Nola and give her some happiness. After she was happy he didnt have a reason to exist. Quint should have been killed off during Long and Nola kept. However, Josh Taylor played a great Quint, in terms of being a rugged man, who you could see out on digs, instead of the academic, kind of effette caricature that Tylo played. Personally, they should have made him an associate of Quints who was there when Quint was killed by a cave in, etc. So they could have a Marland kind of story where Nola was turned on by this rugged guy but not sure if he was responsible for his death.

Oh God, this is when Nancy St. Blah takes over right? And I remember them trying to kind of push Frank/Chele and it gave me the skeevs, as he was so much older then her and kind of like another brother (I hate to think they aged Michele just to put her with Frank and then backing out.)

"Hiiii-yaaah Reva," "Lordy I have been jus' waitin' for a man that could high kick!" LOL...Actually, I ment I wonder of Bearcroft and Zimmer would have any chemistry. But now that you say it, Reva needed a man like Tony Reardon who wouldnt put up with her sh*t. I don't know why they never had a "guy," who really loved her but wouldn't put up with her drama....they all had to be in love/obsessed with her including Josh and Kyle .

God I loved GL at this time. This was the middle and end of the infamous "Dreaming Death," storyline (you dreamt that you were dying and you did!!) which I loved (hilarious to hear Peter Simon's Ed say, "This is an international conspiracy,") and the second clip is the very beggining of the the Cabin Mystery with Susan Pi-PAR. Geez, Tony Reardon was so freaking hot and quietly masculine....Frankie D with his frosted hair and his muscles was no replacement for the man. And yes, I really did like how Pam Long wrote him...she truly does write really well for guys, and she is one of the few soap writers who does. Loved Tony and Annabell, and its kind of nice that they rode off into the sunset together to have a load of kids offcamera and we didnt have to see them go through ridiculous triangles (though I wonder how Beacroft and Zimmer would have worked???)

I wish they had brought India back in 95 instead of the recast Amanda. What fun that would have been to see Alan retaliate against Alex by giving India all his stock proxies and inviting her to move into the mansion? I thought MKA and her India (and MK and Van in full ice bitch mode) came the close to replacing Bev's Alex as Queen Bee of GL ( I love Marj but her Alex never came close.) Did MKA not want to commit full time.

LOL..wow, she paved the way for JFP (who if she got mad at an actor, network head, took it out on the character.) Also interesting to note that the Dobson's version of Tom, with Deas, is more in synch with what Irna was writing at this time (Vietnam vet, kind of black sheep of the family) then the writers that followed her, which made Tom a younger version of Bob, or with the Marx and Holmes versions (though I will take Greg Marx Tom anyway I can get him.) Interesting if they had written Deas a little more seriously as having damage from his childhood and being Vietnam, instead of just the hippy kind of guy they wrote him as.