Mitch

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.

Ah..okay, makes a bit more sense. Interesting that Irna, who based Edith on herself (some say her daughter was a product of an affair with a married guy) punished someone for the affair, but it was the guy. Can you imagine anyone writing two good people having an affair today, with out one of them being evil or trying to escape an evil wife, etc.

Interesting, obviously Lisa was still town pariah at this time, at the conversation between Liz and this Amanda, they are concerned about everyone BUT Lisa in relation to Tom ("How's Nancy, how's Grandpa Hughes," ) The dialogue is stilted but it still seems more realistic then what you have heard in the last few years, especially something big like someone they know being held for murder..now it would be like "Did you here...yes, yes, I heard but do you think Brock Mason is interested in me?" I love the reference to Tom being in a "broken home," (who isn't in Oakdale) and the implication by not mentioning her, that it is Lisa's fault (after the one character mentioned the broken home I thought the other was going to say, "Oh yea, and his mom IS a real bitch!" Interesting refrences to Nancy being the iron lady (no writer today would have a nice mother grandmother be so stern and judgemental about her own family.) As I said, the dialogue is bad, (would a daughter call her own dad, "Father Lowell,") and what happened to Judge Lowell, he is kind of a major character to just disappear and no one mentions him? Also, interesting that Irna uses Vietnam and what it could do to a soldier in this storyline....this was before AMC right and its much vaunted "relevancy," concerning Vietnam and other social issues. I much prefer this in using issues to drive storylines instead of Agnes (and Marland later) hitting you over the head with them.

Wow you are correct, and he was the one who put the writer's together that ushered in GL's golden era. So JFP was just "there," when it all happened, and when Curlee left she totally destroyed the show. Makes sense now why her first few years were great and then it bacame a total Buzzathon suckathon. Funny to watch there with some very basic sets that still look good and couldnt have been THAT hyper expensive, people actually working (even if all they did was look at files, flirt or talk about personal stuff, Maureen Garret was looking so freaking sexy, and our own Mo Bauer had a rack on her that I don't remember seeing before, (maybe the coffee pot was always in the way!!)

I am pretty sure it was Phelps who put in the spinning lighthouse "Hold on to Love," score. I remember thinking "my show," now had a flashy prime time opening (while ATWT had that boring new opening with the seasons changing with a morose theme.) They should have always kept the spinning light house and the theme and just updated it on occasion.

Thank you Silas, I did not mean to sully your name...though you did kill somebody right????

Bill had gone back to drinking and was in a seedy hotel when Silas Crocker (right???) pushed him out the window. They just have the news related to the Bauers in SF and Bert mentions going to call Simone as she had to be crazed with grief, which is good ole Bert Bauer there, I woulda said, "To hell with her!"

This was also the start of turning Van into something other then Tracy Quatermaine of GL. Everyone was gone and reporters rush the Spaulding Offices and Van is told she has to make a statement for the company (I know, kind of stupid that an international conglomerate wouldnt have an entire P.R. Staff on crisis managment, but this was Spaudling, which seemed to have no jobs but "Vice Presidents," and CEO and about three people worked there.) Anyway a reporter asks Van how she can feel for all of the women who lost husbands and family members to the tradegy since she is rich, and an executive, and Van looks at the camera and says, "Because I am a woman too."

Wow, I don't remember them keeping the Hughes back porch as recent as 2004, the last few years it seemed like Bob and Kim were homeless and hanging out a Lisa's hotel all the time. Bailey Chase wasnt bad as Chris but far too old, and Susan looks hot here. Speaking of hot, the midshow preview shot of Mike......grrrrrr, why couldnt they have him be the "Stranger," on Once Upon a Time or be on some other show?

Do agree never like Bea...she should have been much more like Rachel's mom on AW, a tough old bird. Disagree on Tony Reardon, played by total hottie GB, but then I may just remember him mostly from Long's time, where he was a nice, smart, tough but loving (and very sexy) guy. Still feel that her Harley and Frank were ripoffs of Nola and Tony. Which brings up a good point, Long was probably one of the best soap writers when it came to the men on the show. The guys were real, and masculine and strong and vunerable and conflicted at the same time. They actually had friendships with other men which was real (the Phllip/Rick friendship is one of the most realistic examples of two guys who grew up together and love each I have really seen on any TV show, but there was the Ed/Ross, Billy/Hamp, etc.) They were not just props for the females to bounce off of. I think Marland was one of the worst writers for men in soaps, they were either, boring uptight good guys ( the recast Tom Hughes) cold manipulative busineess men, (invariably changed by the love of a woman, and turned into boring heroes, i.e Ross Marler) or gay fanstasy pin up j/o material, (Holden and the endless stable boys, guys in tight jeans, thing.) I have always said my dream team up would have been Marland and Long, he would have brought a love for history, complex storytelling, and stories that made sense while she would have brought the warmth, sex, humor and occaisonally OTT that he lacked.

Disagree with you about the Bauers under Marland, they were very much front and center. Mike had his own stories being Mr. Law and Order and chasing after Roger's trail and then butting heads with Alan, being involved with Elizabeth, Amanda, Morgan and whatever Amanda's boring mother was, etc. Bert was THE matriach of the town (Bea didnt come close) Ed became involved with Maureen and got a step son in Kelly, etc. The Reardons were first introduced as just Bea and Nola, and then Tony and later Maureen (who became involved with Ed..) They actually were brought at a much slower rate then the Snyders were on ATWT and they had a stronger connection to the Bauers then the Snyders ever did to the Hughes family. We never know if Marland planned on bringing H.B and Billy to the show, but Josh he definatley put on canvas. I think the uproar about the Lewis family was that they simply took over the whole damn show, and they were such, at first glance a rip off of Dallas, etc. (and I love me original recipe H.B. that "old coot"!!) and then we had Kyle and his hooker mom, etc. What I think was the real problem was not as much the intro of the Lewis but the whole change of tone of the show, Long's first couple of years was warm and old school GL even with the intro of the new characters. After the summer of 84 the show got darker and colder and nastier. Phillip's recast was not only wrong but written as a cold amoral ahole, with no more interactions with Rick and Mindy, the show focused exculisivley on Reva and her big ass 80s shoulder pads, the Lewis family (Van stood around like a dish mop and let Billy dominate) and the addition to Reva's sister Roxie, who yes, was a ex-whore. Then we had the record producer and Infinity crap (which may or may not have been Long.) The death of Charita which was preceded by the exit of both Mike, Hope and Hillary really made the show into a new unpleasent show. I have no doubt they would not have killed Hillary if they new Charita was that sick but she would have stil been gone (and she was a weird character anyway, played by that butch actress.) But I do agree that Long's version of the show and her writing was much warmer and in a way, a better fit then Marland's icy tone. That is why I dont know where things went wrong and have to agree with you that it must have been the network. Long's work up to the fall of 84 was my favorite era of GL, all the families were equally prominent and bounced off of each other, familes were strong as were realistic friendships. I do know that she planned on having Bert and H.B. together, which would have been great, but because of her illness paired him with Reva (my fave of Reva's couplings, Josh and Kyle who, give me that old coot!) and on her second tenure planned on bringing back Aunt Meta, but I think it was derailed with her Reva obsession and she gave her a mother...(The Sara actress would have made a great Aunt Meta.) etc.

Actually, GL was going great guns the year before and became a staple of the dorm TV over GH ( I think mirroring the ratings at the time.) It wasnt until someone insisted that GL change to be more competitive with GH, ironically to attract a younger audiene, that the show got turned off. I didn't like this Ed, he always seemed so weak, and while Ed was a man with his demon's he wasnt "weak, " and pathetic. He also came around at a bad time, Charita Bauer died, they wrote off Mike, killed Hillary, and to recast Ed at that time, when Dolan was still fairly new (and her Mo is NOT the Mo that would take over as the new Bert Bauer.) That goofy symbol is the ring symbols of Infinity that they used to give Billy the cue to kill.