I think S. Michael Schnessel understood how to tell a story, how to plot and plan... but there was just no regard for the past, and that's a shame - because Llanview had a very rich backstory. It seemed that was a Paul Rauch mandate - like "don't bother me with details, we'll make it work, it'll be great". Like one glaring example, Kevin Lord Riley is born in 1976, Drew Buchanan - 1983? 1988, Drew returns with Becky Lee for Didi Buchanan's funeral, but Drew is older than Kevin? Same thing happened with Ty McGillis. That's sloppy continuity.
One character/history I would have LOVED to have revisit in 1987, when Dorian leaves, Viki's other antagonist Cathy Craig comes on - played by Jennifer Harmon. She was already referenced during the kidnapping of Jessica, so Cathy Craig follows up with a return to her hometown. Not only is Cathy someone who struggled with mental health, and crushing life events - now you have her seeing the ghost of Joe Riley in his twin brother Tom Dennison, and you have a Clint/Viki/Tom/Cathy quadrangle that plays out... And when we experience the Eterna story and the truth that Viki gave birth to a baby girl named Megan - Cathy loses it. Having Sharon Gabet come on as Melinda, with no Dorian, and then become a tv reporter, when she was a pianist, proved to be a story path to resistance vs had it been Cathy. *And if they couldn't get Jennifer Harmon, Sharon Gabet as Cathy would have been fine...
As for Soaps in the 90s? I don't know what to think, if the OJ Simpson trial hurt the soaps as much as they say. I think productions ruined themselves with bloated casts and the emphasis on youth due to focus groups... and character assassinations and of course continuity issues
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Lust4Life76 ·
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