I saw that someone had made a clip of her. I never knew there was another Trisha temp beyond Jessica Steen. Or I'd forgotten. I can't help thinking she looks a little old for the part.

I was so intrigued with the dynamics of Gwyn snapping at Clay, then Abril joining in, then Carly trying to diffuse the situation. You could see two women he'd broken and another he was in the process of breaking. A shame the show gave up on all of this, and James Horan, to just have the weird stories he was given under Larkin Malloy.

I also liked Shana calling Gwyn "Granny Gwyn."

I had forgotten Shana and Stacey were at odds.

Edited 9 hours ago9 hr by DRW50

24 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

I was so intrigued with the dynamics of Gwyn snapping at Clay, then Abril joining in, then Carly trying to diffuse the situation. You could see two women he'd broken and another he was in the process of breaking. A shame the show gave up on all of this, and James Horan, to just have the weird stories he was given under Larkin Malloy.

I also liked Shana calling Gwyn "Granny Gwyn."

I had forgotten Shana and Stacey were at odds.

I've watched some, but not all, of the 1991 episodes recently posted (not the most recent batch though). The Tommy story was a very intricate umbrella story, far from perfect with many interwoven pieces. There are a lot of interesting threads to pull out. I would love to see more of Abril and Carly's friendship as Carly raising Abril's child with Clay could have had such major ramifications with the arrival of Michael in the fall. Clay and Carly's marriage also had potential to be explosive given Ava's history with Clay and Carly and how both parties saw themselves as the black sheep of their families. I also think there would have been more complexity with Shana and Clay not only over him lying to her about Cabot's wishes, but also using Tommy as she had lost Jimmy less than a year prior.

The Shana / Stacey animosity ensues throughout Mary Ryan Munisteri's run even though there should have been some resolution. Munisteri seemed to be prepping to write Shana out as Isabelle offered her a job in Hong Kong and she had nearly no story other than acting as Carly's lawyer in Michael's custody.

The moment where Trisha attempts to blackmail Clay over the Tommy stuff almost seems to be going too far, so I am glad that she pulled back. I don't need to know (nor I want to) but there is a lot of build to the suggestion that even though it is likely Monty injected himself with the insulin, that someone may have switched the vials to a higher concentration in order to murder him. I am not sure how they were going to prove that wasn't true.

I don't think Larkin Malloy's Clay works at all. As much as I like Flynn and Carly, I do think it was unwise to dump Clay at this time though I am curious seeing how Clay would have fit into Munisteri's vision for Corinth though at times I wonder if his initial return was in the works prior to her departure. I do think that Clay returning after the Michael custody was rectified could have led to phasing out Flynn. I'm not a huge Clay / Dinah Lee fan either.

Thanks for the extra insights as always. I have not seen this era consecutively either. Sometimes I wonder if they just thought the same few characters had too much going on, so you had, say, Carly siloed off, or Clay written out and taken back to bare bones with Malloy, but I think they missed some opportunities.

I meant to say a few pages ago that I appreciate the times you mention other soaps and what the headwriters from those shows likely re-used when they went to Loving. I never would have known (and until your posts had never even heard of Riviera).

12 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

Thanks for the extra insights as always. I have not seen this era consecutively either. Sometimes I wonder if they just thought the same few characters had too much going on, so you had, say, Carly siloed off, or Clay written out and taken back to bare bones with Malloy, but I think they missed some opportunities.

I meant to say a few pages ago that I appreciate the times you mention other soaps and what the headwriters from those shows likely re-used when they went to Loving. I never would have known (and until your posts had never even heard of Riviera).

Carly does have a lot going on in these final days of Millee Taggart / Jacqueline Babbin, though I suspect the show is probably Milee Taggart / Fran Sears by the end of the last batch of clips. Paul's accident was clearly meant to heighten Paul's connection to Michael as he was unlikely to have a child afterwards, but that might have been a Mary Ryan Munisteri addition. Carly's role as Tommy's stepmother was set to be explosive between the relationship between Abril and Carly and any movement in the Michael story.

I do think Flynn / Carly / Paul / Ava becomes a tighter quad and centers Ava more though I feel like we've seen more of Ava scheming in some of those May 1991 episodes. I also think the show missed an opportunity by not exploring the conflict more between Paul / Ava / Alex having Ava involved with her new criminal beau and her cop ex-husband.

Ultimately, Fran Sears was going with the college revamp, which she announced even before the arrival of Addie Walsh and the big 1992 reset. It is now dawning on me, but I suspect that Mary Ryan Munisteri might have been hired because of Tribes and how Sears ultimately would have wanted a stronger youth appeal with the college set. So I am curious how that went wrong and why we got the swift shift to Addie Walsh.

Based on Tribes, I think the youth set would have been Matt Ford, Revel Bowman (musician), Ally Rescott, and Hannah with a Matt / Ally / Revel triangle while Revel and Matt were band mates with young man that had supplied Matt with drugs in prison. Most of this still played out (albeit very quickly and with Revel's role filled by James, a random recurring player who was swiftly abandoned) and I suspect, once Revel / Ally and Hannah / Matt were couples, we would have gotten Ally / Revel / Giff with Ally faking the pregnancy during Bonnie and John Rescott's (mostly offscreen) divorce. I don't think anything would have salvaged the pregnancy story, but Munisteri and Trent Jones did solid work with Stacey Cox's false accusation against Mr. Stevens followed by Pete raping Stacey. Honestly, a lot of the crappy early Walsh work was probably just alterations to Munisteri's plans with much less nuance than Munisteri would have given it.

I know Eric Woodall ended up going to college, but I think they should have tried to bring back Matt even if it was just when Woodall was out of school. The road to the Cooper / Ally / Casey triangle was very rough.

I do think it was smart of Walsh to add an Alden to the younger set. I think I might have made the character Lorna's adopted son, which would have been an interesting dynamic for Jack and Shana to play. It would also have meant committing to Lorna, and possibly even Ann. Also, Ava's niece going after Lorna's son would have been fun.