GL Flashback 1997

[Ann_SS]

There is no reason to feel sorry for Annie. She would have been another forgotten character if she wasn't sacrificed on the altar of Reva and Josh. GL and Watros benefited greatly from Annie going psycho. It was compelling soap watching. To this day, I remember her breakdown on the stand. Goes to show how the soap mags don't know squat.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Watros was great as the heroine, but the character would've just faded into the background had it not been for her transformation. The drug problems happened in 1996, so it was after Reva came back did they decide to give her a negative backstory for people to root against her and her union with Josh.

Annie is remembered and revered in modern GL history for being the "psychotic villianess," not the mild-mannered nurse. Despite the one-sidedness of the writing, Watros managed to instill so much dept and layers into the Annie Dutton character, something a lesser actress couldn't do. It was because of Watros' performance did most people sympathize with Annie, since the writing favoured Reva and Josh in a very overt manner.

Performance-wise, no one in 1997 came close to Watros' portrayal of Annie Dutton Lewis. I remember her getting praise every week from the soap magazines. The writing was plot driven at the time, but Watros' performance was getting all the buzz and acclaim from everyone that year. I remember someone from I think SOW saying that she could've picked her Emmy reels at random that year and still would've won. I don't think it would've happened had it not been for Annie's transformation.

Also, we all knew it pissed Kim Zimmer off to no end that Watros was stealing the spotlight from her and that the audience was rooting for Annie and not Reva. Kim would even go on to admit this.

[crc]

I like the transformation of Annie, but with better writers, she could have become a great "villainess" or "rich b***h." If only they were willing to actually do more of an Alan/Annie story and moved her away from being obsessive of Josh and Reva. One of E&B's major weaknesses as writers was that they couldn't make a character as a foil without making them outright cartoonish. Examples are Annie, Carmen, Beth ... pretty much every character that was coming in between a couple. I even blame their heavy-handed writing for the (what's a nice way to call them...) "very vocal and active" fanbases GL started to really develop around this time like the Danny/Michelle fans. **ducks and run out of this thread**

**sneaks back in for a quick moment**

Despite my criticism, I still say that I love/hate the E&B era. There was a lot to complain about, but I still thought the show (for the most part) was still very much "entertaining." The transformation from the E&B era and Claire Labine's quick stint couldn't have been anymore jarring and sleep inducing. LOL! It's like CBS/P&G thought if one extreme didn't work, maybe the opposite would.