30 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

(Peter wasn't actually Greg's brother, right?)

Right. He and Sylvia were just extorting money from Greg.

Anne was defined by two things: her sexuality, and her thirst for money. She spent the better part of a season conspiring with an Italian greaseball to get their hands on a million dollars, and was willing to seduce even Gary Ewing for some of HIS money (until Michelle Phillips herself convinced Larry Kasha to go to the Lechowicks and put the kibosh on the whole thing, making Val's "brain virus" storyline even more purposeless than it already was). Making her suddenly broke and homeless won't calm her down. If anything, it'll just make her MORE money-hungry. And that's why I loathe that story to this day, lol.

39 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

even the stupid Val story I could get through.

I couldn't, lol. Again, what was the point? If you're going to the trouble of having Val go off-the-rails crazy, then, for goodness sake, do something big with it! Have her sleep with Mack, or steal the million dollars from Anne and Nick, or run down Linda with her car (as a "favor" to BFF Karen). Anything that might impact the stories going forward, forcing Val and everybody else to live with the consequences of her actions. As it was, all that story really did was stall Gary and Val's elopement 'til the big 300th episode.

10 minutes ago, Khan said:

Right. He and Sylvia were just extorting money from Greg.

Anne was defined by two things: her sexuality, and her thirst for money. She spent the better part of a season conspiring with an Italian greaseball to get their hands on a million dollars, and was willing to seduce even Gary Ewing for some of HIS money (until Michelle Phillips herself convinced Larry Kasha to go to the Lechowicks and put the kibosh on the whole thing, making Val's "brain virus" storyline even more purposeless than it already was). Making her suddenly broke and homeless won't calm her down. If anything, it'll just make her MORE money-hungry. And that's why I loathe that story to this day, lol.

I couldn't, lol. Again, what was the point? If you're going to the trouble of having Val go off-the-rails crazy, then, for goodness sake, do something big with it! Have her sleep with Mack, or steal the million dollars from Anne and Nick, or run down Linda with her car (as a "favor" to BFF Karen). Anything that might impact the stories going forward, forcing Val and everybody else to live with the consequences of her actions. As it was, all that story really did was stall Gary and Val's elopement 'til the big 300th episode.

I had forgotten that Michelle stopped a story with seducing Gary. I can see why - they were all a little old for that type of plot and fans would have hated Anne - but it makes more sense than what she got. The one scene I thought worked was her managing to get a makeover in a department store but even that was something which was a '30s pastiche. Didn't this end with her briefly being on TV?

I think I could get through the Val story compared to, say, the Danny fiasco because the brain story seemed to be played as dark comedy, but I agree they should have escalated her behavior beyond just cooking the twins' pets. (if they were going to rip off Santa Barbara maybe they could have had her become a jewel thief like Eden)

4 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

Didn't this end with her briefly being on TV?

Actually, @DRW50 , it was a radio show: "Tell Me About It." Listeners called in and asked Anne for advice. (Don't laugh, that actually happened).

I think I would've had Val become exactly the kind of southern-fried trash J.R. always accused her of being. She'd start drinking, smoking, wearing inappropriate clothes, staying out all hours and sleeping with anything with a pulse. There'd be a nasty custody trial between her and Gary, with Val exposing his and the rest of the Ewings' dirty laundry in court. She might even sell her publisher on a tell-all. But it all would climax with a totally-out-of-control Val kidnapping Betsy and Bobby (with the belief that the people who had kidnapped them before were out to take them away again) before being dragged to the sanitarium, where she would work on issues stemming not just from her head trauma, but also from Danny, Ben, etc.

5 minutes ago, Khan said:

Actually, @DRW50 , it was a radio show: "Tell Me About It." Listeners called in and asked Anne for advice. (Don't laugh, that actually happened).

I think I would've had Val become exactly the kind of southern-fried trash J.R. always accused her of being. She'd start drinking, smoking, wearing inappropriate clothes, staying out all hours and sleeping with anything with a pulse. There'd be a nasty custody trial between her and Gary, with Val exposing his and the rest of the Ewings' dirty laundry in court. She might even sell her publisher on a tell-all. But it all would climax with a totally-out-of-control Val kidnapping Betsy and Bobby (with the belief that the people who had kidnapped them before were out to take them away again) before being dragged to the sanitarium, where she would work on issues stemming not just from her head trauma, but also from Danny, Ben, etc.

🤣 I can picture Val wearing daisy dukes and a tube top. She would let the house pile up full of clutter with junk in the front yard. She would trade in her car for truck with big tires and a lift kit. She would bring home guys with painted on Levis with names like Billy Ray, Tommy Joe etc...She would curse people without bothering to remove the Marlboro from her lips. The kids would live on Kentucky Fried Chicken and she wouldn't let them leave the table till they finished all their taters and gravy.

Edited 10 hours ago10 hr by SoapDope78

9 hours ago, Khan said:

Right. He and Sylvia were just extorting money from Greg.

Anne was defined by two things: her sexuality, and her thirst for money. She spent the better part of a season conspiring with an Italian greaseball to get their hands on a million dollars, and was willing to seduce even Gary Ewing for some of HIS money (until Michelle Phillips herself convinced Larry Kasha to go to the Lechowicks and put the kibosh on the whole thing, making Val's "brain virus" storyline even more purposeless than it already was). Making her suddenly broke and homeless won't calm her down. If anything, it'll just make her MORE money-hungry. And that's why I loathe that story to this day, lol.

I couldn't, lol. Again, what was the point? If you're going to the trouble of having Val go off-the-rails crazy, then, for goodness sake, do something big with it! Have her sleep with Mack, or steal the million dollars from Anne and Nick, or run down Linda with her car (as a "favor" to BFF Karen). Anything that might impact the stories going forward, forcing Val and everybody else to live with the consequences of her actions. As it was, all that story really did was stall Gary and Val's elopement 'til the big 300th episode.

I think Latham and co were going to do a 90s version of Val/Gary/Abby... but doing it with Anne instead of Abby. Val going crazy and being unhinged to the point where both Mac and Karen would side with Gary, feel for him, and be understanding that he was driven away by Val. And his interactions with Anne were both a testing of the waters in terms of chemistry between Gary/Anne.. and also a way for Val to go unhinged. Naturally it didn't work especially given that Ms. Phillips was fighting a Gary and Ann pairing behing the scenes as we now know :)

Two positives of this story for me were as follows:

1) It did allow some interaction between Val and Paige during that story (much like the Tidal energy story allowed some good interactions between Paige/Gary that we hadn't seen much of since season 8)

2) Val was torturing Gary.. a nice little karmic punishment for the way he treated her during their 2nd remarriage in the earlier seasons. Unpopular opinion, but I totally was in support of her not telling Gary that the twins were his given his track record and his tendency to fall off the wagon at the slighest sign of stress.