GL now joins some illustrious company in the cancelled soap thread.

Let's share memories and ask questions here.

46 minutes ago, P.J. said:

Oil was still their main concern, but there was also a construction division. When Josh returned in '86-'87, he didn't immediately come back into the fold. He works for a construction company, and the owner dies, leaving it to Josh. Dylan ends up working there while he's in town, as the wheelin' and dealin' is not for him. There's also briefly a trucking division, which Mindy and Rusty run. Billy later inherited The Towers, but I'm not sure that was ever truly a part of Lewis.

I think the Towers were what got Billy and Roger all riled up to begin with right? 

56 minutes ago, SanCristobelsFinest said:

I don’t wanna derail anything anyone’s talking about, but why was Ross Marler basically treated like a saint in the 90s?

When you represent most of the town for free, this is the end result.

On 10/8/2025 at 7:36 PM, DRW50 said:

Mary as Lacey's mother would have been a stretch...

I do wonder what they would have done with Mary at that time but she was probably better off waiting to play Meta.         

Teri as Lacey’s mother was a stretch. (Teri was about a year older than Mary.) Thankfully we never saw scenes of Lainie with Lacey.

25 minutes ago, SanCristobelsFinest said:

I think the Towers were what got Billy and Roger all riled up to begin with right? 

Well, yes and no. What really started the dust up was the Al-Radi oil deal. Roger is trying to impress Alex by setting up a deal with some Saudis that Billy also knows, and he tries to swipe it out from under them. Vanessa is acting Spaulding president, and Roger uses Vanessa (who's already miffed at Billy for intruding on a party to set up the deal and lying to her and going to Saudi Arabia on NYE when they had a date.) to "distract" Billy and keep him from submitting the Lewis bid at the appointed hour. (Josh has gone home because Reva's having labor pains.) Van and Billy end up falling into bed, and Billy misses the deadline because his travel alarm broke during a fight with Van.

Billy realizes Van set out to undermine him and breaks things off with her and ends up waving Nadine under her nose at every opportunity.

What really puts gas on the fire is that Roger ends up swindling Henry out of his Spaulding shares, driving him to attempt suicide. Later, there's also the fact Roger fires Vanessa, and when Reva is deep in her post-partum depression, he takes salacious pictures of her and threatens to publish them if Billy doesn't give him back the deed to the Towers.

After the Towers, it's Roger and Mindy's affair and then Peter.

 

36 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

When you represent most of the town for free, this is the end result.

Well, Ross also doesn't cheat on his wife three times. Both Vanessa and Josh got the same kind of whitewash. They're all better people after 1983.

Ross wasn't even cheating on Holly when he slept with Blake, in spite of her protestations to the contrary.

Edited October 13Oct 13 by P.J.

It has been discussed that Don Stewart was very vocal about who he was paired with on the show. I wonder how he felt about Lezlie Dalton or Cindy Pickett? Did he hate the Mike/Jenifer pairing and have it shut down? I know he put the kibosh on the Mike/Alex pairing. 

I think he was fooling himself into thinking he would always be paired with actresses way younger than him, then again Eric Braden has gotten away with it on Y&R for decades.

 

I read that Don disliked a possible pairing with Trish because she looked too young for  him.

I guess this is another  case where stories get told, rumours become facts etc.

Are there any articles/interviews out there that we can reference to get a clearer picture?

27 minutes ago, P.J. said:

Well, Ross also doesn't cheat on his wife three times. Both Vanessa and Josh got the same kind of whitewash. They're all better people after 1983.

LOL, so true!

Let's put it this way. Reva wasn't the first Slut of Springfield. All three of them were in contention. Josh went after everything in a skirt and Vanessa went after everything in pants. Though Ross was more likely to betray you in a business sense. 

Did Josh and Vanessa ever hook up? That would have been funny later. "So this is awkward. Remember that one time we hooked up at that motel?" "I have no idea what you're talking about!" 😂

The other thing about Ross is that he was the ONLY lawyer for much of the time after Mike left town. He had to switch from defense/business/prosecution attorney a few times to cover all the town's lawyering.

Edited October 13Oct 13 by DeeVee

On 10/12/2025 at 12:01 AM, alwaysAMC said:

I’m up to April 30, 1998.

The Island Man now has a name - Sean McCullough. Reva gets sick after a jellyfish sting and has a fever dream about Sean being Josh, and he continues to take care of her. It seems like he’s slowly caring/falling for her now. After a ton of nagging, he finally opens up to her about his past: he found his wife in bed with his business partner and they were robbing him of his money. Later, he tells her he’ll never let her leave the island (uh oh). He’s wanted for murder, but says he didn’t actually do it. They continue to get close, but Reva’s still determined to leave and builds a dinky raft that would never survive traveling across the ocean LOL, but he calls her the most beautiful woman on earth and then destroys her raft. She lashes out at him and is still determined to get off the island. He comes around after they talk more, they become friendly again and he reveals a boat he’s been hiding. He takes her on the boat to the mainland so she can get back home. As they’re arriving, she slips and hits her head, so he takes her to the hospital. She ends up being fine and they have a tearful goodbye, with Sean telling her how much he’ll miss her. He kisses her forehead and leaves her room, and sadly, the police then handcuff him and walk him out of the hospital. He made the decision to risk his freedom to help her, and that seems like the last we’ll see of Sean. Interesting character and very handsome, but I guess he was never meant to stay long-term.

The clone Reva is now aged to an adult and Zimmer is playing the role. Josh can’t believe it, as she’s very flirty with him. Cassie claims it’s not her sister and they don’t seem to get along. Her southern accent is thick, she wants to go out and party/drink, and they’re afraid she’s not ready to be a soccer mom yet, like she was when she died. The next day, Josh promises Marah that Reva will be back home by Mother’s Day (so in a month). But the clone calls the house, Marah answers and the clone starts talking to her as her mother. She says she’ll be back home in a week, which makes Marah happy but panics Josh/Cassie. She tries kissing Josh, but he holds back. That upsets her, so she leaves the house out of a window and goes to the bar, where Rob Layne happens to be. Rob thinks she’s a prostitute and they start flirting/dancing, but Cassie arrives and breaks it up. But she identifies herself as the new and improved Reva Shayne. Rob tells her that Cassie/Josh are together (because Dinah told him before), and the clone gets upset. Josh arrives and she threatens to tell the whole bar about who she is. Josh gets her to stop by professing his love. The next day, Josh now has a ‘feeling’ that the real Reva is alive and he can feel it in his bones (oh please). He tries to convince Michael and the clone overhears. The clone is now worried because if the real Reva is alive, then what happens to her? The coast guard then calls and says they found the fuselage, but there’s no way someone could have survived. He’s heartbroken again and the clone is determined more than ever to be Reva’s replacement and love Josh. They end up kissing.

Days later, they finally have the planned family dinner night to bring the clone “home” with the kids. The clone runs into Marah beforehand and they talk about what she’s been doing, but the clone doesn’t know their secret handshake, and Marah has to remind her. Come to find out, Billy has turned the family dinner into a surprise welcome home party with random Ross, Vanessa, Matt and Holly there. Josh and Cassie have to feed her information on the people, like Vanessa. Then the clone asks who’s the guy she’s with (Matt), “her son?” LOL. Dinah/Dahlia/Marcus show up, and then Buzz later with the catering and the clone answers the door and asks who he is LOL. Michael arrives and gets her out of trouble. They make it through the party and Reva wants to have sex with Josh. He denies her advances after kissing because he’s just not ready and she pouts and doesn’t want to be Reva anymore. I can’t. She lets Marah skip school the next day and they eat at the diner, and Buzz is onto her. He goes to Josh/Cassie and demands answers because he knows that’s a ‘pod person’.  They chalk it up to a nervous breakdown because of the Annie situation, but the clone shows up and keeps fighting with Cassie, and Buzz doesn’t seem to buy it. Josh takes the clone to Cross Creek and they eventually have sex, after he sees her in Reva’s old wedding dress. But, he seems to have regrets about the sex, which he tells her, so she leaves Cross Creek behind his back and goes straight to Buzz and tells Buzz she’s a clone and the real Reva is dead! Buzz thinks she’s gone crazy and calls Josh to come get her. Josh and the clone eventually have a fight and the clone wants to leave, but Josh is torn between keeping her for the kids or letting her go forever, knowing she’s not the real thing.

Hart promises to trust Cassie with the Reva/Josh situation and to stay out of it, and they finally have sex (about time!). Later, Dinah starts putting into his head that Cassie/Josh are having an affair.

Ross tells Ben he plans to get him disbarred for withholding the tape, and Ben tells him to go for it, but it’ll cost him Blake for having to testify on the witness stand. Later, we see Ben has a tape of him and Blake half-naked and kissing from the other night (wow!). He gets drunk watching the tape, obsessing over Blake now. He goes to Holly’s to tell her they want each other, but Holly refuses to believe it. Ross walks in and Ben tells them he has a tape of them in bed together, and he’ll use it when he needs to. They both don’t believe it, meanwhile, Blake is on her long solo vacation and day dreaming about Ben and confesses she wants both Ross and Ben. Oh Blake haha.

Beth takes Lizzie to school and Carl shows up, punches her, and demands money from her. This guy is gross. She actually stands up to him and says no, but he continues to threaten her. With her black eye, she goes to Harley for help and they make up a secret plan to get him later the night of Lizzie’s birthday party. Beth is to get money out of the Spaulding safe and meet Carl, while Harley is hiding with a gun. But, Harley forgets her gun (dumb) and Beth keeps getting held up at the party, first by Phillip and second by Lillian who notices her black eye and gets worried. Carl is upset that Beth isn’t on time and Harley is having to hide from him. It doesn’t make sense that they’re hiding this from Phillip, but whatever, this storyline isn’t my favorite because we never saw Carl/Beth’s backstory and Carl seems like a basic villain. Anyway, Harley makes it back to the mansion, while Beth goes to meet Carl, so Harley tells everyone about what’s happening and they all go chase after Beth. Beth gets back home safely, Frank shows up and says he can’t find Carl, so they keep going on with the birthday. The doorbell rings, and a very muddy and creepy looking Carl stumbles in, says ‘Damn you Alan, damn you and your whole family’ and then falls down and dies. This was actually a good, creepy moment, finally. Lizzie sees from the staircase and freaks out, what a fun birthday for her haha. Come to find out, Carl was in possession of a letter. Beth wrote Phillip that letter right after he came back to SF declaring her love for him and her desire to reconcile. Alan infiltrated the letter, by working with Carl, and Phillip never got the letter. So essentially Alan had a hand in keeping Phillip and Beth apart, and Phillip to stay in SF. Phillip is angry at his father yet again, and says he will never forgive him and will make him pay the rest of his life. He then tells everyone he saw Alan at the pond shooting Carl (which we never saw/seems suspicious - and later turned out to be a lie), and Alan maintains his innocence. Gosh, now this is a murder mystery that no one asked for, because all the suspects (Phillip, Alan, Lillian, Beth) are family and this guy was bad, and they could have worked together to just get him arrested. I’ll skip typing out details, given this is about a man that was only on for like 4 episodes total and I just don’t really care. Short version - Phillip got rid of Beth’s dirty shoes which is evidence, which Harley is aware of and not happy about; Lillian called up a man to watch Carl, but come to find out he’s a hitman and she’s worried he killed him on her behalf, which Alan is aware of. The one good thing about it is seeing way more of Lillian, which has been rare in the last 3 years. Anyway Harley plays cop detective internally and pisses everyone off, but Beth goes to Ben and the police and says she’s the murderer.

I keep meaning to go back and finish your other recent recaps - this thread moves fast - but I did want to thank you once again, especially as you are reminding me of a great deal I'd forgotten from this period.

Matt being called Vanessa's son - another little dig from Rauch or whoever, I assume.

More hints of Cassie/Josh, which happens repeatedly in these years (the hints).

I wasn't sure if Marcus and Dahlia were still around. Poor Kevin "Daytime Emmy winner" Mambo. 

Josh sleeping with the clone always felt a little too far for me, although I had a low enough opinion of Josh to where I wasn't outraged. 

The main memory I ever have of Sean is that he had the best chest on the show.

My memory of the Beth and Carl story is of it being better than it should have been, as it helps explain some of Beth's behavior and BC as well as the guy who played Carl do some good work.

Edited October 13Oct 13 by DRW50

7 hours ago, P.J. said:

 

After the Towers, it's Roger and Mindy's affair and then Peter.

I forgot the Man of the Year debacle, but that body lands much more at Nadine and Buzz's doorstep than Roger's.

 

6 hours ago, DeeVee said:

LOL, so true!

Let's put it this way. Reva wasn't the first Slut of Springfield. All three of them were in contention. Josh went after everything in a skirt and Vanessa went after everything in pants. Though Ross was more likely to betray you in a business sense. 

Did Josh and Vanessa ever hook up? That would have been funny later. "So this is awkward. Remember that one time we hooked up at that motel?" "I have no idea what you're talking about!" 😂

The other thing about Ross is that he was the ONLY lawyer for much of the time after Mike left town. He had to switch from defense/business/prosecution attorney a few times to cover all the town's lawyering.

Thank GOD, no, Josh and Vanessa never hook up---although it seems to be heavily hinted at at times in the '90's. Reva, during her post partum depression thinks that they're having an affair. (which naturally leads her to go chasing the men of Springfield to prove she's hotter than Van....RME)

After Reva dies, and Billy jilts Van at the altar, there's a period where Josh and Van are leaning on each other (because of Billy's drinking) and both Billy and Nadine start getting a vibe that there's something going on there. Nadine even tries encouraging Harley to push them at each other (she doesn't realize Harley has feels for Josh) because she knows that would get Van out of Billy's life, but there's nothing going on.

Even when Josh returns from Italy, and Billy goes to jail, Van and Josh share the house with the kids, and Josh helps her fight for custody of Peter. But shortly thereafter, Van is having sex with &&&&.

When Van and Josh met, they actually actively disliked each other. It was hinted at in a recap that Josh made a pass at her, but I've never seen it in a clip.

 

Of the three of them, Ross gets the most tail, but he is perpetually single for a decade after he and Carrie divorce.  Van has brief affairs, but usually gets dumped (at least before marrying Billy.) Josh chases, but doesn't get a lot before Reva comes to town. LOL

10 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

I read that Don disliked a possible pairing with Trish because she looked too young for  him.

I guess this is another  case where stories get told, rumours become facts etc.

Are there any articles/interviews out there that we can reference to get a clearer picture?

I agree. I would like to find some interviews or articles that reference his BTS behavior. I do know they kept his real-life marriage and children a secret for years because he was seen as the shows sex symbol and they didn't want the ladies at home to know he was not available. When you see old articles, they always have him as a swinging bachelor, show him wearing the latest hip 70's fashions, brag about his singing abilities, and include a few shirtless pics.

I don't think you'll find anything in print about Don preferring younger costars. Reportedly, he also balked at being a Grandfather. 

1 hour ago, SoapDope78 said:

I do know they kept his real-life marriage and children a secret for years because he was seen as the shows sex symbol

The show's what.

I guess that's a personal preference thing, but I never thought of him that way.

I'd like to find some of his interviews, too, because I remember him constantly b!tching about one thing or another. Maybe that's just time exaggerating what I think I remember, though.

1 hour ago, P.J. said:

I don't think you'll find anything in print about Don preferring younger costars. Reportedly, he also balked at being a Grandfather. 

I'm surprised he didn't have a clause in his contract like Eileen Fulton did on ATWT. 

45 minutes ago, DeeVee said:

The show's what.

I guess that's a personal preference thing, but I never thought of him that way.

I'd like to find some of his interviews, too, because I remember him constantly b!tching about one thing or another. Maybe that's just time exaggerating what I think I remember, though.

I found a few clippings and pics online but full access to old soap magazines would be a better source to dig deep. He comes across as a bit conceited in what little I find.

5 hours ago, SoapDope78 said:

I found a few clippings and pics online but full access to old soap magazines would be a better source to dig deep. He comes across as a bit conceited in what little I find.

Thanks for posting these!

It's funny to me (kind of) that there is an article about him almost dying while he was flying because I remember him complaining that they wouldn't let him fly a helicopter during a location shoot. Of course they wouldn't, because of the insurance and because it would be kind of inconvenient if one of the major stars of the show was injured or killed during a shoot.

I got the feeling he wanted Mike to be more of an action kind of hero--and some of his comments here seem to confirm that he was like that in his private life. Marland did write some stuff like that for him. I recall a big fight to the death on a ski tram during another location shoot.

He suffered what a lot of soap actors who were stars during the 60s and 70s went through during the 80s. That kind of hero went out of fashion for a while and like others in his age group he didn't like it much. They were aging out of the romantic hero role as well. 

That doesn't mean there was no place for Mike on the show. I feel like they needed the character to ease into becoming the major patriarch figure. I don't think Stewart was interested in that kind of role.