4 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

It was all Nancy. I don't know how he would have fared as I never thought he was the most dynamic of leading men, but it would have to be better than Grandma Moses.

lol...Grandma Moses... :)

Maybe the timing was off, but I feel like bringing in Marcy Walker as Mindy might have worked. If nothing else it seems she wouldn’t have been a worse recast and then no Tangie randomly floating around.

12 minutes ago, kalbir said:

I say Kobe gets more of a pass than JFP because Kobe set in motion characters and storylines that carried GL through its final 25 years whereas JFP decisions lead to GL limping along in its final 15 years.

I think Long deserves at least some of that credit. It's obvious the Lewis/Shayne families were a labor of love for her. (One reason why people point out they act more like they're from Alabama than Oklahoma, most likely). She created the Four Muskateers, she created Alex--and to this day, I'm impressed by how seamlessly she brought this never-before-mentioned Spaulding into the story. She had to deal with the fallout of two writers strikes, and IMO she set the ship right pretty quickly. She had to deal with the fallout of Bernau's exit and quickly reset when they decided to bring Roger back from the dead. She quickly realized Maureen Garrett would be an asset to the show, so she grew a short stint into a long-term story.

Obviously, I did not like every story she wrote or every choice that she made (coughRevaandAlancough) but I UNDERSTAND the reasoning behind a lot of those decisions.

Kobe, OTOH, made decisions I don't get at all, starting with decimating the Bauers, getting rid of most of the characters from the Dobsons/Marland era, killing off characters out of petulance because the actors wanted to give Hollywood a go. I'm sure she made good decisions, too, but the bad ones kind of stick out.

25 minutes ago, GL95 said:

Maybe the timing was off, but I feel like bringing in Marcy Walker as Mindy might have worked. If nothing else it seems she wouldn’t have been a worse recast and then no Tangie randomly floating around.

She wouldn't have been my choice, but she would have to be better...and she did have some chemistry with Vincent Irizarry on AMC.

5 hours ago, P.J. said:

Now, y'know I pretty much ignore anything **** related. And most of what Jenna says period. Her taste in men was awful. LOL.

I don't think Guiding Light acknowledged Zas's death. They treated him shamefully. But, I also can't recall them acknowledging any other former performer's death. They acknowledged Chris Bernau's, and while he hadn't been on the show for about a year, his character was still on screen. I also thought they kept his condition quiet and didn't discourage speculation that he might return in the press.

They did on screen acknowledgements of both William Roerick and Larry Gates, but I don't think they did for Vince Williams, who played Hamp Speakes, and died in '97.

I know they acknowledged Mary Stuart's passing, but more shocked, but happy they acknowledged Robert Calhoun, who hadn't been EP since 1991. That's how I found out he passed. Honestly, up until that point, I was hoping against hope that the show would find a way to bring him, Curlee and Long back.

Yes, they acknowledged Mary Stuart's passing but they unfortunately spelled her name "Mary Stewart"

Mary Stuart Tribute

Charita Bauer Tribute

Christopher Bernau Tribute

Edited 21 hours ago21 hr by Spoon

Well, both Calhoun and Stuart had long, long ties to P&G. I wasn't overly attached to Meta, but I remember Search for Tomorrow. If not actual stories, just it's presence on CBS.

7 hours ago, kalbir said:

@alwaysAMC Since you are watching December 1998, was there any mention of MZ passing away before the rebroadcast of his Emmy winning episode?

Re: Fiona Hutchison, I can believe she was fired for speaking out about how MZ was treated by CBS/P&G. In case you haven't seen it she appears on The Locher Room MZ tribute episode. Reposting the link to save digging in the thread: Michael Zaslow - Tribute - YouTube

This was a lovely tribute, thanks again for posting! I wish Fiona's connection was better, but I'll take what we can get, I think this was during the early Covid years. LOL at her calling Rauch an overbearing male producer. The ladies all laughing after that is very telling at how popular he wasn't with them.

Seeing Simms, I didn't realize, or I forgot if y'all told me, that Roger/Mindy had such a close connection/storyline together. I only saw Mindy's last few months on the show and she never really interacted with Roger. That reminds me, Mindy's departure in 1995 was one of the first departures for me and it made me realize that GL just doesn't do a good job of sending characters off. She just left overnight and there was a throw away line that she went off to Europe (or something like that).

It was interesting to hear the ladies talk about when they first noticed his speech going (26:00 mark), which Fiona was first to notice. She thought maybe he was losing his hearing first, or then perhaps having a stroke. But it made me think back to Jenna's return in Dec 1996 and I just don't really remember Roger and Jenna having much interaction on the show then. Her return storyline was pretty siloed with Jenna/Buzz/Jeffrey and Harley/Phillip. Anyway, I wish Rauch would have listened to literally everyone and allowed Zaslow to stay and let Holly take care of him. The alternative was just recasting him and then shipping him out of town? What was the point.

I loved seeing Jerry pop in as a surprise. So sad to think he died a year later from this interview :( I wonder how close Jerry and Liz Keifer were in the years after GL was canceled.

Zaslow's daughter is very sweet. Is she Asian or was Zaslow's wife Asian? I tried to google and couldn't find anything, but I did read that his second daughter sadly passed in 2004 at 19 years old which was so sad to read too.

1 hour ago, Spoon said:

Yes, they acknowledged Mary Stuart's passing but they unfortunately spelled her name "Mary Stewart"

Mary Stuart Tribute

This was so beautiful, I'm so very very happy they did this. I can't believe they allowed her last name to be misspelled, but it isn't the first time I've seen errors in names/characters in the closing credits. Probably some 20-somethings in the office who didn't care and had no QA reviews unfortunately.

@alwaysAMC Fiona would definitely know about Rauch being overbearing- she also worked for him at One Life to Live.

1 hour ago, alwaysAMC said:

This was a lovely tribute, thanks again for posting!

You're welcome.

1 hour ago, alwaysAMC said:

Zaslow's daughter is very sweet. Is she Asian or was Zaslow's wife Asian? I tried to google and couldn't find anything, but I did read that his second daughter sadly passed in 2004 at 19 years old which was so sad to read too.

Michael Zaslow and his wife adopted two girls from Korea sometime in the 1980s.

MZ was given the SOD Editors Award shortly after he passed away and his wife and daughters accepted the award. Michael Zaslow Tribute at the Soap Opera Digest Awards, 1999

Edited 18 hours ago18 hr by kalbir

I’m watching AM/Eleni’s airport wedding-poor Frank. I knew the basics of AM tricking Eleni with the prostitute in Paris/Blair calling immigration. I hadn’t realized just how much Blake’s call set it up given that AM’s scheme is elaborate as far as needing a private jet and being an international trip, but given that Alex was with Frank all night one conversation was likely going to blow it all up.

Blake/Holly having a nice moment talking about AM then Blake just unapologetically telling Holly she tried to have Eleni deported without even realizing why a normal person might think this was wrong made me chuckle. The SS version of Blake just has zero moral compass.

8 hours ago, kalbir said:

You're welcome.

Michael Zaslow and his wife adopted two girls from Korea sometime in the 1980s.

MZ was given the SOD Editors Award shortly after he passed away and his wife and daughters accepted the award. Michael Zaslow Tribute at the Soap Opera Digest Awards, 1999

Oh nice, thank you! What a wonderful tribute.

So I found this photo of Alan and Beth's (gag) wedding. Now I need someone to explain something to me:

How did RICK end up being ALAN's best man?

@alwaysAMC Glad you are still doing your detailed reviews. They are still bringing back memories for me. I did not remember Meta popping up so often in the Ben story.

I guess this is the point when they are trying to redeem him somewhat. I do think Hunt Block made the transition work but they had taken him very far earlier in the year so I can see why many didn't buy it.

I don't know if the show ever quite finds a good story for Brittany Snow in her time as Daisy/Susan, but I remember thinking immediately that she had a real star quality. The casting director at that time was able to find many gems.

I do remember being touched by Jenna's goodbye scenes/dreams, especially with Vanessa. That was nicer than most of her second run.

Beth being put into Spaulding with zero training and acting cracked out for a year was nonsense, but that's what soaps were becoming by this point. Spaulding did have a lot of potential at this time with Alex back and so many characters moving in, but it doesn't quite come to plan.

I felt like B&E were trying to write Alex a little more like how she should have been written. I totally get why Marj left, she 100% made the right choice, but I do wonder what might have been.

It's interesting you mention Mindy's exit as being low-key because while it was it was also one of the only exits of that era I appreciated. IIRC, she left because she didn't want to testify against Rick for his role in Eve's death. Those were some of the only Barbara Crampton Mindy scenes I appreciated.

The Annie material reads worse than it plays. Signy Coleman's hard edge made me more involved. Looking back, beyond the impossible task of replacing Cynthia Watros, I think she was a little bit too hard for GL, which was a very vibrant show.