17 hours ago, P.J. said:

Just to fangurl for a moment---there were two women who didn't seem to age at all from the '80's to '00, and it was Maeve and Colleen Zenk. I'm so glad neither woman ruined their faces---and now actresses are doing it younger and younger.

@P.J., I totally agree with you. I would also add Maureen Garrett to that list.

Annette

5 minutes ago, GL Oldtimer said:

@P.J., I totally agree with you. I would also add Maureen Garrett to that list.

Annette

I was thinking the same thing-it always seemed like her makeup was pretty minimalist too.

1 hour ago, GL Oldtimer said:

@P.J., I totally agree with you. I would also add Maureen Garrett to that list.

Annette

What really struck me watching some of the '79 episodes was how young MG looked. And I agree, she only became more striking as the years passed.

It's Krista Tesearu's birthday...

I happened to catch Beverlee McKinsey on an old Hawaii 5-O rerun. Yowza.

6 hours ago, Spoon said:

Re: rivalries. Rauch era really pushed Carmen v Michelle. Too bad Sandra Santiago went to the "Ron Raines" school of "whiplash curling." Couldn't stand her, the execution was poor. The Alex/Mindy feud was one of the show's better feuds, even despite the recastings.

It's so hard to think about the Santos without mentally cringing, and the Michelle era ended so poorly for me with St Alban in the role, that I'd completely forgotten you could consider them rivals.

2 hours ago, GL95 said:

Right now where I'm at I'm mostly just amused at how big of a deal they're making outbidding Lewis based on getting access to the contract including Ross/Holly trying to get Blake to turn A-M in. It's certainly not a sound moral or ethical decision, but on the scale of possible criminal matters on this show it seems pretty minor (Billy has committed assault in public twice in the last two months without consequences though Springfield PD doesn't seem particularly interested in assault charges in general haha). Billy is pretty sanctimonious about Spaulding even trying to compete to begin with and Nadine of course isn't at all sympathetic. The most interesting aspect of all this is the A-M/Alex dynamic where Alex is basically giving him tacit approval to be underhanded so long as he doesn't get caught and keeps her hands clean with plausible deniability. (Not dissimilar to her with Roger really.)

It's interesting watching out of order as I first started watching GL somewhere in 1995 and A-M was in his phase of trying to be a better man while also repeatedly in the Charlie Brown mode of getting the football yanked from under him.

In spite of how Alex represented herself, there are times (even while Bev McKinsey was in the role) where her ethics are no better than Alan's ever were.

It just dawned on me that somewhere in my viewing Sam exited and I had no idea. Did she go to law school out of town? Did she go to India to be with Justin? Her plot line ended with Daniel St Clair's exit and with no Phillip/Justin she didn't have much purpose on the canvas, but it was a pretty unceremonious exit for someone who took up a lot of airtime for the whole time I've been watching since June 1990. I find it interesting that Sam never returned when Phillip did, especially given that she was Harley's best friend. Though it's funny that I watched first run 1995-2005ish and did not remember that Phillip was Ross's biological nephew, so clearly the show had about as much interest in Phillip as a Marler by 1996 as they had in A-M as a Bauer.

I remember Sam really confusing me when I started my June 1990 viewing especially when Phillip/A-M visited her in the hospital and she seemed really close to both of them, and the whole familiarity/comfort of that scene was so different from any family dynamic I'd seen of the Spauldings.

1 minute ago, GL95 said:

It just dawned on me that somewhere in my viewing Sam exited and I had no idea. Did she go to law school out of town? Did she go to India to be with Justin? Her plot line ended with Daniel St Clair's exit and with no Phillip/Justin she didn't have much purpose on the canvas, but it was a pretty unceremonious exit for someone who took up a lot of airtime for the whole time I've been watching since June 1990. I find it interesting that Sam never returned when Phillip did, especially given that she was Harley's best friend. Though it's funny that I watched first run 1995-2005ish and did not remember that Phillip was Ross's biological nephew, so clearly the show had about as much interest in Phillip as a Marler by 1996 as they had in A-M as a Bauer.

The only reason I knew is because Ross and Philip were sometimes involved.

I had the same reaction about Sam. I really liked Sam (it helped that I was a kid at the time - I think she's a character a younger viewer was more inclined to like) and I just had no idea where she went. I think someone here once said she went off to law school. I don't know.

Looking back, Julie replaced her. As a sweetheart, I think Sam fit the role better...but I enjoyed her bitch arc, which I don't think Suzy Cote could have played as well.

I never understood why when Sam came to Springfield, she's living in the Spaulding mansion. But it was nice that she had this pseudo-brother/sister relationship with Alan-Michael.

I do think she left to go to college out of town, but I'm not sure if it was to study law.

48 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

The only reason I knew is because Ross and Philip were sometimes involved.

I had the same reaction about Sam. I really liked Sam (it helped that I was a kid at the time - I think she's a character a younger viewer was more inclined to like) and I just had no idea where she went. I think someone here once said she went off to law school. I don't know.

Looking back, Julie replaced her. As a sweetheart, I think Sam fit the role better...but I enjoyed her bitch arc, which I don't think Suzy Cote could have played as well.

I actually watched/rewatched 1994-1997 before I decided to fill in gaps, so I’ve seen Bitch Julie but I’m still in the long Sweet Julie period and it’s pretty crazy knowing what’s to come. I’ve said it before but this experience is like watching an origin story prequel.

36 minutes ago, P.J. said:

I never understood why when Sam came to Springfield, she's living in the Spaulding mansion. But it was nice that she had this pseudo-brother/sister relationship with Alan-Michael.

I do think she left to go to college out of town, but I'm not sure if it was to study law.

From what I remember of when she first came on the show, she was a very nerdy girl, almost like a genius. (I got annoyed when they tried to recreate the early Phillip/Beth dynamic when Dylan wanted her to quit school and run away with him, and I thought, "You're going to crash your schooling for THAT guy?" I was not impressed by Dylan in the beginning, LOL).

Her relationship with the Spauldings was a little weird--even Alan seemed fond of her, but not in a creepy way. I don't know--maybe because she was his ex-wife's child? Maybe they thought putting her with the Spauldings gave her more opportunities to interact with her brother. It makes sense she became close to Alan Michael because of their connections to Dylan and Harley and their drama over baby Daisy.

Yeah, another case of a core family member disappearing into the ether, along with her father and her Aunt Lainie. They did that a lot, unfortunately.

They should have brought back Sam to pair with Rick as the closest he can get to being with Phillip.

IIRC Samantha didn't even get a proper exit story, just a mention of leaving town to attend law school.

Dylan got placed in the expanded young adult set with Hart, Bridget, Kat, Julie, David.

Perhaps Bridget, Kat, Julie made Samantha not necessary.

1 hour ago, DeeVee said:

From what I remember of when she first came on the show, she was a very nerdy girl, almost like a genius. (I got annoyed when they tried to recreate the early Phillip/Beth dynamic when Dylan wanted her to quit school and run away with him, and I thought, "You're going to crash your schooling for THAT guy?" I was not impressed by Dylan in the beginning, LOL).

Her relationship with the Spauldings was a little weird--even Alan seemed fond of her, but not in a creepy way. I don't know--maybe because she was his ex-wife's child? Maybe they thought putting her with the Spauldings gave her more opportunities to interact with her brother. It makes sense she became close to Alan Michael because of their connections to Dylan and Harley and their drama over baby Daisy.

Yeah, another case of a core family member disappearing into the ether, along with her father and her Aunt Lainie. They did that a lot, unfortunately.

Yep, Sam is the nerdy, introverted girl. She's living at the mansion, and seems fixated on "helping" with Alan Michael and Harley's wedding. I'm not sure if she's there to sort of "befriend" Harley who is still very rough around the edges, or if she was sent to live with Phillip rather than Ross for some reason, and afterwards went to live with Ross.

As Alan is trying to manipulate Alan-Michael at this point, he's probably smiling at anyone who supports AM/Harley getting married. But as Sam is so unfiltered in a Jane Austen-ish sort of way, she can't offend anyone.

I think the addition of Eleni in 1991 was the start of the character of Sam not being needed as much since Eleni seemed to be in the same age bracket as Sam/Harley while becoming the woman that Frank/AM end up fighting over... and that was after Eleni and Dylan briefly dated in mid 1991.

Also, moving Dylan into the Bridget/Julie/Hart/Kat grouping in mid to late 1991 also didn't help Sam's place on the show.

I also think the change-over in head-writers and EP in 1991 caused a shift in focusing on new characters/situations.. and once the St John story was wrapped up in early 1992.. there wasn't really any other story/coupling in place for Sam at that time and with her most likely 3 year contract coming up for renewal in early 1992... she was phased out.