44 minutes ago, Mitch64 said:

I can't even imagine Long working with JFP, creatively and with their temperaments. Long loves old fashioned soap and community and family relationships...JFP really disdains traditional soap and is a micromanager, and Long can be a bit prickly about her work and interference. But if Long can go rounds with the ego monster Zimmer then I guess she could handle JFP. Ah, a JFP and Zimmer battle...a soap Thunderdome!

I remember that meeting Kim mentioned where JFP told her the show didn't need Reva anymore. I'm sure it must have been very satisfying for Kim to be asked back (even if the story was putrid).

1 hour ago, Mitch64 said:

But if Long can go rounds with the ego monster Zimmer then I guess she could handle JFP.

Unfortunately, Long couldn't handle working with JFP at OLTL. That's why she left (or why JFP got rid of her, I still don't know which). To me, that was the last time OLTL had any semblance of true direction. Everything after Long's brief, ill-fated stint was worthless.

I’m up to January 12, 1999.

At the police station, Reva/Josh/Frank corner Teri about the drug found in Josh’s aftershave and her part in the whole thing. As part of her deflection plan, Teri reveals that she’s been working the case and believes it’s Alan who is to blame. Later, Josh starts to remember instances where Teri wouldn’t let him leave after he was told to sit down. He then has visions of Annie’s face (Watros) intermixed with Teri’s and says it was Annie and Teri together that wouldn’t let him go. They start to assume Teri is framing Alan. Meanwhile, Frank and Teri go to the Spaulding Mansion and start to investigate, which breaks up their NYE party. Alan and Alex think it’s preposterous that Alan would steal drugs for no purpose, and he pushes them to do a search. Teri says to herself that she’s sorry to Alan, it was either her or him. Alex opens the safe for Frank to search and he finds the drugs that Teri put there earlier. Reva and Josh walk in and tells everyone that Teri is working with Annie and she planted the drugs in that safe. Reva/Josh privately tell Frank that Teri told them he came onto her and Frank gets upset and says she was blowing things out of proportion. Meanwhile, Alan is telling Teri privately that only Annie would have had the code to the safe, so he demands that she tell him where Annie is. He then tells Teri to tell Annie how much he loves her and how he wishes he would have supported her in the end. Teri tears up and hugs him and says she had no idea he felt that way. Alan begs her to take him to Annie, but she snaps out of it and says she’s dead and he’s the prime suspect for drugging Josh. Frank later confronts Teri about lying to Reva/Josh about coming on to her, but she keeps up the ruse that Josh was drugged and can’t be trusted and she breaks down in his arms.

A distraught and scared Drew confides in Selena about telling Danny that Michelle killed Mick. She also tells her she was there and involved. Selena calls the cops which helps calm Drew down. Drew questions Selena as to why she’s trying to help and save her so much. Selena takes her home with her and Buzz comes over and they tell him what’s happening. Meanwhile, Michelle and Jesse kiss and say goodbye to each other as he leaves town. Just as Jesse is driving off, Danny comes out and confronts Michelle about killing Mick! He drags a frightened Michelle to the beach and demands she tell him exactly how she killed him. Michelle tells him everything while crying her eyes out, which was great acting. He keeps pushing her about who else was with her and she keeps saying she was alone, but he doesn’t believe it. He drags her to the docks, thinking he needs to take care of her before Dietz and his cronies do. But Dietz follows them and confronts them. Danny convinces him that he’ll take care of Michelle and Dietz walks away. Danny raises his gun to Michelle and OMG as we see Dietz walk away, we hear a gunshot and a water splash sound. Dietz goes back and sees Danny looking over Michelle’s floating body, presumably dead! That was very scary, I don’t know why it wasn’t an episode’s cliffhanger. Danny tells Dietz to go tell the boss that the job is done, but we later see Danny help Michelle get out of the water. She is safe and Danny says he believes her and knows how mean his brother really was, so he tricked Dietz. Michelle thanks Danny and they have to figure out what to do next.

Jesse then calls Drew to see how Michelle is doing and if his plan worked, but she tells him to come back because Danny took Michelle. Drew confides in Selena and Buzz that she told Danny about Michelle because she loves Jesse and wanted to protect him, just as Jesse walks in, who is upset at her for what she did.

With Michelle still missing, the crew finally tells Frank, Rick and Abby about everything that happened. Rick goes off on Jesse about it all. Meanwhile, Danny decides to take Michelle to the boss’s home and explain what happened, but he promises Michelle that he will protect her. They find Dietz there, who tells Danny he’s dead-meat for not killing Michelle (not really sure what the point of Danny pretending to kill Michelle was just the episode before, but whatever). Danny then takes Michelle into the room to meet the boss and we find out it’s Danny’s mother, Carmen (1/08)! Michelle cries and apologies and asks for forgiveness, but Carmen isn’t having it. Danny then begs her too and says Mick raped her, but she said he’s not there to defend himself and he’s spitting on his brother’s grave. She pressures Danny to kill Michelle to avenge his brother’s death, but he won’t and she grabs for the gun to do it herself. Danny stands in the way and she demands he move, but he says she can’t kill Michelle because she’s his wife! He said they got married today at the justice of peace, and their family rule is to never kill family. Btw, the Santos family mansion is a nice new set! Michelle finally gets the courage to tell Carmen exactly what happened and who Mick is and Carmen slaps her! Carmen leaves to welcome two guests that have shown up and Danny urges Michelle to convince Carmen that she’s into the marriage. We then see Drew and Jesse are the guests and they all walk in while Danny and Michelle are kissing. Jesse is happy to see Michelle alive and tries to get her to go home with him, but Michelle sees the gun that Dietz pulls out and she tells Jesse no. Jesse mentions the police and Carmen freaks out and yells to Danny that he never should have married her, confusing Jesse. Michelle then says yes, they’re married and her place is there with the Santos family. Jesse tries to reason with her, but she’s adamant she’s done with him and she wants to be with Danny. She cuts deep by saying her family was always right about him and she was only with him to spite them, and Danny gives her more than Jesse ever could. A devastated Jesse leaves, with Drew in tow, and a devastated Michelle tells Danny not to touch her. Carmen comes out later and says she demands a church wedding to supplement the civil ceremony and both sides of the family must meet beforehand. She then kisses Michelle’s forehead and ominously says welcome to the family.

In her attempts to stay close to Harley, Susan chugs a bottle of cough syrup to make herself sick just before she and Jim are supposed to go back home. She starts to become sick, but Harley and Jim stick to their guns and say she’s got to go home. Susan, very angry, tells Harley she hates her and she’s giving up on her just like she did when she was born. Susan and Jim leave, and Phillip tries to assure Harley that everything will be ok. Jim then comes back holding a semi-unconscious Susan, which scares Harley. Phillip finds the empty cough syrup bottle and Susan tells the truth and they rush her to the hospital, with Harley saying she never should have pushed her to leave. Rick ends up saving her and she’ll be ok. Phillip and Harley argue about what’s best for Susan and Harley is adamant that she goes home with them. Rick then suggests she needs to stay for a bit and see a psychologist. Phillip offers to pay but Jim gets annoyed and says he can support his own daughter. Later, Phillip tries to convince Harley that Susan is trying to ice him out and pair her up with Jim, but she doesn’t believe it. Lillian shows up and says they’re doing a blood donation campaign and Harley gives blood. Later Lillian comes back and says she can’t donate her blood because she’s pregnant!  They are excited and Harley is excited to tell her family, but Phillip says they should keep it between them for now and let it be special for just the two of them.

Holly visits Blake and warns her that the Stalker doesn’t make exceptions and she better stop sleeping with Ben down the hall from her boys or else she may be the next victim. Meanwhile, Ross and India go on a boring date (not feeling them so far).

Given that Annie previously chose Ben to be the executor of her will, Alan meets with Ben to get information. Ben said they only communicated via email and never in person regarding her will. He tries to convince Ben that Annie is still alive and makes a deal, if Ben helps him find Annie, he’ll make sure he’s given prominent connections and notoriety in town. Ben agrees and leaves, but Alan starts to flash back to moments when he thought Teri reminded him of Annie and he finally realizes that Teri has to be Annie! He goes to Teri’s apartment and confronts her about being Annie. She keeps denying it, but says she can make Alan forget Annie and be happy and they have sex. Afterwards, Alan says he knows she’s Annie now, and she finally admits the truth that she’s Annie. He vows to take care of her and always protect her. We see her contemplate stabbing him with a letter opener, but she decides to put it down and be with Alan since he truly loves her. She then tells him how it all happened after she jumped out of the plane - she lived at a spa on an island for a while and met a woman named Teri, who was there after a break-up. They became fast friends and people thought they looked alike from behind. On Teri’s last day of vacation, she had an accident and fell into a coma, being taken care of in a nice hospital there. Annie said she wasn’t responsible for putting her in a coma, and she actually cared about her and visits her frequently to ensure she’s ok.

Meanwhile, Reva and Josh visit the place where the real Teri and her boyfriend were vacationing (where her family last heard from her), and they learn that Teri was injured and has been recuperating there ever since (although the staff thinks her name is Tonia). They force their way into the lady’s room and they see the real Teri DeMarco in a coma. LOL, it’s Signy Coleman playing her too, meaning Annie’s face is an exact copy of the real Teri’s. As they realize Teri is really Annie, the clinic ward calls Teri/Annie to tell them they’ve come to visit and now Annie realizes Reva/Josh know everything. She’s now desperate for Alan’s help and he agrees to help under one condition, she will never want Josh ever again, and if he suspects she is looking at him or thinking of him in that way, it’s all over. Annie agrees and says she doesn’t want Josh anymore.

Hart finally makes the decision that he needs to be with Cassie and his son, so he packs up and leaves Dinah. In true Dinah fashion, she lashes out and breaks everything in the house. She later goes to Vanessa/Matt’s house where we see Sean tell them all that he’s leaving town and starting a new life. He casually mentions he tried to stop by Reva’s house to say goodbye, but they weren’t home. If Sean really leaves the show and doesn’t have a goodbye scene with Reva and/or Cassie, then we have a real problem because that’s just an awful send-off to his character. His final scene is with Dinah, telling her she’ll never be able to come between two people that love each other (Cassie/Hart), and she should trust him because he knows too well (alluding to Reva/Josh). He walks away and that’s the last of Sean (1/11).

@alwaysAMC You're well into the GL baby craze period. The Pharley baby really put Harley on more of an even level with Beth. Do you like Phillip better with Harley or India? Have you warmed up any to Cassie and Hart? Other couplings that you're liking or potential couplings that intrigue you?

The next week is really good, looking forward to your reaction.

Edited 13 hours ago13 hr by Spoon

10 hours ago, Spoon said:

@alwaysAMC You're well into the GL baby craze period. The Pharley baby really put Harley on more of an even level with Beth. Do you like Phillip better with Harley or India? Have you warmed up any to Cassie and Hart? Other couplings that you're liking or potential couplings that intrigue you?

The next week is really good, looking forward to your reaction.

Yay, I can't wait to keep watching! :)

So I haven't seen any indications of Phillip and India interacting much at all, so not sure how I would feel about that coupling. I'm just fine with Phillip and Harley for now, they're cute enough.

Cassie and Hart - that's a hard one for me. I truly do think Dinah and Hart belong together, but the writers just seem to push Dinah over the top where it's impossible for them to be together. I like how Hart grounds her a bit, they balance each other out. Cassie and Hart are too "nice" and might be boring in the long-term. Dinah's actions do push me over to the Cassie/Hart side, but if she were to go, I do wonder if they would get boring to me. Plus Dinah and Hart just look like they go together, and after all their history, they should be able to ride off into the sunset happy, but again Dinah is her own worst enemy. I really did think Cassie and Sean had chemistry and would have been a good coupling. She needs an older, adventurous guy to sweep her off her feet I think.

I still love Rick and Abby, but they've barely been featured in the past 6-8 months which is sad. As much as @P.J. will hate to hear this (haha), I do find Blake and Ben to be steamy. It's like a forbidden love that could be dangerous, which is fun to watch. I also like Matt/Vanessa, I can't help it haha. Their corny chatroom romance in 1997 really got to me LOL. I don't like this potential Matt/Beth thing they keep throwing at us. I'm honestly not sure where Beth should go next, I don't think there's a guy on the canvas right now that makes sense for her.

I don't mind Vicky/David but they barely use them.

Oh and I'm sad to say this, but with the Michelle recast, it just isn't the same for me anymore with Jesse/Michelle. Lenz is a great actress, but the chemistry/vibe just isn't there any it's clear they're putting Danny/Michelle together. But I really did love the Jesse/Michelle love story in those first 18 months.

45 minutes ago, alwaysAMC said:

Cassie and Hart are too "nice" and might be boring in the long-term.

I remember soap critic Carolyn Hinsey HATING on Hart and Cassie in her columns at the time, just for this reason.

Are we not going to talk about how they named their baby Roger Joshua?

Like, WHY?

Another example of the insane soap tradition of naming kids after someone else in the story. Did Hart even like his father? Who names their kid after their brother-in-law?

36 minutes ago, DeeVee said:

I remember soap critic Carolyn Hinsey HATING on Hart and Cassie in her columns at the time, just for this reason.

Are we not going to talk about how they named their baby Roger Joshua?

Like, WHY?

Another example of the insane soap tradition of naming kids after someone else in the story. Did Hart even like his father? Who names their kid after their brother-in-law?

Oh I remember Carolyn, wow. Well, great minds (I guess haha).

Oh gosh, Joshua?? Why in the world... and she just got creeped out by Josh and left town, I think that's the last name you'd want to use. I guess that was the only J that fit for the name. I'm torn on Roger - I love that the show wanted to honor the character and his name, but you're right, Hart didn't really like him. In fact throughout most of 1996, Hart and Dinah were trying to make him go crazy and essentially kill him, so yeah... that's weird haha.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by alwaysAMC

1 hour ago, alwaysAMC said:

I still love Rick and Abby, but they've barely been featured in the past 6-8 months which is sad.

Rick and Abby were such a lost opportunity, but all GL could think about Josh and Reva and "shocking"stories. Rick and Abby were poised to be that nice couple that are "normal" and the calm in the storm whose house everyone likes to go and hangout. Especially this phase..just let Abby be pregnant to bring in some new Bauers.

This is also the point where Reva gets very annoying and becomes Springfield's biggest Karen! Why does Frank bring Jeva to barge in on the Spaulding party? Why does he let them watch as the safe is searched? I just remember this time with Kimmer in those bad beige pantsuits that Reva would never wear, with a perpetual scowl on her face and yelling.

The mob stuff as we said had potential...and Lenz is a great Chelle, but it just starts off (and stays) so stupid. No one in this mob thinks that having a young woman, a doctors daughter and member of a prominent family in this medium sized town, body found with a bullet in her head, would raise any notice and concern? What happened to cutting breaks...setting up a meth addict to shoot Celle, acting like it was a mugging that got out of hand? The mob is so dumb and then Carmen camps it up as the most ineffectual mob boss in the world! the show was written by idiots for idiots! (And I kept watching so what does that say about me???)

23 minutes ago, Mitch64 said:

Rick and Abby were such a lost opportunity, but all GL could think about Josh and Reva and "shocking"stories. Rick and Abby were poised to be that nice couple that are "normal" and the calm in the storm whose house everyone likes to go and hangout. Especially this phase..just let Abby be pregnant to bring in some new Bauers.

This is also the point where Reva gets very annoying and becomes Springfield's biggest Karen! Why does Frank bring Jeva to barge in on the Spaulding party? Why does he let them watch as the safe is searched? I just remember this time with Kimmer in those bad beige pantsuits that Reva would never wear, with a perpetual scowl on her face and yelling.

The mob stuff as we said had potential...and Lenz is a great Chelle, but it just starts off (and stays) so stupid. No one in this mob thinks that having a young woman, a doctors daughter and member of a prominent family in this medium sized town, body found with a bullet in her head, would raise any notice and concern? What happened to cutting breaks...setting up a meth addict to shoot Celle, acting like it was a mugging that got out of hand? The mob is so dumb and then Carmen camps it up as the most ineffectual mob boss in the world! the show was written by idiots for idiots! (And I kept watching so what does that say about me???)

You are 100% right on all counts LOL. I'm dying for Abby to get pregnant and bring in more Bauers, especially since Rick just lost one thanks to Annie's paternity test switch-up.

I totally agree about Reva. She's also got this short bob, and with her pantsuits, she's just really not likeable. I'm finding myself rooting for Annie (except with Alan, that guy still irks me). Zimmer is just running around so angry and mad all the time, which I get, but it's off-putting.

And then I haven't seen enough of Carmen to make an opinion just yet, but I agree, they could find smart ways to do away with Michelle, especially since they're this mob family.

And like you, I keep watching and I can't help it, so we're in good idiot company :P

10 minutes ago, alwaysAMC said:

I totally agree about Reva. She's also got this short bob, and with her pantsuits, she's just really not likeable. I'm finding myself rooting for Annie (except with Alan, that guy still irks me). Zimmer is just running around so angry and mad all the time, which I get, but it's off-putting.

I forgot about her bob!!! I always used to laugh at Reva barging in a room with Josh training behind...holding her purse figuratively. With Alan doing the same for Annie/Faux Annie I think both of them should dump their men and hook up together, as all they do is obsess over each other! Josh and Reva at this point should be becoming bored with each other..Josh should realize that he lost sexpot Reva years ago and is now stuck with this bossy soccer mom..and Reva should be appalled that she IS a boring soccer mom. Annie would have been smart to sit back and let them self destruct as they always do.

42 minutes ago, Mitch64 said:

Rick and Abby were such a lost opportunity, but all GL could think about Josh and Reva and "shocking"stories. Rick and Abby were poised to be that nice couple that are "normal" and the calm in the storm whose house everyone likes to go and hangout. Especially this phase..just let Abby be pregnant to bring in some new Bauers.

This is a gripe I've had for years.

Don't get me wrong. I'm child-free and happy about it. In real life people should absolutely make that decision if it's right for them.

But making it the main conflict between a couple on a soap is BORING.

Now, if Abby had been a character like Erica Kane, who gets pregnant and sneaks off to have an abortion behind her husband's back--THAT'S a soap story that could potentially reverberate for years.

But she wasn't that kind of character.

The same thing is going on at Beyond the Gates. The most boring couple, Naomi and Jacob, never talked about anything other than other characters. So they "juiced" them up by giving them this conflict.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

It makes a great magazine article, but as a soap story, it sucks.

34 minutes ago, DeeVee said:

This is a gripe I've had for years.

Don't get me wrong. I'm child-free and happy about it. In real life people should absolutely make that decision if it's right for them.

But making it the main conflict between a couple on a soap is BORING.

Just have one couple who have kids..like almost the rest of us..you know, planning a family. To make Abby all of a sudden, "Oh I don't want kids, my career" is stupid...we all have conflict about our careers and family and it would be interesting to see people who do want to have kinds deal with a messy life like that as we all do. I think this shows that they really wanted to phase out the Bauers for years...Mo couldt have kids? Ed all of a sudden decides he doesn't want to have any more even though he married a woman who as the quote from the "Birdcage"..."is practically a breast!" Then Rick and Abby, who should be the most normal down to earth people on the show, don't have any?

@alwaysAMC i meant beth, not india. don't know why I typed it out that way. lol