@Speed Racer @GL95 Trying to figure out real ages vs. SORAS can hurt one's head, but I'm trying anyway ☺️

Phillip was introduced in 1977 as a child and graduated high school in 1983. He was classmates with Rick, who was born on screen in 1970. Based on that, Phillip real birth year would be 1970 but he was aged 5 years, as was Rick.

Alan-Michael was born on screen in 1981 and returned in 1987 as a teen. IIRC Alan-Michael turned 18 in 1989 so he was aged 10 years.

Edited January 31Jan 31 by kalbir

I can accept that the shows grew reluctant to nail down specifics, and that some poor prop guy just really didn't think about dates and used Toby's birth year, and that they really didn't think someone would freeze frame and read the birth certificate.

But honestly, someone on some level should've really thought about the timeline. If you want to recast a 40ish character with a 28 year old, fine, I guess. At the time, I don't think I realized they had deSOARSed Amanda to that extent.

Maybe I should rewatch Jennifer's trial and see if they bring up when Amanda was born.

2 minutes ago, P.J. said:

I can accept that the shows grew reluctant to nail down specifics, and that some poor prop guy just really didn't think about dates and used Toby's birth year, and that they really didn't think someone would freeze frame and read the birth certificate.

But honestly, someone on some level should've really thought about the timeline. If you want to recast a 40ish character with a 28 year old, fine, I guess. At the time, I don't think I realized they had deSOARSed Amanda to that extent.

Maybe I should rewatch Jennifer's trial and see if they bring up when Amanda was born.

What’s funny is they freeze framed on it awhile-I didn’t need to pause. Granted my TV is much larger than what pretty much anyone had in 1997 haha

I am sure the prop guy could never imagine back then that someone noticed while streaming the episode in 2026.

11 minutes ago, GL95 said:

What’s funny is they freeze framed on it awhile-I didn’t need to pause. Granted my TV is much larger than what pretty much anyone had in 1997 haha

I am sure the prop guy could never imagine back then that someone noticed while streaming the episode in 2026.

lol...well, that just makes it a really sad commentary on the lack of continuity and thought by TPTB.

21 minutes ago, P.J. said:

Maybe I should rewatch Jennifer's trial and see if they bring up when Amanda was born.

I have a clue:

Whenever Alan had one of his flashbacks about the Stafford girls, the song "Misty" by Johnny Mathis played in the background. (When she was alone in Lucille's house, Jennifer would dreamily play it on the piano, and I think she freaked when someone asked Amanda to play it). His version of the song was released Autumn 1959, so you figure all the drama, including Amanda's conception, would have happened the following summer, in 1960. So she would have been born in 1961.

Which kind of works out. They were having Amanda play 20ish, maybe slightly older in 1981 (the year of the paternity reveal). I know Hope was supposed to be 24 in 1981, when Alan Michael was born, because for some reason Don Stewart wanted that made clear in soap articles (Elvera was quite a bit older than that, maybe he didn't want people to think he was old enough to have a daughter in her 30s).

Edited February 1Feb 1 by DeeVee

I remember years and years ago reading an article about when both Zaslow and Garrett were coming back as Roger and Holly.. and figuring out how to make both appear old enough to have a fully grown daughter Blake. If I recall Zaslow, put hints of grey in his hair to appear older while Garrett refused to do that with her hair insisting that she would act older.

If you watched Holly in the December 1988 episodes, she's wearing her hair up in a bun and in older matronly dresses acting nervous/timid about being back in Springfield. When she comes back full time in March 1989, she's dressed more youthful with her hair styled more youthful and acting more confident and in charge. She still carried off looking more mature and motherly to Blake without resorting to granny clothing.

In regards to Elivira, I think she was 30/31 when she joined the show and she looked a bit younger than that in her first year or so on the show... but I noticed by 1981/82..no matter how youthful they tried to dress her.. she looked her own age.

19 minutes ago, P.J. said:

lol...well, that just makes it a really sad commentary on the lack of continuity and thought by TPTB.

It does honestly feel like more of a props mistake than anything else. I feel like if they were trying to push Amanda as being 28 the other characters would be pointing out the Roger/Amanda age gap a lot more and treating the situation like Roger's MO is duping young, rich women coming off the Dinah marriage (not to mention Jenna was supposed to be around 25 I believe when she married Roger).

5 minutes ago, Soaplovers said:

I remember years and years ago reading an article about when both Zaslow and Garrett were coming back as Roger and Holly.. and figuring out how to make both appear old enough to have a fully grown daughter Blake. If I recall Zaslow, put hints of grey in his hair to appear older while Garrett refused to do that with her hair insisting that she would act older.

If you watched Holly in the December 1988 episodes, she's wearing her hair up in a bun and in older matronly dresses acting nervous/timid about being back in Springfield. When she comes back full time in March 1989, she's dressed more youthful with her hair styled more youthful and acting more confident and in charge. She still carried off looking more mature and motherly to Blake without resorting to granny clothing.

Ugh...I remember the bun. It was an odd look for Holly. Thankfully, it was gone soon.

1 hour ago, Soaplovers said:

In regards to Elivira, I think she was 30/31 when she joined the show and she looked a bit younger than that in her first year or so on the show... but I noticed by 1981/82..no matter how youthful they tried to dress her.. she looked her own age.

I never understood why soaps cast actors older than their characters. Sometimes it works, but often not.

Especially when they have 25 yr olds playing 18. More often than not, within a few years the actor and character seem the same age.

6 hours ago, Soaplovers said:

I think I remember that Blake was in the hospital and Ed found out that she was Christina and was surprised that she'd returned.... and that eventually led to Holly appearing at Ed's doorstep in the Christmas 1988 episode (it was a cliffhanger).

Somewhere in this discussion forum, there was an article discussing the process of bringing Roger back where Long and Calhoun (I believe) were watching the April 1 1980 episode to see if there was a sound indicating that he hit the ground.. and they determined there wasn't anything to indicate he hit the ground so they concluded he was really alive.

I also recall Rita being bought back up during this period where Ed and Alan talked about her.. and I think Long had wanted to bring her back to resolve that story thread but Lenore didn't want to come back.

It was Long and Curlee, Calhoun was hired in 89, I remember they announced his hiring after they announced that Elizabeth Dennehy was being let go. His first episode should've been around the time Stringfield first appeared

@vetsoapfan I had this video in my YouTube feed. I watched more of it and discovered there is another quick clip of Alan and Hope's wedding. I could be wrong, but there is a man in the back on the right-hand side who looks like he could be Bill Bauer! It's at around 2:49.

3 minutes ago, DeeVee said:

@vetsoapfan I had this video in my YouTube feed. I watched more of it and discovered there is another quick clip of Alan and Hope's wedding. I could be wrong, but there is a man in the back on the right-hand side who looks like he could be Bill Bauer! It's at around 2:49.

The only men I see on the right hand side are Stephen Jackson and Ross Marler. Plus, another man I can't make out completely but I think it's Justin Marler. None of them are Bill Bauer.

Yeah, I see Ross sitting behind Justin. Tom O'Rourke looks a little strange without his mustache. I'm confused why either Marler would be there.

2 hours ago, Soaplovers said:

I remember years and years ago reading an article about when both Zaslow and Garrett were coming back as Roger and Holly.. and figuring out how to make both appear old enough to have a fully grown daughter Blake. If I recall Zaslow, put hints of grey in his hair to appear older while Garrett refused to do that with her hair insisting that she would act older.

If you watched Holly in the December 1988 episodes, she's wearing her hair up in a bun and in older matronly dresses acting nervous/timid about being back in Springfield. When she comes back full time in March 1989, she's dressed more youthful with her hair styled more youthful and acting more confident and in charge. She still carried off looking more mature and motherly to Blake without resorting to granny clothing.

In regards to Elivira, I think she was 30/31 when she joined the show and she looked a bit younger than that in her first year or so on the show... but I noticed by 1981/82..no matter how youthful they tried to dress her.. she looked her own age.

The AM SORAS is the gift that keeps on giving as far as confusing things, but even though Sherry Springfield is a year younger than Rick Hearst, since she’s playing up in age and he was playing down, they styled Blake for awhile like she’s 40 to play up the AM/Blake age difference. But Maureen Garrett wasn’t being styled older anymore, though i do think she had enough gravitas to pull it off especially because Blake was so frequently petulant back then which made it more convincing.

To make this crazier still....during the Nick McHenry DNA test switching ordeal, we learned that Nick was born in 1961 (as was his twin Lujack, lol). That makes Nick/Lujack four years older than a SORASED Phillip, eight years older than the deSORASED Amanda and ten years older than the SORASED AM.

In reality, Nick would be 2-4 years younger than Amanda (reasonable), nine years older than Phillip (a stretch) and 20 years older than AM (laughable).