@alwaysAMC there's a memorable storyline (slight spoilers.....) in the Summer of 1990, where Alex enlists Holly to prove that Roger's unfaithful. If you can access that, its basically the two of them alone together for a month. You'll just love it.

If the vault only goes back to 1992, there's some good roger/Holly stuff after the ross/Blake story begins with the blackout in June. Maybe the blackout would be a good starting point. It was their TV anniversary month and they had a primetime clip show about a week or so prior.

9 minutes ago, kalbir said:

July 1990-February 1991 GL saw some big cast departures (Kim Zimmer, Michael O'Leary, Kassie DePaiva, Robert Newman, Grant Aleksander, Beth Chamberlin) plus the HW change from Pamela Long to Nancy Curlee. Many thought GL was in for a rough patch but I thought the show improved. Sadly the ratings didn't reflect that.

Considering the BIG names that leave in '90-'91, that GL didn't crash was an accomplishment. Of course, they'd also brought back Roger, Holly, Billy, Van, and Mindy. But I think we've all seen shows that even one departure leaves a big hole in the canvas.

21 minutes ago, Spoon said:

@alwaysAMC you can always learn German and watch all of 1991. 😆

It's a challenge. Even when you know what's going on. :)

34 minutes ago, alwaysAMC said:

Now THIS is the Vanessa I like haha. She looks fabulous in that purple dress with the longer hair.

I didn't realize men used to wear formal gloves like Billy is during their wedding.

Thanks for posting these :)

Guys don't wear gloves often. This and Quint and Nola's engagement ball are the only ones I really recall them doing that. Maybe Mindy's fairytale wedding.

That outfit on Maeve is pure glam. I'm not the fashion expert by any means, but it's sexy without being blatant. Vanessa was our little fashion darling at this point in time.

Edited 5 hours ago5 hr by P.J.

52 minutes ago, Spoon said:

@alwaysAMC there's a memorable storyline (slight spoilers.....) in the Summer of 1990, where Alex enlists Holly to prove that Roger's unfaithful. If you can access that, its basically the two of them alone together for a month. You'll just love it.

If the vault only goes back to 1992, there's some good roger/Holly stuff after the ross/Blake story begins with the blackout in June. Maybe the blackout would be a good starting point. It was their TV anniversary month and they had a primetime clip show about a week or so prior.

Ohhh I would love that! The Vault has episodes from those years, but it's sporadic and not complete, but I may just go find an episode from Summer '90 and give it a peek.

I'll keep that in mind with the June 1992 idea. I think starting Feb 1992 is when most, if not all, the episodes are there, so I might just start there too.

33 minutes ago, P.J. said:

Guys don't wear gloves often. This and Quint and Nola's engagement ball are the only ones I really recall them doing that. Maybe Mindy's fairytale wedding.

That outfit on Maeve is pure glam. I'm not the fashion expert by any means, but it's sexy without being blatant. Vanessa was our little fashion darling at this point in time.

And I love that. :)

I always found it a bit odd that GL was my favorite soap but I could take or leave Reva, since so much of the the show revolved completely around her. It's nice to see I'm not alone.

24 minutes ago, Spoon said:

I always found it a bit odd that GL was my favorite soap but I could take or leave Reva, since so much of the the show revolved completely around her. It's nice to see I'm not alone.

Sometimes you just need that break. I love Phillip, but I don't miss him in the '91-'93 period at all.

Edited 3 hours ago3 hr by P.J.

@alwaysAMC I was bothered by missing some eps and in 1991 there are some really important eps missing when Roger/Mindy’s affair comes to a head, but I feel like I’d have missed on a lot of gaps I wanted filled starting in spring 1992. I feel like you’d miss seeing the “real” Alex because she’s ready pretty fixated on Nick by then and Bev leaves not that long after that. You also get no Phillip at all doing that plus basically no Sherry Stringfield’s Blake.

I think you’d really enjoy Roger’s maneuverings to build his golden parachute and run into the sunset with Mindy. It turns into a pretty big umbrella story by the end as they’re trying to catch Roger in the act-AM/Harley figure out there’s embezzlement (Harley is a computer genius for about five minutes because she can create passwords) while Alex separately figures it out and brings in Mallet (and Frank? I don’t remember now haha) to investigate. Ross gets into the action to trap Roger. There’s a fun period I was talking about earlier where Roger thinks this embezzlement scheme is going to be easy because he assumes AM is going to not really try but AM thwarts him by being ambitious/competent then Blake keeps helping AM because Roger is keeping her in the dark. 1991 I personally liked better than 1992 missing episodes and all. If anything I regret not going back to 1989-I’ve caught some eps YouTube pushed here and there.

I honestly don’t remember now as I feel like my intense viewing is a fever dream, but I think the Find Your Light channel had some 1990/91 eps missing from the vault but I definitely could be wrong on that. It definitely didn’t fill all the holes.

Edited 3 hours ago3 hr by GL95

27 minutes ago, P.J. said:

Sometimes you just need that break. I love Phillip, but I don't miss him in the '91-'93 period at all.

The dream would’ve been to bring back Phillip and not Alan in 1994. AM going to Arizona to spend time with Phillip/Beth rather than roving the beach as a hobo, and Alan’s sons come to Springfield to battle Nick/Alex before their alliance naturally implodes. (Phillip claiming he doesn’t want the presidency but the board votes him in anyway haha)

Edited 3 hours ago3 hr by GL95

It's such a loss that the Blake Marler YouTube channel was removed. There was so much work put into that channel, with so many episodes from the time that I watched in real-time. I miss it everyday.

Annette

Oh, me too. It really decimated my playlists. The vault is great, but I had my playlists fine-tuned.

1 hour ago, GL95 said:

@alwaysAMC I was bothered by missing some eps and in 1991 there are some really important eps missing when Roger/Mindy’s affair comes to a head, but I feel like I’d have missed on a lot of gaps I wanted filled starting in spring 1992. I feel like you’d miss seeing the “real” Alex because she’s ready pretty fixated on Nick by then and Bev leaves not that long after that. You also get no Phillip at all doing that plus basically no Sherry Stringfield’s Blake.

I think you’d really enjoy Roger’s maneuverings to build his golden parachute and run into the sunset with Mindy. It turns into a pretty big umbrella story by the end as they’re trying to catch Roger in the act-AM/Harley figure out there’s embezzlement (Harley is a computer genius for about five minutes because she can create passwords) while Alex separately figures it out and brings in Mallet (and Frank? I don’t remember now haha) to investigate. Ross gets into the action to trap Roger. There’s a fun period I was talking about earlier where Roger thinks this embezzlement scheme is going to be easy because he assumes AM is going to not really try but AM thwarts him by being ambitious/competent then Blake keeps helping AM because Roger is keeping her in the dark. 1991 I personally liked better than 1992 missing episodes and all. If anything I regret not going back to 1989-I’ve caught some eps YouTube pushed here and there.

I honestly don’t remember now as I feel like my intense viewing is a fever dream, but I think the Find Your Light channel had some 1990/91 eps missing from the vault but I definitely could be wrong on that. It definitely didn’t fill all the holes.

Appreciate those details, and you're right, I would feel like I'm missing out on certain things.

And gosh, I hate that the Blake Marler YT channel is gone. Such a blow, and to see everyone's comments on the episodes gone is sad.

OMG they just pulled out Johnnie Cochran during Annie's trial??? LOL - first Rudy G and now Johnnie. I can't believe it 😂

7 hours ago, P.J. said:

Well....but I love Alex's introduction. It sets her up perfectly. She's doing her own surveillance (she realizes Alan's connived with Bradley, that Phillip/Beth are in love and Alan doesn't like it, that Ross hates Alan, Alan is scheming to land Vanessa, etc) and learning all sorts of secrets that she'll use against Alan, but you also know she has affection for Alan, Phillip and Henry. As Reva says, "she's a woman to be reckoned with."

For every "big" splash and masquerade/mask, there's also AM parachuting into the Bauer barbecue, AM & Dinah crashing into pregnant Harley's car, Alan finding Reva in the middle of a massage in Tulsa, Ross being Roger's lawyer, Josh showing up as Reva wanders Springfield after her non-wedding to Kyle, Billy being the hammer to threaten Will, or Van simply showing up to hand Henry a copy of the London Times. All perfect in their own way.

Ah, character introductions, yeah they can be super awful or totally fantastic.

I didn't mind how they introduced Alex. What I minded was her spouting off cliches like, "Ah, Alan, what a tangled web we weave when we practice to deceive" or silly things like that while she cruised the ballroom. Alan's reveal at the other masked ball was dumb because a) it had been done, and b) we had already seen him for weeks in Andora with India and her father.

The best intros either kick off a storyline or land in the middle of one to shake it up. I don't think Alan Michael parachuting into the Bauer bbq was that effective. Phillip's first return as an adult, OTOH, was perfect. He comes home (I can't remember if it was Justin's or Alan's house, it doesn't matter much which one) and it's empty. He throws his backpack down and flops in a chair, with the attitude, "Of course, no one is here"--showing immediately how the adults in his life are always failing him. You didn't need some big scene--that was saved for much later when he confronts Alan and Justin about his paternity.

Harley's introduction, IMO, is one of the best intros of a teen character the show did ever. A young girl getting in an accident while she's giving birth, quickly followed by her blythely giving her baby up for adoption. I wanted to know what the deal was with this girl and why she was like that. And what happened there impacted her character in many ways for years to come.

Same with Reva's intro--she was landing in the middle of an ongoing storyline and you knew right away she was going to shake things up. No reason for her to bust in immediately into Billy and Vanessa's life--this scene set her up so you cared when that eventually happened.

I actually liked Buzz's introduction. I thought it was pretty neat when he found Nadine, looked through her window and watched as she took her phony pregnant belly off. The look on his face was priceless. KInd of made you forget for a minute he was a deadbeat dad and you knew he was going to give Nadine some much-needed grief.

(There's a big lack of love for Buzz/Deas here, but they REALLY watered down his character. He had a way different vibe when he was introduced).

3 hours ago, GL95 said:

The dream would’ve been to bring back Phillip and not Alan in 1994. AM going to Arizona to spend time with Phillip/Beth rather than roving the beach as a hobo, and Alan’s sons come to Springfield to battle Nick/Alex before their alliance naturally implodes. (Phillip claiming he doesn’t want the presidency but the board votes him in anyway haha)

I disagree somewhat. I think Alan was needed on the canvas. Just a better Alan, written like Alan, and not some huffy-puffy Daddy Warbucks that let women walk all over him.

7 minutes ago, DeeVee said:

Ah, character introductions, yeah they can be super awful or totally fantastic.

I didn't mind how they introduced Alex. What I minded was her spouting off cliches like, "Ah, Alan, what a tangled web we weave when we practice to deceive" or silly things like that while she cruised the ballroom. Alan's reveal at the other masked ball was dumb because a) it had been done, and b) we had already seen him for weeks in Andora with India and her father.

The best intros either kick off a storyline or land in the middle of one to shake it up. I don't think Alan Michael parachuting into the Bauer bbq was that effective. Phillip's first return as an adult, OTOH, was perfect. He comes home (I can't remember if it was Justin's or Alan's house, it doesn't matter much which one) and it's empty. He throws his backpack down and flops in a chair, with the attitude, "Of course, no one is here"--showing immediately how the adults in his life are always failing him. You didn't need some big scene--that was saved for much later when he confronts Alan and Justin about his paternity.

Harley's introduction, IMO, is one of the best intros of a teen character the show did ever. A young girl getting in an accident while she's giving birth, quickly followed by her blythely giving her baby up for adoption. I wanted to know what the deal was with this girl and why she was like that. And what happened there impacted her character in many ways for years to come.

Same with Reva's intro--she was landing in the middle of an ongoing storyline and you knew right away she was going to shake things up. No reason for her to bust in immediately into Billy and Vanessa's life--this scene set her up so you cared when that eventually happened.

I actually liked Buzz's introduction. I thought it was pretty neat when he found Nadine, looked through her window and watched as she took her phony pregnant belly off. The look on his face was priceless. KInd of made you forget for a minute he was a deadbeat dad and you knew he was going to give Nadine some much-needed grief.

(There's a big lack of love for Buzz/Deas here, but they REALLY watered down his character. He had a way different vibe when he was introduced).

I agree about Alan's unveiling, complete with Alex, ALEX, dramatically fainting. Roger's mask I can be more forgiving about, because it was meant to be a shock to Springfield (even if we knew by then he was still alive). The swinging vine? Yeah, that was overkill. He could've simply fallen out of the loft, and surprised everyone.

I didn't mind Buzz putting the screws to Nadine. It was everything else--the fake accent, the obnoxious persona (even more obnoxious than screaming, arm-flapping Buzz), the general smarminess of him, that just grated.

I just caught part of Reva's arrival. Gosh, Chris Bernau was so perfect as Alan.

Edited 4 minutes ago4 min by P.J.