1 hour ago, GL95 said:

Watching Gilly/Amelia Marshall sing in an episode, and Monti Sharp sang the other day. I've seen Rick Hearst and Morgan Englund also sing on the show-is it part of being in NYC that everyone is musical on this show? I know there's at least one or two I'm missing with musical talent. It's fun that they give everyone their moment to sing.

RICK HEARST SINGS? I didn't know this.

5 minutes ago, P.J. said:

RICK HEARST SINGS? I didn't know this.

Yep-he sings and plays guitar. He sang to Lucy at least once. You can see it at around the 50 minute mark of this video: https://youtu.be/HepSGsEW-6Q?si=be86vesS1Lu14de3

10 minutes ago, P.J. said:

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!! But I will be fair.

I don't think Bill needed to be polite to the stepfather who was sticking his tongue down another woman's throat. Or who expected his mother to turn her daughter into the cops with zero discussion. Lewises, while not perfect, didn't stab each other in the back like that.

I just love Van and Ross supporting each other. And in a nontoxic way (say the way Roger and Holly did, or Billy/Reva).

There's not a lot of Van/Cassie stuff, and it's mostly with Laura Wright in the role, I'm sure. Nicole Forrester replaced her in '07ish or so, and by that time, I don't think Cassie and Van cross, even when Cassie's married to Van's good pal Josh.

Hahaha well, to counter 😇... I do think before Matt finally kissed someone inappropriately (4-5 years into their relationship), Bill was normally a brat towards Matt. They had their ups and downs, and I loved when they came together when Vanessa was 'dead', but I do think Bill was a bit unfair with Matt. I get Matt's frustrations with Bill. Maybe I'm projecting a bit, but you have this single guy who has no real baggage and he gets with a woman who has two kids... and he first has to deal with Dinah, who is a terror and threatens and schemes to destroy his relationship with Vanessa... then you deal with an angsty, emotional teenager who seemingly has daddy issues... I get Matt's frustrations. But I also fault the writers because they don't really ever give Vanessa and Bill scenes where you want/get to understand Bill's side during all of this. I think Bill's graduation was the last time I really felt like Bill/Vanessa had a strong connection as mother/son. The recast certainly hasn't given us any real emotional connection with Vanessa, and I blame the writers for that.

I too loved the Van/Ross support system. He was so sweet to her and they were so comfortable with each other, I loved it.

Oh my, I've read through Kim's book and then read on here that Cassie/Josh get together, but I had no idea they married! You know, your comment makes me realize that Van/Josh never really had a strong connection after 1995 when they last lived together. She was there a little during the clone storyline with Michael, and then again when she came back to life and had Maureen, but otherwise the writers never really mixed their stories or relationships together often.

1 hour ago, GL95 said:

Watching Gilly/Amelia Marshall sing in an episode, and Monti Sharp sang the other day. I've seen Rick Hearst and Morgan Englund also sing on the show-is it part of being in NYC that everyone is musical on this show? I know there's at least one or two I'm missing with musical talent. It's fun that they give everyone their moment to sing.

Kim Zimmer would say you're forgetting her ;) I remember a scene during the clone storyline where Dolly is singing in front of everyone, living her best life.

I also didn't realize Rick Hearst was a singer - how great!

26 minutes ago, GL95 said:

Yep-he sings and plays guitar. He sang to Lucy at least once. You can see it at around the 50 minute mark of this video: https://youtu.be/HepSGsEW-6Q?si=be86vesS1Lu14de3

OMG - I forgot about this scene, you're right! Ugh watching this makes my heart melt. I gotta say, AM/Lucy and Jesse/Michelle were two great young couples that GL wrote well from the beginning.

You know what else is interesting - Rick Hearst, in real life, can give me the ick during interviews sometimes - I want him to calm down and listen more... but as a character, like with AM or Ric on GH, he's so good and I can't help but love him.

Edited 12 hours ago12 hr by alwaysAMC

18 minutes ago, alwaysAMC said:

OMG - I forgot about this scene, you're right! Ugh watching this makes my heart melt. I gotta say, AM/Lucy and Jesse/Michelle were two great young couples that GL wrote well from the beginning.

You know what else is interesting - Rich Hearst, in real life, can give me the ick during interviews sometimes - I want him to calm down and listen more... but as a character, like with AM or Ric on GH, he's so good and I can't help but love him.

Rick Hearst strikes me as someone who never outgrew being a theater kid-being high energy naturally is probably why he’s a gifted soap actor but would likely be exhausting in real life haha

21 minutes ago, alwaysAMC said:

I get Matt's frustrations. But I also fault the writers because they don't really ever give Vanessa and Bill scenes where you want/get to understand Bill's side during all of this. I think Bill's graduation was the last time I really felt like Bill/Vanessa had a strong connection as mother/son. The recast certainly hasn't given us any real emotional connection with Vanessa, and I blame the writers for that.

I too loved the Van/Ross support system. He was so sweet to her and they were so comfortable with each other, I loved it.

Oh my, I've read through Kim's book and then read on here that Cassie/Josh get together, but I had no idea they married! You know, your comment makes me realize that Van/Josh never really had a strong connection after 1995 when they last lived together. She was there a little during the clone storyline with Michael, and then again when she came back to life and had Maureen, but otherwise the writers never really mixed their stories or relationships together often.

Well, the backstory on Bill was that he always wanted Billy and Van back together. He resented Fletch when he accidentally found out Van was dating him, and when Billy went to jail shortly after remarrying Van, he didn't deal with that well either. **** signed up for complications when he got with a woman with three children (she's also coparenting Peter).

That said, Ryan Brown couldn't find an emotion if he googled it. He was awful in the role of Bill. Plus, I think the writers wanted us to know Bill "wasn't a momma's boy", and he and Van start having conflicts (I swear I caught a scene where he snarks something about why Dinah's troubled, and then she disapproves of him getting involved with that Santos girl.)

The writers did kind of excise Vanessa from the Lewis circle after '95. Mindy and Dylan leave, Josh has his Annie/Reva problem, and Vanessa's off dying/almost dying and dealing with Dinah's issues. We just always know Josh and Van are close. It comes into play at the end, when it's Josh she confides in that she wants to marry Billy and he plays Cupid for them.

You can just feel that Jerry and Maeve adored each other. :)

Edited 12 hours ago12 hr by P.J.

I thought Vanessa had decent mother/son chemistry with Daniel Cosgrove's Billy. I remember when she came to town with him for Jeva's 2002 wedding at the newly opened Beacon Hotel.

@P.J. it was established that Bridget and **** had several siblings so I would just have a younger sister show up. I do wish they would've brought on Stacy at some point... any point.

The silver lining of the final year of GL is that we got Vanessa, Phillip and **** back on contract and full time. Also, they hit a home run with the final Shayne (Jeff Branson?) -- too bad it wasn't sooner. Billy taking Lizzie under his wing as her business mentor, ER had a similarity to the first Mindy so that was a nice callback.

4 minutes ago, GL95 said:

Rick Hearst strikes me as someone who never outgrew being a theater kid-being high energy naturally is probably why he’s a gifted soap actor but would likely be exhausting in real life haha

YES - I feel that, well said :)

7 minutes ago, P.J. said:

Well, the backstory on Bill was that he always wanted Billy and Van back together. He resented Fletch when he accidentally found out Van was dating him, and when Billy went to jail shortly after remarrying Van, he didn't deal with that well either. **** signed up for complications when he got with a woman with three children (she's also coparenting Peter).

Aww, well I totally get a preteen son wanting his mom and dad together. Both of my parents were in marriages and had kids before they got together and I've seen that exact thing in their other kids' feelings back then. Both of my parents were that "Matt" character, knowing what they were getting into when the kids were young... but as the kids age and become young adults, like Dinah was when she came back to SF in 95, I think it's hard on that person (Matt). You can't expect perfection, but you also shouldn't put up with that kid coming in and trying to seduce you and breaking up your relationship. Then you have a son who wishes his father was still with his mother and Matt can't be blamed for that. I thought Matt handled this well for the most part, but I can't blame any characters' feelings. This makes for good soap opera though and hits close to home now that I actually think about things from 30+ years ago haha. Dang, maybe I just had a good self-therapy session thinking through this haha.

17 minutes ago, P.J. said:

That said, Ryan Brown couldn't find an emotion if he googled it. He was awful in the role of Bill.

The writers did kind of excise Vanessa from the Lewis circle after '95. Mindy and Dylan leave, Josh has his Annie/Reva problem, and Vanessa's off dying/almost dying and dealing with Dinah's issues. We just always know Josh and Van are close. It comes into play at the end, when it's Josh she confides in that she wants to marry Billy and he plays Cupid for them.

LOL at the bolded part. And then awwww at Josh playing cupid for Van/Billy in the end! I need to go watch that, I love to hear it.

Just watched the episode with Billy/Van's respective bachelor party/bridal shower.

The guest list for Van's was super random-Holly/Michelle/Bridget/Kat/Eleni/Wanda and it was hosted by Mindy. Julie was being driven to the party from the airport by Hart and made out with him rather than go into the party where she was promptly caught by Bridget.

Hamp must be pumping up his business because the bachelor party is huge. AM sits at the bar by Ross and Frank is on the other side of him which is quite the grouping even without Ross knowing about the Blake/AM ONS. I guess AM being down and out gets him invited to more non-Spaulding stuff. I think Buzz is the only guy in town not there (and Roger). Henry is giving the evil eye to Billy all night because he's not over Van being stood up at the altar by Billy/Billy marrying and staying with Nadine so long.

The highlight is Blake/Ross were fighting earlier and Blake wanted to apologize that night, and she can't get into the party so she puts on lingerie and decides to come out of the oversized cake into the middle of the party where they're expecting a stripper. The purpose of AM's invite becomes apparent as he gets everyone to lightly applaud Blake rather than keep gawking at her and help her out of the cake so she can go talk to Ross. I'm normally not a huge Bloss fan, but this is actually one of my favorite conversations about their differences they've had. She was upset because she realized Ross still had Holly's engagement ring and that it reminded her of his hesitance to marry her. She apologized for how she ran away from the conversation but he told her he understood and that he could be insensitive sometimes.

15 hours ago, GL95 said:

I would be okay with an early SORAS of Marina at that point since Frank/Eleni were hanging out on the canvas without much to do anyhow. Though I’m sure there would be all kinds of possibilities like a sudden niece/nephew like Bridget was who really worked out.

Oh...no more Coopers! They could have brought Stacey Chaberline back..since she is only a year or two older then Chelle, and Bill, and they had Nola back, and she is not Bill's bio cousin (like J. NoDot is not Chelles bio cousing, but someone that still skeeved me out.) But you're right, Bridget does have siblings off camera so a sister can be brought in.