1 hour ago, DRW50 said:

In terms of certain somebodies, I think Jonathan hurt Marah and Shayne more than anyone else did.

ICAM. Some writer chose to invent Reva/Jon issues instead of dealing with any of the other kids she'd abandoned. I'd have much rather seen Reva dealing with Dylan's sudden recklessness (hey, Dinah's approximately the same age...and had her mother worrying over her....) than Tom Pelphrey and his scream-acting.

16 minutes ago, P.J. said:

ICAM. Some writer chose to invent Reva/Jon issues instead of dealing with any of the other kids she'd abandoned. I'd have much rather seen Reva dealing with Dylan's sudden recklessness (hey, Dinah's approximately the same age...and had her mother worrying over her....) than Tom Pelphrey and his scream-acting.

It's difficult for me to remember that last Dylan was even meant to be Reva's child.

Looking back, it was probably a long-term mistake to have Frank be Marina’s bio dad. They got their short-term “perfect couple” but they could have had more organic consistent tension if Frank is raising AM’s kid and you’d have a second Spaulding in Lizzie’s age range. (I’m also a bit surprised they never had a hunky Eleni brother move to SF.)

That being said I would have preferred keeping Marina as Frank’s but have a little dramatic irony and have Blake/AM’s Bauer cabin tryst lead to a kid. Have Ross raise another bio-Spaulding if you want Bloss together. It feels like a missed opportunity to not have a Thorpe/Spaulding kid on the canvas. Reva’s run through the Lewises led to three kids at least and Blake had no kids after cycling through Spauldings.

Edited Saturday at 10:33 PM1 day by GL95

1 hour ago, GL95 said:

Looking back, it was probably a long-term mistake to have Frank be Marina’s bio dad. They got their short-term “perfect couple” but they could have had more organic consistent tension if Frank is raising AM’s kid and you’d have a second Spaulding in Lizzie’s age range. (I’m also a bit surprised they never had a hunky Eleni brother move to SF.)

That being said I would have preferred keeping Marina as Frank’s but have a little dramatic irony and have Blake/AM’s Bauer cabin tryst lead to a kid. Have Ross raise another bio-Spaulding if you want Bloss together. It feels like a missed opportunity to not have a Thorpe/Spaulding kid on the canvas. Reva’s run through the Lewises led to three kids at least and Blake had no kids after cycling through Spauldings.

I just wish at some time, at some point, Alan Michael had had a kid. It would not just be a Spaulding, it would also be a Bauer. Yes, Blake and AM having a kid would be a supreme irony--it would be a Spaulding, a Bauer, and a Thorpe. Roger would have shared a grandchild with two of his enemies. Lots of missed possible drama over that.

Edited yesterday at 12:20 AM1 day by DeeVee

I know Brian Gaskill had some early success at AMC, but his CBS roles were lackluster to say the least. I'm not even sure why they bothered bringing him on as Dylan. For Susan's (or is she Daisy again at this point? I can never remember.) abortion?

The only place I really see a scene with him is I think after one of Bill's injuries put him in the hospital. The rest I must FF if rewatching.

24 minutes ago, DeeVee said:

I just wish at some time, at some point, Alan Michael had had a kid. It would not just be a Spaulding, it would also be a Bauer. Yes, Blake and AM having a kid would be a supreme irony--it would be a Spaulding, a Bauer, and a Thorpe. Roger would have shared a grandchild with two of his enemies. Lots of missed possible drama over that.

The other thing is a Blake/AM kid would have pulled Holly into the Spaulding orbit. It also would’ve created an interesting dynamic with Ed who in many ways would have been like an additional grandfather given his relationship to both Blake/AM.

It actually would’ve been pretty great drama for Blake to have been pregnant with AM’s kid from their cabin tryst, as Blake definitely would’ve tried to hide things awhile so Roger wouldn’t have known when he first helped Jenna take over Spaulding. Inadvertently wiping out his future grandkid’s inheritance would have been an interesting twist.

Edited yesterday at 12:57 AM1 day by GL95

Guiding Light (January 24, 1997)

On 2/27/2026 at 9:39 PM, GL95 said:

I just read synopses, but wasn’t Ava also a big part of the terrible AM return?

I stopped watching the show regularly in 2007, but Google says that they hooked up/or he was sexually harassing her and that the story wasn't any good. Not surprised.

I actually just watched the episode when AM returns in 2005. He almost hits Marina with his car, and then it turns flirtatious. If I hadn't read here that he was once thought to be her dad, I wouldn't have given it a second thought. But it's so gross. I'm a hypocrite because I loved Jammy, but at least those two didn't grow up together.

58 minutes ago, CrazySexyQ said:

I stopped watching the show regularly in 2007, but Google says that they hooked up/or he was sexually harassing her and that the story wasn't any good. Not surprised.

I actually just watched the episode when AM returns in 2005. He almost hits Marina with his car, and then it turns flirtatious. If I hadn't read here that he was once thought to be her dad, I wouldn't have given it a second thought. But it's so gross. I'm a hypocrite because I loved Jammy, but at least those two didn't grow up together.

Marina never thought AM was her dad at any point in her life-but he was married to her aunt since she was young and would’ve only divorced Lucy maybe a year before. Now AM thought she was his until a couple months before she was born and mourned her not being his first awhile so on his end it’s super creepy. (Lucy and AM were both close to Eleni and living in Europe when Eleni went to Greece so hard to believe AM wouldn’t have known Marina.)

Edited 8 hours ago8 hr by GL95

11 minutes ago, GL95 said:

Marina never thought AM was her dad at any point in her life-but he was married to her aunt since she was young and would’ve only divorced Lucy maybe a year before. Now AM thought she was his until a couple months before she was born and mourned her not being his first awhile so on his end it’s super creepy. (Lucy and AM were both close to Eleni and living in Europe when Eleni went to Greece so hard to believe AM wouldn’t have known Marina.)

There's also the decision to de-age Alan Michael significantly. I wonder if this is why they did so. If it is, what a horrible decision. It's like bringing back Mike Bauer and de-aging him 10-15 years so he can hook up with his former niece Blake.

2 hours ago, DRW50 said:

There's also the decision to de-age Alan Michael significantly. I wonder if this is why they did so. If it is, what a horrible decision. It's like bringing back Mike Bauer and de-aging him 10-15 years so he can hook up with his former niece Blake.

2 hours ago, DRW50 said:

There's also the decision to de-age Alan Michael significantly. I wonder if this is why they did so. If it is, what a horrible decision. It's like bringing back Mike Bauer and de-aging him 10-15 years so he can hook up with his former niece Blake.

Especially since I didn’t watch by then and likely never will, I’m pretty okay head cannon wise that the AM return is for some other mystery spawn of Alan’s since this one didn’t seem to live AM’s life from the 90s.

I’m up to April 05, 1999.

Still at the Bauer cabin, Vanessa and Matt have a heart to heart talk and she tells him what happened with Dinah. He gets concerned thinking the cops would look In Lucerne considering her past, but she says those Swiss nuns planned to take her somewhere else once she got there, so even Vanessa doesn’t know exactly where she is now. She then asks Matt if he slept with Beth and he says no, which makes her happy. A few days later, Vanessa/Matt are back in SF and meet with Ross at the Towers who says the prosecution team still wants to charge her unless she gives up Dinah’s location. Blake/Cassie and baby RJ show up and Blake asks if they should leave because of Vanessa, but Cassie says no, she has to be able to live her life and not hide in fear. Vanessa walks up to them and offers an apology, but Blake/Cassie angrily tell her the only thing she could do to help is give up Dinah’s location. Cassie then reveals an email that Dinah wrote her, apologizing about Hart and asking how RJ is doing. Cassie tells Vanessa she’s scared that Dinah will come back and hurt RJ, but Vanessa tries to convince her that Dinah would never do that, but Cassie is strong in her concern. Vanessa later tells Matt and Ross that she feels like she needs to go tell the police what she knows now.

Michelle tells Jesse everything that happened and why, which makes him understand why she had to lure him to the lighthouse and pretend like she and Danny were a couple. He assumes they still had sex, which she says they never did and he is happy. She then gets a phone call and reluctantly tells the caller she will meet them. She lies to Jesse and says it was Aunt Meta and she’ll be back soon. Later, Meta comes home and says she didn’t call and Jesse realizes she went to see Danny. We then see Michelle meeting Danny and Ray to discuss annulling their marriage, as Danny had told Ray earlier that they never consummated it and the marriage was fake. Ray then puts her on the spot and says before they can get annulled, she has to confess to him and God that she never had any feelings for Danny. She can’t give a real answer and Danny gets frustrated with her. Ray later tells her that Danny threatened Carmen and was willing to put her in prison to save Michelle, which stuns her. She asks Danny about it and he downplays it a bit, but Jesse walks in and interrupts. Danny then tells Michelle to expect the divorce papers in the mail and Jesse/Michelle leave, but clearly Danny and Michelle are still unsure/upset about it all. The next night, Michelle tries hard to cook dinner and have a special date with Jesse, but she’s frazzled and accidentally calls him Danny. She apologizes, but says how could she love anyone else but Jesse, especially given that he has her mother’s heart (finally, they acknowledge this with the recast!). They have champagne and then he realizes she’s still wearing her wedding ring, so she takes it off and they kiss. They decide to dress up and go to Millennium to continue their date, and of course Danny is there. A girlfriend of his arrives, having been out of the country for a couple years, and they hug and he says it’s so great seeing her again, all while Michelle/Jesse watch from a distance. Michelle introduces herself and says she hasn’t had the chance to meet many of his friends, and this girl says she’s more than just a friend. Michelle gets annoyed and Danny and the girl leave the bar area. Michelle/Jesse go upstairs to his loft and they start kissing, preparing for sex for the first time since Danny entered the picture, but she has visions of kissing Danny and stops. Drew then walks in, gets upset seeing them kiss and asks them to get a hotel room. Michelle says no, she needs to leave and pick up Meta anyway, leaving Drew/Jesse together to argue. Drew says he should start looking for a new place to live and he agrees, but will stay there in the meantime. Michelle then walks out of Millennium and sees Danny and this girl together, just as Danny kisses her cheek. After Michelle leaves, the girl tells Danny she can’t believe he never told Michelle about her, considering she’s his sister!

Selena is still not interested in telling Drew that she’s her real mother since Drew is adamant about finding her birth mom so she can tell her off. Selena sees in the newspaper that an old friend of hers has died, and this friend always wanted a child but never did. She comes up with a plan to tell Drew that this now dead lady was her mother so that Drew can stop looking for the real one. Buzz still hates the plan and wants Selena to tell her the truth, but goes along with it anyway and agrees to help Selena forge a birth certificate.

Phillip upsets Jim when he absentmindedly calls Beth ‘honey’ in a business meeting. Jim calls him out on it privately, which Phillip takes offense to. Phillip then warns Beth she should be careful with interoffice relationships, which Jim overhears and pisses him off. Jim then asks Beth on another date, which she accepts, but Phillip then tells Jim the same thing he told Beth. Jim gets in his face and says to back off. They both full on hate each other now, with Jim accusing Phillip of hating that he’s dating his ex-wife. Later, Josh offers Jim a job at Lewis if he agrees to quit Spaulding, and Jim accepts. Beth then shows up and she and Jim have a heart to heart about Harley, with Beth telling him her concerns with her. They eventually kiss, which is Jim’s first kiss since his wife died, and they plan a wine date later that night.

Meanwhile, Susan continues to be jealous of Harley’s incoming baby, so she continues to purposefully fawn over Beth in front of Harley to make her jealous. Phillip calls Harley and tells her that Jim and Beth dating isn’t going to work out and he needs to fix it, just as Harley watches Susan and Beth hug. Harley pulls Beth aside and tells her to back off Susan and they get into it, while Susan is listening from the stairwell and smiling with glee. Later at the hospital, Harley and Susan are touring the birthing facility and they run into Beth. Beth casually mentions Susan wasn’t born there, like she thought, which confuses Susan. Harley then tells her about being born in the backseat of a car, which upsets Susan, thinking she always got the shaft (dumb). Harley and Beth go at it while Lillian/Susan go for a soda and Harley starts to have Braxton Hicks contractions, but she’ll be fine. Phillip arrives at the hospital and overhears Susan talking to Beth about the possibility of Harley losing her baby, and he takes it as though she wishes it would happen (and he’d be right). Susan doesn’t want to see Harley, so Beth takes her home and Phillip tells Harley there may be a problem with Susan. He says he thinks she wants something bad to happen to their baby, which Harley can’t believe at all. Phillip then lets it slip that he paid for Susan to come to SF, which she didn’t realize and gets upset by. They argue and Harley says he’s becoming a control freak, with the Jim/Susan issue and with Reva/Josh by taking over Lewis Oil and not giving the company back to them. Harley goes to Cassie’s for the night instead of going home with him because they’re so frustrated with each other. That night at the farm, Cassie/Blake/Harley talk about it during their girls night, while Phillip and Rick drink and complain about it too. But Cassie/Blake convince Harley to call Phillip, while Rick is telling Phillip he’s in the wrong because he does like to be right and in charge a lot. Rick is hilarious, he makes them role play and he plays Phillip, meaning O’Leary does his hilarious impression of Grant (Phillip) again, with the clenched jaw/bottom teeth out thing LOL. Most of these scenes seem pretty ad lib which is so hilarious. A very drunk Rick and Phillip then go to the farm to see Harley and it’s pretty comical, with Phillip hiding in the bushes, trying to feed Rick lines, but he’s so loud and Harley can hear him, so she goes back inside. Phillip then serenades her with a guitar and sings a song about how much he loves her, with Rick doing bad, drunken background vocals, and Harley finally caves, kisses him and they go back home together.

Blake visits Holly again, who seems to be doing better, but Blake gets concerned a bit when Holly says she’s looking forward to working at the Journal again side-by-side with Fletcher, and getting a house in the woods so she can walk with Meg everyday. Blake then tells Holly she’s still talking to Ben which makes Holly upset and she starts to shake her, saying she needs to think about her babies. Fletcher comes in and stops Holly, and Blake privately tells Fletcher that Holly thinks Ben is like Roger and she’s trying to protect her from him. The next day, Fletcher visits Holly alone and Holly gets excited about their future and going to bed together again. She goes in for a kiss, but he backs away and it triggers her and she goes crazy again, asking why he didn’t bring Meg, how he’s taking her away from her again, etc. He leaves and Holly says to herself in the mirror that she has to get herself together.

Ben meets Carmen at the Santos mansion. She’s wearing a gown, he speaks to her in Spanish, and they flirt in that dangerous way Ben likes to flirt. I guess they’re chem testing them in hopes to maybe move Ben away from Blake? They have dinner and continue to talk about potentially working together, and Ben then leaves saying he’ll be in touch.

David and Vicky go on a proper date to see if there is anything there, as they try to put behind them the Lewis/Spaulding drama from last month. David tells her he’s talked to Frank about becoming a cop and he takes an exam next week, but Vicky isn’t happy about that, but they continue to flirt and ultimately kiss.

Reva and Abby go for a jog and Reva confides in Abby that she feels like she must have another baby with Josh. She later has an appointment with Dr. Sedgwick and Annie walks in, surprising them both. She’s there on her community service and Reva is visibly upset. Annie reads her charts and realizes she wants to have another baby with Josh and she starts to break down and cry a little. She leaves, Dr. Sedgwick apologizes to Reva, but Reva says the only human thing about Annie is her love for children so she’s almost sorry for her. Outside, Annie sees a pregnant Harley, and she starts to crumble even more and eventually runs to Alan for comfort. She cries to him that even though she got off free, she’ll never have the life she wants - a family with children. She then asks Alan to buy her a child LOL.

Reva’s appointment with Dr. Sedgwick doesn’t seem to go well. She comes into the room with seemingly concerning news, but we don’t get to hear what it is. Later, Josh tries to get a hold of Reva, but can’t. He eventually walks into their bedroom and finds her in lingerie on the bed, with music playing, asking if he’s ready to make a baby tonight. They talk about how Reva needs to experience the early years of being a mom, which she missed out on with Shayne and Marah, and then they have sex.

While I get that Vanessa was wrong, and that Hart was Blake's brother...there are times Blake had a lot of nerve being angry at other people's lies. There was not enough Febreze *yes, product placement* in the world to cover the stench of her affair with Ben, and on top of how she'd lied for months about the paternity of her children. Vanessa made a snap decision, and chose to go to jail. I can't remember Blake ever doing anything but crying and moaning apologies. And surely there was a felony or a dozen in her list of crap.

Oh, and WTF? Reva had those beginning years with Marah. Sure, it was only until Marah was about 4/5, but she still had them. But any excuse to get laid, I guess.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by P.J.

@alwaysAMC how are you liking the Jim/Beth relationship. The tension between Jim and Phillip is the best part. Susan is such a brat.

Any of the newer characters gelling with you? Selina doesn't seem to interact much anymore with Abby.

Reva wanted to experience raising young kids- it won't be until her fifth one (Colin O'Neill) where it happens. Of course Colin is still young when the show ends and she can ways abandon him later.

They're really forcing the Ben/Roger parallels. This recast Annie was a flop- Watros played her as a somewhat vixen a times, albeit troubled. This recast just doesn't work- I associate her too much for her sad sack blind character on y/r. I do remember seeing signs steal a heart transplant on the tv show viper-- that was something.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by Spoon

18 minutes ago, P.J. said:

While I get that Vanessa was wrong, and that Hart was Blake's brother...there are times Blake had a lot of nerve being angry at other people's lies. There was not enough Febreze *yes, product placement* in the world to cover the stench of her affair with Ben, and on top of how she'd lied for months about the paternity of her children. Vanessa made a snap decision, and chose to go to jail. I can't remember Blake ever doing anything but crying and moaning apologies. And surely there was a felony or a dozen in her list of crap.

Oh, and WTF? Reva had those beginning years with Marah. Sure, it was only until Marah was about 4/5, but she still had them. But any excuse to get laid, I guess.

LOL at the bolded part. I agree with you here. Sure, it's her brother, but Blake really takes the cake with lying and hurting people. Sure, not physically, but absolutely emotionally and mentally.

11 minutes ago, Spoon said:

@alwaysAMC how are you liking the Jim/Beth relationship. The tension between Jim and Phillip is the best part. Susan is such a brat.

Any of the newer characters gelling with you? Selina doesn't seem to interact much anymore with Abby.

Reva wanted to experience raising young kids- it won't be until her fifth one (Colin O'Neill) where it happens. Of course Colin is still young when the show ends and she can ways abandon him later.

They're really forcing the Ben/Roger parallels. This recast Annie was a flop- Watros played her as a somewhat vixen a times, albeit troubled. This recast just doesn't work- I associate her too much for her sad sack blind character on y/r. I do remember seeing signs steal a heart transplant on the tv show viper-- that was something.

Susan is 100% a brat and I haven't really liked her at all except when she was able to see through Holly's craziness and plotted to get the kids out of that cabin.

Jim/Beth - ehh, on one hand it's cute watching Jim fumble around a bit and get nervous, and I like that Beth seems to be getting away from Matt/Vanessa, but on the other hand, I'm not sure there are sparks (yet anyway).

Nope, Selena rarely interacts with Abby, but we've rarely seen Abby in a year which is sad. Honestly, not really digging the Danny/Michelle/Carman/Jesse/Drew stuff - it's tedious and just seems like a separate island from the rest of the show.

I agree mostly on your assessment of the Annie recast. I liked her when she was plotting and being the villain, but now that she got off free (basically), it feels a bit like there isn't much left to do with her. No one in town likes her, so where does she go from here? And you're right, Watros had good chemistry with many of the men, whereas the only man I've seen Coleman have strong chemistry with is Ben. They had pretty amazing/dynamic scenes together during her first few weeks on the show.

It's starting to feel like there is a lull right now in the show. Major storylines have ended (Dinah/Hart/Cassie; Reva/Josh/Annie; Holly as the stalker), or seem to be just stalling (Ben/Blake; Ross/India), and I guess they're teeing things up for what I understand to be the San Cristobal of it all that comes in a few months.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by alwaysAMC