I hated RR's Alan so much, the only way he would work is to lean into humor. His Alan was a joke. RR and SS were both so hammy, couldn't stand either one. Dusty was a fine Alex, for her first two runs, but that 2002 run stunk. She was so hammy and different, of course the writing was poor but I wonder if her acting choices were largely influenced by her AMC run just prior? I got the vibe that AMC's Vanessa was a way OTT villain.

Edited 2 hours ago2 hr by Spoon

1 hour ago, GL95 said:

RR’s love interests as Alan served two purposes: 1) reinforcing that Alan is a one-note villain and 2) making Marj’s Alex go crazy with jealousy. Alex always had more passion about Alan’s women than he did.

That was always true about these characters, even in the better days with better actors playing the characters.

The Spauldings saw people who other Spauldings loved as a threat. That's why Alan hated Beth--there wasn't a damn thing wrong with Beth (not back then, anyway). She was just a threat to his dominance over Phillip. (This also showed how much he preferred Phillip over Alan Michael, how deep down, Phillip was the "real" Spaulding to him. He was fine with AM marrying Harley. Of course, he was motivated to get some of AM's trust fund but he should have loathed Harley. Back then, he had no problem with her).

Alex and Alan were always threatened by whoever the other was involved with. (Chris and Bev made those scenes pretty funny, the ascerbic barbs always landed perfectly).

Yep, you could see it as something mildly incestuous. Alan and Alex grew up protecting each other against an abusive father, they were probably isolated from others by him. It makes sense. In the end, they really only loved each other. The way Chris and Bev played it, it wasn't icky. Underneath the humor of their constant making fun of each other's partners, it was sad.

But in the later years, with not as good writers and actors who didn't play the subtleties of their relationship, it came across as very cringe.

2 hours ago, Spoon said:

I hated RR's Alan so much, the only way he would work is to lean into humor. His Alan was a joke.

ICAM.