3 hours ago, Spoon said:

The Floyd thing reminds me of what Ellen Weston did to Ben Reade. The Ben thing was kinda worse because the character was born on screen, similar to Paul's son, Ricky on Y&R.

That story also told viewers that being sexually abused makes you a serial killer. I will never forgive that story.

4 hours ago, alwaysAMC said:

The India thing is SO weird to me. You bring back a 'legacy' character, introduce briefly that she's now broke and perhaps a schemer, but then she drops off the canvas for months and then comes back and says "Ross, you're still in love with Blake, this is over"... and that's it? Part of me wonders if there was a plan to involve her more with Alex, because Dusay went to AMC shortly after India arrived again... and Alan was still wrapped up in Annie's thing at the time. I don't know, the whole thing is weird. Makes me really want to know what was happening behind the scene at the time.

I was so happy they gave Phillip/Annie a scene. Watros and GA had great chemistry and I still think one of the best things from Annie's storyline back then was Phillip helping her dry out at the Bauer cabin.

Ohhh, I like the tease on Phillip's upcoming storylines - now I'm intrigued

I think India has some stuff with Alan coming up right around when SC's Annie leaves.. but I don't recall if much happened or if it was just a few scenes and then she vanished again and later mentioned being out of town on business.

India was a character that worked best in short arcs. The return in late 1998 wasn't planned properly and she wandered around for several months without an actual story.

Her 1990 arc was so well-written and her 2002 visit was memorable.. even her 2005 visit had a few nice moments as well.

At first, I thought it was random India and Ross were interacting in 1998, but then I recalled that they interacted some in her original stuff. It wouldn't have seemed so random had there been mention of their interactions in late 1986/early 1987 when Ross had custody of Dinah and India had custody of Dori. Dinah and Dori were close foster sisters I believe.. and India/Ross interacted because of them with India even suggesting they split custody of Dori so that she still had the connection with Dinah.. but I think MKA quit so she was quickly written off the show and left suddenly in the spring 1987.

Edited 4 hours ago4 hr by Soaplovers

I know there was a point where India let Dori stay with Dinah at Ross', because Dinah and Dori were so close. But I thought it was mostly a con, for whatever reason.

Yeah, India worked best in shorter arcs. They never really knew what to do with her, which is a shame.

57 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

That story also told viewers that being sexually abused makes you a serial killer. I will never forgive that story

I never understood the reasoning behind it. Why would you kill off a legacy child only because the performer was bolting? Sure, casting's a bitch, but c'mon. Lazy.

They threw that SA in there to explain why he was a monster. Made Fletcher look bad as he was so protective of Meg but was so oblivious to what was supposedly happening to Ben.

I hated ConJob more than ANY creative team-- they put the final nail in the grave. Wheeler just stomped on the grave. Between the Ben stuff and the crappy remake of Long's family fathers plot from '83- it was just horrid. I remember the groaning online when Ed slapped Michelle. Sure, it was NSA's Michelle-- but c'mon!

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by Spoon

1 hour ago, P.J. said:

I never understood the reasoning behind it. Why would you kill off a legacy child only because the performer was bolting? Sure, casting's a bitch, but c'mon. Lazy.

It's not like it was the first time. They did the same with Lujack. That was also a major blunder. Lujack wasn't just a legacy character, he was connected to a major core family. It was almost inevitable that they were going to resort to the "lost twin" gambit.

In Ben's case, anyone who didn't watch in 1985/86 wasn't going to remember his parents. His stepdad, Fletcher, was an odd duck; a long-running character with no ties to a core family.

I agree killing him off was lazy, With young actors who catch on fast, soaps should always have an exit plan if they decide not to sign again when their first contract ends. In Bomer's case he wasn't ever coming back. But so what if the character left town and never came back? He had one major link in the show, that's all. So having him leave town should have been the way to go. There were many long-time viewers for whom watching him die on screen was very disturbing. (I literally yelled at the screen, "I remember when he was a baby!" while he died).

They compounded the error by making the whole thing so distasteful. At least Lujack got to exit a hero.

16 minutes ago, DeeVee said:

It's not like it was the first time. They did the same with Lujack. That was also a major blunder. Lujack wasn't just a legacy character, he was connected to a major core family. It was almost inevitable that they were going to resort to the "lost twin" gambit.

In Ben's case, anyone who didn't watch in 1985/86 wasn't going to remember his parents. His stepdad, Fletcher, was an odd duck; a long-running character with no ties to a core family.

I agree killing him off was lazy, With young actors who catch on fast, soaps should always have an exit plan if they decide not to sign again when their first contract ends. In Bomer's case he wasn't ever coming back. But so what if the character left town and never came back? He had one major link in the show, that's all. So having him leave town should have been the way to go. There were many long-time viewers for whom watching him die on screen was very disturbing. (I literally yelled at the screen, "I remember when he was a baby!" while he died).

They compounded the error by making the whole thing so distasteful. At least Lujack got to exit a hero.

Other than Lujack, I can't recall another child of a major character who died and stayed dead (in my lifetime. And miscarriages aside.)

Everyone in town knew that kid. I hate when TIIC just kind of spit in the fans' eye. I remember ATWT's Bryant died just about a year before Ben. P&G were obviously going through a stupid phase. At least ATWT could blame Jean Passanante, who pitched it the minute she joined the staff.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by P.J.

Ugh, don't remind me of Bryant. They could've at least milked a few more years of angst first.