I stopped watching for a while during San Chistobel.

2 hours ago, Speed Racer said:

Yes - Reva driving off the bridge in 1990 does parallel well with Guiding Light driving off the bridge and into San Christobell in 1999! Good call, AMC, and LOL!

Yet the first event had a most pleasant effect and somewhat long-lasting outcome. The second??

2 hours ago, Stevel said:

I stopped watching for a while during San Chistobel.

LOL - well, I must admit... after the show teasing San Cristobel for ~2 long months, I'm finally happy it's here so I can see what all the hub-bub is about. I know it lasts way too long and wasn't a fan-favorite, but so far, I'm kind of intrigued LOL. The mystery behind it all has been interesting and I was shocked to see Michelle/Danny roped in. I'm going to give it until the location shoot is over and see how I feel then.

BTW - I recently followed a new GL instagram account that posts a ton of episode clips from over the years. Yesterday they posted a ton of clips from the 2006 Daytime Emmys. I did not remember GL almost sweeping the acting categories that year! Kim, Tom, Gina and Jordan all won! That had to be a nice surprise to the entire cast and fans. So 2005 must have been a pretty good year - maybe their last great year? Because they had many others nominated too that didn't win...

11 hours ago, alwaysAMC said:

I'm surprised they never bring her up anymore now that Phillip is back from '96 on (or Justin/Jackie for that matter). I wonder if she just wasn't a popular character?

Yes, it is very strange that they completely dropped a legacy character and she was never seen again. She might have been mentioned, but it became like she never existed. And they didn't have the excuse of her having a rapidly SORASed child, like they did with Hope.

They put a lot into the Dylan/Samantha pairing . It just never took off. They were the nice intellectual girl in love with the blue collar bad boy trope but they never clicked with the audience. I think they were hoping they'd be another Phillip/Beth pairing, or more accurately, Lujack/Beth, in popularity.

To show how much the show had invested in these characters: they was an article in TV Guide about casting Samantha. That's not something you saw much outside of soap magazines.

I always got the impression that Morgan Englund, who played Dylan, felt like he should have broken out and become a star on the show. Maybe that's mostly ego, but they immediately connected him to two major characters: Reva, by making him her son, and to Harley, by making him the father of her daughter. You do that with the anticipation that this character is going to be a big deal on the show. (Nowadays he speaks very positively about his GL experience).

As for Justin, they tried recasting him but it was another flop. I adored Christopher Pennock when he was on Dark Shadows, but he was not the right actor to play Justin. Tom O'Rourke, the original Justin, probably would have never come back. He was furious when they fired him.

Unfortunately, Douglas Marland never understood the character of Jackie at all, pretty much destroyed the character, and then killed her off before they ever did the reveal about Phillip's parentage. By the time her daughter arrived in SF, Samantha may as well have sprung from Justin's head.

Edited 23 hours ago23 hr by DeeVee

2 hours ago, DeeVee said:

Yes, it is very strange that they completely dropped a legacy character and she was never seen again. She might have been mentioned, but it became like she never existed. And they didn't have the excuse of her having a rapidly SORASed child, like they did with Hope.

They put a lot into the Dylan/Samantha pairing . It just never took off. They were the nice intellectual girl in love with the blue collar bad boy trope but they never clicked with the audience. I think they were hoping they'd be another Phillip/Beth pairing, or more accurately, Lujack/Beth, in popularity.

To show how much the show had invested in these characters: they was an article in TV Guide about casting Samantha. That's not something you saw much outside of soap magazines.

I always got the impression that Morgan Englund, who played Dylan, felt like he should have broken out and become a star on the show. Maybe that's mostly ego, but they immediately connected him to two major characters: Reva, by making him her son, and to Harley, by making him the father of her daughter. You do that with the anticipation that this character is going to be a big deal on the show. (Nowadays he speaks very positively about his GL experience).

As for Justin, they tried recasting him but it was another flop. I adored Christopher Pennock when he was on Dark Shadows, but he was not the right actor to play Justin. Tom O'Rourke, the original Justin, probably would have never come back. He was furious when they fired him.

Unfortunately, Douglas Marland never understood the character of Jackie at all, pretty much destroyed the character, and then killed her off before they ever did the reveal about Phillip's parentage. By the time her daughter arrived in SF, Samantha may as well have sprung from Justin's head.

Really appreciate your notes/perspective!

I'm not sure why Englund left the show originally, but I always found it strange that Dylan was never a thought during Reva's return in 1995. They finally had some throwaway line where Reva called Dylan, but it just seems silly that we're supposed to believe Reva/Dylan reconnected all offscreen during that time. When I was watching, I just assumed that maybe Reva and Dylan weren't really close for whatever reason, but after seeing that 1990 episode of Reva which includes Dylan and Sam in the mix, it's clear they were in story/closely involved when she drove off... now I'm wondering if there was much Reva talk, from him or others, between the time Josh left and when Reva came back (since Englund was there for most of that period).

@alwaysAMC TP was the perfect scene partner for KZ. They had the same OTT acting styles and TP wouldn't let KZ steamroll him in scenes, he'd push back and scream louder.

Dinah's return was really well done. Reviving the rivalry gave Cassie something to do other than mope about Tammy/Jonathan being together.

For JC, it was for his alcoholism relapse storyline. I remember Reva was featured in that plot too as they were flirting. JC was rewarded for his win by being promoted to contract for the first time since 92/93. He named his daughter Chelsea after the area where GL used to film in the 80s.

Believe it or not, the following year GL would win EMMY for best Show, tied with Y&R. They submitted the anniversary episode where they reenacted BTS in the early days of the series.

19 hours ago, alwaysAMC said:

Wow - so I just went down a rabbit hole haha. I didn't realize Phillip had a full bio sister, so I had to figure out what happened to her. The GL wiki page just says she left town in 1992, so she didn't die... I'm surprised they never bring her up anymore now that Phillip is back from '96 on (or Justin/Jackie for that matter). I wonder if she just wasn't a popular character?

Then I realized Reva must have left soon after that July 4th episode and sure enough, she drove off that bridge on July 23! So I went to that episode in the Vault and the quality on that episode is amazing. And let me tell you how shocked I was to see that Sam, of all characters, was actually in the car with Reva! It looks like she jumps out just in time, but I had no idea Reva had someone in the car. I didn't watch the whole episode, so no idea how/why Sam and Dylan are there with Reva/Josh in Florida - I guess it was a family vacation maybe. Oh and Josh in a black speedo on the beach!

Jackie died in 1982. From when Justin left in '83 to when they recast in '90, they barely brought his name up. Part of that time Phillip's off canvas (or recast with John Bolger), but through Philip's many, MANY marriages, there's never any talk about "hey, sent an invite to my day Justin btw".

Maybe GL is just worse at it than most shows I watched, but yeah....once someone left, they've just fallen off the face of the earth. One of the rare exceptions was Reva's sister Roxie, who would occasionally get a shout out. Not (probably) that she was that hugely popular, but to use as an excuse for Reva either being out of town or whatever. Not just random peeps with no family left in town, but peeps with family--Trish Lewis, Justin, Lucy Cooper, Alan-Michael, Mindy, Dylan, Marah, the list goes on.

Long story (way) short---Reva's post partum depression came back while she and Josh were on vacation. Dylan went down while she was hospitalized, and Reva arranged for Sam to come down as a surprise for him. (this was a small sign her PPD was back, initially, Reva was obsessing over the idea that Dylan and Sam should get married. She helped them runaway to get married, but Billy, Josh and Ross stopped them) Reva, Dylan and Sam went shopping in Florida, and Reva became convinced a car was following them. She was driving to lose them, and told Dylan to get out. When it was clear to Sam that Reva wouldn't stop, she threw herself out of the moving car before Reva went off the bridge. Sam was paralyzed for about six months.

Sam and Dylan were a nice couple, but they weren't the second coming of Beth/Lujack or even Harley/Alan-Michael. Neither actor was very dynamic, alone or separately.

11 hours ago, alwaysAMC said:

I did not remember GL almost sweeping the acting categories that year! Kim, Tom, Gina and Jordan all won! That had to be a nice surprise to the entire cast and fans. So 2005 must have been a pretty good year - maybe their last great year? Because they had many others nominated too that didn't win

Jordan's was a welcome surprise. I think the academy changed the rules shortly thereafter. Which supposedly cost Maura West the ' emmy, the year Jeanne Cooper won.

@alwaysAMC this day in 1992, singer Roberta Flack sang at the wedding reception for Hamp and Gilly. Ms Flack was a fan of the show.

Back to Reva,the signal that Reva was of would be her red dress. She'd wear that when her PPD was acting up and she was behaving "off."

It was shortly after they built the new bridge to Key West. They still had remnants of the old bridge when the fam went down there in '93.

Edited 10 hours ago10 hr by Spoon

Well, "Reva Red" started before her PPD. I'm not even sure when it became a "thing", but the audience knew when Reva wore red, fireworks if some kind were gonna blow.

During her PPD, yes, when she wore red, it meant her symptoms were flaring. She threw a party for Justin to meet Dylan, and wore this expensive dress with some kind of cape--all in red.