I do recall the Reva being sighted on an Italian travel show.. it was when Josh/Harley had become engaged and were ready to take the plunge.   And Nadine lets Billy into WSPR to get a copy of the tape, and I think he also thinks it could be Reva... but isn't sure.

I think Robert Newman was leaving so this was the shows way to write him off, also to throw a bone in by mentioning Italy and having Josh go to Italy since Guiding Light was hugely popular in Italy.   I remember he went off alone, then weeks later wrote a letter to Harley telling her not to wait for him.. then Josh has Sarah bring the kids with her to Italy while Hawk remains as the guy running Company through the rest of 1991 (he even had a few scenes with Bridget.. trying to keep her in line because she was being mischievous at Company) before he stops appearing on the show.

45 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

It's certainly something Maureen sinks her teeth into.

There were rumors that around this period of time the show wanted to do a Josh/Cassie pairing, but Zimmer or fans or whoever did not care for the idea. There are several moments in this period and earlier in 1998 which drop big hints (I believe in this story Josh was drugged to have feelings for Carrie and then months earlier they'd bonded during yet another insane Reva crisis).

Crazy cause just as I’m reading this I’m just learning about Reva/Cassie being sisters 🤣 I’m at the episode where everyone is at Hart and Cassie’s house for what I presume is her baby shower? These episodes are great for new viewers like myself for connecting the dots on who is related to who. 

52 minutes ago, alwaysAMC said:

Oh Vanessa and Ross have had to deal with Dinah for years, it seems haha. They certainly have strong patience. Blake didn't back in the day with Dinah so I'm curious how Dinah/Blake get along in the late 90s.

I can't believe Holly (Blake's mom) tries to kill Ben!!!  That seems out of character unless Ben turns evil for some reason. Is Fletcher in the picture/on the show still at this time?  Holly/Fletcher got married in 1995, had a Down Syndrome baby (Meg), and Ben (who was an early teen at the time) moved in early 96 to go to boarding school to allow Holly and Fletcher the space to raise Meg. Fletcher is Ben's dad.

I googled Fletcher and he doesn’t look familiar so I don’t think he was around during this time. Apparently he will pop up in 1999 at some point though. 

Damn it, 1986, I watch you against my better judgment, and then you throw me a bone, getting my Billy/Vanessa heart fluttering. (I can also see they're trying to rebuild Ross/Vanessa...there's a sweet way Ross can't take his eyes off her, and ends up ignoring Calla. *giggle*)

It's obvious that Nancy Curlee really gets Billy and Vanessa. She seems to write their best material.

The fact that Zimmer would get upset that Josh would get together with Cassie is just ridiculous. I don't intend this to be mean, but Kim Zimmer was not Demi Moore sixty even in her fifties, so to be writing her like she's still the hottest thing in town would be delusional a la Susan Lucci the young showgirl in town. 

re: Louise Sorel. Not to prolong this as it's not a SB thread, but Jill Larson briefly mentions the Sorel/Rauch relationship in the OLTL history book. Only time Sorel is mentioned. Kim Zimmer was not interviewed for the book so does not share any backstage gossip and only Gina Tognoni mentions her in passing. 

1986: I wish I came across a scene with Billy and Vanessa. All I've had from Billy is pacing back and forth during scenes. While he paces, he mutters,  "Kyle, you're my brother. Kyle, we're a team. We made it through last year."  I suppose I should know what this is about, but I'm not sure it matters since Kyle is leaving. Billy has not had a scene with Vanessa in 5 weeks of 1986 material I've watched. Miss Sally is around as well. Miss Sally I like. She's delightful. I'm assuming she leaves soon which will annoy me as I like her interplay with H.B. when he's not reminiscing about loving Reva since she was a child.

Edited June 18Jun 18 by chrisml

On the Locher Room Signy Coleman said Kim Zimmer was an absolutely bitch towards her. and that Signy has nothing but feelings of hate towards Zimmer for the lousy treatment she endured that one year she worked with Kim Zimmer. 

15 hours ago, chrisml said:

 

1986: I wish I came across a scene with Billy and Vanessa. All I've had from Billy is pacing back and forth during scenes. While he paces, he mutters,  "Kyle, you're my brother. Kyle, we're a team. We made it through last year."  I suppose I should know what this is about, but I'm not sure it matters since Kyle is leaving. Billy has not had a scene with Vanessa in 5 weeks of 1986 material I've watched. Miss Sally is around as well. Miss Sally I like. She's delightful. I'm assuming she leaves soon which will annoy me as I like her interplay with H.B. when he's not reminiscing about loving Reva since she was a child.

Spauldingfield has been uploading. 

The first half of this episode(about the 26 minute mark)

 

then this:

 

this has been up for a while, but it's classic Billy and Vanessa, and Ross' bewilderment is hilarious.

 

Yeah, I know stuff had to be going on with Jordan, but Billy's function in 1986 seems to be being Kyle's "yes" man. RME. I don't tend to like Miss Sally who just loves to spout her opinion, but it's a little sad that Patricia Barry was just kind of dumped. 

Edited June 18Jun 18 by Errol
Removed response to a deleted post.

I think Newman and LW could've actually made Josh/Cassie work as a forbidden romance sort of thing. I do think it was a mistake to seriously commit to it like they were a supercouple, beyond just an affair or ONS or something (especially with a recast), and it's always been said to be one of the reasons Laura got out while the getting was good in addition to the larger systemic issues at the show - she's generally very canny and I think she knew it wouldn't go over well with the audience.

Thank you @P.J.for all the videos. I appreciate them. I will bookmark them as a treat for later tonight. I'm not sure when Jordan Clarke's problems were, but Billy is quite frantic in most of what I've seen him in. The writers don't seem to know what to do with Billy and H.B. if it doesn't revolve around Reva and Kyle. Sally is the only who doesn't cater to Reva, so it's nice to see someone who doesn't fall down at Reva's feet. Zimmer needs a good nemesis; it doesn't work when everyone is in love with Reva.

1 hour ago, TheyStartedOnSoaps said:

On the Locher Room Signy Coleman said Kim Zimmer was an absolutely bitch towards her. and that Signy has nothing but feelings of hate towards Zimmer for the lousy treatment she endured that one year she worked with Kim Zimmer. 

That's unfortunate.

Had some thoughts watching the return of RN/Josh:

Dammit. Josh and Reva work. There's just no denying it. There's incredible chemistry. The emotions between them seem honest and real. It's not surprising they were a thing through the rest of the life of the show.

That said: Josh is not, never has been, and never will be the sharpest tool in the shed. 😂 The least surprising thing ever is him walking right into the villain's lair. The guy's practically wearing a sign that says, "I'm the bad guy." 

I like how strong they made Mindy in the post-Kurt's death era. O.K., jumping an armed assassin was a little over the top, but she seemed to grow up finally and it looked good on her.

As much as it ticked off the Kyle fans, and how this was dictated by Malloy's upcoming exit, I really like that Reva stayed so firm about breaking off with him. No wavering, no doubt that she wants to be with Josh. If they had gone the love triangle route, she probably would have been more wishy-washy about it.

The other stories: ugh. Billy wanting to divorce Vanessa to save their marriage is so stupid. The high school crap, the young adult crap--yeah, they wanted to attract younger viewers, but this wasn't the way to do it.

I forgot that Dina had been in the show for quite some time before the reveal she was Vanessa and Ross's daughter. I could be misremebering this, but I thought one of Dina's earliest scenes was with Phillip while he was still played by Grant Alexander, and now he's about to return to the show and they still haven't had the reveal. Maybe someone can correct or confirm that?

Now I'm wondering if Dina was always meant to be their daughter. Who knows with the zillion writer changes.

12 hours ago, chrisml said:

The fact that Zimmer would get upset that Josh would get together with Cassie is just ridiculous. I don't intend this to be mean, but Kim Zimmer was not Demi Moore sixty even in her fifties, so to be writing her like she's still the hottest thing in town would be delusional a la Susan Lucci the young showgirl in town. 

 

Zimmer was sex on a stick her first three years on the show, and after she had her babies you can see her aging and gaining weight...something we all do as we age...and not being quite the hottest thing in town despite the writing...(thought Long was getting away from that by having Reva mature a bit and giving her stories about her kid, etc.) It doesnt get full blown until she returns from the dead (funny that McTavish spits on MG for getting older and makes fun of Lucci's ego when Zimmer was not hot stuff when she returned and had an ego to match Lucci) and goes full forces when Rauch returned.  Zimmer was an attractive woman, but she was not the hotttest thing in town when you had Beth Chamberline and Laura Wright there. I have no doubt that Zimmer was intimidated by matching RN up with LW...and as someone pointed out, LW is a savy woman and she knew that Kimmer would unleash her frau dogs on her and go to the press behind everyone's back to drop "news" about LW. Zimmer was famous for doing things like that, acting buddy buddy with an actor but doing the same with a reporter and dropping gossip about the other actors, but acting like she cared about the actor (example, when Marj got dropped Zimmer talked to the press about where poor Marj was devastated as where was she going to find a job at "her age"..)

And yes, Zimmer's fans and some dumb press thought she was a straight shooter, because she would do the same thing, drop [!@#$%^&*] about an actor or somethign going on in the show that wasnt advantageous to her, but it was all in for herself, unlike Bev who used her clout to help the other, especially younger actors, I never liked Zimmer because of that.

I do think the Rauch/Zimmer relationship is interesting. He totally hated any woman who wasnt' "hot" and she was well past the hot time, so I can only think that Kim knew which side her bread was buttered and kissed a*ss like crazy, and narked on all the other actors, as he ate that stuff up. Toxic and its really screwed the show over in the long run .

3 minutes ago, Mitch64 said:

And yes, Zimmer's fans and some dumb press thought she was a straight shooter, because she would do the same thing, drop [!@#$%^&*] about an actor or somethign going on in the show that wasnt advantageous to her, but it was all in for herself, unlike Bev who used her clout to help the other, especially younger actors, I never liked Zimmer because of that.

So lovely to hear you say this!

I watched all the rest of January 1999 last night and was shocked how the month ended with a bang especially where Dinah is concerned. I won’t be too spoilery because I know there’s some people in this group who are watching old GL episodes too and they’re a few years before me. 
 

I will say though, I was shocked to find out Gina Tognoni takes over this role because I’m familiar with her role as Phyllis at Y&R. She was always the more toned down, sophisticated version of Phyllis so I’m curious to see her earlier work as Dinah on GL. I know I still have several years to go before I’ll get to see that but right now it’s hard to picture her as Dinah with the way Wendy Moniz has been playing her in these episodes. 

Also I just learned the actors who played Hart and Dinah were married in real life! I wonder, did they decide to exit the show together in 1999?

26 minutes ago, Mitch64 said:

funny that McTavish spits on MG for getting older and makes fun of Lucci's ego when Zimmer was not hot stuff when she returned and had an ego to match Lucci

Uh... Garrett aged beautifully, WTH was she talking about?

26 minutes ago, Mitch64 said:

unlike Bev who used her clout to help the other, especially younger actors, I never liked Zimmer because of that.

That's nice to know about Beverlee. It's tough to be a woman, especially an older woman, in the industry, but there are examples that show you don't have to be a jerk to thrive.

 

14 minutes ago, DeeVee said:

Uh... Garrett aged beautifully, WTH was she talking about?

I get PTSD symptoms just by remembering that unfinished autobiography manuscript. 😂