I’m up to January 2, 1997!

Ok, things are really getting good and I can already tell a huge difference with the new writers and EP.  We’re back to good soap opera! They also stopped doing the freeze at the end of each episode, which I kind of miss.

Dec 12 - Zachary visits Vanessa again, and sadly the experimental treatment isn’t working for her. Then, Hart and Dinah decide to vacation at Lake Lucerne in Switzerland, which, of course, happens to be where Vanessa is. Good ol’ soap opera trope. LOL and now a nearly blind Vanessa is being told by a nun of a loving couple on a hotel balcony overlooking the lake (Hart/Dinah) and how she loves to see young people still have romance in their lives. Meanwhile, Dinah/Hart talk about the beautiful convent they can see from their balcony and make out a lovely woman in a wheelchair with a nun (Vanessa). Dinah/Hart want to get away from all their friends that showed up (thanks to Roger, who is now there), so they escape to the convent to have dinner and walk right by a blind Vanessa, but don’t see each other. Then Roger shows up and talks to the nun and Vanessa hears his voice and realizes he’s there. This is getting so good!

Holly guessed the truth about Blake’s twins and their fathers, and Blake finally broke down and told her.

Reva and Josh both end up at Cross Creek and sleep separately, but the next morning, there was palpable tension and they wanted to give into each other badly. Josh almost joined her in the shower but stopped, and then finally he confessed his love for her and they kiss. I’ve gotta say, I felt something there during these scenes with these two, they’ve got something. Meanwhile, Annie is convinced they’re getting together so she got Buzz to drive them up to Cross Creek to catch them. The Dec 16 episode is very hot, I have to admit. The direction and camerawork was strong and they did some different things, with Annie/Buzz in the car, then Annie walking up to the cabin while shirtless Josh and Reva are in bed making out and about to have sex. Sadly (I can’t believe I’m saying this), Annie interrupted Josh/Reva from fully having sex. I wanted them to in that moment haha. This is the first time where I’m not really rooting for Annie and Josh, probably because it’s so clear that Josh is now over Annie since her intervention. Reva hides while Josh/Annie talk and overhears Annie tell Josh she’s pregnant before he’s able to tell her he wants a divorce. Later, back in town, Annie announces to everyone at Christmas that she’s pregnant LOL.

Now Buzz gets a letter from Jenna and she says she’s been thinking of him lately and wants to visit Springfield. He calls her and acknowledges Henry and Vanessa’s deaths, which makes her sad. They show a flashback of Buzz/Jenna, so I’m assuming they were in a relationship at some point. I don’t know anything about Jenna, but this is perfect timing since it seems like Reva/Buzz won’t be together much longer haha. I hope I like Jenna - what’s her backstory - related to anyone on the scene right now?  Oh and she shows up on the Christmas episode with her son Henry, flying back to Springfield. Her first stop is to Company where she talks to Michelle and Matt, reminiscing about Vanessa. What is her connection to Vanessa? It seemed like they didn’t trust each other at first, but then they grew to love each other and have a strong friendship. Curious their backstory here…

Then we get to Christmas and everyone is invited to a surprise party and the host happens to be Billy! Great to see him back. He’s out of prison, on a furlough for good behavior, and will live in a halfway house for a bit. LOL at the banjo playing in the background of his scenes. Great flashbacks here with Bill/HB and Josh/HB. Oh Reva - she sees Billy and runs up, pinches his butt and says “Billy Lewis, I’d recognize that backside anywhere” and laughs with glee haha. Tylo is back as Quint now for the party.

And wow, a Nick and Susan return on 12/27 and 12/30!  What a nice surprise. They came to convince Alex to leave with them and get away from Alan and his Spaulding hell. Then, Roger and Amanda announced they’re getting married haha.

Another year down! Moving onto 1997…

20 minutes ago, chrisml said:

It's the shoving Jonathan down viewers' throat part that turned me off but YMMV.

It took me a long, long time to realize TP is not a bad actor, he's actually pretty good. As Jonathan, he gave me the creeps. I just loathed the character. One of the big reasons I didn't watch the show much the last years.

17 minutes ago, DeeVee said:

 

I have never understood why GL never went that route with Vanessa and Ross. All that backstory, the actors' incredible on screen chemisty, how popular they both were. It was no-brainer. They teased it a few times and then quickly ditched it every time. One of the great might have beens of GL.

 

Maybe Josh and Reva weren't exactly TOXIC, but their expiration date was LONG past. (Unlike, for example, Ross and Vanessa, who could have had years more life to their pairing)

More of the end of '86 and early '87 have come up, and I can already see the writers (Anderson and well, whoever) don't understand Ross or Vanessa, separately or together. Both act like they haven't spent the last three years being parent figures to Phillip and Mindy, respectively.

They had better writing in '89-'90, but the show had already been building toward Ross/Holly/Roger, so what little tease we got never seemed serious.

I vote Josh/Reva were toxic, and for the most part, always were. ALWAYS.

13 minutes ago, alwaysAMC said:

 

Now Buzz gets a letter from Jenna and she says she’s been thinking of him lately and wants to visit Springfield. He calls her and acknowledges Henry and Vanessa’s deaths, which makes her sad. They show a flashback of Buzz/Jenna, so I’m assuming they were in a relationship at some point. I don’t know anything about Jenna, but this is perfect timing since it seems like Reva/Buzz won’t be together much longer haha. I hope I like Jenna - what’s her backstory - related to anyone on the scene right now?  Oh and she shows up on the Christmas episode with her son Henry, flying back to Springfield. Her first stop is to Company where she talks to Michelle and Matt, reminiscing about Vanessa. What is her connection to Vanessa? It seemed like they didn’t trust each other at first, but then they grew to love each other and have a strong friendship. Curious their backstory here…

Jenna was a jewel thief. During the blackout, she made friends with Michelle, who she was trapped in an elevator with. Yadda yadda---Jenna needs to avoid deportation and knows her father has some connection to Spaulding. She enlists Henry's help. Henry realizes that her father had invented something that Spaulding made huge profits from, but he thinks Brandon Spaulding stole it, and left her father broke and imprisoned. And that Spaulding would owe her TONS of money. Henry lies to Jenna and tells her that he's her father (poor Vanessa bugs out on that news...). hoping he can give her the life she deserved without losing the company. It all backfires due to Roger (who's seeing Jenna) (long, long story), and he talks Jenna into suing Spaulding to get what she's owed. They end up winning, and Henry, Vanessa, A-M and Nick lose almost everything. Nick and A-M end up running the Springfield Journal and Vanessa goes to Lewis and starts poaching Spaulding clients.

Henry and Jenna bond all through this in spite of being on opposite sides. Jenna and Roger eventually lost Spaulding, but Henry treated Jenna like another daughter. I'm not exactly sure how Vanessa and Jenna bonded, but they did, and Vanessa was the only person in town who knew Jenna was pregnant with Buzz's child when she left town. Later, Jenna and Vanessa are pregnant around the same time.

I never quite bought their friendship, but *shrug*, that's probably because I generally didn't like Jenna.

 

21 minutes ago, P.J. said:

More of the end of '86 and early '87 have come up, and I can already see the writers (Anderson and well, whoever) don't understand Ross or Vanessa, separately or together. Both act like they haven't spent the last three years being parent figures to Phillip and Mindy, respectively.

They had better writing in '89-'90, but the show had already been building toward Ross/Holly/Roger, so what little tease we got never seemed serious.

 

I think the original plan in 1989 was to have Roger/Sonni/Holly once she and Ed broke up... with Billy/Ross/Vanessa/Nadine as a quad.

However, once Michelle Forbes opted to quit the show in the fall of 1989.. Sonni quickly broke things off with Roger before leaving town for a new start... while Roger/Holly/Ross/Alexandra/Fletcher/Mindy became the new plan in 1990 and Billy/Nadine/Vanessa became the main focus.

1989 was the last time the show attempted to try Vanessa/Ross... other then in 1993 when Blake felt insecure over Ross/Vanessa's close bond.

The gorilla harkens back to the comedic highjinks of Cass, Felicia & Wally.

Wait, stop, go back, tell it in a better order. Last year I asked Carolyn Culliton how she felt about being memorialized forever as a gorilla named Carolyn, with a mate named Richard & a handler named Sam, or at time the full  name Samuel D. Ratcliff. She told me she effing hates  it. She went on, to say that she loved Sam & Gary was godparent to one of their three, so, she can't really object & instead has to go along. What I learned, and she confirmed, was that in the 80s, Sam & Gary, writers at AW, put their heads together & came up with what I've just laid out.

Goutman meant this as an homage to that time on the show. 

What makes it even worse is that repeatedly he said We are not going to reach for nostalgia, NO, we have current stories to tell & we are going to tell them. 

Now, that is a reasonable sentiment to apply, BUT then for the 2 day finale what did he actually do? He pulled a gorilla & all of her trappings , from the 80s, and, so now I call it the most hated finale in all of soapdom, which if you know anything at all about some real stinkers,  you know that is saying a lot. 

Now, he did get permission to bring Beverlee McKinsey back for the finale. But, for health reasons, her doctors worried about rejection after she'd recently had a kidney transplant & ultimately decided it was not safe for her to fly across country.

Can you imagine Rachel calling to the servants that she is getting the door & she opens the door & there is Iris! And, Iris pushed in, past Rachel, and is in the middle of a sentence about some ridiculous man sitting in the seat next to her all the way from Houston?!!!

Why he then did not turn around & ask Carmen Duncan, will remain a mystery.

P&G denied his request for 2 months to do this, instead of one. 

P&G denied his request for what he needed for a photo retrospective of the whole show.

Also I know this doesn't belong here, sorry, but in my defense, I didn't start it. 😇🙃😉

Edit to Add: Gary is Tomlin. 

So, possibly you thought about today being the Endiversary of my forever favorite show, ANOTHER WORLD.  35 Years in Bay City came to a halt today, 26 years ago. Baby Jasmine is now 26. And, with this, I promise to stop talking about this show here.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DJxW5DLJLId/
Another World is my forever favorite soap opera. But it's finale is almost universally hated by its fans. What this is, is an edit where I've deleted everything I didn't like!!! Maybe you'll like it, too. 

 

Edited June 26Jun 26 by Contessa Donatella

Always enjoy your reviews @alwaysAMC

Jenna's backstory has already been summed up, but I'll add that she was initially just meant to have a brief return. When Paul Rauch joined the show, he made the return permanent, due in part to his experience with her at OLTL.

I was not a fan of Jenna the first time around (I felt like Nadine was degraded for her), but Fiona was always a reliable performer and I warmed to her more in her return, even if most of the material isn't up to much.

I was never a huge Reva/Josh fan but Rauch was smart to make them the rooting couple and Annie the schemer rather than the formless nature of the Annie/Josh/Buzz/Reva quad. Those Cross Creek scenes worked well as Zimmer and Newman sold them for all they were worth.

2 hours ago, DRW50 said:

I do think some of the criticism was deserved, like everyone needing to have a baby, and some of the vibes. Just the tone was often so pointed in a way that I don't know if we'd see in other cases (even Goutman).

What is this about everyone needing to have a baby? Respectfully, are we watching the same show. Danny & Michelle had Robbie. Natalia gave birth to Francesca. Harley had long had adorable Zach. Olivia had Emma. So, to you, this equates to Babyitis? Often I call it out on a show, but I never once thought of it in regards to GL & it certainly did not pick up with EW.

I thought you were going to mention with her being a  Mormon the lack of a physical relationship for Otalia, not consummating was glaring.

30 minutes ago, Contessa Donatella said:

What is this about everyone needing to have a baby? Respectfully, are we watching the same show. Danny & Michelle had Robbie. Natalia gave birth to Francesca. Harley had long had adorable Zach. Olivia had Emma. So, to you, this equates to Babyitis? Often I call it out on a show, but I never once thought of it in regards to GL & it certainly did not pick up with EW.

I thought you were going to mention with her being a  Mormon the lack of a physical relationship for Otalia, not consummating was glaring.

Reva also had a baby. Lizzie was pregnant again at the end of the show. Beth had a baby with Alan. Christina had a baby at the end of the show. Shayne had a child. There was some talk at the time about this and Mormonism. I didn't really care but I can see why people complained as so many soap women seem to be having babies whether there was much reason or not (the only one I think was a terrible idea was Beth).

I remember the complaints about Otalia, with some claiming homophobia. I did not feel that way as I thought it was a risk for P&G and GL, given that there had been hate campaigns against ATWT not long before and GL had only ever had a few openly gay characters in small support roles. But I do get why people felt the way they felt.

Edited June 25Jun 25 by DRW50

I had forgotten about the criticism about GL turning into an advertisement for mormonism @DRW50. I wasn't paying enough attention to GL to know what that was all about. I know some viewers and a few soap journalists were complaining about it. I think this is part of the problem with Wheeler's GL. It had no real identity. It was something different depending on the week or month. And it became something that lapsed viewers were not going to tune into. And David Kreizman (sp?) was too obsessed with Jonathan and still is according to recent interviews. 

@Deevee There's the gorilla on Another World and the stomped on cigar from Santa Barbara. Two of the worst. The cigar was probably the worst because it was so contemptuous. Both of these NBC approved. 

 

2 hours ago, DeeVee said:

It took me a long, long time to realize TP is not a bad actor, he's actually pretty good. As Jonathan, he gave me the creeps. I just loathed the character. One of the big reasons I didn't watch the show much the last years.

See, I loved Tom immediately. And, Jon, Jonathan was a delicious role.  And, then, Jami!!

27 minutes ago, chrisml said:

I had forgotten about the criticism about GL turning into an advertisement for mormonism @DRW50. I wasn't paying enough attention to GL to know what that was all about. I know some viewers and a few soap journalists were complaining about it. I think this is part of the problem with Wheeler's GL. It had no real identity. It was something different depending on the week or month. And it became something that lapsed viewers were not going to tune into. And David Kreizman (sp?) was too obsessed with Jonathan and still is according to recent interviews. 

@Deevee There's the gorilla on Another World and the stomped on cigar from Santa Barbara. Two of the worst. The cigar was probably the worst because it was so contemptuous. Both of these NBC approved. 

 

Capitol. Refused to tie up any stories. Firing Squad, Fade to Black.

 

Edited June 25Jun 25 by Contessa Donatella

9 minutes ago, chrisml said:

I had forgotten about the criticism about GL turning into an advertisement for mormonism @DRW50. I wasn't paying enough attention to GL to know what that was all about. I know some viewers and a few soap journalists were complaining about it. I think this is part of the problem with Wheeler's GL. It had no real identity. It was something different depending on the week or month. And it became something that lapsed viewers were not going to tune into. And David Kreizman (sp?) was too obsessed with Jonathan and still is according to recent interviews. 

I can't disagree, but I don't know if GL had had any real identity in a long time. I suppose that allowed each producer to run riot. I blame P&G.

I for one loved that GL kept pumping on-screen babies/new legacy characters. It's just a shame they never SORAS'd Peter Reardon, Jason and Kevin Marler, Jude Bauer, RJ (Roger-Joshua) Jessup, Zach Spaulding or Rocky Cooper.  They did SORAS James Spaulding, Clarissa Marler and Maureen Reardon II near the end. 

IIRC, several actresses on GL and ATWT had pregnancies during that decade and while GL would  usually write them in while ATWT would more likely come up with ridiculous "outs" like the infamous aging spa.

6 hours ago, alwaysAMC said:

Another year down! Moving onto 1997…

I'm looking forward to you getting to the 60th Anniversary festivities towards the end of January '97!

Edited June 25Jun 25 by Spoon

5 hours ago, DRW50 said:

I can't disagree, but I don't know if GL had had any real identity in a long time. I suppose that allowed each producer to run riot. I blame P&G.

Personally I have a strong preference for a time in the past, sadly, when each individual soap tended to have its own unique identity. I feel like BTG has a pretty clear, more unique than not, one, which I attribute to its newness as well as come careful decisions being made. But, generally, all our old warhorses seem to me to have lost that unique identity aspect. Sure, DAYS is supposed to be the diversity soap but they've done such a pi$$poor job of it, I don't think they deserve it. Y&R is supposed to be the soap about the business world & if that's its identity then IMO it has doomed them to the soap cardinal sin, being boring. Is GH the hospital soap or is it the mob soap? And, what is B&B, the Slut of the soaps? And, about blaming P&G, as long as we also blame NBC, I'm good. 

Now, I would like to make a few requests. 

#1 - Can we talk more about this idea of Reva  & Josh & toxicity? This to me is a new idea. 

#2 - I was under the impression that everyone thought that ATWT & GL were both being homophobic because of basically no consummation between Olivia & Natalia and Luke & Reid, who was even killed rather than consummate, which you have to admit is drastic, to say the least. Death to the non-phuckers! And, Otalia was stuck having eye sex, which as we all know is less than satisfying. I well recall that Crystal Chappell tried to talk to Wheeler about her seeming to think that two women in love had no physical or sexual needs. ????? Is that a part of being a Mormon?

In this regard, DRW50 said: 

Quote

I remember the complaints about Otalia, with some claiming homophobia. I did not feel that way as I thought it was a risk for P&G and GL, given that there had been hate campaigns against ATWT not long before and GL had only ever had a few openly gay characters in small support roles. But I do get why people felt the way they felt.

Now, I hope someone can explain this to me. It sounds to me like he is saying it wasn't bigoted because, basically they were afraid. But, that does not in any way negate the bigotry. If anything, it supports it. At least IMO. I suspect he means that yes, they were bigoted but he doesn't blame them for it. If that makes any sense.

#3 - I no longer can remember what it was about. 

 

Edited June 25Jun 25 by Contessa Donatella