2 hours ago, MLH said:

To give an example of how Roger and Holly's relationship went from them basically living together to starting from square one, is this episode from 1996.  The hate that Holly is giving had me scratching my head, because there wasn't anything that Holly said to Dinah that indicated anything about what she is saying here.

 

Being a Holly/Roger fan, which only started from early 1995, I think it came down to Roger orchestrating his car crash, faking his death, and then "miraciously surviving". She saw through his BS, and she was just starting out with Fletcher full-time, so she built a wall up. It didn't help that when McTavish took over, she only gave Holly like 20 episodes in a ~1.5 year time period. She clearly had zero interest in Holly and/or Fletcher and wanted to focus on Roger/Dinah/Hart instead. Lost opportunties.

Edited July 26Jul 26 by alwaysAMC

42 minutes ago, DeeVee said:

I just watched these scenes the other day. She also strongly hinted that she and Jackson were involved in some kind of dirty business in Monte Carlo. That's why he couldn't get rid of her. I'm guessing they were setting up something here that never came to fruition. I think this was still during the strike, so it was forgotten or changed.

Yeah, Jackson disappeared sometime in '88. I don't think they ever really had a purpose for the character. One minute he's an okay guy, the next he's stirring up drama. In '86, for some unknown reason, he sabotages an attempt by Mindy to send Billy and Vanessa off on a romantic getaway to talk.

I'm hoping some of the '89 episodes going up with fill in some blanks. Or at least help me rebuild a playlist.

33 minutes ago, alwaysAMC said:

He was such a handsome guy back then, and the scruff is even better. The title of it says 1998, which is surprising because in the interview he gave in more recent times, he said he wanted to quit the industry and find God (something to that effect), so I'm surprised only 2 years later from leaving GL, he got back in front of the camera. He could have kept Brent going in 1996 and made GL so much better that year!

It may not be the exact date. I see that I also put 1994 on there so it may have been filmed and then ran a while.

Scott Hoxby (Cutter) also did these types of foreign ads where he never spoke, just there to look pretty.

Edited July 26Jul 26 by DRW50

18 minutes ago, alwaysAMC said:

Being a Holly/Roger fan, which only started from early 1995, I think it came down to Roger orchestrating his car crash, faking his death, and then "miraciously surviving". She saw through his BS, and she was just starting out with Fletcher full-time, so she built a wall up. It didn't help that when McTavish took over, she only gave Holly like 20 episodes in a ~1.5 year time period. She clearly had zero interest in Holly and/or Fletcher and wanted to focus on Roger/Dinah/Hart instead. Lost opportunities.

How many times can they do the 'Roger's new girlfriend or wife is jealous of Holly'?  That's all they used Holly for to me.  

I just rolled my eyes with the 'Dinah is in love with Roger & Roger is using Dinah' bit and Roger faking the car crash bull. Laughable. 

In reading Michael's book, he mentioned in 96 how he was working beyond the agreed 4 days to 5 days and how it affected him mentally with the whole speech issues he was having. 

He agreed to a cut in pay to go down to 2, but it didn't even seem that way to me.  However, he had just came back from a foreign trip where he fell and then was in full blown panic attack mode.  He was pretty much a zombie from no sleep. That's when they brought him in and told him he was basically on unpaid leave (the amount he got was barely nothing).

 

18 hours ago, Mitch64 said:

Thanks..boy Phillip was being a real DICK and I can't believe that Rick and Mo just stood there. Meredith is...what was the reason for her? Johnny is a big black hole of boredom, and what was the thing with Chelsea's robe? Why was Rusty's girlfriend handing out with Ed, and Fletcher never fails to annoy, though you can tell Hammer thinks he is as cute as can be...(are there ANY locks at the Spaulding mansion?) Speaking of mansions, I never thought that H.B. would live in that house, though I love the set.

I love that there is a thunderstorm...there is never a thunderstorm on a soap that does not mean something bad is happening.

 

20 hours ago, DeeVee said:

I just happened to watch this episode while eating lunch today:

The flashbacks start about 25 minutes in.

What an exposition dump. I noticed there are a lot of them at this point on the show, probably because this is soon after the writers strike ended.

Also interesting: it starts with a promo that prominently features Daniel Pilon, which is unusual for a temp replacement. Seems like they may have been accelerating Alan's storylines in preparation for reintroducing Roger. The discussion with Blake wanting to be VP of all departments is a Roger callback, because that was the position he had at Spaulding. 

'88 is officially worse than '85. I personally don't mind Phillip being a dick to Johnny, just on general principle. Johnny is so blah, I can see why Phillip just can't stand him. The more I've seen of '88, the weirder it is. The scabs really did try to hook up Mindy and Frank, and Johnny has some interest in Blake. Ross was trying on Jenny the cop, Rose is the blandest addict I've seen, and they don't have a clue about what to do with Dinah.

That's not even getting into Alan/Reva/Josh/Sonni/Will. 

55 minutes ago, P.J. said:

 

'88 is officially worse than '85. I personally don't mind Phillip being a dick to Johnny, just on general principle. Johnny is so blah, I can see why Phillip just can't stand him. The more I've seen of '88, the weirder it is. The scabs really did try to hook up Mindy and Frank, and Johnny has some interest in Blake. Ross was trying on Jenny the cop, Rose is the blandest addict I've seen, and they don't have a clue about what to do with Dinah.

That's not even getting into Alan/Reva/Josh/Sonni/Will. 

When has Phillip not been a jerk though? He acts like a drama queen to me.

IMO, Frank and Johnny are the same.  The writers tried to hook them up with just about every female character. Frank was just lucky, because they needed someone to run that stupid diner.

@alwaysAMC I finally watched some of later 94 and to me the only good storyline was Roger and Holly teaming up against the Spaulding fam/Alan and Alan using Roger to get control back from Alexandra.  All the other storylines are boring as hell. I am at the part where Tangie/Alan Michael/Roger are helping Alan by taking him to Eve for help. 

Oh, and at least in 1994 Hamp's Birthday is noticed. 

They really didn't know what to do with Blake.  This starting to work for Frank's PI thing came to nothing. She doesn't even know that Alan is already out of prison.

 

Edited July 26Jul 26 by MLH

A final note about Jackson Freemont. So Chelsea Reardon was written out as having gone to record music with him in London. For his sake I want to believe in my own head cannon they hooked up and became a couple because all GL ever did was make him lose in his attempts to land Beth and later Chelsea herself. It would be a happy ending for both characters but alas we never heard about them again.

1 hour ago, MLH said:

When has Phillip not been a jerk though?

Well, he does lean into being a jerk, even when he's right. But I love him. Battling Alan, Blake and Roger in '88-'90 is prime Phillip. 

I just watched him have this strange, drunken nightmare in '87 which solidifies him plotting Alan's downfall. In it, Ross, Vanessa and Alan-Michael are bearing these chains and only Alan has the key. Phillip has seen them be manipulated by Alan, and he's the only one who can free them. It's strange.

17 hours ago, alwaysAMC said:

Ugh, I knew this was coming in 1997, but I didn’t think Bridget’s exit would start to happen so quickly. She talks to Ross at Company about potentially leaving Springfield and what the legal ramnifications would be with Peter. She said she feels like she needs a new start, away from Hart, but I’m very curious how they’re going to write this for Peter/Hart and eventually Vanessa when she returns. It just seems like an awful time to get rid of Bridget/Peter and I can’t see Bridget leaving Peter in Springfield.

You can tell that Rauch just has no use for Bridget...part of it, is that she is not blonde "hot" and I am sure he thought Nola and Bridget were interchangeable as he thought Alex and Amanda were (and later writes off all because, they just aint Reva...) 

This was the perfect time to if they chose to write Bridget off over the months with Dylan coming back to town now that Billy is out of prison and there is yet another endless Reva drama going on..and have the two of them get closer over the course of her trial and then get married and attempt to leave town when bam Vanessa returns. At least give her a couple weeks with Peter before she sees that he needs to be with Bridget and that she needs her own life...it would be good scenes with Maeve and Melissa and put a cap on a things nicely.  But soaps didnt do that anymore and Rauch was too into the Reva/Annie story (which I can see them jumping on, but it was lazy that they werent building anything up on any part of the canvas to take over once that was done, so we got endless cycles of DumbRevaDrama. 

Peter returns with Dylan for H.B.'s funeral (which I can't belive anyone thought to do) and Van says "Peter!" but acts like she is an aunt or family friend not his mother. 

2 hours ago, MLH said:

 

@alwaysAMC I finally watched some of later 94 and to me the only good storyline was Roger and Holly teaming up against the Spaulding fam/Alan and Alan using Roger to get control back from Alexandra.  All the other storylines are boring as hell. I am at the part where Tangie/Alan Michael/Roger are helping Alan by taking him to Eve for help. 

Oh, and at least in 1994 Hamp's Birthday is noticed. 

They really didn't know what to do with Blake.  This starting to work for Frank's PI thing came to nothing. She doesn't even know that Alan is already out of prison.

 

Ahh - I started my watch in Feb 1995, so I missed 1994. I've been tempted to go back, but I just haven't found a spot in my watch yet where I feel like I can stop it because of disinterest (surprisingly 1996 didn't push me there). 

I do remember Frank ending his PI practice to join the police academy in 1995 and there was a throwaway moment where he told Blake and it didn't seem to be a big deal haha. I was always curious about that.

Glad they acknowledged Hamp's birthday. I don't know if the actor was not interested in being used more or what was going on behind the scenes, but I always thought there was a missed opportunity for Hamp/Marcus to do more with their sax playing and mentorship.

2 hours ago, P.J. said:

'88 is officially worse than '85.

Remember too that nearly half of 1988 was writer's strike material.

18 minutes ago, Mitch64 said:

You can tell that Rauch just has no use for Bridget...part of it, is that she is not blonde "hot" and I am sure he thought Nola and Bridget were interchangeable as he thought Alex and Amanda were (and later writes off all because, they just aint Reva...) 

This was the perfect time to if they chose to write Bridget off over the months with Dylan coming back to town now that Billy is out of prison and there is yet another endless Reva drama going on..and have the two of them get closer over the course of her trial and then get married and attempt to leave town when bam Vanessa returns. At least give her a couple weeks with Peter before she sees that he needs to be with Bridget and that she needs her own life...it would be good scenes with Maeve and Melissa and put a cap on a things nicely.  But soaps didnt do that anymore and Rauch was too into the Reva/Annie story (which I can see them jumping on, but it was lazy that they werent building anything up on any part of the canvas to take over once that was done, so we got endless cycles of DumbRevaDrama. 

Peter returns with Dylan for H.B.'s funeral (which I can't belive anyone thought to do) and Van says "Peter!" but acts like she is an aunt or family friend not his mother. 

I can't believe Vanessa would act that way, although she did fake her death and let her whole family grieve, which I'm still very much side-eyeing Vanessa for. I love Vanessa generally, and I'm curious to see how she reacts to Peter being gone (my assumption) when she finally returns to Springfield. Just seems lazy and inappropriate of her to not be interested in being Peter's mother after all this time she was so interested.

17 hours ago, alwaysAMC said:

I’m up to April 21, 1997.

You're two episodes away from Michael Zaslow last episode. After you watch, please share your thoughts on it. Thank you.

54 minutes ago, alwaysAMC said:

I can't believe Vanessa would act that way, although she did fake her death and let her whole family grieve, which I'm still very much side-eyeing Vanessa for. I love Vanessa generally, and I'm curious to see how she reacts to Peter being gone (my assumption) when she finally returns to Springfield. Just seems lazy and inappropriate of her to not be interested in being Peter's mother after all this time she was so interested.

I don't watch this period much, so I don't know the finer points, but in Van's defense, I think here she was doing what Maureen would've done. Maureen would've helped Bridget raise that boy, but once Maureen was assured that Bridget was responsible and able to care for him, she would've backed off and supported Bridget making a decision that took her out of Springfield.

I just chose to believe that Vanessa always kept in touch with Peter. She's not just his mother, but his aunt through her marriage to **** and a step-grandmother through Dylan. 

I also kind of think that the writers had no interest in reminding us of Van and Billy's connection.  If they had honored that history, it would've thrown Van and Billy together more, and left **** as the wet sad sack he always was.

1 hour ago, kalbir said:

Remember too that nearly half of 1988 was writer's strike material.

I try to, but some of these story points were started under the previous regime, and were bad ideas from the start. Mindy and Frank? OY vey.  Maybe some of the Alan/Reva stuff been more palatable with Bernau in the role, but so often even Kimmer looks utterly lost in that mess.

3 hours ago, P.J. said:

88 is officially worse than '85. I personally don't mind Phillip being a dick to Johnny, just on general principle. Johnny is so blah, I can see why Phillip just can't stand him. The more I've seen of '88, the weirder it is. The scabs really did try to hook up Mindy and Frank, and Johnny has some interest in Blake. Ross was trying on Jenny the cop, Rose is the blandest addict I've seen, and they don't have a clue about what to do with Dinah.

That's not even getting into Alan/Reva/Josh/Sonni/Will. 

It seems like they were repeating some older stories. Before, Johnny was fascinated by Chistine while ignoring down to earth  Roxy. Now they have Johnny fascinated by Blake while ignoring down to earth Chelsea.

And Meredith is like a repeat of Claire. SO similar in personality, she's also a doctor, has some strong parental issues, and ends up having a baby by the wrong man. 

Alexandra Neil, who played Rose, was another Texas alumni. Maybe they just wanted to throw some work her way. (Throw away is a good way to describe her relationship with Rusty and her storyline).

Sure, I'll cut them some slack because that year had so many upheavals: the strike, Bernau's exit, the writers having to fix what the scabs did (ESPECIALLY the Sonni/Will thing), then having to find a way to bring back Roger. It was a pretty big mess.