37 minutes ago, DeeVee said:

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.

You think they might've at least said--"let's not try hooking up Rick with an older woman doctor again" at some point. Or, let's not go for a Lewis/Shayne connection (Mindy and Rusty) again, which they continued to flirt with through '89. 

Sure, there are only seven stories to tell...but freshen it up a little. Ugh...Rusty, the only male they tried harder than Frank to make work. And God Bless Nikki Goulet, but trying to make her a cut up on par with Rick ---no. 

Seemed like by the mid 90s, it was nothing but redoing old storylines but with horrible writing and too many recasts. By November 94, the whole Alan returning story fell flat.  Talk about becoming an inflated balloon just losing air slowly.  They drug all that out for that boring ending. Even Jenna's storyline ended up so boring.

@alwaysAMC Don't bother.  As usual, at first Holly is all into giving back to the Spaulding family and the next she isn't.  It was all interesting at first, but after dragging it out forever, it doesn't even matter. 

Then that lame 2nd 5th Street fire happens.  

 

8 minutes ago, P.J. said:

And God Bless Nikki Goulet, but trying to make her a cut up on par with Rick ---no. 

That's another thing I noticed during this period. They were trying to do some screwball-style comedy. Some of it actually worked with Harley and Alan Michael. Harley told him she needed to use protection. While she was in the bathroom he was all excited taking off his clothes and drapping himself on the bed. Then she comes out fully dressed and walks out the door. (I'll admit I chuckled. Beth and Carl had nice chemistry).

But they also tried with Phillip and Blake, which for me went over like a lead balloon.

4 minutes ago, DeeVee said:

That's another thing I noticed during this period. They were trying to do some screwball-style comedy. Some of it actually worked with Harley and Alan Michael. Harley told him she needed to use protection. While she was in the bathroom he was all excited taking off his clothes and drapping himself on the bed. Then she comes out fully dressed and walks out the door. (I'll admit I chuckled. Beth and Carl had nice chemistry).

But they also tried with Phillip and Blake, which for me went over like a lead balloon.

They were constantly stealing from movies, which when it works and if used sparingly, is fine. They stole from Sabrina---AM sat on glasses at Phillip and Beth's wedding, and Ed end up pulling it out of his tookus as Harley watches. 

I've watched some more of '87 Vanessa/Ross, and it breaks my heart that the writers couldn't make it work. But at points, they are trying to steal from the Billy/Vanessa romance, with Van throwing fits and Ross trying to "Tame the Shrew" and it just doesn't feel like them. They even throw in a AM/Dinah young romance conflict (ala Phillip/Mindy when B/V first married) to drive the Alan/Van/Ross dynamic.

And it hit me again last night---Dinah and AM being the same age (essentially) just wonks up the entire timeline. It makes Vanessa 17-18 when Alan was married to Hope and having A-M.  UGH. I will drive myself crazy.

I don't recall Meredith having a baby. I know she got pregnant by Phillip, but I thought she had a miscarriage.

I never considered the similarities between Meredith and Claire before; it's an interesting observation. That said, I much preferred Meredith over Claire. I never cared for Claire. Another similarity between Meredith and Claire is that they both had brothers. Did we ever meet Claire's brother?

 

2 hours ago, P.J. said:

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.

That's a very good take on things. I agree, but I wish the show had taken the time to show that, Van approves of Bridget in the way that Maureen would, and it very much mattered to Bridget what Maureen thought, and then she and Dylan go off into the sunset.  But again, they were taking too much time with Annie/Reva and then setting up that dull ass Jeffrey scam storyline and putting poor Jenna back with Buzzard and..Harley and Phillip, which was just..weird. 

2 hours ago, P.J. said:

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.

LOL, you can't even type his name out. I know you hate Matt, but gosh, I really like him. Being so handsome helps too   I'm sure he'll eventually piss me off later, but so far, in two years, he hasn't. 

That take on Vanessa makes sense. I wish I knew Maureen. I guess I'll see how this plays out, but Vanessa was pretty protective over Peter in 1995 when Roger/Dinah were together, Hart came back, and Vanessa took Peter to Europe with her for a month so Roger or the people after Dinah wouldn't kidnap him. I guess the only flaw in your take is that Vanessa hasn't been around for the last 8 months to see Bridget actually be responsible enough to where Vanessa wouldn't have to worry anymore. I guess I'll see if Vanessa makes it back to Springfield before Bridget/Peter leave.

2 hours ago, MLH said:

Seemed like by the mid 90s, it was nothing but redoing old storylines but with horrible writing and too many recasts. By November 94, the whole Alan returning story fell flat.  Talk about becoming an inflated balloon just losing air slowly.  They drug all that out for that boring ending. Even Jenna's storyline ended up so boring.

@alwaysAMC Don't bother.  As usual, at first Holly is all into giving back to the Spaulding family and the next she isn't.  It was all interesting at first, but after dragging it out forever, it doesn't even matter. 

Then that lame 2nd 5th Street fire happens.  

I don't know, a lot seems to happen in 1994 that I want to go see. Both Matt and Annie arrive, so I'd love to be able to see them from the beginning. I think Peter's custody battle and Bridget/Dylan happens.  Jenna leaves, which would help me better appreciate her as I watch this story unfold in '97. Alan comes back. I'd love to see more of the original Eleni, and the character actually have a storyline. When I started my watch in Feb 95, Eleni was in Greece and Frank had to save her - it was exciting. Then, they're back in Springfield and we have a new actress playing Eleni and she's background with no story for at least over 2 years now. 

Oh and then I think Blake/Ross get married in 1994 from what I've read, so would love to see that beginning. Gosh, I may just find a good stopping point in 1997 and hurry up and watch 1994. I know some people think this era is awful, but I love 90s soap opera and it's leagues better than anything I've see from 2010-current day.

Edited July 26Jul 26 by alwaysAMC

4 hours ago, kalbir said:

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

I look forward to it too. I actually thought Toby got better, but it was a totally different Roger in every sense and their storyline got boring really quick. 

Roger and Amanda became so in the background so fast, they were barely on after being in the major storyline with the whole Annie/Reva thing.

1 hour ago, robbwolff said:

I don't recall Meredith having a baby. I know she got pregnant by Phillip, but I thought she had a miscarriage.

I never considered the similarities between Meredith and Claire before; it's an interesting observation. That said, I much preferred Meredith over Claire. I never cared for Claire. Another similarity between Meredith and Claire is that they both had brothers. Did we ever meet Claire's brother?

 

No, I don't think we met Claire's brother. I even think he might've died before she came to town.

And yes, Meredith had a miscarriage and was told she could never have more children. (Which in Reva-speak meant Meredith undoubtably had at least four more children.)

Edited July 26Jul 26 by P.J.

2 hours ago, DeeVee said:

 

But they also tried with Phillip and Blake, which for me went over like a lead balloon.

Oh, I forgot---there was something about Phillip walking in on Blake while she was talking to a coconut? Yeah, Liz Dennehy certainly wasn't helped by the writing.

 

1 hour ago, Mitch64 said:

That's a very good take on things. I agree, but I wish the show had taken the time to show that, Van approves of Bridget in the way that Maureen would, and it very much mattered to Bridget what Maureen thought, and then she and Dylan go off into the sunset.  But again, they were taking too much time with Annie/Reva and then setting up that dull ass Jeffrey scam storyline and putting poor Jenna back with Buzzard and..Harley and Phillip, which was just..weird. 

Spoiler

Not to mention inventing ways to keep Vanessa near death for the next three-ish years.

Why bother to tell a Van story that wasn't about **** telling her how to live her life? RME.  I wish they had kept Peter a presence in Billy and Vanessa's lives. There were ways they could've at least kept him a continuing presence in Springfield. Blake was his aunt. If she hadn't been screwing every guy in town, he could've visited.

45 minutes ago, alwaysAMC said:

I don't know, a lot seems to happen in 1994 that I want to go see. Both Matt and Annie arrive, so I'd love to be able to see them from the beginning. I think Peter's custody battle and Bridget/Dylan happens.  Jenna leaves, which would help me better appreciate her as I watch this story unfold in '97. Alan comes back. I'd love to see more of the original Eleni, and the character actually have a storyline. When I started my watch in Feb 95, Eleni was in Greece and Frank had to save her - it was exciting. Then, they're back in Springfield and we have a new actress playing Eleni and she's background with no story for at least over 2 years now. 

Oh and then I think Blake/Ross get married in 1994 from what I've read, so would love to see that beginning. Gosh, I may just find a good stopping point in 1997 and hurry up and watch 1994. I know some people think this era is awful, but I love 90s soap opera and it's leagues better than anything I've see from 2010-current day.

I tell ya, you need to start in '89. 

12 minutes ago, P.J. said:

I tell ya, you need to start in '89. 

Haha I know... well, this is a good time to ask now that the Blake Marler YT channel is down. Where could I find all the episodes from that year?  The Vault I'm using right now only has a handful of episodes per month that year  Even 90-92 is pretty scarce. 

51 minutes ago, alwaysAMC said:

LOL, you can't even type his name out. I know you hate Matt, but gosh, I really like him. Being so handsome helps too   I'm sure he'll eventually piss me off later, but so far, in two years, he hasn't. 

That take on Vanessa makes sense. I wish I knew Maureen. I guess I'll see how this plays out, but Vanessa was pretty protective over Peter in 1995 when Roger/Dinah were together, Hart came back, and Vanessa took Peter to Europe with her for a month so Roger or the people after Dinah wouldn't kidnap him. I guess the only flaw in your take is that Vanessa hasn't been around for the last 8 months to see Bridget actually be responsible enough to where Vanessa wouldn't have to worry anymore. I guess I'll see if Vanessa makes it back to Springfield before Bridget/Peter leave.

**** probably wouldn't piss you off until like '06. 

By '95-'96, Van had already been co-parenting w/Bridget for almost two years, and interacting with her over Peter since '93. Van had seen her mature and knew how much Mo had believed in her. 

I don't think Bridget and Peter are. Nola definitely is. I've watched parts of Van's return and the only real part that chokes me up is Bill and Billy. And Billy gets like 5 seconds before the commercial break. And Reva making some asinine comment to Cassie.