I saw some GL 1997 tv commercial stating that TV Guide and I think SOD said GL was the best soap of 1997!  Were the other soaps that bad?  

I read some recaps of episodes of 1998 and the plots were so over the top!  I couldn't believe they lasted until 2009!

Edited August 17Aug 17 by MLH

36 minutes ago, Lujack4Ever said:

Carrie made out better than most. She got to continue on the show.

That's because she was Marland's favorite. When the EP thought her character had gone as far as she could and he fired the actress, Marland quit in a huff. He was going to have her kill Jackie. So her eventual body count would have been three. Even with the excuse that one of her alternate personalities did it, I don't see how you keep this character around after that.

38 minutes ago, Lujack4Ever said:

The great Warren Andrews written off for the murder of a stupid useless villain character  intead of having it actually be the alleged heroine Christine that nobody cared about and also it turns out Floyd Parker was obsessed with Beth so he had to go and kill the guy that blinded her. Warren was one of my top 5 characters and I hated they did this to him.

Those stories were SO DUMB. Sure, I believe that Warren waited years to get revenge on Alan for Leslie Ann's death. 🙄 

I agree about Warren. He's the kind of character who enhances the soap canvas, IMO. The bootlicker, who helps the top-tier villains carry out their henious plans.

Floyd went from an immature goofball to a gentle sweetie/attentive dad to a murdering psycho. Strangest character trajectory of all time, I'd say.

24 minutes ago, Speed Racer said:

Mike Bauer was almost as bad (but to be fair, I started watching GL in 1978/79, so I am not familiar with Mike's earlier, non-jack@ss persona

I didn't mind Mike until Marland came in and started writing him as a sanctimonious jerk.

48 minutes ago, Speed Racer said:

Yes!!  Finally, another fan of Warren Andrews.  What a smarmy jerk...a weasel...and what a fun character!  Eric Luvonoczek was Warren's successor, whom I liked even more than Warren.

 

 

Recently I saw some episodes featuring my favorite Warren storyline...his romance with Leslie Ann Monroe. It was wonderful when he realized he really did care for her when she tried to off her self with pills and they married. I was so mad when they killed her off. They deserved to be a happy couple for a lot longer before the Dreaming Death got her. RIP Warren Burton-he was amazing in that role. As for Eric they should have done more with him. When he was on not one person especially Alex mentioned his son Simon Hall half brother to Lujack and Nick.

Had Beverlee McKinsey stayed on, one could have created a helluva triangle between Eric/Alex/Nick.  Especially if Alex was away for a period of time so that a strengthening tie could have been formed between Nick and Eric.

That's where GL should have went if the show was determined to extend the triangle theme.  Think of the unbelievable history that could have been mined with that kind of set up!  Wow.  Memories/discussion of Brandon and Lujack could be a featured part of that mix.  (No flashbacks or ghosts tho - yecch.)

Alan who?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh - and one other thing while I'm thinking about it:   With HIS family history, it'd be tempting to turn Phillip into a raging alcoholic.  Grant Alecsander in a liquor-induced rage would be pretty frightening.  Who in Springfield would have the gonads to stop him in that state?  Making the story more interesting in that case.

 

3 hours ago, MLH said:

I saw some GL 1997 tv commercial stating that TV Guide and I think SOD said GL was the best soap of 1997!  Were the other soaps that bad?  

I read some recaps of episodes of 1998 and the plots were so over the top!  I couldn't believe they lasted until 2009!

i personally know that '96'-first 3/4 of '97 were not good for ATWT. If '97 was Annie, then I understand why Logan (who I assume was TVguide) and SOD would've been tempted. SOD always was kind of a Reva-sycophant.

1 hour ago, Speed Racer said:

Oh - and one other thing while I'm thinking about it:   With HIS family history, it'd be tempting to turn Phillip into a raging alcoholic.  Grant Alecsander in a liquor-induced rage would be pretty frightening.  Who in Springfield would have the gonads to stop him in that state?  Making the story more interesting in that case.

 

There were times Phillip was drunk, and it was not pretty. He was actually drunk at Billy and Vanessa's party and throws gas on the Reva/Josh situation. I think he's also drunk at the Founder's Day party and comes on to a girl and is berates her when she won't sleep with him. 

Edited August 17Aug 17 by P.J.

5 hours ago, DeeVee said:

Ed gave Bert's book to AM to give to Harley. Yes, it was Little Women.

God..it is so sad I remember that..where the hell are my keys though!

 

4 hours ago, Speed Racer said:

Yes!!  Finally, another fan of Warren Andrews.  What a smarmy jerk...a weasel...and what a fun character!  Eric Luvonoczek was Warren's successor, whom I liked even more than Warren.

I liked Warren as a..side character.. kind of Alex's version of Lucinda's "Am BROSE!!!!" The "romance with Hope (okay he was after her money and her name) and..Leslie Anne..fell flat..we all know Warren was Alex's gay bestie/henchman...and they never had to spell that out..just having him make side eyes at the other characters and making bitching comments were enough. I always thought it would be funny if Alex fired him for a bit..(just to keep him in his place) and he had to move in the Boardinghouse...Bea(or whoever was in charge at the time) "Im sorry Mr. Andrews,  but the only room we have is with Hawk Shayne..and since Hawk is ALWAYS late with his rent...I ]'m sure h wont mind splitting it..." Hilarity ensues...

1 hour ago, Speed Racer said:

Grant Alecsander in a liquor-induced rage would be pretty frightening.  Who in Springfield would have the gonads to stop him in that state? 

The one good thing about the "Phillip goes to Hell..and takes Everyone with him.." storyline was that GA is so imposing that it was kind of scary when he went nuts...add that the swearing and the baring of teeth, and that he was SF' Golden Boy so everyone wanted to give him slack..and it COULD have been good, besides the hot mess of Good Coopers vs. EVIL Spauldings.

14 hours ago, Speed Racer said:

Oh - and one other thing while I'm thinking about it:   With HIS family history, it'd be tempting to turn Phillip into a raging alcoholic.  Grant Alecsander in a liquor-induced rage would be pretty frightening.  Who in Springfield would have the gonads to stop him in that state?  Making the story more interesting in that case.

 

He was frightening without the alcohol! 

@P.J. I guessed so, but I was just floored with that ad.  However, it seemed like Reva was even more shown in 1998, from what I read, because of Cassie. 

 

Edited August 18Aug 18 by MLH

I hadn't checked out Spauldingfield in a few days, and when I saw they had just uploaded a February 1981 episode with Lenore Kasdorf's image in the thumbnail, I flipped! FINALLY, someone found the episodes of Alan and Rita's Jamaica affair!

SIGH.

NOPE. They labeled it with the wrong date. It's an episode I've seen before from a few months later, just before Lenore left the show.

😭

Anyway, since we were talking about the Diane murder storyline, I was looking for 1981 episodes...and noticed something I hadn't noticed before.

1981 was STUFFED with HUGE storylines.

-Jennifer's second trial and the reveal that Amanda was her and Alan's daughter. 

-Elizabeth's decision to give custody of Phillip to Justin and Jackie, leading to marital troubles for Hope and Alan because Hope insists he comply.

-Alan and Rita have an affair.

-Andy gathering up a sh!t ton of blackmailing info on just about every major character. He's soon caught and sent to jail (clearly, TPTB decided Andy wasn't working as a replacement for Roger and cut their losses) but he sells the info to Diane.

-The introduction of Carrie Todd and the insta-love between her and Ross.

-The introduction of Quint McCord and Nola working for him. Lots of possible mysteries surrounding him quickly introduced. 

-Hope and Jackie are pregnant, leading to the births of Alan Michael and Samantha.

-Alan and Hope break up when she finds out about Rita.

-Alan and Diane hide Dr. Moreno, the guy who faked Roger's death. They keep staying a step ahead of Javert...er, I mean Mike, who is obsessed with bringing down Alan.

-Rita leaves town and inexplicably disappears.

-Ed and Vanessa start an affair. Vanessa has a letter Rita wrote to Alan confessing she's in love with him stolen so Ed will get a quick divorce. 

-Diane blackmails and threatens half the town and ends up murdered. The blackmail material is stolen at the same time. Slimy detective Joe Bradley is also murdered.

-Now reconciled with Hope and aware that Diane had possesed proof of his crimes, Alan takes Hope and baby AM out of the country, with the plan to go on the run. Mike follows then and eventually catches Alan. Alan almost escapes, but instead saves Mike's life, leading to a truce between the two enemies. Alan voluntarily turns himself in and faces the music, eventually serving a short prison term as Hope virtuously stands by her man.

-Carrie is revealed to be the murderer. She is eventually acquitted of both murders as Ross proves they were "accidental."

There's more, of course, stuff to do with newlyweds Kelly and the recast Morgan, Tony and Josh getting chem tested all over town, Leslie Ann was introduced. (I think Warren, too?)

That was a PACKED year, with lots of consequential events. Notably, about 80% of it is Marland bringing to a conclusion most of what he inherited from the Dobsons. Got to give him credit for taking almost 2 years to do it instead of hacking up the cast (ahem, as some would do later). And yet he still spotlighted his own creations, like Carrie and Nola.

Quite impressive.

'82, OTOH, was taken over by the dreadful Mark Evans story, Carrie popping her cork because of her other personalities, Alan going on his redemption tour, lots of scenes (SO MANY) at the disco, and Indiana Jones-style adventures with Quint and Nola. Not nearly as good, IMO.

Edited August 18Aug 18 by DeeVee

I don't think Warren started until 1983. It was right around the time Henry had his first heart attack, so August.

Sigh.. I know the agony of hopes. Someone posted a full length eppy from the day in 1989, when Billy and Josh are arguing after Josh found out Billy was Dylan's father. UNFORTUNATELY,  it's the entire news conference that interrupted the show, plus what had already been up.

but they also posted a better version of Reva telling Billy...so it's a wash. 

On 8/14/2025 at 7:08 PM, Paul Raven said:

Vigard may have left of her own according but reports at the time indicate she was fired due to being late for taping and unprepared. There was acknowledgement that they had gone for a more conventional pretty actress.

I think this was another clash b/w Marland and Potter.

I remember the soap press reporting exactly that:  she was often late for taping and unprepared. 
 

Yes, Jennifer Cooke played Morgan differently, but Morgan had grown up and manifested a backbone. She couldn’t be childlike forever. 
 

Ironically, Cooke is younger than Vigard. 
 

Apparently, OLTL was willing to put up with Vigard…for awhile, anyway. She was recast as Joy. 

I always thought that KV was the more attractive one, but i always had a thing for cute round-eyed red-heads.

7 hours ago, DeeVee said:

 

 

-Andy gathering up a sh!t ton of blackmailing info on just about every major character. He's soon caught and sent to jail (clearly, TPTB decided Andy wasn't working as a replacement for Roger and cut their losses) but he sells the info to Diane.

 

Ooh that's juicy. I had no idea Andy was brought in to replace Roger in the villain department. I've seen so few clips of him but I've always been interested in him due to his connection to Trish Lewis (my favorite Lewis). Holly's saintly mother must have been crushed when her son was busted and sent to jail never to be seen again.