7 minutes ago, Mitch64 said:

I remember E & B talking about bringing Parker back as a tough woman who got Mos heart who changed her face after hearing how loved she was...(okay.) Since boring useless Jessie got heart they couldn't do that, but they may have been thinking of bringing her in as the Selena role...now if they made her Mos sister that could have been interesting ..and better then Selena and Buzz..uggh.I wonder if Parker said no or Rauch got piseed that Parker stood up to him about the smoke machines when she was ghost Mo with Van after the baby. 

I was probably glad that Ellen was making those returns, but the Van/Mo one felt very lazily written and directed. "Let's put two women in a blindingly lit room and then make Dinah a victim of her stupidity so Van has yet another reason to feel like a bad mother." UGH.

21 hours ago, DeeVee said:

For sure. It was most obvious whenever they did a wedding and the wedding party would be made up of people the bride and groom were hardly friends with. Or they had no wedding party. Or their kids would stand up for them.

Or when you have your biggest signature couple's wedding in a field surrounded mostly by people the audience has never met. LOL...Reva had more bridesmaids at her non-wedding to Kyle than she did to all her marriages to Josh combined.

8 hours ago, DeeVee said:

It's kind of remarkable that they were able to get all these actors back multiple times over the years. Along with Kim, Robert, Maeve.

I think someone mentioned once after GA came back to replace Bolger, the show saw him as key to the show's success and refused to recast with another actor.

Obviously, they were never going to recast Kim, and the only time they recast Maeve was for her maternity leave.

It's interesting to contemplate who they considered irreplaceable. Some important ones were replaced because of illness/retirement/death (i.e. Roger/Alex/Alan). Some were killed off rather than replaced (i.e. Jerry).

I like O'Leary, but I think he could have been replaced. Unless they thought the chemistry between him and GA was too valuable.

I'd love to believe that TIIC truly valued the vets. But I am surprised how many really popular characters they chose not to recast. Rita and Hope head that list.

1 hour ago, Mitch64 said:

remember E & B talking about bringing Parker back as a tough woman who got Mos heart who changed her face after hearing how loved she was...(okay.) Since boring useless Jessie got heart they couldn't do that, but they may have been thinking of bringing her in as the Selena role...now if they made her Mos sister that could have been interesting

There was one remaining unseen female Reardon sibling, so they definitely could have done that. 

Or they could have invented a Reardon cousin or something. 

1 hour ago, P.J. said:

Reva had more bridesmaids at her non-wedding to Kyle than she did to all her marriages to Josh combined.

That one was hilarious!

Dinah, Dorie, the former stepdaughter who once hated her guts (yes, she was Kyle's niece, but still), and the sister who had been sexually humiliated by the groom.

And wasn't Lillian in the party, too? They worked together at the hospital for like a minute? She was Hawk's girlfriend for a while, true. But were Lillian and Reva ever shown as friends after that? 

53 minutes ago, P.J. said:

But I am surprised how many really popular characters they chose not to recast. Rita and Hope head that list.

Yep. And while he wasn't my favorite, Mike. So much history to mine from those characters.

Edited September 17Sep 17 by DeeVee

1 hour ago, Mitch64 said:

I remember E & B talking about bringing Parker back as a tough woman who got Mos heart who changed her face after hearing how loved she was...(okay.) Since boring useless Jessie got heart they couldn't do that, but they may have been thinking of bringing her in as the Selena role...now if they made her Mos sister that could have been interesting ..and better then Selena and Buzz..uggh.I wonder if Parker said no or Rauch got piseed that Parker stood up to him about the smoke machines when she was ghost Mo with Van after the baby. 

Ohh what was the drama with the smoke machines??

28 minutes ago, DeeVee said:

And wasn't Lillian in the party, too? They worked together at the hospital for like a minute? She was Hawk's girlfriend for a while, true. But were Lillian and Reva ever shown as friends after that? 

Yep. And while he wasn't my favorite, Mike. So much history to mine from those characters.

Yes, Lillian was. Why? Probably mostly due to Hawk. Wasn't this also shortly after Beth's "death", where people were worried about her? But otherwise, no Reva and Lillian never really developed a friendship. They probably had some kind of scenes, many years later when Reva had her cancer story. But other than Alex (and, of course Maureen), I can't recall Lillian having a friend. And of course, Reva was too busy creating her own messes to care about someone else's.

2 hours ago, P.J. said:

Yes, Lillian was. Why? Probably mostly due to Hawk. Wasn't this also shortly after Beth's "death", where people were worried about her? But otherwise, no Reva and Lillian never really developed a friendship. They probably had some kind of scenes, many years later when Reva had her cancer story. But other than Alex (and, of course Maureen), I can't recall Lillian having a friend. And of course, Reva was too busy creating her own messes to care about someone else's.

I remember when Lillian and Vanessa were trash-talking Reva with Annie, which put off a number of viewers, due to Lillian's past ties to her as well as Lillian's own checkered past with Ed.

I never bought into the friendship of Lillian and Alexandra. Not that the actresses weren't good, but I just never bought into it.

@kalbir Michael passed away in Dec 1998. They did the tribute in 1999.  I read a forum that time that was underwhelmed by it. It's interesting to read things that happened in the time the showed originally aired. 

Edited September 17Sep 17 by MLH

AMC/GL fans:

Not sure if anyone else will have a thought or interest in this, especially if you didn't watch AMC, but with all the recent talk about AMC 1995 being available for streaming internationally, which included a big story with Grant Aleksander (GL's Phillip), I couldn't help but realize how similar Arlene Vaughan (Olivia Birkelund) looks to Cynthia Watros (GL's Annie). I wonder if GL got any ideas for the Annie character from the storyline involving Grant's character (Alec) and Arlene just the year before, considering Arlene was also an alcoholic. The actresses look and sound very similar, at the very least.

Never thought of that @alwaysAMC but I wouldn't be shocked.

I was always a little hot and cold on Watros, but how I adored Olivia Birkelund.

11 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

Never thought of that @alwaysAMC but I wouldn't be shocked.

I was always a little hot and cold on Watros, but how I adored Olivia Birkelund.

Same! 🍻

11 hours ago, MLH said:

 

@kalbir Michael passed away in Dec 1998. They did the tribute in 1999.  

So the rebroadcast of MZ Emmy winning episode was New Year's Day 1999. Thanks @MLH

12 hours ago, MLH said:

I never bought into the friendship of Lillian and Alexandra. Not that the actresses weren't good, but I just never bought into it.

@kalbir Michael passed away in Dec 1998. They did the tribute in 1999.  I read a forum that time that was underwhelmed by it. It's interesting to read things that happened in the time the showed originally aired. 

@MLH, can you direct me to that forum? I would be interested in reading what was said about the tribute. The situation with Michael Zaslow breaks my heart to this day. 

Thank you.

Annette

19 hours ago, DRW50 said:

I remember when Lillian and Vanessa were trash-talking Reva with Annie, which put off a number of viewers, due to Lillian's past ties to her as well as Lillian's own checkered past with Ed.

I just gotta ask the question---is it really possible to "trash" talk Reva? Vanessa could've told the unvarnished truth about her ex-sister-in-law, which was sordid enough.

Edited September 18Sep 18 by P.J.