8 minutes ago, Vee said:

Fiona was on it then? Wow.

I knew about the genius child but not the robot lol. How long was Lisa on during the Long era? Were they trying to run out the rest of a contract? I can see why they tried to slot them into being sort of the wacky couple back in Springfield but I can't blame her if some of that made her want to dip, where of course she made history with Marland again at ATWT.

Was the Dreaming Death, Tony and Annabelle, Jim and Hilary etc. Long? I thought some of that caper stuff was decent when I watched a fair bit of it a year or two ago (except for the unbearable Tony). idk why I thought the Dreaming Death was Jeff Ryder or whoever. There was a frenzy of creatives at both GL and OLTL in the early-mid '80s it seems like.

Jeff Ryder wrote under Long or maybe was a co-writer for a time, I believe, although I'm not sure how much was from him in her first run. All those stories took place when Long was headwriting.

Lisa was on for about a year and a half, maybe a little more, of Long's tenure. 

I'm not sure if they were trying to run out Lisa and Michael's contracts or if Long/Kobe just didn't have any real use for them. I might put more blame on Kobe.

She also wrote the fishing trip story about the Springfield fathers (and Bill Bauer's final death), which Nola had a good role in.

I may be mixing Quint up with Eugene from DAYS about a robot - if I'm wrong someone please let me know.

Edited September 21Sep 21 by DRW50

1 minute ago, DRW50 said:

She also wrote the fishing trip story about the Springfield fathers (and Bill Bauer's final death), which Nola had a good role in.

A blatant ripoff of Peter Straub's Ghost Story from prose and screen! I'll never get over it. Great movie btw.

I've often wondered how Long would've fared at OLTL without being micromanaged by JFP. I think she may have been there less than a year. James DePaiva and I think others said Jill ran her off. I suspect the Clint/Lindsay Rappaport marriage, among other things, would've gone on longer.

Edited September 21Sep 21 by Vee

4 minutes ago, Vee said:

A blatant ripoff of Peter Straub's Ghost Story from prose and screen! I'll never get over it. Great movie btw.

I've often wondered how Long would've fared at OLTL without being micromanaged by JFP. I think she may have been there less than a year. James DePaiva and I think others said Jill ran her off. I suspect the Clint/Lindsay Rappaport marriage, among other things, would've gone on longer.

I'd think she would have been better. The Buchanans would have been a natural fit for her, as would Renee, maybe Blair, etc.

7 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

I'd think she would have been better. The Buchanans would have been a natural fit for her, as would Renee, maybe Blair, etc.

I'd think she would've excelled with Blair, but I don't remember Blair doing much but being stuck in Max hell that year as his partner in crime and occasionally bouncing off Todd who was still nominally with Téa, to the point that some fans I know suspected they were going back to T&B at the end of the DID mess had Howarth stayed. I really wouldn't know as I blocked so much of that year out and have not rewatched very much of it (except Cassie's spiral at the end of '98) in a long time.

I don't think she would've cut Clint - the Viki/Clint/Lindsay/Sam quad seemed like her doing and her type of people to me. I suspect pivoting hard with Sam to Nora and Bo to Lindsay, instead of keeping the Nora thread with Sam going and maybe still having baby Matthew, was JFP after her, as it continued for two years. This is OT for in here, sorry. We can move as needed.

Edited September 21Sep 21 by Vee

34 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

Long took over around the time Nola and Quint were getting married. She seemed to move them away from the adventure elements and toward more domestic stories, filler stories, having a baby (the child was named by viewers), Nolaerobics, Quint being a professor and Fiona Hutchinson throwing herself at him (this was not Jenna), Quint being a scientist, with a robot and taking in a precocious child (played, naturally, by a kid from Texas) for a time.

That kid was from Texas TOO? Aye Carumba..

Funny thing, Fiona is also a nurse in '86, and has a brief scene with Van and Henry.

11 minutes ago, P.J. said:

That kid was from Texas TOO? Aye Carumba..

Funny thing, Fiona is also a nurse in '86, and has a brief scene with Van and Henry.

I'd forgotten Fiona is back on in 1986. Fitting that she was tied to Henry relations or Henry himself in all her appearances.

Looking at IMDB I see he (Damian Scheller) was also one of many Pauls on ATWT - presumably the one before Andrew Kavovit. 

He hasn't done any acting in some time but has a sister who is in the business. 

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2608141/?ref_=nmbio_re_1

17 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

I'd forgotten Fiona is back on in 1986. Fitting that she was tied to Henry relations or Henry himself in all her appearances.

Looking at IMDB I see he (Damian Scheller) was also one of many Pauls on ATWT - presumably the one before Andrew Kavovit. 

Strangely coincidental to say the least.

I didn't realize there'd been anyone between CB Barnes (who I remember) and Andy Kavovit. But there you are. lol.

@alwaysAMC Reading your last few summaries. Thanks. I'm reminded of how busy this period was. That was generally true of the B&E run - something was always happening. 

I had forgotten J left this soon as I thought his story with Drew ran a little longer. 

Michelle's story with Jesse is a repeat of a story Beth had with Lujack. A shame they didn't play into that during Beth's return.

The man who played Jesse's father was a good actor - I remember him being on Oz in these years. Wish they'd done more with him.

Reading your reviews reminds me of some moments I'd forgotten, like the Beth/Ben relationship. Ben had chemistry with a number of women, but his most was with Beth. Beth Chamberlin didn't have much spark with most of her leading men, but I thought she worked well with Hunt Block. It helped that Ben and Beth were both broken people.

A lost opportunity with the Harley/Philip/Beth triangle was the class issue. Philip was born with a silver spoon, whereas Beth and Harley had both worked from an early age and had never felt accepted in the Spaulding world. By 1998, Beth and Harley had both lost that side (and Harley had already started to become so brittle). Rauch's era of the show never seemed to delve into these class issues. 

As mentioned at the time, it was smart writing to have Annie rescue Abby but leave Reva for dead. I never loved Reva's house, I'm not surprised Rauch didn't either (it was very metallic-tinged), but I prefer it to her moving into Vanessa's house. For the rest of the time Reva lived in that place (what was it - 5, 6 years?) I still saw it as Vanessa's house. 

I'd forgotten just how heavily they still had Annie in story. I guess they wanted to get every last penny out of Watros, but a part of me wonders if they should have just recast as soon as she left to properly finish the stories they were setting up. 

The robe story I appreciated mostly because the writing finally accepted that Dinah was a bitch to Vanessa instead of asking for pity parties. I'm not sure how much the show had planned for Matt and Dinah, but I believe this was another story the Matessa fans hit the roof over (I can't really blame them - if I'd been one I might have too).

I always felt the Beth that Rauch brought back (at least initially) might as well have been a new character. The version I saw him create was basically just a shrewish, neurotic ex as an obstacle for Phillip and Harley, who was also a horny buxom blonde eager to make trouble for other happy couples. It was right out of his '80s work, or a short term character on a primetime Spelling soap. But I don't remember much of the Ben relationship, where he always just seemed to be a stock villain to me.

They softened and evolved her a bit over time when circumstances changed and she had real chemistry with DAM, but she still stayed sort of a pathetic, damaged creature for a long while for me. I think it was BC's talent that kept her around - she was smart, smarter than her material, incisive and underrated. (I wouldn't hate her as Carolyn Webber on GH tbh)

Edited September 21Sep 21 by Vee

This episode marks the return of Pam Long as head writer in 1987. She breaks up Josh and Reva. But gone is the Reva who tried to commit suicide (under a different head writer.) This episode below has Pam Long bringing back the OLD Reva, as she gets herself made up, dons her classic red dress, and crashes a party at the Blue Orchid.

Reva says upon her entrance, "Strike up the band! Reva Shayne's back, better than ever." This episode is where Pam Long pairs up Reva and Alan. And Reva SLAPS Josh. Enjoy!

 

 

Edited September 21Sep 21 by TheyStartedOnSoaps

4 hours ago, Vee said:

I always felt the Beth that Rauch brought back (at least initially) might as well have been a new character. The version I saw him create was basically just a shrewish, neurotic ex as an obstacle for Phillip and Harley, who was also a horny buxom blonde eager to make trouble for other happy couples. It was right out of his '80s work, or a short term character on a primetime Spelling soap. But I don't remember much of the Ben relationship, where he always just seemed to be a stock villain to me.

They softened and evolved her a bit over time when circumstances changed and she had real chemistry with DAM, but she still stayed sort of a pathetic, damaged creature for a long while for me. I think it was BC's talent that kept her around - she was smart, smarter than her material, incisive and underrated. (I wouldn't hate her as Carolyn Webber on GH tbh)

I started watching GL in the 1990s, which I think helped me warm to Beth Chamberlain's performance in her second stint, since I didn't have any previous incarnations of Beth to compare it to. I didn't exactly love her in the late 1990s, mainly because she was mainly there to cause trouble for Harley and Phillip, who I did love as a couple.

But I grew to appreciate her a lot over the years, especially as the writers mined the depth of Beth's psychological damage. Honestly, Beth's behavior--as maddening as it was at times with her love-hate relationship with Alan, where she kept coming back to him because he provided safety, money, and power--made a lot of sense to me given her past as a teenage abuse victim. Whereas the sweeter Judi Evans version of Beth played to me more like a romanticized fairy-tale version of abuse, with Phillip as the Prince Charming who rescues her from the ogre who wants her for himself. Especially during the Wheeler years, I thought some of Chamberlain's performances as a self-destructive female antihero were just magnetic. But I can understand why some long-term viewers felt that this "ruined" the character. 

I've always been fascinated by her return in this period and the circumstances and shifts. Did she want to rebuild Josh and Reva her way? RN had only been back since late '86, right?

Just now, prefab1 said:

I started watching GL in the 1990s, which I think helped me warm to Beth Chamberlain's performance in her second stint, since I didn't have any previous incarnations of Beth to compare it to. I didn't exactly love her in the late 1990s, mainly because she was mainly there to cause trouble for Harley and Phillip, who I did love as a couple.

But I grew to appreciate her a lot over the years, especially as the writers mined the depth of Beth's psychological damage. Honestly, Beth's behavior--as maddening as it was at times with her love-hate relationship with Alan, where she kept coming back to him because he provided safety, money, and power--made a lot of sense to me given her past as a teenage abuse victim. Whereas the sweeter Judi Evans version of Beth played to me more like a romanticized fairy-tale version of abuse, with Phillip as the Prince Charming who rescues her from the ogre who wants her for himself. Especially during the Wheeler years, I thought some of Chamberlain's performances as a self-destructive female antihero were just magnetic. But I can understand why some long-term viewers felt that this "ruined" the character. 

No, I was the same as you at the time - I only started watching GL during the Annie years. I just found Beth so pathetic for so long, and it was so obvious she was the two-dimensional Bad Ex-Wife in the story for ages. The Judi Evans character I read about seemed like night and day.

BC did earn my respect through years of very strong performances despite often dreadful material. I do agree with your analysis of the character.

10 hours ago, DRW50 said:

. For the rest of the time Reva lived in that place (what was it - 5, 6 years?) I still saw it as Vanessa's house. 

The house Billy bought for Vanessa after their 2nd wedding. I swear, it was also where the last scene between Jordan and Maeve was before he left---Billy shows her the house, she throws her arms around him. "I'm throwing my arms around you, ungrateful wretch that I am, and telling you that I love you MADLY."

[!@#$%^&*] GL for being so cheap they had Vanessa screwing that miniature garden gnome wannabe in that house.*  

*Sorry, not sorry, I'm in my feels today.

 

BTW, was there ever a birth order given for the Reardon children? I assume Jim and Sean were older than Maureen, but where did Tony fit in? Nola of course, was the baby (before Chelsea came to town anyway...)

I didn't care for BC's first run as Bet, she paled in comparison to Judi.  BC excelled in her second run? BC was just better suited in playing a shady vixen- way removed from Judi's Beth.