15 hours 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.

She was?!  I never knew that about Fiona!  So interesting how it's never really mentioned. I got to find her scenes. Although, I doubt they are easily found.  Perhaps the German ones on YouTube has her scenes.  

BTW, I finally found there are 3rd party sites that do translate but only give you the first 10 mins free and then you have to pay big money to watch the rest. Which sucks. 

I finally found out what they were talking about in a 1990 episode with a  board meeting that had Roger, Henry, Holly and surprise guest Mindy.  It was over some 200th celebration of the founding of Springfield and an episode where Mindy was on the Love Bug saying what she wanted in man. 

ETA I found Fiona in a 1985 GL episode with Jhonny and Rick!?

@prefab1 The reason I didn't care for the late 90s version is because Beth's character had a strong core when she was dealing with regaining her memory, the death of Neil, the whole Phillip trial, etc. She also had a strong relationship with her mom. There is NO way I buy a Beth that would fall apart over Phillip.  Phillip was the one obsessed with her. 

Edited September 21Sep 21 by MLH

1 hour ago, MLH said:

She was?!  I never knew that about Fiona!  So interesting how it's never really mentioned. I got to find her scenes. Although, I doubt they are easily found.  Perhaps the German ones on YouTube has her scenes.  

ETA I found Fiona in a 1985 GL episode with Jhonny and Rick!?

 

I feel it's around the time Calla erased (switched) Dinah's blood type from the hospital computer. But just spot checking, I don't see it in my playlist.

4 hours ago, Vee said:

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?

The problem I had with Josh/Reva was that they were reunited quickly when he came to the show in late 1986.  There was an episode where they come face to face, he admitted he was aware of what she had been through the last two years and she was hurt he never bothered to reach out to her.   And right after that episode, they're back together again as if they just had a lovers spat and not spent two years out of contact with one another.

I often think had Long been head-writing, she would never have put them back together right away and would have slowly worked to get them back together.   So I think when she came back as head-writer in mid 1987, she realized that the two needed to officially break up and did so.    And it was the right instinct.

The 1989 wedding was a magical event and even my mom, who wasn't a Josh/Reva fan, loved the wedding and how it was filmed.... and it was payoff for the audience that waited two years for the two to get back together again.

@TheyStartedOnSoapsActually... Long was the one that wrote Reva's suicide attempt at the bridge.  It was one of her last events she wrote before she left as head-writer (along with Lujack dying in Beth's arms).

9 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 was a kid when BC came on as Beth in 1989.. and I remember my mom saying that she was beautiful and a decent actress.. but that she wasn't Beth.  Although I will say that watching her first stint as Beth, she did infuse Beth with a bit of intensity and a sarcastic element when speaking the lines.   It just wasn't the Beth that Judi Evans played... but Beth had been missing for three years and had become mute over the trauma she had endured over that period of time so she wouldn't be the same Beth.

So when did the whole Lorelei bit, I didn't find it out of character because Beth had reacted to extreme trauma with a mental break after her 1986 disappearance so I just viewed the Lorelei story as Beth trying to be more assertive and confident and figured a new personality would be just the thing to help her cope and live life.

Also, I always hated when Lizzie was on how Beth and others would say that Lizzie was just like Beth was at that age.  I remember thinking 'No way... Lizzie is more like a young Mindy'.   In fact, when I watched 1983 episodes with Krista T as a young Mindy, I was reminded of Marcy Rylan's Lizzie and how she played LIzzie.

Not to mention how entitled Crystal Hunt's version of Lizzie was. 

I really hated when they got the simplest things completely wrong.  One of the few bright spots of those last two years is Billy's mentoring Lizzie, because she reminds him of Mindy.

2 hours ago, P.J. said:

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 believe the order is:

Sean, Jim, Mo, Tony, Nola, Chelsea.

There is one more female sibling who was never seen (though supposedly was named Lana). I always think of her as either before or after Sean. So oldest or second oldest.

That's just me, though. I don't believe her place in the order was ever mentioned.

I recall Mo and Jim once discussing being the two oldest and in charge of the younger kids, but it's obvious to me that was retooled later when they introduced Sean's kids.

Let's face it, once they changed Nola's status as baby, there was no reason other writers couldn't change the order again. 😁

 

28 minutes ago, Soaplovers said:

There was an episode where they come face to face, he admitted he was aware of what she had been through the last two years and she was hurt he never bothered to reach out to her.   And right after that episode, they're back together again as if they just had a lovers spat and not spent two years out of contact with one another.

I think they did that so they could do a "who's the daddy" story. Wasn't Zimmer pregnant at this point? They were writing her pregnancy into the show.

If that hadn't been the case, they probably wouldn't have jumped back into bed and back together so fast.

But we are talking about the Slut of Springfield, so....

35 minutes ago, DeeVee said:

I believe the order is:

Sean, Jim, Mo, Tony, Nola, Chelsea.

There is one more female sibling who was never seen (though supposedly was named Lana). I always think of her as either before or after Sean. So oldest or second oldest.

That's just me, though. I don't believe her place in the order was ever mentioned.

I recall Mo and Jim once discussing being the two oldest and in charge of the younger kids, but it's obvious to me that was retooled later when they introduced Sean's kids.

Let's face it, once they changed Nola's status as baby, there was no reason other writers couldn't change the order again. 😁

 

True true! I remember Mo would talk about taking care of the "new baby" when they came. I just couldn't ever recall Tony calling Mo his big sister. When Marland wrote ATWT's Snyders, he had that lineup down cold.

56 minutes ago, DeeVee said:

I think they did that so they could do a "who's the daddy" story. Wasn't Zimmer pregnant at this point? They were writing her pregnancy into the show.

If that hadn't been the case, they probably wouldn't have jumped back into bed and back together so fast.

But we are talking about the Slut of Springfield, so....

That is right, and that is one of the reasons Larkin Malloy left the show. They informed him the writers were going to do a Kyle/Josh/Reva triangle, where Reva didn't know who the father was of her baby.

Malloy balked, as he had just done the same story (Reva/Kyle/Maeve triangle) and he wasn't keen on being the "third wheel" in a storyline, so he opted to leave. 

 

20 minutes ago, P.J. said:

True true! I remember Mo would talk about taking care of the "new baby" when they came. I just couldn't ever recall Tony calling Mo his big sister. When Marland wrote ATWT's Snyders, he had that lineup down cold.

I also remember Tony saying he was 8 years old at the time his father disappeared. It was mentioned that Nola was a baby at the time. So there could have been a sibling in between Tony and Nola. 

Who knows, maybe Marland had the Reardon siblings' names and birth order all written down in his soap bible, but once he left no one cared and they just did what they wanted.

3 minutes ago, TheyStartedOnSoaps said:

That is right, and that is one of the reasons Larkin Malloy left the show. They informed him the writers were going to do a Kyle/Josh/Reva triangle, where Reva didn't know who the father was of her baby.

Malloy balked, as he had just done the same story (Reva/Kyle/Maeve triangle) and he wasn't keen on being the "third wheel" in a storyline, so he opted to leave. 

If he had stayed, they never would have done the Reva/Alan pairing.

Damn you, Larkin. 😂

13 minutes ago, DeeVee said:

I also remember Tony saying he was 8 years old at the time his father disappeared. It was mentioned that Nola was a baby at the time. So there could have been a sibling in between Tony and Nola. 

Who knows, maybe Marland had the Reardon siblings' names and birth order all written down in his soap bible, but once he left no one cared and they just did what they wanted.

I think Nola says she has no memory of Tom and/or picture of him or them together. If there was 5-8 years between Tony and Nola, there's probably at least one child between them. Poor Bea--she must've popped out those kids like a PEZ dispener. 

I guess I can understand Larkin's reluctance to do another baby story on the heels of the Ben story. I'm surprised TIIC would want to do another baby story. Although I guess they do that all the time--it took me years to realize both Billy and Eleni are stuck in marriages because their SO made up a baby lie to keep them in '92-'93.

Edited September 21Sep 21 by P.J.

39 minutes ago, P.J. said:

I guess I can understand Larkin's reluctance to do another baby story on the heels of the Ben story. I'm surprised TIIC would want to do another baby story.

I don't think they wanted to. They were kind of forced to do it. Zimmer was pregnant.

Larkin wasn't wrong about becoming the third wheel. That's exactly what happened to Alan. He got stuck being the spoiler/third wheel for Josh and Reva. So he did the wise thing and ended up getting a better gig at AMC.

 

Edited September 21Sep 21 by DeeVee

2 hours ago, DeeVee said:

I believe the order is:

Sean, Jim, Mo, Tony, Nola, Chelsea.

There is one more female sibling who was never seen (though supposedly was named Lana). I always think of her as either before or after Sean. So oldest or second oldest.

That's just me, though. I don't believe her place in the order was ever mentioned.

I recall Mo and Jim once discussing being the two oldest and in charge of the younger kids, but it's obvious to me that was retooled later when they introduced Sean's kids.

Let's face it, once they changed Nola's status as baby, there was no reason other writers couldn't change the order again. 😁

 

Was Sean ever seen onscreen?

1 minute ago, DeeVee said:

I don't think they wanted to. They were kind of forced to do it. Zimmer was pregnant.

Larkin wasn't wrong about becoming the third wheel. That's exactly what happened to Alan. He got stuck being the spoiler/third wheel for Josh and Reva. So he did the wise thing and ended up getting a better gig at AMC.

 

Shows ignored plenty of actresses' pregnancies over the years. Unless Larkin knew he was going to be the loser in the latest Reva war, why wouldn't he gamble on a front-burner triangle? Kyle and Reva had an established fan base. Alan didn't have that.

2 minutes ago, Efulton said:

Was Sean ever seen onscreen?

Yes! Here's the first time he appeared:

Gee, Matt does a lot of whining in this episode. Was he always this whiny?