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Paul Raven

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Makes a lot of sense. When written correctly, she was a suitable replacement, IMO. Her and Ron Raines seemed to do what was on the page. They were suitable and worked at times but a lot of times they didn't. Obviously no one can replace McKinsey or Bernau, but I think the replacements weren't awful and could have worked better with better writing and direction. Often Marj's Alex was reduced to shrieking harpy and Ron just bellowed a lot, but he could do better than that.

 

I was also left feeling a little dirty after the town kinda turned on Bev's Alex during the Roger/Mindy reveal, it felt like they were reducing the character's power and presence and then afterwards with Marj's Alex, she was treated like a pest and annoyance. I can see why Bev ran for the hills.

 

The age insults were awful. Maeve had to be insulted. And then you had the writers having Matt basically rip Vanessa a new one anytime she dared to do anything but be a housewife. It was sooooo insulting. I never liked Matt/Vanessa.

 

I didn't mind the idea of a late in life 'miracle' baby for Vanessa. Under Curlee imagine how great it could have been? But with crap writers, was her baby really even necessary? Not really.

 

I always thought 'Mattessa' was basically Phelps living out her fantasies through Maeve's Vanessa (after all, Phelps had a habit of doing that, and didn't Maeve get the Phelps haircut under her?)

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I think she may have already had that hairstyle but I'm not sure as I haven't watched any of her 1990/91 material in a while. 

 

If memory serves, Vanessa and Matt were only intended to be a summer fling and Matt was meant to be paired with someone like Lucy (?), but they got a big fan response. 

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Yes they were supposed to pair Matt up with Lucy..one can only hope Phelps didn't plan on turning Van into a harpy like she did Alex...with Van berating poor widdle Lucy.

 

I don't know how to say this without being insulting but I think Matt and Van, as the stupid Richard and Cassie thing, fulfilled the fantasies of a certain segment of the fanbase and they just went nuts...kind of like the Olivia and whatsherface gay storyline made a certain segment of the lesbian fan base go nuts despite the fact that it wasnt that great of a story reallly.

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I love the Emmy spinning at the end..okay GL we got it.

 

Why did Brandon leave Amanda all that "stock" in his will? I know the eventual truth but why and how did it get reversed....could that have played into the dumb "Amanda is really Brandon's daughter" thing? Love vixen Van slinking around town annoying all the women. I like that they have Amanda sitting at the fireplace with her hand on that rock which holds the truth..probably months down the line.   I have to say, I still think MH was sexy as Ed ( I know, its weird) much more then PS ever was. Morgan really was the prototype for Lily...a sixteenth birthparty, everyone talking about it, about her and hottie Ben just "Dying to paint her!"

 

 

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I think the interim writers did try to use some of this time to justify that Amanda story decision - the main problem with that story is it was just completely dropped. 

 

I agree Mart was sexy as Ed. He had a certain charisma about him, a real love of life which made Ed easier to watch - even though he suffered in life he still carried on. I liked Peter Simon, but he was so very, very dour.

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Watching the 1994 episode, and the disconnect between the quality of dialogue and performance and the stories on display is just as glaring as I remember feeling at the time. It was only the baby Peter custody saga that kept me watching at the time, and that is still the standout material now, although I do still appreciate seeing Julie's wheels slowly, slowly turn in her plans to win Frank. 

 

Peter Simon is a superb actor, but he is so backbreakingly heavy as Ed - I love watching his work, but I do think overall Mart Hulswit got the balance right. Anyway, Ed's scenes with Lillian and especially that last scene with Bridget are just terrific - that Ed and Bridget scene is downright phenomenal, as it's freed of some of the writerly shackles of his earlier monologue to Lillian. 

 

All these years later and I still can't watch Lucy. She did become a better character during the Brent story, but she is just unbearable around this time period - so grafted in and so ridiculously entitled. Going on and on about sewing her own clothes to prove herself. Who gives a [!@#$%^&*]? This isn't Ma Perkins - and she would have had no time for your me me me either. 

 

Marcy Walker is wonderful here but she is playing absolutely nothing. I can see why she was so embittered about this experience.

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